Winning The Future, Abroad

The maybe not so widely read South China Morning Post reports that China has accelerated their commitment to developing a thorium reactor:

The deadline to develop a new design of nuclear power plant has been brought forward by 15 years as the central government tries to reduce the nation's reliance on smog-producing coal-fired power stations.

A team of scientists in Shanghai had originally been given 25 years to try to develop the world's first nuclear plant using the radioactive element thorium as fuel rather than uranium, but they have now been told they have 10, the researchers said.

"In the past the government was interested in nuclear power because of the energy shortage. Now they are more interested because of smog," said Professor Li Zhong, a scientist working on the project.

The Telegraph and the Guardian in the UK picked up on this but the major US news outlets have ignored it. Somewhat understandable, since there don't seem to be any easy laughs in explaining the thorium breeding cycle and the Evil Koch Brothers aren't involved. Japan and India are also pushing on thorium, so the good news is that if the engineering problems can be solved they will be. The bad news is that the US will continue to lead from behind on this, at least until we get a new President.

 

Comments

[Threadkiller]

Chinese fuel tends to leave you wanting more sooner than you think.

[Danube on iPad]

The ability of the U.S. to influence world affairs will continue to decline, which Barack Obama has always thought to be a good thing. The standard of living in the U.S. will continue to decline, which is simply something that Barack Obama does not understand. To the extent that he does understand it, he thinks that it is OK provided that the rich suffer the most.

We will not recover from this administration.

[Threadkiller]

Sounds like the work of Bill Ayers...

[Walter]

One of my favorite memories of my first Haight-Ashbury fair* Is telling the earnest young man pushing for PG&E divestment of nuclear power plants that I was more concerned about global warming than miniscule risks of plant failure. He was nonplussed, to say the least.

Now, of course, I am more concerned that the Earth is cooling--for how long even Kim knows not.
__________________
*She Who Completes Me was living on the corner of Haight and Ashbury with another young urban C&L professional when we met in 1990.

[Walter]

We will not recover from this administration.

DoT,

You and I have heard this from both parties throughout our lives. As believers in American exceptionaism, we have to take note that we've survived much worse so far. BO at his worst will be a pimple on the great history of this country. At best, his worst qualities will be forgotten when he no longer holds his position.

Apologies, but I walked three Civil War battlefields this week. Memphis was a speedbump, but in 12 hours at Franklin 9,500 of 40,000 were killed, wounded, or captured. Every one of them an American. Few with individual graves. We made it through that. We can make it through this.

They, like you and your comrades, did it for the rest of us and our progeny. 'Twasn't in vain.

[Gus]

Tell Vladimir, that I'll be more flexible after the election.

This is the fucking clown that we have.

[Gus]

Walter, we have NEVER survived something like this. We have NEVER had a clown in charge, who is so narcissistic AND Marxist and incapable. I love your optimism, but consider that you are optimistic. Obama is a pile of shit.

[Walter]

Meh. Buchanan. Grant (great person, poor manager).

Heck, wake me up when Oboma imposes wage and price controls. He hasn't even left our allies to be slaughtered and enslaved once it was no longer expedient*. I have friends who as pre-teens floated in the belly of a freighter for months watching people die around them before even given access to a Siamese refugee camp.**

______________
*Yet.
**Again, not yet.

[daddy]

Great headline from the Boston Herald:

Press banned as first lady touts free speech

[daddy]

Thinking about the missing Malaysian 777 today it struck me that the new Liam Neeson action thriller Airline Hi-jack movie fell off the radar screen faster than Malaysian Air 370.

I wonder if that is because the bad guy in the flick was a US Military Veteran and the good guy was a devout Muslim, or simply because it was a shitty movie?

[BR]

Daddy, are those flammable batteries only dangerous in cargo holds and not in passengers' laptops on board?

[anonamom]

Walter, you give me hope.

[anonamom]

I remember being asked to not put anything with lithium batteries into the overhead compartment on a flight ? five/six years ago---
to take them out and put them in the seat pocket.

[JiB]

I wonder if the ChiComms will be interested in Frederick and mine's Thorium Reactor we have been building in the garage? Our biggest problem is handling the waste gas without the neighbors noticing.

[pagar]

Clarice's Pieces today is a Great read.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/03/pikes_pickets_and_scams.html

[clarice]

Thanks,pagar.

[narciso]

Great pieces, Clarice, is there a rocket option on those pikes, I don't think stationary does the trick, anymore.

