Paris, Religion, Money and Temperature

Why Scientists Disagree about Global Warming | Watts Up With That?:

The linked article is to a new book by three PHDs that points out what the disagreement on AGW (Anthropogenic ("Human Caused") Global Warming) is and why. In summary:

The authors point to four reasons why scientists disagree about global warming: a conflict among scientists in different and often competing disciplines; fundamental scientific uncertainties concerning how the global climate responds to the human presence; failure of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide objective guidance to the complex science; and bias among researchers.

To a normal person, saddled with the burdens of reason and common sense, such conclusions appear obvious, inescapable even. To AGW believers however, the existence of such a book is immediate cause for anger, and quite possibly criminal proceedings to be taken up against the authors. AGW is a religion ... a very dogmatic and jealous one (thou shalt serve no god but government and AGW is it's holy word!).  It proves it's religious vs scientific credentials by falsely (and constantly) asserting the provably bogus religious claim that "97% of scientists agree". (science doesn't make "x% of people" claims, because it relies on experiment not opinion)

The main argument against the book from AGW will no doubt be that it is funded by "The Heartland Institute", a think tank dedicated to finding and implementing free market solutions to problems. Just their mission statement is enough for "The Party" (TP-D) and their media minions to break out the torches and pitchforks for a good witchhunt! Such groups are EVIL first because of the apostasy of claiming that a market might be better than central planning and control for achieving results!  Much like AGW, this has been PROVEN wrong! (see, N Korea is more successful than S Korea, and E Germany was WAY better than W Germany prior to the wall coming down -- oh, and the USSR was so darn successful that ... well, you have to BELIEVE to understand it! )

On top of this, Heartland is FUNDED BY CORPORATIONS! See The New York Times, CBS, NBC, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, etc, might actually BE corporations, have documents that claim they are corporations, etc, but they are just, moral, pure and most of all "Wholly Approved by TP!". They are "good guys" ... white hats, halos, etc.

Heartland is an evil NGO, meaning NON Government Organization! See, the billions of dollars that flow from GOVERNMENTS are like mothers milk ... pure, wholesome completely immune to causing any "bias" on the part of those that receive it! The taking of money by force from evil corporations, "the rich", or printing it on the holy government printing press (counterfeiting)  has the effect of sanctifying it (making it pure, or "laundering" it in coarser terms).

Once sanctified, this holy government money (Batman)! ... has no influence on those that receive it! So they remain completely pure in their "science", having no motivation whatsoever to arrive at conclusions that support increased government funding or adding power to the climate change industry! Note, there are many "corporations" in that industry (Solyndra comes to mind) as well, but just as the left wing media, they too have received the miracle of government sanctification!

This week, the college of climate cardinals is meeting in Paris to decree a new encyclical on temperature. As we know, his Stenchfulness BO has decreed that warming is "THE BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING THE PLANET!" ... yea verily, hubba hubba.

Choose ye which religion you follow, but know thee that no matter how much the oceans rise (or don't) in a century or millennium, the AGW religion will be of no import to you whatsoever when those days come to pass! Even the malodorousness of BO will no longer pollute this mortal plane in those days. Praise be to God!

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Nativists -- Strangers In A Strange Land

http://www.wsj.com/articles/stranger-than-fiction-1448303912

The linked article dissects this article, which attempts to make the case that Trump is "all about nativism", people that feel that they are "strangers in their own country", BECAUSE, they are racist Republicans.

The main linked article from "Best of the Web" at WSJ gives the lie to that right off, as any of us could using various people writing that "they felt like strangers in their own country" when Republicans took over the House in '94, when we invaded Iraq, when a mother that lost a son in Iraq is faced with someone who is against the war and thinks it is a "failure" to lose a son in Iraq. We could go on ... plenty of folks felt like this was no longer "their country" when  Reagan was elected and re-elected, same with W.

So,  it MIGHT be that Republicans feel more alienated because there is a hyper partisan far left wing guy in the White House that is CONSTANTLY maligning anyone who disagrees with him in as noxious a manner as he can ... the example from the article:

Inasmuch as such sentiments have political content, it’s hardly surprising that Republicans would feel them more keenly right now, when an especially partisan Democrat occupies the White House. Headline from the Hill yesterday: “Obama Says GOP Doing the Terrorists’ Work for Them.” When the president accuses you of being in league with America’s enemies, you might feel like a stranger in your own country for reasons having nothing to do with immigration.

Ya think?

