Who thinks Syria needs to be bombed a little?

I saw people holding up signs opposing our attacking Syria, today.  Not many, maybe four or five standing on a pedestrian overpass.  Betcha this is the beginning of something that's gonna get real interesting, given our Secretary of State's long history of peace demonstration and his current statements calling for military action in Syria.

We must bomb Syria because Syrians are killing one another in unpleasant ways . . .

President Obama is having a tough time getting anybody to support his plan to punish Bashar Assad for using poison gas. He said a year ago that the use of chemical warfare in Syria would cross a red line requiring a military response on his part. Now that poison gas has been used, Obama will look like a roaring doofus if he doesn't at least fire some bombs off at Assad.

The absence of support by anybody, except maybe the Fwench, is mainly because people can't see how attacking Syrians advances or supports any national interests. There are no important objectives, people say, to be gained from an attack on Syria.

But they're wrong. There is an objective.

The objective is for Obama to feel good about himself.

It's just bidness. . . .

You maybe knew that Al Gore had a television network. Maybe you knew that his network didn't attract many viewers, so he wanted to get out from under it. Glenn Beck, an "arch-conservative," was interested in buying the network, but Al Gore refused to sell to him. Beck had wrong political ideals and Gore didn't want to have the subsequent promotion of those ideals on his conscience.

So Al Gore sold his network to Al Jazeera, America.

You can't make this stuff up.

Bengahzi, latest news . . .

Okay, so the State Department has investigated itself and found it was okay on the Benhgahzi matter. And the four State Department minions who were disciplined for their role in the Bengahzi matter have now been reinstated. I guess that means that Mrs. Clinton, the head of the State Department at the time, is cleared to run for President, now.

Oh, look. There is a new puppy at the White House.

How to be happier . . .

Some studies have shown that older people tend to be happier than younger people, and researchers seem to be puzzled by the phenomenon.

It's not so difficult to understand.

I'm 71, so I think I can be counted as among the older. I'm pretty happy. Every day I look and don't see my name in the obituary reports, it makes me happy. Woohoo! Way to go!

The Solheim Cup . . .

I watched bits of the Solheim Cup this weekend. That's where the best of the LPGA play against the best female golfers from Europe. Of course, there's top competitors on the LPGA tour from Asia, but they get left out. It's team Europe against team America. Team America lost. But their outfits were hotter, so they had that going for them. If only their putters had been hotter.

A little hint to the academic left . . .

Just as a symbol is not the same thing as the thing symbolized, socialism is not the same thing as society, and society is not the same thing as the state. Try to catch up.

I am Spartacus . . .

Sarah Hoyt so writes, "I am Spartacus," and maybe we should all be prepared to declare ourselves Spartacus, as well, and soon. Check it.

The special language of the celebrity life-style . . .

All of a sudden, I noticed. Whenever some minor celebrity permits herself to be photographed without clothing or appearance of shame, the accompanying text invariably describes her as "confident."

I guess they have to feel confident, because otherwise they would merely be bare-assed naked, and anybody can do that. In fact, most of us spend considerable effort to avoid being caught bare-assed naked.

Next up. A female celebrity bursting out with a loud, swampy fart of extended duration will be described as "charitable."

Al Qaida is on the run, we were told . . .

Let's see, now. We've shut down a bunch of embassies and consulates, so any Americans in the area who need our government's help will find the doors locked. We've evacuated embassy staff from Lahore.

Who is on the run, exactly?

What's going down here?

I remember as a little kid when out of the country there'd be beggers. My Dad explained that begging was what they had to do to eat, and they'd be happy to get the dime I had to give. But the deal was, you wouldn't see beggers in the States. At least not in the fifties and sixties. Not that there weren't poor people in the U.S.

That's why President Lyndon Johnson declared a "war" on poverty in the middle of the Vietnam war. He said we could afford both "guns and butter."

Now, there's beggers at all major intersections and at interstate rest stops. Without passing judgement on those with their cardboard signs, I mean, WTF?

It's been about fifty years and billions of dollars on government aid of various kinds and evidently we are losing the war on poverty. What's the chances that government "help" is a big part of the problem?

Recent Obamacare detours . . .

Remember when Pelosi said they'd have to pass Obamacare to find out what was in the bill?

Well they passed it, and then they read it.  Now, Congress and its staffers want no part of it, despite a statement in the law that says they have to participate in the plan.

Obama has now exempted Congress from paying for their own medical coverage under Obamacare, so they're cool, now.

