Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Why Are They Still Talking - Why Don't They Do Something?

I find it strange that there are still people around talking about overpopulation.

If they were really serious we would no longer be hearing from them.

There is one simple way to bring about the results they desire: More Communist States in the world. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot. Population will be reduced.

Inspired by Fred's Footprint: Green fascism"

H/T LarryD by e-mail.

Carbon Nanotube Breakthrough

Nanocomp Technologies has announced a breakthrough in carbon nanotube production. They can make fibers in the 1 mm length range. This makes possible carbon nanotube cloth. Carbon nanotubes have wonderful properties. Very high strength. Light weight. Good electrical and thermal conductivity.

However, up to now, competitive commercial manufacturing processes have generally produced only short carbon nanotubes – usually tens of microns long - with current carbon nanotubes generally available in powder formats. And, as with most powders, they can be quite difficult to incorporate into final manufactured goods. Perhaps most importantly, final products made from traditional powdery nanotubes have poor bulk properties - exhibiting less than optimal strength and conductivity.

NCTI’s patent pending processes change the game. We have developed methods to continuously produce very long, pure, carbon nanotubes, in the millimeter range of length, at high growth rates. Longer nanotubes mean greater strength, higher conductivity, easier handling, and greater product safety. They are key to providing the attractive properties exhibited by individual tubes.
Here are some of the properties.
* High Strength – our spun conductive yarns exhibit breaking strengths up to 3 GPa expressed or in other terms: 1.5 Nt/Tex or 450,000 psi and with fracture toughness that is higher than aramids (such as Kevlar® or Twaron®). Our CNT sheets have breaking strengths, without binders, that range from 500 MPa to 1.2 GPa depending upon tube orientation. Aluminum breaks at 500 MPa, carbon steel breaks around 1 GPa.

* Electrical Conductivity – Capable of carrying more current than copper and are also more conductive than copper at high frequencies.

* Thermal Conductivity - Capability to transfer more heat than copper or silver on a per weight basis.

* Extremely Lightweight – Less than half the weight of aluminum
You can also watch a video that explains this breakthrough at Nanocomp video.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Godless Communism

Godless Communism is no longer in vogue. At least in America.

With the advent of Liberation Theology we have Godly Communism. I liked the old kind (scientific Marxism) better. It could be falsified.

The Chickens Are Coming Home To The Roosters

Dennis The Peasant has a wonderful post up about the difficulties of being an uber feminist in an age of Political Correctness. It all revolves around Amanda Marcotte and some very delightful if politically incorrect illustrations.

H/T Insty

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Rezko And Rove - The Fix Wasn't In

The Chicago Tribune has an interesting bit on how the Chicago Machine was attempting to shut down the investigation of Rezko and friends.

Former Rezko business associate Elie Maloof is testifying about a conversation he had with Rezko in February 2005 after Maloof received a grand jury subpoena. Maloof, who was involved in a Rezko business deal involving pizza franchises that led to a separate criminal case against Rezko, said he went to Rezko's Wilmette home to tell him about the subpoena.

He said Rezko cautioned him to reveal little. The investigation would soon be going away, Maloof said Rezko told him. "The federal prosecutor will no longer be the same federal prosecutor," Maloof testified that Rezko said. Maloof said Rezko explained "that Patrick Fitzgerald will be terminated and that Dennis Hastert will name his replacement."

The effect of that, Maloof said Rezko explained, would be that a new U.S. attorney would "order the prosecutor to stop the investigation."

Last week, prosecutors said another witness, Ali Ata, is expected to testify later this week that Rezko told him in November 2004 that a plan was in the works to have Republican National Committeeman Robert Kjellander lean on his friend Karl Rove, then the White House political guru, to fire Fitzgerald and kill the Rezko investigation.
Wow. Fortunately nothing happened and here we are.

Another interesting bit is how Obama keeps leaking into the trial.
Before the trial began, prosecutors identified Maloof as one of at least two people who made straw political contributions to candidates on Rezko's behalf. One of the recipients of Maloof's money was U.S. Sen. Barack Obama. Obama has donated the funds to charity. But Obama's name did not come up during Maloof's testimony.
At some point I expect the connections will get deeper and this will be another dagger in Obama's side. Not yet fatal, but it is going to hurt.

H/T TalkLeft via Insty

Wright At The National Press Club

I wrote a bit today at Classical Values on Wright: The Devil Speaks.

My blogging buddy at Classical Values Eric has a post: How many wrongs make a Wright?

Gateway Pundit has an excellent post. Don't miss the picture at the bottom: Jeremiah Wright.

The Telegraph Co. UK. has a few words:

Barack Obama's former pastor returned to plague his White House bid yesterday with a nationally televised speech in which he blamed US policy for the September 11 attacks and praised the controversial black leader Louis Farrakhan.
And this choice quote from Obama's campaign manager.
David Axelrod, Mr Obama's chief strategist, admitted to the cable news channel MSNBC that the campaign had no control over the minister. "Obviously we would not have encouraged him to go on a media tour," he said.
They finish up with this gem:
Joe Watkins, a Republican strategist and pastor, who is black, said: "This hurts Obama tremendously because all it's doing is causing people to remember that Barack Obama has been a member of this man's church."
Obama is so forked. Burnt toast.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Gnip Gnop

What is Gnip Gnop? Ping pong spelled backwards. Officially Table Tennis. And what is so important about that? Let me see if I can narrow it down some. It is about state government. Illinois State Government. It is about FOO. FOO? That would be Friends of Obama (D, Rezko). Also FODu and FODa. That would be Friends of Dick Durbin (D, Corruption [State]) and Friends of Richard Daley (D, Corruption [City]). Like all tales of money in Illinois it has some interesting twists and turns. The LA Times tells the story.

WASHINGTON -- After an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2000, Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama faced serious financial pressure: numerous debts, limited cash and a law practice he had neglected for a year. Help arrived in early 2001 from a significant new legal client -- a longtime political supporter.

Chicago entrepreneur Robert Blackwell Jr. paid Obama an $8,000-a-month retainer to give legal advice to his growing technology firm, Electronic Knowledge Interchange. It allowed Obama to supplement his $58,000 part-time state Senate salary for over a year with regular payments from Blackwell's firm that eventually totaled $112,000.
No wonder Michelle was complaining how hard it was to get by. Fortunately it appears Obama got by with a little help from his friends. Now here is where it gets interesting. In Illinois no one pays a politician without expecting a little something in return. Nobody. That would be stupid.
A few months after receiving his final payment from EKI, Obama sent a request on state Senate letterhead urging Illinois officials to provide a $50,000 tourism promotion grant to another Blackwell company, Killerspin.

Killerspin specializes in table tennis, running tournaments nationwide and selling its own line of equipment and apparel and DVD recordings of the competitions. With support from Obama, other state officials and an Obama aide who went to work part time for Killerspin, the company eventually obtained $320,000 in state grants between 2002 and 2004 to subsidize its tournaments.
That is almost a 3 to 1 return on investment. In Illinois investing in politicians is a very profitable business. Much better than the 40% gross profit (about 5 to 10% net) that you get in normal business.
Obama's staff said the senator advocated only for the first year's grant -- which ended up being $20,000, not $50,000. The day after Obama wrote his letter urging the awarding of the state funds, Obama's U.S. Senate campaign received a $1,000 donation from Blackwell.

Obama's presidential campaign rejects any suggestion that there was a connection between the legal work, the campaign contribution and the help with the grant. "Any implication that Sen. Obama would risk an ethical breach in order to secure a small grant for a pingpong tournament is nuts," said David Axelrod, Obama's chief political advisor.
Ah, so $320,000 is small CHANGE. Or even $20,000. It sure would make a big difference in my life. In fact $20,000 is more than my yearly income right now. Much more. Obviously Axelrod travels in different circles than I do. Being one of the little people and all, who cling to guns, god, xenophobia, and bitterness.
Business relationships between lawmakers and people with government interests are not illegal or uncommon in Illinois or other states with a part-time Legislature, where lawmakers supplement their state salaries with income from the private sector.
Well that is true. It is not uncommon in Illinois. It is the way business is done here. See Rezko, Tony. The LA Times goes on:
But Obama portrays himself as a lawmaker dedicated to transparency and sensitive to even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Recently, Obama expressed regret over a property deal with Illinois power broker Tony Rezko after Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. In an interview this spring with the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama said his regret was not just because the real estate and restaurant entrepreneur was under criminal scrutiny, but because he was "a contributor and someone doing business before the state."