[JiB]

narciso,

Did you find a place up in Volusia?

[Marlene]

We're home. Yesterday the pilot on the flight from PHL to BGR said in a deadpan voice,"welcome aboard flight blah,blah,with service to Bangor. The current temperature in Bangor is 32 degrees with light snow." The passengers (many returning from FL) groaned and on cue, a baby started to scream. Ha. She was quiet after we were in the air,but she expressed our feelings! Now,more coffee,catch up and Clarice's Pieces.

[Jane on Ipad]

Anonamom,

I watched the video, I don't know if she is a man, but she's extremely unattractive. I hope someday all the morons who have been talking about her " beauty" for 6 years have to come to terms with the fact that she is a transvestite.

Clarice, fun Pieces today. Since I read it about 2 AM I'm going back to do it again.

[Miss Marple]

clarice,

That was a great round-up of the scams currently in operation. If I were queen, heads would roll, at least figuratively.

Speaking of scams, I suppose many of you have considered that the fake IRS calls are perhaps being perpetrated by someone employed by the IRS. The caller has social security numbers and is apparently calling people who believe they might owe taxes.

[Miss Marple]

Jane, Part of the animosity towards Michelle Obama (which many in the press have deemed inappropriate and puzzling) is because for 5 years they have done nothing but talk about how beautiful, fashionable, caring and smart she is, none of which is true.

She appears presentable due to the efforts of professional stylists on staff and her choices in clothing have only now become less of an embarrassment. (Who can forget the top which looked like rags sewn together, or the too-tight sequined top worn over too-tight pants at an award ceremony?

I think it is a reaction tot he press as much as anything. So it would serve them right if she turned out to be a tranny, right in front of them for all these years.

[James D.]

A team of scientists in Shanghai had originally been given 25 years to try to develop the world's first nuclear plant using the radioactive element thorium as fuel rather than uranium, but they have now been told they have 10, the researchers said.

Central planning at its finest!

[sbwaters]

Michelle is unattractive independent of any consideration of beauty.

Her history reveals consistent dissembling, misrepresentation, insecurity, selfishness, and lack of both character and principle. And that is just for a start.

And for those referenced earlier who refuse to see that, they have disqualified themselves as worth reading for any reason.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129613.600-genetic-mugshot-recreates-faces-from-nothing-but-dna.html?full=true#.Uy7ZNc6rPzL

This is posted because there is a lot of information in DNA we aren't aware of yet, demonstrated in this article.

[anonamom]

I think our First Lady is in no small part a product of her times--
a black women raised to see herself as victim by virtue of the fact of her skin and her gender, who also had to bear the burden of all the negatives that a person must deal with as an affirmative action placement above their abilities in competitive environments.

Imagine being at Princeton, Harvard Law School, whatever BIg Law firm she was at in Chicago, where every single day, you saw that you were in the bottom ?half/third/whatever of the group of people you were in daily competition with. Knowing that the reason you were around was because your presence allowed the institution to check a box.

You would have to tell yourself that your very existence was a such a special thing that it counters the reality of your performance to not constantly feel "less than."

And the anger at the society that resulted in that life for yourself--"For the first time in my life, I am proud of my country."

Not saying that's the only way to view her life, but that is how I think she sees it.

[anonamom]

Jane--was that not wild??!!
I'll never tell anyone that you watched it if you promise me the same.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/03/23/belgian-newspaper-depicts-obamas-monkeys?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Those Europeans sure are sophisticated and in love with Obama.

[Jim Eagle]

MM,

Mrs. JiB tells me that De Morgen is very liberal, leftist in their world outlook and domestic politics. She would never buy the paper and thinks the editor needs to be fired immediatlely (no argument from me). Its this kind of stuff that will now sp;urn world empathy for two destructive and arrogant personalities. Probably planned well in advance to promote them in a sympathetic fashion.

[Miss Marple]

JiB, Thank you for the info.

I am still in shock at seeing that. Such things in the US appear in loser-type blogs and some odd Twitter posts.

Why Breitbart published the photo, rather than a link, is also open to question.

[Bori]

Clarice,

Great recap of the past couple of days, you would need to write an encyclopedia to cover just the first 2 1/2 months of this year.

Anonamom,

You would think that, but far too often they don't see any faults at all. If they are not adept or fail in any way, they blame the "system" which is stacked against them. In other words, they can never compete so why do it, you take what you get and demand for more. After all, they deserve it for the years of mistreatment and slavery.

