Not to denigrate Ms. Anderson, but the U.S. military has lots of screwed up members thanks to the Bush-era policy to recruit anyone who walked through the door, including junkies, drunks, dropouts, mentally ill, criminals, etc. They even filled out the recruitment papers for them, and lowered the training standards!Yeah, a 19-year old who entered the Air Force at least two years into Obama's time in office, and it is Bush's fault!
Jumat, 13 September 2013
It Is All Bush's Fault!
A very sad story about a 19-year old airman who committed suicide on Guam in 2011 using her service revolver. The parents are claiming the Air Force failed to do what they should have done. I have no opinion on Air Force responsiblity, just sorrow that it happened. But one of the comments captures progressive irrationality so well:
Elk Gets The Final Revenge
VERNAL, Utah (AP) -- An elk slain in Utah had its last revenge when its antler punctured the neck of the hunter who'd brought him down.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports the 51-year-old hunter snagged the elk Saturday east of Vernal.
Uintah County Undersheriff John Laursen says the man was trying to roll the 600- to 700-pound animal over when the antler stabbed him behind his jaw.The hunter survived, but somewhere, the spirit of the elk is laughing.
Something That I Worked On Is Now Interstellar
September 12, 2013 The Atlantic reports on Voyager 1 reaching interstellar space. I wrote software for a very small part of this project -- but it is still one of the more long-term activities of my life.
Not A Positive Sign For The Health of State and Local Governments
Traditionally, municipal bonds have had lower yields than corporate bonds because many (although not all) munis are exempt from both federal income tax, and state income tax for the state in which the political entity exists. (Certain categories of munis that are "private activity bonds" are not tax-exempt, and to add to the confusion, I understand that Puerto Rico munis are exempt from not only federal income tax, but state income tax in every state -- probably because of the weird legal status of Puerto Rico.)
Why lower yield? Because you are not going to pay federal income tax on the dividends, and if you are a resident of the state from which the bond comes, no state income tax. A 5% yield on a tax-exempt muni is better than a 5.5% yield on a corporate bond for most taxpayers.
But I see that this is not the case now. There are a lot of A-rated munis with higher yields than A-rated corporate bonds. I think some of this is an expression of perceived risk from the munis, especially the high yielding munis from California, Illinois, and New York.
If you have not looked at bonds in a year or two:
UPDATE: Here is an Idaho bond, not spectacularly rated:
Why lower yield? Because you are not going to pay federal income tax on the dividends, and if you are a resident of the state from which the bond comes, no state income tax. A 5% yield on a tax-exempt muni is better than a 5.5% yield on a corporate bond for most taxpayers.
But I see that this is not the case now. There are a lot of A-rated munis with higher yields than A-rated corporate bonds. I think some of this is an expression of perceived risk from the munis, especially the high yielding munis from California, Illinois, and New York.
If you have not looked at bonds in a year or two:
| TENNESSEE VALLE BONDS 880591DZ2 | 5.375 | 04/01/2056 | 25 | 105.44000 | 2 | 71 | 5.062 | -- | No | $615.89 |
Yes, a 5.062% yield on a federal government agency bond.
It might still make sense (when the yields improve a bit more) to start buying. Yes, there is substantial inflation risk, especially if the economy recovers. But I think there is also substantial possibility that the economy will continue limping along, barely recovering, if at all.
It might still make sense (when the yields improve a bit more) to start buying. Yes, there is substantial inflation risk, especially if the economy recovers. But I think there is also substantial possibility that the economy will continue limping along, barely recovering, if at all.
UPDATE: Here is an Idaho bond, not spectacularly rated:
| Action | State | Ratings | Description | Coupon | Maturity | Qty | Price | Min | Max | YTM | YTW 2 | Taxable | Callable | Accrued Interest | Estimated Total Cost | |
| S&P | Moody's | |||||||||||||||
| Buy | ID | A | A2 | IDAHO HEALTH FACS REV 451295VM8 03/01/2022 @ 100.00000Continuously-Callable | 4.500 | 03/01/2047 | 10 | 88.34800 | 10 | 10 | 5.242 | 5.242 | No | Yes | $21.25 | $8,856.05 |
But note the yield to maturity is 5.242%, and it is exempt from both federal and Idaho income taxes. It is continuously callable, meaning that the issuer could at any time after 3/1/22 withdraw them, but only by paying off the face value of the bond.
Kamis, 12 September 2013
The Subtext of All Tattoos
Oversimplified, but I suspect that there is some truth to it for many young people:
Rabu, 11 September 2013
What I Wrote On A Student's Paper...
Today’s economy and state of the country is slightly more discouraging than when I dropped out of college in 1975, but it is in many respects, quite similar. Somehow, we survived the 1970s, disco, and the threat of thermonuclear war, a far more frightening prospect than what confronts us as a nation today.
