Cottage Grove, Oregon

A friend of mine moved from the KC area to Cottage Grove.  Looks and sounds beautiful, with a mild climate.  I find Kansas beautiful, but it is not a spectacular beauty. Few humans consider Kansas to have a mild climate, although perhaps there are other species who find it ideal. Oregon has too many liberals/progressives/Democrats for me.  Once they get to around 51% of the voting population the laws you have to live under get worse and worse.  Kansas is much better about this.

Trivia: Pose At Your Own Risk

Napolean's sister happily posed as Venus for a famous nude statue.  The same famous sculptor, Antonio Canova had Napolean pose nude as a heroic Mars.  Napolean was so embarrassed by the result that he kept the statue in the closet.  The Duke of Wellington, when he was given the statue, was not so embarrassed, and you can still see it as his house.  Via StrategyPage.

Today's Heroes: Nadia Comăneci

Today, 18 July 1976, Nadia Comăneci scored the first perfect ten in the history of gymnastics.  She won three gold medals that year and two in 1980.  Her first name means hope.

Of Interest 2013-07-18 (How To Cook With Stainless Steel)

This link has some really good tips on How To Cook With Stainless Steel.  Not too hot, preheat before oiling and oil before cooking, let the meat release before you flip it, save the tasty brown bits, avoid extreme temperature changes, and don't scour when washing.  There are some good links for buying, too!

Of Interest 2013-07-17 (Jane The Actuary)

Jane The Actuary has an interesting blog.  Zimmerman, minimum wage, dialects, unpaid interns, Obamacare - looks like quite a feast!  I am not just saying this because my wife's name is Jane.

The Zimmerman Case Was Going To Produce Heartache

According to a Politico headline Hillary Clinton said the George Zimmerman verdict brought ‘deep heartache’. The text of the story does not have a direct quote. The quotes from the Hill do not directly refer to the verdict. I wish she had said that no matter what the verdict was, it would have brought deep heartache. Zimmerman and his family and many others, including me, were convinced he was innocent, and any guilty verdict would have given us deep heartache. I am sorry Trayvon died and for his family and friends. I am also sorry for all the bigots who thought Zimmerman was guilty, for their anger, their sadness, their ignorance and their bigotry.

Eugene Robinson is one of those ignorant bigots.  Here is his key paragraph:

Our society considers young black men to be dangerous, interchangeable, expendable, guilty until proven innocent. This is the conversation about race that we desperately need to have but probably, as in the past, will try our best to avoid.

Ann Althouse shows how not to be ignorant and bigoted in her reply.  Here is her key paragraph:

Here's my response to what you just said. I think our society demonstrated great care toward Trayvon Martin, even to the point of putting Zimmerman through a trial that should not have happened. That is, it was an excess of care for Martin, a bending-over-backwards to show that we care about Martin and all the young men he was seen to represent. And now, after an extensive, careful trial, and a jury verdict that clearly hewed to well-honed instructions about evidence and burden of proof, you still want to use it to assert that we don't care. If that's the kind of conversation we get when we try to respond to the invitation to have a conversation, can you see why it's something we avoid?

I am not sorry at all for the President, who either should have kept his mouth shut or should have said that Zimmerman looked like a relative also. Zimmerman's great grandfather was black after all. From what I can tell, Zimmerman was blacker than Homer Plessy, plantiff in the separate but equal case, Plessy v. Ferguson.  I am not sorry for the Holder, Perez and the other Justice Department hacks who should resign from the bar and politics. I am not sorry for Sharpton, Jackson and the not-always hoodless members of the black KKK who need to take up missionary work overseas and stay out of race issues in America.  Zimmerman took a black girl to prom. He tutored black kids.  And he worked hard defending a black man from bad police work and bad prosecution.

I am also not sorry for the prosecution, who should be disbarred and subject to criminal prosecution and civil suit for violating people's rights.

Today's Heroes: The Martyrs of Compiègne

Today, 17 July 1794, the sixteen Martyrs of Compiègne were guillotined days before the Reign of Terror ended.  They refused to give up their nunnery as mandated by the government.  They renewed their vows to God at the foot of the scaffold and together sang the Veni Creator Spiritus as they were murdered.

