COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Obama administration has had a massive purge under way to remove all training manuals, lectures and instructors who link Islamic doctrine and its governing Shariah law in a factual way to Islamic terrorism. These manuals are being removed from all government agencies, including the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. All our training manuals have been purged of the true nature of the threat from Islam and Shariah.


LYONS: Draft of new U.S. Army handbook must be scrapped
Adm. James A. Lyons

Military supposed to defend First Amendment rights

After the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the erosion of our military’s moral principles, regretfully, continues.
A recent Wall Street Journal article described the U.S. Army’s final-draft handbook, which indoctrinates our military personnel heading to Afghanistan in how to be sensitive to and accept Muslim and Afghan 7th-century customs and values — or possibly be killed by our Afghan partners.
Unbelievable. This is being done to prevent the so-called “green-on-blue” attacks, which have cost 63 American lives this year.
According to the Army’s Combined Arms Center at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., it is our military’s ignorance and lack of empathy for Muslim and Afghan cultural norms that is the basic cause for our Afghan military partners to react violently and kill our troops.
For example, if our military personnel hear or witness an Afghan soldier sodomizing a young boy, the handbook tells U.S. service members to voice no objection, accept it or ignore it, or they could be killed. If an Afghan beats, rapes or kills a woman in the presence of a U.S. serviceman, they are not to interfere or stand up for women’s rights or else they might be killed.
What the Army is saying, in effect, is that if Afghan partners conduct violence against U.S. service personnel, it is the serviceman’s fault. This is mind-boggling. We know, according to former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, that nine out of 10 Afghan military personnel are illiterate and cannot be counted on in combat. Endemic corruption is embedded in Afghan culture and certainly extends to their military. They cannot be trusted.
Other cultural norms our professional U.S. military must accept without reservation by our Afghan partners is desertion, drug use, thievery, dog torture and collusion with the enemy, the Taliban. Also, U.S. military members must not discuss Islam in any form.
All of this guidance is un-American. It is totally against our core principles and everything we stand for as Americans. It threatens to further diminish our military principles, stature and fighting spirit. As columnist Diana West stated in a recent article, if this handbook directive is implemented, we will be forcing our military to submit to Islam and its governing Shariah law or die — exactly the choice offered to infidels who have been vanquished by jihad. Our military’s silence and acquiescence would be the humiliating price for their existence.
This should be seen as another attempt to undercut our professional military and our warrior reputation that has guaranteed our freedom and way of life for the past 236 years.
None of this humiliating guidance should come as a surprise. The Obama administration has had a massive purge under way to remove all training manuals, lectures and instructors who link Islamic doctrine and its governing Shariah law in a factual way to Islamic terrorism. These manuals are being removed from all government agencies, including the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. All our training manuals have been purged of the true nature of the threat from Islam and Shariah.
The degrading of our military’s fundamental principles should be viewed in a much broader perspective. We cannot overlook the fact that with or without sequestration, we are unilaterally disarming our military force. This is happening in spite of an uncertain world situation with the Mideast still in a state of turmoil and evolving threats posed by China, Russia and Iran.
Separately, we see our First Amendment rights being trashed by our secretary of state through her participation in the Istanbul Process championed by the 57-member-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC is sponsoring a United Nations mandate that would make it a crime to express anything they consider blasphemous against Islam or the Prophet Muhammad. This same theme was expressed by President Obama in his September speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
If these attacks on America’s exceptionalism and core principles are collectively analyzed, it appears that there is an insidious agenda at work to fundamentally change America. All of these negative factors must be challenged and defeated. As a first step, the Army’s draft handbook should be trashed.
Second, Congress must take positive action to protect our First Amendment rights and force the Obama administration to withdraw from any further participation in the Istanbul Process. Third, the unilateral disarmament of our military must be reversed. It’s time for members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to take a position that supports the oath they took to protect and defend our Constitution.
Retired Adm. James A. Lyons was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations.


195 comments:

  1. Get over the moderator’s pipe in the video and consider the merits of this very important video. The celebration of victimhood and diversity is at the heart of political correctness.

    The PC movement is a stunning accomplishment of the dedicated work of a tiny group of social radicals. It has fundamentally changed US culture and IMO for the worse.

    How this can be reversed? I am not sure. I am sure that it has damaged US culture and society beyond an evolutionary repair.

    Reversion to be successful will have to be both revolutionary and radical. It will likely require a devolution of the single national state. Things will have to worsen, which they will, for the process to begin.

    The controlling apparatus has so thoroughly imbedded the culture that all societal institutions have become potential organs of individual repression. They will not cede control voluntarily.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deuce,

    First I would like to thank you for continuing the Bar...

    I find myself coming here first for my news update...

    But I'm also feeling more and more "out of it." Perhaps as a result of your aggregrating skills.

    Benghazi... The election...

    This post particularly makes me crazy...

    Some time back I commented that GW started out on the right track re the WOT... But then stopped and started this touchy feely nonsense.. At the time I wrote that it was as if he woke to a horse's head in his bed.

    Trish ridiculed that thought and I've resisted commenting along those lines since.

    But, gosh oh golly, what else could cause this evasion from the overarching problem the western world is facing?

    Is there a secret (nukes stashed in the USofA?) that is privy only to Presidents and candidates? Is that why Romney pulled his punches in the debates?

    I mean it all seems so surreal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks gno-man, I always pay attention to your comments and value your contribution.

      Delete
    2. Is there a secret (nukes stashed in the USofA?) that is privy only to Presidents and candidates?

      Or lower level sleeper cells prepared to take out a school or a hospital.

      I agree with the Trish view (which may have changed.) Western "leaders" are attempting to "tone down the rhetoric." Whether they should or not is debatable, as is the number who believe that the rhetoric is founded in the substance of reality and will.

      Delete
  3. The article by the Admiral if focused on a single scene of one act of a very long play.

    I have been under the mistaken impression that the PC movement started in the 60’s. That is when it became apparent to me. I was wrong.

    The video makes a compelling case that the process is far deeper, has been going on longer and is exceedingly will thought out.

    Western culture has been outflanked, surrounded and inculcated with a viral process that is accelerating and has breeched every institution including the most basic, marriage . If marriage and the family is broken, nothing else can stand in its way.

    Once you understand the process, you realize that compromise with the left is impossible. Fortunately for the left and to their great credit, their strategy has been masterful and societal recognition of their work is shallow at best.

    Anyone detect the whiff of coup de grâce?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If marriage and the family is broken, nothing else can stand in its way.

      I am beginning to see the wisdom of this. The extended family needs to be protected as well. The extended family hangs on among the farmers who are rooted to the permanent, but is mostly gone elsewhere.

      Things look grim.

      Delete
    2. Nature knew best. Grandpa and Grandma have survival value.

      Delete
    3. Anyone detect the whiff of coup de grâce?

      As someone once said, "They're not that smart."

      The institution of marriage started to crumble when increased economic opportunities allowed women, and ultimately men, more freedom of choice. I will leave that there because the mere introduction of this subject brings the raging screaming misogynists still smarting because their divorce lawyer wasn't as good out of the woodwork and damn Eleanor for supporting women's suffrage "the old starting point of all downhill from there" which is amusing in a comedy central context, less so in a serious policy domain.


      Nature knew best.

