I May Be Going to Hell in a Bucket

But at Least I'm Enjoying the Ride

 

Consider this when discussing the budget and debt ceiling:

The US unfunded liability per taxpayer is now well over a million dollars, actually $1,099,889 at the time of this writing.  Broken down we have the following unfunded liabilities:

Social Security: 16.5 Trillion
Prescription Drugs: 21.9 Trillion
Medicare: 87.2 Trillion

US federal spending is 3.5 Trillion, US federal revenue is 2.6 Trillion and the government takes 1 dollar out of every 3 created or earned. 

Drunken Sailors

Right now the US Gross Debt to GDP ration is 106.5 which puts us in an exclusive club with Ireland 102, Greece 155, Italy 103, and Portugal 111.  By contrast Europe's powerhouse Germany is at 57, and France is at 84. Even scarier... Russia's is at 10 and China's is at 20.

"We are not a Banana Republic" ~ Barrack Obama

You are 100% correct Mr President!  The Banana Republics only have an average debt to GDP ratio of 35.  No offense to our Central and Latin American brethren, but I used Honduras, Guatamala, Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela to come up with that number.

So congratulations Mr. Obama, Mr. Reid, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Durban, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Boehner, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Cantor, Mr. McCarthy, and Mr. Hoyner... we're not even a Banana Republic. 

You must really consider the circus
It just might be your kind of zoo
I can't think of a place that's more perfect
For a person as perfect as you.

Fools on the Hill

Teufelei Rant

I just finished reading an exceedingly stupid piece by failed politician Sarah Palin, and the peanut gallery comments in the thread were even worse, so I am agitated.

I will piss off my confreres on the right and give cheer to the left by saying the GOP doesn't know its ass from a blowtorch. 

Taking away foodstamps?

Really? In this shitty economy? That's their big game? What about corporate welfare?

Obama did not steer the car out of the ditch. He drove it in deeper, but he and his apologists still get away with Blaming Bush.  Only a party of fumble-fingered bumblers would allow such an appalling failure to get away with that and get reelected. 

Shutting Down Government?

And the GOOP's obsession with shutting down government plays into the whole bombthrower meme, especially in conjunction with refusing to raise the debt ceiling, risking a financial collapse.  What is their end game in this 'brave' (and stupid) showdown over Obamacare?  Can someone explain the path to victory on this one?  Because I sure as hell don't see it.

Yes, we need to repeal Obamacare, and we need to put the bloated, bureaucratic federal government on a severe diet, but you can't get there from here. You can't.  Politics is about power, and the GOOP doesn't have it right now, and if the Democrat Socialists' red propaganda campaign continues to be so successful, the GOOP may never wield power again.  They've got to convince the American people that they are serious and that they have real nuts and bolts ideas.  So far, all they have is nuts--and Sarah Palin types playing to the peanut gallery. 

The Problem with the GOOP

The first problem is that the GOOPers are just as addicted to federal largess funded by taxpayers and China as Obama's Democrat Socialist party is.

The second problem is that the Senate will never vote to defund Obamacare.  Even if we get sucked through a wormhole and into an alternate universe and they somehow do vote it down, the president would never sign it into law.

The Democrat Socialists have thousands of trained monkeys in the press pounding on thousands of typewriters repeating the meme over and over that the Democrat Socialists are the responsible adults, and the GOOPers are petulant children playing with matches, and everything the GOOPers do reinforces that red propaganda.

If the GOOPers Shut Down Government, They Lose

Not only will the GOOP's confederacy of plonkish fools and tin-eared dunces lose (they will), they've already lost, because they don't understand politics and the use of propaganda. They should do themselves and everyone else a favor and just get the hell off the stage. They've made the worst president in history, who is a feckless nincompoop, look like the adult in the room.

Today's GOP has the morals of Bill Clinton, the effectiveness of Jimmy Carter and all the charm of Richard Nixon.  What the hell are they doing?  They could learn from the Democrats.  Democrat politicians are a nasty, sleazy lot, but they know how to dress themselves up, smile, and bribe and schmooze the gullible public.

