The Lobby

The Lightbulb Goes On

2008-02-24T21:57:00.003-05:00

So I was reading Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism today, and the I finally figured out my root problem with popular support for Global Warming. No, I don't think the supporters are inherently Fascist. Let's not go Godwin's Law, here.

However, I do think that the Global Warming lobby is just another tool with which the collectivist relativists beat those of us who are both individualist and deeply skeptical of a Greatest Good. The key for me is Goldberg's extensive discussion of the Progressives' key traits of activism and social unity. I have no dog in the Fascism fight, per se, but I do see the AGW crowd trying to beat all dissenters into submission with these terrible dystopian futures that can only be solved by:
i. Submitting Capitalism to a Higher Power
ii. A Unified Society Acting Heroically Together
iii. Doing it 'For the Children'
iv. Demonizing All who Dare Question the AGW crowd's Moral Authority
v. Questioning the Authenticity of any Scientist/Skeptic

Personally, I see his book as a watershed moment in which fascism (be it Italian Fascism, Nazism, or whatever) as just another branch of the collectivism that has systematically opposed the West's, specifically Lockean, Christian Liberalism since the end of the 18th Century.

It seems like all of the anti-Republican arguments advanced during the Constitutional Convention took a century to come to fruition, but have been steadily advancing ever since.

Nice of Blogger to Let Me Back In...

2008-02-19T09:31:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Blogger was sure that I was spyware. Apparently, something about the way I hit this site caused Google to reject my requests. How dare they, don't they know who I am?

This would never happen to the Puppy Blender.

Too sick to blog...

2008-02-16T17:15:00.000-05:00

Alternating b/t Nyquil haze and vertigo.

Now I'll buy this guy's Solar Power

2008-02-15T15:15:00.002-05:00

Interesting article here about the applicability of Moore's Law to silicon-based Solar Power. Because the guy running this company doesn't have a dog in the greener-than-thou fight, it gives him great credibility. I will be trying to find out more about the company SunPower.

The Pendulum Swings

2008-02-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Proving that climatology moves in 30 year cycles, even if we have no idea about the full effect of climate cycles, IBD debuts the New Ice Age v2.0. Now with Data!

Cynically, one might think that competition for funding has gotten too competitive on the Complimentary side, so it must be time to switch to the Contrarian approach.

Less cynically, at least this theory is testable within a lifetime. By 2020 we should know for sure whether Canadians are more in danger of habitat loss than polar bears.

Signs You Might be a Little Early in the Marketing Dept.

2008-02-12T20:20:00.003-05:00

Amazon sent this to me today.

Dear Amazon.com Customer,
As someone who has purchased or rated books by Robert Crais, you might like to know that Untitled Crais: An Elvis Cole Novel will be released on February 26, 2008.

You can pre-order yours at a savings of $11.88 by following the link below
Now, I love me some Elvis Cole. I think he's as good as Marlowe. I'll own the book the day it comes out. But. I'm not pre-ordering until it gets named. And to be clear, I'm not blaming Mr. Crais, who I'm sure has zero to do with how Amazon.com markets his book. I know what I'll be reading 4th of July weekend, just not the name.

Keep Starving the Beast

2008-02-12T09:27:00.000-05:00

It appears that the Republican dominated Tax & Budget Reform Committee have decided that the best time to put spending caps in place is during a recession. I think its brilliant. The TBRC passed the resolution unanimously, which I believe puts it on the slate for the coming session, or maybe guarantees it a ballot slot as an amendment in November. As Grover Norquist said, "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

Speaker of the House Marco Rubio is also reportedly pursuing similar legislation.

Text of the resolution.

The St. Pete Times Buzz blog has been leading this issue.

Why Me & the WSJ Editorial Board Disagree...

2008-02-11T07:52:00.000-05:00

On open borders. The Mexican Army conducted an operation against drug cartel personnel. Strategy Page link here:

The army conducted an operation in Tamaulipas state that led to the capture
of five men and a large weapons cache. The cache was found on a ranch and
included plastic explosive, hand grenades, bullet-proof protective vests, 80
sets of military uniforms, 89 rifles and 83,000 rounds of ammunition. The
army also found nine tons of marijuana on the ranch and several vehicles, one
equipped with bullet-proof glass. The troops found what amounts to a supply dump
for a company-sized unit capable of launching limited mobile operations.

This is not the first time I've read about cartel agents with military hardware. Lots of bad stuff happens on the border. And it ain't just Mexico. Look at MS-13. I grew up in Houston, and live in Florida. The people I see working on Sunday are more likely to be from Central America than Middle America, but there's got to be a middle way.

I think we need an Ellis Island setup for the 21st Century. Surely, with remittances making up such a huge part of the Central American economy, we can get some cooperation on a fingerprinting db for felons and people with wants/warrants.

Why VP Crist Makes Me Nervous

2008-02-11T00:08:00.000-05:00

Some friends of mine from out of state asked me about Gov. Crist, as his name has been mentioned on the short list for Vice-Presidential candidates. I would gladly promote Mr. Crist out of my hair if Sen. McCain were not going to be 72 on the day he would take office. So here's the deal for you out of staters:

He claims to be 'The People's Governor', and her certainly does seem to be on the popular side of every issue. Which is part of my problem with the guy. He's only consistent on being on the popular side.

He campaigned vigorously for Amendment 1, which would limit property taxes, squeezing county and local governments in a down year for taxes (Not that I'm crying for them.)
He also proposed a budget that 're-allocated' fees and one-time money to General Revenue. More than 3% of his budget was 're-allocated' money, which violates the State Constitution.

While revenues are off huge amounts -- State Universities are rumbling about having to cancel their Summer Sessions, and reduce admissions, local schools aren't sure how to keep operating under the class size amendment -- Gov. Crist wants to increase Dental Reimbursment by $20 Million

In the meantime, Gov. Crist is hosting Environmental Summits, and proposing to give away big money [$50 Million] for energy subsidies. I should note that Gov. Crist has opposed (and therefore made impossible) the permitting of Clean Coal and Nuclear plants. Oh, and there's $200 Million for CLIMATE CHANGE PREVENTION!!! in his budget. Sorry, my head almost exploded. What are we California, now? Didn't you get your Ah-nold autograph yet, Governor?
Crist put the State of Florida on the hook for $12 Billion in catastrophic Hurricane Insurance last year. And, while it makes me a little nervous, I'm okay with that. The insurance markets, especially since the re-insurance markets seemed to have bought the Global Warming crap about catastrophic hurricanes every year in 2006 & 2007. I'll note, however, that the Wall Street Journal has meticulously documented Mr. Crist's attempts to pass the buck to the Federal Government, or the taxpayer in Butte, Montana. I'll further note that the State CFO, Alex Sink, has suggested that the re-insurance market has calmed to the point where the state could off-load $3 Billion in risk this year for a 3-4% rise in At-Risk homeowner premiums.

N.B. -- Just to give a sense of scale, the Governor's proposed budget this year for the State of Florida is $70 Billion. That will include tapping the 'Rainy Day Fund', tobacco money, and re-appropriating fees. So, yeah, $3 Billion in risk off-loaded would be a good deal.

I can go on like this for days, and may, but the point is that no matter how Republican Lite people think John McCain is, the man has principles. I disagree with lots of the expression of said principles, see: McCain-Feingold, but I don't doubt he's doing what he believes is best for the country. Charlie Crist, as best I can tell, does what's best for Charlie Crist's polls.

Hello... IPCC? Irony for you on Line 2

2008-02-09T12:31:00.000-05:00

John Tierney in the NYT has a writeup an interesting study from the Cato Institute. Apparently, the warmest, but richest forecasts of the (Nobel Peace Prize Winning) UN IPCC Group would be significantly better for the world, especially the developing world, than the draconian solutions advocated by the Stern Report, which in turn has been flogged by every yahoo with a Prius.

I've heard such admissions before, that warmer temperatures and milder winters would be a net good for humanity. Still, its good to see there are some numbers.

Actually, now that I went and RTFP, the numbers are pretty darn rosy. Time to start burning car tires and used oil in the yard.

Taking a Bow

2008-02-08T12:36:00.000-05:00

Y'all can take comfort in knowing that I was right about bio-fuels being a non-beneficial alternative to the Petroleum-based economy. It appears that Global Warming may also be non-Anthropic as well. Let this be a lesson to RTFS, (That would be RTF Study) rather than believing the pop-press' message.

Happy Feria de San Fermin

2007-07-03T05:02:00.001-05:00

Party in Pamplona. Today is the first day of The Running of the Bulls. Enjoy. And just remember, no matter how bad it is, you didn't get gored by a bull during your morning run!

Getting the Blog Back Together...

2007-06-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

Not sure that I'm on a "mission from Gad", but thought I'd crank it up and see if I couldn't get on a regular posting schedule ~~again~~, er, for once. So here's the new and improved plan for The Lobby:

More local blogging
More tech blogging
Continued enviroskeptic blogging
Less angry political blogging

I'm optimistic that there will be a post in each of the first three categories up this evening. We'll see...

AP Global Warming: Dog Bites Man

2006-07-17T15:18:00.000-05:00

Americans try to cope with oppressive heat

Tony Godel, working on a remodeling project at a hotel in downtown Cleveland, was already sweating through his brown Corona Extra T-shirt by 10 a.m. He planned to drink a lot of water to cope.

"You get used to it after a while," Godel said. "You know what you're getting into. You're paid to deal with it."

...

"It's not bad in the shade," said construction worker Alan Reynolds. "We got our briefing in the morning to take more breaks and drink more liquids. You just have to pace yourself."

...

Temperature-wise, New York City's record for the day was set in 1953, when Central Park recorded 100 degrees, said John Cristantello, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. On Monday, the mercury reached 90 before noon.
...
Shaffer, who studies how corporations deal with environmental issues, decided to buy her lunch at a fast-food restaurant before heading into work so she didn't have to come back outside.

"I think that it's a precursor of what we could be experiencing on a daily basis if we don't do something about global warming," she said near Pennsylvania Station.

Talk about the ultimate non-news, news story. Unless the story is that construction workers aren't whiners, but environmentalists are.

Also, note to our global warming believing friends: Seasons are governed by the tilt of the Earth on its axis. Unless carbon emissions are going to cause the Earth to shift upright on her axis, it will not be hot on a daily basis on the island of Manhattan. Rio will be colder, however.

Ubiquitous Surveillance Draws Nigh

2006-07-17T11:30:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I've been reading too much sci-fi lately, but HP's new Memory Spot technology seems awfully close to the localizers in Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky. [I originally mis-cited this as A Fire Upon the Deep.-BL]
Note that these chips can:
1) Be charged by a distributed field
2) Read and write information

With little modification, then such chips could also:
1) Execute stored instructions (run a program)
2) Record sensor information (they are powered after all)

All those second two require is a different chip. Just how small can you make a GPS chip? Actually, if these were transmitting wirelessly to even a pair of devices (although 3+ would be preferrable) you would be able to "localize" or identify where each one was. Even if the signals were being relayed by other Memory Spots. Triangulation of tagged electromagnetic signals is the basis of radar.

Now, if each of these tagged signals was transmitting information (temperature, pressure, chemical makeup of current environment) you would have smart dust.

If anyone needs me, I'll be working on my Faraday cage.

In Rememberance of London on 7/7... A Visual Moment of Silence

2006-07-07T22:59:00.000-05:00

Happy Fiesta de Sanfermin

2006-07-07T11:47:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know: The feast of San Fermin is the excuse that the Pamplonans use to run down tourists with fighting bulls. After taking all of their money.

