Rethinking FDR

How to Think About the 1930s

Excerpt:

In Ms. Shlaes's account, Roosevelt's policies, by and large, do more damage than Hoover's. Whereas Hoover had a free-market lobe on one side of his brain, Roosevelt was all state action--most egregiously in his all-controlling National Recovery Administration of 1933-35, which tied the American economy in knots and was widely unpopular. Ms. Shlaes gives Roosevelt credit for the reciprocal trade program--a policy that at least gestured toward free trade--but he backed it reluctantly and implemented it lackadaisically. It did little for either American or world recovery. Hoover's justly reviled Smoot-Hawley act of 1930--raising tariffs just when they needed to be lowered--remained the basic trade law of the land. In Roosevelt's defense, one must note that protectionism was, at the time, a multinational disease of pandemic proportions.

Comment: We live in the long economic shadow of FDR's policies - eg. a Social Security system that lacks long term viability.

The Forgotten Man

For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and the World Crisis of the 1930s

19th-Century Weapon Found in Whale

19th-Century Weapon Found in Whale

Excerpt:

BOSTON (AP) - A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt—more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.

"No other finding has been this precise," said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Calculating a whale's age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses. It's rare to find one that has lived more than a century, but experts say the oldest were close to 200 years old.

The whale, which was nearly half a football field long, had a bomb lance fragment lodged a bone between its neck and shoulder blade. The fragment was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.

Non-native Invasive species

Battling a Nasty Green Invader From the Deep

New York Region
Battling a Nasty Green Invader From the Deep
By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: June 12, 2007
State officials are spending millions to attack Eurasian watermilfoil, a plant that endangers swimmers, boaters and other aquatic plants in dozens of Adirondack lakes.

Excerpt:

Several lakes, including Schroon, have begun educational programs aimed at prevention, stationing volunteers at boat launches. Along with posted signs, the volunteers urge boaters to remove watermilfoil from their boats, as well as zebra mussels — another nonnative scourge.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent each year to remove watermilfoil. In July and August, teams of scuba divers descend to hand-harvest plants, which can grow up to 15 feet tall. Where the watermilfoil is too dense for that approach (scientists have found as many as 300 stems per square meter), divers fasten huge sheets of plastic, called benthic barriers, to the lake bottom to blot out the sun.

Another method, known as biocontrol, uses nature — in the form of insects and fish — to fight nature. At Augur Lake, where Mr. LaMere was hired to combat its Eurasian watermilfoil infestation, hundreds of sterile grass carp were released several years ago to eat the plants. For now, the watermilfoil, which had cloaked 10 percent of the lake, is still there, but is less of a nuisance.




Comments:

1. Minnesota has problems with both milfoil and purple loosestrife. The wetlands in French Park (Plymouth) has quite a bit of loosestrife.
   
2. Interesting explanation of the name (milfiol): "Myriophyllum (water milfoil) is a genus of about 45 species of freshwater aquatic plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Its name comes from Greek, "myri" meaning "too many to count", and "phyll", meaning "leaf"."
   
3. Picture above: Milfoil on left / Purple Loosestrife on right
   
4. The buckthorn is another Minnesota non-native invasive plant!
   

dumbing it down, tarting it up

I don't find myself often agreeing with Dan Rather but this is pretty good:

Rather Derides Couric for Dumbing Down and ‘Tarting Up’ The News

Excerpt:

Dan Rather: "Well, I totally agree with you, Joe. I want to make clear that I have nothing against Katie Couric at all. She’s a very nice person and I have a lot of friends at CBS News. However, it was clear at the time and I think it has become even clearer that the mistake was to try to bring the ‘Today’ ethos to the evening news and to dumb it down, tart it up, in hopes of attracting a younger audience.

For futher reading, I recommend The Dan Rather file: Decades of Liberal Media Bias and CBS News admits
Bush documents can’t be verified

Safari for Windows

Apple just announced Safari (their web browser) for Windows XP and Vista. I love competition in the computer industry (and all others really!). Competition (which frankly Microsoft seems to love to quash! If their lawyers see this, they will be contacting me, I'm sure!) brings out the best technology.

I find myself disappointed in IE 7 on my Dell home laptop and rarely use it - favoring Mozilla's Firefox.

One can download Safari 3 today! This page also compares and contrasts the performance of Safari with Internet Explorers, Firefox, and Opera.

The BBC reports:

Excerpt:

Chief executive Steve Jobs said Apple "dream big" and wanted to expand the 4.9% market share Safari enjoys.

Mr Jobs was speaking at a conference of developers for Apple products in San Francisco, California.

He said Safari was "the fastest browser on Windows", saying it was twice as fast as Internet Explorer.


For me, I'm done upgrading my 3 year, 8 month old Dell laptop. As soon as MAC OS X Leopard ships, I intend to buy a MAC laptop.

---

Install and user experience on Dell Inspiron 5100

1. While Kathee made dinner, I did install Safari on this old laptop
   
2. The install was painless and so far my experience has been positive
   

Fact-checking Arnold

California's spending spree

Excerpt:

"The May Revision continues the Governor's commitment to restraining the growth in spending, pre-paying debt, eliminating the net operating deficit, not raising taxes and maintaining an adequate reserve." Or so says the introductory paragraph of the Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's updated budget plan.

Just for fun, let's run that through the old fact-checker ...

John Adams said, "Facts are stubborn things."

Comment: Big-spending Republicans give the party a bad name! Article by Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks.

Tear down this wall + 20 years

Hitting the Wall: Reagan's prophetic Berlin speech, 20 years later

Excerpt:

Rip Van Winkle has nothing on Jan Grzebski, a Polish railway worker who just emerged from a coma that began 19 years ago--just prior to the collapse of communism in his country. His take on how the world around him has changed beyond recognition comes at an appropriate time. It was 20 years ago tomorrow that Ronald Reagan electrified millions behind the Iron Curtain by standing in front of the Berlin Wall demanding: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Mr. Grzebski is, of course, thrilled to see the wife who cared for him and the 11 grandchildren he didn't even know he had. But he is also shocked at how his homeland has changed. "When I went into a coma, there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed, and huge gas lines were everywhere," he told Polish TV. "Now I see people on the streets with cell phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin. What amazes me is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning. I've got nothing to complain about."