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, who provided The Times with details of Obama's compensation from EKI, said Obama did nothing wrong acting on behalf of Killerspin. He said the state senator simply wrote a letter backing a worthy project developed by a constituent.

Killerspin's owner, Blackwell, was a political supporter and friend as well. Both men lived on Chicago's South Side. Blackwell, a savvy and successful entrepreneur, was one of the first donors to Obama's early campaigns, including the state senator's failed bid for a congressional seat in 2000. In the presidential race he is credited on Obama's website with committing to raise $100,000 to $200,000 for Obama's campaign.

When Blackwell sought backing for his table tennis tournament in 2002, other politicians, including U.S. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, offered support for the event. But Obama was the only one who provided a letter that became part of the initial application for state funds, state records show. In addition, he wrote a state Senate proclamation heralding the first tournament and an official letter that welcomed “table tennis friends” to the 2004 contest and thanked spectators for helping to "make Chicago the table tennis capital of this nation."
Now here is where I see Obama making a big mistake. Never leave a paper trail. People might misconstrue it. And you know this is only one deal. Illinois politicians make hundreds of such deals every year. They are the difference between living in a rented apartment and owning a $1 million dollar mansion in Hyde Park. They are the difference between buying lettuce at the supermarket and arugula at Whole Foods.

One thing you can say about Obama relative to Illinois politics. He is an honest politician. He stays bought.

So it all comes down to: who owns him. And you thought slavery was outlawed by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Obviously it does not apply to politicians. Obama is a Slave to the Machine. The Chicago Machine. It is a tough job, but Obama Can Do It.

Which brings us to speculation. Why was Obama pushed forward so hard in this election season? My guess is that it was the Chicago Machine's last hope to limit the damage from the Rezko mess. If Obama wins the Presidency he can slow or stop further investigations into how Illinois/Chicago operates. With Obama tanking it has got to be putting those guys into the house of fear. You can smell it in the air.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Pin The Flag On The Donkey

Don Surber has a nice bit on how Obama is self destructing. Or is it self deconstructing. Well what ever Obama is doing to himself there are a lot of twists and turns. Lots of them. Lots and lots of them.

He’s looking less like Kennedy, and more like Steve Urkel.

In the 1980s, a smart, talented, hard-working, young intellectual came to Chicago and skyrocketed to success.

But enough about Steve Urkel. This is a political blog and so I must discuss again Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

Or rather his lapel pin, which has become like Donovan’s mountain. First there is a lapel pin, then there is no lapel pin, then there is.

He put on a patriotic lapel pin shortly after 9/11 to show his patriotism.

He stopped wearing one when opinion swung away from the war in Iraq.

He started wearing it again after word spread that he told the radical chic in San Francisco that rural Pennsylvanians won’t vote for him because they fear outsiders as they cling to their guns and their religion.

Finally, there is proof that Obama is his own man. He does not need the help of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to make himself out as an out-of-touch, far-left radical.
Don even goes so far as to write parody song about the whole deal. Obama is now a joke. He has become even more forked than Kerry was at this stage of the Presidential campaign. There is an iron clad rule in politics. Jokes don't get elected. Especially bad jokes.

H/T The Pundit of Knoxville

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Sunday, April 27, 2008

So Many Choices

Larry Johnson of No Quarter say Republicans are being offered a rich diet if Obama is the candidate.

I predicted on this blog four months ago that Barack’s relationship with an unrepentant terrorist would become a heated issue in the presidential contest. Although Obama insists that he barely knows Ayers, this is not true. Democrats, beware — the problems of Obama’s associations with Ayers will create serious problems in the fall campaign if he is the candidate. Republicans take heart — if Barack is the nominee, your only problem will be deciding whether or focus your campaign attack ads on Obama’s questionable ties to the corrupt Tony Rezko, the racist Jeremiah Wright, the terrorist group Hamas, or the unrepentant bomber, William Ayers.
Here is another take from Lin Farley of Savage Politics
I do not understand how William Ayers wound up teaching at a University, holding forth on how he didn’t do anything wrong. I can understand people in succeeding generations wanting to talk to the real deal. But I cannot understand lauding a man who does not regret setting bombs. I believe Weather Underground takes responsibility for over 200 bombings nationwide. I also cannot understand the attitude of a man who wants to be President of all the people of this country associating with Ayers. Let’s not debate the association. It is well documented and it goes beyond ‘we met a few times.’

The crucial question to me is similar to the quesiton I have about Wright, and it goes to the issue of his judgment. I was 23. Obama is twice my age, and these associations are recent. For me they have set off an alarm. Every person who loves this country and who hates injustice, sooner or later, must come to terms with how he or she will seek change. Obama, has to answer for his associates. He cannot dodge the issue by saying they are ‘harmless.’ These people are not innocent. And Obama’s association with Wright and Ayers is haunted by the cries of the ordinary and everyday people who have been killed by prejudice and by bombs all over this precious and vulnerable world.
That Obama sure has a lot of strange friends and associates. A lot of them seem to fall in the Communist Revolutionary category of one sort or another.

Lin mentions the protests at Century City in California in passing. I was at Century City for the protests.

Me and my friends stayed until President Johnson started giving his speech inside Century City. You could feel the crowd getting ugly. Violence was in the air. We beat feet. My policy is to not be there when a bullet or baton has my name on it. Unless it is my duty.

I remember seeing a picture of a girl getting her head cracked by the police in the paper the next day. She was a Communist I had talked to at the Be In at the park that afternoon. I told her violence was stupid. She said I was just a dumb hippie. My skull is still intact though.

H/T Instapundit

Saturday, April 26, 2008

A Winning Strategy

I can see the Republicans winning House and Senate Seats by asking their opponents:

Do you endorse your Party's candidate for President?

Talk about an embarrassing question.

The Drug War's St. Valentines Day Massacre?

The Chicago Sun Times has an editorial about the surge in violence in Chicago with the advent of Spring weather. A lot of hand wringing. What to do? What to do?

We can't stop trying.

The problem is guns. No, it's not about guns.

The problem is bad parents. No, we can't make bad parents good.

The problem is drugs. No, we can't stop the drugs.

The problem is jobs. No, we can't bring back the good jobs.

The problem is our schools. No, we can't ask our schools to solve all the problems that flow from broken families and broken neighborhoods.

But we can't stop trying.

In a dramatic gesture, Mayor Daley has called for a summit at City Hall today to search for solutions to the bloodbath of violence -- almost all of it involving guns -- that has swept across Chicago's neighborhoods in recent weeks.
Of course they don't have a single thing to say about stopping being stupid.
When we wrote that first editorial on Tuesday, the weekend body count was seven more dead and 29 shot but alive.

Now, horrifyingly, the week's tally is 12 dead and 40 shot, five of them in a single massacre in a Chatham home.
So let us have a look at a report on the Chatham massacre.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Chicago police say the deaths of five people found murdered inside a Chatham neighborhood home were targeted, and neighbors should not panic.

Police said all the victims were beaten before being shot to death. And officers from the police prostitution, vice and narcotics units are also involved in the investigation.

Police brass called on the public to provide any information that may help solve the massacre. They added that the shootings appeared to be well-planned and that the home had been ransacked. Police said they do not know the motive, but they are talking to a number of people in the investigation.
Sounds a lot like another Chicago massacre. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. So the Mayor, the Sun Times, and every one else in Chicago is howling about what to do. Rev. Michael Pfleger, who is a good friend of Rev. Wright, who is close to Mayor Daley, and who is a supporter of Barack Hussein Obama for President, is calling for more gun control. I don't know how he intends to make guns any more illegal than they already are in Chicago. Perhaps a round up of the usual suspects.

What no one dares talk about is:

Ending Drug Prohibition

Seriously. How stupid do you have to be given Chicago's History with Gangsters.

Look at that word carefully gang         sters.

So how stupid do you have to be to avoid figuring out the obvious? To learn from our previous history of prohibition? About average stupid will do quite nicely.

