Obama Could Still Lose...

...even though the polls have him all but annointed. In these times of financial turmoil, a bold idea that was good for the economy and that resonated with the public would let McCain snatch the lead back.

And I have just such a bold idea: McCain should announce that if elected, he will press Congress to pass a flat income tax at a 12% to 15% rate, with all income under (say) $25,000 excluded. The exact numbers aren't as important as the basic idea: a fair and balanced income tax constructed in a way that demonstrably stimulates business (the eastern European states provide the instance proof).

This idea has been polled very positively already, back when Steve Forbes was running. The positives on the flat tax were in the 80% range, much to the chagrin of the Democrats, for whom such a fair tax is anathema. The most fundamental premise underlying all of the Democratic ideology is the notion of wealth reddistribution – which our current progressive tax system does well, and which a flat tax does very poorly (though the excluded income does provide a degree of progressiveness).

I know several people who are on the fence between Obama and McCain, and I'd be willing to bet you that every one of them would flip to solidly in the McCain camp if he made such an announcement.

Ahhh, it will never happen, I know. But I can dream, can't I?

Good To Hear...

My parents are going through some very tough times right now, affecting both of them deeply, each in their own way. It's hard to be far away at a time like this, when what you really want is to be there with them, to lend a hand and a hug...

Nobody would expect someone in their current situation to do anything but worry about themselves – they've got plenty on their own plate to deal with. But tonight I got an email out of the blue from my mom, ending with this:

“In case I haven't said it lately, I love you.”

Isn't a mom's love a wonderful thing?

I love you too, mom...

Reverse Viagra...

From Mark Steyn (who else?):

The day after the debate I bumped into two Obama supporters in St Johnsbury, Vermont who said isn’t it great that he's on course to win. Well, they were cute chicks, and I know an obvious pick-up line when I hear one, so I stopped to chat. God Almighty, it was like reverse Viagra: After ten minutes of Babes For Barack, I never want to meet a female woman of the opposite sex for the rest of my life. Their basic pitch was:

How do you solve a problem? Like, Obama!

How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

You really should read the whole thing...

Rachel Lucas...

I added Rachel Lucas to my daily blog reading a few weeks ago, after linking to her from someone else's post. Her humor isn't for everybody, but I have to say that she's had me laughing out loud over the past couple of weeks more than any other blog I read. But even better are her rants – I haven't seen anyone so good at articulating being royally pissed off.

One of the regular features on her site are “Demotivational Posters”. These are a parody of a line of well-known motivational posters that appear in many American company's offices (though not in Service-now's!). Today's post has several of these, two of which you see at right. When I click onto her site and see the familiar black background of a new Demotivational Poster, I start smiling immediately.

She also frequently features her dogs in photos on her blog, and any dog-lover will enjoy those...

Highly recommended. Stop by her place once in a while...you'll be informed and entertained!

Heavenly Portrait...

Imagery from several telescopes, combined, forms the image at right. It's not just beautiful – it's full of information, too. From the NASA press release:

This painterly portrait of a star-forming cloud, called NGC 346, is a combination of multiwavelength light from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared), the European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope (visible), and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton space telescope (X-ray).

The infrared observations highlight cold dust in red, visible data show glowing gas in green, and X-rays show very warm gas in blue. Ordinary stars appear as blue spots with white centers, while young stars enshrouded in dust appear as red spots with white centers.

The colorful picture demonstrates that stars in this region are being created by two different types of triggered star formation -- one involving wind, and the other, radiation. Triggered star formation occurs when massive stars spur new, smaller stars into existence. The first radiation-based mechanism is demonstrated near the center of the cloud. There, radiation from the massive stars is eating away at the surrounding dust cloud, creating shock waves that compress gas and dust into new stars. This compressed material appears as an arc-shaped orange-red filament, while the new stars within this filament are still blanketed with dust and cannot be seen.

The second wind-based mechanism is at play higher up in the cloud. The isolated, pinkish blob of stars at the upper left was triggered by winds from a massive star located to the left of it. This massive star blew up in a supernova explosion 50,000 years ago, but before it died, its winds pushed gas and dust together into new stars. While this massive star cannot be seen in the image, a bubble created when it exploded can be seen near the large, white spot with a blue halo at the upper left (this white spot is actually a collection of three stars).

