U.S. Senate votes to stop production of F-22 jet
Now - can we start dismantling the ill-conceived so-called 'missile defense' program?... and the other very expensive, less-than-effective high-tech weapons programs?...
... and maybe invest defense $$$ in our troops? - the guys fighting - and losing to - under-funded 3rd-world insurgents.
The objective of war is to secure a more-or-less lasting peace.
Winning the peace requires controlling territory and populations.
So-called 'surgical' strikes by high-tech drones might take out bad guys, but they don't control territory or populations.
Boots on the ground just might.
[just for grins: conservative cost estimate of single F-22 = $150Mn. At $50K/troop, this is equivalent to 3000 boots-on-the-ground. The $150Mn does NOT include program cost, just 'sticker price'... excluding maintenance or 'cost of ownership'. The article cited above notes that the F-22 requires 30 hours of maintenance for each hour of flight-time. Me? I'd much rather have the 3000 boots-on-the-ground!]
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
How come?
It's July - the middle of baseball season.
We get some half-dozen sports channels, including the MLB Network.
So how come there's never a LIVE baseball game on?
MLBN devotes its airtime to 'greatest games' of the past.
ESPN? - LOTS of 'World Series'... of poker! +lacrosse +soccer +NASCAR +NFL (??? - it's not even pre-season!)... and, recently, NBA 'greatest games'!... and LOTS of talking heads pontificating knowingly about... well - I can't tell you: I don't watch 'em.
Why no LIVE major-league baseball???
What I get is Fox's Saturday baseball telecast.
Seems to me this is less televised live baseball than I had as a kid, growing up with three (3) broadcast networks.
What's this country coming to???
We get some half-dozen sports channels, including the MLB Network.
So how come there's never a LIVE baseball game on?
MLBN devotes its airtime to 'greatest games' of the past.
ESPN? - LOTS of 'World Series'... of poker! +lacrosse +soccer +NASCAR +NFL (??? - it's not even pre-season!)... and, recently, NBA 'greatest games'!... and LOTS of talking heads pontificating knowingly about... well - I can't tell you: I don't watch 'em.
Why no LIVE major-league baseball???
What I get is Fox's Saturday baseball telecast.
Seems to me this is less televised live baseball than I had as a kid, growing up with three (3) broadcast networks.
What's this country coming to???
Monday, July 20, 2009
'twixt Scylla & Charybdis
Pity the poor Republicans!
On the one hand, they are ideologically opposed to any 'public funding' of abortion:
On the other hand, they're really afraid of the White Race losing its dominant position in America:
... and - for what it's worth - blacks in uniform DID die at Gettysburg & Vicksburg... and Normandy!
[My bet is Uncle Pat isn't all that crazy about the 15th, 19th or 24th Amendments!... and the Golden Age - 1960 - to which Uncle Pat refers was before the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 prohibited so-called "literacy tests" and the 24th Amendment prohibited poll taxes!]
(... finally: does Uncle Pat really believe that W got into Yale and Harvard Biz School based on his SAT and GMAT scores? What promising, qualified white students were denied the Ivy League for W's "legacy" admissions???)
Then we have Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends explaining why a Scandinavian medical study is irrelevant to the U.S.:
You'd think these folks would be simply delighted to federally fund abortions to help control the super-libidinous fecundity of the colored races! - ESPECIALLY abortions for poor colored folks!!!
What's a good Republican to do???
On the one hand, they are ideologically opposed to any 'public funding' of abortion:
"If you think of it in human terms, there is a financial incentive that would be put in place, paid for by tax dollars, that would encourage…single parents, living below the poverty level, to have the opportunity for a free abortion. If you take that scenario and apply it to many of the great minds we have today, who would we have been deprived of? Our President grew up in those similar circumstances. If that financial incentive was in place, is it possible that his mother might have taken advantage of it? Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice, if those circumstances were in place, is it possible that we’d have been denied his great mind?"[Hmmm... Barack Obama & Clarence Thomas - I wonder how he settled on those two examples???]
[Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), as reported by Think Progress]
On the other hand, they're really afraid of the White Race losing its dominant position in America:
MADDOW: Why do you think is that of the 110 Supreme Court justices we've had in this country, 108 of them have been white?... Um... Pat... can you think of any reasons African-Americans might not have participated in the country's founding?... something about "three fifths of all other Persons" comes to mind - or did you miss that day in 8th-grade Civics?
BUCHANAN: Well, I think white men were 100 percent of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100 percent of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence, 100 percent of people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Probably close to 100 percent of the people who died at Normandy.