The GOOP lost in 2008, they lost in 2012, and they are losing now.  The government shutdown story and the fiscal cliff story are already written.  Obama and the Democrat Socialists are the heroes, and the GOOP are the grandma-killing, child-starving villains.

Boehner and the rest of the fools on the hill should just climb into their clown car and go away.

We Will Not Negotiate

We will not negotiate... with Republicans.

After a house vote of 230-189 funding the government and defunding the ACA,  President Obama upon returning from Kansas City phoned House Speaker John Boehner in a tiff and reiterated his refusal to negotiate over the debt limit.

Washington Post

But he will negotiate with:

kremlin.ru

rouhani.ir

Afterwards

He hung up the phone, threw himself down on the Great Seal of the United States, and had a tantrum and a good cry

Seriously?  

The Leader of the Free World acting like a petulant child?  Refusing to negotiate with his own government. 

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them, and others just bobble it like a well greased piglet at the county fair.

 

Yeah, We're trying to mess with you...

And apparently it's working very well.

The Great Satchmo

Dream a Little Dream

Hello Dolly 

There is something to be said about as 63 year old African-American who can knock the Beatles off the top of the charts, which Pops did in 1964 with Hello Dolly.

Tiger Rag 1932

What a Wonderful World

I don't think any Louis Armstrong collection would be complete without What a Wonderful World

Washington's Doing Great !!!

Between 2000 and 2012 median incomes for the nation dropped 6.6% but look at the plus side... in the same period incomes in Washington DC climbed 23.3%.

That's not to say that the common people of Washington DC are doing well,  the numbers of the poorest in DC, those that are 50% below the poverty line rose from 9.4 to 10.4%.  DC has the highest rate in the country for the poorest of the the poor.

This is for all those politicians and government bureaucrats living the high life in McClean, Vienna, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, et al.

  
WSJ

Gun Grabbers Need to Come Clean

C'mon, anti-gun statists, you can do it. Tell us your real agenda.  You've opened up on other topics...

President Obama ushered in a bright new age where his fans could openly advocate socialism and trash American free market capitalism. Progressives freely damn the constitution as standing in the way of "Progress." There is no shame or stigma in advocating for abortions. Indeed, it is a badge of honor, as is throwing mudballs and dirtclods at traditional morality and religion, organized and otherwise (excluding Islam. No liberal is so brave as to risk having her throat slit).

So tell us your anti-gun end-game.

First, some facts, then some questions.

In the 30 years through March, 78 public mass shootings occurred in the U.S. -- incidents in which four or more people were killed at random by a gunman murdering indiscriminately, according to a report issued that month by the Congressional Research Service. These crimes don’t include gang-related killings or domestic disputes where a person slays relatives or other people linked to the murderer.

The mass slaughters listed in the report caused the deaths of 547 people. Over the same three decades through 2012, that’s less than a tenth of 1 percent of the 559,347 people the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates were murdered in America. (Bloomberg)

Indeed, the murder rate, like all violent crime, has been falling, according to FBI statistics. The murder rate is now what it was in 1969, and the overall violent crime rate has fallen to 1979 levels.  So, to sum up, we have no increase in mass shootings, and an overall decrease in murder and other violent crimes.

Now, the questions:

What is the immediate, compelling reason to push for gun control now? It can't be driven by logic and statistics.  We can only surmise that you are leveraging the pain and misery of others for mass emotional appeal.

Why no clamor for law enforcement at all levels to disarm known criminal elements and focus in on illegal arms trafficking?

What proposed law would have prevented the DC Navy Yard shooting? 

That Navy Yard, like Fort Hood, was a Gun Free Zone

Guns are strictly controlled on all Department of Defense installations. People who live on the installation in family housing may keep guns in their house, and people who live in the barracks must keep them in an armory. They are absolutely prohibited in any other location. No one other than people performing official duties may carry a weapon, unless transporting it, unloaded between the front gate and their home or armory. There is no such thing as open carry, and no one is granted a concealed carry permit. If you work on the installation, you many not have a weapon in your automobile or on your person when visiting or working on the installation.

So, I ask again, what would have prevented this crime?