Wiki on The Running of the Bulls.

I've been there, done that, and got the faja to prove it. Okay, I was 15 at the time and was disallowed from running by my parents. But I did watch 'em run from the corner of the Playa de Hemingway on the Plaza de Toros. Even met an older gentleman who claimed to have met Papa Hemingway at the same place about 50 years before. This was 1994. Could be, but I've never tried to hard to verify. It's better as a yarn.

Safe running.

"A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro dándonos su bendición."

"[A]lternative energy for people who never had to take a physics class."

2006-07-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

Will Collier at VodkaPundit has the perfect description of Solar Energy. If you're a constant reader (which you're not), you'll see that I have been critical of these "miracle cures" previously.

There is no cheap substitute for billions of years of solar, geothermal, and gravitational energy distilled into an easily transportable, fairly stable storage medium (these would be the evil oil, coal, & LNG). Sorry.

TANSTAAFL

Angry Over Hamadan

2006-06-29T18:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, I can't quite express myself without four letter words that cannot be said in public. But let me for now, just register my anger that apparently 5 of our Supreme Court justices can't [curse word deleted] read the description of Lawful Enemy Combatants protected under Articles 3,4, and 5 of the Geneva Conventions.

(Article 4) "Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy"

* "Members of the armed forces"
* "militias...including those of organized resistance movements...having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance...conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war"
* "Persons who accompany the armed forces"
* "Members of crews...of the merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft"
* "Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms"

(Article 5):"Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act..." is a prisoner of war "...such persons shall enjoy the protection of the present Convention until such time as their status has been determined by a competent tribunal."

Perhaps they were looking at Article 5. Except that this ruling specifically prevents military tribunal and insists on due process under US Civilian Law. So, just to make sure I've got it straight. Citizens and former citizens of US in open revolt (see Lincoln, 1861-64 or Clinton, OKC, 1995): habeus corpus may be suspended. Irregulars who routinely disregard the Geneva Conventions in prosecution of war against the US: habeus corpus applies.

Remind me to violate the Geneva Conventions when I start my revolt.

Damn, It hasn't been this hot since Jesus was Here...

2006-06-23T06:18:00.000-05:00

According to a new study prepared by the National Academy of Sciences for the US CongressLink

"The National Academy of Sciences, reaching that conclusion in a broad review of scientific work requested by Congress, reported Thursday that the "recent warmth is unprecedented for at least the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia."

So, I have two thoughts:
A) Maybe my grandparents did walk uphill to school through the snow both ways.
B) This is just more proof that Jesus was tougher than AlGore. Nobody ever heard Jesus bitch about the heat. And it may have been hotter in Jesus' day. With no air conditioning. Out in the desert.

Bring Sunsets to Washington

2006-06-13T12:01:00.000-05:00

via The Corner

Next week, the House is expected to consider both the line item veto bill as well as a sunset commission bill that evaluates whether federal programs are serving the taxpayers' interests. These important reforms complement the efforts we've already taken - including earmark reforms and the "rainy day" funds for disaster response - which support these efforts as well....

(emphasis mine)

I know that the representative from my former district in Texas, and friend of the family, Rep. Kevin Brady, has sponsored Sunset legislation for at least 8 years.

A review of all pending Sunset House Bills - there appear to be 3 of them - can be found here.

Rep. Brady appears to be the primary sponser of two of the bills, HR 3277 and HR3282.
Seeing that HR3282 has substantially more co-sponsors than either of the other two bills, it looks to my untrained eye like this is the one that is coming up for a vote.

Text of HR3282.

Good luck, Kevin. I hope this one finally gets through.

Alberto, al-schmerto

2006-06-13T09:57:00.000-05:00

Looks like the first hurricane of the season was a bit of a tempest in a teapot. Instapundit is photoblogging from the area of my alternate HQ, and seems unimpressed by the storm.
Glenn Reynolds says: "[L]ots of noise on cable news and not much underlying substance."

Where's Frank J to defend the honor of Floridians against the evil PuppyBlender when we need him?

Movie Review: Thank You for Smoking

2006-04-29T09:26:00.000-05:00

How in the hell did one of the best comedies of the 21st century get relegated to art house movie theatres? Seriously, Thank You for Smoking is probably the best cast comedy I can think of in the last five years.

Gas to $4.50 by Memorial Day - Updated!

2006-04-22T01:51:00.000-05:00

The winter blend is running almost $2.80 here in Tally. The summer blend is more expensive, and demand increases. I'm betting on $3.00 gas here in Tallahassee by Memorial Day. Expect to see $4.00 if there's more than one major hurricane in the Gulf this year. I wonder what the correlation line is between the price of gold per ounce and the average price per gallon of gas at the pump? I'll bet it's closer than the trend line between carbon oxides emissions and average global temperature. 'Course, no one argues that the price of gas drives up the price of gold.

UPDATE
Ok, so gas was at $2.95 today, $3 is a certainty, and I'm bold enough to go for $4.50 - It'll hit $6 if there's a hurricane hit b/t Panama City and Houston this summer.

Pujols Hits 1000...

2006-04-22T01:22:00.000-05:00

with a HR against the hated Cubbies, and it was his 11th home run of APRIL!!!

11 HR in 16 games. At this point, more of his hits have landed outside the wall than inside. I wonder how many times that's happened to someone hitting .358 after 53 ABs. In fact, even if he went 3 for his next 7 (.428) and all stayed in, he'd still have an equal number of hits inside and outside the park after 60 ABs whilst improving his average to .366.

Of course, he's gonna start racking up the walks come mid-May or so. Still, at this pace - 1 HR per 5 ABs - and averaging 10 ABs every 3 games, he would hit SIX more HRs in APRIL!!! That's with 10% of the season in the bag.

Innnsane

How Apropos to the Current Hot Issue...

2006-04-21T14:23:00.000-05:00

Today is the 170th anniversary of the defeat of Santa Anna by Sam Houston at San Jacinto. Remember Goliad! Remember The Alamo!

UPDATE - APROPOS OF NOTHING:
That Santa Anna is the same guy referred to as "The Napoleon of the West", which made even more sense after the Battle of San Jacinto seeing as Santa Anna and Napoleon could best Spaniards and the French, but had no luck against English speakers.

Chernobyl Bad for People, Good for Animals

2006-04-21T08:40:00.000-05:00

Interesting BBC story about wildlife in the no-go zone around Chernobyl. Wildlife has been hugely resurgent in the area, especially in the last 5 years. To the point where birds are nesting on the sarcophagus! Of course, the animals are, according to the story, "too radioactive for humans to eat safely - but otherwise healthy." Excuse me? The wolf and lynx population seem to be growing just fine eating irradiated animals. It helps keep the e. coli incidence down.

Of course, you gotta have a moonbat quote in a BBC story, here it is:

"I have wondered if the small volumes of nuclear waste from power production should be stored in tropical forests and other habitats in need of a reliable guardian against their destruction by greedy developers"
-James Lovelock in a 2001 Daily Telegraph article

Sounds like a great idea, Jimbo! That way us evil, irradiated specists could finally hunt a couple of species to extinction without the Greenpeacers hanging around and protesting.

Moonbat Greens Counterattack

2006-04-18T08:49:00.000-05:00

I guess too many of us evil Sapiens-loving, specist bastards said nice things about Mr. Patrick Moore's editorial in the Washington Post. BBC and ABC both have reports playing up Chernobyl to maximum effect.

In Case you're keeping score:
IAEA says: 56 Deaths from Chernobyl, perhaps as many as 4,000 directly attributable.
Greenpeace says: 60,000 early deaths in region, going to 140,000.

IAEA uses science measuring symptoms on a per person basis, Greenpeace uses statistics about probable cancer incidence as well as psychological problems to reach their number. So empircal science on the one hand, WAG on the other. No one who buys the Greenpeace report needs to be making fun of the ID crowd for using pseudo-scientific arguments to advance wishful thinking.

A Rarity

2006-04-17T09:45:00.000-05:00

When a founder of Greenpeace and I agree on something, it must be right!

Mr. Patrick Moore writes in the Washington Post about the benefits of Nuclear Power for power production in the US. It is nice to see some intellectual integrity from the environmentalism camp on this issue. More works like this from the Greens and I might have to stop summarily dismissing them as specist traitors with nothing positive to bring to the table who want us to die young, malnourished, and painfully.

Thank you Mr. Moore.

Opening Day!

2006-04-04T00:20:00.000-05:00

I'm not too into baseball. I mean, raised by a father who wants a solo bugle rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" played at his funeral. My beloved Cards mashed the Phils. I still think any season where Edmonds, Pujols, and Rolen play 125 games each and are healthy for the postseason will break all records for offensive production. We'll see. Actually, I'd take a wild card and all three healthy for the postseason.

It'll be interesting to see whether Pujols can go 16-44 (.363) and get his 1000th hit in 3000 at bats. If he stays healthy he should be at about 1200 hits, 240 HR, 750 R, 750 RBI. Which would put him right at his AVERAGE. The man's a machine. He's been good for 190+H/40HR/125R/120RBI every year since he got to the league! Heh. Only 20 more seasons like that and he'll be closing in on Pete Rose for hits. Gotta have a couple of 45+ HR years to get his name near the top of that list. We'll see. And don't even get me started on his lifetime OPS and the fact that he's +10 BB/SO in the average year.

Gotta love opening day stats: Pujols AVG 1.000, OPS 4.800, 2 AB, 3R, 4RBI, 2BB

Tales From an Alternate Universe

2006-03-31T13:23:00.000-05:00

So the Mexicans in California wanna talk about how this is "their continent"? They get zero cred from me unless they're chanting in some language that ain't English or Spanish. I don't see any signs in Aztl:

No, it ain't "Your Land". There was no Trail of Tears from Los Angeles to Chihuahua:

Speaking of Mexican history, we could start with how come all these folks speak Spanish. That Cortez was a nice guy. But that's not "Mexican" history. So let's talk about what a nice guy Santa Anna was. I mean, if we're not going to talk about the "Spanish occupation" as part of the history. There may not be a more opportunistic, traitorous bastard in history. I'm pretty sure he's got the North American crown in a walk. And then we can talk about what a fine job the PRI did running the nation in the 20th century.

Now I lived in Texas for 11 years, and I have the utmost respect for Mexican-Americans, and really any hyphenated Americans who came over to work hard and build a better life for their children, who they wanted to become Americans. But this bullshit is just lame.

If you don't like the country you're in ILLEGALLY, whyn'cha go back to Mexico and find work there? Surely they've got plenty of jobs that pay better than these horrible American jobs. Surely those jobs have insurance, unlike the terrible conditions in America, right? And great hospitals where anyone can walk in off the street and receive first rate emergency care without showing any proof that they can pay, right?

Note to all pro-immigration folks. These people aren't making you any friends. I've become less tolerant of the lax border enforcement since this rally. And I'm fairly sympathetic to the idea that anyone who wants to come to America and become an American should be able to without much paperwork.

UT Men Survive Underdog Night

2006-03-24T04:05:00.000-05:00

And boy was it ever close. I should have known when LSU walked away that it was gonna be rough. Then it got BAD. We're at the bar watching UT and one of the guys I'm with gets a pretty girl just dropped in his lap, tries to bobble, and still can't miss. Total underdog deal. He's all focused on the game, and she keeps talking at him until the other guy with us hit him with a clue. (Subtle hints that he ought to be more attentive weren't working. Hell, I could see he had a can't miss thing going.) And this happened not five minutes (real time) after the start of the second half. He "calls it" for the 'Horns, then She shows up. It didn't take us long to figure out that this was all related, and the 'Horns were on the short end.

