Thursday, July 31, 2014

Summer Reading














I have reason to believe that President Obama and Secretary of State, John Kerry, can read. They both graduated from college and graduate school did they not? So why is it that the United States, under these clowns’ aegis, is giving 47 million U.S. taxpayer dollars effectively to the terrorist organization, Hamas … see: Pamela Geller Article.  Hamas will obviously not use most of this money to help the poor Palestinians, but to continue to do their evil deeds. Hamas has sworn in their charter to annulated all the Jews, viz:

The Last Hour would not come until the Muslims
fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill
them, and until the Jews would hide themselves
behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree
would say. Muslim or Servant of Allah there is a
Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree of
Gharqad would not say it, for it is the tree of the
Jew
. (from the Koran and the Hamas Charter)

And, if it had the resources, Hamas would obliterate the total of Israel in a heartbeat. If you or anyone in the Obama misadministration want the full text of what Hamas has in mind for Israel ... and the rest of us ... please refer to: The Hamas Charter. Perhaps both Obama and Kerry could take it with them to read on the Cape Cod beach this August?

This silly stance by Obama and Kerry makes absolutely no sense to me. If it does to any of you, please explain yourselves.

Crisis Fatigue Cure


I don’t know ‘bout you (I’m startin’ to elide words like our fearless leader in order to appear more folksy), but I am rapidly fallin’ into a fatigued funk about the United States’ inability to deal with even the tiniest of crises that are floodin’ our world. I don’t think I need list them as they would again sully this blog with more angst. So I’ve decided to put on a happy face to try to counter all the hatin’ and baitin’ goin’ on.

Let’s begin with puppy dogs … cute little puppies that wag their tails incessantly and lick you face with unbridled enthusiasm. Next, how ‘bout a cool rain shower that vanquishes the day’s heat and throws in a double rainbow to boot. Then I’ll go for a root-beer float … made with that old-fashioned root beer tastin’ of sassafras and sarsaparilla with lots a good vanilla ice cream wit’ those flecks of vanilla bean. Followin’, let’s have a bit of big band music … you pick the crooner … I’ll go for ol’ blue eyes. And we can end wit’ a soothin’ nap in a hammock under a wisteria bower.

Feelin’ better? OK, now remember … don’t turn on the TV or read a newspaper for 24 hours. Who’s our president again?

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

reddit Gallery CXC

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!  (N.B., The quality of pictures on this site has been declining of late ... so I expect there will be fewer of these posts in the future.)

Daises and Mt. St. Helens

In the Mines

Magical Night

Rare Kingfisher

The Old Lamplighter


Monday, July 28, 2014

Once a Month


There is a new and obviously effective way of soliciting charitable donations … and that is for contributors to sign up for continued monthly donations to philanthropic causes. Almost every night I see on television sentimental and mawkish ads asking me to contribute to such causes as Wounded Warriors, the ASPCA, UNICEF, the Shriners Hospital, etc. After mostly syrupy appeals these ads then ask for $18 to $20 commitment per month to help save disabled soldiers, abused puppies, and starving children. In exchange I would receive a small blanket or a picture of a puppy or an African waif.  Now I don’t fault these causes, in fact, I generally agree with them and believe that they deserve the public’s support.

However, I do object to such noble causes stooping to such blatant mushiness in order to get their needed funds. I am certain that this type of appeal must be super effective for the proliferation of such ads seems to be skyrocketing. The monies raised must be phenomenal for these ads are not cheap to produce and run so many times. Therefore I also suspect that much of the money contributed goes not to the causes themselves, but to the solicitation process. And, for the American public not to see that these ads are playing them for suckers is really symptomatic of our penchant for putting our hearts before our heads.

Please dear readers, if you want to contribute to such foundations, send them a nice fat check … but don’t commit to a never-ending draw on your bank accounts or credit cards. The latter shows your blind faith in such causes which, in turn, may not keep true to their purposes over time … particularly once the money starts rolling in so easily. In a way it might become similar to our government’s irksome penchant for wasteful spending … given its continued ability to reach into our pockets without recourse. Easy money can and often does corrupt even the noblest of causes.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

reddit Gallery CLXXXIX

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!