The point here is that Trump is certainly appealing to the DISAFFECTED -- and there is no shortage of those. Sure, some of them may be racist, but the polling of the article BoW takes apart here certainly doesn't give any evidence of it!

Why do **I** feel I'm a stranger in this area of N America that used to be my country?

• No more "American Dream" or even any thought of what such a thing would even be. What is it that is "special" (let alone "exceptional")  about this area of N America today?
• America is no longer "#1" in anything (other than debt) ... and is sinking rapidly in everything. 
• No space program, can't put a man in space anymore ... big deal to me. 
• gay "marriage", BOcare, stagnant bad economy for 7 years
• "Black Lives Matter" ... but police lives, unborn lives, Christian Lives, White Lives, etc do NOT! 

We could keep going, but I'm not so sure there even is any "country" to believe that you are part of anymore. 

The Regensburg Lecture, Benedict / Schall, Book

http://www.amazon.com/The-Regensburg-Lecture-James-Schall/dp/1587316951

I first read this book in February of 2013 and read it again in the face of attempts by Muslims, media, Obama and others to claim that "Islamic terrorism is not Islamic" after Paris.

Such claims of course fly directly in the face of history, the Koran, Islamic tradition, and numerous events and discussions, including the response to Pope Benedict's Regensburg lecture covered in this book, which I consider to be extremely important for the trinity of faith, reason, and truth in our time -- both relative to Islam and secular attacks on that holy trinity of meaning.

The proximate reason that the political left and Islam reacted to the speech was Benedict's use of a QUOTE from a 14th century dialogue between Byzantine Christian emperor Manuel II Paleologus and a Persian scholar relative to violence in Islam which reads:

“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,”

That was a QUOTE, used to point out that violence being associated with Islam is very old -- as old as Islam actually, and that there are many verses in Islamic texts, especially LATER ones that indicate that use of violence against "infidels" is actually commanded by Islam in a number of cases. The "religion of peace" only becomes operative when the entire world is unified in an Islamic Caliphate under Sharia Law in the most recent Islamic texts .... some of the oldest ones are less violent, because at that time Mohammad was powerless to act militarily.

As is often the case -- as in the Charlie Hebdo killings, the Danish Cartoon killings, etc, ... after the Pope's lecture, churches in the West Bank were attacked, an Italian nun was killed in Somalia and a priest was beheaded in Iraq. "Moderate Muslims" claimed to be terribly offended (with the Pope, not the violence), and many on the left were offended as well -- as Kerry intimated after Paris, even he -- and Obama who declared that "the future does not belong to those who slander the prophet", find such attacks and certainly "outrage" to be as Kerry put it "legitimate".

The alignment of the left and Islam is not accidental from the point of view of the book.

Moreover it is a difficult thing to understand, state, and accept the truth, however much these efforts constitute the real purpose of our minds. We can see both in our revelational and in our philosophic traditions that truth is not always or even often accepted and kept. But truth is never rejected without proposing a counter-theory or proof that would justify this rejection. That is, we can ironically not be "unreasonable" without, at the same time, being reasonable, without giving reasons for our deviation from reason. Such counter theories in the form of ideologies or myths, become themselves aspects of understanding the whole truth about something. To understand truth, it is necessary to understand the plausible errors surrounding it and arguments against it. 

As Benedict pointed out in the lecture, Islam teaches that God is not bound by rationality ... unlike the Christian God, the God of Islam is NOT a "God of order". So Islam, like much modern thought rejects reason in favor of "other means" -- whatever those may be!

“God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality.”

This is much the same as modern leftist liberal thought -- "post modern", "deconstructivist" which find the idea of "truth" to be no longer operative -- the truth is VERY relative, and in fact can be pretty much whatever the left decides it to be. Clearly, without truth, there is no reason -- and there is no consistency, and THAT is exactly the kind of universe that the Islamic god rules over -- and strangely, where the modern US left lives in as well!

The lecture points out, what Socrates said to Phaedo on the loss of truth --  "It would be easily understandable if someone became so annoyed at all these false notions that for the rest of his life he despised and mocked all talk about being -- but in this way he would be deprived of the truth of existence and suffer great loss".

The lecture itself is not very long, but it is very deep. The essence of the Catholic Faith the synthesis of the Greek Mind with Christian Revelation, through Augustine and Aquinas.  The assertion is that has been happening since the Enlightenment and Reformation is the "de-Hellenization" of faith -- which Benedict argues is destroying the university and civilization with it. This de-Hellenization  is in danger of converting Protestant Christianity to being "irrational", as the secular and Islamic worlds are forced to be since they lack the "logos" (Christ ... logic, reason).

