Social Detritus

Worst Come Back Song Ever?

2012-01-21T15:56:00.003+02:00

Having rocked out to Van Halen all through college and grad school, I pretty much gave up on the band ever making a come back especially during the on-again off-again reunion announcements of the late 90s -- early 2000s. It really got annoying and I finally just went back to listening to the old stuff figuring that was going to be it for my lifetime.

I enjoyed both flavors of the band, the David Lee Roth variety and Sammy Hagar as lead. Having the constant of Michael Anthony's driving bass and back-up voice gave a certain amount of continuity that allowed both the DLR and SH sounds to come through and establish themselves.

You can imagine the excitement of finally seeing them back together for the "A Different Kind of Truth" release in 2012. But what on earth were they thinking with putting out "Tattoo" as the opener? I have to admit, the tune does grow on you after listening to it a few times but is this really the right debut song for such a big event? We can only hope this is designed to just be a tickler and the rest of the album is worthy of the Van Halen name. At least the titles seem to suggest that this might be the case. Is there method to the madness?

So How's That GLB Thing Working Out For You?

2011-11-11T14:24:00.002+02:00

Wow, what a week for Penn State. Looks like the freak show that academe has nurtured over the years through so-called diversity programs, speech codes, and an over abundance of gay-lesbian-bisexual (GLB) classes, clubs, degree programs, and other forms of disfunctionality has finally come back to roost so to speak. If you nurture this sort of disorientation, you eventually build a culture of acceptance, and accept it surely has. Decades of cover up by a too-big-to-fail athletic department has not only brought down the revered JoPa but has reached all the way to the President's House. Extraordinary!

So PS has a real fix on its hands now. The Michael Mann controversy will surely pale in comparison. If the NCAA has any balls, they'll shut down their entire athletic program for years. If the PS alumni have any scruples they'll vote with their check books. Once the criminal trials are complete, look for a whole host of civil cases. This will be interesting to watch.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

2011-10-15T16:21:00.003+02:00

For anyone not yet familiar with "Wild Bill for America", I urge you to check him out, He is an excellent spokesman for the Tea Party, and the morons at the various "Occupy Wall Street" venues could only hope they had a person as articulate.

His short videos are excellent and the "Execution Solution" is particularly first rate.

He should definitely be on the short list for any future White House communications director.

Channeling Billy Carter

2011-08-31T21:34:00.001+03:00

Essential reading over at Moonbattery.

Glimers of Hope

2011-08-14T00:56:00.003+03:00

Yep, the Republic Just Might Survive. From the latest Patriot Post Digest:

Recess? What Recess?

A few House Republicans are holding the fort against Barack Obama's recess appointments this month while the rest of their colleagues are on August recess. According to the Constitution, the president may make unilateral temporary appointments to various agencies when Congress is not in session. However, neither the House nor the Senate may adjourn without the consent of the other chamber. The nine GOP representatives are holding pro-forma sessions every three days, thereby blocking the Senate from adjourning and preventing any Obama appointments. They are freshmen Jeff Landry (LA), Andy Harris (MD), Jeff Duncan (SC), Mick Mulvaney (SC), Jeff Denham (CA), Trey Gowdy (SC), Steve Stivers (OH), Allen West (FL), as well as three-term Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

The most recent benefit of this maneuver has been the House's blocking of Richard Cordray's appointment as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These Republicans are living up to a promise made by 77 freshmen in June to do whatever was necessary to prevent Obama's ability to make another recess appointment. This procedure isn't new; Obama's two most recent predecessors were also stumped by it. Yet it still didn't stop Bill Clinton from making 139 recess appointments, or George W. Bush from making 171. Obama has made 21 in two-and-a-half years, due in part to the actions of Republicans like the group currently meeting in the House.

Unions Stumble in Wisconsin Recall Elections

Earlier this year, Wisconsin's Republican legislature and GOP Gov. Scott Walker made a series of reforms that took a bite out of public unions' lavish benefits. Predictably, the unions threw a tantrum. First, they spent millions to defeat a conservative justice on the state supreme court to help them win legal challenges. That didn't work, but they also forced several GOP lawmakers into recall elections. Those were held Tuesday, and, for the most part, that didn't work either. Republicans won four out of six elections -- a major blow to the unions and their allies, who once again spent millions to try to buy victory. One of the losing Republicans represented a heavily Democrat district, and the other was plagued by scandal and lost only narrowly. The four victors, however, also represented districts Barack Obama won in 2008.

Round three will be recall elections next Tuesday for two Democrats who fled the state earlier this year in a vain attempt to obstruct Republicans in passing budget legislation. Delusional Democrats are trying to cast Tuesday's outcome as a win, but it's possible that the unions could go 0-for-3 if Democrats lose next week. Who would have thought it possible in Wisconsin, the home of "progressivism"?

For Once They Acted Like They Had A Pair

2011-08-04T03:01:00.003+03:00

From the most recent Wes Pruden commentary in the Wash Times:

"For once, the conservatives, both the tea party variety and the mainstream conservatives, didn’t buckle in the face of the media condescension that usually makes girlie men of Republicans in tight places. When girlie men get to Washington and see themselves surrounded on all sides by boogeymen of the left and under constant sniper fire from the pipsqueaks, they usually mistake the noise of pipsqueakery for the voice of the people who sent them to Congress. Buckling under pressure seemed the better part of what passes for valor in these parts."

But wait, there's more:

"President Obama arrived in Washington with schemes and dreams of blowing a bubble big enough to protect everyone from reality, whether they wanted to live in a bubble or not, but he didn’t understand that he was arriving just as the party was coming to its drunken conclusion. While Congress squirmed to an agreement on debt “relief,” trying to scratch as many itches as it could, Mr. Obama hid out at the White House, dreaming his dreamy dreams of ever-grander grandiloquence and desperate to stay out of the line of fire."

And the pure poetry:

"But this time, the Republicans and other conservatives did not flinch, their spines stiffened by courage taken from the teapot. Washington hasn’t seen a panic like this since Beauregard sent the Federal army scrambling back to Washington from Manassas battlefield in the summer of ‘61. This was the change we’ve been hoping for."

Hope and change in a magic tea party pot; Wes Pruden, the Washington Times, 2 August 2011

All Is Well on the Libtard Front !

2011-04-02T16:08:00.006+03:00

There are no doubt days when the moonbats can get you down and you have to wonder if there really is any hope for the Republic. I normally have these thoughts in the late evening as I watch my children sleep; wondering what kind of world we will be leaving for them.

A then comes along a "mother-of-all-moonbats", in this case Indiana Rep. Dave Cheatham, and I have to smile and get that warm feeling up my leg (Chris Matthews-like), and I know that all will end up being well. Let’s see; take a libtard state rep shirking his responsibilities and equate that action to that of a US soldier serving in harms way in Afghanistan.

Eventually the useful idiots will have to reach a point of critical mass and at that point the system must reset itself. I can only hope we survive the process……………………..

Thanks to B5 for an excellent post.

JOKE OF THE DAY (National Civility Institute)

2011-02-22T17:44:00.003+02:00

Since I guess there really are no limits to the depths of nitwittery in the academy, the University of Arizona's plans to establish a "civility institute" in the wake of the Giffords shooting comes as no big surprise. The big question is whether students in the program would be able to take internships in Madison Wisconsin or other hot-beds of dependent-class revolt? Surely there are some teaching moments to be had there right down to UW medical personnel writing sick leave slips for the fat-ass libtards. Get back to work moonbats! Or on second thought, perhaps the fact that they are off the job may actually benefit the children of Wisconsin?

More Looney Lines from Holdren

2011-02-01T14:59:00.002+02:00

More tidbits from the moonbat John Holdren courtesy of Hauntingthelibrary:

"Finally, less energy can mean more employment. The energy producing industries comprise the most capital intensive and least labour intensive major sector of the economy. Accordingly, each dollar of investment capital taken out of energy production and invested in something else, and each personal consumption dollar saved by reduced energy use and spent elsewhere in the economy will create more jobs than are lost."

Excerpted from an essay that appeared in The Windsor Star of August 1975 under the title Too Much Energy, Too Soon, A Hazard by John Holdren.

Don't forget, this guy is being paid with your tax dollars.

Can Barry Pull It Off?

2011-01-12T16:49:00.004+02:00

"This could be Barack Obama's finest moment. He wouldn't have to invite anyone in for a beer. He wouldn't have to find a foreign potentate to bow to with abject apologies for the manifold sins of the America of liberal and "progressive" imagination. All he has to do is act like a president."

Wesley Pruden; The Washington Times; 1/10/2011

Death of the Rum Runner Legacy

2010-12-27T15:39:00.002+02:00

Short of having to drive a stake through their hearts, it looks like the Kennedy legacy is finally drawing to a close; not so much from excessive alcohol consumption or legendary stupidity (skiing into trees, drunk driving, failure to cross bridges, etc.) but from something as simple as poor husbandry.

We can rest well now knowing that one of the worst libtard legacies in history is finally drawing to a close.

Lexicographer-in-Chief

2010-12-24T15:33:00.003+02:00

Say what you will about Barry, but unlike Carter, when all is said and done, at least he will have one item to be remembered for; placing the term "Shout-out" into the national lexicon. You may recall the first major use of this phrase in public at a news conference (to draw attention to a native-American leader in the audience) even though dozens lay dead and wounded at Ft. Hood at the time. Can't let the gory details of radical Islam get in the way of the Cool-vibe Dude getting his Grove-thing on.

"Shout-out" has gone main-stream now. Even conservatives use the term freely. I for one will make it a conscience effort never to use this term just as I will burn in hell before ever using a teleprompter.

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!

About the best commentary on 2010

2010-11-08T00:18:00.002+02:00

Krauthammer has about the best commentary on the 2010 elections; select paragraphs that say it all:

"For all the turmoil, the spectacle, the churning - for all the old bulls slain and fuzzy-cheeked freshmen born - the great Republican wave of 2010 is simply a return to the norm. The tide had gone out; the tide came back. A center-right country restores the normal congressional map: a sea of interior red, bordered by blue coasts and dotted by blue islands of ethnic/urban density."

[snip]

"Our two most recent swing cycles were triggered by unusually jarring historical events. The 2006 Republican "thumpin'" (to quote George W. Bush) was largely a reflection of the disillusionment and near-despair of a wearying war that appeared to be lost. And 2008 occurred just weeks after the worst financial collapse in eight decades. Similarly, the massive Republican swing of 2010 was a reaction to another rather unprecedented development - a ruling party spectacularly misjudging its mandate and taking an unwilling country through a two-year experiment in hyper-liberalism."

[snip]

"The Republicans won by default. And their prize is nothing more than a two-year lease on the House. The building was available because the previous occupant had been evicted for arrogant misbehavior and, by rule, alas, the House cannot be left vacant. The president, however, remains clueless. In his next-day news conference, he had the right demeanor - subdued, his closest approximation of humility - but was uncomprehending about what just happened. The "folks" are apparently just "frustrated" that "progress" is just too slow. Asked three times whether popular rejection of his policy agenda might have had something to do with the shellacking he took, he looked as if he'd been asked whether the sun had risen in the West. Why, no, he said."

Can't wait until 2012 !!

Excellent Analysis by the NYT (circa 1924); idiots.....

2010-08-21T15:14:00.004+03:00

Courtesy of the Peter Rost blog:

Goblins Beware !

2010-05-23T02:36:00.003+03:00

Miracles do happen ! The People's Republic of Maryland finally has a Castle Doctrine ! Now all we have to worry about is wall penetration.