Buying Happiness?

Scientists calculate how much money it costs to buy happiness

Excerpt:

It is one of the most pondered questions of all time - can money buy happiness?

The answer, according to a study, is yes - but so can friendships and successful relationships.

Researchers have been trying to calculate what effect our finances and lifestyle have on our emotions.

Comments:

1. Values are in British Pounds ... but you get the idea!
   
2. Be sure to read the reader comments on the bottom of the article. My favorite = "Happy wife, happy life!"
   
3. Reality Check: Go for the joy ... not the happiness! If you have true joy ... you will be happy!
   
   
   
   1. John 15:9-11, "“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."
      
   2. Romans 14:17, "for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit"
      
   3. Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness ..."
      
   
   

What's a Captchas?

A Dog or a Cat? New Tests to Fool Automated Spammers

Technology
A Dog or a Cat? New Tests to Fool Automated Spammers
By BRAD STONE
Published: June 11, 2007
Several Internet companies, including Microsoft and eBay, are working on new ways to keep spammers from infiltrating their sites.


CAPTCHA

Defined: CAPTCHA is an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"

Comment: It must be old eyes, but I have a hard time with these! Until I saw the NYTimes article today, I did not know the name of these!

Pics: Northwoods Bible Church fire

approaching North: Lord, You Are Our Dwelling Place

Paul Fuller reports!
(comment ... photos from Paul Fuller's blog. Thanks Paul)

If so prompted by the Lord, I recommend that funds be sent:

Northwoods Bible Church
2119 Highway 217
Ray MN 56669

Fire destroys Ray church building

Graduates recognized at 4th

1. Not a good picture because I did not hold the cell phone (camera) steady as they recognized the graduates. Rachel is 3rd from the left (blue blouse), Julia Brown is 2nd from the left (graduated from St Olaf with a degree in chemistry)
   
2. Funny thing in church today. A bearded, long haired shaggy guy (1st time vistor) came in late and sat on the front pew near the pulpit. I turned to Kathee and said "Isaiah the prophet has arrived". I had a sense that he wanted to get up on speak as he seemed to inch his way towards the pulpit. Pastor Killian walked back and conferred with Pastor Seddon, and at the "stand and greet" time, Pastor Seddon came up to meet "the prophet" and took him back to the pew where he was sitting. I met "the prophet" and his name is "Joel" (ok I was wrong ... wasn't Isaiah, it is Joel!). As he went back with Gil Seddon he tripped over my crutch and fell backward on the front pew. I found the events humorous.
   
3. Pastor Levy preached from 1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 and had a good message on election (vs 4, "knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.")
   
4. We stayed quite a while afterwards and talked with Julia Brown. I met her parents: Don and Sherri. Today was Mark Stamper's last day - he is moving to Bend Oregon to help plant a church with John Tittle. Joanna Straub is back from Korea and we chatted with her quite a bit.
   
5. Because we are out of groceries, we stopped by Famous Dave's and picked up a BBQ dinner for 4.
   

Happenings:

1. We had had a busy weekend with a lot of entertaining. We had Rachel's graduation party yesterday. Kathee's Sister Carole, and her husband Greg, and their daughter Katrina were with us most of the weekend as well.
   
2. I figured out how to snap a picture with the cell phone and send it to photobucket. It is fairly straightforward. I don't ever expect a cell phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera to take great photos, but if I held the cell phone steady it would turn out better.
   
3. Rachel commences her job at 3M tomorrow.
   

Minneapolis: speculators manipulate the system

'Straw buyer' deals fuel tidal wave of foreclosures

Excerpt:

In 90 days, with none of her money down, Thomas had $2.4 million in debt and 10 houses in her name, most in north Minneapolis. Nine belonged to officials of Universal, the same company that handled the transactions for her.

Comment: Be sure to view the graphic associated with the article!

Cocaine: generational amnesia?

Cocaine: Hidden in Plain Sight

Fashion & Style
Cocaine: Hidden in Plain Sight
By MELENA RYZIK
Published: June 10, 2007
The drug may have faded from the public eye but it is very visible on the social scene.

Excerpt:

While cocaine and drug abuse seem to have faded from the headlines, with coverage limited to the not-so-veiled references surrounding the exploits of waifish celebrities, it is still very much a part of the social scene, especially in New York.

Evidence of that is popping up in music, television and even theater. Indeed, for a generation that has not had its John Belushi to drive home the dangers of drug abuse, references and even use are open, casual, even blatant.

...

Dominic Streatfeild, the author of “Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography,” who is based in London, where according to recent government studies, use among young people has tripled since the late 90s, had another theory. “In a culture obsessed with celebrity,” he said, “the fact that cocaine makes you feel rich and beautiful — it’s the perfect drug for our times.”

With Wall Street surging and a 24-hour global economy, young professionals have the money and the incentive to stay constantly wired.

Comment: Another generation must confront this addictive drug!

Hoaxzilla killer interview

Reclaiming Hoaxzilla

Practical Traveler | Sharing Photographs Online

Practical Traveler | Sharing Photographs Online

Snapshots That Do More Than Bore Friends

By MICHELLE HIGGINS

Published: June 10, 2007

How sharing your family vacation photos online can help others discover a place through your travels.

Practical Traveler | Sharing Photographs Online

Pork inflation ... in China

Rise in China’s Pork Prices Signals End to Cheap Output

Business / World Business
Rise in China’s Pork Prices Signals End to Cheap Output
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: June 8, 2007
Rising prices are causing Chinese companies to raise prices for exports, particularly on one critical commodity: pork.

Excerpt:

From pork spare ribs and mu shu pork to char siu bao — barbecued pork buns — pork is a staple of the Chinese diet. So in this Year of the Pig, an acute shortage of pork has been national news, as butchers raise prices almost daily and politicians scramble to respond.

