Just for fun

Fewer Voters Than Ever Believe U.S. Elections are Fair – Rasmussen Reports™

New Rassmussen poll data:

As a matter of fact, a plurality of voters 41% think a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress. Thirty-eight percent 38% disagree, but another 20% are not sure.

The number who say a randomly selected group would do a better job than the current Congress has ranged from a low of 33% to a high of 45%. In May, the findings were reversed, with just 33% who believed a randomly selected group would do a better job than Congress and 45% who disagreed.It may be hard, though, to find people who will actually take the job. Americans still list being a member of Congress as the least favorable on a list of nine professions.

Republicans are the most convinced that American elections are fair to voters. Democrats and voters not affiliated with either political party are narrowly divided but tend to disagree.

via Fewer Voters Than Ever Believe U.S. Elections are Fair – Rasmussen Reports™.

Ann Coulter on Civility

Ann Coulter at the Daily Caller on civility and the relative safety of liberals in the public compared to that of Conservatives.

The moon or bust

Funny, as I was writing this, David Letterman discussed the future of the US in space with Chris Ferguson, the commander of the last flight of the space shuttle Atlantis.

This afternoon, I got a reminder that Tweets sometimes play time-warp games – I suppose when someone signs up for the first time.

A tweet on the TMA member’s only daily newspaper sent me to an old 2006 post on the Residency Notes blog,with their beautiful theme and graphics (why didn’t I think of that?).  The post concerned Slate.com’s complaints (yes, they’re still around, even today) about NASA and President Bush’s former proposal to put a permanent base on the moon. Why not a little time travel to a time when the US was still considering out of this world research?

It looks like NASA’s cuts may have limited the progress on the base.The recession/depression is reality. Wonder whether there’s any private money out there working on the idea?

NASA is working on a new lunar landing, though, called Morpheus.   You can even follow them on facebook.

I’d donate my own money to a permanent base. Great boon to research in low gravity, some place for kids to reach for and part of that horizon we’re always looking over. (Heinlein, Asimov,and Wall-E fan)

Did Jesse James practice medicine in Baldwin County, Alabama? | Flying Bridges & Hyperactive Azleas

“It developed or eventually became known that this good looking, affable, benevolent person was none other than the famous, or infamous, Jesse James.”

“His surrey and span of horses with his doctor’s bag have become a part of the legendary colorful characters of our community,” concludes John Snook.

via Did Jesse James practice medicine in Baldwin County, Alabama? | Flying Bridges & Hyperactive Azleas.

The Undefeated: Sarah Palin Documentary

Sarah Palin “The Undefeated” Documentary

Did you know that there is a documentary movie, The Undefeated, about the life of Sarah Palin that outlines her political career before her nomination as John McCain’s running mate in 2008?

The movie opened July 15, 2011, in ten theaters across the Nation, with very little advertising other than word of mouth and some on-line buzz. Texas is a big State. Since the only Texas theaters were in Dallas and Houston, I didn’t think I’d get to see the movie until it comes out on DVD.

However, I was in Dallas, Texas for a medical conference last week and realized that I was closer than 250 miles. My sister lives in the Arlington area and we went to see the movie at the Grapevine AMC, near the DFW airport. The only 2 other people who were there bought their tickets after asking us what we were going to see. They had never heard of the movie, at all. Since they like Sarah, they were glad to hear about it.

I was worried that I would be disappointed in the movie since I don’t sit still very well, and rarely go to movies in the theaters anymore. I sure wouldn’t have ever guessed I’d volunteer to go see a documentary!  In addition, I’ve read Going Rogue, and just started America by Heart, so I knew some of the biographical information and feared I might be bored or offended by saccharine fawning.

However, after 2 hours in a darkened theater, the only complaints that I have about the movie are that some of the filler clips looked like cheap effects and that the movie was a tad too long.

