Month: March 2010

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, March 16 2010 @ 10:32 AM CST

SECTION ONE: The Word: 

I’m sort of like a news feed, but slower, buggier, and much, much quirkier . . .

Stand by for Hoop-a-rama posts, where your humble blogger picks ALL of the Division I college basketball tournaments . . .

SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Thieving baboons wipe out vineyards [*1]
Environment May Impact Apes’ Ability to Understand Declarative Communication, Study Suggests [*2]

Travel:
Cruise Ship Suffers Massive Gastrointestinal Outbreak for Third Cruise in a Row [*3] — If you’re booked in the near future on Celebrity’s Mercury, it may be time to take a good look at your cruise insurance policy . . .
Update: CDC Says “Don’t Sail” to Noro-Stricken Cruise Ship [*4]

Sports:
No. 1 KU beats No. 9 K-State 72-64 in Big 12 final [*5]
Packers fan who sold his blood to pay for season tickets voted to team’s Fan Hall of Fame [*6]
Basketball and jazz in perfect harmony in KC [*7]
Gone in 64 Seconds [*8]
Live tonight: Jackrabbit women learn bracket fate [*9]
Postseason ruminations [*10]
Selection Monday gathering planned for Frost Arena [*11]
There’s plenty of reaction to possible expansion [*12]
Jackrabbits travel to Oklahoma for NCAA opener [*13]
A perfect tournament for our times [*14] — If a majority of the additional 33 teams come from “mid-major” conferences, then NCAA tournament expansion will be a good idea.
Kansas chosen unanimous No. 1 in final AP poll[*15]
Jackrabbit women to open NCAA tourney at Oklahoma [*16]

Science Fiction and Writing:
Making Historical Characters Your Own [*17]
Stealth Worldbuilding & the Other Kind of Standalone Fantasy [*18]
Why reviewers don’t often say “This sucks”. [*19]
What’s a standard submission process like? [*20]
Publishers who ask for camera-ready copy [*21]
Write What You Don’t Know [*22]
Interstellar World Building [*23]
Hey! Your Politics Got Into My Science Fiction! [*24] — Nobody likes being beaten over the head with dogma in a book that they’re reading for fun . . .

Science, technology, and space:
Gliese’s Pieces [*25] — The Death Star approaches?
Help wanted: Space flight experience required [*26]

Straight news:
The Democrats Must Be Stopped [*27] — “Is it going too far to say that the Democrats are selling our children into servitude in order to finance a government that is wallowing in luxury we cannot afford? That sounds extreme, doesn’t it? But for how many years do you think your own children will have to labor to pay off the debt that the Democrats are inflicting on them?”
‘Joey, Do You Like Movies About Gladiators?’ [*28]

Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
Pi Day! [*29] — Yes, I missed Pi Day. I couldn’t get around to it. Thank you, thank you, I’m here all week, tip your waitresses . . .

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
Another billboard mystery in Minnesota? [*30] — The Billboard Rebellion?
An End To The Culture War? [*31] — The government has no business dictating “culture” . . .
Great Merciful Zeus. CSPAN set to upload ENTIRE HISTORY to the web. [*32] — This is how you do “transparency.” Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and That Guy From Nevada, take note.

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
The nature of rights, and of wishes [*33] — “To argue that people have a right that imposes obligations on another is an absurd concept. A better term for new-fangled rights to health care, decent housing and food is wishes.”
The Size of Government: Palin and Sweden Vs. Obama [*34]
The Consent of the Governed [*35]
Tea Party Connect: Principle and Ideology [*36]

The reality of President Obama and his entire Administration as blithering idiots:
Wrong Bill At The Wrong Time [*37] — “both the Democratic Party and President Obama have mutually reinforcing blind spots that have rendered them incapable of seeing what’s crystal clear to every other sentient being in the country: This was the wrong bill at the wrong time.”

The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
Aw: Democrats ready to roll out the red carpet for tea partiers protesting tomorrow in D.C. [*38]

The reality of Washington Republicans as blithering idiots:
“He does have Republican values. Is it going to make a big splash with his current identification as a vampire? That’s only for the voters to decide.” [*39] — Weird. I thought the Democrats were the party of bloodsucking parasites, and their power-grubbing enablers . . .

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
BIG FAIL. St. Louis Libs Hold Coffee Party – 30 People Show Up [*40]
Far Left Coffee Party Founder Annabel Park Claims Media Is Supportive of Tea Party Movement (Video) [*41]
Catholic Archbishop Warns About Dishonest Pro-Obamacare Leftist Groups Posing as Catholics [*42] — They lie. Shamelessly. Constantly.