However, the karma came through. I declared my willingness to take the loss rather than run off the girl. (I've become much more generous since January.) I mean it would be cool to hold all 3 Men's Major Titles at the same time, but it's unthinkable. Kind of like say, St. Louis taking Pro Football, Baseball, and Hockey titles. Things like that, you've just gotta sneak a glance at once or twice, and root hard like it doesn't matter.

Anyhow, I meant it. After a brief conversation with another friend, I declared myself in as wingman. Willing to take the loss for my buddy's game. Then what happens? Instant karma. Somewhere tonight a bunch of 'Zags and Blue Devils fans are thinking they didn't run off the bad luck girl fast enough, but sometimes you've just got to surrender to karma.

Anyhow, big rumble Saturday with the Big Baby. Smack his ass and send him home with a lesson boys.

ALSO:
Congrats to the TCC Eagles, advancing to the quarterfinals in the National JuCo tourney . I noticed they beat San Jac tonight, and have to play some other Houston area school. And UH still can't get a team together.

It seems I have a new boss

2006-02-10T19:54:00.000-05:00

I scrupulously avoid reading the Democrap, or watching local news, so it was news to me to find out that the Secretary of Corrections here in Florida resigned this afternoon. Being a contractor, the less I know about what's going on outside of my little area, the better. Of course, I'm so low on the totem pole, I wouldn't know either the former or interim Secretary if I passed 'em in the hall. Mostly, I stay in my ~~cave~~ office.

Anyhow, I'd like to welcome Interim Secretary James McDonough, Colonel, US Army (Retired). I can't imagine that a graduate of West Point and MIT is going to pull the plug on applications programming, though former Sec. Crosby did a good job of letting us do good things.

I guess it don't matter. My attitude has always been: "Yes, Boss, I'll get my data out of your database. Just don't hit me no more!"*

* Cool Hand Luke, from which I stole and butchered the quotation, is set in a Florida Road Prison. That's the first thing I discovered when I went to work at FLDOC.

Porkbusters...My Slightly cynical take

2006-02-10T09:16:00.000-05:00

Right about now, Senators Coburn, McCain, Feingold, Bayh, Kyl,Ensign, Graham, Sununu, DeMint, and Cornyn...

link

Now. Call me a cynical bastard, but (with the exception of Coburn) doesn't this look like the start of a report from Iowa or New Hampshire about this time of 2008?

Full sentence follows...

Right about now, Senators Coburn, McCain, Feingold, Bayh, Kyl,Ensign, Graham, Sununu, DeMint, and Cornyn are formally announcing the Pork Barrel Reduction Act.

I hope this ain't another McCain-Feingold Killer Cure, but they are both on that list. Seriously, I hate federal spending, and I guess I dislike the whole lobbyists influence for earmarks deal - though my definition of a honest politician is one who stays bought, so these guys probably arent going to disappoint me - so I hope it all works out just like the Bill Says.

Support the Danes! Buy Wal-Mart

2006-02-07T05:12:00.000-05:00

Wal-Mart happens to be one of the largest US customers - maybe the largest global customer of Mærsk, a Danish shipping company. Not that I don't love the butter cookies. We used to get a huge tin every Christmas. That may be what I miss most about working for those guys. Oh, and Danish Easter beer, which they did not give us for free, but could be acquired if you happened to catch the right Dane going to or coming from Copehagen at the right time. All of the Danes I know personally are good folks. I'm glad they've redoubled their efforts in the fight against ~~idio-~~ theocracies.

Chinese Version of Ocean Front Property in Az

2006-02-07T04:44:00.000-05:00

Every so often I browse my spam, just to make sure that I don't miss commenters here. Apparently they aren't going to the spam box either. Anyhow, I ran across this little gem.

1974 brought the discovery of the world famous Terricaota Warriors and Horses and the uncovering of the Qin Dynasty's greatest achievements. This site has been China's most visited landmark and draws nearly $350,000,000.00 anually.

...

These nightly banquets are expected to double the yearly visitors to the park and increase revenues by $3.4 million annually.

Basically, they want me to BUY STOCK NOW! I'm not so sure about a business model that doubles customers for a 1% revenue gain.

Ah, the Chinese, making the Nigerians look like pikers.

Yes, it's 5am... No, I haven't slept.

More on Snake Oil Energy

2006-02-06T17:08:00.000-05:00

I noticed that both the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Jonah Goldberg at The Corner have come to realize that Ethanol ain't the greatest thing since Free Beer. Welcome to the fold.
I am particularly onboard with Mr. Goldberg's complaint that the Greens will find a way to screw us out of any useful discussion on the topic anyhow. Greens on Energy - like a monkey f*ckin' a football - masturbatory self-indulgence that is sickening to watch and achieves nothing.

Sin Tax Ideas

2006-02-05T21:33:00.000-05:00

So now that Florida is going ahead with slot machines in Broward County - for only 30% of the House Take - I started thinking. This is supposed to generate something like $200 Million a year. By mandate it must go to state K-12 education. The state run lottery generates at least that much - also "to help educate the children". What else can we legalize and tax?

With the number of retirees growing every year, Florida stands to be hardest hit by the coming insolvency of Medicare and Social Security. How about...legalizing prostitution and taking 50% of the fee to help offset the cost of Medicare and Medicaid? Or we can "do it for education". Hell, legalize pot, and charge a 50% "sin tax". We could put that in a Hurricane Insurance Fund. No sense charging the taxpayers of Idaho to rebuild that condo in Panama City.

I'm really starting to get into this. Of course, living in Tallahassee, we don't even have a strip club to ~~exploit~~, er, help girls "working their way through college." Hell, Houston had 20 times the population and fewer colleges, but damned if there weren't thousands of girls "working their way through college", or sometimes nursing school. I say, let's get started. Legalize prostitution in Florida! "Do it for the children"!

...Since Sliced Bread

2006-02-03T17:35:00.000-05:00

I'm flying to NYC and back this weekend. I just printed out my boarding passes - meaning that since I have no checked luggage, I can just walk up to security, and then to the gate. Man, that's awesome! I can't stand waiting for Joe Retiree to make sure he's had all seven connections to Hawaii shown to him - thrice. Then check two giant bags and the cat. Rock the f'k on!

Florida Jury Defends Property Rights

2006-02-01T19:03:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, it took a Miami-Dade County jury less than 30 minutes to decide Barcia did nothing wrong in shooting Murphy, who had entered Barcia's property without permission or a warrant.

But the cost to Barcia, a former Miami-Dade County Family Court clerk, and his family has been substantial: In the past two years Barcia has lost his job and his home, and had to serve house arrest while watching his now-19-month-old son grow

....

Before the jury left to consider their verdict, Judge Rodriguez explained it is contrary to law for a police officer to enter a private residence without a search warrant or permission from the homeowner unless it's a very unusual circumstance.

If Barcia had a reason to believe a felony was being committed on his property, or that his or others lives were in danger, the judge added, he could legally fend for himself.

Link

Listen, cops are okay, I don't like to hear about them being shot; but I'll have a lot more sympathy when they start respecting the rights of homeowners. Being a law-abiding citizen, I have no reason to expect the cops at my house at night. I am going to assume, for my own safety, that anyone banging on my door (a) is not law enforcement, and (b) wishes me ill. Announce yourself as police until you are acknowledged and be prepared to show ID.

Note: I probably wouldn't be quite so aggressive on this one except that the officer walked away, and the accused WORKED FOR THE COUNTY JUDGE!! I can understand how you get fired up the night of, but someone in the MDCPD should have taken a deep breath and given this one a "no harm, no foul" pass.

SOTU Snake Oil Energy Sales

2006-02-01T00:20:00.000-05:00

"We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen."

Great. Will we build them out of plastic to save weight? Where does that plastic stuff come from? Oh yeah, oil. All that plastic insulation in eletric stuff: oil. Well how about ethanol...In order to feed us and power us, we're gonna need a lot of fertilizer and pesticide. Where does that come from? Oil and natural gas.

Here's an idea. If you want to do your part to save on consumption of oil, don't buy any clothing with synthetic fibers in them, and nothing that has plastic in it. Who is working on next generation fertilzers, pesticides, solvents, glues, and lubricants that don't use petroleum or LNG as a feed stock chemical?

I've beaten the hydrogen thing damn near to death. I guess if we built enough nuke plants, with new more efficient electrodes coming online, water electrolysis for derived hydrogen would become "cheap". However, most H2 fuel cells use platinum as a catalyst. It's already expensive. Imagine how valuable platinum will become when it needs to be in every new car, truck, tractor, motorcycle, etc. Will we use H2 fuel cell driven watercraft?

I know I beat this thing like a drum, but it's just damned short-sighted to jump from a sinking ship to a leaky one.

Domestic SOTU Summary

2006-01-31T23:45:00.000-05:00

We will keep throwing money at Math and Science education until our students grow up into numerate adults who can do the math and figure out that more money does not equal better eductaion. Hopefully, they will also discover that Hydrogen is not nearly as efficient an energy storage and transportation medium as Hydrocarbons, and perhaps stumble upon that old axiom that correlation does not prove causation.

Feh. Weak.

No SOTU For You!

2006-01-31T21:06:00.000-05:00

Apparently not convinced to just annoy with her presence, Ms. Sheehan attempted to unfurl a banner in the gallery of the House Chamber and was arrested by Capitol Police. What with Justice Alito sitting up front, Sen. Kennedy must be thinking someone's been waterin' his whiskey and this is all a bad DT hallucination.

Go Nucular

2006-01-30T11:20:00.000-05:00

Pursuant to a few of the comments left on the previous energy related post, I've come up with some numbers to support the idea of exactly how liberating "Going Nucular" in regards to US power generation can be. Total US Energy Consumption is currently rated at about 8 TWhrs (1 TW 1 terawatt = 1 trillion watts) per day, or about 3 PWhrs (1 PW = 1 petawatt = 1000 terawatts) per year. For reference, the US Office of Nuclear Energy has an in depth proposal for a new plant in Alabama that would generate 1.3 GWe - approximately one eighth of the base load.

Waste Heat
Heat is entropy, right? Only in a closed system. Just because one system can't use the heat, doesn't mean it can't be the energy supply for another. Look at BMW's new turbosteamer: It uses "waste heat" from the combustion system and emissions control system (muffler) to spin a turbine that can be geared to the driveshaft. Instead of just radiating that heat into the surrounding environment, they believe they can derive about 10-15% more fuel efficiency. As commenter whit noted, nuke plants generate waste heat that could be used to distill ethanol or render biodiesel.

So let's see: For $25 Billion ($2.5B per reactor * 10 reactors) over 8 years we could probably switch all US non-transportation power to nucular, have plenty of "cushion" in our electical generation capacity, and perhaps find ways of making the waste heat productive in the transportation sector...here's hoping that the Greens see the light.

Rainy Day Strunk and White Post

2006-01-29T15:15:00.000-05:00

Rainy Day Strunk and White Post

Sitting around flipping through The Elements of Style I came across this passage:

17. Do not inject opinion

Unless there is a good reason for it being there, do not inject opinion into a piece of writing. We all have opinions about almost everything, and the temptation to toss them in is great. To air one’s views gratuitously, however, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk, which may not be the case, and which, in any event, may not be relevant to the discussion. Opinions scattered indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism on a work.
Strunk and White p.79

I guess that doesn’t apply to blogging since this is essentially a vanity project.

