Running at the Mouth

Five at Five

Power Line goodness: Hindrocket joins the Wild Goose Chase and Deacon fisks an article in the Weekly Standard on John Kerry's first hundred days, adding this jibe for good measure. For my part, what scares me the most about John Kerry's foreign policy is that he's learned absolutely nothing from spending 20+ years on the wrong side of every important foreign policy issue. I mean, isn't there some adage about the insanity defined as performing the same acts over and over but expecting different results? And what scares me about John Kerry generally is that, as Hindrocket points out, he's a big fat liar.

My wife will be thrilled that I have yet another reason to despise China's national athletic program (you know, besides how they take small children away from their families to insert them into the country's vast athletic machinery): Olympic hurdling champion Liu Xiang will endorse cigarettes for a large Chinese manufacturer. It's not Liu's fault, by the way; China's Track & Field Association decides which companies its athletes will endorse, and keeps some (read: most) of the money earned therefrom.

More on Kerry not being what he's reputed to be: Steve Sailer, founder of the Human Biodiversity Institute, painstakingly makes the case that, from an IQ standpoint, the President is smarter than Senator Kerry. It's a long, dense post, but worth the effort.

George Will tactfully explains that, when it comes to voting, the Left is too quick to blame others for the mistakes of the stupid, lazy and careless:

Can liberals accept that an undervote usually reflects either voter carelessness, for which the voter suffers the condign punishment of an unrecorded preference, or reflects the voter's choice not to express a preference? No, otherwise they would not be liberals: obsessive about rights, blind to responsibilities.

The triumphant return of Herbert Kornfeld.

Tonight's Horn of Plenty

I've been remiss with my five at five promise for the last two days, so I'll try to make up for it with the following cornucopia of good stuff:

As Charles Johnson notes, Israel got another one in Gaza today. And a big fish, too: the aptly-named Adnan al-Ghoul, Hamas' second-in-command. I always enjoy reading about another murderous coward being turned into a smoking crater, despite the usual sickening anti-Israel slant with which the story is reported (and the link above is no exception).

Laura Bush is all class.

Two thoughts on the Red Sox' stunning victory over the Yankees: (1) I couldn't have said it any better than attorney / blogger / friend Don Burton does here; I love the prospect of hearing the phrase "The Yankees -- the team with the worst collapse in post-season history" for the next ten years; and (2) it's so agreeable to be proven right.

To paraphrase Hugh Hewitt on the Democrats and the election, "If it's close, they'll cheat." The Kerry campaign has released their latest strategy for doing just that. I can't decide if I'm more stunned or appalled and the shortsightedness of the Democratic party that they'd like nothing more than to piss on 200 years of democracy to gain some perceived "revenge" against the President.

A dose of perspective on what's going on on the ground in Iraq, from Instapundit and his correspondents.

Saddam Hussein's Philanthropy of Terror. Next time someone reflexively fires up the "No link between Saddam and Al Quaeda" nonsense, show them this. And in case they question your source, the guy who put it together is a Media Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and contributing editor to National Review.

Contemporary rock stars are getting together to re-record the Band-Aid hit, "Do They Know it's Christmas?" So, a bunch of super-wealthy recording artists are getting together to record a song that's already been written, using the same music and lyrics. It's literally the very least they could do. (Link via Truth Laid Bear; the title to his post by itself is worth clicking the link.)

Kevin Aylward interviews John E. O'Neill of the Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth. Mr. O'Neill has worthwhile thoughts on John Effin' Kerry and mainstream media.

Five Easy Pieces

Another fantastic ad highlighting John Kerry's "opportunistic oppositionism." Why isn't the RNC running stuff like this?

Edward Prescott, Nobel laureate in economics, reaffirms the adage that no country can tax itself into prosperity:

Prescott, speaking from Minnesota, where he advises the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, described Kerry's plan to roll back tax cuts for top wage-earners as counterproductive.

"The idea that you can increase taxes and stimulate the economy is pretty damn stupid," he said.

Instapundit, from whom this link was shamelessly culled, is surprised this isn't getting more attention. Frankly, I'm not.

General Tommy Franks puts the lie to John Kerry's repeated assertion that President Bush let Osama bin Laden escape in Afganistan by "outsourcing the job" to Afghan strongmen. Problem is, it's probably not enough to unring the bell. That's what's so disgusting about the left, and it really came into sharp relief during the 9/11 Commission hearings: the left would rather twist the facts or outright lie to get the soundbite than present their plans and platform. Probably because they have no real plans and their platform is supported by a couple of coffee stirrers taped together.