H/T Insty

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Friday, April 25, 2008

Two Losers

Gerard Baker Times OnLine.

There's a popular view among Democrats and the media establishment that the reason for the party's current disarray is that it just happens to have two most extraordinary candidates: talented, attractive, and in their gender and race, excitingly new. But there's an alternative explanation, which I suspect the voters have grasped rather better than their necromancers in the media. Both are losers.

The longer the Democratic race goes on, the more obvious it appears that each is deeply, perhaps ineradicably flawed.
I have nothing to add.

It Is To Laugh

Doug Kmiec writing at Slate says he is an Obama supporter. He also give evidence that he is a Republican. He actually has reasons or rationalizations or a rich fantasy life. Come to your own conclusions.

Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence, and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and that he wants to return the United States to that company of nations committed to human rights.
Twenty years of church going with his mentor Reverend God Damn AmeriKKKa has prepared Obama for this historic role. And Doug, about taking politicians at their word. They have a name for people like that. Born Yesterday. Straight off the Boat. A mark.
In various ways, Sen. Barack Obama and I may disagree on aspects of these important fundamentals, but I am convinced, based upon his public pronouncements and his personal writing, that on each of these questions he is not closed to understanding opposing points of view and, as best as it is humanly possible, he will respect and accommodate them.
Yeah Doug, but what has he actually DONE that convinces you? You know a politicians job is to be good with words so as to pull the wool over the eyes of the rubes. Actions speak louder than words. Well OK. I'm stupid. I'll go for words. Care to quote me from one of his pieces from the Harvard Law Review when he was at Harvard or during his tenure on the Law Review? Can't do that Doug? Why not? Oh, Obama didn't write one single article or comment in the Law review? All he had was his name on the mast head? Well there is prestige in that.
As Americans, we must voice our concerns for the well-being of our nation without partisanship when decisions that have been made endanger the body politic. Our president has involved our nation in a military engagement without sufficient justification or a clear objective. In so doing, he has incurred both tragic loss of life and extraordinary debt jeopardizing the economy and the well-being of the average American citizen. In pursuit of these fatally flawed purposes, the office of the presidency, which it was once my privilege to defend in public office formally, has been distorted beyond its constitutional assignment.
So there is the crux of it Doug doesn't like the war in Iraq. After all it has served no useful purpose except to be a Roach Motel for jihadis. Nothing useful there.
Sept. 11 and the radical Islamic ideology that it represents is a continuing threat to our safety, and the next president must have the honesty to recognize that it, as author Paul Berman has written, "draws on totalitarian inspirations from 20th-century Europe and with its double roots, religious and modern, perversely intertwined. ... wields a lot more power, intellectually speaking, then naïve observers might suppose." Sen. Obama needs to address this extremist movement with the same clarity and honesty with which he has addressed the topic of race in America. Effective criticism of the incumbent for diverting us from this task is a good start, but it is incomplete without a forthright outline of a commitment to undertake, with international partners, the formation of a worldwide entity that will track, detain, prosecute, convict, punish, and thereby stem radical Islam's threat to civil order. I await Sen. Obama's more extended thinking upon this vital subject as he accepts the nomination of his party....
Sen. Obama needs to address this extremist movement with the same clarity and honesty with which he has addressed the topic of race in America.

Well maybe he can go to the reverend God Damn AmeriKKKa for advice on what to do. After all Barack Hussein Obama could not disown him on the race question. Maybe Uncle God Damn, his good friend Calypso Louis Farrakhan and their buddy Momar Kadafi could help with answers to the most important questions of our time.

Don't read the whole thing. It is a waste of time.

Why do I subject myself to such suffering you ask? It is my lot in life.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Thursday, April 24, 2008

No Contest

On one side, you have a bitch who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, and a lawyer who is married to a bitch who is a lawyer.

On the other side, you have a true war hero married to a woman with huge breasts who owns a beer distributorship.

Is there a contest here?

It Is Good To Be Wrong

The brain by definition and experiment is a neural network.

It is programmed by interaction with the environment. You feed it patterns along with feedback from the environment. Some patterns you give positive scores. Some patterns you give negative scores.

If you are never wrong (an attitude some have but an impossibility in fact) your neural network no longer matches your actual environment and you will keep making the same mistakes over and over.

The best thing to do with mistakes is to admit them as quickly as they are recognized. It will readjust your pattern recognition system and future decisions will be better. Pain and error are essential features of life. The early admission of error and embrace of pain improves the odds of future avoidance of error and pain.

Which is why it is good to be wrong.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Flight Ops

Kerry got SwiftBoated.

For Obama there will be flight ops from the deck of a carrier.

Speaking of which. P.J. O'Rourke reports from a carrier and relates it to McCain's character. As usual a stellar piece of writing with bits like:

They're not just running against the hero John McCain, they're running against heroism itself and against almost everything about America that ought to be conserved.

Good stuff.

Please Come To Denver

Jeff Gold of Stop Obama is discussing the plans of Recreate '68 to disrupt the Democrat convention in Denver in order to make sure Obama gets the nomination. A Brown Shirt operation.

...Obama supporters - lovers of popular democracy - are already threatening to tear down the Democratic Convention in Denver.

They call themselves "Recreate 68" (R68) and while they claim no association with Barack Hussein Obama, the facts speak otherwise:

1) Recreate 68's claim of being both against Obama and Clinton, is false. While there are no traces of "official Obama campaign" input into R68, an Anti-Clinton spirit predominates, and considerable R68 contingents are active in the official Obama campaign- with direct ties to influential Obama activists.

2) Leading R68 coalition members have both a history of harassing the Clinton Campaign, and pledging financial support for Obama.

3) Leading R68 organizers make explicit reference to stopping "superdelages" and emphasize a "fight against racism" and equally, the need to protest in Denver with "victims of racism". This obviously has nothing to do with Clinton, everything to do with Obama.
It might be a good idea to take a look at some of the Recreate '68 organizing principles.
2. To maintain solidarity with and respect the guidelines of all permitted activities, recognizing that there are many individuals who seek a safe and peaceful protest.
Implying of course that there are some who want violent protest. That should be great for news and blogging. I can't wait. A lot of leading bleeding.
6. Not to turn people over to the police, or share information with the police about other groups.
7. Not to publicly criticize the tactics used by other parts of our movement or cooperate with media efforts to be divisive or portray good protester/bad protester.
8. To publicly condemn police repression and brutality.
9. To be conscious that if violence or property destruction does occur, we will do what we can to help prevent it from being blown out of proportion and dominating the media coverage.
10. To remember that, when all is said and done, our greatest victory will be an activist community with a renewed sense of strength and unity.
I think we are starting to get a sense of what "community organizing" is all about. Say, wasn't Obama a community Organizer in his youth? Yes he was.

And what is all this Strength and Unity blather? I have a link to a nice letter from 1968 explaining the necessity of Strength and Unity. The letter is from Czechoslovakia.

Which brings us back to Jeff Gold.
"Recreate 68" seeks to recreate the spirit of the bloody Democratic National Convention of 1968 held in Chicago, and speaks with two heads. One head issues veiled threats to Denver authorities about inevitable conflict, another head claims it seeks to recreate not the blood of Chicago in 68, but the spirit of uprising and revolution permeating the globe in a year when Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, Czechoslovakia saw its independence crushed, Paris was set a blaze by students, and Chicago became an American sideshow.
Well, that is the background. Jeff goes on at length, if you want to read more you know where to find him.

Now comes the second and possibly more interesting part of the story. Who is behind Recreate '68? Is there an Obama connection?
I stated previously, no evidence of official Obama campaign input into R68 exists. What we do possess, is evidence of R68 output into the Obama campaign. A clear relationship exists between those preparing disruptions in Denver, and those who support Obama. This explains why the disruptions R68 plans in Denver, will be minimal if Obama is elected, and maximum if he is not.

While R68 organizers claim neutrality in the Democratic Contest- by their own irrational admissions - if Clinton secures the Party Nomination, they promise 50,000 protesters. If Obama gets the nod, anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 max.
Well at this point that is Jeff's opinion. Let's see if he can back that up with sources.
If Hillary gets the nomination, we're going to have very large numbers -- a solid 50,000 people at every event," said organizer Glenn Spagnuolo. [politico]

If Hillary Clinton gets the Democratic presidential nomination, street protests at the party's national convention in Denver would number 50,000 people [source]
From my amateurish survey of R68's organization forces, their alliances, and their activists, a Clinton victory would provide them with a minimum 50,000 protesters. The reasons are plenty, and include Code Pink.
Jeff goes on at length to point out how anti-Hillary Code Pink is.

