Oct
16
2008

URLs du Jour

2008-10-16

  • Unlike some, I don't resent rich people. Other things being equal, I think they are kind of neat. However, it gets a little irritating when fortunes are accumulated due to political connections and government protection posing as "regulation". Such as, for example, the one enjoyed by Mrs. Cindy McCain.

  • No, didn't watch the debate last night, opting instead for "Coffin for a Clown", Season One, Episode 10 of Mannix.

    But David Beaver of Language Log was watching, and he noted the wit and wisdom of the moderator, Bob Schieffer, from the transcript:

    SCHIEFFER: Let's go to -- let's go to a new topic. We're running a little behind. Let's talk about energy and climate control. Every president since Nixon has said what both of you...

    MCCAIN: Climate change.

    SCHIEFFER: Climate change, yes -- has said what both of you have said, and, that is, we must reduce our dependence on foreign oil. When Nixon said it, we imported from 17 to 34 percent of our foreign oil. Now, we're importing more than 60 percent. …

    David helpfully points out that we import, to a very close approximation, 100% of our foreign oil, both under Nixon and right now. It's been a remarkably stable statistic.

  • Unless you have been hiding under the proverbial rock, you have now heard about about Mr. Joe Wurzelbacher, aka "Joe the Plumber", who was able to ask Senator Obama about the likely effects of Obama's proposed tax hikes on his future plans for his plumbing business. Specifically, he isn't taking too kindly to getting kicked in the nuts, taxwise, simply because of financial success gained by prudence and work. Here's a description of the encounter, and here's the YouTube.

    Jim Geraghty provides a transcript of Joe's Good Morning, America appearance, and was impressed:

    Whatever the outcome of this election, Wurzelbacher is making sure the country knows what it is getting into when if it says "okey-dokey" to Obama's tax plan. For this he deserves our salutes. If Wurzelbacher keeps this up, maybe the GOP ought to run Palin-Wurzelbacher in 2012.
    It seems to Pun Salad that turning a good honest plumber into a Vice President is too much of a sacrifice, not only for Joe, but also his employees and customers.

  • Joe was a big part of last night's debate, causing great comment today. At the NYT's Green Inc blog, Kate Galbraith muses:

    If nothing else, the dialog suggests that “Joe the Plumber,” the Everyman voter who became a totem and a talking point for both candidates last night, might one day be “Joe the solar guy.”

    More likely: the government will take Joe the Plumber's money, and give it to Joe the Solar Guy.

    Then, in the unlikely event that Joe the Solar Guy gets successful, the government can take his money and give it to Joe the Plumber as welfare, having driven him out of business.

    This will not bother or surprise the great number of people who look at Bastiat's aphorism:

    The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.
    … and say: "Yeah. So?"

  • You owe it to yourself to check out the 21 amazing solar pictures assembled by the good-for-something Boston Globe.

    I enjoyed comment #141 from one Eric Deziel, who makes perhaps the least appropriate analogy ever:

    Awesome! And this is made of individual inert atoms. Imagine what conscious beings could do all together! I truly believe that, as the sun, human beings can do great things, if we stop acting like “atoms” and work together as “sun”...
    I guess people are still taking LSD.

  • The Rochester (NH) Police Log reports on human and animal misbehavior:
    Thursday, Oct. 2

    8:10 a.m. — A possum has been decaying on Crow Hill Road since last Sunday.

    12:22 p.m. — A loose dog on Alice Lane barks and badly scares a very elderly lady.

    Friday, Oct. 3

    10:20 a.m. — A motorist regrets hitting a cat, on North Main Street. She didn't see where it went. "The most likely dead cat," says the log, is across from Burger King.

    11:49 a.m. — Another poor cat is found dead at the library. It is not buried in a book.

    3:00 p.m. — Dr. Michael Clark, a chiropractor on Charles Street, reports the theft of a six-foot spine statue from his porch. It is gone, no bones about it.

    Sunday, Oct. 5

    11:27 a.m. — A sickly, boney cat is reported at Sandstone Lane. Police judge it to be merely boney.

    Monday, Oct. 6

    2:49 p.m. — Gun shots are heard off Old Dover Road. Police advise it is the season to kill birds.

    6:33 p.m. — On Morton Avenue, a bunny hops around a neighbor's yard. The owner allegedly tells the neighbor "to go ahead and shoot it because he cannot catch it."