What Is the Fracking Difference?

Some facts to keep in mind as the controversy over fracking for oil and natural gas continues.

Today?

I wish.

Talent

We have a new budding star in my little corner of the world.  Enjoy!

It's A Doooaaaaat

"Oopsie.  My bad!"

Having Something In Common

While reading a bit about the more recent Roger Ebert kerfuffle, I came across this brief essay on a recently uncovered E.E. Cummings poem.  At the time it was being suggested that the use in the poem of one of the coarsest words in the English language would naturally result in the undoing of E.E. Cummings' reputation as an important writer and poet.

I had more than a passing fascination with the re

markable

mind bending acts of linguistic

ɯsıuoıʇɹoʇuoɔ that were the hallmarks

of E.E. Cummings.

While Mr. Ebert's thoughts have ceased to be relevant to me, I was pleasantly surprised to find him an aficionado of Mr. Cummings' work.  His thoughtful defense of the "troublesome" poem in question was marred only by the repetition of the assertion that poems are not supposed to have meaning; they are simply supposed to exist.

Hogwash.

Regardless, I find that I share an enthusiasm with Mr. Ebert.  And perhaps it is better to focus more on that which we share in common with one another than to focus on our disagreements.

At least from time

to

t
i
m
e.

[link to the essay updated 1/10/2022]

Short Of Biblical Proportions....

In some parts of the world, a lack of water is a serious problem.  In others, the reverse is true.

"One of the biggest problems we'll experience with this is that it is far and above and beyond any previous experience as far as cfs," remarked Schlag. "Rating curves just don't apply anymore. A person is left to their own devices to come up with numbers."

Mad Magazine Government - Gun Control Edition

Why you should never, ever, ever, ever trust the government.

Ever.

This operation could not have taken place without the cooperation of the Department of Homeland Security — DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano should bear responsibility for her agency’s actions. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has apparently lied to Congress about when he knew of Gunwalker, and considering the scope of the operation it is implausible that he was not involved in its implementation.

Eric Holder is destined to become the first U.S. Attorney General since John Mitchell to go prison due to his serial crimes committed while in office.  At least, if there is any justice in the world, then prison would be Mr. Holder's next "duty station".

Presidential Positions On Government Interference

“The proposition that the government is always right is manifested either in corruption or benefits to ‘preferred’ companies,” he said.  “My choice is different. The… economy ought to be dominated by private businesses and private investors. The government must protect the choice and property of those who willingly risk their money and reputation.”
…
[He] said that the country must begin to attack the problem immediately to avoid “the point of no return from the (economic) models that are moving the country backwards.”
“Corruption, hostility to investment, excessive government role in the economy and the excessive centralization of power are the taxes on the future that we must and will scrap,” he said.

The only way this news could be better is if it were Mr. Obama speaking...instead of it being the President of Russia.

News From Muslim Lands

War?  Infidels?  Beating up women for driving cars?

Nope.

This time the news, via the WaPo's Jennifer Rubin, is of a proposal from the King of Morocco that his country adopt a new constitution.  One that would grant far greater authority to elected officeholders, create a judiciary, enshrine rights for women and minorities, and establish the King of Morocco as the guarantor of the right of people of all faiths to worship freely.

On Friday Bashar al-Assad was slaughtering his own people. Iran continued to hold two Americans in prison. Moammar Gaddafi remained in power while the House of Representatives and President Obama bickered about the War Powers Act. And in Morocco a new “landmark” constitution guaranteeing equality for women, empowering an elected parliament and chief executive, and mandating an independent judiciary was rolled out. It’s a measure of just how much the squeaky wheel dominates the media and the U.S. government that there was virtually no U.S. coverage of the historic event, and that as of Sunday night the State Department had not issued a statement.

...

The constitution and the speech explode several myths: diversity isn’t possible in a Muslim country; tribal and ethnic divisions make a nation state problematic if not ungovernable; Islam and the secular rule of law are incompatible; and human rights will inevitably be sacrificed if democratic reforms expand in a Muslim country.

