First amusing comment by a TV newsie. "The ferry is parked." Right. Anyone knows that vessels are docked, not parked.
The ferry crashed into its dock, hard enough to bash a big hole in the bow and injure a lot of passengers who were standing up to disembark. The ferry probably isn't as well equipped with grab irons as a subway car is.
A likely cause of such an accident is failure of the engines to provide reverse power. The vessel approaches the dock at a fair rate of speed and the skipper depends upon reverse thrust from the engines to slow her down. If the engines stall, fail, or refuse to go into reverse, the vessel will crash into the dock. Our ever clue-full (or is is low information) newsies have not asked anyone if the engines were working and providing reverse power.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Voting for Warming
NPR has been going overboard on hot-button topics. In one morning they advocated "organic" food, the nomination of Chuck Hagel for defense secretary, and Global Warming. A Trifecta of liberal hot-buttons.
One young lady said "Of course Global Warming is happening, 90% of scientists say it's happening."
She must be a liberal arts major. Competent people know that scientific controversies are settled by measurements, observations, reproducible experiments, not by counting people's opinions.
Nor is she aware that a good deal of evidence put forth by the Global Warmers is fake. I went thru the great Hadley CRU document leak. I saw with my own eyes where the programs were jacking up temperature in modern times.
One young lady said "Of course Global Warming is happening, 90% of scientists say it's happening."
She must be a liberal arts major. Competent people know that scientific controversies are settled by measurements, observations, reproducible experiments, not by counting people's opinions.
Nor is she aware that a good deal of evidence put forth by the Global Warmers is fake. I went thru the great Hadley CRU document leak. I saw with my own eyes where the programs were jacking up temperature in modern times.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Hardworking defense attorney
They brought James Holmes, the Aurora Colorado theater shooter, into court today. He was wearing bright orange hair, either a wig or a dye job. Sitting next to him is a lady attorney, presumably his public defender.
And did she council her client about that orange hair? Showing up in court like that is a good way to convince everyone in the room that you are a nut case.
Perhaps that's the plan, an insanity defense.
And did she council her client about that orange hair? Showing up in court like that is a good way to convince everyone in the room that you are a nut case.
Perhaps that's the plan, an insanity defense.
Obama's new Security appointments
First we have Chuck Hagel for defense. He is at least a Viet Nam veteran with combat experience. That's a good thing. The Wall St Journal is unimpressed, citing a number of opportunistic votes Hagel cast back in the day.
Then we have John Kerry for defense. Kerry went to Viet Nam as a junior Navy officer about the same time I was over there. I served the regular one year tour. Kerry managed to get home after only 8 months in country. He must have been some kind of jerk. Years later when he ran for president, men who had served with him were still mad enough to form the Swift Boat Veterans lobby and torpedo Mr Kerry.
And finally we have this guy John Brennan for CIA. That's a new name to me. He spent twenty years at CIA doing this and that, did some outside consulting, and finally joined Obama's campaign in 2008. I know little about him, but I'm suspicious of old CIA hands. CIA is a snake pit of intelligence agents who want to make policy, they made major mistakes, and spend much of their time attempting the destabilize Republican administrations. Not a good background. Certainly not a man to clean house at CIA.
Then we have John Kerry for defense. Kerry went to Viet Nam as a junior Navy officer about the same time I was over there. I served the regular one year tour. Kerry managed to get home after only 8 months in country. He must have been some kind of jerk. Years later when he ran for president, men who had served with him were still mad enough to form the Swift Boat Veterans lobby and torpedo Mr Kerry.
And finally we have this guy John Brennan for CIA. That's a new name to me. He spent twenty years at CIA doing this and that, did some outside consulting, and finally joined Obama's campaign in 2008. I know little about him, but I'm suspicious of old CIA hands. CIA is a snake pit of intelligence agents who want to make policy, they made major mistakes, and spend much of their time attempting the destabilize Republican administrations. Not a good background. Certainly not a man to clean house at CIA.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Winter Weasel
I saw one today, right in my front yard. All white, really slender, moving fast. Dunno what it lives on up here, I haven't seen a tasty chipmunk running around in months. I didn't know there were any weasels, white or otherwise, left around here. Apparently there are.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Better than the Debt Ceiling
Newt Gengrich was on Meet the Press this morning, and he did toss out one good idea. Newt is full of ideas, many of them bad, but this is a good one.
We have the federal debt ceiling coming up and the newsies are talking up a big fight along the lines of "Do spending cuts or we shut the government down". They tried this two years ago, gained a lot of negative press and just a few fake cuts.
Newt points out that we have a "Continuing Resolution" coming up. The Republicans could refuse to pass that, and instead pass the proper spending bills, one for each department. You want the cut spending? Then cut the spending bill. Works like right now. Newt suggests that a spending cut fight centered around the continuing resolution and spending bills would be easier to win, less damaging, and very effective.
Could it be, that politicians like the debt ceiling 'cause it's just money, we aren't talking about cutting any interest group's program. Whereas when you get into appropriations, you have to vote on real programs, each of which has people getting money thru it, and who will be angered if their gravy train stops running.
We have the federal debt ceiling coming up and the newsies are talking up a big fight along the lines of "Do spending cuts or we shut the government down". They tried this two years ago, gained a lot of negative press and just a few fake cuts.
Newt points out that we have a "Continuing Resolution" coming up. The Republicans could refuse to pass that, and instead pass the proper spending bills, one for each department. You want the cut spending? Then cut the spending bill. Works like right now. Newt suggests that a spending cut fight centered around the continuing resolution and spending bills would be easier to win, less damaging, and very effective.
Could it be, that politicians like the debt ceiling 'cause it's just money, we aren't talking about cutting any interest group's program. Whereas when you get into appropriations, you have to vote on real programs, each of which has people getting money thru it, and who will be angered if their gravy train stops running.
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