The Dogs Of War

From Liberty At All Costs

h/t to Blackfive for the image.

Remember to honor those that served our nation so well, and the price they paid for our liberty.  This day and all year long.

Baiting The Hook With Stars

A few years ago, Sherwood treated us to a spectacular image of the Milky Way.

I would like to return the favor.  While this video is supposed to be a time lapse of four telescopes in operation, your eye will be continually drawn to the passing astral scene in the back ground.  This is the coolest thing you will see today.

Watching the telescopes is fun as well.  I demonstrated a fair amount of ignorance in my now defunct blog over the use of lasers to aid in viewing stars.  The time lapse shows one of the telescopes using that technology on several occasions.  Also, you will see the doors open and close, panels will be raised and lowered in the open doorways, and other ports/windows/doors will open and close as well.

Quite the interesting display!

The Trouble With Socialists

Yup.

Actually I’d say it’s fairly typical. The more they talk about equality, the more they implement aristocracy.

Political Media Survey

Being done by one of Glenn Reynold's colleagues.  It takes about 15 minutes to complete.

If you have the time, I'm sure they would be glad to have your answers.

Hypersonic Railgun

Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of this one....

Burn That Qu'ran - Iranian Edition

I think I could come to like these guys. 

The biggest difference between these guys and the nutjob in Florida that did the same thing?  The nutjob lives in a free country where free speech is prized more highly than religious sensitivities.  As a result, the likelihood that he will ever pay anything more than a modest "price" for his "offense is quite low.

Conversely, the two guys in the video face a variety of pretty horrific deaths if their identities ever become know.  They are courageous heroes in every sense.

The Saving Grace Of Technology

It is always "too soon to tell"  whenever the cutting edge of science and engineering momentarily intrudes on our world.  However, with petroleum headed upwards from $100 a barrel and petro-dollars fueling terrorism around the globe, the development of a new, high-efficiency engine couldn't be more timely.

Michigan State University Professor Norbert Mueller has been working on the design of a new method for converting gasoline into energy.  His engine is called the "Wave Disc Generator". 

As I understand his explanation, the WDG spins to compress gasoline mixed with air.  The mixture is ignited at high pressures which in turn unleashes the energy stored in the gasoline.  What makes this approach remarkable is that it couples an inexpensive to build motor with very high efficiency.  Current piston styled engines use 15 percent of the fuel they consume for propulsion.  The rest of the fuel's energy is spent as heat.  The WDG uses 60 percent of the fuel for propulsion.  The result is an engine that is 3.5 times as efficient.

As an added benefit, the WDG design also reduces pollutants by as much as 90 percent.

The WDG design is perfect for our currently evolving hybrid vehicles.  The WDG engine operates most efficiently at one particular speed.  Connecting the engine to a generator would provide a highly efficient means of recharging batteries in a hybrid vehicle.

With hybrids reaching 40 mpg, converting those existing designs to use the Wave Disc Generator should result in fuel efficiencies in the 120 to 140 mpg range.

Norbert Mueller and his Wave Disc Generator engine:

The Death Penalty From A Lawyer's Perspective

David Dow is a law professor.  He is also a lawyer that devotes most of his non-teaching time to defending death row inmates.  Terry Gross' interview of Mr. Dow was recently replayed on NPR.  The page on NPR's site includes a brief passage from his book "The Autobiography Of An Execution".

The audio should be up in the evening of April 8, 2011.  I have no idea when this post will be published at this point.

At one point, Ms. Gross demonstrates why I dislike her show.  Rather than asking Mr. Dow what sort of people he imagined meeting on death row and how did reality square with his preconceptions, she fills in the blanks so that the only thing he has left to say is "yes".  I was really more interested in hearing his thoughts rather than having her spoon feed him during the interview.

An anachronism reared its' ugly head while reading the excerpt from his book.  He writes:

Maybe, I said, we had called something by the wrong name. You might think that when a life is at stake, formal legal rules would not matter so much, but you would be wrong. People die when their lawyers neglect to dot the i's or cross the t's. I decided we would refile what we had already filed, and just call it something different. Because I couldn't think of any other explanation, I convinced myself the problem was with the title. Necessity's eldest child is invention; her second-born is rationalization. Gary's the fastest typist. I asked him to get started working on it.

Yet during the interview, he revealed how judges become sloppy in their execution of the law when it comes to the prosecution of irredeemable defendants.  He perceives that those judges decide that issues regarding the administration of our laws (i.e. evidentiary rules, due process, etc.) simply matter less when someone who is clearly a person of malintent stands before them in court.

Considering that a life hangs in the balance, shouldn't our courts ensure that every lawyer is dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's?  Not just the lawyers for the defendant?  For the one act of punishment that cannot be undone, shouldn't our courts be particularly cautious instead of being more cavalier?

Not unlike other issues, I am conflicted when it comes to the death penalty.  There are some murders where we know that the accused is truly guilty.  In many of those cases, it seems to me that taking the life of the murderer is a just and appropriate punishment.

At the same time, it seems to me that we have too low a standard for prosecutorial conduct when it comes to pursuing the death penalty.  And apparently we have too low of a standard for judicial conduct in such cases as well.  Perhaps their lives should hang in the balance as well.

I do not want to preclude the imposition of justice on the truly worthy.  The death of Timothy McVeigh comes quickly to mind when thinking of the truly worthy.  At the same time, I do not want to see the innocent die, nor do I want to see mitigating circumstances, evidentiary rules, and rules of judicial conduct ignored in a head long rush towards the unjust imposition of capital punishment.

The interview with Mr. Dow is indeed enlightening and interesting.  I hope you will enjoy listening to it.

Global Temperature Data

Ran across this item:

March 2011 ended up as the coolest March globally since March of 1994. The actual global temperature anomaly for the lower troposphere last month was negative 0.026 C.

This is also the first month since June of 2008 that the global temperature anomaly was in the negative.

Which seems important in that last year we started kayaking in early March and this year we haven't yet gotten our boats wet.

Gabriel Iglesias - Fluffy!!

Love that GPS!!  Uh-huh!  Oh yeah!

Gabriel Iglesias - A Racist???!!??

 I hate laughing that hard when I know I'm not supposed to laughing at all.

Education By Sound Reasoning.....Or Politics?

I bet you thought that President Obama's education policies were going to be based on fact, science, efficacy, a similar high minded ideals.  Ummmm......nope.

Fiscal Analogy

Most analogies fail at some point.  But sometimes they are quite useful.

As a country, we have a problem with debt and with deficits.  We are in a fiscal hole. Call it a 100 yard deep hole.

Wisconsin's Paul Ryan has presented a plan that is the fiscal equivalent of 80 yards of sturdy rope.

Harry Reid and the Democrats are offering the fiscal equivalent of 30 yards of light twine.  You couldn't start building a sturdy rope with it.

John Boehner are is negotiating for 60 yards of light twine.

You are at the bottom of that 100 yard deep hole.  Which option do you want coming to the rescue?