Okay, that's three items about John Kerry. Enough.

I can kinda see how when you're a 17 year-old boy, having an affair with your high school's cheerleading coach/English teacher seems like it would be great. But not when she looks like 90 miles of bad road. Yikes.

Yet another reason why I hate people: mom gets 18 months in jail for helping her 5 year-old son smoke crack. (Link via Obscure Store.)

Saucony Gets It; Nike Doesn't

Great interview in USA Today with John Fisher, CEO of Saucony athletic apparel. In sales dollars, Nike tops Saucony nearly 100 fold, yet Saucony's stock has risen 369% to Nike's 38%. Fisher says that Saucony is successful thanks to efficient management and building brand loyalty:

Q: But doesn't that fly in the face of the premise of this Q&A? It sounds like Saucony has to become part of a bigger company to succeed.

A: I would agree if you changed the word bigger to stronger. There are alternatives in how to get there. If we were to go into a specialty running shop and say we're going to run a $50 million ad campaign for a new shoe, they would say, "That's nice, but are you going to have a clinic Tuesday when the Happy Valley Roadrunners are coming into my store?" It's not just size, but the whole brand charisma. Smaller companies can compete by conducting technical clinics, launch parties, accompanying some customers on weekly runs, doing a lot of really grass-roots and guerrilla marketing. Our goal is to double the size of our business in five years, and we feel we can do it organically.

Q: You mentioned advertising. That seems like a huge disadvantage. Saucony allocates 8% of sales to ads and promotion. Even if you doubled that, it would be a tiny fraction of what Nike spends.

A: Nike pays Tiger Woods more money than Saucony may spend in this decade. Now, that's a challenge. We can build product with anybody. We have a management team equal to any company. We don't have enough advertising money to just go out and bang a drum and be heard. Opportunity is in grass-roots programs. We've created something called Saucony 26. We find 26 people running the 26 miles of marathons. One is a 91-year-old man who has run 10 consecutive marathons. There's a girl who was a burn victim at 3, and they said she'd never walk again. There is a blind runner. Fabulous stories. They are human interest, touchy-feely stories. It's enabled us to touch the hearts of runners. Thirty thousand people will run the New York marathon, and I'll almost guarantee that most know of the 26 program.

* * * *

Q: Why has Saucony had two great years?

A: It's basic and almost embarrassing to utter. We've undergone a 60-month program. Our goal is to be one of the best-managed companies in our subset. It sounds simple, but every decision you make you have to step back and say: Is this a best practice, or is there a better way to do it? In the last five or six years, it became evident that building a better mousetrap wasn't enough. If you look at our metrics — inventory turn, day sales outstanding, accounts receivables — all the things an investment banker or an analyst would look at, we're starting to come out at or near the top.

To my mind, the key difference between Saucony and Nike is that Saucony builds brand loyalty by making a great product (thanks to their specialization in running shoes) at a reasonable price point (efficient management); Nike builds brand loyalty by marketing an image. Frankly, image is all Nike has to market to runners, since most of their shoes are crap (excepting the Bowerman Series).

The fact of the matter is that Nike will never develop any real brand loyalty among runners because they discontinue their shoes so often. Every Nike running shoe I've ever liked was discontinued after its first or second season. (They haven't made a decent high-mileage trainer since the Air Max 180, nor a decent racing flat since the Air Mariah.) I want to stick with the shoe that I've been successful with. Companies like Brooks, Saucony and Mizuno understand this, and change their lines very little from year to year. Nike chases or leads every trend and fad so that a runner can't get the same shoe twice. Unlike a company like Saucony, Nike would rather sell two pairs of mediocre shoes to 10 million people, then move on to the next fad, than sell 10 pairs of great shoes to 2 million people. (If you think this is an urealistic example, ask any dedicated runner how many pairs of shoes they buy in a year -- I'll bet the answer is at least five.)

That's why Nike isn't the runner's choice, which is ironic given the fact that Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight started Blue Ribbon Sports (Nike's predecessor) to serve the distance running community. Of course, they may not care. But I'll give my money to a company like Saucony or Brooks -- and I have, repeatedly -- because I know that they know what's important to me.

Five at Five

I seem to recall some rhetoric from John Kerry during the first debate criticizing the President for weakening our domestic law enforcement and other first responders. Accordingly, Kerry implied that he, not the President, was the candidate of choice of our police and firefighters. Not so:

Today Chuck Canterbury, the President of the nation’s largest police labor organization, called on John Kerry to stop making misleading statements regarding his support from the law enforcement community. Both on the campaign trail and in Wednesday night’s debate in Tempe, AZ, Senator Kerry has alluded that he has the support of the majority of these brave men and women.