Since only the bravest of liberals can answer honestly, I'll answer for the rest of them: A total and complete firearm ban, including confiscation of all existing firearms. If you really want to prevent these types of incidents, which are 1/10 of 1% of all gun crimes, then that is where you need to go. So, I call on all liberals to stop mealy-mouthing it. Woman up and say what you mean. Given the randomness of human action and the number of sickos out there, only a complete gun ban and total confiscation will do.

Related:  Why Gun Control Can't Eliminate Gun Violence

Gun-Free or Helpless Victim Zones?

Gun Free Zones Don't Work

What do Columbine, Newtown, Aurora Cinemark, Virginia Tech, Oikos University, Northern Illinois University, Fort Hood, and the Washington Navy Yard all have in common?  Aside from all being the sites of mass shootings, they are all gun-free zones.

A University of Chicago Law School study of multiple-victim public shootings from 1977-1999 determined each incident occurred in a "gun-free" zone.  University of Chicago, William Landes & John Lotte, 2000

The latest version of the study illustrates that with the exception of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, all took place in "gun-free" zones.

Aurora Colorado Cinemark

The Aurora shooting is an interesting case study on "gun-free" zones.  Of the seven theaters within 20 minutes of the perpetrator's apartment, he chose not the larges, nor the closest, but the only one that restricted concealed carry on premises.

No Demonstrated Causal Relationship

While there is no demonstrable evidence that shooters specifically choose "gun-free" zones, the facts do bear one thing out... "gun-free" zones do nothing to mitigate multiple-victim public shootings.

Bloomberg 

Nashua Telegraph
 

Here we go again

2010 DFW Mugshot

Could gun control have prevented the Navy Yard shootings?

Armed with a shotgun, Aaron Alexis apparently armed up as he went:

Authorities said they believe that Alexis picked up two other weapons — a handgun and an AR-15-style assault weapon — during the shooting spree, taking the sidearm from a police officer he shot and another from a gunsafe or other secure location.

NBC News

Better law enforcement certainly could have

2004: Shot out the tires on a construction workers car in front of his house.  Between the cops and DA, the paperwork was apparently lost and charges were never filed.

2008:  Arrested for disorderly conduct in August 2008 in DeKalb County, Georgia. He was released from custody after posting $364 bond.

2010: Reckless discharge of a firearm (through his ceiling, the floor above, and the ceiling above).  Charges fired but dropped.

2011: General Discharge from the Navy for "a series of incidents of misconduct"

Treated multiple times for psychological issues — including sleep deprivation, anger and paranoia — sources told NBC News. Most recently, sources said, he had been treated at an unspecified Veterans Affairs hospital in New England.

Thoughts?

Your Home? or a Government Holding Cell?

The headline caught my eye. Or, as Archie Bunker would say, it fought my eye:

Underground — And Illegal — NYC Dinner Parties

I was reeled in. What were these clandestine diners doing? Cannibalism? Eating the eyeballs out of babies? Feasting on grass-fed puppies?

According to CBS New York:

"It may look like a dinner party, but it’s really an underground supper club."

*GASP*  And there's more!!!

"Clandestine dinner parties like the one Leitner attended have become more common in New York City. And insiders told Leitner they are completely unregulated."

Unregulated dinner parties! The horror! There's probably free-lance butlering going on at these rogue events as well!

Are We still a Free People?

I don't care if they are gathering to swap spouses, build model airplanes, have farting contests, buy and consume raw milk, study the Bible or Koran, or eat unhealthy foods prepared with blowtorches. Free people gathering voluntarily on private property is no business of government so long as those people are not violating the rights of others or disturbing their tranquility.

Follow the Benjamins
 
Of course, this is really about money. Everyone has to pay tribute to the petty potentates who rule over their neighborhoods and their lives. It's for "public safety" don'tcha know.

Government bureaucracies unleash rapacious mobs of overpaid regulatory inspectors armed with clipboards and rulebooks to swarm businesses and harass them into government compliance. Stories of corruption, kick-backs and outright bribes in places like New York and Chicago are the stuff of legends.

Unsated after feasting upon business owners, the ravenous government crime syndicate now demands the right to invade people's homes.