It's All About Leadership and Barry Doesn't Have Any

2010-02-21T19:01:00.002+02:00

Excellent commentary from Krauthammer regarding the libtard's current attempt to rationalize the melt-down of the Obama joke. Just think about it for a minute, with all of the problems facing the country right now, have you heard any real inspiration from Barry; anything even remotely resembling the feel good speeches of the Reagan area? Can the system ever really work again?

Going right to Krauthammer's article:

"Leave it to Mickey Kaus, a principled liberal who supports health care reform, to debunk these structural excuses: "Lots of intellectual effort now seems to be going into explaining Obama's (possible/likely/impending) health care failure as the inevitable product of larger historic and constitutional forces. ... But in this case there's a simpler explanation: Barack Obama's job was to sell a health care reform plan to American voters. He failed." He failed because the utter implausibility of its central promise -- expanded coverage at lower cost -- led voters to conclude that it would lead ultimately to more government, more taxes and more debt. More broadly, the Democrats failed because, thinking the economic emergency would give them the political mandate and legislative window, they tried to impose a left-wing agenda on a center-right country. The people said no, expressing themselves first in spontaneous demonstrations, then in public opinion polls, then in elections -- Virginia, New Jersey and, most emphatically, Massachusetts. That's not a structural defect. That's a textbook demonstration of popular will expressing itself -- despite the special interests -- through the existing structures. In other words, the system worked."

Charles Krauthammer; Friday, February 19, 2010.

Janet Napolitano could use this as an example of an actual "working" system.

Time to "Get Some"

2010-02-05T15:19:00.007+02:00

Sweet Mother of Jesus; over 1300 rounds of USMil 30-carbine ball ammo !!! What's a poor boy to do???

A fellow brother-in-arms took pitty on the sorry state of my magazine and kindly passed on a full can of 30-carbine fresh out of the CMP. Looks like things will get a bit lively down at the range.

Yep, That Is It Exactly

2010-01-24T15:59:00.002+02:00

".........Alternatively, Democrats are trying to write off Brown's colossal victory as the standard seesawing of public sentiment that hits both Republicans and Democrats from time to time. As MSNBC's Chris Matthews explained, it was just the voters saying "no" generally, but not to anything in particular. Except when Republicans win political power, they hold onto it long enough to govern. The Democrats keep being smacked down by the voters immediately after being elected and revealing their heinous agenda. As a result, for the past four decades, American politics has consisted of Republicans controlling Washington for eight to 14 years -- either from the White House or Capitol Hill -- thus allowing Americans to forget what it was they didn't like about Democrats, whom they then carelessly vote back in. The Democrats immediately remind Americans what they didn't like about Democrats, and their power is revoked at the voters' first possible opportunity. Obama has cut the remembering-what-we-don't-like-about-Democrats stage of this process down from two to four years to about 10 months. Folks, I'm convinced that if we all work really hard, we can get it down to three months." Ann Coulter, January 20, 2010.

Yet Another "Shout-out"

2010-01-24T15:55:00.002+02:00

Even more pithy commentary from the Euroweanies over at Der Spiegel.

No You Can't !!

2010-01-24T15:52:00.002+02:00

"The lesson of Massachusetts: all politics is local only during times of domestic tranquility, but at truly defining moments, all politics is ideological." Lionel Chetwynd, January 21, 2010

Consider Massachusetts

2010-01-20T16:52:00.002+02:00

Still a bit groggy from staying up to watch Scott Brown's acceptance speech last night. Perhaps there is hope yet for the Republic.

Now we must all do our duty as follows:

1) Identify your two state senators.
2) Address an envelope to each.
3) Enclose a couple of labels off of those old tea bags you have in the pantry.
4) And include a simple note with the words: "Massachusetts; 1/19/2010".
5) Sign your name and be sure to use a return address label.

The Revolution has begun..........................hang on tight!!

"I don't know where I'm a gonna go when the volcano blow"

2010-01-18T15:37:00.003+02:00

I can't even begin to imagine the sad state of affairs going on in Hati right now. Combine a city that borders on the dysfunctional under the best of conditions, New Orleans (whoops I mean Port-au-Prince) and a disaster like Katrina (whoops I mean an R7 earthquake) and things can get bad, really bad; hell-fire and pillars of salt bad; definitely enought to ruin your whole day.

But what to do to permanently fix the place?

Once we bail their asses out of yet another disaster and get things cleaned up, I say they will need a steady stream of cash. So the only alternative is to relocate the UN Headquarters from NYC to Port-au-Prince. This would solve everything. Beautiful mountains and tropical breezes would beat a shitty NYC winter any day. The entire country probably could be run with just the proceeds from UN-related parking tickets alone.

But then there is that little issue of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system. But no-problem-mon, if the IPCC can cure anthropogenic "climate change", surely they can handle a little tectonic plate engineering.

"Now We Have A Whitehouse Negro"

2010-01-18T15:30:00.002+02:00

“The double standard sets up Trent Lott – we’re going to run you out on a rail, but we’ll let Sen. Reid say something like this,” said King. “But let’s bring it up to now. Basically, what he [Reid] is saying is, if you have light skin and a particular education, we’ll let you in the House. If not, you need to stay in the field. I’m sorry, that’s what I hear.” Dr. Alveda King; CNSNews, 1/12/2010.

That's what we heard too; from Reid, and from Biden during the campaign;"articulate and clean" was it?

Statistics You Can Live By

2010-01-09T16:05:00.005+02:00

As a gene jock, I never had much need for statistics. As long as DNA was linear and I could manipulate it, things were cool. Statistics were best left to the computer geeks who couldn't find their way to the lab much less open an Eppendorf tube.

But even I can take note of the latest FBI Semiannual Uniform Crime Report for the period January thru June 2009. The blather from the gun control crowd has always been that more guns means more crime. Studies have disputed this over the years but with the advent of the messianic Obama administration, we have here the opportunity to carry out an actual hypothesis-driven experiment in near real time. Hypothesis: Radical left-wing "junior" senator from Illinois somehow gets elected to the white house with a vow to "fundamentally transform America". Gee, how long will it take him to get to our guns? Gun and ammo sales will soar. There will be severe ammo shortages. Prices will rise.

Lucky for us firearms enthusiasts, the libtards are too occupied with health care right now to be bothered with the physical distinctions between assault weapons, semi-autos and true full automatic weapons, you know the basics of firearms that the politicos and state-controlled media can never seem to keep straight. Well guess what, the firearms industry is the one area in the current economy that is actually making it big. If you tried to buy a hand gun in early to mid-2009, forget it. Even today, many areas of the country are seeing severe shortages of both guns and ammo. Need ammo? Forget that. They line up at the truck for that, although in my experience things are beginning to ease up but prices are still high particularly for all but the most popular calibers. Our local WalMart gets their truck in on Tuesdays and Thursdays and if you are there when it arrives you can score but the limit is usually five boxes/customer.

The data: Personal gun ownership rose by 2% over the same period in 2008, but murders in January to June 2009 dropped 10%. So where is the increase in murders?

The average street urchin obviously would not feel threatened by the Great One, and they don't buy legally or go through the background checks like the rest of us anyway. Judging by the number of spent casings we see on the pavement on the 10 o'clock news they aren't particularly good shots either so I doubt they spend much time at the range or buying a lot of practice ammo.
A recent Patriot Post Digest sums it up nicely:

"It looks as if a correlation between gun ownership and murder rates exists after all -- but not the one gun-control crusaders claim."........"Granted, correlation doesn't always equal causation, but the number of privately owned guns rose in 2009 by about 2 percent. During the first six months of last year, national instant background checks jumped by 24.5 percent over the first six months of 2008."........."Indeed, gun manufacturer Sturm, Ruger, & Co. reported that first quarter 2009 production skyrocketed by 69.3 percent over first quarter 2008 levels. The most popular guns purchased were those most commonly used for self defense. Hmm, gun ownership translating into personal safety and lower crime rates. Maybe our Founding Fathers were onto something after all."

In times of trouble there are two precious metals to be had; gold and lead. The lead is preferably at the end of a well made cartridge. See you down on the range, and if you want to try my S&W40, be sure to bring your own ammo.

A racial profile to live by

2010-01-01T17:40:00.002+02:00

"Since Muslims took down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, every attack on a commercial airliner has been committed by foreign-born Muslim men with the same hair color, eye color and skin color. Half of them have been named Mohammed." Ann Coulter 12/30/2009

Happy New Year !!

Marching Orders for 2010

2009-12-30T18:49:00.002+02:00

Take ten minutes and watch this speech. The big question will be whether we have the testicles to make it work. Why not? Sure beats getting shredded by some crazed jihadist.

Down at the phlebotomist

2009-12-30T18:00:00.002+02:00

With a couple of days off for a long holiday weekend I thought I would head down to the local medical lab for a routine blood draw. Since I didn't need to fast for this particular sample, I thought it would be interesting to forgo the 7am opening by sleeping in for a change and see what it is like to visit fully caffeinated and not being in hypoglycemic shock. I only need to go there about once a year and it is usually in a heavy fasting fog. Big mistake. On the way, I had the privilege of getting behind every geriatric driver in the county who refused to go any faster than 25 MPH. Not surprisingly, the blue-haired little old lady at the head of our five car caravan happened to be going to the same place as me; oh boy. Bless her heart though, it took her nearly ten minutes to park and another ten to make it into the waiting room. And of course the waiting room was packed and to make the experience complete, they share a waiting room with a GP's office next door so I can think of nothing better to do on my day off than to get exposed to every RTI virus currently circulating in the community. What fun!

This particular lab is a one person operation with the phlebotomist covering both the front desk and the lab activities. With no name tag I'll just call her Flo. And of course she knows all the clientele by first name (geriatric and fat-assed diabetic alike) not to mention all of their families names, pet names, housing situation, and didn't you know; "Johnny didn't drive his big truck to work today? I wonder what that means?" I don't know, perhaps he needed to see a man about a horse.

But the really big topic of conversation for today was the ink pen neatly chained to the sign-in clip board. "Please print you name clearly" by the way. You see, it is one of those drug rep pens and writes really well, so well in fact that we can't have it walking away don't you know. "And did you know that the drug reps are not allowed to give away pens any more? Note pads too, you know, the ones with the sticky on the back." "It is all because some doc might be writing a script some day with such a pen, and that evil pen might just make them write it for what ever is displayed right there on the pen. Can you believe that?" I couldn't bear to pop Flo's bubble by mentioning that it really isn't about the stationary but the free trips to Cancun (with or without the man with the horse). Neither could I mention that the same folks who managed to stop the flow of subversive stationary are also the ones who will be directly controlling their health care delivery in the near future. One can only imagine the waiting room conversations after that assuming the place can stay open.

After an hour's wait, Flo finally got to me.

Barry on the ropes

2009-12-02T23:59:00.002+02:00

So, how's that "hope-and-change" thing working for you? Things are getting pretty bad when the euroweanies over at Der Spiegel give you a "shout-out" so to speak. And this fat-ass buffoon has the nerve to refer to West Point as the "enemy camp". Despicable, both of them, and the Corps of Cadets having to waste their time giving this idiot a captive audience. There should be a new directive that no armed services member (or service academy cadet) should have to be anywhere near a stage when this moron reads his teleprompter.

A little advice for the next Op

2009-11-27T22:12:00.004+02:00

For all you Special Operators out there; please in the future, just shoot the sons-of-bitches after you snatch them so you don't have to be subjected to future libtard bullshit. The Citizens are really getting sick of seeing you have to put up with this nitwittery. You guys are professionals, we are forever in your debt, so just go ahead and give them three rounds center-of-mass or two between the eyes and be done with it please.

