Report From the Road

Well, we departed Hills Creek State Park bright and early on Friday ahead of what seems to have been some hellacious T-storms and high winds in the Northern and Southern Tiers. We did run into some heavy rains along I-80 in western PA but nothing too unusual.

Our first stop was in the Toledo, Ohio area and our next was in Kellogg Iowa. Our third (tonight's) was in Ogallala, Nebraska. We've made some good time and have had the benefit of crossing two time zone lines and gaining those hours on consecutive days. This has allowed us to go just a wee bit further than planned each of the last two days. As a result, Monday's travels will be a tad shorter than anticipated. We still plan on stopping in the Rock Springs/Green River area of Wyoming.

The Tundra is behaving admirably under the strain of towing the Vibe. However, it's getting only around 8 mpg which necessitates our stopping every 160 miles or so to get fuel. And the gas prices.... They were pretty damn high in Indiana and Illinois. And let us not mention the tolls in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The tolls in Ohio were higher than our campground fee. And the toll booths in Indiana are not manned. The result of that is a sizable delay if someone can't follow the directions on the board or has trouble swiping their credit card. (Like the trucker ahead of us.) How they work if you're paying cash, I haven't a clue.

The trailer is doing well also. Although there were a few instances where a screw wasn't tightened sufficiently and eventually came out (the shower door and where the drain pipe from the sink separated because it too wasn't tightened properly). Cushions and draws under the couch and bench seats seem to slide out with some of the rough roads and boxes in the pantry will have to be battened down a bit better, but other wise all systems (hot and cold water, electric, stove top, AC, etc.) are go. Oh, except for the grey water tank sensors. They don't seem to be registering a thing even after several instances of washing dishes, faces and hands. They should be reading something. Maybe after we both take showers tomorrow. The black water tank is reading 2/3 full so it's time to think about dumping that and what ever is in the grey tank. After all, we have some extra time I hadn't planned for.

I mentioned the exorbitant tolls.... Perhaps Illinois should use some of that money to repaint their rest area signs. Have of those blue signs are missing letters  or just plain look like crap. Maybe they could get one of their former governors to do something about them while they serve time.

And Nebraska should do something about the parking at most of its I-80 rest areas. Semi trucks and RVs must parallel park in about six or seven spots along the side of the entrance roads. We drove through two of them without stopping because there was no way. Both times we were following a tractor trailer whose driver came to the same conclusion. Only once, as we approached North Platte, did I see a rest area with a large enough truck/trailer parking area where vehicles could pull through and park on a diagonal.

The rains in western Nebraska must have been quite heavy last week The Platte River, noted for being a mile wide and an inch deep, was way over its normal channel flooding many corn field and pasture. The cows seem to like their new swimming holes, however.

Well, that's about all for now. I'll write when I'm able, bit you can also follow my scriblings on Facebook--which is a wee bit more iPhone friendly.

Pet Peeve/Rant...or Two

I find it frustrating that when you comment on a Facebook post that needs to be corrected because it is soooo wrong, that all you see on your timeline (and presumably all your friends see) is that you commented on that ill-written, stupid post and NOT what you said about it. To see what you said, your friends would have to click on the post and scroll down to find your comment.

I commented on a post about Bill Nye appearing on The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell

What I said was that Bill Nye (The Science Guy) is dead wrong to assume there is a consensus among the scientific community on AGW/Climate Change.

Yes, the climate is changing. It always has and always will.

Has CO2 been proven to be the cause of global warming? Not yet. CO2 levels have been going up. Global temperature has been level for the last 15-17 years. And the scientific computer models Nye loves so much didn't predict that plateau nor can they explain it.

Why have those pushing huge changes in our life style only targeted North America, Europe, and Australia vis-a-vis reducing CO2 emissions when other nations/continents produce more and continue to increase their production of so called greenhouse gases? Have they even noticed or acknowledged that the US has reduced its CO2 output since the Kyoto Treaty wasa passed? And, despite not signing that worthless piece of paper, is the ONLY nation to successfully reduce its CO2 emissions? (You can thank fracking and the boom of natural gas production for that, not windmills or solar energy.)

