Just in from Washington: we're going to make it easy for illegal immigrants to become citizens. This means we're officially thumbing our noses at folks who tried to follow the rules and apply for entry and citizenship in accordance with federal laws.
This seems beyond ludicrous on its face (at best). Still, being a glass is 7/12 full kind of guy, I am looking at this development in a decidedly optimistic way. I figure that now that we've started rewarding (rather than punishing) law-breakers, we should start lobbying for the income tax to be next in line.
What exciting days are ahead for our republic (or whatever we've become) as we contemplate just how to reward tax cheats. Makes me think about filing an amended return, asking for all my withholding back!
grr.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Slowly Choking to Death
That's right - I finally have an environmental threat of my own to flog, and I think it may even be real (imagine that, if you can).
You're probably aware that the EPA has managed to get CO2 classified as a pollutant which they can regulate. You're also probably aware that, while animals (in general) respire by taking in oxygen and releasing CO2, the opposite is true for plants (again in general).
"So what?" I'm sure many of you are asking. "So this," is my reply:
By reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, we'll be preventing plant respiration. By preventing plant respiration, we'll be reducing the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, thus preventing animal respiration.
This is no slippery slope argument, this is a self-reinforcing endless loop of un(?)intended consequences. By slowing our production of CO2, we're not only dooming ourselves to suffocate, we're dooming plant life as well.
That's right, the EPA is killing the Rainforests! They must be stopped!
grr
You're probably aware that the EPA has managed to get CO2 classified as a pollutant which they can regulate. You're also probably aware that, while animals (in general) respire by taking in oxygen and releasing CO2, the opposite is true for plants (again in general).
"So what?" I'm sure many of you are asking. "So this," is my reply:
By reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, we'll be preventing plant respiration. By preventing plant respiration, we'll be reducing the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, thus preventing animal respiration.
This is no slippery slope argument, this is a self-reinforcing endless loop of un(?)intended consequences. By slowing our production of CO2, we're not only dooming ourselves to suffocate, we're dooming plant life as well.
That's right, the EPA is killing the Rainforests! They must be stopped!
grr
Friday, March 02, 2007
The End of an Era
Perhaps not many of you will remember the glory days, back even before Steven West, but there are those of us who do remember. Yes, we remember and mourn the passing of Federal's Department Stores.
Why this now? Simple. I was driving down 8 Mile the other day (I think it was Wednesday) and saw a work crew dismantling that big blue sign (shaped like an "F" if you're headed West), the sign that signaled one's approach to I-75.
Another Detroit landmark is gone. So long, Federal's, so long, Steven West, wherever you may be.
Why this now? Simple. I was driving down 8 Mile the other day (I think it was Wednesday) and saw a work crew dismantling that big blue sign (shaped like an "F" if you're headed West), the sign that signaled one's approach to I-75.
Another Detroit landmark is gone. So long, Federal's, so long, Steven West, wherever you may be.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Consensus?
Well, well, well.
Isn't it interesting that after all these years of Al Gore telling us that all scientists and all governments in the world agree that humans are causing catastrophic global warming, now we're being told that for the first time, there is a consensus among scientists and governments that humans are causing catastrophic global warming.
OK, so there's been a consensus for years, but now, for the first time, there's a consensus? So they were lying before? or are they lying now? or both?
I think it's obvious that the world is slightly warmer than it was a few decades ago. It's also obvious that it's been warming since long before we were responsible for any real addition to the "greenhouse gas" content of the atmosphere.
In fact, we've almost gotten back to the temperatures of the 1300s and 1400s (and everyone knows that the cars they drove back then were much dirtier than the ones we have now, so that's why it was so hot back then, right?).
If you care to examine some basic facts, you may well find out that the sun is cooling - check the sunspot levels and the neutrino emissions. So, if the amount of heat coming in is less than we've been getting, does it make sense for us to let more of it escape?
We're about to get hit with a quick (only a decade, perhaps) slide into another Ice Age. If we're going to preserve anything like our current civilization, we're going to need to put another log on the fire, as it were. If we want to keep the air clean (and I'm certainly all for that), we're still going to need power to keep us warm - I'm ready to get the nuclear power industry back on track.
