Alison!

We were listening to the stereo this afternoon, and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "What's Your Name" came around on the iPod. It sounded like this at our house:

Skynyrd: "What's your name, little girl, what's your name?"

Alison: "ALISON!"

Lest I keep my complacent way I must remember somewhere out there a person died for me today. As long as there must be war, I ask and I must answer: "Was I Worth Dying For?”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Headlines: 16 March

ZAO, Japan – Helicopters are dumping water on a stricken reactor in northeastern Japan to cool overheated fuel rods inside the core. [...]
Japanese officials struggling to avoid full meltdowns have raised hopes of easing the crisis, saying they may be close to bringing power back to the plant and restoring the cooling systems.

AJDABIYA, Libya – Libyan rebels battled to hold a strategic eastern city against a punishing offensive by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday, voicing anger and frustration at the West for not coming to their aid. At the same time, government troops heavily shelled the last main rebel bastion near the capital.

SAN FRANCISCO – More radiation monitors are being deployed in the western United States and Pacific territories, as officials seek to mollify public concern over exposure from damaged nuclear plants in Japan, federal environmental regulators said.

WASHINGTON – Producer prices surged in February at their fastest pace in 1-1/2 years, data showed on Wednesday, a day after the Federal Reserve said it had a watchful eye on inflation pressures it expects to subside.
In another reminder on Wednesday of headwinds facing the economy, the government said groundbreaking for new homes posted the biggest drop in 27 years in February and permits for future building reached a record low.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama still believes in Kansas.
For the third straight year, Obama has filled out an NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN. He says Duke, Kansas, Ohio State and Pittsburgh will make the men's Final Four, with the Jayhawks beating the Buckeyes in the national championship game.
His pick to win it all was revealed Wednesday on SportsCenter.

That's some serious leadership, there. How can the President of United States have no opinion on anything beyond NCAA basketball? What a poseur.

You almost have to stand back in wonder at the hubris of National Public Radio.

We have built an extraordinary franchise. It didn't happen by accident. It happened because we used a very specific methodology to cultivate and build an audience. For years, in boardrooms, at conferences, with funders, we have talked about our highly educated, influential audience. We pursued David Giovannoni's methodologies. We all participated. It was his research, his undaunted, clear strategy that we pursued to build the successful news journalism franchise we have today.

What happened as a result is that we unwittingly cultivated a core audience that is predominately white, liberal, highly educated, elite. "Super-serve the core" — that was the mantra, for many, many years. This focus has, in large part, brought us to our success today. It was never anyone's intention to exclude anyone.

But we have to accept — unapologetically — that this is the franchise we've built.

Oh, aren't we NPR people rich? Aren't we precious? Yeah, it was never your intention to exclude anyone, but it has always been clear who you target. Now, can the rest of us stop subsidizing your self-admitted white, liberal, elite network? Hmm?

I really get a kick out of the lead paragraph in this Associated Press story:

The Wisconsin Senate succeeded in voting Wednesday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, after Republicans discovered a way to bypass the chamber's missing Democrats and approve an explosive proposal that has rocked the state and unions nationwide.

This is journalism? Let's dissect this paragraph.

voting Wednesday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights...

NEARLY all?? Which so called rights have been stripped? Which remain? As far as I can tell from a one sentence blurb 15 paragraphs down, "nearly" is an acknowledgement that police and fire personnel are not affected. So we are back to the petulant teachers.

after Republicans discovered...

Oh, those wily Republicans! Forever discovering mysterious ways to hold votes and pass legislation when elected to the majority. In spite of Democrat obstruction.

discovered a way to bypass...

Bypass! Holy crap, I never thought of that. In "discovering" a way to vote, the Republican majority has somehow "bypassed" the Democrats, who are helplessly standing on the side lines trying to help! Or are they? Wait, no, they are in Illinois playing keep-away.

And now my favorite part:

bypass the chamber's missing Democrats...

Missing Democrats? MISSING Democrats? They are MISSING because they QUIT! They are GONE because they LEFT! They are UNAVAILABLE because they are UNACCOUNTABLE FREAKING CHILDREN! They are decidedly not "missing."

Hat Tip: Althouse.

Executive Summary: The Western World has quietly become a civilization that undervalues men and overvalues women, where the state forcibly transfers resources from men to women creating various perverse incentives for otherwise good women to conduct great evil against men and children, and where male nature is vilified but female nature is celebrated. This is unfair to both genders, and is a recipe for a rapid civilizational decline and displacement, the costs of which will ultimately be borne by a subsequent generation of innocent women, rather than men, as soon as 2020.

The entire lengthy and controversial essay is here.

This post contained a reference to "the detritus of the left." Now, we have a cost for all this nonsense in Wisconsin:

It could cost as much as $7.5 million to repair damage protesters have done to the Capitol Building marble say officials in Madison. Fixing posters to the marble with tape and glue appears to have done the bulk of the damage.

During testimony Thursday, a representative from the Attorney General's office said a contractor estimated it would cost $500,000 to remove all of the posters and garbage. He says it would cost $6 million to restore the marble inside of the Capitol building and another $1 million to touch up the marble outside of the building.

Officials with the Department of Administration say the marble must be restored immediately. They say normally, tape isn't used on the walls of the Capitol by rule because of the historic nature of the building. Easels are normally used for signs.

Maybe the teacher's union could pay the cleanup.

Outdated Technology

Harsh Reality today...

I came to the harsh realization today that my trusty HP RPN calculator is older than people i work with-

Born on date on calculator 1987.

That means

2011
ENTER
1987
-
24

Yup, definitely well built technology from Palo Alto...

Jay Tea at Wizbang! takes down Ted Kennedy:

By my reckoning, today marks the 578th day of Ted Kennedy's sobriety, and while it isn't a nice, round number, there is some news that merits giving "the lion of the Senate" a fresh kicking. Normally, I don't care for kicking dead horses, but when the "horse" in question is one who lived as heinous a life and caused as much harm as Teddy, then I'll break out the good boots.

And break out the good boots he does - check it out.

Here's an interesting observation from Jay Nordlinger:

Here is a messy subject: the sheer, physical dirtiness of the Left. The detritus of the Left. I grew up with it, in Ann Arbor: the placards, the sleeping bags, the leaflets, the graffiti, the tent cities, the associated garbage. We see the same thing in lovely Madison now. These people expect other people to clean up after them: the “working people” they claim to love and represent.

Some people snickered at the “tea partiers,” who were proud of leaving their rallying sites cleaner than they found them. Well, they should have been proud, those tea partiers.