And I totally snorted when I saw at the end of the video that the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of University of California, Berkeley. Heh. No joke.
1
But...but...UC Berkeley is well known as a hot bed
of conservatism!
Posted by: MaryIndiana at February 28, 2009 12:30 PM (bRTJt)
2
It is, cOmrade Mary! Real radicals go to Sovereign Kingdom University and learn from true revolutionaries like us! We are the true heirs of Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University (now conquered by capitalists - sob), not the campus once contaminated by the likes of Vince Sarich!
Did you know Chomsky was just a military tool?
[Chomskyan linguistic] advocates may have in fact abandoned even their supposed anti-establishment bias by regularly and routinely accepting funding from the Army, the Department of Defense, and elements of the US intelligence apparatus. As Peter T. Daniels recently observed on the USENET newsgroup "sci.lang" (in a message thread humorously entitled "Wither Linguistics?"): "Perhaps you need your hearing checked. For fifty years now, this professor has been funded almost entirely by the US Department of Defense. He looks on this as an amusing irony; I look on it as insufferable hypocrisy."
Omericans don't know what real Leftism is, but Porkulus and pals will teach them! You're gonna miss Carter and Clinton when we're done with the USSA.
Posted by: kevin at February 28, 2009 01:50 PM (Wxe3L)
3
I'm so glad you pointed out the Steyn video to me. As you know, I am normally audiovisually averse (AVerse?) but I momentarily overcame that to listen to him. I'll have to listen to the others. And although I didn't tell you at the time, I was surprised by the Berkeley connection. I haven't seen the clock tower pictured at the beginning in 17 years! I left the Left, and never went back.
Posted by: Amritas at February 28, 2009 02:04 PM (Wxe3L)
4
One of your favorite people was NOT happy that I hung up with you prior to him being about to say, "hello." Hubs said to tell you he will miss you.
I'm sorry I missed the programs you had a chance to see!! I'm sure I will be DVR-ing lots of stuff in the coming days for when I can't sleep.
Posted by: Guard Wife at February 28, 2009 06:10 PM (i0ZCx)
It's coincidental that she sent me this today, because my jaw hit the floor when I read this article this morning:
Tens of thousands of boxcars are sitting idle all over the country, parked indefinitely by railroads whose freight volumes have plummeted along with the economy.
[...]
The nation's five largest railroads have put more than 30% of their boxcars -- 206,000 in all -- into storage, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Now if that doesn't make you think life is imitating art, I don't know what will.
1
Yep - definitely. I'm waiting to hear back from the Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org) about quantity pricing on copies of Bastiat's The Law... I'm thinking they'll make great St. Patty's Day gifts for friends & family.
Posted by: kannie at February 26, 2009 09:27 AM (iT8dn)
2
Those companies are thinking ahead. We won't need any trains after Year Zero!
St. Patty's Day, Kannie? Enjoy your Europpressive religious traditions while you can!
Posted by: kevin at February 26, 2009 09:43 AM (+nV09)
3
IIRC, in the book the freight car crisis happened because the whole American car fleet had been allocated to some bizarre soybean-raising project...I can picture the same thing happening in our world, but with some biofuel crop which turns out to be basically worthless...
Posted by: david foster at February 26, 2009 11:27 AM (ke+yX)
Posted by: Amritas at February 26, 2009 12:57 PM (+nV09)
5
It's only a minor point, but I'm sure these 206,000 rail cars aren't all *boxcars*...I'd bet that at least 80% of them are cars of other types. A boxcar is a specific type of car, not a generic term for a freight car.
Why is it so difficult for the media to write about *anything* without making obvious mistakes? And this is the Wall Street Journal!
Posted by: david foster at February 26, 2009 01:56 PM (ke+yX)
MEETING OUR FUTURE
Yesterday I had to work at a demonstration of various science kits you can buy at the store. I was kinda dreading it because it was going to be a huge mess, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Most kids just wanted to get their hands dirty and sticky. But one family made it totally worthwhile.
A mother and two sons showed up specifically for the science demonstration. I was just getting to the end of mixing "quicksand": cornstarch and water. I filled the pan and showed the older boy (probably 9 years old) how your hand sinks in and it's hard to pull out. The boy looked at me and said, "Well, that's neat, but what's the science behind it?" Awesome. So I pulled out the paperwork that came with the kit, and we had a discussion of non-Newtonian fluids and the Law of Viscosity. And then we demonstrated together how the viscosity could be changed by applying pressure. He learned some science, and heck, so did I!
When I start to despair for the world, I am going to remember that kid and how I am sure there are others like him out there, kids who will be the pillars of our society in the future.
I needed to meet that boy. I'm glad I did.
And I am also glad that I have a monkey's job where I get to learn about non-Newtonian fluids.
1
Ah, the Children™.
The truly smart little ones will realize science is a waste of time, and that pretty words are the true keys to power. Lie, and the peOple will love you forever. Obama doesn't have to know anything about science to be the most powerful man in the world. Who needs real knowledge, when you can use what Ayn Rand called "big vague words" like "The Dictatorship of the Proletariat"? Or a favorite of the Khmer Rouge, "Independence-Sovereignty"? Multisyllabic slogans mesmerize the mindless masses.