Government Extortion

Even worse, this regulatory nightmare has turned into a grotesque "good cop, bad cop" scam that makes the mafia look like a benevolence society.

Here's how it works:

Governments at all levels churn out dense clots of regulatory toxic sludge so abstruse that no sane person can comprehend it. Imperious overlords then sick their flying bureaucratic monkeys on innocent citizens, frightening them into attempting to comply with bureaucratic nonsense only a madman could understand, all upon pain of losing all that they own. That's the "Bad Cop."

The "Good Cop" is the regulatory consultant company that businesses must hire to help them interpret and comply with the dense tangle of government decrees if they want to stay on the good side of the law and not have their livelihood stolen from them. Of course, these "consultants" are former government inspectors. See how this scam works?

Here's what one of the privateering extortionists had to say about free people hiring a chef and hosting a dinner party in a private home:

“It definitely falls into a gray area,” said Leon Lubarsky, owner of Letter Grade Consulting.

Lubarsky’s staff of retired New York City health inspectors advises restaurants on health regulations.

When asked if the underground restaurants should be regulated, Lubarsky told Leitner, “Yes, they should be regulated by the same system that regulates every restaurant in New York City.” (CBS New York)

This is government-sponsored piracy.

More government run amok: Residents fined for parking in own driveways

It's Sunday, and that means Football

and Controversy

As this season winds back up so does the controversy over the name of the Washington Redskins, although some have opined that "Washington" was the more offensive part and the team should simply be known as the Redskins, another suggested they celebrate the heritage of football by changing the name to the Pigskins, but the Muslims objected. 

As an Irishman and a Celt, I know how they feel

 I could go on, but you undoubtedly get the point

There are probably as many Irish, Scot, Pict, Gael mascots as Indian.  We are not mascots, the use of our cultural and racial heritage in the promotion of sports is offensive, demeaning, and...

FOR GODS SAKE LIGHTEN UP

It's a sports team.  Do you think Paddy didn't start out as a derogatory term?

The way to demean the power of a slur is to embrace it, Lord Edward Fitzgerald (fighting the Anglo-Saxons also, I might add) in 1798 declared himself "A Paddy and no more" and said "he desired no other title than this".  Take this from a man whose people were oppressed by the English for more than 300 years before they even knew you existed.

GO IRISH

 
 

The Sounds of Music

Stop, Listen, Think.

 

 

     

   

  

From the primitive to the unexpected, from everyday objects to the human voice as an instrument, music is what you make of it.

Americans for Whatever Barack Obama Wants

This is dedicated to the sycophantic Obama-nuts who visit here.  I exclude Ducky from that group, and thank him for bringing this to the attention of Western Hero.




There is hope yet for the young generation.

It Ain't CALORADO Yet

Listen to your constituents, not the White House.

After passing sweeping gun control legislation in the wake of the Aurora and Sandy Hook shootings that placed limits on magazine capacity and required background checks in private sales, Colorado legislators just learned who the boss is.

Colorado Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and and Colorado State Senator Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) just got booted out of office for not listening to their constituents in the first Colorado recall election, ever.

John Morse

The Ex Senate President in a concession speech that more closely resembled a scolding of voters than contrition, called the act symbolic and stated that his record was phenomenal.  This phenomenal record is illustrated by the legislature ramming a gun control package through by scheduling seven hearings in one day, preventing hundreds of scheduled witnesses from testifying.  

It may only be symbolic, but buddy, you're out of a job!

Angela Giron

In heavily Democratic District 3 (Pueblo) where only 23% of the voters are Republican, Giron was ousted with a 12 point spread.  Pueblo is a blue-collar union town and everyone thought that this was going to be the close race.  What wasn't counted on was Democrats turning out to vote FOR the recall.  20% of the votes to recall Giron came from Democrat voters and the end result was to put a Republican in office in her place.

Nunya

To Michael Bloomberg, Eli Broad, Kirsten Gillibrand, and the Koch Brothers, et al. we would like to present you with the Western Hero Award...

The good people of Colorado just told you what you can do with your money, and please fold all 3.5 million of them into sharp corners before doing it.

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah

I was completely unimpressed:

            Obama Speech 

 

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but this speech was an insult to the American people.  The President said nothing that couldn't be discerned by picking up yesterday's newspaper.

