Democrats are deriding last night's House vote to repeal ObamaCare as "symbolic," and it was, but that is not the same as meaningless. The stunning political reality is that a new entitlement that was supposed to be a landmark of liberal governance has been repudiated by a majority of one chamber of Congress only 10 months after it passed. This sort of thing never happens.More like this, please, Republicans...
More House Members—245 in total—voted to rescind the new entitlement than the 219 Democrats who voted to create it last March. That partisan majority narrowly prevailed over all 178 Republicans and some 38 Democrats. The three Democrats who favored repeal yesterday confirmed the bipartisan opposition to the kind of vast new social program that historically has been built on a national bipartisan consensus.
Republicans across the country campaigned on repeal last year, and yesterday's vote showed refreshing respect for the often invoked, rarely consulted American people. Meanwhile, six additional states have asked to join the momentous constitutional challenge to ObamaCare in Florida, bringing the total to 26, plus Virginia's separate suit. A majority of states resisting this mandate is another "symbolic" threshold.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Repeal of ObamaCare...
A nice piece in the WSJ this morning. The lead:
Walks...
The three field spaniels went on an ecstatic tour de odeur, madly sniffing at anything and everything, drinking in the enhanced odors of the evening. Race chased pine cones both real and imaginary; he didn't even notice the fog. The dogs fur quickly was covered in tiny little droplets, giving them a diamond-encrusted appearance in the dim light from our front porch. There was a full moon high overhead, but the fog so dimmed and diffused the light that I could scarcely tell it was there.
This morning was a completely different story. We got up a bit early, around 2 am. Everything was damp outside, but the sky was completely clear and it was much warmer than last night. On the chart above, you can see that an hour or so before our morning walk, the humidity dropped precipitously (from near 100% to under 10%) in the span of a few minutes, and the temperature jumped 10°F at the same time. A beautiful full moon was high in the sky, and it was very bright outside. No flashlight needed this morning! Off to the west I could see the top of fog in the lower reaches of Lawson Valley, bright white in the moonlight. Colors were easily visible all around us, even in the distance. The stars were largely washed out by the moon, but this was more than compensated by the beautiful views of the moonlit landscape.
The dogs were excited, too, but by something completely different and unknowable. They spent our entire morning walk – all four of them – being very quiet, staying close to me, and sniffing at a dozen or so particularly interesting spots. It was hard to get them off those spots. A couple of times the four dogs made a perfect "plus" sign, with all four noses smelling the same square inch of ground, 90° apart. I'd sure like to know what they were smelling! It had to be something really, really interesting to get Race's mind off pine cones.
I'm looking forward to seeing that fog in the moonlight as I drive into work this morning...
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Interesting AGW Development...
Months ago, Virginia's Attorney General (Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican) initiated an investigation of fraud targeting Dr. Michael Mann (the infamous “hockey stick” graph creator). Dr. Mann is a professor at the University of Virginia, and Cuccinelli is investigating the misuse of public funds.
I've not commented on this before, because I wasn't sure in my own mind whether the investigation was justifiable (not being party to whatever evidence Cuccinelli had) and was quite possibly more of a witch hunt (Cuccinelli is an outspoke AGW skeptic) than of substance.
But today comes news that makes me wonder. It seems that two state Senators (Democrats, both) have proposed legislation that would prevent Cuccinelli from continuing his investigation, by retroactively removing his authorization.
That smells like shenanigans to me.
And now I'm more inclined to believe that Cuccinelli had something real to investigate. Otherwise why would there be retroactive butt-covering going on?
Get 'em, Cuccinelli! String 'em up!
I've not commented on this before, because I wasn't sure in my own mind whether the investigation was justifiable (not being party to whatever evidence Cuccinelli had) and was quite possibly more of a witch hunt (Cuccinelli is an outspoke AGW skeptic) than of substance.
But today comes news that makes me wonder. It seems that two state Senators (Democrats, both) have proposed legislation that would prevent Cuccinelli from continuing his investigation, by retroactively removing his authorization.