This has been a country built basically by white folks in this country who are 90 percent of the entire nation-in 1960, when I was growing up, Rachel-and the other 10 percent were African-American who had been discriminated against. That's why.
[The Rachel Maddow Show, Thurs, 17 Jul 2009]
... and - for what it's worth - blacks in uniform DID die at Gettysburg & Vicksburg... and Normandy!
[My bet is Uncle Pat isn't all that crazy about the 15th, 19th or 24th Amendments!... and the Golden Age - 1960 - to which Uncle Pat refers was before the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 prohibited so-called "literacy tests" and the 24th Amendment prohibited poll taxes!]
(... finally: does Uncle Pat really believe that W got into Yale and Harvard Biz School based on his SAT and GMAT scores? What promising, qualified white students were denied the Ivy League for W's "legacy" admissions???)
Then we have Brian Kilmeade on Fox and Friends explaining why a Scandinavian medical study is irrelevant to the U.S.:
KILMEADE: We keep marrying other species and other ethnics--Other species??? Ah, yes - the mongrel race we are becoming as a result of miscegenation!
...
The problem is the Swedes have pure genes. They marry other Swedes, that's the rule. Finns marry other Finns; they have a pure society. In America we marry everybody. We will marry Italians and Irish.
You'd think these folks would be simply delighted to federally fund abortions to help control the super-libidinous fecundity of the colored races! - ESPECIALLY abortions for poor colored folks!!!
What's a good Republican to do???
... as if we needed another example
Health reform foes plan Obama's 'Waterloo'
... "I can almost guarantee you this thing won't pass before August, and if we can hold it back until we go home for a month's break in August," members of Congress will hear from "outraged" constituents, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said on the call, which was organized by the group Conservatives for Patients Rights.
...
"If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said.
[reported by Politico.com, 17 July 2009; emphasis added]
All politics, all the time.
Senator DeMint seems to have forgotten that "We the people of the United States" ordained and established the Constitution to
Recall St. Reagan:
For Republicans it's always all politics, all the time.
Forget that the U.S. pays more for health care than any other developed country, but ranks in the bottom half with respect to health care results. [see U.S. Health Care Spending:
Comparison with Other OECD Countries, CRS Report for Congress, Sep 2007]
No - that doesn't matter.
Forget that medical bills are bankrupting folks WITH health insurance.
[Insured ... and broke
Andrea Orr, Economic Policy Institute, 14 July 2009]
No - that doesn't matter.
All that matters is making Obama look bad.
... "I can almost guarantee you this thing won't pass before August, and if we can hold it back until we go home for a month's break in August," members of Congress will hear from "outraged" constituents, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said on the call, which was organized by the group Conservatives for Patients Rights.
...
"If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said.
[reported by Politico.com, 17 July 2009; emphasis added]
All politics, all the time.
Senator DeMint seems to have forgotten that "We the people of the United States" ordained and established the Constitution to
promote the general welfare.But who can blame him.
Recall St. Reagan:
"Government is not the solution, it's the problem."... and 8 years of Republican mis-governance led poor Gov. Jindal to conflate W's incompetent governance with Government in his response to Obama's first State of the Union.
[Inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1981]
For Republicans it's always all politics, all the time.
Forget that the U.S. pays more for health care than any other developed country, but ranks in the bottom half with respect to health care results. [see U.S. Health Care Spending:
Comparison with Other OECD Countries, CRS Report for Congress, Sep 2007]
No - that doesn't matter.
Forget that medical bills are bankrupting folks WITH health insurance.
[Insured ... and broke
Andrea Orr, Economic Policy Institute, 14 July 2009]
No - that doesn't matter.
All that matters is making Obama look bad.
Friday, July 17, 2009
"... and that's the way it was..."
Walter Cronkite, 1916-2009.
Taking over the CBS News anchor desk in 1962 was close to perfect timing. What did he get to tell us about?
- Kennedy assassination
- Civil Rights movement
- moon landing
- Vietnam - both the war & the anti-war movement
- King & RFK assassinations
- Watergate
- the Beatles
... and it was a good time to be in broadcast journalism technologically: the advent of satellite communications, with the microchip just around the corner.
Tho' my memory ain't that great, I don't recall Cronkite - or Huntley/Brinkley, or Reasoner - being either fawning or combative towards the regime. Since I never watch network news today, all I've got for comparison is KO's & BO's shrillness - tho' neither of them really pretends to be a 'journalist'.
