Is this blog endangered?

Not from low readership or from infrequent postings, but from mighty Google itself?

The political views of the contributors tend to be more right then left leaning and Google appears to be shutting down sites that have posted anti-Obama posts. The thing is most of those sites were pro-Hillary not pro-McCain.

Is Google trying to shut down the free exchange of ideas? Will they try to help Obama with their search results? I don't know, most likely not as that would not be in the best interest of the shareholders and they not the management are the ultimate owners of the company.

Ok, our readership is so vast (all two or three of you per week), Google is likely to ignore us but then again they could shut us down for not following the corporate line.

The American Citizen Won

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the District of Columbia cannot ban a citizen from keeping a handgun at home, throwing out one of the nation's strictest gun control laws.

Writing for the 5-4 majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that the Constitution protects an individual's right to keep and carry a gun.

The only bad news was the decision was 5-4, it should have been 9-0. Its a reminder that elections count and if you don't want the USSC to reverse it when the next president appoints two more liberal justices, vote in November. Sitting on the sideline is not an option, it is the same as voting for the other person.

Thursday Update

US military shoots down separating missile in test

And they said it couldn't be done. Good job America. Yes we need it unless you want to trust our survival on the kindness and rational behavior of North Korea or Iran.

Another increase in Federal spending. Only $845 billion over 13 years or $65 billion per year or $197,000 per person in the US per year for additional foreign aid to be spent by the United Nations. I don't know about you, but don't we have things we could do with this money at home or better yet, not spend and let our kids have a lighter debt load?

The USSC is going to learn a lesson one day

Court rejects death penalty for raping children

Justice Kennedy says the punishment does not fit the crime. Will the "all wise" justice please explain what punishment will fit the crime? How does one become un-raped? Now if they were to hold the scum who did this until the child was an adult and then let the now adult have 15 minutes to explain why what the scum did was wrong while the scum was tied down and crowbars were available to the now adult person, then maybe I might agree.

But Kennedy and the other four justices seem to forget that the courts are only effective when the people think the courts are working. When people think the courts are not working, the courts will lose their power because the people or the government will simply ignore them and then it becomes mob rule or he with the biggest gun rule. And judging from the comments, the people are believing the courts are not working.

New Update

Three stories to share with today.

1. Florida needs energy (as does everyone else), but doesn't want to have oil rigs off its coast. Its ok for other States or countries to have them but Florida should be spared the sight of them.

Actually, replace Florida with California and the story could just as true here. But with $5 a gallon gasoline, maybe that view will change.

2. Oregon has depended upon the Federal Government for timber payments for much of its budget. Now those payments are ending and the local governments are crying. Here is a solution, allow more economic activities on your land and the budget problem can be solved.

3. A female Christian reporter wrote an article critical of some of the cultural practices of her community. The Christian community has denounced her saying she as a Christian woman has a duty to defend the faith and not say or write anything that may bring the Christian community into a bad light.

Of course if the above was true, the ACLU or the Canadian equivalent would be up in arms along with many secularists to protect this woman and the paper that dared to print the story.

However, replace Christian with Muslim and the above paragraph is true. However, I don't hear anyone coming to the defense of the reporter or the paper. Do you?

Nutcase

Chavez continues his war against capital as he sets a 60 day ultimatum for cement companies to strike a deal over the nationalization of their assets in Valenzuela. Mexico based Cemex, Switzerland's Holcim Ltd, and France's Lafarge SA would become minority owners in the units they built in Valenzuela. Generously,

the companies could negotiate over continuing as minority partners in their units and over compensation for the loss of their assets

How nice.

According to Hugo, I can barge into your house, demand you sell it to me, and then allow you to negotiate to keep part of what you already own. If Chavez is so hot to own these companies, why doesn't he go out and tender an offer to buy shares? This is not an issue of eminent domain and the public good--unless you deem that it is in the public good for the government to monopolize industry--it's an issue of deprivation of property. It's easy to deprive faceless corporations, despite the reality these corporations are really a collective of thousands of employees, myriad suppliers, and customers that are as personal as you or me. In the end, all corporate entities boil down to people. Where will it stop?

Maybe today it's a company, tomorrow it may be the individual.

Bugs and Oil Barrels

A silicon valley firm claims to have genetically engineered a strain of bacteria to produce a petroleum by-product near to distilled gasoline--somehow the company, LS9, has convinced a few E. coli to poop gas, which is the highly technical term. The article goes on to present their claims as well as explain to us their discovery is "carbon-negative".

Can this be true?

Frankly, I'm skeptical. Remember a few years ago in 2003 when turkey offal would be converted into light crude via thermal depolymerization? "It's the silver bullet!" we (or at least I) thought. Five years later, they're still relying on subsidies for a profit and fighting the local government to even stay open (apparently nobody likes the smell of turkey offal).

This current fad for green technology and the resulting gold rush for alternative fuels feels like a haven for snake oil salesmen and hucksters looking for easy money from soft-headed capitalists. This firm's claims sound too much like a penny stock spam email than real scientific results:

Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, "it’s a brave new world".

or (emphasis mine)

Bob Walsh, 50, who now serves as the firm’s president after a 26-year career at Shell, most recently running European supply operations in London. "How many times in your life do you get the opportunity to grow a multi-billion-dollar company?" he asks. It is a bold statement from a man who works in a glorified cubicle in a San Francisco industrial estate for a company that describes itself as being "prerevenue".

As much as I want to believe we can simply grow gas and lesson our dependence on imported oil (and I do hope we get there one day), the truth of the matter is our foreseeable future lies in oil pipelines and not in pipe dreams.

