This is what they call “Winning”

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Phil Kadath

Happy poll numbers time!

Americans have long been skeptical of the federal government and suspicious of elected representatives as a whole. Roughly eight-in-ten (81%) say elected officials in Washington lose touch with the people pretty quickly, and 62% say “most elected officials don’t care what people like me think.” Just 41% of Americans now say the government is really run for the benefit of all the people. This is down from 49% three years ago, and matches previous lows in the early 1990s.

Concerns about the government’s scope and reach have also resurged. The number saying “the federal government controls too much of our daily lives” fell to 55% in 2009, only to rise again to 62% in the latest poll.

Overall assessments of the government’s performance remain quite negative. On the core question of whether the government is usually wasteful and inefficient, 59% now agree, little different than the 57% who said this in 2009. This is still less critical than views people expressed in the late 1980s and through most of the 1990s. In 1992, 70% said the government was usually inefficient and wasteful.

Public support for a government social safety net has continued to steadily wane. While a majority of Americans has consistently agreed that it is the responsibility of government to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves, this has slipped to 59% from 63% in 2009 and 69% in 2007.

……

Support for a government social safety net declined in 2009 and has continued to decrease since then.  Support for government programs to aid the poor now nears the 25-year lows seen in 1994. Today, just 43% agree that the government should help more needy people, even if it means going deeper in debt, down from 48% in 2009 and 54% in 2007.

Similarly, although a majority (59%) says that it falls to the government to take care of those who cannot care for themselves, this is down 10 points from 2007.

Since 2007, Republican support for the safety net has declined significantly even as Democrats continue to support government assistance to the poor and needy as they have over the last 25 years. As a result, although the safety net has long been one of the areas where the opinions of Republicans and Democrats most diverge, the current party gap is now larger than ever.

Majorities of Republicans now say they disagree that the government should guarantee every citizen enough to eat and a place to sleep (36% agree, 63% disagree) and take care of people who can’t take care of themselves (40% agree, 54% disagree). As recently as 2009, Republican opinions on these questions were more evenly divided.

Tis a pity The Stupid Party stand a very good chance of getting enough power to do exactly the wrong thing.

Posted in The Government is Not Your Friend | 9 Comments

Guess who’s not an engineer

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Phil Kadath

Well, me actually. The math, it is horrible.

However, I do have enough common sense to know that this is an incredibly ignorant analogy:

Oil does a lot of good things. It creates seals around engine parts, making your car more fuel efficient and powerful. It seals out air and prevents rust, and it also carries heat away from the engine. Anyone who doesn’t change the oil regularly and keep the proper level of oil is asking for a blown engine.

And that’s what Paul Krugman’s been talking about for four years now. The Bush administration, followed by the Obama administration, didn’t use enough stimulus oil and the engine of the economy has slowed to a crawl. (Hey pal, don’t you see that flashing red IDIOT LIGHT?)

What Susie Madrak of the hyper-leftist Crooks and Liars Blog doesn’t quite understand is that, to continue her analogy, Krugman and his minions are promoting the idea of filling the engine up with oil to the top of the oil filler neck.

It doesn’t take someone with a mechanical engineering degree to know what would happen if you were to do that.

But I guess that Susie isn’t even smart enough to figure that out.

Posted in Dare To Be Stupid, The Left is Never Right, Too Stupid to Live | 6 Comments

The ends justified the means

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Scott

Police Stop, Handcuff Every Adult at Intersection in Search for Bank Robber

Held for almost 2 hours and handcuffed. A couple of gems from the article:

“We didn’t have a description, didn’t know race or gender or anything, so a split-second decision was made to stop all the cars at that intersection, and search for the armed robber,” Aurora police Officer Frank Fania told ABC News.

and

The actions of the police have been met with some criticism, but Fania said this was a unique situation that required an unusual response.

“It’s hard to say what normal is in a situation like this when you haven’t dealt with a situation like this,” Fania said. “The result of the whole ordeal is that it paid off. We have arrested and charged a suspect.”

Um…4th Amendment?

Posted in The Government is Not Your Friend | 5 Comments

Tilt-Shift Photography

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Alaska

Via Roberta X. I have been wondering what mechanism they were using for the opening scenes of London in Sherlock.

Now I know.

As a miniature-diorama enthusiast since I was very small, this, for me, is more delightful than reality.

Posted in Kewel! | 2 Comments

Brain Feed

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Alaska

I pretty much live to read. I get twitchy if I sit down to a meal and don’t have a book handy. Cereal boxes kept me sane at childhood breakfasts. My mom taught me to read at 3.* At five they had to hide the newspapers from me so I wouldn’t get freaked out by headlines. (’70s, you know).