For what it's worth, the myth of journalistic objectivity is just that - a myth. For most of the free press's history it has been dominated by parties. Perhaps the mid/late 20th century will stand out to future historians of journalism as an aberration, during which 'news' was supposed by all to be 'objective'.
Simply in choosing which stories to report, which to put on page 1 - or to put at the top of the broadcast - journalists, editors, & producers exercise arbitrary, subjective judgement.
Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite.
Taking over the CBS News anchor desk in 1962 was close to perfect timing. What did he get to tell us about?
- Kennedy assassination
- Civil Rights movement
- moon landing
- Vietnam - both the war & the anti-war movement
- King & RFK assassinations
- Watergate
- the Beatles
... and it was a good time to be in broadcast journalism technologically: the advent of satellite communications, with the microchip just around the corner.
Tho' my memory ain't that great, I don't recall Cronkite - or Huntley/Brinkley, or Reasoner - being either fawning or combative towards the regime. Since I never watch network news today, all I've got for comparison is KO's & BO's shrillness - tho' neither of them really pretends to be a 'journalist'.
For what it's worth, the myth of journalistic objectivity is just that - a myth. For most of the free press's history it has been dominated by parties. Perhaps the mid/late 20th century will stand out to future historians of journalism as an aberration, during which 'news' was supposed by all to be 'objective'.
Simply in choosing which stories to report, which to put on page 1 - or to put at the top of the broadcast - journalists, editors, & producers exercise arbitrary, subjective judgement.
Rest in peace, Mr. Cronkite.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
the conservative mind at work
Buchanan: Well, first, with regard to Levi, I think First Dude up there in Alaska, Todd Palin, ought to take Levi down to the creek and hold his head underwater until the thrashing stops.Good Catholic, anti-abortion guy Buchanan is more than happy to suggest killing someone for saying bad things about Palin.
[from Think Progress]
Why is this always the conservative's response to challenge?
- "Just kill 'em!"
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Will this be enough?
... On the subject of oversight, the report particularly criticizes John Yoo, a deputy assistant attorney general who wrote legal memos defending the policy.
...
The report questioned the legal advice used by Bush to set up the program, pinpointing omissions and questionable legal memos written by Yoo, in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The Justice Department withdrew the memos years ago.
The report says Yoo's analysis approving the program ignored a law designed to restrict the government's authority to conduct electronic surveillance during wartime, and did so without fully notifying Congress. And it said flaws in Yoo's memos later presented "a serious impediment" to recertifying the program.
[Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance; emphasis added]
Will this be enough for UC Berkeley to finally reconsider Yoo's law school tenure???
...
The report questioned the legal advice used by Bush to set up the program, pinpointing omissions and questionable legal memos written by Yoo, in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The Justice Department withdrew the memos years ago.
The report says Yoo's analysis approving the program ignored a law designed to restrict the government's authority to conduct electronic surveillance during wartime, and did so without fully notifying Congress. And it said flaws in Yoo's memos later presented "a serious impediment" to recertifying the program.
[Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance; emphasis added]
Will this be enough for UC Berkeley to finally reconsider Yoo's law school tenure???
There's a name for this
Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance
There's a name for a government that asserts the unlimited right to spy on its citizens, in secret:
There's a name for a government that asserts the unlimited right to spy on its citizens, in secret:
Police State!W: the gift that keeps on giving.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Just for fun
Loyal reader writes:
In fact, I like the idea of "the Buffoon" as "Kurtz"! -
Now: how do I realize that persona via the blog???
Hey, man, you don't talk to the Buffoon. You listen to him. You read him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll, uh, well, you'll say hello to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you, and he won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say do you know that if is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you . . . I mean I'm no, I can't . . . I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's, he's a great man. I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas...Attentive readers will recognize this as Dennis Hopper's rambling tribute to Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) in Apocalpyse Now... with "the Buffoon" replacing "the Colonel".
In fact, I like the idea of "the Buffoon" as "Kurtz"! -
Now: how do I realize that persona via the blog???
eBay currency index
The dollar seems to be rebounding.
eBay item previously listed at around $825 is now at $804.36.
(The price in GBP has been constant: 499.99... once upon a time this was less than $700!)
eBay item previously listed at around $825 is now at $804.36.
(The price in GBP has been constant: 499.99... once upon a time this was less than $700!)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Lazy man's post (health care)
Finally - healthcare is bubbling up in the news.
Here are a couple of my past contributions:
Here are a couple of my past contributions:
Public Service Announcement: U.S. Health Care system... and, NO: I don't want to read any headlines along the lines of "White House caves on public option"!