UPDATE: I have retracted a mildly snarky comment aimed at reporters after learning that a reporter and cameraman for ABC News were injured in an IED attack in Iraq. My thoughts and prayers go out to Messrs Woodruff and Vogt and their families. There are times when it is okay to have fun at the expense of others, but when bad things happen it is important to remember that we're all in this together.

Evolutionary Beer Goggles

2006-01-27T13:15:00.000-05:00

I was reading this article on the Sciam blog when I ran into discussion about how fish had to evolve completely new bone structures to live on land. It got me back on my favorite evolutionary hobby horse. Allow me to demonstrate:

At some point in our evolution, humans developed a radically different pelvic/spinal structure that allows us to walk upright comfortably. I know all the yadda, yadda about evolutionary advantage, but how did those first couple of generations become dominant enough to breed? Apes are, for the most part, harem animals. So here's my theory: It came through the females. I've got two scenarios:

A. Joe Ape stumbled across some fermented fruit, had a few too many, and comes home thinking, "I've never tried that deformed one. I think I'll get me a little strange tonight. Sure, she's a little tall, but they're all the same size kneeling down."

B. Jim Ape, not the dominant guy, thinks: "Ape, I'm never gonna get laid. Not unless I start my own gig. That tall chick is trying to mother all the other women's babies, but Joe won't do her. I bet I could get her to elope with me."

Ok, so they're highly anthropomorphisized, but major mutations like that just don't make sense in species that select mates. Call it the Beer Goggles Corollary to Evolution.

A Shameless Moment of Ego

2006-01-27T01:55:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the guys at The Neolibertarian Network for publishing an article I submitted. The pic next to the summary on the front page is awesome! The title is better than the one I submitted, too. Now I understand why editors have jobs. It's the bottom article, so it may soon be gone.

But the link to the article is here

Oh, and since that site is mostly run by the guys at Q and O, I just wanna say: Keep stirring the antpile, Dale!

Libertarian Musings

2006-01-27T01:32:00.000-05:00

I was looking through my "Notebooks of Lazarus Long" coffee table book and offer the following musings in that vein, though obviously not as insightful:

1) It is absurd to believe that a sixteen year-old who murders someone is more capable of making an adult decision than a twenty year-old who wants to buy a six-pack.
2) “Thou Shalt” is just as restrictive as “Thou Shalt Not”
3) Letting government employees vote in elections has the same effect as letting corporate employees vote for upper management: No one gets fired, everyone gets raises, and the shareholders get screwed.
4) ‘A government has no friends, only interests.’ No such entity has ever given charity. Social welfare is a steely-eyed bribe.
5) Legislative season should be shorter than hunting season.
6) It is easier to pass legislation, than repeal it. When in doubt, don’t.
7) There is no such thing as a temporary tax.
8) Game theory has proven ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his need’ maximizes neediness and minimizes ability.
9) Just so everyone understands, the rule of Progressive Taxation states that the government will take money from those who manage it well and give money to those who manage it poorly. This is going to spread the wealth?
10) Apparently the only difference between citizens and everyone else living in the U.S. is that citizens can apply for passports

Alternative Energy is the New Perpetual Motion

2005-12-30T18:28:00.000-05:00

Discussion on this post at The Belmont Club has lead me to start my own post on this blog about the prospects of dismantling the petrochemical industry, creating the "Hydrogen Economy", and eliminating US demand for foreign oil.

First a review of basic Thermodynamics:

Law 1:
Energy in a system can be neither created nor destroyed

Layman's Translation:
The best you can do is break even

Law 2:
Entropy in a system increases until equilibrium is reached

Layman's Translation:
You can't really break even because the usable energy is constantly decreasing

Now, the beautiful thing about oil, natural gas, and coal is that billions of plants over eons did the work of fixing solar energy into carbohydrates, and then the geothermal processes of the earth further concentrated that energy into convenient pockets of high-energy density hydrocarbons. Any alternative that humankind comes up with has to do all of this work. We might be able to do it FASTER and more EFFICIENTLY, but the energy has to come from either: the Sun (solar, wind, ocean current, deep water thermal transfer) or the Earth (geothermal). Additionally, a system could be created in which traditional fossil fuels provide the seed energy, but the system derives enough energy to restart the cycle and power other endeavors.

Let's review a few of the most talked about alternatives to oil and their production systems:

1. Hydrogen
There's been a huge buzz over the last decade about the coming hydrogen economy, which will meet all of the land transportation energy needs in the future. Well, what's the deal with hydrogen? First, the plan is to derive energy by combining free hydrogen with oxygen to yield energy. Just like the Space Shuttle main engines, only on a tiny scale. Now if creating water from H2 yields energy, then deriving H2 from H2O requires an equal amount of energy. Referring again to those 2 laws, we lose energy at both ends. Electrolysis of water requires more energy than we derive. So there would always have to be energy added to this system equal to the amount of energy produced by burning hydrogen plus the energy loss in creating free hydrogen. Right now our free hydrogen comes mostly from Natural Gas. It is a more efficient producer of hydrogen. If we don't use NG for the hydrogen or the electrolysis of water where will we get the energy?

2. Ethanol
Another much talked about solution for ground transportation. On a per volume basis, Ethanol contains only about 70% of the energy of an equivalent volume of gasoline. In the US most ethanol is derived from corn. It's basically really pure corn liquor. Most studies about ethanol net energy derivation only take into account the fuel spent on planting, harvesting, and transporting the corn itself. They fail to account for the manufacture, transportation, and distribution of fertilizers and pesticides; most of which are derived from petroleum products. Ironically, the amount of energy spent on raising corn can probably best be visualized as the 50 gallon drums used in the OK City bombing (a whole lot of ammonium nitrate, plus some diesel). Leaving out the ammonium nitrate, corn ethanol yields about 1.3 to 1 energy return. Adding the ammonium nitrate pushes the energy yield into the negative.

3. Solar Energy
Ok, so you get the point that the first two just moved the petroleum up the food chain, but what about solar power? Well, most solar cells are made of silicon and plastic. There's energy for annealing the silicon plus the plastics themselves are created from petroleum products. Oh, and solar cells are flimsy and inefficient. But let's assume that they aren't. In the temperate latitudes of Earth, the average energy from the sun is 1kWs/m^2. The average US household uses about 12kWhrs/day. So assuming that we could get 100% efficiency, and direct sunlight for 12 hrs/day, we'd need 1m^2 of solar panel per household. Not bad right?

4. Wind Power
Wind generators require an awful lot of open space in which to work. Additionally, they are only efficient in winds between 20-50 mph. Above and below that, they are fairly useless. They are also loud, ugly, and dangerous to birds. Each wind turbine is good for something like 20Kw. That sure is a lot of windmills to handle the US power requirements.

The Rub
Here's the rub, total energy consumption in the US is actually 2.9 TRILLION kWhrs per year! (This stat is total consumption including cars, etc. translated to electrical terms. Official stat was 10 Quadrillion BTUs.) That's 8 BILLION kWhrs a day, or 333 million perfectly efficient 1m^2 solar panels. Our best solar panels in the lab to about 30% efficiency, so we'd only need a billion of those. (or a 1000 km^2 panel. For reference, total land of Rhode Island is 2700 km^2) Then we'd have to store and maintain all of those.

This is just to replace fossil fuels in energy generation. In the next post, I'll discuss all of the other places where oil and natural gas are used in products.

My $.02 On ID 'Theory' In Schools

2005-08-05T08:53:00.000-05:00

As near as I can tell, the only difference between the Theory of Evolution and Intelligent Design Theory is that you could, given about 10 million years of observation, have enough data to support or disprove Evolution. ID, as far as I can tell, can't be disproven by anyone but God Himself. And I b'lieve I might just shout myself hoarse before He bothers to answer a 'what's it all mean' question like that.

For a great rundown of why Evolution ain't as much a fact as, say, gravity see this column by Fred Reed. He describes my view of this hyped conspiracy here:

Third, evolutionists are obsessed by Christianity and Creationism, with which they imagine themselves to be in mortal combat. This is peculiar to them. Note that other sciences, such as astronomy and geology, even archaeology, are equally threatened by the notion that the world was created in 4004 BC. Astronomers pay not the slightest attention to creationist ideas. Nobody does—except evolutionists. We are dealing with competing religions—overarching explanations of origin and destiny. Thus the fury of their response to skepticism.

I found it pointless to tell them that I wasn’t a Creationist. They refused to believe it. If they had, they would have had to answer questions that they would rather avoid. Like any zealots, they cannot recognize their own zealotry. Thus their constant classification of skeptics as enemies (a word they often use)—of truth, of science, of Darwin, of progress.

So I hope our President will continue to take every opportunity to piss off the self-righteous. As for whether it will 'hurt the children', it can't hurt them any worse than high school math that is incapable of teaching students to manipulate and understand fractions.

Congratulations to Nanodot

2005-08-03T11:16:00.000-05:00

Nanodot is the first sight to refer me 5 whole visitors. Just goes to prove how smart and forward thinking your readers really are.

What Does Victory in Iraq Look Like?

2005-08-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

The always intelligent and thoughtful Wretchard at The Belmont Club has an interesting post on what the end state of Iraq may look like.

But what sort of victory would it be? Perhaps a shadow victory like that achieved in Korea 50 years ago. A Syria belligerent but not really; Islam still the 'religion of peace' -- whenever it is not inciting attacks against America; Bin Laden in Pakistan but only when he is actually spotted; an Iran with nuclear weapons which they will be bribed not to use. A West partially mobilized against enemies it cannot bring itself to name or destroy, a display of aggression from the civilized herd to prevent further attack from the circling pack of predators serving in lieu.

This is totally unacceptable. No more detentes, no more half measures. Let's solve the problems. I do hope that President Bush and Secretaries Rice and Rumsfeld will begin to hint heavily that if Syria doesn't clean up it's act, we will be withdrawing those 60,000+ troops from Baghdad to Damascus next year. The way I see it, given the CIA's projections on Iran (and their recent record) we have until 2012 to come up with a solution to an Iranian nuclear state. DMZs are not my preferred solution on two very long borders.

Hope He Doesn't Cry About It

2005-08-02T14:41:00.000-05:00

Via K-Lo @ The Corner

Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, who opposed Bolton's confirmation, said, "I am truly concerned that a recess appointment will only add to John Bolton's baggage and his lack of credibility with the United Nations

Well who's f**king fault could that be, Georgie? That reminds me, I can't wait until 2010 when I can start sending checks to your primary opponent. Just another reminder that there are a**holes in every party.

UK Legalizes Murder by Doctors

2005-07-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

Via K-Lo at The Corner:

More evidence of why Socialized Medicine - actually Fascist Medicine as it is directed by the state - is a horrible idea:

The [General Medical Council] argued that the original ruling put doctors in "an impossibly difficult position" as it would oblige a doctor to provide treatment that the patient demands, even if the professional is that it would be futile. The GMC believes that a patient does not have the right to demand any particular form of treatment.[emphasis mine]

Once again, the only inviolable rule is the Golden one, and not Jesus's version. Since the patient ain't payin', he don't call the shots. The doctors get to play God because the state doesn't want to spend money on people who will never again contribute to the Exchequer's office.
So next time someone spins that lie about how superior ~~Socialized~~ Fascist Medicine is, ask them how they would have felt if Terri Schiavo's tube was removed by the insurance company doctors against the will of both husband and parents.