Stained Glass

Glasswing Butterfly

Monet's Garden

Earth Rise

Guangxi Province in China


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Peace


Rush Limbaugh has espoused that peace will not be achieved in the Israeli-Palestinian (or any) conflict until one side wins … and wins decisively. I agree. The reason why this belligerency seems interminable is that as soon as Israel achieves a limited tactical advantage, the world rises up in banner-headline protests (I wonder why this is), and Israel withdraws to await the next Hamas (or whomever’s) onslaught.

Already we see the negative press surrounding Israel’s attempt to stop the rocket and mortar barrages from the Gaza strip. Our Secretary of State, John Kerry, reflects this administration’s private cynicism over Israel’s incursions into Gaza (“pinpricks?”) … even while tepidly endorsing Netanyahu’s efforts.

To establish a lasting peace in this region, Israel must destroy Hamas, kill all its leaders, destroy all its weaponry, collapse all its tunnels, and severely punish all its warriors and fifth column. Anything else means that this charade will re-occur and re-occur until such time as those who want to destroy Israel finally achieve their goal. Then perhaps the liberal left in this country and in Europe will fall silent … and happily declare peace.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Zipped Lips


Christians are being persecuted all over the Middle East and Africa. Coptic Christians in Egypt have been killed and had their churches burned down by the Muslim Brotherhood. In Nigeria, hundreds of Christian girl students have been kidnapped, raped and worse by the Boko Haram, another radical Muslim sect. In Syria and Iraq, Christians have been threatened with death unless they convert to Islam or emigrate … and there ISIS, the most brutal of Muslims, has taken to crucifying Christians to inflict maximum terror.  Lebanon, once a predominately Arab Christian country, is now controlled by the most brutal Muslims who kill Christians for blood sport.

All this specified genocide and much more is happening all around this region (see: Breitbart Listings) whilst the president of the United States plays golf, attends Democrat fund raisers, and can’t seem to undo the zipper on his lips to utter even the merest of condemning remarks. I can't help but ponder why ...

A Living Wage


Sir Ian McKellen has issued a plea for a “living wage” for actors … see: The UK Independent Story.  He notes that only one actor in 50 earns more than $34,000 per year. This is truly a noble gesture from a famous and knighted actor who pulled down over $10 million for his work on the Hobbit series of films.

Seeing that there are many other actors also earning equally extravagant and even greater fees for their (sometimes limited) thespian talents … and the stage hands on Broadway can easily earn six figure salaries for moving scenery around (see: Forbes Story), it would seem to me that this industry is a particularly blatant example of wage inequality … and the Democrats and Elizabeth Warren might start campaigning for a leveling of the playing field in Hollywood and on Broadway … just like they have done vis-à-vis Wall Street and the Koch Industries.

Nah, don’t be silly … then who would write the big checks for them to get re-elected?

Monday, July 21, 2014

Amusing Quotes


I went looking for some sage quotes from Eric Hoffer (to be seen in some future blog post) and I found a site called Brainy Quote. I thought you might enjoy a few of the funnier ones it offers:






To find more funny quotes for yourselves go to: Brainy Quote Site.

Afterward: I remember a similar quip from Johnny Carson that went something like this, "Someone has a automobile accident in the United States every 2.3 minutes. We must find that guy and stop him."


reddit Gallery CLXXXVIII - NSFW

Not suitable for work. Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Married with Two Children

A Bibliophile

Norway Strawberry

Amsterdam Nightlife

Fraulein

Coy


Is she or isn’t she?  Will Hillary Clinton be running for president? This is the media obsession of late … but, if one follows the crumbs, the answer presents itself ... NO.

And the reasoning behind this boils down to one obvious set of events … the circling of all the other potential Democrat vultures around the prize that might be theirs if Hillary bows out. Vice President Joe Biden is much more visible of late. And so is that high cheek-boned "Native-American," Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts. But now, stage left enters Governor Moonbeam from California, 76-year-old Jerry Brown … and there are others … see: Washington Post Article. The logic is as follows … why would all these other potential candidates be jockeying for the saddle if Hillary is a shoe-in for jockey? The answer is that they must know something that we don’t.

But then why also would Hillary and Bill be playing it so coy if they knew that this media dream was not to be … if for whatever reason … health issues, age issues, past performance issues, or even waning enthusiasm? The answer is quite obvious … Hillary, still seeming the front runner, creates a meme that opens the corporate and big donor coiffeurs to oodles of pelf for her, her husband, the Clinton Foundation, and even darling Chelsea. These donor plutocrats want access to the White House next time around and a big fat check is the way to do it.

