Congress - So Tech Savvy

SENATE WARNS EMPLOYEES TO AVOID THE DRUDGE REPORT
Just as the healthcare drama in the capitol reaches a grand finale, congressional officials are warning employees to avoid the DRUDGE REPORT!

The Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works issued an urgent email late Monday claiming the DRUDGE REPORT is 'responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate.'

The committee ordered hill staff: 'Try to avoid' the DRUDGE REPORT 'for now'.

Comments: How stupid are these people? Drudge Report spreading virus? Can we get someone else to run that place?

And These Are The "Smart" Ones?

FOXNews.com - Sean Penn Wants Reporters Jailed for Calling Chavez 'Dictator'"Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it" said Penn, winner of two Best Actor Academy Awards. "And this is mainstream media, who should -- truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies."

Comments: Yep, that Chavez is quite a guy. I can see why Mr Penn has been taken in. Only the more perceptive of us can see through Mr. Chavez'. That must be it. Although there are some of the mainstream media I may like to see jailed, it feels slightly unconstitutional. Perhaps that will be part of our evolving constitution.

Full Steam Dirty Tricks (or why do the wicked prosper)

Massa Implicates Emanuel, Dem Leaders - Hotline On Call
Embattled Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) lashed out in an emotional radio appearance Sunday, accusing Dem leaders of what he suggested was an orchestrated campaign to force his resignation.

"There's a reason that this has all happened, frankly one that I had not realized," Massa said on WKPQ radio on Sunday. "Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill, and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me and it'll pass."
Comments: Is it true? Who knows? Is it plausible? Definitely.

Global Warming Discussion - Informative

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
This conversation seems to go nowhere for too long but does become interesting and informative. A fourth installment is forthcoming.

Some conclusions after listening:
There has been some warming (.7/.8 degree C) in the last century.
The confusion in interpreting climate data and modeling is impressive.
Sweeping conclusions are questionable at best.
Draconian economic/life style alterations are unsupportable.
CO2 effects are probably over stated.
Carbon Soot (China, India, et al) has effect on Arctic.
Land cover changes are contributors to GW.
Methane emissions from cows is 3/5 percent of total? Cows seem safe.
Solar min/max has complicated effects on GW beyond visible light.
Hugh Ross is a true believer in anthropogenic (man caused) global warming.
We may be entering a slight temperature decrease period.
Man has "some" effect on GW but significance is questionable.

Straw man: Local cold/warm periods do not disprove global anything.
Certainly we know this and criticizing the "local" position only serves
to artificially elevate one's own superior "understanding" of issues.

Progressively Level Playing Field.

Guns, teachers, and self-defense - The Boston Globe

I AM a math teacher at Brockton High School, the site of a school shooting earlier this month.

Current school security procedures lock down school populations in the event of armed assault. Some advocate abandoning this practice as it holds everyone in place, allowing a shooter easily to find victims.

An alternative to lockdown is immediate exodus via announcement. Although this removes potential hostages and makes it nearly impossible for the shooter to acquire preselected targets, it unfairly rewards resourceful children who move to safety off-site more shrewdly and efficiently than others.

Schools should level playing fields, not intrinsically reward those more resourceful. A level barrel is fair to all fish.

Some propose overturning laws that made schools gun-free zones even for teachers who may be licensed to securely carry concealed firearms elsewhere. They argue that barring licensed-carry only ensures a defenseless, target-rich environment.

But as a progressive, I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime.

DOUG VAN GORDER

Comments: "it unfairly rewards resourceful children who move to safety off-site more shrewdly and efficiently than others" One must stand amazed at progressive thought patterns. I do love the "A level barrel is fair to all fish" for the pun on shooting fish in a barrel in this context.

Books Should Be Free Dot Com

Free Audio Book - Anthem by Ayn Rand

It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven! But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime, and for this crime there is no name. What punishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for no such crime has come in the memory of men and there are no laws to provide for it. It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. Nothing moves

Comments: Here is a source of free audio books. Try a little Ayn Rand and brush up on your existentialism.

Emergent Church or Submerging Christianity

VFTB 037: Chris Rosebrough — Emergent Church Heresy | P.I.D. Radio

A NEW kind of Christianity is being sold to our kids, one that questions everything down to the historic foundations of the faith. In fact, it goes so far as to throw out the authority of scripture, the whole sin and salvation message, and the very divinity of Christ.

Comments: Better than average discussion on Emergent Church. Check out http://www.piratechristianradio.com/
and also
http://www.whitehorseinn.org/

Here is a little "Purpose Driven/Seeker Driven" talk.