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
“Global” Warming? [*43] — Featuring a curious, curious picture . . .
UK ads banned for overstating climate change [*44]
Dr. Nicola Scafetta summarizes “why the anthropogenic theory proposed by the IPCC should be questioned” [*45]
Corned grief: biofuels may increase CO2 [*46]

Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
Brown: An entire year has gone to waste [*47]
With a Stiff Spine America Must Stand Against Obamacare [*48]
White House: We’re Happy to Have 2010 Elections About Our Unconstitutional, Abortion-Funding, Power-Grabbing, Racist Health Care Bill [*49]
Dem’s Reconciliation Bill Is Posted; Contains Student Loan Takeover …Update: Boehner Says “We’ll Kill It” [*50]
Introducing ObamaCare 2.0: The 2,309-Page Scam That Will Live in Infamy [*51]
The Democratic Health Care Obsession [*52]
Opposition to Obamacare Holding Steady [*53]
Obama flip-flops on dealmaking for ObamaCare [*54] — Or, as Ace more pithily put it . . .
Obama: Bring on the bribes! [*55]
Unconstitutional Procedure Being Used to Pass Unconstitutional ObamaCare [*56]
Nomentum Yes To No! And No Means No Edition [*57]
More Nomentum: Jerry Costello Flips “Yes” to “No” [*58]
Rasmussen: People still oppose ObamaCare [*59]
Whip Count: Pelosi Needs 25 out of 29 “Maybes” To Break Her Way [*60]
FAIL. Obama’s Health Care Rally Prop Is In Hospital… Getting Care… Despite No Insurance [*61]
Rep. Drier: Democrats Down About 10 Votes; More Votes “Peeling Off” [*62]
The Slaughter Rule: Yet Another Reason Obamacare Would Be Unconstitutional [*63]
Question: Who do you think will be eviscerated and put out as the sacrificial lamb when Healthcare Rationing collapses? [*64] — I suppose it’s too much to ask that the person most responsible for putting the country through this agony for the past year and a half now–Barack Hussein Obama–will be the one thrown under the bus by the Democrats. The American public at large are increasingly of that opinion . . .
Stupak still a no, and not just on abortion [*65]
An unconstitutional solution [*66]
Tyrant Pelosi on Slaughter Rule: “I Like It Because People Don’t Have to Vote On the Senate Bill” [*67]
Is Now Really the Time To Create a New $2.5 Trillion Entitlement? [*68]
Liar Obama: Your Insurance Premiums Will Decrease by 3,000% Under Obamacare (Video) [*69] — Eye-rollingly stupid lying on the part of the Liar in Chief . . .

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools [*70] — “Citizens drastically underestimate current per-student spending and are misled by official figures.” The phrase “throwing good money after bad” comes to mind . . . schools in this country have plenty of money to do their job of educating people. Quite possibly, they have far too much money, which attracts the usual unsavory crowd of grifters and leeches to suck the lifeblood away from those dedicated teachers and their students, and so our entire society.
Social Security starts cashing in US debt [*71] — “Yeah, hey, Congress? You know all those IOU’s you left us with when you plundered our trust fund? Well, we need the money NOW, so we’re starting to cash in those IOUs. Have a nice day. Sincerely: The Social Security Administration.” Now, things will get really interesting (as in the Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times”) . . .
Americans Not Totally Clueless About Government Spending [*72] — The Number 1 crisis in the U.S. today is out-of-control government spending.
WH: Don’t expect employment growth in 2010 [*73] — So, explain to me what that so-called “stimulus” was about, again?

Foreign affairs and National Security (Will blithering idiots get us all killed, or make us all speak Spanish–or Chinese–or Arabic–or all three?):
Dubai Only Looks Modern [*74] — “Two Britons were just sentenced to a month in jail followed by deportation for a kiss on the cheek in a bar.”

The Morning Whip is a (mostly) daily review of what’s out there that caught my attention, sometimes but not always posted before 11 am Central time in the U. S. of A., unless I just don’t feel like it that day, am out doing something more important or more fun, or I’ve been abducted, detained, arrested, or otherwise flummoxed by the agents of blithering idiotry.

I surf the Web, so you don’t have to! (which would be a trademark, but come on, who am I kidding?)

Contributed by: filbert Friday, March 12 2010 @ 09:12 AM CST

SECTION ONE: The Word:
Today, we come to the conclusion of our Thoughts for the Day from The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek. I was continually struck at how very timely Hayek’s observations in 1944 were still today.

Ummm…regarding that “Consent Of The Governed” notion. [*1] — “More people believe in freaking ALIEN ABDUCTIONS than believe in the representative legitimacy of current government.” And this is an exceedingly dangerous state of affairs. It will become more dangerous if the elected politicians and the unelected bureaucrats persist in ignoring the will of the people. If you think that people are angry now, just wait until Pelosi tries to pass a bill out of the House without taking a vote–the Slaughter Option. If they do that it will trigger an instant Constitutional Crisis–not one between the branches of government, but between the Congress and the people themselves. We really, really, really, really don’t want to go there–that’s playing with an especially dangerous kind of fire.

SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Decoding the Long Calls of the Orangutan [*2]
Residents flee Angolan village invaded by elephants [*3]
Kangaroo sightings baffle Japanese town [*4]
Scientists Solve Puzzle of Chickens That Are Half Male and Half Female [*5]
Oklahoma electric crews say pole climbing bobcat caused power outage [*6]
To Arctic Animals, Time of Day Really Doesn’t Matter [*7]

Travel:
Cruise Doc Offers Tips For Avoiding Noroviruses Aboard Ship — “As important as washing your hands, you have to learn to KEEP YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM YOUR EYES, NOSE AND MOUTH.”

