IT’S 8 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008, and you are headed for a business appointment 300 mi. away. You slide into your sleek, two-passenger air-cushion car, press a sequence of buttons and the national traffic computer notes your destination, figures out the current traffic situation and signals your car to slide out of the garage. Hands free, you sit back and begin to read the morning paper, which is flashed on a flat TV screen over the car’s dashboard. Tapping a button changes the page.
The car accelerates to 150 mph in the city’s suburbs, then hits 250 mph in less built-up areas, gliding over the smooth plastic road. You whizz past a string of cities, many of them covered by the new domes that keep them evenly climatized year round. Traffic is heavy, typically, but there’s no need to worry. The traffic computer, which feeds and receives signals to and from all cars in transit between cities, keeps vehicles at least 50 yds. apart. There hasn’t been an accident since the system was inaugurated.
Can you imagine trusting your life at 250 mph to a public computer network? I hope it isn't Windows based!
The article is pretty funny, but my favorite bit is at the end:
No need to worry about failing memory or intelligence either. The intelligence pill is another 21st century commodity. Slow learners or people struck with forgetful-ness are given pills which increase the production of enzymes controlling production of the chemicals known to control learning and memory. Everyone is able to use his full mental potential.
Anyone who has experienced a "senior moment" would appreciate memory pills. On the other hand, an intelligence pill should would make politics awfully dull. Just imagine a world without socialists!
So says Michael Reagan, who is attempting to reinstate the Reagan Revolution.
No, scratch that -- it's the so-called "leaders" of the GOP who are at fault for this humiliating defeat -- and I say it's time to name names and make heads roll in our party. Because, my fellow conservatives, we have been BETRAYED by the very people who promised that, if we would just elect them, they would get into office and vote OUR conservative values.
A pair of videos on YouTube. The first was uploaded by a University of Philadelphia student as he approached a voting location in which persons in full Black Panther regalia are stationed out front, one of which is holding a nightstick. The second is a Fox News story on the incident, reported after the nightstick guy was run off by the police.
(Chris Camp on
Nov 4, 2008 8:49 PM)
Yikes that's an encouraging sign for the next four years, huh? I remember seeing this earlier when it was breaking news, I never saw that first video though, that is interesting.
Imagine for a second that, in Georgia or Alabama, two men dressed in white robes and hoods stood in front of a polling place with a night stick. Obama as well as every liberal would be having fits; not to mention those two men would be arrested on the spot.
Richard Viguerie of Conservatives Betrayed has a pretty interesting contest in which he asks for predictions for third party candidates: who comes in first, second, and so on as well as the total number of votes received.
I find this intellectually fascinating. Is MSM correct when it says that voter turnout will be the highest ever? Will "massive voter dissatisfaction" drive more voters to third parties? Or will the polarization of our nation drive voters to the least pleasant (yet most popular) option of voting for the "lesser evil"? Will the total number of votes for third parties go up or down? Will conservatives rally against B. Hussein Obama or will they turn to a real conservative in Bob Barr? Will Obama's "hope" rob Nader and McKinney?
Prognosticate correctly and you might just get 15 minutes of fame. Go forth and project!
(Chris Camp on
Oct 31, 2008 10:58 PM)
Good article, Patriot, as always.
I like the cartoon as well :) so true, so true. The thing I find most interesting about that is that the Times claims they are remaining "faithful" to their source. Since when did integrity come back into the liberal media. If that were a tape about Palin it would be on page numero uno.
And concerning increased Green Party turnout, I don't think it's so. I think that this is one of the most exciting and popular elections in recent history. Early voter turnout is already setting records. And as it has been said before me, I truly believe this is the most important election Americans will ever vote in. That being said, I don't see people throwing their vote away on a candidate that will not win. I think only the hardcore third party fans will vote green.
And I think that Nader will garner some of the younger, more liberal vote, as he usually does. But I don't think Bob Barr will get many votes at all. The reason being is that naturally conservative people who may like Barr might feel obligated to vote for McCain to keep a dangerously liberal person out of the White House.
