Thinking Like a Cosmologist

All Scientists Should Be Militant Atheists - The New Yorker:

This article is a bad example of thought, but a good example of the sort of thinking someone schooled in physics and not much else engages in. The base problem of human knowledge is that it is done by humans. There is only so much that a single person can know, no matter how brilliant they may be. When they focus on one thing to become very expert in it (a worthy cause), we know that they likely have very deep knowledge in that subject, so far so good.  The way the world works, that means their knowledge about most everything else is quite shallow.

Beyond that the shallowness, all but the wise fail the "Man's got to know his limitations" test -- absolutely everything "known" is "known" ONLY from the perspective of easily fooled and mortal man -- as evidenced by the author of the article, prideful beyond all reason. We could wax on at length about man's limits -- "when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" is another good one to apply here -- if you are a scientist it is easy to think you have the most important knowledge, and it ought to be applied to the exclusion of other knowledge.

Being finite beings, we have a choice between being "Knowing everything about nothing, or nothing about everything". Unfortunately, even that is an inadequate description of our limits -- I'm closer to knowing nothing about everything, but even so, each day I find some part of "everything" that I was totally unaware of!

Here is a paragraph that illustrates some of this from the article .

The problem, obviously, is that what is sacred to one person can be meaningless (or repugnant) to another. That’s one of the reasons why a modern secular society generally legislates against actions, not ideas. No idea or belief should be illegal; conversely, no idea should be so sacred that it legally justifies actions that would otherwise be illegal.

The author has discovered the point (which even he claims to be "obvious") that "people see things differently" ... even more so, they see things as "widely varied in importance" (eg sacred, profane, good, bad, stupid, meaningless, etc).

So "modern society" legislates against "ideas vs actions". Can he name a society that didn't or doesn't legislate against actions vs ideas outside of George Orwell books or potentially our existing society with "hate speech"? The fact is that NONE of us know what others are thinking -- even speech is an "action", and if he believes that our "modern secular society" is somehow very "open" on that topic, he really needs to write an article on how it is OK to call other people N**S, Wetbacks, Faggots, ... etc. since those are "only words".

Therefore  his paragraph is nonsense -- nobody legislates against ideas, but US "secular society" comes as close as anyone has in a long time with their concept of "hate speech" and "hate crimes" ... so his supposed "model society" is a great example of what he claims he is trying to combat!

The government has a compelling interest in insuring that all citizens are treated equally. But “religious freedom” advocates argue that religious ideals should be elevated above all others as a rationale for action. In a secular society, this is inappropriate.

In what used to be the US, "The Government" was a servant of the people and was very limited in what it could do. When the government was limited, it was required to treat all people equally. If it was still so required there would be no "progressive" income tax, affirmative action. hate speech or crimes, etc. The government would be limited from doing a great many of the things that infringe on religious liberty today -- religious liberty supposedly guaranteed under that same Constitution that is no longer in force.

So in this paragraph, the author apparently finds one supposed "law of the land", ... religious freedom is inappropriate in a "secular society". Interestingly enough, since freedom of speech is under the same clause in the Constitution, is that ALSO disallowed in a "secular society"?

So what IS a "secular society"? He doesn't say -- it appears to have no "values", so one would assume no fixed rules at all. He does point out "The more we learn about the workings of the universe, the more purposeless it seems." So why did he not just stop the column there? If it is all purposeless and meaningless, why waste our time? Clearly he does not truly believe that -- because he hates God and religion. His hatred is at least enough to a motivator for him to write a column, so at least hatred still holds meaning for him in a supposedly purposeless universe.

He does say this at the end .

We owe it to ourselves and to our children not to give a free pass to governments—totalitarian, theocratic, or democratic—that endorse, encourage, enforce, or otherwise legitimize the suppression of open questioning in order to protect ideas that are considered “sacred.” Five hundred years of science have liberated humanity from the shackles of enforced ignorance. We should celebrate this openly and enthusiastically, regardless of whom it may offend.