From what I've seen of those following and supporting AGW and Climate Change, I'm not impressed with their scientific abilities. As con artistis and scammers however....

In which I give voice to a(nother) Rant

I've not been posting much here on Compass Points.

So much has been happening in politics that I find vile and disruptive to our freedoms that I can't begin to express my anger without growing frustrated. Between the Gang of 8's immigration push,  the IRS, the EPA, the NSA, the DOJ and the rest of the DC alphabet soup, can see little hope of our survival as a nation remotely resembling that the Founding Fathers established.

Our President picks and chooses the laws he wants to enforce (despite that being one of the prime responsibilities of the Executive Branch) and creates more by decree. Through the creation of czars and a Whitehouse that sets an onerous example of dictatorial aloofness, bureaucrats have taken on roles they were never meant to assume. Rules and regulations promulgated by cabinet level (or lower) appointees have choked our economy and infringed upon our freedoms.

Bengahzi, Fast and Furious, delay after delay on the XL pipeline for naught but political purpose, data gathering on private citizens, stonewalling the applications of Tea Party groups seeking tax exempt status--so as to prevent them from participating in the 2012 elections, various actions that will shut down inexpensive power generating stations in the name of Anthropogenic Global Warming (or Climate Change)--in a world that hasn't warmed in 16 years or more, a continued push for gun control headed by men from cities with deplorable illegal gun use.... I could go on and on.

And, instead of reporting the truth and focusing on the scandals embroiling out nation, the main stream press and 24-hour news channels are going all in on one distraction after another in an effort to protect the narratives(read "asses") of the Democrat Party.

All in all, things will be getting worse before they get better. I just hope that mass demonstrations will be the most that will be needed to right the wrongs being done. If it needs to--or is forced to--go beyond that, we are in a world of trouble.

About that "Affordable Care Act"...

Yeah, it's neither "affordable" nor providing much "care."

When I was growing up, I was always told to be sure to read the whole contract--including the fine print--before I signed anything. You never know what's in there until you read it and, by gum, the Devil is in the details.

Too bad our "betters" don't follow the same practice. It seems Democrats at both the state and federal (I inadvertently typed "feral" here. Purely Freudian, I'm sure.) level are beginning to notice that the Affordable Care Act may have been misnamed. At the very least they realized it's not going to do what they thought it was going to do.

Still, Democrats are becoming disillusioned at the law’s failure to achieve its ideal of quality health care for every American that doesn’t add to the deficit, reduces medical spending, and promises employees the right to stay on the company plan. And so they’re trying to clean up the mess they’ve made.

For decades, critics of the American health care system have identified two major flaws in its design. First, there is the problem of universality. Not everyone has health insurance. ...

Second, there is the problem of affordability. ...

The Affordable Care Act was sold as a way to solve both problems. What it really does, though, is extend, sloppily and expensively, a right to health insurance to all. It’s a law that deals with the universality problem, not the spending problem. The cost-cutting measures it does contain are mainly experiments that will take years to evaluate. Yes, the rate of growth in health care costs has remained stable for the last three years. But that is more likely the result of the recession, and of experiments in private networks, which began before Obama-care. Most of Obama-care has yet to take effect. The problem of rising health costs remains.

And liberals are noticing. ...

You can read the rest of the article by Matthew Continetti in the Weekly Standard here.

Perhaps if they had read the damn thing before they rushed it through the Senate and the House when both were under the Democrats' control some of the problems now coming to light could have been avoided by--you know--NOT PASSING THIS MONSTER IN THE FIRST PLACE.

But, hey! That's crazy talk!

Oh, and Mark Hemingway says the unions aren't too happy with Obamacare either.

Gun Control Tomfoolery

In which I give vent to a rant...

If, as the saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then perhaps Senators Feinstein and Schumer are certifiable.

