Sep 29 2008

House of Ill Repute: Meet Madame Pelosi

Category: Congress,economyharmonicminer @ 5:22 pm

Townhall.com::Blog

Elections have consequences, and one of those is that Pelosi bears responsibility for the financial bill’s defeat

Read it all.

And then there’s this extra commentary.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the number two House Democrat in authority (behind only Speaker Nancy Pelosi), in defending his party from responsibility for the defeat of the financial stability bill today, delivered the all-time lamest excuse I’ve ever heard (my transcription from video on the PBS NewsHour; boldface mine):

“No Democrat that we could get to vote for the bill didn’t vote for the bill.”

Behind that tortured double-negative is a tautology. This is empty double-talk, delivered by the dishonest, intended for the gullible.

More here.

UPDATE following here:

Continue reading “House of Ill Repute: Meet Madame Pelosi”

Tags: ,


Sep 29 2008

CAIR, a terrorist sympathizing organization, tries to muzzle freedom of speech

Category: Islam,media,middle east,terrorism,Uncategorizedharmonicminer @ 8:59 am

CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is well known by students of the group as being sympathetic to terrorism and radical Islam, founded by people with ties to HAMAS, and an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land Foundation case resulting from attempts to illegaly fund HAMAS.

Now, CAIR is trying to shut down the distribution of a DVD about radical Islam, saying it violates election law.

A U.S. Muslim advocacy group Tuesday asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether a nonprofit group that distributed a controversial DVD about Islam in newspapers nationwide is a “front” for an Israel-based group with a stealth goal of helping Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The promoters of “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” denied trying to promote any presidential campaign. They said it’s also incorrect to tie the DVD campaign to Jerusalem-based educational group Aish HaTorah International, although current and former employees are involved with the project.

The Council for American-Islamic Relations asked the FEC to investigate the DVD distribution, which targeted about 28 million households mostly in battleground election states.

Continue reading “CAIR, a terrorist sympathizing organization, tries to muzzle freedom of speech”

Tags: , ,


Sep 28 2008

Enjoy these next few months…

Category: sciencesardonicwhiner @ 6:17 pm

Hawaii judge stops doomsday lawsuit over collider | Science and Environment | Jerusalem Post

A federal judge in Hawaii has dismissed a lawsuit trying to stop the world’s largest atom smasher.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that a US District court judge says in a ruling issued Friday that federal courts don’t have jurisdiction over the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

Two Hawaii residents sued because they feared the machine could create black holes or other phenomena that could destroy the planet.

Most physicists say the collider is safe. It started low-power operation Sept. 10 but suffered malfunctions and will be shut down until spring.

Maybe the federal bailout of Wall Street won’t matter so much after all….

UPDATE:  Some folks are claiming the collider will create energies not seen since the Big Bang….

And thanks to Robbie, who pointed out this to me:

Large Hadron Rap

Tags:


Sep 28 2008

Private Space Flight gets closer

Category: economy,energy,science,space,technologyharmonicminer @ 6:09 pm

Unless I am mistaken, this is the first time a non-governmental organization or business has managed to put anything in orbit.

An Internet entrepreneur’s latest effort to make space launch more affordable paid off Sunday when his commercial rocket carrying a dummy payload was lofted into orbit.

It was the fourth attempt by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to launch its two-stage Falcon 1 rocket into orbit.

The Hawthorne, California-based rocket maker was started by multimillionaire Elon Musk, who made his fortune as co-founder of the PayPal Inc. electronic payment system.

The rocket carried a 364-pound (165-kilogram) dummy payload designed and built by SpaceX for the launch.

Wow. Harbinger of things to come, I hope.

Tags:


Sep 28 2008

Some inconvenient truths about racial preferences and affirmative action/diversity policies

Here are the first few paragraphs of a scholarly paper presented at “Race and Gender Preferences at the Crossroads,” a conference organized by the California Association of Scholars and cosponsored by the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) and the Center for Equal Opportunity, held January 19, 2008, at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. The title of the paper is The Effects of Proposition 209 on California: Higher Education, Public Employment, and Contracting 09/25/2008 Charles L. Geshekter

In 1996, Californians overwhelmingly approved Proposition 209 that prohibited all state agencies from using anyone’s race, ethnicity, or gender to discriminate against them or give them preference in university admissions, public employment, or competition for a state contract.

Those who opposed Proposition 209 predicted that ending racial or gender favoritism would result in sharp declines in black and Hispanic college enrollments, setbacks for women in public employment, reduced funds for cancer detection centers and domestic violence shelters, or other alarmingly negative effects.

Continue reading “Some inconvenient truths about racial preferences and affirmative action/diversity policies”

Tags: , , ,


Sep 27 2008

Pretending objectivity: we aren’t fooled

Category: election 2008,McCain,media,Obama,politicsharmonicminer @ 10:38 pm

In this, uh, objective piece of journalism, Mark Halperin grades the candidates’ performances in the debate. Obama, A-; McCain, B-.

There is, of course, no mention of any of Halperin’s previous political perspectives and stances. He is pretending to be the objective journalist here. Google him, or read the wikipedia article on him.

When will the media stop presenting mere left leaning opinion as objective journalism? Answer: probably never.

When will the public learn to just ignore them? Answer: they already are learning to do just that. Not as fast as we might like… but it’s happening, as every left-leaning newspaper knows,  from its circulation numbers.

It’s laughably sad when all you have to know about someone is that they work for ABC and Time, and that’s all you need to know about their likely perspectives.

It is so undisguised here.  There isn’t even an attempt to be “objective”, nor is there any mention of the political perspective of the writer (Olympian that he is), and no center-right analyst is given the opportunity to provide balance.