So then holding NOTHING sacred becomes sacred -- we have seen this "Brave New World" before  -- eugenics? genocide? slavery? medical experiments on human subjects? the Gulag? ... the shop of horrors is endless. Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot -- this is an old movie. God is dead, all praise the man with the strongest "Will to POWER" (Nietzsche) ! Why not? ... it is all purposeless -- so any purpose found must be from the bootstraps of a "Superman" -- he with the greatest will to power!

 Certainly a Constitution that limits the government can't be "sacred" -- as it is no longer is here, otherwise we would not be having this discussion. We would be having a discussion about a gay "marriage" amendment passing both houses of congress by 2/3 majorities -- followed by a discussion on it passing 3/4 of the states.

**IF** it passed -- and it seems highly likely that if there was to be ANY chance of that, it would have included some sort of allowance for the first amendment religious freedom that the column author hates, in order to make it able to pass. Those are the sort of compromises that were the essence of what was once America under rule of law.

But as it is, we have no "law" to be compared with "religion" -- because we ALREADY hold nothing sacred as a nation, so there is no Constitution as a basis for law, and therefore no law to followed save raw power.

Which apparently to this cosmologist is either "fine" or "unknown" ... since his thinking on these subjects of law, rights, politics, morals, etc is so fuzzy as to defy parsing for any real meaning beyond that he hates God and religion and is very confused about the other topics he covers.

One hopes he seeks out an oncologist rather than a fellow physicist if he ever needs cancer treatment!

'via Blog this'

Biggest Threat To America

Good cartoon, but it is really this ...

Double Doomed

Doomed to failure | Power Line:



I don't have the stomach to go off and watch any BO video, if you do, I'm sure you feel a lot better after you stop watching it!



It is absolutely clear that BO remains so full of himself that even when events show that both Putin and the Iranians have and are treating him as the complete stooge he is, he can't see it. His ego is too large to see anything but his imagined magnificence.

Mr. Obama said. “He did not take my warnings, and as a consequence, things have gotten worse. It appears now that Assad is worried enough that he’s inviting Russian advisers and Russian equipment….We are going to be engaging Russia to let them know that you can’t continue to double down on a strategy that’s doomed to failure.”

Worse for people in Syria and certainly worse for any tiny stature that America still has left in the world (remember Russia as our buddies on the "Red Line"?), but NOT worse for Putin, Russia and Iran! Things are going WELL in the region for Iran and Russia! Their influence and power there is rising by the day!



Remember, Iran is ALSO sending troops into Syria .

Unfortunately, you CAN "double down on a strategy that's doomed to failure" -- America DID, it is called "Death by BO"! and it smells exactly like any strategy that involves rotting away.

'via Blog this'

BO, Force With Nothing To Back It Up

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/09/07/in-labor-day-speech-president-obama-says-will-force-federal-contractors-to-give/

On Labor Day, BO declared that he would do one of his favorite things -- FORCE contractors to abide by whatever he decrees to be the right sick leave action.

He pointed out how things like letting businessmen and competition operate have been "wrecking the economy for a long time". Obviously, what you need is a supposed Constitutional scholar (who at least doesn't act like he has ever read the Constitution), who has never run so much as a lemonade stand for business experience, make a bunch of decrees about how business OUGHT to work!

"You just wait, you look up at the sky and prosperity will come raining down on us from the top of whatever high-rise in New York City," he said sarcastically. "But that's not how the economy works." He added that the GOP's mindset has been "wrecking the economy for a long, long time."

Certainly one can't allow business owners risking long hours of labor as well as their own assets and the assets of investors in a market economy to make decisions! We need FORCE!

No doubt it won't be very long until we hear BO making claims that "business needs to hire more, invest more, etc" -- and if he had his way, he would FORCE them to do so.

On this 9-11, we can see that BO isn't much about force when it comes to actual enemies of America -- but he is ALL about it when it comes to the backbone of what provides the goods, services, wealth and jobs that used to allow our country to be great. With Iran, we have to surrender -- because that is all we can do! No force there! Syria, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan -- we even had Chinese ships cruising off Alaska last week.

What needs to be bent to the will of BO is that recalcitrant American Business -- "They didn't build that", and BO is totally certain that he has brilliant "better ways" to grow the economy -- only the economy has at best sputtered in the over 6 years of his oh so proud rule.