Then he gets to the heart of the matter.
For an openly pro-Obama and virulently anti-Clinton organization, to join in an effort to recreate the malaise of Chicago's 1968 Convention, amounts to extortion of the DNC; it is fascist, in its reliance on fear and violence.

R68 amounts to a strong-arming lf the DNC to submit the Party's Nomination decision not to the party or its vote, but to a vocal, and militant fascist minority!

It's as if Hamas regularly held rallies on Obama's behalf, contributed to his campaign, and then threatened to participate in uprisings against the DNC if Obama doesn't secure the nomination!
Say. Didn't Hamas endorse Obama? Yes they did.

And there is more.
The last, and potentially most powerful organizations which has yet to declare interest in R68, but is part of R68 networks and has been communicating a similarly militant message of confrontation for over half a year, is non other than MoveOn.

MoveOn, was behind the creation of the Color of Change (CoC), has involved both itself and the CoC, along with the League of Young Voters, in a gigantic coalition to indirectly promote Youth Participation, a message consistently appearing in R68's main communication channel - the Guerrilla News Network "RedPill" publication!

So far, MoveOn has yet to formally endorse R68, but placing militant banners on R68's flagship newspaper, is already a call to action. The message reads:

Nobody Is Going To Give You Anything, You Have to Take It
You know what I'm predicting? Like all mobs this one will be beyond the control of its organizers. In other words Blood In The Streets™.

As Stephen Green said in his post on the Pennsylvania election results.
The Democrats' process is designed to give everyone "a voice." Not a win, not a candidate, but "a voice." Unless, of course, the unelected and unaccountable "superdelegates" capriciously choose to strip the people of their voice. In which case, you know, too bad. What the Democratic primaries don't do -- what they seemed designed to put off doing -- choosing a nominee for the office of the President of the United States of America.

And for that, every pundit drawing a paycheck can be thankful. I raise my glass to Obama, to Clinton, to Howard Dean, to the DNC, and to every "bevoiced" Democrat across this great land of ours.

May they long be confused, and may the nation (or at least my paycheck) long prosper for it.
So would some one please Show Me The Money?

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Passing The Smell Test

Anxiety Insights reports that the inability to identify odors may be an indication of severe PTSD.

A world first study of Vietnam veterans' sense of smell has revealed that an inability to identify smells indicates extreme symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Austin Health conducting smell tests on 31 male war veterans with PTSD, recruited from Austin Health's Veterans Psychiatry Unit.

"The worse their ability to be able to name a smell, in a smell test of over 40 'scratch and sniff' odors, the harder it is to manage their emotions," said John Dileo of the University's School of Behavioral Science, who conducted the study.

Dileo says that the difficulty Vietnam veterans suffering PTSD have in putting the name to a smell may be indicative of weakness in brain pathways related to emotional processing. He says the same areas in the frontal region of the brain that are involved in identifying smells are also involved in regulating emotion.
Of course a sample size of 31 is not very definitive. It is about the smallest sample size where Gaussian statistics apply. The results are interesting and definitely warrant a larger study.

There is a connection between the amygdala, smell, and memory.

Here is something I wrote a while back on the connection between the amygdala, PTSD, and fear memories. PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System. Here is one about PTSD Pot Alcohol & Substance Abuse.

We are really closing in on PTSD. I think a time will come when we realize the utter stupidity of making war on the self medicating.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Some One Is Hacking Stop-Obama.Org

The site is up now. You can read a report of the hack at StopObama.Org.

My guess? The Democrats at StopObama must be causing the Obama folks a lot of pain.

Getting Ready For The Next One

Spengler at The Asia Times is taking a look at the world food crisis and sees it as a monetary phenomenon. He has charts and graphs. I think he is right.

The global food crisis is a monetary phenomenon, an unintended consequence of America's attempt to inflate its way out of a market failure. There are long-term reasons for food prices to rise, but the unprecedented spike in grain prices during the past year stems from the weakness of the American dollar. Washington's economic misery now threatens to become a geopolitical catastrophe.

Months ago, I offered that China, Russia and other cash-rich nations held the antidote to the incipient credit crisis: "If the US wants to remain the magnet for world capital flows it became during the 1990s, it will have to allow the savers of the world to become partners in the US economy, that is, to buy into its first-rank companies."(Western grasshoppers and Chinese ants, Asia)
Except we are not letting them become partners by buying assets.
No such thing occurred, of course, as Washington has made it clear that it would not allow sovereign funds to own the likes of Citicorp. What are the world's investors doing with the trillion dollars a year they used to invest in American securities, including subprime derivatives and various forms of collateralized obligations that turned out to have more obligation than collateral? They aren't buying American companies because they are not permitted to. They are buying food and other stores of value instead.
Spengler thinks that this will end the run of the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

I think Spengler, who is usually so astute has missed the boat on this one. As he points out the normal way inflation is sopped up is the purchase of productive assets. A call on future production. Since in its wisdom, the US Government (yes it is true - a case of wise government) will not allow the purchase of major assets, the only thing left to sop up all those dollars is production.

Where does that lead? More investment in productive capacity. Leading to even lower cost production than the currency imbalance would indicate. It then becomes a virtuous cycle. As the dollar rises due to all the production being absorbed, the production prices do not go up as fast as straight monetary calculations would indicate.

By dumping dollars these folks (who are taking a short term view and panicking) have outsmarted themselves.

BTW the same thing is happening in oil. Productive capacity is rising but people are buying oil like crazy with dollars as a way to store value. Gasoline inventories in the US are rising. And what happens when the tanks are full? The excess buying stops. What happens to prices then? Look for big declines in the price of oil once the buyers run out of dollars.

H/T LarryD by e-mail.

Cuckoo

"In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed — they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

... Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles, in 1949 "The Third Man"

By e-mail from a friend

You can watch a video of the scene (27 seconds) at Classical Values

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Mr. Warman Claims Bad Reputation

Richard Warman claims he has a bad reputation because of a possibly erroneous story published by The National Post newspaper of Canada.

REGINA -- Linking one blog to another and allowing comments on her blog postings has landed one prominent Saskatchewan blogger in a legal quandary.

Kate McMillan of Small Dead Animals is one of several named as defendants in a statement of claim filed by Richard Warman with the Ontario Superior Court on April 7. Others include Ezra Levant, The National Post and one of its journalists, Jonathon Kay.

In the statement of claim, Warman alleges he was defamed on a blog known as freedominion.ca. He alleges those comments were linked to or commented upon on other blogs, including McMillan's and The National Post's.
You know, I didn't take any steps to determine if this story is true. So Mr. Richard Warman, if Richard Warman is your real name, sue me.

I expect by the time this goes viral on the 'net Mr. Richard Warman will have no reputation left worth defending.

And just to raise my Richard Warman score a bit I'm going to add a few more. Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman, Richard Warman.

With any luck Mr. Richard Warman, if Richard Warman is actually your name, will be able to find this without trouble.

H/T

Cross Posted at Classical Values

What To Do?

The Volokh Conspiracy is discussing what should be done in terms of verifying Yale artist Aliza Shvarts claims about how she created her controversy through art.

I have an idea [sure you do or you would have nothing to write about ed.].

The appropriate action is to auction it off with the University getting a cut which it applies to the Student Health Center.

Every one will be happy. Except the people who don't want to be happy. So every one will get what they want. Except the low bidders.



H/T Instapundit

Monday, April 21, 2008

Repeal A Few Laws

Do any of the candidates actually have a plan to lower oil prices? You know like opening more areas for drilling? Like clearing the way for more refineries? Or have the Democrats made such things so toxic that the only alternative is to starve third worlders by turning food into fuel? With a net energy output that may actually be negative? So that in the Democrat idea of utopia we get the worst of all possible worlds. Burn more oil. Raise food prices. Lower automotive fuel efficiency (because a gallon of ethanol has 60% of the energy of a gallon of gasoline).