NGC 346 is the brightest star-forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud, an irregular dwarf galaxy that orbits our Milky Way galaxy, 210,000 light-years away.

As usual, click on the image for a larger view...

Jamul Indian Tribe Sues Caltrans...

An interesting development in the Jamul Indian Casino battle...

Assuming this San Diego Union-Tribune report is accurate, it appears the Jamul Indian Tribe is suing Caltrans. The theory of the lawsuit appears to be that Caltrans has no right to bar access to the reservation, no matter what impact that access has on the rest of the world (in this case, specifically to State 94). Their basis for this assertion is the sovereignty of Indian reservations. From the article:

The tribe says the state agency doesn't have the right to ask about the casino plans and how they might affect state Route 94.

“(Caltrans') repeated attempts to apply and enforce state land use and environmental laws on the tribe's on-reservation activities and . . . decision to restrict access to the reservation are impermissible, invalid and patently unlawful,” the tribe says in the lawsuit.

Interesting theory. I don't know enough about the law regarding Indian reservations to know whether they've got solid grounds there. Even if they don't, the lawsuit is going to take time and money for Caltrans to fight it – and there's always the risk that Caltrans will decide the battle isn't worth the cost (and this really may be the main objective of the lawsuit – it often is the main objective of lawsuits). There's also the opportunity here for political pressure to be brought to bear on Caltrans to get them to abandon the battle. If the tribe loses this suit, however, it makes funding for the casino much more difficult – and maybe even impossible – to obtain.

Let's hope Caltrans engages on this battle...

Classified Ads...

According to my cousin Mike, these ads actually ran in various newspapers' classified sections:

FREE PUPPIES:
1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog.

FREE PUPPIES..
Mother , AKC German Shepherd.
Father, Super Dog...able to leap tall fences in a single bound.

FOUND DIRTY WHITE DOG.
Looks like a rat. Been out a while. Better be a big reward.

COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED.
Also 1 gay bull for sale.

NORDIC TRACK
$300 Hardly used, call Chubby.

GEORGIA PEACHES
California grown - 89 cents/lb.

JOINING NUDIST COLONY!
Must sell washer and dryer $300.

WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE
Worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie.

FOR SALE BY OWNER:
Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 45 volumes. Excellent condition. $1,000 or best offer. No longer needed, got married last month. Wife already knows everything.

Always Remember...

Reader Simi L. – a frequent source of humor for this blog – passes this gem along:

When you have an “I Hate My Job” day, try this:

On your way home from work, stop at your pharmacy, go to the thermometer section, and purchase a rectal thermometer made by Johnson & Johnson. Be very sure you get this brand.

When you get home, lock your doors, draw the curtains and disconnect the phone so you will not be disturbed. Change into very comfortable clothing and sit in your favorite chair. Open the package and remove the thermometer. Now, carefully place it on a table or a surface so that it will not become chipped or broken.

Now the fun part begins.

Take out the literature from the box and read it carefully. You will notice that in small print there is a statement: “Every Rectal Thermometer made by Johnson & Johnson is personally tested and then sanitized.”

Now, close your eyes and repeat out loud five times: “I am so glad I do not work in the thermometer quality control department at Johnson & Johnson.”

Have a nice day, and try to remember: there is always someone else with a job that is more of a pain in the butt than yours!

Mercury!

Yesterday the Messenger spacecraft made its second fly-by of the planet Mercury, and early this morning it started returning science data from the encounter – including the three photos shown here.

This is another of NASA's robotic explorers that's doing incredible science at a bargain-basement price (especially compared to the International Space Station).

NASA's press release starts:

MESSENGER Reveals Mercury as Never Seen Before

When Mariner 10 flew past Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975, the probe imaged less than half the planet. In January, during MESSENGER’s first flyby, its cameras returned images of about 20 percent of the planet’s surface missed by Mariner 10. Yesterday, at 4:40 am EDT, MESSENGER successfully completed its second flyby of Mercury, and its cameras captured more than 1,200 high-resolution and color images of the planet – unveiling another 30 percent of Mercury’s surface that had never before been seen by spacecraft.

