Day by Day Cartoon by Chris Muir

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The intellectual power of the left

A good example of why our colleges are producing so many helpless drones:


What country fetishizes, lionizes, valorizes, idolizes, and sacralizes guns as much as does our United States? OK, possibly Mozambique — the only country with an AK47 on its flag, but really, it's long past time to end this obsessive "My Precious" attachment of Americans to instruments of death.
This morning of Dec. 25, 2014, of the nine top stories from US Reuters, six were about shootings — four new ones and two about the national movement against shootings of citizens by police. This pandemic of sick violence, punctuated by mass killings of children, has gone on far, far too long. It is long past time to repeal the stupid Second Amendment.
The fate of the Second Amendment should have been sealed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that past rulings by their predecessors were wrong, that in fact the amendment that provided for a "well regulated militia" really guaranteed every individual the right to own a gun. Wow. That is an interesting reading of the English language. What the Supremes have done is to not only warp the meaning and make it into twisted law, but to further prohibit states and local governments from declaring their places free of legal guns. The conservative court once again rules against the power of states, a principle that used to be associated with darn liberals who wanted to make sure everyone had the right to vote, for example, even though they weren't properly white enough. Now when a city or state wants to outlaw firearms, too bad. The conservatives took away their powers and rights in favor of Big Brother.
The only logical path, given the clearly decided role of the Second Amendment, is to repeal it. American people are tired of mass shootings and police shootings and family feud shootings and sibling shootings and accidental toddler shootings and teen suicide by gun (highly popular).We are exhausted by the proliferation of death, of threats, of bloodshed, and by the NRA/gun industry moral garbage spewing forth every time someone challenges the ubiquity of guns.
Repeal the Stupid Second Amendment. Surround it, grab it, bring it in the back room, pull down the shades, and end it. OK, petition for it, get it on the ballot, and get it done by enough of the US populace, by enough people in enough states, to get it consigned to the dustbin of history.
Tom H. Hastings is PeaceVoice Director and teaches in the Conflict Resolution program at Portland State University in Oregon.
 Copied in its' entirety from the Wisconsin Gazette.

OK. Let's dissect this.

"What country fetishizes, lionizes, valorizes, idolizes, and sacralizes guns as much as does our United States? OK, possibly Mozambique — the only country with an AK47 on its flag, but really, it's long past time to end this obsessive "My Precious" attachment of Americans to instruments of death."

Americans are not obsessed with guns. Even the "gun nuts" like me are not obsessed - we have full lives outside of our hobby. The persons with the obsessions are those like Mr. Hastings who haven't a clue about history or our country's origins, or freedom for that matter.

"This morning of Dec. 25, 2014, of the nine top stories from US Reuters, six were about shootings — four new ones and two about the national movement against shootings of citizens by police. This pandemic of sick violence, punctuated by mass killings of children, has gone on far, far too long. It is long past time to repeal the stupid Second Amendment."

A bit of fact-checking - the Washington Times  reports:
Washington, D.C., surpassed 100 homicides for the year in the course of an unusually violent Christmas Eve in which five people were killed — including one by police after he opened fire on officers.
 The nation's capitol is a perfect example of a place without the Second Amendment. The "lawmakers" there have tried for decades to keep the population of Washington, DC unarmed - except for the police and, of course, the criminals who ignore inconvenient laws .

"The fate of the Second Amendment should have been sealed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that past rulings by their predecessors were wrong, that in fact the amendment that provided for a "well regulated militia" really guaranteed every individual the right to own a gun. Wow. That is an interesting reading of the English language. What the Supremes have done is to not only warp the meaning and make it into twisted law, but to further prohibit states and local governments from declaring their places free of legal guns. The conservative court once again rules against the power of states, a principle that used to be associated with darn liberals who wanted to make sure everyone had the right to vote, for example, even though they weren't properly white enough. Now when a city or state wants to outlaw firearms, too bad. The conservatives took away their powers and rights in favor of Big Brother."

I have to agree with the first sentence - after the 2008 ruling, ALL gun laws in America should have been declared null and void, as they are all in violation of the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court chickened out on calling a spade a spade and allowed room for "common sense" gun control.

The "well regulated militia" clause is there as a reason that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed - not the fact that a militia needs to be "regulated" in what arms it might bear. At the time of the Revolution, cannons were WMDs and were owned by private citizens, who organized artillery militia groups. Private citizens also operated naval ships. The modern equivalent would be fighters and bombers and whatever ammunition they require.

The Constitution was put in place to limit the power of first, the federal government, and secondly, the power of the states, to enact laws infringing on the rights of the people, from whence all power flows in our country - at least, that is how it was supposed to be. The Supreme Court has ignored thousands of instances of federal and state overstepping since 1776. They almost got the 2008 ruling right.