Just think, if the French are brave enough to have a nuclear power industry, how can we be more cowardly?
Grr, as they say, grr.
Isn't it interesting that after all these years of Al Gore telling us that all scientists and all governments in the world agree that humans are causing catastrophic global warming, now we're being told that for the first time, there is a consensus among scientists and governments that humans are causing catastrophic global warming.
OK, so there's been a consensus for years, but now, for the first time, there's a consensus? So they were lying before? or are they lying now? or both?
I think it's obvious that the world is slightly warmer than it was a few decades ago. It's also obvious that it's been warming since long before we were responsible for any real addition to the "greenhouse gas" content of the atmosphere.
In fact, we've almost gotten back to the temperatures of the 1300s and 1400s (and everyone knows that the cars they drove back then were much dirtier than the ones we have now, so that's why it was so hot back then, right?).
If you care to examine some basic facts, you may well find out that the sun is cooling - check the sunspot levels and the neutrino emissions. So, if the amount of heat coming in is less than we've been getting, does it make sense for us to let more of it escape?
We're about to get hit with a quick (only a decade, perhaps) slide into another Ice Age. If we're going to preserve anything like our current civilization, we're going to need to put another log on the fire, as it were. If we want to keep the air clean (and I'm certainly all for that), we're still going to need power to keep us warm - I'm ready to get the nuclear power industry back on track.
Just think, if the French are brave enough to have a nuclear power industry, how can we be more cowardly?
Grr, as they say, grr.
Friday, August 04, 2006
A Climate of Sweat
Oh wait, that's not what I mean - it's just some sweaty weather, not climate.
That's right - climate is a long-term and large-area phenomenon, not just a local hot spell.
Even were I willing to grant the doom and gloomers' contention that - the Earth is heating up - we're all going to die! - I would want to think about some of their claims.
For example:
Overall global temperatures are the highest they've been since the 1400s. OK, so that means it's finally gotten as warm as it used to be? And we're causing the death of the Earth by getting the temperature back to where it was? Did everyone die during the Middle Ages of heat stroke? Did the Ice Caps Melt? Sorry, I got carried away. I was trying to apply rational thought to this topic, which is only approachable by the True Believers.
Speaking of melting Ice Caps: imagine the entire Arctic Ice Cap melting completely - do you know what that would do to the level of the oceans? Absolutely nothing. It's already floating on the water, melting ice that's floating in water doesn't change the water's level - it's displacing the same amount of water that is replaced when the solid turns to liquid. [I will grant, being a fair-minded person, that the Antarctic Ice is (partly) a different issue, as it sits atop a land mass (the continent of Antarctica). However, the fear-mongers don't factor this into their panic.]
I still say - where are the neutrinos? We're headed for a significant cooling of the sun (another periodic event, not due to the fact that we're sucking too much light out of the sun by having too many people trying to see all at once), and that means anything we can do to keep the Earth warm is going to be quite helpful.
Despite all these inconvenient facts, I think alternative energy sources would be great things to have - we shouldn't have all our ergs in one basket, so to speak. Let's get some solar generation satellites beaming power down in microwave form. Let's get some wind turbines going off the New England coast. Let's build some more nuclear power plants - if even the French aren't afraid, why are the Democrats?
grr.
That's right - climate is a long-term and large-area phenomenon, not just a local hot spell.
Even were I willing to grant the doom and gloomers' contention that - the Earth is heating up - we're all going to die! - I would want to think about some of their claims.
For example:
Overall global temperatures are the highest they've been since the 1400s. OK, so that means it's finally gotten as warm as it used to be? And we're causing the death of the Earth by getting the temperature back to where it was? Did everyone die during the Middle Ages of heat stroke? Did the Ice Caps Melt? Sorry, I got carried away. I was trying to apply rational thought to this topic, which is only approachable by the True Believers.
Speaking of melting Ice Caps: imagine the entire Arctic Ice Cap melting completely - do you know what that would do to the level of the oceans? Absolutely nothing. It's already floating on the water, melting ice that's floating in water doesn't change the water's level - it's displacing the same amount of water that is replaced when the solid turns to liquid. [I will grant, being a fair-minded person, that the Antarctic Ice is (partly) a different issue, as it sits atop a land mass (the continent of Antarctica). However, the fear-mongers don't factor this into their panic.]