 Why our nation's leaders have not seen fit to recognize this historic proposal is a mystery.

Why "Too Big To Fail"...Ensures Failure

Why is an excess of government a bad idea?  Because it fosters failure and stifles progress.

That would be the lesson learned by the leader of the Tea Party while he visited Poland.

Read the whole thing.

Why Hiding The Truth Hurts

James Taranto makes the the point in a recent "Best of the Web" column that the media does us a grave disservice when they hide facts from the public that do not fit the media's narrative. 

The case in point is the story of the US Marine Corps reservist that was found near Arlington Cemetery with a backpack carrying explosive components.  It doesn't appear that he had a finished device, but he did have a laptop that contained words that were at the least suggestive of his mal-intent.

This particular Marine was born in Ethiopia and apparently is muslim.

The problem with the reporting is that only one media outlet deemed this Marine's faith to be worthy of reporting.  All of the other media sources either didn't know, or didn't think it was relevant.

The media source that revealed his faith?  FoxNews.

Those that didn't?  Everyone else.

The obvious harm is that by withholding certain types of information, the media encourages speculation regarding other crimes where that information is irrelevant.  One example would be the mass shooting in Orlando a while back.  People were speculating that the killer was muslim when in fact the killer was a disgruntled former employee.  His faith had nothing to do with motivating his crimes.

Everything relevant to a crime must be reported.  A black kid beats up a white kid while shouting racist epithets?  Then the race and the epithets had better be reported.  Reverse the races?  The same information needs to be reported.

In failing to do their job, the media harms us all.

A Case For Gun Control

At least, a gun in the hand of a New York Times editor seems like a dangerous thing given his propensity for aiming his mouth in one direction and shooting himself in the foot as a result.

What Bill Keller doesn't know, apparently, could fill up an entire op-ed piece. Or a newsroom.

The NYT editorial that inspired the above is here.  I still think it would be good for Mr. Keller to get out of New York and see how the rest of the country lives for a while.  Perhaps his inventory of persons of hay is too large to justify such an adventure.

Google Reader - Update

I am in love with Google Reader. I've cut my blog reading time by at least a third because of it.

Right now I am following (12) data sources with the Reader. Four of them are blogs that you see to the right. (Ronnie, Sherwood, Ruth, and Mike) I also follow the rec.arts.comics.strips newsgroup using the reader. I never ever miss a single post. On top of that I follow Al Jazeera's English feed, Instapundit, Drudge, Classical Values, Black Five, Megan McArdle, and Memeorandum.

And I never miss any of their posts. If it sounds interesting, I can "star" it for later reading. If I find something not on one of those lists, I can add it to the Reader's saved items for later review and blog activity.

I've got tons of stuff saved and it only too moments!

Don't y'all feel lucky!??!

I Always Thought Ducks Were A Little Weird

Down The Grammatic Sewer - I Say Sorry

A pet peeve of mine was recently irritated by a series of stories regarding the fake "lesbian" blogger from Syria.

Misogyny?  Nope.  I'm not in favor of it, but that ain't it.

The spectre of anti-homosexuality?  Again...nope.  I'm not in favor of gay bashing...quite the opposite actually....but that ain't it either.

My peeve?  "Say sorry".

News stories about the fake "lesbian blogger" use some variant of "Blogger says sorry" either as a title or within the body of the story.

Ladies and gentlemen.  Boys and girls.  Friends, Romans, Countrypersons!  Hear me!  The English language has developed a single word that covers this action.  One need not ever use the phrase "say sorry" again.

That word is "apologize".

"I apologize."

"He apologized."

"She offered an apology."

"You should apologize."

not....

"You should 'say sorry'."

What Media Bias?

LA Times Won’t Release Obama-Khalidi Tape But Posts 24,000 Sarah Palin Emails | The Gateway Pundit

Update: From Glenn Reynolds:  "Will we ever get to see that tape, and if so, how best to shake it loose?” Er, convince ‘em it would be bad for Sarah Palin?"