Steep increases for pork loins and bacon are the most tangible sign that after a decade in which prices have fluctuated but not moved significantly upward, inflation is creeping back into China. In response to this pressure at home, Chinese companies are starting to raise prices for exports, removing what has been a brake on inflation in the West.

....

The crisis over pork prices in China, like the jolt many Americans feel when gasoline prices jump, offers one example of how prices can suddenly soar. The Chinese government is struggling to cope — including deliberating whether to sell a snuffling, smelly strategic reserve of hundreds of thousands of live pigs kept at special subsidized farms for precisely the shortage the country is now facing.

Chinese officials offer several reasons for the high pig prices. The cost of animal feed has risen by one-quarter in the last year, partly because more corn is being made into ethanol and partly because more prosperous workers are eating more meat, which requires more animal feed.

Comment: I found it interesting that China has a "strategic reserve" of hogs! Also the ethanol link!

Good bye rabbit ears

Converters Signal a New Era for TVs

Technology
Converters Signal a New Era for TVs
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: June 7, 2007
The nearly 20 million homes that rely on rabbit ears for reception will receive as much as $80 to move to digital.

Excerpt:

At midnight on Feb. 17, 2009, the rabbit ears and the rooftop antennas that still guide television signals into nearly 1 of every 5 American homes will be rendered useless — unless they are tethered to a new device, including two versions unveiled yesterday, that the government will spend as much as $80 a household to help families buy.

The V-shaped rabbit ears, which have stood sentry in some living rooms and dens since the early 1950s, risk going the way of the eight-track tape player or Betamax in 20 months because that is when local television stations will cease sending their signals over the analog airwaves, and instead begin transmitting their programming exclusively over the more modern digital spectrum.


Comment: Hello HD TV! Deep in the article is this interesting fact: "the [digital] signal required is so compressed, or efficient, that a station may be able to send out four streams of programming where once it had only one."

It worked!

I featured Bitpim in an earlier posting. Last night I tried it out!

Detail:

1. The official Verizon position is that Bluetooth for the VX-8300 is for the headset only! And the VX-8300 manual only mentions the headset.
   
2. The Trendnet Compact Bluetooth USB CLASS2 Adapter for my 4 year old Dell lap top arrived yesterday. I bought it from Amazon for $ 18.99. Newer PC's and MACs have Bluetooth adapters built in!
   
   
   
   1. I did have problems installing the Bluetooth driver but it was entirely my problem (because I had not read the instructions!)
      
   2. I plugged the Bluetooth adapter in before I installed the software ... and then tried to install the software! Tried this twice (shame on me ... before I read the instructions!)
      
   3. Instructions said to install the software first and then when prompted plug in the Bluetooth adapter
      
   4. Third time was a charm (the first time would have been had I read the little manual first (it's an eyesight issue for me ... the print is very small!))
      
   
   
3. Once the Bluetooth was enabled, I started Bitpim. This is a free, open-source product.
   
4. With Bitpim started, I ran the "detect phone" function and .... the phone and the laptop were wirelessly connected.
   
5. I already had the contacts from my old Verizon (LG) phone transferred to the VX-8300. With Bitpim, I was able to edit the contacts and add new ones and then transfer the contacts back to the VX-8300.
   
6. What all can Bitpim do? From their website: "BitPim is a program that allows you to view and manipulate data on many CDMA phones from LG, Samsung, Sanyo and other manufacturers. This includes the PhoneBook, Calendar, WallPapers, RingTones (functionality varies by phone) and the Filesystem for most Qualcomm CDMA chipset based phones"
   

Suggest you give it a try. Next: Connecting the VX-8300 to a PC via a USB link (cable is not in yet!)

Comment: I did not provide screen shots of Bitpim because the Bitpim website itself is a better source of instructions with plenty of screen shots!

Why I left my last church

The poll is from a well-know fundamental forum. The poll question is: "Do you think the rapture of the church will be..... ". I answered "pre-trib". My former Pastor answered "post".

I've tried (I think successfully) to obliterate the names in the graphic.

My Pastor said one thing and believed another. Our church's doctrinal statement said that we believed in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. I believe in the pre-trib rapture of the church. Our Pastor did not!

There's a lesson on Pastoral ethics in this story. I hope some take it to heart. I've forgiven the Pastor for this! But I'm still angry!

Dear Major General Halleck

Lincoln Message Discovered at the National Archives

Excerpt:

Washington, DC…Today, the National Archives announced the discovery of a new Abraham Lincoln message written in President Lincoln’s own hand to Major General Henry Halleck. The message, which was found among the Adjutant General’s Records in the stacks at the National Archives Building, is dated July 7, 1863. It is part of a collection of “Generals’ Papers” which includes miscellaneous documents relating to Halleck.

After General Halleck received the note from the President, he quoted the information verbatim in a telegram to General Meade on the same day. The telegram, but not the note, was first published in 1889 as part of The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Subsequent histories and collections have cited the telegram, but President Lincoln’s original note itself remained elusive and has never been cited by historians. At the press conference, the original note was shown for the first time.

Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein hailed this discovery as a "significant find." He added that "it shows us that there are still exciting discoveries to be made at the National Archives. History is never a closed book. The document displayed today contributes to our understanding of some of the major figures of the Civil War."

Text of Message:

Major Genl Halleck
We have certain information that Vicksburg surrendered to General Grant on the 4th of July. Now, if Gen. Meade can complete his work so gloriously prosecuted thus far, by the litteral(sic) or substantial destruction of Lee's army, the rebellion will be over.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN

Comment: Thousands would have been spared if Halleck would have gone on hot pursuit and taken Lee!

Reminder that the church is not a building!

Lightning apparently sparks church fire in northern Minnesota

Excerpt:

Northwoods Bible Church in Ray burned to the ground late Wednesday — after apparently being struck by lightning.

...