It’s just an Obama campaign commercial masquerading as news.

Tags: ,


Sep 27 2008

The threats our new President will face for us

Thnk the ability to debate is seriously important?  Think it matters more than good judgment, clear understanding of the world, and commitment to the welfare of America above party?

The threats, and some unfortunate connections, are made clear here.  These are serious people, with seriously bad intentions, who aren’t impressed by debate tactics, smooth talk or stage presence.  They will not be “negotiated with” in the normal sense of the term, because we have nothing they want that they aren’t going to get from us anyway.  We cannot give them enough to remove their bad intentions, and they have the capabilities, by and large, to act on those intentions, if we give them time and opportunity.  All of them have proved that.

Who is the very serious person you want as President of the USA to deal with these people?  Who, among the candidates we have, has sufficient wisdom, experience, clarity and toughness to represent us, and make decisions critical to our security?  Who has proved that he will put us first, regardless of his own self-interest, regardless of political fallout?   Who, among the candidates we have, will these people take seriously?   I think you know.

The old standbys, also hip deep in bad plans for the USA, and freedom around the world.

And then, there are our “friends”.

Whose vested interest is keeping us waiting in line for their largess.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,


Sep 25 2008

Heroes & Villains

Category: Congress,corporations,corruption,economyamuzikman @ 6:29 pm

From our earliest childhood we are confronted by the epic struggle between the forces of good and evil.   We see it in literature, in sports, on stage and screen.  It is a subject with apparently endless possibilities.  This conflict between two opposing forces is frequently illustrated through fictitious characters who personify those forces and who engage in frequent battles for supremacy.  Countless myths and stories are told of heroes vs villains, evil witches and fairy God-mothers, the cowboy in the white hat vs. the one with a black hat.  For every Luke Skywalker there must be a Darth Vader, Batman has the Joker and the Dodgers have the Giants (sorry, bias exposed!). The object lesson is clear.  These stories teach us to seek the good.  Likewise we learn to shun the bad.

But what is so very clear and simple in a play, motion picture or novel, is almost never as clear in real life.  But that doesn’t keep us from trying to disregard the complex in favor of the simple.  We want to blame someone for their evil deeds and we want the hero to show up just in the nick of time and save us just like in some old serial Western.

Continue reading “Heroes & Villains”

Tags: , ,


Sep 25 2008

Russia has big military plans

Category: military,Russiaharmonicminer @ 9:08 am

Russian defense spending will increase by 25% for 2009, according to Pravda.

Russian lawmakers gave preliminary approval Friday to a 2009 budget that calls for a 25 percent hike in defense spending – a sharp increase for Russia’s military that comes only a month after it crushed Georgia on the battlefield.

The boost in defense spending fits in with Russia’s recent defiant posture toward the West, a stance that has seen relations with the United States and the European Union sink to a post-Cold War low after last month’s war in Georgia.

Presumably this doesn’t count the incredible amount of export profit Russia is making from supplying arms to the world, especially to adversaries of the USA, like Iran, Venezuela, etc.

One can only wonder exactly what threats or responsibilities Russia must face that require such expenditure. Must be all those former USSR territories that Russia still plans to invade. Or maybe Russia is just afraid that Lithuania will invade it.

Tags: ,


Sep 24 2008

Opinions Are Like Noses, Everybody’s Got One!

Category: appeasement,Obamaamuzikman @ 12:50 am

Someone recently remarked they were somewhat surprised by how unyielding and inelastic the opinions on this blog seem to be.  I think the statement was in reference to Barack Obama.  This person said they were surprised that Obama never received much of a break, the benefit of the doubt, or even the smallest nod of positive expectation, (the word “unfair” was actually never spoken).

I think this person’s observation is pretty accurate. But, it should be noted it is not because conservative mantra is chanted here, there are no Republican talking-points and we do not engage in group Kool-Aid toasting. These are individually formed opinions.  They are also informed opinions.

It’s OK to form an opinion, The very word “form” refers to a process: gathering information, investigating various points of view, then filtering them through the prism of life experience to arrive at a conclusion.  Two people can view the same facts and form two entirely different opinions, and that’s OK too.  But the opinions expressed here are considered and fact-based.  (if not, PLEASE feel free to have at us!)

But the conversation did get me to thinking… How could I, an admitted conservative, demonstrate giving Obama “a little slack” as it were?  How can I “reach across the aisle” in the name of fairness?

Perhaps individual liberty could be co-mingled with a dose of Marxism.  For example, one might have the freedom to pursue the American dream, but only to a point.  After reaching a certain level of wealth – that level to be determined by the government – you will have all “extra” money taken from you and given to someone else who didn’t work for it like you did.

Maybe a strong pro-life stance could be balanced with a nod to the pro-abortionists – some sort of mutually acceptable quota perhaps.  After all, If we can just get those botched-abortion live baby killings down to a bare bones minimum….well, that would be a compromise, wouldn’t it?

Rather than immediately bring our troops all the way home from Iraq, we can just put them somewhere close by in case they might be needed later.

Since so many seem to have discovered a Constitutional “right” to healthcare, and since we strict Constitutionalists do get a bee in our bonnet about “original intent” lets just go for the simple solution in this case. Someone grab a black Sharpie pen and simply write in “universal, government-paid healthcare” on the original document, say between the 16th and 17th amendment.

Taxes? Another easy one.  Simplification of the tax code is all that’s required.  Let’s go to a flat tax system....

These are just a few preliminary proposals. I’m sure with just a little thought you too can find ways to be a little less dogmatic and a little more open and inclusive of other ideas.  Guaranteed to keep you from forming an actual opinion.

Tags: ,


« Previous PageNext Page »