Today's Heroes: Roald Amundsen

On 16 July 1872 Roald Amundsen, the great polar explorer was born.

Today's Heroes: Zebulon Pike

On July 15, 1806, Captain Zebulon Pike, 27, began his expedition to explore the southern and western parts of the Louisiana Purchase.

My Problem Solving Ability

My last name, DeGisi, is not a common name in the U.S.  It is more common in the vicinity of Mount Vesuvius, which is why there were suddenly DeGisis in the U.S. and Brazil after the 1906 eruption. Apparently it took us millennia to figure out how to flee volcanic eruptions. We get faster at problem solving as we go.  That's what I tell my boss anyway.

Today's Heroes: Rawya Ateya

Today, 14 July 1957, Rawya Ateya, a pro-American pioneer of Arab feminism, an Army officer, a journalist, a nurse, a teacher, and more became the first female legislator in the Arab World.

Today's Heroes: The Carabinieri

Today, 13 July 1814,  King Victor Emmanuel I created the Carabinieri, the national police of Italy.  We commemorate the many heroic officers of the Carabinieri, especially those who fought the Nazis.

Of Interest 2013-07-12

Associated Press, You’re Why We Can’t Have a Nice Country Anymore

SpaceX's Reusable Grasshopper Can Now Fly to 1000 Feet

Today's Heroes: Buckminster Fuller

On today, 12 July 1895, Buckminster Fuller was born.  A Navy man during World War I, an architect, an author, an automaker, a builder, an interior decorator, an inventor, and a mapmaker, he did more in one lifetime than ten men.

Social Justice Is A Conservative Idea

Hands off, progressives! Social justice is a conservative idea!  It means, "the common good".  To do what is right for the common good, skip the progressive ideas. Embrace the conservative ones.

What is Social Justice? | Online Library of Law and Liberty

Today's Heroes: Hieromartyr Cindeus the Presbyter of Pamphylia

On 11 July the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the life of Hieromartyr Cindeus the Presbyter of Pamphylia.  Cindeus paid the wood-cutter for the wood used to burn him, rather than having the man be unpaid by the soldiers who had confiscated it.

Of Interest 2013-07-11 (God and Family)

The Ten Commandments: Why the Decalogue Matters

Healing the Modern Family, with Faith and a Fish

What My Father Taught Me: Mike Rowe

Anti-Zionists: The Truest Islamophobes

Speaking of Anti-Zionists: "They are the true Islamophobes — afraid to criticize Islam, eager to join in its chorus of hatred."  We need to "make Muslim civility towards Jews the shibboleth of assimilation to a free and democratic culture".

Today's Heroes: The Vichy Eighty

On this day, 10 July 1940, the Vichy Eighty voted against the constitutional amendment which transformed the Third Republic into Vichy France.  569 voted for the amendment.  Twenty voluntarily abstained. Twenty-seven had fled to Algeria.  149 abstained in other ways.  One did not vote.

Of Interest 2013-07-10 (Science!)

Take the quiz!

Science and Technology Knowledge Quiz

Of Interest 2013-07-09

Killing Pollyanna

The New, Improved Axis of Jihad

Why Men Are Avoiding College

Holtz-Eakin and Roy: The Critics Are Wrong About the Future of Free-Market Health Care Reform

Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere

Of Interest 2013-07-08 (The Chicago Way)

IRS scandal a reminder of how I learned about The Chicago Way

45 examples of Chicago-style politics

Of Interest 2013-07-07

FNS-9 Contest Entry: Iraq – A Laboratory of Gun Control

Meet the man who claims he doesn’t need food

Of Interest 2013-07-06 (Topic: Obama's Scandals)

How Obama Et Al. Hacked the Constitution

From Scandals to Tyranny

What the Scandals Reveal

Leviathan Fail

Of Interest 2013-07-05 (Topic: Feminism)

Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today

Feminist-Fatale

How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart

An Independence Day Sesquicentennial Meditation

We Still Hold These Truths - Independence Day

Of Interest 2013-07-04 (Topic: Schools)

Fighting education fanatics: Column

Suffolk Schools: Pencils For Math, Not Murder

"We’ve reached a startling level of brainlessness when distinguishing pencils from pistols requires an ordinance."