The film included quite a lot of video documentation from the years that Sarah was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, from her time as Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and as Governor. There are videos and news clippings documenting long years under fire from both Republicans and Democrats and the fact that her family has spent years living life in the public eye. The real-time news footage and recorded speeches show a competent woman who understands the issues with which she is confronted and who has faced challenges as she tried to cut spending and waste. We learned about the law making Alaska’s natural resources the property of the State. The Governor fought old ways of making back room deals in order to maximize the oil and gas industry for the benefit of Alaskans and the Nation. Not only that, but there’s a couple of great bits of film showing a very pregnant Governor Palin!

Before seeing the movie, I was worried about the effect that running for President in 2011 might have on Governor Palin and her family. The movie convinced me that they have been seasoned as Sarah moved up through Alaska’s political ranks.  Should she announce for President, I believe that the Palin family would know exactly what they are getting into. I believe they can handle it.

How come we never saw all this film and real-time news footage about the Palin as Mayor, State Commissioner and Governor during 2008? The McCain for President and Republican National Committee powers-that-be must have been incompetent or actually wanted to lose the election.

McCain’s staff blew it worse than I thought!

One of the more powerful parts of the movie was the portion of an interview with Andrew Breitbart in which he called the men of the Republican party “eunuchs,” for failing to stand up for Governor Palin. I’ve been thinking about the men that I admire in the Party, and wonder why they have not defended the Governor. Could it be true that Sarah is a threat to the Republican old guard?

Sure, Sarah and the rest of us understand what it means to “fight like a girl.” She doesn’t need to be defended by a bunch of big, tough men. The point is that the men should have stood up for her, whether she needed it or not. That way, they’d have acted like we expect men to act.

Gallup:Perry, Giuliani Score High on Positive Intensity With Republicans

Interesting poll results and graphic from this week’s Gallup Poll:

Perry, Giuliani Score High on Positive Intensity With Republicans.

Pump It! Wash it! Hospital videos for handwashing – cute!

“From the 6th floor right on down to Rehab!”

Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, California, has produced several videos to remind staff, patients and the rest of us to wash our hands to save lives.

So, which is your favorite, the Black-eyed Peas(or is it Robert Rodriquez?) take-off, “Pump It!” or the Michael Jackson-like “Wash it!” There’s a more traditional video with soothing “spa” music, and a language lesson, too, “Clean Hands Save Lives.”

(Thanks to Dr. LR for the heads up!)

“Rebuilding the Dream” (Marx’s dream, that is.)

My initial impression of the moveon.org “Rebuilding the Dream” “House Meeting” on Sunday, July 17, 2011, at the New Braunfels Public Library was that I had visited another planet. However after thinking about my experience for a day or so, I’ve decided it was more like visiting an impoverished culture that sort of speaks my language, but with an almost impenetrable accent. Over the next couple of days, I’ll try to interpret the goings-on for my fellow conservatives from Texas, to whom the ideas, the hatred, and the stereotyping would be completely foreign.

First of all, despite the stereotype, I’ve seen much more diversity at our Tea Party meetings – and certainly at our Republican meetings. I heard no “foreign” accents at all. Among the 25 in attendance, the only literal, non-philosophical accents that I noticed were “Yankee” accents wielded by Non-Texans, maybe from California or the State of Washington, a few even from the Northeast and Chicago. Most had been “born and raised” in Texas. The majority was older than I and retired from various jobs. All but two or three were of the same Western European heritage that we call “White” around here. There were no blacks or Asians and less-than-a-handful of people whose grandparents might have been, like my great-great grandmother, American Indian.

The online news group, RedState has noted in their “Cargo Cult Watch”* that Jone’s Dream is an attempt to recreate a Left wing version of the Tea Party. However, the small group that I met – while very upset that the on-line address for future plans of the Movement was  “contract.rebuildthedream.org,” (warning: video of Robert Reich) because it reminded them of Newt Gingrich – was willing to divide in to 4 tables of 6-7 participants each, with pre-determined table leaders. Can you imagine a Tea Party event like that?

