Brains come down from the Mountain...

Increasing Wealth Inequality Is A Warning Sign Of Instability

Forbes Magazine (!) posts a rather obvious review of the work of J. K. Galbraith, and admits that the biggest creating of "money" (not "wealth") in our country is the financial industry, which has made more money by moving money around, rather than manufacturing or building great stuff.

Apollo Flags Still Standing, Photos Reveal

But that's impossible. Everyone knows the landings were faked. I think this is 'shopped. I can tell by the pixels, and because I've seen quite a few 'shops in my time.

Phantom States and the Neo-Medieval Internationalists

I don't think this is so Neo. After all, Panama in the 19th century was more or less a phantom state; as long as it sent its tribute taxes to Colombia, Colombia was willing to not send troops into that thin isthmus. It wasn't until the US wanted the isthmus for itself that Colombia started freaking out about the little territory so far on the other side of impenetrable jungle and high mountains that the only reliable way to communicate with it was a four-day sea voyage.

Church refuses to marry black couple in Mississippi

The couple claims it was due to their race. Still, as the late Senator Anselm J. McLaurin of Mississippi once said, "The right of the community to rid itself of personae non gratae must be defended. They must submit to the will of their neighbors; that is the way of the South. I myself have known persons who were asked to leave town in twenty-four hours." I have no doubt the Senator did.

NASA will be able to monitor Curiosity Landing in real-time

Oh, good. I'd hate to miss the opening of the best adventure flick of the season.

The Secret Consensus Among Economists

Despite the willingness of some loudmouths to hog the spotlight, the fact is simple: the broad consensus among economists is that the stimulus worked and prevented deep depression, that cutting tax rates now will not help the economy one whit, and that energy policy won't change the price of gas. All of these are completely contrary to typical right-wing talking points.

Nice! The Dems speak truth to power for once.

Mitt Romney surrogate suggests Obama doesn't understand the 'Anglo-Saxon heritage'

Yep, no race-baiting from the Romney camp at all.

Richard Mourdock on 'Tyrannical Principles

The man who defeated Richard Lugar to run as the Republican senatorial candidate from Indiana called Barack Obama's rescue of Chrysler as 'tyrannical' and that Obama "fails to understand the types of Americans ... who work and sweat and toil."

Libertarianism has two paths to political power: (1) vote Republican, (2) there is no 2.

Political charity is seen as weakness, not compromise. The Republicans are no longer interested in governing; they are interested in ruling.

Mitt Romney calls on the US to adopt Israel's single payer health care system.

And yet, somehow, the US must retain insane profits for health company stockholders and outrageous compensation for the CEOs.

Puppeteer for Christian Television Network children's show busted for kiddie porn, "child cannibalism porn."

Eww. I'm just sayin'. Eww.

Democrats introduce 'Cure for AIDS' Act

It's to fund a Manhattan-project sort of system to find the cure. It's an interesting choice. HIV is a well-studied virus, a specific problem (unlike cancer), and curing it could be a breakthrough in discovering viri's weaknesses. It's also politically popular. People don't like fucking in fear.

Romney's speciality is destroying relationships

Paul Krugman on what Romney did for a living:

Bankers of yore operated by building relationships; Bain made its investors money in large part by breaking relationships, e.g. by walking away from implicit promises to workers. It’s not a style that makes for good diplomacy.

And again, it's the brokenness of the US Tax Code that makes creatures like Romney so impossibly successful.

Scalia rejects privacy rights

Can we just impeach this man already? Last week he said he wanted an 'originalist' reading of the Second Amendment, so banning the carrying of hand axes was legal since they're not "hand-portable firearms", but it was okay to walk around with a rocket launcher, since they are. Now he believes that Griswold, the decision that made conversations between a doctor and patient about birth control none of the State's business was wrongly decided.

Paranoid Delusion as Marketing Strategy

Dr. Science points out that since guns are among the most durable goods sold, and gun sales have been outstripping population growth over the past decade, sales indicate that an ever-shrinking population of gun buyers is buying whole arsenals. James Holmes didn't stand out because there are thousands of people who buy in the same pattern. What are these people buying them for? Are they hoping to arm the rebellion once it starts, or what?

Income vs. Tax Rates for last five presidents, and Mitt Romney

Look at that spike! It's like he's from another planet or something. What this tells you is that Romney is certainly the wealthiest man we've had running for president in a long time, and he's really good at gaming the tax system.

The Meth Labs of Democracy

A long article outlining just how psychotic red states are, how badly they fail their citizens, and just how badly they drag down the rest of the nation. The worst example for me is Louisiana, where Bobby Jindal is ready to turn over the state's education coffers to Christian schools exempt from any standards compliance whatsoever. An advisor to Jindal said it would "Release the word of God." Because that's what education is for.

Shark Sex

Nastier and skiffier than you already imagined. Breeding is basically rape. Sharks have two uteri to produce two progeny, although many eggs will be fertilized, because each will have eaten all its siblings in the womb.

Camping 2012, Day 1

Overloaded Pearl, Forester

Our first day out camping started with a hectic scramble to finish packing the car, buying the dry ice for the cooler, and making sure we had absolutely everything we needed to make this a successful trip. Our destination was the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, specifically the Indian Heaven region. We headed out just around lunchtime, so our first stop was Arby's.

The drive out into rural Washington is a reminder of just how tiny our little enclave is. Within an hour of leaving our city, we were deep into Obama-hatred country. Hand-made bumper stickers informed me that "Obama is the start of tyranny" and "A broke nation can't afford healthcare." (Note: The USA is not broke. Other countries are paying the USA to store their money here; they wouldn't do that if they thought our financial system was about to go ass-up.) Everywhere I saw copies of the Ten Commandments; one, in a general store, had a note saying, "Post this everywhere to drive liberals nuts." I don't see why: it's your property, you can say whatever you want on it.

Gifford Pinchot is a USDA-managed national forest, and the roads there aren't necessarily ideal for the casual visitor. I was glad we had the Forestor this year, as it seemed much more sure-footed than the Escort, although maybe that's just memory playing tricks. The car handled well and we got decent mileage even with the clamshell on the roof. The girls have been obsessed recently with the anime Soul Eater, and would not shut up about it.

Big beetle

As we took to the gravel roads, we spotted a deer and a fox along the way. The fox looked rangy and thin, but the deer was sleek and full. As we drove up Forest Road 24, we saw a fascinating sign, and would later learn much more about the "Handshake Agreement of 1932." Basically, this region was a food source for local Indians, and the agreement left it that way, allocating most of the local berry-growing terrain to the natives.

We reached Cultus Creek around dusk and settled into the task of setting up tents and making dinner. This enormous beetle, about the size of my hand, kept flittering around like we'd disturbed his rest or something, but eventually he left.

We managed a fire with wood the previous occupants had left behind. There wasn't much, but it was enough to make pizza loaf-- a big loaf of french bread, carved open lengthwise and filled with pizza cheese and sauce, wrapped in foil and tossed into the fire for 20 minutes or so. It was quite delicious. We had marshmallows for dessert, roasted in the fire, and competed to see who could make his or hers bloat the most from internal steaming without catching fire or falling into the flames.

I bought a headlamp before leaving. It's absolutely one of the best uses of LED technology yet, giving me a pool of light, broad or narrow depending on the setting, wherever I turned my head.

I have been reading Theodore Rex, the second book in Edmund Morris's Roosevelt trilogy. It deals with 1901-1908, the period of Roosevelt's presidency, and there's a lot of great material in there. Since I have a (admittedly stalled) fin de siecle novel in my collection, I've been mining it for references.

The girls played Frisbee in the dark.

The mosquitos were thick that night. I can't imagine what it must have been like before the invention of DEET.

We went to bed, road-tired after the long day. Although the weather had been warm, sunny and mild, temperatures at night dropped to the mid-40s. I had brought warm nightclothes, but Omaha's house pajamas didn't cut it, and she reported being cold all night long.

Things forgotten: Omaha's water bottle. The adults' breakfast cereal. Plain sugar for tea and coffee. The large grill. The second washbucket.