Special Forces (2011): If You Liked Act of Valor, You Will Like This
I pulled this off Netflix, and I was a bit surprised. No, not U.S. Special Forces, but a French commando unit sent into the tribal areas of Pakistan to free a French journalist (and relative of a French politician) from the Taliban. This film has nearly all the strengths of Act of Valor: an exciting action film; a work of fiction, but fiction not too terribly far removed from real events; brave but human heroes; and bad guys who would have been close to unbelievably evil -- until the Taliban came along, who behave in ways that are practically cardboard cutout monsters. And yet even the chief warlord here has his moments when brief glints of humanity intrude, before the monstrousness returns.
Like Act of Valor, the film is exciting not just for the action sequences, but the exotic locales. It was actually filmed partly in Pakistan and partly in Tajikistan, which is close enough to Afghanistan to do a convincing body double. Unlike Act of Valor, these are all obviously professional actors, doing a more credible job of acting than our special ops guys did of acting in Act of Valor. (And as I said when reviewing Act of Valor -- who cares? I'm sure our special ops guys, or French special ops guys, do a better job of acting than vice versa.)
The reviews of Special Forces are overwhelmingly negative -- and I am pretty sure that politics has a lot to do with it. Unfortunately, it is subtitled, and as one of the few even half-fair reviews pointed out:
Like Act of Valor, the film is exciting not just for the action sequences, but the exotic locales. It was actually filmed partly in Pakistan and partly in Tajikistan, which is close enough to Afghanistan to do a convincing body double. Unlike Act of Valor, these are all obviously professional actors, doing a more credible job of acting than our special ops guys did of acting in Act of Valor. (And as I said when reviewing Act of Valor -- who cares? I'm sure our special ops guys, or French special ops guys, do a better job of acting than vice versa.)
The reviews of Special Forces are overwhelmingly negative -- and I am pretty sure that politics has a lot to do with it. Unfortunately, it is subtitled, and as one of the few even half-fair reviews pointed out:
But the film's U.S. commercial prospects are dim, given the widespread American aversion to subtitles, and its formulaic charms are unlikely to impress the art-house crowd.The film is rated R for its violence, and the rating seems appropriate. To its credit, a scene where someone is executed in al-Qaeda fashion is off-screen, and merely suggested.
I See A Market Opportunity For A Political Party That Isn't Owned by Big Corporations
From the September 11, 2013 Washington Examiner:
On Tuesday, the chief human resources officers of more than 100 large corporations sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urging quick passage of a comprehensive immigration reform bill.Yeah, there are certainly no unemployed high-skill people already legally in the U.S., are there?
The officials represent companies with a vast array of business interests: General Electric, The Walt Disney Company, Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, McDonald's Corporation, The Wendy's Company, Coca-Cola, The Cheesecake Factory, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon Communications, Hewlett-Packard, General Mills, and many more. All want to see increases in immigration levels for low-skill as well as high-skill workers, in addition to a path to citizenship for the millions of immigrants currently in the U.S. illegally.
A new immigration law, the corporate officers say, "would be a long overdue step toward aligning our nation's immigration policies with its workforce needs at all skill levels to ensure U.S. global competitiveness." The officials cite a publication of their trade group, the HR Policy Association, which calls for immigration reform to "address the reality that there is a global war for talent." The way for the United States to win that war for talent, they say, is more immigration.
More Evidence That Copyright Trolls Should Lose a Finger For Every Sanction Issued By A Court
From September 11, 2013 TechDirt:
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act needs serious reform -- serious enough that lawyers engaged in tactics like these (and Righthaven) should have to worry about jail time, not just fines.
A few months back, people realized that one of Malibu Media's tactics was to send a now infamous "Exhibit C" court filing to the subscribers they were accusing of infringing on their copyrights. The problem? The movies in Exhibit C -- which tended to be hard core porn films -- had no connectionto Malibu Media. They didn't hold the copyright on them at all, and certainly had no standing to sue over them. Basically, Malibu would file this list of other movies the person may or may not have been sharing, with really offensive names, knowing that if the names became public it would likely be quite embarrassing for the recipients of the threat letters. It seemed pretty clear that the idea was to intimidate people into paying up.The article goes on to explain that the EFF filed an amicus brief on this, and the court sanctioned Malibu Media for what is essentially a "settle out of court or we'll embarrass you more" tactic. While I don't have much sympathy for people who are genuinely engaged in copyright violation, and even less for those watching some of the movies listed in these filings, those are still well up from lawyers who rely on intimidation to get quick settlements for copyrights that they do not even own.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act needs serious reform -- serious enough that lawyers engaged in tactics like these (and Righthaven) should have to worry about jail time, not just fines.
Ignoring Your Constituents Has Consequences
From the September 11, 2013 New York Times:
COLORADO SPRINGS — Two Colorado Democrats who provided crucial support for a slate of tough new gun-control laws were voted out of office on Tuesday in a recall vote widely seen as a test of popular support for gun restrictions after mass shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school.
Selasa, 10 September 2013
Coming to Indiana Soon
Indiana Tech Law School (which apparently is America's newest law school) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is having a symposium about the Second Amendment and related issues on November 8. I will be one of the participants.
I will be flying out of Indianapolis (on the other side of the state) on Sunday afternoon, at least partly because I intend to visit Oxford, Indiana, from where my great-great-great-grandfather Samuel McIlvaine joined the Union Army in 1861. Indianapolis is about 90 miles south-east of Oxford.
