Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Elective Amputation to Appear Sexier

I’ve heard of some strange ideas, such as Do It Yourself Trepanation, which I mentioned back in 2004, which is pretty out there, but according to a PopSci piece titled This Spring’s Hottest New Accessory: a Bionic Limb?, individuals may soon be electing to lop off a perfectly good arm or a leg to obatin the latest in prostheses in order to “inspire envy” and because it “looks hot.”

The really sad part of this story is the fact that there are probably individuals out and about in the world who would consider doing just that.

Via Weird Universe.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/26 at 08:17 AM
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Monday, January 25, 2010

Bicycle Justice, Chinese Style

J. Orlin Grabbe, who is no longer with us, but his site is and it is maintained, has a video posted (0:21) under which is written “When guns are outlawed people will use Bikes.”  Yes, yes they will.

Scroll down just a bit to watch.  Rather innovative use of a bike.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 07:05 PM
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Obama - Just “Like a Normal Adult”

The puff pieces just keep coming, for Barack Obama, the Washington Post’s Anne E. Komblut and Michael A. Fletcher being the most recent contributors.

In a piece headlined In Obama’s decision-making, a wide range of influences, Komblut and Fletcher have the following to say in regards to Obama’s utilization of the internet, under the heading “The Internet (and mainstream media, too).”

Obama is the first truly wired president, the first to have Internet access at his desk and to converse regularly via e-mail. This fingertip access sends him “constantly” online, said one senior adviser, and the information he finds there influences his thinking and some of his deliberations. He also “uses the Internet like a normal adult,” said another aide, “reading news articles, checking sports scores.”

Wow, Obama is a regular Joe Sixpack, utilizing the internet like a normal adult would for news and sports scores.  Who would’ve known?  Knowing this makes me feel so much more in tune to the man.

Additionally, at least the way that Komblut and Fletcher present it to us in writing, Obama’s reading of internet content must be considered as cutting edge for a President, though they must consider internet content as internut content, because they state that Obama reads the “mainstream media, too.”  And here I thought the mainstream media was also available on the internet.  But just what is Obama reading on the internet?

As for what Obama reads online, his advisers said he looks for offbeat blogs and news stories, tracking down firsthand reporting and seeking out writers with opinions about his policies. Obama was particularly interested in Atlantic Online’s Andrew Sullivan’s tweeting of the Iranian elections last year, said an aide, who requested anonymity to discuss what influences the president.

So, Obama looks for offbeat blogs and news stories.  I guess Andrew Sullivan’s blog could be considered “offbeat.”  I wonder if he’s hit my site yet?  I’m way off the beaten path.

The Post’s puff piece continues in pretty much the same vein throughout, casting a humble glow over Obama’s search for knowledge and guidance.  I don’t see it.  And Obama is far from being a “normal adult.”

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 03:55 PM
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Category 5 Hurricane Global Warming Spin Continues

National Geographic continues the category 5 hurricane global warming spin with a recent piece under the headline Strongest Hurricanes May Triple in Frequency, Study Says.

Which is simply a regurgitation of the same old tale trotted out in 2005 and 2006 by USA Today, in 2008 by Discoveries+Breakthroughs in Science, and etcetera, etcetera.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 12:19 PM
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Wow, Is Right

Fred Lapides posts a LiveLeak video (runs just over 4 minutes), under the heading “wow,” where you can view Gunnery Sergeant Messenger(?) digging out an IED by hand.  Not a task I would necessary relish.  Well done, Gunnery Sergeant.  I hope that man got that beer.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 11:14 AM
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Because the Bible Tells HIM So

Over at the blog Positive Liberty, Jonathon Rowe has a post up titled Dare to Be Daniel, Dare to Obey the Speed Limit.

Rowe’s post links to a MP3 lecture (42:11), from 2008, by Dr. Gregg Frazer of The Master’s College.  The lecture is titled Living Biblically in Political Society.  Rowe summarizes Frazer’s lecture this way.

It’s a refreshing orthodox biblical perspective that you don’t oft-hear. For instance, you’ll hear Dr. Frazer justify, on biblical grounds, 1) the idea that Christians are to pay all of their taxes. All of them, even if you think they are unjust. And 2) Christians are to obey government simply because government said so; that is, unless government commands a believer to actively or by omission sin (for instance tell a believer to stop preaching the gospel). That’s the one exception to the always obey rule. That means you drive the speed limit because government said so.