Each has crafted a gun control bill that is unlikely to 1) be passed by both Senate and House and 2) be upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court.

Senator Feinstein is the authoress of the “Assault” Weapons Ban of 2013.

From PowerlineBlog.com:

Feinstein has proposed a ban on 157 different models of assault weapons. Many of them are commonly used, which means that, under the Supreme Court’s decision in Heller, banning them is problematic in terms of the Second Amendment.

She threw a hissy fit when asked by fellow Judiciary Committee member Senator Cruz whether this might cause the law to run afoul of the Supreme Court’s decisions. *sigh*

Chuck Schumer added several amendments to his push for stricter background checks, S.372. Some of them would make it a felony should you 1) leave your guns at home with a roommate or anyone other than your legally recognized spouse if you, the registered user, were to be gone for seven days or more, 2) loan your hunting rifle to a friend while you are out in the field, 3) dare to take more than 24 hours to report the theft of a gun from your home. It leaves the definition of “temporary transfer” and “gift” to be determined.

(See "Amendment to background check legislation reveals Chuck Schumer’s America" and "Schumer's Transfer Tyranny")

Of course, these and other bills being considered are “common sense” laws designed to “protect the average citizen” and, of course, just like the last “Assault” Weapons Ban—passed in 1993, in force for 10 years and did nothing to reduce the criminal use of guns—they will do nothing of the kind. Criminals do not obey gun control laws that are already on the books. What makes these idiots think more laws will bring about any compliance from the criminal community?

The one thing--the ONLY thing--these laws are designed to do is the ONE thing the 2nd Amendment says the government should NOT do and that is to "infringe" upon the right of the average, law abiding American to keep and bear arms.

It's not truly about guns. It's all about control. And it must be halted.

Imagine That!

Exxon will be drilling in the Arctic Ocean after all--with the Russians.

Exxon, Rosneft unveil $500 bln offshore venture

MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. oil major ExxonMobil and Russia's Rosneft unveiled an offshore exploration partnership on Wednesday that could invest upward of $500 billion in developing Russia's vast energy reserves in the Arctic and Black Sea.

Imagine that. The worlds largest oil company, unable to drill in the offshore waters of the US of A, finds somewhere where it CAN drill for oil and continue to make a profit. Since when is Russia more inclined to capitalism than the US of A?

Now imagine how many how many Americans would have been employed by such a venture if Exxon had been permitted to drill in the waters off the coast of the US of A.

 Imagine how much income tax those high paying jobs would have produced. Imagine the royalties paid to the treasury from the oil extracted.

Imagine...

(I wonder if Sarah Palin Tina Fey will be able to see any of the oil rigs from the coast of Alaska?)

(h/t to Don Surber)

Say What?

In an item in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review dealing with the recent unforced error by Hilary Rosen, Democratic adviser, who made comments as to Ann ROmney having no ability to comment on anything economic since she had "actually never worked a day in her life," we have this gem:

President Obama told an Iowa television station that families are off limits in campaigns.

"I don't have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates," Obama said. "Those of us who are in the public life, we're fair game. Our families are civilians."

As Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit says: "Tell it to the people who covered Sarah Palin, some of whom have been invited to dinner with Obama."

To which I would add:
Of course, Obama would love to have family's off limits in the upcoming campaign. Pointing out just how many junkets and family vacations the First Lady and/or her daughters have indulged in on the taxpayers' dime is not the sort of thing someone trying to portray the "rich" as "evil" is likely to want.

And let us not even begin to delve into the poltiical speeches the First Lady has delivered on the stump or at expesive political fundraisers.

Some thoughts while driving

I took the Tundra over to Athens and Williams Toyota this morning to get the oil changed and have a X-points inspection done. I could have just as easily gone down the hill to Mansfield Exxon, but this was an excuse to get out of the house for a while and I like the folks over at Williams. (I like Ryan at Mansfield Exxon too. He get to work on the Aveo and occasionally the Tundra. I'll see him in the spring when I need to get new tires.)

This is a 100-mile round trip and I had time to do some thinking.

