Real Members of Congress

This is my congressman. No, really. Watch out, Guam.

The joy of sausage

Bacon gets plenty of praise, but let us not forget the joys of sausage. We had a delicious "breakfast for dinner" tonight with creamy scrambled eggs, from-scratch pancakes, savory sausage and plenty of syrup. Ahh, sausage.

Stupid humans

This post is not intended to disparage Mr. Lovelock, but damn...he sure seems to be disparaging me:

"I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle a complex a [sic] situation as climate change," said Lovelock in his first in-depth interview since the theft of the UEA emails last November. "The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful."

Think we've accomplished anything meaningful in 90 years?

One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is "modern democracy", he added. "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while."

Won't affect him. He won't be around much longer. (Plus Friedman's got his back!)

He thinks only a catastrophic event would now persuade humanity to take the threat of climate change seriously enough, such as the collapse of a giant glacier in Antarctica, such as the Pine Island glacier, which would immediately push up sea level.

"That would be the sort of event that would change public opinion," he said.

Does he mean actual evidence? Even so, it wouldn't be proof of anthropomorphic global warming.

Ending on a good note, I'll give him credit for this bit:

Lovelock. . .added that he has little sympathy for the climate scientists caught up in the UEA email scandal. He said he had not read the original emails – "I felt reluctant to pry" – but that their reported content had left him feeling "utterly disgusted".

"Fudging the data in any way whatsoever is quite literally a sin against the holy ghost of science," he said. "I'm not religious, but I put it that way because I feel so strongly. It's the one thing you do not ever do. You've got to have standards."

Their actions might be called stupid. Perhaps the scientific method is too complex for mere humans?

(alternate close: this interview left me feeling utterly disgusted)

Tech Austerity

I want to buy a new camera before the baby's born, and a new computer to load all the pics and video to. (the new tv, sound, game, and video system is still on the list, too) But the stuff I've got now is working just fine, so it's hard to justify the expense when I feel uncertain about the medium and long-term health of the economy (short term seems fine, by which I mean the next couple of months), and I have a lot of other demands on the family purse. Plus, with consumer tech, waiting rewards you with lower prices and/or better stuff, but at the expense of all the time you could've been using the new gear but weren't. For now, I think I'll wait, but I can hardly complain--the stuff I've already got is more than I'm really putting to use anyways. I think I'll just pass the interim with a tech wish list (not to be confused with my "I hope Tech loses every game" list), and get back to spending money on the family and the house-

Statist racism

Okay, so all the hullabaloo and histrionics of the last week regarding violent response to the passage of Obamacare has been tiresome, if not trite, and hypocritical. The cries of violence and racism from the Left seem to be more about projection than anything else, which leads to this week's Ayn Rand quote:

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights, cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." -Ayn Rand.

(h/t Chase)

Upgrade

I'm upgrading my old HP laptop to Ubuntu 9.10 right now.

Ubuntu has breathed new life into my PC. XP was getting unusable, and my hardware is too old for Vista or 7.

Of course my iPad will be here in 7 days, so this laptop will likely be forgotten...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Obama wants

moms to go back to school. With Captain Caveman. Seems appropriate.

BRICK

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BRICK

Here's some more fake violence: Everytime I type "brick" in ALL CAPS, I'm imagining throwing a brick at the large plate glass window of some dusty district office of healthcare/energy/education/taxation/trans fats and sodium control. BRICK. BRICK!! It's like that game Paperboy; I'm on the bicycle, chucking bricks at the bureaucrats. BRICK!

Okay, maybe I need a better hobby.

Health care reform, finally.

It's been another salient week for Animal Farm/1984. All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others (what is increased government control but a way for a decreased number of people making decisions for the rest of us?). And words like "health care" and "reform" are growing more Orwellian by the hour. Condoning violence against GWBush gets pushed down the memory hole, and indictments of fake hate and racism on the part of the Tea Party get bandied about with abandon. The Obama plan seems to be part "two minutes hate" and part hoping that we'll all embrace Big Brother and get on with it. Imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever. Imagine you liking it.