That smells like shenanigans to me.
And now I'm more inclined to believe that Cuccinelli had something real to investigate. Otherwise why would there be retroactive butt-covering going on?
Get 'em, Cuccinelli! String 'em up!
Storm on Saturn...
AGW, Explained...
Via reader Aaron B., this very nicely done takedown of the typical poorly-informed, poorly-reasoning member of the public who believes in the pending AGW doom:
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Chicago Way...
“The Chicago Way” is the moniker used to describe the ways of politics in Chicago. The politics that Obama came out of. This little story describes it very well:
There was an investigation of voter fraud in Chicago, and the investigators wrote to my friend’s grandmother, asking to interview her. This made her nervous. She was a widow and lived alone, and so she turned to her son who was away in college and asked that he return to be with her when the investigators came to see her.
And so he did. The investigator had a question or two to ask. It was 1947, and he wanted to know whether her husband had died in 1928 as the records seemed to indicate – and she acknowledged that sadly this was so. Then, the investigator posed his second question. “Why, then,” he asked, “had her husband continued voting with such admirable regularity in the two decades since his decease?”
My friend's grandmother reportedly paused then -- and for a long time. Then, if the story is true, she looked the investigator in the eye and posed a question of her own, which brought the interview to an abrupt end. “What is this all about?” she asked. “Why would anyone suppose that just because a man has died he has given up his interest in politics?”
MATLab Alternative?
This sure looks like an interesting alternative to MATLab. Especially the free, open-source part!
Good Doggie!
Pro-Business Rhetoric from ...Obama?
If you casually and credulously read Mr. Obama's words in todays Wall Street Journal, it sounds like he's advocating a pro-business review of federal regulations on the books. A more careful parsing of the text, however, reveals that he's equally ready to make the regulations even more onerous to business. And he can't help but get a partisan dig in, blaming the current recession on regulatory failure.
I'd really like to believe that Mr. Obama was taking some lessons from November to heart, and was really going to do his best to ease regulations on businesses to help stoke our jobs engine. The cynic in me says that this is just another crisis that he'll feel compelled to take advantage of. Time will tell, and probably nothing else will.
Others are wondering similar things...
I'd really like to believe that Mr. Obama was taking some lessons from November to heart, and was really going to do his best to ease regulations on businesses to help stoke our jobs engine. The cynic in me says that this is just another crisis that he'll feel compelled to take advantage of. Time will tell, and probably nothing else will.
Others are wondering similar things...
Man's Best Friend...
Via reader Jim M., this ode to man's best friend:
WOMEN
A real woman is a man's best friend.
She will never stand him up and never let him down.
She will reassure him when he feels insecure and comfort him after a bad day.
She will inspire him to do things he never thought he could do; to live without fear and forget regret.
She will enable him to express his deepest emotions and give in to his most intimate desires.
She will make sure he always feels as though he's the most handsome man in the room and will enable him to be the most confident, sexy, seductive and invincible...
No, wait...
Sorry.
I'm thinking of whiskey. It's whiskey that does all that shit.
Never mind.
After Retirement...
Via reader Dave H., what wives can look forward to after their husbands retire. I'm pretty sure this guy was a software engineer:
RETIRED HUSBAND
After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target.
Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women - she loves to browse.
Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Target:
Dear Mrs. Harris,
Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Harris, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras:
1. June 15: He took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking.
2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.
4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away'. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money.
5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.
6. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged.
8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called.
9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.
10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.
11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.
12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels.
13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'
14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'
And last, but not least:
15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.' One of the clerks passed out.
Superstorms?
Monday, January 17, 2011
I Have a Dream...
The full speech by Dr. King:
We've made a lot of progress, but we haven't quite yet realized his dream...
We've made a lot of progress, but we haven't quite yet realized his dream...
To Realize...