Death And Taxes.....Well Just Taxes This Time

My highly esteemed and well read visitors will no doubt have heard the big news in corporate taxation.  General Electric paid $0 in taxes last year!  In fact, they got billions of dollars back!!

!!!!!

At least, so says the ever questionable New York Times.

Megan McArdle has a piece about how the Times reporters screwed things up.  Fortunately this isn't a case of the reporters maliciously misrepresenting the facts.  Instead, it is a case where reporters assigned to report on matters of corporate and tax accounting should have known that those are two very different types of accounting that almost always result in two very different answers.

Ms. McArdle also makes the persuasive case....again....for total elimination of corporate income taxes.

Let's face facts.  Corporations do not pay a single penny in corporate income taxes.  People do.  Investors pay by getting lower returns.  Employees and managers pay by getting less in salary and/or benefits.  Customers pay by paying higher prices.

Given that the corporate income tax only generates a few hundred billion dollars ($191 billion in 2010) in revenue, is it really the most effective method for collecting taxes?  No.

Particularly when so many businesses, including GE, spend so much money on accountants to keep track of the taxes owed, and spend so much time and money getting Congress to tweek the tax code to their advantage. Ever hear of tax credits for wind power?  Care to guess what business (among many) GE is in?

Ms. McArdle's stuff is always a great read.

The Purpose Of A Dog

A friend sent this along via email.  We're having some issues here at the ranch and they are puppy related.

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa , and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the  family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for  the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane
Might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting  the old dog for the last time, that I wondered  if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. 
Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ''I know why.''

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me.  I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.  It has changed the way I try and live.

He said, ''People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?''
The Six-year-old continued, Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long.''

Live simply.

Love generously.

Care deeply.

Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

• When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
  
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
  
• Allow  the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
  
• Take  naps.
  
• Stretch before rising.
  
• Run, romp, and play daily.
  
• Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
  
• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
  
• On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
  
• On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
  
• When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
  
• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
  
• Be loyal.
  
• Never pretend to be something you're not.
  
• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
  
• When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

Asha is 11+ years young.  Which is a pretty good run for a dog of his size.  We hope to have him around for a few years more because he is always just a joy to be with.

But we are also having to deal with how much we want him to have to deal with in terms of discomfort.  And then there's money.  Vets can almost make dogs live forever....as long as your pockets reach down to your socks.

But that little six year old had Asha just right.  He has known how to live from the moment he finally got those oversized paws steadily underneath him.

And he lives that way every day.

Perspective Part II

So how much plutonium have they found in Japan?

Not much.

Thus far.

Neal Stephenson Quotes

Courtesy of Instapundit comes this little historical gem:

The twentieth century was one in which limits on state power were removed in order to let the intellectuals run with the ball, and they screwed everything up and turned the century into an abattoir. . . . We Americans are the only ones who didn’t get creamed at some point during all of this. We are free and prosperous because we have inherited political and value systems fabricated by a particular set of eighteenth-century intellectuals who happened to get it right. But we have lost touch with those intellectuals.

There are folks that claim that anti-intellectualism is all the rage in America.  I think it sort of depends of what one is calling "intellectual" as there are some ideas that can be dressed up in as many pretty university degrees as you like and they still won't be more than the rhetorical equivalent of pig in poop.

Curiousity about Mr. Stephenson led to this quote:

"The difference between stupid and intelligent people -- and this is true whether or not they are well-educated -- is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambigous or even contradictory situations -- in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward."

Examples are left to the student as an exercise.....

Nuclear Perspective

Perspective - Nuclear Power

I linked on my Facebook page a few days ago to this graphic from XKCD that compared various levels of radioactivity.  Now I'm linking to this graphic that shows the relative number of deaths per kilowatt hour from nuclear, oil, and coal based power respectively. 

While we remain focused on the ongoing Japanese tragedy in the wake of the recent tsunami, I think it is worthwhile to maintain a bit of perspective.  While the NYTimes has done some outstanding reporting on this event, they have also done some miserable reporting.  One example was a story I read last week that referred to the "containment building" in a manner that would lead those without any knowledge about nuclear power to believe that the steel and concrete "containment vessel" had exploded.  Another example has been the casual use of terms like "meltdown" and "radioactivity" without providing any perspective on either topic.  A couple of their online features have provided an outstanding exploration of both nuclear power plant construction and the relative harm or non-harm of various radiation levels.

Similar reports abound, so I'm not just criticizing the NYTimes.  Of course, the dearth of information coming out of Japan has not helped.

A brief disclaimer - I love nuclear power.  I prepared a speech on nuclear power for a persuasive public speaking competition in high school.  Not only did I do a fair amount of reading, my research included interviews with nuclear engineers responsible for nuclear power plants here in Michigan.  This was a few years after the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island.  To this day I will almost automatically buy any science magazine that includes information on nuclear power plant innovations.

As a matter of perspective, it should be remembered that Three Mile Island did experience a partial core meltdown.  As a result, part of the fissionable materials ended up melting and pooling at the bottom of the steel and concrete containment vessel.  That liquid core material ended up melting 5/8 of an inch through the 3 inch thick steel bottom of the vessel.  There have been no measurable increases in deaths due to the Three Mile Island partial meltdown.

As a matter of perspective, the information available thus far suggests that the primary risk group in Japan are those that have been working to regain control of the facility.  Their efforts to cool the used rods as well as the active reactors are nothing short of heroic and some of them may very well pay with their lives. 

But beyond the power plant, radioactive exposure levels have been mostly minimal.  We can survive quite easily at low levels of continuous radiation as well as periodic exposure to modest levels of radiation.  Were it otherwise, we would not know the benefits of X-rays for broken bones, CT scans, and other modern medical marvels.  Nor would we know coast to coast air travel or living at high altitudes such as Denver, CO.

It also appears thus far than most of the radioactivity beyond the immediate area of the power plant is the result of materials that have reasonably short half-lives.  Those materials will be nothing but a bad memory after a month or two.

Of course, things could still get worse.  They could lose total control of the plant, the spent rods could overheat and spit and sputter radioactive materials hundreds of feet into the air.  They may have already.  We shouldn't confuse that condition with anything approaching normal.  Nor should we confuse it with the broad swath of contamination resulting from the openly burning Chernobyl disaster of a few years ago....or with the fission reactions that leveled Hiroshima.

As the graphic at the second link is meant to imply, things could be far worse.  Instead of nuclear power, the Japanese could have built an equivalent capacity in coal fired power plants.  The result would have been more people dead as a result of mining coal as well as from the byproducts of burning coal.

A proper sense of perspective would remind us that there is a significant difference between "none", "some but still safe", "risky", "not safe", "really not safe", "leveling a major city", and "the end of the world".  In my opinion, far too much reporting is of the breathless variety that implies that we are rapidly approaching "the end of the world" when the reality is far less dire.  By focusing to much on the significant challenges posed by the nuclear power plant, we end up ignoring the much larger tragedy caused by the tsunami.  As of today, the count of dead and missing people is rapidly approaching 30,000.  I am certain that the number of people killed by the power plant problems will be easily dwarfed by those killed by the ocean rising out of its rightful place to crash and destroy the people of Japan.