It is obvious this decree has as much thought as the rest of his holy pronouncements:

But the White House wouldn't specify the cost to federal contractors to implement the executive order. The Labor Department said any costs would be offset by savings that contractors would see as a result of lower attrition rates and increased worker loyalty, but produced nothing to back that up.

That is really essence of BO... "nothing to back it up".

 

9-11, Iran, Driving Drunk Perspective

The Iran Deal In Perspective | Power Line:

The linked column is a good one to read, I recommend it. Here are some thoughts it catalyzed for me.

Do we REALLY think that the results of the Iran "agreement" will be a mushroom cloud over NYC?  As the column points out, we certainly HOPE not, but then we never hoped for 9-11 either.

In  retrospect, might 9-11 have been predicted  / stopped? Certainly -- there were plenty of signs IN HINDSIGHT, and as I wrote about here  it was sort of a toss-up at the time in the MSM as to whether W or Reagan were just "responsible" for 9-11, or, according to something like 30% of Democrats at the peak ("Truthers"), the whole thing was an "inside job" pulled off by the dunce W and his own Dr Evil, Cheney.

If a teen takes to driving their motorcycle at night with no helmet while drinking excessively, do I really think that they are going to kill themselves? No, I again "hope not", but I realize it is a distinct possibility!

Being a "conservative" means that one is willing to look at possible negative outcomes. We all know that young people tend to be more liberal and at least gain SOME level of conservatism as they age. Today we see less of that since the left is so terribly dominant, and I'm convinced that many simply see no choice anymore -- they rely on government benefits, their AARP magazines tell them that "left is the only answer", and it becomes a "social issue" -- their kids and friends are lefties, they feel they have no choice. Besides, they feel like it is a sign of being "hopeful"!

While we hold out hope that we will see no mushroom cloud over Jerusalem of NYC, we DO already see Iran sending troops to Syria ... possibly that is the equivalent of our hypothetical drunk driving teen getting a DUI? The MSM is pretty much ignoring the Iranian troops -- the other problem with the left is that most of the people that start drinking the Kool Aide aren't even aware of a lot of what is happening. In case you didn't notice, the world is a lot less stable these days -- and we have a "deal" with one of the most destabilizing forces.

How did we get to 9-11? Complacency -- same way we got to BO, gigantic debt, bloated entitlement programs, wishful (hopeful) thinking, low percentage of people working, poor productivity, 42 million people living here not born here -- at least 11 million of them illegally, etc.

A teen driving a crotch rocket around drunk and high on weed is relatively rational and intelligent compared to BO and his foreign and domestic policies -- and one has to be some sort of a "looney" to think that anything "really bad" could result!

We can "hope" it isn't a mushroom cloud over one of our cities, but Iran doesn't need ICBMs to hit Israel! In the meantime, just watching the news makes one wonder how bad it has to get to call it "disaster"!

'via Blog this'

Let Me Threaten You ... I Got 1 Vote!

https://www.ijreview.com/2015/09/413292-congress-passes-budget-cuts-spending-guess-president-threatened/

Nice to see BO come out and threaten to veto the budget that congress needs to pass -- after all, he sent up a budget and the Senate voted it down 98-1! When you are TP though, your media doesn't report that very much, and they CERTAINLY don't bring it up while you bray and bluster for the cameras,  crippled duck that you are.

I wonder if he is still taking advice on how to deal with congress from his liaison that put a round in the couch to impress her boyfriend? Sounds like her and BO were pretty much soulmates on how to get along with folks!

The article points out a few other inconvenient facts to go with his Odiousness ... LESS people were actually working in August than July even though 173K jobs were "created" -- even more people gave up because the economy stinks, and government policies relative to business and working stink oven worse!

It seems like about two decades since this stooge was elected -- I guess one way to make life longer is to elect the most noxious clown possible president!

Maybe I really DO need to give Trump a second look. Hell, maybe I CAN live forever -- or at least feel like it is forever!

Top Secret Russian Teardrop Memorial

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/tributes/teardrop.asp

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2235284/New-Yorks-Teardrop-John-Craven-tracks-forgotten-monument-9-11-victims.html

Yes, there really is a 100' monument, a gift from Russia, that was dedicated on the New Jersey side of the harbor in 2006.

