The Rapture

There are a number of Christians who believe in “The Rapture” … effectively Judgment Day … when the world will end and all saintly people will immediately rise unto heaven. And now a number of these Christians are convinced that this fateful day will commence May 21st of this year (see Judgment Day). This event may indeed happen, but color me skeptical.

A while back I entered a New Yorker magazine cartoon competition in which you were asked to supply a caption for a captionless cartoon. I didn’t win, but I thought my submission (for the above cartoon) was clearly of the New Yorker genre and should have at least gotten an honorable mention. My entry was: “Somehow I thought that The Rapture would be a little more selective.”

$330 Million

Tonight’s Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $330 million (I suspect it will be bigger). The odds of winning on a single $1 ticket are 176 million to one. Thus, according to a game-theory construct, buying a ticket in this lottery is worthwhile since the expected return is almost $2 for a $1 bet (330/176). So today I bought $20 worth of tickets which makes my odds of winning 8.8 million to one (176/20) … still pretty long odds but a bit of an improvement. In fact, one might compare the odds of winning on the purchase of one ticket to the chance of you trying to contact an old friend (who you know lives in the U.S. but not where) by picking up the phone and punching in 10 random numbers after hitting “1.” If, when this phone call is answered, it is your old friend, then you have won the equivalent of the Mega Millions lottery.

It actually would make more sense to buy 176 million tickets since winning $330 million (more or less) would be almost assured. (However, I doubt if you could find a convenience store that would accommodate such a request.) Although not exactly the same analogy, Michael Graham on local talk radio makes the salient point that, if you had bought every Mega Millions ticket sold over the last 15 picks, you still wouldn’t have won since this is the number of consecutive no-winner drawings.  He adds that he never buys lottery tickets since the lottery is effectively a tax on the stupid.  I guess I have now moved with both feet into this category.

Predictions for 2011

Every New Year's Eve a group of friends get together to feast, imbibe, tell stories, Yankee swap, and make predictions for the coming year.  Here are some of the more interesting predictions for 2011:

• Facebook takes second place to a glossier social networking site

• The Euro will decline by at least 20%

• Serious civil unrest in Venezuela

• North Korea will suffer an economic collapse

• Oprah decides to run for public office

• Kate Middleton will be 2 months pregnant at her royal wedding

• Gracie Mansion (NYC) will be held by terrorists for 12 hours: 5 killed, 7 wounded

• True Grit will win Best Movie Oscar

• Prominent Wall St. firm will collapse amidst political scandal

• Suze Orman will file for bankruptcy

• Patriots win League championship and then Superbowl by 14+

• Obama proves he was born in the U.S.A.

• Glenn Beck retires after scandals hound him

• Bottled water co. has massive recall -- contaminated by plastic bottles

• Supreme Court Justice is caught in illegal activities, steps down

• Two major religions talk merger

• A plot to disrupt the power gird is foiled, but only after 1/4 of the country goes dark

• Tiger Woods declares he is gay

• Randy Moss begs to come back to Patriots and is welcomed home

• Unemployment will fall below 8%

• Gold prices will stall but silver prices will go up by 20%+

• More global warming data found to be fudged

• Massive student-loan meltdown -- Uncle Sam foots the bill

• One state will declare bankruptcy

• Colin Firth wins Best Actor Oscar for The King’s Speech

Juxtaposition XII

Time Magazine - 1962

Time Magazine - 2007

The ultimate in recycling ... even to the article on living with cancer!

Update:  Always be suspicious of what you find on the Internet.  I found the 1962 1977 cover on the usually reliable Powerline blog ... and they have since recanted the 1962 1977 image as being Photoshopped from the 2007 image by some unknown party.  See their explanation HERE

Juxtaposition XI




Michael Moore



Jabba the Hut





 

Look for the Union Label ...

The average stagehand in many New York City venues makes a six figure salary. See: stagehand salaries. No wonder tickets to plays and concerts there (and elsewhere) are costing many hundreds of dollars these days.

There is something fundementally wrong when unions can muscle their way into such egregious econimic inbalances.  And many among us just shrug our shoulders and say that "if they can get it, they deserve it." Poppycock!  I think that such golden eggs are in the process of killing the geese that laid them.  I know I refuse to pay such outlandish prices to see the mediocre stage productions they are putting on these days.  And, by the way, the same goes for most sports programs too ... that also cost hundreds of dollars to sit in the nose-bleed section watching some multi-millionaire athlete prance around like a spoiled teenager. 