Highlight:Based on OECD ("Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development") statistics, the report reveals that the U.S. spends more per capita ($6102) than any other of the 30 member countries; more on health care as percentage of GDP (15.3%) than any other of the 30 member countries...
YET: ranks near the bottom on several "outcome" measures, including life-expectancy (22nd of 30), and infant-mortality (28th of 30).
Alone... why???
Highlight:We are the only developed country in the world without universal health coverage.
Why???
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Pointless
My wife and I have a dog & 5 cats.
While the kids were growing up we always had cats, frequent gerbils, lizards, a boa constrictor, a garter snake, and a few dogs.
We like animals.
Many years ago Time Magazine had a cover, Can Animals Think? [22 Mar 1993]
My thought then and now:
While the kids were growing up we always had cats, frequent gerbils, lizards, a boa constrictor, a garter snake, and a few dogs.
We like animals.
Many years ago Time Magazine had a cover, Can Animals Think? [22 Mar 1993]
My thought then and now:
This question was asked by someone who maybe has read about animals in books... but never actually seen one!Yes! Animals can think.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy July 4th (a bit late!)
Your homework: re-read the Declaration of Independence.
Given the recent hysteria regarding immigration, my favorite complaint against George III is:
Given the recent hysteria regarding immigration, my favorite complaint against George III is:
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
Darn!... + again, my inattentiveness proves positive
Palin resigns as Alaska's governor.
Darn! - I'd hoped to have Sarah to kick around in 2012!
... then again, my inattentiveness seems to be reaping rewards.
Back when I posted daily, and read & listened to the news, it was all simply depressing.
Since I've been neglecting events, good things seem to be happening.
... and I - with many other commentators - am waiting for the other shoe to drop. WHY did Palin resign???
Darn! - I'd hoped to have Sarah to kick around in 2012!
... then again, my inattentiveness seems to be reaping rewards.
Back when I posted daily, and read & listened to the news, it was all simply depressing.
Since I've been neglecting events, good things seem to be happening.
... and I - with many other commentators - am waiting for the other shoe to drop. WHY did Palin resign???
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
just for fun... and bragging
70, Girls, 70 had a successful (sold-out) opening weekend...
... including a pretty decent review [login required], from which I quote:
Nevertheless, I'll take it as a compliment.
I'll also take as a compliment the remarks of 5 different people from 2 different performances:
In fact, I do NOT look like Harvey Korman... but my on-stage persona, Harry, apparently does.
I'll credit my amazing acting ability...
(Though 'Harvey Korman' was not what I'd envisioned, I'm more than happy to learn that that's how "Harry" turned out!)
... including a pretty decent review [login required], from which I quote:
"Russ Sype's rubbery, eye-rolling Harry recalls his years of lame on-stage joke-telling."I've never before been described as "rubbery"... a description completely at odds with the stiffness I feel at the end of each performance.
Nevertheless, I'll take it as a compliment.
I'll also take as a compliment the remarks of 5 different people from 2 different performances:
"Has anyone ever told you how much you look like Harvey Korman?"Well... NO!
In fact, I do NOT look like Harvey Korman... but my on-stage persona, Harry, apparently does.
I'll credit my amazing acting ability...
(Though 'Harvey Korman' was not what I'd envisioned, I'm more than happy to learn that that's how "Harry" turned out!)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wow! - I should pay no attention more often!!!
Since I've not been paying attention:
Franken declared winner in MinnesotaMaybe my inattention helps!
(& Coleman concedes)
U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq cities
(followed by jubilation of Iraqis asserting their new-found sovreignty)
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Just curious
When I was in school there was a noticeable focus on Soviet Communism and the Cold War:
Does today's public school curriculum include anything about Saudi Arabia (which controls our oil) or China (the up-and-coming economic power)?
Are Chinese and Arabic offered in high school? - or does 'foreign language' still mean only Spanish, French, and German?
Just asking.
"duck & cover" drills in elementary schoolSo I'm wondering...
(preparing for nuclear attack!)
neighbors building bomb shelters
(ditto)
high school history - AMERICAN history - included a multi-week segment on Soviet Communism... some classes were required to read J. Edgar's Masters of Deceit.
[Fortunately, my history teacher did NOT require us to read this!]
Does today's public school curriculum include anything about Saudi Arabia (which controls our oil) or China (the up-and-coming economic power)?
Are Chinese and Arabic offered in high school? - or does 'foreign language' still mean only Spanish, French, and German?
Just asking.
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