Don’t forget that the Clintons have a posse of adviser mouths to feed and they need the continued avalanche of campaign and foundation money to keep these hanger-ons happy. So, I predict that Hillary will continue playing this demure demoiselle until right up to the time when there would be no going back … or until the media turns on her.  This might be as late as the summer of 2016. And then it’s sayonara to all the saps who lined the Clinton pockets … and the devil take what’s left of the Democrat party.

I can’t really say I’m sorry.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

reddit Gallery CLXXXVII - Even More Oddities

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!


Giant Grasshopper?

900 Pound Man X-ray

Lord is My Shepherd

Snake-neck Turtle

An Ent?



Refugees


In just the city of Chicago 22 people were shot in a twelve hour period yesterday … including an 11-year old girl who was killed sitting in her bedroom eating s’mores … see: Chicago Tribune Story. The gang violence in Chicago is reaching epidemic proportions … just like it has in some Central American countries which are filling up the Death Trains to send their children north to the supposed safety of the United States.

Perhaps the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, might follow his own dictate and “never let a crisis go to waste.” My studied suggestion would be for him also to start filling up trains leaving from Chicago south to Mexico and Central America with “refugees” from his crime-ridden neighborhoods. This might be the only way these children could have a chance for a better life.

Glenn Beck, take notice …

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Foot Dragging



Iran, as predicted, has not reached the promised agreement with the United States, et al over the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear capabilities … and the clock runs out tomorrow on these negotiations. Over six months ago I and many others were quite skeptical about these pie-in-the-sky arrangements … see: Batty. The United States then gave up many economic sanctions that were beginning to bite on Iran for what? Just for Iran’s coming to the negotiation table with its predictable pathetic stalling tactics. Calling Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Obama administration fools is perhaps too kind. We had given up the little leverage we had with Iran for this will-o-the-wisp … just as we have done repeatedly in the past … see: Commentary Magazine Story.

Now, Russia, because it now has its tit in a ringer over the Ukraine fiasco, has threatened to scuttle any hopes for these negotiations … as though they were really any hopes to begin with. So now, the United States is likely to paper over our embarrassment by extending the deadline on these pointless talks until such time as Iran announces that it has the bomb … or bombs. And we will keep dragging our own feet … pretending that we are doing everything possible to stop this Mideast nuclear madness.

Friday, July 18, 2014

reddit Gallery CLXXXVI

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

A Closed Brooklyn Factory

Dancing Drops

Blue Amazon Rain-Forest Butterflies

Serenity

A Stable Relationship


Ham Handed


This morning on TV's  “Morning Joe” someone (I think it was David Ignatius) labeled Vladimir Putin’s current tactics in the Ukraine as “ham-handed.” Clearly, if it is shown that it was a Russian-supplied missile that shot down Malaysian flight MH17 over the rebel-held area of the Ukraine, then Russia will find itself even more isolated from Europe and the benefits that Western financiers can offer it.

Also clearly Putin and Russia have been overplaying their hands recently with their annexation of the Crimea and their trying to parlay Russia’s large natural gas reserves into greater political and territorial leverage. I think Putin may have believed that he had more sway with the United States than has turned out to be the case. Perhaps if President Obama had not whispered to Russia’s then-President Medvedev back in 2012 that he should tell Putin that he would “have more flexability” with Russia once he got reelected? (See: The Blaze Story).

Now, two years later, one may associate the loss of 298 innocent lives on a Malaysian airliner with that then ham-handed Obama indiscretion.

Afterward: Cartoon from reddit:



Thursday, July 17, 2014

Gridlock


President Obama’s job approval numbers are not very good at 43% … see: Gallup Polling. But the American public thinks even less of Congress … at 15% … see: More Gallup Polling. Clearly, this disparity has something to do with the president's and the media’s meme that Congress is in gridlock and can’t get anything done. (There are a few of us who actually think that might be a good thing.)

The complaints that underlie these low Congressional approval ratings center around our legislative body’s inability to solve and resolve such issues as immigration reform, infrastructure upgrades, tax reform, economic growth, administration scandal investigations, income inequality, entitlement reform, Obamacare fixes, etc. All very pressing issues and ones whose failures President Obama constantly and consistently blames on the Republicans … particularly those in the House of Representatives.