Anyway, I will be crossing Indiana from Fort Wayne to Oxford on Saturday, and I can be in the Indianapolis area on Sunday in the morning and probably early afternoon, if someone wants me to come and speak to their event. I will probably have my wife along so that it is something of a vacation for us. (If someone picks up my airline ticket, then it is really a bargain vacation if I only to buy her ticket.)
I will be flying out of Indianapolis (on the other side of the state) on Sunday afternoon, at least partly because I intend to visit Oxford, Indiana, from where my great-great-great-grandfather Samuel McIlvaine joined the Union Army in 1861. Indianapolis is about 90 miles south-east of Oxford.
Anyway, I will be crossing Indiana from Fort Wayne to Oxford on Saturday, and I can be in the Indianapolis area on Sunday in the morning and probably early afternoon, if someone wants me to come and speak to their event. I will probably have my wife along so that it is something of a vacation for us. (If someone picks up my airline ticket, then it is really a bargain vacation if I only to buy her ticket.)
But Aisha (One of Mohammed's Wives) Was Nine
From September 8, 2013 GulfNews.com:
Bride, 8, dies of injuries on wedding night in YemenRawan dies hours after marrying a man more than five times her ageIt gets worse from there.
The WMDs in Iraq
From a Department of Defense press release:
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2006 – The 500 munitions discovered throughout Iraq since 2003 and discussed in a National Ground Intelligence Center report meet the criteria of weapons of mass destruction, the center's commander said here today.
"These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes ... they do constitute weapons of mass destruction," Army Col. John Chu told the House Armed Services Committee.
The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. It was signed in 1993 and entered into force in 1997.
The munitions found contain sarin and mustard gases, Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said. Sarin attacks the neurological system and is potentially lethal.
"Mustard is a blister agent (that) actually produces burning of any area (where) an individual may come in contact with the agent," he said. It also is potentially fatal if it gets into a person's lungs.
The munitions addressed in the report were produced in the 1980s, Maples said. Badly corroded, they could not currently be used as originally intended, Chu added.
While that's reassuring, the agent remaining in the weapons would be very valuable to terrorists and insurgents, Maples said. "We're talking chemical agents here that could be packaged in a different format and have a great effect," he said, referencing the sarin-gas attack on a Japanese subway in the mid-1990s.
This is true even considering any degradation of the chemical agents that may have occurred, Chu said. It's not known exactly how sarin breaks down, but no matter how degraded the agent is, it's still toxic.
"Regardless of (how much material in the weapon is actually chemical agent), any remaining agent is toxic," he said. "Anything above zero (percent agent) would prove to be toxic, and if you were exposed to it long enough, lethal."
Though about 500 chemical weapons - the exact number has not been released publicly - have been found, Maples said he doesn't believe Iraq is a "WMD-free zone."
"I do believe the former regime did a very poor job of accountability of munitions, and certainly did not document the destruction of munitions," he said. "The recovery program goes on, and I do not believe we have found all the weapons."
Senin, 09 September 2013
I Wonder Where Syria's Chemical Weapons Came From?
From the October 29, 2003 Chicago Tribune:
WASHINGTON — The director of a top U.S. spy agency said Tuesday that he believes that material from Iraq's illicit weapons program had been transported into Syria and perhaps other countries as part of an effort by the Iraqis to disperse and destroy evidence immediately before the recent war.
The official, James Clapper Jr., a retired lieutenant general, said satellite imagery showing a heavy flow of traffic from Iraq into Syria, just before the U.S. invasion in March, led him to believe that illicit weapons material "unquestionably" had been moved out of Iraq.
"I think people below the Saddam-Hussein-and-his-sons level saw what was coming and decided the best thing to do was to destroy and disperse," Clapper, who leads the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, said at a breakfast with reporters.
He said he was providing a personal assessment. But he said "the obvious conclusion one draws" was that there "may have been people leaving the scene, fleeing Iraq, and unquestionably, I am sure, material."UPDATE: A reader mentioned that Syria has had a chemical weapons program since the 1970s, as this web site indicates. It is all rather curious, however, that all this stuff went to Syria, and former Iraqi Vice-Air Marshal Georges Sada's claims.
You Have To Take a Very Long View of Bonds Like These
One of the theories of bond investing is that if you buy bonds and rising interest rates cause the market value of the bond to fall, well, you can always hold the bond, enjoy the semiannual interest payments, and wait for the bond to mature. But if the bond is one of these?
| Buy | AA+ | Aa2 | UNIVERSITY PA BONDS 91481CAA8 Make Whole Call | 4.674 | 09/01/2112 | 25 | 89.87500 | 5 | 28 | 5.204 | -- | No | $35.70 | $22,504.45 |
Yes, maturing 9/1/2112 -- or a bit less a century from now. If you buy those, your grandchildren may enjoy the receiving the full value of the bond. But by then, the currency may be the yuan, or tree bark chips, or the last surviving factory .22 LR ammo.