The people of Japan will continue to face a great many challenges in the weeks and months to come.  Those challenges will be compounded by potential risks associated with the meltdown at the nuclear power facility.  The spread of radioactive pollutants will remain a serious concern for the people of Japan and around the world.

But as a matter of perspective, we should recall that there are greater challenges in the world than those being posed by one nuclear power plant that was shaken by the earth and pummeled by an ocean.  And that has still managed to avoid broad scale contamination. 

Thus far. 

Lumberjack Commandos

From Liberty At All Costs

h/t to Blackfive for the image.  Check out their gallery of military motivational images.

Let Him Keep It - He's Finally Earned It

I've been hearing a rising chorus of voices urging....demanding....that Mr. Obama return his Nobel Peace Prize.

I think he should keep it.  He has finally earned it.

There was no peace for the Libyans that were being oppressed by Gaddafi's dictatorial regime.  When they sought to use their individual human right to protest their oppression, a right supposedly guaranteed by the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that regime took what little 'peace' those Libyans had when it took their lives.

By ordering the American armed forces to enter into that conflict, Mr. Obama has moved to secure peace for the defenseless and an opportunity for a better life for any Libyan that did not enjoy Col. Gaddafi's favor.  No person should ever be forced to seek succor via acts of obeisance and obedience to their government.

Yet that was the reality in Libya last week.  Who knows what next week will hold.

But this week Mr. Obama has led this nation to take a stand against oppression.

As we did at Normandy.

As we did at Osan.

As we did at Hue and in the Mekong.

As we did in El Salvador


As we did in Beirut.

As we did on Grenada.


As we did in Panama.

As we did in Kuwait.

As we did in Somalia

And...yes...as we did on the streets of Baghdad and Kabul.

While our tactics have been on rare occasions unworthy, our purpose remains clear.

Freedom for all that desire that opportunity.

Let Mr. Obama keep his Nobel.  And perhaps the Nobel committee could work on awarding one to Mr. Bush for his efforts to extend true peace to those who had none.

Snipers....Men Of Life

Not death.  At least if you are in need of their protection.

On one occasion they killed eight Taliban in two hours, ‘I wasn’t comfortable with it at first,’ said Osmond, ‘you start wondering is it really necessary?’ But the reaction of the locals soon persuaded him. ‘We had people coming up to us afterwards, not scared to talk to us. They felt they were being protected’.

Why We Loathe BIG Government

One of the most frustrating issues in my political life is the apparent lack of appreciation amongst my many leftish friends for the basis of my point of view.  I'm not looking for agreement.  Just an appreciation for why I believe the things I believe.

And "because yer nuts" doesn't count.

Krugman - Erroneous - But I Repeat Myself

In a recent column, Paul Krugman, the NYTimes' Nobel Laureate columnist, attempts to make the point that less government is a bad thing.  To illustrate his point, he suggests that Texas is in deep trouble as indicated by high school drop out rates and child poverty rates.

Mr. Krugman apparently lacks the nuance needed to evaluate exactly by Texas has a problem with childhood poverty as he neglects to discuss any factors beyond government spending...such as a porous border and a flood of illegal aliens...that might contribute to childhood poverty.

However, it is true that childhood poverty is a problem in Texas.

Trouble arises when one takes a closer look at the high school drop out data.  Bryan Preston of the PJ Tattler links to a couple of credible data sources to make the point that at least on the subject of high school drop outs, Texas isn't exactly in the worst of conditions.  Mr. Preston is careful to point out that the data is from adjacent years, so the comparison isn't perfect.

However, Mr. Krugman's argument is significantly undermined when you look at actual drop out rates and state spending per pupil.

Beer Pong - Championship Techniques

Courtesy of the Manswers show on the Spike network.

Ladies are involved.....

Some might even detect a hint of misogyny....

A NSFW warning is certainly appropriate....

Don't say I didn't warn you before you click here.

Begging For Equal Time

The Tea Party is allegedly a racist organization funded by billionaires.

What does that make these folks?

Someone wake me when that story hits the front pages of the NYTimes and Washington Post.  'Cause then I'll know that the world is about to be raptured!

The Other Side Of The World

Ever wonder where you would end up if you could tunnel directly down through the earth and out the other side?  If you are in most of the United States, the answer is "water".  Lots of it.  Specifically, the Indian Ocean.

There is one state that is opposite a land mass.  There is a second state that has a small area that is opposite part of another land mass.

You can find out more about it all - here.

They Told Me.....

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame has an ongoing series of "The told me if I voted Republican that....." over at his site.  You fill in the dots with some theoretically pernicious federal policy that some in the media and on the left....but I repeat myself....have expressed regarding voting for Republicans.  Of course, the policies that are mentioned are currently being enacted by Democrats and other presumably left of center organizations.

The most recent edition is about astronomer Martin Gaskell.  He has been denied the position of running the observatory for the University of Kentucky.  Because he is a Christian.

Glenn's observations are great, as always.  One that he bypassed was the concern expressed by the university that Mr. Gaskell might be "potentially evangelical".  Not that he was confirmed to be evangelical.  And no explanation of how being evangelical might make him unsuitable for the position in question.  They had a fear....an irrational and unfounded fear....and acted upon it.

Which is exactly what the left says about pretty much anyone that isn't on the left.  Someone's Freudian slip is showing......

I think diversity training is in order.

A Different Taste

My wife and I are fans of the Food Channel show "Chopped".  There isn't that much emphasis on drawing out the drama between the competitors.  Instead, the show's producers focus on the food prepared by the contestants.

This ain't Survivor.

We recently watch an episode that featured Joshua Stokes.  He has a blog that I found interesting, and thus I thought to share it with you.  Good eating to one and all.

How To Screw Up A Market In One Easy Lesson

Periodically, 'Diversity Lane' will knock one out of the park.  This be it.

Hell Just Froze Over

How do you know that the Devil needs a heater?  When Socialists favor budget cuts!!

Throw your Euro stereotypes out the window: Last weekend, a Greek government that has cut public-sector pay and lowered pensions won a clear victory in local elections. Despite strikes and violence, despite the fact that Greece's debt is still growing and more cuts are coming, there will be a Socialist mayor of Athens for the first time in 24 years. (And, yes, in Greece, the Socialists favor budget cuts, and the conservatives oppose them.)

More seriously, I have maintained for a long time that we have far more government than is healthy for any nation.  Most people here in "flyover" country feel much the same way.  It goes without saying that my idea of a "healthy" level of government is well below almost everyone else's.

The rest of the world has looked over the precipice.  They have seen where the trail of ever growing government leads.  And they are now moving steadily and determinedly back down that trail.

While we march ever forward towards predictable disaster.

We remain, of course, the greatest propagandists for liberty and free markets. Our politicians - even President Obama - can be eloquent in the defense of these ideals. But we haven't practiced what we preach for a long time, much longer than we generally recognize. Americans may be from Mars and Europeans from Venus, but would we re-elect a president who cut government wages in half? I find it hard to imagine.

Emphasis added.