Instead of School: Why Our Schools Do Not--And Cannot--Work

Natural Born -- Bureaucrats

In France people celebrate Bastille Day, which was a battle they won.  In Mexico people celebrate Cinco de Mayo, which was a battle they won at great cost.  In the U.S. people celebrate Independence Day, where we produced a document.  In Brazil people celebrate Independence Day and Republic Day, where they produced documents both times.  Hmmm.

Of Interest 2013-07-03 (Topic: Islam)

Can Islam Be Reformed? History and human nature say yes

Jihad on Egypt's Christian Children

Iran’s apocalyptic policy makers

If you see something, say nothing

Obama’s Head-in-the-Sand Speech on Terror

The Road Europe Is On

A Fair Immigration Law

The current immigration bill passed by the Senate is not even close to fair. It will bring 30 million new legal immigrants, nearly all from Mexico. That is a third of Mexico's population. Depopulating Mexico is not fair to the Mexican people. The potato famine caused so many people to flee Ireland, and Ireland still has not recovered. Bringing 30 million mostly unskilled immigrants is not fair to poor people in this country. How will poor African-Americans, poor Hispanic-Americans, poor Native Americans, poor Asian-Americans and even poor white Americans manage to get jobs with 30 million more people completing for those jobs?

The only people who benefit from this bill are rich people.

How is this bill fair to people who followed the rules when they came here?

The only way to have a fair bill is for illegal immigrants to have significant disadvantages as they are legalized, so that we do not create perverse incentives.  Here is a somewhat brain-stormed proposal:

• The bill will be no more than ninety pages long.
• The bill will be debated using normal rules.
• All non-criminal illegal immigrants will be placed on the amnestied registry as soon as they apply, or if they are caught.  We aren't going to deport people.  It's too heartless.
• The amnestied registry will include bio-metric identification, including DNA.
• Any employer who knowingly employs an illegal immigrant will be fined.  Use of E-Verify will be a positive defense against such fines.  Once an illegal immigrant has been amnestied, no further fines will apply.
• The minimum wage for amnestied immigrants shall be twenty-five percent higher than it is for other immigrants and American citizens.  This will encourage businesses to hire other immigrants and American citizens.
• Any children of illegal immigrants or amnestied immigrants shall not be citizens of the United States even if they are born here.  The children will automatically be amnestied immigrants.
• Amnestied immigrants will not have a path to citizenship while they continue to live in the U.S.  In order to obtain a green card they must legally migrate to a third country (not their country of origin) and hold a job there for five years if they were born in another country, or two years if they were born in the U.S   After that they can apply for a green card here, and if they get one, apply for citizenship in the normal manner.  This gives the amnestied immigrant a proper appreciation of what legal immigrants have gone through.
• Amnestied immigrants may not vote in any U.S. elections.
• Amnestied immigrants may not receive benefits paid by tax money, including tax subsidies, such as the earned income credit. Minor amnestied immigrants may receive primary and secondary education, and may attend state schools while paying in state tuition, provided the state agrees.
• U.S. citizens may sue public officials for damages if the public officials are not enforcing these rules.  This means public officials must actually try to catch people breaking the law.

Of Interest 2013-07-01

What’s the connection between abortion and careers?

Abortion, ‘Choice,’ Volleyball

Abortion: Sacred Ground?

IRS Abuse -- More Widespread than the Media Comprehend

Do Blacks and the Left Really Believe This?

Why Some Scientists Embrace the 'Multiverse'

Why does the left want to suppress free speech?

Case Closed? Far From It

If Only Our Foreign Enemies Were Republicans

New Audience

I am now writing this blog for my family and friends I see regularly. If you are an internet friend of mine you are still welcome though.

Positive Political Links

L.A. Times - A Mitt Romney most of America doesn't know

The Romney Sons: A Guide

The hidden Mitt Romney - Maggie Haberman

Mitt Romney, community organizer | Power Line

The Real Mitt Romney | Power Line

snopes.com: Romney Business Partner Daughter Search

PICTURES: Mitt Romney Releases Adorable Christmas Card of Entire Family

Mitt Romney Wants To Follow You On Twitter

Milton Friedman, an Economics of Love

Milton Friedman - Greed

God Bless the President of the United States

Let's all ask the President to resign!

