Trip to the USS Ronald Reagan

Interesting account of a civilian's visit to an active aircraft carrier. Lots of pictures.

Three blind mice and a picture pirate

Happy Last Week. :-)

Putting the Brakes on Bush nostalgia

Have to agree with this.

His candor, decency, self-effacement, and clear love of country stand in stark contrast to the current antagonist-in-chief at the White House

BUT (and yes, that's a BIG BUT)

The problem, of course, is that Bush nostalgia is indelibly marred by his disastrous domestic policy legacy of big government, big spending, and betrayal of core fiscal principles — the very impetus for the Tea Party movement upon which he now heaps glowing praise.

I never loved GWB, but I found him presidential and I always felt that his heart was in the right place. I know many (MANY) will disagree, but that was my impression, and I continue to feel that way.
I tried, after he was inaugurated, to like President Obama. I remember hoping as I watched the swearing in that he would govern more or less as he campaigned, that is as more of a moderate than his history suggested was his inclination. I was disappointed.
Regardless, Bush was a disaster on the domestic front and only looks at all moderate by comparison with his successor.

Deep analysis of the current political climate

From here.

AMERICANS: "So, the economy is pretty bad and there's high employment. You think you can do something about that?"

DEMOCRATS AND OBAMA: "We can spend a trillion dollars we don't have on pork and stuff."

AMERICANS: "No … that's not what we want. We'd really like you not to do that."

DEMOCRATS: "You're stupid. We're doing it anyway."

AMERICANS: "That's not going to help us get jobs!"

DEMOCRATS: "Sure it will; millions of them … though they may be invisible. You'll have to trust us they exist. And guess what else we'll do: We'll create a giant new government program to take over health care."

AMERICANS: "That has nothing to do with jobs!"

DEMOCRATS: "We don't care about that anymore. We really want a giant new health care program. We're sure you'll love it."

AMERICANS: "Don't pass that bill. You hear me? Absolutely do not pass that bill."

DEMOCRATS: "Believe me; you'll love it. It has … well, I don't know what exactly is in the bill, but we're sure it's great."

AMERICANS: "Listen to me: DO. NOT. PASS. THAT. BILL."

DEMOCRATS: "You're not the boss of me! We're doing it anyway!"

AMERICANS: "Look what you did! Now the economy is way worse, we're even deeper in debt, and we have a bunch of new laws we don't want!"

DEMOCRATS: "You're racist."

AMERICANS: "Wha … How is that racist?"

DEMOCRATS: "Now you're getting violent! Stop being violent and racist, you ignorant hillbillies! And remember to vote Democrat in November."

Interesting analysis of Obamacare

This is old, but I hadn't seen it before. A retired constitutional lawyer read one of the early drafts of Obamacare and commented. Some of it's more than a little scary.
I'm not sure how much of what he read was in the bill that was passed, but it's scary enough that it was ever proposed.
Take a look.

What's happening to the American dream ...

One problem illustrated.

Invitation to view tom's Picasa Web Album - 2010 State Fair

You are invited to view tom's photo album: 2010 State Fair 2010 State Fair Sep 5, 2010 by tom View Album Play slideshow Message from tom: Pix from the State Fair If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=tomclements&target=ALBUM&id=5523834228479480625&authkey=Gv1sRgCJv9qtuiv6Lu7gE&invite=COXHy8YJ&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

heh

Lifted straight from Instapundit:

"This week, President Obama called for the hiring of 10,000 new teachers to beef up math and science achievement. Meanwhile, in America, Earth, Sol-System, public school employment has grown 10 times faster than enrollment for 40 years (see chart), while achievement at the end of high school has stagnated in math and declined in science (see other chart).

Either the president is badly misinformed about our education system or he thinks that promising to hire another 10,000 teachers union members is politically advantageous–in which case he would seem to be badly misinformed about the present political climate. Or he lives in an alternate universe in which Kirk and Spock have facial hair and government monopolies are efficient. It's hard to say."

(original piece here.) 

Stoicism - an old idea is new again

A new book argues that some ancient Greek philosophers were onto something with their ideas about seeking

a life of "tranquility," meaning a life free of "anger, anxiety, fear, grief, and envy."

 

For everyone who complains

that Bush should have been more on the hot seat for the expansion of government under his watch: "Point taken."

