Tuesday February 9, 2010
Punch
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a “punch” that will stun world powers during this week’s 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
“The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned,” Khamenei, who is also Iran’s commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.
via Iran anniversary ‘punch’ will stun West: Khamenei
Monday February 8, 2010
Solvency Plan
George Will had me at the first two paragraphs:
In 2013, when President Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor, is counting his blessings, at the top of his list will be the name of his vice president: Paul Ryan. The former congressman from Wisconsin will have come to office with ideas for steering the federal government to solvency.
Not that Daniels has ever been bereft of ideas. Under him, Indiana property taxes have been cut 30 percent, and for the first time Standard & Poor’s has raised the state’s credit rating to AAA. But in January 2010, Ryan released an updated version of his “Roadmap for America’s Future,” a cure for the most completely predictable major problem that has ever afflicted America.
He goes on to describe Ryan’s tax reform plans. Sounds good to me. The whole idea is to get the economy ticking again after being crippled by entitlements.
Wednesday February 3, 2010
Neo-fundamentalism
Dennis Bratcher is a Nazarene biblical scholar in whom I have a great deal of confidence. Turns out the he is concerned about at least one of the things that concerns me too:
I am becoming increasingly concerned that several high-profile members of the Church of the Nazarene who command attention by their position and influence are openly and aggressively advocating ideas and theologies that are alien to the tradition of which they claim to be a part. The Church of the Nazarene stands clearly in the Arminian-Wesleyan theological tradition. Yet what some are promoting is far more in line with Calvinism and the promotion of a modern form of fundamentalism neo-fundamentalism; see note than they reflect theology and views shaped by Wesleyan perspectives or their own theological tradition. Several have entered the “battle for the Bible” in significant ways, a battle that has its roots in Calvinistic/Reformed theological perspectives and reflects the influence of the modern fundamentalist movement, which the Church of the Nazarene rejected three-quarters of a century ago. That is the same movement that has torn the Southern Baptist Convention apart and threatens to deepen that rift among American churches.
My question is, why should we allow issues and agendas that are not part of our heritage to become central to who we are as Nazarenes with a Wesleyan heritage? Why are so many Nazarenes so eager to buy into this perversion of our heritage and theology without challenging it, or at least without casting a discerning eye on some of the things that are being promoted by these high profile people and groups?
Examples follow. Go read the article. In fact, check out the whole website of the Christian Resource Institute.
Tuesday February 2, 2010
The Wise and Correct Course
Calvin Coolidge said, “The wise and correct course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have already secured success, but to create conditions under which everyone will have a better chance to be successful.”
President Obama doesn’t think this way. He doesn't see government as a last resort, preserving liberty in order that citizens might rise to whatever level their character, education, talent and persistence permit. Rather, he sees the needy as the norm and the wealthy as a source of income for his and his fellow progressive’s expensive and unworkable agenda.
via Cal Thomas.
Discourse
As has been demonstrated by Callow (1989), all verbal or written communicative attempts are for the primary purposes of: (1) affecting the emotions of the audience, (2) affecting the ideas of the audience, or (3) affecting the behavior of the audience. There can be no meaningful communication without the communicator choosing one of these three purposes or a combination of them. One can affect the hearer’s emotions by describing one’s own emotional experience (like describing a sunset). One can affect the hearer’s ideas by sharing information with him (like explaining why Washington confessed to cutting down the cherry tree). Affecting the ideas includes the request for information. One can affect the hearer’s behavior by appealing to him to behave in a specific manner (like requesting someone to close the door).
These three intents are the most basic characteristics of the primary semantic genres of discourse.
John C. Tuggy in David Alan Black et al., Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation : Essays on Discourse Analysis (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1992), 46.
Monday February 1, 2010
Michael Spencer’s Book
Been waiting for a long, long time for this book by the Internet Monk, Michael Spencer. Michael is a long-time online friend of mine.
What you may or may not know is that Michael has had a terrible turn of events in his health. He is fighting cancer. He has pretty much lost his job and needs to raise money to afford COBRA payments to keep his insurance.
So, it would please me a great deal if my readers would pre-order Michael’s book. I’m sure it would be a great encouragment to Michael and his family, as well.
Michael has been extremely influential to me, and if I have had any influence on you, he has too.
Graphic courtesy of my friend Aaron Smith (aka CulturalSavage). By the way, Aaron is a terrific web designer and photographer, and he would love to work for you.
Confessional
This post is intended to be a little more personal than the norm. I hope you don’t mind, but I have some things I need to dump.
