Earlier this morning, I was musing on why it is that people seem to prefer to believe a lie, rather than reject it.  I suspect it's because, if they don't know something is a lie to begin with and believe what they're told, finding out later that they were deceived is very upsetting.  It means they've been disrespected.

The natural reaction, if we're given a choice between having made a mistake or accepting the disrespect, is to opt for the former.  Every self-respecting person can make a mistake; being fooled challenges our self-confidence.  So, we resist it.

It isn't that we can't take the truth; it's that having been lied to is perceived as a threat and intimidating.  Which, of course, is the point.

We already know from his own admission that, instead of remaining silent, he lied to his Vietnamese captors in giving them the names of football players, instead of the names of his fellow pilots.  We also know that, subsequently, in the retelling of the story, he changed the identity of the teams, depending on where he was telling it.

Or is it just a matter of self-destruction?

John McCain is an old man.  It's to be expected that he would have lapses of memory and misspeak.  Indeed, the American public has learned during the last seven years to expect such behavior from its President.  Some even consider such fallibility evidence that not only can everyone dream of becoming President, but the leader of the greatest nation on earth is not very different from themselves.

But, at some point, evidence of persistent incompetence is no longer reassuring and turns into distress.  Which, no doubt, accounts for 28 percent approval rating now enjoyed by George W. Bush and would seem to argue that this pattern of lackadaisical attention to matters of state had worn out its welcome.  So, why does it persist?

Apparently, Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church has a way with words.  The Los Angeles Times, in a story on the upcoming Civil Forum for Obama and McCain at the megachurch, reports his assessment of the presumptive major party nominees as follows:

"America has a choice. It's not between a stud and a dud this year," Warren said. "Both of these men care about America. My job is to let them share their views."

Yeah, I know you don't want to hear it.  Some people here would rather sit around and snicker at George W. Bush saying something else stupid--this time while he's in China.  Think Progess has a pretty good summary, including the video that was pulled from YouTube because of a third party ownership claim.

Worthless stuff is usually not worth claiming.  But, that's not the only reason I'm going to give you an opportunity to reconsider whether what Bush said was stupid or part of an orchestrated campaign.  That NBC interrupted its coverage of the Olympics with this vignette may or may not be significant.

Let's go back to earlier in the week.

I love doing random searches.  They reveal such interesting stuff.  For example, in checking what our U.S. Air Force is up to, I found a report that maybe the cybercommand being located at Barksdale AF base isn't quite so important after all, because of the discovery of a large volume of natural gas in something known as the Haynesville Shale.
The Bayou Buzz reports:

Let's assume that the media advisers and producers who make a living, periodically, turning out advertising for political campaigns are imitative, like their peers who are employed full-time by the various media conglomerates, but not as talented.

This would explain, for example, why the soap opera that was the Clinton Administration, scripted by the Thomasons, was less successful than, for example, the longer-running "Friends."

I'm not trying to be snide, but have been struck for some time by the inferior quality of the output of the Wallywood transplants, as opposed to those who "make it" in Hollywood.

There's a good reason why the heads of organized criminal enterprises are typically charged with and convicted on tax evasion charges, rather the murders and extortions and corruption they supervise.  Our legal system is not only set up to deal with events after they occur, but is generally focused on the individuals who actually carry out an act.  And then, to complicate matters even more, the criminal law presumes that the perpetrator of an act derived or meant to derive some personal benefit.  Following orders to avoid dire consequences for oneself can, in the event of a successful prosecution, serve to mitigate the perpetrators guilt.  Which is why we have that revolving door conservatives complain about so much.

People on the internet are no different from others in jumping to the conclusion that when they consider something offensive, it was intended to offend them.  So, for example, there's considerable outrage over the little video, attributed to the McCain campaign, which insinuates that the Democratic presumptive nominee for President of the United States is arrogant, while the Republican presumptive nominee presumes to know for a fact that the Obama campaign is playing the "race card."  Many who have seen the video have been inclined to conclude that making sport of their candidate is designed to somehow dampen their interest and support.

