Thursday, March 31, 2016

The $50 Lesson

Recently, while I was working in the flower beds in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home from walking their dog.

During our friendly conversation, I asked their little girl what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be President someday.

Both of her parents, Democratic Party members, were standing there so I asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?" She replied... "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people."

Her parents beamed with pride! "Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said..."But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that!" "What do you mean?" she replied.

So I told her, "You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?"

I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

Her parents aren't speaking to me anymore.

"The truth is like a lion.
You don't have to defend it.
Let it loose. It will defend itself."

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Happy Easter!

Wishing all a Very Happy Easter!

But remember also what made it possible.

If you don't believe it, or are on the fence, there are a few historical facts you must account for. To help you, consider this.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Hillary on Libya

p>Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is claiming the U.S. "didn't lose a single person" in Libya during her time in office. Of course, it's true she didn't lose a single person in Libya — she lost four. Or maybe she means it the way cartoonist Michael Ramirez interprets her statement.

UPDATE: See this as well.


End update.

It's hard to know if Hillary is so divorced from reality that she actually believes no one was lost in Libya or if she's continuing to lie about this for her personal benefit. Either option would make her unfit to hold any position of trust in the U.S. government.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Phoenix Aurora

The Astronomy Picture of the Day site has an absolutely spectacular picture today. It's an aurora in the shape of the mythical phoenix, captured digitally over Iceland. It's so spectacular I had to share it.

This NASA site changes its picture each day. After today you can find this image, with identified constellations and a description, here. And the picture on the NASA site is bigger and in higher resolution. Superb.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

A Lesson on Motivation — and Irony

This makes sense to the bureaucrats. It's part of the reason the voters are so angry this year, explaining the success of both Trump and Sanders. And for that, see this.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Michelle Makes an Endorsement

Michelle Obama has decided to make an endorsement in the race for the Republican presidential nomination — expressed, as usual, in a hashtag.

There's also a much more detailed statement from Michelle, explaining her endorsement.

OK, they're obviously both photoshopped. But I still like them, especially because there is now so much mess to clean up.

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Our National Problem -- 1

“Europe, the soil on which Fascism took root, is watching the rise of Donald Trump with dismay. Contempt for the excesses of America is a European reflex, but when the United States seems tempted by a latter-day Mussolini, smugness in London, Paris and Berlin gives way to alarm. . . . It’s not just that [Donald Trump] could become Silvio Berlusconi with nukes. . . . America’s Weimar-lite democratic dysfunction is plain to see.”

Wall Street Journal, Best of the Web
quoting Roger Cohen, New York Times, March 1

Our National Problem -- 2

There's been a lot running around about our problems if Donald Trump is either nominated or elected to the presidency. And all that is true. But there's another side to this problem, and it is shown in the bumper sticker below.

I'd say this is absolutely the best bumper sticker of this election cycle. And I think it is highly unlikely to be improved upon.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Argentina — A History Lesson

This link was received by e-mail. The video it links to is worth watching and thinking about.

        Don't Cry for Me Argentina America

This echoes some of the concerns I (and others I know) have had for a long time. I'd seen some of these figures and comparisons before, but this is a more striking and elegant presentation.

A friend I forwarded the e-mail to agreed with me and said this:

Simply an elegant presentation. I've been screaming in the wilderness about the propensities of governments to over-promise benefits for three decades. As far as I can tell, my screaming has done absolutely no good, because politicians are still mortgaging our future beyond any ability to every pay off the debt. Argentina conveys the message, but much more elegantly than I ever did.

I have forwarded to many friends. Regrettably, all of my friends are in the same camp. Those people who most need to get this message are those who are the least likely to watch the video (much less heed its conclusions).

There is still time for us to avoid sliding into Argentina's fate, I think. But this country is a very large ship and slow to turn — as Argentina once was. It will take a lot of effort to get us back onto a positive slope. But we must try.