Document Dump at the CRU

2009-11-25T16:08:00.002+02:00

Well, well, well,.........as if the Pimp-and-Ho sting at various ACORN offices wasn't enough fun for several news cycles, we are now treated to a major act of stupidity over at the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of East Anglia University. Those who follow the AGW saga will recognize this as Britian's premier climate center that has been heavily involved with climate modeling for the IPCC. What was originally reported as a hack, and since confirmed by various state-controlled news sources, now seems to be an inadvertent document dump either intentionally by an insider or through gross stupidity. Interestingly, the way the email threads and documents are arrayed in the various files, it almost appears that the CRU was preparing internally for some type of British FOIA request.

It certainly is interesting reading. Here we have supposedly intelligent scientists suggesting to each other that certain email traffic should be deleted from their computers. Anyone with even a lick of common sense will know that deleting emails from your desk top machine does little good particularly in large organizations with multiple levels of network back up. And these are the climate modelers ?

What is being billed as "Climategate" now seems to encompass Barry's chief science czar John Holdren, oh this is going to be good !

Stand by as things get sorted out but at a minimum, and as if we didn't already know, the science is definitely not settled. Hey Al, you better call your agent and your broker !

Hope and Clueless

2009-11-07T17:11:00.002+02:00

On the political/social scene, things have been so crazy lately that it defies imagination. When I sit down to try and blog about it to vent a bit, my blood pressure starts to rise way out of proportion. And of course, my current job situation (in the belly of the beast so to speak) makes it a bit difficult to take part in Tea Party Demos. So what to do?

Obviously the main-stream media (now the state-controlled media) is of little value and this is very dangerous since the Founders were counting on the media to keep the citizenry well informed as a vital part of our republic. Luckily, we do have some limited alternatives. Fox News has stepped forward to establish a beach head and althought the loony-left discounts them; the ratings speak for themselves. I also had to restart my subscription to National Review (allowed to lapse during Bush's first term).

And as usual, Wes Pruden has an interesting column this week that sums up the off-year election results in VA and NJ. If we thought the Clinton white house was in constant campaign mode, the current effort by BHO and his socialists makes theirs look like a freshman government project.

To quote Pruden:

"Mr. Obama continues to campaign for the job the rest of us thought we gave him a year ago. The day after the Republicans sent wake-up calls from Virginia and New Jersey, he was back on the stump, working up a sweat -- or at least a gentlemanly perspiration -- and breathing hard against George W. Bush."

Followed by this:

"Some of this was even true. Americans had, in fact, gone to the polls the year before, and had in fact cast ballots for "the future they wanted to see." Very few voters ever cast ballots for a future they don't want to see. But the rest of his stump speech was a good deal of the windy exaggeration expected during a campaign. But like it or not, Mr. Obama is the president now, and the opportunities and failures at the White House are his. George W. is back home in Texas, where he no longer frightens women and horses. We've still got record deficits, two wars and now our allies don't know what to believe. Someone should break the news, gently, to the president that the election is over and he won."

And who can't help but get down-right chilled when they see Pelosi open her mouth and cast those loony deer-in-the-headlights eyes at the camera. Pruden finishes with:

"Nancy Pelosi and her purveyors of fairy-tale economics in the House understand this. The longer Congress takes to create the vast bureaucracy to "reform" health care, the greater the likelihood that common sense and a righteously angered public will kill the evil scheme. Most people look at the $1.05 trillion - that's trillion, with a 't,' not a 'b' - health care "reform" and see a debt to crush their grandchildren. The Republicans got a lesson in the elections, too. The natives are restless; Barack Obama's windy eloquence and his 25-cent promises of hope and change are stale and getting a little moldy. Even credulity has its limits. But winning in spite of themselves won't be enough to resurrect the Republican corpse. Unattended corpses get moldy, too."

May the Lord have pity on us.

Obama's America (Listen to the lyrics)

2009-08-31T03:03:00.001+03:00

Country Boys will survive.

Right on the Money (no pun intended)

2009-08-08T23:16:00.002+03:00

One of the joys of visiting back home is having the opportunity to read the local papers in Charlottesville and Richmond. Other than covering local events which is about all that local papers are good for, its no wonder the print media in this country is in trouble.

The local paper in C'ville, The Daily Progress (aka The Daily Regress) is about what one would expect from a progressive college town rag; overtly liberal with lots of bleeding-heart commentary and letters to the editor. But they do surprise you once in a while. Today's editorial page had the latest from Thomas Sowell; "Utopia Versus Freedom". This is perhaps the most succinct description of what the MIC intends to do with healthcare. It is a must read. Here's an excerpt:

"Let's go back to square one. The universe was not made to our specifications. Nor were human beings. So there is nothing surprising in the fact that we are dissatisfied with many things at many times. The big question is whether we are prepared to follow any politician who claims to be able to "solve" our "problem."

and this sums it up nicely:

"Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." We have heard that many times. What is also the price of freedom is the toleration of imperfections. If everything that is wrong with the world becomes a reason to turn more power over to some political savior, then freedom is going to erode away, while we are mindlessly repeating the catchwords of the hour, whether "change," "universal health care" or "social justice." If we can be so easily stampeded by rhetoric that neither the public nor the Congress can be bothered to read, much less analyze, bills making massive changes in medical care, then do not be surprised when life and death decisions about you or your family are taken out of your hands-- and out of the hands of your doctor-- and transferred to bureaucrats in Washington."

We are doomed so for the masses, go ahead and jam down another quarter pounder, bag of Doritos, and a super-sized soda, and get back to American Idol. For those who still have a lick of sense, repeat after me; range time, ammo, canned goods.

Dissent over at the American Chemical Society

2009-08-02T04:09:00.002+03:00

Nice to see that some main stream scientists are finally paying attention to the global warming (aka climate change) nitwittery and calling the doom naysayers bluff. Keep their feet to the fire guys; excellent work.

Coulter on Obamacare

2009-07-27T03:10:00.002+03:00

Nice piece on Obamacare from Ann Coulter. Here is a sample:

"But politicians are more interested in pleasing lobbyists for acupuncturists, midwives and marriage counselors than they are in pleasing recent college graduates who only want to insure against the possibility that they'll be hit by a truck. So politicians at both the state and federal level keep passing boatloads of insurance mandates requiring that all insurance plans cover a raft of non-emergency conditions that are expensive to treat -- but whose practitioners have high-priced lobbyists. As a result, a young, healthy person has a choice of buying artificially expensive health insurance that, by law, covers a smorgasbord of medical services of no interest to him ... or going uninsured. People who aren't planning on giving birth to a slew of children with restless leg syndrome in the near future forgo insurance -- and then politicians tell us we have a national emergency because some people don't have health insurance." Ann Coulter, 7/22/2009.

Virginia Boy Does Good

2009-07-27T02:41:00.002+03:00

After several months of speculation we finally see a formal announcement that Francis Collins has been nominated by the MIC to head the NIH. This has been rumored for some time now and the word on the street was that the delay in the announcement was due in part to his need for a little extra time to finish up his latest book and get it to the publisher before once again becoming a Federal employee.

As you might expect, the fact that Collins has no problem proclaiming that he is something as subversive as a "CHRISTIAN" is causing wailing and gnashing of teeth from the progressive libtards both in and out of the scientific community. I say TOUGH SHIT. I've had the honor of interacting with this guy back when he was still director of the NHGRI and based on his track record to date, I doubt you will see anything out of the ordinary; certainly nothing as ridiculous as Hansen getting arrested. How on earth does this guy keep his Federal job?

Cal Thomas does an excellent job of exposing the left's hypocrisy; go read it ! And another good read is Collins commencement address at Virginia in 2001.

If I were him I am not sure I would agree to serve under the MIC particularly with the likes of this zero, but I think the NIH will be well served to have Collins at the helm and I think he has the style and common sense not to let his faith affect the job at hand. God speed Francis !

Pimp My Ride.........

2009-07-02T19:08:00.002+03:00

You might remember those "Money for Guns" schemes from the 1990s where the major city police would pay cash if folks would turn in their guns. It quickly became obvious that the street urchins were turning in grandpa's old rusty rods and using the cash to upgrade their semi-autos and buy body armour. Way to go libtards !

A similar plan is being offered by the MIC to boost car sales. See this excellent story over at American Thinker for coverage of the "Cash for Clunkers" program.

What If You Could Turn Off The Internet

2009-07-02T18:58:00.002+03:00

Imagine if you will the howling we would have heard from the progressive ranks if Bush would have proposed this legislation while he was still in office; the ability of the Executive to shut down key parts of the internet during a world-wide cybersecurity crisis. Surely something this sinister must have originated from deep within the undisclosed Cheney security complex.

ARRA and Comperative Effectiveness Research

2009-07-02T17:58:00.004+03:00

I've been extremely busy this spring taking care of family and normal business but extra busy helping out my agency increase the ranks of the dependent classes by handing out ARRA funds. I quickly came to the conclusion that this has little to do with jobs or economic recovery and everything to do with keeping the Democrats in office. There is candy in this legislation for constituencies that don't even exist yet !

Which leads me to the topic of Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research (CER). This was in ARRA simply because it was part of Daschle's book, but when he was canned early on for tax stupidity someone forgot to remove it from the bill.

Sandy Szwarc over at Junkfood Science does an excellent job of describing just what the progressives plan to do with this data as they move forward dismantling the best health care system in the world. We can only hope there is enough spine remaining in the Senate to save us from this nonsense.

1819: America's First Housing Bubble

2009-04-12T14:50:00.002+03:00

"The Panic of 1819 lasted about three years — the Great Depression lasted well over a decade. When looking for solutions to our current mess, we should study a winning team; instead we seem determined to channel FDR, the same arrogant fool who took an economic downturn and stretched it into a decade-plus tragedy."

Fascinating analysis of America's first major post war financial crisis, the panic of 1819 by C. J. Maloney . This is a must read. If only the majority of morons in this country had only a mild interest in history. No such luck; it most likely would interfere with keeping up with American Idol.

Here's another nugget:

"The men of 1819 realized that a "free market" in order to work must be just that — free. They had in them what we completely lack: a trust in the American people to manage their own affairs. A trust in "free markets" is, at base, a trust in the people. Many look at freedom as a luxury today — one that we can't afford and dare not try. Our trust in ourselves is dead, but it wasn't always."

Go read the whole thing and between trips to the range, work in tutorials with your children (assuming they are old enough not to be bothered with nightmares).

Paying Off the Corporate Freak Show

2009-03-31T14:36:00.002+03:00

Readers of this blog might recall my general disgust for corporate senior management particularly the freak show one generally sees in the pharma industry. However, when it comes to compensation and bonus packages (not counting some of the more outrageous golden parachute deals), these people generally earn their money. Think about it for a minute, would you really want one of those jobs? Sure, it might be fun for the first week or so but I doubt any sane person with any kind of life outside of work would actually want one for the long haul. Most people realize this and that is why the candidate pool is so small and why corporate boards and share holders alike generally endorse these seemingly outrageous compensation packages.

And then there is the current situation with AIG bonuses. If I were one of those AIG employees, I would be polishing the glutes in anticipation of asking certain members of Congress just exactly which cheek they would like to kiss first.

As an ultimate irony, yesterday we were treated to the headline that the MIC fired the chairman of GM. That certainly is interesting. The last I heard, such actions were normally reserved for Boards of Directors. I guess there must have been a line authorizing this in one of the bail-out packages that no one at GM bothered to read before taking the money. How embarrassing, to be fired by a community organizer who never actually held down a real job in the public sector.

