September 01, 2010
Obama Falls Through the Floor
President Obama’s fall from grace is unbelievable. A recent poll by a Daily Kos associated polling group indicates that even Bush is locally more popular than Obama. Bush would beat Obama 50-42 in Ohio. A state Obama won in 2008. Bush is not a popular guy. If he comes out on top of Obama, what does that say about Obama?
» Continue reading "Obama Falls Through the Floor"...August 30, 2010
Feeding the World
When I lived in Brazil twenty-five years ago, I was only vaguely aware that the Brazilian agricultural frontier was pushing west. I knew about a significant number of farmers from Rio Grande do Sul moving into western Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso & Goias. But Brazilian agriculture was not efficient and I heard the soils out west were acidic, poor and subject to rapid exhaustion. Lately, I have been watching Globo Rural (a Brazilian agricultural TV show) on Internet and have been impressed by what looks like efficient and forward looking agriculture. Today I read a really good briefing article on Brazil’s agricultural miracle. It is a good news story thirty years in the making and it sort of crept up on us such that we didn’t notice. But it is big, a game changing development.
» Continue reading "Feeding the World"...August 26, 2010
I Want Your Money
There is a difference in philosophy between conservatives and liberals when it comes to creating wealth. Liberals think wealth is a gift from the government to individuals. A social program that costs x dollars and a tax break of x dollars are identical things, because they think that all wealth belongs to government. Whether you earn it or not is just a matter of accounting technicalities or political generosity. Conservatives know that wealth belongs to people. Those who earn money give some to government so that it can do things we prefer not or cannot do ourselves. But it is our money.
» Continue reading "I Want Your Money"...August 25, 2010
How We Won in Iraq
Now that Iraq is back in the news, I would like to share what I wrote on my personal blog back in June 2008. I just cut and pasted it, minus the pictures and the text directly related to them except the one with me smiling in the MRAP. I think the predictions turned out okay. Many have and will write more scholarly works explaining how we prevailed in Iraq. Mine has the advantage of being by an eye-witness participant contemporary with events. The title was “We’re gonna do what they said can’t be done.” We did.
» Continue reading "How We Won in Iraq"...August 24, 2010
Anti-Science Mush Brains
I found two stories that seemed different but both showed attacks on science, health and a better environment. One talked about restrictions on stem cell research; the other featured antiglobalization vandals wrecking a farmer’s GMO corn crop. My guess is that the supporters of the first issue would identify with the right, while those who think the second group was doing the Lord’s work would call themselves leftists.
» Continue reading "Anti-Science Mush Brains"...August 23, 2010
You Don't Need War to Create Carnage
Venezuela and Iraq have about the same population. Guess where you are about four times as likely to die violently. Last year 4644 civilians died violently in Iraq. Venezuela topped 16,000 and may have reached almost 20,000 and that is only the number we know. Little Hugo Chavez is actively attacking journalists who report the violence, so there may be more.
» Continue reading "You Don't Need War to Create Carnage"...August 22, 2010
One for Obama
Give the President credit. Most Americans worried that government couldn’t run big industries like car firms. Obama said he agreed. Some of us were skeptical but he was telling the truth. GM will return to private hands, chastened but still alive and not run by government bureaucrats. Score one for Barack Obama.
Wind Bags
I found this about wind power. All the swells love wind power until it comes anywhere near them. They can often even get the local Indian tribes to claim it violates some sacred something or other to make the opposition more PC. Evidently it spoils the view from some burial grounds. I am not making this up. Who knew the dead were so sensitive?
» Continue reading "Wind Bags"...August 21, 2010
Good things about an Obama Presidency
The EPA and the Coast Guard just cannot find the oil. They think most of it is gone. Nobody is saying that the BP spill, the worst environmental catastrophe in U.S. history, was a non-event. They are just saying that nature and physic have ways to deal with these things. Of course, this displeases the disaster and victimization industries. Democrats are attacking the Obama folks, but you sense the attacks are half-hearted. That is the advantage of having a liberal Democrat in office.
» Continue reading " Good things about an Obama Presidency"...August 19, 2010
Training & Trucking
Which country has the world’s best freight rail system, according to experts? It is the United States, by a wide margin. And it has gotten a lot better since 1980.
» Continue reading "Training & Trucking"...August 18, 2010
Obama Keeping Those Mexicans Out
The Obama Administration is keeping out Mexicans who have a legal right to cross the border and a useful purpose in doing so. According to promises & agreements we have made with Mexico, Mexican truckers can make deliveries in the U.S. They need to have a U.S. license and their trucks have to pass U.S. standards and they do. But evidently Democrats think these guys cannot drive well enough to be allowed in our country.
» Continue reading "Obama Keeping Those Mexicans Out"...August 17, 2010
Underwater Obama
51% of Americans disapprove of President Obama, according to Gallup Poll. Other polls give him even worse marks. Increasingly dejected supporters blame racism, ignorance & plain cussedness. They are mistaken. His disapproval number was 13% in January 2009. Did nearly 40% of the American people suddenly become racist or ignorant? Or did they just get to know Obama?
» Continue reading "Underwater Obama"...August 15, 2010
Will of the People
It is still too soon to tell which party will win in the November elections. I believe in our democratic process. I assume that whoever is elected in November will represent the will of the American people at that time. We also must assume that anybody who was not elected was rejected by the people.
» Continue reading "Will of the People"...August 14, 2010
Clogged Stimulus Pipes
The practical problem with rapidly increasing government spending is that it cannot be done. Think of it like a plumbing problem. You can only push so much through the pipes. I applaud the thoughtfulness of local and state officials. Their deliberations mitigate the haste makes waste hitch. But it really messes with those who think the Federal government can fine tune the economy. They just don't have the right tools.
» Continue reading "Clogged Stimulus Pipes"...August 13, 2010
False Monster Gods
Can we agree that all those who kill in the name of god must either believe in a false god and/or will go to hell when the true God finds out? This way we don’t specify or insult any religion and can make an always true statement. The act & motivation automatically prove that the perpetrator is in error and should be rejected by all as a member of any religion that features the real God.
» Continue reading "False Monster Gods"...