What were your thoughts on the speech? 

So, why are we dicking around with the Syrians?

Why are we, if not allying, at least indirectly helping the assholes who did this? And yes, I am aware that all of the rebels in Syria are not affiliated with Al-Qaeda, but a goodly portion, perhaps 30% or more are affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

9/11

Never Forget

 

Summer War Drummers

What the hell is it with the oligarchy?  Why are they so enamored of war?

I was working out at the gym and the bank of TVs had sports, etc, but one television had one of those Sunday Morning talk shows where the oligarchs and their lawyer spokemouths compete to see who can shovel the most bullshit.  Of course, I wasn't tuned into the sound, but I doubt the statist toady Chuck Todd asked Barbara Boxer how many millions in war profits she and her husband stood to make off of the Syria action.  They won't make as much as Sanfran lib Diane Feinstein and her husband.  They are the champion war profiteers, making Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock holding look like chump change.  (And by the way, where is that Iraqi oil we supposedly exchanged our blood for?)

We're Not In It To Win It

Anyhoo, I am anti-war for one simple reason:  We haven't won one since 1945.  We're hella good at fighting people and tearing their shit up, but we don't know how to win anymore.  And fighting an unwinnable war is immoral. 

What about Panama? 

It was an invasion, not a war. We killed thousands of people and burned thousands more out of their homes all to take down a Frankenstein's monster that we created.  See, first we create the problem, then we go to war against it.  I know, I know...  The left has been saying this for a long time, and I am loathe to agree with them on anything, but the truth is the truth.

Are Iraqis better off for our efforts?
  
Depends on which faction you ask.  The simple fact that no major thoroughfare in Baghdad has been renamed George Bush Avenue, that no Iraqi holiday expresses thanks to America for 'liberating' them, I'd day the Iraqis have answered my question in the negative. 

Same goes for Afghanistan 

So we got some girls to go to school, rounding them up in one building so 7th century child rapists can kill them all at once.  We've done an immoral thing.  We went against an ancient culture, but we left the gargoyles who guard it in place, and they rape, stone, bomb, slash and murder the people we have wrongly encouraged to stand up and defy them.

Syria:  Islamo-Butchers v. Secular Butchers

In Syria, we're preparing to bomb the one man standing between a Christian minority and the Islamo-fascists who want to butcher them like hogs.  All on the pretext that instead of simply bombing them or machine gunning them in the street, Assad used gas, and the Untied Notions has said that is a no no.  The International Clown Car known as the UN issues absurd pronouncements it cannot back up, and promulgates 'international laws' that it cannot enforce.  It even goes so far as to condemn those foolish enough to try to enforce its laws.  It's madness.

It Really is a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

We live in a mad world, and we are afflicted by the human condition.  We don't have to look far to see something that offends our sense of goodness and humanity, but if history has taught us anything, it is that violence more often than not begets more violence.  The 'good' wars that ended decisively are few, while history is blistered over with ugly scars and gashing wounds that fester and run rivers through successive generations.  It's bad enough out there as it is.  Our crashing around just makes it worse.

Beware people beating war drums who have never been to war.   

Dazed and Confused

Dedicated to the Obama Administration:

 

 

The White House

Appearing on Meet the Press,  White House Chief of Staff David McDonough said:

"nobody is rebutting the intelligence; nobody doubts the intelligence” that is the basis for President Barack Obama pinning the blame for an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria on President Bashar Assad's regime"

NBC News

From Germany

"President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order last month's chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered calls for US military intervention, and blocked numerous requests from his military commanders to use chemical weapons against regime opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported , citing unidentified, high-level national security sources.  The intelligence findings were based on phone calls intercepted by a German surveillance ship operated by the BND, the German intelligence service, and deployed off the Syrian coast"

The Guardian

You got Islam in my Secular Revolution!

You got Secularism in my Religious Uprising!  

 

John Kerry:

"I just don't agree that a majority are al-Qaeda and the bad guys," Kerry said in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "That's not true."