Of course, you know who will pay for their share of the insurance, don't you.

What I want to know, is where do us aroused villagers get pitchforks and torches, like we see in the movies.  Or tar and feathers for that matter.  Amazon? 

I think Obamacare is a bad idea, but many don't.  Nevertheless, even if you think Obamacare is great, can you think of anything that would say Congressmen and their staff should be given a pass?

The self appointed cool kids are all way above this sort of patriotic hickery. . .

Many of us remember the iconic photos around 9/11, and one in particular with firefighters in the rubble with a flag.  Well, it was almost not included in the 9/11 Exhibit because the unqualified dimwits in charge thought it to be too over the top patriotic and American.  They thought we should tone down the patriotism thing a little bit, so as to, well, I don't know what.  Misha's reaction is what we call a righteous rant.  Take a look, but put your coffee down first.

The empire strikes out . . .

Ilya Somin has a box score of the government's losing attempts to stifle rights.

In Horne v. Department of Agriculture, a decision issued in June, the justices unanimously rejected the Obama administration's argument that raisin farmers did not have the right to go to court to contest the seizure of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of raisins. The Fifth Amendment states that the government must pay "just compensation" whenever the government takes private property for "public use." But the administration claimed that farmers could not even raise the takings issue in court without first enduring lengthy delays and paying a $483,000 fine.

Horne was the administration's third unanimous defeat in a property rights case in 18 months. In Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, it claimed that a couple had no right to go to court to seek compensation after the EPA blocked construction of their "dream house."

In Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States, it unsuccessfully argued that the Fifth Amendment doesn't require compensation when the federal government repeatedly and deliberately floods property owners' land. Even liberal justices normally skeptical of property rights claims, including one of President Obama's appointees, found these arguments too much to swallow.

The Obama administration has also suffered unanimous defeats in several other important cases.

Last year, the justices rejected the administration's position that the religious freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment does not apply to churches' decisons to hire and fire employees with religious duties, such as teaching theology. Obama appointee Justice Elena Kagan called the administration's position "amazing."

In United States v. Jones, another 2012 case, the justices unanimously rejected the administration's claim that the Fourth Amendment does not restrict the government's authority to attach a GPS tracking device to a car

Degradable bumper stickers . . .

In the last three weeks, as I've rambled through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, I've seen no more than a couple dozen Obama stickers.  They've even been vanishing here in Portland.

I'm sure it must be a matter of  sticker material that degrades, as one can still find a Kerry or Gore sticker 'round here, and true Portland progressives would surely not be scraping their bumpers clean.

Right?

Golf vacation . . .

Golf vacation is over.   Four days in North Carolina - nothing but golf, and food, and smoking and drinking, and calling one another names where parental legitimacy was involved or where the named was favorably compared to an organ of elimination . . . and there were no women present but for the ladies serving coffee at the breakfast buffet.

It was great!

I am now back in the world of women.

Inexplicable increase in I.Q. detected . . .

In the last presidential election, it's been reported, about 55% of women voted for Obama. Now, a recent poll shows less than half of all women approve of Obama.

Civilization!!!! .....

We are on vacation and visiting with family in Cincinnati.  We dropped into a grocery store and, wondrous to behold, our stuff was put into plastic bags and I could loop them all over my forearms and make a single trip to the car instead of carrying two bags at a time in my arms with three trips to the car.

Cool!

I know, I know.  In Portland we know that using paper bags is good and plastic bags are evil, but I don't  care.  I like plastic; I'm a wild man and I cannot be restrained.

The Death of DOMA, and another fine mess you've gotten us into . . .

It's the latest, most important news.  DOMA is toast. 

I never knew where Congress got the authority to create a restrictive definition of marriage in the first place.  It sure isn't in the enumerated powers.  What, the interstate commerce clause?  That means if a homosexual couple gets married in a state which permits such marriages, they are married for purposes of federal law, and have the benefits and obligations that arise under federal law. 

Well, if the Defense of Marriage Act is toast, does that mean that states now have to recognize homosexual marriage relationships created under other state's laws?  Or can the states say that a marriage that would be contrary to law in one state isn't automatically made lawful because some other state let it happen under more liberal laws?  In other words, may states now question the legitimacy of actions of other states, when citizens move from state to state?

