Saturday Sessions: Steampunk

Abney Park

End of Days

The band Abney Park is from Seattle, named after a London cemetery they got there start as a Goth band in 1997 and made the switch to Steampunk in 2005, since becoming the quintessential Steampunk band.

Vernian  Process

Something Wicked (That Way Went)

Formed in San Francisco in 2003 and taking the name of the band from the author Jules Verne and it's first album from a Ray Bradbury short story, the band has been featured on MTV's coverage of the Steampunk scene.

H.U.M.A.N.W.I.N.E

Rivolata Silenziosa 

  This award winning band from Boston was founded in 2002, has done two national tours and has opened at the Orpheum and Webster Hall as well as having been the opening act for Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Giving Away the Farm

American Gothic Parodies

Tens of thousands of children unaccompanied by parents or relatives are flooding across the southern U.S. border illegally... An estimated 60,000 such children will pour into the United States this year, according to the administration, up from about 6,000 in 2011. Now, Washington is trying to figure out how to pay for their food, housing and transportation once they are taken into custody. The flow is expected to grow. The number of unaccompanied, undocumented immigrants who are under 18 will likely double in 2015 to nearly 130,000 and cost U.S. taxpayers $2 billion, up from $868 million this year, according to administration estimates.

Reuters

Scores of undocumented immigrants from Central America have been released at Greyhound Lines Inc. bus stations in Tucson and Phoenix over the past several days after they were flown to Arizona from south Texas, officials acknowledged.  Andy Adame, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Tucson, confirmed that over the weekend federal officials flew about 400 migrants apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to Tucson.

Az Central

Since taking office in 2009, the Obama Administration has systematically gutted effective immigration enforcement policies, moved aggressively against state and local governments that attempt to enforce immigration laws, and stretched the concept of "prosecutorial discretion" to a point where it has rendered many immigration laws meaningless.  Despite the fact that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress plenary authority over immigration policy, the Executive Branch is now making immigration policy unconstrained by constitutional checks and balances.

FAIR

Obamacare, The Preview

Equal Treatment for Everyone: Bad!

Gross Mismanagement & Criminal Misconduct...

... creating systemic patient safety issues and possible wrongful deaths.

Since 2005 the Office of the IG has issued 18 reports that identified at both the national and local levels, deficiencies in scheduling that resulting in lengthy wait times and the negative impact on patient care.

Data reported by HCS showed 226 patients waited on average 24 days for their first primary care appointment, however the IG review showed these 226 patients waited an average of 115 days.

multiple scheduling practices not in compliance with policy


Delaying medical care and manipulating records to hide those delays is "systemic"

inappropriate scheduling practices are a problem nationwide

It appears that a significant number of schedulers are manipulating the waiting times of established patients,


(Hospital) leadership significantly understated the time new patients waited for their primary care appointment in their FY 2013 performance appraisal accomplishments, which is one of the factors considered for awards and salary increases,

VA IG Report

Government healthcare...

... it's what liberals deserve. 

Second Amendment Supremacy

By Hugh Farnham

Most articles about this basic right come from an almost apologetic standpoint.  They beg you to listen to reason, with well thought out logic.  I'm not going to do that.  

I'm not going to argue how guns save lives, or protect property and liberty.  Instead, this is completely triumphant - like General Patton parading down a boulevard with blocks of  troops behind him. 

Face it, gun-grabbers.  Your 80-year war on guns has failed.  Not only are there more guns per capita, but the reasons why we have this right are now well understood by most gun owners.

Firearms ownership in America,  by the numbers:

114 Million Handguns

110 Million Rifles

86 Million Shotguns

(and uncounted millions of firearm war trophies never registered...)

If each firearm had an average of 50 rounds, that would be over 15 Billion rounds of ammunition.

An Arsenal of Freedom.

Let's assume, for argument's sake, the gun-grabbers unveiled a technology that could allow them to find and confiscate 90% of these guns.  That would still leave over 30 million guns in the hands of some very pissed Americans, as Boston T. Party has pointed out.

Name me a current government program that accomplishes 90% of their mission.