Well Worth Reading: A Paper Just Published in Climate
Abstract:The rise in global average temperature over the last century has halted since roughly the year 2000, despite the fact that the release of CO2 into the atmosphere is still increasing. It is suggested here that this interruption has been caused by the suspension of the near linear (+ 0.5 °C/100 years or 0.05 °C/10 years) temperature increase over the last two centuries, due to recovery from the Little Ice Age, by a superposed multi-decadal oscillation of a 0.2 °C amplitude and a 50~60 year period, which reached its positive peak in about the year 2000—a halting similar to those that occurred around 1880 and 1940. Because both the near linear change and the multi-decadal oscillation are likely to be natural changes (the recovery from the Little Ice Age (LIA) and an oscillation related to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), respectively), they must be carefully subtracted from temperature data before estimating the effects of CO2You can read the full paper here. The paper does not claim that there is no anthropogenic global warming, but it does make a case that failure to subtract the PDO creates an inaccurate contribution of carbon dioxide to the process, and this explains why there has been no warming since 2000, and perhaps even some cooling, in spite of carbon dioxide levels continuing to rise. Ditto for the global temperature declines after 1910 and 1970, in spite of continuing carbon dioxide level rises.
One again, another reason to see what Watts Up With That? is posting each day.
Minggu, 08 September 2013
You Can Have My Horse When You Pry It From My Cold, Dead Fingers
Early Thanksgiving Proclamation
From Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 2:26:
This is one of the earliest proclamations using the word Thanksgiving that I have seen. This is from the year 1665.
This is one of the earliest proclamations using the word Thanksgiving that I have seen. This is from the year 1665.
Sabtu, 07 September 2013
Windows Frustrations
I am still running Windows XP. I know that I am going to have upgrade to Windows 7 sometime next year.
A few months back, Corel VideoStudio X5 suddenly stopped working -- for no apparent reason -- with one of those obscure error messages that tells you nothing but, "I'm not working anymore!" Technical support at Corel lasts 90 days, and my 90 days were over, so I figured, "What the heck, I'll buy the upgrade to X6, and if there is still a problem, technical support will help me solve it."
Nope. X6 failed the same as X5, they had no idea why, and when I told them that I had successfully got X6 working on a much older (like 2003 vintage) laptop, the response of the technical support guy was, "It is only licensed for one computer. Your newer computer isn't capable of running it." Yet it ran X5 fine until one day -- splat. And apparently a number of other users of X5 and X6 have had the same experience -- suddenly it stopped working. My guess is that there is some other piece of software that was automatically downloaded, like Apple QuickTime, but no one seems to know who the guilty party is.
I was thinking of buying a blindingly fast quad core laptop, and just figure that on a completely fresh system, X6 would work, but that is beginning to look like $1000+ (at least with 16 GB of RAM) with Windows 7. If I had the distribution CD for XP, I would do a fresh install, but HP in its infinite wisdom, did not provide it, and I am sure that they would just laugh now.
Perhaps it makes more sense to buy the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for this PC. It is still a reasonably quick box with a 500 GB hard drive, and the upgrade is only $110 on Amazon. It will be something of a pain, because I will have to copy all my files over to my backup 1 TB external drive, but I've got 584 GB free there, which is way more than enough. Any suggestions? (No, Linux isn't quite practical -- I need to be able to run Office 2010 for compatibility with the College of Western Idaho.)
UPDATE: It turns out that the RECOVERY partition still exists on the old hard disk, which is now a USB drive. I wonder if I can successfully use this to recreate XP Pro on my current hard disk? The answer seems to be yes, but it is too late to do that this evening.
A few months back, Corel VideoStudio X5 suddenly stopped working -- for no apparent reason -- with one of those obscure error messages that tells you nothing but, "I'm not working anymore!" Technical support at Corel lasts 90 days, and my 90 days were over, so I figured, "What the heck, I'll buy the upgrade to X6, and if there is still a problem, technical support will help me solve it."
Nope. X6 failed the same as X5, they had no idea why, and when I told them that I had successfully got X6 working on a much older (like 2003 vintage) laptop, the response of the technical support guy was, "It is only licensed for one computer. Your newer computer isn't capable of running it." Yet it ran X5 fine until one day -- splat. And apparently a number of other users of X5 and X6 have had the same experience -- suddenly it stopped working. My guess is that there is some other piece of software that was automatically downloaded, like Apple QuickTime, but no one seems to know who the guilty party is.
I was thinking of buying a blindingly fast quad core laptop, and just figure that on a completely fresh system, X6 would work, but that is beginning to look like $1000+ (at least with 16 GB of RAM) with Windows 7. If I had the distribution CD for XP, I would do a fresh install, but HP in its infinite wisdom, did not provide it, and I am sure that they would just laugh now.
Perhaps it makes more sense to buy the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for this PC. It is still a reasonably quick box with a 500 GB hard drive, and the upgrade is only $110 on Amazon. It will be something of a pain, because I will have to copy all my files over to my backup 1 TB external drive, but I've got 584 GB free there, which is way more than enough. Any suggestions? (No, Linux isn't quite practical -- I need to be able to run Office 2010 for compatibility with the College of Western Idaho.)