Sports:
Rotert’s 21 pts leads SD St. in Summit final [*8]
Rotert’s FT clinches NCAA bid as South Dakota St. tips Oral Roberts in OT [*9]
SDSU Upsets Top-Seeded ORU For Summit League Crown [*10]
SDSU upsets No. 14 Arkansas [*11]
Dancing again: SDSU women advance to national tourney: Turnovers plague Jackrabbits in win [*12]
Jacks fight off meltdown by getting tough [*13]
Oakland Beats IUPUI to Capture Summit League Basketball Title [*14]
Royals hoping Podsednik can do for them what he’s done to them [*15]
Circling the Summit [*16]
College buzz: Phillips leaving WIN for KC [*17]
Waiting to exhale: SDSU women and greater fan interest help make Sioux Falls successful host [*18]
KU Tops Texas Tech: Cole Aldrich Had 12 Points, 18 Rebounds [*19]
No. 1 KU tops Texas Tech 80-68 to reach 2,000 wins [*20]
No. 15 Tennessee beats LSU 59-49 in SEC tourney [*21]

Science, technology, and space:
Palm Inc. teeters in crowded smart phone market [*22]

Straight news:
Sen. Reid’s family injured in car accident [*23] — Wow. Hope they recover quickly and completely . . .

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
Rubio up 32 points over Crist in new poll [*24]
Gallup Poll Finds Conservative Voters Have Enthusiasms. Enthusiasms. Enthusiasms. [*25]
Kevin Libin: Sarah Palin knows her Canadian health care history. Do we? [*26]
Court Dismisses ACORN Suit vs. ‘Pimp’, ‘Hooker’ and Breitbart.com [*27]
O’Keefe’s Next Victim: HUD [*28]

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
Bigger Government Is Not the Solution to Big Government Problems [*29]
The Constitutional Case Against Progressives [*30]

Politics, otherwise difficult to classify:
Democrats flee as Obama approaches Missouri [*31]

The reality of President Obama and his entire Administration as blithering idiots:
US Census Form Letter Promises ‘Fair Share’ of Federal Money [*32] — The bigger pigs can get their snouts deeper in the trough, you see . . .
Chief Justice Roberts: That Crap Obama Pulled At The State Of The Union Was Uncool [*33]
Rasmussen: 66%+ Majorities Think the President Is Lying About Everything In Health Care, Including the “The’s” and “And’s”–Update: Dick Durbin Says Anyone Who Says Premiums Are Going Down is a Liar [*34]
The Punk White House [*35]
Holder, Wrote, Hid Brief in Support of Terrorist Plotting to Kill American Civilians [*36]
Obama Spiked ACORN Investigation: Judicial Watch Releases FBI Documents [*37] — Hmm. Wandering into “coverup” territory?

The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
Real Quote From Nancy Pelosi: “We Have To Pass The Health Care Bill So You Can Find Out What’s In It” [*38]
Constitutional Slaughter: Democrats Attempting Rule Change in House That Would Pass Senate Bill Without An Actual Vote on the Senate Bill [*39]
Monica Conyers, Wife of Far Left Rep. John Conyers, Sentenced to 37 Months in Prison [*40]
Constitutional Question: Will There Be One By The Time The 111th Congress Is Done With It? [*41] — This has, quite unfortunately, not become a rhetorical question, I’m afraid . . .
No way out for Dems: ObamaCare’s their own mess[*42]

Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
Nearly Every Human Who Has Ever Lived Denied Fundamental Human Right [*43]
Tax soda, pizza to cut obesity, researchers say [*44] — How about: Make People Pay The Price For Their Own Behavior, rather than pawning off the costs on EVERYBODY via taxes? Wouldn’t that be a better system?
Enhancing Democracy by Banning Speech: The misguided liberal response to Citizens United [*45]

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
Milwaukee Police Ignored ACORN Voting Fraud Cases [*46] — This is what corruption looks like.
Better living through looting [*47] — “Obviously, we should move Congress to Detroit.”
How to Pollute a Mind: Lessons from John Dewey and Van Jones [*48]
The ‘Progressives’ Are Really ‘Oppressives’ [*49]
Obama and the Left at the Brink [*50]
Five Lies About the American Economy: The Obama team’s favorite slices of fiscal baloney [*51]
Epic Stupidity [*52]
A Tea Party Fake? [*53] — Democrats lie. If he was a real candidate, wouldn’t Ashjian have a web site? As far as I can tell, he doesn’t. That says “stalking horse/false flag operation” to me.

The Keith Olbermann Memorial “Special Comment” on blithering idiots in the Media:
State-Run Media Red-Faced Over Palin’s Canadian Doctor Visits [*54]
Media Malfeasance Begins To Eat Itself [*55] — Heh.

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
Climategate Stunner: NASA Heads Knew NASA Data Was Poor, Then Used Data from CRU [*56] — Wow. Just wow.
New Study Debunks Myths About Vulnerability of Amazon Rain Forests to Drought [*57]

Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
Rasmussen: 57% think ObamaCare will damage economy [*58]
Oh my: 68% now oppose passing ObamaCare without Republican support [*59]
The prospects for health care “reform” [*60] — Check out especially slide 10.
2,300 TURN OUT to Protest Obama at St. Louis Fundraiser… Top Dems Scatter! (Video) [*61]
Over 2,200 Protest Fauxcare in Downtown St. Louis [*62]
If Pelosi Has the Votes, Then Why Does the House Need the Slaughter Solution to Pass ObamaCare [*63]
BREAKING: Parliamentarian Deals Fatal (?) Blow to ObamaCare [*64]
Pass It First, Then Amend It [*65] — “Democratic leaders should be asking themselves just how they have gotten to the point that their strategy is to amend a law that doesn’t exist yet by passing a bill without voting on it.”
Endgame: House to begin final push for ObamaCare on Monday [*66] – Oh, if only this were the “endgame.” But progressives never abandon their collectivist dreams . . .

