Say What?

Links found around and about those interwebby things.

  1. Of Mr Obama and Mr Trump.
  2. Social or geographical structures and people living in them.
  5. Yah think?
  7. A drone meets its match.
  10. Ms Clinton’s email problem.

Kentucky Cloaking, err, Clerking Devices






An Observation

Those who are outraged by a single county clerk in Kentucky might be reminded that those who put so much everyday power in the unelected governmental agencies and agents that are basically unstoppable and unchecked … should be feeling a little abashed right now.

Consequences of the fulfillment of your desires. You’ve got ’em in spades.

Links and Suchlike

Around and about (from North Las Vegas this week)

  1. Trump and verse in the context of the Stasi.


Mr Rowe writes:






A “moderate” posts some view on patriotism and between her attempts to poke those with whom she apparently disagrees also thinks patriotism is synonymous with progressive and that the notions of liberty and freedom are fixed things. Apparently “flag” does not equate with patriotism. This book is an exhaustive and interesting review of how our different definitions of liberty and freedom and the symbols we’ve used to represent them have changed (changed!) throughout last 200 years and that book’s very existence demonstrates that her simplistic rejection of caricatured representations of the ideas of patriotism, freedom, and liberty mean and how they are symbolized by people who are not her.

Those who want a return to small government (e.g.,  a lot of those in the Tea Party) don’t necessarily want a return to some mythic past. Saying that is their view is a caricature, a straw man. Honoring a symbol of your nation as representing honor to the thing represented isn’t wrong or even hard to understand (really it isn’t). She writes:

The definition of patriotism is love for or devotion to one’s country. To love or be devoted to someone or something usually means to want what is best for that someone or something, to be willing to make the effort, do what must be done to protect that something or someone. Conservatives seem to want the opposite. They seem to want to destroy the very thing they claim to love.

No. Conservatives don’t “want to destroy” the nation. They want to save it from the destruction that they see “progressives” are steering us toward. If you love a ship which is sailing toward ice flows and you see progressives as “fixing” the problem not by steering away from the ice, but by adding pressure to the boiler. The policy differences in left and right is a vision of what is wrong and what needs to be done to fix it, not that conservatives want to break it and liberals want the reverse. Thinking that is naive (or perhaps a result of not actually having any contact with actual conservatives).

If you want to go along with her definition of patriotism, loving someone means also rising to defend the object of your love from attacks, verbal and otherwise. Conservatives see liberals as unwilling to do this, in fact so much as to offer agreement with those attackers. If you are at a dinner party with your beloved wife, and some at the table point out her flaws in insulting ways, whether or not you (and she) are working on said flaws in private, at that dinner her flaws are not admitted but defended. To not do so is a betrayal. This is something the left can’t seem to fathom.


Back from the Woods (BWCA specifically)

So. We came back out a little early. One thought we had was that although we had 7 nights/8 days food, discretion as better part of valor had us planning after a day or so for a 6 night/7 days trip in case things didn’t go as planned. In part that was because of the rugged nature of the terrain we were navigating. If you start here and scroll around you can follow the descriptions below. This is a rough description of the loop we traversed, but we did the loop in one more day/night and didn’t stay exactly where the loop suggests. For the first time, for me, we had for the three of us, two packs (a day pack) and one canoe and thus managed go through our portages in just one trip.