[Ignatz]

From the link;

One commenter noted: "White people are also portrayed as apes, look at recent pictures of George W. Bush. If you find it racist to portray people with black skin as suchs [sic] but have no problem with portraying people of other skin color like that, then I'd have to point out your hypocrisy", white another shot back, "Yeah, but Bush is compared to apes because he's stupid, not because he's white. The caption here is specifically mentions race- the photo is directly implying that black people are comparable to apes, and is therefore racist. Geddit?"

Three things jump out;
1. No, Bush was depicted as a monkey to imply he is stupid [because of his views incidentally not his native intelligence] but only because, let's face it, he looks a little chimp like. IOW because of his appearance.
2. Naturally pinkos couldn't be depicted as apes because they're never stupid.
3. It's supposed to be an oped by Putin. Does anyone think that is not how Putin thinks of those two?

[James D.]

Via Instapundit comes this link:

http://gizmodo.com/los-angeles-cops-argue-all-cars-in-l-a-are-under-inves-1547411605

Do you drive a car in the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area? According to the L.A. Police Department and L.A. Sheriff's Department, your car is part of a vast criminal investigation.

The agencies took a novel approach in the briefs they filed in EFF and the ACLU of Southern California's California Public Records Act lawsuit seeking a week's worth of Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) data. They have argued that "All [license plate] data is investigatory." The fact that it may never be associated with a specific crime doesn't matter.

So: total surveillance of all citizens and their movements at all time. Gee, I feel more secure already.

And of course we should trust the LAPD with this information, when they send officers onto the streets who mistake a blue Toyota for a gray Nissan, and two small, middle-aged, unarmed Hispanic women for one large, young, heavily armed black man, and proceed to shoot at them over 100 times.

Yeah, I think those are exactly the sort of people who ought to have access to 24-hour surveillance on every citizen in their city.

[Ignatz]

--China has accelerated their commitment to developing a thorium reactor--

Meanwhile we are spending trillions on our own Manhattan project, perfecting those things Don Quixote De La Mancha was tilting at 400 years ago.

[Ignatz]

The good news James is LA will probably go broke fairly soon and have to fire half their cops and issue the remainder one Barney Fife bullet per officer.
So long as their marksmanship doesn't improve it should remain relatively safe.

[They also have a Tibetan Tree Ring record for paleoclimate. Michael 'Piltdown' Mann wasn't involved.]

Well, I thought the Chinese would extend their technological lead in Pebble Bed nuclear technology. I think the Indians lead them in Thorium.

Also, the Chinese have put scrubbers on many coal plants, but the operators don't use them because it cuts production. They could fix the smog, just as we have, but don't have the will yet.

So, I think the smog excuse is partly made up.
=================

[Jane]

I'll never tell anyone that you watched it if you promise me the same.

That's a deal. Since you have a lot more training about the human body than I do, was she right about the shoulders, hips etc? Is that something people learn and is commonly accepted?

[Account Deleted]

TM's link to the wiki on thorium reactors is very interesting due to the absence of any watermelon hysteria regarding 'unknown risks' or 'sustainability'. The MSR-FUJI project seems to have a slight edge over the Chinese in terms of time frame required to reach commercial application.

It was very kind of the US to underwrite the basic research and demonstration project and then provide the results gratis to the Chinese and Japanese-Russian teams for commercial development. It's also good to see Haynes International (based in Indiana) receive recognition for the development of the special alloy steel critical to moving thorium reactors from research/demonstration to practical use.

I wonder when the Eurasian Co-Prosperity Sphere will send Thank You notes?

[But they don't want to be blamed for aerosol cooling of the globe.]

Oops, a bunny's been by, I can see its tracks.

I've long thought the Chinese have figured out that mild global warming is good for the Middle Kingdom.

[Captain Hate]

FNS obviously feels compelled to expend as much credibility on the missing flight as the dimwits at CNN.

[Jane]

At the republican convention yesterday, the only thing on the ballot was the governor's race. Mark Fisher the "tea party" candidate v Charlie Baker who lost to Deval-the-vacationer last time.

Baker is a former excellent CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health, a great family man, very very good looking and a bit of a snob.

Fisher is a self made man who did not go to college but started a successful sheet metal business.