There are two major Al-Qaeda factions fighting in Syria. One is Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Last month, the U.S. State Department announced Baghdadi had moved his base of operations into Syria.  The other major Al-Qaeda faction in Syria is the Al-Nusra Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra.  The Al-Nusra Front now openly declares loyalty to Al-Qaeda's Egyptian leader, Ayman Zawahri, who is thought to be hiding in Pakistan.          Radio Free Europe

Radio Free Europe is a US Government funded broadcast service

Other Groups operating as part of the Syrian opposition are:

Ahrar ash-Sham
The Al-Haqq Brigade
Al-Fajr Islamic Movement
Ansar Al-Sham
Jaysh Al-Tawhid
The Abd al-Muttalib Brigade
Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya

These are all members of the Syrian Islamic Front with the stated goal of "toppling the Assad government and establishing an Islamic state, governed by religious Muslim law, for the benefit of all Syrians"  MEMRI
 

Under New Management

Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Australia

Liberal-National Coalition swept into power in Australia with a commanding 85-54 majority over Labour.  The Liberal-National Party is the center-right conservative party in Australia.

Abbot ran on the repeal of the carbon tax, lower taxes, and on tighter immigration controls.

Classical Music Comedy

If you don't know what Rob Paravonian is talking about,  watch the video below and pay close attention to the cellist.

Victor Borge had his own way of poking fun at classical music:

Buddha, Pascal and Lena Dunham Walk into a Bar...

Peter Augustine Lawler shines a light on our current culture as viewed through the prism of HBO's hit, Girls:

"We see time and again, for example, that there’s little more degrading than casual sex in the absence of love. When we’re shown an abortion clinic, or women contracting STDs, or a string of pathetic hookups, and whiny, brittle, pretend marriages, we see the stupidity and misery of an abysmally clueless life. The show’s bitter, intended irony is this: while these girls are so proudly pro-choice, they lack what it takes to choose well.

What’s wrong with these Girls (and their boys) is that they lack character. Their easygoing world of privilege has saved them from any experiences that might build it. Their affluent parents are hardly “role models,” and they’re too flaccid to give their kids the “tough love” they need.

He goes on to explain how our education system and the 'Girls' have failed one another:

We also see plenty of evidence that what these girls really want is meaningful work and personal love. But they have not the first clue on how to get them.

Their education has failed them—another piece of realism. Hannah majored in film studies [...]  She learned nothing that would help make a living, but she did glean enough vanity to make her unfit for the “entry-level” jobs for which she barely qualifies. She also fancies that she can earn a living as a writer. While her prose style is pleasing, she has nothing “real” to write about. She didn’t read with passionate care any “real” books in college. Her education taught nothing “real” about her responsibilities as a free and relational being." (The Secret Moral Message of "Girls")

A Tragic Sense of Life

Soren Kierkegaard reflects upon the birds of the air and the lilies of the field in his upbuilding discourses, which are all meditations upon Christ's teachings.  The lilies and the birds perfectly serve the purpose for which God created them.  So far as we know, they feel no longing for something else and they are blessedly unburdened by the cares of the day or the worries of tomorrow.

Not so us humans.  Miguel de Unamuno observes that life is tragic and consciousness is a disease.  The unhappiest are those who do not realize this, or worse, who try to fight it.

Viktor Frankl tells us that man's greates will is a will to meaning.  He famously said that if someone knows the 'why' of his existence, he can bear almost any 'how.'  How many millions of flickering souls swarm this pimple of time having no clue what their 'why' is?  It's tragic.

“All of man’s misfortune comes from one thing, which is not knowing how to sit quietly in a room”  -- Blaise Pascal

The ability to sit quietly in one's mind is a blessing, and it can keep one from a host of troubles.  Here is a Buddhist writer's take on it:

Ultimately, Pascal points out in that same passage in his Pensées, our desire for diversion is an avoidance of the sense of our own mortality. Our “weak and mortal condition” is a “natural misfortune” that afflicts us and renders us inconsolable. Our being, he points out, is contingent (we might never have been born had circumstances been different) and impermanent (it’s certain we will die). And thus there is a deep-seated fear of non-existence, to which the ego tries to blind itself by embracing diversion and removing any possibility for deeper reflection. (Wildmind.org - Buddhist Meditations)

 It's not Hollywood's fault.  Pop culture is holding up a mirror.