It is the one course of action that might get Mr. Obama re-elected.  And not unlike Mr. Nixon's trip to China, Mr. Obama may be the only person that can sell austerity to an American public that is wary of politics as usual.

Beware The Nipple?

A new anti-jihadist initiative?

Topless Danish girls have come in between the Conservative and Danish People’s (DPP) parties following a DPP call for a new introductory film about Denmark for prospective immigrants to include pictures of bare female breasts.

The Conservative Integration Spokesman Naser Khader, however, says that pictures of topless girls on a Danish beach would hardly scare extremists away from applying to stay in Denmark.

Confused

I do not endorse the theatrics of the Westboro Baptist Church.

I do not endorse the slashing of tires on vehicles owned by WBC members while they are out protesting some soldier's funeral.

But this seems an opportune moment for schadenfreude.  I am so confused.

What A "Party Of No" Really Looks Like

Ross Douthat shares his thoughts on the various responses to President Obama's commission to address our serious budget deficits.  My reading on the right pretty well mirrors his observations that the most vocal conservative critics were single issue advocates, and entertainers.  Otherwise, the criticism has been minimal and usually tempered with an acknowledgment of the difficulties involved along with the need for compromise.

Last week’s media coverage sometimes made it sound as if Bowles and Simpson were taking the same amount of fire from left and right. But the reaction from Republican lawmakers and the conservative intelligentsia was muted, respectful and often favorable; the right-wing griping mostly came from single-issue activists and know-nothing television entertainers.

Leaders on the left simply said "no".

The liberal attacks, on the other hand, came fast and furious, from pundits and leading Democratic politicians alike — starting with the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who pronounced the recommendations “simply unacceptable” almost immediately after their release.


...


Needless to say, none of the liberal lawmakers attacking the Simpson-Bowles proposals offered alternative blueprints for restoring America’s solvency. The Democratic Party has plans for many things, but a balanced budget isn’t one of them.

One of the most frustrating habits of the media, leftish leaders, and leftish commentators,.....but I repeat myself....over the last two years has been their mantra that describes anyone to the right of Joe Lieberman as being part of the "Party of No".  This mis-characterization is intended to suggest that non-Democrats are simply unwilling to compromise on any issue.

Yet from my perspective, the right was very willing to compromise on any number of issues...including health care reform...in order to bring about productive change in our country.  What they were unwilling to do was to compromise where the proposed reforms would have been counter productive to the cause of advancing our nation.

The only rational response to a "progressive" agenda that does not create progress is the absolute refusal of cooperation.  Had the leftish leadership opted for a less leftist/"progressive" agenda over the last two years, I have no doubts that the right would have cooperated to some extent.  Extremists would not have been happy....in either party.

In a word, the leftish leadership committed the political sin of "over-reach" and those on the right were quite reasonable in their opposition to changes that [are] e'en now wracking and wrecking our nation.

Now we know exactly what a "Party of No" looks like.  It is the absolute refusal to evaluate the merits of much needed budgetary reforms that seek to balance those reforms, strengthen our economy, and generally address the many perspectives that exist.

Perhaps the leadership on the left will next engage in bouts of holding their breath until the adults give in to their petulant refusal to compromise.

Too Bad To Be False

Sort of the reverse of "too good to be true".

At a recent candidate's debate/forum in Illinois, a representative of the organizer was offended by the audience.  They had the temerity to think that it was appropriate to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at a debate between candidates that were running for the U.S. Congress.

Sort of makes you wonder what league the League of Women Voters is really in.....

For your reading pleasure....if you can stand it.

Just About Right

 A Veteran's Day Cartoon Worth Noting

 

(click here to view)

Clay Bennett Chattanooga Times Free PressNov 11, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com

     

European Design

I found these photos from the Berlin DMY design festival to be absolutely fascinating.  I hope you will is well.

A Different Pin-Up

You have never seen pin-up girls like this before.  Usually, this side isn't something they put on display.

Modest NSFW warning.  Anyone that gets excited by these photos is really weird.

End The Corporate Income Tax

Megan McArdle had a piece recently regarding the benefits of ending the corporate income tax.  The fact that we have one of the highest corporate income tax rates in the world aside, Mrs. McArdle-Suderman offers the following reasons for eliminating this onerous and wasteful burden.

You can't tax a corporation; you can only tax a person

Corporations simply pass along corporate taxes in the price of their products.  It is just that simple.

The incidence of "corporate" taxes is not necessarily progressive.

Big companies can afford armies of attorneys and accountants to help them avoid tax liabilities.  Smaller companies that earn far less do not have the benefit of those resources.

The corporate income tax encourages firms to use debt finance, rather than equity.

I know a fair bit about this.  Consider that Apple is one of the strongest companies in America.  I remember 10-15 years ago there were many people that thought Apple was done as a computer company.  Yet they are still in the business of making computers...and many other useful gadgets.

How did they survive?  They took the road less traveled and became an asset rich company.  They own most of their corporate facilities.  As a result, they have the flexibility to invest in future products.

Most other companies are in debt.  They borrow against their buildings.  They borrow against their office furniture.  They borrow against their inventory.  And when hard times come along, they end up doing what their lenders want instead of having the freedom to re-tool, re-design, and re-orient on new products, new markets, new customers, and new profits.

If we want more stable companies, then we need to get rid of incentives that make them less stable.

You can't eliminate all the loopholes

The corporate income tax encourages firms to waste resources on tax avoidance

The corporate income tax doesn't raise that much money

The above three justifications represent the careful dance that companies and tax inspectors do with one another.  Companies waste valuable resources so they pay the least tax possible.  Tax inspectors waste valuable resources looking for corporate malfeasance.

Eliminate the tax and companies will focus on earning a profit without the contortions and market distortions caused by the corporate income tax.  And tax inspectors can go do something productive...like picking up litter in Antarctica.

Without the corporate income tax, a lot of the incentive for lobbying would go away

If getting corporate America out of the political funding game is so important, you would think that more people would be racing to end the corporate income tax.

Megan has more details, but the above should be enough to pique your curiosity.  Have a read.

Most Lethal Drug - Alcohol

Courtesy of the WaPo comes word of a study of the impact of various drugs on our society.  The most dangerous substance?

Alcohol.

Yet we know that alcohol prohibition was an abysmal failure.  We should know that prohibition of other drugs has been a failure.

Why exactly are we conducting a War on Drugs?

On Our Knees

There was a photo that caused a stir recently.  In it a man nearly prostrated himself as Mr. Obama's motorcade passed by.  He assumed the position of the supplicant, begging for the scraps from the master's table.  The focus in this piece is on race.  The supplicant was black.  There are a few interesting thoughts for those that might be interested.

That image reminded me of a deep concern that I have that we are losing part of national identity.  We refer to the President and his paramour as our "First Couple".  The President's wife is called the "First Lady".

Those reference points harken back to the day when our nation's leader was considered to be "first among equals".  Presidents never thought to demand obeisance from a fellow American. 