“As the elected leader of the largest organization representing America’s Federal, State and local law enforcement officers, I believe it’s important to point out yet again that we do not support his candidacy for President,” Canterbury said. “And to be perfectly frank, the groups which do support him actually share the same membership rolls and, taken together, probably comprise less than one-quarter of our nation’s police officers.”

Canterbury further noted that unlike the organizations which Senator Kerry touts, F.O.P. members as a whole decided that the Fraternal Order of Police would endorse the reelection of President George W. Bush. They based their decision, he said, on the record of the Bush Administration in supporting America’s first responders-including helping to secure passage earlier this year of H.R. 218, the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, the organization’s top legislative priority. Bush also successfully fought to greatly enhance the benefits for the families of officers killed in the line of duty.

Canterbury goes on to make some very pointed remarks concerning the Johns' dereliction of their Senatorial duties. (Link via LGF.)

News from Bud Norton's home town: Defiance, Ohio man paid in crack cocaine to register voters. Shockingly, the guy falsified the forms himself so he could get the crack. I mean, if you can't trust a crackhead, who can you trust?

Tim Layden, who is kind of a jackass, is apparently SI's token contrarian columnist. In this column he throws cold water on the notion that the U.S.'s brilliant showing in the Olympic marathon can't be credited to American training programs learning from our admittedly more successful African counterparts. Instead, Layden chalks it up to good luck and good genetics. As a sidenote, he remains fixated on performance-enhancing drugs, making a snide remark smearing African athletes, which is completely assinine. Every study ever done of how the Kenyans and Ethiopians train chalks up their success to training volume, pace, single-mindedness and the physiological advantages of living and training at altitude.

Bushkilledsuperman.com. John Edwards would be so proud. Of course, it is of no moment that Mr. Reeve himself didn't put much stock in embryonic stem cell research, or that there is no federal ban on stem cell research, or that scientists, to date, have had virtually no success in curing anything using embryonic stem cells.

Kevin Aylward humorously references one of the more ridiculous episodes in U.S. foreign policy history.

Seven/Ten Split

Since I blew you guys off yesterday, you get a couple extra doses of my inane prattle today:

I was going to put this at the bottom, but I didn't think anyone would read that far and I'd miss out on tooting my own horn. I ran the Columbus Marathon this morning, notching a personal best 2:55:43 in cold, windy conditions. I'm pleased with the effort, especially considering that at Mile 12 a volunteer handed me a letter of resignation from my left hamstring. Big ups to my buddy John, who chased me down to hand me my second bottle of electrolyte replacement at 18 miles.

Charles Johnson calls John Kerry "a self-aggrandizing liar of the worst sort". Deservedly so; check out Lurpy's paltry list of achievements in two decades in the Senate. It's really quite stunning. Notice that 2 of the 5 of the bills he sponsored that actually became law (yeah, five in 20 friggin' years) had to do with naming a building after a WWII hero and granting someone citizenship. Worthy endeavors, to be sure, but not exactly complex or substantive.

I was talking to a good friend (and frequent, funny, commentor to this site) yesterday, who likened the Democratic strategy in this election to the barbarians at the gate leading to the fall of the Roman Empire. In other words, Democrats and their minions (like MoveOn.org) figure they can throw enough lies out that Republicans can't possibly counter them all. Let the bodies pile up; we'll eventually break through. That seems to be their strategy with this draft nonsense. Today, the President had to respond yet again to ridiculous allegations that he's going to reinstate the draft, even though the bill to do just that was introduced by two Democrats. What a waste of everyone's time (also part of the Dems' strategy, no doubt; make the President focus on the lies so he can't get to the substance of his plans).

There's something else noteworthy in the article. Kerry is apparently accusing the President of being responsible for the flu vaccine shortage. Putting aside the fact that a flu vaccine is not like the polio vaccine; it's a luxury, one we managed to do without for decades, nor is it particularly effective. Tell your kids to dress warm and stop being such wussies. Okay, got sidetracked there. Where I was really going with this is that it reminds me of a Bloom County strip in which the members of the Meadow Party are sitting around blaming everything on James Watt. Eventually, Portnoy pipes up, "Watt's behind my aunt's gout!" Change "Watt" to "Bush" and that pretty much sums up the Dems' position on everything.