This is the winter of our discontent. There have been a slew of occurrences that have stacked up. Any one or two of them would have been easily handled, but the stack has been a bit too much. We have been pretty despondent at times, but hope has not died. Now we are in fix-it mode. We can’t go on as we have gone on.
It all started when our best friends were let go from the church staff. That was bad enough, and it threw us for a loop. But then we found out that our best friends weren’t’ really our best friends. They apparently blamed me for causing their change of status, or at least for not redeeming the situation in their favor. Repeated attempts to clear things up were rebuffed. Maybe time will heal the wounds all around, but I doubt it. We are terribly wounded and I guess they are too.
Then we made the decision to try to be supportive of our church in this matter I just mentioned. Several others of our friends took exception to our stance. And now we are pretty much out of friends. I guess the better approach would have been to badmouth the pastor and join the little pockets of people complaining and threatening to leave the church over the dismissal of our staff guy. We tried to take the high road, and have been cut out of the will of our friends for it.
I can take the heat for taking the high road. In fact, I expect to take some heat and sometimes I even relish a few singes here and there on my psyche. But Carol can’t handle it. This caused her to tailspin out of control. She saw people that she had poured herself into, giving her time, her money, her ear, and her tender spirit to, turn around and turn their back on her because we tried to be supportive of the church and of the people who were stepping in to fill in the gaps on a volunteer basis. To save Carol’s mental health, we should have joined to little groups that met after church on Sunday to complain about the music and the pastor and the terrible situation we are all in because the pastor fired the staff guy. We could have felt superior and kept our egos intact. We could have come to worship to watch it as we would come to watch a house burning or a train wrecking.
Carol is still tailspinning, but I believe we are going to pull out before this thing hits the ground.
Add on to these major things a lot of other major things that are not so much church related, and we find ourselves in a funk and a fugue and blue crapstorm, all rolled together.
I am now wrestling with some heavy stuff. I definitely need to make some changes in how we live in order to cope with the current crisis and future crises.
Part of the problem comes from being on the church board and knowing all the politics of what goes on in the church. If you have read my blog for more than a little bit, you know how I hate church politics. And just recently we have seen a sparklingly bright and wonderful couple leave our board and our church because the politics became too much to handle. How I hate that! I’m pretty sure God is not pleased.
So, I seriously doubt I will ever, ever, ever consent to be on a church board anymore. Maybe I can handle it, but Carol surely cannot, and my obligation to her is far stronger than to the local church. (Note: I did not say “God”; I said “the local church”. They are not the same thing.) I serve through May, and then never again.
No big loss, though. I’m getting old. My ideas were once upon a time valued, but now I’m pretty much on the sidelines anyway. The church board will be better without me. We’re in a big youth movement anyway.
The other big decision has to do with the Sunday School class I teach. I’m not too sure I am really being effective anymore. I kind of think it’s time to step aside and let someone teach it who has a real passion for it. I’m very weary of the whole thing. Maybe my energy will come back, but maybe not. We’ll see. Maybe it’s just SAD.
We are definitely making some changes in our attitudes and commitments and obligations. How that all shakes out remains to be seen. Film at eleven.
Two Stories, Back to Back
My local news-talk station was already on when I started my truck this morning. I was just in time for the local news.
First story: A libertarian city councilman in Indianapolis is proposing to allow law-abiding licensed people to carry guns in city parks, which is currently disallowed. The station had three soundbites. The first was a quick one from the proposer, the next two were from a couple at the dog park in Broad Ripple. Ripple is a throwback hippy/yuppy/greeny/lib neighborhood, our version of Haight-Ashbury or Greenwich Village. The couple were appalled at the thought of guns in the park. The guy, being a guy, said something like it would make him wet his pants. And the gal said they would just leave the dog park if they saw someone with a gun. She said it with a quivering voice that almost brought a tear to my eye. End of story.
Second story: A young man was killed last evening in a shootout in a city park in Indianapolis. But wait, I say, how can this be? There is a city ordinance against having guns in city parks, and yet apparently a group of seven youths, age 18 to 20, had at least two guns among them. They broke the ordinance, if you can believe it.
You see, here’s the deal. You can make all the laws you want to, but criminals don’t seem to obey them. In fact, isn’t that kind of what defines someone as a criminal? Criminal, crime. See the connection?
So, I will not put my feet on the hallowed ground of an Indianapolis city park as long as criminals are the only ones who are allowed to have guns. Do I look stupid or something?
