My first thought, don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. Palin resigns as governor, leaves plans secret
Still, I wonder why. I mean, if she wants to run for President, quitting in the middle of her biggest job because she could not stand the heat doesn’t look good. Well, it doesn’t look good to me. At Redstate.org, she is just moving on to get ready. No one asks will she just quit in the middle of a Presidency if she should win in 2012? Over at Free Republic they have that same kind of adulation.
Is there a big old scandal coming down the pipes? I she resigning because she is facing a criminal indictment? Is she just a wimp. This is a story to be watched.
T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. (There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch) was coined by Robert Heinlein in his 1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The phrase passed from fiction to fandom to physics to economics and even Libertarians. The concepts origin goes back to the 30’s and 40’s when bars would advertise a “Free Lunch” but you had to by drinks, and the lunch was added to the drinks. Heinlein’s lunar colonists used to describe a concept as essential to economics as it is to physics. Nothing in the universe is free. There are costs in everything, and more often than not, they are hidden. It comes about as close to describing the Libertarian idea of a man’s relation to government as it is possible to get. T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. reveals that any government benefit comes only at a cost of freedom. Balancing the two, even in the ideal government, is difficult on a short term and impossible in the long term.
That is something that we all should think about in these times, even if like me you are not a Libertarian. What do we get from anything, be it a pet, a shiny new car, a functioning economy, or a shiny new government benefit? What will it cost us, in the short term and long term? Does the cost outweigh the benefits?
T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L., the concept, is something we should all think about as we read through the news. Every one of history’s acts is the product of T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. Somebody, probably you and me, are paying for it. We will not know the cost until long after the last bill comes due. But just because something is expensive and loaded with hidden costs, to our wallet or even some freedom, doesn’t me we should not buy it. It just means we should be aware of what we are buying.
I’m not feeling newsy today, nor opinionated (at least anymore opinionated that usual). but I am in blogging frame of mind. Today, I’ll choose a scatergun technique.
Cool gray Mist / Blankets Van Dam Peak / Cries Dew on Leaf / Draws tear trails down glass / Morning - M. Frank Darbe 5.29.2009
Occassionally, I do listen to music in other languages. My wife, Eva, introduced me to this, and I am thinking of her…
This was sent by Kathy… OK, Just a little opinion…
I grew up with the space race, with astronauts. In my Grandpa’s house, I sat on a small red stool (really just a foot stool) nearest the television. Through clouds of fragrant, swirling, Prince Alber tobaco smoke I wathed Armstrong, Aldrin, and others go up as Spam in a Can and visit a swirling chunk of rock that lovers kiss under on warm summer nights. The shuttle is going away and because our government went on a Capitalist Bender that did not recognize how important space is, the Shuttle is closing up shop and we are hiring the Russian Taxi Drivers to get us where we need to go.
MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian space agency says it has signed a $306 million deal with NASA to ferry its astronauts to the international space station in 2012.
Roscosmos said Friday the agreement covers four launches aboard the three-person Soyuz capsules to swap out crews in the orbiting laboratory.
NASA said Russia would supply comprehensive support for six NASA crew members taking part in long-duration missions.
Considering a Movement of Non-Violent Non-Compliance to End the War in Iraq/Afghanistan, Divest the United States of Empire, return power to the hands of the people, and Bring Peace and Stability to the U.S.A.
Liberals are in disarray after their willing seduction and abandonment by the Pragmatists of the Centrist Branch of the Democratic Party led by President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine and other “Leaders” of the National Democratic Party. Many people searching in the blogosphere and living in the atmosphere will find that statement ludicrous. A party in disarray should be on the run from their enemies. The Democratic Party in is not in shambles, but the grass roots of one of its constituencies, that being the liberal left, finds itself half in the wilderness and half linked by an umbilicus of belief to a party that uses them for elections and forgets in the pragmatics of governing.
The Liberal Left that came out in force for Barack Obama, seeing him as the man of the hour who would carry the standard of peace for a desperate world, now find him a disinterested peacemaker. Obama has declared an end to the adventure in Iraq while charging willfully into the wilderness of Afghanistan. The war does not end, it only moves to a different location. Obama has not ended the Don’t Ask Don’t’Tell policy designed to enforce societal concepts that gays and lesbians as lesser human beings. He has resisted holding the Bush Administration responsible for violations of law and even protected them by reneging on the promise to release torture photographs. In his acceptance of the CIA’s just following orders defense used at the Nuremberg trials he has become an accessory after the fact to torture, and complicit in torture. All of these actions are abominable by the left.
News happens every day whether we want it or not. It’s been a while since I rounded up the information dogies. So without further ado about nothing…
The first story that caught my eye was this bit of reasearch into Autism. There has been a tendancy to blame autism on childhood inoculations. Parents have gone so far as to opt out of these for fear that their child will go autistic. Finding a genetic cause does not support the drug cause theory, but may open science to treatement.
A Genetic Clue to Why Autism Affects Boys More
Among the many mysteries that befuddle autism researchers: why the disorder affects boys four times more often than girls. But in new findings reported online today by the journal Molecular Psychiatry, researchers say they have found a genetic clue that may help explain the disparity.