First, I was pleased as punch that the temperature rose from the 31 degrees at the Aerie to 36-37 degrees along Route 6. That meant that the little bit of sprinkle that was falling stayed liquid instead of becoming black ice. (It also meant that the extra half hour I allotted for the trip was unnecessary, but I'd rather be early than in the ditch.)

Second, I'm happy there is a Mickey D's in Troy. Hot coffee and an egg and sausage McMuffin early on a cold, damp morning is a fine thing.

Third, this being a 100-mile round trip I couldn't help but think of how things have changed in a little over 100 years. In 1900, it would have been a two-three day trip just to get to Athens (50 miles) on horseback or in a wagon. Call it four to six days round trip. As it was it took me a little over three hours round trip INCLUDING a one hour period while I waited for the mechanic to do his job.

Fourth, the all electric vehicles being promoted by our wonderful government, having a range of about 40 miles on a charge, would not have even gotten me to Athens before needing to be plugged in. Given the charging time, a trip to Athens and back in a Volt would have taken me three days or more. Back to the future, indeed.

Fifth, those thoughts about the Volt's range (about 40 miles per charge) made me think about the commute of the average American. (Or at least those I know in Northern New Jersey.) While many of the teachers I worked with lived in close proximity (10 miles or so) of the school, some came from 30 to 50 miles away. (A few commuted from Pennsylvania to Parsippany because the taxes in New Jersey were so high. One of these also taught nights twice a week in Jersey City. He really racked up the miles!) Then there were other folks who worked in Manhattan yet lived out along the I-80 or I-78 corridors some 50 or more miles from the city. Some took the train or bus, but an awfully large number did not because public transit was inconvenient. The point is, there are lots of folks who could not even use the Volt to commute from the suburbs because of its limited range. So what, exactly, is supposed to be the Volt's niche?

It can't be to save CO2 emissions. You need electricity to charge the bloody thing and in today's world that's probably provided by coal or natural gas. (Or nuclear, I suppose.) Mining or drilling for the source of energy to yield the electricity or for the materials to build the light weight chassis and heavy metal batteries would create as big a carbon footprint as my Tundra.

The Volt must have been a project dreamed up while on drugs, planned by committee, and executed by a government run bureaucracy (or a union--same thing). Even with the generous, taxpayer provided rebates, it's a lemon of a vehicle no one wants. It makes the Ford Edsel look like a dream car with excellent sales numbers.

About that poverty report by the AP...

I snorted fluids through my nose when I read this over at Instapundit:

THE HORROR: When half of all households are below the median income. I blame Barack Obama, and I want a president who won’t rest until everyone is above the median income! But how likely is that when most people are perfectly satisfied to live in a society where twenty percent are in the bottom quintile?

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 2:57 pm

The I read the linked article and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The other day AP published an article titled, "Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income," which pointed to a US Census Bureau report showing that half of all households earn less than the median national income. Yes, you read that correctly.

The AP's Hope Yen reported:

Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans -- nearly 1 in 2 -- have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The Census Bureau's definition of a 'low-income household' is less than $45,000, as the AP's Yen wrote:

Many middle-class Americans are dropping below the low-income threshold -- roughly $45,000 for a family of four...

As we noted in a post on the AP 'story,' the US Census Bureau estimates that the median 2009 US household income was about $50,000.

Sounds like a report on Lake Woebegone:

Lake Wobegon is characterized as the town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

My goodness! Half the US households are below the middle (median) income level! Who would have thunk it!

Lies. Damn lies. And statistics. (Although that usually only works if you can confuse people with the statistics--not your stupidity.)

CAFE Standards. Can you say: "unrealistic?"

The EPA has issued new CAFE standards for US auto makers. geared toward increasing fuel efficiency to 55.4 mpg by 2025, these rules are expensive pie-in-the-sky pipe dreams.