I still say - where are the neutrinos? We're headed for a significant cooling of the sun (another periodic event, not due to the fact that we're sucking too much light out of the sun by having too many people trying to see all at once), and that means anything we can do to keep the Earth warm is going to be quite helpful.
Despite all these inconvenient facts, I think alternative energy sources would be great things to have - we shouldn't have all our ergs in one basket, so to speak. Let's get some solar generation satellites beaming power down in microwave form. Let's get some wind turbines going off the New England coast. Let's build some more nuclear power plants - if even the French aren't afraid, why are the Democrats?
grr.
Friday, July 14, 2006
The Cup!
Wow! I know it's been over for nearly a week, but the World Cup that just finished was a great time. It took me back to the late 70's when we had professional soccer here in Detroit (the fabled Detroit Express, coached by the legendary Ken Furphy) and we had season tickets at the soon to be no longer Pontiac Silverdome.
While it was disappointing to watch the US side exit as early as they did (thanks to the Group of Death in which we competed) and having no Belgian side for which to root, it was still a tournament of many beautiful games, many ugly games, and many cards - both red and yellow.
The saddest part was the way Zedane finished his career - it just made no sense. This is not the way he played the beautiful game - you have to go back several years to find something to stick him with - but it's apparently the way his Italian head buttee plays the game. Very sad.
Still, the game is great to watch, great to play, and it will be a big thing here in the States as soon as organized crime realizes they can take bets on the games. (That was our theory back in the 70's and 80's, and it seems still to be the case.)
Now if only Wayne Rooney hadn't been ejected!
While it was disappointing to watch the US side exit as early as they did (thanks to the Group of Death in which we competed) and having no Belgian side for which to root, it was still a tournament of many beautiful games, many ugly games, and many cards - both red and yellow.
The saddest part was the way Zedane finished his career - it just made no sense. This is not the way he played the beautiful game - you have to go back several years to find something to stick him with - but it's apparently the way his Italian head buttee plays the game. Very sad.
Still, the game is great to watch, great to play, and it will be a big thing here in the States as soon as organized crime realizes they can take bets on the games. (That was our theory back in the 70's and 80's, and it seems still to be the case.)
Now if only Wayne Rooney hadn't been ejected!
Friday, June 02, 2006
e pluribus unum
As our erstwhile Vice President once told a school audience, e pluribus unum means out of one come many. It's beginning to look like the old Veep Gore's misunderstanding and mis-translation has taken root in the Senate (hey, that's where he used to hang out, isn't it?).
Yep, the Senate, thanks to a member from Hawaii, is poised to further fracture our Union. These United States will have even more levels of government, this time based on yet another racial or ethnic identification - Native Hawaiians.
As a native American of Belgian descent, I resent other ethnicities getting all the goodies - I want to set up a Barony of Belgian-Americans that operates in tandem with the current Federal government. As Baron of Belgian America, I will rule my brethren with kindness, mercy, frites, mussels, and beer. After all, if other groups get extra layers of government to insulate them from reality, why shouldn't I? Freedom for Flemish Americans! Up the Walloons!
I suppose it's more likely we'll end up with a federation of a Balkanized America than with my dream of the Barony of Belgian America. So, with a heavy heart, I say:
grr.
Charles, Baron van Becelaere
Yep, the Senate, thanks to a member from Hawaii, is poised to further fracture our Union. These United States will have even more levels of government, this time based on yet another racial or ethnic identification - Native Hawaiians.
As a native American of Belgian descent, I resent other ethnicities getting all the goodies - I want to set up a Barony of Belgian-Americans that operates in tandem with the current Federal government. As Baron of Belgian America, I will rule my brethren with kindness, mercy, frites, mussels, and beer. After all, if other groups get extra layers of government to insulate them from reality, why shouldn't I? Freedom for Flemish Americans! Up the Walloons!
I suppose it's more likely we'll end up with a federation of a Balkanized America than with my dream of the Barony of Belgian America. So, with a heavy heart, I say:
grr.
Charles, Baron van Becelaere
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