The newly discovered autism-risk gene, identified by authors as CACNA1G, is more common in boys than in girls (why that’s so is still not clear), and the authors suggest it plays a role in boys’ increased risk of the developmental disorder. CACNA1G, which sits on chromosome 17, amid other genes that have been previously linked to autism, is responsible for regulating the flow of calcium into and out of cells. Nerve cells in the brain rely on calcium to become activated, and research suggests that imbalances in the mineral can result in the overstimulation of neural connections and create developmental problems, such as autism and even epilepsy, which is also a common feature of autism.
News on the nomination of a New Justice to the Supreme Court…
I am curious about the process that other writers use? I used to write as the bug bit me. Now, I have set up a regular schedule, like work actually that makes me more productive as a writer.
I write every weekday morning after dropping my kids off at school, writing a 1666 words a day on a new project. It usually takes me a max of an hour and a half. Saturday’s and Sundays I set aside time every day to edit existing work. I know, editing is writing, but it uses different talents. I read through 2500 to 5000 words in an editing session, every day. (Note, at this time I am unemployed and finishing my degree in English literature. While working as a technical write, I only managed 1000 words a day and about 2000 edited words.
It appears that the defection of Arlen Specter continues to send waves. I think the Club for Growth is the symptom of the problem. Republican conservatives have championed ideological purity and Americans have turned their back, at least temporarily, on that message. But they are only the fiscal side, another big segment of the Republican Conservative Coalition is the religious right with their own litmus test of Christianity. This may have worked well when Americans were focused and frightened of an outside threat. But Republicans, always happy to claim 9/11 changed everything, did not notice that the Great Recession, brought about by their own fiscal policies, has changed everything.
Republicans feud over Specter
Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and George Voinovich blamed the Club for Growth for imposing a right-wing litmus test that chased Arlen Specter out of the Republican Party. The Club for Growth blamed Specter — first for helping to ruin the GOP and then for leaving it. A leading Republican strategist blamed the party for turning its back on moderates. Sen. Lindsey Graham sniped at Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Specter’s pollster blamed the stimulus bill. Karl Rove blamed Specter himself.
And the National Republican Senatorial Committee set about trying to taint Specter among Pennsylvania Democrats by reminding them that he was once aligned with Republican President George W. Bush.
In the nasty game of Who Lost Specter, only Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell seemed to go unscathed — although his pain will come as he tries to lead a caucus that is likely to be too small to stand in the way of anything the Democrats want to do.
The majority of Americans are no longer concerned with the theoretical threat of Al Qaida or Muslim Barbarians at the Gates. They are concerned with existential threat of loosing their homes, their livelihoods, and their money backed way of life. The borrow and spend, deregulate now policies of Republicans failed. Reaganomics failed. The collapse of the economy has changed everything and they are not ready for it.
A second change Republicans were not ready for was Obama. Obama, himself is just a symptom of deep changes in the American electorate. The young are rising to assert their power and they voted for Obama. In a huge majority they oppose the demonetization of gays and the strict Christian religious experience. Hispanics are rising to assert their power, and Republican fear tactics attacking illegal aliens alienated Hispanics.
Finally, Republicans have not come to grips with the historic flip that occurred in 2006. They don’t understand why they lost or why their message no longer resonates. Rather than try find a message that works they have attempted to purify themselves. That is what the Whigs did, and few people in the US of A even remember the Whigs.
So much has happened, politically. Obama became President, he had a good 100 days, Arlen Specter changed parties. Republicans look at it all and are making predictions.
Inhofe believes that Specter’s change of party is part of an act of purifications. Once the party is pure enough, the American people will bow down and worship at the Republican alter once again.
Well, I find this idea fascinating. The Republican Party, by shedding its moderate members and voters in droves, is somehow going to find their way back into the good graces of the people. They seem to believe that Bush and the Rove’s Permanent Republican Majority weren’t really Conservatives, though they claimed to be and those still in the public eyes still say their are “Conservative.”
So, for what it’s worth, I’m going to watch this. Stand by. Lets see if 2010 returns Republican’s to power, or if the continue suffering shrinkage.
Now I twitter, but I have a secret shame, I don’t text. I’ve resisted adding my cell phone to twitter, for two reasons. The first, with the current bad Juju economy spending extra money for text messages is an unnecessary expense. The other reason is that I’ve lost my blinking phone. It is here somewhere in all my chaos, but I don’t know just where.
Watching the stock market for good news. Yes, I probably need something better to do with my time. But today, the markets have flirted with and even penetrated 8000. Yes, that was a gratuitous bit of sexual innuendo, but what do you expect with all that stimulation. Trillions poured into the world economies, massive amounts of debt created by desperate governments, and I am sitting on the edge of my seat hoping that the end to this downturn is here.
The saga of the Sacramento tent city continues. Today, our governator opened up the state Fairground known as Cal-Expo for temporary use of the homeless. The real problem is that this is not more than a band-aide fix that gets people out of sight for three months but does not solve the economic problem. Even if Obama’s policies have fixed the world economy, three months will not be enough to take everything back to where it was before Reaganomics decapitated the Capitalist economy.
An end to the suicidal experiment of Reaganonimcs, one can only hope. Laissez-faire capitalism is like a red tide, it is so successful that it inevitably poisons itself and everything else with its own crap. Of course conservative Republicans will continue to cling to the idea of “deregulation” like an addict clings to heroin. But it is a failed idea and if Capitalism is to survive it must be regulated.
Considering a Movement of Non-Violent Non-Compliance to End the War in Iraq/Afghanistan, Divest the United States of Empire, return power to the hands of the people, and Bring Peace and Stability to the U.S.A.