Contact the President at : http://www.whitehouse.gov/cont​act/
Contact the Vice President at : http://www.whitehouse.gov/cont​act-vp/
Contact the Speaker at: http://www.speaker.gov/Contact​/

Apparently the Senate Majority Leader only wants to hear from Nevada.
Here is what I wrote to President Obama and copied the Vice President and the Speaker:

Dear Mr. President,

Please tender your resignation at once. You should have accepted the deal the House and Senate leadership produced yesterday. This is the last straw. There is no way that the Vice President can do worse than you are doing. It's true that you have to deal with the collapse of a 150 year old domestic political method going back to Bismarck. It's hard for the captain to deal with a sinking ship that he thought could never sink. Yet you will not work, unlike the Vice President. You are always and only talk, talk, talk. The Vice President likes to talk, but he is at least talk, talk, work, sometimes, talk, work, talk and every so often work, talk, talk. You alternate between petulant whining and angry, irresponsible demagoguery. When the Vice President whines you can't tell because he is smiling and upbeat, and his irresponsible demagoguery is of the happy warrior type. He frequently speaks responsibly. You only speak responsibly when you are trying to simulate a responsible adult. Real responsible adults don’t constantly whine. Real responsible adults don’t constantly engage in angry, irresponsible demagoguery. And real adults do the work.

This is especially distressing because you claim to understand the Constitution. The Executive Branch is supposed to produce concrete plans rapidly. This is it's virtue. You almost never produce concrete plans, with your surge in Afghanistan being the notable exception. That one practically had to be beaten out of you. Right now the House produces concrete plans faster than the Executive Branch. Even the Senate, which is supposed to be the deliberative branch, seems to be working faster than you are.

Clearly you were built for the Senate, where deliberate, deliberate, deliberate works fine. Please beat the Peter Principle and resign.

Yours,
Thomas L. DeGisi

It Was Always Obvious...

... that the Iraq war was justified to stop Hussein from getting nukes.

Progressive Policies Harm The Poor

Reverend Jim Wallis understandably believes that progressive policies are the most Christian social policy. It is understandable because he believes in God the Father, Jesus, His Son and us as adopted children in Christ. Progressive policies are a natural extension of the Christian family, which is a an authoritarian, socialist institution. God and Christ are the heads of the larger Christian family and parents are the head the smaller Christian families which make up the larger. We love our families and we want to have the same kind of nurture only bigger.

But Wallis is mistaken.

Here is what God had to say about the government, in I Samuel 8:

11 He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle [b] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."

The authoritarian dream Wallis embraces fails. It is not Godly. The authoritarian dream will make people suffer. And, as has always been the case, the rich will suffer the least and the poor the most.

In economic terms, the family does not scale. At the microeconomic level, the family is wonderful for the poor, the middle class and the rich. It has been so since the beginning. But at the macroeconomic level it is free choice, the free market, liberty and the creative destruction of capitalism that is wonderful for the poor, the middle class and the rich. Since the beginning free choice, the free market, liberty and creative destruction have been how families have interacted with other families.

God is wildly into freedom. He could have built robots. He did not.

It's also plain that God is wildly into creative destruction, even if we aren't. That was his plan to save our souls. How is Heaven going to be implemented? The old world will pass away!

So, Reverend Jim, I'm afraid you need to embrace the free market at the macroeconomic end. For the poor. For children. So we can have more justice and more peace.

I was inspired by this article: Is the Tea Party a Christian Movement?

It's Time To Stand Strong For Israel

American policy must be an utter condemnation of Turkey's support of Hamas and Hebollah. The Turks are peddling vicious anti-American and anti-Israeli propaganda at home. Their news reports that our soldiers clogged the Euphrates with Iraqi bodies and that Americans and Jews conspired to sell Iraqi organs. Mein Kampf is a best seller.

America must move our Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We must move carriers into the Eastern Mediterranean. We must pledge to enforce the blockade ourselves, including sinking any Turkish warships which attempt to defend another flotilla. We must demand that Turkey pay a 200 million dollar indemnity to Israel for their support of terrorists. If the Turks don’t agree (and it is OK to negotiate the amount down to half that) we must demand they be kicked out of NATO. If they are not, we must leave NATO ourselves.