UPDATE: It turns out that the RECOVERY partition still exists on the old hard disk, which is now a USB drive. I wonder if I can successfully use this to recreate XP Pro on my current hard disk? The answer seems to be yes, but it is too late to do that this evening.
Embarrassing Question: Applying a Transparent Yellow To A JPG or PDF
I actually found someone interested enough in having me research the history of gun regulation in early America to pay me. (Obviously, not any of the gun rights organizations.) The deliverables are supposed to be copies of the early laws with the text in question highlighted. To me, that means putting a light yellow rectangle over the text. But what application under Windows would you use for that? Microsoft Paint is only well suited to opaque rectangles (as near as I can tell). OpenOffice Draw does not seem to be very cooperative either. Ideally, this would be a solution that I can use to modify both JPGs and PDFs. Suggestions?
I can draw a rectangle around a section of text, but something that looks more like a yellow highlighter over the text would be preferable. And what's the solution for PDFs? Buy the latest version of Adobe Acrobat?
UPDATE: As usual, my very intelligent readers made a number of very useful comments. I am using the comment about getting OpenOffice Draw to do the job -- and it works great!
I can draw a rectangle around a section of text, but something that looks more like a yellow highlighter over the text would be preferable. And what's the solution for PDFs? Buy the latest version of Adobe Acrobat?
UPDATE: As usual, my very intelligent readers made a number of very useful comments. I am using the comment about getting OpenOffice Draw to do the job -- and it works great!
Soon, I Won't Be Able To Get Through Doorways Because of a Swollen Head
I have added a list of court cases that cite my work to my web site. If you become aware of any others, let me know.
U.S. Supreme Court
McDonald v. Chicago, 130 S.Ct. 3020 (2010) at 3043 and n. 21, 25 in Justice Alioto's majority opinion and at 3132 in Justice Breyer's dissent
D.C. v. Heller, 128 S.Ct. 2783 (2008) at 2795
Federal Appellate Courts
National Rifle Association, Inc. v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (5th Cir. 2013)at notes 6, 20, 22, 25.
Ezell v. City of Chicago, 651 F.3d 684 (7th Cir. 2011), at note 11.
U.S. v. Chester, 628 F.3d 673 (4th Cir. 2010)
U.S. v. Yancey, 621 F.3d 681 (7th Cir. 2010)
U.S. v. Skoien, 587 F.3d 803 (7th Cir. 2009)
Federal District Courts
U.S. Supreme Court
McDonald v. Chicago, 130 S.Ct. 3020 (2010) at 3043 and n. 21, 25 in Justice Alioto's majority opinion and at 3132 in Justice Breyer's dissent
D.C. v. Heller, 128 S.Ct. 2783 (2008) at 2795
Federal Appellate Courts
National Rifle Association, Inc. v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (5th Cir. 2013)at notes 6, 20, 22, 25.
Ezell v. City of Chicago, 651 F.3d 684 (7th Cir. 2011), at note 11.
U.S. v. Chester, 628 F.3d 673 (4th Cir. 2010)
U.S. v. Yancey, 621 F.3d 681 (7th Cir. 2010)
U.S. v. Skoien, 587 F.3d 803 (7th Cir. 2009)
Federal District Courts
You Can't Compromise With A Fanatic
Juicy Ecumenism, the Institute on Religion & Democracy's blog, tells a story that first appeared in the September 3, 2013 Telegraph:
But not to worry, a troublemaker like Rev. Gebaur who were trying to fill in the forms right has been overruled in a fit of Humpty-Dumptyism:
Others within the Greek Orthodox Church disagreed, and considered this a form of idolatry. Those who believed that the icons should be destroyed to discourage this idolatry were iconoclasts -- "icon breakers" -- from which comes our word iconoclast.
As Muslim armies started to overrun parts of the Byzantine Empire, iconoclasts became increasingly insistent that the worship of icons within the Greek Orthodox Church was part of the reason that the Muslims were winning. This was not the actual cause; it was that the Sasanid Empire and the Byzantine Empire had exhausted each other in war, and neither was strong enough to resist the Islamic armies marching out of Arabia. The Sasanids fell immediately; the Byzantine Empire took centuries to collapse.
I do find myself wondering if in another fifty years, as Islam slowly takes over what used to be the West, if a similar argument is going to be persuasive: that by abandoning Christianity's core values on what constitutes sin (of which homosexuality is only one small part, and no worse than the others), we made the Muslim success inevitable.
Several weeks ago, a lesbian couple in Gosport, England, took their son to St. Mary’s Anglican Church to be baptized. The retired Rev. Gebaur was officiating services while the parish looked for a new priest and expressed a willingness to perform the baptism. All seemed well until the Rev. asked the couple who “the mother” was for the purposes of the baptism certificate.As Juicy Ecumenism points out, Rev. Gebaur was not making an issue about this being a lesbian couple, he just needed to fill in the forms correctly. As much as infant baptism makes me wants to screech, "Popery! Popery!" (well, not really, but watching too much Monty Python causes strange reactions), if you consider infant baptism necessary for the salvation of the soul of the child, then that is going to definitely take precedence over whatever the sins of the parents are. But the "parents" insisted that both of them are the mother -- a biological impossibility.