But, to me, I believe that this Congressional gridlock is a function of four things that are pretty much invisible to the American public:

1)     The dictatorial manner in which Harry Reid runs the Senate … wherein longstanding rules are flaunted, House bills never see the light of day on the Senate floor, Republican amendments to Senate bills are seldom brought up for debate or a vote, and the partisan divide of the Senate in constantly being inflamed by Harry Reid’s biased and malicious rhetoric. Legislative comity here has all but disappeared.
2)     The Republicans in the House have lost faith in the Conference Committee process wherein different versions of the laws passed in both houses of Congress are resolved. As a result, now, often resolutions passed in the Democrat Senate are not brought up for a vote in the House … even with amendments, which somehow always seem to get lost in conference.
3)     President Obama has gone a long way toward establishing an imperial presidency … often ignoring key provisions in laws passed by Congress … or using "his pen and his phone" to effectively establish his own laws. Congress is therefore understandably reluctant to provide our fearless leader with more platforms on which he can construct his mini-tyranny … and again blame any failings therefrom on Congress.
4)     The fact that President Obama has horrendous interpersonal relations with much of Congress … even many Democrats. This clearly is based upon his untrustworthiness and aloofness. Yes, every so often, Obama will make a media show of sitting down with Congressional leaders. But these events are always for conning and not for consequence. This grandstanding on the president’s part further drives a wedge between these two branches of government.

In truth, one wonders why these Gallup polling numbers for the president and Congress are not reversed ... they clearly should be.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

HIV Misconceptions


I did not know that HIV/AIDS has not been cured. I had thought that the daily cocktail of anti-viral drugs being taken by HIV-infected people cures their disease … unfortunately it just suppresses it. Yesterday’s New York Times’ “Science Times” section has comments from two people … one gay man who stopped taking his drug cocktail briefly only to have his HIV come roaring back (top right of page D3). I didn’t know this was happening … nor that, even while suppressed, this disease can still be transmitted in a small number of incidences … see: Catie News Story.

Apparently, neither do lots of gays and transgenders who are engaging in promiscuous sex … as the rate of HIV infections is once again skyrocketing … see: Breitbart News Story.

Now will Barack Obama be accused of purposely ignoring this problem … just as George Bush had been?

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Are We Alone?


NASA scientists, those champions of global warming, now have predicted that within 20 years we will have established that there is alien life on some distant planet in the universe … see: CBS Story. Actually this prediction is limited to our galaxy, the Milky Way, where NASA estimates that there are “100 million worlds within the Milky Way galaxy [that] are able to sustain complex life forms.” Who am I to argue with such considered logic? But notice NASA does not use the term “intelligent life forms” nor do they suggest that we might communicate with them … nor visit them … nor even have them visit us. I have in the past done some rudimentary analysis on this very subject (see: Cosmic Silence ) which I would like to apply to NASA’s newer speculations.

Let us start with some facts about the Milky Way … it has about 200 billion stars, is about 13.6 billion years old and is 120,000 light years across.  Our solar system is about 26,000 light years from its center … or roughly half way out from its center … see: Universe Today.  I would now like to slice this prediction two ways … by time and space.

First let’s look at time horizons: The Milky Way is about 13.6 billion years old and our earth is about 1/10 of that age ... all back-end loaded.  I would imagine that many of these other NASA theorized exo-planets are either yet to be ... or have been burnt to a crisp when their suns became red giants. So, if NASA did not account for these life-limiting events, automatically these 100 million of stars with habitable exo-planets is reduced by some large factor.  But, you know what, I’ll here give NASA the benefit of the doubt and keep their number at 100 million.

From my previous analysis I opine that “sapient life on our earth has existed for perhaps only a million years ... or 1/13,000 of this earth's existence and scientific advancement sufficient to understand our time and place in the universe has existed for, at most, 100 years ... or 1/130,000,000 of this planets existence.  Let us (optimistically) imagine that this enlightenment age on earth will last for another 13,000 years.  This would result in a sapient window for our planet to be about 1/1,000,000 (one-millionth) of its total existence ... which fraction I suggest should then apply to other exo-planets.”  So this logic would reduce NASA’s estimate to only 100 exo-planets in the Milky Way with current intelligent life forms (within their sapient windows) … out of NASA’s 100 million estimated exo-planets with any form of complex life. But still encouraging … no?