F-35B First Flight

sdd_f35testb_012
Originally uploaded by kawfeadikt

A long time coming, and much anticipated. The F-35B (BF-1) lifted off for its maiden flight yesterday, flown by British pilot, Graham Tomlinson--a nod to our allies who are in line to purchase the B variant along with our own Marines.

This aircraft cannot come soon enough, replacing an aged Harrier fleet and providing expanded capabilities to the USMC. Next up in the program for Lockheed-Northrop-BAE will be the C variant, the replacement for the Navy's F/A-18.

Even now, as the B variant begins its test program, AA-1 continues its flight testing, there are A and B test articles in production, the first C variant (CF-1) has probably begun assembly, and LRIP is beginning for all variants as well.

The ONLY downside to my current job is missing being on the "inside" of the JSF program. Not only were there great amounts of satisfaction from participating in the aircraft's development, but observing everything coming together in an intricate dance to produce each variant was wondrous. Heady times for the engineers there!

This is Canada???

If this can happen in Canada, it can happen in the US, our constitution notwithstanding.

A Christian pastor has been given a lifetime ban against uttering anything "disparaging" about gays. Not against anything "hateful", let alone something legally defined as "hate speech". Just anything negative.

But he must give a false sermon; he is positively ordered to renounce his deeply held religious beliefs, and apologize to his tormentor for having those views.

And then that pastor is ordered to declare to his entire city that he has renounced his religious views, even though he has not.

Our Best Export Yet

They said American education was circulating the porcelain bowl of defecation. They said American children were falling behind the world and would soon serve others rather than be served themselves. They said America was growing soft and lazy. They were all wrong. For Japan, mighty Japan--the country burgeoning with genius children of mad intellectual skillz--is undergoing a cultural change more amenable to an American model of education with much "success":

For the audience of menacing mothers and feisty fathers, though, the sight of 25 Snow Whites, no dwarfs and no wicked witch was a triumph: a clear victory for Japan's emerging new class of “Monster Parents."

For they had taken on the system and won. After a relentless campaign of bullying, hectoring and nuisance phone calls, the monster parents had cowed the teachers into submission, forcing the school to admit to the injustice of selecting just one girl to play the title role.

How dare a play cast a lead role. How dare one individual shine above others, casting the rest in dreary gray mediocre tones. The horror! The INHUMANITY!

What a sad commentary on culture, values, and self-worth.

Uh oh.

Tragic. Steroids stool pidgon and girlfriend found dead.

Jacobs [the victim] said [to an ESPN reporter]: "The kinds of people I know about could put a bullet in the back of my head."

Not that I'm pointing fingers at any one thing, but this just seems a little bit too coincidental to be a robbery gone bad. Coverup? Possibly. If it it, this will end up messily for sports in general, although I caution it is far too early to speculate (publicly) about who.

California made a mistake yesterday

Yeah, so what else is new.

But Prop 98 was defeated almost 2 to 1 while Prop 99 won by 2 to 1.

Prop 99 was put on the ballot after Prop 98 qualified and basically was offered as a sham to divert attention from Prop 98. Its the same story that happened back in the 1970s with Prop 13 and Prop 8. But in that case, the right proposition won.

In a nutshell, Prop 98 would have prevented eminent domain when the government was going to give the land to a private entity to be developed. Your church would not have its building and land seized and sold to Costco so they could build a store as a city in LA County tried two years ago. It also would end rent control on all rental units as the person who lives in the unit vacates the unit due to death or moving on. That was the provision that sunk the proposition because the opponents scared seniors with stories their evil land lords were going to evict them and raise the rents.

Prop 99 in a nutshell would only prevent eminent domain on owner occupied residences when the land was to be given to a private entity for redevelopment. But that is the only a small minority of cases, less then 5% of all eminent domain abuses. So the church in the above case, would not have protection, the apartment owner or even house owner who rents the house can still have their land seized for a private party redevelopment as well as any businesses who are not as classy or as profitable as the city would like.

But Prop 99 people had better marketing skills then Prop 98 people and they won so we got a bad law that will not correct the problem as people will find out.

About time

South Dakota county of Union approved a rezoning ballot measure to allow a new refinery to be built in the county. The measure won 58% to 42%. This will be the first new refinery built in the US in 30 years. Of course those who opposed the measure have vowed legal action to void the election, and failing that to fight the permitting process to delay and hopefully cancel the project.

Can the oil companies play hard ball with those people and refuse to sell them gasoline since they don't like refineries or anything to do with the oil industry?

Life

Make some commitments and then keep them. That is the hard part.

Have been feeling very frustrated last two or three weeks because I don't seem to be getting things done I know I need to do and I'm not taking care of myself like I should. I also know my wife is not doing the things she needs to do as well.

So we had a good talk yesterday and looked at what we wanted to get done over the next few weeks and the time we were going to be willing to commit to it. The hard part is keeping the time commitments (whether getting to the gym or putting into business) and getting to bed on time as well.

So now the hard part, how do we keep each other accountable in our commitments without appearing to nag each other all the time.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Life in the UK

Two stories about life in the UK, both point to the same thing, the downward spiral of a once (and still) proud people who are giving up the freedoms their fathers and forefathers fought and died for.

In the name of convenience and security, let the government take care of every problem. But to do so, the government must have more and more power. So in the end, the government is blamed for everything bad that happens and the people have no freedoms left because the government needs the ability to snoop to solve the problems. Why do we (humans) always seem willing to trade our freedoms for convenience or supposed safety and security?

Next, I thought the UK had freedom of religion. They may have it on paper, but not in practice.