  1. We started at Sawbill on Saturday (15th) at 9:30. We traveled to Phoebe lake for the first night’s stay. It was quite warm. We swam in the lake right from our campsite. We saw nobody all day after passing two groups in canoes exiting on Alton Lake in the morning.
  2. The second day we were planning to make it to Koma Lake, but were getting broken in and decided to take an early break and stayed at Lake Polly, which was quite full with other campers but we found a campsite and spent the night. We didn’t swim.
  3. Monday we traveled to Boze Lake (through Koma and Malberg lakes … following on the map, Boze is directly east from Malberg). We had a little difficulty finding the portage to the river toward Boze. The river itself had lots of semi-artificial obstructions which he had to haul the canoe over (beaver constructions). We saw several beaver on the way. One was very close to the canoe, but looked us over and decided we weren’t worth a tail slap and dive. On the portage from the river in to Boze lake, we took a slight (there was a path) wrong turn and came to the lake through the campsite which worked out just fine. We had some nice swimming on Boze.
  4. The portages to Trail lake (were we stayed the next night) were very very rugged. Rocks. trees, obstructions, difficulty in following the trail at all each managed to surface as difficulties from here to Wine lake after which the portages became more navigable. Our first portage out of Trail going East in fact when we finished it there was a small lake/beaver marsh there but it took us almost 2 hours to find the correct portage. Clearly we were not the only ones to get it wrong, as there were some pretty well worn clearly worn trails that didn’t go anywhere useful. Our campsite on Trail was very nice on a high outcropping. After dinner high winds picked up and it rained all night … and through the next day.
  5. Temps never got quite to 60 all day. It was raining off and on all day. By the time we got to Wine lake it was pouring very hard, like being in a shower (a shower at 55 degrees). We were all wet and shivering. I’d fell down in a stream and was soaked. Because of the time lost finding the second portage we didn’t get to camp until 4:30pm. We erected camp (putting up our tent and a rain tarp over the eating area in record time, probably about 10 minutes. Quickly we changed into what dry clothes we had left (if we had any) and steamed up some hot chocolate. That helped immensely. We ate and retired to our tent at 7 pm that night. Our sleeping bags were all wet but they mostly dried up when we got in them within the hour. We decided if it was not raining the next day we’d set up lines and dry out and stay where we were. But if it was raining we’d push out with my daughter’s repeated mantra of “but … hot showers!”. And during the next day it didn’t clear up until after 4pm. So …
  6. After a long (mile and a half+) portage we left Wine, went to Zenith via Frederick and on to the Kelso River and on out to the outfitter (and those showers).

So … Backwoods?

Tomorrow my daughter’s and I drive north to Tofte, MN, and Saturday we enter the boundary waters for eight days, seven nights of canoeing in untamed wilderness. If you ever want to do something like that, here is an excellent place to start. We start early Saturday morning, and hope to camp at Grace or Phoebe on Saturday night. After that … we will plan day to day … but end up back at Sawbill lake Saturday … late morning or early afternoon.

Sometimes You Can’t Complain

Oracle is suing because Google “ruined” Java for mobile devices. Uhm, Google created their own version of Java because Oracle (having bought it from Sun) wouldn’t open it up enough that they could afford another companies controlling the development language for their devices. You can’t complain that others took a concept that you wouldn’t open up to others that they went and played in their own playground instead of your tightly controlled one.

It’s akin to the people living by the O’Hare airport who complain about noise abatement because of jets. When you a buy a house that’s a steal because of noise, then when you own it … trying to press for noise abatement isn’t something about which you can justly complain.

The principle is clear. When you make a choice which has advantages and drawbacks at the time you make your choice. Complaints about drawbacks should be ignored.


Around About This Interwebby Thing



  4. And our government remains clueless about so so much.
  5. Why exercise is necessary.
  6. Public schools do indeed waste stupendous amounts of money.
  9. What makes an author great?
  10. Ms Clinton and her bad investment advice.
  11. Displaced humans, not just in abundance in Syria.


Regarding Inside/Out




Of Heresy and Marital Ontology





Going Round and Round

Links seen round about.