But here is the scary part; ".......Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty." Wow, that sure is comforting. I can see where that will save the American auto industry.

We've tried to be a "buy-American" family over the years and we currently own two Dodge vehicles, both nearly ten years old and each having over 150K miles. They were paid off early by the way. We are about to start shopping for one of their replacements. Needless to say I plan to go out of my way to look at Fords (assuming they continue not to accept bail out money) or better yet, a Toyota.

The Smartest Woman in the World

2009-03-08T18:56:00.002+02:00

Who could help but think back to the early days of the Clinton adminsitration; remember all the buzz about Hillary, how we were getting two for the price of one, how she was the smartest woman in the world?

Read this and think twice. Of course it is being attributed to her being tired. The poor old fatass. Better this to the European Parliament than to be getting that 4am call on the hotline.

The fun we would be having if she were in the Whitehouse.

Charlie's Got it Right

2009-03-08T18:46:00.002+02:00

"Forget the pork. Forget the waste. Forget the 8,570 earmarks in a bill supported by a president who poses as the scourge of earmarks. Forget the "$2 trillion dollars in savings" that "we have already identified," $1.6 trillion of which President Obama's budget director later admits is the "savings" of not continuing the surge in Iraq until 2019 -- 11 years after George Bush ended it, and eight years after even Bush would have had us out of Iraq completely." Charles Krauthamer, March 6, 2009.

Priceless...................

"to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

2009-03-01T17:44:00.002+02:00

....."to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic"........ Strong words indeed and to those of us who have taken this oath either through service in the military or when becoming a federal employee it is easily spoken but rarely thought about at the time. much like this line:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed "

Do you really think this is about deer hunting or the National Guard? There is a lot of uncertainly in this country right now and I am seeing the level of discussions about stupid government and one's personal safety reaching levels unheard of even during the early days of the Clinton administration or those dark weeks right after 9/11. Even well balanced commentary such as that from the Patriot Post in their latest edition is mentioning the possibility of some level of civil violence in our near future. I can only hope and pray that this will not be the case.

Call me crazy or paranoid but just in case, the kids will be getting a bit more time on the range, a little more background on the constitution, and GATC will be making time to prepare both physically and mentally hopefully without arousing too much suspicion or fear with the wife and kids.

Another timely quote from the Patriot Post:

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." Thomas Paine, 1776.

The Silent Freak Show

2009-02-19T03:14:00.004+02:00

I should have done this a long time ago but this past weekend I finally broke down and bought a pair of "sound isolating" ear buds for the IPod. Besides increasing the sound quality about 100X compared to the lame pair that came with it, these beauties block out the worst of the background noise. The sound quality is amazing too. I am hearing notes that I didn't know existed. Shure brand buds are highly recommended.

I am not the type to go around everywhere with an MP3 player. As a matter of fact, I rarely travel with my IPod preferring to have all the situational awareness that I can muster particularly on the commute to ground-zero. I detest the morons with the dreaded "screaming" earbuds. You know the ones, generally street urchins with their players turned up so loudly that you really have to wonder why they even bother with them in the first place.

The big reason for my purchase though was that I was pretty much fed-up with the crowd on my commuter bus especially on the ride home in the evening. The obnoxious cell phone chatter, the ridiculous ring tones, idle praise for the MIC, the guy who makes pig noises, the old fart that lets out a cough that would wake the dead just as you are trying to catch a nap. It definitely is the bar scene from StarWars; a freak show. Half of these people probably couldn't fine their way to the highway much less commute for an hour in their own vehicles.

Now I can set back in my acoustic cocoon and observe my fellow man. It's not pretty.

Oh the INDIGNITY !!

2009-02-16T15:32:00.002+02:00

"The power of the secretary of State flows directly from the president. But Hillary does not have the inside track with Obama. Rice and Powers, close advisers in the campaign, and Gen. Jones — whose office is in the White House — all may have superior access. Holbrooke and Mitchell will have more immediate information about the world’s trouble spots."; Dick Morris, TheHill.com, 2/9/2009.

Miracle in Iraq

2009-02-16T15:28:00.002+02:00

"When you become president of the United States you inherit its history, even the parts you would have done differently. Obama might argue that American sacrifices in Iraq were not worth what we achieved. But for the purposes of current and future policy, that is entirely moot. Despite Obama's opposition, America went on to create a small miracle in the heart of the Arab Middle East. President Obama is now the custodian of that miracle. It is his duty as leader of the nation that gave birth to this fledgling democracy to ensure that he does nothing to undermine it." Charles Krauthammer; Town Hall.com; 2/13/2009.

There IS a Silver Lining

2009-02-14T16:45:00.003+02:00

Looks like there is a silver lining to the economic meltdown:

"With bad economic news and rising unemployment, some Latin American immigrants are giving up on America and going back home. The size of the exodus is difficult to discern. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, census data suggest that more than one million illegal immigrants left last year, even before the economy began its downward slide. Other sources believe the numbers are still only in the thousands. Immigrants who have made some kind of life here know that if they leave, returning would probably be impossible, so they hang on. Money sent back home by Mexican immigrants is one measure, at least, of falling employment. In 2008 remittances to families in Mexico fell for the first time since recordkeeping began 13 years ago, dropping from $26 billion in 2007 to $25 billion, according to Mexico's central bank. Remittances are important to Mexico -- they are second only to oil as a source of foreign income." Patriot Post, February 13, 2009

Thinking of a Hybrid Automobile? Think Again.

2009-02-08T19:49:00.002+02:00

Steve Milloy puts some level-headed perspective on the topic of hybrid automobiles, the folly of biofuels, and carbon sequestration. Not included are all of the issues that go into high-tech battery technology and how they will end up being almost as toxic as nuclear waste.

An Institution That Actually Has a Pair

2009-02-08T19:45:00.003+02:00

Who would have thought that we would have to look to genuine socialists, modern-day Germany, to find a financial institution that actually has a pair of balls.

Go read "Deutsche Bank Posts First Loss Since WWII, Rejects State Aid". We could use a bit of that thinking with the limp dicks in this country.

So What's in it for the Rest of Us?

2009-02-05T04:59:00.003+02:00

The last few days have been great fun watching the debates on the bail-out plan and the MIC's failed choices for cabinet posts. Pretty much what one would expect when you take a junior senator with NO real experience (legislative or otherwise) and drop him in the Oval Office.

The libtards always claim that the "rich" don't pay their share of income tax. Well, Daschle made over $5M last year, is one of them, and didn't even have the brains to hire a decent tax accountant.

My question is: what about the rest of us? You know, those of us who have always paid our bills (and taxes) on time, bought sensible cars and houses, kept our credit ratings in the "excellent" range? Those of us who worked our butts off in college and grad school living for eight or more years below the poverty line to finally get to a comfortable lifestyle and raise a family. What do we get, other than having to pay for the lard-asses in their Escalades driving back to their McMansions they bought on an ARM?

The Gore Effect Continues

2009-02-01T22:40:00.003+02:00

Interesting how cold weather and storms seem to show up where ever Al Gore makes an appearance. And of course the reception he got from the Senate libtards last week was equally astonishing. It would be nice to see a rudimentary level of science understanding and critical questioning from just one of these morons.

The Junkman gives a nice review of the circus here.

UPDATE: Those Wonderful Stem Cells Will Save Us

2009-01-24T16:15:00.003+02:00

Gee guys I was only trying to be a smart ass this week, but just days after the MIC came on board, we see the first FDA approval of a phase-I clinical trial using actual human embryonic stem cells. Interesting timing by the Agency (only days after the MIC was sworn in; same week as the annual Right-to-Life march on DC, etc.). Simple coincidence? I think not. Five years from now, especially if they are proven to be safe and effective, I can guarantee you the MIC and other libtards will be claiming this as their own invention . Interesting how this new therapeutic was developed during the dreaded dark-age of the Bush years. So Ms Blumner, is this your idea of American science being in "suspended animation" and the Bush administration's "lack of interest in pushing America toward innovation"? Sounds like good old American ingenuity and free-market Pharma R&D to me. This is how American science works best; basic stem cell and development technology arising from Academia (Wisconsin and California in this case), and the IP being licensed by industry who then do the heavy lifting and run with it to market.

The company involved is Geron Corporation and the first indication is traumatic spinal cord injury. You can read the full press release here. GRNOPC1 is the therapeutic candidate and this cell product is a partially differentiated oligodendrocyte progenitor line arising from the human embryonic master cell stock H1 that was derived previous to August 9, 2001 and thus not subject to the Bush ban (although the company is quick to point out that no Federal funding was used in its derivation). These cells have "demonstrated remyelinating and nerve growth stimulating properties leading to restoration of function in animal models of acute spinal cord injury". Thus they will be tested in trauma victims by direct injection at the cord lesion site 7-14 days post injury. The primary end-point will be safety with a secondary endpoint of restored neurological function. So technically this is a phase-I/II clinical trial.

My big question from January 19 was whether anyone could show me the specs for a cGMP batch of stem cells. Apparently Geron could do that if we could get a peek at their 21,000 page IND application. Here is their abbreviated CMC description from the press release:

"GRNOPC1 is produced using current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) in Geron's manufacturing facilities. Geron's GRNOPC1 production process and clean-room suites have been inspected and licensed by the state of California. The cells are derived from the H1 human embryonic stem cell line, which was created before August 9, 2001. Studies using this line qualify for U.S. federal research funding, although no federal funding was received for the development of the product or to support the clinical trial. Geron's H1 hESC master cell bank is fully qualified for human use and was shown to be karyotypically normal and free of measurable contaminants of human or animal origin. Production of GRNOPC1 from undifferentiated hESCs in the master cell bank uses qualified reagents and a standardized protocol developed at Geron over the past three years. Each manufacturing run of GRNOPC1 is subjected to standardized quality control testing to ensure viability, sterility and appropriate cellular composition before release for clinical use. GRNOPC1 product that has passed all such specifications and has been released is available for the approved clinical trial. The current production scale can supply product needs through pivotal clinical trials. The existing master cell bank could potentially supply sufficient starting material for GRNOPC1 to commercially supply the U.S. acute spinal cord injury market for more than 20 years. "

Pretty damn impressive. Now the big question will be safety and efficacy. Apparently this product is effective in animal models of spinal cord injury. How that will equate to human outcomes is the subject of the trial. Safety will be the primary issue. Stem cells are rapidly growing progenitor cells and thus possess a certain degree of cancer risk since they could potentially differentiate to a rogue cell type and form a tumor. That is how they were discovered in the first place as a cell type in teratomas. All indications in animals is that GRNOPC1 is low risk for this potential. But just as we have seen with conventional small-molecule therapeutics, issues of toxicity (or in this case tumor potential) may not become apparent until well after thousands of patients have been treated and followed up (classic post-market surveillance).

The other issue is rejection. These cells are allogeneic meaning that they came from a donor unrelated genetically to the recipient. As the press release points out, GRNOPC1 cells are not overly reactive immunologically but the clinical protocol does specify using "a limited course of low-dose immunosuppression". So they are not completely silent as far as the immune system is concerned. Whether long-term immunosupression will be required is unknown. Also, I have to wonder, what if there are long term immunological issues with these patients, will we see MS-type effects as demyelination progresses? Only time will tell.