There's apparently an "Apologize for America" movement, sponsored by some whackjobs calling themselves "The Fellowship of Reconciliation." I guess they go around taking pictures of themselves holding up signs that say sorry for whatever foreign policy actions we've taken this week. You can see what I'm talking about at Power Line. While Hindrocket supplies the contempt, Tim Blair supplies the mockery. You owe it to yourself to check out the Tim Blair link. And share it with someone you love.

U.S. News' John Leo pummels Dan Okrent the NYT, and both deservedly. (Link via Spoons, in turn via Mrs. Spoons.)

David Zucker, of Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane, and Naked Gun fame, has created a brief and humorous look at John Kerry's flip-flops. (Link via everybody.)

Did you happen to hear about the vile poster Tennessee Democrats were disseminating last week? Craig Fitzhugh, the politician from whose office the poster originated, is, predictably, blaming the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

The 5 O'Clock 5

This headline reveals the NYT's stunning ignorance of Yankee/Red Sox history: "Yankees Now Have History on Their Side." Peep this, via Bill Simmons:

Since World War I ended, the Yankees have a 26-0 advantage in championships. They've gotten the best of Boston in just about every major encounter, most famously in 1949, 1978, 1999 and 2003. And they bought the most famous baseball player of all time from the Red Sox for $100,000 right as he was entering his prime.

Now they have history on their side?

I've stopped checking BoingBoing on any regular basis, mainly because I grew tired of Mark Frauenfelder swallowing every anti-Bush hoax hook, line and sinker. But every once in a while I check, and every once in a great while there's something good. Today is one of those days: T-Shirts from Real Genius, including the fantastic "I Heart Toxic Waste" and "Surf Nicaragua" tees. Sweeeet.

Media Research Center's Free Market Project finds that the media lauded President Clinton but deride President Bush about the state of the economy, even though the Bush economy is actually stronger in terms of job creation, unemployment reduction, and economic growth. Shocking.

Michele at A Small Victory posts a Presidential speech she'd like to hear. Trust me, it kicks the hell out of the one Andy Rooney suggested.

Finally, from the Bad Idea Jeans Dept. comes word of Ralph Macchio playing himself in a sitcom -- "a middle-aged father living on Long Island and dealing with his former celebrity." All of Macchio's shortcomings as an actor aside, I'm thinkin' this is going to be difficult to pull off if Macchio still looks like he's 13 and about to start crying at any moment. Note also that Guy Ritchie is going to start filming Revolver, a story about a cardplayer (the incomparable Jason Statham) who loses a bunch of money to a crime lord. I think I liked that movie better when it was called Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.

Friday Night Lights

Two Leonard High School (Texas) football players were arrested on Friday, an hour and a half before that evening's kickoff. It seems the players were involved in a donnybrook in which a nineteen year-old was beaten over the head with a metal bar. Thing is, the players made bail by halftime and were on the field in the second half, just in time for one to score the winning touchdown. Their coach manages to defend his decision with moral equivocation and by, predictably, playing the race card:

"The only two people that have been arrested are the two black athletes from Leonard, not the white kids from Leonard, not the kids from Blue Ridge, not anybody else -- just the two black kids from Leonard," said head coach Gerald James. "Now that looks like that was singled out. They could have chose to serve those warrants from Monday to Friday, and they chose to do that at 6 o'clock on Friday."

James defended his position on allowing the boys to play in the game after their release from jail saying: "From the information that we got, they were charged with a misdemeanor assault which could be anything from a fight to slapping somebody to anything else. No other kids were served that night, and to my knowledge nobody else has been arrested to this point. And, I know there was at least 10-15 involved in that deal."

The coach is saying that because the police didn't arrest everyone, they shouldn't have arrested anyone. Additionally, he's telling his players, whom he is trusted to lead by word and deed, that committing assault is permissible. He's also awfully quick to assume that his players were arrested because they're black, not because, say, they were identified as the ones who clubbed the 19 year-old over the head with the metal bar.

Course, the players didn't get off scot-free; they did have to run ten miles. Another example of why some athletes, from high school on up, have such outsized senses of entitlement that they act as though they needn't respect us or our laws.

Five at Five

I'm back from the D, and damn glad of it. Nothing against Detroit, it's just that I don't like being away from home; I miss my wife, I miss my dogs, I sleep like crap. It just throws off my whole routine -- which is a big deal for me. As an example of how important it is to me to have a routine, three months ago Rumpke changed the day of our garbage pickup from Tuesday to Wednesday, and putting out the garbage on Tuesday night instead of Monday still leaves me feeling agitated and ill-at-ease. On my cremation urn will be engraved: "Adjust. Because I cannot."

