But, let’s apply the Forrest Gump standard: stupid is as stupid does. And let’s look just at Nancy Pelosi for the moment – onetime speaker of the house, and current minority leader. Let us also just focus on her most recent statement: the lack of a rebuttal is disrespectful to the president.

Really? Not providing an alternate view to the president is a sign of disrespect? Or is it that one doesn’t consider the president’s words needing a rebuttal? After all, disagreeing with the president we are told is racist. Now, not disagreeing with him is disrespectful. Exactly how does Nancy Pelosi view Barack Obama? It appears he is somehow above disagreement and above … response? I don’t get it. What is Pelosi after?

Does she want a Republican response highlighting how all of the president’s prior policies have made the economic situation worse? Or, does she want the Republicans to challenge the efficacy of Stimulus II? Does she want the Republicans to put forth their own agenda of tax cuts, lower regulation, repeal of Obamacare, and less government intrusion?

I doubt it. It seems to me that Pelosi is out for short-term political gain. A gain which will not materialize based on the last couple of years. And that makes Nancy Pelosi dumb.

I need to know more, but it is a safe bet that I agree with Mitt Romney – any of those presently running on the Republican side would make a better president than Barack Obama. And right now for me, that means Rick Perry. I’ll watch his campaign with interest.

However, I am a little irked by the attention paid to the Iowa straw poll. I mean, why does that matter more than any other state? Do Iowa conservatives really speak for the country?

Just askin …

Firstly, I am pleased that the focus has shifted from spending to cutting. By no means does this bill cut enough spending, but directionally it is good. The democrats have been forced to accept that cuts are good and spending is too high. More needs to be done, but the national conversation has moved to the idea of fiscal responsibility.

Secondly, I very pleased to see that the Left is going absolutely apeshit over this deal. I wasn’t all that thrilled – thought it was as good as could be gotten – but not convinced it went far enough. The Left has convinced me – the comments I’m reading are positively unhinged.

But here is the thing I would like to change: this notion that we are cutting a trillion dollars, or cutting 2.4 trillion dollars. We are doing no such thing. These numbers are over ten years. I don’t know about you, but I budget in annual terms. So what we are really doing is cutting 100 billion or 240 billion – real money as far as I can tell – but nowhere near what it sounds like. Now, I expect this kind of obfuscation from democrats, but I’m disappointed to see it from republicans. Our deficit is running at 1.6 trillion a year, which means that 100 billion is less than a month’s overspending. When we’re cutting a trillion a year, we’ll be serious. Indeed, I wonder what the harm would be to roll back all spending to the level of 2008?

So I’m still happy. The Left is apoplectic, and that has to be a good thing. But in terms of getting the Federal beast under control, we have a long way to go.

Now it is very clear that it is the democrats who have brought us to this impasse. True, the republicans spent way too much from 2001 to 2006. They lost control of Congress because of it. But the democrats didn’t draw the right conclusion and since they have been in control have spent even more. When President Bush left office the debt was just under 10 trillion which he had basically doubled. It is important to note that at that point, the democrats had controlled Congress for two years. Meanwhile, under President Obama, we’ve racked up nearly 5 trillion in additional debt. In other words, Obama racked up almost the entire Bush debt in one quarter of the time.

In the short term, we clearly need to raise the debt limit in order to quiet the markets and prevent a downgrade of the US credit rating. (A VERY BAD THING.)

The Boehner bill is hardly perfect, but it appears to be the best that can be achieved while the democrats still control the senate and the presidency. To oppose it because it is not perfect is insane. Politics is the art of the possible.

Pass the Boehner bill.

Um, I love it.

My expectations were in line I think with the device itself – I expected it to be an information delivery medium and it has delivered in spades. E-mail, news readers, reference, and personal information management have all been improved over my previous solutions. Futher, the smaller size of the iPad has meant it is very nearly always with me. I do not even feel the need to discuss the actual box. It’s an Apple product and its design, build quality, and tactile feel are all top notch.

In short, the iPad, far from being a toy, has increased my productivity, mostly by streamlining my daily information consumption and gathering. It also can serve as a content creation device, though that is clearly a secondary function. I recently took a trip and left my laptop behind. I didn’t miss it.

I do have a quibble. The big issue is Apple’s decision to stop selling screen protectors through the Apple Store. Big mistake. I get that they are trying to inculcate the idea with consumers that the iPad screen is durable. Of course it’s durable – it’s also glass! I first purchased a screen protector from Zagg (don’t) which I found fell short of the quality I would expect of a product designed for an Apple device. It was more than another month that I discovered that Power Support, the makers of great iPhone screen protection had an iPad screen. I ordered it. It has now arrived, it is on, but in so installing, I discovered that my iPad had somehow gotten a scratch on the screen. This does not happen to me – I am very careful about such things. Yet, somehow, a half inch scratch appeared on my iPad screen. If Apple had sold the PS screen protectors in the Apple Store, then this would not have happened as I would have bought one on the spot. Apple needs to get over whatever product angst it has and let consumers buy appropriate protection at the point of sale.