The Standard & Poor's Rating Services has downgraded the New York Times corporate credit rating to junk status.
S&P says it downgraded the rating because it believes that a "likely" economic recession in the United States would worsen ad revenues for at least a year.
S&P says a recession would prolong, possibly until 2010, the time it would take for ad revenues to reach "more manageable rates of decline."
Also on Thursday, the company reported a 51.4% decline in third-quarter profit.
I'd like to think that this is a just reward for skewed, poorly edited "news" reporting, but it's just a sign of the times.
“The military has been perceived as a conservative Republican institution,” said Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University and a special adviser to the National Security Council from 2005 to 2007.
“A lot of people thought that eight years of frustration with the Bush administration was going to undermine that,” he said. “This evidence suggests that it hasn’t undermined it as much as they thought, at least not yet.”
Indeed not. After all, the total lack of experience (and understanding) of B. Hussein Obama doesn't bode well for a Democrat takeover.
But the interesting thing about this poll is the answer to this question:
What is the most important issue for you in deciding for whom you will vote for president?
Character of the candidate:
Overall
42%
Whites
45%
Hispanics
39%
Blacks
18%
Other
40%
The economy:
Overall
25%
Whites
23%
Hispanics
28%
Blacks
50%
Other
28%
War in Iraq:
Overall
16%
Whites
16%
Hispanics
21%
Blacks
23%
Other
17%
Note: percentages estimated from looking at a graph for anything other than "Overall", but they are pretty darn close.
Who would have thought that the prosecution of the war would be third on the list of priorities for those charged with carrying the fight to our enemies? Could it be because they know they are winning, and thus other items take precedence? Or could it be because character counts, no matter what the issue? Well, for Whites, Hispanics, and "Other" anyway.
Anyone see any ACORN representatives staking out military bases? No? I wonder why . . .
At the beginning of the month, the Iraqi police captured almost 9,000 pieces of ordinance, thus preventing more than 200 possible vehicle-borne-improvised-explosive-device attacks:
Through the help of local Iraqi citizens looking out for the safety and well being of their community, the police received information on the location of the cache.
"The Iraqi Police are 100 percent responsible for finding this cache," said Staff Sgt. Robert Fertal, 26, platoon sergeant with 2nd. Plt., Co. E. "Their hard work and sacrifice has created an environment where Iraqi nationals freely offer information. This information has led to several smaller caches and explosive remnants of war (ERW) finds, as well as the large one." . . .
"This find demonstrates the post PIC (Provincial Iraqi Control) capabilities of an Iraqi Police force in the lead, using its own intelligence to take the fight to the enemy by depriving him of a significant supply of ammunition," said Lt. Col. Steven J. Grass, the battalion commander of TF 2nd Bn., 2nd Marines. "It was a big win."
Thomas Cooley, writing in Forbes, gives his answer to the question of whether or not we are headed for 'Another Great Depression?' First, Cooley offers some perspective. For instance:
The losses to date represent less than .5% of the work force. In the relatively mild recession of 2001 to 2002, job losses equaled about 1% of the work force. In the much more severe recession of 1981 to 1982, job losses totaled nearly 3% of the labor force--six times today's figure. And in the (truly) Great Depression--invoked, now, with an alarmist frequency--job losses between 1929 and the trough in 1933 were 21% of the labor force; and by 1939, total employment remained 13% below 1929 levels.
As I am one of those who recently lost employment, I consider this very good news. Truth is, most of my friends and colleagues are still employed. Those that aren't are having great success in the job market. There are plenty of jobs out there for those industrious enough to go find them and diligent enough to follow up. I am finding that firms are investing in enabling technologies. Not only will we find jobs, but I remain confident that we will secure positions in which we will be better off than we were. But I digress.
Cooley goes on to cite scholarship on economic downturns including a comprehensive study of depressions in 14 countries during the 20th century. While each depression is different, a common theme runs through them all:
It is that unwise policy choices made in the throes of a crisis exacerbate and prolong the real downturn associated with the crisis. In particular, government policies that affect productivity and hours of work are most often responsible for throttling economic growth.
