Yesterday evening (Oct 9, about 10:00pm), I saw a meteor. I was out walking with my son (holding him); we were looking at the stars and Jupiter, which is very bright this year. I first spotted the meteor when it was almost directly overhead. Although it was moving quickly, I was able to track its bright orange trail for a second before the trail disappeared, and from that point an expanding sphere of dim red flecks flared out for an instant. It was very exciting for me, not only to see a meteor but to actually watch it explode!
Researched after the fact, I learned from the Farmer's Almanac that it was likely part of the Draconid Meteor Shower from the Giacobini-Zinner comet. Only 6 meteors should be visible per hour on a clear moonless night in a rural area, so my chance encounter in a major metro area with some clouds (it rained heavily starting an hour later) was quite lucky indeed!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
An Open Letter to Newt Gingrich
Dear Newt Gingrich,
Yesterday evening, I received a call from your organization, American Solutions. It began with a recorded statement from you decrying the big-government tax-more-spend-more policies of the Obama administration, including the so-called "stimulus" and the takeover of healthcare. You asked for my support, and your telemarketer requested a donation. (Her suggestion started at $200.) I firmly refused to make a donation; instead I asked for your web address (americansolutions.com) so that I could first review your policies and make an informed decision. Although I wholeheartedly agree with your stated opposition to the administration, I cannot support you in general. I would like to explain why.
1) When Republicans held majorities in both houses, when you led the House, you had every opportunity to propose reforms that would benefit America. On healthcare, did you propose and enact legislation for tort reform, or removing government barriers to an interstate insurance market? No. And to this day, you advocate state-paid "health coverage for everyone"; well, that is socialized medicine, which I oppose.
Did your party act to repeal the many permits and often-contradictory regulations which greatly inflate the cost of doing business? Did you challenge the (false) principle that a businessman must first request the permission of a government bureaucrat, "Please, please, can I please do business in your zone?" Uh uh.
Did you, along with President Clinton, really "end welfare as we know it"? Nope, AFDC rolls have risen. What you needed to do was challenge the principle of wealth redistribution.
When your party could have returned this country to its founding principles — limited government, individual rights (to be left alone), individual responsibility (not so-called "entitlements") — it failed to do so. You had a chance, and you blew it. … But that's because you don't truly accept these principles. The reason why brings us to …
2) … your advancement of Christianity in the public sphere. You refuse to accept that our government "is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion," although a treaty with this statement passed the early Senate unanimously and without public dissent.
The central problem with this idea of the USA as a Christian nation is that Christianity is an altruistic religion where you are "your brother's keeper." In this view, you are morally obligated to provide for others, to place a stranger's welfare above your own. The concept of individual rights, as understood by our nation's founders, is the exact opposite. Rights impose a negative obligation on others, not just physically but morally. Rights say to others, "you have no claim to my life, (one second of) my time, or (one pennyworth of) my property." Modern "rights" to food, healthcare, education, etc., are a gross perversion of the original concept, sold to the public by the Christian moral code. Therefore, it is not too little "Christ" which is destroying America, but too much.
Also, one of the bloggers on your personal site newt.org opposes the Theory of Evolution, for which there is overwhelming evidence from multiple scientific disciplines, which no serious scientist discounts, which has huge explanatory power for the observable world, whose predictions have been tested and validated, and which is now relied upon in modern biological and medical research — in favor of a Myth of Creationism, of which there are many, each with equal evidence in favor (none), which explains no repeatably observable phenomena, which is un-falsifiable by its nature (like the theory we were created 5 seconds ago), and which bears no fruits for mankind. How can a rational person take you seriously when you endorse such nonsense?
Now you seek "Rediscovering God in America," not merely as an individual private practice, but as public policy. I think, in place of a socialist dictatorship, you seek to remake the United States as a Christian theocratic hegemony. Well, I'll have neither, thank you.
These are the main reasons I will not contribute to you or your organizations.
Sincerely,
Kulero
P.S. — The off-site hypertext links in this letter are for reference purposes and do not imply endorsement by the author.
Yesterday evening, I received a call from your organization, American Solutions. It began with a recorded statement from you decrying the big-government tax-more-spend-more policies of the Obama administration, including the so-called "stimulus" and the takeover of healthcare. You asked for my support, and your telemarketer requested a donation. (Her suggestion started at $200.) I firmly refused to make a donation; instead I asked for your web address (americansolutions.com) so that I could first review your policies and make an informed decision. Although I wholeheartedly agree with your stated opposition to the administration, I cannot support you in general. I would like to explain why.
1) When Republicans held majorities in both houses, when you led the House, you had every opportunity to propose reforms that would benefit America. On healthcare, did you propose and enact legislation for tort reform, or removing government barriers to an interstate insurance market? No. And to this day, you advocate state-paid "health coverage for everyone"; well, that is socialized medicine, which I oppose.
Did your party act to repeal the many permits and often-contradictory regulations which greatly inflate the cost of doing business? Did you challenge the (false) principle that a businessman must first request the permission of a government bureaucrat, "Please, please, can I please do business in your zone?" Uh uh.