And of course the big moral issue with this therapy surrounds the human embryo that was sacrificed for derivation of the original H1 cell line. Who was that? Who could they have been? Were they male or female (Geron knows this from the karyotype). The libtards will counter that it was just a small mass of cells (most likely a blastocyst phase embryo). The pro-lifers will tell you that it was human and sacred. Such things are best discussed with your God. I hear He is patient, but for those involved, I would have your speech rehearsed well in advance just in case.

Hail to the Mulatto-In-Chief

2009-01-20T23:13:00.006+02:00

I normally would not stoop to the level of a street urchin and ACTUALLY call our new president a "mulatto-in-chief" but what the hell. Biologically it is a correct definition and in the spirit of hyphenated Americanism (assuming african-American and mulatto-American are synonymous?) and in the spirit of the street antics of the great unwashed demonstrated today as our exiting President reached the inaugural stage, it seems fitting that "mulatto-in-chief" (MIC) be forever synonymous with "Obamessiah" in all future postings of Social Detritus. But then that's what we are all about here; social "detritus".

The Rott hits it right on the head today and I can't help but reprint this tidbit. Go there and read the whole thing:

......"We survived wars because the enemy was not of us, but from foreign roots. This time, the scenario is deceitful, as the enemy is our own countrymen that have decided that life can be easier if we chose to delegate and rescind our individual responsibilities, suborning them to a faceless collectivism of socialist government. “Hope and Change” is not the battle cry of a nation, but the whimper of a society, that has grown decadent, lazy and complacent and only wishes “Bread and Circuses” and satellite TV. In a few hours from now, we will have our “Bread and Circuses”, to our own demise as free individuals. America, you have chosen to follow the path of the Roman Empire, totally ignorant of the circumstances of it’s demise. Our only hope is to stand together against the tyranny of the ignorant masses, and carry on what we ALL know is the vision of the founders, who selflessly gave their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to ensure those unalienable rights, G-d given, would not and could not be taken away from America."........

GOD HELP US

Our Nation Is Ready To Be Smart Again ????

2009-01-20T16:02:00.003+02:00

Will someone PLEASE just shoot me now and get it over with ? I really can't stand another Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) article from some libtard moonbat. Today's installment comes to us from one Robyn (cute spelling) Blumner over at the St. Petersburg (no not that one; Florida) Times. It appeared in my local rag this morning under a completely different title which to me seems a bit odd by itself but then again this is the MSM. Let's see; you are a hard-working columnist and you go to all of the trouble to write an article. It then goes out on the wire and any rag in the nation can pick it up and add whatever title is useful (in this case to once again bash the President) for their local purposes. Sort of like writing a book with a blank cover and letting your local Borders add the title. It appears that her original title is: "Our nation is ready to be smart again". Such eloquence !

Basically it looks like "Ms ?" Blumner is a bit taken aback by Bush's recent farewell interviews. Seems to her that he is trying to boastfully re-write history a bit to make his administration look better than it really was. I for one will leave that to history to decide although I must agree that he could have done a lot more talking and explaining during his time in office. However, anyone with only a passing interest would realize (assuming they took the time to listen to his other interviews and speeches) that government by focus group (read Clintonian) just wasn't his style. We saw this in the elder Bush too but his communications staff was a bit more on the ball overall.

Once Blumner gets over her BDS rant (taking nearly half the article by the way), she gets to her point that Bush's policies have put us into a state of "suspended animation" and "lack of interest in pushing America toward innovation". Wow, if that is the case, then I wonder how things could be so bad that we can afford to spend $170 Million on the Obamessiah's inauguration ? This is classic socialist world-view. Does the word "capitalism" and "free-market economy" mean anything to you Ms Blumner? Just taking the Pharma industry for example, I haven't seen any signs of lack of innovation.

The real whopper of a laugh comes almost at the end of the article when she quotes that great congressional intellect Nancy Pelosi:

"So when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells NPR that the coming economic stimulus plan can be described in four words — "science, science, science and science" — she is expressing a great pent-up demand for America to start being smart again and energetic and start fixing problems rather than creating them, with government as a partner. "

Yes, right Ms Blumner, lets look to Capitol Hill for answers. The same nitwits that legislated us into the sub-prime mortgage mess in the first place. At least President Bush can take comfort knowing that there are still enough citizens out there with the good sense to give Congress the approval rating they deserve which consistently have been lower than his own.

And if we as a Nation are so smart, one has to wonder just how we would go and elect one of the most inexperienced presidents to office in one of the most turbulent and dangerous times in our history. Is it really that hard getting over the 2000 election?

Those Wonderful Stem Cells Will Save Us

2009-01-19T20:08:00.002+02:00

Well folks it is now one Earth day and counting here in the land of the STUPID before the O-man is sworn in as president. Look for major medical advances and new cures to be announced tomorrow (1/20/2009) as the Bush Stem Cell ban will most likely be overturned and recipients of Federal grants and contracts will be free to once again work with human embryos purely for the purpose of deriving embryonic stem cell lines. If you have followed the MSM over the last eight years you would be led to believe that the evil Bush-Cheney machine has been keeping all of that technology suppressed for Halliburton or something.

Never mind the fact that private industry was never under any restrictions assuming they were not using Federal funds, and if an academic researcher suddenly had some major discovery or technical advance to report in the field they could easily be contracted by industry to carry on with private money or better yet join the ranks of Pharma R&D workers where the rewards are great but the job security isn't. As we all know, Academia has such a wonderful track record of bringing new therapies to market.

So........with the Pharma regulatory environment getting more difficult all the time can anyone show me the specs or guidances for a cGMP batch of human embryonic stem cells?

The Bush Vaccine Initiatives

2009-01-19T01:16:00.003+02:00

Geez.... and I thought the Bush Administration was so anti-science, anti-research; have a look at this article describing the upcoming deflation of the vaccine sector:

"Coordinated by the Office of Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority (BARDA) within the Department of Health & Human Services, this influx of money during the Bush years has re-energized the flu vaccine business and brought in large new players where there previously there had been a slow exodus of firms. Three major companies and one significant independent vaccine business have taken advantage of the flu funding to join the US market: GlaxoSmithKline (through imports and the purchase of ID Biomedical in Canada), Novartis (through Chiron), AstraZeneca (through Medimmune) and CSL (joining the US market from Australia). Are the manufacturing and commercial development subsidies that the vaccine companies learned to count on from the Bush Administration likely to continue? Probably not; but they may be replaced by a different, and more timely, form of incentive – enhanced government-stimulated markets for vaccine products." Cole Werble, RPM First Take, January 19, 2009.

So instead of continuing R&D and infrastructure development to make vaccines more financially palatable to the Pharma industry, the Obamanoid will expand accessibility to the target populations for conventional vaccines. Interesting, but wasn't that the exact market that led to the mass Pharma exits pre-9/11?

The Gupta Nomination

2009-01-19T01:04:00.004+02:00

Last week's Friday Digest of the Patriot Post has an interesting analysis of the Gupta nomination for Surgeon General among other things:

"Predictably, one cabinet appointment that makes sense is coming under fire. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a well respected and world-renowned neurosurgeon whose commentaries on health and well-being are broadcast far and wide in print and in the media. Yet his nomination is meeting resistance because liberals claim that Dr. Gupta has said some pretty nasty things (read: accurate things) about the concept of universal health care. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), head of the House Judiciary Committee, wants to quash Gupta's nomination because he says Gupta "lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance to some of the poorest and most underserved communities in America." That's Conyers' story and he's sticking to it."

Not unexpected since Dr. Gupta is one of the few not pulled from the Clinton cess-pool.

Coulter on Obamamania

2009-01-11T00:40:00.003+02:00

I've been amused by the free-ride the drive-by-media gave to the Obamessiah. But who could be surprised by any of this nitwittery. Just look at how Scientific American tried to put Al Gore in the same league as Niels Bohr, Francis Crick, and Stephen Hawkin back in 1998.

Here is an excerpt from Ann Coulter on the media free-pass of the Anointed One:

"When the Obama family materialized, the media was seized by a mass psychosis that hadn't been witnessed since Beatlemania. OK! magazine raved that the Obamas "are such an all-American family that they almost make the Brady Bunch look dysfunctional." Yes, who can forget the madcap episode when the Bradys' wacky preacher tells them the government created AIDS to kill blacks! Still gushing, OK! magazine's crack journalists reported: "Mom goes to bake sales, dad balances the checkbook, and the girls love Harry Potter" -- and then the whole family goes to a racist huckster who shouts, "God damn America!" Months before network anchors were interrogating vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the intricacies of foreign policy, here is how NBC's Brian Williams mercilessly grilled presidential candidate Barack Obama: "What was it like for you last night, the part we couldn't see, the flight to St. Paul with your wife, knowing what was awaiting?" Twisting the knife he had just plunged into Obama, Williams followed up with what has come to be known as a "gotcha" question: "And you had to be thinking of your mother and your father." Sarah Palin was memorizing the last six kings of Swaziland for her media interviews, but Obama only needed to say something nice about his parents to be considered presidential material. " Ann Coulter.com; 1/7/2009.

It would be completely hilarious if only it were not so serious. Never mind the fact that I'll probably be working until I am 85. My real concern now is for my children and the twisted society they will inherit.

We ARE DOOMED!!!!!

2008-12-07T23:07:00.002+02:00

"After the most recent presidential election, when, as
you may recall, our once great nation exposed its
collective flank -- unmitigated ignorance -- to the
world, a reputable pollster, John Zogby, endeavored
to determine how 66 million of us could be so profoundly
stupid. We reported his findings in our "Non Compos Mentis"
section two weeks ago, including, for example,
that 56.1 percent of Obama supporters did not know
his political career was launched by two former
terrorists from the Weather Underground; that 57
percent did not know which political party controlled
congress; that 72 percent did not know Joe
Biden withdrew from a previous presidential campaign
because of plagiarism in law school; and that
87 percent thought Sarah Palin said she could "see
Russia from my house," even though that was "Saturday
Night Live" comedian Tina Fey in a parody of
Palin." Mark Alexander, Stupid is as Stupid Does, The Patriot Post, 12/5/2008.

The Big Three Bailout

2008-11-19T15:50:00.002+02:00

As usual, George Will hits it right on the head in his analysis of the proposed congressional bailout plan for Detroit:

"Congress could help the Detroit Three by allowing them, when meeting CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards imposed by Congress, to count fuel-efficient cars they import from their overseas factories. Congressional Democrats oppose that because those imports are not made by members of the United Auto Workers. Those Democrats, their rhetoric notwithstanding, really care most about the union. "Saving the planet" comes second and last comes the health of the auto companies. " (George Will, 11/18/2008; JWR.com)

Folks, this is all about the UAW and the plan has little or nothing to do with the overall economy or any environmental ramifications. But then why is that any surprise?

Oh say it ain't so Jimmy Boy

2008-11-16T17:44:00.002+02:00

For those who still think that AGW (anthropogenic global warming) is real, here is one recent example of how screwed-up the so-called climate experts are when handling the most basic of data:

"On Monday, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record. This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years." (Christopher Booker, The Telegraph.co.uk on-line, 11/16/2008).

So does it take a rocket scientist to read a thermometer? In turns out that the October readings from Russia and elsewhere were never recorded but simply carried-over from the September readings. Come on guys, this is data that is only a month old taken with modern state-of-the-art instrumentation. So how on earth are we to keep believing your bull-shit? Booker continues:

"Yet last week's latest episode is far from the first time Dr Hansen's methodology has been called in question. In 2007 he was forced by Mr Watts and Mr McIntyre to revise his published figures for US surface temperatures, to show that the hottest decade of the 20th century was not the 1990s, as he had claimed, but the 1930s. Another of his close allies is Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, who recently startled a university audience in Australia by claiming that global temperatures have recently been rising "very much faster" than ever, in front of a graph showing them rising sharply in the past decade. In fact, as many of his audience were aware, they have not been rising in recent years and since 2007 have dropped." (from the same Booker article).