The Turks are showing every sign of becoming genocidal once more – to which I say “Never again”.

A firm hand will prevent much bloodshed – including Turkish blood. As our good allies during the Cold War, they deserve firmness to save their own lives.

All The World's Not A Stage

So Jonah Goldberg points out that following our habitual scripts doesn't make sense. Specifically the liberal script which rapidly condemns bigotry against blacks by a white person, but cannot condemn genocidal bigotry against Jews by a Muslim person. That said, I need to be careful about my own scripts.

Hot Enough To Fry An Egg

James points out that you can cook eggs on a shovel - among other uses.

Rules Aren't Smooth

This Joel On Software article explains why software standards don't work nearly as well as we want. This is also why the rule of law does not work as well as we want. And why Bibles and written constitutions do not work as well as we want.

I like more liberty and less law.

How To Develop A Political Grassroots Movement

I know this article is about software, but I think it can be applied to other problems.

An Important Decision

Here's something anyone who drives a car should know: The Truth About Hiring a Criminal Defense Lawyer.

Persistence Is Good

Read how the rare application of hard work leads to success.

Look Out, Janet!

An Old Comment Thread...

on an idea for a Constitutional Amendment.

Joe Huffman's The Jews in the Attic Test

It also works for slaves in the Barn. The test is:

Will this law make it difficult or impossible to protect innocent life from a government intent on their imprisonment or death?

More here.

Cracking a Bottle

Artificial Wombs?

"We call it cracking a bottle back home."

Read Mass Producing Babies--Toward an Artificial Womb.

Global Cooling On The Way?

Read Eternal Mindshine of the Spotless Sun.

Orson Scott Card on Global Warming

It's worth reading.

In fact, what we have right now, while we are not yet as warm as the peak of the Medieval Warming (a fact that Mann and others have tried to deny or obscure), is a superb climate that is making life better for people all over the world. It's the cold periods that cause famines and population drops, and promote plagues and floods.

We should be grateful.

Instead we are being hit with dire warnings, every one of which is either false or a normal part of the Earth's history; our business should be to adapt to the unavoidable solar-caused warming, not to destroy the worldwide economy in order to prevent something that human activity is not causing.

41 Years a Marine

We didn't quite make it to the ceremony, as we had a conflict, but Master Gunnery Sgt. Kendall Phelps was honored today at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City. So we visited the memorial and it's WWI museum instead. I highly recommend it.

A Sad Day for the ACLU

... ACLU chapter ex-president charged in child-porn case ...

Fox News has video.

O'Reilly says Charles Rust-Tierney had videos showing "pre-pubescent girls being violently raped", and that he coached youth sports teams.

How horrible. How tragic. God weeps for those little girls.

Let justice be swiftly done.

Update: I added the word chapter above, noted by the bold. Thanks, shep.

Equalizer

Mary Katharine Ham points out that women have a right to defend themselves. I have a wife and three daughters. I agree.

The Problem Is Bigotry

I think perhaps we need to recast some this opprobrium towards Muslims in a different mold. The analogy I wish to draw is between rampant bigotry among Muslims towards Christian and Jewish minorities living in their midst and rampant bigotry not so long ago among white Americans towards black American minorities in living in their midst.

The rampant bigotry among Muslims even leads to uppity Christians being lynched.

In this light, Muslims who justify their bigotry and their behavior by referring to the Koran are no different than white Christian who abused the Bible in the same way.

So - all those Muslims who responded to the Pope with violent protests? Miserable bigots, the lot of them. Do you fight bigotry by moderating your criticism of it?

There were plenty of white Americans who did little but quietly say to their kids, "We don't act like that." There were plenty of white American leaders who did nothing effective to fight bigotry for decades after the Civil War.

Take a deep breath here and consider this historical parallel. Change could be a long time coming.

Inspiration from Dean's World and Meryl Yourish.

Well Spent

Be a Boy Scout (prepared) at five dollars a whack.

Not Dames and Gumshoes

The Army is becoming the world's largest detective agency. See Strategy Page on "Police Intelligence Operations," Field Manual 3-19.5.

Porkbusters

I like the Porkbusters. Earmarks? Get rid of them.