Egyptian Bloggers to Host Candlelight Vigil

2005-07-28T11:19:00.000-05:00

Via Instapundit:

Egyptian Bloggers have won permission to hold a candlelight vigil to protest the Sharm El Sheikh bombings. Here's hoping that it is well attended, well covered, and peaceful. I'll be lighting a candle in solidarity here in Florida. Hopefully, my two readers will do the same.

On a serious note, I think it is important to spread the word and encourage these things.

Iran Watch

2005-07-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

Like a Cubs fan in September, Like Charlie Brown and the football, hope springs eternal for those of us who wish for a popular uprising from the Iranian people. Gateway Pundit has a photo/video roundup of ethnic riots in Iran. The Iranian government has killed at least a dozen protesters in the last few days. I hope I'm alive to see the government thugs get theirs. The sooner the better.

5 Illegal Egyptians...

2005-07-26T23:13:00.000-05:00

$8000, and a map of the NYC subway system. Yes even in the tolerant state of New Jersey, this will get you detained.

Via LGF

Because all newly employed, ship jumping street vendors have $8000 cash on hand.

All joking aside, cudos to the Newark PD. Now find everyone who helped get these guys into the country and go for the grand slam. Since these guys are here illegally, does that mean that we can ship 'em to Gitmo? You know, make it a DHS case?

46 Years Too Long

2005-07-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

Fidel Castro and anyone in Cuba who doesn't want to end up beaten, shot, or sent to prison for 're-education' are celebrating Revolution Day. Fifty-two years ago Fidel and his amigo Che launched a revolution. Forty-six years ago Fidel took power and hasn't looked back.

Just in time for Dia del Revolucion, Castro's government has come out with a new propaganda phrase. Vamos Bien, which translates loosely as "we're coming along well" or "we're doing well", belies that fact that there are more blackouts than ever as the Cuban power grid continues to age gracelessly.

Apparently, anti-government types are getting fiesty, but I'm still betting on the Cubs winning it all before we see a home-grown revolution in Cuba (or Iran) for that matter.

In honor of Revolution Day, buy a 'Commies aren't cool' shirt from these guys. Note: This is an unsponsored link, but if a shirt came in the mail, I wouldn't send it back.

North Koreans Starve While Kim Fiddles

2005-07-26T10:23:00.000-05:00

North Korea has resumed talks with the US, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China. I'm strongly in favor of this, but until Kim is gone and some other form of government takes his place, problems will continue to abound.

As talks resume, we find out that North Koreans are still starving due to government mismanagement and total isolation from the rest of the world. According to Google Earth its 120 miles from Pyongyang to Seoul. In the last 50 years, Seoul (and South Korea) has become one of the most connected places in the world with a strong, stable, mature economy. Pyongyang and the North has become a starving, ignorant, and belligerent backwater. Could there be a longer 120 miles in the world today? If there was ever a better case study of the effects of totalitarian fascism vs. democratic capitalism, I've not seen it.

We Have Liftoff

2005-07-26T09:58:00.000-05:00

Space Shuttle Discovery has successfully launched. Godspeed ladies and gentlemen. May your mission be a success and may you come home safely.

UPDATE: John Miller expresses my view perfectly in a post at The Corner.

A Sad Day for the BSA

2005-07-25T21:15:00.000-05:00

Four adult Boy Scout leaders died in an accident at the National Jamboree today. It is a tragic day. However, the Jamboree will continue. I think that's the best thing that could happen. Unfortunately, life doesn't stop for tragedy. An organization that creates capable, responsible young men has to teach that hard lesson, too.

Say a prayer for them tonight.

Dis-Union

2005-07-24T22:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like Jimmy Hoffa's boys and the SEIU, along with two other unions are leaving the AFL-CIO. The best part is here:

The boycott means the unions will not pay $7 million in back dues to the AFL-CIO on Monday. If all four boycotting unions quit the federation, they would take about $35 million a year from the estimated $120 million annual budget of the AFL-CIO, which has already been forced to layoff a quarter of its 400-person staff.

And hopefully, less money to stand in the way of CAFTA and other free trade initiatives. Also, two masters to whom our friends on the left side of the aisle must bow and scrape in order to keep up fundraising. And at least some are admitting it:

Gerald McEntee, president of a government employees' union with more than 1 million members, accused his boycotting colleagues of aiding labor's political foes. "The only people who are happy about this are President Bush and his crowd," he said.

Count me as a member of 'his crowd'.

Vive La Lance!

2005-07-24T11:24:00.000-05:00

I saw that painted on a road in Austin seven years ago. I've been following the Tour ever since. Congratulations to a fellow Texan.

A "Not In Our Name" Sign I Could Get Behind

2005-07-23T13:41:00.000-05:00

Via Instapundit:

From an anti-terror rally Friday in Antelope Valley, California:

Asema Sultan immigrated to the United States from Pakistan 24 years ago and has lived in Palmdale for 15 years.

The sign she carried said: "Not in our name."

Notice who shows up in support:

Around 8 p.m., a man wearing an Army shirt walked through the rally and offered a firm handshake to al-Khatib.

"Last time I saw this was outside of Baghdad," said the man, who identified himself only as an Army corporal from Palmdale. He served a tour of duty in Iraq that ended in January 2004.

"Right now, people are biased against them," he said of the rallying Muslims. "I wish I would see more of something along this line."

He added, "Next to supporting the troops, this is equally good."

Yep that's right, one of those troops that the Left wants to support by demonizing their mission and only reporting their shortcomings.
Hey, maybe this is a "support the troops" initiative that the Left could get behind. All sorts of strangeness. Seriously, though, I'm glad to see this and hope it gets wider support.

Cosmos 1 a Victim of Soviet Era QC

2005-07-22T14:06:00.000-05:00

Via Space.com

The probe revealed there was enough telemetry data to determine that the Volna's first stage engine did not complete is planned 100-second burn before jettisoning from the rest of the vehicle. Instead, the engine -- powered by nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine -- shut down 82.86 seconds into flight, and the planned separation of the first and second stages did not occur. Officials deemed the engine problems were caused by a "critical degradation in operations capability of the engine turbopump."

That's what you get for trusting Soviet Navy technology. I'm sure it sounded like a good idea at the time, but they've been having trouble keeping their ships afloat. It might not have been the best idea to trust rockets that have to be lower on the maintenance list.
Sigh. Another blow to the private space industry. I still intend to stand on the Earthside of the moon and watch a solar eclipse before I die.

Further Thoughts on Marriage

2005-07-22T11:58:00.000-05:00

Lee Harris writes on the WSJ OpinionJournal page today an essay that says what I was trying to here.

This paragraph makes the point I was striving for:

If gay men and women want to create their own shining examples, they must do this themselves, by their own actions and by their own imagination. They must construct for themselves, out of their own unique perspective on the world, an ethos that can be admired both by future gay men and women and perhaps, eventually, by the rest of society. But there can be no advantage to them if they insist on trying to co-opt the shining example of an ethical tradition that they themselves have abandoned in order to find their own way in the world. It will end only in self-delusion and bitter disappointment

Basically, pursuing marriage (an institution dedicated to the bearing and raising of children) by a couple who has no chance, is an exercise in frustration.

While I could care less one way or another whether couples who cannot or will not have children enjoy the spousal advantages currently bestowed only on married couples, whether they be of the same sex or not; I am quite committed to the idea that our society remain committed to children raised by "parents who [are] so unshakably committed to the values of decency, and honesty, and integrity, and all those other homespun and corny principles", and continue to offer societal and governmental incentives to them.

FGWs Continue Attack on Boy Scouts

2005-07-21T10:25:00.000-05:00

Via LGF

The Litigating Arm of the FGW* has once again struck a blow against an organization that creates principled, capable young men. That's right the American Communist Litigation Union sued the Boy Scouts to keep them from using US Government property because the Boy Scouts acknowledge duty to "God, Family, and Country" not "Government, Family, and Socialism".

A federal judge ruled late last month that the Pentagon funding is unconstitutional because the Boy Scouts are a religious organization, requiring Scouts to affirm a belief in God. The case was initiated by the American Civil Liberties Union

Despite the fact that Boy Scouts routinely turn out capable young men who go on to become leaders in their chosen fields, and teach real actual survival skills, (see this recent article for example) the FGW continues to attack these heretics because they believe in a god more powerful than the Government.

UPDATE: No sooner do I get the post up than Mr. Johnson has the update:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist introduced legislation this month stipulating that no federal law, directive, rule, instruction or order should limit any federal agency from providing support to the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, including meetings held on federal property.

*For an explanation of FGW see here

In 5 Days You, Too Can Understand Nanotech

2005-07-21T08:12:00.000-05:00

According to the Foresight people who really do understand this stuff, Nanotech for Dummies is due out on Monday. I don't want to seem diparaging, but what's next? Rocket Science for Dummies?

Fundamentalist Government Worshippers

2005-07-20T23:20:00.000-05:00

I originally posted this during the Republican Convention last year. I have updated it recently to describe another trend I have recently observed:

This seems like a good name for the reality-impaired wing of the Democratic Party (and those too far left to associate with the Democrats). You might know them by their actions. They believe that Government, not God is the ultimate power in the world. And anyone who claims differently is a heretic to be treated as heretics always have.
You may have seen them in New York at the Republican National Convention. They were the ones who couldn't play by the rules and protest with quiet dignity. Not that vociferous protest is wrong, but you didn't see anyone trying to disrupt John Kerry's speech at his convention.
These fundamentalists play by many of the same rules as other fundamentalist groups. Rerun the Miami and Seattle WTO talks and tell me these guys aren't fanatic ideologues.
Listen to them talk. Bush is 'evil', Halliburton is 'evil', the war in Iraq is 'corrupt'. And why are they so angry? Because the High Priest worships another God besides Government. He's breaking a commandment. 'Thou shalt have no gods before me'.
I think people must be very careful about this. Fundamentalism leads to rationalization, not rationality. Fundamentalists feel that they are chosen, beyond the law, and infallible. This leads to all sorts of trouble. I don't know the solution, but the description of the problem feels right. Fundamentalist Government worship is that missing link that leaves those of us who are not Government worshippers confused at some of the statements and actions of the far Left. It describes the visceral and irrational hatred of religion, speaks to the worship of the UN (it's a really big Government), and answers the need for more Government. (God will provide if we tax the pagans enough)

UPDATE: I think that this post may be more relevant today than it was when first written eight months ago. On every issue of the day, blocking anything proposed by Bush or the Republican leadership is more important than offering productive counterproposals or leadership. The 'we may not win, but you'll lose' attitude is characteristic of Fundamentalism. It is far more important to battle heresy and save souls than actual improve lives in the here and now.

UPDATE II: Actually, upon reflection these people are just fundamentalist Communists. After all, to my knowledge it was the Communist Manifesto that put forth the idea that Government was the superhuman power that would manifest paradise on earth if only it was properly invoked and worshipped.

How The Pill Created the Gay Marriage Lobby

2005-07-20T22:13:00.000-05:00

Bombastic title, no?
This a post guaranteed to piss off just about everyone who reads it. Not that I need to worry because nobody will, but... away we go:

What Marriage Is Really About
As best I can tell the Western, monogamous marriage has never been in the interest of men, and rarely in the interest of women. In agricultural days, two people working on a farm couldn't do much more than survive. Ask any feminist about the time from the Industrial Revolution to the advent of The Pill and she'll give you a laundry list of how marriage screwed women. If she starts in on why men are pigs, you'll also get the explanation of why marriage isn't in a man's interest. No, the only people who really made out well in the traditional marriage were the kids. And that's the whole point. The institution of marriage makes raising children economically feasible. All of the benefits bestowed on married couples today (common property, right of inheritance, Social Security and health benefits for spouses and children, etc.) are either bestowed on the family unit as a whole or were created to ensure that the surviving spouse (and now sole guardian of the children) received full access to the assets of the deceased spouse as a default position because they were also the guardian of the deceased's children.

