A Date Night for Obamalove

Normally I wouldn't care. But consider the ramifications if this had been president Bush. The headline would read, "Country at War, Millions Homeless or Unemployed. President Jets to NY for Date Night".

Obamalove runs strong and deep. "He's so handsome and buff.....and he plays basketball....and he's has a Blackberry.....(and he's a smoker).....and he's just so...so...so....DREAMY!"

TCO, UAE and Nuclear Power

The Beer: I did not win the competition at the Kohler Festival of Beer. But my buddy did. Close enough.

The Bicycle: Big ride tomorrow. I may have finally hit my stride. I'll be happy to no longer struggle.

The VRWC: Why would the President approve an agreement with the United Arab Emirates on the "peaceful use of nuclear energy", but believe it is not good enough for his own country?

If one looks at the Federal Register for May 28, 2009, one will find exactly that (see Presidential Documents). At the same time, there is no incentive from this administration to fast-track new nuclear plants in this country.

Just asking the question.

Chu is Nuts

This is a big joke, right?

(Alleged) AGW Truth

Can I get a witness!?!?!

OK, boys and girls. This is a lesson in why it is said that anyone who loves sausage or reveres the law should never see either being made.

Memorial Day

Remember that it isn't about the Sales. It is a time to remember those who gave their lives so that we may live free.

Take some time to Google these. This list is far from all-inclusive:

Lexington and Concord
Battle of New Orleans
Battle of Lake Champlain
Barbary Pirates
Gettysburg
Antietam
Bull Run
Hampton Roads
San Juan Hill
Belleau Wood
Verdun
Iwo Jima
Guadalcanal
Kasserine Pass
The Bulge
Chosin
Hamburger Hill
Hue
Desert Storm
Fallujah

Never allow the politics of the day to let us forget.

This Scares the You-Know-What Out of Me.

Threats, coercion and fear.

A carbon tax or cap-and-trade would be a world-wide commerce-killer. The science is fraught with error and questionable political pressure. The models have every indication of being "garbage-in, garbage-out". If AlGore and the UN want to help things out, maybe they should reduce their own energy use.

Comments On An Alternative Reality Star Trek

Jill makes some really good observations here. I disagree over the slugs, however (my comment on her post notwithstanding). They seemed to have no effect on Capt. Pike.

Finally got to the new Star Trek movie yesterday. Lots of eye candy in many ways. The effects were awesome. Using CG along with existing facilities (I suspect a refinery was used as the backdrop for the spaceport early in the movie) was very well done. I have some questions, though (outside of the usual, "how does on jump 50 feet to a lower level and manage to not become injured?"):

1. How did a "mining vessel" get such extraordinary weapons that it could defeat a Federation starship?
2. Why did it take Nero 25 years to get to Earth.
3. Why was Earth unprepared? The Federation knew of this threat since the Kelvin incident.
4. What self-respecting Captain of a Federation Starship makes a wayward cadet on his first voyage the First Officer?
5. What self-respecting defense force then takes that cadet and makes him Captain of the flagship?

Help me out here? I enjoyed the movie. Pure entertainment, but there were some items that makes common sense say, "Huh?"

A Lack of Intellectual Honesty in the Energy Debate

I have to admit, I'm not surprised at all.

This is not about "green" energy. This is about fear and control. If nuclear is too expensive to build (MIT estimates $4000 per installed kW), then solar and wind at (surprise!) $4000 per installed kW would also be too expensive to build, eh?

Further, the "waste issue" was solved. Until this President killed Yucca Mountain by executive order. The same way Jimmy Carter killed fuel reprocessing and breeder reactors in the late '70's.

Nuclear is plentiful, has no (alleged) greenhouse gas emissions and makes its' own fuel as it operates. These are the same people who oppose new hydroelectric, new coal, new natural gas and new oil-fired power plants. In their view, we should all live an agrarian lifestyle with minimal energy consumption (except for them, of course - see, "Al Gore").

I'm tired of them running my life.

Paid Vacation

This, if passed will have unintended consequences.