Obama’s new fuel standards to add $2,000 to car prices, cost $157B, agencies say

The Obama administration’s new proposal to double the fuel efficiency of cars by 2025 may cost up to $157 billion and add $2,000 to the price of passenger automobiles, according to two federal agencies.
****
The proposed rule would go into effect in 2017 and requires annual fuel-economy increases of five percent for cars. Ultimately, the rule would require automakers to reach an average of 55.4 miles per gallon for passenger cars by 2025. The current CAFE standard for 2011 is 30.2 mpg.

EPA: By 2025, Pigs Will Fly

But for harder numbers, how are the automakers doing on the more immediate EPA mandate of 35.5 mpg by 2015? They’re not even close.

Take, for example, the best-selling car in America: the brand-new, totally redesigned, state-of-the-art, four-cylinder, base model 2012 Toyota Camry (255,000 units sold far this year) that will still be Toyota’s standard-bearer three years from now. Its fuel economy is just 28 mpg. That’s the average American car.

Indeed, 15 years ago, the Camry got 23 mpg, meaning that its fuel economy has improved at 1.5 percent each year. Now the high priests of the EPA are requiring that it improve 5 percent per year over the next 15 years.

What happens if/when the automakers fail to meet these ridiculous goals? Will the government fine them? Will the government put them out of business? Will the government take over the companies? Oh, wait....

******

Related: Our tax dollars at work:

U.S. boosts estimate of auto bailout losses to $23.6BThe Treasury Department dramatically boosted its estimate of losses from its $85 billion auto industry bailout by more than $9 billion in the face of General Motors Co.'s steep stock decline.

In its monthly report to Congress, the Treasury Department now says it expects to lose $23.6 billion, up from its previous estimate of $14.33 billion.

The Treasury now pegs the cost of the bailout of GM, Chrysler Group LLC and the auto finance companies at $79.6 billion. It no longer includes $5 billion it set aside to guarantee payments to auto suppliers in 2009.

Unexpected!

Larry Niven is prescient!

Or omniscient or omnipotent or something.

Perhaps Sci-Fi author Larry Niven simply has a time machine in his basement.

He wrote a short story--in 1972!--that so accurately depicts what has happened in every single occupy camp across the world over the last two months that that is the only possible explanation. That or he is a god.

(Of course, Niven's Law* precludes the possibility that he has a time machine, therefore....)

The story is called "Cloak of Anarchy" and you can read it here and judge for yourself.

The sad thing is that IF (and it's a big one) any of the loonies participating in the OWS movement had even a small knowledge of human nature and behavior--or Larry Niven's writings--they could have avoided the whole idiotic, destructive, calamitous, doomed and, for some, fatal happening. With the number of sociology and X-studies participants one would have somehow expected more.

*
Niven's Law
If the universe of discourse permits the possibility of time travel and of changing the past, then no time machine will be invented in that universe.

Hans Moravec glosses this version of Niven's Law as follows:

There is a spookier possibility. Suppose it is easy to send messages to the past, but that forward causality also holds (i.e. past events determine the future). In one way of reasoning about it, a message sent to the past will "alter" the entire history following its receipt, including the event that sent it, and thus the message itself. Thus altered, the message will change the past in a different way, and so on, until some "equilibrium" is reached--the simplest being the situation where no message at all is sent. Time travel may thus act to erase itself (an idea Larry Niven fans will recognize as "Niven's Law").

(From Wikipedia)

(I saw a reference to this story by Niven on the sidebar at Ace of Spades HQ earlier today. It has since moved into the Netherworld.)

What the heck! It's not like it's real money.

First we had a $535-million loan guarantee to now-bankrupt solar equipment maker Solyndra, a loan in which a top fundraiser for President Obama was heavily involved.

And now we get news of a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work, a drug, by the way, produced by a company whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.

(For those who are not aware...smallpox is extinct in the wild. Has been since 1979. It only exists in research laboratories. That means existing methods of vaccination must have worked just fine and raises the question of why a new vaccine is even needed.)

Either story is as likely to appear on the evening news as stories of Attorney General Holder's congressional testimony on Fast and Furious. A demonstration of lawlessness, incompetence, and...well...not much else, if there ever was one.