Morocco Begins With M

As do Moderate and Muslim.

Care and Feeding...

of SayUncle » Bullies. Thanks, SayUncle.

An Islamic Argument...

...For Freedom of Religion.

Loving Muslims...

...Hating Islam.

A Credit To Her Uniform

Thanks for your service, Sgt. Amanda Pinson.

Via Dean Esmay.

Total Solar Ecilpses Aren't Rare

On average there's one every 18 months, according to SPACE.com, but they are only visible on a very small portion of the earth's surface each time.

The News Is Like A Snickers Bar

There's some nutrition, but it's really mind candy.

Via Dean Esmay.

This Is Why I Don't Buy The Paper, Anymore...

They don't print the stories of heroes, like this one.

Be a Pirate!

Even as a kid I never wanted to be a pirate. With me it was always a knight, or an inventor. But with this fleet, and these rules, I'm thinking of hoisting the Jolly Roger.

Fifty Ways To Leave Your Bad Prose

Via Rand Simberg, here are Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing.

It cost us one million dollars not to do something about Murray"

I can't improve on Dean's title.

The Prophet was a Moderate

There are moderate Muslims - including the Prophet himself. Thanks Dean.

Corporal Jonathan K. Clarke USMC: Someone You Should Know

Michael Fay gives the story of a man who has made his job - checking ID's at the lunch hall to prevent a suicide bomber from getting in - a real morale booster for everyone he checks. Some people improve the lives of everyone they meet. God Bless Corporal Clarke.

Hat Tip to Blackfive, for the "Someone You Should Know" meme. Don't miss Lance Corporal Pascal Cisse, USMC, either.

Private Roderick Evans: Someone You Should Know

This man lost 230 pounds to enlist in the Army!

Miserable Donuts: An Army Broken?

Major John Tammes says that Representative Murtha is exaggerating the intelligence:

As anyone who has read this blog knows, The Inner Prop and I served in Operation Enduring Freedom V (Afghanistan, March 2004-March 2005). We stood at the end of the longest sustained supply line in the history of human conflict. We were in war-torn Central Asia. Af-frickin'-ghanistan. We had decent food, e-mail, phone (OK, sometimes they weren't always working, but almost all the time) excellent medical support, good pay, regular (if slow) mail. We had a PXs at most of the larger bases, and coffee places sprang up too. We had so damned much ammunition that we needed to build a bigger ammunition supply point at Bagram, AF. We had so many vehicles that we were constantly squabbling over where to put them all - and we had enough up-armored ones too. Our supply warehouses were stuffed with clothing, boots, body armor and the like. "Living hand to mouth" is the worst lie of the bunch.

Murtha has a reasonable worry - that the Army will suffer in Iraq as it suffered in Vietnam. But worries aren't realities.

Another Soldier's Plea

He says, basically, that we should listen to an honest man, George Bush. Best lines:

It’s sad that so many Iraqis and others are dying over here. However, when you discover you have cancer the treatment is always the same - attack it at the source. You don’t wait for it to spread. And when is the last time you heard a doctor putting a limited timetable on cancer therapy? I can picture it in my mind. “Mr. Smith, we have seen some progress with your tumor. It’s shrinking. But we need to move on now. The timetable for treating you has passed. Good luck.”

Via Instapundit. (Who else?)

Thanks, Joe!

I forgot to be thankful for Joe Lieberman last Thursday. But I am thankful. Mr. Lieberman gives me hope for my old party.

Via Instapundit (along with half of everything I post, I expect).

So I'm Not Alone

The Washington Post notes these poll results, which show most people apparently have the same opinion of Democratic Congressional leaders that I do. First quote:

Seventy percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale -- with 44 percent saying morale is hurt "a lot," according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale, while 21 percent say it helps morale.

Second quote:

Their poll also indicates many Americans are skeptical of Democratic complaints about the war. Just three of 10 adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to "gain a partisan political advantage."

Of course they are polls, so they are only slightly more accurate than the weatherman and slightly less accurate than military intelligence, and public opinion changes almost as fast as the weather....

A Clinton Appointee Remembered

Gee, maybe the Democrats have forgotten Clinton Appointee Kenneth M. Pollack. Well, the Brother's Judd haven't. And the case Pollack made for deposing Saddam was good then, and it's still good.

