"A Socialist is only a Communist without a gun."
Rodger, the Real King of France (as quoted by)
--Dolly
Saturday September 20, 2008...
Quote of the Day ::.
The "man-made" global-warming crowd wants America to spend billions to reduce a naturally occurring gas (carbon dioxide) that has a virtually zero effect on global warming. This is insane. People who willfully set aside common sense and allow themselves and their children to be brainwashed and never question what they are hearing are without excuse.--David Kerst, in the Tracy Press
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Saturday September 20, 2008...
Late to the Game ::.
STUART TAYLOR, writing in the National Journal, avers...
I no longer trust the major newspapers or television networks to provide consistently accurate and fair reporting and analysis of all the charges and countercharges.
Welcome to the club, Stu. Me, I never did.
I seem to recall that Heinlein put it well thusly: "I personally have been present at three distinct events covered by the media, for which subsequent coverage in Time magazine was 100% wrong on all facts." Or words to that effect. This was stated in the '50s.*
I think that getting trustworthy information from the media -- or, rather, single sources within the media -- is a fool's errand. At best, all you can do is several-source your intake. Even then, you're at the mercy of groupthink and samesourcing on the part of the various outlets, but at least you have a better chance of forming a clearer picture of what's on.
(Hat tip: The Puppy Blender.)
* Going from memory here, but I'm thinking of a letter to either John W. Campbell or Lurton Blasingame, quoted in Grumbles from the Grave, my copy of which is boxed up in storage at the moment.
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Saturday September 20, 2008...
Michelle ma Belle Quoted Saying ::.
"SHE'S CUTE (no, I meant me)."
'Zat so?
In which case, baby, you're wrong again.
Sheesh! Can't these Democrats get anything right?
Now, Dolly...
Well? What! You know I'm right -- bitch is a fuckin' dog, and she doesn't carry it well, and she presents it fer shit.
It was a side-step. She meant Palin, got embarrassed by the press coverage, and tried to get coy.
Duh! 'N' she din't do that very well, either, now did she?
Gabrielle Francesca East (Dolly) | | |
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Saturday September 20, 2008...
You Need to Wrap ::.
LITTLE HEAD AROUND this concept: Democrats don't want you to have access to cheap energy.
And they don't care what kind of brainfarts they have to use to justify their obstructionism.
They either want you to live in a mud hut, cooking your food over a dung fire (or eating raw fresh vegetables exclusively), with no light at night, no defense from predators, no access to modern medicine, entertainment, or communication... or they just want you dead.
If you don't think so, you have not reasoned out the end point of their public policy prescriptions.
If you are a Democrat or a Democrat supporter and don't believe the above items to be Good Things, then you need to leave off your support for the Left and join the forces of good and light.
Indulging the greens must stop.
When we add to this Green unreality over energy a self-indulgent opposition to conventional agriculture and to GM crops, tropes which are now threatening the poor and the disadvantaged the world over; total confusion over biofuels; frequent support for protectionism against trade; the desire to heap increased costs and retrogressive taxes on everyone, but especially on the poor; the wish to force people into lifestyles that few can afford or want; and the championing of breaking the law when protesting, we can see that the moral charge sheet against the Greens is long and extending by the day.
The idea that the Greens hold any moral high ground is sentimental rubbish. Many of their so-called ethical investments will cripple us, while impoverishing the poor even further.
It really is time for both of our leading political parties [I have no hope whatsoever for the dire Liberal Democrats, whose 'leader', Nick Clegg, didn't even know the level of the State Pension when asked] to return to economic reality in an increasingly unforgiving world.
We can no longer afford to play at Green fantasies. We must grow up.
As has been observed often here and elsewhere, the modern Green movement is in no way about the environment and all about the advancement of Marxism. Its proponents are in truth watermelons -- green on the outside and red on the inside.
To paraphrase a popular poster from the '60s, "Der kommunismus ist nicht gesund fur kinder und andere lebende dinge."
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Friday September 19, 2008...
Observation #760 ::.
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Friday September 19, 2008...
Quote of the Day ::.
Many local climate experts also accused some researchers of using the increasingly popular issue to increase their chances of getting their studies funded.
"There's no doubt that the slogan of climate change has been adopted by researchers from various disciplines to get research budgets because it is attractive to funding bodies ... around the world."
... [A] scientist at the government-run Agricultural Research Organization ... called into question the ethics of some scientists. "Climate researchers are approaching the red line when it comes to the ethics of their work," he said.
"It's hard to see research budgets in front of you and not go in the direction that the funding bodies want you to go in, instead of the directions that you think you should go."