Eventually, John Q. Public is going to have the scales fall from his eyes ... and these houses of cards will collapse on themselves. Then is when I'll start cheering.

Useful Idiots

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is not a friend of the United States. Along with his ties to terrorism, Chavez intends to install Iranian missiles in his country, a scant 1300 miles from the U.S. shore (see Iran missiles). After recent setbacks in National Assembly elections in his country (see recent elections) , Hugo Chavez has made an end run around Venezuela’s rapidly crumbling democratic process and grabbed dictatorial powers (see dictatorial powers). This sulfur-smelling dictator of this oil-rich South American country has gradually amassed power over the last twelve years to the point where now he is unlikely to be legally deposed or even voted out of office.

This gradualism should be an object-lesson for us all on how such loss of freedom comes about … like the proverbial frog in the pot of cold water that is gradually being brought to a boil. Joseph Stalin liked to call those fellow-traveler Westerners who supported him in his reign of terror in Russia as “useful idiots.” Unfortunately, we again have a litany of such brain-dead liberals who worship at the feet of this despotic leader Chavez. The list is predictably extensive but here is a gallery of a few of the most notables:

Danny Glover

Sean Penn

Joe Kennedy II

Kevin Spacey

Cindy Sheehan

Barney Frank

Noam Chomsky

Oliver Stone

Jimmy Carter

A PC Christmas

“T’was the night before Christmas ...” The NAACP has complained to the Civil Rights Commission arguing that this line should be updated to read “T’was the night before Kwanzaa ...”

“Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” The Friends of Animals takes umbrage at the term “creature” and is insisting that it be changed to “lovable, furry thing that should not be trapped.”

“The stockings were hung by the chimney with care” The Cross-Dressers of America want it noted here that this means taupe silk hose with oh-so-cute lacy stuff around the top ... and that only Woolite should be used to wash such dainties.

“The children were nestled all snug in their beds” The North American Man-Boy Love Association wants this changed to “nestled all snug in our beds”.

“... while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads” Michelle Obama has insisted that this phrase be changed to “thoughts of low-fat Greek yogurt” and is threatening to go on The View if she is ignored.

“Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap” The Queer Nation is objecting to the use of such stereotypical male/female bonding units as representing an idealized family.

“The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow” Yoko Ono insists that such sexists comments show that we still live in a male-dominated, piggish society. She wants this word changed to “chest.”

“As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.” The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a complaint stating that leaves left unraked into the winter represents a violation of Sections 125.92: J and 9734.2: D-G of the Omnibus Environmental Protection Law of 1993.

“... with a little old driver” AARP has sought an immediate court injunction to estop such pejorative comments about senior citizens.

“... jolly old elf and I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself” The Little People’s Society has also insisted that the term “elf” and its associated derision be immediately expunged from this narrative.

“On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen” The ASPCA has issued a formal complaint against St. Nicholas, citing his verbal and physical abuse of these eight tiny reindeer.

“He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot ...” The Animal Liberation Front has threatened to throw cow’s blood on anyone who dares to dress up in such insensitive costumes.

“... little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly” The Surgeon General has demanded that a printed warning be put on this page saying that being obese to this degree could be hazardous to your health.

“The smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath” Henry Waxman, a congressman from California, has threatened to hold hearings unless this line is stricken in its entirety.

“He filled all the stockings and turned with a jerk” Steve Martin has gone to court suing for 10% royalties for the use of the term “jerk”.

“... up the chimney he rose” The Trial Lawyers of America has stated that forcing Santa Claus to enter and exit a premises via the fireplace is demeaning and likely to cause bodily harm. They are assembling a massive class action suit against all those parents who allowed Santa to visit in this manner.

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle” The AFL/CIO is demanding to know if St. Nick is a member of their North Pole Teamsters’ local. If he can’t produce proof that he is, they are going to picket New Years.

“Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!” The National Education Association has objected that this line, and all the rest of this story ... saying that they contain words that are spelled correctly. This is obviously intended to stifle the creativity of our children.