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
Solar’s Bubble Busted [*67]
Evading Prosperity [*68]
The Myth of the Recovery: The White House claims the economy is on the mend. That’s a fantasy. [*69]
How the Campuses Helped Ruin California’s Economy [*70]

Foreign affairs and National Security (Will blithering idiots get us all killed, or make us all speak Spanish–or Chinese–or Arabic–or all three?):
Breaking: Al-Qaeda Killer & Dem Operative Worked at New Jersey Nuclear Plant [*71] — Hoo boy . . .

The Morning Whip is a (mostly) daily review of what’s out there that caught my attention, sometimes but not always posted before 11 am Central time in the U. S. of A., unless I just don’t feel like it that day, am out doing something more important or more fun, or I’ve been abducted, detained, arrested, or otherwise flummoxed by the agents of blithering idiotry.

I surf the Web, so you don’t have to! (which would be a trademark, but come on, who am I kidding?)

Contributed by: filbert Saturday, March 13 2010 @ 10:04 AM CST

SECTION ONE: The Word:
The attempted murder of the Constitution at the hands of the Washington Democrats:
Pelosi Tells Caucus They’ll Be Using Slaughter Strategy, and That Vote Could Happen Next Week [*1]
The Democrats’ Tangled Web [*2]
Mark Levin Calls For Slaughter’s Removal [*3]
Mark Levin: The GOP should move to have Slaughter expelled from the House [*4] — featuring audio . . .
The shape of things to come [*5]
Suicide Pact? [*6]
Constitution Butchers: Stop Pelosi’s Slaughter House [*7]

Here’s the deal:

I think Caddell and Schoen[*8] actually understate the peril that the Democrats in Washington have manufactured for themselves and the oldest political party in the U.S., if not the world.

If the Democrat’s health care reform passes, then the Democratic Party is history. The Democratic Party will be torn apart by an enraged American electorate this November, losing even seats that are now in the “safe” column, and the Democrats will continue to lose elections again and again in every local election, over and over again, repeatedly up to and including an epic landslide victory of–probably–Sarah Palin over Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential Election.

The American public’s patience with the Democratic Party will have run out.

A (D) behind your name will mean political Death. Anyone who professes support or sympathy for a Democratic candidate will be seen for what they are: an amoral looter, who spits on the Constitution and 230+ years of American classical-liberal political philosophy. It will become a hazardous thing to proclaim in public that you’re a Democrat, because the people will at last see Democrats for what they have become: thuggish collectivists more akin to Mao than to Jefferson and Jackson, Truman and JFK. The Democratic Party will pass from American history, and it will have richly earned that fate.

If the Democrats don’t pass health care this year, then they’ll receive an historic rebuke of unprecedented proportions in the Congressional elections this November, but will survive as a political party to fight another day. I don’t believe for one second that Barack Obama is capable of tacking hard to the center and governing as a moderate like Bill Clinton did, but if he manages to do that, he might–might survive to be re-elected in 2012. But I sincerely doubt it.

If there is a 2010 and 2012 election–and given the Democrats’ plan now to utterly ignore the Constitution and pass a bill out of the House without actually voting for it–the ironically-aptly-namedd Slaughter Solution–it is not entirely obvious that the current Democratic political leadership will deign to allow an election to occur–but if those elections occur, get used to the idea of President Palin.

Obama and the Democrats have talked cavalierly about the Republicans and insurance companies needing to beware of torches and pitchforks. The Democrats need to take their own advice.

Democrats in Washington need to consider what happens after, by their own actions, the Constitution is no longer the law of the land. A vote for the Slaughter Strategy is a vote to become an Outlaw Congress, a vote with the practical effect of dissolving the Constitution. Perhaps the political process can absorb this blow and deal with it. Maybe the Supreme Court will step in and take the keys away from this now obviously power-drunk Congress. I don’t know what happens next, but it’s not going to be very much fun for pretty much anybody in this country. I do know that there is a political explosion building in this country, and the fuse is this health care nonsense. “Light fuse, get away” was the advice on the side of many of the fireworks I’ve set off in my days. The Democrats have lit the fuse, and are adamant about holding on tightly to the firework as the fuse burns down, thinking that the coming fountains and sparks and explosions will make them look even more beautiful and awesome than they think they do right now.

They think the hiss of the fuse is the approval of their audience.

It isn’t.

There’s still time to put out the fuse. There’s still time to save the Democratic Party.

SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Humans Outcompeting Killer Whales For Food [*9] — Take that, Shamu!