Further, there is the Prop 8 clusterf*ck the court is dealing with.  California voters passed Prop 8, saying, no homosexual marriage.  Some people sued the state, saying that Prop 8, enforced by the state, would violate some sort of rights they imagined they had, just as if a right is some sort of biological appendage rather than a condition created by government action.  Anyhow, the political masters of California, who didn't like Prop 8 much in the first place mostly because they don't like the idea of citizens getting all uppity and thinking they should be considered, decided not to defend the case brought by the people who were suing to claim Prop 8 was a violation. 

So, how tough is it to win a lawsuit, when the defendant doesn't show up?

To avoid a default position, the original proponents of Prop 8 stepped in and nominated themselves as defendants.  The plaintiffs, suing the state, wanted them kicked out of court, saying, "We aren't suing you, we're suing California and you have no right to be here."  The problem went to the 9th circuit judges who said citizens can defend a lawsuit when the state defendant won't.  Contrarily, the Supreme Court has  ruled that citizens cannot appear and defend if the state, as defendant, won't.

I guess that means that the challenge to Prop 8 will be upheld because the political masters of California are going to take a dive on the issue, and the voters who voted and passed Prop 8 can pretty much go pound sand, for all that they matter.  Governor Brown wants queer marriage in California, and his will be done.

So where does that leave us?  Who the hell knows.  More litigation will ensue, for sure, for sure, and speeches will be made, politicians will weep phony tears, activists of one sort or another will activate, and pulpits will roar with righteousness.  And all the sturm und drang will be in aid of homosexual marriage. 

Hey, what percentage of Americans are exclusively homosexual in the first place?  Maybe 5%, if that?  And what percentage of those want the right to marry?  Certainly not all.  After all, a helluva lot of straight people have determined that marriage isn't all that.  So we have all this attention paid to something that will benefit only a fraction of a very small minority.

Thanks Supremes.  You made the mess worse.  Gah!

I guess that the issues of government surveillance of citizens without probable cause, contrary to the 4th Amendment, can be safely ignored.  And no need to concern ourselves with the politicizing of IRS decision making.  And we needn't be concerned about who decided to let Americans die without even trying to do something about it in Bengahzi.  And nothing to look at when Kathleen Sibelius tries to shake down constituents.  No need to wonder about the EPA's violation of administration rule making rules.  Homeland Security's heavy handed violation of travelers means nothing.  A porous border with the federal government declining to enforce its own laws is something we should welcome in the name of diversity and social progress.  And don't speak of the threat of militant Islamism which has declared war on us and shown over the years that attacks can be made within our borders with impunity.

None of that dreck is all that important, compared to the rights of homosexuals to fulfill their heart's desire to prance down a wedding aisle with a white veil masking a heavy beard, all with the approval and support of loving government busybodies.

Don't get me wrong.  Homosexuals are wronged by the present state of the law.  Well.  Fix that.  Let's get it done clearly and without confusion, and let's stop screwing over the icky queers, if that's our thing, and let's get on with the real challenges to our republic. 

Or could it be that our government masters welcome and promote the distraction provided by minor issues, like homosexual marriage, so that attention will be directed away from some the concerns noted above, all of which arise in the first place mostly because many of our government masters are not fundamentally in favor of a republican form of government which essentially empowers the little people to resist the depredations of solipsistic politicians? 

Nah, surely not that.

Big Alterna . . .

Got some unsolicited stuff in the mail, as we do, now that my bride has subscribed to some information services promoting good health.

It occurs to me that providing for alternative medical practices and ingestible supplements is a big business, bringing in big, big bucks, when you figure that on top of all the stuff being sold, there's a whole arkload of alternative treatment practitioners, healers, spiritual advisors, swamis, consultants, and suchlike, from acupunctuationists to rolfbrokers, to reikipilots, and all notional practitioners in-between.

And every damn one of them shares to following two points.

• They aren't doing what they do or distributing what they deliver for no charge.
• They all hate and despise what they contemptuously call Big Pharma, by which they mean protocols and substances that have been developed with more than a passing familiarity with the scientific method.

I say it's time to recognize that you have a choice between Big Pharma, and Big Alterna.  And your choice ought to be related to efficiency of result, alone, and not the fact that Big Pharma makes big bucks.

In that regard, Big Pharma is indistinguishable from Big Alterna, and don't think otherwise.

But hey, if you believe that a $139.00 hat with earflaps, made out of a sun activated corn silk and mole fur blend derived from ranch-raised moles, will cure migraines and ice-cream headaches, well, go for it.

It probably won't make any difference, in Darwinian terms, anyhow.