© Copyright, George W. Potts

Don’t Ask …

Last night on the PBS show, The McLaughlin Group, there was a discussion about allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military. The moderator, John McLaughlin, read a list of countries that allowed such a practice, viz: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and Uruguay. The clear implication was that, if all these countries can do it, so then can the United States. Therein ensued a perfunctory discussion in which three out of the five panelists (including the moderator) favored removing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for U.S. military service. The dissenters were Monica Crowley and Pat Buchanan. But, the drum-beat conclusion was that this policy must and will be changed.

However, surprisingly, what wasn’t said by anyone, including those opposed to a change in this military policy was: “Why are not Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea on this list?” This, I think, might have been an important distinction and should be seriously considered when one (and Congress) debates this issue.

Do as I Say, Not as I Do ...

Perhaps, too much wagyu?

Pig Farm

Pig farmers ...

Earmarks

As you may know “earmarks” were once used to identify pigs. Farmers would cut telling notches in their pig’s ears to indicate ownership, much like brands were once used to segregate cattle. So it is appropriate that “earmark” is the term used for the funds that our porkers in Congress are setting aside to funnel our grandchildren’s money into their home districts. I thought these bacon-bringing items were a thing of the past as both Obama and the Republicans have pledged to eliminate them. Guess again.

The $1.1 trillion omnibus budget that was unveiled yesterday in the Senate contains billions of dollars of earmarks in 6,488 separate pet projects, see: earmarks.  That's well more than 10 earmarks per congressman.  Apparently Harry Reid, the Democrats, and yes, many Republicans are deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to the message sent by the American people in this past November elections. We, basically, are seeing a crescendo of middle fingers raised to the American people from within the Capitol building.

How can we fix such blatant and bloated excesses? Perhaps we are rapidly approaching the point where we may have to raze Washington, DC and start over. Maybe we can, justifiably, turn the land there into a gigantic pig farm?

Juxtaposition X

I want to give you your grandchildren's money ... and not just one day a year!

Brier-Patch Politics

In the Joel Chandler Uncle Remus stories (now so politically incorrect that Walt Disney’s great half-animated version, Song of the South, can only be purchased in a pirated version or, English-captioned, from Japan), a just-captured Brer Rabbit beseeches Brer Fox not to “throw me in that brier patch.” And when Brer Fox falls for the ruse, Brer Rabbit hops happily among all sharp thorns and briers singing and taunting Brer Fox with “I was born and bred in the brier patch.”

I think we have a modern day version of this fable in the present tax-rate brouhaha now taking place in Washington. Brer Obama, after years of decrying the Bush tax cuts as ruinous, has (along with many economic advisers) now embraced them as necessary to keep this Nation from suffering a double-dip recession … even including maintenance of the Bush tax rates for couples earning over $250,000 per year (millionaires and billionaires in the Democrat vernacular). Now, if this is the formula for fixing our economic and unemployment problems, why has it taken the Obama administration almost two years to recognize it? And why would Brer Obama ask the Republicans to throw him among all those tax rate nettles and thorns … as it seems his own party might be in open revolt against the idea? I have a few suggestions:

1) The extension of the Bush tax rates doesn’t work to restore economic growth and reduce unemployment between now and the 2012 elections … in which case Obama can repeatedly play “I told you so” in the political debates then. Even though Obama’s Keynesian fire-hose “stimulus” spending over the last two years clearly hasn’t worked, the American electorate will have long since forgotten about this by 2012. So Obama’s political priorities from the beginning seemed clearly to push through as much of his left-wing agenda early on in his administration and the devil take the hindquarters (our Nation’s economic and job growth.) As Rahm Emanuel said, “Never let a crisis go to waste.”

2) If, in fact, there IS the likely turn-around in the economy … but our national debt continues to soar … in which case Obama can appeal to the Tea Partiers that the Republicans and their policies have dug us deeper in debt with the Chinese. (It is not accidental that Obama’s proposal includes this 2 percentage point reduction in employee FICA payments and a 13 month extension of unemployment insurance … both designed to make that brier patch toss even more tempting to the Republicans … but both certain to increase our Nation’s debt burden significantly.)

3) Will the extension of the Bush tax rates stimulate economic growth? Probably not in and of themselves. After all, this will not be a cutting of taxes. It will just extend current tax rates for two more years. However, the 2 percentage point FICA tax reduction probably will help economic growth however damaging this might be to the long-term health of the Social Security System.