Travel:
Cruising in South America [*10]

Sports:
Fire the coach isn’t a Big 12 chant[*11]
KU 2K: Coaching got Jayhawks to milestone [*12]
Economic loss could accompany bid [*13]
No. 15 Tenn. beats Ole Miss 76-65 in SEC tourney [*14]
Collins scores 26, Henry 15 to lead No. 1 Kansas past Texas A&M 79-66 in Big 12 semis [*15]

Science Fiction and Writing:
Strong Women Characters [*16]
Outline and Synopsis [*17]
How self publishing can lead to a real book deal [*18]

Science, technology, and space:
Driving Hazards More Dangerous Than Unintended Acceleration [*19]

Straight news:
Teacher mauled to death by wild wolves while jogging in Alaska, police say[*20]

Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
Step Away from the Computer [*21] — I need to do this more often . . .
The Millenials: From The Greatest Generation to The MTV Generation [*22]

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
The Brilliance of Breitbart[*23]
Tea Party training: A report from Utah [*24]
Evangelicals scared of the Tea Parties? [*25] — “Too libertarian?”
How Andrew Breitbart Hacks the Media [*26] — You can tell the writer of the article really can’t bear to be in the same room with Breitbart. It’s pretty funny, really.
March 16th – The People’s Surge against Obamacare 2.0[*27]

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
If you are reading this, you are the Resistance [*28] — “Absolute all-out political war needs to be declared on every Democrat in office if they do not rise up against the madness of their own party and put a stop to this immediately.” The guys saying this were staunch Democrats, and not evangelical Christians either, but gay guys in Chicago.
Obama By Proxy [*29]

Politics, otherwise difficult to classify:
Politics Cannot Be Fixed [*30] — It can only be contained. And it can only be contained by withholding from government both the power and money, and spreading both out so thinly that the excessive accumulation of both in one place never, ever happens. This was the key to the original design described by the Constitution. Over the years, we have tortured that design into its exact opposite.

The reality of President Obama and his entire Administration as blithering idiots:
Because He’s Not Done Yet With Health Care, Has Passed Budget-Busting Stimulus, & Still Has a Few Popularity Points Left, Obama Vows Comprehensive Immigration Reform… [*31]
Dana Carvey Does Obama Impression on Leno [*32]
Question: Why is it party all the time in this White House? [*33]
The False Premise of National Education Standards [*34]
Holder Lied… Attorney General Failed to Reveal 7 Legal Briefs During Confirmation [*35] — I have this suspicion, but perhaps it is only a hopeful fantasy, that after the Republicans take over Congress this fall (if, that is, elections are allowed) and start holding hearings, sufficient evidence will emerge to impeach and convict both Biden and Obama. And this time, it won’t be “just about sex.”

The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
Boystown’s Take On Eric Massa’s “Gay Frat House” [*36] — The punch line is at the bottom of the article. It’s pretty much a litmus test of conservative vs. libertarian, though . . . if you’re disgusted and outraged about the very existence of the “frat house,” you’re probably a conservative. If you’re just disgusted and outraged the the “frat house” was paid for with government money, you’re probably a libertarian. I’m more the latter than the former, personally.
Harry Reid: I’m Such a Capable, Intelligent Legislator, I’m Delegating My Public-Advocacy Duties to This Here 11-Year-Old Kid [*37]
Stupak’s lament [*38] — “What are Democratic leaders saying? “If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That’s one of the arguments I’ve been hearing,” Stupak says.”

Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
My illegitimate and anonymous computer chatter is unworthy of respect! [*39]
U.S. Record to be Examined by the U.N.’s Underwhelming Human Rights Body [*40]

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
Equality, Progressive, Social Justice: Liberal Euphemisms for Big Government[*41]
The Left-Wing Ideology Behind the Health Care Push [*42]
Lessons from the Coffee Party [*43]
A City Gone Mad [*44]
Pigs at the Trough [*45] — How about: No Pay Raises For Any Federal Employee From President On Down Until The National Debt Is Retired? Oh, yeah, a hiring freeze, too. And a total, real-dollar budget freeze. See below under “The Economy” for why . . .
Nannyism – the dangerous trend [*46] — And, maybe, just shutter the doors of Congress and all of the regulation-making bodies of the Federal Government until the National Debt is paid, too. No, that wouldn’t be worse than what we have now.
Inhofe: Time to freeze spending [*47] — If a freeze doesn’t include so-called “entitlements” then it’s not a real freeze.
Heyyyyy! Think the Time Is Right for a Palace Revolution [*48] — I especially like the first comment to the article: ““totalitarian capitalists” It takes a special kind of imbecile to put those two words together.
To Answer or Not to Answer the Census – That Is the Question [*49] — Call it civil disobedience, then . . .
ACORN Cracked, Run Out of State Under RICO Act in Ohio [*50] — They will, of course, simply re-name, re-form, and come back again. The only solution is to throw their leaders in prison for long, long sentences.

The Keith Olbermann Memorial “Special Comment” on blithering idiots in the Media:
Howell Raines: Why Can’t I Be You?[*51]

David Brooks: Obama “is still the most realistic and reasonable major player in Washington” [*52] — And David Brooks still has his rather embarassing man-crush on Obama . . .
Tea Party vs. 1960s Radicals [*53]
Brooks & Obama Cont’d [*54]

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
Monckton On Climate Hoaxers: ‘Jail The Lot’ [*55]

Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
How Republican Can Stop The Health Care Bill in 3 Steps [*56] — Can somebody lend the brother a plural for the title?
Obama Realizes that the Solution to Collapsing ObamaCare Support is…Another Speech! [*57]
Panic at the Team O: Asia jaunt delayed for Demcare [*58]
The White House Kindly Requests You Do Not Refer to Its Health Care Budget Gimmicks as “Gimmicks” [*59]
The Constitution: Another Victim of Obamacare [*60] — It’s coming down to: Either the Constitution goes, or the Democratic Party goes. The two are quite obviously utterly incompatible with each other.
The Big Lie of Health Care Reform [*61] — “Without health care insurance, there is no access to health care.”
Somebody Up There Doesn’t Like ObamaCare: Speaker Pelosi’s Treasure Hunt for votes isn’t going well. [*62]
Stopping Obamacare: Weekend Targets [*63]
Gallup: Health care not a top priority for Americans [*64] — But, the way things are going, inflicting political retribution against the Democrats is moving up fast in the charts . . .
The “right” to health care [*65] – “No “right” as defined by the Constitution (a statement of law) or Declaration of Independence (a statement of philosophy undergirding our country’s law) impose obligations on others for their exercise.”