The couple responded that they both wished to be listed as the mother. The Rev., obviously not an enlightened modern, pointed out that this was a biological impossibility, and suggested that for purposes of the certificate the natural mother be listed under the line reserved for “the mother.” The couple apparently could not stomach being confronted with this truth, and later reported that they were appalled and stormed out.
But not to worry, a troublemaker like Rev. Gebaur who were trying to fill in the forms right has been overruled in a fit of Humpty-Dumptyism:
However, Ven Gavin Collins, Archdeacon of the Meon, said today he was happy for the christening to go ahead as planned - with both named as the mother.Muslims were at the beginning quite insistent that no living thing could be represented in art; this was part of their fierce hostility towards idol worship. Within the Greek Orthodox Church, there was a bit of a struggle as to whether the worship of icons was a problem. Certain pieces of religious art at some churches were being given a reverence suggesting that praying to these particular icons would be more efficacious than simply praying to God, no matter where you were.
He said: “Having spoken to Aimi Leggett today, I’m pleased to report that the baptism of Alfie will go ahead on the date planned at St Mary’s Church, Warsash.
“We have addressed the legal issue. As I understand it, her partner Victoria has full legal co-parental responsibility for Alfie. We can therefore enter their details onto the baptism register as ‘mother’ and ‘mother’, as they would like.
“I’m pleased that this issue has been resolved, and we look forward to welcoming Aimi, Victoria, Alfie and their friends and family. I’m sure it will be a great occasion as we welcome him into the Christian family.”
Others within the Greek Orthodox Church disagreed, and considered this a form of idolatry. Those who believed that the icons should be destroyed to discourage this idolatry were iconoclasts -- "icon breakers" -- from which comes our word iconoclast.
As Muslim armies started to overrun parts of the Byzantine Empire, iconoclasts became increasingly insistent that the worship of icons within the Greek Orthodox Church was part of the reason that the Muslims were winning. This was not the actual cause; it was that the Sasanid Empire and the Byzantine Empire had exhausted each other in war, and neither was strong enough to resist the Islamic armies marching out of Arabia. The Sasanids fell immediately; the Byzantine Empire took centuries to collapse.
I do find myself wondering if in another fifty years, as Islam slowly takes over what used to be the West, if a similar argument is going to be persuasive: that by abandoning Christianity's core values on what constitutes sin (of which homosexuality is only one small part, and no worse than the others), we made the Muslim success inevitable.
Jumat, 06 September 2013
Did I Miss Something Here?
There are stories that I see referenced on blogs, like Ace of Spades HQ and I have to click through to see the original news accounts because I find the blogger's version so unbelievable. A family is informed by police that their son was molested by a teacher -- and the proof of it was that someone emailed pictures of the crime to the school board, the superintendent, and posted them on a porn site.
That's bad. It gets worse. When the teacher who molested this kid -- and thoughtfully provided photographic evidence of his crime -- was convicted, who argued for leniency?
Oh yes: someone set a fire in the garage of the parents with graffiti threatening them. What sort of sick monsters feel it is appropriate to protect a monster like this?
UPDATE: The school district declined to fire the teachers who showed up to ask for a light sentence for their child molesting colleague. However, they did agree to send all the teachers to ethics training, and accommodate requests from parents who did not want their kids in the classrooms of these teachers. The local Lutheran Church is denying that they posted bail for Erickson.
That's bad. It gets worse. When the teacher who molested this kid -- and thoughtfully provided photographic evidence of his crime -- was convicted, who argued for leniency?
That’s when they learned for the first time that numerous teachers in the school district wrote to the court to plead for a lenient sentence for their colleague. They were shocked to see several teachers – and school board member Mike Eagan – sitting across the courtroom with the sex offender’s family.
“Neal made a mistake,” teacher Sally Campbell wrote to the judge, according to the Ogemaw County Herald. “He allowed a mutual friendship to develop into much more. He realized his mistake and ended it years before someone anonymously sent something in to the authorities which began this legal process.”
“I am asking that Neal be given the absolute minimum sentence, considering all the circumstances surrounding this case,” wrote Amy Huber Eagan, a teacher and wife of board member Mike Eagan. “I am also hoping that he can stay remanded to the custody of the Ogemaw County Jail and not be sent to a prison facility.”Fortunately, the judge had more sense than the teachers, and sentenced Erickson to 15-30 years in prison. This guy must be a real charmer. Or is this just the teachers' union sticking up for another dues-paying member?
Oh yes: someone set a fire in the garage of the parents with graffiti threatening them. What sort of sick monsters feel it is appropriate to protect a monster like this?
UPDATE: The school district declined to fire the teachers who showed up to ask for a light sentence for their child molesting colleague. However, they did agree to send all the teachers to ethics training, and accommodate requests from parents who did not want their kids in the classrooms of these teachers. The local Lutheran Church is denying that they posted bail for Erickson.
