Once Boxed-In, Boehner May Finally Be Master Of The House

npr (lol)  via Free Republic

Not long ago, it seemed to many observers that the House of Representatives was a case of the tail wagging the dog, with Speaker John Boehner unable to keep in line many of his fellow Republicans, especially freshmen who came to Congress riding the 2010 Tea Party wave. Now, however, the big dog seems back in control. 

He's in control all right.

Promotional video for Golden Spike

If these guys had the political pull of the banksters, we'd all be sitting pretty.

Unfortunately, they don't have anything but competence to bring to the table.  The banksters bring corruption and then they take home the bacon.

It's baaaaaaack

Insane: Liberals Contemplate $1 Trillion Platinum Coin to "Solve" Debt Limit Issue

Welcome to Zimbabwe. This is not a parody -- it is an actual report from the Washington Post:


Some economists and legal scholars have suggested that the “platinum coin option” is one way to defuse a crisis if Congress can’t or won’t lift the debt ceiling soon. At least in theory.

Searching "platinum coin" in my blog reveals three posts on this subject

1.  Forgive them, for they not know what they do
2. (Platinum) Pennies From Heaven (UPDATED)
3. Moonrush

This idea is getting very bad reviews.

Anyway, my idea in Moonrush is to fund an expedition to the moon in order to look for water.  With the water, you can refuel spacecraft that can search for platinum from asteroids.  These asteroidal platinum coins could be struck in order to retire debt.

The prices could be inflated for the coins. Heck, they already do that with coins.  A dollar coin isn't worth a dollar in the metal that comprises it.  If it is worth a few cents, it would mean that it is inflated by a factor of maybe 30.  Do that with platinum, and you get a 30 times 1700 equals 51000 dollar coin.  A million of these would have a collective face value of  $51,000,000,000 or 51 billion.  The weight of platinum would be 62500 lbs.

An expedition to the moon could be done for a tenth of that, I bet.

How Musk will probably succeed at getting a fully reusable rocket system built

Third in a series
Part 1  :  showed that by using a hydrogen/lox engine on the second stage, Musk could still get to orbit with mass to spare for making his rocket system fully reusable.
Part 2  :  a speculative post about how this might be accomplished in terms of potential flight trajectories.

With this third part of the series, the trajectories are refined to a potential method using only fuel and hardly any new hardware.  The same basic rocket, with the same basic amount of fuel can do the job.  How?

In part 1, the spreadsheet calcs showed that the rocket system will be less in mass than what the current system uses.  Just add the mass back in as fuel on the first stage and re-work the spreadsheet to find what the potential delta v can be achieved on a second burn.

The second burn is proposed to be at the highest point in the trajectory.  Since the rocket is still rising even after 1st stage separation, we simply wait until it stops rising.  Gravity will help slow down the forward velocity as well.  At the highest point in the trajectory, the first stage will be going at its slowest speed before speeding up again on its way down.

Instead of letting it speed up again, a second burn is initiated.  It is assumed that the velocity is sufficient slow now that a second burn in the opposite direction of movement will stop the forward motion away from the launch site and send it back toward the launch site with fuel to spare.

Thus, a new trajectory is formed that can be vectored back to the launch site.  Provided that there is enough fuel left, it can be used for a soft landing.  Parachutes can assist to slowing the first stage on its way down.

Frankly, I don't know for sure that there will be enough fuel for this manuever.  However, it is without doubt that the vehicle will slow down as it continues to rise after the first stage separates from the second stage.  It is also without doubt that the delta v in the opposite direction will not be insignificant.  I am guessing about a 2 engine ( out of 9 ) burn for about 60 seconds will be available.

The rocket must remain above the atmosphere so that drag will not become an issue.  There should be  as much forward speed as possible in order for the first stage to make it back to the launch site.  As before, the rocket will reach its highest altitude at its slowest forward speed.  I'm thinking that it is desirable for the forward speed to be as close to zero and as close to the launch site as possible.

By doing this, the attempt will be to hit the launch site like a ballistic missile would.  But instead of crashing into it, it would be slowed down by parachute and/or, if possible, by another rocket burn.

Compare original configuration in column C with the proposed configuration in column J (highlighted in green)

Bill Whittle: The Free Frontier

This video may have been published here before, but I can't find it.  So, here it is again.

Several reasons for mentioning this:

1. To test my search the blog methods.  
2. It is a great video.
3. Let's me pontificate on an idea.

Let's go through these in order.  First of all, I added a new gadget on the left sidebar.  It replaces the "About the blog" information gadget on the sidebar.  It is a much more concise and how-to with respect to using the blog as an information resource.

It is a great video which contrasts methods of government procurement of space services--- cost plus basis v. fixed price contracts.

The part that I want to pontificate on is the notion of thinking in terms of concepts.  That was the advice given to me in a book that proposed to teach someone how to be an entrepreneur.  According to the entrepreneur who sold me the book, you have to learn how to do this.  It so happens to be correct. Thinking in terms of concepts is not "rocket science".  It is plain old common sense.

But common sense is not common.

Below is the video in full.  If you have the time, I strongly recommend watching it and studying it.  It teaches far more than you would imagine.  Everything in this video is common sense, or should be if people were being taught that in our schools.  

Until we get that back in our schools, we will continue to go backwards---not "forward".

Camille Paglia: Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Hollywood Are Ruining Women

hollywoodreporter

It’s staggering that 22-year-old Taylor Swift earned $57 million and Katy Perry $45 million. How is it possible that such monumental fortunes could be accumulated by performers whose songs have barely escaped the hackneyed teenybopper genre? But more important, what do the rise and triumph of Swift and Perry tell us about the current image of women in entertainment?

Comment:

It's entertainment, not rocket science ma'am.  If it was up to you, ma'am, nobody'd be paying attention.





The original version was far better.

Behind the Black: The press lets Curiosity get the better of them

Zimmerman

quote:

What is remarkable about this data is how similar the results are from all three rovers. For the Martian surface at least, this data proves that the planet has some very basic components that are similar in widely different places. It is also gives scientists a solid baseline for further research. The goal now is to find significant deviations from this baseline, which Curiosity will hopefully do once it begins to climb Mount Sharp. Once it finds these deviations, scientists will finally be able to begin to map out the true geological make-up of the planet Mars.

And that will be the real news, because then we will finally begin to learn something fundamental and basic about the angry red planet.  [ emphasis added]

Comment:

The "angry red planet" phrase reminds me of the movie I saw when I was a kid.  A trailer for it is below:


The movie seems laughable now, but this was 50 years ago and it was a kiddie flick.

Golden Spike space venture wants to fly you to the moon ... for $1.4 billion

cosmiclog

quote:

But John Pike, a longtime expert on space policy who heads GlobalSecurity.org, said he was "deeply skeptical" about Golden Spike's business plan. "If you could do it this cheap, somebody would have already done it," he told me.

Comment:

Banging my head against the wall.  What kind of "expert" fails to understand what Spacex is doing?

Are these people just born stupid or did it take a lot of practice?

Don't expect much in the way of positives from government

Politics is a downer right now.  There's no other way to look at it.  The best that you can hope for is that they won't do too much damage.

Republicans are a disappointment.  They are not going to be an opposition party.  They are going to be a "me-too" party.

A lot of people didn't go to the polls in November.  You can understand why they didn't.  There's nothing to vote for here.  The one thing that the Republicans had to sell is being given away.  Why vote for them?  They offer no alternative.

Last night, I watched an hour long video on Ann Barnhardt's site.  She's been saying that the Republic is dead.  The one objection that I have to this is that people did not have to vote for who they voted for.  She claims that it is all dog and pony and that the elections were a fraud.  Okay, but why did millions of people vote the way they did?  They didn't have to.  They could have done something differently, but they decided to do this.  You have to try to understand why they behaved as they did.

I refuse to believe that the country could have changed this much in just a decade.  My reason for not believing this?  After 9-11, 90% of the people wanted to get the persons responsible for the attack even at the risk of war.  The soul of the people hasn't changed that much that would allow Barak Obama to get away with failing to render aid to his own Ambassador.  The problem is that the people at the top won't defend the country.  When Romney wouldn't take on Obama more directly on this, he pretty much threw the election.  People realize that there's nothing to vote for, so they stayed home.  That's my theory.

She's claiming that it is all a fraud, but how do you get tens of millions of people to do just lay down and accept being oppressed?  They aren't.  Millions are arming themselves.  They are giving up on the political class and expect the worse from them.  That's what I think.  Barnhardt is one of them.  But the people are still there.  Nothing has changed that much.  The politicians are at the root of the problem.  Nobody knows what to do about it.

If U.S. hikes taxes, high-income Californians might pay almost 52 percent

hotair

As Joel Kotkin writes for Forbes, it’s kind of odd that blue states voted so overwhelmingly against their own self-interest in reelecting Barack Obama, because the tax hikes he campaigned on will come down disproportionately hard on the economies of blue states.

Comment:

Also, the word out there is that cutting taxes in the past was so bad that it caused all of our problems.  What may be getting overlooked is the effect of local tax rates on the economy.  If the total aggregate marginal tax rate is over 50% already or will be soon, how the hell is low tax rates the blame for our economic problems?

 Rates are too high already.

There are some problems with blogging as an information source

One of them is that you have to keep putting content out there even though the content may not be all that good.

Come to think of it, nobody seems to care about quality.

For me as a blogger, I am under constant time pressure.  And there's little time to do anything.  I work 12 hours or more each day, then I get up real early to write something for the blog.  How can it possibly be very good?

It may well be the case all around the media.  In order to keep to schedules, content has to be put out there.  It has to be put out there even if it isn't very good in terms of quality.

I'd love to have more time and freedom to write what my abilities could produce.  There just isn't enough of that.

It reminds me of what others complain about.  "Just give me more" is the common refrain.  Good luck on getting an affirmative response to that request.

What brings this all on?  Well, I just had a rather deep thought about Western Civilization.  Maybe it is over and we don't know it.  But to develop that thought into something comprehensive is just too time consuming.  So the thought withers on the vine and perhaps will die out--- just as Western Civilization is dying out.  And nobody seems to care.

WTF.

Update:

I've decided that we aren't dead yet.  But we are in a lot of trouble.

GOP ‘Doomsday’ Plan

Dick Morris

ABC News reports that House Republicans have a doomsday plan in mind should the fiscal-cliff talks fail to reach an agreement: total surrender!

Comment:

Could that be why Boner has sacked the conservatives?

Musk's reusable rocket proposition

Revisiting this post.

Thoughts on how a RTLS for a rocket might be done with a limited fuel supply.

Here's a pdf file that shows how to compute a trajectory.  Clearly, the trajectory has to be altered in order for a rocket to return to launch site.

Tentative procedure:

Alter the trajectory upward to act as a brake to forward motion.  That's so you don't go too far out.

Then reverse course when velocity gets slow enough to begin coming back down.  Do another burn in order to get vectored back to launch site.  Then manuever the business end of the rocket toward the ground configuration.  Deploy parachutes and drop down to landing site.  Upon reaching close to ground, start engines and release parachute.  Touch down softly on surface.

Update:

 Here's a graphic that shows a simple rocket trajectory.  Visualize how this could work in practice.

Water rocket appears to mean "bottle rocket" as in fireworks

 
Update:  I hacked the graphic in order to illustrate the proposition.

Hacked graphic to show how it all works: two modes 1) ascending on left 2) descending on right

The Tea Party Purge of 2012

Republican leaders are punishing some of the party’s most conservative members

“We’ve heard from multiple sources that someone walked in with a list of votes and said, ‘if you didn’t [fulfill] a particular scorecard on the ‘right’ votes—which by the way, in most cases, were not the conservative positions—we’re gonna remove you from committee.” The activists quietly chewed Chick-fil-A sandwiches as Huelskamp scorched his party leaders. “It confirms, in my mind, Americans’ deepest suspicions about Washington...

Comment:

From reading this, there looks like a possibility of a breach within the party.

Update: Other political news this morning: Dem Senators to Strip Gun Rights from Military Vets  Frankly, that looks sinister. Just exactly why are they doing this? There's no good reason for taking away somebody's rights like this---especially veterans.

Update:

Conservative group launches campaign to ‘depose’ Boehner from speakership

Update:

U.S. Republicans say, "No way" to ceding debt limit power

Thoughts on the road, 12/5/12

1. On the Limbaugh show, Rush expressed his opinion that he may need to do some more education on baseline budgeting.  I can't speak for others, but for myself, I've heard all of that before.  In addition, I don't think a more rigorous approach with respect to ideology is what is needed.  The economy performed well in the nineties despite the Clinton tax increase.  The left will push the idea that the increased taxes improved the economy just as the right pushed the idea that lowered taxes improved the economy as well.  Both propositions can't be correct.  Perhaps a better way is to find a growth driver for the economy like the world wide web was in the nineties.  I suggest education on the subject of energy and space.
2. With respect to the post on Focus Fusion, I came up with an idea to get the funds that he is seeking.  He could have lottery on a lottery.  Huh?  What I mean is this:  I've heard that people pool their lottery tickets and agree to share the winnings if one of them hits.  Now, if you take this concept and put the winnings into this Lerner's idea in exchange for a financial interest in his project.  If his project hits, you may get fabulously rich.  It's a lottery on Lerner's idea because it isn't a sure bet.  So, for a few bucks, you could try your luck and then if you do win, try it again on the Focus Fusion device.  Not much to lose, but the potential to win really big is there.

Gergen: Democrats would rather humiliate GOP than solve fiscal cliff

via Instapundit

The problem with this type of thinking is that they accept the notion that there's a fiscal cliff.  This is playing on the Democrat's field.

The fiscal cliff is a spending problem in the Federal Government.  The fiscal cliff is a Keynesian notion that the government is the source of all goods and services and must be fed at all costs.  Stop feeding the damned beast.  Go over the damned "cliff".  It won't hurt for long.  Only the people who need to get their rotten asses hurt will get hurt.

Yeah, I know that sounds "heartless", but screw what they say.  "Our" side pays too much damned attention to what these clowns say.  Listen the eff to us, not them, asshats.

U.S. risks 'another Benghazi' under Mexican rules barring agents from arming

Me: "You gotta be shitting me!"

Fox News:  "Nope.  I shit you not."

Read this and be thou amazed at the stupidity of our alleged government:

U.S. agents on assignment in Mexico, where they are helping the local authorities go after violent drug cartels, are not allowed to carry weapons for their own protection, a situation that one lawmaker says could turn into “another Benghazi.” 

You voted for this.  What have you to say to this?  Or are you a zombie?

Parties’ ‘no-show’ problem (Salena Zito)

triblive  via Free Republic

excerpts:

• “What is interesting is that Romney did not have a problem with suburban voters,” said Brown.
• ...the problem points to the rural voter just not showing up.”
• But the substantial dive in white-voter participation for both presidential candidates is clearly a concern that each party’s establishment needs to review.

Comment:

There was something yesterday in a blog which seems to be appropriate in mentioning here.  In the UK, it was said that the Conservative party is dying out.  Then it was said that the Conservative Party punishes the very people who vote for them.  Therein lies the problem, I think.  The Republicans seem to be a lot like the Conservatives in the UK.  They'll keep on punishing the very people who support them until they no longer have any supporters at all.  Then the party will disappear eventually.

Now, if the problem for Romney is that a lot of white folks didn't show up for him, it holds a lot of credibility with me.  For I considered not voting myself.

By the way, Romney didn't win any of the big city counties in Texas.  This is a red state.  Something ominous there if the Republicans are paying attention.   But they are, yet they continually come up with the wrong solutions.

Tax the Rich: An animated fairy tale

This is basically Obama's schtick which is re-packaged here into an animated video. Evidently, the left believes that capitalism has broken down and socialism is the answer. But history has shown otherwise.

I guess we all have to suffer through this until people wake up to the real problem, which is the left and its supposed cures.  They caused this problem.   This failure is their failure.

This video is pure projection. Watch and behold their insanity.  This is made by the California Teacher's Union.  California is the model for our salvation?  California has the highest tax rates in the nation.  How do these people explain why California has the worse economic performance in the nation?

Technology Review: Why We Can't Solve Big Problems

via EGO OUT

Funny question.  There's a solution to the energy problem that's happening right under our very noses.  Evidently, somebody isn't paying attention.

However, there are some solutions that are even better than the ones being found in the oil business.  For example, molten salt reactors.  The irrational fear of radiation is one of the main culprits for the failure to adopt that technology.  But what about technologies that offer no such rationale--- or shall we say excuse?  For just $2 million bucks, you may get a proof of concept for a radiation free form of limitless energy.  That proposed energy system may even solve the launch problem.  But nobody is interested in finding out if this can be done.  The assumption seems to be that it can't.  So, it won't.

Maybe nobody cares.  Maybe that's the reason.

Update:

I didn't read all of the article.  Unfortunately, it swerved into stupid when they started talking about global warming.  You can't solve problems if you insist upon being stupid.

Update:

Are they stupid, insane, or just dishonest?

The left thinks the problem is that they don't get enough money.  But they have poured billions into solving problems that aren't being solved by their methods.  These problems aren't impossible to solve and it isn't the lack of money for the non solutions of said problems.  The reason for the failure is that the "problem" isn't intended to be solved.  They need the problems to exist forever to justify their existence as "problem-solvers" who never solve problems.  For once the problem is solved, there's no further need for these people.  They can't afford to solve any problems.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: America Leads World In Energy Revolution.

Via Meadia  via Instapundit

The U.S. is already reaping the benefits of new energy extraction techniques, but other gas-rich nations are having trouble achieving similar results.

I blame Bush.

Zombies have eaten our brains

The powers that be have us wrapped around their little fingers.

Note the drift of my posts.  Here's the public out here.  We are told to be afraid of nuclear meltdowns.  But this is highly unlikely, and I think, most likely impossible.  Yet people obey.  They are afraid because they are told to be afraid.

But when it comes to Benghazi, the people don't care.  You have re-elected a president who wouldn't help his own Ambassador.  What does this mean?  Nobody is asking that question.  Not even the Republicans.  They are told that there's nothing to see here, so move along.  The people unthinkingly comply.  Yet a president wouldn't aid a fellow American in distress.

What's the problem?  Why, consider this: if you are in an car accident and you fail to render aid, you are in trouble.  But the president of the United States fails to render assistance, the people are told not to care, and so they don't care.  They don't care even when they must know that if they behaved in a similar fashion, they'd be in big trouble.  But they are told to be scared stiff of nuclear reactors and they unthinkingly obey even though there's no real danger to speak of.

They turned us into zombies.  Unthinking, mindless zombies.  The zombies are in control and they ate our brains and turned us into zombies too.

Democracy is gamed?--- You betcha.

Yes, I think that may well be true.

Look at the 3D US election map above, and imagine how easy it would be to game an election, if you controlled most of the big city voting precincts. For most honest, hard-working people, it is difficult to imagine the machinations which ambitious politicians and their followers will resort to, with $trillions of other people's money on the line.

Murphy's Law---what can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible time--- all but assures that the system is being gamed.  It is being gamed at the highest levels.

Our freedom is not only threatened, it may only exist in our collective imaginations.  For the only thing that separates us from a non-free society is the right to change our governance via the elective process.  If that system cannot be trusted anymore, what can be done about it?

Fear of radiation has ruined far more lives than exposure to radiation

atomicinsights h/t NBF, Carnival of Nuclear Energy

In every “nuclear disaster”. radiation injured few if any people, whereas overplayed FEAR of radiation had disastrous impact, ruining the lives of thousands. A recent study showed that people who refused to evacuate Chernobyl were happier and outlived the evacuees by 20 years, while the evacuees themselves were depressed and suicidal.

As I wrote earlier, there's no such thing as a meltdown.  It is a media creation.  The general public is so credulous that they believe whatever they are told---even if it is an invasion of space aliens.  If it is on the boob tube, it must be true, according to their way of "thinking".

What the Buzz is all about

Who decides these things?  There's all kinds of buzz out there about the "fiscal cliff".  Who cares?  This was something that was decided in 2011, if anybody cares to remember.  Why is it a problem NOW?  The buzz is all about it though.  What's driving this?

Is it because of the recession, or threat of recession?  Weren't we recovering from the recession?  Obama was reelected because of this, I presume.  Our problems are over because he's safely back in office for another four years.  Okay, let him worry about it.  He and the liberals have all the answers, let them figure it all out.

Another buzzing out there is this Belcher business.  To tell you the truth, I don't care a flying fickle finger of fate about that either.  I know that might sound callous, but the guy apparently was a thug.  The woman he killed was apparently a nice, likable person.  Why the hell should we be worried if he killed himself?  If he didn't kill himself, we might have had another OJ Simpson trial.  Who the hell needs that?  Why all the sympathy for dirt bags?

No, the real issue here is that it's an opportunity to grab your guns.  The left never misses an opportunity for that.  If he tried to kill her with a tuna sandwich, it wouldn't be so, so very important.

The left is driving this garbage.  Why do the Republicans let the left drive the debate about the issues?  We should be talking about how the media refuses to cover the biggest scandal in history which is Benghazi.  After all, the President of the United States refused to come to aid of his Ambassador.  He let him die when help was available and within reach.  This should be a scandal, but nobody seems to care about that.  The Republicans are letting this one die off for the latest buzz the Democrats are so interested in.

Oh, and Bonehead removes some Tea Party chairmen from powerful posts.  I am so reassured. /sarc

If the Tea Party is alive and well...

Then my idea of another government shutdown over the debt should be welcomed!

What if the people discovered that they don't need Washington DC as much as DC has gotten everybody to believe?  What if the people discovered that the taxes which pay for government is all the government actually needs?  What if the people discovered that they sky won't fall if Obama doesn't get his higher taxes, but to the contrary, America actually begins thriving?

Put it to the test, if you dare.

Update:

[sung to the tune of Give Peace a Chance]--- "All we are saying is give Tea a chance"

Norquist: Second Tea Party Wave Coming

It takes awhile to get to this, nearly at the end.

But the rest of the video is surprisingly supportive of the Republicans.  What does that mean?  Maybe it means that for even someone like me, I'm being influenced by the liberal media!  WTF?!

I'm hoping that Norquist is right. He says Bonehead is doing a good job.

Pundit Press: Video: New Taxes to Devastate Markets

Pundit Press: Video: New Taxes to Devastate Markets: Please bookmark!

I've noticed that the videos play in sequence, one right after the other.  You can watch these as long as you want.  That's interesting, but it tends to go backwards in time, so at the moment I'm writing this, there's a video about the campaign which ended about a month ago.

Freaking A

The WTF type nature of the flow of events is going into overdrive:

• British Army shutting down for 3+ weeks
• Lock Your Doors And Prepare To Defend Your Family
• But Anti-Gun activists are on the march, so how do you do that?  Note: Bob Costas: ‘If Jovan Belcher did not possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive’   and NBC Announces Anti-Gun Message During Football Game  plus this Michael Bloomberg Puts Anti-Gun Plans Into Action
• The The Big time Socialist type Governments can't protect you because it's broke, or won't protect you by choice---UPDATED: Iraqi refugee arrested for bombing Arizona Social Security office with IED, and won't let you protect yourself since they want to take away your guns.

• The General public doesn't get outraged over these events, witness the following: How Susan Rice Covered Up the Kenya Embassy Bombings 14 Years Before Benghazigate  Why not?  Is it because they spend too much time taking in the propaganda from the news media?  Has the public lost the ability to think for themselves?
• Nobody seems to recognize the incongruity of news like this: (Tax-cheat Timmy) Geithner presses GOP, says no deficit deal unless tax rates rise on wealthy  Yet, is Buffett seeing the light:  Buffett Tax On Rich Will Hurt Average Americans  Are people in France seeing the light too?  The Pigeon Movement – A rallying cry for French startups  But 45 percent of US Democrats favour socialism.  There's little public support for socialism, yet people still vote for socialists?  How does that happen?
• Republicans are letting themselves be herded like sheep into the slaughter.  Why accept the left's premises?  Who gives a damn about the "fiscal cliff"?  Yet, here's this:BOEHNER: I Looked At Geithner And I Said, 'You Can't Be Serious?'  The question ought to be posed to Bonehead--- why are you taking these discussions seriously yourself?  Tell Geithner and Obama to stuff it.  Why talk at all?
• But the troubles are only now beginning.  Once they get more judges into place, the oppression will become unbearable.  There's this case: Koontz case to protect property rights (at Supreme Court; Bureaucrats unfairly charge for permits)  What do you think the court will do once they get a 5-4 majority of liberals?
• No guns to protect yourself.  No judges to protect the Constitution.  Nobody is allowed to keep what they've earned.  The Government promises to take care of you, but can't because it is broke. When it can, they refuse to do so, as in Benghazi.  And people vote for this?

Leadership, where art thou?

Could it be in places where they aren't to be found today--- in Washington DC, or Hollywood, or Academia---   but are found on places such as what is expressed on this pickup truck?

On the back of the truck pictured above, it says: "I have a right to freedom of speech.  No, you don't have a right to be offended.  Butch up princess."  Also:  "Life's tough.  Even tougher if you're stupid.  If you don't understand, this means YOU."

Why do the Republicans accept the premises of the left?   What kind of leadership agrees with the opposition with respect to its major premises and assertions?

Importance of leadership

That's a theory of mine, or maybe not mine, but one that I've come to believe to be true.  An example today happened in the NFL when the Colts beat the Lions on the last play of the game.

The point that I'm making about this game may be arguable, but even so, the coach definitely made a game losing decision last week against the Texans.  He may have done it again in this game.  How?  On the last offensive possession of the Lions, they were forced to punt.  Instead of snapping the ball and kicking it, they called timeout just before the play clock ran out.  Now, if they snap the ball, the ball will be in the air and the clock will still keep running--- perhaps as long as five seconds.  Counting the snap and the kick, the play may last up to 7 or eight seconds.

If the ball hits the ground, several more seconds could have been taken off.  Seconds are crucial at the end of the game.  Just one second left in a game means a play could be run and that play could be the deciding factor in the game.  There were only 4 seconds left in this game when the last play was run.

What I'm getting at is how much time is taken off the clock after the ball is snapped following a timeout and the ball is punted?  I'm thinking more time could be taken off the clock if they run the play without stopping the clock.  I could be wrong, but with the mistake he made last week against the Texans, I think that his decision to do it this way may have given the Colts time for one extra play.  It was that play that decided the game.

A great coach would have milked the clock for as much time as he could.  I don't think that the Lions' coach did that in this game.  He's responsible because he's in charge.  He's certainly responsible for blowing it last week.  I think he may have done it again.

Via Meadia: Small Business Owners Lose Confidence After Election

via Glenn Reynolds

...extremely pessimistic about their future prospects following the presidential election. After hitting a nadir in mid-2010, optimism had been growing steadily over the past two years. But in the last month, that positive trend has reversed.

Comment:

The Republicans didn't lose everything and the Democrats didn't win everything.  Now, if somebody would just remind the Republicans that they still control the House.  Nobody can make them do anything, but they act like somebody's going to hurt them if they don't do what Obama says.

Update:

But elections do have consequences.  It pays to pay attention.  Falling asleep is not a good idea when this guy is on the loose.

Update:

You pay less taxes when you have less money to pay.

Update:

But DC isn't suffering while demanding more money from the rest of us.  Since 2000, D.C. Area Wealth Grew at Twice National Average.

News from the Youtube channel

spacexchannel et. al

Didn't know that anything was going at one of my YouTube channels.  Just links to videos that were sent to my email.

Investment Idea

On the last post, Erick Lerner says that for 2 million bucks, he can do some lab experiments as a proof of concept for his ideas on focus fusion.  I think he said he can prove feasibility.  Without going back and double checking that, which I am a little too pressed for time at the moment in order to do that, let's say that I'm correct.

Okay, given that it is correct, and all he needs is 2 million bucks, what can I do if I want to invest in this idea?  After all, he's looking for funding.  But I don't have 2 million bucks to risk.  I can risk some money, but it would be a pittance in comparison to what he needs.

One thing he can do is go the kickstarter route.

Or could I start a kickstarter and ask my readers to help fund a portion of this project.

The problem is that I don't have many readers.

I did have this non profit idea once.  I've got a dba for this purpose or any purpose that I can set up if I need to in order to accomplish this legally.

If nobody comments on this post, I'll take it as a lack of interest and forget about it.

I think I'd have to see what kind of financial arrangement I can make for the money.  So, if the thing works out, you can figure how much you get out of it as your share depending upon what you put into it.

So, what do you say?

Here's the video by Lerner.



Update: Kickstarter cannot be used for this purpose. So much for that idea.

Update:  There's a business question at the end of the presentation that got my attention.  It was about shares and so forth.  He discusses the corporate set up that will prevent hostile takeovers.  He mentions class B shares.  I wonder who can buy into these shares?