No, the above stories won't appear because the news folks are too busy talking about Penn State, Cain's accusers, and Perry's brain freeze. Important stuff, ya know.

November 2012 can not get here fast enough.

President "Present" Screws US Again

By deciding to postpone a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast by essentially voting "Present", Obama has succeed in sending more than jobs to China. He may have now sent oil as well. Canadian PM eyes China after US pipeline delay

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper would much rather trade oil for US dollars rather than yaun from a country much more likely to be a competitor than a partner.

The Harper government has pressed Obama to approve the 1,700-mile (2,700-kilometer) pipeline extension, which would stretch through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma before ending up in Texas.

Canada, the pipeline's lead company TransCanada, and Obama's Republican opponents say the $7 billion project would provide the United States with a stable source of energy from an ally and create thousands of jobs.

"I remain optimistic that the project will eventually go ahead because it makes eminent sense," Harper said.

"This project is obviously what's in the best interest not just of the Canadian economy but also of the American economy," he said.

But with the 2012 election around the corner Obama can't afford to piss off the environmentalists who would rather we all stop using oil and all fossil fuels. They say they are concerned with contamination of aquifers in Nebraska and that burning tar sands oil will release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Guess they'd rather see the oil shipped via tanker over the Pacific (nope, no chance of spills there!) to be refined/burned in China. I'm sure the Chinese equivalent of the EPA has even stricter monitoring regulations than the USEPA so all those nasty, dirty pollutants and greenhouse gases will be scrubbed from the smokestacks of the Chinese factories.

Representatives of the Sierra Club were super pleased with the delay and are still calling for a complete abandonment of the Keystone XL pipeline project. They and their World Wildlife Federation and Green Peace friends are idiots.

The many thousands of US pipeline workers, refinery workers support personnel, etc.--some say upwards of 20,000--who now will have to wait until at least 2013 to find out whether the pipeline gets built and they get a paycheck for their labors, were not available fro comment.

Fast and Furious = one big cluster F***

A big story that has been running under the Big Media radar for months may finally be getting some legs. I'm talking about Fast and Furious.

If you haven't heard of it, Fast and Furious was a program run by ATF that allowed thousands of guns to be purchased by folks who should not have been allowed to purchase a single weapon--some convicted felons--who then smuggled them into Mexico to sell to a drug cartel. Hundreds of Mexicans were killed using those weapons and at least one US border security officer was slain.

Now CBS is reporting that late Friday night, the White House released numerous documents (not all that were asked for, BTW), some of which seem to implicate the White House in this debacle. Friday night is the time when such documents/statement are made, hoping that they will be ignored/down played in the news. Hopefully, that will not be the case this time.

New Fast and Furious docs released by White House

Late Friday, the White House turned over new documents in the Congressional investigation into the ATF "Fast and Furious" gunwalking scandal.

The documents show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell - who led Fast and Furious - and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the phone. Such detailed, direct communications between a local ATF manager in Phoenix and a White House national security staffer has raised interest among Congressional investigators looking into Fast and Furious. Newell has said he and O'Reilly are long time friends.

I've seen T-shirts that say "Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a federal bureau." Who knew just how accurate that comment would be IF you were a member of a Mexican drug cartel?

Congressional investigators for Republicans Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have asked to interview O'Reilly by September 30. But the Administration informed them that O'Reilly is on assignment for the State Department in Iraq and unavailable.

One administration source says White House national security staffers were "briefed on the toplines of ongoing federal efforts, but nobody in White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk."

Right! The guy just happens to be in Iraq.

And "...nobody in White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk." LOL. If true, than we certainly have a number of rogue--and very, very stupid--operatives in the White House. And they aren't all working to kill our energy programs and the economy.

Here's hoping a special prosecutor is soon appointed to investigate what's gone on here. Someone needs to get jail time or, should the trail lead to the president, impeached.