Or to take it further, let's assume 100% of existing guns and ammunition could be confiscated.  Do you know of someone with an indexing lathe?  Do you have white residue growing on your basement walls (saltpeter)?  A bag of charcoal? You get the idea.

There is no way that confiscation will work.  Ever.  That was the intent of our founding fathers:  the populace would always be better armed numerically than any standing army. 

I've hit targets out to 500 yards with just iron sights using WWII ammunition and a British .303 Enfield.  Many guns and ammunition today will still be usable into the 22nd Century.

The liberals have pulled every trick in the book, every propaganda piece possible, and tried outlawing firearms completely.

Sorry, it didn't work.  Their worst nightmare happened:  the American people re-discovered their roots and reasons for firearms.  Then they headed to the nearest gun store and purchased all the black guns they could afford.  They are still doing it at a record pace.

Ammunition manufacturers are pumping out rounds like a wartime economy; still the store shelves are empty.  Prices of some calibers have quadrupled over the past ten years - mainly due to demand.  

All that these central-government types have done is awaken a sleeping giant.  They have lost this war and the 2nd Amendment remains.

You've lost the war, you sad fascist.

EPA Cartel Hits Wyoming Billboards

Satire by Hugh Farnham

CHEYENNE, Wyoming -- State police are investigating  a mysterious billboard vandalism that appeared just off I-25, with a suited mannequin hanging from a noose.

The Clean Coal billboard was defaced sometime Friday night, said Lt. Testerberg of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.  "We have strong leads pointing to the EPA" the investigator said, puffing on a tobacco pipe.  

When reminded of the recent EPA decision to give the Wyoming city of Riverton to an Indian tribe, he remarked "Oh, there's plenty of motive and opportunity to go around.  Remember what EPA's "Caesar" Armendariz said, 'Like Romans, we march into town and crucify the first five capitalists we find.  After that, industry there is pretty easy to manage.'"

 

"This isn't new.  Last year Guns 'N Gear had their billboard defaced with a spray painted slogan  - 'Give Up Yer Guns - Or We'll Kick Down Yer Door!'" He paused to take a puff on his pipe.  "The paint can traced to a government GSA catalog buy, and then to the ATF, right here in town.  Unbelievable."

"We issued warrants, but the ATF cartel transferred the members to Connecticut.  They're worse than MS-13.  The Federales have gang chapters in every major city.  And their crime lord, "El Tio" Obama, is 1,500 miles away in the cartel-protected enclave of D.C.  Sometimes I feel like I'm playing whack-a-mole."

Plata O Plomo - Silver or Lead

"I follow the money with these crimes." He continued.  "Usually it is a protection racket.  They use regulations to squeeze some industry or capitalist, then quietly offer the deal.  Give us your silver or get the lead treatment.  Their 'silver' ends up as DNC campaign donations."

"But unlike MS-13, the Federales pump out reams of crime evidence.  I don't even need to go to the crime scene - I can Google all the evidence I need right here at my office computer, and so can you."

Remember: It's not just about the Hot Dogs and Hamburgers.

...And the temples of his Gods

Photo: Tighef

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods

From Lord Macauley the poem Horatius may be familiar to many of you from last years film Oblivion.  I chose it, and the image above of the Large Hadron Collider to illustrate a theme recently discussed, that of the large body of militant atheists who treat atheism for all practical purposes as religious dogma.

High Priests in the Holy of Holies

Photo: Urcomunicacion

From orchestrated objective reduction to quantum electrodynamics most of the gospel is as incomprehensible to the body of the faithful as the Gospel of Thomas would have been to your average 12th century French peasant.  For all intent there is little difference between militant atheism and the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición of yore.

I didn't know what fire and brimstone was until I made a throwaway claim recently during an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher. It seemed pretty unaudacious at the time, but by dropping the simple sentence "Atheism is a religion," I opened a biblical floodgate of ridicule, name-calling, and abuse. ~ Kennedy

Religion: an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.