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
The Real Debt Washington Doesn’t Want You to Know About [*66] — “the total obligations of the U.S. Government total $63.3 trillion, or $63,300,000,000,000. If that makes your eyes glaze over, this represents a debt burden of $200,000 for every man woman and child in America.” Emphasis mine.
Rocky Mountain Low: Colorado’s New “Track & Tax” Law Invades Consumer Privacy [*67]
State Tax Refunds – The check may not be in the mail. [*68]

CHART OF THE DAY: The Real-Time Indicator That Says The Consumer Is Already Rolling Over [*69] — And that’s bad . . . quite bad indeed . . .
College is about to Cost You Even More [*70]
Buy Gold [*71]

Foreign affairs and National Security (Will blithering idiots get us all killed, or make us all speak Spanish–or Chinese–or Arabic–or all three?):
Leave yuan to us, China tells Obama [*72] — We’re not exactly in a good bargaining position . . .
Biden Trip Reveals Ominous Side of Obama’s Treatment of Israel [*73] — Does Obama and Biden really think they’re helping the situation there?
It Is Just A Matter Of Time [*74]

The Morning Whip is a (mostly) daily review of what’s out there that caught my attention, sometimes but not always posted before 11 am Central time in the U. S. of A., unless I just don’t feel like it that day, am out doing something more important or more fun, or I’ve been abducted, detained, arrested, or otherwise flummoxed by the agents of blithering idiotry.

I surf the Web, so you don’t have to! (which would be a trademark, but come on, who am I kidding?)

Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, March 10 2010 @ 07:20 AM CST

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

To act on behalf of a group seems to free people of many of the moral restraints which control their behavior as individuals within the group.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, March 09 2010 @ 11:57 AM CST

SECTION ONE: The Word:
My race is “American” [*1]

SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Drastic Musk Ox Population Decline 12,000 Years Ago Due to Climate, Not Humans, Study Finds[*2]
Snake Venom Charms Science World: Novel Protein from King Cobra as Drug Discovery [*3]
Alpine Marmot Spreads Into Catalan Pyrenees [*4]
Chimpanzee enters rehab to kick booze addiction [*5]

Travel:
Allegiant Buys ex-Thomson 757s for Hawai’i Flying, I’m Looking at Long Beach [*6]
Allegiant buys six 757 jets, announces plans to enter Hawaii market [*7]
Horizon Air CEO Weighs In On Whether Wholly-Owned Regionals are Safer [*8]

Sports:
Joakim Soria, Kansas City [*9]
Oral Roberts Advances to Championship Game [*10]
Boever leads Jacks past WIU and into championship [*11]
South Dakota State Beats Western Illinois, 67-39 [*12]
Reds pound Royals, Farnsworth [*13]
Oakland Downs IPFW, 71-58 [*14]
IUPUI Survives and Advances to Championship Final [*15]
UMKC women fall in Summit semis [*16]
Eagles say Jacks are ‘team to beat’ [*17]
Oakland men get standout game from unlikely source [*18]
IUPUI hangs on to win [*19]
Nothing came easy for these Jacks [*20]
South Dakota State women cruise into finals, will face Oral Roberts [*21]
Tuesday Tidbits: Summit League edition [*22]

Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
Canada drops plans for politically correct anthem [*23]
Florida (Of Course): Woman Causes Crash Because She’s Shaving Her Privates While Driving [*24]
‘I’m Really Starting to Believe This Stuff Only Happens in the Keys’ [*25] — More on the above . . .
“Riddle paused in his sexual activity and noticed the knife sticking out of his back.” [*26]
Author and futurist sees a bright future for KC — if we welcome the new look America [*27]
Thief sneaks softly, carries a big walrus tusk out of Teddy Roosevelt’s New York home [*28]
Chart of the Day [*29] — Funny.

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
Consent of the Governed [*30] — In November, the people really, really need to emphatically Remove Our Consent from the yahoos currently screwing things up from Washington (and from state capitals, too, and from most big city halls . . . )
Call to Arms: Be a Minuteman Lobbyist [*31] — People need to be careful with the “call to arms” stuff, though . . .
A Call to Arms– Stand With Us In St. Louis… We Have Only 10 Days to Stop Obamacare! Join Us Now [*32]
Finally, a Candidate With Ultra-Private-Sector Experience Who Reads Mises, Hayek, Friedman, Rand… [*33]

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
Put That Thing Away! [*34] — ‘Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?’
The Conservation of Liberty [*35]
The Natural Order [*36]

Politics, otherwise difficult to classify:
Who gets to run against the big bad Congress? [*37]
Will Millennials become the chump generation? [*38] — They already are, whether they realize it or not . . .
We’re an American Man [*39] — Pick “Other” and write in “American” on your Census form. Pass it on.
Is Justice Scalia Abandoning Originalism? [*40]