Most of the scientists said the research was tilted toward studies highlighting the role of climate change in an effort to win funding...
Seen at Junk Science.
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Friday September 19, 2008...
Loki's Dad ::.
IS UP FOR adoption. Bid here.
Speaking of Loki, it's been a while since I posted pix here. Here's a group shot of (clockwise from UL) Loki, Rommie, and Siamon.
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Friday September 19, 2008...
"Heh" of the Day ::.
As I left, I was actually feeling strangely sorry for some of the speakers. Many of them have mistakenly bet their careers on the idea that CO2 is evil, and at some point it has to be extremely painful for them to realize the truth.
Shhhhhhh-schadenfreude.
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Friday September 19, 2008...
Drive Time Nukage ::.
IT'S LONG PAST TIME to dispose of the "unused leases" dodge.
Today, on the WKRC Morning Show, an idiot caller -- using the usual leftist-front passive-aggressive "I wonder..." formulation -- brought the subject up. And he couldn't for the life of him see why an oil company would drill on a lease, producing more supply, this lowering the price of gas at the pump and -- as the caller said -- cutting its own throat.
Can't remember the guy's name, but let's pretend it was Timmy.
Timmy. You. Ignorant. Splooge.
Why do you suppose gas prices are currently so high? I'm sure no leftist could ever get this, so we'll throw the question open to the class.
::dolly bounces in her chair, hand up:: Oo! Oo! Call on me! I know!
Dolly?
Because demand exceeds supply?
Gold star for da Doll.
::preen::
And so, if you increase supply, what happens?
Price drops.
Yes. And then...?
Sales increase.
Which means (one hopes)...?
Profits increase?
Right again! Another gold star!
::preen::
So. How do we get from here to "cut [his/her/its/their] own throat?"
Um... terminal idiocy?
And these people have the vote.
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Friday September 19, 2008...
Media Idiocy ::.
NEWSREADER ON WKRC radio Thursday, reports (and I quote), "The blackout not stopping violence."
Once you get past the ::wobbita:: your first question (well, mine, at any rate) is, "What makes you think it would?"
Must be those editors and fact-checkers.
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Friday September 19, 2008...
Barry's Special Interest Ad ::.
MORE LIES. To quote Teddy "The Swimmer" Kennedy, "Lie after lie after lie after lie."
With no evidentiary backup?
Well, hey! It worked for Teddy, now, didn't it?
But it should be pointed out that the main thrust of the ad is a case of -- heh -- the pot calling the kettle black.
The ad lists several the people in the McCain organization who are (or were) (the ad alleges) lobbyists. As though that were unusual. If there's a personnel problem, however, as I see it, the issue is not whether certain individuals have exercised their First Amendment right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances," but what kind of damage to the commonweal their actions may or may not have done.
And, what with the failure of myriad financial institutions so forward in our collective consciousness, it should be noted that among Obama's advisors (and, if memory serves, his former campaign manager), is the individual who was at the helm when one of those mortgage giants Fannie or Freddie (whichever) foundered on the rocks of crony socialism and capital kleptocracy -- enriching self while bankrupting the country.
Oh, and that Barry himself is the recipient of the second greatest lagniappe from said ... institution.
And that the Dipshit (a.k.a. Joe Biden, a.k.a. the stupidest man in the Senate...)
Oh, come on, Alger. Biden is a modest man.
And he certainly has a great deal to be modest about.
But his son, see, was a lobbyist (may still be, for all I know) for credit card behemoth MNBA and lobbied dear old Dad whilst said DOD was chairing a committee with legislation before it affecting -- well -- credit card behemoth MNBA.
I guess when Democrats do it, it's not corruption.
And all of that is as opposed to lobbying foreign governments on behalf of private entities seeking to engage in -- you know -- commerce.
Did you ever get the idea that Barry is just a stalking horse for Hillary, and he's not intended to win -- that's he's going to take a fall in the fifteenth round?
Naw. I think he's in earnest. It's just, as Will Rogers is reputed to have said, "I belong to no organized political party -- I'm a Democrat."
Close enough for government work.
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Friday September 19, 2008...
Rommie and Siamon on Mom's Chair ::.
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Wednesday September 17, 2008...
Observation #759 ::.
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Wednesday September 17, 2008...
If You're Going to Talk ::.
ABOUT CLASS, at least have the courtesy to get it right.
And here's the first thing you need to wrap your little pea-brain around:
America is the first truly classless society. We. Are. All. Middle. Class.