Indianapolis has some great city parks, including Eagle Creek Park, which is one of the largest and best municipal parks in the USA. I wouldn’t go there on a dare.
I hope this ordinance passes, but I don’t give it much hope.
Friday January 29, 2010
Almost Lunch Time
Wednesday January 27, 2010
Public Priorities
Public Priorities Per Pew Polling
Source: Pew Research Center.
via American Thinker Blog: Graph of the Day for January 27, 2010
Philosopher-King
I heard Victor Davis Hanson speak on this subject yesterday on The Dennis Miller Show. I think he has it exactly right.
In Plato’s ideal society, philosopher kings and elite Guardians shepherded the rabble to force them to do the “right” thing.
To prevent the unwashed from doing anything stupid, the all-powerful, all-wise Guardians often had to tell a few “noble” lies. And, of course, these caretakers themselves were exempt from most rules they made for others.
We are now seeing such thinking in the Obama administration and among its supporters.
via VDH’s Private Papers::Our Philosopher-King Obama
Tuesday January 26, 2010
The Search for Authenticity
I’m sick and tired of the evangelical claptrap.
We think that that following Jesus means building a big and prosperous church, centered on a campus, focused on a ministry staff, intent on providing a sterling worship and entertainment package on Sunday morning, and geared towards self-replication of people who support the enterprise and consume its products.
That, my friends and fellow churchmen, is a wilderness. Actually, a dry desert. There is no sustenance there for me.
What I want to know is this: how can I follow Jesus authentically in the here and now?
I’m not interested in recreating the church of another era, although they may have models that are helpful in my pursuit. The early church lived in a different time, and its experience can go only so far in providing a pattern to follow.
I’m not interested in recreating the church of my youth, as many people my agre want to do. I realize that is only a microtomed cross-section of what ought to be.
Nor am I interested in creating a church that will have wide appeal to my neighborhood. Walmart and Starbucks already have a corner on that product.
In fact, I would need little impetus to disconnect from the institutional church, as we know it, altogether.
I just want to follow Jesus. That’s all.
The Cycle
Monday January 25, 2010
Odiferous Words
Words of wisdom from pastor Kenn Blanchard: His Words Are Like A Fart
Friday January 22, 2010
Climategate Redux
Not surprisingly, the blatant corruption exposed at Britain’s premiere climate institute was not contained within the nation’s borders. Just months after the Climategate scandal broke, a new study has uncovered compelling evidence that our government’s principal climate centers have also been manipulating worldwide temperature data in order to fraudulently advance the global warming political agenda.
via Climategate: CRU Was But the Tip of the Iceberg
The Good Doctor Krauthammer
After Coakley’s defeat, Obama pretended that the real cause was a generalized anger and frustration “not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years, but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
Let’s get this straight: The antipathy to George W. Bush is so enduring and powerful that . . . it just elected a Republican senator in Massachusetts? Why, the man is omnipotent.
via Charles Krauthammer – What Scott Brown’s win means for the Democrats – washingtonpost.com
International Sand Registry
This Valentines Day, give your sweetheart the most romantic gift she’ll ever receive — name a grain of sand after her.
Hi, I’m Rocky McRob, with the International Sand Registry. For only $54, we will name a grain of sand after anyone on your gift list. Since 1979, International Sand Registry has named countless grains of sand after celebrities, dignitaries, royalty — and individuals just like you.
We will send the recipient an incredible gift package which includes an 8 x 10 individualized certificate, suitable for framing, with the details of your grain of sand and a fascinating book about sand.
Your grain of sand will be registerd in the International Sand Registry for all eternity, and entered into the Library of Congress Copyright database.
For only $108, you can have the deluxe sand registry package, which includes everything in the standard package, plus an actual grain of sand, suitable for mounting, just like the one named after your sweetheart.
Make this the most talked-about Valentines Day ever. Name a grain of sand after your sweetheart.