Gun Vault, Safe to Armed in Seconds! - Products

Got a Mini GunVault for myself for Christmas. It's on sale for eighty bucks at Cabelas until 4 December. Now I just have to figure out where and how to mount it. Well, and I need to wrap it, of course.

Arabia Steamboat Museum

The most amazing attraction in Kansas City is a celebration of the pioneering values of adventure, entrepreneurship and the can do spirit. The Wince family took a pair of Mrs. Wince's cousins and their families yesterday to see the Arabia Steamboat Museum. (Aside: Isn't it cool when two brothers marry two sisters?) The Steamboat Arabia was a floating ante-bellum Wal-Mart. It hit a sang in the muddy Missouri on the way to big supplies to pioneers in Nebraska and sank. 132 years later a group of men in search of buried treasure dug it up with no government money and they are sharing these incredible finds with only private support. See what shopping was like in 1856!

More Democracy for Kenya

More democracy in Africa? That's something to be thankful for.

Democrats Despise! Iraqi Hopes They Minimize!

Well, clearly my slogans need work. You say we are losing? I don't know who this "we" is. Our troops say they are winning the war and are proud of their efforts. I'm not winning or losing the war, I'm working on billing software. If you are losing the war, stop it! (Wink.) If on the other hand, you are saying our troops are losing the war, well, you aren't over there, they are. I trust them. Stop criticizing the people who are fighting and dying. It would be different if they also thought they were losing. Then you could criticize the Administration and say the Administration was losing the war. But since the troops don't agree, I just will not accept that. Here's what I'll accept: You believe the Administration should be winning faster or cheaper or better. But not that "we" are losing.

Myths

The American Enterprise gives nine Urban Legends About the Iraq War.

Pray for The Weary Warriors

It seems Kurt Vonnegut is feeling down. We need to respect our old warriors, weary of war, especially when we disagree with them. Pray for Kurt Vonnegut, John Murtha, John Kerry and any other old warrior who is tired of war.

I Like Going To The Dentist

Heh. Say Uncle likes the nitrous oxide buzz, but does not understand one dental custom at all.

The Opposite of SGT Walter J. Rausch

Here is a person, Professor John Daly, unlike SGT Walter J. Rausch, who should be fired, just because he reflects so poorly on his employer, Warren Community College. Do our institutions of higher learning know how disgusting they appear by defending people like Daly? In his email, Daly denies the 100 million killed in the Communist Holocaust. That's right, Daly is no different from a Holocaust denier. Communist sympathizers are no different, morally, than Nazi sympathizers. This isn't surprising, since Nazism is Communism's younger, less murderous, but more bigoted brother. So, does Warren Community College also employ Holocaust denying Nazi sympathizers as a sop to academic freedom? I doubt it.

Via the Gun Guy.

This Is A War For Freedom

Perhaps the Iraq War is not a war for freedom to you. But it is for this sergeant. Arguably, that gives him more moral authority than Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandi. How so? They were fighting for their own freedom, and the freedom of their own people. This sergeant is fighting for freedom not just for someone else, but for another people. Think about what surrender will do to this young man and those, like me, who support his desire to fight, win, and achieve his noble purpose.

An Argument Against Too Much Federalism

In this post I argued for federalism. I'm still not sure what Breyer would say against my arguments, but based on what I've read so far, he might say that pushing too much power down to small electoral bodies exposes them to the problem of factionalism. Representation over large groups of people dilutes factionalism by making a representative beholden to a wide variety of special interests, whereas a smaller district can easily be captured by a particular special interest group. This is a good argument. One way to solve the problem is by random appointments, like we do for juries. Ancient Athens had many randomly selected positions. Frank Herbert believed that many of our political decisions should be subject to jury review. Now that's active democracy!

Bend It

I just realized I have a new favorite movie, Bend It Like Beckham. And every time I watch it I end up with the most wonderful music running through my brain.