But next we still have to deal with immense distances. Simple geometry says that the average distance to any other exo-planet in our Milky Way (our sun’s nearest star, Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf, being 4.22 light years and the furthest, being about 94,000 light years) is almost 47,000 light years … clearly such distances preclude much intra-galactic travel … even if one could travel at the speed of light (which, according to Einstein is impossible.)  It also eliminates much possible contemporary communications … even with electro-magnetic waves traveling at near to the speed of light … unless such distant exo-planet’s sapient window is within the last 47,000 years. And, even at that, the turn-around time to acknowledge a “hello” would not reach them until the year 49,014 AD … at which point they might have forgotten that they sent the message to begin with.

So, let us make things easier and estimate that we will only hope for intelligent life on those exo-planets that lie within 100 light years of our solar system (assumedly all within our Milky Way). It is estimated that the number of stars that are within this arc is some 15,000 (see: Imagine) ... but lets make it simpler by upping it to 20,000.  This is 1/10,000,000 (one ten millionth) of the stars in the Milky Way … which proportion needs then to be applied to that 100 exo-planets estimate in the whole Milky Way with possible intelligent life (from paragraph four above).  This says to me that the chances that there is an exo-planet within 100 light years of Earth with intelligent life at 1 in 100,000 (=100/10,000,000).

Clearly not very possible … yet we are spending billions of dollars to get these ETs to phone home. We Earthlings (and NASA) clearly are romantic souls ...

Afterward: This analysis (like my other blog referenced above) does not show that there is not any life nor intelligent life anywhere in the Milky Way. In fact, if one's vista was to include the entire universe, I do believe that it is quite likely that there is such life ... and even intelligent life ... out there. But what is does conclude is that it is very, very unlikely for us ever to have any conclusive evidence that intelligent life exists or did exist elsewhere.  The time and space constraints are just too vast.

Taboo


A reddit-er posted this picture with the caption, "Please don't do this at concerts!" Well then, explain to me ... how did this bozo get this picture, huh?

Monday, July 14, 2014

reddit Gallery CLXXXV

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Argentina Glacier


West Palm Beach

Interesting Lightning Strike

Norway Monastery

Running on Water

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Paedophilia

Cardinal Law

Pope Francis has said that one in fifty clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles … and that this is a leprosy eating away at his mission. And that he also has sworn to "confront it with the severity it demands." For more on this, see: BBC Story.

A good start for His Holiness would be to defrock and excommunicate Francis Cardinal Law … and kick him out of the posh sinecure he now enjoys at the Vatican City. This would go a long way.

Afterward: I obviously have become Britified with my spelling of "pedophelia."

Quaking in Our Boots


I have written in the past about the implications of our moon coming closer to our Earth. This is called a “supermoon” … see: Copy Cat. Now we find that we are coming up on a series of these close-encounter events (see: Yahoo Story) and what will likely follow? You guessed it … more earthquakes around the world. And it may be starting … see: Japanese Earthquake and Oklahoma Quakes.

Stay tuned …

Saturday, July 12, 2014

The Stepford Staff

The Stepford Wives (1975 film)
















In case you missed it, President Obama referred to himself 199 times in a 40 minute speech in Austin this past Thursday … see: CNS News Story. And this was with the requisite backdrop of nodding, laughing, applauding toadies. (How can these people allow themselves to be abased and used as human wallpaper?)

And, of course, this speech was delivered in Obama’s increasingly malicious, acerbic, mean, immature, snide, condescending, sarcastic, puerile, mocking, cynical, sophomoric, and derisive manner. (I could go on, but it certainly was not what we know as presidential.) It almost makes no difference what the subject of this talking-down was … for it was stomach turning. Even liberals such as Bob Beckel and James Carville found it offensive.

The TV show, "The Five,” posited last Friday why no one in Obama’s inner circle will disabuse him of such inflammatory (and egotistical) rhetoric. The Five group coined a new term which I liked a lot … cleverly referring to those surrounding Obama in the White House … as "the Stepford staff.”

This is an entry for the next Urban Dictionary.

(If this movie reference does not connect with you ... please see: Wikipedia Explanation).

The Solution


Our federal government seems to be having problems finding homes for the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that have conveniently flooded over the Mexican border recently. Seeing that most of them may never return to their Central American domiciles, I think I may have stumbled upon a solution to this relocation problem …

Send all of their HHS buses to Detroit. (It might already be starting … see: Breitbart Story). If these “refugees” really want to make a place for themselves in the United States, they might start by helping to rebuild this crumbling bastion of liberal politics.