  1. So. What constitutes “brilliant”. It is indeed difficult often to notice brilliance in an endeavor with which you don’t have expertise. For example, although Mr Obama is touted by the left as very smart, like dentistry, I for one have no clue what “brilliant” or even “smart” means with respect to law. Do we judge him by results, in which case, “meh”. Do we judge by rhetoric, which is unusually dishonest … and certainly pedestrian. Do we just depend on the testimony of other experts in that same field. In which case, partisanship likely over-rules honesty.
  2. This is an unusual observation of suburban vs urban demographics. Not very compelling future it paints as well. This quote “Suburbia is the slave quarters of the postmodern plantation, where most of the people that create wealth live.” Really? I deem actual slaves (which we are told by those watching such things) are more numerous than 200 years ago would dispute the notion that those in suburbia are slaves.
  3. So, is this an viewpoint that is a point of commonality between left and right, or right only? I wonder if any survey has been done comparing the views of what defines abstractions like dignity, rights, good, evil and so on between those prototypical of left and right.
  4. An epitaph.
  5. Apparently young white liberals are measurably racist. Who knew?
  6. Mr Trump’s candidacy. I suspect that the reason he’s #2 is cricket race contamination by the other team. But perhaps that is just because I want to think of voters in a charitable way.
  7. A result from fake data and science gone wrong (in the shootin’s too good for him category, I deem)
  8. Apparently the PC (translation: stupid) backlash against the battle flag of Virginia did indeed have consequences for trashy comedy. Here are some outsider’s thoughts on the matter.
  9. Grist for the slipping marriage slope discussions.
  10. Tech gets down and dirty … and big.


So. I’ve been busy (yet again). Now I’m on a job, which is fairly big, in Ohio (outside/southeast of Dayton). I found a place to swim (woo. Did 2.5 km today! … huff puff). It’s a bit of a drive (less next week as I’ve sorted the hotel/pool/jobsite triangle better). We start early on the job … but I promise. Links with each with a short paragraph remark tomorrow.

Oh. John Wright has a new novel. That has been sucking time as well. It’s an excellent start btw. (if this is your first Wright novel, I’d still suggest starting with Golden Age)

Riddle Me This Mr Lynch



Hypocrisy runs rampant in the public square, eh?

Of Sign, Symbol, and Culture




Hitler was not a good man. In fact, in the 20th century he was one of the top ten in the “most evil” category. However, during WWII the Wehrmacht (literally Defense Force) especially the Heer )(army) were unparalleled as a fighting force. If you consider the quality of armed services from officers to privates of any of the services in WWII that the Wehrmacht was unquestionable by a large margin far far better than the rest. It is a sign of how ashamed of Hitler’s regimes great crimes that this is not remembered positively at all in the modern era. In part that is because Germany is not, like some other cultures, in danger of losing their identity. We Westerners are somewhat puzzled when Russians want to bring back their memories of Josef Stalin, who joins Hitler in that top evil ten list; but who while he brought them so so much pain and suffering with his endless purges, mass executions, imprisonment and enslavement of his own people also lead them through a time of testing. For those who want to remember and honor him do so, in spite of his evil, but because of the great things that they in his time accomplished by modernizing their nation and surviving and overcoming by dint of pure stubbornness that superior Wehrmacht noted previously.

Similarly many in the South remember the Civil War and their brief fight for independence in the same manner. All but a few of those who would fly that flag are not concentrating on the evils of slavery but on the valor and bravery on the battlefield. They recall that they were few against many and they stood. They recall they were greatly outnumbered, had far less industry, and little commerce when compared with the Union and yet their armies fought far far better man for man, and their quality of leadership/generalship far exceeded that of the Union. Being proud of such as that is not a bad thing. It is in fact, good. Seems to me we should be charitable to those who would fly that flag are doing it for those reasons and not assume instead that they are evil or insane.

Today’s repudiation of the flag of the Confederacy is uncharitable. It is a sign that Americans, at least those in the opinion generating elite, have lost our typically enthusiasm for the stubborn underdog. It is a sign that that the liberal cultural elite no longer believe in the multi-cultural values that they used to profess.