Where did these geniuses come from? They need to repeal a few laws. Let them start with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

In A Hurry

A Zen Story.
==

Master how long will it take me to master Zen Archery?

If you are diligent and pay attention it can be done in seven years.

What if I work really hard Master?

It may be that you could do it in five.

But Master what if I work really, really, hard?

You will never accomplish it.

Rally In Philladelphia

The Obama forces are planning a rally in Philadelphia. They have a suggestion for those attending the rally:

For security reasons, do not bring bags and please limit personal items. No signs or banners permitted.

Things must be getting tough out there.

Getting Freaked

The Leftys have a new name for the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. The Freak Show.

It looks to me very much like the Obama crowd is getting Freaked.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

For All Mankind

A lot of people have been asking me publicly and privately, if the Bussard Fusion Technology is successful, can it be bottled up by special interests? I think the we have an answer from Dr. Richard Nebel who is now running the experiments in New Mexico.

Your concern is something that EMC2 has thought about. The Polywell is what is generally described as a "disruptive technology". Namely, it is a technological surprise that changes everything. A lot of people have/are investing a lot of money in energy technologies. The Polywell is their worst nightmare. Consider for a moment who isn't going to like the Polywell:

1. The fusion people. They've already gone ballistic (but we're not going to go there).
2. The fission people. They're working on a "nuclear renaissance".
3. The solar people.
4. The wind people.
5. Big oil.
6. The gas and coal companies
7. The biofuels people.
8. A few of the environmentalists.

As you can see, we are pretty much an equal opportunity irritant. We are very well aware that any number of people would like to sit on this technology and keep it out of the market. This is one of the primary reasons that Dr. Bussard chose to have this project funded by the Navy rather than privately funded (where we probably would have had a much easier schedule). With the Navy contract, we retain the rights to the intellectual property for commercialization.

Dr. Bussards's desires for this technology were very clear: he wanted it developed and used by the public ASAP. We intend to honor those wishes.
Dr. Nebel, if the latest experiment (WB-7) works out and you read this, I want you to know that if you can use my help, I'm good to go. I'm willing to sweep the floors if that is the way you think you can best use me.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Truman Strategy

Commenter Rhodium Heart has made a really good point in a comment to Eric's piece at Classical Values How far off base can the "base" get? I think it is very on point and also is a good answer to my piece Who Will Stand With Us? I'm going to quote it in full because it is a luscious piece of analysis.

As an intro: Rhodium is referring to the fracturing of the Republican Party and especially the social conservative wing who might very well go for Alan Keyes if he runs on the Constitution Party ticket. The anti-war Republicans would be going for Bob Barr who will likely be running on the Libertarian ticket.

==

Alan Keyes' candidacy would be a gift from God.

Harry Truman was supposed to get trounced in '48 because of the division of the Democratic Party. Republicans were united behind Dewey, but the Dems were split left and right. Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats on the one side; Henry Wallace to the left. And Truman won. Part of the explanation is that Wallace's left-wing candidacy assured centrists that Truman would not be overly soft on communism.

The media will love to cover the well-spoken, dynamic (and ultimately loony) Mr. Keyes. And that will serve to assure swing voters, moderates, suburbanites, soocer moms, and the vestigial Rockefeller Republicans of the Northeast that John McCain is not too far right. How could he be when the hard right is so angrily against him!

Keyes will help McCain win this election, despite his best efforts.

==

Thank you Rhodium. I do believe you are correct. In fact McCain has been hinting quietly at a new coalition. I do believe he means it.

Here is a look at the 1948 Electoral Map

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Women's Studies

I can see the value of Women's Studies.

In fact I'm looking for a few women who wish to be studied at this very moment for incorporation into a piece of tactile performance art.

If I can get a Grant or a few thousand of them for the project all the better.

Plus to make it ecologically sound a lot grain ethanol will be involved.

I'm planning on selling the videos on the i'net.

==

Inspired by an Althouse piece on Aliza Shvarts' art piece.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Bring Back The Draft

So we can invade Iran! Well not exactly. It seems that the anti-war folks want this so they can recruit more people to their ant-war movement.

The argument can be summed up simply. Only a small percentage of Americans are carrying the burden of the war. This is unfair. More to the point, it has been impossible to get parents and college kids to give more than a passing damn about the war.

The calls for a military draft are in fact calls for forcible enlistment in the anti-war movement, which has suffered greatly from its failure to recruit in the current voluntary political involvement model. The calls for a draft are nothing more than frustrated efforts to bolster the effectively non-existent anti-war movement to Vietnam levels by swelling its ranks with suddenly concerned suburban Americans.
I like this quote attributed to Talleyrand, "You can do anything with bayonets, except sit on them." These guys should be careful what they ask for.

H/T Instapundit

Bush's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan

It is not as bad as I thought.

...based on technology advances and strong new policy, it is now time for the U.S. to look beyond 2012 and to take the next step. We've shown that we can slow emissions growth. Today, I'm announcing a new national goal: to stop the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.

To reach this goal, we will pursue an economy-wide strategy that builds on the solid foundation that we have in place. As part of this strategy, we worked with Congress to pass energy legislation that specifies a new fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, and requires fuel producers to supply at least 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022. This should provide an incentive for shifting to a new generation of fuels like cellulosic ethanol that will reduce concerns about food prices and the environment.

We also mandated new objectives for the coming decade to increase the efficiency of lighting and appliances. We're helping states achieve their goals for increasing renewable power and building code efficiency by sharing new technologies and providing tax incentives. We're working to implement a new international agreement that will accelerate cuts in potent HCFC emissions. Taken together, these landmark actions will prevent billions of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere.

These objectives are backed by a combination of new market-based regulations, new government incentives, and new funding for technology research. We've provided billions of dollars for next generation nuclear energy technologies. Along with the private sector, we've invested billions more to research, develop and commercially deploy renewable fuels, hydrogen fuel cells, advanced batteries, and other technologies to enable a new generation of vehicles and more reliable renewable power systems.
And how did we slow emissions growth? High gasoline prices have reduced the consumption of gasoline for one. The market works!

Lots of mandates in there. Do you know what it is called when the government controls an industry through regulation? Socialism. National Socialism.

First the auto mandate. He wants to go from a fleet average of 27.5 mpg to 35 mpg. Good. Sort of. And what if industry doesn't meet the goals? They pay a penalty. No mater what Bush has mandated an increase in auto prices. Swell. Just swell. Another thing that he doesn't take into account is that when cars get higher mileage at a given fuel price level people drive more. Cute. We will get higher auto prices and more road congestion. Brilliant move. So the saving in actual fuel consumption will be less than the numbers indicate. Of course with more people on the roads congestion will get worse. Cars that are in heavy traffic use more fuel for a given distance traveled even if they are hybrids. Another hit.

And the renewable fuel mandate? Well cellulosic ethanol sounds peachy. Except it is a dream right now. The technology is not available. In addition if it is based on crops like switchgrass it will still raise food prices because it will be in competition with land for food production. Another hit on the economy.

Mandated increases in appliance efficiency? The cost of appliances is going up. We will get more of the washers that require two wash cycles to get clothes clean. Where is the efficiency in that? Not to mention the cost in time. So what will it mean in terms of change? People will hold on to their old appliances longer. Genius.

And the lighting mandates? A study was done where a small town changed all its lighting to CFLs. What happened? Energy consumption went up. Why? With lighting costs lower people were not as careful in turning lights off when they were not in use. The hits just keep on coming.

The only positive thing in this whole bit is the work on new technology. That is the only thing that can fix the mess we are in. All the rest amounts to a huge tax increase on the economy. Oh well. At least he has put off the mandates for a while. By then we may be well into a New Little Ice Age and the Congress may be induced to repeal at least some of this non-sense.

We can only hope.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

I Choose My Friends Carefully

Barry The Big O had a few Dreams from His Father.

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout,I chose my friends carefully.The more politically active black students.The foreign students.The Chicanos.The Marxist Professors and the structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets.At night,in the dorms,we discussed neocolonialism,Franz Fanon,Eurocentrism,and patriarchy.When we ground out our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake,we were resisting bourgeois society's stifling constraints.
Well of course. And fortunately we have another example of him throwing off bourgeois society's stifling constraints. And I have a name for it. Fingergate. What else did you expect?

