Morning Links 09-03

Back to School - Be warned, you WILL cry.

Jackpot Winners Just as Likely to Go Bust. Apparently (and duh), people spend "free" or "found" money differently than earned money. Perhaps the government should consider that when they create bailouts or policies such as welfare, etc.

The End Is Nigh! Mass Extinction Threat: Earth on Verge of Huge Reset Button? Whatever.

Traditional Marriage Perverts the Tradition of Marriage While this article is an interesting discussion of the various changes to the trappings of wedding ceremonies, it neglects to attack the fact that in all instances - including poligamy - the arrangement was always and ultimately between a man and a woman. And while yes there were and are cultures that support poligamy, it is only the wealthy men who can afford more than one wife. We may read about it in the Bible but it was not and is not as common a practice as people think. Also, I refuse to be guided in my thoughts about marriage by a Californian "playwright".

You stay classy AFL-CIO. AFL-CIO president to Sarah Palin: Change or be linked with McCarthyism

Drunken links

Have We Squandered Our Cultural Inheritance?


Domestic Violence Fairytales Threaten Constitutional Protections The Violence Against Women Act includes a definition of domestic violence that is so wide you could drive a Mack truck I was raised as a feminist, so this drives me crazy.

Indoctrination Nation

Interesting Articles 09-02

Ya know, it is one thing to emigrate to a new country and have your name "anglicized", its quite another to have your own government force you to change your family name for its own convenience after owning it for hundreds of years. Chinese villagers forced to change untypable name

What a $330,000,000 waste - Groups win grants to develop new student assessment systems

How Barack Obama Became Mr. Unpopular Ummm, could it be by cramming down the throats of the American people some of the most unpopular government policies and debt since John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Act?

In more confiding moments, aides admit that the peak of Obama's popularity may have been inflated, a fleeting result of elation at the prospect of change and national pride in electing the first African-American President. As one White House aide puts it, "It was sort of fake."

Ya think?

Money and power are an ugly combination in Congress - Richest lawmakers grew wealthier as economy faltered

And yet people buy them. Market demands? 6 Outrageously Overpriced Products

Random Round-Up 09-01

UN report on glaciers melting is based on 'speculation' An official prediction by the United Nations that the Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035 may be withdrawn after it was found to be based on speculation rather than scientific evidence.

Gunman holding people hostage in Discovery Channel building; Update: Gunman in custody, hostages safe AND Discovery Channel Hostage Taker’s Crazed Online Ramblings

Administration Has a Lot of 'Reeducation' To Do on Obamacare

The Couric-Rich Model of the Five Stages of MSM Grief

It’s the Spending, Stupid

What’s the Matter with Texas?

Judge in Virginia ‘Global Warming’ Investigation Blocks Inquiry Into…His Wife’s Former Employer

Is Obama a Chicago-style pol? If only.

Pawlenty restricts Minnesota's participation in healthcare reform law

Things the U.S. government could do without

U.S. files new suit on Ariz. immigration issue If only they spent this much effort enforcing the federal laws...

Health Care Reform Has Endangered the Democratic Majority

Unions Hire Non-union Picketers?


Why Wall St. donors are deserting Obama

Voting With Your Wallet: Are You Helping to Fund America’s Impending Bankruptcy?

Why Wall St. Is Deserting Obama

Obama could kill fossil fuels overnight with a nuclear dash for thorium. If Barack Obama were to marshal America’s vast scientific and strategic resources behind a new Manhattan Project, he might reasonably hope to reinvent the global energy landscape and sketch an end to our dependence on fossil fuels within three to five years. Of course, my husband has been saying this for YEARS. Nuclear Power? Yes, Please.

An Ironic Strike in Ohio

Likely Terror Attack ‘Dry Run’ Exposes Dangerous TSA Missteps (Updated) While defying common sense, a Yemeni citizen carrying mock bombs and $7,000 in cash apparently does not defy TSA security.

More Arguments against Obama’s Dream Tax

Democrats seek separation from Nancy Pelosi This seems to be a "dog-bites-man" story to me. I mean, doesn't everyone seek separation from Pelosi these days?

No Help On The Horizon For Dems

Just like in China. Where are the baby girls? It’s illegal in India to determine the sex of an unborn child. But parents who don’t want daughters get around the law.