As others have said: Watergate had no fatalities. Fast and Furious has killed hundreds of Mexicans and at least one American.

Compromise, they said....

...over and over.

The last couple of weeks we've been hearing talking heads and politicos from the inner circles of Washington talk about the need to compromise on the debt ceiling and budget cuts. Knowing how words get twisted by those groups of folks and the media, I finally looked that word up at Dictionary.com to see what it really means.

com·pro·mise
   [kom-pruh-mahyz] Show IPA noun, verb, -mised, -mis·ing.

noun
1. a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands.
2. the result of such a settlement.
3. something intermediate between different things: The split-level is a compromise between a ranch house and a multistoried house.
4. an endangering, especially of reputation; exposure to danger, suspicion, etc.: a compromise of one's integrity.


verb (used with object)
5. to settle by a compromise.
6. to expose or make vulnerable to danger, suspicion, scandal, etc.

[Emphasis added.]

There's quite a bit of difference between the assumed meaning (definitions 1 and 5 above) and what the word "compromise" can mean (see definitions 4 and 6).

The Democrat participants in this little theater of the absurd that has played out daily on cable and network news shows would tell you that when they called upon the Republicans to compromise, they meant the Republicans should do as definitions 1 and 5 would have it. (Minus those pesky little words "mutual concessions" found in the first definition.)

The Republicans, stood fast, no doubt believing that to "compromise" would be akin to definitions 4 and 6. Indeed, if they had gone along with the Democrats and ceded additional points, they would have compromised their standing with the folks who went out in 2010 and elected them to stand up to the profligate spenders across the aisle. No doubt, quite a few of those compromising Republicans would have found themselves facing stiff challenges in 2012. Some may yet.

Between now and that 2012 date, however, there are still more battles to be waged about spending reductions. It will be interesting to see how this plays out between the stubborn as an ass Democrats and the ever mindful Republicans. They (the GOP) had best remember and remember well, the 2010 elections.

Big Brother is Watching!

A buddy of mine in New Jersey sent me a link to this story from WETM out of Elmira-Corning area of New York.

Spooked By Spokeo

Elmira, N.Y. – Spokeo.com advertises itself as "not your grandma's phone book". Just type in anyone's name and you'll get their hobbies, their address, what their home is worth, their family tree and how about a map with an aerial view of their house?Michelle Magar of Elmira was shocked to learn she was listed on Spokeo.
She's not even listed in the phone book.

It is a bit spooky to have one company out there that's doing nothing but gathering up information about you and offering it to anyone who cares to 1) look it up 2) pay the $2.95 fee to get it all.

I checked out my name and found they had my former New Jersey address but not my PA address. Same with Theresa. My daughter, however was listed for both our former home and her present location with Grandma. My son had two addresses from when he was in U of Idaho and one in Portland.

The fact that the authorities in NY say that this appears to be legal, does not console me.

I've been trying to get my name off their list but keep getting a message about how, to avoid abuse, they are limiting the number of requests daily.

You might want to check out both the news story above and the Spokeo site www.Spokeo.com. Enter your name in the space and then see if you're among those listed. Remember to check previous places of residence as well as your current location.

Jeeze, Leon

From Don Surber: Mubarak 1, Obama 0

So our CIA told President Obama that Hosni Mubarak would resign today.
.....

Except, Mubarak did not resign.

In fact, Mubarak told the people protesting at Tahrir Square in Cairo, go home. I told you I am not leaving until after the September elections, and I am not.

How did Leon Panetta get it so wrong when he testified to Congress yesterday morning that there was a very high likelihood of Mubarak stepping down?

Report: CIA Chief Leon Panetta Based Congressional Testimony On Mubarak Departure On ‘Media Broadcasts’

You know. Perhaps hiring someone to the post of Director of the CIA just because he has the same name as the director of the fictional NCIS, is not such a wise move. We need folks in intelligence that are a little more accurate than those that forecast the weather. Having people publicly making forecasts/predictions/policy when they are correct only a third of the time is not the way to go.