And notes in particular:
Policies matter. Roosevelt was viewed as a great activist leader during the Depression. In fact, he was a great experimenter, willing to try one thing, then another, to turn the country around. The result was an economic downturn that lasted for many years longer than it might have.
Exactly! It has taken a long time to rid ourselves of the notion that Roosevelt actually helped things. I equate Roosevelt with Bush 43 -- both were great on foreign policy but horrible domestically. (OK, so Roosevelt was probably better at foreign policy but at least Bush isn't a socialist at heart!)
The challenge now is keeping our elected servants from going down the same path. I think that will be easier with McCain rather than B. Hussein Obama in charge.
Here's a video recorded last February in which Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan apparently pronounces his faith that B. Hussein Obama is "The Messiah":
You'll note the Nation of Islam Saviour's Day 2008 sign on the podium -- that dates the video to last February (yet the video took until the day before yesterday to make it to YouTube). In the video, Farrakhan proclaims:
You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn't care anything about. That's a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking."
[Obama] is not the Messiah for sure, but anytime, he gives you a sign of uniting races, ethnic groups, ideologies, religions and makes people feel a sense of oneness, that’s not necessarily Satan’s work, that is I believe the work of God.
But an association with the Messiah was again generated with:
Brothers and sisters, Barack Obama to me, is a herald of the Messiah. Barack Obama is like the trumpet that alerts you something new, something better is on the way.
Also, Farrakhan compares B. Hussein Obama to the founder of the Nation of Islam:
"We have been taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that Master Fard Muhammad had a Black father and a White mother. The man that we call the Saviour was born of the two people,” Min. Farrakhan said, describing the founder of the Nation of Islam in North America and Mr. Muhammad’s teacher, who was born in Mecca, Arabia Feb. 26, 1877.
“A Black man with a White mother became a saviour to us. A Black man with a White mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.
Note that Fard Muhammad was later deified by Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death in 1975, when he said that Fard was Allah in the flesh, who unexpectedly turned up on the streets of 1930's Detroit. The Nation of Islam is rather lax about following the rules of traditional Islam, which as far as I know does not deify anyone other than Mohammed.
This video has been ignored by the MSM to date, as have the reports of what was said on "Savior's Day" (Fard Muhammad's birthday). It will be interesting to see if this ever gets picked up, even if only below the fold.
Something just occurred that hasn't happened in nearly a hundred years: an entire month went by without a single sunspot.
According to solar scientists, Solar Cycle 24 was supposed to start last March with an increase in sunspot activity each month. Yet the last seven months have seen an average of only 3 sunspots each.
The chart at right is from the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center in Belgium, and clearly shows the alarming decline in sunspot activity over the past couple of years.
As many readers will know, there is a significantsegmentofthescientificcommunity that believes sunspot activity is connected to fluctuations in global temperature here on Earth.
The second chart shows sunspot activity over the last 400 years (source: Wikipedia Commons). That trough labeled "Maunder Minimum" happens to coincide with the "Little Ice Age" in which bitter winters and advancing ice packs affected large portions of the northern hemisphere.
In 2005, a pair of astronomers from the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson attempted to publish a paper in the journal Science. The pair looked at minute spectroscopic and magnetic changes in the sun. By extrapolating forward, they reached the startling result that, within 10 years, sunspots would vanish entirely. At the time, the sun was very active. Most of their peers laughed at what they considered an unsubstantiated conclusion.
The journal ultimately rejected the paper as being too controversial.
The recent drop in solar activity has evidently stopped the laughter, as astronomers Livingston and Penn have published their work in a variety of smallernewspapers. What's Up With That has a rather nice republishing of the abstract and posts the entire paper in PDF format.
If these astronomers are correct and there is a sustained period of solar inactivity, global warming alarmists will be driving Hummers and burning smudge pots in an effort to bring some warmth back to our frozen planet. Better buy futures in woolen mittens and Brazilian real estate.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked Ben and Jerry's to substitute human breast milk for cow's milk in the manufacture of their delicious product.