The reality of President Obama and his entire Administration as blithering idiots:
Dem Rep. Massa May Rescind Resignation; Says Rahm Emanuel Is “Son of Devil’s Spawn” (Audio) [*41]
Eric Massa: Rahm Emanuel Fingered Me In the Shower! [*42] — “Well, he did say that. Sort of.”
Foreign Policy – why isn’t it working? [*43]
LOCKED OUT!… Obama Won’t Let Public In to Hear His Health Care Speech in St. Louis– PROTESTS PLANNED [*44] — HOPE! CHANGE! TRANSPARENCY! CHICAGO-STYLE THUGGERY AND BACKROOM DEALING!
Eric Massa’s a bit miffed [*45]
And Bush Was The Idiot? [*46]
President Obama, Who’s “Not Campaigning Anymore” Sure Looks Like He’s Campaigning [*47]
The Obama Hope-End-War sign is already tattered… [*48] — Althouse is making a list, and checking it twice . . .
From “Nudge” to Shove [*49]
Do you miss him yet? [*50]
The Dems Don’t Trust Obama – for Good Reason [*51]
Fed Audit Bitterly Opposed By Treasury [*52] — Any guesses as to why they don’t want you to see what they’re doing?

The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
The Reconciliation Process: Reconciling or Tearing the Nation Apart[*53]
Question: Is the Democrat Party balkanizing into all out war on multiple destructive fronts? [*54]
As The System Of Checks And Balances Disintegrates, Congress Becomes A Messy Signing Statement [*55] — Is it really too much to ask that Presidents, Representatives, and Senators actually read and comprehend the Constitution they swear to uphold?

Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
Dispatches from the Corporate State [*56] — Corporations=generally good. Government=dangerous, but useful. Corporations+Government=bad things, Maynard.
On Any Top Ten List of ‘Really Bad Ideas for Blog Post Titles’ . . [*57]
Not Too Bright [*58]
Government Protects Us From Unlicensed Beer [*59]

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
Wisconsin AG charges five with election fraud, two from ACORN [*60] — Democrats lie. And they steal elections, when they can get away with it. It’s what they do. If you’re a Democrat, you’re supporting this kind of behavior, you know.
Ungovernable Savages? [*61]
A Biometric ID Card for all American Workers?[*62]

The Keith Olbermann Memorial “Special Comment” on blithering idiots in the Media:
What Really Killed Journalism [*63] — I think Watergate will eventually be remembered as the death stroke for this particular iteration of “objective” journalism–it’s where the ink stained wretches wearing out their shoe leather, scratching and clawing and digging for a story began their transformation into The Information High Priests Who Will Change The World.
Palin: “We Used to Hustle Over the Border [to Canada] For Healthcare” [*64] — Which is apparently being spun to somehow support nationalized health care, even while Palin’s trips across the border occurred before Canada created their national health care system. They think you’re stupid. Are they right?
About That “Sarah Palin Going To Canada For Health Care” Story…[*65] — Even Reason’s Nick Gillespie-no Palin fan-comes down on “her” side of this one. They think you’re stupid. Are they right?
“No More Traffic” Blog Proves Our Point For Us (Update: Ultra-Liberal Lawrence O’Donnell Admits Yukon Did Not Have Single-Payer Until 1972) [*66]

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
Congress should do the right thing—nothing [*67]
NSIDC Reports That Antarctica is Cooling and Sea Ice is Increasing [*68]
Today Barcelona. Tomorrow, the world! [*69]

Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
Obama to “Fix” Health Insurance [*70] — Obama’s word games . . .
Another Stupak Dem Flips “No” [*71]
200 Tea Party Patriots Protest Obama’s “Closing Argument” Speech in Philadelphia [*72]
If You Like Obama’s Lies About Your Health Care Plan, He Can Keep Lying About Your Health Care Plan [*73]
Dem congressman: We may have as little as 201 votes for ObamaCare
Lipinski flips to No on Obamacare [*74]
The ObamaCare/Reconciliation ploy is a trial run for much more including total takeover of student loans [*75]
Field Trip to Obama’s Health Care Speech in Philadelphia [*76]
Defeat vs. Repeal [*77]
Question for the President [*78] — It’s a good question . . .
More Obama Wordplay on Healthcare [*79]

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
Kollege Kockup: Something Is Not Right In Higher Ed [*80]
Green Movement, Incompetence, Proving Very Expensive for California [*81]

Foreign affairs and National Security (Will blithering idiots get us all killed, or make us all speak Spanish–or Chinese–or Arabic–or all three?):
Poll: 51% Think US Less Respected Around World Than It Was Under the Fiend Bush [*82] — But, but, but . . . this wasn’t supposed to happen! Barack was the Lightbringer! He was The One! He was going to stop the ocean’s rise and magically transform economics to give everyone a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage and free heart transplants for EVERYBODY!!!
Obama’s Iran Policy Collapses to the Accompaniment of Mockery Around the Globe [*83]
Swiss voters are, in fact, sane [*84]

The Morning Whip is a (mostly) daily review of what’s out there that caught my attention, sometimes but not always posted before 11 am Central time in the U. S. of A., unless I just don’t feel like it that day, am out doing something more important or more fun, or I’ve been abducted, detained, arrested, or otherwise flummoxed by the agents of blithering idiotry.

I surf the Web, so you don’t have to! (which would be a trademark, but come on, who am I kidding?)