      I miss those caves and bear skin quilts.

      Delete
  4. This is so much Obama theatre. Look world, what I am doing! See me, I am the centre of attention. I am the king of the world! I can make these leaders beg. Look people, I have arrived! I am Barack Obama, President of the United States of America. Hurray for me: I am important. Laud over me.
    No, I am not a megalomaniac: how dare you say that!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I had a particularly off the wall childhood friend... Think Hunter Thompson with less redeeming qualities... But similarly charismatic and... interesting. And attractive... You knew it was trouble to hang with him, but he went to so many places you hadn't even thought of...

    This was back in the '60s, early '70s... As you might imagine his candle burned a tad too bright and he's left this coil.

    But one thing he brought up more than once was a book popular back then in some circles... It was a racial thing. A fictional apocalypse theme... I don't remember the title or the author... But the idea was that when the time came it was going to be the white Russian core allied with the white USofA core against the world...

    Christianity, as I remember, was one of the connections...


    Bizarrely I find myself thinking of him and how he said that author had it right when I read the news today...

    How it seems that only Putin (Putin!) is attempting to aid Christians in the MENA...

    It just boggles my mind that we (the MSM and the US gummint) just don't even speak about the plight of Christians in that area... Forget the Jews... What about the Christians?

    Why are the followers of the RofP sacrosanct?

    Why is any criticism directed their way treated as though you shouted the "N" word?

    ReplyDelete
  6. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/12/the-real-source-of-anti-muslim-bigotry.html

    https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?shva=1#inbox/13beb0d19e9c4185

    For a little sanity on the subject sign up for JihadWatch through your e-mail.

    ....

    That case of 'workplace violence', the guy that shot up Fort Hood, shouting allahu akbar, still hasn't been prosecuted.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hood_shooting

    ....

    Article on Pussy Riot, Putin, Russian Orthodox Church, etc. -


    Putin Goes to Church
    Russia’s unholy new alliance between Orthodox and state

    Cathy Young from the January 2013 issue

    The Pussy Riot fiasco is likely to accelerate this trend. On the day the women were sentenced, Muscovite Svetlana Goryacheva, writing on Facebook, explained her choice to leave the Russian Orthodox Church after 16 years as a churchgoer: “I am still a believing Christian, but I cannot stay in a church full of liars, money-grubbers and bigots.”

    http://reason.com/archives/2012/12/26/putin-goes-to-church


    Putin, at least, doesn't have any problem with shooting jihadis if the occasion arises. But then he's not a muslim, nor a commie. I've noticed he has of late taken to wearing a cross when he is faking fishing bare chested.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Obama administration has had a massive purge under way to remove all training manuals, lectures and instructors who link Islamic doctrine and its governing Shariah law in a factual way to Islamic terrorism. These manuals are being removed from all government agencies, including the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. All our training manuals have been purged of the true nature of the threat from Islam and Shariah.

    Barky is a muslim.

    If Hagel doesn't fly, maybe he will nominate a muslim S. of Defense.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's all cool by me, Dude.
    ...or Deuce, or whatever.

    Sincerely,

    Dufus III

    ReplyDelete
  9. What about waking up to a Gnossos in the Bar?
    Is this back to the future, or what?
    Holy Chris Cringle, Batman!

    ReplyDelete
  10. ...I remember clearly when it all began:
    We had our own little Honolulu Radio Station discussion blog thingie before there were blogs, and GW backed away from his evil utterance of the Word "Crusade" and then all the BS about you don't want to be at war with the entire 15 Trillion Towelheads of the Muslim World, do you? and similar BS poured down upon our heads.

    Blah, blah, blah, blather blather.
    "The Terrorists will have won."
    "Waterboarding is immoral."
    "If Allen West saved Manhatten by blowing a hole in some terrorist's Turban shouldn't he be put to death? "
    etc blah, etc etc blah blah

    ...and Lifer Brained Trish would justify this new PC Military stance or that, having been sucessfully brainwashed by the system.

    Giuliani had it right: Whether we think we are at war with them or not, they're at war w/us.

    Wish we'd had him instead of Bush the Wuss, he, like Andy McCarthy actually understood how those scumbags operate.

    Laura Bush would have had a case of the vapors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      and similar BS poured down upon our heads.

      Blah, blah, blah, blather blather.
      "Waterboarding is immoral."



      Your hilarious, Doug.

      Lyons points out the cowardly PC assholes in the administration that are willing to accept the outrages of the Islamofascists in an effort to just get along.

      You want to become the same as the dicks the administration is trying to protect.

      I'll take back the hilarious part. You are just a strange little man.

      .

      Delete
    2. Hear that Doug? You are a strange little man. This from our stargazer, dog walker, sitting in barbershops listening to tales of mafia hits, driver better drunk that sober (don't do that Quirk, it always worries me when I think of it, make it a New Years Resolution, please), feller for whom 'they are all dicks' as political mantra, and general intellectual and God fearer, to his credit, not above picking the pocket of the any public anywhere through 'marketing', to his debit, and hilarious weirdo with zero sympathy for the noble elk.

      You, Doug are strange.

      Heh, :)

      Delete
    3. .

      Something that I don't recall coming up in previous conversations on the subject, Bob, do you approve of the torture employed under Bush and likley continuing under Obama?

      .

      Delete
  11. Tough People Do

    Here is a link to the performance at the RNC of Trace doing this song: Tough People Do

    TOUGH PEOPLE DO
    Written By Chris DuBois, Jason Matthews and Joel Shewmake

    Back in 39 she was 26

    The wife of a soldier tryin’ to raise four kids

    On rationed out beans and watered down milk

    Tryin’ to keep ‘em all warm with a patchwork quilt

    That great depression ended about 1945

    But grandma lived to be 92

    See, tough times don’t last

    Tough people do

    Tough people pull themselves up by the bootstraps

    When they hit hard luck
    And they stay strong and they keep on fightin’

    Like they don’t know how to lose

    Tough times don’t last

    Tough people do

    Those talkin’ heads on cnn

    Say we’ll never get out of this hole we’re in

    Price of gas is up and the market’s down

    And there’s a bunch of empty houses in every town

    Well, i’d interrupt that program with a little headline of my own

    This just in from the old red, white and blue

    Tough times don’t last

    Tough people do

    Tough people pull themselves up by the bootstraps

    When they hit hard luck

    And they stay strong and they keep on fightin’

    Like they don’t know how to lose

    Tough times don’t last

    Tough people do

    I’ve been out of work since mid july

    My bank account’s about bone dry

    Been lookin’ for a job no luck so far

    But I bought a little time when I sold my car

    Well, I’ll go dig a ditch if that’s what it takes

    Baby, somehow or another we’ll get through

    Tough times don’t last

    Tough times don’t last

    Tough people do

    Tough people do


    Marines: "Call me Maybe"

    (I'm the guy in the back seat on the left.)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm glad they actually put in writing the ..."Army’s final-draft handbook, which indoctrinates our military personnel heading to Afghanistan in how to be sensitive to and accept Muslim and Afghan 7th-century customs and values — or possibly be killed by our Afghan partners." I hope it actually documents all the cultural revulsions we have learned about over the past few years. The brave journos in the MSM should take up the cause and start their tell-alls on the peculiarities of the Muslim world. The practical advice about conducting oneself in theater is common sense because regardless of how ass-backward the natives are, deep in Indian country one needs to know what polite company does.

    a name



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And whatever you do, DO NOT look cross-eyed at them!

      aname

      Delete
  13. Our modernist politicians outbid each other with their PC credentials by pitting them against the values of people judged to be out of step with mainstream opinion. It has yet to run its course.