Fisher actually called me last week, and we talked for about a 1/2 hour. My concerns, as always, is that republicans lose the battle in places like MA because of social issues. Abortion and gay marriage are both the law, so regardless of how they feel about either issue why not simply recognize that, and let the voter move on to all the stuff they will be so good at fixing. Fisher agreed particularly when I reminded him that gays are a natural constituency for the republican party.

Once at the convention I learned that Baker is far left on social issues, (his last LT Gov nominee was an openly gay man - who has since sort of screwed the party but that is another subject) Baker is also pro-choice.

I had pretty much decided to vote for Fisher because of his association with the tea party.

Then (finally) came the speeches. Fisher's theme was that he embraced the republican party in all matters not just some matters - which in fact meant he would actively campaign against abortion and gay marriage. Baker didn't even address those issues.

So Fisher essentially lied to me.I truly believe that in MA those issues are losing issues. I have no problem with Fisher's position on them (or Baker's for that matter, because I don't care about those issues). But I have a problem with Fisher telling me one thing, and advocating for something else.

Meanwhile there was great pressure on the delegates to vote for Baker so there would be no primary - and Baker and other candidates would have access to money now as opposed to Sept. That pressure made me more likely to vote for Fisher.

Historically, republicans win in this state when they have primaries because it airs the issues.

At the very last minute (and I mean last) I changed my vote to Baker, for one reason only, because Fisher lied to me.

Fisher needed 15% to have a primary. He got 14.8%. So it's not entirely my fault but I do bear some blame.

The end.

[jimmyk on iPad]

"Central planning at its finest!"

Barry's EPA did the same thing with CAFE requirements--just picked a number (54.5) and a year (2025) and said, do it. I guess the ".5" was supposed to make it seem scientific-like.

[Captain Hate]

Kasich is on FNS talking about Ohio's great economy which must be some place other than NE Ohio. Plus he's dissembling on his accepting federal medicare money and talking about "people in the shadows". Ugh.

[Jane]

Nate Silver says 60% chance republicans take the senate. ABC appalled.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Jane, what if we read some of your words in a different order?

republicans lose the battle in places like MA because of social issues . . . Baker is far left on social issues . . . Charlie Baker who lost to Deval-the-vacationer last time.

I know there is such a thing as "the exception that proves the rule", and I claim no special understanding of MA politics and am happy to defer to you.

I suppose it might be true that the party and activists pushed a conservative social angle, in spite of Baker's views.

Or that if Baker had been more conservative in his social views his margin of defeat could have been doubled.

But still, it seems a bit at odds with the last election to say Republicans lose because of the social issues.

[Captain Hate]

Juan Williams is blaming all the problems of 404Care on Republicans.

[jimmyk]

Then (finally) came the speeches. Fisher's theme was that he embraced the republican party in all matters not just some matters - which in fact meant he would actively campaign against abortion and gay marriage.

Did he explicitly mention gay marriage and abortion?

[Miss Marple]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26701733

Ebola outbreak in Guinea. 60 deaths so far.

[Miss Marple]

Captain Hate,

Here is an article explaining why North Carolina didn't expand Medicaid. At the end it has another article explaining why the expansion of Medicaid is a bad idea, with easy-to-understand reasons, including the very poor will have longer waits, poorer choices of care, and perhaps will be unable to find doctors.

http://nchouse116.com/why-didnt-nc-expand-medicaid/

[peter]

OK, this is downright eerie. Typepad has eaten my post in which I stated that typepad had eaten my earlier post.

[Miss Marple]

peter,

Are you saying Typepad has become self-aware?

[peter]

It's like that Simpsons episode where Homer turns into a donut and eats himself

[Jane]

Romney is on Face the Nation. I missed it. If anyone saw it I'd be interested in what he said.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Back in the day of the Typepad Comment Impediment™ epidemic, I often found that using the word typepad seemed to induce a higher than normal rate of eating, which is why I would often resort to thaipad.

At least for me, these days having comments eaten has become a rarity.

[sbwaters]

Am I supposed to know who "They also have a Tibetan Tree Ring record for paleoclimate. Michael 'Piltdown' Mann wasn't involved." is?

Secondly, am I supposed to associate his/her posts with other posts?

Finally, how is one supposed to follow a conversation that doesn’t follow?

[Ignatz]

It's Kim, SBW.