What The Pill Has To Do With It
Before The Pill came along, any woman who got married before the age of 30 could expect to be a mother. Since this covered something like 99% of all marriages, it was reasonable to assume at a societal level that marriage=children. With that being the case, it was common sense to extend any societal benefits for having and raising children to all married couples. Sure there were some winter marriages, sure there were some barren marriages, but it was close enough for government work.
With the advent of 99.9% effective birth control and significantly longer life spans, marriages have been increasingly decoupled from child-bearing. Throw in the no fault divorce (which is really just another effect of the same factors) and you decouple marriage from child-rearing. Basically, marriage is no longer a good standard to use when extending "family" benefits.
Note: In some sense I use "The Pill" as a way to define all of the socially disruptive medical advances of the past 40-50 years.

Creating A Gay Marriage Lobby
As The Pill created more marriages where child-bearing was delayed or foregone altogether, a growing population of heterosexuals were receiving the above described benefits of marriages (common property, right of inheritance, Social Security and health benefits for spouses and children, etc.) without the burdens of raising children. Compared to single people and unmarried couples, they were making out like bandits. Since the no fault divorce made separation possible at any time, there was little downside - especially as the gender income gap decreased. If you both started with nothing and had similar earning tracks, about half was a good trade.
When discrimination based on sexual preference was outlawed, it was only a matter of time before same sex couples started asking (rightly, in my opinion) why they couldn't get the benefits of married couples. I think it's a fair question.

A Proposal
I think the best societal solution for this is one that gives a set of benefits to people who declare their intent to have a long-term relationship as a couple (health benefits, next-of-kin status, default heir if there is no will), and another set of benefits for people who have children together. I'm not really in favor of fighting churches over the definition of marriage. As far as I'm concerned, they have dibs on the name. If I were writing a bill, I'd create a Life-Partner designation and state that all marriages performed by churches grant a couple life-partner status. I would define a separate Adult With Dependent Children status. If the government really wanted to encourage traditional marriages, it could designate that people holding both designations get extra tax-breaks, etc. I don't see why the government should be tied to the word marriage.

Where Enron Got Their Accountants

2005-07-20T21:45:00.000-05:00

Maybe they got them from the Federal Government. According to the SSA OASDI fact sheet the Social Security Administration took in (in round numbers) $50 billion more than it spent in FY04. This brings the SSA's Trust Fund assets up to $1.6 Trillion. Unfortunately, that money isn't anything but a number on a piece of paper. The deductions taken out of your paycheck every month (and the matching amount that your employer pays Uncle Sam) go into the General Revenue fund for the US government. And you know no politician has ever seen a tax dollar he wouldn't spend. That $1.6 Trillion is all in IOUs. There's no money. Remember Al Gore's "lock, box". That's what he was addressing.
House Republicans, who are at their best when standing on the principal that no one can screw up a situation better than the government, are set to propose a bill that would go one better. Their plan is to take the surplus out of the General Revenue budget and put it in an account with a worker's name on it.

Grow Accounts would be financed by surplus Social Security taxes that are currently diverted to feed Congress’s pork barrel habit. This money would be socked away in privately-owned accounts, creating real — not fake — retirement savings. These excess payroll tax deductions currently account for about 2% of a worker’s paycheck.

from socialsecuritychoice.org

The point of all this is that right now, when expenditures top income in 2018, it has to be covered by general revenue. But, like Enron, the balance sheet says that we're solvent until 2042-45, depending on who you believe. The problem is that the balance sheet doesn't reflect reality.

Count me in: Stop the Raid, Grow my Account.

Same Old Look, New Flavor

2005-07-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

Trying to get back on the old blog horse again. Or, depending on how the FEC rules, start the newly rebranded online magazine. I think we'll start with the uncontroversial subject of Social Security, then a small post about how we should change the institution of marriage to reflect social changes created by The Pill, and then throw in a little nano or space news for a little spice. I guess it doesn't matter since I have no readers, but I'm good at pretending. Hell I pretend to work for 40 hours a week.

Dan Rather Serviced On Air

2005-02-18T09:47:00.000-05:00

Via LGF I discovered this story about the Dan Rather retrospective that CBS is running on the night of his retirement. Why don't they get the weatherbabe to service him on air instead? If you've got no viewers, what've you got to lose? ESPN's minor league hockey will have more viewers. Although, if CBS does decide to go the weatherbabe route, call me.

Not Good...

2005-02-17T10:55:00.000-05:00

So I get to playing around with Google after that last little post. I search Google News for Syria+Assad and come up with this article from The Turkish Press dated January 24, 2005. A key quote:

Putin further underscored the importance Moscow attaches to Damascus by saying Russia planned to "use the Syrian route" to influence the Middle East peace process.

Assad said his talks in Moscow would also focus on the mounting crisis surrounding Iran -- an Islamic state where Russia is constructing a controversial nuclear power plant and which is a growing concern for Washington military strategists.

OK, who else is now worried? Russia and Syria meet to talk about arms deals and Iran. Approximately a week later (February 2, 2005) the Prime Minister of Georgia dies in a classic Soviet "Accident". Two weeks after that (February 14, 2005), the former Prime Minister of Lebanon is killed in classic Middle East style. Iran and Syria announced a "common front" yesterday.

Does this sound like really BAD news to anyone else. I keep asking myself that classic paranoiac question: "But am I being paranoid enough?" Russia, who has nukes and missles but is short on capital, is selling nuclear technology to the Iranians and missle technology to the Syrians. Russia is making a return to the bad old days internally, and, if Georgia and the Ukraine are any indication, externally as well.

On January 30th I thought we had turned a corner. Now, I think we're going to need a bigger army.

Never A Dull Moment

2005-02-17T10:26:00.000-05:00

Quick, what's worse than the idea mentioned in the previous post that Assad might force the US into a confrontation with Egypt and Saudi Arabia? How about a Russo-Syrian-Iranian Axis? LGF links to a report in which all three countries are mentioned together. I think it's time for me to start looking at land and guns.

I know that friends and acquaintances of mine in the military - low level - have joked about betting on whether the US exit strategy was "drive East" or "drive West". I thought this was just military humor. Now, not so much.

My final thought on this is that Vlad Putin has turned out to be a major demon hasn't he? He's like something out of a Ludlum novel. Talk about the ultimate Soviet sleeper agent.

Soul-Freezing Thought of the Day

2005-02-16T10:43:00.000-05:00

Thoughts like this are why I stopped spending hours every day in the blogosphere: What if Bashar Assad, in a mad rush not to be the guy with the US target on his head, spills verifiable evidence (bank transfers, etc.) that Saudi and Egyptian Government agencies were funding, supplying, and perhaps even manning the Damascus-Falluja insurgent supply routes?
That one made me lie awake last night, thinking about where to go when all hell broke loose. I think I'll hop over to Kim Du Toit's and find a rifle to add to my collection. Although, a friend of mine bought an AK at the last gunshow and I got a chance to fire it. It's a great little gun for the end of the world.

Now There's a Brand I Could Get Behind

2005-02-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

So I stop by Ace's to check on him b/c I've been living on Instapundit and The Corner for too long. I never did get around to reading any of the articles because of the chick in the BlogAd for Dusty Clothes. All I can say is, I love the ad Ace! Where can I get me one of them?

NOTE: Yes, this is shameless self-promotion. A new wardrobe and a date with that model would be the appropriate compensation for my brazen public servicing. Especially if all 3 of my readers buy something...

Even the Syrians aren't That Stupid, Right?

2005-02-15T09:10:00.000-05:00

Wretchard has an interesting article about the Rafiq Hariri assassination. I have to posit that the Syrians were not so thumb-fingered as to car-bomb the guy after President Bush has said, "You're next." I'm also going to go way out on a limb (haven't been wearing my tinfoil hat lately) and say that the CIA-Mossad axis probably isn't to blame. Who's left?
Iran-Hizbollah, that's who. Hizbollah is backed into a corner. Anything that happens to the West of Iraq in the ME takes the US eye off of Iran. Also, fascist dictators aren't really the car-bombing type inside their own territory.

New Post for the New Year - or Only 20 Days Late

2005-01-19T17:39:00.000-05:00

I really did mean to start blogging again over Christmas. I even tried to start blogging again over Christmas. It only took me almost 4 weeks to rediscover my username...There's probably five or six poor bastards with names like mine that got password reminders. Oh well. Lots of cool stuff going on in the world. More to follow.

Earth to Moby...

2004-11-04T21:12:00.000-05:00

Jonah Goldberg over at The Corner posted the following quotation from Moby:

... can someone remind me why secession is not an option at this point? i mean let's be realistic, we live in a divided country. can't we have the breakaway republics of 'north-east-istan' and 'pacific-stan'? wouldn't the red states be happier without us?"

Taken from Salon.com. (I won't link to them b/c who wants to sit through their stupid ads?)
The first thing that pops into my head is that Moby need not worry about seceding because he already lives in a different world than the rest of us. But, I will point out that he might never have heard of the Civil War (or for the losers, the War of Northern Aggression). The net-net for those of you who read some sanitized version in which Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and the South seceded (which happened in opposite order listed here) is that if you try to secede from the US, the Federal Government will send the Army for you.
Heh, if I thought that the Army had another Sherman, I'd be actively trying to help "[P]acific-stan" (that shift+ letter seems to be too difficult for Moby) secede. Just for him, I'm posting a link to Sherman's famous "War is Hell" letter. The one quote from it all Dems should read and take to heart:

You have heretofore read public sentiment in your newspapers, that live by falsehood and excitement; and the quicker you seek for truth in other quarters, the better.

BFT

2004-10-05T06:48:00.000-05:00

Back from Texas. Hoping to get a post up on the X-Prize and private spaceflight roundup.

GTT

2004-10-01T07:12:00.000-05:00

Gone to Texas. In transit all day today. Posting will be light to non-existant.

INDCent Bill for the Investigative Reporting Pulitzer

2004-09-30T08:11:00.000-05:00

I don't know anything about Pulitzer Prize rules, but if there's one for Investigative Reporting and Internet media is eligible, Bill Ardolino from INDCJournal.com should get the Prize.

He did the original digging (link)to find an expert willing to go on record against 60 Minutes II in the Pajamahadeen attacks on CBS. He has returned today to gnaw on their collective ankle some more with on record interviews from 3 people at CBS News regarding CBS's deceptively sourced, and hoax-document supported anti-Bush screed about the draft. (sponsered in Congress by Democrats)

Bill's doing yeoman's work. Drop a tip in his paypal bucket to keep him encouraged. Someday he'll even get some more moonbat research done.

UPDATE: Jon Henke from Q and O agrees, kind of. (last line of the post)

UPDATE II: How embarrassing, I misspelled Bill's last name. It's fixed now. Oh well road to hell, good intentions, yadda yadda. (and embarrassing. That's flabbergasting (I got that one off dictionary.com. English, just because I majored in it don't mean I can spell it.))