Tuesday January 19, 2010
America is Like Haiti
The recent earthquake in the island nation of Haiti illustrates the fragility of all societies. While Haiti is unusual in its lack of infrastructure and its high dependence on foreign aid–more than half of its annual government budget comes from foreign aid–it is still similar in many ways to other nations: From the 1960s to the turn of the 21st century, as in many other nations, Haiti became an urbanized nation. Before the 1960s a substantial portion of Haitian society still lived on rural semi-self sufficient farmsteads. But as urbanization and specialization went on, fewer and fewer people lived off the land and more and more citizens became dependent on foreign aid and a scant number of industrial jobs. This trend has been repeated around the globe, making nearly all societies increasingly vulnerable to disasters, man-made or natural. The resiliency of traditional agrarian societies has sadly become a thing of the past. Here in America, 2% of the population now feeds the other 98%. This is now something that First, Second, and Third World nations have in common. America is more like Haiti than we’d like to think. Human nature is the same in every culture and nation: fundamentally sinful.
via America is More Like Haiti than We’d Like to Think – SurvivalBlog.com
Monday January 18, 2010
Harbinger
Only raw and unrestrained liberalism could have destroyed the world’s 8th-largest economy. Boasting unparalleled assets in agriculture, high technology, entertainment, and tourism, and blessed with ample energy resources, deep-water ports and ideal weather, California has nonetheless managed to turn itself into a perfect dystopia.
Friday January 15, 2010
Disconnect
And Peggy Noonan comes to a similar conclusion, though she approaches the subject from a different angle.
The people are here, and he is there. The popularity of his health care plan is very low, at 35% support. Someone on television the other day noted it is as low as George Bush’s popularity ratings in 2008.
Yet—and this is the key part—the president does not seem to see or hear. He does not respond. He is not supple, able to hear reservations and see opposition and change tack. He has a grim determination to bull this thing through. He negotiates each day with Congress, not with the people. But the people hate Congress! Has he not noticed?
via Peggy Noonan: Slug the Obama Story ‘Disconnect’ – WSJ.com
President Obama’s Fall
The good doctor has an apropos analysis of Obama, one year in, called “One Year Out”. The lede:
What went wrong? A year ago, he was king of the world. Now President Obama’s approval rating, according to CBS, has dropped to 46 percent — and his disapproval rating is the highest ever recorded by Gallup at the beginning of an (elected) president’s second year.
via Charles Krauthammer – One year out: President Obama’s fall – washingtonpost.com
James Mungro, Coach
I have thought for a long time that James would be a good coach when he left the NFL. I guess he agrees with me.
“I know what I’m trying to be and that’s just being a good role model for these guys,” said Mungro. “Teach them not just football stuff but teach them stuff that’s going to help them longer down the road just besides playing football on the field.
“Working with these guys this year has been tremendous.”
via Colts: James Mungro Starts Coaching Career at DePauw
Wednesday January 13, 2010
Go Get ‘Em
Like the Mafia
Global Warming Is a Religion
It is so gratifying when people I respect agree with me.
Manmade global warming, for many, is an Earth-worshipping religion. The essential feature of any religion is that its pronouncements are to be accepted on the basis of faith as opposed to hard evidence. Questioning those pronouncements makes one a sinner.
via Walter E. Williams : Global Warming Is a Religion
Tuesday January 12, 2010
Boiling It Down
Far better to be blown to smithereens than to be politically incorrect.
via Thomas Sowell : “Notional” Security
Friday January 8, 2010
Wrong Headline
Nigerian bomb suspect faces court hearing
Whereas, the headline should read:
Nigerian plane bomber faces waterboarding; divulges information about more plots
But not in today’s America with today’s government. What happened to cause the government to be against the country? Let’s dump this government.
Thursday January 7, 2010
Wow!
I’m impressed. You need to read Ann Coulter’s response to the Brit Hume on Tiger Woods flap. Simplistic? Yes. But you have to keep it simple so liberal ignoramuses can understand it, which is what Ann is so good at.
Someone mentioned Christianity on television recently and liberals reacted with their usual howls of rage and blinking incomprehension.
via AnnCoulter: IF YOU CAN FIND A BETTER DEAL, TAKE IT!
I Like Guns, Too
Monday January 4, 2010
Whose Fault Is It?
I think Mona is looking at this the right way. Do you disagree?
I love the closer:
And here’s one more question: How does an over-grand, overreaching would-be messiah learn the humility to at least put first things first?
via Mona Charen : Whose Fault Is It? – Townhall.com
Wednesday December 23, 2009
Dismal Picture
Walter Williams assesses the prospects of poor, urban blacks at school. The bottom line:
Prospects for improvement in black education are not likely given the cozy relationship between black politicians, civil rights organizations and teacher unions.
via Walter E. Williams : Black Education
Tuesday December 22, 2009
Feminization
Why is it that real men cannot carry their stuff on their shoulders anymore? Why is it that they have to pull their briefcases on wheels, as if they were a heavily-loaded pieces of luggage that must be toted around an airport for unknown hours?
