In The Wake Of Chaos

I found the following while digging around on my hard drive.  I believe that this was eventually published by the local paper; the Jackson Citizen Patriot.  The then editorial page editor, Ken Wyatt, was generous with his space whenever I had something to share with his readers.

This was written in the wake of 9/11/2001, when we had so many questions, and so few answers.  Little has changed.  So much has changed.

A Classy Tribute - Video

Budweiser apparently did not run this commercial for very long.  But I think it was a classy way to acknowledge the tragedy without being overtly commercial about it.

Edit:  I believe this commercial was made explicitly for today's games.  The full ad includes a reference to a 9/11 charity at the end.  The myth running around Facebook is that they made it in 2001 and didn't run it more than a few times to avoid the appearance of trading on the tragedy for corporate gain.

Cynics will say they still are realizing some sort of corporate gain.  Perhaps.  But it is a classy tribute, and they are promoting a valid charity as well.

Ten Years On...

I am not usually taken with overly passionate remembrances.  I participate in a few only due to my membership in a veteran's organization; the VFW.  While I have been known to 'wave the bloody shirt' infrequently, I am not terribly fascinated with such activities.

Yet here we are; ten years after.

Chaos!

There is but one description for Robin Williams; CHAOS!!!

Another Star Wars Edit??

Oh no!

Keynesian? Really?

Nick Gillespie over at Reason makes the salient point that current federal spending is not really what John Maynard Keynes had in mind when he suggested that government spending in a down cycle might spur growth.

But Whalen isn't simply dumping on Keynesianism, he's bent on pointing out that even its latter-day adherents are straying far from their master's theory. And in this, he's surely correct. As Allen Meltzer has argued, Keynes was against the very sort of large structural deficits that characterize contemporary federal budgets and policy, believing instead that deficits should be "temporary and self-liquidating." And Keynes believed that any sort of counter-cyclical spending by government should be directed toward increasing private investment, not simply spending current and future tax dollars on public works projects.

Nick quotes Mike Whalen in an article posted at The Washington Times.  Mike suggests...

If the federal government announced a real road map to fiscal soundness, the impact would be truly stimulating. If American businesses and consumers saw that Washington was really cutting, not just reducing future increases, there would be tremendous relief and an increase in confidence across the country. Job creators would sing “hallelujah”; they would get off their wallets, start hiring, and then you’d see that Keynesian multiplier kick in.

Which is a point that the current Administration and their supporters keep passing over as if it did not exist.

A big part of the problem with the sluggish economy is that business owners can see current government spending, and future spending obligations as being capable of turning a sour economy into a really dismal economy.  Greco-Japanese dismal.

When they are convinced that their sidelined capital could be safely invested with the reasonable expectation of making a profit in the bargain, then they will begin investing.

All this talk of raising taxes on "the rich" and passing behemoth federal programs does nothing more than reinforce the idea that they are better off sitting on their cash.

Incivility

The talking heads are all agog over James Hoffa Jr.'s Labor Day pronouncement where he offered the services of organized labor to 'take these son of bitches out.'  The 'son of bitches' being the Tea Party and other fiscally responsible people.

This is Jimmy Hoffa's son!  Is anyone really surprised that he would threaten violence to those that hinder his agenda?

What is disappointing this lack....thus far....of comment from Mr. Obama's administration.  It wasn't terribly long ago when a terrible rampage that resulted in several deaths and serious harm to U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords prompted the same people to lecture the nation...and the right in specific...on the idea of civility and rhetorical restraint.  A simple image using a set of crosshairs within a partisan exhortation to organize voters to vote was deemed too 'extreme' for civil discourse.

One wonders what they think of 'take these son of bitches out.'

Or is this more of the 'do as I say, but not as I do' that has long been the rage among the political class.

More via the Blogfather.

This response from Sarah Palin is spot on:

When big government, big business, and big union bosses collude together, they get government to maximize their own interests against those of the rest of the country.

...

This collusion is at the heart of Obama’s economic vision for America. In practice it is socialism for the very rich and the very poor, but a brutal form of capitalism for the rest of us. It is socialism for the very poor who are reduced to a degrading perpetual dependence on a near-bankrupt centralized government to provide their every need, while at the same time robbing them of that which brings fulfillment and success - the life-affirming pride that comes from taking responsibility for your own destiny and building a better life through self-initiative and work ethic. And Obama’s vision is socialism via crony capitalism for the very rich who continue to get bailouts, debt-ridden "stimulus" funds, and special favors that allow them to waive off or help draft the burdensome regulations that act as a boot on the neck to small business owners who don’t have the same friends in high places. And where does this collusion leave working class Americans and the small business owners who create 70% of the jobs in this country? Out in the cold. It’s you and your children who are left paying for the cronyism of Obama and our permanent political class in DC.

When she talks about small business owners that create 70% of our jobs, I can't help but think about Mitt Romney's attempt at socialized medicine in Massachusetts.   They allowed big business to opt out of the statewide plan.  Big businesses get huge healthcare discounts.  Small businesses need not apply.

