J. Neil Schulman Has a Point

J. Neil Shulman has a point.

Why hasn’t Hasan been charged with treason?

Why has the policy (instigated by Clinton) that denies the troops the right to carry their firearms when on base been repealed?

These are two major issues that need to be addressed.

-Popgun

Sayings of Popgun

I’m not afraid of dying; I’m afraid of nearly dying.

-Popgun

Fuzzy Thinking

I was just reading an article on the local TV station’s website about a program to collect fingerprints and DNA samples of children. The article says it will “keep them safe“. One parent is quoted as saying that “if something happened to my child, they can find her” and it “makes me feel safe“.

Don’t get me wrong; this is an excellent idea, to have fingerprints and DNA samples of your children. It really is a good tool.

But it won’t “protect” your child. And it won’t “keep them safe”. And it won’t help them “find her”.

What it will do is help the authorities identify who they have already found. This is a good thing. But it will not protect your child in any way whatever.

That job is still yours, as a parent.

-Popgun

Who Started This Mortgage Crisis???

Hey, everybody, take a look at this article by Lawdog.

Way back in 1999, September 30 issue of New York Times – an article about Fannie Mae. Quote:

“Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people …”.

and,

“In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.”

and,

“If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.“

In short, they knew when they started this mess that it might result in what we see today. And it was started by the Clinton Administration, and Republican efforts to contain it were blocked by the Democrats at least twice.

And yet Obama tries to blame this on President Bush’s policies. That dog won’t hunt.

VERY interesting article. It’s worth reading the whole article, so please go see Lawdog. He copied the whole article, to protect it from that internet evaporation problem that sometimes happens with controversial facts.

-Popgun

Math

The terminal velocity of somebody falling out of a plane at 30,000 feet is around 120 mph depending on how they orient themselves. Wind drag is the reason; in a vacuum, the subject would just keep getting faster until impact.

88 feet per second = 60 miles per hour. So 120 mph = 176 feet per second.

A round fired out of my .45 XD leaves the barrel at about 860 feet per second.

So somebody falling out of a plane is going slightly faster than 20% as fast as a bullet, at impact.

This has absolutely no significance, unless you just fell out of an airplane without a parachute.

-Popgun

Book of the Moment

I just finished reading “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young.

This book is really interesting for several reasons. It’s a fictional account of one man’s encounter with God. It is multi-leveled:

1. It’s entertaining and interesting.
2. It can teach those who don’t know about man’s relationship with God. This is actually the primary message of the book. It touches on many aspects of this, and helps show you how God loves us without reservation, while at the same time our grasp of God is limited by all the distraction and pain in our lives.
3. It clarifies many misconceptions. For instance, why Eve was made from a rib of Adam, and what Jesus probably looks like (in the flesh). It clarifies (somewhat) the mystery of the Trinity and the relationships between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, who are one God.
4. It debunks quite a few stereotypes, in a fun way. For instance, other than tradition, is there any particular reason to think that God is a man? After all, both man and woman derive their natures from God.
5. It clearly explains why bad things happen in God’s universe.
6. It demonstrates how forgiveness, a servant’s heart, and the love of God can overcome adversity and pain.

This book just might change your life. It’s that good. Seriously, I urge you to read it. You won’t be sorry.

-Popgun

They Passed The Rescue Package

$700,000,000,000 is about $2,400 for every man, woman and child in the United States. Our illustrious government passed this bill, in a blinding hurry. Nobody knows if it will do what it is supposed to do. I guess we’ll find out.

The speed with which this congress passed this legislation takes my breath away.

It reminds me of last week when I was riding down the road on my Suzuki and a bee flew up my shirt sleeve, stinging me on my upper left arm near my armpit. There was lots of shouting (some cussing), fumbling about, swatting, and trying not to crash. At such times, one must keep one’s focus.

Once the throbbing stopped, it wasn’t so bad. But it itched for days. I think this bailout is going to be like that.

We’re stuck with it now. After this, if the economy collapses anyway, I’m going to begin to get a wee bit annoyed with our illustrious government.

-Popgun

The Vice Presidential Debate

The consensus seems to be that Palin won. That’s what I think, too.