Pastor Cory Rintala said, "Our church is OK. This was just a building.''

Comment: Well said, Pastor Rintala!

9 year old video champ

He’s 9 Years Old and a Video-Game Circuit Star

New York Region
He’s 9 Years Old and a Video-Game Circuit Star
By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: June 7, 2007
Victor M. De Leon III — known to rivals and fans as Lil’ Poison — is thought to be the youngest pro gamer.

Excerpt:

Victor M. De Leon III has been playing video games on the professional circuit for five years now, racking up thousands of dollars in prizes and endorsements at tournaments around the country. He has a national corporate sponsor, a publicist and a Web site, with 531 photos chronicling his career. A documentary filmmaker has been following him for months.

Victor weighs 56 pounds and likes to watch SpongeBob SquarePants at his home here on Long Island. He celebrated his 9th birthday last month with a trip to a carnival and a vanilla cake. He gets above-average marks in the third grade, where he recently drew a dragon for art class.


Comment: This can't be healthy for body, mind, or spirit!

Who killed Ötzi the Iceman?

Ötzi the Iceman

An arrow killed the Iceman

Excerpt:

GENEVA — A prehistoric hunter known as Oetzi whose well-preserved body was found on a snow-covered mountain in the Alps died more than 5,000 years ago after being struck in the back by an arrow, scientists said in an article published Wednesday.

Researchers from Switzerland and Italy used newly developed medical scanners to examine the hunter's frozen corpse to determine that the arrow had torn a hole in an artery beneath his left collarbone, leading to a massive loss of blood.

That, in turn, caused Oetzi to go into shock and suffer a heart attack, according to the article published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science.


Comment: Google Otzi for much more! Wiki has great links.

Not "Peter" or "Paul" or "John" or "David" ... but

Mohammed likely to top British boys' names list by year-end

Excerpt:

Though official records from the Office for National Statistics list the spelling Mohammed 23rd in its yearly analysis of the top 3,000 names given to children, when all the different spellings of the name are taken into account, it ranks second, only behind Jack, according to The Times.

There are various different spellings of the name because when it is transliterated into English from Arabic, families spell it as closely to their own pronunciations as possible.

In total, 5,991 baby boys were given some version of the name Mohammed, with 6,928 baby boys named Jack

Comment: The fast changing face of British post-Christian culture!

Daughter arrives home today

I'm not going to be very productive at work today because the one thing on my mind today is Rachel's arrival from Europe.

She is expected to be in Minneapolis at about 7 p.m. Kathee and I plan to leave work and grab dinner at the Subway downtown and then wait for her at baggage claim!

JPG is a snapshot from Flightexplorer.com

Photo sharing site options

Photo Sharing Even the Folks Can Handle

David Pogue
Photo Sharing Even the Folks Can Handle
By DAVID POGUE
Published: June 5, 2007
Tracking down sharing services that are free, quick and technologically foolproof — no matter how old you are.

Excerpt:

(Some of these sites require you to upload one picture at a time, which is like mowing your lawn with toenail clippers. Therefore, my original wish list also included, “Must offer a mass-uploading program.” But then Zach, my 16-year-old intern, told me that “everyone” just uses PictureSync, a free, elegant, effortless program that can batch-upload photos to any sharing service. Nice. It’s at picturesync.net.)

After examining eight free photo-sharing sites, I discovered that each specializes in a different area. In other words, Flickr’s clumsiness as a peruse-then-print store wasn’t necessarily its fault; it was mine, for misunderstanding its talents.


Comment: Good read. Why limit yourself to only one? Mass uploads are a key feature.

Minneapolis Wi-Fi commences

Minneapolis Wi-Fi boots up

Excerpt:

The first segment of the city's high-speed wireless Internet network has gone live, and it works. But Wi-Fi service won't come downtown until sometime next week, and the whole city won't be done until November. The cost is $20 per month.

Comment: Pretty cool! I hope Plymouth does this!

Look at her face ... read her story

Rutka Laskier was same age as Anne Frank

Excerpt:

Writing on February 5 1943, she said: "I simply can't believe that one day I will be allowed to leave this house without the yellow star. Or even that this war will end one day. If this happens I will probably lose my mind from joy.

"The little faith I used to have has been completely shattered. If God existed, he would have certainly not permitted that human beings be thrown alive into furnaces, and the heads of little toddlers be smashed with the butt of guns or be shoved into sacks and gassed to death."

Later she wrote: "The rope around us is getting tighter and tighter. I'm turning into an animal waiting to die." Her final entry is brief: "I'm very bored. The entire day I'm walking around the room. I have nothing to do."

The last entry is dated April 24 1943, at which point she hid the notebook in the basement of the house her family were living in, a building that had been confiscated by the Nazis to be part of the Bedzin ghetto. In August that year, the teenager and her family were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and it is thought she was killed immediately.

Comment: Required reading: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Work: curse or call?

Adrian's Blog: Work- curse or call?

I found this "gem" of a post today on the subject of WORK.

It ministered to me and I commend it to you!

War finance 101

Warfare on the Installment Plan

How to fund warfare - excerpts:

1. Borrow from a subservient central bank, which prints the money to pay your soldiers and arms producers in return for IOUs called Treasury bills. This is easy to do, but the resulting monetary expansion nearly always leads to inflation.
   
2. Sell bonds to the public, which effectively diverts its savings into government debt.
   
3. Sell Treasury bills, bonds and other financial assets to foreigners.
   

Conclusion:

The fiscal problem today, as Mr. Hormats acknowledges, is not so much national security as Social Security--to say nothing of Medicare and Medicaid. Between them, these are the programs that threaten to undermine the long-term fiscal health of the U.S. as the baby boomers retire. In other words, the danger today is not external but internal overstretch. I support the reform measures that Mr. Hormats calls for, such as a "national drive to develop new sources of domestic energy" and an end to the use of supplemental appropriation requests to fund the Iraq war. But I am left wondering how he would tackle the vast unfunded liabilities of the Medicare and Social Security systems, which are the real hole in the boat.