I read a lot. I never learned that speed-reading stuff; I just got fast by sheer repetition, I think. In sixth grade in the school library, my buddy across from me gasped. I looked up. “Your EYES!” he said. Apparently they move back and forth freakishly quickly when I’m reading. Didn’t know that until then.

So I found this test kind of interesting (In several tries, I consistently scored between 975 and 1000, btw):

ereader test
Source: Staples eReader Department

My Dad has developed Lewy body with Parkinsonian symptoms — a particularly nasty disease similar to Alzheimers; you might have seen Kelsey Grammer’s character with it on the excellent series Boss — and so like lots of folks with the potential for degenerative brain disease, I’m starting to intentionally amp up my brain activity in the perhaps forlorn hope of staving it off. Exercising the muscles before they atrophy, so to speak. Over the last year I’ve been so focused on the mechanics of storing my library I haven’t taken time to read as much as I used to. Dad’s 73; his mom started having similar symptoms at about the same age. I figure I’ve got 30 years left before I may start losing it myself.**

So after a very sobering visit to Dad Saturday, I made myself take a five-hour bath Sunday and did nothing but read the second book and half of the third in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. Good stuff.

*Incidentally, Mom KNOWS HOW IT’S DONE. She babysat my five-year-old nephew for a weekend and when my brother and his wife got home, she’d taught him to read. Like, not reading on Friday, reading on Sunday.

**This depressing calculation also puts my library in a very different light. I’ve been collecting books for nearly forty years, each one a book I intended to read before I die. That timetable has been truncated now. I enjoy rereading books too, so it’s not so easy as setting a target of X new books per week; I have to include time for revisiting old friends as well before I lose the ability to read a book all the way through, as Dad has.

In a sense, I’m mapping out what may be the rest of my mentally active life. There’s a satisfaction to this, in that I’ve started early enough to accomplish what I want to; but it’s not fun.

Posted in Armageddon, Color me confused, Kewel! | 3 Comments

People keep asking me if I’m getting any sleep.

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Oscar Gordon

What is this ‘sleep’ thing?

On a lighter note, today is my first day back in the office. I actually started work last week, but from home, which was a nice way to transition back to work. Even this week, I work from home Tuesday & Thursday. The spousal unit says all is well on the home front (so far).

I did get to see The Avengers yesterday afternoon. Most excellent, even if you aren’t a fan of comic books, it’s a good action movie with excellent dialog, and to be honest, The Hulk steals the movie quite a few times (like when Loki faces Hulk & rants about how the Hulk is beneath him, & he is a GOD! Hulk proceeds to grab Loki by the leg & uses him to play a few round of Whack-A-Mole against some imaginary moles; then, as Loki lays stunned in a 6″ deep Loki-shaped concrete hole, Hulk stomps off muttering “puny god”).

LMFAO!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

We Are Family

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Phil Kadath

As an update to last week’s post about family life here at the RNS Blogstation: Tacoma, The Wife and I decided not to cancel our appointment with the rescue agency. As much as it hurt to think we were getting a new dog “too soon” after Ellie and Mrs. Buttersworth’s passings, it hurt more that Gigi’s was unhappy being alone and that we had a spot in our lives and home available but were not giving to a needy dog.

So, without further ado, I’d like you all to meet Buster.

(click to enlarge, of course)

Buster is a 5-6 year old German Shorthaired Pointer/American Bulldog mix. Buster is mild mannered and has a moderate energy level. He had run out of time at a kill-shelter in the People’s Republic of California and was rescued and brought up here in September of last year. He has been at Puget Sound Rescue since then. Apparently, yes, Washington State has fewer dogs per family waiting for rescue than the PRC, so they pull them from there and bring them up here for adoptions.

When The Wife and I first arrived at the rescue, Buster was out playing in what is a former corral with his brother, Chance, and a couple other dogs. The owner of the rescue came up to meet us, the introductions were made and we mentioned that we had seen Buster’s profile and wanted to meet with him first. She grabbed a leash, went into the corral, got Buster hooked up and and walked him over.

Wifie had Gigi on a leash and the two met noses, then as Buster extended his neck around her for the “butt-sniff protocol”, Gigi stepped along his right side, put her front paws on his flank and “got her greet on”. Her maneuver didn’t phase him a bit and after those particulars were done, his next step to walk over to me and sit down.

I got my introduction out of the way without incident and had Wifie walked over and gave him the same. We then walked over to a smaller, empty corral and let Gigi off the leash. Nothing happened. Buster was totally focused on The Wife and myself, even when Gigi walked between us and him. He was even quite mindful of where she was when she was in close proximity so that he wouldn’t accidentally step on her.

