That was then:
"Well, our job is to bash the president, that's what we do." --Newsweek editor Evan Thomas in February 2007
This is now:
"We're understanding what Obama is. He is the great teacher. He is this guy that stands above everybody." -- Evan Thomas ++ "I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above -- above the world, he's sort of God." --Evan Thomas
from PatriotPost Wednesday Chronicle 6/10/2009
"Most of our nation's great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral people left with little more than the pretense of morality. ... Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another? And, if that person does not peaceably submit to being so used, do you believe that there should be the initiation of some kind of force against him? Neither question is complex and can be answered by either a yes or no. For me the answer is no to both questions but I bet that your average college professor, politician or minister would not give a simple yes or no response. They would be evasive and probably say that it all depends. ...[That] is because they are sly enough to know that either answer would be troublesome for their agenda. A yes answer would put them firmly in the position of supporting some of mankind's most horrible injustices such as slavery. After all, what is slavery but the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another? A no answer would put them on the spot as well because that would mean they would have to come out against taking the earnings of one American to give to another in the forms of farm and business handouts, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and thousands of similar programs that account for more than two-thirds of the federal budget. There is neither moral justification nor constitutional authority for what amounts to legalized theft. This is not an argument against paying taxes. We all have a moral obligation to pay our share of the constitutionally mandated and enumerated functions of the federal government. ...[But] now that the U.S. Congress has established the principle that one American has a right to live at the expense of another American, it no longer pays to be moral." --George Mason University economics professor Walter E. Williams
Illinois law-maker wants Chicago hoplophobes to give a little. Not a snowball’s chance if you ask me.
Pastor, best-selling author arrested at airport
"Truly, it’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done. You can probably guess the rest. I was arrested, handcuffed, and taken to jail, where I was fingerprinted and photographed. Needless to say, it opened my eyes to a world I’d seen only in the movies. I was glad when I posted bail and was able to leave."
from http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2006/11/handy_latin_phr.html
Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat.
It's not the heat, it's the humidity.
Ecce hora! Uxor mea me necabit!
Look at the time! My wife will kill me!
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
The designated hitter rule has got to go.
Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
I think some people in togas are plotting against me.
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
If Caesar were alive, you'd be chained to an oar.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam posit materiari?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
(At a barbeque) Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?
Ever noticed how wherever you stand, the smoke goes right into your face?
Sona si Latine loqueris.
Honk if you speak Latin.
Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
If you can read this you're over-educated
Mihi ignosce. Cum homine de cane debeo congredi.
Excuse me. I've got to see a man about a dog.
Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinus alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes!
If you can read this sign, you can get a good job in the fast-paced, high-paying world of Latin!
Gramen artificiosum odi.
I hate Astroturf.
Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione.
I'm not interested in your dopey religious cult.
Noli me vocare, ego te vocabo.
Don't call me, I'll call you.
Nullo metro compositum est.
It doesn't rhyme.
Non curo. Si metrum non habet, non est poema.
I don't care. If it doesn't have meter, it isn't a poem.
Fac ut gaudeam.
Make my day.
Braccae illae virides cum subucula rosea et tunica Caledonia-quam elenganter concinnatur!
Those green pants go so well with that pink shirt and the plaid jacket!
Visne saltare? Viam Latam Fungosam scio.
Do you want to dance? I know the Funky Broadway.
Re vera, potas bene.
Say, you sure are drinking a lot.
Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!
May barbarians invade your personal space!
Utinam coniurati te in foro interficiant!
May conspirators assassinate you in the mall!
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
May faulty logic undermine your entire philosophy!
Radix lecti
Couch potato
Mellita, domi adsum.
Honey, I'm home.
Tam exanimis quam tunica nehru fio.
I am as dead as the nehru jacket.
Ventis secundis, tene cursum.
Go with the flow.
Totum dependeat.
Let it all hang out.
Te precor dulcissime supplex!
Pretty please with a cherry on top!
Magister Mundi sum!
I am the Master of the Universe!
Fac me cocleario vomere!
Gag me with a spoon!
Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.
Prehende uxorem meam, sis!
Take my wife, please!
Nihil est--in vita priore ego imperator Romanus fui.
That's nothing--in a previous life I was a Roman Emperor.
Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!
Stand aside plebians! I am on imperial business.
Sic faciunt omnes.
Everyone is doing it.
Fac ut vivas.
Get a life.
Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!
Let's all wear mood rings!
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.
Hi non sunt droidi qui quaerens es.
These are not the droids you're looking for.