The lecture is based on the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans 13:1-7

As an individual of faith, not dogma, I disagree with Dr. Frazer’s opinion, and thus with the apostle Paul’s.  If I am to submit to anyone, it is The Creator, not the State, nor the church, nor the bully down the street.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 10:45 AM
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An Essay on Voluntaryism

Wendy McElroy has posted an essay written by a student, Ross Kenyon, of American history at Arizona State University titled Why Voluntaryism Is the Best and Only Legitimate Moral Philosophy, which is worth perusing.  From the essay.

I declare that the individual has a legitimate right to govern him or her self and to voluntarily associate with any other individual so long as it is consensual and non-aggressive to those outside of the agreement. With self-admitted state socialists this is one of the first things I will proffer. In my experience, convincing someone who instinctively distrusts the free market and loves the state that the inverse is consequentially better is an arduous and frustrating process. Rather than trying to convince involuntaryists that my ideal system has better results than theirs, I will submit that there is room for both of our philosophies on this planet. The Earth is large, and all I request is that the negative rights and justly acquired property of individuals who prefer other systems be left unmolested and in full retention of their sovereignty. This is a very reasonable assertion and does not confront any competing philosophy on any grounds except for the element which is based upon coercion in the place of voluntary association. If they believe it is moral to force others into their system I would challenge them to explain on what grounds they have inherited the authority to rule others. I condemn this idea of authority as immoral and coercive.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 08:16 AM
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Welcome Back, Claire Wolfe

Via Bill St. Clair I learn that Claire Wolfe is once again blogging, at Backwoods Home Magazine.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 07:54 AM
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About That Steak on the Table

Most individuals are rather far removed from that steak, chicken or what have you cut of meat on the table.  I admit that I am, as I am neither a game hunter nor a butcher.  I am relatively certain that I could butcher an animal, meaning cut it up into usable portions, but I am a bit uncertain what my mental and physical responses would be when it came time to actually slaughter an animal, raised for that purpose, in preparation for the butchering.

Go read the post Slaughter vs. Butcher, at the American Mercenary blog to get a perspective.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 07:46 AM
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USS Los Angeles (SSN688) Decommissioned

My old boat, the USS Los Angeles (SSN688), has been decommissioned.  I stepped off of her for the last time in October 1984.

The COMSUBPAC press release.

Other articles noting the decommissioning can be read via The Stupid Shall Be Punished.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/25 at 07:32 AM
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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Wasn’t Col Joe Kittinger First?

Instapundit links to a story headlined Daredevil Space Diver To Leap Toward World’s First Supersonic Free-Fall From 120,000 Feet.

Though the “daredevil” will exceed, what I am aware of as the highest altitude for a parachute jump, I think Col Joe Kittinger has already broke the sound barrier in free fall from a height of 102,800 feet.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/24 at 03:03 PM
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Happy Birthday, Canned Beer

Be sure to crack open a cold one on Jan. 24, the day canned beer celebrates its 75th birthday.

Indeed.  Happy Birthday, canned beer, and thanks to Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company for leading the way.

Canned Beer Turns 75

Via Weird Universe.

UPDATE:  My son pointed out it’s a birthday, Dad, not an anniversay.  Point taken, post titled changed, etc.  Additionally, my son pointed out that I do not drink beer out of cans, but bottles, and even then I decant into a pint glass.  Point also taken.  None-the-less I will crack open a cold one and toast canned beer’s birthday.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/24 at 12:39 PM
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No Doubt, Life Will Go On, The Question is in What Manner

Robert Higgs pens an essay, posted at The Beacon Blog titled My Question for the Doomsters: Then What?  Higgs begins his essay this way.

Although I am reputed to be a cynic, a pessimist, and a bah-humbugger, I am not given to doomsaying in the same way that a growing number of others are. Although I tend to expect, as Thomas Jefferson did, that the natural progress of things will be for liberty to yield and government to gain ground, and for me this will be an unwelcome course of events, I am not much inclined to predict that, especially in the near term, the economy, society, or government will suddenly “break down,” “collapse,” or experience some comparably terrible and complete calamity.