We are vulnerable to the illogic of Islam because we have lost our spiritual Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), and our intellectual trinity "Faith (revelation/insight), Reason and Truth".

It is a VERY worthy read -- and re-read a few times. The whole book is only 160 pages, and the lecture itself is only SIXTEEN! They are however "a bit high octane" -- maybe like trading in your glass of beer for a glass of 190 proof Everclear!

Minneapolis -- Met All Demands, Still Demanding

Hodges, Ellison call for an end to 4th Precinct protests:

Used to do a lot of phone calls with a woman that quieted down here little dog by giving it a treat when it started barking when she was on the phone. Guess what. The dog started barking every time she was on the phone! Imagine that

So Mayor Betsy Hodges up in Minneapolis has met all the Black Lives Matter protesters demands -- but guess what, they still have more demands and continue to occupy the 4th Precinct! Imagine that! Give them everything they want and they want more.

She went on to say the city has met all the demands the group has made -- even as they continue to be posed. 

A federal investigation was launched into the death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark, who was shot and killed by police, the identities of the officers involved in the shooting were released, grief counseling was made available to witnesses of the shooting and an investigation has been called into any civil rights issues that may have occurred. 

"Many people have done a great deal to be responsive to the requests and the demands that are on the table," she said. "Even so, we know there's more to be done."
Hodges said she does not have a deadline for protesters to leave.

Met all the demands ... would really like the protesters to stop occupying the 4th Precinct, but doesn't have a deadline. Must be leadership school from BO ... doesn't like ISIS but has no strategy to deal with them, wants Assad to leave, but has no deadline or strategy there either. Met all Iran's demands, not sure why they seem to keep arming terrorists and saying "Death to America".

I may just be unlucky, but every time I've put MPR on the last couple weeks it is all Minneapolis shooting / protesters / NAACP all the time.

Wow, we gave them everything they wanted and they just want more and don't want to do anything we want them to do!

For the liberal brain, this is all so confusing!
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Fauxahontis Brave Squaw Warrior

The very bitter debate over Planned Parenthood, in 6 moments - The Washington Post:

Pronounced "Fo-ca-hontis"!

The Colorado shooting is just the latest excuse from the left to use their main argument on killing babies at whatever age they see fit ... SHUT UP (the polite version), more generally SHUT THE F**K UP!

Why oh why is it that conservatives just can't get that "argument" through their heads?

The legislation was "just one more piece of a deliberate, methodical, orchestrated, right-wing attack on women's rights. And I'm sick and tired of it," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) says after the vote, according to Reuters. "... I want to say to my Republican colleagues, the year is 2015, not 1955 and not 1895."

Fauxahontis heap pissed off! She brave squaw warrior ... gettum white male baby scalp! Sell parts, get much wampum!

Anyone not wanting to have their tax dollars fund the mass murder of 50+ million babies is stuck in "1895".  Why not "1941?" That was the peak year of the German Holocaust ... they did a mere 6 million, we are headed quickly to 10x that number! Who says "progressives" don't make "progress"!

Not even the most ardent gun rights supporter really expects the government to buy them their gun (like they do in Switzerland), but abortion supporters have the moral certainty that demands that their opponents provide them FREE ABORTIONS! ... if not via Federal funding of Planned Parenthood, then via BOcare or some other means. (and they demand they be QUIET while they fund them!)

You WILL agree with their position and you WILL assist them in carrying out their murder, parts selling, or whatever they want! What part of POWER do you fail to understand?  If they happen to have the wine and salad covered in the "cost" of the baby parts (wink, wink, nod, nod) ... well, they might "apologize" if they are videotaped! ... because they are really nice, and anyone that opposes them is ..., well, in their own words.

"The folks behind this are part of the most militant wing of the antiabortion movement that has been behind the bombing of clinics, the murder of doctors in their homes and in their churches."

Damn, abortionists and parts sellers are such nice folks, and they never argue with any "bitterness" ... they just want to save that baby from a painful life! (being born will make you cry, so we are kind and rather you die ...) Oh, and do I need to remind you, you **WILL** SHUT UP! Because you not shutting up makes this SETTLED ISSUE "bitter". Why are "liberals" forced to resort to totalitarian suppression measures when people are too stupid and obstinate to bow to what the "liberals" have decided is SETTLED AND RIGHT?