[Ignatz]

--Since you have a lot more training about the human body than I do, was she right about the shoulders, hips etc? Is that something people learn and is commonly accepted?--

Those general proportions are one of the first things artists are taught in drawing the human form, Jane.
However they are only generalizations and obviously both genders have remarkable variations, and overlaps, in all of those parameters.

[Jane]

Or that if Baker had been more conservative in his social views his margin of defeat could have been doubled.

Baker lost because Deval Patrick is black. It had nothing to do with social issues because they agree on them. The only other issue at stake was economic issues and Patrick sucks at them. Baker also ran a shitty campaign.

Democrats always vote on social issues in this state - always. Republicans tend to vote on fiscal issues. Independents are the key.

Marsha Marsha Coakley will probably be his opponent.

Did he explicitly mention gay marriage and abortion?

I think so. There was no doubt what he was talking about because the entire convention revolved around that difference. There was a big fight, well publicized before it began.

I would be happy to vote for a candidate who is pro-life and anti-gay marriage - but tea party candidates are supposed to be about something different. And if that is what they are pushing, in my mind they are not about tea party issues.

It was a very hard vote for me. Make no mistake.

[James D.]

Barry's EPA did the same thing with CAFE requirements--just picked a number (54.5) and a year (2025) and said, do it. I guess the ".5" was supposed to make it seem scientific-like.

And then (like idiot Thomas Friedman), they compare it to Apollo or the Manhattan Project, using them as an argument for all the wonders that government can accomplish.

Which, of course, is true, if you throw basically limitless resources at a problem, employ incredibly dangerous/risky approaches to poorly or not-at-all-understood engineering problems, and don't care if the end product can be reproduced or sustained on any sort of rational economic basis.

In other words, yes, I'm sure China can build a Thorium reactor in ten years. But can they build one that can be quickly (or even slowly) rolled out across the country and built for anything like a manageable cost? I'm guessing the answer to that, despite the demands of the Ten Year Plan, is a big, fat "No."

[sbwaters]

It's Kim, SBW.

Thanks, Ig. Keep reminding me. Jane, Frau, janet, and others help by appending to their names, not replacing.

[Appalled on IPhone]

On Michelle Obama. She is a woman of limited accomplishments and limited ambitions who will mostly disappear after her term as First Lady is done. That alone is a mass improvement over the last democratic First Lady, who thought a fortunate marriage entitled her to respect unearned by any actual accomplishments.

MO deserves little attention. And she only gets it from fashion magazines and a precinct of the right that gets upset about stuff. (And maybe her daughters pay attention to her)

[Miss Marple]

Not sure I understand all of this article, but it was interesting:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-22/how-china-imported-record-70-billion-physical-gold-without-sending-price-gold-soarin

[Ignatz]

-- Abortion and gay marriage are both the law, so regardless of how they feel about either issue why not simply recognize that, and let the voter move on to all the stuff they will be so good at fixing.--

Can of worms time, but what if Lincoln or the Abolitionists had adopted that stance?
In fact, in a nutshell, it's kind of how we got here.

The left is unconcerned about present laws or appearances and changes the culture until their evil is accepted practice.

The right cares only about appearances and what is possible or practical and watches as the culture gets changed underneath them and they have to scramble further left to even stay on the left's playing field, still hoping the voters will move on and let them do their tinkering with the game the left invented and writes the rules for.
How does one ever win that game?

[jimmyk]

And if that is what they are pushing, in my mind they are not about tea party issues.

Ok, but it sounds like at the very least he didn't emphasize these specific issues. To say "I strongly identify with the Republicans," but focus on fiscal issues, entitlements, health care, etc. seems like an acceptable approach in a state like MA. I'm not saying that's what Fisher did--you were there, I wasn't, and I'm not criticizing your vote, just saying this as a general matter.

[jimmyk]

However they are only generalizations and obviously both genders have remarkable variations, and overlaps, in all of those parameters.

Occam's razor: The effeminate Barry was attracted to the masculine Mooch, and vice-versa.

[Ignatz]

--Jane, Frau, janet, and others help by appending to their names, not replacing.--

Yeah but that's a large part of kim's charm.
The name is always clever and related to the comment or subject, unlike certain trolls who shall remain unmentioned... well sort of unmentioned.

[Account Deleted]

SBW,

I have no more of a problem identifying Kim than does Ignatz. I've never noticed anyone else whining about their inability to solve a rather simple puzzle so perhaps time would be better used in determining the nature of the learning disability than whining. Kim previously left ============= as a signature as recognizable as Frau's and you still whined.