This "first among equals" is revealed in other facets of our society.  One example is the union worker that expects to be considered the moral equal of the corporate officer.  He may earn less, and may not enjoy the same social circle, but his honest efforts are just as honorable as broader efforts of any captain of industry.

I am fortunate to know several people running companies that treat their employees as individuals first and employees second.  People that will shake someone's hand regardless of how manicured it may be, or how greasy it might be.  Suits can always be cleaned. 

It is this ideal that has driven our culture to expand our definitions of "person" and "equality" so that women are far closer to equality with men, minorities are far closer to equality with whites, and it does not require the greatest stretch of imagination to envision GLT folks as exercising the same rights as those of us with the more typical sexual orientations.

How might we lose this national identity that expects everyone to be considered morally equal?  Tribalism.   A clan-centric focus.  Placing a greater emphasis on smaller group identities and thereby denigrating our larger identity as "American".

When we start thinking that kneeling to an American President is an appropriate response to his passing in close proximity, we stop thinking of ourselves as being his....or perhaps her, someday....equal.  And in doing so we slowly lose part of what makes us Americans.

Why Mr. Obama Causes Worry

Victor Davis Hanson has a brief piece that is well worth the time.  In it he breaks down the real reason why Mr. Obama...and his team....are worry some to those that desire a vibrant and growing economy.

- Economics 101

Mr. Hanson asserts that one primary concern is the Mr. Obama...and friends...appear to be unaware that the panoply of human history points to one obvious conclusion.  That individuals with the ability to better their own economic condition will achieve that result.  People living under centrally planned economies will not.

- Texas or California?

The debate is not between a fully unfettered free market and a communist state but rather it is the narrower choice between Switzerland and Greece.  I would suggest that another comparison would be Germany and Ireland.  Mr. Hanson tosses in Texas and California for good measure.

There is a difference between having an appropriate level of regulation coupled with restrained public spending and an expansionist government fully confident in its ability to tax and regulate a nation's way into prosperity.

- Neither Baron nor Insect

Mr. Hanson suggests that it is counterproductive to demonize those that have earned their wealth by adding to the many options that we all enjoy in our lives.  People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have contributed to our national well being by creating wealth.  It is this created wealth that permits us to fund government activities.

The wealth the public sector consumes must first be created.  Demonizing entrepreneurs is counterproductive to that creative process.

- Grows on Trees?

Mr. Obama....and friends....appear to have little direct experience with the process of creating wealth.  Instead they have lived parasitic lives....my description....in jobs funded largely by taxpayers.  Having never balanced a budget, or run a major company, Mr. Obama is now in a position where both skills would serve him in good stead.

Had he embraced the individual liberty that is the foundation of our country, he might have led a company as it grew and innovated.  And with that knowledge and experience, he would be better prepared to lead us out of our current economic doldrums. 

Instead, we find ourselves subjected to theories that are simultaneously "interesting" and unproven within human history.

Is it any wonder that people with money to invest are opting to keep it in their pockets?

Mr. Hanson is more eloquent than I.  Please take the time to read his thoughts.

Another Reason Not To Trust Government

They put you in handcuffs, stuff you in the back of a police car, and stick you in jail for committing the monstrous crime of.....

.....wait for it.....

.....barbery without the benefit of currently documented government imprimatur.

Cutting hair without a barber's license.

It would be laughable were it not so tragic. 

And Then Some

Just what were voters saying on election day?

A new IBD/TIPP poll on public attitudes suggests that Tuesday's event was less an election than an intervention: Stop what you are doing; you're hurting us all.

 The results of the poll suggest that the five most important priorities for voters were:

1) cutting the deficit by cutting spending
2) repeal or revise the new health care law
3) provide more protection against terrorism
4) reduce illegal immigration
5) pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by next year

Sadly, this message will probably sail right over the heads of the people that need to hear it most.

How Dark Were Those Glasses?

Not dark enough!

Alan Funt Lives

What do youse tink is up dere?  Only way ta know is ta look!




Alan Funt would have loved this.  I'm willing to bet that somewhere there is video of him using it on his show...in black and white!!

I Could See Stars

Like most kids, I grew up looking up.  At the stars.  One of the hobbies that I never really got around to trying was astronomy.  Or astrology.  One of the two.  There were stars involved.

And telescopes.  But the telescopes that were available to me were pretty minimal.  Which is probably why I stopped reading the paper.

Had it been possible to buy a telescope that was closer to the one Daryl Hannah's character in Roxanne, I might have been more interested.

Now I can buy...time....on some pretty big telescopes and really see the stars! Sometimes, technology produces some pretty neat stuff.

Barney Frank - Then And Now

When....ahem....Republican.....President George W. Bush wanted to overhaul the mortgage lending industry, Mr. Frank stood solidly opposed.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

 Now that the damage has been done, he sings a different tune.

“Low-income home ownership has been a mistake, and I have been a consistent critic of it,’’ said Frank, 70. Republicans, he said, were principally responsible for failing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants the government seized in September 2008.

Emphasis added.

Tar and feathers are too good for him.  Links to the respective stories may be found here.

What Is That You Have In Your Pocket?

After driving this BMW, one can never be too sure.

Corruption In The Eye Of The Beholder...

Mr. Obama is apparently trying to score some points with his base over political campaign financing.  He is attempting to say that the US Chamber of Commerce is funneling foreign funds into domestic campaigns. 

He's wrong on that count, which isn't surprising.

However, if he really was interested in preventing foreign contributions in US campaigns, perhaps in 2008 he should have directed that his campaign not remove the standard name-address-account number verification used for most credit card payments.  By removing that safety feature from his campaign's online fund-raising feature, Mr. Obama created a wide open hole through which foreign funds were free to flow.

Into his campaign coffers.

I guess that makes all the difference.

Kent State - More Modern Analysis

There is a report that an audio recording made during the National Guard shootings at Kent State back in 1970 may actually lend credence to the National Guardsmen's story that they were shooting in response to gunfire.

Forensic audio expert Stuart Allen conducted an extensive review of the recording at the request of Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper, and he detected four shots matching the acoustic signature of a .38-caliber revolver firing.

Terry Norman, a Kent State student photographing protesters that day for the FBI, was carrying a loaded .38-caliber revolver under his coat, the newspaper said.

 Of course, this analysis isn't conclusive, but it should be added to the after action investigation so that future generations have a more complete understanding.

When Faced With Questions Most Serious, What Does One Do?

If you are an old school scientist, one who has swam in the deep waters of rigorous science, and one who sees those same waters being polluted with influences that undermine the cause of science?  You pen a letter that will carry the weight of a battleship anchor with those similarly focused on the rigors of science and the weight of a feather for those who are willing to compromise their profession for wealth and relative fame.

When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence---it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists.


....


So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in mind---simply to bring the subject into the open.


To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to run a poll on the members' interest in a TG on Climate and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council.


As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition.


APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization?


....


I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends.

I hope they remain friends, too.  For apparently the APS is no longer concerned with being scientists.

What Media Bias? - New Jersey/NYTimes Edition

Regular readers will know about NJ Governator Chris Christie and his battles with the NJEA along with the NJ Democrats over general budgetary priorities.