The culture must be “impoverished” because their highest goal is to make the Nation “middle class.” From Van Jones, who is spearheading the Movement, said:

“Rebuild the middle class – and pathways into it – by fighting for a “made in America” innovation and manufacturing agenda, including trade and currency policies that honor American workers and entrepreneurs.”

And they’re willing to vote themselves a lot of everyone else’s money to make sure that no one rises above “middle class,” too! It’s also obvious that Mr. Jones has no clue what an entrepreneur risks – or what he expects in return for his risks and everything he or she gives up for success.

Did you grow up wanting to be middle class? I grew up thinking that if I worked hard enough, I could be rich, the President, or go to the moon. (Okay, I didn’t quite think a girl could do some things until I was grown.  I sure didn’t expect to do it all, myself, but I was very happy to discover that some of my sisters could. Someday, there will be a “Mrs. President.”)

More to come. . .

*Cargo Cult: a reference to a – probably fictional – story about a primitive tribe that lived on a Pacific island that US forces chose for a temporary airbase. After the War was over, the GI’s left, and the planes and air drops containing riches stopped coming. The locals made faux radios, headphones from coconut shells, followed the rituals that they’d seen the tower crew act out in an attempt to get the gods to send more treasures from the sky.

WingRight

Today’s newspaper is out. I’m still getting the bugs out. If you find some of the chosen articles are inappropriate, please let me know. WingRight.

First Amendment: excuse for lawsuits or freedom?

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The Texas Tribune, that NPR/University of Texas online news organization that accepted $150,000 from George Soro’s “Open Society,” (whose url is “soros.org”), reports that atheists backed by an organization from Wisconsin, have filed suit to stop Governor Rick Perry’s participation in the prayer gathering in Houston next month. They claim that the 1st Amendment prohibits State Governors from public religious expression. It doesn’t seem odd to to them that the same Government should defend their right to not be religious while forcing others to refrain.
Forget for a moment that the Constitution is talking about the Federal Congress and not a State Legislature or Governor – look at the rest of the Amendment.

“… shall make no law” – no law for and no law against
“. . . the free exercise thereof . . . “
“ . . . abridging the freedom of speech . . .”
“. . . right of the people peaceably to assemble . . .”

The comments on TT  concerning the lawsuit are the typical Austin liberal screed, with an added anti-religious hatefulness and the obligatory hair comments thrown in. Knowing the type of readers who comment on these pages, I’m still surprised at the prejudice and lack of knowledge displayed. So, here’s my answer to their questions and doubts:

Yes, Christians do believe that the Lord chooses our Governors and other leaders. And, yes, Christians do have a need and “Commission” to testify about our faith and blessings. And many of us do not believe that we can abdicate our own private duty to Christ to care for the sick, poor or children to government, which hasn’t proven a good steward. And, no, you don’t have the right to be free from knowledge and tolerance of our free exercise of religion, speech, and assembly.

God bless their little hearts.

Addicted to spending, power, or nicotine?

I’ve noticed that addicts find some excuse to leave early or get “agitated” easily toward the end of a long meeting. May the Present President just needed a cigarette?

From CNN, a quote from Congressman Cantor: about the July 13th meeting with President Obama:

“That’s when he got very agitated and said I’ve sat here long enough — that no other president — Ronald Reagan — would sit here like this — and that he’s reached the point that something’s gotta give,” Cantor said, adding that Obama called for Republicans to compromise on either their insistence that a debt-ceiling hike must be matched dollar-for-dollar by spending cuts or on their opposition to any kind of tax increase.
“And he said to me, ‘Eric, don’t call my bluff.’ He said ‘I’m going to the American people with this,'” Cantor quoted Obama as saying.
“I was somewhat taken aback,” Cantor said. When he continued to press the issue, Cantor said, Obama “shoved back from the table, said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ and walked out.”

Comal River Cam – nbtx.net

Comal River Cam – nbtx.net.

What’s going on at the Comal River, today?