“The MESSENGER team is extremely pleased by the superb performance of the spacecraft and the payload,” said MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. “We are now on the correct trajectory for eventual insertion into orbit around Mercury, and all of our instruments returned data as planned from the side of the planet opposite to the one we viewed during our first flyby. When these data have been digested and compared, we will have a global perspective of Mercury for the first time.”

I'd say they sound a little excited. As well they should be.

As usual, click on any of the photos for a larger view...

SDGE Proposal...

Recently SDG&E proposed to start making preemptive power cuts during especially high Santa Ana winds (estimated to be a once-in-three-years sort of event). The idea is to reduce the probability of downed power lines starting a fire. The map at right shows the areas where these cuts would take place. Jamul and Lawson Valley are well within the affected areas.

Those of us who live in the affected areas tend to have an immediate reaction of alarm. They're proposing to cut off our power at the very moment when we need it the most – while we're trying to protect our property from a rapidly advancing firestorm. If this proposal becomes actual policy, those of us who can afford it will most likely buy backup generators. Those of us who can't afford it will suddenly be at greater risk.

I don't have any personal knowledge of the probability that a downed power line could start a fire. I do recall that not so many years ago, a helicopter downed a power line near Julian and started the Pines fire. And during our most recent fires – just a year ago – several allegations of wind-blown power lines starting fires were made (these are the subject of the lawsuit mentioned above). What I don't know is the truth of the matter. If in fact there is substantial risk of wind-blown power lines starting fires, then the SDG&E proposal may in fact be worth considering. During one of our hellacious Santa Anas, anything that reduces fire risk is worth considering. I know that during those storms I get very upset when I see smokers outside, or a neighbor burning some brush...

The timing of SDG&E's proposal lends credence to the notion that their real goal is legislative relief from liability for powerline-caused fires. The lawsuit currently wending its way through the court system is exactly on this point.

On the other hand, as a business they have an obligation to their shareholders to mitigate risks. Certainly both the lawsuit (whether based on reality or not) and the possibility of wind-blown power lines starting fires are risks to their shareholders. So from their point of view, this proposal makes perfect sense.

So what's the right thing to do here? For me, the answer depends on a piece of information I don't have: whether strong Santa Ana winds really do have some real chance of causing fires by blowing down power lines. If the answer to that is “yes”, then I think they've got the right idea – and I'll start looking at backup generators. If the answer is “no”, then I think we should oppose this proposal – but give SDG&E that legislative relief from liability.

Do any of my readers know where I can find the answer to that question?

Worldometers...

Interesting set of realtime statistics at Worldometers...

Lamestream Media Parable...

My mom sent this along...

The Biker and the Lion

A biker is riding by the zoo, when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion's cage. Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the very eyes of her screaming parents.

The biker jumps off his bike, runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch. Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly.

A New York Times reporter has watched the whole event. The reporter says, 'Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I ever saw a man do in my whole life.'

The biker replies, 'Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger, and acted as I felt was right.'

The reporter says, 'Well, I'm a journalist from the New York Times, and tomorrow's paper will have this story on the front page... So, what do you do for a living and what political affiliation do you have?'

The biker replies, 'I'm a U.S. Marine and a Republican.'

The following morning the biker buys the New York Times to see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on front page:

U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH!

With respect to political bias, the Grey Lady has gotten so bad in the last few years that I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see something much like this actually happen.

The Trip Home...

Our route home yesterday included the segment of U.S. 395 that stretches from the town of John Day to the Oregon/California border. All of these photos were taken along that stretch, which includes some tremendously varied flora, fauna, and geology. As always, click on a thumbnail to get a larger version. Counting from left-to-right and top-to-bottom, here are a few comments on the photos:

1. Between John Day and Burns, storm clouds over fields of grass...

2, 3, 4. Between John Day and Burns, white birch in their fall colors...

5. Stretch of U.S. 395 south of Burns, looking south down the rift-made steppes and into the storm...

6. South of Burns, looking north along U.S. 395, with a shadowed rift escarpment visible under the brooding storm clouds...