But this is a failed essay. John Adams derided Thomas Paine as a wrecker and not a builder. He (Paine) could point out the flaws in a government and raise people to insurrection, but he was not a builder. He had no interest in suggesting a better path, of building a new better place. Like Mr Paine, this essay fails, because I don’t know how to reverse this, admittedly, horrific trend on the left, our tendency these days to exclude from conversation those ideas found wanting. How are we to return to people to can at the same time, know that slavery is wrong, but at the same time welcome men and women who want to honor their brave honorable predecessors who wore the Gray.

Global Climate Confusion

So. Global climate change alarmists are … well alarmed. But gosh, if CO2 levels increase that encourages greater plant growth. Seems to me that is a good, not a bad thing.

Fresh water is predicted to be a shortage problem in many areas in the globe. But higher tropospheric and ocean water temperatures will lead to increased evaporation into the atmosphere, which in turn will lead to increased rainfall, which is fresh water. Again. Good thing.

Now, some bad things might result. Some people might have to move. But people aren’t trees. We are mobile. We can construct dikes (see the Netherlands or New Orleans and other reasons inhabited regions close to oceans and below sea level).

So. Question: why do climate alarmist never ever mention the positive aspects of warming? Seems to me most of the changes would be good, not bad.

But if we want to warm things up, we have to work a lot harder people? This CO2 thing isn’t going to help much.

Baseball Silliness


  • Impossibly perfect game third degree. Pitchcount exactly 81 pitches. All strikes, three pitches per batter, with no foul balls on the third pitch, just strikes.
  • Impossible virginal perfect game, Pitch count exactly 81, all strikes no batter makes contact with a thrown pitch.

Any more suggestions for improvements?

Manfred and the SSM Debate or Riddle Me This Mr Liberal

Recently at Symphony I was privileged to hear Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, which is  loosely based on a Lord Byron poem of the same name. And while I am unfamiliar with the poem, I did in fact read the program notes. And what I read there spurred a question to which I have no answer with respect to the modern liberal position vis a vis marriage and who is allowed to partner in such arrangements.

The liberal position with respect to homosexual partnerships is that they should be allowed to marry even though the relative numbers of such partnerships is very small and the there is no possibility to have children. These are not dis-qualifiers for the state to sanction marriage in their view.

So here’s my problem. Manfred by Lord Byron is (we are told) is an expression of his forbidden sexual desire for his sister though the eponymous hero as proxy.  So to put a point on it, in the context of reasons the liberal arguments why can two men or women may marry but a man cannot marry his sister? Or let’s put it concretely. In a state where gay marriage is allowed, what argument could you muster for me not to marry my sister? What reasons for gay marriage are there that do not apply equally well to my marriage with my sister (or for that matter, my brother, my mother, my father, or grandmother/father …. if they are currently not married to anyone else)? It might be added that I have had a vasectomy, so no progeny are possible so the “genetically damaged offspring” argument does not apply and cannot be used. Also, the numbers of people desiring such relationships are not relevant (apparently). (side note: I have no sister so no siblings have been harmed by the this test case).

The non-religious conservative case, that marriage should privilege heterosexual marriage because children are both hard to raise and required to continue society forbids all these newfangled relationships. The exclusion of religious arguments depends both on the insistence that the Declaration of Independence separates law from morals/ethics and that the Habermas/Ratzinger debate is a clear Habermas win. I’ll concede the first half of this “both/and” but not the second, but note that most American’s although they should concede the first half, typically don’t.

So. Riddle me this Mr Liberal? What reasons for two men to marry don’t apply to me and my sisters’ desired nuptials? Or should we be planning seating charts and ordering a cake from a Islamic bakery (and will you condemn and attack said bakery for bigotry because they won’t deliver said cake because they object to our being wed in admittedly not-holy matrimony)?

Links and Remarks

  3. A freaking felony? Truly!! Stupidity squared.
  9. The Urkainian conflict as war as UFO.

A Wrong (but very common) Notion






Money In A Mattress

Is apparently illegal. I never knew that. Mr Hastert is obviously being defended vigorously by the Bill Clinton defenders who seem to think lying to government official in order hide embarrassing  events in ones’ past is a thing that is permitted (note, that they never seem to remember that attempting to tamper with witnesses is not that). Oh, wait. that’s not happening.