Or: a "system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic." Clifford Geertz 

There are probably as many definitions of religion as there are religions, if not more.  This isn't about whether atheism, which is simply a rejection of the belief in deities is a religion, but whether or not atheism itself has become for all intents and purposes a religion to a subset of non-believers, those generally referred to as militant atheists.  Held in faith, defended dogmatically, and proselytized as vehemently as evangelical Christendom.

A study at the University of Tennessee recently studied and categorized six types of atheist:

1. Intellectual Atheist:This type of nonbeliever seeks information and intellectual stimulation about atheism.  They like debating and arguing, particularly on popular Internet sites.  

2.  Activist Atheist: These kinds of atheists and agnostics are not content with just disbelieving in God; they want to tell others why they reject religion and why society would be better off if we all did likewise.

3. Seeker-Agnostic: This group is made up of people who are unsure about the existence of a God but keep an open mind and recognize the limits of human knowledge and experience.

4. Anti-Theist: This group regularly speaks out against religion and religious beliefs, usually by positioning themselves as “diametrically opposed to religious ideology,”  Anti-theists view religion as ignorance and see any individual or institution associated with it as backward and socially detrimental,” the researchers wrote. “The Anti-Theist has a clear and – in their view, superior – understanding of the limitations and danger of religions.”  Anti-theists are outspoken, devoted and – at times – confrontational about their disbelief. They believe that "obvious fallacies in religion and belief should be aggressively addressed in some form or another.”

5. Non-Theist: The smallest group among the six are the non-theists, people who do not involve themselves with either religion or anti-religion.

6. Ritual Atheist: They don't believe in God, they don’t associate with religion, and they tend to believe there is no afterlife, but the sixth type of nonbeliever still finds useful the teachings of some religious traditions.  “They see these as more or less philosophical teachings of how to live life and achieve happiness than a path to transcendental liberation,”

CNN

In depth 

I've included the description of all of Category 4, Anti-Theists, because that is what I believe we are discussing here.  Here is an example of an anti-theist:

 Now don't get me wrong, I kind of like Bill Maher, I think it would be very entertaining to sit down over a beer and discuss neurotheology.  For those not familiar with the term, neurotheology is the scientific concept that our brains are hard-wired for religion.  In other words... the religious among us were born that way.  Hmm, now where have I heard that argument before?

Saturday Sessions: SCIENCE

Wurst for Wear

Photo: Albin Olsson
License: CC-BY-SA-3.0

And if you thought it was just the Muslims...

Conchita Wurst an Austrian Drag Artist won the 2014 Eurovision contest. Following flooding in the Balkans that killed 50 people and displaced 150,000...

Patriarch Amfilohije: www.kremlin.ru.

"This is not a coincidence, but a warning, God sent the rains as a reminder that people should not join the wild side."  Patriarch Amfilohije of Montenegro.

Patriarch Irinej: Imikiwiki

"The floods were divine punishment for their vices, God is thus washing Serbia of its sins". Patriarch Irinej, spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Serbs.

Religion untempered by Reason can be a dangerous thing

James Comey, FBI Director

I believe people should be suspicious of government power. I am, I think this country was founded by people who were worried about government power so they divided it among three branches.

When James Comey was acting Attorney General during John Ashcroft's hospitalization he refused to certify the legality of the part of the NSA's domestic surveillance program. Comey, along with Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith and FBI Director Robert Mueller threatened to resign.  Bush discontinued bulk collection of American's internet records 26 March 2004.  Forestalling the threatened resignations, a secret FISA court reapproved NSA bulk collection on 14 July 2004, barely three months later.

We need more Americans like James Comey.

The Hill

The Guardian

The Militarization of the Police

In an interview with Fox 59, a Morgan County, Indiana Police Sergeant admits that the increasing militarization of domestic police departments is partly to deal with returning veterans who are now seen as a homegrown terror threat.

“The weaponry is totally different now that it was in the beginning of my career, plus, you have a lot of people who are coming out of the military that have the ability and knowledge to build IEDs and to defeat law enforcement techniques.” Sgt Dan Downing, of the Morgan County Sheriff Dept.