On the other hand, throughout most of Bush's presidencies I just kept telling myself - "Thank heavens Gore(Kerry) didn't win."

I think that would have been worse.

And it doesn't mean that Obama should get a pass for going exponential on the path that Bush went down.

James Lileks from this date in 2003

It's worth reading ...

You'll shoot your eye out,

kid.

The facts about effective learning.

Essentially - mix it up.

For instance, many study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take their work. The research finds just the opposite.

and

Varying the type of material studied in a single sitting — alternating, for example, among vocabulary, reading and speaking in a new language — seems to leave a deeper impression on the brain than does concentrating on just one skill at a time. Musicians have known this for years, and their practice sessions often include a mix of scales, musical pieces and rhythmic work. Many athletes, too, routinely mix their workouts with strength, speed and skill drills. 

Also, different "learning styles"? False.

"Student traits and teaching styles surely interact; so do personalities and at-home rules. The trouble is, no one can predict how."

and

"The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing," the researchers concluded. 

Do Americans hate Muslims?

Actions speak louder than words ...

Bedbugs, mosquitoes, political correctness and insecticides

New Yorkers have annoying bedbugs; Africans have deadly mosquitoes.

Where are these angels?

Milton Friedman on the Phil Donahue show from 1979.
Fantastic discussion of basic economics and why free markets work. I especially like the way Friedman punctures everyone of Donahue's anti-capitalist assumptions.
One thing that strikes me is how much time Friedman is given to talk. I don't watch much TV - at least not many talk shows - but my perception is that a guest today never gets so much time to speak and develop ideas without being talked over or interrupted by the host(s).

The ruling class ...

Demublican or Reprocrat - makes no never mind if you're the right people.
The Tea Party is a reaction to this more than anything - the idea that our representatives don't.

When pollsters ask the American people whether they are likely to vote Republican or Democrat in the next presidential election, Republicans win growing pluralities. But whenever pollsters add the preferences "undecided," "none of the above," or "tea party," these win handily, the Democrats come in second, and the Republicans trail far behind. That is because while most of the voters who call themselves Democrats say that Democratic officials represent them well, only a fourth of the voters who identify themselves as Republicans tell pollsters that Republican officeholders represent them well. Hence officeholders, Democrats and Republicans, gladden the hearts of some one-third of the electorate -- most Democratic voters, plus a few Republicans. This means that Democratic politicians are the ruling class's prime legitimate representatives and that because Republican politicians are supported by only a fourth of their voters while the rest vote for them reluctantly, most are aspirants for a junior role in the ruling class. In short, the ruling class has a party, the Democrats. But some two-thirds of Americans -- a few Democratic voters, most Republican voters, and all independents -- lack a vehicle in electoral politics.

This is a terrific piece.

ya think?

It does seem that the President was inadequately vetted pre-election. So we're doing the vetting now, instead, which is somewhat more expensive.

indeed

That explains it ...

illegally voting felons MAYBE put Franken over the top.

Going to Hell in a handbasket

Or ... maybe not.

When I was a student, in the 1970s, the world was coming to an end. The adults told me so. They said the population explosion was unstoppable, mass famine was imminent, a cancer epidemic caused by chemicals in the environment was beginning, the Sahara desert was advancing by a mile a year, the ice age was retuning, oil was running out, air pollution was choking us and nuclear winter would finish us off.

...

I began to pay attention and a few years ago I started to research a book on the subject. I was astounded by what I discovered. Global per capita income, corrected for inflation, had trebled in my lifetime, life expectancy had increased by one third, child mortality had fallen by two-thirds, the population growth rate had halved. More people had got out of poverty than in all of human history before. When I was born, 36% of Americans had air conditioning. Today 79% of Americans below the poverty line had air conditioning. The emissions of pollutants from a car were down by 98%. The time you had to work on the average wage to buy an hour of artificial light to read by was down from 8 seconds to half a second.

Not only are human beings wealthier, they are also healthier, wiser, happier, more tolerant, less violent, more equal. Check it out - the data is clear. Yet if anything the pessimists had only grown more certain, shrill and apocalyptic. We were facing the `end of nature', the `coming anarchy', a `stolen future', our `final century' and a climate catastrophe. Why, I began to wonder did the failure of previous predictions have so little impact on this litany?