Why He Is (and I Ain't)

2004-09-30T06:29:00.000-05:00

Allah has a lesson on when and how to beat the MSM (and everyone else) with the MEMRI stick. Why can't anyone except pajama-clad ankle biters figure this stuff out?

Site Stats Update

2004-09-29T22:53:00.000-05:00

Woo-hoo, I've almost hit the small time. I'm now only every 3rd visitor and every other page viewer. That means that I have at least 5 visitors a day! Who woulda thunk it?

2004-09-29T21:58:00.000-05:00

The view from SpaceShipOne. I can't wait to look out a window and see that!

Space Blogging - Halfway to the X Prize

2004-09-29T21:40:00.000-05:00

It looks like SpaceShipOne is halfway to the X-Prize. Edwards AFB says 337,500 feet or 63.9 miles. I am so stoked. I can't wait to go to space. I just hope I don't have to hold up banks to be able to afford a ticket. Imagine, private citizens in orbit by 2010! Rutan and Allen rule! Good Luck on Monday guys.

O'Reilly and Bush III - Bill Lets the Man Talk

2004-09-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've ever seen Bill O'Reilly talk so little. I'm not sure there was one interruption in the whole thing. I wish he'd go that route more often. Ask good questions and let the guy talk.

About faith. I think the President nailed it. If a person chooses to live their life in accordance with a religious faith, he cannot divorce the principles of the faith from their actions. Heavy drinkers who quit drinking find faith. Period. Whether through a church or through a 12 step program, those people must find a faith that works to not drink. It can't be a CEO or Sunday morning but not Saturday night faith either. It doesn't make Bush perfect, or God-inspired, or even mean that he thinks WWJD before every decision. But if you ask him to explain his thoughts and processes, God's gonna be in there.

O’REILLY: This time I want to ask you, why do you think some people get upset when you mention your faith vis-à-vis your job?
BUSH: I really mention my faith vis-à-vis my life, and I don't know. -- I don't know why people get upset with that. People, -- I’m asked a question, -- what does faith mean to me, it means strength and calm in the face of the storm. I mean, I do rely on prayer, and I am empowered by the fact, I’m empowered by the fact that people pray for me. -- I’m sustained by that, not empowered -- I’m sustained by that, is a better word. I don't know why people object to somebody who is, -- when asked -- says religion’s important.
O’REILLY: Is it important in your decision-making?
BUSH: It’s an important part of my life. I don't see how you can divorce religion and how you live your life. I mean -- I, they're -- if faith is an important part of your life it’s ingrained in your soul, and ingrained in your being. And I make decisions based upon what’s best for this country. And I pray for wisdom, I pray for strength, I pray for others who are in harm’s way. I pray for the soldiers, I pray for their families. And I make decisions -- I make decisions about earthly matters, I make decisions about how to get out of recession, or how to improve education, or how to spread the peace-- and that's what I believe we’re doing is spreading the peace.

As I said above, this is a good explanation of people who feel that way. It doesn't mean that God gives Bush wisdom, or strength. But at least he asks.

As a side note, "spreading the peace" is a bit Orwellian for my taste. I would prefer something that acknowledges that killing bad guys is a part of it. But I understand this sales angle.

CBS and the Memory Hole

2004-09-29T16:36:00.000-05:00

Reports are pouring in across Pajamahadeen blogs everywhere. At first I was just going to stay out of it. I mean, it's no longer worth mentioning when CBS runs an anti-Bush story based on fabricated documents. Eh, they're tabloid journalists, who cares. But this, this is unacceptable.

CBSNews.com posts a transcript that adds a key phrase left out of last night's broadcast about the anti-draft (yet somehow anti-Bush who also opposes a draft) mother. Go to LGF or Ace to see for yourself. The video don't match the transcript. The video is from the guys at RatherBiased.com (who I believe are blogging at Rathergate.com. (link to fake docs redux here) I want to get original credit right, but am not sure how it plays out. I believe RatherBiased broke the fake docs story this morning, but LGF is the first place I saw the coverup allegations)

This has crossed the line. The line has nothing to do with my disagreements with CBS about what constitutes evidence, partisianship, unimpeachability or truth. This is cover up. CBS needs to be taken to task for their cover up just like Enron, Nixon, and the Catholic Church. Making a mistake, exercising bad judgement, or just outright lying are within the depths of my cynicism. Lying to protect mistakes, bad judgement, and lying is unacceptable. There is no way for CBS to rebuild their credibility without completely cleaning house and bringing in people who have reputations for being brutally, yes-honey-you-do-look-fat-in-that-dress, honest.

I have been in communication with my local station manager since the first Rather poor story. He's been a good guy throughout. But I sent him an email bordering on nasty this time. I wanted him to understand, and I hope everyone else pushes their local station managers to understand, that the local station could no longer separate or insulate itself from the fallout of CBS National News' bad faith efforts at delivering news. Bush needs to cancel the CBS moderated debate.

UPDATE: Allah, of course, has the perfect picture

Healthcare

2004-09-29T00:45:00.000-05:00

Bush also brought up a good point about healthcare. O'Reilly asked if the government had a moral obligation to provide healthcare. I heard Bush explictly say "no", but the transcript reads "now" as he transitioned to another point. Who ya gonna trust, them that have the tape or my lying ears? Anyhow, the point he made is that the US has taken on a legal obligation to provide healthcare for a significant portion of it's citizens via Medicare and Medicaid. I think this is an important point.

I said in an earlier post that healthcare is not a right, it is a privilege. I hate the idea of government run healthcare. However, the US government does have a legal obligation to provide for those who qualify for Medicare and Medicaid. I just wish to hell they'd put some means testing in there. I don't mind the idea of providing healthcare for seniors living on cat food. I think our society is rich enough that we can treat kids without insurance. I think it should provide a minimum standard though. Let those who can pay their own way. So their kids inherit a little less.

O'Reilly Night Two - Bush is Smarter than Kerry

2004-09-29T00:28:00.000-05:00

So let me get this straight. According to my Democrat friends, John Kerry is nuanced and Bush is an idiot. And yet, in less than a week John Kerry and his sister manage to insult Australia and Iraq. Somehow this is how Kerry is going to make us more respected abroad. OTOH, O'Reilly tries to get Bush to take it to Chirac and Bush says:

BUSH: Well I think, uh, yeah, I mean, there was, I believe that we have to take threats seriously before they fully materialize, I saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. Everybody saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. My opponent saw a threat in Saddam Hussein,
O’REILLY: Not Jacques Chirac?
BUSH:: Well, he voted yes at the Security Council.
O’REILLY: Yeah, but he stabbed you guys in the back, you thought he was going to help you and he didn't.
BUSH:: Well, the, in the first resolution that took place in — right after my, well not right after my speech, but shortly after my speech, at the General Assembly in 2002, — the resolution said, the resolution said, disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences, and France voted aye. When it came time, after diplomacy had failed, to define serious consequences, that's where we had a divergence of opinion. I believe when international bodies speak, they ought to, — theyought to mean what they say. And I believe when a President speaks, he ought to mean what he says.
O’REILLY: What’s Chirac’s problem?
BUSH:: In Iraq? Well he...
CROSSTALK
O’REILLY: He hasn’t been a great ally to the U.S. since 9/11, they won't, he doesn’t want NATO forces to protect elections in Afghanistan, come on, I mean, this guy’s…
BUSH:: Well they're helping us in Afghanistan some, they’ve helped us in Haiti some. But you know, he’s, — he just didn't see the wisdom of the action in Iraq and I think history’s going to prove him wrong. I would, I …
CROSSTALK
O’REILLY: You think it was political, you think he’s playing to his left-wing base in France?
BUSH: Well, you’d better get him on your show “Factor,” because I don't want to put words in his — I’ll tell you this. I’ll tell you this. — If Saddam Hussein were in power today, we’d be a heck of a lot worse off. And it’s really important for our citizens to understand that. This is a guy that had the capability of making weapons. I believe he was trying to delay and hope that the world would turn its head once again, and remember, there was what, seventeen different U.N. resolutions…

Notice that Bush is unwilling to sell out even our most dubious "ally". That's Presidential. Kerry on the other hand, has insulted anyone and everyone who's worked with the US on Iraq. Everyone.

My favorite moment came when O'Reilly brought up The Attack of the Pajamahadeen. Bush didn't give the MSM a single thing to use against him. For an idiot he sure does seem to make good decisions about which battles to fight.

O’REILLY: All right. In light of the CBS document fiasco, do you think you get a fair shake from the network news and the elite media like the “New York Times?” Do you think your administration and you get a fair…
BUSH:: That — O’Reilly, you know I’m smarter than that, to be taking on the press in the middle of a campaign.
[LAUGHTER]
O’REILLY: Well…
BUSH:: What do you want…
[LAUGHTER]
O’REILLY: Philosophically, let’s talk philosophically. Do you think you get a fair shake?
BUSH:: Look I, that's up for the people to decide that. You know, I — I just tell people what I think. And I try to be as clear as I can be. You know, when it’s all said and done, and people look at this campaign, they're going to have to decide whether or not they want somebody who tells them what he believes and doesn’t change positions based upon pressure and polls or, or articles in newspapers.

One of the best men I know told me once, "It's none of my business what other people think of me. My job is to do my best." Bush has learned that lesson. His opponent, eh, not so much.

Christopher Hitchens Stole My Idea

2004-09-28T07:02:00.000-05:00

OK, he didn't steal my idea. He's been in the business longer than me by however long he's been in the business minus about two weeks. Also, it wasn't my idea. I was going to write something smart and witty about the Democrats and their ambivalence on whether US victories abroad are good. But Mr. Hitchens beat me to it, and it's better than I would have managed. Of course.Here it is.

Why I'll Vote for Bush over Kerry

2004-09-27T22:32:00.000-05:00

Taken from the transcript of the O'Reilly Factor interview tonight:

O’REILLY: So you're not going to military militarize the border to stop,
PRESIDENT BUSH: No, we’re going to use the border patrol and beef it up, and make it, give it better technologies and better equipment to do its job.
O’REILLY: Okay. You know a lot of people are not going to like that answer, you know that.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well it’s a, a truthful answer.

Note the last exchange. That's the difference. Bush won't be out there promising to militarize the border, or claiming that his words were twisted tomorrow.
I hope like hell O'Reilly can get Kerry on. I'll put up the transcripts as the ultimate proof.

UPDATE: Let me also mention how pissed I am that Bill had two Democrat shills on for the analysis portion. Where's the Republican analysis. Fair and Balanced don't mean letting them take cheap shots.

Once a Peanut Farmer, Always a Goober

2004-09-27T18:25:00.000-05:00

Ok, I really tried to ignore former President, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and senile-dictator-appeasing-commie-lover Jimmy Carter. That idjit had the temerity to say:

Voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements"

Are these like the "basic international requirements" that delivered 100% of the vote to Democratic All-Stars Kim Il Jong and Saddam Hussein? Are you kidding me? FLORIDA doesn't meet that requirement, but Venezuela does? Quit smoking that stuff you find around the Habitat sites.

Lemme tell you something Mr. Carter: I happen to know that people within the Florida Department of Corrections are working their asses off to get rights claims processed by the deadline this Thursday. And another thing: Are you so desperate to recruit votes that you need the felons-who-have-not-had-that-right-restored vote?

Go see INDCJournal or Q and O for some rational commentary on it. All I can say is that I intend to vote, but should there be international observers where I am voting I fully intend to pick a fight on my way out of the polls. F*** you Mr. Carter. Whyn't you quit hugging dictators and go back to building houses for poor people. You seem to be genuinely good at that and genuinely terrible at politics.