LIVE FREE OR DIE

"The State of New Hampshire's experience with terrorism slants primarily towards the domestic type," the filing reads. "We are fortunate that our State has not been victimized from a mass casualty event from an international terrorism strike however on the domestic front, the threat is real and here. Groups such as the Sovereign Citizens, Free Staters and Occupy New Hampshire are active and present daily challenges."

Concord Police Chief John Duval in an application for a $250,000 grant to DHS to purchase an armored vehicle.

Stairway to Where?

In 1968 and 1969 a band named Spirit played four gigs with Led Zeppelin.  Led Zeppelin I, II, III are due to be re-released in June.  On the presumption that Zeppelin IV will eventually follow, lawyers for the family of deceased Spirit guitarist Randy California are suing, claiming Led Zeppelin stole the intro to Stairway to Heaven from the Spirit song "Taurus".

You be the judge, the piece in question starts at about 0:45 in the Spirit song:

The Ends do not Justify the Means

There is a very good interview with former director of the NSA, General Keith Alexander, in the New Yorker.

Metadata is the least intrusive, most efficient way to do it. You don’t want to translate millions and millions of calls; you want to get to the most efficient approach.

I think that statement illustrates the mindset most effectively.  It's not that we don't want to listen in to all your phone calls, it's just not efficient.  So what does that mean?  Will they record and translate millions and millions of calls if the efficiency improves?

To me, the question isn't whether or not these programs work, as they undoubtedly do, and well, the question is it worth it?  Is it worth it sacrificing the foundational principles of our nation for a little safety?  Face it, your chances of being killed by a fellow American are much higher than of being killed by a terrorist, why stop with them?  Seriously, if your goal is safety, we have the technology to assure it.  

Why do you find it tolerable to sacrifice your freedoms, your privacy to eliminate a remote threat but not to eliminate a more probable one? 

But I do think people need to know that we’re at greater risk, and there’s a lot more coming my way. It’s easy to stir up public emotion by saying: They’re listening to your phone calls. They’re reading your e-mails.  

It's also easy to stir up public emotion by saying: The Boogieman is coming.

Think about it. 

 

How do you do Dogs?

Photo: Jersyko

How do you do dogs?

I prefer mine simple, just a little mustard, maybe some sauerkraut.  Occasionally I'll have a chili dog with some raw onions on top.  Everyone likes them differently it seems.  One coworker only eats those Oscar Meyer hotdogs with the cheese inside, another from Detroit insists that is where the "Coney Dog" originated despite the fact that no one is arguing with him.

In New Jersey they prefer "Italian" dogs served on an Italian roll.  In Milwaukee it's on a buttered hard roll, and in San Francisco they are wrapped in bacon and topped with mayonnaise.  In Chicago it's tomatoes, pickle and green relish while in Atlanta they like theirs with slaw, and in Kansas City they serve it dressed up like a Reuben.

We did dogs on the grill last night, I kept mine simple with just mustard and a side of baked beans.

How do you do yours?

Saturday Sessions: Sigur Rós, Post-Rock

Sigur Rós is a post-rock Icelandic group from Reykjavík. Dating back to 1994 the band has been featured in film and television, and if you recognize the last song it's because it was most recently featured this year on Game of Thrones. The genre often treats the voice as simply another instrument.  The following song Gitardjamm is sung in Vonlenska, also know by its English translation "hopelandic".  It is entirely an artificial construct, entirely melodic and rhythmic without conceptual content.

NO CHILD IS LEFT BEHIND

THEY'RE ALL BEHIND TOGETHER

In Washington DC fully 83% of students are not proficient at reading and 81% are not proficient at math.

But don't think I'm picking on DC.  Out of possible scores of 500, DC scored 245 compared to the national average of 258 in reading and 260 compared to the national average of 276 in math. 

The US is below average in literacy and technological proficiency, and it’s third from the bottom in numeracy for 16- to 65-year-olds. The United States has high levels of education and a large percentage of its workers in adult learning and training programs, and it spends lots of money on all these activities. And yet, it does worse than many countries with few advantages and resources.