A new snow is useful. If one were hunting rabbits, he could see where the recent activity was. If one were walking in to work from the parking lot, he could see that the number of wheel tracks and the number of sets of footprints are not far from equal.
Observation in the wild will show you that this is not done as a reluctant admission of the aging process and its concomitant reduction in abilities. In fact, most of the rollers, as I call them, are fairly young. They probably also recycle. They have been programmed, actually brainwashed. They don’t want to be victims of some repetitive stress injury, so they roll their dadgum briefcase along the ground instead of carrying it like a man.
They feel the need to take their laptop computers home at night. I’d bet a dollar that ninety percent of then don’t touch it when they aren’t at work. But to leave it at work (as I do) is to admit that you aren’t working when you are at home. You can’t impress your boss that way. But if I was the boss, I would not be impressed by a dadgum rolling laptop.
You know what’s really funny? Watching big strong guys pulling their little briefcases on wheels and going through the little turnstyles to get into work. That’s what. You’re more likely to hurt your back doing that, I think.
Men, let’s be men. Leave the rolling briefcase to the gentler sex. If you are worried about your back, get yourself a nice backpack that will spread the load evenly. No more rolling.
Not Everyone Crying “Science” is Doing Science
Like anything valuable, science has been seized upon by politicians and ideologues, and used to forward their own agendas. This started long ago, as far back as the 18th century, when the Marquis de Condorcet coined the term “social science” to describe various theories he favored. In the 19th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels distinguished their own brand of socialism as “scientific socialism.” By the 20th century, all sorts of notions wrapped themselves in the mantle of “science.”
“Global warming” hysteria is only the latest in this long line of notions, whose main argument is that there is no argument, because it is “science.” The recently revealed destruction of raw data at the bottom of the global warming hysteria, as well as revelations of attempts to prevent critics of this hysteria from being published in leading journals, suggests that the disinterested search for truth– the hallmark of real science– has taken a back seat to a political crusade.
via Thomas Sowell : The “Science” Mantra
INGO & HFR
Indiana Gun Owners, which is our local forum for people interested in all types of guns and shooting, is on a brand new server and running like a sewing machine. If you are so inclined, give it a look.
Slightly related to this, I am starting a new group blogazine all about guns and shooting. I am currently looking for authors. Interest in and knowledge of firearms is the main thing you need, and writing skill would be a plus. But I’m a decent editor, so don’t worry too much about the writing part. Let me know if you are interested. The stub is up, but no real content yet: Hoosier Firearms Review
And it Stinks
Detroit, Bellwether
Sunday December 20, 2009
AKMA
Saving this so I can watch AKMA preach later today. His sermon for the fourth Sunday of Advent looks very good from the little sample I saw.
Saturday December 19, 2009
Clue Phone
The clue phone is ringing, and if you pick it up there’s a voice at the other end saying, “You are not the only person in the universe. There are people different from you, some even smarter than you, some even more sensitive than you. But your sense of humor doesn’t constitute the absolute horizon of what’s funny, your sense of justice doesn’t define the universal criterion of fairness, your moral horror doesn’t oblige others to recoil from the same evils, your inclinations do not reflect the general human propensity to do any particular thing.”
via Akma » Musing Before Coffee
Friday December 18, 2009
Detroit Writ Large
Yes, the Republicans stink. But if you want to see what the Democrats want to do to the entire country, look at Detroit. That is Democratic welfare and labor policy at its full strength. It also should be an object lesson–Detroit used to be the economic powerhouse of the world, showing that no matter how mighty your industrial strength is, “liberal” policies can bring you to complete ruin.
via CRUISING DOWN THE COAST OF THE HIGH BARBAREE: The Parties Actually Are Different
Tuesday December 15, 2009
Pickering Flixels
I’m having a little trouble kicking this pesky epizootic. Last night for a couple of periods of time I was unable to sleep, so I got busy and finished the little book I had begun on Sunday – Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith, by Shane Hipps.
Hipps has some good points to make, and he is successful and convincing in establishing his ground. He points out how western culture became more left-brained from the invention of the printing press until the invention of the camera, and how it is swinging back to a more right-brained orientation. (I don’t really buy into all the left-right-brain stuff, but he explanation makes sense in terms of a swing into and out of modernity.)
Hipps is right on target when he points out that it is easy to lose our real relationships in a sea of virtual ones. Caution flag raised and received, by me at least.