Here's how it works:
An upper class is a herediatry aristocracy. People with the good sense to pick ancestors who -- albeit every bit as much a bunch of brigands as the worst Russian mobsters in Odessa -- got their fustest with the mostest. And managed to hang onto enough of it to get generally recognized as being somehow more "noble" than the rest of us.
And, no, the Kennedys, all their pretentions to ancient Celtic royalty notwithstanding (Hint: "Fitz" (as in Fitzgerald) means a royal bastard.), need not apply. Wealth nor pretension has nothing to do with it. An upper class requires a formal, structured aristocracy and a monarch to make it all legal.
You should point out that any long-standing aristocracy will be of necessity rather inbred. Everybody related to everybody else.
I should, eh?
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As much as they hate to admit it (and you know they know -- those Ivy League degrees are good for something), the Kennedys and the Bushes and the Cabots and Lodges are all as drearily bourgeois as the rest of us.
Doesn't matter how wealthy one may be, nobility doesn't come that way.
A lower class is also hereditary -- born into peonage. That is, tied to the land and/or their fathers' occupation. The closest we come to this kind of feudalism these days is the closed trade unions in the Northeast, where you have to be the son of a member to get in.
The middle class is, in essence, those who are neither fish nor fowl -- neither noble nor vassal. When it first appeared, the middle class heralded the eventual downfall of feudalism, because membership in it came as the fruits of merit, rather than the predestination of heredity. It was composed of independent businessmen -- tradesmen and mechanics at first then merchants, those who bought and sold. Many of the middle class were and have been better off financially than the aristos who presumed themselves their betters. And some were insecure and climbers enough to want to be noble -- to take to themselves the attribute of nobility, as though the patent might make them somehow superior to their neighbors.
These days, we call these people liberals.
More modern, truly progressive individuals -- small "r" republicans -- are generally unconcerned with their status relative to their neighbors. If they care at all, they are generally satisfied with their own accomplishments, and glad to enjoy the success of those around them for its own sake.
Only those insecure and desperate to find and cling to any crumb of perceived superiority even take notice of class, let alone try to define social strata by reference to it.
These days, we call these people "liberals."
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Wednesday September 17, 2008...
No Matter How Firm ::.
YOUR CONVICTIONS on a given topic, it sometimes helps to reinforce the fundamentals.
Accordingly, offered for your edification and review, "Problems with the Climate Models":
...the computer models upon which the UN's climate panel unwisely founds its entire case have failed and failed and failed again to predict major events in the real climate.
a. The models have not projected the current multidecadal stasis in "global warming":
b. no rise in temperatures since 1998; falling temperatures since late 2001; temperatures not expected to set a new record until 2015 (Keenlyside et al., 2008).
c. nor (until trained ex post facto) did they predict the fall in TS from 1940-1975;
d. nor 50 years' cooling in Antarctica (Doran et al., 2002) and the Arctic (Soon, 2005);
e. nor the absence of ocean warming since 2003 (Lyman et al., 2006; Gouretski & Koltermann, 2007);
f. nor the behavior of the great ocean oscillations (Lindzen, 2007),
g. nor the magnitude nor duration of multi-century events such as the Mediaeval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age;
h. nor the decline since 2000 in atmospheric methane concentration (IPCC, 2007);
i. nor the active 2004 hurricane season;
j. nor the inactive subsequent seasons;
k. nor the UK flooding of 2007 (the Met Office had forecast a summer of prolonged droughts only six weeks previously);
l. nor the solar Grand Maximum of the past 70 years, during which the Sun was more active, for longer, than at almost any similar period in the past 11,400 years (Hathaway, 2004; Solanki et al., 2005);
m. nor the consequent surface "global warming" on Mars, Jupiter, Neptune's largest moon, and even distant Pluto;
n. nor the eerily-continuing 2006 solar minimum;
o. nor the consequent, precipitate decline of ~0.8 °C in surface temperature from January 2007 to May 2008 that has canceled out almost all of the observed warming of the 20th century.
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Wednesday September 17, 2008...
Watch This Space ::.
SOONER OR LATER somebody in charge is going to have to decide that the ACORN brand is so damaged -- due to a richly-earned reputation for voter registration fraud and other dirty tricks -- that they'll have to change the name.
And when it does, we'll be there to say we told you so.
Anybody want to start a pool?
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Wednesday September 17, 2008...
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Tuesday September 16, 2008...
Hurricane! In the Ohio Valley* ::.
WELL, OK. NOT officially a Category 1 hurricane, since we didn't have sustained winds in the 74-95 MPH range -- only lots and lots of gusts in that range -- and we didn't have a 4-to-5-feet-above-normal storm surge on the river (although I imagine you coulda found a chop that was a bit special there for awhile).