Good quotes:

George Washington called on Congress "to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burdens we ourselves ought to bear."

"Under conditions of high peacetime prosperity," Eisenhower declared in 1956, "we can never justify going further into debt to give ourselves a tax cut at the expense of our children." His farewell address was a paean of praise to sound finance: "We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations, not become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."

My comments: I personally am concerned about government deficit spending and the unfunded commitments (Social Security and Medicare) "which are the real hole in the boat"!

The litter of roadside memorials

Private grief is better than litter of roadside memorials

Excerpt:

Roadside memorials are just another reminder of how self-centered Americans have become. It is a growing epidemic that individuals expect the rest of society to take note of their feelings as if they mattered in our lives. Not only are these people self-centered, they are presumptuous in assuming that the rest of us want to be involved so intimately in their lives.

Comment: I couldn't agree more!

Earlier article: Signs of mourning

Excerpt:

Nationwide, more roadside memorials mark the intersections and ditches where loved ones breathed their last. The increasing popularity of these memorials -- some of which are so creative that they qualify as folk art -- reflects a shift in the way Americans mourn, observers say. .... Such markers are common in Latino cultures, the Southwest and on Indian reservations. They're also ubiquitous in Eastern Europe ...

Environmentally friendly kudzu eradication

In Tennessee, Goats Eat the ‘Vine That Ate the South’

National
In Tennessee, Goats Eat the ‘Vine That Ate the South’
By THEO EMERY
Published: June 5, 2007
Chattanooga’s goats have become the city’s weapon against kudzu, the fast-growing vine that throttles the Southern landscape.

Excerpt:

Kudzu, which is native to Asia, was introduced in the United States in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, according to the United States Forest Service. It arrived in the South several years later, becoming a popular ornamental vine, then a forage and erosion-control crop. In the Great Depression, the federal government paid farmers to plant it.

First called “the miracle vine,” kudzu eventually came to be known as “the vine that ate the South.” It grows at an astonishing rate of a foot a day, smothering flora, swallowing houses and blanketing the landscape.


Grazing Goats May Provide Solution To Widespread Kudzu Problem Here

Wiki Kudzu

Comment: Kudzu makes me glad I live in the frigid North where it does not grow - yet?! Good pictures of Kudzu in the Wiki article.

David and Goliath

1597-98; Prado, Madrid

Tonight's reading 1 Samuel 17-18

Key verses:

17:45-47, "Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands.”"

---

Happenings:

1. We are looking forward to Rachel's return on Wednesday. Tomorrow is her last full day in Amsterdam. Wednesday she flies to Frankfurt to Dulles and then to Minneapolis
   
2. A storm came through just as we left downtown and our commute home took a little more than an hour
   

Outfoxing Realtors

The 6 Percent Solution: Skip Real Estate Agents

Your Money
The 6 Percent Solution: Skip Real Estate Agents
By DAMON DARLIN
Published: September 17, 2005
Homeowners across the United States are figuring out that they do not need to pay what agents demand and they may not need an agent at all.

Excerpt:

Anyone who wants to know how to outfox them first has to understand where they derive their power: information. They know the market - or presume to know it - and help set the price of your house. They serve as the go-between and, again presumably, know how far you can push the other side.

(Note, however, that agents don't always push for the best price. Steven D. Levitt, co-author of "Freakonomics," and Chad Syverson, both University of Chicago economists, found that real estate agents have an incentive to persuade their clients to sell their houses too cheaply and too quickly because a few thousand dollars more in price won't yield them a significantly higher commission.)

But more than anything else, agents control access to the Multiple Listing Service, where all the houses for sale in a community are listed. The M.L.S. is the most powerful tool in real estate because it informs the widest pool of buyers that a home is for sale. Not open houses, not fliers, not big ads in the newspaper. "The M.L.S. is king," says Brett Weinstein, an Oakland, Calif., discount broker who prefers to be called "a full-service reduced-fee agent."

Comments: In our area it might be more like the 7% solution! Note mention of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything - a must read about practical economics! Freakonomics devotes an entire chapter to the real estate marker!

AWOL: Shame X 3!

Three brothers... All AWOL

Excerpt:

Still, the Kamunens' situation is unusual, simply because there are three of them. "I've talked to thousands and thousands of AWOLs," said the GI Hotline's Bill Galvin. "And I don't think I've ever heard of two brothers going AWOL at the same time."

My view: the title says it all!

Madman alert!

Iran president sees "countdown" to Israel's end

Excerpt:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president said on Sunday the Lebanese and the Palestinians had pressed a "countdown button" to bring an end to Israel. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who triggered outrage in the West two years ago when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map", has often referred to the destruction of the Jewish state but says Iran is not a threat. "With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine," Ahmadinejad said in a speech. "By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future," he said. He did not elaborate.

Comment: Zechariah 2:8,9

"For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me."

---

Sunday at Fourth Baptist:

1. AM: Pastor Levy preached from 1 Thessalonians 1:3, "remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father," Brief points:
   
   
   
   1. Faith works
      
   2. Love labors
      
   3. Hope perseveres
      
   
   
2. PM: Dr Hauser preached from 1 Corinthians 11:17-26
   

---

Happenings:

1. Rachel emailed from Amsterdam. We look forward to her return Wednesday night
   
2. We received Rachel's graduation photos yesterday. There was a "bonus" set of 5x7 of someone we don't even know! His name is on the back of the photos.
   

You have mail

Spam King and the zombie computers

1. 2.4m: the number of spam emails MSN says it blocks daily
   
2. $100bn: cost of computer repairs and lost productivity this year
   
3. 71%: of email users filter spam
   
4. 51%: of internet users say they have lost trust in email because of spam
   
5. $5.5m: the amount MySpace won from TheGlobe.com in spam compensation in February
   

Sources: Pew Research Center; ePrivacy Group; insideSpam.com; Ferris Research

Comment: The absolutely best system I have found to block unwanted email is www.bluebottle.com

All about me

6 Billion Bits of Data About Me, Me, Me!

Excerpt:

Soon enough, scientists say, we will all be able to decipher our own genomes — the six billion letters of genetic code containing the complete inventory of the traits we inherited from our parents — for as little as $1,000. Just what we will do with the essence of who we are once we bottle it, however, is likely to be as much a social experiment as a scientific one.