Anyway, on to the links:

The reason that I like Power Line so much is that I always find something I like. Today, the Big Trunk breaks down last night's debate. This observation in particular resonated with me:

I was struck by Kerry's two overriding themes last night: 1.6 million jobs have been lost under President Bush, and the Bush tax cuts unfairly reduced taxes on the top 1 percent of income earners. Kerry's point on job loss ignores every relevant fact, including job growth since the Bush tax cuts became effective. Preeminently (to my mind), Kerry's point on job loss under the Bush administration ignores the devastating economic impact of 9/11. In that sense Kerry's point is of a piece with Kerry's critique of the Bush foreign policy and avowed goal of defeating terrorism -- 9/10 all the way.

Kerry's point on the Bush tax cuts ignores the fact that the top 1 percent of income earners pay approximately 30 percent of all income taxes. It would be nice to know what Kerry thinks the fair share of taxes paid by the top 1 percent should be. In any event, Kerry's refrain regarding the top 1 percent hit the traditional Democratic theme of class envy. Is it a winner? I hope not.

Emphasis mine. Trunk makes these points for the first time that I've seen. Shouldn't more people (like the President) be talking about these things? Especially considering that John Kerry himself has opted not to pay higher taxes while voting to raise everyone else's?

Via Bud Norton, the homepage of the Meatloaf tribute band Peatloaf. According to the lead singer's biography, he got in an accident that rendered him housebound for the better part of a decade, during which time he ballooned up to 22 stone. If you skip the photo gallery, you're really doing yourself a disservice. He's even gained the endorsement of Meatloaf himself.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'd rather ride a Segue than this ill-conceived contraption.

License to Steal update: The Supremes have refused to hear the RIAA's appeal of the D.C. Circuit's opinion that the recording industry can't use the DMCA to obtain the identities of file-sharers from ISPs by ordinary subpoena. Good on 'em.

When I saw this item on Drudge concerning the DNC's plan to cry "Voter Intimidation!" by Republicans, especially where none exists, I thought about ranting as to how shortsighted and repugnant such tactics are. Vodkapundit beat me to it, and is much more eloquent and powerful than I could have hoped to be. (Last link via Instapundit.)

Cinco a Cinco

I'm in Detroit until Wednesday, so this is likely going to be my last post until then:

If you're dog is big, or a chewer, or a big chewer, Lab Tested is a great site. The proprietor puts different dog products through their paces with the help of Starbuck, his 9 month-old chocolate lab. (Link, appropriately enough, via the Puppy Blender).

The Denver Post has a nice fluff interview of Bob Kennedy, the best American distance runner since Steve Prefontaine, which contains this startling revelation:

Training with the Kenyans opened Kennedy's eyes to how fast he could push himself in training, but now he wishes he'd tried training at altitude sooner.

"Without doing the research on this, I think I am the only person ever to run under 13 minutes (in the 5,000 meters) and never train at altitude," Kennedy said. "Maybe I would have run 12:50. We'll never know. Everyone else is doing it and being successful, so maybe it would have been a benefit."

If Kennedy never trained at altitude, his accomplishments are even more amazing (as is his or his coaches' ignorance -- Americans such as Frank Shorter were training at altitude in the early '70s with great results). That's like becoming a world-class Italian chef without using garlic.

One quibble with the Post piece, though. It says Kennedy is a lifelong Indiana resident. Not so; Kennedy attended high school here in Ohio at Westerville North, a suburb of Columbus.

For today's edition of "The Litigation Lottery," we go to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where three men have waited until eleven years after the fact to sue the director of Dazed and Confused (one of the all-time great movies -- "You got a joint, man?" No, not on me, man." "It'd be a lot cooler if you did.") for using characters with their last names and likenesses without permission. Unlike Jay and Silent Bob, however, they're not too thrilled about being portrayed as stoners. Naturally, all three of the guys still live in the same town where they went to high school.

More Krauthammer: The Case for Fearmongering. I celebrate the man's entire catalogue. (Link via LGF.)

Sean "P-Diddy" Combs (Worst. Nickname. Evar.) wants to rally 40 million (his generous estimate) "hip hop voters" to the polls. Note to Sean: the reason why politicians don't pander to 18-24 year olds is because they don't show up to vote. There may be fewer elderly, but they turn out in far greater numbers than the kids. Whatever. Charles Johnson supplies the appropriate mockery.