But actually, the only things Mr Hastert has been charged with so far .. are hiding money in a mattress (which is as noted illegal, … but who knew? I certainly did not) … and lying to the FBI about being blackmailed.

I do have another question about that. Look. You are being blackmailed. It is almost certain that when the authorities approach you some sensitivity is required by the authorities if they want to stop the crime of blackmail. Well. That failed utterly.

Some Books Recently Read

So, I like a few others read Mr Stephenson’s Seveneves. Unlike Mr Beale I was not as taken aback by the social themes for their own sake, but unlike Mr Likko while I agree Mr Stephenson has full control of his craft, I found much of the major plot elements unlikely. The whole Lord of Flies destruction of thousands for the sole purpose of the title of the book seemed, to strain my credulity (as well as the transparent venality of the former President, which oddly enough few seem to notice). So, when I finished the book, I was on the verge of recommending to many of my acquaintances … but as the hours (not days) passed, the “but …” kept coming up about things I found unlikely or unreasonable. So, for my 2 cents, if you’re going to grab some science fiction for your summer reading, I’d instead recommend Mr Wright’s two series (start with The Golden Age or Count to a Trillion). Of those two series my thought’s keep returning to themes and phrases drawn from those two. That of course is if you haven’t read The Martian already.

I did finish Prit Buttar’s Collision of Empires, covering World War I focusing on the Eastern front, the blog post which pointed me to this work, of which I don’t recall the provenance, noted that this was one, if not the only, historical English work covering that part of the war. It was striking how all of the actors in this affair while mostly (to greater or lesser degree) understood that defense in this time (due to technology) far outstripped the capabilities of offense at the same time. Yet almost everyone of them (Conrad especially) insisted that vigorous offense was required of their troops (to the obvious horrific consequences).


Two Really Good Answers to “If you knew then what you knew now” Question

On Iraq Invasion … Answer:





A Short Thought

A month or two back in a comment thread I had remarked on how then President Clinton had promised the Ukraine after their separation from the Soviet state that they didn’t need to keep the nuclear weapons stockpiled there. He, in short, promised that the US would insure their national boundary/security against Russian aggression. Well, we all know how that turned out. When I’d remarked on this, the reply was that nobody on either side of the aisle wanted to get involved in the Russian/Ukrainian dispute. And I don’t disagree with that.

But. (and ain’t their always that sort of thing cropping up). But that being said, the thing about keeping your word and those trusting you to hold to your word isn’t about when keeping your word is easy or in your best interest. It’s keeping it when it isn’t easy, fun, or affordable.

If you make a promise. Keep it. If you inherit a promise. Keep it. And remember that, so you don’t make promises you don’t plan to keep.

And you wonder why the current President whose main rhetorical method is the BS session comes off so so poorly.

Random Things I Don’t Get



Remarks for Monday

What’s gnu?

    2. A cartoon in response.
    4. more here.
    6. Is this related or not?
  2. Grist for the Indiana bakery discussion.
  4. A suggestion of a famous art piece’s interpretation.
  5. Loss of credibility has consequences.
  6. Journalistic malpractice on display.
  8. A very cool time-lapse sequence.


Training and Training and Travel

So, back home and now caught up on sleep. Fitness training took a few days off, with some shoulder soreness and work requirements overlapping. On the other hand, my “brain” fitness experiment is under way. I’ve chosen texts (with a trio of Sussman &co books as the textbooks with which I’m starting). I’m out of practice, which in itself is interesting.

My eldest daughter arrived home from college today, which is a good time for us in this little house.

Race to Train, Train to Race

Is a saying in master cycling, and likely every masters sport. If fitness is a big part of the point, racing is great training  (so race a lot) and on the other hand, racing also serves as a focus for your training.