We did the “snack test” to see if he had any food possession issues, and a leash test to see if he pulled when another dog was leading. He passed both of them with flying colors. All this time we were asking the owner of the rescue his history (medical, vaccinations, etc.) and once we had checked all the boxes, we told her we’d be happy to adopt him. We handed over the cash and got all of his paperwork and a couple gallon bags of transition food.

Buster is somewhat of a big boy, weighing in at 90lbs or so. Thankfully, he is not a puller, because he is strong as an ox and fast as any other dog I’ve ever seen. Together we have already figured out a system for him to let us know when he needs to go outside to take care of the business.

He is not a fan of stairs or hard indoor surfaces (tile, hardwoods, laminates, linoleum, etc.), but he’s already learning to overcome those. He was out in the back yard yesterday afternoon and saw one of the resident rabbits and pointed. It wasn’t a textbook point, but you could easily tell what he was doing. Someone has giving him a little bit of work training, which was great to see.

Buster’s last name is now Bluth, after the Arrested Development character. For those acquainted with the series, I promise to keep him away from Dolphins. The names rejected were as follows: Brown, Poindexter and Hymen. The Wife refused the last one because she’s usually the one who goes to the vet.

Thank you to all who stopped by last week for your condolences. We’re sure Buster Bluth will be filling our household with good cheer for a good long time. If you’re in the Puget Sound area and are looking for a dog-friend, I would highly recommend the folks at Puget Sound Rescue. If you’re not local, I would recommend the PetFinder website as the easiest way to find a local shelter where you might find your new friend.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | 9 Comments

Handy

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Phil Kadath

Print it out and fold it in half. Should be wallet-sized.

Posted in Kewel! | Leave a comment

China Daily update

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Alaska

So the free China Daily newspapers that started appearing on my driveway last week ( and my neighbors’) have stopped, just as abruptly.

I suspect folks complained, especially when they read this article (not an editorial, mind you) on Page 2, two days after Memorial Day:


If our purported Chinese overlords want to affect hearts and minds here, they need to fire their marketing department.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

No Postage Required

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Phil Kadath

Howdy, and welcome to the June 2012 Postal Match.

I was up last year for June and said “What the hey!” to doing it again during this rotation around the sun as well.

I’m bringing back an old favorite: We’re gonna shoot some pool.

Last time we had the balls all racked up and ready to go, but this time we’re gonna spread ’em across the table, so to speak.

You can download the target here (#20004).

The rules are the same:

You can pick either the even numbered or odd numbered balls, but once you choose, those are the only ones you may shoot. If you can’t see the numbers from the standard distance (7 meters or 25ft, whichever your range allows) keep one with you at your bench/stall and match them up.

You need to put one shot per ball on as many targets in your chosen number class as you can consecutively hit until missing. If lady luck chooses your number class for you, you need to stick with those for the rest of the target.

The winners will be declared by counting the most consecutive correct balls hit. Ties will be broken by counting who has the most hits within the ring containing the number.

Classes are as follows:

CLASS ONE: Any rimfire handgun with no more than a 12″ barrel, iron sights.

CLASS TWO: Any rimfire handgun with no more than a 12″ barrel, optic sights, no magnification.

CLASS THREE: Any centerfire (non-revolver) handgun with no more than a 12″ barrel, iron sights.

CLASS FOUR: Any centerfire (non-revolver) handgun with no more than a 12″ barrel, optic sights, no magnification.

CLASS FIVE: Any revolver with no more than a 12″ barrel, iron sights.

CLASS SIX: Any revolver with no more than a 12″ barrel, optic sights, no magnification.

CLASS SEVEN: Any handgun with no more than a 14″ barrel, any sights, scopes, laser, whatever. This class is primarily for target pistols.

DISTANCE: 25 feet, or Ten yards, which ever is available at your range.

SHOOTING POSITION: Standing, un-supported, off-hand, one or two hands on gun permitted.

As Mr. C says “If you have something interesting to shoot that doesn’t quite fit in the above classes, go ahead and enter anyway.”

Though there is not an actual official “rifle/carbine” class, I’d like to mention here that I shoot this target at 25 yards with my holosighted 10-22 and my Marlin bolt action 22 with it’s factory irons, both with my elbow resting on the bench. I have also shot this target at both 100 and 200 yards with both my .22-250 and my 308 from a bench rest.

If you’ve “got the balls” to try it take a picture of it and send it my way, I will quite happily post the results.

We’re working on the honor system here. Fame and glory are the prizes.

Please have your scores to my email box by Saturday, July 7th and I’ll have scores posted up by Monday, July 10th (email address is just below the header). Any technical questions can be sent there as well.

Good shooting!

Posted in Postal Matches | 2 Comments