4) Strangely, Obama has made this proposal AFTER the November elections when, if made prior to the elections, he might have saved many blue-dog Democrats from electoral defeat. One might even surmise that Obama desired this Republican rout in the House to make it even clearer that Republicans are the ones to blame for whatever happens between now and 2012. In other words, Obama was willing to triangulate himself away from Democrats and to sacrifice his party and even his Nation in order to get re-elected in 2012. Machiavelli, thy name is Obama.

5) The vitriol being heaped on Obama by the left-wing press, bloggers, and Democrat members of Congress effectively makes Obama into a bit of a sympathetic folk hero … one willing (for the first time in two years) to reach across the aisle to accommodate the Republicans.  This also, of course, begins the triangulation of his stance running up to 2012.

Can the Republicans resist the temptation to toss Obama in among all those thorns of the Bush-tax-rate brier patch? I doubt it, nor do I necessarily think that they shouldn't take the bait. But, if they do, the Republicans should be even more draconian in reducing future government spending and in the draining of the Democrat’s honey pot of all those unspent stimulus funds.  Otherwise, if the Republicans don't believe that they can exhibit such discipline, may I suggest some Brer-Rabbit purloo?

Juxtaposition IX

E. Holder



A Boulder



Bring back Janet Reno ... or even Alberto Gonzales.

Juxtaposition VIII



WikiLeak's Assange



Lord of the Ring's Gollum



Perhaps I'm being too harsh on Gollum ...?

Juxtaposition VII

Exercise can be torture too ...

Hanoi Jane aiming at us.

Old Europe

For hundreds of years we have opened our shores for many millions of old-Europe emigrants to find a better life here in America.  We have fought many wars (and spilled much blood) for (or against) them while they spent much of their discretionary national incomes over the last sixty years on social welfare and beautiful infrastructure ... instead of their own self defense.  We have provided a super-expensive ICBM/nuclear shield for them throughout the cold war.  We spent considerable Marshall-Plan sums clothing, feeding and rebuilding them after World War II. 

Despite (or because of) their not having to spend very much of their GNPs on national defense, they have instead created a cradle-to-grave welfare culture that has sapped much of their national initiative. We have also spent hundreds of billions funding the U.N. that lavishes much this money on their poobahs' luxuriating in Geneva, Rome and Brussels five-star hotels and restaurants.  And throughout it all, we have listened to their derisive sneers and holier-than-thou preachings with general humility.  Recently we have apparently spent many more hundreds of billions of Federal Reserve dollars (that we clearly don't have) shoring up their banks, see the Yahoo! story.  And Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy are queuing up behind Greece to get their financial rewards from Brussels for their fiscal mismanagement.  And rumor has it that Uncle Sam will be a banker at this porker poker party.

And what has the United States received as recompense for all this selflessness?  Croissants, truffles, Rick Steves' travel logs, and spaghetti carbonara.

Nervy

Georgia O'Keeffe's hands

I recently watched the movie, Georgia O’Keeffe, in which both she and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, suffered “nervous breakdowns” at different points in the film. Now, when was the last time you heard of someone suffering a nervous breakdown? But, in the early 1900’s it seemed to be a plague. Didn’t Zelda, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife, suffer numerous bouts of this malady along with most of the rest of our nation’s glitterati. I even seem to recall that my mother had one before I was fully conscious of the world about me.

Back then, when one had a nervous breakdown, one retired to one’s boudoir to be pampered and fussed over … and to be served consommé and madolines for a few weeks until one was oneself again. I am intrigued by this apparent societal construct that has gone the way of the Ad Men four martini lunches. Were these nervous breakdowns just bouts of clinical depression … now treated with numerous pharmacologies? Or were they drug or alcohol benders … now treated by numerous Betty-Ford-type clinics? Or perhaps even just colossal self-indulgences ala Madonna. Whatever they were, they seemed to have slipped beneath the waves of our modern wired society. Too bad! No longer can we take to our bed and be spoon-fed hot tea and given toast points and be read to from Proust by our doting acolytes.

Who's the bigger turkey?

 

Angelina Jolie thinks Thanksgiving is disgusting. See: Gawker

Juxtaposition VI

 

Fair and balanced ...