On the John McCain website, there is a list of the things that Biden got wrong, whether intentionally or for whatever reason. And on MichelleMalkin.com this list is expanded upon somewhat.

Palin simply out-debated Biden. He knows a lot of stuff, but she just did a better job.

I’m a happy camper – I think Palin will make an excellent vice-president; yes, there are a lot of things she needs to know in more depth, but she’s already made a good start (obviously) on filling those gaps.

Palin won by being herself, and sticking to her facts and what she knows. Biden, on the other hand, when he didn’t know something, made it up as he went along, or distorted the facts.

People love Palin because when her mouth moves, she doesn’t seem to be lying – like most politicians.

-Popgun

On A Personal Note…

I just want to whine a little bit.

I’m getting pretty doggone tired of the need to parse every single news interview of a candidate and check every single statement to see if the interviewer is putting spin on the situation. I’m truly tired of ‘trick’ questions designed to embarrass a candidate. These sorts of things happen so frequently now that you have to pay attention to see if you’re being yanked around.

I’m getting bloomin’ tired of candidates that distort the truth in any way whatsoever. Both parties are guilty of ads that tell the exact truth – but they tell it in such a way as to spin the situation in their favor.

I’m also getting bloomin’ tired of candidates that tell outright lies – about themselves, or about their competitors.

I’m tired of cover-ups. I’m tired of candidates that obfuscate their past (i.e. Obama’s relationships to Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright, and others). I’m tired of statements by candidates that misrepresent the intent of what the other candidate said. I’m tired of personal attacks on candidates or their family members (of Sarah Palin, for instance), and I’m tired of 3rd grade level name calling by people who propose to run the country (pigs and lipstick, anyone?).

Doggone it, anybody running for President of the United States ought to have some pride and dignity. There ought to be some level below which they will not go; and won’t allow their party to go, either. But instead we get pigs and lipstick.

And I’m freaking tired of news media with an agenda of their own.

Folks, we the people need real, undistorted information in order to make good choices.

When any of you (interviewers or candidates or news media or bloggers) decide to ‘spin’ things or tell outright lies, you are acting against the best interests of this country. Oh, and name calling does not help.

What with all that is going on in (and out of) this country right now, we need the truth more than ever.

I will say that everything I’ve said on this blog is true to the best of my knowledge at the time I write it. However, I will also have to say that I do often rely on statements and articles that are written by others. I do try very hard to filter out the crap, to apply my intellect to separating out the truth. So I can make you this promise: If you read it here, it is the truth as I understand it. I may be wrong, but I’m not spinning it – either way. I will not tell you a lie in order to manipulate your beliefs.

We the people need to stand up and insist on truthfulness. We need to insist on it from our news media. We need to insist on it from candidates. We need to insist on it from political parties. And we need to insist on it from serving politicians.

If they don’t give us the truth, we can vote with our feet – boycott them, or vote against them.

It is sometimes possible to get at the truth. But you do have to dig for it. I fear not enough people will go to the trouble.

-Popgun

Pelosi Playing Games

Speaker of the House, Pelosi (D) was playing a political game in the vote for the bailout bill yesterday.

From “The American Spectator”:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered her Majority Whip, Jim Clyburn, to essentially not do his job in the runup to the vote on Monday for the negotiated Wall Street bailout plan, according to House Democrat leadership aides.

“Clyburn was not whipping the votes you would have expected him to, in part because he was uncomfortable doing it, in part because we didn’t want the push for votes to be successful,” says one leadership aide. “All we needed was enough to potentially get us over the finish line, but we wanted the Republicans to be the ones to do it. This was not going to be a Democrat-passed bill if the Speaker had anything to say about it.”

In other words, the Democratic leadership wanted the bill passed, but they did not want to be seen as the party that passed it, because it was so massively unpopular. It was a setup to trap the Republicans into doing their dirty work for them, but the Republicans balked. The Democrat’s game backfired.

I am really, really tired of the political games these people are playing.

And guess what? In spite of not passing this bill that ‘had to be passed right now’ – the markets dived, but now they’ve rebounded 500 points.

Do we really need this fix at all? What are the options?

This just in – Watch This Video – Who Did It! IMPORTANT!

-Popgun