Federal Employment

A great deal of hay was made recently regarding government employment and Mr. Obama's affect thereof.

The only category of government employment that Mr. Obama controls is those employees of the federal government.  So how has he affected total federal employment?

 

As anyone can see, it has gone up over the last few years.  The increase has been from 4,206,000 employees in 2008 to 4,443,000 in 2010.  I didn't find numbers for 2012.

Pie by thumb, I'd call that about a 5% increase.

Honored Allies

We pause to honor our Australian allies.  They lost five soldiers in Afghanistan last week.

Australia has fought alongside the U.S. in every modern war in which we have been involved.  They have been staunch allies in the fight for freedom.

Australian plans to begin withdrawing troops once the Afghan battalion is fully trained, as early as next year. Gillard said the latest bloodshed would not speed up that timeline.

"Our strategy is well defined, our strategy is constant. And we cannot allow even the most grievous of losses to change our strategy," Gillard said. "We are there for a purpose and we will see that purpose through."  

And they fight until the end.

Scalzi Blogs About...

Careful, folks.  A fair ramble lies ahead.

Author John Scalzi has been touted by the Blogfather as being a latter day Robert Heinlein.  I am partial to Mr. Heinlein's work, so I began following Mr. Scalzi's blog some time ago.

I still have yet to read any of his sci-fi.  "The Old Man's War" is sitting on the kitchen table.  Soon....

Back to his blog, he recently announced that his publisher had put a whole bunch of e-books on sale.  He even included a nifty link.

Lo and behold, what do I find?  Books by Peter V. Brett.  Also books by Robert Silverberg!  I've been reading Mr. Silverberg's work for almost 40 years.

The sale is good for the entire month of September.  If you use an e-reader, like the Kindle, then you might find some good reading in your future.

Back to Mr. Scalzi's blog again, but finding it was a bit of queer luck.  Glenn Reynolds leans pretty heavily toward the libertarian end of things.  At least, within the American political scale, he is a much of a libertarian as Barack Obama is a socialist.  Which is to say that he's not in the perceived center of American politics, but he ain't exactly way out on the fringe either.

Mr. Scalzi's politics tend to lean towards the left; not unreasonably so.  And yet Mr. Reynolds repeatedly plugs just about anything that Mr. Scalzi puts on paper.

I believe the line is firmly drawn at any works on paper that Mr. Scalzi might create in his bathroom.

Mr. Scalzi's blog is well worth your time.  I get it via my email.  He is pretty reader friendly when it comes to naming his entries.  His book recommendations are clearly marked.  I don't have time to read three books a week...although I do try....so I can skip those without reading.

Or at least, I should ignore his recommendations.  But I can't when it involves Neal Peart of Rush!

I am doomed....


Mr. Scalzi has discussed any number of interesting issues over the last couple of months.  One series in particular was about perceptions of presence and when a person steps over the line from friendly into seriously creepy behavior. 

He also touched on Todd Akin in some interesting and and also some predicatable ways.

Mr. Scalzi swings a mighty Mallet of Loving Correction.  So the comments on his blog are more polite than others.  [grumble...I could do the same thing but I don't get enough comments to swing a dead cat, much less a MoLC, at....grumble]

Having rambled on for a bit, you might wonder where all this is going.  Well, you are already there.  Lots of good reading.  Civil exchanges of ideas.  Go forth and be satiated!

Sexual Harassment In The Bush Administration

Why didn't we hear more?  Oopsie!  Wrong label!

As the Blogfather has sagely observed, this sort of thing gets less media play when the Democrats are in the White House.

Amazing Grace Indeed

Spreading peace where e'er they go.

This version works too.

Wishing you all the best on Patriot's Day, 2012.  Never forget the price that was paid for our freedom.

Ride It Like Luke!

A nifty looking contraption, no?  More on the story here.

I Needed That

There is a list of "tear jerker" stories involving pets/animals dying.

But I guess I really needed this one...and this one.  Man, I miss my puppies.