This article claims the reason it is unknown is "location", and that might be so, but I think back to '06 and wonder.

Katrina in '05 had  been hyped to be "The proof of W Bush incompetence" ... after all, his too slow reaction to Global Warming had basically CAUSED Katrina -- he hated black people, and the fact that the Democrat Governor of LA and mayor of NO were corrupt imbeciles had nothing to do with slow response.

Making W synonymous with Katrina was critical in '06, as was making the case that "Iraq was hopeless and lost". The left saw a superb opportunity to stick Republicans and America with an albatross like Vietnam all over again. Even though with Vietnam, it had suddenly transformed into "Nixon's War" -- after it was started by Kennedy and escalated by LBJ, but no matter. The Party is well aware that losing wars is BAD, so sticking W with losing Iraq on top of his "causing and being totally responsible for Katrina" (facts are never that important to TP, only perception.) were the talking points of '06.

You know, the essence of TP ... "Trust In Me" .... I often think that Kaa from the Jungle Book movie ought to be their spokesman!

A big memorial from an old enemy -- bringing back memories that the left firmly hates from Reagan to the whole idea of one of the worlds leading socialists powers falling into disarray, just wasn't the kind of thing that TP and it's media allies wanted to be seen. It could absolutely confuse the people -- and maybe give W "a good week" ... something that was simply not allowable in the face of THE BIG agenda of TP and the media, taking control of both houses of congress in the fall election.

So it is a big secret -- a giant monument in a highly populated area that nobody is aware of.

Maybe we really ARE being constantly visited by space aliens?

The Litany Of Lawlessness

Hillary Clinton & Kim Davis -- the Obama Administration's Unequal Application of the Law | National Review Online:

I've covered most of what the linked column covers in this blog -- but the article covers it well and succinctly and is worth the rea.

We live in a state where laws are now routinely applied or not applied on the basis of politics -- and generally, the people are either unaware or simply do not care.

America is becoming analogous to the mess in lawless contemporary Venezuela. When the law is suspended or unevenly applied for politically protected individuals and groups, then there is no law.

'via Blog this'

Bernie Sanders', The Morality of Marx and Robbing Hood

Bernie Sanders' Morality is a Threat to the Status Quo | Candy Leonard:

Humans have a built in desire to believe they are "moral". Christians accept that we are NOT actually moral creatures, but when we are prideful, we like to claim it. So some Christians really do make false claims of greater morality -- Christians remain human. Christians DO commonly point out what GOD says are immoral acts -- the gay lifestyle is one example, but adultery and fornication are as well -- as is stealing, lying, gossiping, FAILING to do all the good you can, etc, etc -- It is ALL sin, and therefore worthy of eternal damnation if not paid for by the blood of Christ.

"Liberals" on the other hand "have no god but government" and they are often on the high side of sanctimony as they preach their home brew "morals". This article is feeling especially moralistic and judgemental from the left POV!

Sanders has brought morality to the national discourse, and would be elevating the discourse even further if he and his ideas were given more media coverage. What if the American people really understood Democratic Socialism? But the media, licensed to serve the public interest but responsible only to major shareholders, is threatened by Sanders' integrity and by his compassionate, do-able agenda. Sanders' morality (like the Pope's) makes the protectors of the status quo uncomfortable. 

Sanders' compassion is reflected in what he talks about most often--the imperative to address income and wealth inequality, and other policies that would reduce hardships on working people. A $15 minimum wage, affordable college, student loan interest reduction, paid medical and family leave, quality childcare, and single payer health care, would improve the quality of life for millions of Americans. These concerns, and his call for action on climate change are shared by the majority of Americans. These are not radical ideas.

In the lefty universe, one compares Sanders to the Pope with a straight face.  The Pope who stands for a male only priesthood, declares homosexuality a sin, does not support abortion nor even contraception -- BUT, he has made a few comments about income inequality and climate change, so maybe maybe that is enough to put him in that lofty  "moral plane" of Sanders?

