A Dixie Carpetbagger

…is ridiculous.  Now, there are a lot of things I could comment on here– encroachment of government, the surreality of being fined for one bottle, the irony of a guy who recycles so much being fined while on vacation…  but I’m just going to say that this reminds me of something:

“This stresses the importance of compliance, and not littering.” No shit, Sherlock…

Is it wrong that the first thing I thought of while reading this story was a post-apocalyptic game set in a dystopian future which is controlled by a nanny-state government led by slug-like aliens?

All of the science fiction authors of the past looked forward and saw a rosy future– man expanding to the Moon, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, the Outer Planets… then outward still.  (“Out ride the sons of Terra / Far drives the thundering jet, / Up leaps a race of Earthmen, / Out, far, and onward yet —”)

Instead, we’re perpetually “a decade” from the Moon.  Returning to the Moon, not going there in the first place!  Our second Space Station is behind schedule– and when we do finish it, it’ll be a mere five years from the scrapheap!  (Next year, the last Shuttle lifts the last component, and retirement is looking like a 2016 timeframe.)  By the Nine Divines, we were supposed to have spinning wheels in orbit that would make von Braun envious from beyond the grave!

Instead, we have a billion-dollar showcar that’s cross-dressing as a truck, kills a high percentage of its passengers, and can’t live up to any of its original performance specs– turnaround time, cost per pound to orbit, man-hours of maintenance per flight…

Instead, the last NASA Director who knew his rectum from a mine shaft lies in a hospital because he was flying in an aircraft as old as he was.  Where’s “No Sparrow Shall Fall” when you need it?

Instead, our space agency has been told that their new focus is outreach to the Islamic world.

Help us private industry, you’re our only hope…

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Jesus’ Golden Rule inspired him…

Well, that’s good…

… to vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court…

Lindsey…

I just finished one of Heinlein’s essays (the last one in the Expanded Universe), where he projects the 1980 deficit.  He then marvels at how our government at our government would be half a trillion in debt, and points out the staggering amount that is a trillion.  He uses the fact that the Earth’s pole star will change from Polaris to Alrai to Alvahat to Vega and back to Polaris in the time it takes you to count to a trillion– if you count up by one every second of every day… for a little less than 32,000 years.  (31,709, to be exact.)

Be glad Bob was cremated– Southern California probably couldn’t stand the vibrations if he wasn’t… because he’d be SPINNING IN HIS GRAVE.  Right now, we’re over $13,000,000,000,000 (thirteen trillion) in debt and climbing.  That means every citizen (not just the taxpayers) owes over $42,000 in debt.

And you wonder why our economy is bad?  Hell, not even “bad” anymore– unbelievable, in every aspect– the debt, our unemployment… heck, even the statistics are bad.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Two hundred and thirty-four years ago today, our nation came into being.  (Okay, if you’re picky, the resolution of independence was approved July 2nd, 1776– so it was 234 years Friday.)  A group of men– some almost destitute, some very wealthy, some young, some old– came together and forged a nation that ruled not by the whims of a monarch or by an elite cadre, but by the consent of the governed.

God bless this nation, and may the governed therein understand these words.

Eggs will no longer be sold by quantity in the EU– they’ll be sold by weight.  An official was quoted as saying “[t]his proposal would disallow selling by numbers. Retailers would not be allowed to put ‘Six eggs’ on the front of the box. If it was a bag of rolls, it would say ’500g’ instead of six rolls.”  So… the box will be square?  No bumps for the eggs to sit in?  Because otherwise, you’ll be able to tell from the package how many eggs are inside the container.

(H/T Dr. Lott)

The decision may have come down by now.  I can only hope– and pray– that it’ll be favorable.

Massad Ayoob has links to a group of podcasts and interviews (including John Stossel’s show from this week) concerning the case.

Joe Huffman quotes justice Scalia from the Heller decision.  To paraphrase:

We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country, and we take seriously the concerns raised by the many amici who believe that prohibition of handgun ownership is a solution. The Constitution leaves [them] a variety of tools for combating that problem, including some measures regulating handguns… [...] But the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table. These include the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home. [...] it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.

Maybe we can take one more step towards true freedom today.

The following is a timeline of the controversy over the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember Ms. “But Arizona doesn’t have a border with Mexico!” I mentioned in the last post?  I found out via a commenter at Wyatt’s that Senator Kyl sent her a letter.  He included a map.  I can only imagine that said map looked like this:

A 28 year old woman is running for state rep in Tennessee.  She… she posed for racy pictures!  When she was 23!  TWENTY-THREE!  I hate to show you such… filth… but here’s one of the pictures she posed for.  Scandalous!

No, not really.  I have a few female friends who model, and that picture is tame.  As in, that went in the lobby.  One of my friends has a picture where she was modeling a black strapless dress and had a… wardrobe malfunction.  The picture was used (in a cropped form) in a few ad campaigns.  Heck, that picture’s tame compared to some of the pictures my friends take at the lake.

I find it more scandalous that she was pregnant at 15.  Since the picture’s a 0.5 on the Scandal-meter, the fact that she’s 28 with a 13 year old measures a whopping 1.0.  Seriously, Teddy Kennedy kills a chick, Bill Clinton gets hummers in the Oval Office, and Blago tried to sell a Senate seat… and this is supposed to be scandalous?  Pshaw!

All I wanna know is… if she wins, will she do a Maxim shoot?  (chuckle)

(H/T Uncle)