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November 26 Are You Telling Me the Internet has a Dark Underbelly? Saw this blurb on a story about Google, who in response to complaints, is running ads to explain that yes sometimes you get really nasty search results on the Internet. Talk about a big "No-Duh" moment...
This story focuses on searches using the word Jew or image searches of Michelle Obama....try searching some rather innocent things occasionally and see what results you get, especially image searches.
There is a Dark Underbelly to the Internet...well Duh.
Evil Out November 25 Of Course There is Some Violence Associated with Poltics In contrast to the story yesterday about a man killing himself and framing it as a political killing, here is a story about six people charged in an incident at a August Town Hall meeting. At least two of the six people being charged attacked and beat a man who opposed their opinions on health care reform. They were pro he was against or according to him and his lawyer he was just there to sell flags and make some money. Once again there has been a lot of screaming, hollering, and misstatements about his case, but in the end it looks like justice will be done.
Here is video of the attack, although it is a little difficult to see what happens at the beginning.
Evil Out Assume and You'll Make an Ass Out of You and Me Ya'll remember that census worker who was found hanged with the word FED scrawled on his chest? Remember how the media and liberal groups went crazy calling it evidence of the right wing hatred and anger?A sad turn of events for sure, but it goes to show that things often are not what they seem. As heated as politics can get in this country they don't often lead to violence and death. This story led to some really bad assumptions and words on both sides of the aisle. Sometimes people need to wait for the authorities to actually finish their investigations before jumping to wild conclusions.
Evil Out November 23 The Day the Music Died I'll throw my disclaimer up front. I don't deny that the Earth has climate cycles, both warming and cooling, and that conservation and eco-friendliness are important. However, I have never bought into the arguments that man is the primary driver of "Global Warming" or "Climate Change" as it is now being called. The evidence has been mounting for sometime that natural effects, such as El-Nino, Sunspots, and Volcanic Activity cause more change in the climate than mankind does. In fact, it is now becoming widely accepted and known that the Earth has been cooling for a decade or so and climatologists cannot definitively say why even as carbon emissions increase.
It is now becoming even clearer that much of the global warming hysteria has more to do with politics and manipulation than actual hard data. The recently leaked emails from leading climatologists detailing how they actively manipulated data in order to mislead policymakers and the public is just the latest in a series of missteps. I thought Michael Crichton summed many of the problems with climate modelling perfectly in this speech, Aliens Cause Global Warming, where he takes apart the so-called scientific basis for much of the computer modelled climate change doctrine. Science is based on hard, repeatable facts, not fuzzy formulas and numbers that can mean whatever you want them to mean.
With even the Senate's cap-and-trade bill seeming to die the slow death and investigations being called into these leaked emails, this is a turning point in this debate I believe. Hopefully one where science and scientific methods will win out over politically generated hoopla. A debate where practical solutions to dealing with the Earth and it's changing climate can be discussed openly without the need for massive and costly programs. The thinly veiled attempt to redistribute massive amounts of wealth and power from first world countries to third world countries will be stopped in it's tracks.
Evil Out November 20 How to Buy Healthcare ReformThere is a very interesting article over on ABC.com, you can read it here. It outlines just one example of language in the Senate health care bill that has no other purpose other than to funnel $100 million dollars to one state. A state that just happens to have a Senator, Mary Landrieu, who happens to be one of the 5 or so Senators on whom passing a Senate health bill rests. This section takes 2 pages to narrowly define where the money is going without actually spelling out the state of Louisiana.
Here is the total language of the section:
SEC. 2006. SPECIAL ADJUSTMENT TO FMAP DETERMINATION FOR CERTAIN STATES RECOVERING FROM A MAJOR DISASTER. Section 1905 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d), as amended by sections 2001(a)(3) and ‘‘(B) In the case of the second or any succeeding fiscal year for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the preceding fiscal year under this subsection for the State, increased by 25 percent of the number of percentage points by which the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year under this subsection. ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State’ means a State that is one of ‘‘(3) The Federal medical assistance percentage determined for a disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State under paragraph (1) shall apply for purposes of this title (other than with respect to disproportionate share hospital payments described in section 1923 and payments under this title that are based on the enhanced FMAP described in 2105(b)) and shall not apply with respect to payments under title IV (other than under part E of title IV) or payments under title XXI.’’. For more "Gems" hidden in this health bill I always recommend reading Jamie Dupree's blog, no other reporter on Capital Hill pays as much attention ot the details in legislation as he does. Evil Out November 12 Ayn Rand in StereoHere is a book forum by the authors of two recent books about Ayn Rand. Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns and Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne C. Heller. These books both sounds like an interesting look at the lady who is as responsible as anyone for the modern rise of Libertarianism and the Right's embrace of economic freedom.
Evil Out
November 10 Another Brick in the Wall...Twenty Years ago on Nov 9, 1989 one of the greatest changes for freedom in the world happened. The "Tearing Down" of the Berlin Wall. I Thought I would post some images and also the full speech by Ronald Reagan that was given in June of 1987. This speech was a great example of an American President taking charge of the global dialogue and fighting for the freedom of peoples around the world. Remeber that it was a totalitarian socialist state that these people were bring freed from as we try to march our own country down the path towards a totalistarian socialist state.
   
Never Forget the Struggle for Freedom that these people undertook.
Evil Out November 07 Weekly Round-Up 11/7 (Back from Mexico Style)Because of my business trip down to Chihuahua, Mexico, I missed last week's round-up. So here is it is, it will probably cover two weeks, but I may cut it short so I can go back to working on my novel. Here is a trailer for the new series "V" on ABC that seems to be generating some interesting buzz on the blogosphere.
So speaking of "V" buzz, we'll start off with some.