    ReplyDelete
  14. In short, keep your head down (and, attached to the rest of your body) until we can get you the hell out of that backward shithole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And accept defeat in "the necessary war", the war "we must win" according to the guy you voted for?

      Surely you must be jesting.

      Or injesting (Urban Dictionary), again.

      What, are you breaking ranks with The Leader?

      Delete
    2. Osama's daid. We're coming home. Seems simple enough.



      And, while we're at it, Am I the only one that finds this article pretty much too weird to comment on?

      Delete
    3. Yes, you are, which won't stop you from commenting.

      Delete
    4. I mean, here's my take-away:

      1) PC is a Commie plot

      2) PC led to the Labor Union Movement

      3) Also, the Civil Rights Movement

      4) Also, the Equal Pay for Equal Work Movement

      5) Also, the Gender Rights Movement

      6) Also, the Clean Air, and

      7) Clean Water Movement

      8) Also, the Voting Right Movement,

      9) etc.

      And, we should find this all, somehow, "deeply disturbing."

      Is that about it?

      Delete
    5. .

      Actually, my last comment was to your initial question,

      "Am I the only one that finds this article pretty much too weird to comment on?

      .

      Delete
    6. Told ya, the print ain't dry and Rufus is commenting again.

      :)

      Delete
    7. Slow down, hillbilly, no one is saying all that.

      While most progressives are probably PC and support/champion your listed items, PC and liberalism are not synonymous. You, yourself are a prime example of a non-PC (some would say crude, even) progressive. :)

      a name

      Delete
    8. Some add rude to crude.

      Some add nasty when drinking.

      Delete
  15. December 30, 2012
    In dramatic shift, Egypt to embrace Hezb'allah
    Rick Moran


    Hamdy announced that Muslim-Brotherhood- dominated Egypt would begin "stretching [its] hand out in the proper, balanced way to all regional powers," including Hezbollah, to forge "tight" contacts with Lebanon's rulers.

    Egypt-Hezbollah relations, generally strained under president Hosni Mubarak, in large part due to Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, reached rock bottom in 2008 during Israel's Cast Lead military operation.


    from that subversive site -

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/12/in_dramatic_shift_egypt_to_embrace_hezballah.html


    ReplyDelete
  16. .

    US culture?

    It's a world problem. How long will it be before the US signs up to that UN resolution that basically says it's a hate crime to say anything that will hurt someones feelings? In Europe there are 17 or 18 countries where you can go to jail for denying the holocaust. In Canada, a few years back, the government agency set up to protect people's feelings used to routinely drive people to the verge of bancruptcy based on claims by offended people that their feelings were hurt by 'offensive' words.

    Here, we get incensed, when there are indications our 2nd amendment rights might be infringed. What do we need 2nd Amendment rights for if there is no 1st Amendment left to protect.

    You know you are in a world of shit when you can be prosecuted not only for what you do but also for what you think.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well said, maybe you are not so weird after all.

      Delete
  17. Well, at least Deuce gives us a way out. He refers to it as "Devolving." Some refer to it as Secession.

    This approach seems to be the most popular in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas

    (hmm, this particular grouping seems familiar, doesn't it?)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anything to save the country and its culture.

    Add Idaho to the list. And Alaska. And Hawaii, independence wasn't even on the ballot for them. Add Montana if the feds start f'ing with their guns. Nevada north of Las Vegas. Maybe Wyoming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now watch crapper jump in with 'what about the public lands, boobie?'

      Yes, crapper, it's just a 'thought experiment'.

      Delete
  19. Your Leader wants your guns, Rufus -

    http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/274881-obama-hopes-to-enact-new-gun-control-measures-in-2013

    ReplyDelete
  20. People devolve all the time. They vote with their feet. They leave one school district to go to another, one township to another because of school boards and local taxes. The union is held hostage by two political parties that have so bastardized the system that 85% of all congressional seats are safe seats for one party or another, an imperial president that does what he chooses and nine life time appointed wizards, selected by the same shit birds that control 85% of the congressional seats and they are in turn in the pocket of unelected unions, corporations and lobbyists and their party bosses.

    How awful of them to believe there exists a better method of living.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      The devolution talk is just that, Deuce. There are just not that many people who support the idea. Beyond that it is not practical.

      Times are tough right now and 10% of the people are really hurting. Another 10% are just getting by. The rest of them are still out buying their iPads and 4G phones not even thinking about the issues you are discussing. Things would have to get a hell of a lot worse before you see many people even start to think about them.

      From a practical standpoint there are iust not enough people in any particualar state to vote for it. It would require the mass relacotion of whole populations to get the required votes in a particualr area. Then you have the whole issue of whether they would be allowed to leave the union anyway.

      Of course, a lot can happen in a short period of time and I don't see things getting better in the near future. On the other hand even negative trends can change. For instance, by 2032, the Baby Boom pig will be through the system and demographics should start to improve.

      I wouldn't count on becoming ruler of the kingdom of PA any time soon.

      It will be interesting to see how Scotland votes on independance from the UK. The two have a long history of both being independant and being joined. Based on my conversations with people while I was there, I would bet they vote to stay tied to the UK.

      .

      Delete
  21. If we didn't have gerrymandered seats there would be few blacks in the House. Some of it is necessary for some kind of simple fairness it would seem. 12% or so of the population shouldn't go without some representation.

    ReplyDelete
  22. There's always McCall,Idaho. Or Yellowpine, if a big city like McCall gets on the nerves.

    ReplyDelete
  23. They do on a macro scale what the Philadelphia trade unions do on a local basis. Once you are in the family, there is no way out.

    We are fortunate that enough free men at certain times called the bullshit for what it was. History and common experience has proven that there is always a time to do a little remodeling. Tear a little down here, rebuild that there and sometimes move out of Dodge or run them out of town tarred and feathered.

    ReplyDelete
  24. President blames Benghazi on 'sloppiness'...drudge

    Latest Barky attempt to put blame on anything else than his own very self for sacrificing those human lives to his campaign slogan "Osama Dead, GM Alive".

    ReplyDelete
  25. Small town America, in the fifties, was a great time, and place (if you were young, and white.)

    A unique moment in history that is unlikely to be replicated anytime soon.

    The phrase, "Gone with the Wind," seems so ironically appropriae. :)

    Anyways, it's the past.

    The present, and future, seem, to me, so much more interesting, and most importantly, relevant.

    If the Kochs, and the Blankfeins/Dimons, etal can keep us divided, and fighting amongst ourselves just a little bit longer, they can end up with it all - every last bit of it. Be careful that you don't help them any more than you have to.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Go back to rufus's list, add on boobie's choices and you have a list of those States that are on the Federal dole.
    Receiving more in Federal expeditures then they send to DC.

    Welfare Queens bitching it up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also, with a couple of minor deviations, the states with the worst healthcare, education systems, and lowest median incomes

      (Hawaii being, of course, the Very Large Exception to these metrics.)

