Tea Party Observed
Yesterday, I happened to pass by this tea party.
On the one hand, I was impressed that this phenomenon is for real.
On the other hand, after years of watching demonstrations by leftists, my immediate reaction was to look for reasons it was annoying or ridiculous. I suspect the Other Side is now looking for snarky comments made about the demonstrations of a few years ago and will soon start recycling them.
I'm an Example on Both Sides
While reading the latest debate on whether fat people can lose lots of weight and keep it off, I realized that I'm an example on both sides. I lost over 100 pounds in my late teens and mostly kept it off for almost two decades (with a little bit of a backslide in my early 20s). On the other hand those two decades are increasingly far in the past …
Is the Left the Pro-Science Side?
No.
What If They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
While considering Tom Lehrer's song “Send the Marines,” I wondered what would happen if President Obama sent the Marines to Honduras to reinstate the President … and many of them refused to go?
Another Reason Not to Have a National Health Care Monopoly
If we have a national health care monopoly, we'll be only one election away from a anti-vaccine crusader in charge of your health and mine.
Morgenthau on Guns
Robert Morgenthau is highly critical of the Thune amendment, which would allow people with concealed-carry gun licenses to carry their guns across state lines. According to Morgenthau, this is a violation of the Tenth Amendment.
I wonder if similar reasoning can be applied to marriage licenses (so if a state banned gay marriage, gay marriages performed in other states would be null and void in that state), drivers licenses, or high-school diplomas. We might have a situation in which diplomas from a state with a Creationist school system are not recognized elsewhere or vice versa. (Remember that vice versa. Political power can work both ways.)
A Future That Didn't Happen
According to A Brief History of the Not Too Distant Future:
We have been launched into a state of permanent war. Cheney, Bush and the rest of the new royalty have no intention of relinquishing control in their lifetimes. Despite eloquent claims and seemingly astute observations by numerous pundits of the incompetence of the Bush administration, the Project for the New American Century is well underway. No such incompetence in fact exists.
Sometime before the '08 election, American will experience another false flag "terrorist attack", a new and improved 911. Martial law is just around the corner. Within the next 3 to 5 years we will see the North American Union become a global, military dictatorship featuring Bush with his ball & Cheney as supreme commanders. While we fiddle the world will burn.
I supposed they lied to us again.
Nuclear Waste, Shmuclear Waste
American and Israeli scientists (from the great and little Satans) have developed a drug that can protect against radiation (seen via Meryl Yourish). If this protects against radiation damage in general, we won't need Yucca Mountain. Just stuff the nuclear waste in plastic bags and send it to the landfill.
And furthermore …
If fallout is no longer a problem then … ORION SHALL RISE!
Another Member of the Fraternity of Picked-on Nerds
Mark Chu-Carroll had an even worse time in high school than I did.
Actually, I didn't object to being ostracized that much … except that this was still in the “well-adjusted” era (we have ways to make you social).
On the other hand, some people in the same fraternity have decided to take the side of the bullies.
Scene from a Non-Blockbuster Movie
A shark recently washed up on Long Island. It was not a very dangerous shark because:
"He's a plankton feeder. You can see inside there's no teeth inside his mouth," said marine biologist Tracy Marcus. "He's a relatively harmless kind of shark, but large."
If they made a movie about this, it would be called “Gums.”
It's Sort of Funny Funny Funny to Think without a Brain
The discovery of intelligent behavior in slime molds (which don't have brains) reminded me of the beginning of Angerhelm by Cordwainer Smith.
Don't Panic!
You can pig out after all.
A Snarky Comment about IQ Research
One reason I have trouble taking IQ research seriously is that some of the researchers remind me of the Dilbert character who majored in “smartology.”
Are Bailouts Right-Wing or Left-Wing?
If bailouts are a left-wing phenomenon (they're government interference with the economy), then the recent Presidential election was a matter of a liberal Democrat replacing a moderate Republican. On the other hand, if bailouts are a right-wing phenomenon (they're aiming piles of money at the rich), then the recent Presidential election was a matter of a moderate Democrat replacing a conservative Republican.
The left-wing belief that Obama is a centrist but Bush was on the far right is not a matter of insanity but a logical consequence of the way they classify government actions, by goal instead of amount.
On the gripping hand, we must also consider avoiding bailouts in terms of practical politics. Is voting Republican or voting Democrat the way to avoid bailouts? I regret to say the answer appears to be “no.”
Explaining the Reaction to the Honduras Situation
The left is reading from scripts again. When reading from the “regime change” script, the military are always the Bad Guys, even when the coup was court ordered.
The really annoying part of this is that Roberto Micheletti (the acting President of Honduras) doesn't dare travel outside Honduras now lest some government claiming “universal competence” order him arrested.
My Constitutional Rights Are Being Violated!
My local supermarket has stopped carrying Uncle Ben's Instant Brown Rice! According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a refusal to sell a lawful product is a violation of customer's rights! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!
By the way, why does the State license pharmacists at all?
If Oil Prices Are Due to Greed
If oil prices are due to “oil speculators looking for a quick buck at the expense of American consumers” as Senator Byron Dorgan (D-olt) has claimed, does that mean they were really generous last fall and winter? Or could the drop in oil prices have had something to do with a pro-drilling campaign slogan last summer and the recent rise to an anti-fossil-fuel administration?
By the way, if you look at the graph of noncommercial long positions and crude-oil futures accompanying the cited article, you might notice that the speculators were selling while oil prices were near the peak. In other words, they were helping to bring those prices down just when that help was needed. (Another conclusion from the same phenomenon is that oil speculators knew what they were doing … in contrast the mortgage securities people.)
One of These Things Doesn't Belong Here
Number 11 on this list doesn't belong there.
By the way, number 10 is an explanation for this post.
Did They Ever Have Control?
In a recent Talking Points Memo, there was the title:
GOP Pols Losing Control Of Tea Party Movement?
In other words, leftists were so convinced that somebody was pulling the strings of the tea-party protesters that when they realize there is no control, they think that's a change.
Do-It-Yourself Fireworks, Pro and Con
On the one hand, the state has no business protecting people from themselves.
On the other hand, there is the suspicion that a box of fireworks was once ordered by the boy in the Hathaway shirt.
Explaining Sarah Palin's Resignation
It's David Letterman's fault.
Pro-Life Vegetarians
There are vegetarians who have the same scruples with respect to the born and the unborn.
At least, I assume that's a reasonable conclusion from their horror at eating eggs.
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