Chris Matthews' Arrogant Display

Matthews: Weiner in Trouble Because His Behavior Offends 'Culturally Backward' Christian Conservatives | NewsBusters.org: "They never get the Speakership back because the people in the rural areas of this country who are Christian conservative culturally - you can say backward if you want - but they don't like this kind of stuff at all. They're not part of that 56 percent in Brooklyn and Queens who say, 'okay, we can live with this guy.'" - Chris Matthews

But 56% of Brooklyn and Queens doesn't even come close to being a significant minority of the entire country. Life exists well beyond the five boroughs.

Maybe Chris ought to try getting out of the city for a while.

It Backfired

I was reading an article a couple days ago by a guy that decided to de-Google his life.  He is a tech writer, so he's a pretty tech savvy guy.   Part of his reasoning in making the change is that he didn't want one company to have so much data about him.  Another part of his reasoning was to test his ability to recover his data from Google without a lot of hassles.

The process worked mostly well for him.  The important stuff [Gmail, Google Docs, etc.] were exported almost effortlessly.  Some of Google's more obscure services required more hoop jumpery.

In reading the article, I was inspired....

....to try yet another Google service/feature.  This time I engaged the Google Reader service.  Reader is a service that allows you to follow RSS feeds from a variety of sources.  It is incredibly handy for blogs that don't get a lot of updates [ahem  MIKE!!!!!!!!       SHERWOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!] as I no longer have to visit those sites to see when they have posted something new.  It will just show up as an unread post in the Reader.

It is also handy for higher volume sites such as Instapundit and The Drudge Report.  I can flip through the new entries in a few seconds, mark any that might be interesting for later reading, and move on with my day.

The ability to mark articles is handy for blogging as well.  Previously, I had emailed from one Hotmail account to another Hotmail account whenever I found an article worth blogging about.  The list is long.  My email account is filled to the brim with fascinating stuff.  Most of which you never see.

Be thankful.

Now I can simply make a list in one place throughout the day and use...or more likely ignore...that information later on.

I am still new to the Reader, so I'm not sure if there is a way to link directly from Reader into Blogger or not.  If so, then perhaps y'all are doomed.

Reader also lets you follow RSS feeds from Usenet groups in the same way that you follow blogs and other sites with an RSS feed.  It is a handy tool for keeping up with all the RACSals.  You know who you are.

In any case, my brief experience with Google's Reader service has been quite enjoyable.  If you don't mind surrendering another piece of your digital life to the leviathan that is Google, then I heartily recommend Reader as a tool worth your time.

Jaw Droppingly Stupid.

I infrequently engage in partisan phrases like "Smart Diplomacy!" and "The country is in the very best of hands!".  That sort of thing feels good, but it isn't really the sort of substantive criticism that I prefer to offer.

The last time I checked, most people prefer ice cream and cake to brussel sprouts and liver pate.

In this case, both bits are partisan fluff seem most appropriate.  The Obama administration has supported a call by the OAS for Britain to engage in discussions with Argentina regarding the sovereignty dispute over the Falklands.

Again!

For the people of the Falklands, there is no dispute.  They are British.  For the UK, there is no dispute.  The Falklands are British and have been British for roughly 178 years.  The Falklands have been British for longer than Argentina has had its current constitution.

In adopting this position, Mr. Obama's administration is siding with anti-American dictators like Hugo Chavez along with other anti-American leaders such as Daniel Ortega.  Obviously, his administration is also siding against our long and close ally, Great Britain.  Somehow this is the sort of 'smart diplomacy' that we were promised during the campaign?

From the comments comes the non-sequitur that sums this fiasco up most appropriately:

The next president is going to have to engage in a serious apology tour.

The mind, it boggles.

And Then Some...

 Facts don't matter.....

Like a number of famous faux gaffes in American politics, the facts of the situation no longer really matter.

The initial impression was eagerly grabbed by so many, starting with the reporter and millions of others gleefully sharing the story that reinforced their beliefs and/or desires.