All peOple are cows, and some cows are more useful than others. We, the Great Leaders, regard scientists as "valuable livestock," in the words of Robert Conquest and Jon Manchip White. (Read their book to understand our plans for you.) Let the lab rats worry about "non-Newtonian fluids and the Law of Viscosity," whatever those are. We have far greater things on our minds, like global domination. Even PhDs in quantum physics will still have to wear our pins and worship us. Now that's what we call ikwo.
Posted by: kevin at February 15, 2009 07:35 AM (Wxe3L)
2
Great story! I have to ask, though...are any *schools* buying these kits? Actually *using* them?
See Shannon Love's rather bleak post about the declining interest in science, technology, and commerce in our society.
Posted by: david foster at February 15, 2009 09:03 AM (ke+yX)
3
Good questions, David.
Even if the schools aren't buying the kits - or, more importantly, using them - I think the fact that individuals are buying them is a good sign. The presence of the kits in Sarah's store signifies demand. If parents have to introduce their children to science, that's better than no introduction at all. I see education as becoming increasingly grassroots in the future; those who want to learn will find a way to learn, with or without government assistance.
Thanks for the link. Why do "[o]ur best and brightest dream of going into politics or 'non-profits' that exist largely to suppress commerce and invention"? Because they value power over true progress. Suppression is power.
Studying the biographies of Great Leaders, I am struck by how totally ignorant they were. The only thing they understood was power - the manipulation of millions, including scientists. Why be manipulated when you can be the manipulator? A know-nothing whose minions will do anything for you?
Love calls our civilization "leaderless." I say our civilization is poisoned by the cult of "leaders."
Posted by: Amritas at February 15, 2009 09:55 AM (Wxe3L)
4
Sarah, I bet you'd make a great teacher...your creativity & enthusiasm would be wonderful for kids. I'm curious as to whether you've ever considered teaching & if so, why you decided against it.
I *think* I have a good understanding of some of the factors that keep many talented people out of teaching...love to hear your thoughts & also those of other people.
Posted by: david foster at February 16, 2009 06:54 AM (ke+yX)
5
That is AWESOME!!! Do you get the MindWare catalog? It's like a playground for your brain - highly recommend it, even if it's just for perusing (since the $$$ adds up fast, LOL)!
Posted by: kannie at February 16, 2009 10:35 AM (iT8dn)
LIKE A WHALE BIOLOGIST
Tom Coburn was on fire this week:
We are going to spend $448 million to build the Department of Homeland Security a new building. We have $1.3 trillion worth of empty buildings right now, and because it has been blocked in Congress we can't sell them, we can't raze them, we can't do anything, but we are going to spend money on a new building here in Washington. We are going to spend another $248 million for new furniture for that building; a quarter of a billion dollars for new furniture. What about the furniture the Department of Homeland Security has now? These are tough times. Should we be buying new furniture? How about using what we have? That is what a family would do. They would use what they have. They wouldn't go out and spend $248 million on furniture.
He rants about all the stupid crap that's in the stimulus bill. Another little funny line:
We have $75 million for smoking cessation activities, which probably is a great idea, but we just passed a bill—the SCHIP bill—that we need to get 21 million more Americans smoking to be able to pay for that bill. That doesn't make sense.
Seriously, read the whole thing. And feel your head explode.
1
Do I have to read the entire article to find out what the significance of the title is? Because unless whale biologists are known for spontaneous human combustion, I can't figure it out... =)
Sig
Posted by: Sig at February 06, 2009 09:39 AM (fPHZv)
2
Ha, sorry, that was a very esoteric Futurama joke. In one episode, this guy says, "I calls 'em like I sees 'em; I'm a whale biologist."
Posted by: Sarah at February 06, 2009 11:27 AM (TWet1)
3
The Seinfeld episode "The Marine Biologist" episode came to my mind. But I think Coburn knows more about the "stimulus" than George Costanza knows about marine biology:
Then of course with evolution the octopus lost the nostrils and took on the more familiar look that we know today. But if you look really closely, you can still see a bump where the nose used to be.
Posted by: Amritas at February 06, 2009 12:10 PM (+nV09)
4
My grandparents suffered through the depression farming and raising children. She said the motto of the time was "Use it up, wear it out, make it do. or do without." She even taught that to her grand and great grand children. I think these yahoos in DC could take a lesson from my grandmother.