How do those battles get reported?

Well it seems that New Jersey missed out on collecting federal "Race To The Top" education dollars.  They came in at 11th place.  Only the top ten got any money.  New Jersey missed by 3 points.  A paperwork error cost them 4.8 points.

However, they could have gotten 14 points if the NJEA had endorsed the NJ state application.  Why the imprimatur of the NJEA should be required is beyond me.  It seems that such a requirement grants too much power to a private special interest group.

How is the story reported in the NYTimes?  Is the headline about how an intransigent union put its ego ahead of the educational needs of the state's students?

Oh hell no.

Christie Helped Lose Grant for Schools, Ex-Official Says

The guy that made the paperwork error got canned so now he's singing as loudly as he can that Chris Christie caused the problem by irritating the NJEA.

No bias to be seen here.  Move along quietly while the NYTimes hopes that you haven't an independent thought left in your head.  Sheesh!

Slaying The Beast, Pen In Hand!

This Peggy Noonan article speaks to me and it speaks to the motivations of the Tea Party movement.  I have no idea how long the link will last as the article is supposed to be behind their firewall.  Here's another that might work.

If you write a column, you get a lot of email. Sometimes, especially in a political season, it's possible to discern from it certain emerging themes; the comeback of old convictions, for instance, or the rise of new concerns. Let me tell you something I'm hearing, in different ways and different words. The coming rebellion in the voting booth is not only about the economic impact of spending, debt and deficits on America's future. It's also to some degree about the feared impact of all those things on the character of the American people. There is a real fear that government, with all its layers, its growth, its size, its imperviousness, is changing, or has changed, who we are. And that if we lose who we are, as Americans, we lose everything.


...


And what I get from my mail is a kind of soft echo of this. America is not Greece and knows it's not Greece, but there is a growing sense,I should say fear, that the weighty, mighty, imposing American government itself, whether it meant to or not, has for years been contributing to American behaviors that are neither culturally helpful nor, as we now all say, sustainable: a growing sense of entitlement, of dependency, of resentment and distrust, and an increasing suspicion that everyone else is gaming the system. "I got mine, you get yours."


...


Because Americans weren't born to be accountants. It's not our DNA! We're supposed to be building the Empire State Building. We were meant, to be romantic about it, and why not, to be a pioneer people, to push on, invent electricity, shoot the bear, bootleg the beer, write the novel, create, reform and modernize great industries. We weren't meant to be neat and tidy record keepers. We weren't meant to wear green eye shades. We looked better in a coonskin cap!


There is I think a powerful rebellion against all this. It isn't a new rebellion - it was part of Goldwaterism, and Reaganism - but it's rising again.

Default On Your Mortgage? Why Not!

If it is good enough for the Mortgage Bankers Association, then it must be good enough for you!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mortgage Bankers Association Strategic Default
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

A Flip, A Double Twist, And A Reverse

Today must be "make Dann chuckle" day.

It appears that some artiste has prepared a work of "art" that depicts Jesus fellatiating upon someone.  That of course has certain knickers in a decidedly twisted position.

There were the inevitable question of "why not try that sort of thing with Muhammed?" 

Surprise! Kudos to the artist for his ecumenicalism.

Then things really get going.  Bud Shark...the guy that the original exhibit is about....was advertising prints of the "art" in question on his website.  Until someone pointed out that Muhammed was in the same piece of "art".  Then he scrubbed it from his site.

The work in question was made by one Enrique Chagoya.  Bud Shark just makes the prints.  Enrique is a talentless hack who would have remained unknown but for his propensity at pissing off the right kind of people.

I would certainly be less disturbed by "challenging art" if the first challenge wasn't always the artist's lack of artistic ability and/or vision. 

Why I Do Not Listen.....

....to Rush Limbaugh anymore.  Or at least this is a good reminder.

Calling the President a "jackass" is unacceptable.  Period.

A Better Bird

For flying...

Boeing’s 737 is the best-selling jet airliner in history: Today, it carries 29 percent of all U.S. domestic air traffic and is responsible for 25 percent of the industry’s fuel use. A reinvention of this commercial workhorse, called the D series, could burn 70 percent less fuel, emit 75 percent less nitrogen oxide and dampen noise from takeoffs and landings. In short, it could transform air travel into a more environmentally benign practice.

Faster please?

A Mere Sip Of Fuel....

....required to motor along at 75 mpg.  That's 'g' folks...as in gallons.

I wonder where we might be if our American automakers were to take greater interest in fuel efficient cars that normal people would want to drive?

More please...faster please.

"Health Care Reform Will Not Affect Your Coverage Or Your Choice Of Doctor"

Heh.

No surprise to those of us opposed to this monstrosity all along.

Technology Leads The Way

In this case, the technology involves the nano-scale construction of solar voltaic cells that boost energy conversion to ten times greater than was previously thought to be the limit.

Neat!

Now somebody needs to refine it and someone else needs to deploy it.  'Cause cheap power is invaluable to sustaining a growing economy and our standard of living.

Reductio Ad Somalia

The divine Mrs. Megan McArdle.....Suderman has a very pleasant read on the recent trend among some on the left to deride those of us that believe in a little less government by saying "try Somalia".  Asking for a modest reduction in government spending is not exactly the same thing as saying let's not have any government at all.

Likewise, asking for a little more government spending is not exactly the same thing as endorsing the transformative power of communist North Korea.  A little more spending is a step in the wrong direction, but that is a different story.

In any case, the fsking she offers to one Michael O'Hare is delightful to read.

Sharing The Sacrifice

Ezra Klein brings us the news that the director of the CBO is projecting that extending the Bush era tax cuts will result in lower revenue and thus higher deficits.

Elmendorf doesn't deny that tax cuts stimulate the economy. But they don't stimulate it that much, he says, and over the long run, the net economic growth from the tax cuts will be quite small. The net deficit impact won't be. "Lower tax revenues increase budget deficits and thereby government borrowing," Elmendorf said, "which crowds out investment, while lower tax rates increase people’s saving and work effort; the net effect on economic activity depends on the balance of those forces." True to form, he brought a graph:

The graph and the rest of Ezra's pontification are at the link.

One supposes based on the selective quoting involved that Ezra may not have heard of the other solution for deficit problems.  The director of the CBO has.

It is called "cutting spending".  You can get burned at the stake for uttering such word in Washington D.C.

Unfortunately, the GOP likes to talk about tax cuts while offering vague and ill defined spending cuts that take place in the future.  Equally unfortunate is the Democrats' penchant for raising taxes at the drop of a hat while exhibiting behavior that suggests that they have never met a government program that was not worth funding.

We are quickly approaching dire straights.  The best course out of that situation will require a little sacrifice by everyone.

Until someone begins to seriously discuss across the board spending cuts, there is no reason to increase taxes.  Shared sacrifice means that those on the receiving end will have to pony  up as well.