Government continually works on behalf of big business while expecting small businesses to foot the bill.  It is all about using political power in support of large....nowhere near 'majority' large....groups at the expense of the individual.

Freedom Of Speech Or Religious Intolerance

From the National Review comes this report about a United Nations initiative to create a framework for limiting any criticism of Islam.

An unprecedented collaboration between the Obama administration and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC, formerly called the Organization of the Islamic Conference) to combat “Islamophobia” may soon result in the delegitimization of freedom of expression as a human right.

...

But thanks to a puzzling U.S. diplomatic initiative that was unveiled in July, Resolution 16/18 is poised to become a springboard for a greatly reinvigorated international effort to criminalize speech against Islam, the very thing it was designed to quash.

Citing a need to “move to implementation” of Resolution 16/18, the Obama administration has inexplicably decided to launch a major international effort against Islamophobia in partnership with the Saudi-based OIC. This is being voluntarily assumed at American expense, outside the U.N. framework, and is not required by the resolution itself.

Will there be any reciprocity?  Will Muslim majority countries stop persecuting those of other faiths?  Will those countries pass laws to protect those that exercise their right to leave Islam, or even convert to another faith, instead of the current practice of prison...or worse?

Will the synagogues that used to exist before the re-creation of Isreal be rebuilt?  Will there the Saudis reform their education curriculum that teaches that polytheists are to be killed, that Christians are enemies, and that Islam should be spread via 'jihad'?

I'm not holding my breath.

This initiative is shaping up to be one-sided. As Akram said, “The Resolution 16/18 was driven more by the kind of discrimination in Europe and the West in general against Muslims.” He added: “I don’t think any country in the Muslim world is deliberately discriminating against minorities.” Ihsanoglu took a similar tack, writing that “the Islamic faith is based on tolerance and acceptance of other religions. It does not condone discrimination of human beings on the basis of caste, creed, color, or faith.”

To be clear, my position is that every person retains the individual right to be criticize every religion that exists, has existed, or ever will exist.  That right greatly supersedes the sensitivities of any religious community.

The UN is no friend of liberty.  It places freedom of speech in second place to the "purposes and principles" of global governance.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Happy Birthday, Freddy

You are sorely missed.

Don't miss the thoughts of Dr. Brian May regarding his old friend on what should have been Freddy Mercury's 65th birthday.

Yes? 

Yes, Brian is a doctor.  Astrophysics. "A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud"

Welcome To My Blogroll

Mike Peterson!

Wait.  He was already on there. And now he is on there twice??

Ayuh.

Mike has been writing a couple of different blogs.  I read them from time to time.  His Comic Strip Of The Day continues his habit of insightful and inciting writing.  I have added to this blog to my Google Reader list and anticipate great things in the days to come.

New Blogger Interface

If you blog via Blogger, you may have noticed an offer to use the new Blogger interface.  I did.

Veeerrry interesting!  I can now see how many hits I get per day and who is my biggest referrer.

Speaking of my biggest referrer, thanks Ruth!

And the new interface appears to have all the old publishing features.  I'll stick with it for a while.

Silly Ira!

Don't ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.

-Time Enough For Love, by Robert Heinlein

Leftists Back Cutting Corporate Income Taxes

Which is a bit of a milestone.  But given how little we collect and how much gets spent enforcing and complying with those laws, isn't better to just eliminate the corporate income tax?

That would make the US a tax haven.  Just think of all the money that would be parked here!

NASCAR And Mr. Obama

The Intertubes have been all atwitter over the apparent snub of Mr. Obama by five of NASCAR's best drivers.

NASCAR said Thursday that five drivers – Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart – will not be attending the White House visit due to "schedule conflicts."

They must be very busy people. Regardless of one's political views, the president is still the president – and an opportunity to speak with the leader of the free world is a rare and special one.

I'm not so sure that a snub was intended.  As is frequently the case, an instant response is not necessarily the best response.  Some of those accused of snubbing Mr. Obama have been there before and would like to go back again.  They really do have events schedules months in advance that cannot be changed.

Some media outlets reported that Kurt Busch wouldn't be going to the White House, either. Not so. His team rescheduled an important photo shoot for next year's merchandise and marketing campaigns, a session that must be done by the end of the month to get everything ready before the team heads to Daytona for the start of the 2012 season.

"All along, it was my intention to go," Busch said. "Who's going to turn down an opportunity to go to the White House? For me, it's an honor and a privilege. I have met both Bush and Obama. To be a Chase driver and go to the White House, that's an important visit. You might not make the Chase every year and miss out on those opportunities."

 Jeff Burton, scheduled to attend from the beginning of this kerfuffle, had an interesting thought.

Burton said all the debate about NASCAR's visit to the White House symbolizes a larger divide within the country.

"Ten years ago, after 9-11, this country was unified. This country was together," he said. "Today, we're sitting here talking as if someone, for political reasons, is going or not going to the White House. And we wonder why this country is in trouble. We can point the finger and blame all the people in Washington. Well, maybe we need to look in the damn mirror a little bit. Really. It's our country."

