Snippets

How come when Obama likes nuclear power it's a good thing... but when Republicans like it it's bad! Evil! Dangerous! A grave threat to all life on earth! And so forth. Just wondering...

Oh sheesh, Dick Cheney's back – and fighting it out with Joe Biden. Well, at least they each have a worthy opponent...

Looks like China has started to bail out of U.S. Treasury securities. Of course, they're smart enough not to dump them all at once – or, at least, they haven't yet (although they might, if they have some other agenda, like totally trashing the U.S. economy). I mean, can you imagine if Bill Gates sold all his Microsoft stock at the same time? So yeah, these guys aren't fools; anything they need to do to maintain the upper hand, they will do.

So what kind of idiot would climb a volcano in mid-February? Some guy did it out in Washington state. I think the government should make people like this open bank accounts and send one of the debit cards to some central office – that way, when they do something stupid, the central office can swipe their debit card for the cost of the rescue before the rescue operation begins. If there's not enough in the account – hey pal, we'll see you in the spring.

As for that professor who started slinging lead when she failed to get tenure? That's just the upper-crust version of the entitlement mentality in action.

This is great: “...some schools are turning to more unconventional means, such as Pacific Hills School in West Hollywood’s recent threat to turn up the lights and play Burt Bacharach if students started to grind, according to the Los Angeles Times.” Well, that would sure stop me...

A New York Times article posted on MSNBC says the “tea partiers” are “bracing for tyranny”. Well, if that's true they're only about 80 years behind the power curve. But – better late than never, I guess.

The paradox, of course, is how to organize people who are against big government – i.e. who are against large political organizations. This problem is, of course, already being exploited by the liberals and the slavish media. Small political organizations tend to be powerless and nearly invisible... large ones are already in charge... and medium-sized ones are typically co-opted and taken over by the large ones. So it's a real problem.

According to news reports, the heavy snow in Washington, DC led to a drop in crime. I guess that refers to the fact that Congress wasn't in session...

If you want courageous politicians, you must first have courageous voters.

“Cleveland tops list of most miserable U.S. cities”. Aha! I knew it! Whenever someone around here starts complaining about Pittsburgh, someone else is sure to say, “Well, at least this isn't Cleveland.” Yeah, it sounds harsh, but after all, someone has to anchor the scale. (You'll note, by the way, that Cleveland beat out Oakland, Detroit, Youngstown, and Philadelphia – no mean feat.)

Head Start doesn't work and, therefore should be eliminated – say commentators in Sunday's paper. Well... but was it ever, even at the very beginning, intended to “work”? As I recall it was a blatant political ploy, designed to assure blacks that “we're doing something for you”. But, clearly, if it really worked we might expect it to be the seed of a change in the motivational structure of inner-city/lower-class blacks, which might, in turn, cause them to lift themselves out of abject, multi-generational dependency on government. And surely we can't have that. So basically, Head Start does, in fact work – as propaganda. But it also “works” in terms of not making any significant difference in the lot of black Americans.

The death of Rep. Jack Murtha caused the local papers to print a map of his congressional district... and if you thought the days of gerrymandering were over with, you should check out this monstrosity. It looks like the accumulated splash of years of tomato sauce on the wall of the local pizzeria... or a jigsaw puzzle designed by Salvador Dali as interpreted by Alexander McQueen. If a history is ever written on how Congress got to be the way it is, the author could do worse than to start with maps of some of the more ridiculous Congressional districts.

Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a 1,400- year-old wine press that measures – get this – 21 by 54 feet! Wow, those folks must have been the ultimate party animals. Too bad the Moslems had to come along and spoil everything...

Sometimes I really wonder if the president, and Congress, are signing on to this insane, limitless national debt because they know that, really, it'll never come due and never be repaid. More likely, we'll see complete economic collapse, or at least the collapse of the dollar, first. Then that debt will be about as collectible as the dividends on a Bernie Madoff account. If true, it would be the most cynical – or desperate, or both – financial move in history. If not, then all it means is that the next few generations of Americans will be slaves to the international financiers. But then, we already are, so I guess we've gotten used to it.

Rumor has it that, in their attempt to avoid extinction, the Republicans have re-discovered the Constitution. Too little, too late, I say. If you were to poll Republican congressmen on the question, does the Constitution say what it means, and does it mean what it says... and do you agree, 100%, with what it says... you'd get an “affirm” with not much more frequency than if you asked Democrats the same question.

And when it comes to their idolization of Sarah Palin -- “the blunder from the tundra” -- this reflects a death wish almost unmatched in American politics.

And... the real test of the Constitutional seriousness of any Republican would be, what think ye of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan... and the bailouts (started under Bush). If you get the expected answer, i.e. “no problem”, just turn around, and walk away.