It's interesting that he mentions voting rights and liberals in the same breath - the "liberals" were the ones fighting desegregation in the 1960's right up until LBJ made his famous "we'll have those "n****rs" voting Democrat for the next 100 years" comment - at which point they were all for the idea.

I wonder if this goofus has even heard of George Orwell. It's obvious he has no idea who "Big Brother" was.

"The only logical path, given the clearly decided role of the Second Amendment, is to repeal it. American people are tired of mass shootings and police shootings and family feud shootings and sibling shootings and accidental toddler shootings and teen suicide by gun (highly popular).We are exhausted by the proliferation of death, of threats, of bloodshed, and by the NRA/gun industry moral garbage spewing forth every time someone challenges the ubiquity of guns."

How about some statistics?

Mass shootings are comparatively rare in this country, and are overwhelmingly committed by "liberal" leaning persons.

The NRA is not the "gun industry".

A perfect solution to violence is to disarm the innocent. This idea alone ought to cause his employers in Portland to fire him for abject stupidity. He's probably tenured, though.

"Repeal the Stupid Second Amendment. Surround it, grab it, bring it in the back room, pull down the shades, and end it. OK, petition for it, get it on the ballot, and get it done by enough of the US populace, by enough people in enough states, to get it consigned to the dustbin of history."

Let's do that. And then we can see how much you like living under the real "Big Brother".


Luckily for America, the people evidently have seen past people like Mr. Hastings, as polls now show a majority of people are in favor of a truly liberal interpretation of the Second Amendment - just like it was meant to be read.

Monday, December 29, 2014

Electric vehicles

Just read an article in the December issue of Design World - "Series hybrid electric truck".

Seems Wal-Mart is getting into the green thing with a custom built streamlined electric truck with a Capstone micro-turbine generator range extender. Neat looking truck. The steering wheel says "Peterbilt". They also have a special streamlined 53' trailer.

On the third page of the article, they quote "DoT statistics" that show the typical heavy highway hauler gets 5.89 MPG.

On page six they make a big deal about how 50 gallons of Diesel in this thing's tank can be converted to 325 kWh of energy, which can drive the fully loaded truck a whopping (estimated) 217 miles.

A little math: 217 / 50 = 4.34 MPG.

So, for an investment of around $30K for the micro-turbine, and adding the weight and cost of whatever batteries it carries to qualify as a "hybrid", this green wonder gets 73% of the mileage of the conventional Diesel, which, with modern pollution controls, is extremely clean, costs a whole lot less, and uses little in the way of rare earths in its' engine.

Like I keep saying - going "green" for the sake of political correctness is just plain stupid.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

American Community Survey

A week or two ago, I got a letter from the Census Bureau - my address has been "selected" to waste "approximately 40 minutes" filling out an online survey. Penalties to be imposed under U. S. C. Title 13, Sections 141, 193, and 221, as changed by Title 18. According to Politifact, penalties can be as high as $5000, but no one has been fined to date.

So, I'll go to https://respond.census.gov/acs and see what they want - then I'll decide wether or not to respond.

As the law states: "no person shall be compelled to disclose information related to his religious beliefs or to membership in a religious body.". And since the US Government has no business infringing on my religion or practice thereof, perhaps my religion just changed to Islam, which mandates I lie to infidels...

From the census link:
** WARNING **
You have accessed a UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT computer. Use of this computer without authorization or for purposes for which authorization has not been extended is a violation of Federal law and can be punished with fines or imprisonment (PUBLIC LAW 99-474). System usage may be monitored, recorded, and subject to audit. Any information you enter into this system may be used by the Census Bureau for statistical purposes, including but not limited to improving the efficiency of our data collection programs. For information regarding the use of this system, and how your privacy is protected, visit our online privacy webpage at http://www.census.gov/privacy/privacy_policy/. Use of this system indicates consent to the collection, monitoring, recording, and use of information provided inside this system.
But - they promise the information I provide will be kept confidential...

OK. Logged in with my ten digit ID, which was xxxxx-06322. The same people responsible for the JugearsCare website must be responsible for the programming, as the box to accept the six-digit ID will only accept five digits.

Duh - you don't type in the '-'.

Onward. Starting time 1:47.