I'm seeing many stories about poor Mexico being inundated with "assault weapons" from the U.S.A. With rare exceptions, they point out the ease of legally buying a weapon in the U.S., and the steady flow of guns across the Rio Grande into the hands of drug cartels, the implication being that people are going to Joe's Sporting Goods, buying "assault weapons" at retail prices and selling them to Mexican criminals. Let's examine the premise.
One thing you may have noticed is drug cartels are in the business of making money. Lots of money. And those who end up with the money generally have little compunction about spending it, as there is much more where that came from. Another thing you may have noticed is the connections the drug cartels have with other criminals around the world, and their connections with terrorists of different stripes. (Terrorists often supply the drugs the cartels move.) Perhaps you've also noticed it is difficult to stop smugglers, even when you're making an effort. If the drugs are being smuggled successfully, certainly other materials can be moved as well.
Conclusion: Drug cartels have -
I understand from knocking around on the Internet, that an automatic AK-xx rifle can be had from international arms dealers, paragons of virtue one and all, I'm sure, for $100 - $200/each, in essentially unlimited quantity. And if you don't want to go through a regular international arms dealer, there are many amateurs out there who will oblige, too. And these are actual fully-automatic battle rifles, not semi-automatic "assault weapons".
I was at a gun show this weekend, and there was no lack of military-style semi-automatic rifles. The least expensive "assault weapon" I saw was running around $400, and the price goes up quickly as the quality of the guns improves, with basic AR type rifles running around $1000. Let's assume then an average of about $500 for "assault weapons".
Now, I can't say that there are no arms going from the U.S. into Mexico. I know for a fact that in recent years, several shipments of the fully automatic battle rifles have been intercepted coming into the United States. So here's the question.
Why are Mexican drug cartels buying inferior type weapons by the trunk load at costs far above retail from U.S. sources, when they can get the real deal from international sources with less trouble than they get the drugs they sell? Drug cartels may have lots of money, but they aren't stupid.
If you bought a rifle at Joe's Sporting goods for $500, what price would you ask if you had to smuggle it into Mexico? Did you know that even ammunition is banned in Mexico? Americans have gone to jail in Mexico for forgetting to remove a box of cartridges from their vehicle before they crossed the border. Smuggling arms south is frowned on from this side of the Rio Grande, too. If it were me, I'd be trying to at least double my money, considering the risk of a Mexican prison. With that reasoning, 1000 American, semi-automatic "assault weapons" would cost the Mexicans in excess of $1 million. It isn't much better at wholesale prices.
Now contrast that to the cost of buying the same quantity of real assault rifles on the international market.
1,000x$250=$250,000 Let's see. $1 million vs. $250,000.
Hmmm.
Would you buy American? I wouldn't, and they wouldn't either. If semi-automatic arms are being sold to Mexicans out of the U.S., few of these guns are coming from Joe's Sporting Goods. They are stolen weapons. Stolen by criminals and sold to criminals. So, by all means, let's put additional restrictions on the law-abiding adults who aren't involved in this matter. Let's leave law-abiding adults helpless in the face of increasing armed criminal attacks. Oh, I know! Let's just declare the United States a gun-free zone!
Like Mexico.
Du-oh.
Last year we said, 'Things can't go on like this',
and they didn't, they got worse. Will Rogers
Over on Weather.com, I see the following. It doesn't surprise me. They're waiting on the Government to do it for them.
Faced with a tornado warning, how prepared do you feel you are?
Very prepared, we have a family preparedness plan in place 
17.8%
No clue, got any suggestions 53.4%
Some what prepared, I have a mini-fridge, flat screen TV and a generator in my basement 28.7%
Another good read from Dr. Walter Williams.
A more fundamental question is: Should Washington be guided by the Constitution? In explaining the Constitution, James Madison, the acknowledged father of the Constitution, wrote in Federalist Paper 45: "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce." Has the Constitution been amended to permit Congress to tax, spend and regulate as it pleases or have Americans said, "To hell with the Constitution"?