Employers have economic reasons that they don't offer vacation. If this is passed, some companies will go to one-week of vacation for all, instead of the multiple weeks that many (I argue most) employers now offer. Others, because they can't afford to offer the vacation will cut heads or some other benefit.

Count on government to screw stuff up.

Misleading Headline of the Day

Or maybe the month.

This is a company that makes composites, some of which are used for wind energy. I'm all good (even great....like the company's outlook) with what they do. It's MJS that has its' head firmly placed you-know-where.

More Climate Fear

This time from a local gal. Naturally, she is prominently displayed in the MJS.

"The science gets more terrifying with every new report," she told committee members. "The climate cannot wait. Remember that a generation's future is on the line."

Seriously? I'm seeing more and more real science that makes (alleged) AGW look more and more like a hoax. The evidence continues to pile up. From ten years of zero net warming to Antarctic Cooling.

The IPCC report has been thoroughly debunked.

Al Gore refuses to give up his private jet and zillion-square-foot home (the same size as his carbon footprint). If (alleged) AGW were real, wouldn't you think an acolyte such as The Goracle would decide to lead by example? Nah....purchase "carbon credits". So money overcomes (alleged) AGW?

The religion of (alleged) AGW confuses me more than the religion of Atheism.

Jesse, either you've been suckered or you are intentionally part of the greatest hoax perpetrated on mankind.

This Is Not Real Comforting

H/T Gateway Pundit.

It seems the Taliban may already have it's hands on some Paki nukes.

It will be interesting to watch how this is played in the U.S. Press.

Edit: 0515, 5/17/09

This is not real comforting, either.

I lived through most of the Cold War. Served as a Cold Warrior. We were reasonably certain that the worst-case scenario with the USSR would never happen. Nobody really wanted to die in a nuclear holocaust.

I'm not so sure with Iran.

H/T to Jeni at Sheboygan Shenanigans.

80 year old priest arrested at Notre Dame. I'm still trying to discern the crime here.

ObamaCard

Waxman-Markey

Some really good points are made here. It's unlikely you will see them anywhere other than WSJ.

The United States is about to put itself at a huge competitive disadvantage under Waxman-Markey. First, the bill is 648 pages. In draft. That may mean double that number before it's said and done. Any bill that large can't be good. Just looking at the Table of Contents, one can see that a huge centrally-planned energy program is envisioned. With a no-doubt huge bureaucracy to regulate it. A quick glance shows regulation of light bulbs. Really? Is this what Federal Government is for?

In Sec. 311, the bill references the IPCC studies on (alleged) AGW. Go to your favorite search engine and type "debunk IPCC". Read several of the hits to understand why many of us are skeptical that (alleged) AGW is happening at all.

Further, even the EPA says any actions taken will do little do reverse any (alleged) warming trend. (read page 4 of the testimony) Never mind that there has been no warming in the last ten years and many studies show a cooling trend.

Waxman-Markey is a bad idea. Both Waxman and Markey have been opponenets of any energy solution that is not wind or solar. Markey is said to be a "critic" of nuclear power, but fact is, he will never accept nuclear. He's been that way for 30 years and will continue to be so. Both are vocal opponents of "Big Oil". I won't sully myself by going to the Lefty blogs. Just do a search and you will find it.

Adoption of any kind of scheme like Waxman will do nothing to combat (alleged) AGW while taxing us all into poverty in the dark and cold.

Government and Children

I'm on the fence on this one. Does the government have that right? Are the parents really being neglectful?

We give the government more and more authority over our lives and those of our children. Where does it end?

A Modest Rant

The Beer: A Pale Ale to share at the competition is bottled, but I await carbonation. A Honey Ale for a family function awaits my attention.

The Bicycle: For anyone on Green Bay Road yesterday: Are you really in that big a hurry? You REALLY can't wait 5 seconds for oncoming traffic? If you are going to get that close, stop and introduce yourself. And for the kid who felt like he needed to draft off me for a couple miles: Dude, you are all of 25, maybe? You had to slow down and wait to draft off someone twice your age? And then you couldn't take your turn at the pull. Wimp. Sissy. Baby. Chicken. Coward.