Now that my bit of 80's nostalgia has been revived, let's go on with other interesting stories around the world.
My Favorite Economist, Thomas Sowell, has been really busy the last two weeks. Here are links to all his columns:
Now on with the rest of the links:
What happens when you open up options in the climate debate? You get crucified by the true-believers
Here are some columns from my favorite News personality, John Stossel:
Finally a picture from the Iraq war that says volumes about who we are as a people and what at our core separates us from many who we go to war against.:
 That's it for this week or so.
Evil Out
November 05 It's Time to Hold the Line Against Health "Reform"This is a great anti-Obamacare advertisement. It's a good start to open up a discussion about the final days leading up to the House's attempt to pass a Health Care bill.
According to news reports the House of Representatives will vote on the Health Care bill on Saturday. So now is the time to man and woman up and make some noise to your Represetative to let them know what you think of this bill. Just in case you are still wondering how bad this bill is, let me rattle of some statistics from various sources.
This bill is a monstrosity that has very little to improving health care and all about increasing the power and scope of the Federal Government. Look at that list above and notice that I didn't even list the public option. If the goal of this bill is to increase quality of care and reduce the costs of care it is a big FAIL. So please let your Representatives know how you feel...stopping this bill from passing the house should kill this Government dominated health reform for now. If we can stop it before it reaches the Senate it would be a huge blow for the Statist dreams of the current Democratic leadership and perhaps we can see some commone sense, market and freedom based health reforms being discussed. Evil Out November 03 National Novel Writing Month I discovered an intersting event that has been going on for about 10 years, called National Novel Writing Month. The premise is simple. See if you can churn out a 50,000 word novel in the space of 30 days. The object isn't to write the next "great American" novel, but simply to be an excuse for anyone (like me) who has always wanted to write a full-length book, but has never managed to find the time. There is no great cash reward or any reward other than the satisfaction of a job well done. The organizers don't keep your IP or anything like that. Just an informal race against the clock, with 200,000+ others around the world. If you are interested in this project or even just interested in how I am doing, click the banner at the top of the post. If you want to do a search for my profile, just search for "iamtheeviltwin".
So for my project, I have many novel and story ideas that have been circulating in my head. Everthing from hard-core science fiction to modern slice-of-life to sword and sorcery fantasy. I have actually started working on the manuscript a fantasy novel, but I have been on and off about actually working on it. In the spirit of the event I wanted to choose a story that I had not done any writing on. Also at the recommendation of the sponsors I wanted to choose one of my stories that I didn't have a great emotional attachment to. So I dusted off an obscure idea I had back in college, completely based on the look of a certain individual there. That germ of an idea formed the bare-bones idea for a supernatural thiller, or horror, based at the school and centering on a number of students. Nothing heavy and something I think I can "churn"out during the course of the month. This first week won't be too difficult since I have most evenings to kill at the hotel, after that we'll see. My goal is about 2000 words a day, but who knows. Below is an excerpt of the opening of the book and a brief synopsis. Just to note I am doing very little editing, so if it seems rough, forgive me.
Title: Dream Weaver
Synopsis:
Senior Ethan Hale attends Midwestern Christian University, a small christian school on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, he begins to notice strange occurances around the school. Animal attacks, strange symbols, and Black Eyes looking out from the shadows. What evil is being unleashed among the students at this quiet college? Excerpt: ‘What’s wrong with me,’ Danielle thinks, ‘I’m not normally this nervous about walking across campus.’ She knew why she was worried this evening. It was the news of attacks on young women recently in the nearby neighborhoods. Seven women had been attacked in the past week. According to the news each of them had been alone after dark and was attacked by some sort of animal. The police claimed the attacks were done by a rabid dog or perhaps a wolf. Midwestern Christian University was located in a rural area around Oklahoma City and it was not unheard of for wild animals to attack some of the neighborhood pets, but attacks against people were rare. No one had been killed yet, but all of the women were being treated at St. Anthony Hospital. Normally that wouldn’t bother Danielle, she had been raised in the country and wild animals were old hat. However, tonight she had just felt wrong ever since she left the apartment. Like something was watching her from the shadows, but whenever she looked there was nothing there. So here she was making a mad dash across campus to reach the safety of her own dorm room and looking around her like she was being hunted. She paused at the next emergency pole and reveled in the momentary feeling of safety when she heard a noise behind her, a low gurgling sound. November 01 More Government v Less GovernmentJust a quick hit before I leave on my business trip to Mexico this morning.
I finished reading this article on the National Journal online site. It is comparing the widening gap in the messages of the Democrat and Republican parties. The Democratic message, the article says, is an "Andrew Jackson-like" one of we are expanding the Government to protect the common man from the power of the elite. While the Republican message is a "Reagan-like" small Government message. Overall the article is an interesting read, despite the obvious bias towards the Democrat message and the President especially. However, I really wanted to point out the next to last paragraph:
You see this statement here at the end of the paragraph. That the rich and powerful are manipulating the Government to their advantage. While on many levels I agree with that statement, as do the normal Tea Party goers who activated this summer, the solution that the Democrats are supporting is where I see a fundamental flaw. If the Government was not so large and powerful that it had access and control over so much of your life, then there would be little effect from people "manipulating" the Government. The problem at the core of this whole debate is not who is or is not manipulating Government...it is the fact that the Government is so large and powerful in the first place.
Also the idea that a party that is expanding Government into every aspect of our lives is actually concerned about the manipulation and oppression of the "powerful" on the "weak" is laughable. It has become increasingly clear that the goals of that party is to be the group what is manipulating and controlling people's lives, they just don't want the competition.
"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my lords, that where laws end, tyranny begins." -- William Pitt the Elder
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