See also, Victor Davis Hanson's learned observations in American Satyricon

Magnets Don't Kill Children (or "And Now For Something Completely Different")

Vat19

Negligent Parents Kill Children

Buckeyballs, along with other similar products such as Zen Magnets, Magnetix, and Mag Links are a type of rare earth  neodymium magnets sold as a "desk toy", that is, a toy for adults.

BAN THEM!!! BAN THEM ALL!!!

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has successfully driven Maxfield & Oberton out of business and is now going after the company's CEO.  One down, it has now turned its attention to Zen Magnets of Denver, Colorado in its mindless and irrational crusade.

But children have been injured!!! You might exclaim, and you are correct.  Buckeyballs has an injury rate somewhere in the vicinity of 1 per 100,000 products sold. But taking a more rational approach you will notice that dogs have an injury rate of 129 per 100,000 sold, shall we ban dogs?  Skateboards have an injury rate of 829 per 100,000 sold... BAN THE SKATEBOARD!!!

Pools, Tennis, Bicycles, Trampolines, and the list goes on.  Balloons counted for 23% of the reported childhood toy accident fatalities in 2011, a fact that led one writer to refer to them as "Doom on a string". 

Adult Toys

Now I'm not the kind of guy who sits in his office and plays with his balls,  but if other adults want to do that the government shouldn't be empowered to stop them, although their bosses may well be entitled to.  As long as they don't let children play with them, it shouldn't be anybody elses business.

More and more we disassociate responsibility from the conscious actor to the inanimate object.  If Buckeyballs randomly exploded, blowing peoples fingers off, the government might have a case with merit, but these products function as designed and intended.  They are magnets and they stick together, in your living room or in your stomach.  Maxfield & Oberton is no more responsible for your child swallowing magnets than Gillette would be responsible for your child swallowing your razor blades.

If you go to the Vat19 site (from the picture at top) you will discover that "This product is not currently available for purchase".  It doesn't matter if you're 14 or 40,  magnets are apparently now a government controlled substance.

Doesn't our government have better things to do with its time and our money?

Wall Street Journal

Wired 

Westword

HuffPo

The Only Legitimate Target

Photo: César

If you believe the regime is culpable.

Face it,  a few dozen or few hundred Tomahawk missiles aren't going make much of a difference one way or another, especially when one would do.

Mind you, I'm not advocating assassination of a foreign leader,  this would be a decapitation strike on the Syrian Military Command & Control Authority... the fact that he is a foreign leader is entirely coincidental.

Unless willing to use thermobarics and accept the resultant high collateral damage,  the chemical weapon stores are not a realistic target.  Attacking the airfields and military bases accomplish little in the way of thwarting future chemical weapon use, although they may have a remote chance of prompting the military to remove Assad (My guess - slim to none).  Attacking infrastructure only causes the Syrian people to suffer further deprivations.

The only logical target to hold Assad responsible for the use of chemical weapons is Assad himself.  It would require good and timely intelligence or a mass attack against known residences and bunkers, would be difficult to pull off, but even a miss sends a powerful message.  You are not immune to reprisal.  It is doubly effective if delivered along with the message that in case of a miss, we will try again... and again... and again.  Not saying when, not saying where.  The psychological stress of not know when the next Tomahawk is going to come streaking out of the sky would be enormous.

Frankly, I believe that the only thing that could happen in Syria in favor of US interests would be a military coup.  We may not want Assad in charge,  but I don't think we want the rebels in charge either.  As someone else once said about Syria, it's a lose/lose situation.

Note that I preface this with "If you believe the regime is culpable", I'm not saying it is and I'm not saying it's not.  Obviously, this is not the answer if you believe the rebels culpable,  although if it was a rebel group I'm not sure what we could do about it... support Assad?


What are your thoughts?

Useless Nations

Bernd Untiedt, Germany

It Doesn't Work

Perhaps my title is a bit harsh, but face it... the UN is broken and most likely irreparable.  This is clearly illustrated by the events in Syria, not by failure to act against Assad, but by failure to act in any meaningful way at all.