You can't purchase this service yet, but soon from 23andMe this insight:


Even though your body contains trillions of copies of your genome, you've likely never read any of it. Our goal is to connect you to the 23 paired volumes of your own genetic blueprint (plus your mitochondrial DNA), bringing you personal insight into ancestry, genealogy, and inherited traits. By connecting you to others, we can also help put your genome into the larger context of human commonality and diversity.

Comment: Really want to know about me? Consider what we've all inherited from our first parent, Adam!

Lake Superior’s North Shore

Minnesota’s ‘Freshwater Ocean’ Attracts a New Generation

Havens | Lake Superior’s North Shore
Minnesota’s ‘Freshwater Ocean’ Attracts a New Generation
By FINN-OLAF JONES
Published: June 1, 2007
Four generations of vacationers have now been regaled with tales of the larger-than-life figures of the north, from American Indians to fishermen and trappers to lumbermen.

Comment: I recommend the Naniboujou Lodge

Saturday's Happenings

Picture of poppy from front yard on 6/2

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Scripture associated with Hodge reading which follows:

1. Genesis 3
   
2. Adam in Pauline Epistles
   

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The Effects of the First Sin

The effects of sin upon our first parents themselves, were:

1. Shame, a sense of degradation and pollution.
   
2. Dread of the displeasure of God; or, a sense of guilt, and the consequent desire to hide from his presence.
   

These effects were unavoidable. They prove the loss not only of innocence but of original righteousness, and with it of the favour and fellowship of God. The state therefore to which Adam was reduced by his disobedience, so far as his subjective condition is concerned, was analogous to that of the fallen angels. He was entirely and absolutely ruined. It is said that no man becomes thoroughly depraved by one transgression. In one sense this is true. But one transgression by incurring the wrath and curse of God and the loss of fellowship with Him, as effectually involves spiritual death, as one perforation of the heart causes the death of the body; or one puncture of the eyes involves us in perpetual darkness. The other forms of evil consequent on Adam's disobedience were merely subordinate. They were but the expressions of the divine displeasure and the consequences of that spiritual death in which the threatened penalty essentially consisted.

Hodge v 2 p 129

---

1. Rachel called from the Rhine Region. She only had 1 minute left on her phone card and it her call was exactly 65 seconds long so there was not much news other than to here she is OK. Tomorrow the tour goes onto to Amsterdam from which she leaves on Wednesday
   
2. I had a myriad (not really that many I suppose) of small errands. I dropped my Filson boots off at John's shoe repair on Winnetka.
   
3. I Fueled both vehicles and my tractor. I actually mowed first thing and ran out of gas in Mrs. Finke's yard ... the tractor sputtered but I was just able to make it back to the garage when it died.
   
4. Brother came by and we played 9 ball. I beat him 6 games to 3. On Memorial Day he won 6 to 5.
   
5. I went up to Verizon in Maple Grove and they transferred my contacts from my old to the new phone (free!)
   
6. Roger is making dinner tonight ... lamb kabobs. Should be good
   
7. Worship tomorrow at 4th
   

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Important verses from tonight's reading:

1. 1 Samuel 15:22, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams
   
2. 1 Samuel 15:23, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry."
   
3. 1 Samuel 16:7, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart"
   

Worthwhile to read both chapters for the context!

17 day Hwy repair - $ 5 Mil bonus

A Miracle-Worker Highway Man Rides the Bonus Train

National
A Miracle-Worker Highway Man Rides the Bonus Train
By CAROL POGASH
Published: June 2, 2007
A company that fixed a mangled freeway worked so fast that some residents have recalibrated their respect for the California Department of Transportation.

Excerpt:

The state estimated that repairs to the 165-foot-long ramp between Interstates 80 and 580 would take 50 days and cost $5.2 million. For every day short of the June 26 deadline, it promised a $200,000 bonus, not to exceed a total of $5 million. The highest bid came in at $6.4 million. Mr. Myers’s company, C. C. Myers Inc., won with the lowest bid — $867,075 — and completed the project in 17 days, winning the full $5 million.

Shop drawings were approved in hours, not months, and state inspectors were flown to Stinger Welding to oversee quality control. Mr. Douglas, who kept his shop running 20 hours a day, put two drivers in each truck so one could sleep while the other drove the steel girders to California. Rather than wait until all 12 girders arrived, Mr. Myers’s crews formed the deck in parts, pouring the concrete soon after the last girders were delivered. From the start, Mr. Myers said, his crews worked 12-hour shifts around the clock.

Comment: Excellent article about entrepreneurial business experience and rewarding employees.

Financial advice for Graduates

More Advice Graduates Don’t Want to Hear

Your Money
More Advice Graduates Don’t Want to Hear
By DAMON DARLIN
Published: June 2, 2007
Divert 10 percent of your income to savings; ignore raises and put them into savings, too; learn to cook; and skip the lattes.

Good advice on marriage:

Fine feedback, indeed, and my wife’s counsel reminds me that I should have added one other bit of advice: find a partner and stay together. Study after study show that two can live more cheaply together than each alone and that divorce is the great destroyer of wealth.

Comments: Save early, skip non-essentials, etc. See his comments about lattes. My wife was telling a co-worker about our relatively expensive coffee maker (see earlier posting about the Bunn A10), and this co-worker confessed that she bought three lattes a day! She decided to purchase a $ 1,200 Italian coffee maker and fund it by skipping the thrice daily lattes!

Conservatives, liberals and reality

George Will: Conservatives, liberals and reality

Excerpt:

Conservatism's recovery of its intellectual equilibrium requires a confident explanation of why America has two parties and why the conservative one is preferable. Today's political argument involves perennial themes that give it more seriousness than many participants understand. The argument, like Western political philosophy generally, is about the meaning of, and the proper adjustment of the tension between, two important political goals — freedom and equality.