Leon Panetta needs to become ex-Director of the CIA sooner than Hosni Mubarak steps down.

Man! I hate when that happens!

"Early to bed, early to rise" is not a saying steeped in wisdom. It is a curse!

I went to bed early last night for no good reason other than there was nothing to watch on TV and I was bored with surfing the net and seeing much of the same-old same-old. I did a crossword, read a couple of chapters in a Jim Butcher novel (Academ's Fury...it's Book Two in the series) and turned off the light just shy of 10 PM. Then, damn it, I woke at 3 AM for no particular reason and just could not fall back to sleep.

At 4 AM, using his ECP (Exceptional Cat Perception), Chester started to yowl at the door so I gave up and got up, got dressed and headed down stairs. Fed the cats their breakfast (tuna!--maybe Chester read the can) and heated up a mug of coffee. Then the lights went out--literally--three times in half an hour. Power loss was just long enough to cause the electrical clocks on the microwave and stove to start blinking and require resetting each time.

Once everything got back to order, I built up the fire in the fireplace and restocked the wood supply next to the hearth. Then I settled down to look at the web. The problem with getting up so early is that there's no one else up and all the posts are from before you went to bed. Except for those folks out in Alaska who have just gone to sleep when you woke up at 4 AM EST.

Checked Rev. Paul's site and Brigid had a new post at her's all about Revenge. Then I went over to the Yukon Quest site to see what was going on.

Michelle Phillips scratched at Dawson City. A little over 400 miles into the race, she was down to just 8 dogs and had the toughest part of the trail yet to go. Once they leave the Yukon River at Circle City, things get, shall we say, bumpy--and very, very steep.

Hugh Neff is the current leader. He left Dawson City at 3:35 AM local time a good three-and-a-half hours ahead of Hans Gatt. (Dawson City is a 36 hour mandatory rest so it's pretty easy to see who is ahead of whom at this point. Still, lots of time left and distance to go.)

It's now approaching 9 AM and I've had two mugs of coffee (approximately four cups total) and I'm ready to either get really active or take a nap. The problem with either of those two options is...well, four cups of coffee. Can't get too far from the toilet. (Coffee's fluids, like beer, are only rented.) Can't get to sleep. (Decaf is for sissies. Black. Strong. Unadulterated. The only way to drink coffee.)

And the award ...

...for the most oxymoronic (with a stress on the "moron" portion) headline and sub headline of the week goes to one Simon Jenkins of the guardian.co.uk. His entry?

Free speech can't exist unchained. US politics needs the tonic of order

If America is to speak in a way that heals, as Obama wishes, it needs the curbs and regulations that make freedom of expression real

I hastily get the impression that the concept of free speech is well above this jerk's pay grade. I mean, come on man! "Free speech can't exist unchained"? Really? What definition of "free" are you using?

No need to fisk this one but if you care to read what he has to say, you can do so here.

My favorite comment comes early and indicates that at least some of those we call inhabitants of our ancestral home get it:

dirkbruere

13 January 2011 8:10PM

Irrespective of questions of American free speech, one thing is certain - they have a lot more of it than we do.

Yeah. And most of us like it that way even though we realize that true free speech affords our foes as well as our friends to express their thoughts and expose their minds.

The current problem is not with "free speech" but with the vitriol, the lack of substance, and the dearth of truth in the expressed thoughts. Even then, however, it is helpful to allow each and every one of us to freely spew forth upon any and all topics. How else will we know who the real fools are?

Random Thoughts

A message to those on the left who have attempted t link the Tuscan shootings by a nut case to 1) the Tea Party, 2) talk radio hosts, 3) Sarah Palin 4) the gun used, 5) anything but the shooter...

Enough already!


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

And if you "Progressives" (what a heck of a misnomer!) really, really think inflammatory rhetoric was the cause of this incident, then it's time for you to start practicing what you're preaching. Over the course of the last 10+ years the greatest amount of such speech has come from the left and the supportive Lame Stream Media, most notably the New York Times, MSNBC and CNN.