Let's dissect the Bernie "morality" a bit. First, this is nothing new -- think Marx and Robin Hood (really Robbing Hood!). TAKE from those that earn and use it to buy the votes of those that don't -- at least until you have full control, then there is no need to do any vote buying. Let them all stand in line all day seeing if they can buy some bread or toilet paper while you drive around in your limo. Perhaps you can get them to all chant "Viva Bernie" as you cruise by -- they had to be damned gullible in the first place to fall for the same old socialist lie  yet again!

Judging from the number of liquor stores, pawn shops and weed stores in Denver, I'd have to say that the old USSR model has been updated a bit -- in the USSR they kept them drunk on vodka, now (at least in Denver) they can be drunk AND stoned (progress!).  Perhaps the stoned part explains this piece on Sanders? I suspect the pawn shops are a short term thing based on the winding down of the old capitalist system -- people still have some left over stuff from the old days when America was a growing and thriving economy. For awhile yet, there is a market to trade it in for weed and public transit tickets to a Bernie rally.

For all this "morality", somehow Bernie has a net worth of about $350K, while Scott Walker has a negative net worth. Bernie's campaign has something like $16M. I guess he is a lot poorer than the Clintons, so in the mushy drug addled brain of the left, that's a good thing! A whole lot of people that think Bernie is a god have a net worth a lot more like Walker's than like Bernie's!

**Note, I'm not against a decent or high net worth for Bernie, Clinton or Mitt Romney -- I only point out that hypocrisy is a term that needs to be applied when you are a candidate who claims having a net worth above that of a homeless person is somehow "wrong".

But then nobody ever said that consistency, thought, or even having their eyes open enough to see what is right in front of them was very common on the left. Their leaders know what they want -- POWER, their followers believe that they are going to get lots of FREE STUFF! Once you lose the rule of law to stop it, socialism is just like water -- it always takes your economy to the lowest level possible.

'via Blog this'

Not Working -- American Style

Labor force participation rate falls faster in U.S. than elsewhere - Fortune:

The linked article gives some interesting facts that we don't see in the news much -- you can go look at them and it is worth it, but I'll summarize here.

1. Nearly a third of Americans are not working -- lowest participation since 1977
2. The US is the ONLY nation in the top 8 developed nations where this is happening -- even Japan, where the aging demographics problem is worse than here is not seeing it. 
3. Productivity is ALSO dropping -- at worst levels since '93.

The article doesn't say why -- nobody knows why officially. They hint that it MAY be due to "freelance / cash economy".

I'll give you my theory.

First, the personal case -- no doubt shared by a few million people that many would call "lucky". Add a pension to wife's income and realize that any supplementing to that is taxed at roughly 50% counting Federal and State. I can pull money out of what was saved over 34 years and if very careful, hold the tax rate to "low 40%" -- MN 10% tax on top of Feds (no FICA). 60% of your savings is a lot lower number ... it gives one a LOT of "pause".

As long as I was working and the massive taxes were being pulled out all the time, it was "just numbers". I was a VERY good tax bossie cow for the government. Had I not been fired, I would have no doubt continued to work 60+ hours a week, pour money into the TDSP tax trap, and pay out gigantic tax payments in the same stupid boiling frog manner as I did for 34 years. We have a few millions of people in this boat -- in what counts for a country these days, this is the "Happy Boat" --  but also the "patsy boat".  (if you go to a poker game and don't know who the patsy is, it's you!)

Then there is the starting out, struggling, broken (homes, addiction, criminal record, etc), low education / capability, boat. The $15 an hour minimum wage and under set -- $15 x 40 x 52 = $31,200 a year. Here is that bastion of conservatism, WaPO on welfare benefits for a single mom with two kids. Going through the whole article is a strain, but they end up giving a REPUBLICAN only 2 Pinocchios on their rating which is incredible -- they usually give the words of Jesus 3, and only Karl Marx is completely truthful from their POV!

It’s correct that a single parent can receive $35,000 in benefits, if he or she lives in one of the 10 states listed in the Cato report, or Washington, D.C. But the median welfare package, which would have been the relevant number to use, is about $28,800 — lower than Grothman’s figure.

If you go look at the Cato report, you have to get to the 41st from the top least state in benefits to dip below $20K ... Maine and $19,871. My belief is that people at the bottom of the income ladder react to incentives and disincentives exactly like those at the middle and the top. They aren't "lazy", nor are they stupid -- they are rational!