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Real Estate Is Crashing

In Britain. Samizdata has the story and links. Here is one from The Spectator.

Gordon Brown doesn’t boast anymore about his friendship with Alan Greenspan – and little wonder. The former Fed Chairman’s name is fast becoming mud in America, as they turn on the man they lionised for more than a decade. America is about nine months ahead of the UK in the credit crunch, and what fascinates me is not just their take on the current situation but how they are revising their view of the last decade. What Greenspan called “prosperity” they now see as a debt binge and he is being blamed for fuelling the housing bubble now bursting with such calamitous consequences.

This should terrify Brown because the same charge will probably be applied to him. He was something of a Greenspan disciple – and was also lionised for what was then seen as prosperity and is now (as in America) seen as a bubble created by cheap debt and booming assets. But as repossessions soar in Britain, people will soon look back on the Brown years differently. In my News of the World column today (not online) I say his time at No11 may be known as a “reign of error”. One can (now) see five key mistakes.

1) He adopted the Tory inflation target of 2.5%, which was right for its time. But this was not designed to detect or deal with an asset bubble.
2) In instructing the Bank of England to deal in CPI rather than RPI he ordered it not to take notice of the housing market (RPI contains mortgage repayment costs, CPI does not). So rather than ask it to tackle house prices, he went the other way. This meant the bank kept interest rates way too low (the 2.0% CPI target is no substitute for a 2.5% RPI target as RPI is at least a full point ahead of CPI).
3) This meant money was too cheap. As night follows day, this led to an asset bubble.
The CPI of course is the Consumer Price Index. RPI is the Retail Price Index. The CPI is weighted to what consumers are actually buying and the RPI measures the price of a fixed basket of goods. It turns out that the RPI is a better measure of inflation as it is not influenced by substitutions when good become dear.

So what does all this mean? Hard to say. One thing for sure is that since this started in the US earlier we are likely to come out of it sooner. There is some evidence of this in the recent US stock market rise which was based on an unexpectedly good profits report from business.

Who Will Stand With Us?

I visit many sites on the 'net in the course of a day. And I see this kind of sentiment a lot:

I do not intend to send one penny until I know who the VP candidate is. I, too, would very much like it to be Mitt.

From what I can tell only the RINOs are supporting the party now in its hour of need.

They will own it. Which is good.

These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Thomas Paine

As my friend Eric the RINO says: I have supported the nominee with money and time no matter what. No matter the stand on issues dear to my heart. What is wrong with the so called party faithful?

The Communists are pouring money into Obama's campaign and you will let McCain down because he is not Right enough for you? Because his VP choice is not announced?

As is so often found in the Bible, there are always some who will betray the city out of a sense of pique. Sad to find so many like that in so many places.

Give To John's Campaign

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Two Losers

Do you remember when Henry Kissinger said about the Iran-Iraq War "Too bad they both can't lose"? Well talk like that about Hillary and Obama is now entering the main stream press. Not that they actually want them both to lose but, disaster is staring them in the face.

When they face off Wednesday night in their Pennsylvania debate, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be fighting each other for the Keystone State's 158 delegates. But they'll also be fighting a common foe: A growing belief that neither can win the general election in November.

It's a problem Clinton has had all along, and Obama, despite being the front-runner, is now proving he belongs in the same soup.

Clinton started with half of America's voters saying they would never support her for President, and the number hasn't budged. Against Republican John McCain, she would have to win virtually every voter who hasn't already decided against her.

Obama is closing in on her dubious distinction. His slam against small-town Americans, saying they "cling to guns and religion" out of bitterness over the economy, is certain to cost him in Pennsylvania among the white working-class voters he had trouble attracting in other states.
The Keystone Cops of Politics in the Keystone State. Perfect.

I have been saying for a while that Barry and Hillary are ruining the brand. It appears I have an echo chamber that is returning my shout louder than I screamed it. Wooo. Hooo.

I'm beginning to wonder just how bad this could get? We haven't even seen the convention demonstrations or anything of that sort. They will not start until 22 August. That is four months of hammering away at each other. Even if The super delegates decide after the last primary in early June, that is still almost a month and a half more of banging. Plus, if the Dems come to a decision in June that allows the disaffected voters a couple of months to get on the McCain bandwagon or develop a write in campaign for the general election and then two more months after that until the vote. Talk about being on the horns of a dilemma and having no good options. It has got to really suck to be a Democrat operative. The pain must be intense.

Just six months ago I was writing off Republican chances in '08. Heh. Who ever thought up the idea of running Obama against Clinton was a genius. A total genius. The Republicans should give him a Medal without respect to party affiliation. Who ever did it deserves it.

Class warfare, racism, sexism, and identity politics all unraveling. God I love the Democrat party.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Punishment Is Necessary

I have been looking at some of the live blogging of last night's Clinton Obama debate. And I found something extraordinary. According to commenter Simon (not me) at Althouse

Simon said...

Oh, and great answer from Obama on capital gains! Even though raising the rate lowers revenue and vice-versa, he wants to to raise capital gains tax to punish people who make too much money! Picture perfect!

8:10 PM
So taxes are no longer for raising money they are a form of punishment? Whoa Nellie. So under Obama we will not be governed, we will be punished.

If this is some kind of Bondage game what is the Safe Word? How do we make him stop? Not voting for him is one way to register your preference. Not voting for any Democrat would be even better. Punish them all before they can punish us. That is the spirit! And I know a safe phrase they can use. "I want to go home". That is the ticket. In fact that seems to be the ticket Democrats are running on this year. The "Send Us Home" ticket. I'm all for it.

Jonah Goldberg at the Corner has this take:
I don't cry "class warfare!" very often. But the beginning of Obama's capital gains tax question was amazing stuff. He conceded the premise that revenues go up when you cut capital gains taxes. But he said it would be worthwhile to raise them nonetheless as an issue of "fairness" because some people are making too much money. In other words, even if the government loses money to pay for all of the wonderful things Obama wants to do, it'd be worth it because sticking it to rich people is a good in and of itself.
I get it. Obama thinks there are too many rich people in America and thinks they should be living elsewhere. Or maybe they deserve it because of slavery or something.

Well at least he has been listening to those U Chicago Economists about what happens when capital gains taxes get excessive. It is a start. I still think he needs to take a vacation for a couple of years in Illinois post Nov 08. After that perhaps he could retire "to spend more time with his family" post election '10. Or perhaps those of us in Illinois will get lucky and he will do it sooner. I'm praying for it. I want the punishment to stop.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A New Plan To End Global Warming



Outlaw Fire




Wednesday, April 16, 2008

From A Source To Be Named Later

I just got an email from a friend who thought I'd get a laugh out of this. I have no idea if any of this is true. Sadly, the worst aspect of this is that it very well could be.

==

Your govt. in action!!!!!

A Washington , DC , airport ticket agent offers some examples of why our country is in trouble!

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window. (On an Airplane!)

2. I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information. Then she interrupted me with, "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts " Without trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, "Cape Cod is in Massachusetts ; Capetown is in Africa "

Her response - click.

3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando . He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that's not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state!"

4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, "Is it possible to see England from Canada ?" I said, "No." She said, "But they look so close on the map."

5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas . When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had only a 1-hour layover in Dallas . When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car he said, "I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time."

6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am and got to Chicago at 8:33 am. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois , but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.

7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, "Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?" I said, "No, why do you ask?" She replied, "Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said 'FAT,' and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!" After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing). I came back and explained the city code for Fresno , CA is 'FAT' - ( Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.

8. A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California , and then take the train to Hawaii ?"

9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, "How do I know which plane to get on?" I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, "I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them."

10. A lady Senator called and said, "I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola , Florida Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?" I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola, Florida on a commuter plane. She said, "Yeah, whatever, smarty!"

11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China . After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. "Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those." I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, "Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!"

12. A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, "I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York ." I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, "Are you sure that's the name of the town?" "Yes, what flights do you have?" replied the lady. After some searching, I came back with, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere." The lady retorted, "Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!" So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, "You don't mean Buffalo , do you?" The reply? "Whatever! I knew it was a big animal."

Now you know why the Government is in the shape that it's in!