      Delete

    2. Arizona should go back to Mexico. After all it was stolen from them. Right crapper? Let the PRI run the place.

      We good states don't want to be on the Federal dole. That's why we want out. We want to run ourselves.

      Delete
    3. Idaho for Idahoans! :)

      I'd vote for That.

      "I Love Lucy" meets "Green Acres" on steroids.

      The Greatest reality show of all time. :)

      The Sponsors would be lined up to Bolivia.

      Delete
  27. Boobe, Idaho is 65% Federal.

    Idaho exemplifies the States and people on the Federal dole.

    You support the program.

    You aree the dole program, up close and personal, third generation of your family living on that Federal land grant

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can't get over it can you crapper.

      We are the only people in the entire history of the earth, three generations of us, that actually did anything with that land. And helped build the city and the U too.

      Go fuck yourself crapper. It's all you are good for, being a stupid nasty little prick.

      By the way, your spelling is getting really bad.

      Delete
    2. Idaho: Moscow, nearby to Lewiston, it's home to the University of Idaho.

      http://suite101.com/article/best-towns-to-raise-kids-in-2011-affordable-and-family-friendly-a336058

      Best In State Award

      Created a great place to raise kids, we did.

      One reason is because we have good schools, the result of so many U of I people taking part. Also lots of people still go to church, believe it or not, low violence, and plenty of outdoor possibilities.

      Best place to raise kids, affordable and family friendly. My friend the Mennonite and his wife decided to stay, after their child was born. Brought the whole family out for a visit and they wanted stay too.

      Delete

  28. “We knew from the shape of the solar spectrum and modeling solar cells that what we wanted was a third junction that has a band gap of about 1.0 electron volt, lattice-matched to gallium arsenide,” Friedman said. “The lattice match makes materials easier to grow.”

    They concentrated on materials from the third and fifth columns of the periodic table because these so-called III-V semiconductors have similar crystal structures and ideal diffusion, absorption, and mobility properties for solar cells.

    But there was seemingly no way to capture the benefits of the gallium arsenide material while matching the lattice of the layer below, because no known III-V material compatible with gallium arsenide growth had both the desired 1-eV band gap and the lattice-constant match to gallium arsenide.

    That changed in the early 1990s, when a research group at NTT Laboratories in Tokyo working on an unrelated problem made an unexpected discovery. Even though gallium nitride has

    Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1xNlY)

    Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2012/12/30/solar-pv-efficiency-record-broken-now-44-thanks-to-nrel-solar-junction/#j4QCTtHmThhGycie.99

    Science, and Technology, baby; Science and Technology

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Think of how many crystal radios could be made with all that stuff.
      I listened to radio via my crystal set for many years, no electricity required!
      Must be how I got addicted.

      Delete
    2. I forgot about that. I made one once from some mail order kit.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, I had the kit where you could actually see the magic rock that performed the miracle of capturing sound out of thin air.

      ...but my regular listening was via a Sputnik Looking little plastic box hiding the magic rock inside.

      Tuning was via a little rod that looked like a car antenna with a little red ball on top.

      You'd extend or retract that magic rod to access the two or three stations I could get out in the wilderness.

      (This with antenna wires spread out all over the family's humble abode)

      Delete
  29. In those studies of what states get what from others that give it, do they take into account the differential in Federal income taxes paid?

    ie, in high tax states like CA, they get to deduct the outrageous CA taxes paid from their income, resulting in fewer Federal Taxes paid by any given income group as compared to States like Nevada and Florida.

    ReplyDelete
  30. $1 Trillion Obamacare Tax Hike Hitting on Jan. 1

    On January 1, regardless of the outcome of fiscal cliff negotiations, Americans will be hit with a $1 trillion Obamacare tax hike.

    Obamacare contains twenty new or higher taxes. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1. In total, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

    The five major Obamacare taxes taking effect on January 1 are as follows...

    Rufie's Socialist Nirvana Marches On!

    Huzzah!

    ReplyDelete
  31. 22.8%

    One in four or one in five.

    The number of females in the military who have been raped.

    The American military needs to fix a few of it's own problems first.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Replies
    1. I want to see the report on Ruf's liver.

      Delete
    2. •New Obamacare Tax Form Mandates Americans Report Personal Health ID Info to IRS

      People should say the hell with it at that point. Your personal health info is not income.

      The government has zero business doing what they are doing.

      Delete
    3. The Report States:

      "This is no joke, we're the Government, and we did NOT ask for Swiss Cheese!"

      Delete
  33. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254780/Spectacular-photo-captures-moment-great-white-gobbled-EVEN-BIGGER-shark-hauled-fishermans-boat.htmltyrduu

    Think "The Old Man and the Sea", only here the marlin is another shark.

    "The Old Man..." is one of those great books that seems to have existed 'in heaven' only waiting for the right hand to put it on paper.

    You ever get that feeling about a great book or poem?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Warning to Sam - took place off New Zealand.

      Delete
    2. I caught a trout once on the fly, had another trout hanging out its mouth, tail hanging out. It's a jungle down there in the rivers, the seas.

      This is why the sea is usually a symbol of chaos, and if we are born into the sea, metaphorically, and we are, we should swim like hell for the land, as a poet said.

      This was Blake, whom Rufus invited to suck his cock.

      Delete
  34. WTC Mosque to Welcome Islam Friendly Gay Bar as their new neighbor:

    In the name of Tolerance and Communication, Greg Gutfeld Explains His Plan to open an Islam Friendly Gay Bar Next to the 9-11 Mosque

    Suggested Names:

    "JiHot" (or "JiHunk")

    "Turban Cowboy"

    "RamaDam"

    "You Mecca Me Hot"

    "Suspicious Packages"

    Bar will serve 72 Virgin Drinks (non-alcoholic)


    IN THE WAY THAT New York WILL ACCEPT THE WTC MOSQUE,

    THE MOSQUE SHOULD ACCEPT THE GAY BAR!


    Building Dialog for our Brave New World.

    ReplyDelete
  35. In 2007 Bush collected 18.23% of the nation's GDP in Federal Taxes.

    Obama, in 2012, hit the country up for 15.5%.

    And, the pubbies whine like little bitches (which, of course, they are.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rufus Dufus leaves out the 25 percent of GDP SPENDING,

      ...cause afterall, as any Dufus knows, the Green King will grow money on trees to save our offspring from BANKRUPTCY.

      Delete
    2. (Bush Spent like a drunken Sailor, yet he still stayed below 19 percent)

      Delete
    3. Do you get medical care through the Cherokee Tribe, Ruf?

      Delete
    4. I ask because here tribal members do get some free medical stuff through the Tribe.

      Delete
    5. Actually, dumbfuck,

      Doofus just happens to know that spending in 2012 was $3.538 Trillion, which, divided by $15.8 Trillion =

      22.39% of GDP

      (most assuredly, Not, 25%.)

      Delete
    6. And, actually, dumbfuck, Bush DID NOT hold spending to less than 19%. In the year that we're looking at he spent

      19.39% of GDP.

      Delete
    7. Bob, I've written, plain as day, that I am Not an official member of the Cherokee Tribe.

      I might have the DNA, but I Don't have the papers.

      Delete
    8. I must have missed that. I take you at your word.