DC Schools
America's Educational Failings

"Relevant Subject in Todays Media"

 

IRS FOIA Requests 

Reveal coordination between Cincinnati office and Washington in politically targeted scrutiny of 501(c) applications under prompting and pressure from Sen Carl Levin D-Michigan:

EOT is working the Tea party applications in coordination with Cincy. We are developing a few applications here in DC and providing copies of our development letters with the agent to use as examples in the development of their cases. Chip Hull [another lawyer in IRS headquarters] is working these cases in EOT and working with the agent in Cincy, so any communication should include him as well. Because the Tea party applications are the subject of an SCR [Sensitive Case Report], we cannot resolve any of the cases without coordinating with Rob.

Link to FOIA documents

Otero County Defies Forest Service

Otero County, New Mexico Defies Feds

This article caught my eye as I spent six years living in Otero County, and don't you easterners be mislead by the term "county", it's larger than the State of Connecticut.

Commissioners in Otero County voted Monday night to authorize Sheriff Benny House to open a gate allowing nearly 200 head of cattle into the 23-acre area despite Forest Service restrictions.  

The area had been closed by the Forest Service ostensibly to protect the "New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse" which Forest Service Spokesman Mark Chavez said was expected to be listed as an endangered species in June, which would mean those 23 acres would be considered a critical habitat.

Zapus hudsonius luteus

Which is quite funny, since I did a little checking and the US Fish and Wildlife Service states : "The New Mexico meadow jumping mouse (jumping mouse) is endemic to New Mexico, Arizona, and a small area of southern Colorado" 

I also did a little research and found this: 

The meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius) is the most widely distributed mouse in the subfamily Zapodinae. It may be found from the Atlantic coast, to the Great Plains, as far north as the arctic tree lines in Canada and Alaska, and as far south as Georgia, Alabama, Arizona, and New Mexico. 

The meadow jumping mouse is currently not in any kind of danger. According to the IUCN Red list, it is widely spread, common, and not declining throughout most of its extensive range. It is also present in many protected areas, and so does not have any major threats of it becoming an endangered species. 

Yeah, endangered, right.

So what's the problem?

The cows have been stepping on them

 

 

Beaucoup Harem

By Hugh Farnham

Almost as if on cue, the Administration is pushing another international distraction in the form of Boko Haram.  Who couldn't be pulled in with this storyline?  Innocent kidnapped girls, mean bearded Muslims bent on forced marriage, and the FLOTUS tweet hashtag.

Our National Interest

One of the basic principles in diplomacy or war is asking the question:  What is our national interest? 

A few years ago I was working Strategy Division at an Air Operations Center, or AOC.  Some members of the AFRICOM AOC came through for a tour; I cornered a Major in the group and asked him point-blank what was our overriding national interest in Africa - enough to justify AFRICOM?  He stammered, looked sheepish, and couldn't offer a cogent response.  

Imagine a Major on General Eisenhower's Air Staff who couldn't enunciate why we were in Europe during WWII!

The reason I believe this is a selected distraction has to do with Rwanda.  During the Clinton administration up to 1 million Tutsis died at the hands of the majority Hutus.  Nothing was done by Clinton - why not?  No national interest.

While it is natural for our hearts to go out to these innocent girls, we are talking about a government that upholds the murder of millions of our own children - many of whom are minorities.  Right on our own soil.  This same government then gets all self-righteous about 200 kidnapped foreign girls.

The basic assumption of why we have the "right" to interfere with some other nation's internal affairs needs to be deconstructed.  I'm not threatened by Boko Haram and neither should this nation or government.  

Is this just an excuse for another military adventure or a distraction for the Hilary Clinton - Benghazi hearings?  This media build-up reminds me of the drums of war for Yugoslavia, or Syria or... the enemy de jour.

On the Bizarre Side

Thieves break into Garfield Monument

Polish off a bottle of cinnamon whiskey and steal a bunch of commemorative spoons.

Who in God's name would do such a horrible and disgusting thing... put cinnamon in whiskey?