Yes they have been steadily dropping and actually have been stable for longer than that even as carbon dioxide emissions have increased. I beg critical minds to spend a few weeks carefully reading Watts Up with That? and Climate Audit as cited by Booker. And while you are at it, Junk Science.com should be daily reading for all serious minds as well.

Never mind the fact that both 2009 presidential candidates had signed on to this nitwittery. And our current wonder boy from Hyde Park will waste no time pushing carbon caps and various other mechanisms to drive our economy into the gutter. It is getting to the point where this crap is not even funny any more.

Gotta Love this Change!

2008-11-15T15:57:00.005+02:00

Very interesting goings on this week as we watch the Obamassiah put together his transition team. For someone who campaigned on Change! and pledged to distance himself from the usual beltway crowd, we are seeing a lot of warmed-over Clintonistas being mentioned or appointed. Are you ready for Sec State HRC, or as Leno said last night "The White Rice"?

All of this is to be expected because the clueless in this country voted-in a president who has absolutely no administrative knowledge or experience. Except for an odd teaching job he has no real-world work experience either. And unlike a battle-tested state governor or previous vice president both of which would have extensive personal and administrative staffs to bring with them to DC, this clown is starting from ground zero. And of course the big problem is that there are not all that many moderate democrats out there to choose from so obviously he will need to dip into the Clinton cess-pool so his cabinet and executive staffs don't end up looking like the bar sceen from Star Wars.

And finally, Steve Maloy gives us some insight on a short-term Green strategy for 2009: "The Greens plan to make an all-out push for their agenda in 2009, knowing that 2010 is an election year in which politicians, even Democrats, get cautious and avoid radical legislation. Since anything could happen in 2010 -- including the election of a Republican-controlled Congress -- the Greens have no choice but to grab what they can, while they can." (Steve Maloy, 11/13/2008; JunkScience.com)

Change! But where to begin............

2008-11-10T01:15:00.006+02:00

Well folks it looks like we are in for another round of libtard rule. Normally, this would be an opportunity for sane folks to sit back and have a few laughs at the expense of the completely clueless in this country... a time for lite entertainment and some new skits to look forward to on late-night TV..... if only we were not living in such troubling and dangerous times.

Did the so-called "youth vote" finally show up at the polls this time around? I haven't been able to do a thorough analysis of the the exit polls but if the New Messiah made it in with the youth and immigrant votes, very well for them. But spend a few weekends at your local mall looking and listening to the inhabitants there and tell me if you don't have this feeling of impending doom run up your spine.

A few notable links and representative exerpts from the past couple of days:

Steve Milloy's commentary on Nobel laureates for Obama>>>>"A quick review of the political contributions of the 76 Nobelists revealed that at least 28 of them have contributed to Democratic politicians, including Barack Obama. There seems to be no recent record of any of the signatories contributing to any Republicans. " (Steve Milloy, JunkScience.com, 10/30/2008)

Spook86's run-down of the Jeff Shapiro article in the WSJ calling attention to the lousy treatment of the Bush presidency by the usual cast of characters. The critical angle in this piece is not the libtard masses' inability to ever get over the Gore defeat of 2000, but much more chilling revelations of how this will affect our world view and security for decades to come >>>> "Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House." (Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, Wall Street Journal on-line, 11/5/2008)

And to wrap things up, a colorful analysis of what went wrong by Ann Coulter >>>> "How many times do we have to run this experiment before Republican primary voters learn that "moderate," "independent," "maverick" Republicans never win, and right-wing Republicans never lose? Indeed, the only good thing about McCain is that he gave us a genuine conservative, Sarah Palin. He's like one of those insects that lives just long enough to reproduce so that the species can survive." (Ann Coulter.com, 11/5/2008).

Compare this to Spook86's pragmatic take on things>>>>"The good news is that conservatism is far from finished; in fact, where it actually appeared on the ballot, it flourished. Voters in California, Arizona and Florida approved referendums that banned gay marriage."

Need I say More...........

2008-10-25T16:20:00.002+02:00

"A newcomer to national politics, he claimed to transcend partisan labels. He moved to the center during the campaign, at a time when the Democrats held large congressional majorities. In a troubled economy, he told voters he would keep taxes down for most Americans, limit spending, and balance the budget, all while implementing ambitious social programs. He planned to cut military spending to free money for other purposes, but assured moderates and conservatives that when it came to America’s enemies, he would be tougher than the Republicans. The media, droves of moderates, and some conservatives believed him, having pegged him as a man of character [emphasis added]

His name was Jimmy Carter, the year was 1976, and he won." National Review Online, October 24, 2008.

HT to "The Other Side".

I still can't believe the Billary machine rolled so easily on this one.

Old Dominion Lunancy

2008-06-22T03:58:00.002+03:00

I guess even good old Virginia common sense is in short supply these days. This post demonstrates the need for a native or birth-right requirement to run for governor. Kaine always looks like one of those guys you see in the bus station; the lights are on but you really wonder if anyone is at home.

"Hysterics in Newsrooms and Faculty Lounges......."

2008-06-19T03:09:00.006+03:00

"We were all supposed to be dead now, done in by AIDS, the gift of the gays. After that it was SARS, bequeathed to the world by China. Then it was avian flu, which, to be fair to the alarmists, did in fact result in the deaths of millions. The millions were all chickens, true, but chickens have feelings, too. You could ask the folks at PETA." Wesley Pruden, Washington Times, 17 June 2008 (NB: the above title will link you to the Pruden article).

The Germ Circus in Boston

2008-06-07T04:35:00.014+03:00

Disclosure time: I have been a loyal dues-paying journal-reading member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) since my first year in grad school (1982). Besides being the oldest professional life science organization in the world, one really needs to be a member to be considered a true card-carrying microbiologist. But with the press releases that come out of the annual General Meeting (GM), one really has to wonder who in the world is running the ASM Press Office, some contractor? Its embarrassing. The releases coming out of this meeting have been so shallow and silly over the last five years or so that it is becoming a spring event to try and guess just how ridiculous the next one will be. You might remember that just a couple of years ago the big news out of the GM was that paper money is dirty. Wow, now why don't we write that one up for PNAS.

The 2008 GM just finished-up this week in Boston and the big news is that so-called antibacterial wipes, the wonder drug for any mother with young children and pretty darn nifty for the rest of us, can actually spread that dreaded beast from the Cheney-Halliburton-NSA conspiracy---MRSA. Who would have thought!!! So antibacterial wipes are a fomite for infection just like the rag your waitress used to use to wipe your restaurant table with a few short years ago was too until the health department got smart and required restaurateurs to store their rags in a dilute bleach solution. So why aren't hospital infection control officers doing the same thing for cleaning up hospital rooms and equipment? You really can't get much cheaper or efficient than good old bleach.

Antibacterial wipes generally contain a mild soap and some type of disinfectant. Since most of these are for use on human skin, the chemical of choice is usually some type of quaternary ammonium compound. Think Zephrin in a moist towlette. I would hope that the hospital variety that would be used by the house keeping staff are a bit more robust, but the bottom line is that these things are single use only and if they are used properly say to clean only one piece of equipment in one room at a time, then where is the story?

But wait, there's more!!!!!

2008-06-07T04:35:00.013+03:00

And if the previous post on antibacterial wipes doesn't get you started, how about this little gem: "Time-travelling Bugs Resist Antibiotics of the Future". Imagine your average Joe on the street who barely passed tenth grade biology class wrapping his nicotine-stained brain around that one. How on earth can we discover new antibiotics if the bacteria already are resistant to compounds we haven't even synthesized yet! How on earth do they do it?

Gee, I wonder if Obama can get us out of this one???

Well, let's think about this for a minute, unless bacteria have some type of control over the space-time continuum, then they are really smart. But the REALLY big question then is why do we have ANY clinically effective antibiotics AT THIS VERY MOMENT? And how exactly did we manage to operate in the "ERA OF ANTIBACTERIAL THERAPY" for the last seventy years or so?

Oh wait, almost forgot, there are basic concepts in antibacterial pharmacodynamics called "cross-resistance" and "efflux pumps".

Nuff said............................

Is this really from Time Magazine?

2008-06-07T04:35:00.005+03:00

"The twin elements of a bubble are euphoria and roguery, with the proportions varying from case to case. The coming green bubble, which is already attracting large amounts of venture capital and government money, displays both."; Nigel Lawson, May 21, 2008.

I gave up on Time and Newsweek magazines years ago as nothing more than mild entertainment while sitting in various waiting rooms, but this post in the May 21 on-line issue by Nigel Lawson was a real shocker. Hey Algore, better check your subscription dude.

This Week's Constitutional Moment

2008-06-07T04:35:00.002+03:00

"When you vote for president this fall, you will not be voting for Barack Obama or John McCain; you will be voting for an elector who pledges to cast his vote for Obama or McCain. (For those new Obama voters who may be reading, it's like voting for Paula, Randy or Simon to represent you, instead of texting your vote directly.) "; Ann Coulter, June 4, 2008.

Just in case the old cerebral files from high school government class are fading, a quick review by Ann on the concept of the Electoral College in the context of libtards behaving badly.

Our Boy -- B. Hussein Obama

2008-06-01T00:02:00.002+03:00

"Because, really, who better to face down a Holocaust denier with a messianic complex than the guy who is afraid of a debate moderated by Brit Hume?" Ann Coulter, 28 May 2008.

Posts to Social Detritus have been far and few between due to an unusually busy spring, work commitments, and well, watching my step so as not to soil my boots by stepping into any social detritus. Although I must admit, it has been great fun watching the libtards eat their young as part of the primary process. Are we really watching the final self-destruct of Billary? Hard to imagine that the Little Rock machine will go down that easily especially against a fellow Chicagoan.

Ann Coulter had a very nice post this week, and as I often try to do, I pick-out a representative line (quoted above) that sums up the piece, enjoy!

Fall of the Golden Boy

2008-03-16T22:27:00.001+02:00

"And now Spitzer's entire anal-retentive, good paper-writing life has collapsed in the horrifying image of a frenzied masturbator. This is the most complete coup de grace imaginable, short of an assassin's bullet." (Ann Coulter, March 12, 2008)

Fallon Fall-out

2008-03-16T21:45:00.008+02:00

I hadn't been following Admiral Fallon very closely until his resignation last week. If this article is to be believed, it wasn't exactly a resignation but a firing. And for good reason. This so-called warrior hasn't exactly been giving his all for seeing to the protection of our troops in Iraq. So I wonder if he will be demoted, or have his retirement benefits trimmed-down a bit?

I serious doubt it.

Penicillin is Back??

2008-03-16T21:45:00.007+02:00

Last week we were treated to another demonstration of the general uselessness of university press offices and the hype that often times is associated with minor scientific discoveries. Much like the "could be", "might be" of global warming.

It seems that researchers at the University of Warwick together with collaborators at the Université Laval, Ste-Foy in Quebec, and The Rockefeller University in New York have managed to work out the enzymology of the MurM protein. Yawn............

The Mur pathway is essential for the synthesis of the bacterial cell wall and MurM is specifically involved with the production of dipeptide bridges within the peptidoglycan molecule, the major component of the wall. These cross-links give the structure increased mechanical strength. So now it looks like the entire Mur pathway is essentially characterized. End of story.