      Might be worth your time to do it though.

      I would, in your moccasins.

      Delete
    9. Yes, Dufus, and as anyone above sub-moron level IQ can see, projected spending will consume above 25 percent.

      ...and you perform the Progressive Talking Point trick of adding a Trillion Dollars in spending to Bush, even though he did not sign on for it, OBAMA did.
      "To Stimulate the Economy"

      ie pay off unions and government workers in already bankrupt states like California and Illinois.

      Delete
    10. Ah, that's how it's done. Smoke and mirrors. A trillion here, a trillion there, and Ruf can 'prove' anything he wants.

      Delete
    11. I didn't add shit, dumbfuck; that was 2007.

      Delete
    12. You're the one whining.

      Delete
    13. Yeah, but you have repeatedly the LIE I refer to for 2008.

      Of course I expect you to deny said LIE.

      ...all evidence to the contrary.

      Delete
    14. "repeatedly posted" the LIE

      Delete
    15. You're still wrong, dumbfuck. The 2008 "Tax Year" ran from Oct 1, 2007 to Oct 1, 2008.

      Obama didn't take office until Jan 20, 2009. Do you just assume that "Nobody knows Anything?"

      Delete
  36. An Anatomy of a Most Peculiar Institution

    by Victor Davis Hanson

    The college of the 21st century sees itself as boot camp for the progressive army, where new recruits are trained and do not question their commissars.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Rufus IISun Dec 30, 10:32:00 AM EST
    Well, at least Deuce gives us a way out. He refers to it as "Devolving." Some refer to it as Secession.

    This approach seems to be the most popular in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas

    (hmm, this particular grouping seems familiar, doesn’t it?)


    Does this sound familiar?

    President of the United States Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to William H. Crawford, Secretary of War under President James Madison, on June 20, 1816: "In your letter to Fisk, you have fairly stated the alternatives between which we are to choose : 1, licentious commerce and gambling speculations for a few, with eternal war for the many ; or, 2, restricted commerce, peace, and steady occupations for all. If any State in the Union will declare that it prefers separation with the first alternative, to a continuance in union without it, I have no hesitation in saying, 'let us separate'. I would rather the States should withdraw, which are for unlimited commerce and war, and confederate with those alone which are for peace and agriculture."

    ReplyDelete
  38. Or this?

    President James Buchanan, Fourth Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union December 3, 1860: "The fact is that our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war. If it can not live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish. Congress possesses many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force.”

    ReplyDelete
  39. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  40. What we need is a Constitutional Amendment outlining the means by which a state can get out peacefully.

    Quebec nearly left Canada on the basis of a referendum. IIRC.

    We have a gaping hole here.

    Getting an amendment passed might well be too hard a thing to do, though. We ought to at least think about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, it was ok for the states of the former Soviet Union to devolve. That was a good devolution, remarkably peaceful, very American, and approved by American politicians but if Americans actually try it themselves, they die by the hundreds of thousands at the hands of their own government.

      Delete
  41. The indivisibility bullshit was imbedded into the American brain in 1892 by an American Socialist named Francis Bellamy, who wrote: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

    Francis Julius Bellamy, a Baptist minister, and his cousin Edward Bellamy who wrote two socialist utopian novels: Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897), collaborated in promoting the pledge to sell American fags to every US school.

    Bellamy also developed the Bellamy salute, used by Roman legions, hardly bastions of democracy, which was picked up by the fascists in Germany and Italy. When those same salutes were picked up in the media, Roosevelt decided American children should instead hold their hands over their hearts, repeating the penned words of the American socialist and statist, Frank Bellamy.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything

    It's hard to remember the dark days before 2008. It was a time of hatred, racism, violence, obese children, war, untaxed rich people, and incandescent light bulbs -- perhaps the worst days we had ever seen. And at the heart of it all was a thuggish, thoughtless man, George W. Bush, who lashed out angrily at whatever he didn't understand -- and he understood so very little. Then there was that laugh of his -- that horrible snicker that mocked everything intelligent and nuanced. Also, he looked like a chimp.

    It seemed like the end for the United States of America. We would crumble in the hands of vicious, superstitious dimwits determined to hunt "ter'ists" or other figments of Bush's rotten mind. There was nothing left to do but head to Whole Foods to prepare our organic, sustainable, fair-trade last meal as the country ended around us. Despair had overtaken us, and we wondered aloud whether we could ever feel hope again.

    And then a man emerged who firmly answered,
    "Yes we can!"

    Oh, but Barack Obama was no mere man. He was a paragon of intelligence and civilized society. A savior to the world's depressed. A lightbringer.

    A genius thinking thoughts the common man could never hope to comprehend. And his words -- his beautiful words read from crystal panes -- reached down to our souls and told us all would be well.

    With the simple act of casting a ballot for Barack Obama, we could make the world an immeasurably better place -- a world of peace, of love, of understanding, of unicorns, of rainbows, of expanded entitlements. This was his promise.

    And now, having had him as president for 4 years, we can say without reservation that he has delivered all his promises and more and is the best president this country -- or any country -- has ever had or could even imagine to have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Make the seas retreat.

      Rise of Sea = chaos
      Retreat of sea = creation
      Obama = Hero

      heh, he ran a good campaign of slogans. People subconsciously think of the sea as chaos, perhaps remembering their Bible, and Noah, and here comes Barky, taming the very seas.

      It would be hilarious if it didn't prove this country is idiotic.

      Delete
    2. Picture us as that Trout with it's tail hanging out of BHO's mouth.

      ...there is no escaping a creature with ears large enough to serve as sub marine supersonic flippers.

      Delete
  43. Actually the Red Chinese are not especially big on secession or devolution as the poor bastards found out at Tiananmen Square when they thought they could copy the lessons of East Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria and Rumania. Instead the Chicoms went Lincoln on them and killed them with federal troops.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Snake oil salesmen were good people.

      Chinese snakes have a high concentration of Omega-3 and 6 oils which reduced inflammation on the tired joints of (chinese) rail-road construction workers.

      Delete
  44. Put into context, would we want or tolerate Barack Hussein Obama and the lovely Michelle penning some little ditty and a nifty salute for American Children to recite once a day?

    ReplyDelete
  45. How about a pledge of healthcare, welfare and diversity, indivisible for the nation, one and all?

    ReplyDelete
  46. For The Desert Rodent:

    RWE

    At one time I was a member of the Nature Conservancy. Sounded like a good idea, and was recommeneded by Jerry Pournelle. If you want to protect a given piece of land, put your money where your activism isn’t and buy the place. True, you are restricting economic development by “hoarding” the land (maybe the only kind of economic hoarding that really occurs) but you are paying your own money. But after a few years I found out they had come to a wonderful new idea: buy the property using donations and then sell it to the Fed Govt to make national park. Then take that money and do it again, and again. I did NOT want to turn over more land to the Feds.

    And then later I found out that the leaders of the organization were first buying personal estates right next to where the new parks would be created, thereby ensuring that no one built next door to them. And they got to define the boundaries of the new Federal land.

    A sweet deal for a few who like the outdoors and don’t want any neighbors who do as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boobie supplied a link to his local group, dougo.
      Did you send a donation, boobie says they're 'Good Folk'.