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Jamal Is On A Roll

Jamal just rips into Barry O and his whole shtick. Let me give you a taste but you gotta promise me you will go read the whole thing.

In the same speech in which Barry0-the-Big-Zer0 attacks one part of America, he defends another. Hussein0s description of White Rural American was an attack on their irrationality, gun slinging, and xenophobia. Hussein0's reference to black America (slavery) was no doubt a reference to Wright. Rather than denouncing Wrights xenophobia and hysterical irrationality, The Faker excuses it with the word Slavery.

While chastising one group for being xenophobic, he excused another for being equally so. The magic difference - skin color- Keep It Simple Fools. Snoop is in da House.

This isn't the first instance of Barry's lack of even the the most rudimentary grasp on fairness. In fact, we don't stop seeing it. A Republican just called Obama a "boy" and he is groveling for pardons and the Obama camp is upset. When Obama's surrogates called Clinton a Whore, what did Obama's boys do?
Talk about hustling the rubes.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

John McCain IS On Vacation

Lefty bloggers are up in arms because Hillary is doing McCain's work for him.

Prominent lefty bloggers are criticizing Hillary Clinton for "reinforcing right-wing charges" against Barack Obama. Josh Marshall writes that Clinton's recent conduct "makes me want to cry," while Arianna Huffington complains, "John McCain should go on vacation, Hillary Clinton is doing his job for him." Clinton's decision to denounce Obama's remarks about small-town Pennsylvanians as "elitist and out of touch" marks the second time in the past month that she has attacked Obama with GOP-sounding rhetoric (the first time was when she declared that Obama, unlike McCain, had yet to cross the "Commander-in-Chief threshold"). In both instances, the netroots sharply criticized Clinton's conduct, which they perceived as harmful to the party's likely nominee (i.e., Obama).
I don't know if anyone has noticed but John McCain Is On Vacation. We hardly hear much from John these days. I think it goes back to that ancient rule of warfare.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

Way to go John. Keep up the good work.

H/T Instapundit

Lithium Reserves And Tibet

Ever hear about "we are running out of Lithium"? I did, so this blog post saying we had plenty interested me. What I found the most interesting was this bit near the end of the article.

As to the issue of American lithium resources, Evans pointed out that a single geothermal well in southern California can produce enough lithium to meet all of the world's current demand for lithium. There are also lithium-bearing clays called Hectorite and oilfield brines that contain commercially-viable concentrations of lithium, though they would be more expensive to produce compared to the high desert brines in the Andes and Tibet.

How much lithium is there in the world in Evan's professional analysis? He estimates it at 28.4 million tonnes of lithium, which is equivalent to 150 million tonnes of lithium carbonate. Current world demand is 16,000 tonnes.
So lots of Lithium in Tibet. Maybe that is one of the reasons China is hanging on to Tibet so tenaciously.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Picture Of WB-7 Fusion Test Reactor Available

There is a picture up at EMC2 Fusion showing the WB-7 Test Reactor vessel. All polished stainless steel with a nice logo.

H/T Tom Ligon

Obama Needs A Mate

A running mate. A Vice (Eliot Spitzer?) President Pick. Mayhill Fowler of "they are bitter because" fame reports.

Last night at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Barack Obama took a question on what he's looking for in a running mate. "I would like somebody who knows about a bunch of stuff that I'm not as expert on," he said, and then he was off and running. "I think a lot of people assume that might be some sort of military thing to make me look more Commander-in-Chief-like. Ironically, this is an area--foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain."
Wait a minute. He starts off with the Military and then twists it into Foreign Policy?

You know he has a great career ahead of him as Ackbar The Great, World Famous Prestidigitator. Count your fingers after shaking hands with him. He has lots of tricks up his sleeves.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Mask Is Off

Instapundit linked to this story about the Governor of Tennessee's views on the Obama flap. What really got my attention though is this comment.

Christian America is too ignorant and dumb to save its religion or its country. Obama and Bredsen are correct to laugh at your powerless ignornace.

You are given the freedom to rant in this newspaper. Nobody cares how much you rant. Go pray about it and take target practice too while you're at it.
Now there is an argument that will win some votes. And is that commenter bitter because his political beliefs and his view of the world puts him out of touch with mainstream America? Or because the rest of America is just too dumb to get it? No wonder he needs Obama to help him get over his bitterness.

Is Obama A Marxist?

Obama’s upbringing was in a Marxist household. One of his mentors was Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).

Black Liberation Theology at the core of TUCC/Wright is politically Marxist.

Obama’s analysis of flyover country makes more sense if you think the Big O looks at the world through the eyes of a Marxist. Given his upbringing and his mentors and then his work as a “community organizer” (organize for what? - what part of the political domain uses that term?) he could very well be a Marxist at heart.

An Brer Rabbit He Say Nothin

From Tim Blair.

Meanwhile, in the wings, enjoying this epic episode of America's Most Maladroit, is Republican nominee John McCain - saying little, doing little, and with each day moving closer to the White House.
This is the most enjoyable political campaign I have ever watched. Every day a new laugh. Some days it is hard to get up off the floor I'm laughing so hard.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Why I'm Not A Libertarian

Libertarians talk a good game on national defense but hate all wars. Libs do not get that wars are a series of disasters leading to victory. They don't have the bottom to ride out the disasters and turn them around. They have turned into Copperhead Democrats.

They don't get the American Jacksonian tradition.

I'm a Jacksonian - which is why I could never be a Libertarian Party member with the party in its current form. Who is the Jacksonian in the race for president? Who said:

"We are Americans and we will never surrender, they will."

That man will be the next President of the USA.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Helping The Poor

If I was a lefty politician and really wanted to help the poor you know what I would tell my megadonors?

Forget redistribution. You are the experts - start another business. I will get government out of your way. If you are successful we will not tax away your gains if you use them to start even more businesses. A roaring economy will do more for the poor than any government program I could ever devise.

Because what do the poor want? Not just money, but also the opportunity to make a contribution. To be proud of themselves.

It is why I have devoted the last year and a half to Bussard Fusion Technology despite my retired status. I want to continue to contribute. I want to maintain my self respect.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A No Brainer

"That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass." - Al Gore.

Heh

The Joke Is On Them

The moral rot at the heart of the D party is so deep they ain't never going to crawl out of this one.

It is no longer an election about policy.

These clowns, the black guy, and the guy in drag are getting laughed out of town.

I visit lots of blogs and the laughter just doesn't stop.

Kerry was a goof. These people are clowns. The funniest part? They are both playing the straight man.

Ruining The Brand

Obama has totally screwed this campaign for both Democrats. He is ruining the brand.

I want to see Obama ride a horse. I want to see Clinton at an outdoor shooting range.

And one other thing I want to see. John McCain take the oath of office on 20 Jan 009. With the help of the Democrats I think that can be accomplished.

Prompted by a discussion at Althouse on something called the Compassion Forum. Which translated means - "We are from the Government and we are here to help." God help us if either wins.

HT Instapundit

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Waste Fraud And Abuse

I remember reading in Time in the 60s how medical inflation was 5% a year and something had to be done. Now with government involved it is growing at a more reasonable rate of 10% a year.

Drs. are leaving the field because every government patient they see costs them $20.

To prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, reimbursement paperwork takes up 40% of a Drs. time.

You want lower cost health care? Get the government out.

Obama is right: government hasn't delivered. What he and his fellow liberals fail to see is that it can't.

Ridicule Is The Best Medicine

This is the funniest damn campaign season I have ever witnessed in my life.

When a candidate is not just hammered by argument but also an object of ridicule it is all over.

I think BO has the "Black Riot" lock on the convention. He is going down smokin in the general.

McCain will be on his tail putting a Sidewinder up his exhaust.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Dealing With The Servants

At the University of Chicago students and staff are treated like Royalty and the neighborhood folks are treated like servants.

At my son's graduation there last summer almost all the wait staff were blacks from the neighborhood dressed like servants in the Jim Crow South (I lived there as a youth). It had an offensive feel to it. Just the way Jim Crow felt offensive to me.

That is the environment Obama was used to. His behavior fits in well with the people he associated with. And how do you behave towards servants? Well you certainly don't get into any kind of personal conversations with them.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Mobys?

I report you decide. I was reading some comments about Obama's non-apology for his totally correct statement about values voters in Pennsylvania.