The real shocker in this article is the following statement: "The results will allow the Warwick team, and any interested pharmaceutical researchers, to target the MurM reaction in Streptococcus pneumoniae in a way which will lead to the development of drugs which will disrupt the resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to penicillin. The same research also offers exciting possibilities to disrupt the antibiotic resistance of MRSA which uses similarly constructed peptide bridges in the construction of the peptidoglycan component of its cell wall. Therefore, thanks to this research, even MRSA could now be opened up to treatment by penicillin."

What the article fails to point out is that penicillin resistance (and betalactam resistance in general) in MRSA does not involve the Mur pathway but an alternate penicillin-binding protein-2 (PBP2'). This alternate protein is encoded by the mecA gene which is transferred between staphylococci rather easily by phage, plasmid, etc. Once bacterial pick-up this gene, they are considered MRSA. This is the primary reason that up to 60% of Staphylococcus aureus strains are penicillin resistant leading to the designation of MRSA.

Unfortunately, there also are various other betalactam resistance mechanisms that are due to the production of "betalactamases"; secreted enzymes that degrade penicillins before they ever reach the cell. And to make matters worse, the Mur pathway has been the subject of many failed discovery projects by pharma companies. I doubt seriously that this one characterization of the MurM protein will suddenly lead to the discovery of new antibiotics. This pathway as a target class is DOA.

Taken together, it is unlikely that we will see a major resurgence in the use or clinical efficacy of penicillin in either streptococci or staphylococci.

One would expect a higher level of journalistic competence from university press offices.

The Prince William Model for Change

2008-03-16T18:42:00.005+02:00

Currently living in exile in "The Peoples Republic of Maryland", I take great pride in my long Virginia ancestry and up-bringing. I am particularly proud of having been born and raised in Fauquier and Prince William Counties as have most of my immediate and extended family. Our roots run deep there, and even though many parts of these counties have been taken over by outsiders and the usual suburban sprawl of the greater-DC metro area, pockets of rural solitude can still be found even if they are out of the price range of most average natives. Believe it or not, there still are people in these two counties that actual are FROM THERE as opposed to somewhere else.

As you might expect, I followed the illegal immigrant debate in PWC very closely last fall. It was much fun to watch as the PWC supervisors held fast while the usual suspects wailed and predicted all sorts of economic doom and class struggle. The libtards were really frothing at the mouth there for a while and there even were immigrant groups in suburban Maryland and DC working on legal actions like it is really any of their business to begin with.

Well guess what? It actually is working, and a fairly accurate description of the progress recently appeared in the WaPo of all places:

"Months after Prince William County began one of the country's toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants, officials and residents report signs that substantial numbers of people have left the county, particularly from Hispanic neighborhoods." (Arlo Wagner, Washington Post, March 13, 2008)

I'll wait a few minutes for multiple rounds of applause to die down................

Could it really be that if concerned and determined citizens, backed by local governments with spines set their minds to it, something really can be done about illegal immigration? Surely it couldn't have anything to do with simply enforcing the law could it?

I AM SO PROUD OF THESE FOLKS! Sic semper tyrannis!

Of course the bad news is that these now "displaced" illegals will have to go somewhere and I doubt seriously they are re-boarding their banana boats and heading south. Most likely they are fleeing for suburban Maryland and DC where they will be welcomed with open arms and the usual nanny state benefits. So be it I guess, but let us hope that the Prince William model for change gets duplicated in other areas.

Which leads me to the concept of the southern border fence. What ever happened to that? I seem to remember a lot of talk about how that was a wacky idea and doomed to failure much as we heard about the Prince William plan. Fences work if you really want them to, just ask the Israelis.

The King Is Dead; Long Live the King

2008-03-05T14:37:00.003+02:00

Last week was a sad time for those who followed the life and times of Bill Buckley and admired his wit and analysis.

Anyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s was no doubt familiar with that "walking dictionary" guy on PBS, and how could someone lean that far back in his chair to near horizontal status without ever crashing? As a kid at the time, I was completely oblivious to anything political, but the chair thing was very impressive and often imitated much to the chagrin of my parents and teachers. I am happy to say however that I was finally able to master the technique in graduate school and consider myself to be Bill's equal in at least one tiny aspect of my adult life. If only I had a fraction of the vocabulary that he forgot!

There have been a multitude of fine obituaries included one from Coulter (to be compared and contrasted with this one from Kathleen Parker) as well as the usual droll from the WaPo. Yes you morons; "Buckley Left His Mark on Politics" much like Armstrong left his footprints on the moon.

We will miss you Bill, and Western Civilization is but one step closer to the encroaching darkness.

The Well-Appointed Street Urchin

2007-12-21T03:06:00.000+02:00

So it looks like this winter’s fashion statement is the North Face line of outdoor gear. I have to admit, the last time I looked (maybe ten years ago), North Face gear was of a very high quality and suitable for backcountry and expedition use. But now, they seem to have gone upscale trying to penetrate the mainstream market. This is easy to tell because not only do they sew their logo on the front pocket as before but also on the right shoulder area. Wow, that sure is impressive! I am going to go out and buy this stuff just so I can look cool and folks can see that I am well appointed both coming and going. I am seeing this stuff everywhere on the commute down to ground zero. It looks like the clothing of choice for most street urchins and gangsta types; kids mostly but also with hard core hoods. What a waste.

We saw similar fashion trends in the mid-1980s with the ubiquitous and completely dysfunctional Member’s-Only jacket and the more recent Timberline yellow work boot phenomena. The North Face anomaly is a bit different though in that it sure seems like a complete waste of good outdoor gear. Why on earth would urban street slime need a $300 mountaineering shell? Heading out to do a winter assault on Mt. Rainer for Christmas break are you? I serious doubt it.

I have to admit, I do own one piece of North Face gear; a pair of Windstopper gloves. These were on sale at a local backpacking store and well worth the price at the time. Windstopper fabric is superior for, well, stopping wind penetration. Keep in mind that Windstopper fabric is a Gore product (no not that Gore; the same guys who make Gore-Tex membranes). Perusing the Campmor catalog last year, they had nearly identical Windstopper hats, but the North Face version was $20 more than the one from Outdoor Research. That’s quite a mark-up just for a logo. Outdoor Research makes some excellent gear too and the urchins haven't discovered that yet. Neither have they found Mountain Hardware. Since this company is one of Ed Viesturs' sponsors and played a big role in his career, by all means have a look at their stuff before buying street urchin logos on the right shoulder.

Ann's column from November 14

2007-11-18T22:49:00.001+02:00

"Now, with the surge in Iraq working, Democrats are completely demoralized. Al-Qaida was counting on them. (We know the surge in Iraq is working because it is no longer front page news.). In a tape released in early September, Osama bin Laden bitterly complained, "You elected the Democratic Party for this purpose" -- of ending the war in Iraq –- "but the Democrats haven't made a move worth mentioning." "

Privacy and the Banana Boat Crowd

2007-11-18T22:49:00.000+02:00

You might remember Bob Cringley as the host of the extraordinary PBS documentery Triumph of the Nerds. I say extraordinary because even though the show was produced and aired on PBS, it is remarkable in that it gave a very good account of the development of the PC without the usual social and political commentery that PBS is known for.

Bob has other PBS shows describing the development of the intranet (and yes, Al Gore had very little to do with it) and electric money. Bob's weekly column I, Cringley is a nice way for non-computer geeks to stay up to date with currenty topics in computing. A recent column describes how if you think your social security number is safe, think again (on average it is in use by 3000 other folks). But much more informative from his analysis is how the major credit agencies have a very accurate count of the current ilegal alien population in the US and that number is somewhere very close to 17-million. Also of interest is the concept of using our "portable" cell phone numbers as a potential supplement to the SS# for identity purposes.

The Company One Keeps

2007-10-28T23:26:00.000+02:00

So actually, the fact that fat Al got the Nobel Peace Prize is not such a big surprise after all. The Swedish Academy handles the scientific side of things (thank Goodness there still is hope for the hard sciences), but it is the Norwegians that handle the Peace Prize and all of the political silliness that goes along with it (going out of their way to embarass the Bush-Cheny-Halliberton side of things). Power Line lays it all out very nicely and helps us differentiate between the two.

So Fat-Ass Gets His Nobel

2007-10-14T02:24:00.000+02:00

No big surprise here since the Goron will now be in the same company as Yasser Arafat (the terrorist) and Jimmy Carter (the buffoon), but at least ol' Jimmy would hammer a nail every now and then to help people out; poor misguided fool. Interesting how in the same week Gore gets the prize, a British judge ruled that his fantasy flick "An Inconvenient Truth" will now require prefacing by teachers before it can be shown in classrooms as a teaching aid due to a host of scientific inaccuracies. To do otherwise would be classified as political indoctrination subjecting the teachers to disciplinary action under sections 406 and 407 of the 1996 Education Act. The nine errors specifically listed by the court can be seen at the bottom of this article.

All the more reason to go out and buy several copies of this book for the children in your life.

If only this worked on the southern border

2007-10-05T02:29:00.001+02:00

So it truly amazes me how on the one hand we can have Northcom and a senior commander specifically for the defense of United States territory (General Victor Renuart Jr.) and still have essentially an open southern border (not that the northern border is much better) and out of control immigration. We hear today that our missile defenses are finally nearing prime time and could even be deployed today if an emergency was to develop. If we can do that, why not be able to erect something as simple as a fence on the southern border. Maybe include some proximity sensors and claymores for added effect?

......Queer Eye for the Islamofascist Guy......

2007-10-05T02:29:00.000+02:00

More poetry from our gal Ann Coulter (9/26/07).

Chicagoland for ICAAC

2007-09-18T00:28:00.000+02:00

Well its four days of fun and science in Chicago for the 47th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, or ICAAC for short. I got in early last night on a United flight (757) that was effortless and actually ten minutes ahead of schedule. I am normally a Southwest flier, but I guess United is the Federal Government contractor. Very impressive. I can only hope the return trip is equally uneventful (Airbus).

I really love this town, or at least the safe and clean downtown areas accessible to the convention goer. I guess I am a bit jilted by the war zones back east (Philly, DC, etc.) where most normal family people live in the burbs and and only the nut cases, wealthy, and Diplomaggots live in the downtown areas. Chicago is packed with all sorts of ordinary people. There are apartment and condo towers everywhere. Perhaps it is my agrarian Virginia up-bringing, but there is just something different about people in the heartland and I think that is reflected here in the Chicago population. Of course this could all be an alternate convention reality that could only be confirmed by living here for an extended period.

Now to ICAAC. This is a very large meeting and I've written about past ones on the Medicine Vault. Just about everyone who is anybody in the realm of infectious disease and antimicrobial chemotherapy comes to this meeting. It is an interesting mix of discovery scientists, clinicians, and pharmaceutical development types. It also seems to be a major American vacation excuse for Europeans and Asians. The Asians can't speak English for shit making their talks particularly painful to sit through, and the Europeans (or at least the infectious disease scientists) have impeccable English skills but are some of the rudest people I've come across. These are the guys who are supposed to have invented kindergarten right? You would think they would understand the basic concept of waiting in line for shuttle buses, not running over people, keeping some level of situational awareness (even though I didn't see too many of them plugged-in to IPods) and have rudimentary manners or home training. About the only thing I can say for them is that on average they have a very low level of obesity. Of course this could be a by-product of being in the scientific class which on average seems to be a bit more health conscious. Scientifically they appear to be a bit dim, particularly the British.