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, March 09 2010 @ 07:19 AM CST

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

If the “community” or the state are prior to the individual, if they have ends of their own independent of and superior to those of the individuals, only those individuals who work for the same ends can be regarded as members of the community.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

Contributed by: filbert Monday, March 08 2010 @ 11:00 AM CST

SECTION ONE: The Word:
I’m sort of like a news feed, but slower, buggier, and much, much quirkier . . .

SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Travel:
Cruise Experts Pick Their Top 10 Cruise Destinations [*1]

Sports:
Royals’ Gordon out three to four weeks because of broken thumb [*2]
UMKC Defeats NDSU in Overtime [*3]
SDSU Tops IPFW in Quarterfinal Action [*4]
Jackrabbits roll into women’s semifinals [*5]
Lady Vols wrap up SEC championship; Summitt follows with a song [*6]
IPFW Men Down South Dakota State [*7]
SDSU offense erupts at Air Force [*8]
Jacks fall in tournament opener to IPFW [*9]
ORU Survives in Overtime Against NDSU [*10]
Shooting woes doom SDSU men [*11]
Jackrabbit women win by 41 [*12]
Monday Musings: Summit League edition [*13]

Science Fiction and Writing:
Is that supposed to happen? or How I fixed my first novel [*14]
Ways to Trash Your Writing Career: Ignore Deadlines [*15]
Top 10 Theoretical Megastructures [*16]
“I need eight hours to get maybe 20 minutes of work done” [*17]

Science, technology, and space:
Scientists find why “sunshine” vitamin D is crucial [*18]

Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
Sandra Bullock Steals the Show [*19]
Modern Etiquette: Do the obese really deserve contempt? [*20] — Or, do chronically normal-weight people deserve it, instead?
Sandra Bullock: Right-Wing Extremist? [*21]

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
Internet Lays Foundation for GOP Rebirth [*22]
Take the Town Halls to Washington-Time to go to DC [*23] — “If members of Congress won’t come to their constituents, their constituents will come to them.”

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
Would Reagan vote for Sarah Palin? [*24]

The reality of President Obama and his entire Administration as blithering idiots:
Obama to push White House vision for NASA in April [*25] — The Shoot, Ready, Aim Presidency . . .

Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
Entitled Students [*26]
Four in five believe Web access a fundamental right [*27]

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
Big Government Is No Victim [*28]
Sample Dialogue to Refute “She’s a quitter!” nonsense from Lefty parrots [*29]
Answering the ‘Quitter’ Charge – 4 Sample Dialogues [*30]
Things About The Left That Mystify [*31] — It’s not easy for rational people to understand what motivates “Progressives.” Because most rational people don’t see the solution to all problems being the arrogation of power to themselves at the expense of everyone else.
Who are they? Part V[*32]

The Keith Olbermann Memorial “Special Comment” on blithering idiots in the Media:
Financial Incompetence at the New York Times [*33] — “The errors, misrepresentations and apparent fundamental incomprehension found here and in general in the Times’ coverage of the financial crisis are voluminous.”
More Financial Incompetence at the New York Times [*34]
All the News That’s Fit to Steal [*35]
Unreal. AP Writes Lengthy Article About Noose & Racial Incidents at Cali Campuses… Forgets to Mention Minority Student Hung the Noose [*36]
Democrat-Media Complex Accuses Tea Partiers of Being On… the Other Side [*37] — “The Tea Party is validated and emboldened when the MSM whines about their rallies and demands.”
Keith Olbermann: As the Spittle Flies [*38]
NBC’s Chuck Todd Blasts “Drudge Driven Journalism” [*39] — Lord forbid the people actually knowing something the information gatekeepers in Old Media don’t want you to know . . . Who are they to decide what is and is not “news?”
Media Fraud – Just A Cup Of Coffee My Ass [*40]

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
Methane, The Panic Du Jour [*41]
Emails from “attack ad” science group posted [*42]
On the “march of the thermometers” [*43]
The Logarithmic Effect of Carbon Dioxide

Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
Health Care Is Heavily Taxed Now[*44]

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
Tell Us the Truth [*45] — Recovery will hurt. Obama and the Congressional Democrats are making things worse.

Foreign affairs and National Security (Will blithering idiots get us all killed, or make us all speak Spanish–or Chinese–or Arabic–or all three?):
Informal networks [*46]

The Morning Whip is a (mostly) daily review of what’s out there that caught my attention, sometimes but not always posted before 11 am Central time in the U. S. of A., unless I just don’t feel like it that day, am out doing something more important or more fun, or I’ve been abducted, detained, arrested, or otherwise flummoxed by the agents of blithering idiotry.

I surf the Web, so you don’t have to! (which would be a trademark, but come on, who am I kidding?)

Contributed by: filbert Monday, March 08 2010 @ 07:19 AM CST

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

One of the inherent contradictions of the collectivist philosophy is that, while basing itself on the humanistic morals which individualism has developed, it is practicable only within a relatively small group. That socialism so long as it remains theoretical is internationalist, while as soon as it is put into practice, whether in Russia or in Germany, it becomes violently nationalist, is one of the reasons why “liberal socialism” as most people in the Western world imagine it is purely theoretical, whole the practice of socialism is everywhere totalitarian. Collectivism has no room for the wide humanitarianism of liberalism but only for the narrow particularism of the totalitarian.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.