Apple’s screen hubris aside, the iPad is a fantastic product, far outpacing the putative competition.

It’s unclear to me what really happened – I did not follow the case as it unfolded. What is clear to me is that the prosecution failed to prove its case, and that is what matters.

We live in a country where rule of law prevails – one is not convicted in the court of public opinion no matter how ‘obvious’ a person’s guilt appears to be. Talking heads on various networks who have no access to the facts are nothing short of idiots. Pay no attention to them.

We live in a country where EVIDENCE is what is needed to convict, and evidence is what was lacking here. Did Casey murder her daughter? Maybe. Is she an icky person? You bet. But the prosecution failed to prove a capital crime against her. They even failed to prove that Caylee Anthony was murdered. The jury had no choice but to acquit, and I (who have been on a jury) would have done the same. It doesn’t matter that Caylee was found duck-taped and gnawed – horrific though that is – it matters only what you can prove. The prosecution failed to prove motive, method, or even opportunity. That’s what is needed to prosecute a murder, and they failed on the basics. This is a prosecutorial team that needs to be fired as they clearly are incompetent.

What I find really scary is those who are now making noises about killing Casey because she “got away with murder.”

I find the lynch mob mentality terrifying. The rule of law is under siege.

Let’s stipulate at the outset that I am not a supporter of Sarah Palin for president, and I very much hope she doesn’t run. I believe she is a flawed candidate as I posted here. I further will not under any circumstances vote for her in a primary (and her endorsement will carry no weight with me). Should she run however, and should it come down to voting for her or Obama, I will vote for Palin. Reluctantly.

At the same time, I have observed liberal friends treat her Old North Church impromptu remarks as some sort of disqualifier. Astounding. I listened to them (you can find them easily – I won’t link). She butchered the history here – but not the concepts. I am amused by the liberal reaction – Palin bungled her words and this disqualifies her from the presidency. Uh huh.

So Obama wasn’t disqualified by thinking there were 57 states. From thinking Austrian is a language. From thinking ‘corpsman’ is pronounced ‘corpse-man.’

I’m no Palin fan, but if the libs want to put up their guy versus her in who is more ignorant, I say BRING IT ON!

Sarah Palin does serve a worthy cause however. The inestimable Dr. Charles Krauthammer coined the phrase Bush Derangement Syndrome and it seems Sarah Palin has inherited that mantle. If she serves as a lighting rod for liberal insanity, then she serves the nation far better than she ever could as president.

At least it seems to pay well.

Scottish citizens might not be able to purchase English translations of Israeli masterpieces such as “A tale of love and darkness” by Amos Oz and “Someone to run with” by David Grossman, due to a boycott on Israeli books.

Two and a half years ago, shortly after Operation Cast Lead, the West Dunbartonshire Regional Council, located west of Glasgow, approved a bill that called to boycott goods produced in Israel.

According to the law, the council and all public bodies under its jurisdiction are forbidden to sell goods that originated from Israel.

Despicable. The full article is here. But for the first time, Scotland displays an anti-semitism of the sort which is more properly confined to Nazi Germany.

Shame on you Scotland. And until my Scottish cousins cease to support murdering terrorists because they are against the Jews, I will not buy another bottle of Scotch. I urge all of my readers to do the same.

Scotland wants to boycott Israeli goods? Then let the Scots feel the pain themselves. I will buy no more Scottish goods and I call for a boycott until they cease their despicable anti-semitism.

Update: While I’m at it, I’ll supplement my purchase of non-Scottish brown liquors with a search of some of these Israeli books that have Scotland so spooked. I hear some of them are pretty good novels.

Not so this time.

Indeed, one of my long-term readers (perhaps the only one) beat me by nearly a year. Nonetheless, MartiniPundit has now joined the iPad ranks.

It was not easy. It was, in fact, ridiculous. I had decided to wait for the second incarnation of the device, and then there were a couple of months before I felt free to spend the money. The iPad 2 was released March 11th, and by the beginning of May, I was all set. I assumed I could walk into the Apple Store and buy one. What a fool I was.

I had decided to combine the iPad purchase with other errands. I finished my other shopping and then went to the Apple Store. Now, if you’ve been to an Apple Store you will understand that sometimes the experience is a little too intense. I walked in, and was immediately asked “What brings you to the Apple Store today?” I knew, but didn’t feel like sharing. “Do you need a reason to visit the Apple Store?” I replied. “Yes,” came the unlooked for answer trailing behind me as I tried to head to the back of the store where the accessories are kept. On my way there I had to endure two additional employees/goalies. Once past their clutches, I looked for my purchases. Consider me weird – I do research and always know what I’m going to buy. I don’t need the saccharine Apple Store employees to help me out. I love Apple products, and I recognize how critical the retail experience is to them, but I don’t find it all that edifying.