1. The Security Council will never function effectively as long as the five permanent members have the veto power to protect themselves and their client states.

2. The veto power of the five permanent members cannot be rescinded as the non-permanent members cannot be relied upon to act in a rational manner or in the global interest. 

The UN is NOT a Democracy, the General Assembly is a Joke

Of the 193 member states, roughly 40 are dictatorships or totalitarian regimes, fully 1.9 billion people live under despotism.  Face it, in the world body politic Zimbabwe does not deserve equal footing with Belgium or Myanmar with Japan.  While global participation is an admirable goal, the criteria for entry needs to be more than simply being on the planet.  You can be sure that Chitsaka Chipaziwa is Robert Mugabe's personal representative to the UN, not the representative of the Zimbabwean people.

League of Nations Epic Fail

It would seem that the only difference between the League of Nations and the UN is six fewer vetoes.  The composition of the Security Council is a relic of World War II with the US, UK, France, Russia, and China wielding veto power while states such as Germany and Japan are awarded equal status with North Korea and Syria.  The top five contributors to the UN are the US, Japan, Germany, France, and the UK, and while China is sixth, Russia with veto power doesn't even make the top 10 lagging behind Italy, Canada, Spain, and Brazil.
  

Alternatives?

I am not an advocate of one-world government,  and would have to say that any alternative would have to maintain national sovereignty within its framework, although I am willing to listen to and rebut arguments to the contrary.  While a one world democratic government is a noble aspiration, the conditions for its execution do not currently exist.  It would fail for the same reasons the UN fails.
 

American Politics in Pictures

Yes, you read it right: 

Obama Waffles, Obama Throws Kerry Under Bus

Just saying... If I were John Kerry, I'd be seriously pissed.

And yes that is a picture of President Obama throwing out the first pitch.

Kerry went to bat

On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry laid it all out on the line in support of his President.

“We know that after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war — believe me, I am, too,” said Mr. Kerry, who opposed the Iraq war in his failed presidential bid in 2004. “But fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility. Just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about. And history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator’s wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency.”  NYT

Mere hours later President Obama reversed course.

“I’m ready to act in the face of this outrage,” Obama said. “Today I’m asking Congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward together as one nation.” WAPO 

Don't get me wrong...

I agree with and support President Obama's decision to take the matter to congress,  I just think he left his Secretary of State hanging out in the wind, which sometimes may be necessary.  I do think it could have been handled differently,  such as letting Secretary Kerry make the announcement that the administration would be consulting with congress, but Kerry was a sport about it carrying the flag on all five major Sunday morning talk shows.

Our Face to the World

On the downside, it does present an indecisive face to the world, but I'd rather see the President do what is right and appear indecisive than carry on bravely into the breech. Alas, lacking naivete, I fear his decision was more based on obtaining political cover than his interpretation of constitutional law, yet it was the right decision nonetheless. 

Labor Day Weekend

Growing up, Labor Day always meant two things.  It was the last weekend of summer, as school always started on the Tuesday after Labor Day and it meant the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon running continuously on the television in our living room.  It's amazing what sticks with us over the years, but I can still vividly recall one rainy Labor Day weekend lying on the living room couch, the telethon playing in the background, reading Henry Reed books.

Over the years, the telethon aired for 21 1/2 hours starting Sunday evening and running through Labor Day. With Jerry Lewis as host, they aired over 900 hours of live television.  2010 was the last year that the MDA telethon was hosted by Jerry Lewis and at the end had raised $58,919,838 in pledges.  The telethon has always reported pledges, which often fell short of the annual amount collected, which in 2010 was $48,000,000.  Still, 48 million isn't an insignificant amount of money.

2011 was the first year without Jerry Lewis as host and the first year running for only 6 hours.  The total pledges reported for the reduced run was $61,491,393, perhaps in an attempt to signal that nothing had changed corporate pledges were included in the total for the first time.  In reality the money actually collected was only
$30,683,816, significantly down from the last "Jerry Lewis Telethon".  In 2012 the show was reduced to 3 hours, and this year will be down for only 2 hours and only air on ABC.

What's your Labor Day?