Archive for October, 2008

Resonance

Friday, October 31st, 2008

“History doesn’t repeat itself – at best, it sometimes rhymes.”

I’m not certain what Mark Twain was thinking of when he wrote those words, but I’ve found something that reminds me of that quote. It’s the editorial by John Campbell in the November 1964 issue of Analog.

The editorial is titled, “The Extremist,” and there are a number of places where it seems almost as though Mr. Campbell was writing about the current political situation. The overall point is how little a two-party system does for you if you don’t have a two-philosophy system.

And we don’t, anymore, not really. Most Republicans in office today have positions to the left of many of the Democrats who were in office when I was younger. The default philosophy these days has become “statist” rather than “individualist.” There are still differences between the parties – social issues in many cases, but Democrats don’t trust capitalism much (they tend to sabotage it and then claim the failure as inherent in the system, rather than caused by their actions), and there’s more acrimony and polarization on these issues than what I remember growing up, but, by and large, both parties are proponents of growing and centralizing the influence of government.

The mass media is an accomplice in this because they are left-leaning almost to the point of exclusivity, making them effectively a one-philosophy environment when compared to the American public at large.

Anyway, prefatory remarks dispensed with, the editorial is after the fold. I found that it resonates with the situation in this election, and many other things I’ve read and seen in the past several years, besides. I made mention of some political behavior and the monoculture of the media a couple paragraphs back. Keep that in mind while you read what Mr. Campbell wrote over forty years ago.

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Giant. Bird-eating. Spider.

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Caught in action.

Figured it was appropriate for Halloween.

Let’s compromise and do it my way.

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

“Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan,” said Pelosi.

More bipartisan? I know she can presume that the media won’t call her out on this one, but is Pelosi really that stupid? Does she believe that we are stupid, or does she not care what she says because she knows she can get away with it?

And people wonder why I won’t vote for Democrats any longer.

In case it wasn’t obvious before

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

If Senator Obama’s answer to Joe the Plumber didn’t make it obvious enough, Bill Whittle takes his 2001 NPR interview by the numbers, showing not only that socialism was his viewpoint then, but also the lack of respect this “Constitutional scholar” has for the Constitution itself.

I guess he was lying when he said, “I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution.”

I find it hard to reconcile that declaration with “… but the Supreme Court never entered into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And uh, to that extent, as radical as I think people tried to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution … ” expressed as a regret. (Emphasis added by me.)

I doubt I’m getting my name on a list, given that I’m an obscure blogger who doesn’t concentrate on political matters. After all, I’m not a Joe Wurzelbacher, a radio interviewer, or a television station, or even a student journalist.

Update: A question I’ve seen at a number of sites … given Obama’s feelings about the Constitution, can he take the oath of office in good conscience?

So there we were …

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

Last evening, Marion and I went to see The Drowsy Chaperone at the DCPA. I enjoyed it more than Marion, which may have been because the “Second City” heritage is pretty obvious.

After the performance, we got to my car, and were going to go for a late dessert. Pulling out of the parking lot, though, the feel of working the gearshift was different. I mentioned it to Marion after I’d shifted a couple more times on the way through downtown. I pulled up at the stoplight at 15th and Platte, and was unable to put the car into gear to move out again – there was absolutely no resistance to movement of the shift lever. With the help of a bystander, we got the car around the corner and parked, then we called AAA.

Marion “flicked” the shift lever up and watched it fall back a couple of times. I told her that it happened to every guy sooner or later, which lightened the situation a little bit. Since AAA told us “45 minutes,” we went across the street to My Brother’s Bar. Marion got her dessert, and I had a beer (Kronenbourg 1664). It actually only took about 25 minutes for the tow truck to arrive, and we were able to get a taxi easily. If we’d gone with the tow truck to my mechanic’s garage, we’d probably not have been able to get one. (No, my car is not of German manufacture, but I’ve been going to Joe since about 1981.)

So, I’m currently overstocked on houses and understocked on vehicles. Not the best situation to be in. Could be worse – at least the car was in neutral when this happened. It’s going to put a short-term crimp in my style, though.

The grave is no bar to my call

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

It should have been, though. I know I’d be upset if petty bureaucrats behaved like that to me. I doubt that she’ll get the apology she’s hoping for – after all, they’re just faceless functionaries doing their jobs.

I don’t often do political posts, but …

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

… things that have been bothering me have been piling up:

What’s Obama’s political connection to Kenya and Raila Odinga?

Were you aware that besides being the most liberal member of the Senate, Obama originally reached office in Illinois as a socialist? That makes sense, given his answer to Joe the Plumber. Most people whose comments I’ve seen key on the “spread the wealth” portion of the answer, which definitely shows a socialist viewpoint, but the more telling portion, to me, is the first part, “I don’t want to punish your success, but …” Phrased in that manner, it means to me that Barack Obama recognizes and acknowledges that he is, indeed, planning to punish success.

And the incomparable Bill Whittle talks about Obama’s statement in the second debate that he believes that health care is a right (I’ve linked to Bill’s site, rather than directly to the video – he has many other things worth your time).

By the way, Joe the Plumber (the real one, not the archetype) is now the subject of attacks from Obama supporters. There’s a good roundup of this at Instapundit. And he’s not the only one running afoul of Obama supporters.

Vote fraud is a significant problem in this election. And Democrats in office are doing their part to abet the fraud, even to the extent of appealing to the Supreme Court to be allowed to continue to compromise the election.

I’ll let a lawyer speak to the validity of the recent ethics charges against Sarah Palin.

That’s probably more than enough for now. I know I’ve worked off my irritation to the point that I’m not going to look up any more things to add at this time. And I haven’t even started on Obama’s campaign finance shenanigans!

Got his badass quals

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

No need to requalify for a long time … beating a bear to death with a stick will do that for you.

“Math is hard”

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

But it can be fun. Science is the same way. Here is an archive of e-texts on various subjects. Into the reference blogroll it goes.

Via Steve F. at Daily Pundit.

Halloween Prep

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Time to start thinking about what to carve on the Jack O’Lantern. I’m thinking Iron Man’s helmet might be a good image, but I haven’t decided yet. I don’t have photos of all the ones I’ve done – I’m missing the one I did of Tora from the anime series Ushio to Tora, for one – but here are a couple I did for previous Halloweens:

Maul O’Lantern

MIB O’Lantern