Instead, the entire staff of the district will undergo ethics training. The board will also attempt to accommodate requests from parents who do not want their children in the teachers’ classrooms. - See more at: http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=23712#sthash.5pnVHEnA.dpuf
Instead, the entire staff of the district will undergo ethics training. The board will also attempt to accommodate requests from parents who do not want their children in the teachers’ classrooms. - See more at: http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=23712#sthash.5pnVHEnA.dpuf
Instead, the entire staff of the district will undergo ethics training. The board will also attempt to accommodate requests from parents who do not want their children in the teachers’ classrooms. - See more at: http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=23712#sthash.5pnVHEnA.dpuf
Why I Think Discouraging Alcohol Consumption Among College Students Might Be A Good Idea
The Blaze has the mugshot of a college girl who attempted to run down the field at a college football game. At arrest, she had a .341% blood alcohol level -- or more than four times the legal DUI limit. The mugshot, as tragic as it is (tattoos, of course), is nothing compared to the picture of the squeaky clean policeman apparently trying to make sure that she stays vertical.
Adding to the general depravity of it all, she tweeted afterwards:
Prohibition was a disaster. But the fact is that lots of college kids are doing stuff this stupid and potentially life-threatening every night in this country -- and that's also a disaster.
Adding to the general depravity of it all, she tweeted afterwards:
“Blew a .341 in jail,” she added, saying “I’m going to get .341 tattooed on me because its so epic.”I love the comments over there, most of the form, "Her parents must be so proud." You have to wonder how much student loan debt she ran up to pay for the tattoos and the alcohol. She's a good argument against any sort of general relief from student loan debt. I'm sure that she isn't the average -- but I fear that she isn't completely unique, either.
Prohibition was a disaster. But the fact is that lots of college kids are doing stuff this stupid and potentially life-threatening every night in this country -- and that's also a disaster.
Today's First Cardiac Rehab Session
Either they are being really cautious, or they don't know how to handle a case like mine, I'm not sure which. They know that I have been doing 30-35 minutes a day on the treadmill -- so today they put on the EKG monitors, and had me do five minutes on the recumbent stationary bike, then five minutes on the stepper (without the arm part, because the stitches are still healing internally), then another five minutes on the recumbent stationary bike. What a shock! All my rhythms look good; my blood pressure a few minutes after the last exercise had dropped to 130/82.
Tonight, I did fifty minutes on the treadmill, much of it at 3.5 mph -- and I felt great at 3.5 mph. In fact, the last couple of days I have found myself going up to 3.5 mph because I feel better at that speed than at 3.2 mph.
Tonight, I did fifty minutes on the treadmill, much of it at 3.5 mph -- and I felt great at 3.5 mph. In fact, the last couple of days I have found myself going up to 3.5 mph because I feel better at that speed than at 3.2 mph.
Approaching Time To Pull The Trigger?
Bond yields are getting to the point where I might be able to retire from my day job, and work on stuff that really matters. There are lots of A- and better corporate bonds with yields above 6%. Another fifteen months, and I get to collect a small state pension.
In some ideal world, there would be an organization prepared to pay me $1 a year and put me on their health insurance to work on the sort of legal research that I am really good at doing. But $1 a year and health insurance is apparently more than I am worth to the gun rights organizations.
In some ideal world, there would be an organization prepared to pay me $1 a year and put me on their health insurance to work on the sort of legal research that I am really good at doing. But $1 a year and health insurance is apparently more than I am worth to the gun rights organizations.
Barbarism
The September 5, 2013 Daily Caller carries a report of threats of what will be done if Obama attacks Syria:
And in an unprecedented statement, a former Iranian official has warned of mass abductions and brutal killings of American citizens around the world and the rape and killing of one of Obama’s daughters should the United States attack Syria.
Alireza Forghani, the former governor of southern Iran’s Kish Province, threw down the gauntlet last week. Forghani is an analyst and strategy specialist in the supreme leader’s camp and closely aligned with Mehdi Taeb, who heads the regime’s Ammar Strategic Base, a radical think thank, and thus speaks with the blessing of the Islamic regime.
“Hopefully Obama will be pigheaded enough to attack Syria, and then we will see the … loss of U.S. interests [through terrorist attacks],” he threatened. “In just 21 hours [after the attack on Syria], a family member of every U.S. minister [department secretary], U.S. ambassadors, U.S. military commanders around the world will be abducted. And then 18 hours later, videos of their amputation will be spread [around the world].”
A similar act was committed in a video of the torture of William Buckley, a CIA station chief who was abducted in Beirut in 1984 and later killed by Hezbollah on Iran’s order. That video was dropped off at the U.S. Embassy in Athens. Former CIA Director William Casey later described what he saw in the video: “They had done more than ruin his body. His eyes made it clear his mind had been played with. It was horrific, medieval and barbarous.”This should not be a surprise. The Koran approves of sex with female slaves (non-believers taken in battle) [Sura 23:6]. This is the reason that al-Qaeda and its affiliates have repeatedly engaged in rape, at Beslan, in East Timor, and elsewhere. Do not read this threat as bizarre or non-Islamic. It is squarely in the mainstream of Islam. Muslims who want to believe otherwise are good and decent people who have let civilized values and good consciences take precedence over the Koran's clear teachings.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/05/iran-threatens-brutal-attacks-on-americans-obama-family-if-us-hits-syria/#ixzz2e8aijwa7
There are many arguments against Obama's plan for Syria:
1. Syria is no direct threat to the United States at this time, and does not have a long history of directly threatening or attacking us.