      Delete
    2. Don't send anything to Friends of the Clearwater, Doug. They are decent folk, they just take things a little too far in their enthusiasm to preserve some of the heritage for people like the crapper, who don't even appreciate it, and want to sell it to the rich, insuring it will be gone forever to everyone but the rich. They caused a big stir about those mega loads going through, for instance, and there was no rationality behind that. But their heart is in the right place. I'll put my mind to it and try to come up with some better group. Elk Unlimited immediately comes to mind. I'll think on it.

      Delete
  47. Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.), the assistant majority leader, said the impasse stood at essentially the same place it did on Saturday evening: a difference over tax rates and how the estate tax should be structured from next year.

    ...

    Mr. Durbin said that the only new spending proposals in the Democratic offer would be an extension of expanded federal jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and a continuation of current law allowing companies to more quickly write off investments in equipment.

    ReplyDelete
  48. The Prime Minister argued that there was both a moral and strategic imperative to act. "Syria is attracting and empowering a new cohort of al-Qa'ida-linked extremists, and there is a growing risk of instability spreading to Syria's neighbours and of drawing regional powers into direct conflict," he said.

    Some MPs are worried about sending arms to a war zone and fear a drift towards military action. Richard Ottoway, Conservative chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said it "has become increasingly concerned that momentum is building toward some form of Western-backed military action, and that the Government is considering becoming involved in such action imminently, without consulting Parliament".

    In a letter to the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, Mr Ottoway said the all-party committee shared his desire for an urgent end to the violence in Syria. ComRes interviewed 1,000 adults in Britain by telephone between 14 and 16 December.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Be sure not to miss the exciting new contribution to the Crystal Radio Discussion above.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ** 8893 'Old Time' Crystal Radio Kit
      (No soldering required)

      Price: $6.30

      Delete
    2. Soldering and burning your fingers was half the fun. Now that I think of it , I was an early muti-tasker as I used my soldering iron to practice my wood burning techniques. Since I was an outdoors boy kinda kid, I specialized in pheasants and bears. My mother told my father not to buy me a chemistry set.He doubled down and bought me an erector set and a chemistry set.

      Delete
    3. I had both sets too, but dad had a DRUGSTORE!

      ...Unlimited Saltpeter, Sulfur, and Charcoal!

      My paper machete volcanoes got the scool evacuated in 6th, 7th, and eighth grades.

      Eighth Grade was the high point:

      Several Desks left heavily cratered by molten lava. (actually potassium nitrate)

      No wonder I ended up in the (is)Lands built by the Lava God, now that I think about it.

      Delete
    4. I graduated from putting a hole near the bottom edge of a large pretzel can, covering it with a tablespoon of flower, putting a lit candle in the center bottom of the can, securing the lid and then blowing into the hole duplicating a silo explosion. I moved on to unloading my father’s 12 Ga shells in an arms race with two other kids on the block, one who became a specialist in taking christmas balls, wrapping them in kite string and plaster of Paris, fueling them with dry chlorine from his dads pool and match heads for some very cool demonstrations on delayed explosives. His career came to an early end in a rather spectacular fire in his garage. Too much chlorine.

      Delete
    5. Forgot:

      My seventh grade teacher was sharp enough to require me to set off my volcano OUTSIDE.

      8th grade teacher was the end of Doug as a serious student.
      Guy gave us free reign.

      About as smart as pandering to the Muzzies.

      Delete
    6. We used CO2 cartridges filled with shotgun powder as depth charges at the lake. Suckers would rock the whole boathouse. Waterproof fuses. What fun! Fish float belly up I learned.

      Delete
  50. The Capitol Hill negotiations to avert a fiscal cliff before the New Year’s deadline hit a standstill Sunday, Senate leaders said.

    Senate Democrats said the talks stalled after Senate Republicans proposed a deal that included changes to how Social Security payments are calculated.

    ReplyDelete
  51. It Just Gets Worse:

    The number of clients telling their portfolio managers to seek both social and financial good from their investments is increasing according to a report from the US SIF - The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.

    The report by US SIF Foundation, a private foundation, found that more than one out of every nine dollars under professional management was invested under so-called Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) practices.

    Approximately 11.3 percent, or 3.7 trillion, of the $33.3 trillion in total assets under management in 2011 were SRI investments, according to Thomson Reuters data.

    That represented a 22 percent increase over the previous year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This part was interesting:

      But research has found that ESG or SRI investment methods perform at par with conventional techniques.

      The MSCI KLD Social Index ETF has returned 14.78 percent since 2006, while the S&P 500 has gained 15.69 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.


      Delete
    2. The last I heard, and this was 8 or 9 months ago, Warren Buffet had over $ Three and a half Billion invested in Wind, and Solar Farms.

      I understand that he's considered by many to be a pretty astute investor.

      Delete
    3. People with a social conscience. What's next? Return on investment?

      Oh the humanity.

      In fairness, the "collective" has always been a dicey arena, and probably always will be. Gotta give people credit for still trying.

      Not sure how many of us are worth it, to be honest.


      Quirk mentioned upthread 10% in poverty and 10% just barely getting by. I think it's a little worse than that, but my perspective plummeted after 2001 and 2008; still hasn't recovered. If the elites fuck up that bad what hope is there that the bottom fraction can or will do much better?

      Delete
    4. I'm not so sure that "social conscience" is all that much a driver, Doris.

      I imagine that many of those that are smart enough to have serious, investable money are smart enough to realize that "sustainable" just might be more profitable, in the medium to long run, than "unsustainable."

      Delete
    5. Well Rufus, the subject of the thread is PC and its derived evil effect on society. One might surmise that, from the thinking expressed here, that the investments are driven by herd mentality, rather than flinty-eyed attention to ROI.

      Surmise as one may, the reality is that economics dovetails with social good, in this instance. Some people hate it when that happens. Others insist that it is a given.

      Delete
    6. I just mark it down to serendipity. :)

      Delete
    7. An associated occurrence - The Drillers are leaving the Bakken at an accelerating pace. The only reason a "driller" ever quits drilling is, the bank said No Mas.

      Delete
    8. Did you know Rufus that the majority of Buffett's portfolio has been held in six stocks for the last decade.

      Delete
    9. No. I absolutely did Not know that. That is astonishing.

      Delete
    10. You wouldn't happen to have the names of those six stocks would you?

      Delete
    11. Ruf - are you color blind (serious question?)

      The six stocks are in the link above but I see you have to scroll down to the second set of pie charts I believe. Bonus points for anyone who can name the top two.

      Delete
    12. A little bit (mostly just blind.) :) I didn't see the link. I'll look, now.

      Delete
  52. Rufie always neglects to mention that the Dems controlled House and Senate when the spending spike got out of control.

    Dems always held harmless in RUFIEDUFIE World.tm

    ReplyDelete
  53. CHINA’S leaders have tried honoring Ai Weiwei and bribing him with the offer of high positions. They have tried jailing him, fining him and clubbing him so brutally that he needed emergency brain surgery.

    ...

    I hope the White House listens to how Ai responded when I asked if President Obama was doing enough to raise human rights concerns.

    “I don’t know what they’re doing under the table,” Ai said. “But on the surface, they’re not doing enough.”