Did you, along with President Clinton, really "end welfare as we know it"? Nope, AFDC rolls have risen. What you needed to do was challenge the principle of wealth redistribution.
When your party could have returned this country to its founding principles — limited government, individual rights (to be left alone), individual responsibility (not so-called "entitlements") — it failed to do so. You had a chance, and you blew it. … But that's because you don't truly accept these principles. The reason why brings us to …
2) … your advancement of Christianity in the public sphere. You refuse to accept that our government "is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion," although a treaty with this statement passed the early Senate unanimously and without public dissent.
The central problem with this idea of the USA as a Christian nation is that Christianity is an altruistic religion where you are "your brother's keeper." In this view, you are morally obligated to provide for others, to place a stranger's welfare above your own. The concept of individual rights, as understood by our nation's founders, is the exact opposite. Rights impose a negative obligation on others, not just physically but morally. Rights say to others, "you have no claim to my life, (one second of) my time, or (one pennyworth of) my property." Modern "rights" to food, healthcare, education, etc., are a gross perversion of the original concept, sold to the public by the Christian moral code. Therefore, it is not too little "Christ" which is destroying America, but too much.
Also, one of the bloggers on your personal site newt.org opposes the Theory of Evolution, for which there is overwhelming evidence from multiple scientific disciplines, which no serious scientist discounts, which has huge explanatory power for the observable world, whose predictions have been tested and validated, and which is now relied upon in modern biological and medical research — in favor of a Myth of Creationism, of which there are many, each with equal evidence in favor (none), which explains no repeatably observable phenomena, which is un-falsifiable by its nature (like the theory we were created 5 seconds ago), and which bears no fruits for mankind. How can a rational person take you seriously when you endorse such nonsense?
Now you seek "Rediscovering God in America," not merely as an individual private practice, but as public policy. I think, in place of a socialist dictatorship, you seek to remake the United States as a Christian theocratic hegemony. Well, I'll have neither, thank you.
These are the main reasons I will not contribute to you or your organizations.
Sincerely,
Kulero
P.S. — The off-site hypertext links in this letter are for reference purposes and do not imply endorsement by the author.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Money Grubbing Politicians
My family just returned from a brief vacation in Helen, Georgia. Near Unicoi State Park, Chattahoochee National Forest, and the beautiful Anna Ruby Falls, it remade itself into a Germanic "alpine" village around 1969 to build upon its tourism appeal. They celebrate Oktoberfest from mid-September until November 1st.
One fun thing we did there was ride a horse-drawn carriage through the town. During the ride I conversed with the driver, asking about the permits which were displayed in the carriage. What I learned was interesting, if rather depressing.
Each of the following are required to have a paid permit to operate within the town: the carriage driver, the horse, and the carriage. This is pure revenue for the city for doing absolutely nothing, drawn from the labor of others.
If that's not sufficiently unjust, get this: The horse's and driver's permits are tied to the carriage's; they do not apply when operating a different carriage. Perhaps that sounds merely inconvenient, until you learn that carriages with an odd permit number are allowed to operate only on odd-numbered days of the month, and even permit-numbered carriages may operate only on even-numbered days. Therefore, if a driver wants to conduct operations daily, he must own two different carriages, purchase permits for each, and pay for separate permits for himself and his horse in order to operate each! (Apparently a carriage cannot be double-permitted. Maybe a local lawmaker is involved in carriage sales?)
[Also, I learned that a carriage driver was recently ticketed for "running" (or rather "walking" for sure, the horses don't go very fast) a stop sign when no opposing traffic was present. Geez.]
Sure there are worse cases where far more money is siphoned away from productive people by force of law. This shows that it happens not only at the national level. I long for the day when Americans will wake up and say "Enough is enough!" and kick the jackals (politicians) — all of them — out on their ears.
One fun thing we did there was ride a horse-drawn carriage through the town. During the ride I conversed with the driver, asking about the permits which were displayed in the carriage. What I learned was interesting, if rather depressing.
Each of the following are required to have a paid permit to operate within the town: the carriage driver, the horse, and the carriage. This is pure revenue for the city for doing absolutely nothing, drawn from the labor of others.
If that's not sufficiently unjust, get this: The horse's and driver's permits are tied to the carriage's; they do not apply when operating a different carriage. Perhaps that sounds merely inconvenient, until you learn that carriages with an odd permit number are allowed to operate only on odd-numbered days of the month, and even permit-numbered carriages may operate only on even-numbered days. Therefore, if a driver wants to conduct operations daily, he must own two different carriages, purchase permits for each, and pay for separate permits for himself and his horse in order to operate each! (Apparently a carriage cannot be double-permitted. Maybe a local lawmaker is involved in carriage sales?)
[Also, I learned that a carriage driver was recently ticketed for "running" (or rather "walking" for sure, the horses don't go very fast) a stop sign when no opposing traffic was present. Geez.]
Sure there are worse cases where far more money is siphoned away from productive people by force of law. This shows that it happens not only at the national level. I long for the day when Americans will wake up and say "Enough is enough!" and kick the jackals (politicians) — all of them — out on their ears.
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