The following comments seem a little off key to me. What do you think?

USAF Sr. Airman April 11th, 2008 10:09 pm ET

I'm from Pennsylvania. I lost my civilian job due to outsourcing. I was VERY BITTER. Obama hit the nail on the head. It's not condescending, it accurate.
What exactly is a Sr. Airman? Is it something like a Junior Video Ranger with more time in grade? I'm not up on Air Force lingo (I'm a Navy man myself. We liked lad and mate. Now don't go getting ideas. Sr. Enlisted I heard. Sr. Sailor? nope.) so maybe Sr. Airman is a term of art I'm not familiar with.

And then there is this one.
BluecolorworkerinPA
April 11th, 2008 10:10 pm ET

He didn't defend, he is affirming the truth!
What exactly is a Blue color worker? Normally when a worker turns blue on the job we clear the airway, do mouth to mouth, CPR if indicated, and call for an ambulance. In Democrat America blue color workers post on the Internet. What a party.

Well the truth huts I suppose. And it is going to cost Obama a lot of votes. With any luck it will keep the Chicago Machine out of the White House. But please Lord, do not crater his campaign totally until he wins the nomination. I think Obama has some larnin to do about America and I really want him to feel our pain. Next stop for Obama? Job loss in 2010. America can be so cruel. Perhaps he has a Government plan that will help him keep his job. I'd like to see it. I'm sure I wouldn't like it but, I would like to see it. It is in cases like those where all those guns can come in handy.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Update: Captain Ned in the comments at Classical Values says Sr. Airman is an actual rank in the AF, equivalent to Petty Officer 3rd Class in the Navy, also referred to some times as E-4 (a designation used in all services). However in that case I would normally expect to see it in the following order: Sr. Airman, USAF. But maybe in the guy's rush to defend Obama he wasn't thinking straight. Or maybe he is a Moby.

Let me add for those of you unfamiliar with the term Moby. It came from the performer Moby who suggested that people fake their life stories or credentials on line in order to give veracity to their criticism of the opposing (Republican in Moby's case) candidate. It goes something like this "I'm a life long Republican but I hate George Bush because he has sex with puppies and has gotten us into an unwinable war."

A New Name

His Wordness


You know who I mean.

Community Organizer

Barack Obama started out in Chicago as a community organizer.

If it's a community isn't it already organized? How do you have a community without organization?

Practice Makes Perfect

Barry Obama takes a lesson from Obi-wan Kenobi.

Too funny for words. So you will just have to click the link and watch the video.

H/T Backyard Conservative

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A New Acronym

WORM


What

Obama

Really

Meant

A Marketing Campaign

I have a video up at Classical Values about Obama's campaign called the Art of Bamboozling. It explains with images how Obama is old wine in new skins. Is he really

Change and Hope

or is he

New Coke

i.e. a synthetic candidate. He is not a new kind of politician. He is the same old product with a better marketing campaign.

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Madness Of Crowds

I was reading Alan Greenspan on the current economic crisis. A number of economic heavy hitters voiced their opinions and I couldn't resist adding mine.

I’m a layman in these matters so take my comment for what it is worth.

It seems to me that what is being argued is what the proper judgment in any given situation is. Ultimately there is no way to know. We went through a similar exercise in the dot com bubble. Every one knew that the situation was out of whack. (Remember the dot com jokes?) And yet despite every one’s certainty that all the companies involved were over promising the money kept pouring in.

I don’t see any way to correct the madness of crowds except to let it run its course. The corrective is to let some pain into the situation pick ourselves up and wait for the next one.

I don’t think you can cure human nature. Gold is no panacea either. Suppose extracting it from sea water becomes feasible? Or mining it from asteroids? You then have inflation with no way to throttle it.

Our current system is as good as is possible with people at the helm. It gives us growth that is otherwise unavailable in other regimes. Still with men at the wheel there is always the danger of grounding the ship. Even with experienced pilots at the helm. So you do soundings in the bilge to check for holes and then call in the tugs to get the ship back in deeper waters.

All control systems will oscillate (to change metaphors) if the feedbacks and phases are conducive to that. When you have a system as complicated as ours there is no way to know exactly what the proper gain and delays (phase) should be. We rejigger the settings to the new assumed values and try again knowing that every now and then we will have events that exceed the capacity of the control system.

As others have pointed out: you will not have better luck next time. Accept it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Vastly Exceeds Expectations

Why are the Ds panicked? They are running against “We are Americans and we will never surrender. They will”.

What do the Ds have to offer? “We are unAmericans and we know how to surrender. We have done it once, we can do it again.”

I thought they already tried that in ‘04? With the obvious results.

The Dems motto “We have a game plan that doesn’t work. Let us use it again.”

And John Fn Kerry and Tahreeza campaigning with Obama is just further proof. “Now Barry I’m a totally experienced loser. Let me show you how it is done.” The clown party at work. I expect Obama can show Kerry a thing or two about losing. I expect Barry to vastly exceed expectations.

Exhausted By Islam

Who is exhausted by Islam? The young in Iraq are exhausted by Islam.

BAGHDAD — After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach.

In two months of interviews with 40 young people in five Iraqi cities, a pattern of disenchantment emerged, in which young Iraqis, both poor and middle class, blamed clerics for the violence and the restrictions that have narrowed their lives.

“I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us,” said Sara, a high school student in Basra. “Most of the girls in my high school hate that Islamic people control the authority because they don’t deserve to be rulers.”

Atheer, a 19-year-old from a poor, heavily Shiite neighborhood in southern Baghdad, said: “The religion men are liars. Young people don’t believe them. Guys my age are not interested in religion anymore.”

The shift in Iraq runs counter to trends of rising religious practice among young people across much of the Middle East, where religion has replaced nationalism as a unifying ideology.
As usual the New York Times misses the point. It is exposure to the unbending nature of the Islamic revival that is turning people away from Islam.

Islam brings murder and repression. The West offers Liberty and wealth. Which is more popular to the young and old? Which is better for business?

Samizdata is discussing the brittleness of Islam. The author of the post thinks that Islam can't stand up to rational examination.

I think one of the commenters had an even better idea. Ridicule. You believe What? And women should do What? And no popping down to the pub for a pint? And what is this about Mohamed marrying a nine year old girl? And authorizing brigandage? And Mohamed is to be emulated? What a larfer.

HT Instapundit .

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Surrender Or The Puppy Dies

Megan McArdle is discussing the failure (or lack thereof) of the media when it comes to the John Yoo memos on the legality of torture for American troops facing irregular combatants. The comments are extensive. With the usual Bush is Hitler slant. I have a little different opinion.

When people don't even know (so many commenting on the article) what John Yoo even wrote about, it is obvious that even for stories people commenting there are interested in, the media has been dishing up moldy slops.

Did Yoo shred the Constitution? How could he? He doesn't make policy.

What was Yoo asked to do? To research the applicable laws, national and international, dealing with torture and irregular warfare.

And what is the number one rule dealing with irregular warfare? Irregular warriors can be summarily shot after a military court. And how rigorous does that court need to be? It can be done on a battlefield.

Why is that a rule of war? Because irregular warfare that does not conform to the rules of irregular warfare endangers non-combatants.

Now if you can kill them on the spot why would torture be out of bounds?

Now that may be a true legal opinion. It says nothing about whether it is wise. It is obvious that our military leaders consider it unwise, despite the legality, because that is not the practice of our military.

Why don't our troops torture and execute as a matter of policy if they have the legal power? It impedes surrender. And we want them to surrender. We want easy fights - not fights to the death. We want to beat them not kill them. A man who changes sides is more valuable in terms of victory than a dead man. Dead men don't change sides.

Now in all this uproar over Yoo has any one of note covered the facts well enough so that at least the majority of the commenters to Megan's piece get it?

I see no evidence of that in those comments.

In this war which side is known as the torturing side? Which side executes civilians at random as policy? Which side is notorious for using human shields?

So for all the fools screaming Yoo, Yoo, Yoo, Yoo, and Bush too, why no outrage at the random mass murder of civilians as a military tactic?

Because the other side is using a tactic well known. It is: give up or the puppy dies.

And the puppy murderers are the friends of so many of Megan's commenters. Not to mention the leftys in general.

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values