Current Reads

What I’m reading today:

Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin

So far, it’s really good. I’m a couple of chapters into it, and so far Mr. Levin has explained quite a lot about the history of the battle between conservatism and statism. It sheds some light on Obama’s intentions, since he is clearly a statist. I think I’m going to be happy with this, but I’m not through yet.

David Falkayn; Star Trader by Poul Anderson

This is actually a series of novelettes and short stories written by the inimitable Poul Anderson from the ’50’s through the 70’s. I read every one of these in my earlier years, and it was with great joy that I saw that they’ve been re-published in this collection. This book is one of four which are encompassing Anderson’s work. If you read Heinlein’s work, you will almost certainly enjoy this. One thing I have noticed is that my own attitudes have changed since I originally read some of these. The gender-based stereotypes paint the women mostly as damsels in distress, which is far different than today’s writing. So when you read it, bear in mind it was written when these attitudes were different. Recommended.

-Popgun

Kudos to Lucia Whalen

My respect to Lucia Whalen, who did what any good neighbor should do: call the police when you see someone breaking into a neighbor’s home.

Shame, shame on those who have treated her badly for this act of good will. They have shown the world what kind of people they are.

The next time somebody breaks into Gates’ house, it’s a fairly safe bet that nobody will call the police.

In fact, this whole incident pretty much demonstrates just how much trouble you can get into while trying to help someone. Probably there are a lot of people who will think twice before calling the police in a similar situation in the future.

-Popgun

Finite Resources

It is self-evident that the Earth has finite resources. So do nations, and so do individuals.

For instance, if I consistently spend more money than I make, then the people who don’t get paid are going to come to me wanting their money. And so, until I pay the debt, I will have to actually live on far less than I make, so that I will have a surplus with which to pay the debt.

The same is true of nations. Obama and the progressive democrats are doing exactly that – consistently spending at a far, far greater rate than we the people can produce – a truly unprecedented, an astounding rate. They can only do this for a few years, before the bill comes due. It is tragic that the majority of our citizens apparently have not realized and understood what Obama is doing. The money Obama is squandering is our money.

I see only two alternatives.

If law prevails, when that bill comes due, we the people will have to live, probably for generations, with a much lower standard of living than we could have achieved otherwise, in order for our generated wealth to pay the debt that Obama is building up.

The other alternative is that there will be some sort of general collapse of governments everywhere, and world war, because of the U.S. defaulting on the loans. In that case, the debt will be cancelled because the creditors will be dead, or we will be.

It’s got to be one or the other.

I suspect that one day, some years from now, Obama will be the most hated man on the planet.

-Popgun

Orange

“Is the color orange that you see the same as the color orange I see?”

This is a deeper question than you might think. I mean, here we are, both looking at the same orange object. My brain interprets what my eyes send it, and yours does the same. We both agree the object is orange.

But is what you experience the same as what I experience, as we both view this object?

Maybe what I experience is what you would think of as a different color – but since we both agree it is orange, that’s what we call it – because we’ve been taught that this particular color is orange.

Frankly, there’s no way to know. Humans are forever separated by this divide – that one person cannot directly experience what another experiences.

Oddly enough, I do have empirical evidence that what you see is, indeed, probably not what I see, even though we agree it is orange.

When I had my lens replacements due to cataract surgery, the surgery on my left eye was done the month before the surgery on my right eye. During that month, I could look at any object, and depending on which eye I had open, I would see it in different colors. For years I had thought I worked in an office with dingy yellow walls; turns out they are a nice off-white color. I think.

There’s a lesson here somewhere. We need to remember that two people can be side-by-side, go through the same experience together, and still have different experiences.

Something to think about.

-Popgun

Bad Strategy Selling the Health Plan

Obama and his liberal-progressive cronies are pushing a health-care plan that will ration health care, progressively more as you age.

It is a poor strategy, trying to sell something like that, when the baby-boomers (of which I am one) are aging, pushing the average age of an American higher every year.

The largest voting block in the country are those who will be hurt the worst by this bill. Medically as well as financially.

I urge you to go to votesmart.org, find out who your representatives and senators are, and urge them to vote against any government run medical plan, period. I emailed both of my senators, and the process only takes a minute or two.

Remember, you are going to get old someday…

-Popgun

Bloomberg Lies Again

Regarding the Thune amendment, rabid anti-gun Mayor Bloomberg said:

“It would make it a lot easier for illegal gun traffickers to walk the streets of any city with multiple hand guns and that’s particularly problematic,”

Hey, Mayor Bloomberg – illegal gun traffickers do that anyway! That’s why I want my gun!

Idiot. What makes him think a law is going to stop a law-breaker?

He said elsewhere, with feigned horror in his voice, that concealed carry laws allow people to carry guns into (gasp) movie theaters, and (gasp) restaurants. Let me explain, Mayor Bloomberg – two kinds of people carry guns into those places: law abiding licensed citizens, and crooks. The crooks don’t care if you pass a law against it – they’ll be there anyway.

Many law abiding citizens want protection from the crooks. The cops are always a few minutes away, and though they do their best, I don’t have one in my pocket. I do, however, have my gun on me.

Texas Grandma and I went to see the movie G-Force the other night – I had my gun, and nobody got shot. But we would have had a means of defense if we’d been jumped in the parking lot. It’s a rough town, and there wasn’t a cop in sight.

Sunday, we went to church – followed by lunch at a restaurant. And again, nobody got shot. Texas Grandma went to the local mall Sunday evening, and took her gun. Nobody got shot.

We’ve been doing these things for years… nobody has been shot.

If you meet someone with a concealed handgun license, you can rest assured of one thing. That person has never had a history of trouble with the law. Felons cannot get a concealed handgun license!

The last time I had reason to talk with a police officer (a traffic stop), when he learned that I had a CHL – he relaxed and became friendly... because he knew he was safe with me. In Texas, a CHL holder is seven times less likely to be involved in any crime compared to the average citizen.

Those of you who don’t do guns, and those who live where it is unusual – be aware that regardless of the lies of Bloomberg and his ilk, those who legally carry concealed are the good guys. We’ve been screened by the police, we have clean records, we have had training in gun safety and the relevant laws.

-Popgun

Recursiveness in Blogging…

Here’s a picture of my blogging…

Recursive!

-Popgun

Synchronizing the iPhone

I just synchronized my iPhone 3G, 16 GB model, with my MacBook Pro. I was noticing all the empty space on the iPhone – like 13.24 GB free; so I decided on a whim to put all my photos on it. I turns out that I have 12,482 pictures. And I still have 5.48 GB left on the phone.

I figure probably 80% of them are my grandkids… what can I say?

Fish Tank

I just added water to the fish tank in my office. I think I heard one of the fish cosmologists talking to another fish about how the universe is clearly expanding, at the speed of current.

-Popgun

All Together Now — NO!

From the Weekly Standard:

The reasons for the public revolt are easy to see. The Democrats want to spend $1.5 trillion over a decade, impose an $800 billion tax increase in the midst of the worst recession in a generation, increase federal borrowing by $239 billion (on top of the $11 trillion the Obama budget already requires us to borrow through 2019), impose costly mandates on employers that will discourage hiring as unemployment nears 10 percent, force individuals to buy one-size-fits-all government defined insurance, and insert the government in countless new ways between doctors and patients. All of that would occur whether or not the plan includes a “public option,” which at this point it does include and which will exacerbate all of these problems.

Read the rest of the article here. It is well worth reading.

Tell your congress critter NO!

The progressive / left / Democrats are not trying to slip this by for our benefit.

-Popgun