But. Right now, I’m not racing or cycling much until I get this SVT thing figured out (I’m on a med now that might be do it).

Physical training is simple. For cycling, a technique “light” sport, training comes down to managing levels of effort (intervals and so on) and rest. Swimming, the sport I’m beginning to get interested in, is a technique “heavy” sport. Alongside the interval and rest side of the equation, technique of stroke is very important to your ability to go fast for sprint or distance. But all things told, physical training is straightforward. You plan workouts. Set goals. Periodically take “metrics” to measure progress locate weaknesses so as to structure future workouts and goals, and repeat.

What I’ve been thinking about lately is how to move that sort of relatively straightforward methodology to other arenas, like programming, maths, and other more purely intellectual pursuits. More on that as my experiments begin.

Sundry and Vary


  1. A liberal ponders Baltimore, and while he professes to be optimistic certainly seems not to be. His optimism is founded on “hopefully we’ll have an exceptional leader” is his only hope having found that process and and representational liberal solutions have failed. This is hardly unsurprising as social destruction of the two atomic parent family and those discounted (by liberals) conservative values being lost trump process liberalism and representation.
  2. My thoughts on Baltimore mirror what has been said elsewhere (including perhaps badly by the President). Even though liberals and elites think terrorism on the other side of the globe doesn’t sully the message. They. Are. Wrong. In the Middle East and, say, the Chechen mountains murdering civilians rightly invalidates your message. Do you want people to respect your right to self govern in Palestine? Then stop killing women and children with bombs. Do you want police to take more care in their jobs? Then don’t riot, steal, and destroy. One of the complaints of inner city slums is that everything costs more locally than it does in the exurbs. Guess what? You just made it even more expensive. Good work. You just bought the Baltimore police free sympathy, after all, look at what they’ve been dealing with.
  3. The other thought on Baltimore is that this is a continuation of a retrogressive civilizing trend that’s been going on for quite some time. In the 19th century wars had a lot more conventions and rules. We’ve gone away from that and it’s not a good thing. It’s a sign of less order, less thought, and less honestly and honor. A fight between individuals (or nations) doesn’t have to be a “until you call uncle” affair, but could … if the combatants be civil decided at a stage significantly sooner. More akin to a duel, which is sometimes but less frequently, “to the death” but decided by an agreement to hold to the outcome of a symbolic struggle. Nations too could struggle via proxy, if they could honorably and honestly hold to the outcome of said proxy contest. Alas, men aren’t by and large honest anymore. Certainly not our world leaders at any rate.
  4. Well, the liberal elite certainly have no sympathy for it. And a law to be challenged I’d offer.
  5. In light of the NRO article about DA Chislom using his office to quash political opponents. He’s not backing down, but upping the ante. In the absence of any liberals coming to his defense, which seems to imply his position isn’t defensible, where are the cries from the left against him?
  6. Tasting the winds of change. Mr Fernandez is not optimistic about the crises in education as typified in the recent failure of a chain of colleges in California, which if Baltimore hadn’t irrupted we’d be talking about today.
  7. At least my kids did some free running. Those in authority which went against that Maryland couple who let their kids walk from parks to home … should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.
  8. Actually I’d like to see more of this in general in the hospital systems, inviting friends and family to help in the care seems like a great idea.
  9. So. Get out of Jersey when you can, I guess.
  10. A great lady noted.
  11. What the climate models have demonstrated very well. A succinct way of putting it, is that these models all operate under the principle that CO2 is a driver of global warming. They they all fail, demonstrates the converse, CO2 is not the driver of climate.

Suitable President: Loyola and Napoleon

Bertrand de Jouvenel in his musings on authority and power suggests that in the executive there are two primary qualities needed. These qualities are not “either/or” type features but often one dominates over the other. Jouvenel is French, so his examples he draws from French history, and actually from one particular element of each of the titular men’s life. For Loyola he cites an (apparently) famous painting in which Loyala is seen under a spreading oak tree and with his words and example reconciling two opposing people. Reconciliation and bridging of differences is the feature that he cites for Loyola. This is one kind of leader. Napoleon he cites another painting, a heroic charge across a bridge. Napoleon (again apparently) through his charisma, leadership and bravura inspires his mean and leads a charge across a bridge capturing victory from defeat. Inspiring leadership is the second quality that we seek in our chief executive.

Neither alas, has been found in any measure in my lifetime in any executive elected in this great nation.

My suspicion is that the reason is how our electoral process has developed over the years. The qualities that are required to win the election in this country have little to nothing to do with the qualities that would serve us best in serving in that same office.

Fortunately we are in something like a democracy, which as noted is the worst sort of government … except for all the rest. Let’s hear it for representative democratic rule. Sucks less! What a wonderful slogan.

Hmm. Links?

Haven’t done a links post in a while.

  1. Exhibit A, why ivory tower eggheads get ignored. Want to stop it, stop suggesting stupid things.
  2. Answer, … confiscation.
  3. So, GPS mistakes have in the past, by saying “turn now” convinced people to drive into lakes and such. Doctors and nurses sometimes don’t ask “is this reasonable” when a computer error occurs either. Consequences can be deadly to ignoring common sense.
  4. Not fossils.
  5. Guns and society. If you think you can’t trust your neighbor with guns, why trust the state? The state is comprised of people like your neighbors.
  6. Hard to believe.
  7. A statistic to start a conversation.
  8. “Vampire Squid”
  9. Why? Seriously? Answer: Unions.
  10. This is making the rounds (here too). Comparisons to Hitler’s Germany are not apt. But then if the motivations are political then there is also no defense. And … what the heck? You can’t talk about this! That doesn’t sound legal. More importantly, it doesn’t sound ethical and ethics trumps law.
  11. Well that’s because the slaves aren’t homosexuals.

What That Probably Means

So the President and his ilk announced recently that Cuba would be “off the terror state” list. Oh, goody. But then you get to the why. Why are they now off the list. Well, it’s because Cuba has not sponsored acts of global terrorism for the last 6 months. Hmm. Why the six months figure and not, say, a year, or two, or more?

Well, it probably means they did actually as a state initiate or sponsor acts of global terror in between 6 and 12 months ago … even if you need a security clearance of some sort to figure out exactly that act that was.

Gee thanks Mr President.


Two Remarks, Off the Cuff (Or From the Airplane) as It Were

So, Ms Clinton has officially thrown her hat in the ring. Ms Clinton, unlike many other contestants in this contest, mystifies me entirely in several respects. The chief source of my confusion lies in why on the earth would anyone ever vote for her? What positive qualities do they think she has that would encourage one like her, much less vote for her? I fail to see any. That being said, I don’t know much about the current/prospective crop of GOP candidates. Mr Walker and Mr Cruz are interesting so far mostly in the light of the positive spin the deluge of bile and spite from the left, meaning, if they garner such hatred and fear something must be in their favor.

Recently in comments the observation was made by me, that those of the left or the “other” party, have a habit of overreacting in response to those who badge as conservative or of the GOP, but whom their expectations are that they “should” be liberal (or Democrat). Examples abound, and demonstrating isn’t the point of the following question (example: try coming out as a gay conservative). But as is often the case, that those things we do are less obvious to us than those things others do. The question is, do conservatives exhibit the same behavior? Do you know of any examples of conservatives overreacting against anyone who “should by all rights be a conservative” but who is not? What, if any, similar behavior does the right do? How do conservatives overreact especially with frothing-at-the-mouth hatred and scorn?



I’ve been neglecting the blogging thing. I’m going to blame (mostly) Holy Week last week which in addition to getting exercise sucked all my spare time out of my life.  Anyhow, our Paschal celebration was exhilarating and joyous and we are not in Bright week.

I’m traveling later today and will try to pen an essay for posting tonight whilst on, uhm, da plane boss, da plane!