Tag Archives: Main Feed

These are posts worthy of sharing widely. At least to local standards.

A Secular Defense of the 9/11 WTC Cross

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Apparently some atheists are upset that a 9/11 memorial will have the “WTC cross” found in the wreckage of steel girders where the towers had stood.  I am agnostic, but I am not easily offended by displays of religion.  It is a freedom which I feel very well pays its own freight.  I used to be fairly militant in my atheism, but that stance made little sense to me after some years.  How could I be so smug and inflexible on a topic where my whole thesis was that certainty without evidence was unacceptable?

The cross discovered in the smoke and rubble was a powerful symbol to many who served on scene, and was a comfort to those who toiled in the swirling mist of human and architectural … Continue reading →

Humble, Grateful GOP Thanks Tea Party

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From Senator Mitch McConnell’s remarks to the Heritage Foundation November 4, 2010.  Just after the Tea Party delivered the GOP a stunning victory:

Republicans have a plan for following through on the wishes of the American people. It starts with gratitude and a certain humility for the task we’ve been handed. It means sticking ever more closely to the conservative principles that got us here. It means learning the lessons of history. And, above all, it means listening to the people who sent us here.

[pullquote]So we renewed our commitment to our core principles — win, lose, or draw.[/pullquote]

While the media was still groping to define the 2008 election, Republicans were taking stock. We knew the principles that had made our party great were the same principles … Continue reading →

"Cut, Cap, Balance" A Bunch of Unicorn Poop

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[Update: 19JUL2011: Cut Cap and Balance is going for a vote as early as today, in the House. I support it fully. I am pleased with the fight so far shown by the Speaker and the Leader, and while I do not agree with everything, I can hardly make that my condition for support. We must offer support whenever possible, and be blunt about when we feel support is not possible. I sincerely think that efforts such as refusing to “sign any more damned pledges” makes for a more attentive GOP and a Republican presence worth defending and expanding in Washington. Who knows: they might even pull off the cut and the cap this time. I might justsign the next pledge, if they can manage not to … Continue reading →

Obama's Sophisticated Military/Political Strategy

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Unfortunately, the target is “generic Republican”, and the timeframe is next year’s election. This miserable campaign speech masquerading as a military announcement is a signal to his base and to the rest of the world that the only enemy he will commit to fight is Republicans. Assad? Fine. Taliban? Fine. Ahmadinejad? You kidding? He’ll call me names in the UN! No, no, no, let me be clear. We’re outta here.

Moron Democrats have no concept of honor or victory. They are seized with, possessed by, a retarded concept of balance wherein we should never win but always tie, there is no right and wrong, and good news should be met with the punishment of those who achieved it.
I don’t know who will run Afghanistan next, but … Continue reading →

Constitutional Law I: Could the President be held in contempt?

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Why here’s an interesting blog post, which you might stumble across if you were oh, say, searching for it.

The short answer is yes, but there are a few different steps to the relevant analysis…

via Constitutional Law I: Could the President be held in contempt?.

This post is actually from 2008, but no less apropos for its age.  Read the whole thing.

Retailer told to stay mum about radiation level in tea | Kyodo News

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This is the sort of thing I’m talking about.  The reflexive ass-covering motion of any organization is not very actively resisted in Japan, as it threatens “harmony”.

A prefectural official told Radishbo-ya Co., after the retailer made a query to the local government Monday, not to disclose the finding for a while on fears that the message could cause unwarranted harm to Shizuoka tea growers, adding that the prefecture would confirm it on its own, the firm said.

via Retailer told to stay mum about radiation level in tea | Kyodo News.

Look at how flimsy the justification for the requested silence is.   This is the approach of an organization whose pro forma justification are typically accepted–no real effort required, nothing unusual about being asked to … Continue reading →

Fury in Japan

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If you think the reactors are glowing hot and about to blow, wait until you see the parents.

Japanese society may well be transformed by fallout, both radiological and political, from the multiple disasters centered upon the dying Fukushima nuclear powerplant.

For two months, the children at the Soramame Children’s House, a day care center about 37 miles from the stricken plant, spent their days indoors, windows sealed shut to keep out radiation, their favorite buckets and spades contaminated and strictly off limits.

But when the local authorities made no effort to decontaminate the area, caregivers took matters into their own hands. On the advice of local environmental groups — they said local officials had none to give — a group of parents and teachers donned makeshift protective … Continue reading →

The Needling and the Damage Done: A Pocket Analysis of Obama's Middle East Speech

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The speech has been analyzed by professionals and overtaken by events, but a few points remain to be examined.

The speech delivered by President Obama on 19 May 2011 was a weak response to events beyond his control or understanding.  The two goals seem to have been to claim credit for Bush’s accomplishments and ideals even while denigrating both Bush and his ideals, and to earn passage on the middle-east bandwagon by throwing Israel under it.
For a supposedly outward-focused address, it is a remarkably self-regarding tactical move.

Stealing Valor

This was an attempt to airbrush away two years of his administration’s foreign policy failures.  A secondary goal is to sandblast Bush’s name off of the undeniable successes in the region.  The combined effect is to erase … Continue reading →

Obama Tanks Toast to Queen of England; Painful, Awkward, Embarrassing

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My Toast will go on

President Obama, bless his heart, tries to do the right thing, but makes an awful mess of it.  He inadvertently cued the band when he began his toast “To Her Majesty, the Queen”, and then paused, and it all went downhill from there.

Some feel (see comments on the video) that the Queen “snubbed” the President, when in fact, what she did was contain the damage.   She’s not isolating him; he’s doing that all by himself.

That’s the Queen’s house–you study up before you go there. Besides which, if she had suddenly begun improvising responses to the President’s mis-steps, that would have propagated the error until nobody knew what to do. These things are scripted, and a guest worth his salt … Continue reading →