The book was probably not quite as meaty as I had hoped, but it was a good read. I sure don’t hesitate to recommend Hipps. It is broken into short chapters, so it is suitable for our lack of ability to sustain our concentration for long. Or for, uh, those other times when you just need a few pages to read while you are otherwise occupied in the body but not the mind.
Interesting to me is the fact that Hipps, a Mennonite, had to work in a chapter on pacifism in this book about something else entirely, but hey, it’s his book. I just fail to understand why some writers have to grind the same old axe every time they pick up the pen. I’m probably being too hard on the seemingly affable Shane Hipps, but hey, this is my blog.
Friday December 11, 2009
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Advent
A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.
via Mockingbird: Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Advent
Wednesday December 9, 2009
How to Prove Global Warming
The Smoking Gun At Darwin Zero
Here’s the plan. Your thesis is that the temperature is increasing. How do you prove it? By looking through the temperature data and plotting the change over time. But make sure you ignore the periods of time when the temperature decreased. Foolproof.
To my great surprise, here’s what I found. To explain the full effect, I am showing this with both datasets starting at the same point (rather than ending at the same point as they are often shown).
Figure 7. GHCN homogeneity adjustments to Darwin Airport combined record
YIKES! Before getting homogenized, temperatures in Darwin were falling at 0.7 Celcius per century … but after the homogenization, they were warming at 1.2 Celcius per century. And the adjustment that they made was over two degrees per century … when those guys “adjust”, they don’t mess around. And the adjustment is an odd shape, with the adjustment first going stepwise, then climbing roughly to stop at 2.4C.
Recommended Reading
I just finished Cormac McCarthy’s The Road last night. It was my first McCarthy and I heartily enjoyed it, once I got used to incomplete sentences and disjointed dialog. The mood is perfect, the story is compelling, and the ending is satisfying. Give it a read.
This is not your typical post-apocalyptic novel. The mood is much more reflective and the relationship if the Man and the Boy is the centerpiece. It is a downer, not an upper. Don’t read it if you are already depressed.
I had hoped to follow the book with the movie, but it has apparently already moved out of our local theaters. I reckon that means it is not a commercially successful film. I’ll have to wait for the DVD.
Tuesday December 8, 2009
Lowest Crime Rate
Monday December 7, 2009
So Much Hot Air
Biggest climate meeting in history begins
Wednesday December 2, 2009
Healthcare Plan
Making Healthcare Safe and Affordable
As recently as the 1960s, low-cost health insurance was available to virtually everyone in America – including people with existing medical problems. Doctors made house calls. A hospital stay cost only a few days' pay. Charity hospitals were available to take care of families who could not afford to pay for healthcare.
Since then the federal government has increasingly intervened through Medicare, Medicaid, the HMO Act and tens of thousands of regulations on doctors, hospitals and health-insurance companies.
Today, more than 50 percent of all healthcare dollars are spent by the government.
Health insurance costs are skyrocketing. Government health programs are heading for bankruptcy. Politicians continue to pile on the regulations.
via Healthcare | Libertarian Party
Tuesday December 1, 2009
CRUdGate
Firstly, we must understand how the whole thing hangs together, because the edifice of AGW is very definitely not just pure science, boffins in white coats in labs and so forth. It spans the whole gamut from real pure science, through the applied sciences and Engineering, passing through economics and finally ending up in the dark arts of Politics and Diplomacy. That's a lot to take in, so I have created a handy diagram that explains. Never let it be said that your polymathematic Pedant-General makes you do the hard work.
via The Devil’s Kitchen: CRUdGate – Why this can’t be swept under the carpet
Monday November 30, 2009
Politicized Science
The imaginary science of manmade global warning can now be entered into the infamous history of politicized science, a travesty which has threads in our lives today. Consider the residue of such frauds as Rachel Carson, Alfred Kinsey and Margaret Mead. Carson's invented findings and unscientific methods led to the banning of DDT, which in turn cost the lives of tens of millions of children in undeveloped nations. Kinsey's tortuously doctored “sex research,” as Dr. Judith Riesman has so amply demonstrated, was not only invented to sate his perverted lusts but created scientific myths about normal and abnormal behavior which haunt us to this day. Mead, also, simply invented research to fit her idea of what the science of anthropology ought to be in order to justify her own immature and immoral behavior. Carson, Kinsey and Mead had an agenda before they did any research and this agenda governed everything else. [emphasis mine]
via American Thinker: The Ghost of Lysenko
Wednesday November 25, 2009
Hide the Decline
Climategate: hide the decline – codified « Watts Up With That?
Juxtaposition
Hoped to never see this picture:
