Saturday, March 15, 2014

Nuclear Disasters & Coolants - "Th" Thorium Documentary


Great video for educating someone on the advantages of a molten-salt reactor over the water-cooled solid-fueled reactors in use today.  It is an hour long, but well worth the time.  I believe that I'm pretty well-informed on the technology, but this video introduced new material that I wasn't familiar with.

Why you can't trust the media anymore

AP Writes Dishonestly of Pro-Choice Rally; Stealth Corrects Later

A "news" service that lies is not a news service.

But now that it is confessed (impliedly) that pro-choice agitators actually did chant "Hail, Satan" -- it's omitted from the story altogether. Now that it seems like information that would turn people away from the pro-choice position, it's embargoed. (As it was previously embargoed, back when it actually first happened.)

If the claim hurts conservatives by making them seem, to the reader or viewer, "Not Like You," then it leads a story
.---Ace

Incidentally, AP's lie is downright sinister.  I wonder if you can bring the outfit up on charges.  Not in this administration, but in a new one in which false labeling like this can get you jail time as it would in any other line of business.  People that expect "news", but don't get news, are being defrauded.  How about some criminal charges?

John Hawkins takes a swing and misses

Since I've begun this blog, I've been willing to challenge all conventional ways of thinking.  We need something "out of the box", because we are just going around in circles with these arguments of ours.

Hawkins claims that there are structural problems that are destroying America.  Uh-huh.  What gave you that clue, Sherlock?  It all belabors the obvious, to wit:
  1. Insufficient turnover in Congress.  Wow!  I never heard of that one before.  Tell me more.   Heck, if you listen to the liberals, you'll hear that they are talking "electoral reform".  Whenever the liberals want something that sounds like "reform", I get worried. 
  2. Broken education system.  Man, where has this guy been?
  3. Unsustainable spending.  Let's pass a balanced budget amendment!  Oh, that failed 20 years ago?  Never mind.
  4. Immigration policies.  Yeah, immigration reform.  That will do it.
  5. Overly progressive tax code.  Really?  Seems a lot less "progressive" than when I grew up.
Sure, all of these are correct in as far as they go.  They just don't go anywhere.  Same old, same old.

I'm not seeing solutions.  I'm seeing campaign slogans.

As long as you keep serving up fastballs down the center of the plate, your opponent is going to keep hitting them out of the park.  Throw some "curves", some "sliders", some "off speed" pitches.  These are so old that they've got mildew on them.


Detailed NASA Budget Bad News for Europa, Propellant Depot Advocates

Detailed NASA Budget Bad News for Europa, Propellant Depot Advocates

Comment:

They may have brought this bad outcome upon themselves.  It's not either-or, but both.


Flight 370 disappearance

This one has been floating around out there for awhile.  The thought that came immediately to my mind was terrorism.

Terrorists have wanted to disrupt airline service for years now.  I recall the Bojinka plot to blow up airliners.  The plot was discovered in the Phillipines in the 90's.  The Filipinos used torture to obtain that information.  Not only did they obtain that information, but additional information about a plot to hijack airliners and smash them into buildings.  Funny how that seemed to go over the head of our illustrious leaders in DC.

Now they claim that "torture" doesn't work.  Ah, but it does work.  I suspect the reason they are against "torture" is that they are afraid it may be employed against one of them in the future.  If so, something interesting like this may be found.  Interesting and inconvenient, to say the least.

SpaceX Set to Launch the World’s First Reusable Booster | MIT Technology Review

SpaceX Set to Launch the World’s First Reusable Booster | MIT Technology Review via Transterrestrial Musings

This post is related to the NextBigFuture recent post.  One of the comments there raised the question of the value of reusable rockets since the rocket engines themselves may be subject to excessive wear, and therefore would have a shorter lifespan than what is anticipated.  A good point, as mentioned in this quote below:

SpaceX also has plans to recover and reuse the second stage rocket, but for now, it will recover only the first stage and its nine Merlin engines, which make up the bulk of the cost of the rocket.--- Michael Belfiore

I think this concern may be overstated, as the NERVA program demonstrated a longer equipment lifespan than what would be necessary to make reusability work economically.  The NERVA program demonstrated an endurance of some 600 minutes and 60 cycles.  If that could be done with nuclear thermal engines, I have a hunch that it can also be done with conventional chemical engines.  Additional reading throws a little cold water on it, but still, if only one reuse can be achieved, it would half the most expensive part of a flight.

By itself, that's not revolutionary, but it does enable significantly cheaper operations thus giving an opportunity to achieve more launches which would develop the technology even further.


Friday, March 14, 2014

Ugh! What a mess

It's really hard to post this morning.  I'm not feeling up to par, for starters.  Just a few sentences, and I may settle down for awhile ( meaning no posts ).
  • There's not likely to be a consensus on taxation.  Some people prefer that we get rid of all taxes.  Others prefer a lower tax.  I prefer lower taxes on individuals, higher ones on corporations.  I don't know if there will be a consensus around any single idea.  Probably get something that sheep will be fooled into thinking is good, but is really not so good.
  • What's the truth in the Ukraine-Russia situation?  There's probably a lot of disinformation out there.  It's hard to tell what-is-what from what you read about out there.  If you were there and experiencing this personally, maybe you'd have a better idea, but what kind of fool would jump into that mess?
  • Ann Barnhardt reads Free Republic.  I'm seeing a lot of discordant tunes in there too.  Not exactly a symphony of beautiful music in harmony with itself.  Maybe it's infiltrated with the wrong type of influences.  Nobody is shoving people in ovens yet, but she equates current events with that historical event, or so I suspect.  She may be crazy after all, but what is normal in times like this?
  • Can a people rule themselves, or are people forever doomed to being oppressed?  That is a question that is being answered by events---whether the events are here or elsewhere, the very idea of self-governance is being put to the test.  At the end of all this, we may be lucky if it exists anywhere.  Self-governance may exist only for a short time, so be thankful that it exists at all.  Such fortunate times may not last for very long.
  • I don't think the banning of school prayer came about because of popular demand.  Nor is same-sex marriage.  It is coming from the ruling class who are imposing it upon the rest of us.  This is how it happens.  Self-governance didn't create that, an oppressive governing class did.  Self-governance isn't failing, the leadership is.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Next Big Future: Spacex developing Raptor engine and use nine to po...

Next Big Future: Spacex developing Raptor engine and use nine to po...: NASA Space Flight website indicates that Spacex is advancing towards a larger Raptor engine to enable more Mars related capability. Tom Mu...



Very lively discussion in the comments section.  Don't miss this one!!!

A Theoretical Guide For The Prosecution of Treason in High Office

That wording is rather strong.  But such as it is, there is no formal accusation of this being made just yet in this blog.  It is generic, not specific.  However, one cannot fail to recognize that it could have immediate application, if such were being seriously contemplated.  That, however, is not up to me.

Rather, it is intended to show why such a prosecution could be contemplated, and in failing to obtain full cooperation could be considered as consciousness of guilt, thus requiring an immediate and firm response.

First of all, the Constitution requires all of those who serve under it to make an oath in support of it.  That oath supersedes all other loyalties.  This includes party loyalties, personal loyalties, religious loyalties, and any others.  The Constitution must be jealously guarded, or it will suffer disloyalty which could prove fatal.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution---Article VI, third paragraph
If any loyalty supersedes this Oath, it could be considered Treason as it is making War against the United States and against its very foundation.  Military officers, police officers, and any other administrative officer is also an officer of the Constitution as well, and subject to this requirement.

Anybody who makes an oath of loyalty that supersedes this loyalty which was made under Oath is in violation of it and is guilty of Treason.  A secret oath is by definition a consciousness of guilt.

If it so happens that Congress for any reason refuses to do its duty, then it is not treason to use force in order to remove the offending officers.  It is not sedition to suggest it, since in suggesting it, it is meant to support the Constitution, as it is clear that their sworn defenders will not do their sworn duty to defend it.  If in obeying lawless officers of the Constitution, those who enforce their continuance in office may also be held culpable and liable as accessories to the fact.

Winning an election does not give permission to overthrow the Constitution.  If such were true, the Civil War went against the elected governments of the Southern States and itself was illegal.

It may be necessary to use force to bring these lawless types to justice.  Any attempt to disarm the citizenry should be held as a suspicious act, and need not be obeyed.  To obey is to deny your own rights under this Constitution, and could also make you culpable in the attempt to overthrow it.

Those in violation of the law and under the color of law are breaking the law-- thus they need not be obeyed.  Anyone who claims disobedience to a lawless officer of the Constitution may also be culpable in its overthrow and should be held to account.

You are either going to support the Constitution or you aren't.  There may come a time when you will have to choose sides.  At some point, the bullshit is going to have to stop.  Blaming a slow motion coup on the public is not an excuse for inaction when action is called for.  If there is a lawless entity in office, it must be dealt with firmly and with dispatch.

Update:

I'd be careful not to criticize this post too quickly.  The road down to totalitarianism is just the road that I mentioned above.  If you want to travel that road, then be aware that there is at least one person who is willing to contest your intention to do it.  I think there are a lot more, but maybe they don't know it yet.  Hopefully they will figure it out before it's too late.

The reason Hitler was able to gas millions of Jews and start a World War was because he got German officers to swear an oath of loyalty to HIM PERSONALLY.  If that doesn't wake you up, then nothing can wake you up, as you are LOST.


Congress: This Time It’s Personal

NRO

If Senator Feinstein’s claims are in the main substantively correct, then the CIA has done serious violence to the law and to our constitutional order. And I suspect that she is largely on the money: CIA Director John Brennan has said that the facts will not support her allegations of “this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking,” the presence of the word “tremendous” in that sentence suggesting that what is really in dispute here is not the CIA’s actions but merely the scale of the CIA’s actions.[emp added]---Kevin D. Williamson

Here's the problem with the article.  The sheep don't care and the only ones capable of doing anything must act but won't.  Consequently, the reliance upon the sheep to correct this via the electoral process is a cop-out.

That's why McConnell must go.  Along with Cornyn and the rest who won't put up a fight.  The only ones who can change this are the ones who pay attention to these things now and will take corrective moves in the primaries NOW.  That didn't happen with Cornyn, but there may still be a chance to get the &#&S$%%$.


Bridgegate has taken out Christie if Iowa is any indication

Evidently the Democrats have taken a political scalp even if it isn't a real one.  Chris Christie was once ahead of Clinton in a possible 2016 matchup, but that is all over now.  Now Clinton leads Christie by 13 points in Iowa.  Iowa is important in the nomination process as it is first.

I never understood the Bridgegate scandal.  I drive for a living.  There's construction all the time.  How does one construction project differ from another?  How does anyone know that this amounts to anything at all?

Besides, why are so many people so quick to take the Democrat's accusations seriously?  A historical example is the Scooter Libby case.  Scooter Libby didn't leak Valerie Plame's identity.  It was a complete non-scandal, but it got Libby convicted.  Of what exactly?  They knew who the leaker was, but that didn't matter.  It was a Democrat coup to take out Libby like that and it may have helped get Obama elected.

The GOP needs answers for this if they ever plan to win the White House again.


Right-Wing Mobs? No, A Cleaning Crew. | RedState

Right-Wing Mobs? No, A Cleaning Crew. | RedState



Erik Erickson answers Coulter.




Right-Wing Mobs? Say It Isn't So, Conservatives!

Ann Coulter

She compares some conservative activists to liberals and show how they are maligning McConnell without good enough cause.

Time for a reset?

Time for something.


Yoda idea

I was thinking of this yesterday--- a way to make a video about politics.  Since I joked about being Yoda, I figured I could rip off Space Balls and become "Yogurt" or something like that.  It didn't get too far.  Anyway, my idea was to spoof politics a bit.  "Yogurt" would teach the ways of the "farce".  Politics would be made to look ridiculous, because that is what it is.

Maybe you would teach the dark side of the farce.  Why the dark side?  Why not the light side?  Well, it is more fashionable to be on the dark side today, get it?  Besides, what difference does it make?  The farce is the farce whichever side you're on.  It permeates everything.  It is everywhere.  It runs our universe.  Maybe it can run DC too.

Who would be "Obi-won"?  Hmm.  The names should sound alike, but not too much.  What about "yogi-won"?  Ah, I could hear the Darth Vader guy say "Yogi-won has taught you well".  What about Deep Throat?  Oh, that one's taken.  Well, there's that deep voice, but that's not what was meant by deep throat, now was it?  Maybe you'd use it anyway.  It would be a hoot.

Wait a minute, Yogi won is wrong.  It should be Barry-won.  Or maybe We we won.  Ah, that should do it.  We-we won has taught me well.  Yuk, yuk.

And so on.


Grand Funk - Loneliness

I don't mind admitting here that I was a big Grand Funk fan in my youth.  Partly because I can see the flaws better now as I am older.  Grand Funk had a flaw, but weren't fundamentally flawed.  There were those who claimed a fundamental flaw in the group, but I didn't agree and still don't.  But now I see the flaw, or I think I see it.

I'm not a music critic, but even Grand Funk could make me wince.  Sure, I was a fan, but I never considered them perfect.  I was always looking for that something that would make them complete.

The missing thing about them was a brain.  I'm not saying Farner is stupid, but his lyrics are illogical.  If the words were straightened out a bit, this would be a beautiful song.  But the beauty is marred by a sour note of illogicality that ruins it.

I'd have some suggestions on improving it, but as I don't know Mark Farner, I cannot make them.  Besides, they may not work anyway.

That's the nature of loneliness.  You just can't agree with what the other people are saying.  So you are estranged.

Nevertheless, I feel this song.

)

Update:

Grand Funk was a teen rebellion group.  They fed off the feeling of teen rebellion.  I think their music was deliberately made bad in order to drive parents crazy, so that's why the kids loved 'em.  Same shit happens today, but it is in a different form.  Think Lady Gaga.

Ah, it was a more innocent time when the only thing "bad" was the kids going off the rails just a little.  Today, they are totally and more dangerously lost.


ObamaCare Changes Will NOT Help Democrats – Dick Morris TV: Lunch Alert!

ObamaCare Changes Will NOT Help Democrats – Dick Morris TV: Lunch Alert!

comment:

The thrust of the argument here is that Obama "outsmarted" himself as his idea has no support amongst those in his own party.

I'll have to take Morris' word on it, as I don't understand the politics of this.  At this time, I don't think I understand what's going on at all.

Florida had a special election and the GOP won.  But the victory looks narrow.  Supposedly it is a GOP district.  So the meaning?  Some of the GOP is trumpeting it as a big victory, and those on Democrat side are pooh-poohing it.

What does it all mean?  At the moment, I have no ideas.


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Summoning the Id

You won't get the title unless you are familiar with the movie.  You may not even get it then.  For those of you with a brain, you'll get it.  But then what?

What are you prepared to do?

)


Closer to home-Grand Funk Railroad

Time to get closer to home.  But that may go way over the heads of those who just don't get it and never will.

Back to basics, I say.  We've got no business in Ukraine.  This song was said to be popular with those men returning from Vietnam.


)

The Lois Lerner Defense

Mark Steyn, link via   Free Republic

Pretty good writeup, this is.  Hmm.  Am I writing like Yoda talked?  Jedi Master am I.  Tee hee.

Anyway, Steyn and a lot of conservatives, or maybe even all of us, are afflicted with something of a disease.  You read through Steyn's article and you see what needs to be done, but you have to read between the lines to find it.

He advocates abolishing the IRS.  Now that's not the disease.  The disease is what it will take in order to abolish the IRS.  It will take a head-on confrontation with the left that the right simply seems incapable of managing.

The conservatives or right wing or whatever you want to call them are not the knuckle dragging Neaderthals that the left likes to claim that we are.  If only!   No, we're the Dr. Jekyl of the paired up Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.  The Democrats are Mr. Hyde.  Democrats and the left will say anything and do anything to hold on to their power.  But there are limits to what the conservatives will do.  That's the very essence of that story.  Dr. Jekyl is very civilized---too civilized for his own good.  He seeks a potion that will relieve him of his inhibitions.  When he discovers it, he turns into a monster that has to be slain.  But it will take Dr. Jekyl along with it.

The best metaphor that isn't, says Yoda.  Indeed.  Perhaps there's another. I was looking at the T.S. Eliot poem last night.  It is called the Love Song of Alfred Prufrock.  Well, this fellow in the poem is too civilized for his own good and he fails.  He cannot summon within himself the power of the Id, which is what he needs to succeed.  You see, Alfred wants to get it on with some ladies, but he cannot "disturb the universe" while he dithers on such silly topics such as "eating a peach".  In short, he is too civilized.  He Super-Ego inhibits him too much and he fails.

I think that's the trouble with the so-called right.  They make the most splendid arguments as this one by Steyn.  But is the lamb arguing with the wolf, and the wolf always wins that argument, no matter how good the lamb's arguments may well be.  As Aesop of Aesop's fables said, "force has the better of the argument".  Being right is not good enough.  Conservatives need to summon their Id, or perhaps their inner Neaderthal, but as Cornball Cornyn showed, they just can't do it.  Or won't do it.  Whatever the case may be, from downright corruption or just plain incompetence, the conservatives may as well be Alfred singing his love song.  In the end, as in the poem, they will drown in their own incompetence or fears.

I insist that I will run for the Senate if somebody will step up to the plate and help me out.  Or maybe I won't.  Just too much of a challenge.  Maybe for me.  Maybe for you out there wherever you are.


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Next Big Future: Multiferroic material can increase power efficienc...

Next Big Future: Multiferroic material can increase power efficienc...: UCLA researchers were able to demonstrate that using multiferroic material to generate spin waves could reduce wasted heat and therefore in...



Concept of spin waves is discussed briefly.



Here's a thought:  if a spin wave can be produced artificially, does that mean that it can happen unintentionally?



Is a spin wave capable of becoming a BSE?




Top House Republican: We Already Caught White House Lying About IRS Targeting Scandal (Video)

Top House Republican: We Already Caught White House Lying About IRS Targeting Scandal (Video)





Strong words.  Will they back it up?




Shadows in the dust, Maximus

A quote from the movie, Gladiator.  The reason I bring it up is that my thoughts are running wild this morning.  The thoughts are like the shadows in the dust ( or was it dusk?).  Thoughts are ephemeral things, they exist for the moment, and then are gone - like the shadows.  Unless there is some way to record them, they will be lost.

And so it was while I was just now in the shower.  I was thinking about something, and now I have forgotten it.  Damn it.

It was all about authority and religion.  There has to be an authority.  People tend to accept authority.  That's how they become sheep.  The obey without thought nor reason.

But the authority is not always right.  In fact, at the end of a civilization, as was the case in the Western half of the Roman Empire in the mid to late 5th century, the leadership was so wrong that the collapse was all but inevitable.

Civilization may be like organic things.  They may have a life cycle.  Birth, maturation, death.  At each stage of a civilization's history, it will progress along those lines unless something alters its trajectory.  In an earlier time, I believed that this was not inevitable with the West, because of the possibility of renewal.  But when renewal is closed off, the life cycle cannot be altered and the outcome will be inevitable.  I think we may be a similar danger with this PC garbage.  It traps people in a closed mindset.  It is DESIGNED to keep people entrapped into a closed mindset.

But this is not what I was thinking in the shower!  I was thinking that just now.  If I hadn't typed it in just now, it would have been lost.  Shadows in the dusk!  Dusk is probably right. It makes sense.

Maybe the loss of a thought would be unfortunate or maybe not.  Nobody reads this blog anyway.  Fuck it.  I don't care.

Random musings post

Various thoughts are rumbling in my noggin at the moment.  Here's an attempt to put it all into one post.

  • GOP cheerleaders are kidding themselves about this election.  We are told over and over that the GOP is likely to take over the Senate.  This is sounding a lot like the predicted victory of Romney over Obama.  Somebody over there is kidding us.  Even if the GOP wins, it won't matter much.  They don't take on the Democrats.  A GOP Senate won't be that much different than a Democrat Senate.
  • The Ukrainian business isn't the ideological matchup as in the Cold War days.  It could be a matchup between Globalists and Nationalists.  Some folks over at the GOP are comparing themselves with Reagan, but in Reagan's time, it was an ideological battle between communism and capitalism.  This comparison of today's politicians  with yesterday's is like comparing apples and oranges.  Anyway, if Reagan was alive today, he'd be on the side of the Nationalists.  He favored America above all.  I'm sure he'd be for free trade, but not if America lost its sovereignty.  The Globalists don't give a hoot about America's sovereignty, nor Russia's.
  • People get too carried away with the concerns of the moment and can't see the Big Picture.  This allows the mind controllers the opportunity to "boil-the-frog".  That is so that they can sneak their societal engineering under the radar.  Again, the GOP allows themselves to be dragged into the argument of the moment, while missing the Big Picture.  They take part in the "wedge-issues" that divide us, instead of looking for common areas that can keep us united.  If there's anything we should be united on, it is that the Constitution must be preserved.  The Globalists will not do that.  They will undermine the Constitution relentlessly until it doesn't mean anything at all.
  •  Cruz is looking more and more like a Globalist.  But Paul isn't necessarily looking like a Nationalist.  Neither one will be much of a help in fighting this battle.  I'm starting to give up on Cruz, and starting to worry about Paul.  If you don't know your enemy, you are doomed to fail.  That according to Sun-Tsu in the Art of War.  The GOP rank and file don't know who their real enemy is.  It ain't necessarily Russia.  Russia ain't necessarily our friend either, but we don't have to be enemies.
  • Another sign that the GOP is kidding us.  A majority of young people said in a certain poll that they favored same-sex marriage.  If you've lost the young, you've lost the war.  The Globalists want same-sex marriage in order to destroy the American character.  The GOP won't even teach the young that they are being tricked into supporting, which is to destroy their futures.  The same-sex marriage proponents are also a part of the Limits to Growth "Climate-Change" crowd.  In my view, they are one and the same.  They are worship at the altar of the almighty superstate headed by ultra control freak leftists who want to regulate us down to the last detail.  We will be doomed to misery and despair if they succeed, and the GOP is showing no signs of a meaningful resistance.
  • This blog is an attempt to find answers to our common problems, but it is failing.  It is failing because of some flaw in the human character that prevents people from honestly addressing the issues that face them.  That flaw is the tendency to want to join up in a community of thought that becomes rigid and unyielding so that it resembles a religion of sorts.  Globalism is just another religion, probably the one the elites prefer.  I have ranted about "churches" for the longest time.  These churches aren't about anything that will be constructive in solving our common problems.  In fact, they will get into the way because of their rigid thinking patterns that have become a necessary part of their religion.  We need out-of-the-box type thinking if we are going to move up to the next level in civilization.  Instead, we will be lucky to keep what we have already achieved, and may well run towards disintegration as in the Roman Era.
  • The elites of our time are certainly capable of getting rich and gaining power, but they are definitely not capable nor interested in solving our problems.  It's about them, not about the people.  As for the people, they are sheep.  They are going to do what they are told and taught by the elites.  Same thing happened in Roman times.  Either we learn how to be better people or we are screwed.

Monday, March 10, 2014

George Strait - Amarillo By Morning - 1996 Houston Rodeo

Saw a link to the song on Disk Jockey Ann page on her website.  Some guy on twitter ( I think) pointed to it who said that he proposed to her on ( the radio?) and she turned him down flat.  ( I don't think music is gonna to help ya, dude, but what the hell do I know? )  Anyway, I remembered that I clicked on a number of things she had posted on her main page in the past, but none of it did anything for me.  So this guy mentioned a few of the songs there and some of it surprised me, so I decided to have a look at the page.  She links to a version of Strait's performance with lyrics.  I include a version recorded in the Astrodome during the Rodeo in 1996.  The Astrodome is going away, sort of a sad thing like this song.  This song was my companion on a lot of long road trips home late at night.  Lovely song.


The fish rots from the head down---Sharyl Attkisson leaves CBS

What makes this fish rotten is CBS, not Attkisson.  It's like what happened in the Roman Empire when it fell.  The good is forced out, the rotten stay in.  Now CBS is just plain rotten, through and through.  More rottenness all the time.  As for the sheep, they are just sheep who have been nothing but sheep all their lives and want nothing else but to be sheep, even if it means being on the wolf's menu.


America can't rule the world, nor should it

This one can be classified under a rather weak attempt at erudition.

America has exhausted itself in trying to rule over an unruly world.  It is straining under the  load.  There is probably no other recourse than to retreat from it.  America constitutes just 5% or so of the world's population.  A good deal more of that is the wealth share, but that is dwindling.  It won't do to expend what's left of this wealth in useless military adventures.  This may annoy the neo-cons very, very much.  But it is truth.  It is why Obama got elected.  Going back down that road will only lead to the same outcome as before---the left will be get even more entrenched within our culture.

No, the only way to save America at this point is to give it all up, and get back to basics.  George Washington said to avoid entangling alliances.  Hamilton favored protectionism.  Jefferson avoided giving State of the Union speeches because it was too king-like.  If this nation is to endure, it must find the basic principles which were used in establishing itself in the world in the first place.  If it is to endure, it must heed the wisdom of its founders.

The ones that are getting established now will lead to an entirely different America than the one we have known.

I don't like that.  I like the America that I grew up in.


How do you reach people?

All people are different, I'd say.  You don't reach people in the same way.  A message that might work on one person will not work on another.

I was just thinking of my reconsideration ( or possible conversion to Christianity if you want to call it that ) of my agnosticism.  This happened many, many years ago.  Back then, I think I was a lot like the liberals are today.  I believed in reason, still do come to think of it.  But I was full of it.  A reevaluation of my "conversion" eventually came into play.  At one time, I thought I had become truly religious.  Then I realized that I wasn't really.  Have I come full circle?  No.

I'm still working it out for myself.  Still don't trust organized religion or organized anything.  I'll think it all out for myself, thank you very much.

There was something that got to me because it appealed to my reason.  That is why I converted.

Was that "something" mistaken?  Maybe.  But in the interim, I have gained some knowledge of what underneath it all.  I have gained respect for it even while still questioning it.  Christianity is what I'm referring to here.

What you choose to believe is really up to you.  You are not helpless.  But the world is a hard place.  No doubt about it.  I have no idea of how to reach people.  Maybe their minds are all impenetrable.  But mine wasn't.  It can happen.  It's just not easy.


NOTICE: Blog list not displaying properly

The list of blogs on the left sidebar is not displaying properly.  I definitely had a disclaimer that disavows any endorsement of the blogs listed.  That disclaimer is not displaying.

Is something sinister going on there?  Why doesn't it display?  I checked it out on the layout page, the disclaimer is there.  It hasn't vanished.  What gives?

Change of pace

This morning, which is still quite early by the way, I decided to try something a little different.  So, I went over to the lefty site that I put on my sidebar recently.  It's the Mahablog.  The Mahablog is a representative of the left, so it is a way of keeping up with them, I suppose.

She has something there claiming that "the right loves Pooty", meaning Putin of course.  I don't know how that one got out there.  Barnhardt said it, now Barbara O'Brien is saying it.  She points to a "secret American sub-culture of Putin worshippers".   Yeah, I guess on the basis of that, all conservatives must love Putin.  She winds up by suggesting that the right loves Hitler too.  A suggestion here could be that this is just slander, and that no conservatives like Putin at all.  But I can't vouch for that.  Maybe that is out there somewhere, I don't know, but I am suspicious.

The thought occurred to me that this is the "full Alinsky" on display here.  It's why I am getting fed up with John McCain, who attacked Cruz like that.  McCain's attack was the full Alinsky.  It had nothing to do with what is going on.  Cruz was referring to principle, so what does McCain do, but go unprincipled on him.

So now I suppose the Democrats are the real patriots and the Conservatives are the traitors?  Who can believe this?  But some people just might.  That's why stuff like this works.

If there's any beef I have the conservatives right now, it is the headlong rush towards belligerence.  Doesn't sound like they love Putin to me.  They want to take him on.  This "the right loves Putin" schtick accomplishes what exactly?


Sunday, March 9, 2014

The fish rots from the head down

It is metaphorical and not literal.  The fish rots from the belly first.

The phrase is used in reference to societal decay or rot.  Thus, a society's fall is the fault of the leadership.  This is what I believe to be true.

Nowadays, you hear something to the effect that it is the people's fault because they have the right to vote.  However, the right to vote is being canceled out and ignored.  The people are not listened to.  This has a long history in this country, probably at least 100 years old.  The Founding Fathers would probably agree about the rotting fish, for that is why we have checks and balances in the Constitution.  The natural state of politicians is to seek more power.  The politicians are the ones we should beware.  That fish is certainly rotting from the head down today in this country.

Historically, that is how the rot happens, as the Founders knew their history.  In my brief investigation of the subject, the Roman Empire appears to have fallen because the fish rotted from the head down.  Especially at the very end.  Ricimer killed whatever good was left of the Roman leadership.

Another example could be Nazi Germany.  Surely, it wasn't the fault of the German people that Hitler lost the war he started himself.  Someone might ask, so why didn't somebody stop him?  They tried, but failed.

Western Civilization itself is rotting from the head down.  The leadership believes in the Limits to Growth, which pretty much guarantees misery, despair, war, and disintegration.  Unless this is turned around somehow, these calamities will be our fate as it was with the Romans.


Next Big Future: Spiderfabs will have game changing future impact o...

Next Big Future: Spiderfabs will have game changing future impact o...: Previously NASA was looking at 20-30 years to get solar sails that are 250 meters by 250 meters or 400 meters by 400 meters. Spiderfab wi...

Comment:

Wasn't this covered somewhere before?  Ah, yes.  I wrote a series based upon this concept.  That is to say, I wrote a series on using the SpiderFab which would be used in making frickin' huge space sails that could go on interplanetary missions, like mining an asteroid.  Glad to see that someone caught on.



When it comes to politics and most of everything else, we are regressing

In the old days, it was customary to ask a man of prominence to run for office.  It was not considered seemly for someone to seek the office openly nor directly.  If memory serves, it was William Jennings Bryan who started to frankly and openly run for President.  The lower offices probably followed suit.

Sam Houston was being talked about as a possible candidate in 1860.  It was his view that he had to be asked, if memory serves.

Now, what does this all mean?  It means that demagogues and those of lower moral character are running for office.  Better men are not.  At least, that is my theory.

People of lower character will not honestly govern.  That is why the Republic is in such danger as it is now.  The Republic is in more danger now than it was in the days of the Civil War.  Even if the South won, there would have been two republics instead of one.  Now there could be neither.

When a man runs for office frankly and directly, he demeans the office.  He elevates himself above the office.  In a Republic that governs free men, this cannot endure.  One or the other must go.

If we insist upon electing self-seeking men to office, we will lose the Republic.

I suspect this is why everything seems to be falling apart.

If I am right, then I am one of the very few who seem to think so.

Update a short time later:

Governance should be considered a duty, not an honor.  It is not an honor to be drafted into the military in order to fight a war that may be necessary for the survival of a nation.  It is a duty to serve.  If it is an honor, then it is a travesty against a free republic.  We should not elevate anybody above the rest.  This invites tyranny.  Governance should be like taking out the trash--- a dirty job that somebody has to do.


Turning science into bureaucracy---the Democrat ideal

The Democrats like to claim to be the champions of science, but the reality is that they create bureaucracy instead.

Perhaps this is why there's no real progress, and why whatever progress still being made could grind to a halt

A Fred Sanger would not survive today’s world of science. With continuous reporting and appraisals, some committee would note that he published little of import between insulin in 1952 and his first paper on RNA sequencing in 1967 with another long gap until DNA sequencing in 1977. He would be labelled as unproductive, and his modest personal support would be denied. We no longer have a culture that allows individuals to embark on long-term—and what would be considered today extremely risky—projects.”---Elizabeth Dzeng  link via Behind the Black blog

Also,
I found this particularly striking given that another recent Nobel prize winner, Peter Higgs, who identified the particle that bears his name, the Higgs boson, similarly remarked in an interview with the Guardian that, “he doubts a similar breakthrough could be achieved in today’s academic culture, because of the expectations on academics to collaborate and keep churning out papers. He said that: ‘it’s difficult to imagine how I would ever have enough peace and quiet in the present sort of climate to do what I did in 1964.’” ---E.D.
Something happened in 1968.  I think it was liberalism.


SpaceX advances drive for Mars rocket via Raptor power | NASASpaceFlight.com

SpaceX advances drive for Mars rocket via Raptor power | NASASpaceFlight.com  via Behind the Black blog



A history of rocketry given here.  There was one rocket that the Russians were said to be building that was frickin' huge.  It dwarfed even the Saturn V rocket that went to the moon.








News from Dick Morris

He says that Putin will use human shields in Ukraine in order to protect Russian troops in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.

Putin has just made it official.  Or perhaps he has made it official with those who didn't have him figured out already.  Putin is a bad guy.  No doubt about it now.

I can almost hear Barnhardt say "I told you so."

Well, I didn't consider him a good guy, but I also didn't think he would stoop to this.


No fire in the belly

Nope.  I don't want to do it.  Don't want to run for office, no sir.  But I insist, that if called upon, that I would do it.  But no, I don't want to.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, that CPAC speech by Sarah Palin rates a comment.  She'll never get elected President.  Her line that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke" may sound good to zealots, but I can see HRC using that in a modern day little girl and a daisy commercial.  She's Goldwater reborn.  The next election could be 1964, an absolute disaster.  Oh, and if she won, it may be an even bigger disaster.  A very intemperate and foolish remark.