Because the stupid and obstinate people that want a child to be safe in it's mother's womb just refuse to SHUT UP! Some of them even claim it is for "religious reasons" ... how quaint! Don't they realize we have STRICT separation of church and state? The fools! They WILL send their tax dollars to pay for abortions, and they WILL shut up! Doesn't the taking of their taxes by force clue them in that we MUST use force to shut them up if they continue to refuse to "listen to reason"?

I can see the "hate speech" cummin,
It's cummin round the bend, ...

Oh ... Black Lives matter chanting about killing cops and then cops being killed? Why do you ask? Completely different issue ... did you get the mistaken idea that the left cared about consistency?

Silly conservatives! They need to get it through their thick skulls that once consistency is removed, "reason" is SO much more "reasonable"! ... can I pour you some more cabernet?

Oh so civil ...

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Reflections On Starr, Favre, Loss To Bears

http://www.startribune.com/green-bay-packers-fans-not-taking-thanksgiving-loss-to-bears-well/355900641/

For 90% of WI the only other team that matters is the hated Bears! GB has been playing them since Ft Snelling was the biggest thing at the confluence of MN and Mississippi rivers. Lots of Packer Fans had high hopes to even the million game series ... but not to be. The Strib article is like the girl the guy never noticed feeling all puffed up because he got dumped by the class vixen for most WI fans ... I'm different, I live here and have for nearly 40 years.

Seeing the two SB winning HOF QBs on the field at the half and the other on the field in a losing effort was less than perfect, and fortunately and unfortunately, GB fans have had so much success that many are definitely spoiled. Even storied Chicago only has one Lombardi ... and McMahon doesn't' really have the stature of Favre or Starr in the QB ranks.

The "can't score in the red-zone" goes back to the end of last year -- had we been able to do so, there would nearly certainly have been another trophy in GB. Had Seattle been able to do so after they beat us, it would be in Seattle.

I thought the issue was Rogers mobility at end of last year. Now, as an old O lineman, I blame the O-line losing the battle frequently, and almost never moving the opposing D back down the field -- but there is no doubt there is also a receiver - Rodgers issue or issues.

IMHO, fans need to appreciate how high the level of competition is in the NFL and how truly impressive it is to win ANY Superbowls, let alone back to back or numbers over a lot of years. If you have ANY weakness in the NFL, it WILL be exploited -- and that is how it should be. One might THINK that Vikings fans and their newspapers would get that REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY well ( note the FOUR REALLYS) ... but apparently not!

The Lombardi / Starr Pack was one of the historical great dominant teams -- and because they were the first in the SB era, they hold a special place and always will. Dallas, SF, Steelers and now the Patriots are certainly in that class and likely better (more dominance in tougher era). Neither the Favre Pack nor the Rodgers Pack has reached that level -- but naturally, fans can always hope -- and struggles like the last 5 weeks show that it will take a MIRACLE at this point for this team to make it to the top this year. 

Naturally, the pure fan part of me really hopes for a miracle -- maybe it is named Jeff Janis? He has had a couple of major runbacks and a few routes that looked good. Being a Packer Fan means never giving up! 

My memory is too good to get way carried away with wistfulness for Favre. Yeah, I loved the "gunslinger" ... but part of it is was that I expected that as he aged, he would mature and force in a low percentage pass ONLY on downs where it made sense -- 3rd downs when not in FG range, rather than first play from scrimmage in OT in a divisional playoff! 

Had Favre been able to tame the interception demon, GB would likely have beaten Denver in the 2nd SB ( he threw one that put Denver in position to go ahead, which they did), and who knows what else ... the Eagles game in 2002 was nearly as bad as last years Seattle game. **ALL** they needed to do was stop THE 4TH AND 26! ... a play so infamous it has it's own Wikipedia page! ... stop that and Favre never has to go out and throw the infamous 1st down duck in OT! 

That is the past. What the heck they need to do in the PRESENT is the greatest mystery of my football fandom. Ever since Favre, the Pack has always had a potent pass attack ... heck, they put up massive numbers against Detroit in 2012 with Matt Flynn playing rather than Rodgers -- in fact, he holds the single game passing record for the team with 480! It seemed that you could plug darned near any receiver into the Green Bay system and passing yards were pretty much a GIVEN! 

Until now ... broken routes, worst number of dropped passes in the league, INCREDIBLE ... "looked good in practice" seems to be the mantra since the first 3 games of the year. The O went bad in SF, and they have been basically bad (compared to normal FOR THEM) since. 