    Hitting China With Humor

    ReplyDelete
  54. Blast from the Past" The Four Turnings


    Prophet

    Prophet generations are born near the end of a Crisis, during a time of rejuvenated community life and consensus around a new societal order. Prophets grow up as the increasingly indulged children of this post-Crisis era, come of age as self-absorbed young crusaders of an Awakening, focus on morals and principles in midlife, and emerge as elders guiding another Crisis.[46]

    Due to their location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their coming-of-age fervor and their values-oriented elder leadership. Their main societal contributions are in the area of vision, values, and religion. Their best-known historical leaders include John Winthrop, William Berkeley, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt. These people were principled moralists who waged idealistic wars and incited others to sacrifice. Few of them fought themselves in decisive wars, and they are remembered more for their inspiring words than for great actions. (Example among today’s living generations: Baby Boomers.)[47]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nomad

      Nomad generations are born during an Awakening, a time of social ideals and spiritual agendas, when young adults are passionately attacking the established institutional order. Nomads grow up as under-protected children during this Awakening, come of age as alienated, post-Awakening adults, become pragmatic midlife leaders during a Crisis, and age into resilient post-Crisis elders.[46]

      Due to their location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their adrift, alienated rising-adult years and their midlife years of pragmatic leadership. Their main societal contributions are in the area of liberty, survival and honor. Their best-known historical leaders include Nathaniel Bacon, William Stoughton, George Washington, John Adams, Ulysses Grant, Grover Cleveland, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower. These were shrewd realists who preferred individualistic, pragmatic solutions to problems. (Example among today’s living generations: Generation X.[47])

      Delete
    2. Hero

      Hero generations are born after an Awakening, during a time of individual pragmatism, self-reliance, and laissez faire. Heroes grow up as increasingly protected post-Awakening children, come of age as team-oriented young optimists during a Crisis, emerge as energetic, overly-confident midlifers, and age into politically powerful elders attacked by another Awakening.[46]

      Due to their location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their collective military triumphs in young adulthood and their political achievements as elders. Their main societal contributions are in the area of community, affluence, and technology. Their best-known historical leaders include Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. These have been vigorous and rational institution builders. In midlife, all have been aggressive advocates of economic prosperity and public optimism, and all have maintained a reputation for civic energy and competence in old age. (Examples among today’s living generations: G.I. Generation and the Millennials.)[47]

      Delete
    3. Artist

      Artist generations are born during a Crisis, a time when great dangers cut down social and political complexity in favor of public consensus, aggressive institutions, and an ethic of personal sacrifice. Artists grow up overprotected by adults preoccupied with the Crisis, come of age as the socialized and conformist young adults of a post-Crisis world, break out as process-oriented midlife leaders during an Awakening, and age into thoughtful post-Awakening elders.[46]

      Due to their location in history, such generations tend to be remembered for their quiet years of rising adulthood and their midlife years of flexible, consensus-building leadership. Their main societal contributions are in the area of expertise and due process. Their best-known historical leaders include William Shirley, Cadwallader Colden, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Theodore Roosevelt. These have been complex social technicians and advocates for fairness and inclusion. (Examples among today’s living generations: Silent and Homelanders.)[47]

      Delete
    4. A new twist to an old game (astrology?) :)

      Delete
    5. The "fourth turning" is being employed as the intellectual foundation for "revolution" by the "lunatic fringe" (that's a lot of "quotes" which should tell me something right there.)

      One of the complications, as I see it, is the suspicion evoked by plans prepratory to some "sleeper cell" eruptions - stoking the already intense flames of conspiratorial Armageddons. They all seem to focus around Denver Int'l Airport. The former is a legitimate concern. The latter is ... an unfortunate location for some very bad artistry. (If you are unfamiliar with the "rumors" google it up. Buddy Larsen was up on all of it which is why I explored some of the information. Buddy is a very smart guy.)

      I have to think that emergency plans are in place. But the rest of it ... beyond my pay grade. I just don't think Christianity has much of anything to do with any of it, except in the halls of academia.

      Delete
    6. :) I just can't get interested, Doris. Too much truly interesting stuff going on. I'm still trying to figure out the whole "energy thang."

      Delete
    7. It's the battery technology. The off-shore wind potential, which is huge, is being held up by storage, as is the liquid fuel technology for transport. We can capture energy. We can't store it.

      Delete
    8. That's not necessarily a big show-stopper, Doris. It certainly isn't showing up as one for Germany (to name one very large example.)

      Overbuilding, wide geographical distribution, a blending of technologies such as wind (onshore, and off-shore,) solar (photovoltaic, and Thermal,) geothermal, some "pumped storage," etc. can go a long, loooong way.

      The important thing, perhaps, is to remember that "the more fossil fuels you use, the more expensive it gets; the more renewables you use, the Cheaper it gets."

      Delete
    9. Then, the question becomes "what does the ratio look like in 20 yrs when the solar farm is paid off, and the price of (pick fossil fuel) is . . . . . . ?"

      Delete
    10. I see: "blending" as a storage technology.

      Good point. IOW decentralization of the network - over suppliers.

      Delete
    11. What I'm reading is that design life is the issue - the life span of solar being 20-50 years, depending on your POV :)

      Just when the solar farm gets paid off, maintenance/replacement comes in.

      It is a serious industrial change.



      Delete
    12. Doris, I'm not sure where, or what, you're reading, but I believe you're pretty low on the "lifetime" issue (by a factor of at least 2 on Wind, and quite possibly 4 on Solar.

      In fact, "Thermal (coal and gas) Plants" get very heavy on maintenance 20 or so years down the road, and you don't Even want to think about "aging nuclear plants."

      Delete
    13. Have I mentioned that I also have a slightly more than fleeting interest in Ethanol? :)

      Delete
    14. Please, Doris; I pay no attention whatsoever to people like Goldman, and Chevron when studying issues such as this. I couldn't even imagine clicking on such a link.

      Delete
    15. NREL, Sandia Labs, JPL, DOE, Underwriters Laboratory - yeah.

      Chevron! :) Yikes.

      Delete
    16. I'm going to have to postpone this for another time, but the 20-25-yr solar life span is well defined. As I said, the future economics of energy will be very different.

      Delete
    17. No, Doris, "trust me." :)

      The 20 to 25 is WAY too short.

      Delete
    18. .

      Get with the program Doris, if it's not in Clean Technica or the Corndog Gazette it's a waste of time reading it.

      .

      Delete
    19. Queens College has one of the Top Solar Panel Testing Facilities in the World


      They find that top-of-the-line Solar Panels lose between 0.1 and 0.2 Percent Efficiecy per Year - much less than the previously guessed at 1.0% loss.

      This explains the anecdotal evidence of people taking down 35 yr old panels that are still within Factory Specs.

      Delete
    20. Why don't you people get behind nuclear?

      Delete
  55. As Jeff Gray greeted his son exiting the school bus, he could tell something was up. Soon after, Jeff received a call from Colleen Hagan, who invited herself to his house.

    It was then that Jeff was told he was under investigation, due to a call made to the hotline for Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF). The caller – whose identity was kept secret by Colleen – accused Jeff of owning and shooting guns.

    ...

    Though Colleen attempted to lessen Jeff’s rightful dismay at the situation by differentiating between “good calls” and a “false report”, the full text of that hotline generated report as taken by her colleague, was merely:

    “Dad has a lot of guns in the house. Dad shoots the guns out back..."