Active Liberty, Obtained

I got Active Liberty : Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution, Stephen Breyer's new book, from the library and started reading it. Breyer believes he should interpret the Constitution in ways which promote active citizen participation in our democracy. Good thesis. I'm all for it. I will be interested to find out how he supports it. I have to wonder why he isn't more of a Federalist, though. The less power in Washington and the more at the statehouse the easier and more effective my democratic participation will be. In fact less power in the statehouse and more power at the county, city and even school board levels the more power I have. One school board per school is good, too.

When the Constitution was drafted, the entire population of our Republic was less than some cities today. Lot's of place were governed by town meetings, where everyone, not just a few aldermen, got to vote. I'd say that means we need even less power in Washington, not more.

What Does Losing Mean?

When will Congress and the President take the War against Islamic Fascism seriously?

This article, by an unknown author, not Major General Vernon Chong, describes the price of losing. The price of losing this war is no less than the price of losing the Cold War and being ruled by totalitarian Communists. Most Communists believed in communal living. And we all know that most people who lived in communes were peaceful. The price of losing this war is no less than the price of losing World War II and being ruled by totalitarian Fascists. Most Fascists were Christians. Isn't Christ the Prince of Peace? Aren't most Christians peaceful people? Of course Hitler, master of a Christian nation, murdered slightly more Christians than Jews. And Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot killed more of their own people than of us. And the Islamic Fascists are killing more of their own people, too.

Hitler, with a tiny fraction of the world's Christians behind him, plunged the world into chaos and murdered fourteen million people. Do we really want a tiny fraction of the world's Muslims to do the same? Let's fight little wars now, not big wars later. And let's not lose.

Spooky!

I guess with dogs it's green eye reduction. She sure is cute, huh?

The Real Story About The War

TigerHawk revisits and updates Den Beste's strategic overview of the War on Terror. These were the reasons I favored the campaign in Iraq before it started, and I still do. My biggest fear was that Bush would go to the U.N. and get talked out of it. I shouldn't have worried.

No More Breezes

The Geek With A .45 muses about architectural adjustments.

Fish Cookies

My Dad, who likes to fish, turned seventy-five over the weekend. Mrs. Wince made fish cookies and my girls helped, especially with the decoration. Tasty and easy on the eyes. And the same for the cookies.

Keep Raking Lads! They're Gaining On Us!

Last Saturday I raked all my leaves. Can you tell? Last year I ignored the leaves in the street too long, and the bottom layer turned to mud. It's wonderful to have such beautiful trees along our street. Even in the winter they stand majestic with the cold light filtering through their many branches, squirrel nests exposed for all to see.

More Government Spending Less Happiness

Juan Non-Volokh links a study by three Swiss economists which found that people are less happy when their government spends more. I don't know if it is true, but I have observed that American conservatives are less happy when their government spends more.

What is the Arm of Decision in the War on Terror?

Steven Green thinks that he knows where victory will be won or lost in the War on Terror. He says Bush doesn't know. He says Congress doesn't know. He says our public thinkers don't know. He says the media knows - but they don't want you to find out. I'm not sure. Does the Media know they are losing the war?

Fooling Yourself About Bush

People fool themselves all the time. I fool myself all the time. For example, I fool myself about how much I'll get done each day. And I fool myself about how easy it will be to get up in the morning every night before I go to sleep. If you think Bush either lied or exaggerated the Iraqi threat you are fooling yourself. Norman Podhoretz examines the mountain of evidence.

Via Rand Simberg.

Righteous Rudy #2

Today I wish Rudy would require Shamim Siddiqi of Flushing, Queens to annually sail a New York garbage scow to the Carolinas, until he can make the connection between the garbage in his head, and the garbage on the scow, remove the former, and consign it to the latter.

Righteous Rudy #1

Ten years ago, Rudy Giuliani kicked Arafat out of the Lincoln Center. In what I hope will be a lighthearted continuing series, I will be nominating more individuals for attention by Rudy.

Today, I wish Rudy would forbid FAMS spokesman Dave Adams from visiting the concession stands at Yankee Stadium. No bratwurst for you, Dave!

Rudy Giuliani Is Looking Even Better

I didn't know about the time he kicked Arafat out of the Lincoln Center. Maybe if he becomes President he can kick Mugabe out of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. That would be sweet.

Rosa Parks Has Gone To Heaven

I hope Peter has delegated the task of leading her to her mansion to the white man who asked her to give up her seat after he volunteered.