Juxtaposition V

Acknowledgment: Imus (in the Morning)

A Wine Whiner

Oenophiles often wax poetic about their august wine tastings: "This Reisling has a buttery undertone." "This Chablis is quite flinty." "This Bordeaux has just the barest hint of cherries … or apricots … or almonds." I’ve always found this quite curious. If I am paying $85 for a bottle of wine, why can’t it just taste like a good wine? If I want the taste of cherries, I’ll just buy a $1.25 can of Dr. Brown’s.

Juxtaposition IV

Keep your chin up ...

Sean Hannity has a great line, "Next time Obama gives a speech I'm going to tug on his pant cuff and say, 'Mr. President, we're down here.'"

Juxtaposition III

Acknowledgment: Bill O'Reilly

 

Do Not Call

Years ago we put our home phone on the do-not-call list.  This has worked well for quite a while.  However recently, we have started to get numerous junk phone calls (which should be forbidden by this previous ukase) ... just a few minutes ago one from the Home Security Network.  And it seems that just about every mortgage financing company seems to know exactly what time we sit down to dinner.  How does this happen?  May I suggest that government regulations mean bupkus unless they are enforced ... just like our minimum-gas-mileage laws, mortgage-finance laws, and off-shore-drilling regulations haven't been.

So when things go wrong, our buffoons in Washington blame "deregulation," pass another 900-page law, create another agency, and fill it with high-priced bureaucrats (who watch porn on the Internet all day) ... all to no avail.  Why can't our government do what it is decreed to do?  The answer my friend is written in the windbags that populate all the marble buildings in the District of Columbia ... and I doubt that anything will change unless and until there is a real downside to such failings.  In China, bureaucrats who fail (like the one who allowed melamine in infant formula and sickened or killed numerous babies) have the good sense to attempt suicide.  Perhaps we could encourage such results in our country?

The Oracle of Natick

Every New Year's eve a group of our friends get together to dine and celebrate, including a number of traditional events ... one of which is that each of us forecasts what will occur in the following twelve months.   Then the next New Year's eve we re-read these predictions and award a prize to our best oracle.  This year, I think I have exhibited remarkable prescience (if I do say so myself.)  Here were my predictions last time (6.3 right out of 10 ... and there is still a month and a half to go) which, if I were alllowed to win, surely would take the  prize:

• Democrats will lose their majority in the House but not the Senate

• Chinese stock market will collapse (-20%+)

• Obama will have a nervous breakdown

• Russia will shut off natural gas to the EU

• Scott Brown is elected to the Senate

• Gitmo will not be closed down

• Two new Supreme Court justices will be appointed (after much ado)

• Iran’s nuclear facilities will be shut down (or destroyed)

• Terrorist attacks in NYC, Los Angeles and Dallas

• General Motors will go public

Cut on the Bias

Related to my previous blog entry, here are some more instances of pedagogical bias I have uncovered during my tutoring time here in a suburban Boston high school:

- The English reading assignment of the Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem, “Bird with Two Right Wings’ – a more U.S.-loathing screed is hard to imagine. See: Hating the U.S.

- A multiple-choice English quiz which asked students to classify statements as good, bad, or ugly. Then they are asked to rewrite bad or ugly statements into good ones. Here are a few samples of these leading and (I think) inappropriate suggestions: “Transplant patients should not have to pay for their new organs,” “The reason I was rooting for Obama was because if McCain died, Governor Palin would become President; also, Obama would be a change for our country, and lastly, Obama’s vice presidential (sic) candidate Joe Biden has more experience than Governor Palin,” and “Mike Capuano should be our state’s new senator because he will bring the change our state needs.”

- A history quiz which asks students to classify statements as either Socialism, or Laissez-Faire (italics mine) Capitalism [only]. These statements include: “Bill’s 10 year old son has been working 14 hour shifts down at the factory 6 days a week,” “In [our town] each business has been allowed to break up and destroy any trade unions that have been forming,” and “In [our town] each business does not have to allow the Environmental Protection Agency come in and check their factories for chemical leaks.”

- Another multiple-choice history quiz in which the correct answer choice for Socialism was “What economic theory said that the public owns all factors of production and they are used for the good of everyone?”

Stay tuned for more bias cuts over the next year …