The VWRC: Nancy, you have been caught with those panties down around your ankles. Why not just fess up. You are up to your fifth different version of events. Maybe it plays well back home, but the rest of America has just about had enough.

Right Brain-Left Brain

This is ludicrous. So we are going to become a nation of empathetic, creative storytellers?

A young designer in New York re-created the prescription bottle because she noticed that her grandparents were getting their medications confused. She put the medicine's name in large type at the top instead of the doctor's name, and Grandpa gets a green band on his medicine bottle and Grandma gets a yellow band so they can see the difference more clearly. That's an example of how design can literally save lives.

OK...great. So we will be designing things for others to manufacture? Doesn't sound like much of a life for most people.

I mean, seriously. He's kidding, right? I suppose that, at some far future time he may be correct. But right now, this is as crazy an idea as I've ever heard.

Reports of America's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

This is heartening.

It doesn't mean the United States will not end up a second-rate power. The drive for "renewable energy" (which, in fact, is a pipe dream that will never be realized), cap and trade, excessive state and federal debt and overregulation could easily doom the country.

It hasn't happened yet.

Chrysler Bankruptcy

The Beer: I plan to enter my Amarillo Pale Ale in a homebrew contest. I also expect to win

The Bicycle: Seems every year my legs take longer to recover. Maybe I just overdid it last weekend.

The VRWC:

I suspect we have more of this type of government thuggery to look forward to.

Contracts and the Rule Of Law are the foundation of Liberty. Government determining winners and losers is tyranny. TCO, Dingell and Granholm have participated in the worst type of political posturing.

Last week Mr. Obama lambasted them as "a small group of speculators" who "endanger Chrysler's future by refusing to sacrifice like everyone else."

Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, sent reporters a statement calling the creditors "vultures" and "rouge hedge funds." Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm piled on, taking aim during her radio address at a "few greedy hedge funds that didn't care how much pain the company's failure would have inflicted on families and communities everywhere."

After reading the list of Senior Creditors, I doubt any of the vilification is warranted.

So now the UAW owns Chrysler. This is a lesson in "be careful what you wish for".

Mayor Deekaman?

I don't think I can let this go uncontested. A little advice from some of you would be helpful.

Bad Policy That Won't Die

Ethanol is a debacle and needs to go. (Alleged) AGW needs much more real science behind it, not the sloppy, politicized crap that seems to be passing for science in this debate.

Here's a little cherry-picking of data:

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the analysis shows corn ethanol emitting 16 percent less greenhouse gases than gasoline, even taking into account global future land-use changes.

But that's true in only in one of the scenarios the EPA examined; another showed corn ethanol would account for 5 percent more greenhouse gases than gasoline. The scenario Jackson cited assumes future environmental benefits over a period of 100 years will more than pay back the initial increase in greenhouse gases from land use changes.; the second assumes a shorter payback period of 30 years.

I might add that there are any number of reports that indicate ethanol is a loser on all accounts. Google "ethanol energy balance" to see what I mean.

Let's force an end to this debacle. Call your congressman and senators. Tell them to leave the food supply alone.

Gitmo Trials

The problem with promising vs. executing.

Apparently, TCO-The Infallible made a promise he couldn't keep. But don't worry, the spin will be, "New and Improved-Glory to Him Who Was Chosen". The media will love it and the Obamalove will only grow stronger and deeper. Expect higher approval for continuing a Bush-era policy.
Two words: Empty.....Suit.

Wow!

I'm not much of a horseracing fan. I watched the Kentucky Derby video this morning to see Mine That Bird destroy the field in the homestretch.

I'm Guessing It Will Be a Far Lefty

William Ayres, anyone? This president will select the most far left candidate ever seen in the Supreme Court. Just watch.

Here is what no one should want:

"I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives," he said. "I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes."

And this is the antithesis of the above:

He said he'll also seek a nominee dedicated to U.S. constitutional traditions, and who respects the "appropriate limits of the judicial role."

Admittedly, my idea of "appropriate limits" is significantly different from the President's.

Joe Biden...Really?

And they laughed at Sarah Palin.