But what if it's not?  What if, what is often identified as a Rovian tactic, actually plays to the Republican base and whoever else is inclined to feel resentment?

Just because it's good to know what's being discussed, have a look at the video over the fold.

So, I ran across a story the other day about the Governor of New Mexico inking four agreements with the United States Air Force promoting "green energy." Since I'd earlier found reports about the Air Force looking at building nuclear energy plants on bases and, considering that the Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, has a long history, since his tenure as Secretary of Energy, of promoting nuclear, I had to check this newest endeavor out.  But, lo and behold, no nukes.  But everything else:

Not me.  I think assassinating people by remote control is both unethical and cowardly.  Apparently, some of the leaders of our Air Force aren't too comfortable with that they've been doing, either.

Air Force officer in Alaska dies in likely suicide

By DAN JOLING –

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AP) — The officer who commands an air force wing in Alaska has died of a gunshot wound that likely was self-inflicted, authorities said Monday.
....
Tinsley was named base commander in May 2007. He had served as an F-15 instructor pilot, F-15C test pilot, wing weapons officer, exchange officer and instructor with the Royal Australian Air Force.

His previous 22-month assignment was executive officer to the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Mosely, who resigned in June under pressure in an agency shake-up.
....
Walberg said Tinsley was not under investigation or undue stress.

Actions speak louder than words.

Ronald Brownstein, writing in the National Journal (subscription required) while Barack Obama was still out of the country, proved quite prescient when he opined:

All that is left for Obama is to enjoy cheering crowds during his trip's quick European leg, which began with his Thursday speech in Berlin. Yet that very adoration--which is reflected in polls showing that the European public vastly prefers him to McCain--may represent the trip's sole remaining political danger for the Democrat. U.S. conservatives are poised to argue that Obama's popularity with audiences abroad ought to raise doubts among Americans at home.

And he cites the precedent of candidate John Kerry being skewered in 2004 for his claimed support from foreign leaders--and for being French, though Brownstein doesn't refer to that at this point.

John McCain is a small, petty man who takes comfort in other people's distress.  How do I know that?  It's what I oberved during his so-called "Town Hall" at the Rochester, New Hampshire Opera House this week.

Doing something because somebody else is doing it, not doing it, planning to do it or even failing to do it, is a juvenile way to behave--a sign that the person is unsure of what is wanted, undecided and fearful of making a mistake.  I think of such people as "I'll have what you're having" friends, slightly annoying but predictable.  At least, one can calculate how much lunch is going to cost ahead of time.

But, I would have changed the title from "Self-serve and slave" to "Self-service and voluntary servitude" to make the construction more parallel and invoke the historical context.  We assume that to slave is to work without compensation, but not only is the involuntary nature of the historical practice of slavery crucial, it's the subordination of one person to another that's determinative.  Indeed, I would argue that we are confronting a twenty-first century variant of an old agenda--to make a significant percentage of the population carry out the dictates of the few, without compensation.

Derrick Jackson offers the following in today's Boston Globe.

Fencing out fields of dreams
By Derrick Z. Jackson
July 15, 2008

SO MUCH for romantic visions of families bicycling together, with little Johnny and Jamila wobbling on training wheels. So much for teens who actually disconnect from Facebook for facetime, community cleanup, and - good heavens - exercise.

No, no, no. Some people are so divorced from society that they see this as almost evil.

While it is being bruited about that the Administration is planning for a somewhat earlier withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, if Secretary Gates is counting on protecting the bases with robots and drones, he might want to think again.

In any event, the United States Air Force is demonstrating lots of enterprise.

As someone who's just returned from a cross-country rail treck from New Hampshire to New Mexico and back, I can tell you that there are a bunch of things we need more than new air bases and fighter planes being taken on European jaunts.  For starters, how about some more track so freigh trains aren't held up by passenger trains and passenger trains aren't shunted aside to let the freight get by.  And how about some over-passes for farm roads so the train whistles don't have to rend the country-side day and night with their caterwauling as they roll by?  Never mind robbing the passengers of their sleep.