After day one, the meeting looks to be a snooze. Judging from the abstracts, it doesn't appear that 2007 will be a year for major product launches or discoveries. Most of this meeting will be an opportunity for me to stay in touch with the network. I hope to take tomorrow afternoon off for a few hours at the Field Museum primarily to see the Tsavo Lions. These two cats are credited with hunting down and eating nearly 140 Indian laborers in east Africa in 1898. I've also come across a very nice Oktoberfest lager from the J. Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin. When in Rome.................

News Wrap-Up

2007-09-06T01:58:00.000+03:00

So it has been a busy couple of weeks with school starting back, trying to get into the fall routine, and the usual chores on the weekends. There has been a few interesting articles that I've kept in the archive for a quick post.

The first is by Ann Coulter describing how broken our immigration system is and how contrary to the popular libtard line there are many documented (no pun intended) instances of the banana boat people running amok. Poor Elvira Arellano; one down alright, but what we need now is to start filling C-5s with these people and getting them back to their place of origin.

The second involves our post-Katrina efforts in New Orleans. Any other part of the country would have been rebuilt by now (just look at how Florida has been hit over the last couple of decades). The problem with the "Chocolate-City" is that it was almost completely dysfunctional before the storm. We now learn that we have dumped the same amount of money into JUST ONE TOWN as was used to rebuild all of Europe under the Marshall plan following WWII. Gee, I wonder what the big difference there was? A dedicated work-force perhaps? People who had never known the concept of the welfare state and the libtard mind-set? If they would have followed my suggestion of leveling the place early on, building it up 50ft with fill, and expanding our refinery capacity, we would have $1.00/gal gas right now.

And the third involves the "Perky-One". So she had to actual go to theater to finally get it. Better ring the village bell because it looks like all is well in Iraq just because Katie is there and says so. Better late than never I guess. We can only hope there is a well placed IED with her name on it.

The She-Devil Strikes Again

2007-08-22T15:04:00.002+03:00

I still need to find a way to have a couple of beers with this woman.

The Wetback MO

2007-08-22T15:04:00.001+03:00

So we've heard the reports before; the 7th Century Cave Dweller Crowd is using our porous borders to bring in operatives because the average Fat-and-Stupid American Joe on the street can't recognize the difference between the well-tanned dark-haired central american banana boat stow-away and the run-of-the-mill Jihadist. Go figure!

I keep a pretty close eye on the alien crowd during my daily commute from the far-west burbs down through the People's Republic of Montgomery County Maryland. I speak neither spanish nor any of the central asian languages. But for all of the TV we watch in this country not to mention that every label, sign, and product instruction sheet is written in at least three foreign languages (one of which is always spanish), I can bet that even our best trailer-park inhabitants could recognize the difference between Fernando the landscaper and Mumad the suicide bomber.

If the language thing proves to be too much, just pay close attention to appearances. The banana boat crowd are generally here either to work, procreate, or figure a way to have grandma and the cousins shipped over. The average day is hard on these folks. They are dressed for work and usually bear signs of having done so. Most of these guys are short, slightly obese, and bear facial features of their endogenous native ancestry. Their names may be spanish, but not unlike the Filipino, there is little genetic similarity to the conquistador.

Now the central asian crowd are generally taller, leaner, and not accustomed to hard labor. The tough part would be telling these guys apart from the indians and pakistanis of which we seem to have quite a few in suburban Maryland. This is where the trouble could start.

Spoon-fed Morons

2007-08-22T15:04:00.000+03:00

........."If Washington were a conventional great power, the intellectual class would be arguing that the United States is a threat to France or India or Chad or some such. But because it's the world's first nonimperial superpower the world has had to concoct a thesis that America is a threat not merely to this or that nation state but to the entire planet, and not because of conventional great-power designs but because – even scarier – of its "consumption," its very way of life. Those Cokes and cheeseburgers detested by discriminating London novelists are devastating the planet in ways that straightforward genocidal conquerors like Hitler and Stalin could only have dreamed of. The construct of this fantasy is very revealing about how unthreatening America is.".......... Mark Steyn, 8/12/2007

I really love commentary that sums it all up in one simple piece.

Let It Be Done

2007-08-11T04:23:00.000+03:00

So it looks like someone in the press finally came out in print with what I have been saying since 2004. We are surrounded by idiots and the only thing that will bring this country to its senses is another round of the fun-and-games we experienced that crisp fall day in September 2001.

So what will it be this time? A small nuke in Arlington, a dirty bomb in Chicago? Perhaps the Threat Reduction Agency hasn't managed to round-up all those old freezer vials of smallpox stashed around the former eastern bloc. Or will we just continue to stuff ourselves, grow more obese, and wait for the suicide bombers to arrive at the thousands of soft targets we have around the country? In my travels down to ground zero every day I almost feel like I should just go ahead and put a target on my back.

On top of all of this, we will have to endure a couple of years of watching the libtards and moon bats eat their young. Oh won't that be fun. Pruden had a nice piece out today on Campaign Insanity and how Newt is one of the few making any intellectual sense. I would love to see Newt team up with John Bolton for the "common sense" ticket.

Commuter Blues

2007-06-15T04:27:00.000+03:00

So its been what, almost four months now since I started the new job down at ground zero. The mass transit thing is starting to be routine. Except for a few missed runs and mechanical problems with the commuter bus, things haven't been bad. The Feds even subsidize the fare for the short hop I need to do on the subway at the far end. With having to get up at 0-dark:30 every morning, I generally get an hour and a half of sleep on the bus going in and one hour in the evenings coming out. That leaves me fairly refreshed for arrival on both ends.

Now for my fellow commuters. Keep in mind that I haven't taken mass transit for any length of time since WAY back in grad school, so we are talking nearly twenty years of being by myself in the car going to and from work with the only worry being having to deal with the traffic nightmare. Now I've got my fellow commuters to deal with and look at. What a bunch. You see all types from the alien crowd fresh off the banana boat to the prep kids riding to private school in their Sunday best.

What amazes me now compared to life in the 80s is the advent of the MP3 player. It seems that everyone has these things stuck in their ears including many of my coworkers. People can't even seem to take a piss now-a-days without music. Most of the time, the volume is so loud that I don't see why they even bother with ear buds. These people have the situational awareness of concrete. A Jihadist bastard could approach from behind and have them beheaded before they even knew what play list they were on. No sense trying to talk to these people either. Go buy stock in the major hearing aid companies because in ten years or less there will be an entire population of morons with fried ears.

Then there are the cart people. These are the folks who are so lazy they can't even carry a lap top or brief case for five yards so they pull along one of those silly little cases with wheels and an extendable handle. These things are every where too and they are a pain in the ass. Unlike baby strollers, these things are low to the ground, and I find myself either tripping over them or stepping on them in the subway stations. Of course the drivers don't have a clue because they are plugged into the MP3 player. I even see military officers pulling these things around; what a disgrace.

And now with school being out and the start of vacation season we have the manic commuter crowd being intermixed with the tourist. That imparts a whole new level of complexity on the trip. Luckily, most of the tourists are natives from out of town and seem to have English as their first language. This is good, and reminds me that , hey, this is still America and not some central American backwater; at least not yet...........

Mobility Restored

2007-05-09T03:13:00.000+03:00

It has been a long two months, but I am finally able to get around and do things even though my ankle still looks like one of my kids first grade pottery projects from art class. I can finally walk normally, and when I am at the office on solid level ground, I can even take off the brace. Working in the yard and hiking with high-top boots also works since they give support in place of the brace. I've been trying to get out on the bike a few times a week since that is fairly painless too. The big event came last night when I went for a short run in the neighborhood. The first time since March 11. It was a bit painful at first, but bearable and it didn't swell afterwards.

Our local scout council had its spring camporee at Fort Richie Maryland this past weekend. This old base closed about ten years ago and has gone the way of many bases put down by BRAC. Fortunately for this one, about half of the buildings are on the historic registry so it will be interesting to see how the private developers ultimately carve-up the place. Luckily for the scouts (and leaders too) is that the old rappelling tower is still functional and we took full advantage of it. I was a bit leary at first, and I am sure my orthopedic guy would have had a cow, but I got in line, took the instruction (excellently done even by scouting standards) and climbed to the top. Wow sixty feet is a lot higher looking when you get up there. And by that point with one's scouts looking on from below, you can't just back out. So over the side I went. Like everyone said, that first step is the hardest. Once you are on the side planks and have the classic L-shape, it is a piece of cake. Like just about every other leader there, I bombed on the first step (the only part that hurt my ankle). But once I got my feet back under me (and not over my head), it was a blast. I even went for a second time thinking I could recover some dignity and get the first step right. No dice. It was a repeat performance.

I've often wanted to do a little rock climbing but figured I would wait until the boys get older so we could do it together. It looks like the time has come.

The Pain, the Agony, the Stupidity

2007-04-01T20:00:00.000+03:00

Well, it certainly has been an interesting few weeks. Just as the weather began to warm and the days grew longer; just when there were ample opportunities for outside activities, a bit of increased mileage on the runs, and numerous spring time chores around the house, I actually sprained my ankle. Not a simple sprain, oh no, but a nice category-II roll-over with associated ligament damage. What fun. And only three weeks into a new job. Needless to say, this is the sort of thing that can really cool one's jets so to speak. I'll have to admit I have a new appreciation for all of those handicap accessibility structures courtesy of the ADA. Since most of my commute down to ground zero is on public transportation, those little features made all the difference.

The good news is that the ortho consult went very well on Friday, and if I follow directions closely and don't do anything stupid, I might be back to normal in six to eight weeks without surgery. It is a big improvement in just the last day being able to wear a brace and walk without crutches. I think of the times I've run off road on rock and roots, and I had to wait until I was on pavement to do something stupid like this (caught the edge of a small pot hole while in an endorphin haze).

So once I am able to get around a bit better, it looks like this will be the opportunity to finally get serious with the mountain bike. Although I think I will be sticking to smooth level trails for the immediate future.

Heavy Weather

2007-03-10T04:22:00.000+02:00

Is it just me, or do tornadoes hit trailer parks like coalition forces in Afghanistan hit wedding parties?

Still Alive

2007-03-09T02:11:00.000+02:00

Have been very busy starting a new job with an extended commute, not to mention the start of lacrosse season. More is on the way, it just might take a while and be sporatic at first.

And Another Big Issue of the Day

2007-02-06T16:54:00.000+02:00

"The president is now on the side of the angels, having promised to "confront" the challenge of climate change. The confronting is one reason for his fascination with new fuels. (Another reason, he says, is U.S. imports of oil from unstable nations. Our largest foreign source of oil is turbulent Canada. Our second largest is Mexico, which is experiencing turbulence because of the soaring cost of tortillas. They are made from corn, which is ... well, read on.)" George Will; Newsweek Society, 2/2007.

So W has dug himself a hole with regard to climate change. In this piece, George Will exposes the folly.

Rudy's in but will it last?

2007-02-06T16:32:00.000+02:00

"Conservative Republicans, particularly in the South, know better. They have only to decide whether they're frightened most by the terrorist armed with a Koran and a dirty bomb, or by an abortionist and two little men atop the wedding cake." Wesley Pruden; Washington Times, 2/6/2007.

Interesting piece on Rudy's announcement yesterday..............

Back Under New Cover

2007-02-02T19:27:00.000+02:00

GATC here; back under new cover...................

It will take a few days to get back into the swing of things again. In the mean time, here is a story to warm your heart. Oh to be at the edge of the empire and with BBQ too!