First question - am I filling out the survey for my address? Yes.
Second question - do I LIVE at this address? Yes.
Gives me a PIN in case the website times out in 15 minutes.
What is my name and phone #? Answered, phone # is the FAX line. Not lying yet.
Other people in the home? Just N. O. Yfb.
Any OTHER people? Here's where I list the pets...
Any OTHER OTHER people visiting? No. I don't know the names of the mice downstairs, anyway.
Any of the previously listed people not here right now? No.
Any of the previously listed people have another place they stay? No.
Now, let's ask about those others you listed-
Who owns or rents the place? Me. Rented from the Town of Beloit, County of Rock, State of Wisconsin, one tax payment at a time.
N. O. Yfb is "other nonrelative" Repeat for the four pets.
Now, it gets personal - "what is my sex?". Male. I'm surprised they didn't allow all the modern genders...

Ditto for N. O. Fyb and the pets.

What is my birth date? April 1, 1888 - the earliest they allow. All the other people and pets also born on 4/1, various years.

Am I "hispanic"? Tempted, but "no". No one here is "hispanic".

What race am I? Human.
What race are others? Truthful answers.
What best describes this home? Mobile home - the house IS shifting on the field stone foundation...
When was it built? Before 1939.
When did I move in? Truthful answer.
How much agricultural income? $1 to $999 - I sold a few dozen eggs at $1 / dozen at work...
Is there a business on the property? Yes. I DO have an FFL...
How many rooms? 1, no bedrooms.
What about utilities and appliances? None.
Computer? Coleco Adam running Ubuntu Linux (really!) Just not using it for this...
There's NO internet access at this mobile home - so how am I filling out this survey?
No vehicles - or should I be truthful and include the hangar queens? No - 0 vehicles. NOTFB.
Don't use no fuel for heat.
Does anyone PAY for electricity? No - I steal it...Extra info - electricity is free.
Does this household use gas? No, but we produce it.
Does anyone PAY for water and sewer? Extra info -water is free...
Do we use other fuels? No.
Did we get food stamps in the last year? No.
Is this mobile home part of a condom? No.
A bunch of questions about housing payments. Amazingly enough, all of them were $1.00.
Questions about me - I am amazed to find I am Terran, and speak Klingon. Unfortuantely, I don't speak English.
A bunch of personal questions - like when was I married. I told this thing I was born in 1888, so I put in 1492 - it tells me I was married "before I was 12". So, 12 is the minimum federal marriage age now? Changed it to 1942, ten years before my actual birth.
A bunch of questions about my job - I didn't work, as saying "yes" opens a bunch of new questions. I'm nothing if not lazy...
A bunch of questions about the "others". Imagination runs wild.

All done - 2:49. So much for "truth in advertising". It opened the log-in page, which I tried - and told me I already had finished.
Now - will the FAX line ring with a nosy human?

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Movie review

Went with my son to see "The Interview" in Beloit this evening.

Crude, rude humor. Some guys down in front were laughing like hyenas at the jokes.

It was everything I expected it would be, and more. A bunch of Lord of the Rings references, and Seth Rogan got a few fingers bit off.

James Franco made a monkey out of Kim Jong-Un, and the death scene with Katy Perry background was perfect. Blown up by a shell from his very own Soviet tank.

I was expecting to have to watch it on streaming video, but my daughter told me she heard it was playing in Beloit, so I had to go.

$14 I don't mind having spent to poke it to that fat maniac over there.

Too bad it was just a movie.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Screw the terrorists!

So, Sony has caved to the hackers by pulling "The Interview" from movie theaters. The hackers / North Korean terrorists win.

Not so fast - let's all watch Kim Jong-un get blown up:



Update - Sony, I guess, pulled the video clip - but I found this GIF at http://www.mediaite.com/tv/the-kim-jong-un-death-scene-from-the-interview-has-leaked/


I REALLY want to own that movie.

More righteous kick-ass:

America! FUCK YEAH!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Thorium

The solution for nuclear waste, coal pollution, rare earths, expensive gas and Diesel, and electrical energy, for the next millennium:



We won't do it - but the Chinese are, and if we don't get off our fat asses, they will own the world.

Lots more at YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyqYP6f66Mw

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Propaganda

Every report I hear on the radio or on TV about recent police related deaths starts out "white police officer (insert death cause) unarmed black male". It's like there's a script they are told to use.

They keep on repeating the news about the NYC cop who used a strangle hold on a black man as "strangle hold death" even though the man died an hour or more later of a heart attack. The strangle hold might have contributed to the death, but was not the direct cause.

What gets me about that incident is not the media's obvious rabble-rousing and repeating a lie often enough so it becomes truth, but the fact that NYC outlawed police from using a strangle hold over 20 years ago. Why was the cop not brought up on charges immediately instead of waiting half a year to see him exonerated of the death? Why are the media ignoring that aspect?

Grand juries, I understand, can only act upon the evidence they are given and the testimony they are allowed to hear - so perhaps there is a reason that so many of these incidents result in controversy. Maybe there really is a conspiracy to protect the police.