Here's where I'm at with it. Let's all think what we will and say what we want. Live and let live. You're free to think it's a good idea to spend someone else's money constraining someone else's choices (when did liberals fall in love with the government they were always so mad at? Oh, just mad that they weren't the ones in control? Makes sense now). You may think about control, and talk about it, too. But don't try to control me. I am free. Don't tread on me.

I'm not sure if I only admire Bill Whittle,

or if I want to be him:

A final thought on this darkish day: much is said about the “inevitability” of these kinds of legislation, that once enacted they are impossible to repeal or roll back.

This kind of thinking is self-fulfilling defeatism and has to stop. ANY law enacted can be repealed. We repealed a constitutional amendment, for God’s sake. From now on we must change our message from one of limiting government growth and spending and regulation to one of reducing it.

Not just limiting government. Reducing it. At every level.

Sounds familiar:

That government is best which governs least - Thomas Paine

Where do these people get their stock photography?

Anybody think this dude is going back to school?

That is how it works in America.

(h/t Jim Treacher)

Just WOW

I guess this makes me hateful.

Courtesy of Brutally Honest (and on deeper down the rabbit hole). H/t to Matteo.

I'm waiting for the prop bets

Big hedge fund manager believes America is on the decline thanks to the passage of our "healthcare" bill:

The passage of the health care law shows that the US empire is declining because it illustrates the fact that people expect the state to take care of them, David Murrin, the co-founder of Emergent Asset Management hedge fund manager, told CNBC.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama signed into law health care legislation that expands health coverage for the poor, imposes new taxes on the rich and forbids insurance practices such as refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.

In their expansionary phase, empires force people to go out, seek risks and fend for themselves, Murrin said, reminding of the dismantling of the British empire after the war, when the National Health Service, which ensures universal health coverage in Britain, was created.

"This (empire decline) is actually a dead-set course that societies get into and it will happen very quickly I'm afraid," he told "Squawk Box Europe."

"As you start to build a system it becomes cohesive because of its success… the fractures in the American system I think are more apparent than ever," Murrin added.

The man has a point. While most people do not like the healthcare bill, there are many that do, and many of those that don't believe it doesn't go far enough.

We have gotten comfortable.

Perhaps we need a new challenge. What about South America? The moon? Mars?

I'm not quite ready to bet we're going down just yet - what up and coming scrapper is going to overtake us?

Murrin is betting on China. I'm not so sure (how do you say bubble in Mandarin?). But they are as good a bet as anybody.

I hate this picture

Drudge has been running it for a few days, and it certainly suits our situation, but man it makes me sick.

Wisdom of Crowds

At first I thought this was just funny, but it looks like Ray Stevens is still working these days.

Unhappy Hipsters

Poking a little fun at the vain.

Throw a rock at government...

Looks like someone took your idea to heart, Paul.



Full disclosure: wasn't me.

With help like this, who needs harm?

"You're here to represent your constituencies, and if you think your constituencies honestly shouldn't be helped, you shouldn't vote for this." -President Obama, earlier today.

Contact Congressman, check!

I did a first today. Found out who my congressional representative is, and then contacted him. Mr. Hank Johnson looks like a sure "yes" vote, but I sent him a short email anyways regarding my objections to the bill.

reparations

Pass nationalized healthcare. Require everyone to purchase health insurance. Force them to pay, which forces them to work. Which is slavery. And the chain is complete.

steal my idea

I want someone to start a website called throwarockatthegovernment.com. For a small fee, you can purchase rock throwing credits, and, you know, throw a rock at the government or something.

finding out what ails me

I'm reading the news too much, and finding it (almost) all to be too frustrating. This is why I want a more limited government: I want there to be fewer things that so few people (congresspeople, etc) can do to make me so aggravated. I might still find politics interesting, but I sure wish they weren't so important. I want to be left to my own life and my own decisions, and not be under the shadow, or thumb, of people who call their greed generosity and their lust for power benevolence.

I want to go throw a rock at something.

(thought crime)

Massa didn't grope me

But I still seem to have killed the blog. Where'd Garry go?