Look within for the problem, Kim adds more with less than do many others.

[narciso]

Steyn made the point, changing the culture, the political environment is almost impossible to what needs to be done, Baker ran on Romneycare, if memory serves, the state treasurer ran against it,

Yes, I did, JiB,

[Bruce]

Here is an article explaining why North Carolina didn't expand Medicaid. At the end it has another article explaining why the expansion of Medicaid is a bad idea, with easy-to-understand reasons, including the very poor will have longer waits, poorer choices of care, and perhaps will be unable to find doctors.

Digging into ObamaCare and HealthCare.gov, I seem to have found an interesting fact - that you only get pushed into Medicaid (below a certain income level) in states that expanded Medicaid, in response to the Act. That means that someone with no income (but possibly substantial assets) in their mid 50s in MT can get a gold ObamaCare plan for maybe $150 a month, out of pocket, with maybe a $450 tax subsidy. In states that expanded Medicaid in order to get the extra money from the feds, they would have been pushed into Medicaid instead.

[jimmyk]

And then (like idiot Thomas Friedman), they compare it to Apollo or the Manhattan Project

The latter justified, at least, by a genuine existential threat, in contrast to the phony peak oil/climate change/club of Rome nonsense motivating windmills and CAFE requirements.

[narciso]

very radical, he seems,

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/03/qa_with_gubernatorial_candidat.html

[peter]

Amen Appalled at 11 23

[narciso]

so was it the candidate, or the platform;

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Mass-GOP-backs-Baker-Fisher-misses-ballot-5340322.php

[Jane]

Can of worms time, but what if Lincoln or the Abolitionists had adopted that stance?

He adopted that stance AFTER his election.

[Account Deleted]

Miss Marple,

China may well have lost faith in the West's ability to subsidize idiocy. $70 billion is actually pretty small change in comparison to the amount of hot money dumped into the BRICs in support of the delusion managed economies were going to outperform free markets. I find their loss of faith very reasonable, as BOzo and the EUnuchs gather together to discuss the types of totems, wards and charms best suited to defend against further Bear bites.

[Ignatz]

I don't believe that is the case, Jane.

[Jeff Dobbs]

jimmyk:
The latter justified, at least, by a genuine existential threat, in contrast to the phony peak oil/climate change/club of Rome nonsense motivating windmills and CAFE requirements.

FlashbackFlashbackFlashbackFlashbackFlashback...

"At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the country that faced down the tyranny of fascism and communism is now called to challenge the tyranny of oil. For the very resource that has fueled our way of life over the last hundred years now threatens to destroy it if our generation does not act now and act boldly. America simply cannot continue on this path. The need to drastically change our energy policy is no longer a debatable proposition. It is not a question of whether, but how; not a question of if, but when. For the sake of our security, our economy, our jobs and our planet, the age of oil must end in our time."
--stuff Obama said

[Old Lurker]

"Kim adds more with less than do many others"

True that

[Ignatz]

A little wiki research reveals;

After a series of highly publicized debates in 1858 during which he opposed the expansion of slavery, Lincoln lost the U.S. Senate race to his archrival, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln, a moderate from a swing state, secured the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1860. With almost no support in the South, Lincoln swept the North and was elected president in 1860. His election prompted seven southern slave states to form the Confederacy. No compromise or reconciliation was found regarding slavery.

[Jane]

To say "I strongly identify with the Republicans," but focus on fiscal issues, entitlements, health care, etc. seems like an acceptable approach in a state like MA.

Yeah but that is not what happened. He spent a great deal of time talking about adopting the entire republican platform not just parts of it, as his opponent did. That was his sales pitch.

In MA if the election is about social issues, republicans lose. In the last presidential election, every college kid in the state was absolutely sure Mitt Romney would take away their birth control and all the poor people would die.

It is an uphill battle around here. The propaganda is rife.

The reason to vote for Fisher was to have a primary, where both sides could have an ongoing conversation which would hopefully be reported. There is not a chance in hell Fisher would have won that primary. He got 14.8% of the vote of staunchest republicans in the state.

I just wanted the tea party to be represented, and I didn't feel that Fisher was going to do that. The only real difference between the 2 was on social issues, so the primary would have only been about that.

[Ignatz]

--Steyn made the point, changing the culture, the political environment is almost impossible to what needs to be done--

Any yet we've seen support for gay marriage change substantially, at least according to the polls, in a few short years.
You can't change the culture if you don't try.

