Blogroll – Page 27 – third world county

April 11, 2007April 11, 2007

Wednesday OTA/Bits ‘n’ Pieces

Bits n pieces below the linkfest slug

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A hodge podge of things I’ve tripped over CLICKing around recently:

From Chaos Manor View,

There are two parts to education. One is learning what one must know to get along in life. This is often fairly dull work, but necessary. Among these are the ability to read, write, and cipher; the traditional goals of the first six grades of public school at a time when fewer than half the children were expected to go beyond six grades. We can have some debate on what “read, write, and cipher” mean, but not a lot. By read one means at least read and understand newspapers, job application notices, neighborhood flyers, and most popular books: in other words, to be able to read any word one already knows or has heard often. By write one we usually mean at least the ability to write coherent letters to one’s friends and families, and we usually hope for more than that. By cipher we mean being able to make change and do simple calculations: in other words, to know basic arithmetic…

Alien invasion as bio war? Duh. Chief among the reasons for controlling our borders, for requiring everyone who enter do so within our legal strictures are disease control, exclusion of known criminals, etc. President Bush’s reiterated aspirations of open borders and amnesty for illegals is just plain flat irresponsible and contributing to public harm in more ways than simply economic.

Shame on him.

And,

Is there any point in pretending that CO2 increases will be catastrophic? Or could they be modest and on balance beneficial? India has warmed during the second half of the 20th century, and agricultural output has increased greatly. Infectious diseases like malaria are a matter not so much of temperature as poverty and public-health policies (like eliminating DDT). Exposure to cold is generally found to be both more dangerous and less comfortable…

…The conclusion of the late climate scientist Roger RevelleÃ¢â‚¬â€Al Gore’s supposed mentorÃ¢â‚¬â€is worth pondering: the evidence for global warming thus far doesn’t warrant any action unless it is justifiable on grounds that have nothing to do with climate.

Read the article, even if it is in NewsweAk…

Just stop it! Opening yourself to hacking at insecure hotspots, that is. Easily-accessible article at PCMag online. Your laptop will thank you. *heh*

I sent this to my favorite children’s librarian. Orson Scott Card’s review of what sounds like a very interesting juvie, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Sounds like it’d be interesting to young readers, so if you have some in your family, CLICK on over and see if you come away thinking the same.

Oh, and while you’re at it, check out OSC’s production of Taming of the Shrew. (Just click on the link on the Hatrack page.) Be patient. Each “half” is about 150+ MB, so a thick pipe is pretty much required.

Do you believe the U.S. system of taxation is fair? Take the survey.

More Kelo fallout. *sigh* THIS is why the Framers wrote the Second Amendment… And more takings in the wind: the Army set to seize land homesteaded in the 19th century and continually in use since that time.

April 9, 2007

Free Speech, NOT “Free Beer”

Leaning Straight Up has an interesting post (tracked back here over the weekend) dealing with a case of misunderstanding of “free speech”. I thought it might be useful to expand on that post a little here, so here’s the key piece I thought missing there:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Now, the language seems very clear, but lawyers being what they are, politicians *spit* being what they are and people in general being what they are, the clear meaning of the words–especially as filtered through the ill-thought-out and often improperly-applied (IMO) 14th amendment–has not survived to this day.

The clear context of “freedom of speech” noted in the amendment is protection of religious and political SPEECH. (The exercise of one’s religious beliefs must include speaking about it, you know). Press and assembly rights covered too, but I’m concerned here about speech. And by “speech” I do NOT mean anything other than actual speech or its obvious analog–given a hat tip by the Framers–of the written word.

Of course the courts have found it necessary to validate their existences by “explaining” speech to mean darned near anything some loony tune can vaguely conceptualize, and so most folks now think of grunts and squeals and thrown excrement as constitutionally protected speech.

But such things are NOT constitutionally protected speech in any world in which a rational reading of the constitution or the debates about the Framing or the amendments is taken to account. No, such things are only constitutionally protected speech is a world dominated by “reality-based” fantasy.

Go read the Leaning Straight Up post. Apply these words to the situation he outlines. Heck, the situation he outlines–folks crying “Wolf” about a boycott of The View sponsors as a way of reining in Rosie O’Donnell’s wild and irresponsible antics–wouldn’t even exist if a society of adults were to actually apply the First Amendment…

Of course, such a society would lack a few other things, like BOTH the Republican’t and Democrappic parties, the ACLU and nearly the entire apparatus of the Mass Media Podpeople’s Hivemind.

April 9, 2007April 9, 2007

A Really Inconvenient Truth

Yep: dual-purpose post. While my “mouse finger” is wearing its “red badge of courage” (also known as my “bulky bandage of klutzhood” :-))–and no, it wasn’t wounded when I was punched in the nose (haven’t been)–dual purpose posts (with lots of cut n paste) will likely be the order of the day.

Linkfest/OTP. Hopefully you know what to do. More below the post body.

Is it any news to anyone on the face of the planet that Algore is not only a liar and a hypocrite but a particularly arrogant liar and hypocrite? The recent revelations of Algore’s profligate energy use are not news, but an email making the rounds (h.t. Lovely Daughter.) rubs that puppy’s nose in his mess of lies so well that it’s too good to pass up. (Yes, I know rubbing a puppy’s nose in its mess doesn’t really teach them not to make such messes, but Algore’s already a carcophage, as evidinced by the fact that he’s been eating his own B.S. so long he actually seems to believe it, now.)

Leaving the pretty picture of Algore as a carcophagic dog* behind us (if he’d only let us do so permanently!) on to the classic email making the rounds:

LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.

HOUSE # 1:

A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern “snow belt,” either. It’s in the South.

HOUSE # 2:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, This house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flwers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

So the answer is:

HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville,Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.

HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as “the Texas White House,” it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

So whose house is gentler on the environment? Yet another story you WON’T hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed, for Mr. Gore, it’s truly “an inconvenient truth.”

Poor puppy.

*Update: Note Perri Nelson’s comment. Yeh, I’m forced to admit to an outdated vocabulary (heck! I still think “gay” refers to someone who’s “happy, carefree”). Nowadays, most would use “coprophagic” as it’s the current, more “popular” term/usage of choice. *heh*

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Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, Big Dog’s Weblog, Shadowscope, DragonLady’s World, Cao’s Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Hollywood Gossip, Pursuing Holiness, Faultline USA, Stageleft, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein… has no mercy, Walls of the City, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Dumb Ox Daily News, and High Desert Wanderer, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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