Today conservatives tend to favor freedom, and consequently are inclined to be somewhat sanguine about inequalities of outcomes. Liberals are more concerned with equality, understood, they insist, primarily as equality of opportunity, not of outcome.

....

Conservatism argues, as did the Founders, that self-interestedness is universal among individuals, but the dignity of individuals is bound up with the exercise of self-reliance and personal responsibility in pursuing one's interests. Liberalism argues that equal dependence on government minimizes social conflicts. Conservatism's rejoinder is that the entitlement culture subverts social peace by the proliferation of rival dependencies.

Comment: Good read about the philosophy behind political movements. When Republicans become liberal and thus provide no clear distinction, American loses a choice!

Compare: What is Left? What is Right? Does it Matter?

'Very unusual' economic conditions

Greenspan: 'Very unusual' economic conditions

Excerpt:

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Friday that U.S. interest rates are low, but that rates are low all over the world.

He said the prevalence of low interest rates throughout the world was one of the things that surprised him as he prepared his reflections on his past for the new book he was promoting, "The Age of Turbulence."

The book, to be published in September, will also include commentary on the future, as well as reflections on his 18-1/2 years at the helm of the U.S. central bank.

Comment: A must read for anyone who follows econonics and finance. When this guys speaks (about economics) people listen!

One BIG $$$ kitty!

A colossal cat comes with a princely price tag

Excerpt:

It's no great shock that cat lovers can get a little excessive when it comes to their feline friends. But one company, banking on the fact there are more than a few prospective pet owners willing to part with some serious ka-ching for a kitten, is selling a designer breed of cat that costs $22,000.

The Ashera, bred by Los Angeles-based Lifestyle Pets, "is a new ultra-exotic breed of domestic cat that already has wealthy animal devotees paying to get on the waiting list," the company press release claims.

Comment: Makes my big cat Blue look ... like a pussy cat!

Monster Pig: Real but not Feral

Here's the story: 'Monster Pig' was raised on Alabama farm and sold days before boy shot him

Excerpt:

FRUITHURST, Ala. — The huge hog that became known as "Monster Pig" after being killed by an 11-year-old boy had another name: Fred.

Far from feral, the pig had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area, the animal's former owner said.

Comment: Update on earlier story!

BitPim

My new company cell phone is a LG VX8300 and I am just beginning to figure out all that it can do.

Here are two features I will not be using:

1. VCAST (you can watch video clips and even complete TV programs on your cell phone!). I have a life! I don't see the value of this and will skip it!
   
2. Music player. This is kind of cool, but I really don't see myself using it. I'm actually happy not listening to anything while I drive other than classical music on my XM radio. In my truck, I never listen to the radio even. So ... not for me.
   

The camera has a 1.3 megapixel phone which is interesting. Roger showed me how to use it and it is straightforward. I told Kathee that the phone had a 1.3 pixel camera. Her response was that it wasn't much resolution. So OK it is a 1.3 megapixel camera! We had a Rockwell moment on the way home from church a week ago. We were on the South end of Medicine Lake at the source of Bassett Creek. There were three young boys playing in the water. I told Kathee that I wished I had a camera with me. It was such a scene of innocence and fun! Oh well!

Of course what I really have the cell phone for is business communications. I use it when I work from home, when I travel, when I am contacted for an emergency (which is thankfully not often!).

My old phone had all kinds of contacts: Mom, Sis, other relatives, co-workers. "The Big Bowl" (for call ahead seating), "Sweet Taste of Italy", etc.

I formerly had used a product called Datapilot to manage those contacts. That package is gone (on my old Dell company laptop) so I am back to ground zero for a software solution.

RPI Wireless also has a software solution and I almost ordered it today.

What I want is a software synch solution that will work on Windows XP and MAC OS X (because for home that is my technology direction) and maybe even Vista. Datapilot has XP and MAC versions (but you have to buy them separately). The RPI Wireless solution has both MAC and Windows software in the same package.

I wonder why this stuff has to cost so much! All I need it to do is transfer contact data back and forth over a USB cable!

This brings me to BitPim. BitPim is an open source solution that is free to download! It supports: Linux, Windows XP, and the MAC OS X! It does not come with a cable so I order a cable (bought on EBay) for $ .99 (the shipping is $ 5.00). So as soon as the cable arrives, hopefully next week, I am going to try the BitPim software.

I'll report back on how it works! It could be an inexpensive solution (just the cost of the cable) or ???.

vx8300 blog

Please ... no special session!

Pawlenty 'willing to listen' to special session pleas

Opinion: Please do not call the legislator back in session!

Read the full Star Tribune article for the complete context but here are things I'm glad did not happen:

1. Tax breaks for the Mall of American for expansion
   
2. Tax break for Thomson West for building expansions
   
3. $39 million financial guarantee promised to planners of the 2008 Republican National Convention.
   
   

Comments:

1. The Mall of America is big enough, traffic near it is terrible enough, and the owners are businessmen! They don't need my tax dollar to help them! Thomson West can fund their own expansion without help from the state! Let these two proposals die!
   
2. I'm a registered Republican so I would have a natural bias, I suppose, to have the state unwrite loans for the 2008 Republican National Convention. But I don't see that the state should underwrite this. Let this one die too!
   

The final complaint as reported in the Star Tribune is this:

"Unlike most spending areas of the state budget, the state can head into a new fiscal year without passing a new tax law. Old tax policies continue until changed. The lack of a bill means aid checks to city, county and township governments will remain static, wiping out $93 million in additional funding approved by the Legislature" (Emphasis mine!)

Comment: In typical Star Tribune fashion, this sentence is so obviously one-sided to make one gag! "funding was wiped out"! Sounds like that money is just sitting around by a bonfire awaiting destruction. The reality is that taxes would have to be raised to make this happen. Balanced reporting would say this! The Star Tribune did not.

