Three for the Road

1 -- The Lack of the Irish

I guess the EU nerdocrats in Luxembourg are kicking themselves that they ever decided to require unanimity in deciding on major questions -- especially those having to do with the organization itself and the extent of its ability to project power not only in Europe but elsewhere in the world. The Irish -- you know, those crazy, feisty characters who live halfway out in the Atlantic Ocean -- have voted a resounding "no" to EU attempts to inflate its power and influence. What soreheads! I mean, the EU has only been harrassing Ireland for years about its low tax rates and business-friendly environment, and the surge in prosperity that has resulted. It really is in bad taste for the Irish to turn around and tell the EU to stuff it. It's good to see that someone over there still believes in national integrity and independence, and isn't afraid to get up in the face of the gray, impacted bureaucracy that has been established to take the place of much more colorful -- if occasionally troublesome -- nationalism.

2. -- A Heck of a Spot

It seems that the Sun has responded to threats of global warming by becoming relatively quiescent in terms of sunspot frequency. There is even fear that the Sun is entering into another one of those periods called a "Maunder Minimum". That sounds to me like a croquet strategy, but what it actually refers to is a sunspot-less period in the 17th Century that ushered in the so-called "Little Ice Age". Now wouldn't it be funny if... well, we know that sunspots have absolutely nothing to do with "global warming" because Al Gore says so. But... what if? What if sunspot activity stays low, and indicators of global warming start to show the reverse? That would put egg on the collective face of only a few million co-opted scientists, politicians, eco-freaks, and opportunists.

3 -- The High Cost of Totalitarianism

It turns out that the cost of the raid on the FLDS compound in Texas, and all the follow-up activity, is amounting to over $14 million. I guess it's a small price to pay for ridding the landscape of another troublesome cult. But will all of the over-zealous law enforcement officials, prosecutors, judges, social workers, and so on, be expected to chip in to help pay the bill? And as usual, lawyers, who always win no matter who loses, stand to collect the biggest single chunk. You don't suppose they came up with the idea for the raid to begin with, do you?