Calvin And Hobbes Mashups

Forever Geek has a set of twenty mashups of Calvin and Hobbes with various themes.  One of the more ironic was "John Calvin & Thomas Hobbes".

My personal favorite?

This one...

It doesn't hurt that I'm reading that series right now.  Although I foolishly started with the second book.  It took nearly half the book before I could get into it.

Bea Authur

Reportedly, her last public appearance/performance.  A reading of great literature.

"Great" being liberally defined.

"Liberally" being used in the original, non-political sense.

Quoting Heinlein

The first in a series of posts presenting the wisdom or of Robert A. Heinlein.

I am not going to talk about religious beliefs, but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them.

I believe in my neighbors.

I know their faults and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults. Take Father Michael down our road a piece --I'm not of his creed, but I know the goodness and charity and lovingkindness that shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike; if I'm in trouble, I'll go to him. My next-door neighbor is a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat. No fee -- no prospect of a fee. I believe in Doc.

I believe in my townspeople. You can knock on any door in our town say, 'I'm hungry,' and you will be fed. Our town is no exception; I've found the same ready charity everywhere. For the one who says, 'To heck with you -- I got mine,' there are a hundred, a thousand, who will say, 'Sure, pal, sit down.'

I know that, despite all warnings against hitchhikers, I can step to the highway, thumb for a ride and in a few minutes a car or a truck will stop and someone will say, 'Climb in, Mac. How how far you going?'

I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime, yet for every criminal there are 10,000 honest decent kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up, business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news; it is buried in the obituaries --but it is a force stronger than crime.

I believe in the patient gallantry of nurses...in the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land.

I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

I believe that almost all politicians are honest. For every bribed alderman there are hundreds of politicians, low paid or not paid at all, doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true, we would never have gotten past the thirteen colonies.

I believe in Rodger Young. You and I are free today because of endless unnamed heroes from Valley Forge to the Yalu River.

I believe in -- I am proud to belong to -- the United States. Despite shortcomings, from lynchings to bad faith in high places, our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history.

And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown --in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability....and goodness.....of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth, that we always make it just by the skin of our teeth --but that we will always make it....survive....endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes, will endure --will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets, to the stars, and beyond, carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage --and his noble essential decency.

This I believe with all my heart. 

- This I Believe, Robert Heinlein, for the Edward R. Murrow project of the same name.

Me too.  Although I would include the Mekong Delta, the Euphrates, and the Arghandab as appropriate substitutes for the Yalu.

NYTimes Identifies Media Bias...

...and says "fine by us!"

Shocking news via the NYTimes.  MSNBC is a bastion of leftist opinion.  And not much else.

And that may be the problem with Mr. Sharpton’s cable news pulpit: what he means to say is in lockstep with every other MSNBC evening program, making the stretch between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. a nonstop lecture on liberal values and what is wrong with the Republican Party.

...

There is almost no real debate on any of these evening shows: a conservative is brought on and put on the spot, then in a different segment two people who agree with the host on a given issue answer the host’s questions, usually, with words like "you’re so right."

...

And in the evening at least, MSNBC is less a news provider than a carousel of liberal opinion - potential conflicts of interest are swept aside in the swirl of excitable guests.

Emphasis added.

Aaaaand then they start covering for him.

Others complain that nowadays Mr. Sharpton is a little too cozy with the powers that be: last year, Comcast enlisted Mr. Sharpton to help lobby for its bid to buy NBC Universal, which owns MSNBC. Both Mr. Sharpton and Comcast deny any quid pro quo, and it’s hard to believe Mr. Sharpton’s support would be worth the risk to ratings - besides, back then he was untried, and MSNBC had no vacancies.

More important, in a cable universe in which former Gov. Eliot Spitzer can get his own cable show on CNN (however briefly) some two years after having to leave office because he hired prostitutes, it’s hard to quibble over Mr. Sharpton’s reputation 20 years ago.

I'm not sure which part is more shocking.  That the NYTimes would publish anything suggesting that MSNBC is biased, or that they conclude the story by papering over Mr. Sharpton's many faults.

Perhaps it is the oblique suggestion that Mr. Sharpton do the electric slide.

Any low frequency hum that you hear may be safely ignored.  It's just my head spinning.

This Promises To Be Good

One of my favorite strips is Sinfest.  His take on religion is one of the most thought provoking that I have every seen.  And I am a reformed Christian/modern skeptic!

Our New Religion

Environmentalism.

Via the National Review comes this story from the NYTimes about how schools "encourage" students and parents to use reusable lunch packing materials.

I am all for using reusable materials.  I am not so hot on recycling because it is a pain in the ass where I live.  We do use the reusable plastic/fiber shopping bags in lieu of the "plastic or paper" conundrum.

And schools do have a role to play when it comes to reinforcing morals.

However, morality begins and ends at home.  If mom and/or dad decide that plastic baggies and paper bags are what you get, then it is up to the schools to adapt.  Not the parents.

Perhaps they should consider having one bin for food, one for plastic, and one for paper so that little Timmy and Tammy can practice recycling at school and skip the sermons.

'Cause..yeah....it has become a religion in some corners of the country.