What we have is the result of years of Dems cheering on every aspect of their party which engages on social issues and half of the Rep party telling the other half to sit down and shut up about social issues.

I believe both instances qualify as self fulfilling prophecies.

[Appalled on IPhone]

Gay marriage and abortion really do not equate, and should not be mentioned in the same breath or post. Gay marriage provides some degree of social order to relationships that were happening anyway, and gives a social structure and excuse to shaming and in un-mainstreaming gay promiscuity.

Abortion involves the killing of something-- and there will always be a constituency against it.

[boris]

It does seem "focus on the fiscal and ignore social issues" is strictly a one way street.

[Ignatz]

--Gay marriage provides some degree of social order to relationships that were happening anyway, and gives a social structure and excuse to shaming and in un-mainstreaming gay promiscuity.--

I love you Appalled but the first half of that was questionable while the last half was pretty funny.

[Jane]

Gay marriage and abortion really do not equate, and should not be mentioned in the same breath or post.

I agree completely Appalled.

I actually think the country is moving toward a pro-life position and I think the gay marriage issue has been decided.

[Spotlessly clean.]

Heh, it's a protective coloration adaptation to the 'cat litter tray of knowledge' that is blog commentary. I can lurk and contribute at the same time.

[I confess to teasing you yesterday.]

You're a brave and honorable man, sbw, also literate.

[boris]

"Gay marriage provides some degree of social order to relationships that were happening anyway, and gives a social structure and excuse to shaming and in un-mainstreaming gay promiscuity."

Magical thinking.

[Captain Hate]

I think the gay marriage issue has been decided.

Of course it has; our black robed tyrants have spoken and opposition is futile.

[jimmyk]

I actually think the country is moving toward a pro-life position and I think the gay marriage issue has been decided.

The gay marriage issue has mostly been decided by a few judges overruling the majority of the population (see the recent Michigan ruling), even in blue states like CA. Regardless of one's views on the subject, that seems like a bad way to go, especially when there are middle grounds like civil unions. In that sense the issue does have something in common with abortion.

[jimmyk]

CH beat me both in time and in brevity.

[Captain Hate]

If I were to add something to jimmyk's statement, the tyrants have nullified the direct vote of citizens amending the Constitution of the states in some cases. What could be more dismissive of the consent of the governed than that?

[Ignatz]

We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal and endowed by a bunch of pointy headed judges with certain unalienable rights until a bunch more pointy headed judges stick their fingers in the wind and decide to end the endowment.
On such great truths was our republic foundered....err, sorry founded.

[JoJo]

I met a socially conservative athiest last week, that was interesting. I thought all social conservatives were religious types.

[Miss Marple]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjYKVgpIYAA2DSt.jpg

T-shirt showing Obama in a Mao hat temporarily removed from t-shirt stalls as Michelle shops.

[boris]

A valid response to arguments like "The country is facing fiscal destruction and saving it requires setting aside social issues for now and standing together on fiscal issues" ...

... is "Social conservatives ARE willing to stand together for fiscal responsibility but can only set aside social issues as long as there is a moratorium on further destruction of cultural values."

Too often the people making the first argument are unwilling to stand with conservatives in resisting the advance of left/liberal social agendas.

[Miss Marple]

Oops. Here is the story on the Obama-Mao t-shirt.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-mao-t-shirts-removed-great-wall-shops-michelle-obama-visits_785793.html

[jimmyk]

Too often the people making the first argument are unwilling to stand with conservatives in resisting the advance of left/liberal social agendas.

Agreed, Boris. That was my response to Jane the other day. I didn't mean to suggest by "focus on fiscal issues, entitlements, health care" that there should be no effort to at least play defense against further encroachment by the left and the judiciary. But that is partly procedural: I think a legit position by R candidates is to say "My personal views are not the point; the problem is that these things are being decided by judges and the federal government rather than left 'to the States respectively, or to the people' as the Constitution requires."

[Jane]

Of course it has; our black robed tyrants have spoken and opposition is futile.

You can oppose all you want. And you can work to change it. But IMO it's done.

Of course that will require actually doing something.

[Ignatz]

-- But IMO it's done.--

Judges said slavery and Jim Crow were "done" also.
The constitution itself was made to say the manufacture and sale of alcohol was "done".

Unfortunate things are done all the time....until they aren't.