Government Is Force

Kevin Williamson has a nifty little essay on government as force.  It is sort of a redux of a P.J. O'Rourke idea about deciding which government programs get funded by putting a gun to grandma's head and asking "do we give away day care or do we kill Grandma?"  That is not a direct quote, but the intent is there.

The resort to violence is what makes the question of what kind of things it is legitimate for states to do an important moral concern. It seems to me perfectly reasonable to shove a gun in somebody’s face to stop him murdering, raping, or robbing. It seems to me entirely unreasonable to shove a gun in somebody’s face to extort from him money to fund a project to get monkeys high on cocaine. Those seem to me fairly reasonable distinctions. It is illegitimate for government to use force or the threat of force for projects that are not inherently public in character.

The question of how much illegitimacy a state may perpetrate before becoming generally illegitimate itself is of real interest and has been, of late, the subject of some spirited discussion between some of my colleagues here and me. (You probably can guess on which side of the fault line I stand.)

But I would like to make it clear that I am not indulging in a figure of speech: I think it’s a pretty useful heuristic: If you’re not willing to have somebody hauled off at gunpoint over the project, then it’s probably not a legitimate concern of the state.

Government is force.  At some point there will be government agents with guns knocking on doors with the intent of putting people in prison for "non-compliance".  As Mr. Williamson suggests, using force to stop bad people from abusing other people is a reasonable use of force.  The same cannot be said for other government functions.

Disappointing Our Leading Political Observer

A newsflash from CNN....Jon Stewart is 'saddened' by Barack Obama's performance as President.

"I think people feel a disappointment in that there was a sense that Jesus will walk on water and no you are looking at it like, 'Oh look at that, he's just treading water' … I thought he'd do a better job," said Stewart.

....

"I thought we were in such a place [in 2008], much like the Tea Party feels now, that the country … needed a more drastic reconstruction – I have been saddened to see that someone who ran on the idea that you can't expect to get different results with the same people and the same system has kept in place so much of the same system and same people," he said.

Why is he disappointed?  What else did he expect from someone with a brief stint as a state legislator prior to an even briefer stint as the part-time.....because he was already running for the Presidency....junior senator from Illinois?  What else did he expect from someone that lacks any executive experience?

There is more to governing than the ability to give a good speech.

Molly Norris Is Going Ghost

Molly is disappearing...on her own.

Her newspaper, Seattle Weekly, reports:

[O]n the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is... moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity... in effect, being put into a witness-protection program—except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab. It's all because of the appalling fatwa issued against her this summer, following her infamous "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" cartoon.

...

ADDED: There's a big Metafilter thread about it, which I'm reading after writing that. A surprising number of people are blaming Norris for bringing the death threats on herself.

Perhaps that number of people shouldn't be all that surprising to Ann Althouse as Ann did precisely that in her blog post.  The best rejoinder to that sort of thinking comes from the comments.

PEOPLE WHO DON'T DESERVE TO BE OFFENDED?!?!?!

Good god, Ann. Their reaction is exactly what makes them deserving.

UPDATE - We also have this from Jihad Watch.

This is the sort of case that the President of the United States should be talking about. Instead of wringing his hands about the prospect of Muslim rioting over Qur'an-burning, the President should go on television and give a brief lesson about how freedom of speech is a foremost bulwark against tyranny and a cornerstone of any society that respects the dignity of the human being. He should say that the idea that Molly Norris would have to live in hiding because of a cartoon, or series of cartoons, is unconscionable, and tell the Islamic world that neither Muslims nor their prophet are harmed by cartoons depicting him, and that their violent rage over such depictions is the only thing that makes people care to draw him in the first place. He should say that to threaten people with death and to kill people over cartoons of Muhammad is sheer madness, and is a form of violent irrationality that is destructive to free societies -- and as such, it is something that the U.S. will do everything it can to resist.

Were we talking about Christians threatening critics with death, the response from the mainstream media and our government would be far more vocally supportive of the critics.  And properly so!

George W. Bush Modern Day Liberal

Huh?

That is the opinion of former US President Bill Clinton.

"A lot of their candidates today, they make him look like a liberal," Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd at a downtown hotel as he campaigned for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, Mr. Bush was never some sort of wild eyed arch conservative.  He was right of center to be sure.  But America is a country that is generally a little right of center in the first place.  He may have been a little right of the country as well.  But not by much.

But I suppose that if Bertolt Brecht is your measuring standard, then there are a lot of us that look pretty far out there.

Another Top Ten List

By Mike Higgs

To ten things people will NOT say when they see the Christian bumper sticker (or more subtle fish symbol) on your car:

10. Look! Let's stop that care and ask those folks how we can become Christians.

9.  Don't worry, Billy, those people are Christians - they MUST have a good reason for driving 90 miles an hour.

8. What a joy to be sharing the highway with another car of Spirit-filled brothers and sisters.

7.  Isn't it wonderful how God blessed that Christian couple with a brand new BMW?

6.  Dad, how come people who drive like that don't get thrown in jail?


Dad, can we get a bumper sticker like that, too?

5.  Stay clear of those folks, Martha. If they get raptured, that car's gonna be all over the road!

4.  Oh, look! That Christian woman is getting a chance to share Jesus with a police officer.

3.  No, that's not garbage coming out of their windows, Bert - - it's probably gospel tracts for the road workers.

2.  Oh, boy we're in trouble now! We just rear ended one of God's cars.

1.  Quick, Alice, honk the horn or they won't know that we love Jesus!

A Brief Spasm Of Anglophilia

Because they are willing to make the hard choices.

Perhaps for similar reasons, nobody is talking about austerity in America. On the contrary, Republicans are still gunning for tax cuts, and Democrats are still advocating higher spending. Almost nobody—not Paul Krugman, not Newt Gingrich—talks enthusiastically about budget cuts. Instead, our politicians use euphemisms about "eliminating waste" or "making government more efficient," as if no one had ever thought of doing that before.

Well, to be honest, no one has taken any interest in actually making government more efficient or in really eliminating waste.  Because that would be the end of earmarks and a whole raft of graft.

But we do have a serious spending problem.  Our government spends too much.  It has made promises that are far too generous in the out years.  The fiscal debacle that I have been predicting for decades is upon us.

We face the choice of making hard decisions and surviving, or simply clinging to the hope that "things will all work out" and pile driving our country into fiscal ruin.

The former is easier to experience than the latter.  Unfortunately, the latter is easier to achieve than the former. 

Where The Problem Is - Saudi Edition

We recently learned that a Saudi diplomat has asked for asylum in the United States.  He is afraid for his life if he returns to Saudi Arabia.

Why?  Good question.

He's gay.

He also has a very close friend....lady.....who is Jewish.

He's committed three of the biggest sins you can commit if you live in the Muslim heartland.  And he believes that the government will try him and kill him if he returns home.

It seems that the Saudi's have learned of his "lapses" and opted to terminate his diplomatic position and have recalled him to Saudi Arabia.

Hopefully, our State Department will look favorably upon his request.

Images of Mohammed

Most folks know of the serial kerfuffles that arose over various publications electing to print images of Islam's Prophet Mohammed.  A guy with the nom de guerre of "Zombie" has developed and maintains an online catalog of images of Mohammed.  Many of those images come from Arab countries.