Via my mom:
To realize
the value of a sister/brother
ask someone
who doesn't have one.
To realize
the value of ten years:
ask a newly
divorced couple.
To realize
the value of four years:
ask a graduate.
To realize
the value of one year:
ask a student who
has failed a final exam.
To realize
the value of nine months:
ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
To realize
the value of one month:
ask a mother
who has given birth to a premature baby..
To realize
the value of one minute:
ask a person
who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realize
the value of one-second:
ask a person
who has survived an accident.
Time waits for no one.
treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when
you can share it with someone special.
To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.
Planet Sounio...
Bite Me...
From Don Surber:
I do not want civil discourseWhat he said. Squared. Read the rest of his excellent post...
For a decade, from the election of Bush 43 forward, the Left has lied and cheated as it tried to return to power. Al Gore made a mockery out of the American electoral system by being a spoilsport over Florida, which Bush indeed won by 537 votes. Dan Rather forged a document to try to derail Bush’s re-election. Twice Democrats stole U.S. senators from the Republicans. After voting to support the war to get by the 2002 election, many Democrats quickly soured on the war. The profane protests were cheered by liberals who misattributed “dissent is the highest form of patriotism”to Thomas Jefferson; the words belong to the late historian Howard Zinn.
Once in power, liberals were the opposite of gracious.
For two years now, I have been called ignorant, racist, angry and violent by the left. The very foul-mouthed protesters of Bush dare to now label my words as “hate speech.”
Last week, the left quickly blamed the right for the national tragedy of a shooting spree by a madman who never watched Fox News, never listened to Rush Limbaugh and likely did not know who Sarah Palin is.
Fortunately, the American public rejected out of hand that idiotic notion that the right was responsible.
Rather than apologize, the left wants to change the tone of the political debate.
The left suddenly wants civil discourse.
Bite me.
Old Computer Ads...
If you work out the numbers, these folks were selling a hard disk at $350/mb, and I was selling them at $500/mb – and both prices were an order of magnitude less than the cost of disks just a few years prior. I remember thinking that we had to be approaching some sort of price asymptote; it couldn't possibly go down any lower! And now, about 30 years later, what do disks cost? Roughly $0.0001/mb, or about five millionths of what they used to cost. Is there anything else that has declined as much in cost as computer hardware? If so, I can't think what it is...
More ads at the link.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Potential Cure for Tinnitus...
Tinnitus is a persistent ringing (or other noise) that one hears when there is no actual noise to be heard. I've suffered from an irritating, but much less than debilitating, version of it for 10 years or so. Some people's tinnitus is so bad that they can't work, read, watch TV, or enjoy much of life.
Now some scientists say they may have an actual cure, one that involves “rebooting the brain”. Hmmm. Are they telling us that our brains are equipped with Microsoft software? I sure hope not, 'cause that's a mighty scary thought!
Now some scientists say they may have an actual cure, one that involves “rebooting the brain”. Hmmm. Are they telling us that our brains are equipped with Microsoft software? I sure hope not, 'cause that's a mighty scary thought!
Hey! Peggy Noonan Agrees With Me!
Her lead:
The beginning of the president's speech wasn't good, and was marked by the sonorous banalities on which White House staffs in times of crisis always insist. "We join you in your grief," "We mourn with you for the fallen," "a quintessentially American scene ... shattered by a gunman's bullets." Modern presidents sometimes speak as if their words were crafted by producers for a TV newsmagazine like "Dateline." This is bad because television producers tend to think their audience is composed of people who require the plonkingly obvious to be repeatedly stated in the purplest prose. The trend should be stopped. Presidents are not anchormen of true-crime shows, or were not meant to be.Read the whole thing...
I begin grouchily to underscore the sincerity of the praise that follows. About a third of the way through, the speech took on real meaning and momentum, and by the end it was very good, maybe great. The speech had a proper height. It was large-spirited and dealt with big things. It was adroit and without rancor. The president didn't mourn, he inspirited.
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