Thus, when I was ready to be helped, all I really needed was for them to retrieve my iPad of choice. I was not prepared for them to say “no.” They were sold out!

I was shocked, but then I went out into the mall and sat down. I pulled out my iPhone and fired up the Apple Store app. After calling virtually every store within the range of my fuel tank, I began to realize something was not quite right. There were no iPads to be had. After returning home, I used my friend Google and discovered that there were organized groups – mostly Chinese – who were buying up iPad 2s as fast as they were being delivered. This was an arbitrage opportunity since the devices were not available in the Far East but people there were willing to spend up to three times the retail cost in the US to obtain one. Apple – for better or for worse – was encouraging this activity by not requiring the iPads to be activated in store (something that had been true for iPhones) and allowing customers to buy two. I read an article about scalping which made me realize that the iPads were not so easily obtained. A strategy would be needed.

So I set out to scan the Apple Stores near me. I decided that Hingham – far off the beaten track – was a good shot. I got up early, drove down, and parked, arriving about 7:30am. No one was around. Was this a good sign or a bad? I didn’t know. I had brought a book, so I camped out on the bench near to the Apple Store and waited. The women who used the outdoor mall for an exercise course went by more than once, and then a man arrived and was admitted. Prior to this, the only person I had seen at the Apple Store was the window washer (they do have a lot of glass). Over the next thirty minutes other employees arrived, and I was intrigued to see that I had not witnessed all of then arriving. A back door? I think so.

Next, a man drove up in a big BMW, and was admitted. Now it should be said that the Apple Store did not officially open until 10 am. Yet here we were at 8 am with some serious foot traffic. Another woman, also driving a big BMW arrived. I’m thinking this is the Apple Store in the morning. Of course, in theory, iPad sales would being at 9. As the key hour approached, I moved towards the door to position myself as first in line. Others also arrived, bolstering my confidence that I was on the right track.

At about 8:50am the Chinese arrived.

Yep, the stories were true. A Chinese man and two Chinese women arrived and got in line (on the opposite side of the door from me – nothing doing I thought). I imagined them buying my iPad and sending it for resale to Beijing. I chatted with the woman next to me. She was on her third trip to an Apple Store to buy an iPad. Eventually the salesgirl came out, and after some elaboration as to who was first in line, she announced that they only had a couple of 16GB models in stock. Well, I was only interested in a 64GB, and I knew that there was another Apple Store at the South Shore Plaza but a few minutes away. I dashed to the car and made a beeline for the mall.

Once I got there, all was peaceful. A woman mopping the entrance told me the store was not yet open. I knew that. Yet, as in Hingham, there were people inside, people coming by, and all sorts of activity. The Apple Stores are more than retail outlets it seems: they are training and educational facilities. Apple’s retail strategy is far more complex than their competitors and seems an integral component of their success in gaining market share over the last decade.

And then it happened. The Chinese arrived again. The same Chinese man who had been in Hingham, and trailed by his same molls. At least I had beaten them here. Eventually, another employee came out, and I talked to him, learning that they had had no delivery that morning and were out of iPad 2s. I was beginning to think this was ridiculous. I called other Apple Stores in the region and got the same answer. As I drove home, I decided to swing by the Apple Store in Cambridge where I was told that they had no deliveries on Monday, but any other day of the week would be good. Okay, so I went home, and the next morning went back. There, two lovely Apple Store employees informed me that they had had no delivery of iPad 2s that day. As I informed them that I had been told in this very store not even 24 hours before that this would not be the case, I was told that they never knew when they would get them in. Astonishing.

In disgust, I went home, and ordered one off the Apple website – two weeks to delivery. And so I waited.

About a week later I called the store in Cambridge out of curiosity. They did have some iPad 2s at one o’clock – Verizon models only (they don’t work overseas).

Then, as it happened, I did a little more research a couple of days later and discovered that the model I had ordered (the non 3G model) did not have GPS capability. Well, that’s pretty important I think, so I canceled the order. Nothing left to do but try the Apple Store lottery again. Thus, the next morning I drove over to Cambridge, but I didn’t try to get there especially early. Indeed, I think I got there a few minutes after ten – the official store opening. I asked about iPad 2s, and was directed to a fellow outside the store. I spoke to him. He had a stack of little pieces of paper in his hand. I told him what I wanted. He had a slip! Here it is:

Whoa, I thought – I’m actually going to get one of these suckers. And so it came to pass. Apple Store employee Sarah (I should have taken her picture too) came out and escorted me inside. She brought me the sacred box. I handed over the credit card and relished the irony of paying Apple hundreds of dollars for the privilege of buying their artificially scarce device. Sarah asked me if I needed anything else today, and I suggested an armed guard to escort me to my car would not be out of place.

Since then, I’ve been enjoying my new iPad 2. It is a fine device, and it is doing everything I expected of it. Apple, interestingly, has sent me several e-mails asking about my buying experience. I don’t think they want to know.