Sunday, August 16, 2015

Suggested readings from Aug. 16, 2015

Note: Each block of text actually is a link to a story or a web page that I am commenting on. Click on that text and it will take you to the page being referred to.

Once more we journey along the oceans of information on the internet and share some with you. I hope you find some of these interesting, if not thought-provoking.

This is a good criticism of the capitalism as it is practiced today in the United States. The problem is, as it always is, that when groups and individuals discover they can use the political process to vote themselves money from the common treasury, then you get tons of people wining and dining the elected elites and spending tons of money to support those elected elites who will pass legislation that gives them that money, or promising to deliver large numbers of voters at the polling station who will vote for the selected politician. It doesn’t matter if the politician is liberal or conservative these days, despite their record, they will deliver. Granted, a lot times the ideas are well-intentioned and seem justifiable, but all they do is serve to corrupt the process and bankrupt the common treasury.

This is an interesting use of a former US Army maintenance facility in Germany.

Remember the case of the New Mexico 911 dispatcher who hung up on a call ... well, there has been an arrest in the case of murder, it seems that is the son of a Democrat state legislator. The interesting thing to me is you have to wait until the next to the next to the last paragraph in this long story to find out. I suspect had it been the child of GOP legislator .... it would have been in the lede of the story.

I wish the Democrats (and their progressive supporters) would own up to this, since they have ruled Chicago since World War II, because I suspect that if it a conservative government, the GOP would be having it rammed down its throat.

Two points for the Indians (in South Asia) for doing on a shoestring what takes a major effort in the US

Bad Montana ... you ought to be ashamed of yourself ... making it tougher to get marijuana. You really need to get with the program, so it can be abused. (Understand, I am all for legalizing, regulating and taxing the heck out of marijuana and have been for decades. I just don't like people who stretch the law and abuse it)

Did somebody say Palestinian leaders are corrupt? Well, maybe by western accounting standards, but the Arab world operates a little bit differently, so this doesn't surprise me. Kickbacks, bribes, rake-off's, hey, that is the cost of doing business with the tribes of the Arabian peninsula.

ISIS has chemical weapons and is using them in Iraq? Did I fail to mention that the military leadership of ISIS is predominately old Iraqi Army and Republican Guard types. I wonder where they found them, much less learned how to employ them.

Gee willickers, someplace where California is playing catch-up with 40 other states.

Hmmm .... Ms. I never sent classified information on my private e-mail server: Maybe you can explain with 60 e-mails released on an FOI request contain classified information redactions? Another nail, Mrs. Clinton.

Coffee is good/bad for you. If you ever wonder why I don't place a whole lot of faith in scientific studies ... well, coffee is a textbook example.

This upbeat story on the US stock market reminds me of the joke about the man who jumped off the Empire State Building and shouted "So far so good" as he passed each floor.

This is the main reason every police officer and sheriff's deputy I have ever known hated to go on domestic violence calls ...

My initial reaction to this (as well as I my second, third and fourth) was: Who the flip cares? Can he play baseball on the major league level? That is the only question that should ever matter.

Julian Bond passed away at 75. He was another of civil rights leaders for whom I had considerable respect, unlike some of the ones around today who neither deserve nor will get my respect because they are merely race-hustlers and baiters.

You wonder why Boeing would patent this idea. I mean, why not just develop it ... but now potential enemies know of the concept and can either a) pursue it themselves or b) develop countermeasures.

OH NO! This is something Confederate ... it was made by traitors ... we must destroy it at once or we are endorsing what the South fought for.

With all due respect to the author, but she is the one being racist ... and ignoring the reason why so many urban African-American young men often find themselves at the business end of a police officer's firearm. Sorry, but the days of lynching are long passed.

Another HuffPo article on race, by someone who is racist. Why do I say that? Because I have long contended that as long as we think of ourselves and others in terms of their ethnic appearance, then we are - by default - racists.  I am not all that proud to be an Euro-American, but I am very proud to be an American ... where a lot of people finally are getting over judging people by the color of their skin and are judging people by the content of their character. Does that mean some people have more difficult lives than others? Darn straight it does, but you know something: That's life.

Another HuffPo piece on race: First I would say that correlation does not necessarily equal causation ... or in this case racism. I have a problem with people seeking to use government to impose racial solutions to what really is a social relations problem. In short: That ain't the government's job. Now, an interesting observation, and again correlation does not necessarily mean causation, but most disadvantaged schools with significant "black" enrollment are in the inner city of large urban areas ... areas that have been controlled by progressives,liberals and Democrats for nigh on 50 years.

10 things "whites" need to think about racism ... by two progressive white women, according to the article.  Well, as far as I am concerned the colorblind society starts with the individual, and grows one person at a time. Now, that may not suit progressives - and the ladies are right, as long as we think of ourselves and others in racial terms then we are all racists. But don't tell me that black people can't be racists because they can and they are ... just racist as they think some honky cracker is ... (unfortunately, I know this from personal experience). However, I wonder why people like Jindal, Rubio, Carson seem to be ignored ... and not celebrated by progressives and why people like Zimmerman, who definitely was not "white", got condemned because he could almost pass because he was Hispanic. Don’t tell me that African-Americans are unique, because they aren’t … and it is about time progressives stopped peddling that line.

The problem as I see it is that we have fallen into the multi-cultural trap, where people would rather be (Put your ethnicity here)-Americans or (insert your ethnicity here) in America, rather than be Americans. I often wonder why Asians, Middle Easterners and Hispanics keep getting lumped in with the European-Americans … did somebody forget about assimilation. And one more thing, don’t even try to convince me that a Greek or Italian looks Irish or Swedish … it don’t work. (PS: No link to this text block, I just needed to vent about this weekend’s focus in the Huffington Post)

Interesting story how Babe Ruth saved baseball, changed the game, and it is all Boston's fault

Abandoned mines. I suppose this is a problem, but then every hole in the ground - manmade or not - seems it would pose the same risks ... do we plug all of them up ... or try to treat all the water in all the holes ... sometimes I think people need to get a grip on reality

Interesting science ... and it probably is very internally consistent ... but still is based on human assumptions

I have seen Mexican Coca-Cola, but I have never tested it. It reminds of the stories about Dr Pepper and the plant in Dublin, Texas. It is the last, supposedly, still using cane sugar to make DP which supposedly makes it better. Well, DP is pretty good either way in my book, as I used to live in the distribution zone of the Dublin plant ... and couldn't really tell a difference.

There is much truth to this commentary on the modern power of propaganda.

The interesting story of two cows

Interesting site for those who want a reason to wander the US and guides to tell them where to go ... literaturely

Yes, Virginia ... it gets oppressively hot in the Middle East ... now it is summer, but remember being there in the fall and winters ... and it still could get oppressively hot ... when I arrived in Saudi Arabia (on the coast of the Persian Gulf) just before dark, it still was in triple digits (without the heat index) ... dang near melted as I carried my loaded large-ALICE ruck and two duffles, a brief case and a camera bag down the ramp of the C-141 that had carried us in from Spain.

Gospel music can be so moving ... it is a special treat

Finally, the NYTimes gets in on the story in South Carolina - one very telling quote from the story :  “The reality is that this killing maybe doesn’t get quite as much attention because it doesn’t fit into the current narrative that’s sweeping the country ... reflects that police violence is not confined to one race of victims.”

Having lived in the Oil Patch the US in Kansas and Texas, the oil business is very volatile ... up and down with supply and demand ... with demand down and supply way up ... prices are going to go down for crude oil ... if you want to blame somebody, blame the Saudis, Iraqis and the Iranians who will pumping oil like crazy.

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