So please Gov. Pawlenty, don't call the legislature back into session! Let sleeping dogs lie!

Greywater Guerrillas

The Dirty Water Underground: Greywater Guerrillas

Excerpt:

LAURA ALLEN’S modest gray house in the Oakland flatlands would give a building inspector nightmares. Jerry-built pipes protrude at odd angles from the back and sides of the nearly century-old house, running into a cascading series of bathtubs filled with gravel and cattails. White PVC pipe, buckets, milk crates and hoses are strewn about the lot. Inside, there is mysterious — and illegal — plumbing in every room.

Ms. Allen, 30, is one of the Greywater Guerrillas, a team focused on promoting and installing clandestine plumbing systems that recycle gray water — the effluent of sinks, showers and washing machines — to flush toilets or irrigate gardens.


Comment: Be sure to check out the pictures associated with the NYTimes article. The following comments are from Gray Water Central

Question: What is graywater?
Answer: Any water that has been used in the home, except water from toilets, is called graywater . Dish, shower, sink, and laundry water comprise 50-80% of residential "waste" water. This may be reused for other purposes, especially landscape irrigation.

Question: Why use graywater ?
Answer: It's a waste to irrigate with great quantities of drinking water when plants thrive on used water containing small bits of compost. Unlike a lot of ecological stopgap measures, graywater reuse is a part of the fundamental solution to many ecological problems and will probably remain essentially unchanged in the distant future. The benefits of graywater recycling include:

1. Lower fresh water use
   
2. Less strain on failing septic tank or treatment plant
   
3. Graywater treatment in topsoil is highly effective
   
4. Ability to build in areas unsuitable for conventional treatment
   
5. Less energy and chemical use
   
6. Groundwater recharge
   
7. Plant growth
   
8. Reclamation of otherwise wasted nutrients
   

Inside the pathological mind of Dr. Death

Jack Kevorkian and his Thanatron (death machine)

Dr. Death Returns

Excerpt:

Kevorkian was never in the killing business to alleviate unbearable suffering. Indeed, over the course of decades he repeatedly explained his ultimate goals in professional journals and in his 1991 book, Prescription Medicide. As Jack Kevorkian articulately expresses it himself, compassion had absolutely nothing to do with it. Kevorkian’s adulthood obsession has been to perform live human experimentation on people he was killing.

...

The media want to tell a fairy tale of Jack the Martyr jailed for pursuing the enlightened cause of compassion and “death with dignity.” But the truly interesting story that will go mostly unwritten is how a clearly twisted personality — driven to his assisted suicide campaign by an obsession with human vivisection and a desire to exploit the weak and desperate for crass utilitarian purposes — became, for a time, the most famous and popular doctor in the world.


Comment: You need to read the entire eye-popping article that extensively quotes Kevorkian! Between abortion, selective reduction, sex-selective abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia, our society is saturated with death!

Bush: No "E Pluribus Duum"

Comment: Good read on the President's view of immigration reform.

Latin Lesson: President Bush makes the case for immigration reform

Excerpt:

Say what you will about George W. Bush's plans for immigration reform, you can't accuse him of failing to understand what it is that inspires such emotion in this debate. Sitting among the optimistic yellows of the Oval Office, the president is quick to zero in on what has caused so many in his party to reject his efforts. "I think people worry that this round of immigration will create two Americas," he says, simply. Or, in his further explanation: "E Pluribus Duum."

...

President Bush spends much of the conversation explaining why ... conservatives of every stripe should see the value of immigration reform. On the economic side, Mr. Bush points out that this is "a free-market question. Absolutely." Studies have shown that immigrants add some $10 billion annually in net economic output. Meanwhile, our unemployment rate is about 4.5%; we created an estimated 130,000 new jobs in May. The president notes that "most of the immigrants coming are doing jobs Americans aren't doing." "Our economy thrives based on capital investment, kind of an entrepreneurship, good fiscal policy, but also willing workers who do jobs that, oftentimes, Americans simply do not want to do."

Comment: Wiki on E Pluribus Unum which means "Out of many, One"

© How to

Copyrights That No One Knows About Don’t Help Anyone

Economic Scene
Copyrights That No One Knows About Don’t Help Anyone
By HAL R. VARIAN
Published: May 31, 2007
Making it easy for creators and users of information to find each other should be a high priority for policy makers.

Excerpt:

Here’s a quiz question for authors: To copyright a written work in the United States, you must (a) register it with the Copyright Office; (b) insert a notice that says “Copyright © 2007”; (c) insert a notice that says “All rights reserved.”

Copyright Clearance Center

Noonan breaks with Bush

Peggy Noonan: President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder

Excerpt:

The beginning of my own sense of separation from the Bush administration came in January 2005, when the president declared that it is now the policy of the United States to eradicate tyranny in the world, and that the survival of American liberty is dependent on the liberty of every other nation. This was at once so utopian and so aggressive that it shocked me. For others the beginning of distance might have been Katrina and the incompetence it revealed, or the depth of the mishandling and misjudgments of Iraq.

What I came in time to believe is that the great shortcoming of this White House, the great thing it is missing, is simple wisdom. Just wisdom--a sense that they did not invent history, that this moment is not all there is, that man has lived a long time and there are things that are true of him, that maturity is not the same thing as cowardice, that personal loyalty is not a good enough reason to put anyone in charge of anything, that the way it works in politics is a friend becomes a loyalist becomes a hack, and actually at this point in history we don't need hacks.

...

Now conservatives and Republicans are going to have to win back their party. They are going to have to break from those who have already broken from them. This will require courage, serious thinking and an ability to do what psychologists used to call letting go. This will be painful, but it's time. It's more than time.


Comments:

1. Disagree with Noonan: I like the President's immigration plan
   
2. Agree with Noonan: I don't see the need for the U.S. to bring democracy to every land
   
3. Conclusion: I would like to see a true Reaganesque style Republican lead our party. Brownback and Huckabee strike me Reaganesque conservatives!