The one that I like the most is this image of Mohammed that is currently on a wall/doorway in Iran.

Poke around....learn a little something....I found it fascinating.

After you get done with the art, you may as well try the letters.....from Muslims around the world.....to Zombie....telling him in very specific detail how they feel about his compilation.

Curiously, for a group that says it practices tolerance and peace, and as a group that expects tolerance and peace, they sure don't seem very tolerant or peaceful.  At least some of them don't.

From The Blogfather...

....UT law professor Glenn Reynolds, comes this interesting question:

Question: If intellectuals are anti-American, is it surprising if Americans are “anti-intellectual?” Shouldn’t intellectuals be asking why do they hate us?

Glenn links to this story over at the Chicago Boyz Blog where Shannon Love goes on and on and on and on and on and....where was I.....ah yes, much smoke, little heat, not really enough to get all that agitated over.

By the same token, I think Glenn's question is an interesting one.  Shannon invokes the incurious leftish model of "What's The Matter With Kansas?"  Written by someone that is moderately left of center, he asks the eternal question "Why won't Kansans vote for Democrats that really have their best interests in mind?"

The unspoken additional rhetorical question being "Are they idiots?"  The question is rhetorical as we all know about Kansan idiocy based on their voting patterns, don't we?

A better approach, and a far better read, would be for the same folks to ask "What is wrong with our agenda that causes Kansans to vote for Republicans?"  Now THAT would be an interesting and introspective book.

For the record, I don't think the word "intellectuals" is being used to mean "college graduates" or "professors" or "smart people".

Pity I Don't Vote There - Democratic Edition

I checked in on my good buddy, Vin Suprynowicz, and discovered that he....like me....occasionally finds a Democrat worth voting for.  Experienced.  Competent. Scandal-free.

Pity I can't quote any of the juicier parts for you without incurring legal risks beyond measure.

Bloons!!

I beat one of the easy maps....all 60 levels....can you??

A Palate Cleanser

And a bit of much needed relief.....

The Length Of The Shadow

Source

We Need A Battalion Of Men Like This

Wouldn't want to over do it.

"Men of Cornwall stop your dreaming
Can't you see their spear points gleaming?
See their warriors' pennants streaming
To this battlefield.
Men of Cornwall stand ye steady
It cannot be ever said ye
for the battle were not ready.STAND AND NEVER YIELD!"
- "Men of Harlech"
Sung by Rick Rescorla in the Ia Drang Valley 1965 

and in the stairway of WTC Tower 2 on September 11, 2001

You can learn more about this incredible man who not only survived but thrived through three wars here and here.  9/11/2001 was the day he died.  He died saving lives.  More than 2600 on that day.  He lived his whole life saving people from terrible fates.

Getting It

From the NY Post...

The attacks were acts of mass murder, committed to advance political goals that were -- and remain -- antithetical to civilization itself.

Lenin wrote that the purpose of terror ism is to terrorize, and he was right. In this case, the object was to weaken the will of the established order to resist murderous medievalists who meant to drag the West back to the 9th century.

Who still mean to.

Even if important people don't see it.

...

For all its horror, 9/11 was not a declaration of war by radical Islam.

Rather, it was a dramatic escalation of a war that had begun decades earlier -- in Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran, in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, in the first World Trade Center bombing and in the attack on USS Cole.

Obama notes that America is "not at war with Islam." That may be true, but it means absolutely nothing if ele ments of Islam are at war with America.

...

Today, America looks back and mourns -- appropriately so.

But America also needs leaders willing to stop pretending that the threat is something other than what it is -- organizationally diffuse, yes, but ideologically united and firmly committed to the destruction of any society that doesn't embrace its nihilistic imperatives.


That's the lesson of 9/11.

If that was the lesson, than have we passed the test?

James Lileks And A Bit Of Wisdom

Glenn Reynolds has posted a link to something that James Lileks wrote two years after 9/11/2001.  James is a tremendous writer.  I've been reading his stuff for decades. 

He has a couple things spot on...

Two years later I take a certain grim comfort in some people’s disinterest in the war; if you’d told me two years ago that people would be piling on the President and bitching about slow progress in Iraq, I would have known in a second that the nation hadn’t suffered another attack. When the precise location of Madonna’s tongue is big news, you can bet the hospitals aren’t full of smallpox victims. Of course some people are impatient with those who still recall the shock of 9/11; the same people were crowding the message boards of internet sites on the afternoon of the attacks, eager to blame everyone but the hijackers. They hate this nation. In their hearts, they hate humanity. They would rather cheer the perfect devils than come to the aid of a compromised angel. They can talk for hours about how wrong it was to kill babies, busboys, businessmen, receptionists, janitors, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers - and then they lean towards you, eyes wide, and they say the fatal word:


But.


And then you realize that the eulogy is just a preface. All that concern for the dead is nothing more than the knuckle-cracking of an organist who’s going to play an E minor chord until we all agree we had it coming.

The people who attacked us will not be satisfied with a diminished US presence on the world stage.  They want our beacon of individual liberty extinguished precisely because the premise of an individual being free to reject their distorted, tortured ideology undermines their authority to dictate how people live...or not.

The continued refusal by some to understand this simple truth is a "grim comfort", as James puts it.  If they can remain willfully blind to the objectives of our enemy in this conflict, then we must be doing a pretty fair job of fighting it.

I’ve no doubt that if Seattle or Boston or Manhattan goes up in a bright white flash there will be those who blame it all on Bush. We squandered the world’s good will. We threw away the opportunity to atone, and lashed out.  Really? You want to see lashing out? Imagine Kabul and Mecca and Baghdad and Tehran on 9/14 crowned with mushroom clouds: that’s lashing out. Imagine the President in the National Cathedral castigating Islam instead of sitting next to an Imam who's giving a homily. Mosques burned, oil fields occupied, smart bombs slamming into Syrian palaces. We could have gone full Roman on anyone we wanted, but we didn’t. And we won’t.


Which is why this war will be long.

It will be a long war.  And not unlike the spring of 1942, it isn't exactly clear that we will win.  I have no doubt that we have the brains, the people, and the resources to utterly destroy the intolerant and extremist strain of Islam that is causing so much trouble in the world.

I wonder if we have the will to do so.

The Only Memory Doomed Not To Fade

I don't want it to be 9/11 anymore.  I don't want to think about people racing down choked staircases.  I don't want to think about firemen running up them.  I don't want to think about people deciding whether or not to take a 1300 foot fall or stay in a burning building.  I don't want to see the ones that jumped falling.  I don't want to imagine the ones that stayed.  I don't want to see those two buildings as they slowly implode; pancaking floor after floor until nothing is left but dust and smoke and the knowledge that utter meanness still walks the earth.

I want to go back to 9/10/2001 when the most significant issues of the day were Gary Condit, and the next iteration of "campaign finance reform".  I want to go back to wondering when the other shoe would drop.

Instead, I am doomed to remember.  Do you?

Or have you forgotten.