    ReplyDelete
  56. A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: "Secondees bring with them knowledge and expertise which are vital to helping Decc do its job effectively. Likewise, seconding Decc staff into industry – be that oil, gas, renewables or other areas – provides insight into the challenges faced by those sectors.

    ...

    Joss Garman, political director of Greenpeace, said: "Centrica, Shell and RWE are corporations that make their huge profits from the fossil fuels that are warming our planet. Nobody will believe that these vested interests are lending staff to Decc out of charity.

    ...

    A Guardian analysis of declared meetings showed there were 195 meetings between Decc ministers and energy companies and their lobby groups between the 2010 general election and March 2011. There were 17 meetings with green campaign groups.

    ReplyDelete
  57. My cable box picked a fine time to quit rendering audio on Fox, again. It looks like the Packers and the Vikings just played a barnburner.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Hillary Clinton Hospitalized with Blood Clot after Concussion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess, maybe, that "Benghazi Flu" is a bit more serious than we realized.

      Delete
    2. Evidently a subdural hematoma can be fatal.

      Delete
    3. Shades of Natasha Richardson

      Delete
    4. .

      According to the Enquirer she has a brain tumor.

      .

      Delete
    5. Hillary is actually sick? I'll be danged. I can hardly believe that.

      Delete
    6. DRR said...

      "Shades of Natasha Richardson"

      ---

      That was a sad story.

      ---

      Larry Miller, otoh, has a happy ending:
      He's kicking off the New Year by resuming his podcast from the Adam Carolla Studios.

      ...after being absent for many moons following a fall in which his bald, square head struck the sidewalk.

      Welcome back, Larry!

      Delete
  59. The State Department and Pentagon had no viable way to rescue Americans in Benghazi, Libya, falling short of their responsibility to develop plans to evacuate U.S. citizens, according to the first bipartisan congressional investigation of the Sept. 11 assault.

    The Senate report, like a study by an independent review board in December, was harshly critical of the State Department for failing to recognize and respond to security risks before four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, were killed. But the new Senate report also spreads the blame more widely, finding fault with the Pentagon and White House.

    ReplyDelete
  60. The international envoy to Syria has warned that as many as 100,000 could die in the next year if a way cannot be found to end the country's civil war quickly.

    ...

    Activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed in the 21-month-old conflict.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Michigan, the home of the United Auto Workers, now has a law guaranteeing a worker’s right to choose whether to join, or pay dues to, a labor union. The law was passed after the failure of a union-backed constitutional amendment that would have given unions unprecedented power.

    ReplyDelete
  62. .

    Can Globalization Survive?

    For years, the world economy has been wildly lopsided: China and some other countries ran big trade surpluses; the United States was perennially in massive deficit. Similar imbalances existed in Europe. Now, slumps have dampened the American and European appetite for imports. The upshot is that “China and others are recalibrating their export-led economic strategies” to focus more on domestic demand, argues economist Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute. That’s good, he says; the world economy will be more balanced. Likewise, erratic capital flows have triggered past financial crises. Slower flows may promote stability.

    Not everyone is so optimistic. Smick of the International Economy sees globalization as “the proverbial goose that laid the golden eggs.” The search for larger markets and lower costs drove investment, trade, economic growth and job creation around the world. That’s weakened, and there’s “no new model to replace it.” Domestic demand will prove an inadequate substitute. Central banks (the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan) have tried to fill the void with hyper-easy money policies. Smick fears damaging outcomes: currency wars as countries strive to capture greater shares of stagnant export markets and burst “asset bubbles” caused by easy money.

    These visions clash. In 2013, we may learn which is right.


    Deglobalization?

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting article (good article.)

      I'm going to invoke Occam's Razor, and say this will be good for the U.S.

      Delete
  63. If you've been wondering what's happened to the new Farm Bill, the answer is nothing, but an agreement to extend the old Farm Bill for a year seems to have been reached.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  67. New Year's Predictions -

    Unemployment - up
    Personal wealth - down
    Dow - down
    Inflation - same
    Assad - still hanging on
    Benghazi - still big deal, Obama really sweating, blames Ham for disobeying order
    Rufus - finally finds an acorn
    Deuce - sees light, becomes 'butt-boy' for Netanyahu
    Q - DUI arrest driving home from 'barbershop'
    crapper - still nasty, but, in surprise, moves to nation forest
    Sam - kayak ripped in two by shark, escapes to tell tale, takes up wind surfing
    DRR - turgid prose goes over edge to indecipherable
    GR - solid as usual, calls Rufus, in an escalation, ignorant idiotic moron
    Bob - remains adorable, seething, steamy
    Doug - grasps nettle, runs for office in Hawaii, elected to Congress
    Smith & Wesson - another record year
    Mars Curiosity - finds ancient ash tray
    Ash - fakes hole in one, pays fine, banned from favorite course for year
    Gnossos - rescues blog from meaninglessness
    Buck - finally finds true love on ponderosa, gives up blogging
    Melody - plays a lot more music, trying to change toxic atmosphere of bar
    Melody - fails in attempt
    Jenny - gives up doom/gloom, decides don't deserve it after all, parties nightly
    Leo - name change from Leo to Fatso, demands to be carried to food dish
    Omens - bright comet in fall causes world wide panic
    Barky - arms emerging caliphate

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My days of grasping nettles are long gone.

      ...way back in the seventies, I lead a campaign to stop some moron with a PHd in Biology from co-planting nettles and Tomatoes together on our farm.

      Nettles Suck, Tomatoes Rule!

      Delete
    2. What is the significance of Rufus finding an acorn?

      Delete
    3. This is the acorn the Ruf shall find -

      Green Room
      US Budget for Dummies
      posted at 5:12 pm on December 28, 2012 by Jazz Shaw

      From my inbox, submitted without comment.

      * U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
      * Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
      * New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
      * National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
      * Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

      Let’s now remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:

      * Annual family income: $21,700
      * Money the family spent: $38,200
      * New debt on the credit card: $16,500
      * Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
      * Total budget cuts so far: $38.50

      Make sense now?


      But will the Ruf allow it to grow into a mighty oak tree in his mind, or feed it to his hogs, that is still a question.

      Delete
    4. ...way back in the seventies, I lead a campaign to stop some moron with a PHd in Biology from co-planting nettles and Tomatoes together on our farm.

      That sounds like the guy out here who determined to plant winter peas and winter wheat together on the theory that the winter peas would provide nitrogen to the winter wheat. On a thousand acres, and it didn't work, and he filed bankruptcy. All these schemes should be tried out on two acre plots first.

      Delete
    5. Rufus is about as likely to nuture a meaningful thought when presented with the facts as he is to pull a giant Oak out of his ass after swallowing an Acorn.

      Delete
    6. Hey Doug -


      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights_by_Bosch_High_Resolution.jpg


      Two inches up from bottom, two inches to the right.

      :)

      Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights

      Delete
  68. #MyJihad in Syria: Islamic supremacist rebels behead Christian man and feed his body to dogs

    https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?shva=1#inbox/13bf0328a9969a04

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/12/myjihad-in-syria-islamic-supremacist-rebels-behead-christian-man-and-feed-his-body-to-dogs.html

    Ending the evening on a realistic note.

    ReplyDelete
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