Higgs is arguably correct when he states that “...the economy, society, or government will (not - ed.) suddenly “break down,” “collapse,” or experience some comparably terrible and complete calamity,” though the possibility does exist.  The breakdown or collapse may occur gradually, in the reverse of liberty’s current gradual yielding to governmental control.

Higgs continues, further into his essay, to address “doomsayers,” such as those in the “Austro-libertarian camp,” quoting Ludwig von Mises, and towards the end of his piece allegorically references the Northern Spotted Owl, and poses the following question in regards to if your tree was cut down.

Would you fall down and die, or would you simply fly to the nearest not-so-old-growth tree and go on living as usual?”

I know I would go on living, but many individuals, who have been conditioned into total dependency on the State by the State, may not.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/24 at 12:12 PM
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Some Wage Earners are More Equal

I touched on the subject on of public servants’ wages just the other day in a post titled Public Servants or Avarice Wolves?

Today, on the front page of the dead tree copy of the Grand Rapids Press, I read the following headline Is public employees’ pay fair game or ‘easy target’?, though online the headline to the story is modified to read Public employees Lansing lawmakers target public employees wages, benefits for cuts, budget savings.

The gist of the article is natuarally easily determined by reading only the headline(s), but if one read only the headline(s) they would miss some telling attitudes and facts.

Let’s look at attitudes first.  Here’s Phil Pakiela, a city employed union leader, expressing his thoughts on lawmakers considering cutting public servants wages.

Pakiela, who leads a union representing about 700 non-uniformed city employees, dismisses the proposals as “grandstanding,” noting that Bishop is campaigning for attorney general and Dillon is exploring a run for governor.

But he said politicians appear to be tapping into rising public anger aimed at people on their tax-supported payrolls.

“It’s as if people are saying, ‘If I can’t have it, then you can’t have it,’” Pakiela said. “I understand that so many people are desperate, but we all don’t do better by bringing other people down.” (bold by ed.)

Pakiela is correct when he notes the element of grandstanding by lawmakers when they open their mouths to discuss this issue, but that is what professional jobholders do.  What I want to draw attention to is the portion of Pakiela’s comment which I highlighted in bold, as it illustrates the lack of understanding that taxation, which pays Pakiela wages, brings all wage earners down via the force of State, rather than the action of the free market.

What should be eye opening, though, as you read through the article, are the following facts in regards to budget expenses for local government.  And these facts are most likely common across local and state governments across the United States.

...Wages and insurance account for about 80 percent of school district budgets.

Kent County Administrator Daryl Delabbio said his 1,900 employees account for about 70 percent of the county’s $367 million budget.

These government budget facts remind me a bit of reading of questionable charities which for every dollar raised the charity spends ninety percent (90%) on wages, with only the remaining ten percent (10%) actually being applied to whatever charitable cause needs a bit a charity.

The final paragraphs of the article note the following in regards to the State of Michigan’s public employees wages and benefits.

Michigan’s public employee wages and benefits were among the top in the nation — but there were fewer employees compared to other states, according to a 2007 study from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

Craig Thiel, the council’s director for state affairs, said state employees were the sixth highest-paid in the nation in terms of base salary and had the third-best benefit packages.

But Michigan ranked 45th in employees per 10,000 residents, with half as many as states atop the ranking.

Yet the State of Michigan, which has the highest unemployment rate within the United States, according to the United States Department of Labor, can some how still afford, at the expense of the private sector individuals living in Michigan, to have the sixth highest-paid public sector employees with the third-best benefit packages.  Do not these facts indicate that the public sector employees, the State, are benefiting, while bringing private sector employees down?

Posted by John Venlet on 01/24 at 09:51 AM
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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Pre-selling Obama’s Upcoming State of the Union Address

An AP piece pre-selling Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address, written by Ben Feller, runs under the headline Obama’s State of the Union agenda: Yes, I get it.  I don’t think Obama “gets it,” at all.

Shortly into the piece we read this.

...Obama will attempt to present a clearer sense of how everything he’s pursuing fits together to help.

I think the American people are actually beginning to understand that everything Obama is pursuing is purely ideological in nature, and not traditional American ideological in nature, but rather, social democratic in nature, heavily weighted in favor of State control of economics, and individual lives.  A combination of socialism and fascism, with a dose of populist sentiment, to help the medicine go down.

Posted by John Venlet on 01/23 at 05:24 PM
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