As a single mother with two kids, you can either:

(A). Stay at home and get from $20 - $35K a year
(B). Go to work 40 hours every week with no vacations and take in  MAYBE $31,200.

Does this strike you as a "tough choice"?

Stay at home and you can maybe take in a few other kids for cash daycare. If there is a guy that isn't a total deadbeat and doesn't beat your kids, he can shack up and hopefully add at least some part-time work to the kitty. Hell, if you can find a stand up guy that actually brings in that $31Kish number and you can manage to move to one of the over $30K welfare states ... say #14, Minnesota at $31,603, you are looking at $62K a year "family" income with one parent working! A hard working trucker in the US pulls down something in the $50K range.

So it isn't hard to understand at all why the bottom of the ladder isn't that into working anymore -- incentives to NOT work, DISincentives to work. Stupid is as stupid does!

In between we have a hodge podge --  the median income and most families are clustered around $50K a year, so it is easy to see that welfare type disbursements have a HUGE effect on OVER HALF of the "families" in the US. In fact, 40% of Americans get over half their income from the government!

Destruction of morality and families is critical to the "progressive" agenda to destroy America. Gay "marriage" is important since it further reduces any latent sense of morality, but heterosexual marriage and ESPECIALLY the idea that men flitting in and out of a mother's bed is somehow "immoral / wrong / socially bad / etc" is CRITICAL. Once the figure of God has been removed, the earthy embodiment in a human "Father" being removed is the next important step to destroy culture. For over half of the children in the US, we are already there.

The definition of "family" used to be mom taking care of kids and dad working. Now there is no definition of family -- but for roughly half of the "families" with children in the nation, the "economic father" is the government, and whoever happens to be in mom's bed is "some guy". He may or may not work -- if she is a "good and discerning woman" (by modern standards), he may work quite a bit and even hang around for awhile. The "family" may even be quite comfortable ... lots of "stuff", entertainment, etc. Isn't that what the "progressive family" is all about?

We have been doing this for a generation and we now find that a lot less people are working and those that are are less productive.

Oh, and "nobody knows why"!

'via Blog this'

Rule Of Used Toilet Paper

God vs. the Constitution in Kentucky - The New York Times:

When 5 people in robes with no authority at all (since they broke their vow to uphold the Constitution),  took the formerly sacred document to the bathroom and used it to wipe their asses on Obergefell (gay "marriage"), the media and left wing applauded. The 5 judges ought to have been removed, and if any government employees were to go to jail, it ought to have been them. That would have been "rule of law" and the proper people being "under, rather than above it".

Now the media and TP --(The Party - D), but "Toilet Paper" is also a good moniker for them, feels the excrement stained piece of garbage with "Constitution" scrawled at the top ought to be "sacred" once more. As with a gay "marriage" ... "sacred" only to beelzebub!

But it’s worth repeating once again: No one is telling Ms. Davis what she may or may not believe, or how to live her own life in accord with the dictates of her conscience and her God. What they are saying is that as an employee and representative of the government, she lives under the law, not above it.

Sorry, we have NO RULE OF LAW, only raw executive power, judicial conjuring and public opinion heavily influenced by noxious filth spewing orifices like the NY Times.

We used to have rule of law. If the country that was America wanted to define a "right" to gay "marriage" it was very simple. Write a Constitutional Amendment, pass it through both houses with 2/3 majorities, then have 3/4 of the states ratify it. We used to understand that -- see 19th Amendment!

THEN, there would be a "Constitutional right" to gay "marriage". It would still be wrong -- because it is a crime against God and a crime against nature, but it would THEN be law!

The Kentucky clerk is not an appealing spokesperson -- which the media will naturally make the most of. She should resign her job since this is a regime that is fast making it impossible for Christians to work in its employ. The time when it is impossible for Christians to even live openly in the territory controlled by the lawless cabal is perilously close.