But Ike did a pretty good imitation of one nonetheless, for being -- what? -- 6-700 miles inland and over a thousand miles from landfall.
Mostly around here, we watch hurricanes in the gulf to know when we don't have to water our lawns. With three or maybe four mid-season storms queued up across the pond between Africa and these shores, we expected to be saving on the water bill.
The electric bill, not so much.
Saturday, with a high temp of somewhere around 90°F and humdiditty in three digits, was a steambath more appropriate for August than September. Everybody stayed indoors and cranked the dehumidifiers.
A guy actually tried to warn me that the Kroger store was cool.
"Thanks," I said, and hurried on in.
Overnight, drowned out by the air conditioners (i.e, I slept through it, oblivious), a storm blew through. No rain, though -- so much for giving the sprinklers a rest -- but lotsa wind.
Downed trees. Powerlines. Firin' the odd shot here and there.
Oops. Wrong pop-culture reference, there.
ANY. Wayyy.
Sunday dawned overcast and muggy and it was all downhill from there.
When they say a hurricane blew up, take them at their word.
Ya gotta understand, 75MPH gusts doesn't really sound that extreme around here. At least, not to people who pay attention. After all, we're at the east end of Tornado Alley, here. They may start out there on the plains of Oklahoma and Kansas, but they END here, over the Ohio River drainage, (which encompasses most of the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi, for those of you in Rio Linda). And tornadoes get up there into what would be Cat 5 territory for hurricanes.
'Cept 'n -- as the old shaggy dog joke from the '60s goes -- not so damned shaggy.
Y'see, a tornado might be a mile across and come out of a storm that's 25 miles or so. Ike made landfall in Texas on Friday and was in the Ohio valley Saturday night. Do the math.
So we had sustained winds in the hurricane-wannabe category -- I guess that'd be category, "Here'syourconsolationprizeandtheat-homeversionofourgame,thanksforplaying." Cat Zero. Only 50-74MPH.
Even so, it was hard to take it all seriously. There were clouds in the sky. They were the cute kind. The kind they make toilet paper commercials with, featuring blue-eyed kittens -- Not WAR kittens! Cute, baby kittens!. And they scudded across the sky like they were shy and trying to hide. The sun was out and, except for the toilet-paper clouds, the sky was bright blue. Under a blue sky like that, even a wind that's tossing the tops of 100-foot trees through arcs meant to give you vertigo so you hurl that belgian waffle cone with a double-scoop of Greater's walnut fudge moca-chocolatte you just ate is hard to take that seriously.
Like your mom said, it's all fun and games until somebody -- er -- until the power goes out.
You know, there is NOT a whole lot to do in Cincinnati after dark when the lights go out. I sanded some on my boards, read a little of the latest Glen Cook omnibus volume, and went to bed really early.
Monday, things appeared to be OK. Lots of school closings. 75-80% of Duke Energy customers off the grid -- leaves more for the rest of us, I guess. Traffic lights out; 4-way-stop rules in effect. Phone company asking people to moderate their cell phone usage. (Yeah, right. The Type-A bottle-blonde lawyer ball-breaking litigator in the black Lexus SUV (vanity plate: BALL BKR) cruising Columbia Parkway (speed limit 45 MPH) at 70 with her iPhone glued to her left ear is gonna pay attention to that request.
Some time about 11:00 AM, the Patch Factory lost phone service. Lights on, but no Internet (ADSL), no dialout, no cell services (on three different carriers. Yay, Cincinnati Bell! When I got back from lunch, all was well. Shucks. I was hoping for an afternoon off.
Duke says this is hands-down the worst outage they've ever had. At peak, 90% of the service area was out. They're saying it'll take a week-plus to get it all back. I'm not surprised. It's not every year we get hurricanes in the Port of Cincinnati.
You know, we never did get any rain, despite the fact that Weather Underground had the prob of precip pegged at, like, 80% early Sunday.
But none of this surprises me. What does surprise me is that James Hanson is still employed at NASA, and anybody anywhere on this globe of ours takes the AGW hoax seriously.
They couldn't predict the temperature plus or minus 20% hour-to-hour. They couldn't predict the wind speeds to within 30% of the actual. They totally missed the rainfall -- none, as opposed to predicted ... And all of this on probably the most observed event this season. And yet, they claim to be able to make much subtler predictions based on diffuse and error-prone observations of obscure events and phenonmena over several generations?
Pull the other one. It's got bells on.
(* A little pop culture reference for those of you in the know.)
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