April 2009

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I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. (attributed)

-James Madison

How I wonder what you are

So astronomers see this thing 12.9 billion light years away, but they don't know what it is.

They're calling it a "blob". On the one hand, I think I hear Newton turning in his grave. Blob? Seriously? But on the other hand, I like the way that word immediately communicates to the layman (and to children) that we don't know what the hell it is. Sure, Newton is dead, but science is alive. Contrary to what some would believe, you don't have to know everything to be a scientist. We're always finding stuff we don't know. And we dig that. You can just about hear how excited Dr. Masami Ouchi of the Arnegie Institution is in this quote:

"There are two possibilities: the standard scenario of galaxy formation is wrong, or this particular object is showing something unique,"

But as is often the case, this mystery has a mundane answer. I know exactly what this "blob" is:

Posted by Wulf on April 22, 2009 at 08:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Extreme Prejudice

Navy%20Sniper.jpg

Posted by Wulf on April 19, 2009 at 08:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

There is No Dana, only Fool

The Dana Cloud referenced here is a self-professed communist who refers to herself as an “intellectual”, as hard as that is to imagine.

After a century of communism/collectivism causing unprecedented suffering and death, it's startling to have such unabashed, modern-day, 21st century (albeit cartoonish) communists still advocating its sickness. At a state-funded university, nonetheless. As an American, who ought to know better. And in Texas, the heartbeat of rugged individualism.

I also love the way that—in this blog entry—she places the words [American] democracy and founding fathers in quotes, but fails to put historian in quotes when describing Howard Zinn. Ha!

This is also a great read: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~dcloud/academicfreedom.pdf from someone who's clearly unsure of herself:

Another problematic assumption [made by David Horowitz]: Students can’t think for themselves. Try telling my students here at the University of Texas that! They’ll tell him where to get off.

Biting retort! You really showed him! It's hard to imagine that this is an undergraduate course syllabus.

But, perhaps I'm too harsh on Ms. Cloud. She's proving an excellent argument for homeschooling and private schools.

Posted by Rammage on April 18, 2009 at 08:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Saving by Spending

I can't quite figure this one out:

Transportation Department officials say that because so many contractors want a share of stimulus money, competition is driving down costs by about 15 percent to 20 percent.

So before the stimulus money, when Transportation Department money was "scarce", there wasn't competition for the money? But now that there is a lot of money available, there is competition that drives down costs?

Hrm. It sounds to me that the government should definitely spend money on infrastructure during a recession. Not because Keynes said so, but because the contractors will scramble for any job and do it on the cheap. I mean, government has to attend to infrastructure anyway, so I guess the cheapest time to do it is when workers are down and out and will do anything for a buck.

The trick to that, of course, is getting government to stop spending money when the economy is booming, because then it's expensive again.

Anybody following that logic?

Posted by Wulf on April 13, 2009 at 09:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Is Anyone Else Hungry?

I could really go for some Cheetos or something, man.

Photo Credit: Kelly B.
Model: Ginger D.

Posted by Rammage on April 9, 2009 at 10:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Chuck Norris And State Secession

Interesting: Chuck Norris is a secessionist

The last time that I agreed with a Democrat was in 1861, when the Republican North invaded sovereign Democratic Virginia and declared war on the fledgling secessionist nation. It’s amazing just how much Lincoln changed our nation. We give a hard time to FDR and Wilson, but no one has impacted this nation more than Abe, honestly. The famous expression goes that before Lincoln we referred to ourselves as “the United States are” as if that were a bad thing. It’s interesting when you think about it, and I’m finally starting to get clarity on this topic after my Civil War phase last year. Here’s the analogy I’ve drawn:

If a person immigrates to this country, that new citizen retains the right to visit other countries (mostly) and to renounce his or her citizenship at any time. One of the greatest aspects of this country is that – if you don’t like it – you have the ability to leave it…at any time. This, to me, pretty much sums up the definition of a free country. Similarly, a union of federated states should operate in very much the same way. The United States of America didn’t conquer Texas, or Alaska, or Hawaii. These states joined voluntarily because the United States represented a mode of federated government to which these states desired to belong. Likewise – a state should be free to leave the Union at any point that that state feels the government is not aligned to how…well, actually, a state shouldn’t even need to give a reason. If a state doesn’t want to be a member of the union anymore, then so be it.

If we hold a free, law-abiding citizen here against his or her will, then we are living in a non-free country. We would be living in an authoritarian government. Yes, fascism. So what does that make us when we hold a state here against its will? So when Texas or Alaska secedes because the U.S. government has been radically bastardized from the nation they voluntarily joined (even 50 years ago), what is our “freedom” loving country going to do? March in there with the 4th Infantry Division? (Whoops…that’s already based in Texas, let’s try the 3rd Infantry Division). And would we be able to look ourselves in the mirror and honestly call our nation “free”?

That’s the problem with Lincoln. This didn’t have to come to bloodshed and war. When you have a number of states arguing about peacefully seceding, it’s a pretty good indicator that somewhere along the line the federal government has gotten seriously out-of-whack. I know that there are some logistical issues that make difficult – say – a Kansas seceding from the nation. They’d be isolated from the rest of the world. But again, instead of marching into Kansas with an army and overthrowing its state government, why not work on revamping the federal government to cater to the state? After all, what purpose is a federal government but to serve its constituent states (Not its people)? This is why Lincoln failed so miserably, in my opinion, and why – as distasteful as this may be to me – I believe the Democrats were right. And now 150 years later, the political party names have swapped but the heart of the issue remains the same.

Well, one thing’s for certain, the Democratic South would have fared much better had Lee had Chuck Norris under his command.

Posted by Rammage on March 12, 2009 at 11:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Gun fear

Reading the news articles on the man who murdered an Illinois pastor during his church ceremonies this past weekend, I find myself quite alarmed:

The arsenal in accused gunman Terry Sedlacek's room included two 12-gauge shotguns, a rifle and a box of 550 .22-caliber bullets,

A pair of shotguns and a .22 rifle is an "arsenal"? This piece is full of sensationalism, which is typical of the media when it comes to guns. I don't know how they can even pretend that their job is to report and inform, when they are so willfully uninformed themselves. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Posted by Wulf on March 11, 2009 at 06:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)