Posted by: Pamela at February 06, 2009 08:00 PM (JkfCo)
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There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living. --The Count of Monte Cristo--
While our troops go out to defend our country, it is incumbent upon us to make the country worth defending. --Deskmerc--
Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: The American Revolution, WWII, and the Star Wars Trilogy. --Bart Simpson--
If you want to be a peacemaker, you've gotta learn to kick ass. --Sheriff of East Houston, Superman II--
Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind. --Jed Babbin--
Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. --President John F. Kennedy--
War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. --General Patton--
We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over. --Full Metal Jacket--
Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed. --Dick Cheney--
The Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive. --Col Steven Arrington--
The purpose of diplomacy isn't to make us feel good about Eurocentric diplomatic skills, and having countries from the axis of chocolate tie our shoelaces together does nothing to advance our infantry. --Sir George--
I just don't care about the criticism I receive every day, because I know the cause I defend is right. --Oriol--
It's days like this when we're reminded that freedom isn't free. --Chaplain Jacob--
Bumper stickers aren't going to accomplish some of the missions this country is going to face. --David Smith--
The success of multilateralism is measured not merely by following a process, but by achieving results. --President Bush--
Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.
--John Galt--
First, go buy a six pack and swig it all down. Then, watch Ace Ventura. And after that, buy a Hard Rock Cafe shirt and come talk to me. You really need to lighten up, man.
--Sminklemeyer--
You've got to kill people, and when you've killed enough they stop fighting --General Curtis Lemay--
If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained -- we must fight! --Patrick Henry--
America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American. --President George W. Bush--
are usually just cheerleading sessions, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing but a soothing reduction in blood pressure brought about by the narcotic high of being agreed with. --Bill Whittle
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill--
We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other. --General George Marshall--
We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way.
--Buzz Aldrin--
America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world.
--Dinesh D'Souza--
Recent anti-Israel protests remind us again of our era's peculiar alliance: the most violent, intolerant, militantly religious movement in modern times has the peace movement on its side. --James Lileks--
As a wise man once said: we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Unless the price is too high, the burden too great, the hardship too hard, the friend acts disproportionately, and the foe fights back. In which case, we need a timetable.
--James Lileks--
I am not willing to kill a man so that he will agree with my faith, but I am prepared to kill a man so that he cannot force my compatriots to submit to his.
--Froggy--
You can say what you want about President Bush; but the truth is that he can take a punch. The man has taken a swift kick in the crotch for breakfast every day for 6 years and he keeps getting up with a smile in his heart and a sense of swift determination to see the job through to the best of his abilties.
--Varifrank--
In a perfect world, We'd live in peace and love and harmony with each oither and the world, but then, in a perfect world, Yoko would have taken the bullet.
--SarahBellum--
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. --Ronald Reagan--
America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for. It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large. --E.M. Forster--
Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. --Mark Twain--
The Enlightenment was followed by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, which touched every European state, sparked vicious guerrilla conflicts across the Continent and killed millions. Then, things really turned ugly after the invention of soccer. --Iowahawk--
Every time I meet an Iraqi Army Soldier or Policeman that I haven't met before, I shake his hand and thank him for his service. Many times I am thanked for being here and helping his country. I always tell them that free people help each other and that those that truly value freedom help those seeking it no matter the cost. --Jack Army--
Right, left - the terms are useless nowadays anyway. There are statists, and there are individualists. There are pessimists, and optimists. There are people who look backwards and trust in the West, and those who look forward and trust in The World. Those are the continuums that seem to matter the most right now. --Lileks--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
--Winston Churchill--
A man or a nation is not placed upon this earth to do merely what is pleasant and what is profitable. It is often called upon to carry out what is both unpleasant and unprofitable, but if it is obviously right it is mere shirking not to undertake it. --Arthur Conan Doyle--
A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself. --John Stuart Mill--
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." --Dave Grossman--
At heart I’m a cowboy; my attitude is if they’re not going to stand up and fight for what they believe in then they can go pound sand. --Bill Whittle--
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. --Alexander Tyler--
By that time a village half-wit could see what generations of professors had pretended not to notice. --Atlas Shrugged--
I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and everything seemed so shitty. And he'd say, "That's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too." --Alabama Worley--
So Bush is history, and we have a new president who promises to heal the planet, and yet the jihadists don’t seem to have got the Obama message that there are no enemies, just friends we haven’t yet held talks without preconditions with.
--Mark Steyn--
"I had started alone in this journey called life, people started
gathering up on the way, and the caravan got bigger everyday." --Urdu couplet
The book and the sword are the two things that control the world. We either gonna control them through knowledge and influence their minds, or we gonna bring the sword and take their heads off. --RZA--
It's a daily game of public Frogger, hopping frantically to avoid being crushed under the weight of your own narcissism, banality, and plain old stupidity. --Mary Katharine Ham--
There are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms
of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. --James Madison--
It is in the heat of emotion that good people must remember to stand on principle. --Larry Elder--
Please show this to the president and ask him to remember the wishes of the forgotten man, that is, the one who dared to vote against him. We expect to be tramped on but we do wish the stepping would be a little less hard. --from a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt--
The world economy depends every day on some engineer, farmer, architect, radiator shop owner, truck driver or plumber getting up at 5AM, going to work, toiling hard, and producing real wealth so that an array of bureaucrats, regulators, and redistributors can manage the proper allotment of much of the natural largess produced. --VDH--
Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves. --Marcelene Cox--