2. Syria is no direct threat to our allies at this time.
3. An attack, at least an attack that we are likely to perform, is unlikely to impair Syria's ability to continue violating the Chemical Weapons Convention, nor will it make much difference in reducing these crimes against civilians or rebels.
4. If our attack changes the balance of power in the Syrian civil war, it is likely to be putting a bunch dominated by al-Qaeda and at least Islamist rebels in charge of Syria.
5. It is not clear that Obama and those around him have either the wits or the courage to follow such attacks through to a successful conclusion.
There are strong arguments for cutting off the head of the snake: Iran. But that requires more guts and wits than Obama or the American people have. It will probably take nuclear weapons going off in American cities before we finally are prepared to face reality on this.
Kamis, 05 September 2013
Another Depressing Reminder That Good Guys in Syria Are Hard To Find
This September 5, 2013 New York Times article discusses how brutal many of those trying to overthrow Assad are:
The prisoners, seven in all, were captured Syrian soldiers. Five were trussed, their backs marked with red welts. They kept their faces pressed to the dirt as the rebels’ commander recited a bitter revolutionary verse.
“For fifty years, they are companions to corruption,” he said. “We swear to the Lord of the Throne, that this is our oath: We will take revenge.”
The moment the poem ended, the commander, known as “the Uncle,” fired a bullet into the back of the first prisoner’s head. His gunmen followed suit, promptly killing all the men at their feet.
This scene, documented in a video smuggled out of Syria a few days ago by a former rebel who grew disgusted by the killings, offers a dark insight into how many rebels have adopted some of the same brutal and ruthless tactics as the regime they are trying to overthrow.The article goes on to discuss the question of how many of the rebels are connected to al-Qaeda, and how many are "moderates." But even secular forces, such as this charming bunch, seem to be pretty brutal.
One of the comments on the article pointed out that Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt have all been at least in part the result of U.S. intervention to promote Arab democracy in the last couple of years. The results of this supposed "smart diplomacy" argue for leaving well enough alone.
There are those who argue that "Muslim democracy" is pretty much a hopeless task. I am not convinced that it is impossible, but Obama's crowd is making Bush's efforts in Iraq look pretty sad.
Empty Shell Casing: $1,000 Fine, One Year In Jail
No, not in North Korea or Jamaica, but Washington, DC:
Washington police are operating under orders to arrest tourists and other non-residents traveling with spent bullet or shotgun casings, a crime that carries a $1,000 fine, a year in jail and a criminal record, according to a new book about the city's confusing gun laws.
"Empty shell casings are considered ammunition in Washington, D.C., so they are illegal to possess unless you are a resident and have a gun registration certificate," pens Emily Miller in her investigative book, "Emily Gets Her Gun: ... But Obama Wants to Take Yours."
Under the law, live or empty brass and plastic casings must be carried in a special container and unavailable to drivers. Having one, for example, in a cup holder or ash tray is illegal.Yes, an empty shell casing is so dangerous! Why, you might be driving down the street, pull out your reloading equipment, prime it, load the powder, squeeze the bullet in, and be ready...to do what? Throw it at someone?
Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned recounts the story of what happened when the maintenance guy somewhere he used to work found an empty 9mm casing, and caused an astonishing overreaction. I keep waiting for evidence that someone in Washington DC has a working brain.
At Least The Bakery Owner Doesn't Have To Go To A Re-Education Camp
Tragic quote from a September 9, 2013 Weekly Standard article about the increasing use of antidiscrimination laws by gay activists to force businesses to cater to them:
UPDATE: The gay activists were successful; the business has closed.
State governments also have a lot of tools at their disposal to fine and otherwise make life difficult for businesses, and they’re not shy about using them. In response to the investigation of the bakery in Gresham, Oregon, labor commissioner Brad Avakian told the Oregonian, “The goal is never to shut down a business. The goal is to rehabilitate.”California's law prohibiting licensed therapists from performing any efforts “to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex” on minors seems to be an attempt to prohibit "rehabilitation." Or perhaps it is just a reminder that the difference between rehabilitation and oppression is who is in charge.
UPDATE: The gay activists were successful; the business has closed.
George Zimmerman is Caught...Speeding!
The September 5, 2013 USA Today reports that George Zimmerman has been ticketed for speeding:
Zimmerman was pulled over Tuesday morning in Lake Mary, Fla. and issued a $256 ticket for going 60 mph in a 45-mph zone.What next? Are we going to get news reports of Zimmerman getting ticketed for an overdue parking meter violation?
Rabu, 04 September 2013
Ohio Kidnapper Commits Suicide
From September 4, 2013 USA Today:
Ariel Castro, who was sentenced to life in prison last month for abducting and sexually abusing three young women in his Cleveland home, hanged himself in his cell Tuesday night, according to preliminary results of an autopsy performed early Wednesday.The guy was a monster, but for some reason, I can't feel any glee or joy about this.
Selasa, 03 September 2013
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