Over on SurvivalBlog, Monday’s quote of the day was:
"Americans who are in the bottom 10th of income distribution live better today than kings lived in 1800. They have better health care, cheaper entertainment, cheaper books, longer life expectancy, air conditioning, central heating, and much more. This has come as a result of the private property system, the future-orientation of a broad mass of savers, and the willingness of entrepreneurs to invest their time and money to meet the wants of consumers in the future." - Dr. Gary North
A couple of years ago or so, I posted this:
“Overall, the typical American defined as 'poor' by the government has a car (31% of ‘poor’ households own two cars), air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR, or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family’s essential needs... A third of ‘poor’ households have both cell and land-line telephones... If work in each family were raised to 2,000 hours per year—the equivalent of one adult working 40 hours per week... nearly 75 percent of poor children would be lifted out of official poverty... If poor mothers married the fathers of their children, nearly three quarters of the nation’s impoverished youth would immediately be lifted out of poverty... A quarter of legal immigrants and fifty to sixty percent of illegals are high-school dropouts. By contrast, only nine percent of non-immigrant Americans lack a high school degree. As long as the present steady flow of poverty-prone persons... continues, efforts to reduce the total number of poor in the U.S. will be far more difficult. A sound anti-poverty strategy must not only seek to increase work and marriage among native born Americans, it must also end illegal immigration, and dramatically increase the skill level of... legal immigrants.” —Robert Rector
About 25 years ago, a social worker in my rural Appalachian county’s health department told me this true story. A woman participating in one of the health department programs mentioned she needed a bed for a couple of her children, but they just didn’t have the money to buy one.
My friend A., a social worker there, decided to take it upon himself to meet this family’s need. So, over the next couple of weeks, he talked to merchants, churches, and individuals getting a headboard here, a footboard there, some rails another place, and finally, a new mattress and box springs.
A. called the woman and told her he had a bed for her kids. They arranged for her to pick it up at the health department. On the appointed day and time, there she was. She had borrowed a pickup truck and was ready to take delivery. After they loaded the bed into the truck, the woman turned to A. and said, “You don’t know how much we appreciate this. Our two youngest are sleeping in the box the color television came in.”
Having been very “poor” as the government measures it, I must say that, at least in America, poor is more an attitude, and sometimes culture, rather that a measure of income or assets.
In his Inaugural Address, President Obama said,
'These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.'
This is true - if you're on the Left. The Right still sees America as a land of opportunity. In fact, so do immigrants, legal and illegal. No one moves to a new country expecting to do worse.
I'll be the first to admit that things aren't going so well for everyone. However, as did President Reagan, I'd point out that much of it is the government's fault, and looking to government to fix our problems is putting the coyote in charge of the chicken coop. .
Well, the proof is in the pudding. We have a Leftist in the White House, and a substantial Leftist majority in the Congress. Whatever happens can't be blamed on the Right, now. Leftist polices can sink or swim without much interference from the Right, indeed, with the new rules in Congress (in the spirit of bi-partisanship, of course), the Right has hardly any input into legislation other that voting.
We'll see how all this works out for you.
No, I'm not talking about the President Obama's inauguration. I'm talking about the movie.
A few weeks ago, a co-worker and I went to see the remake with Keanu Reeves. It was on the IMAX screen, and had a few interesting effects. However, changing the theme to a tale of pending environmental apocalypse and revenge against the human race obviated the need for Klaatu to come to Earth to begin with. Why land, if all you're going to do is destroy mankind anyway?
The "advanced galactic civilization" just blows off over six billion sophonts because we weren't nice to the polar bears, snail darters, and several types of bacteria in our digestive tracts. It's difficult to believe that those with such an obvious technological superiority couldn't take us under their wing, teach us what we needed to know to clean up the Earth, and then all live happily ever after. Of course, to the "rat is a pig is a dog is a boy crowd" I'm sure it was just peachy the way it was.
So after much consideration, I give it two stars in the Neflix rating system. (1=hated it, 2=didn't like it, 3=liked it, 4= liked it very much, 5=loved it) I won't watch it again. I can't recommend it.
I'm ready for Hollywood to give apocalyptic environmentalism a break, unless they want to do something like Crichton's Next or State of Fear.
A little snowfall last night brought out the usual idiots. Which idiots, you ask? Why, the ones who believe they and their 4WD vehicles have been exempted from the laws of physics, such as Newton's Laws of Motion, seen below.
First law
There exists a set of inertial reference frames relative to which all particles with no net force acting on them will move without change in their velocity. This law is often simplified as "A body continues to maintain its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force." Newton's first law is often known as the law of inertia.
Second law
Observed from an inertial reference frame, the net force on a particle is proportional to the time rate of change of its linear momentum: F = d(mv)/dt.[3][4][5][6][7] Momentum mv is the product of mass and velocity. Force and momentum are vector quantities and the resultant force is found from all the forces present by vector addition. This law is often stated as, "F = ma: the net force on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration."
Third law
Whenever a particle A exerts a force on another particle B, B simultaneously exerts a force on A with the same magnitude in the opposite direction. The strong form of the law further postulates that these two forces act along the same line. This law is often simplified into the sentence, "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
(from Wikipedia)
On the way in to work this morning, I didn't see a single car wrecked on the side of the road. I did, however, see four 4WD trucks and SUVs with noses in rock walls, guard rails, or safety cables.
GBW