Space Blogging - Private Companies

2004-09-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

With SpaceshipOne set to launch on Wednesday for it's first of two flights to garner the Ansari X Prize it seems like a good day to roundup all of the private space ventures that are looking less like vaporware every day.

Burt Rutan and Paul Allen seem to have hit the Trifecta:
$10 Million X Prize. Check
$21.5 Million from Virgin. Check
An Undisclosed amount from DARPA to drop test the X-37. Check

Quote from the Virgin Deal, emphasis mine:

"It is expected that Virgin Galactic will formally commence the contractual and design phase of the project after the conclusion of the Ansari X Prize flights and start construction of the first spaceship, the ‘VSS ENTERPRISE’ in 2005."

Now, my little heart flutters at the idea that I have only 3 or 4 years to come up with $30000 for my orbital flight. Let me write that again because it was way too sweet not to repeat: for my ORBITAL flight. But wait, there's more. This stuff is closer to the vaporware end of the spectrum. However, if Branson's planning to orbit, he might as well be the courier service for the Budget Suites LEO division of Budget Suites America.

"Robert Bigelow, chief of Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, is apparently setting higher goals for private spaceflight endeavors with America's Space Prize, a $50 million race to build an orbital vehicle capable of carrying up to seven astronauts to an orbital outpost by the end of the decade, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology."

If you didn't read the link, Bigelow owns Budget Suites America and is attempting to launch inflatable hab modules into orbit. This is probably a good thing since Virgin Galactic probably won't have the space in their ships for everyone who wants to join the 'Zero-G Club'.

Soft Power, ad hoc Coalitions, and Regime Change

2004-09-25T18:20:00.000-05:00

Much has been made by the Liberal factions of the US about the lack of soft power and the use of ad hoc coalitions used to wage war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Less has been made about the very successful use of these facilities in bringing down the illicit nuclear network of A.Q Khan and embargoing missile and nuclear technology from North Korea. I think the situational differences in these examples make a great starting place for the discussion of when soft power may be useful and when there is no substitute for hard power. I believe that there is no substitute for hard power when affecting regime change.

All of this is pertinent to the previous discussion of pushing regime change in Iran. As I stated yesterday, I do not believe that the US has the credibility to push regime change in Iran without the use of hard power, and we have stretched the resources of our partners to the limits. Attempts have been made to parallel Iran to the Soviet satellite states, but I don’t believe the parallel applies.

Iran will not be Poland. The fundamentalist element throws too much of a wrench in the plans. I do not believe that the US or George Bush can exert enough soft power to counter the fundamentalist problem. The best we can hope for in the next year or two, while Iraq and Afghanistan (hopefully) stabilize, is to turn Iranian activities in Iraq into money pits. The US can afford to fight proxy battles in Iraq. I doubt that the Iranians will be able to afford to keep up. If the nuclear problem comes to a head the Israelis will act, and the US will be between the Iranians and Israelis. The UN will roundly condemn the Israelis for acting unilaterally, the US will prevent a resolution against the Israelis from passing and the status quo ante continues to exist.

What soft power can change is the dynamic of Israeli/Palestinian situation. Hussein was a major source of funding for the Palestinian militants. He’s gone. Syria is pulling back in Lebanon and that will jeopardize Hizbollah’s positions in Lebanon. The security fence is being completed. Arafat clings to power, but is being marginalized.

None of this is meant to state that the Iranian mullahs will not be deposed in the next year, but the US cannot play a large role in it. We have no credible carrot nor stick to offer.

Pushing Regime Change in Iran

2004-09-24T12:21:00.000-05:00

Michael Ledeen, Stephen Green, and The Key Monk have all weighed in on regime change in Iran. They make good and valid points. I guess my question to them is, what does more constructive engagement look like?
All three note that Bush should not engage in military operations. All three note that Bush has made public calls for freedom and democracy. I ask what else he can do. Given Carter's abandonment of Iran to the mullahcracy and Bush Sr.'s inaction after a Shiite coup attempt in neighboring Iraq in '91, what credibility do we bring to encouraging the opposition?

Note Green's comment:

""Beyond the government itself . . . there's little wrong with Iran in need of fixing. Prior to the Khomeini Revolution, Iran was a mostly-functional member of the Semi-Decent Nations of the World. It can be again."

No offense, but this sounds like everyone's description of Iraq, pre-Saddam. It's great that Iran was Semi-Decent 25 years ago. Why won't they face the same problems as Iraq? A smaller scale perhaps, since they haven't been on the Oil for Palaces program, but still a concern. Wouldn't the counter-insurgency be worse in Iran, as the mullahs have more pull than Saddam did?
The idea of Nuclear Imams is scary, but I fail to see what the practical 'soft power' engagement format looks like.

Rights (or Preachin' to the Choir)

2004-09-22T00:22:00.000-05:00

I’ve been musing on the concept of Rights lately. If I recall correctly from my studies Rights are the guarantees and moral obligations of an individual within a society. The common discussion of Rights in the political forum of America has gotten far from this idea. It seems that Rights in common parlance means a handout from the Government. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Rights are, in essence, negative. They can only be taken and not given. Healthcare, for example, cannot be a right. Something must be given in order for everyone to have healthcare. It is possible to argue that healthcare is a privilege that every citizen should enjoy, but it is not possible to argue that healthcare is a right. The same can be said about programs that ensure a minimum standard of living. Nobody has the right to be fed and clothed at the taxpayers’ expense, but one could argue that these are privileges that every citizen should be able to receive should they need to. Make no mistake: the Constitution places no moral obligation on me or the government to give charity. My religion might compel me, but the government was compelled to welfare by labor unions. And those unions had no more claim to morality than those who felt otherwise. It ain’t a right.
America was founded upon an agreement that life, liberty, and private property would be mutually defended from attack or seizure. The government would defend you against bandits, and the people would come to your aid against the government. Any time that your rights and my rights came into conflict we would accept (or the government would legitimately impose) a solution arbitrated by a jury of our peers. From those agreements, our societal rights descend.
I’ve been thinking about this and other things ever since having a conversation with Jon Henke at Q and O. You can read his post here about how a misconception of Lockean rights as a priori truths saps libertarians (and small l- liberals in general) of the ability to engage in realistic foreign policy debate. He’s dead on. Lockean rights are not a priori truths. They descend from a Social Contract that the vast majority of a society is willing to agree upon and enforce.
Take for example fundamental Islamism. I mean the real deal, Al Qaeda, form. In order to be eligible for their rights you must be a male Muslim holding their beliefs. To them, any human not meeting this standard is just like a bear or a tiger: a possible threat to people (as in those with rights) that must be subjugated or eliminated. We must realize; anyone who considers us in that manner MUST be treated in the same manner. They are ineligible for rights, because they will not accept our legitimacy.
One caveat to that last statement: just because these people are not eligible for rights due to their conflicting values, they should be given the same dignity as any other dangerous animal if captured. Our social values prohibit the torture of captured animals, and we shouldn’t torture captured humans.

The Fall of the Two Party System

2004-09-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

The Swift Boat Veterans For Truth is new model for political interest groups. A massive, distributed, single-issue campaign based on the Internet and funded by microdonations has scored a direct hit. I expect that the “Swift Boat model” will begin to play a larger role in politics in the next election cycle. This is the beginning of the end for the two-party system. And this could be great for politics.
As information and capital (the lifeblood of politics) become more distributed, blocs of voters will stop associating with the two major parties. Fiscally conservative Democrats and socially liberal Republicans are on the verge of bolting their parties. Hawkish Democrats are on their own island. Soon these blocs of voters are going to figure out that they can create their own commercials, distribute information, and raise money without needing the “boots on the ground” of the traditional parties. Having a clear policy position on issues is going to be the key to winning in the future. It may be the key to winning now. The treatment of the Kerry campaign proves that making statements one day to keep the base together and the next to attract the swing voter is impossible when everything you say can be posted on the Internet sequentially.
The ability to collect money outside of the traditional avenues of fundraising is changing politics. With the click of a button I can give money to the Swifties, Thune or Daschle in South Dakota, Coors or Salazar in Colorado, all while living in Florida. Weblogs and websites make me care about these things. I believe that party identification will play less and less of a role in the election process.
It would be interesting to see what effect electing five or six of these true Independents to the Senate or thirty to the House could have. The effect I hope it would have would be to raise the bar on what gets through Congress. With five percent of a chamber of Congress unbeholden to a political party, the dynamics could change significantly. One of the benefits of democracy is that it is possible to deadlock the Government. We’ve been passing laws and raising taxes for 216 years. And the trend has always been to higher tax and more regulation. I think a moratorium on that would be good for about 20 years. As Thomas Paine opined, “Government is, at best, a necessary evil.”
This is not destined, but it is a possible future that those of us who oppose passing laws for the sake of passing laws can work towards.

A Rambling Critique of Classic Libertarianism

2004-09-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a little about a conversation I had with one of the authors at Q and O about what he calls neolibertarianism. I'm not sure I agree with the philosophy, but I certainly agree with him that Classic Libertarians put too much faith in a Lockean 'State of Nature' that cannot possibly exist. Classic Libertarianism (I believe) operates on at least 2 wrong assumptions:

1. That values and standards of living are relatively uniform throughout the world.
I was going to re-run the old critique about Libertarians being Isolationist, but I think that this goes more to the heart of the matter. Libertarianism is essentially a selfish philosophy. (I don't use selfish in a negative connotation. It is just a neutral observation.) I think that many Libertarians assume that other countries and cultures value Western 'rights' and 'rule of law'. I think that they assume that other cultures live far enough above the subsistance level to get what Americans would consider a poor education. This is wrong. In many cultures bribery and extortion are part of the benefits package for government employees. In many cultures people are too busy trying to eat to get any education. They are ignorant to the concepts of 'rights' and 'rule of law'. This matters because as 9/11 proved, just because we ignore them doesn't mean they ignore us. Isolationism wouldn't have helped because MTV on the satellite is as much to blame for that group's hatred of us as government policy. (Note: I don't want this to in any way imply that I care why they hate America. People killing Americans need to die.) The global interdepencies of this Capitalism that Libertarians are so fond of demands interaction with the outside world. That interaction is actually much easier if duties are coordinated at the level of government and we have both carrot and stick large enough to discourage most pirates and bandits, even in many nearly anarchic countries.

2. That America could be run with a weak government in today's era
Would that this were true. But it ain't and won't be so long as we have cities that have millions of inhabitants and current technology levels. The ability to kill 3,000 people with 2 jetliners prohibits a weak, unstructured government if we are to continue enjoying a standard of living comparable to today. Either we have a government strong enough to ensure our lives against foreign and domestic enemies or we join the Third World. If the Union had not won the Civil War and guaranteed the primacy of the Federal government, if Hoover's FBI had not made kidnapping for ransom a losing proposition, if Washington hadn't marched an army out to stop two early rebellions, Americans could easily be enjoying Third World status. There are costs and benefits for every system. A strong government is no threat to an armed populace, and the benefits of strong government are nice.

I am sure that my examples and points are not directly topical to Neolibertarianism as put forth by the Q and O author. I am not sure that I qualify as a neolib. I know that I do believe in limited social spending and minimal social regulation. I hate drinking age laws, smoking ordinances, and gun licenses. I support the abolishment of the income tax in favor of consumption tax (or no tax!). I could not care less about the legality of gay marriage and abortion. I wouldn't avail myself or my partner to either, but I don't think legislating morality is practical or wise.