Review Finds Flaws in U.N. Climate Panel Structure. "Flaws", corruption. Who can tell the difference over at the UN these days?



Business groups plan Labor Day blitz against Senate Dems, candidates

Phil Hare Files FEC Complaint Against Veterans Group

Manufacturing grows in August but private jobs cut

Oh Goody. Redesigned Labels on New Cars Will Include Pollution Information

The Speech: Why Didn’t They Call Rewrite?

Dear Patients: Vote to Repeal ObamaCare Don't believe Democrats who promise to fix the bill once they're re-elected.

Homeowner’s Fight Involves Flag Tied to Tea Party

Gallup: Voters trust GOP more on, well, everything

Whole Foods' John Mackey in USA Today on Health Care, the FTC, Unions, & More

Down with Big Government, Big Business, Big Labor

Enforcement Works

Number of illegal immigrants in US now declining Personally, I think the principal enforcement should be fining and jailing the companies and business folk who knowingly hire illegals.

But that's just me.

I'm Old and I'm Okay With That

Below is a copy of an email a high school friend sent me. Yes, I am in the "over 35" category and yes, this email made me laugh. Hence my sharing it with you. Enjoy......

If you are 35, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....
Uphill...
Barefoot...
BOTH ways.
yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to laya bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had itand how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in Utopia!

I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know omething,
we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to beat us! Nowhere was safe!

4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to
hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

6) We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your
chances, mister!

9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get UP and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!

12) And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the
stove! Imagine that!

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

14) And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place! See!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in the 1970s or any time before!

While I could add and add to this list, I do feel rather grateful that my children were born into an ever-advancing technological age. They will benefit greatly from it and if I do my job as a parent correctly, they will also have the "old-fashioned" skills I do as well.

10 States With Ridiculously Low Unemployment -- And Why

10 States With Ridiculously Low Unemployment -- And Why

Interestingly, the majority of these states are out West and I suspect have much lower tax rates. It also seems that a strong diversity of industries combined with lower taxes is much better for the economy than college educated workers. Quite frankly, there are Fedex delivery truck drivers that earn as much as my Oxford-educated husband.

Read the whole thing for yourself.

Uncle Sam wants to cuddle

Uncle Sam wants to cuddle. Nanny-state embrace gets tighter
The above link is to an article my husband and a co-worker have had published in the Washington Times. I especially like the ending below but please do read the whole thing.

The old Roman Tacitus wryly observed, "The most corrupt state has a lot of laws." Unless Americans rein in their legislators and demand something like the Great Repeal Act being planned by the new British government, the American republic will be in for some dark days ahead.

Random Round-Up 08-30

The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government in U.S. History

(Even) More Trouble at Citi: Is Obama Paying Attention? Is Gillibrand?

Propaganda Efforts by the Obama Administration May Be Criminal

Why the GOP Should Embrace the Tea Party's Message

How Severe is U.S. pension debt?

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson violated rules, steered scholarships to relatives

JAMES TARANTO ON THE SPREAD OF Oikophobia among the “cognitive elite.”

Health reform group aids campaigns

We know why Eli Lilly is rallying behind ObamaCare. Why is National Journal?

EPA on lead-ammunition ban: Never mind

Rasmussen: 61 percent say finding new energy sources is more important than conservation

Heirloom Diseases

Record number in government anti-poverty programs

Let’s Regulate Barney Frank’s Pay

Government Alters Stimulus Sign Policy, Raising More Propaganda Questions

What We Saw at The Glenn Beck Rally in DC

Two Rallies in Washington D.C.: One Honored Dr King, The Other Spread Divisiveness

Last days of the academic ruling class

SEIU Misspells ‘American Dream’ at Rally

"leans Democratic" is the new "toss-up"

Digital startups said to have advantage over traditional outlets

New SEC Rule Gives Unions More Power Than Average Investors

Think the economy is bad? Worse is coming

Thank You For Your Sympathy

I just want to take a moment to thank you all for your kindness and sympathy during this really awful time. As you can see, my father loved his daughters and in the picture above his grandchildren very much. I will return to my regular blogging soon. Thank you for your support and patience.