I suppose I could keep writing, but I doubt I'm shedding any light on anything even in my own mind. 

It is STILL great to be a Packer Fan ... there are really no other teams with anything like the history of the Pack, and the last nearly quarter century since Favre arrived has been pretty darned good as well. It is a DAMNED SHAME that GB couldn't punch it in from the 8 yard line and win that game with Starr and Favre in attendance, but it is what it is. Being grateful for what **IS** an often difficult but very worthy lesson! 

Abortionist Lives Matter, Colorado

GOP candidates condemn Planned Parenthood shooting but dismiss link to antiabortion rhetoric - The Washington Post:

Look into the eyes of the Colorado Planned Parenthood shooter and the predominant thing you see is the same thing you see in most of the mass shooters eyes of this day and age -- insanity. It is unsurprising because insanity is really the only consistent element in the modern Statist directed narrative.

Abortion may well be the root of at least a major part of the loss of sanity and it's close friends reason and consistency. We certainly know that the lives of the most innocent of all -- babes, that used to be "safe in their mother's womb",  DON'T MATTER to the tune of 50+ million of them, with their body parts being sold over wine and salad.

The abortionists lives however DO MATTER -- so much that videos of babies that might live outside the womb being dismembered alive for their parts need to be suppressed, because they may "set someone off".

In Roseburg Oregon we have a shooter as black as Obama (Obama's mother was white, father was black. Shooter's father was white, mother was black). Strangely, the race of the shooter was barely mentioned -- neither was the fact that the shooter singled out Christians.  Very little was said of this at all, and in many cases it was "softened" to being "he was against organized religion", or "he was troubled".  Indeed, and the PP Colorado shooter was not?

How frequently do we hear about how "hateful, hypocritical, etc" Christians are for not supporting gay "marriage", maybe in some cases not supporting Syrian refugees (although that case is pretty much just an extrapolation from the stereotype of "Red States being Christian", etc.

We see that many cases of anti-Christian rhetoric from all sorts of groups in the US is not linked in the least to a shooter in Oregon that EXPLICITLY selected Christians -- therefore we know that Christian lives DON'T MATTER.

We have covered the Black Lives before -- the ONLY case when they matter is when they are shot by police. There are big demonstrations in Chicago over a police shooting now -- not so much over gang bangers killing a 9 year old boy. Innocent lives tend to matter less and less -- the more innocent, the less they matter.

If you are high on PCP, breaking into trucks and carrying a knife and resisting arrest, you are NOT "innocent" -- it may not deserve to be shot and killed, but you are a LONG way from "innocent". Same thing up in the cities -- if you beat your girlfriend bloody, decide to interfere with the paramedics so they call the cops and then resist arrest, you are NOT INNOCENT ... again, you being shot may not be what you "deserve", but you deserved it much more than a 9 year old boy or a baby in it's mother's womb.  Making innocence murky is a consistent part of evil.

Besides, I'm guessing they don't make deals to sell the body parts of young black men shot by the police over salad and wine -- I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Just to be clear -- if the insane guy in Colorado really was targeting people because of abortion, he was wrong to do so. To a Christian, ALL LIVES MATTER -- eternally!

The insanity is that a culture can start explicitly deciding that some lives matter not in the least -- as in babies in the womb. They may be killed for convenience and their parts sold, and anyone that questions that is going to be called out as almost an accessory to murder if some nut happens to kill an abortionist. The babies lives matter so little that protecting them can't even be DISCUSSED, lest some abortionist be injured or killed.

Meanwhile, people can be marching down streets saying "What do we want, DEAD COPS!" or "Pigs in a blanket, Fry-em like bacon!" and there is no connection whatsoever according to the media and the left when a cop gets killed in cold blood. It drops off the news in a day.

When it comes to life, the gross inconsistency of the left wing ideology is corrosively corruptive. It eats through morality and reason like acid through metal -- leaving behind the putrid sludge of evil insanity.

We live in the land of consistent unreasoning insanity.

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Keeping US Comforatble At End

Experts Say Best Option Now Is Keeping Nation As Comfortable As Possible Till End:



OK, it is the Onion ... but it is worth reflecting on a bit.

WASHINGTON—Saying there were no other options remaining and that continued intervention would only prolong the nation’s suffering, experts concluded Tuesday that the best course of action is to keep the United States as comfortable as possible until the end.

That is what America is about these days, right? Comfort, ease, security, entertainment, feeling good about ourselves ...



Since I'm a broken record on the Moon Landing, I really liked this section:

“We just need to remember all the good times we had,” Fischer continued. “Like the moon landing—that was really nice, wasn’t it?” 

Many of those with close ties to the United States said they were having difficulty coming to terms with the country’s imminent passing, but that letting it go peacefully was ultimately for the best. 

“At one point, I would’ve done anything if it meant having America around for just a little longer, but I can’t watch it slowly waste away like this anymore,” said Tampa, FL resident Kathy Muniz, adding that it “breaks [her] heart” when she sees how hard the U.S. struggles to put on a brave face and pretend that everything is fine. “The kindest thing now is to just do what we can to keep the nation’s spirits up while nature takes its course.”

“Really, I think any country in America’s position would want the same,” Muniz added.

It seems like this may be the best theme for elections in 2016 ... Trump vs Sanders, get this over in a hurry!



One way or another!



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Spying On Iowa Shed

My set of readers is small enough that I'm trying an experiment. If you go to ip address 69.66.197.8:81 and use ID "guest" and PASSWORD "xyz", you may be able to bring up something like the following. It's a Dlink DCS-5010L if that helps.

Since it is unoccupied most of the time, in general you should see nothing too interesting, but if you have the proper technical inclination, camera viewer software, or are just handy with browsers and such, you can even move the camera around. It is IR, so things show up ghostly at night. The main purpose is to be able to read the big thermometer on the wall pretty must usually "dead ahead" of the camera to make sure that the place isn't freezing up ... but I like playing with internet cameras. I have a couple around the house here as well so I can look in on my kitties, get e-mail if there is motion around my gun safe, etc. 

My plan is to remember to kill the "guest" connection when we are down there as a public service -- seeing me running around in my undies would be hard to unsee! 

The connection down there is DSL, so I'm pretty sure the IP will stay fixed ... I did set up a remote Dynamic DNS URL ... "lakeplace.from-ia.com", that ought to work as well, but it has failed me a couple times -- might be propogation.  I'm pretty sure the IP is static on DSL anyway. 

Naturally, if you see like masked men, water running across the floor, are looking in the daytime and are able to see that the thermometer is pointing "straight up or trending leftward", an email to bilber@mac.com would be really nice! 

A small tech note for anyone trying to set up on at least Windstream or possibly any DSL, ** APPARENTLY ** ... my experience, and I've seen a couple posts to this effect, UNLIKE cable modem, if you try to access your internet IP from INSIDE your local modem firewall, you just get the modem / router no matter what you do! I wasted A LOT of time on that! 

My inside IP for the camera was a static 192.168.254.8 using port 81, and the modem/router was 192.168.254.254 usign port 80, and NO MATTER WHAT I DID, I could not get to the camera using the outside IP adress that I listed. 

FORTUNATELY I have a Verizon 4G data account, and thought "what the heck" and just gave it a try .. WALA, instant picture! ... we DON'T really want to talk about how much time I wasted trying to get at it using the Windstream DSL account at the shed ... yet another case where "the way it has always worked" on cable modems DID NOT work on at least the Windstream DSL connect. 

Our speed SUCKS ... like 384K up and 1.2 Mbits down, but "it works" ... hopefully speeds will be improving. "The plan" is to get two outside cameras ... one pointing at the lake, one pointing at the road in front ... those ought to be more interesting at least sometimes.  Is the lake frozen? Is the lake stormy? Is there snow? Is the farmer doing field work across the road? etc ... 

Anyway, that is the future ... for now, be a spy if you like! 

The Liberal T-Day Fight Plans

Dreams From My Uncle - WSJ:

Amazingly, the D's and the left at least CLAIM to think it is a "good idea" to attack known conservatives at the T-day table, and as liberals are wont to do, they figure that just a few "talking points" will utterly amaze the targeting conservative with their trenchant brilliance.  Their people all need "talking points" -- unfortunately for them, so do the people that write the talking points!

If all it took to convince everyone was reading talking points off a teleprompter, ISIS would have surrendered by now, BOcare insurance providers wouldn't be dropping like MN flies in November, the economy would be humming not sputtering, and gas would be at $10 a gallon where BO wanted it -- oh, and "Climate Change" would be solved -- whatever THAT might mean!

As it is we have this quote from the article to keep in mind ...

" Liberals have no monopoly on truculence, but the need to be told what to think does seem to set them apart. The left today is both doctrinaire and capricious; political correctness is unsparing in its demand for conformity to an ever-changing set of dogmas that frequently contradict each other, not to mention reality. "

The smart idea is to deflect the weasels as much as possible and treat them as the crazy or drug addled relative that has no grasp on reality --  hmm, maybe I repeat myself there! When you have to be told what you are supposed to say/think and what that is consists of a self-inconsistent set of beliefs that fail to match with reality, then what are you?

A liberal! ... but at least those that are crazy, drug addled or senile have an EXCUSE!

Ever since the older lefties had to deal with the death of the USSR, I've tried to be gentler with them -- it is pretty much similar to my view of Vikings fans after the Atlanta Metrodome debacle in the NFC Championship in '99 ... they have just never really been the same since then. Some pieces of reality just impinge on even the foggiest for outlooks.

It is tough when you can't think for yourself and reality doesn't match with your contradictory beliefs -- but to a true lefty, to learn and change is just WAY too painful to their shallow follow the crowd psyche.

So if attacked, smile warmly and treat the onslaught in the same manner as the 80+ year old relative telling you of their health issues or musty tales from the faded files of their memory. Humor them!

.... "How sweet! You are all grown up and have all sorts of new political thoughts.  I just agree with Monica in wishing Hillary luck this year -- "Don't blow it!".  "

Please pass the cranberry sauce.

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BO Has Just Begun

Obama's Most Dangerous Year | National Review Online:

The most damaging figure in American and quite possibly world history so far is just getting warmed up. A worthy read as the potential for Russia and Turkey to square off rises with the downing of the Russian fighter, and here close to home, "Black Lives Matter" fills at least the MPR airwaves 24x7 here in good old MN.

The times, they stinketh of BO. Read it and weep,

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Government In Action, The Criminal Neglect of Heather Curtis

Child's 'worst case of neglect' prompts $27M claim against DSHS:

Read it all if you have a strong stomach.

"I saw a young girl, thought she was a child, so small, skeletal like. And she was in nothing but a very, very soiled diaper," said Paredes-Garrett. "And she was wailing and moaning a sound I've never ever heard and the only thing I could compare it to would be a wounded animal."

Want to have the government in charge? Well, "Heather" could be an elderly you or someone that you love.

Break up families, churches and communities and then put a unionized government bureaucracy in charge, and Heather is what you get! We KNOW this ... USSR, National Socialist Germany, N Korea, Cuba, Venezuela ... don't avert your eyes! THIS is where we have descended to already, and we are hitting the accelerator for MORE!

Yes, socialists really really "care" ... about removing money from earners and transferring it to "whatever" to  increases their power. Anything else? Just imagine all the Heathers that aren't lucky enough to have someone call the cops and just die in filth and pain waiting for DSHS.

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Vote Sanders -- But Stockpile Toilet Paper

Laughing in the Face of Despair - WSJ:

PJ O'Rourke has a new book out ... no doubt I'll need to read it, but the column is worth the read for a little entertaining wisdom. The paragraph that led me to the title:

... His fellow travelers, on the other hand, were fans of the Soviet state, then under the enlightened leadership of longtime KGB thug Yuri Andropov. Yet Mr. O’Rourke, exercising profound investigative skill, spotted the chink in their ideological armor. These “were people who believed everything about the Soviet Union was perfect, but they were bringing their own toilet paper.” Small details reveal large truths.

Here is a little bit of insight as to why Socialism fails ...

... Then, one day, I found myself beached on the shore of jobs and responsibilities and I was a Republican again.” His hippie friends, he adds, had become parasitical. “They continued to be convinced that everything was going to be shared soon, so they hadn’t gotten jobs.”

Humans are very adaptive -- give them an environment where being the best deadbeat allows them to flourish the best, and you get a lot of excellent deadbeats! It's adaptive! I'll close with the wisdom the column closes with -- a small item that is often forgotten by many!

“Jesus said ‘love your enemies.’ He didn’t say not to have any.”

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The Stab In The Back

Putin calls plane's downing by Turkey 'stab in the back' - CNN.com:

That particular phrase used today by Putin should sound familiar -- it was a common phrase used by Hitler as explaining Germany's loss in WWI, and figured significantly in the rise to WWII.

There is nothing surprising here -- WWI and WWII came about because the "Hegemon" of the 19th century, Great Britain, was fading and losing the ability to be the dominant world power. The greatest navy was no longer the trump card, both the British elites and the people were "tired of leading", or at least more interested in enjoying the fruits of their spoils and "security" than they were in bringing order and peace to the planet.

While the historical understanding of most Americans has sunk so low that even identifying the conditions under which WWI and WWII happened is beyond the education of well over half, even a tiny bit of historical insight shows that "The Age of BO" is likely the culmination of a similar period in the declining of the US and that "changing of the guard" on the world stage. Forbes charitably ranked his odiferousness third behind Putin and Merkel ... I'd put him well down the list, behind at least the leader of ISIS, the Chinese leader, and frankly a number of others -- the leader of Iran, leader of Turkey, for example have more impact on the current world stage which the US has purposely retreated from in disarray. We really no longer even rank as a "decent JV team", and deservedly so --  he was certainly elected by what is left of our tattered and corrupt election system. Remember, you need a photo ID to get a phone installed!

So we wait and see on the sidelines if another world war starts -- we richly deserve it. The last 7 years of the American decline have been beyond stupid -- slipping into the ranks of criminal self indulgence and insanity.

It increasingly looks like BO either already has, or will fully achieve his stated goal of "destroying the colonial powers" before he leaves office -- assuming there is an office left to leave.

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Reagan, Sanders, Learned Helplessness

America has never recovered from Ronald Reagan. That’s why Bernie Sanders is so important. - Salon.com:



In my brain book reading, one of the big guns is Martin Seligman, whose concept of "learned helplessness" was one of big factors that destroyed at least the scientific basis for Behaviorism -- the idea that humans operate largely like Pavlov's dogs and all of our life is merely "response to stimulus".



Here is a link to an article on some of the base of Seligman's critical work, but here is the definition that counts for now:

[Learned Helplessness] "is being repeatedly exposed to an uncontrollable event, such as going on interviews or auditions and not getting called back. After many repeated and failed attempts to accomplish something while in an uncontrollable event, your brain "learns" that success is beyond your control, that you cannot affect the outcome. Once "conditioned" to this belief, the individual gives up hope and effort, even when later exposed to an event where control is possible. In effect, you've learned to become helpless."

The Salon article is eminently skippable ... "We have never recovered from Reagan, the Koch brothers are evil, corporations are evil, the free market is a disaster, government is great, government is good, we thank it for our daily bread, Republicans forebears are "fascists" (actually the Fascists were National SOCIALISTS!), etc, etc.



EVERYONE knows what the Salon article says -- it is the core dogma of "The Party" (TP-D), drilled into every school child from day 1 of nursery school until they graduate from state sponsored indoctrination at the end of their education, and reinforced in the mainstream media and entertainment every day. It is the dominant social message -- everyone is soaking in it 24x7 and 90% are not even aware that there may be an alternate message.



I submit that Learned Helplessness has become the dominant state of the vast majority of Americans of any age. We are nearly ALL convinced that we are completely helpless against the direction the country is headed -- constant vast increases in government programs, intrusion, debt, regulation, taxation, control of speech, religion, etc. The continued destruction of individual rights, responsibility, freedom and independence.



Now a little more than half of the population including Salon, TP, the media, the educational system and the legal system, finds this massive swing to government control, incentives, payments, regulation, etc to be POSITIVE -- but nevertheless, they certainly find it to be INEVITABLE -- as do I, and AFAIK pretty much anyone including the Koch Brothers. We dissidents may have hopes that it might be SLOWED to some small extent, but even the much demonized Reagan never REDUCED any of the government takeover -- at the very most, he only SLOWED THE RATE OF GROWTH.



We know how much the left has won when Salon is still gibbering about "not recovering from Reagan" nearly 30 years since he left office, having never managed to even gain ANY reduction in government, and only VERY slight reduction in the rate of growth that didn't last.



While science gave up on behaviorism by the late 1970's, Socialism, Communism and Fascism are behaviorist ideologies -- they assume that large masses of people can be controlled by "carrots and sticks". Typically, they start with more carrots (welfare, medical care, "free stuff"), and when the population is nearly universally impoverished by those efforts (other than the elites) and becomes peevish, they move to "sticks" -- locking dissidents up, sending more and more to the gulag, starving ethnic groups that "don't seem to get it", and often mass "purges" like Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin, etc where millions are slaughtered -- if you kill enough people, behaviorism is BOUND to be declared correct! Even Global Warming can be a fact if you kill everyone that dares point out things like Antarctic glaciers growing and temperatures failing to rise.



The 2nd Amendment remains the last real obstacle to ultimate lefty victory -- an armed populace, even though beaten down by decades of socialist propaganda and policies is not TOTALLY helpless as long as they have their arms. It is the only exceptional ace that the Founders left us that keeps some dim spark of hope alive.





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