The next time you hear about the latest obstacle DC has put in the way of people that want to avail themselves of a firearm post Heller, or some other locality making it impossible for people to get Concealed Carry permits, think of how they treat Ms Davis vs those people! LAW either applies the  TO ALL, or it isn't "law" unless you live in a totalitarian state rather than a Constitutional Republic ... hmmm, maybe we aren't paying attention?

What we "all live under" now is a fetid stew of tyranny consisting of mob rule, bureaucratic fiat, judicial whim and executive edict. We don't know the timetable or who will ultimately drive the random path to ruin --  dictator? populist mob? military? But it is very clear we have left the path of being a Constitutional Republic living under rule of law.

We seem rather ripe to be "Trumped" ... if not by Trump himself, by something.

40 Year Lowest Winds in US

US clean energy suffers from lack of wind - FT.com:

In my frequent travels to Iowa this year I have observed a lot of big wind turbines not turning. It appears that my observations might be accurate.

You need to follow the link above to read it ... they have a copyright prohibiting cut and paste. 

The bottom line ... least wind in 40 years, energy from wind dropped 6% in first six months of 2015 even though the number of generators grew 9%. 

Apparently some of the vaunted Global Warming models predict less wind -- which would also indicate LESS severe weather events. Since we know that all climate factors are "settled", it seems odd that we hear that warming will create MORE serve weather, and our fearless leader BO ... and a lot of others, claim we ought stake our energy future on wind. 

Naturally, my faith that BO and the "experts" have this all worked out with perfect science is unbounded! 

'via Blog this'

It's Always Night There

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe-struggles-to-handle-accelerating-flow-of-refugees/2015/09/07/e2bbc509-414b-4890-bedf-c76b37ae109a_story.html

"I came here because Germany is safe; there is no war,” he said. “Germany is the best in Europe. France is no good, you cannot get language classes there, but in Germany you can learn the language for free.” Although Sweden is offering similar aid, he said it was “too far away, it is very cold, and it is always night there".

It is good to see that the free market still works -- if only relative to free stuff!

Perhaps the Upper Midwest  will be saved from being totally overrun by the teeming masses of migrants --- it's pretty cold and dark here for a lot of the year as well!

Muslim Flight Attendant, Kentucky Clerk, God's Sense of Humor

Muslim Flight attendant suspended for not serving alcohol:

"I don't think that I should have to choose between practicing my religion properly or earning a living," Stanley told CBS News. "I shouldn't have to choose between one or the other because they're both important."

Out in Denver we happened to hear the jailed Kentucky Clerk story covered on one of the "breakfast shows" -- probably "Today", followed without relationship or irony two stories later with the Muslim flight attendant with the lawyers quote above.

The position of the show -- and the left media in this country is pretty obvious. Clearly the KY clerk is a goat and the Muslim flight attendant is a hero! One has to be poorly trained at what is the "proper way to think" to not see that!

Make some accommodation for the Muslim, jail the Christian -- what part of recent propaganda from "The Party" (D) have you failed to understand??

God makes it easy for us to see how the world and tyranny operate -- I strongly suspect that he gets a little chuckle from the complete blindness (faking) of those that claim to see no irony in the juxtaposition of these two stories.

Dilbert saw this phenomenon clearly in one of my favorites, the "Powerpoint Oopsie" cartoon.

For anyone with ANY attention span and memory, there is a "bit" more needed than a "United Way Update" to clear the brain of the treatment of these two stories!

'via Blog this'

Old Ladies and Buses

School Bans Superhero Lunchboxes -- Why It Makes No Sense Morally | National Review Online:

It reminds me of William F. Buckley’s famous retort to those who claimed there was no moral distinction between the United States and the Soviet Union. If you have one man who pushes old ladies in front of oncoming buses, Buckley explained, and you have another man who pushes old ladies out of the way of oncoming buses, it simply will not do to describe them both as the sorts of men who push old ladies around. A country, and a civilization, that actively chooses to render such distinctions meaningless has lost the confidence to sustain itself.

This is an excellent column by Jonah. Both nations and people need to have some basic training in religion, mythology, philosophy, or at least superhero comics (morality),  to understand the difference between pushing the old lady in front of the bus or pushing her out of the way of the bus.

When the distinction is lost, that civilization has lost it's way. Unfortunately, we are that civilization.

'via Blog this'