7. Lake Abert, a mineral-laden alkalai lake under the Abert Rift escarpment. The lake is home to many migratory and resident birds, including geese, phalaropes, and avocets. The plains are home to prong-horn antelope, deer, and elk. The escarpment is home to a large population of bighorn sheep. There is much more life here than one might imagine when zipping by this high desert community of sage, pinyon pine, and desert cedar...

8. Prong-horn antelope, grazing without apparent concern in a farmer's field...

9, 10. Migratory cranes, which gathered by the hundreds in many different places along our route...

Race...

Race is a purebred Border Collie, six months old and completely untrained (in anything, not just agility). He arrived in our household early this morning. Already he's the playful companion of our three field spaniels, and starting to get introduced to our cats. We've seen no bad behaviors (aggressiveness, shyness, etc.) to worry about at all, which is a very pleasant surprise. He slept in a crate last night with no problems, another very pleasant surprise.

Today Debbie started his training. He's getting a little crate training and some real basic obedience stuff. He's a fast learner – Debbie's having great fun with him already.
Here are a few first-day photos of Race...

Checking In...

At 2:15 this morning, Debbie and I rolled back into our yard. This marked the finish of a marathon road trip, from Jamul to John Day, Oregon, and back The purpose of this craziness? We picked up the newest addition to our menagerie: “Race” – a six month old Border Collie puppy.

We left early on Friday morning, and drove the 1100 miles to John Day in 19 hours. We met Angie and her son Clay (the young fellow who raised the litter of puppies Race was part of) that evening, and got Race. We also picked up Race's brother “Sarge”, whom we were delivering to another new owner in the Los Angeles area. Then we went to bed for a few hours, got up at 4 am on Saturday morning, had a wonderful breakfast cooked by Angie's mom, and then we were back on the road again by 6 am. Twenty hours and 1100 miles later, we rolled back into our yard.

You could say we were a little tired, but that wouldn't even begin to describe it.

More later, including some photos of Race and the trip...

Hard at Work...

From my wife:

On TV today a Democratic operative pointed out that when Obama holds a rally 25-30,000 people show up, whereas when McCain holds one he only draws 10-15,000.

The Republican spokesman replied, “That's because McCain's supporters are at work.”

Heh!

Mo'i Update...

Mo'i continues to do unreasonably well – his hair has now grown back enough to hide the square gray patch, and the incision has healed so well that it's now just barely visible.

Tomorrow Mo'i goes back to the vet for his two week checkup. The poor guy has spent the entire last two weeks in his crate, to enforce quiet and calm – he's going stir-crazy. Hopefully we will get the okay tomorrow to let the miserable mutt out of jail. If so, you can expect one very, very happy dog tomorrow night!

Correlation is Not Causation...

Found this little gem through Climate Skeptic. Just look at those two curves – obviously they are very closely correlated. Immediately the human mind leaps to the conclusion that one of them caused the other – but that seems quite unlikely in this case.

Because, you know, rock 'n roll songs really aren't very closely related to U.S. domestic oil production. Just sayin'...

Read the whole snarky thing...

Video Explanations...

A few days ago, a well-done video was posted up on YouTube explaining the origins of the current financial crisis. The video paid particular attention to the role of Congress in first mandating mortgages for non-creditworthy home buyers (they didn't call it this, of course – but that's what it was), and secondly in refusing to impose restrictions or even oversight when things started to go awry nearly ten years ago. Instead they did the opposite, mandating more of these “dodgy debts” – featuring new provisions even dodgier than the old ones (that's where things like the 120%, no down payment, no document mortgages came from).

I didn't bother linking the video because it had gone viral – every major blog (on both sides of the issue) was carrying it. But yesterday the video was pulled, ostensibly because of copyright violations (something not often encountered in political ads). Many who oppose Obama suspect foul play, or at least dirty tricks. Meanwhile, the video (slightly modified) is still available here – if you're one of the 14 people and 33 monkeys who haven't already seen it, do watch it...

On Palin vs. Biden...

Travis and Jonathan (of Red State Update) crack me up again: