A Whole New Meaning for Harvard Crimson

Harvard and other Ivy League schools supposedly graduate the best and the brightest and many go on to top leadership posts in government and industry. The GIGO principle applies, however, and it looks the "GI" part is on the upswing at Harvard according to the blog College Insurrection:

"Because Orgasm Seminars are not enough. And Incest Fest is so yesterday. The logical next step was official recognition of a BDSM Club:
'It started last October with a meal in Currier dining hall with a handful of friends who shared something in common: an affinity for kinky sex.

More than a year after the group first began informally meeting over meals to discuss issues and topics relating to kinky sex, Harvard College Munch has grown from seven to about 20 members and is one of 15 student organization that will be approved by the Committee on Student Life this Friday.' "
collegeinsurrection.com/2012/11/harvard-approves-bdsm-club/

As I recall, The Germans from the 1930s were into this stuff. Yes indeed - here come the leaders of tomorrow! 

The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

The thought that a few coal trains may roll through Oregon to one or more new coal export facilities on the Columbia River and/or Coos Bay throws the usual suspects into a tizzy.  You may have seen the letters to the editor proclaiming all the maladies that will afflict us if this happens. I say - "Bunk!"

This is an aerial shot of the Lambert's Point coal export facility in Norfolk, Virginia. It is the largest in the world.This facility exports coal in quantities that far exceed anything even dreamt of for the Columbia or Coos Bay. Dozens of trains move in and out of Lambert's Point every day. My wife's sister and her family lived just a few blocks north of Lambert's Point for 30 years with no ill effects. Their neighborhood was and is one of the more desirable areas of Norfolk. People are not dying of black lung in Norfolk, hollow-eyed children racked by coughing fits do not stare pitifully at you as you drive by. Indeed, this facility has helped the Norfolk area buck the national economic malaise because nations around the world still want to buy our coal. 

The Chicken Little stuff is getting real old. It is just bunk and it's about time that Oregonians recognize it for what it is and ignore these phony Jeremiahs. A few more trains per day may cause a slight inconvenience, but if the economy ever improves it could just as easily be freight trains with lumber - although come to think of it they will try to block those too. If Oregon ever wants to be anything other than an economic backwater, we are going to have to ignore these phony "doom and gloomers" and get back to business so that our children and grandchildren can afford to live in Oregon. 

Hitting .900 Ain't Bad!

The next time you hear someone - almost always a liberal - say that anti-missile defense doesn't work, show them this video. The Israeli "Iron Dome" system, developed with U.S. help, has worked well. Is it perfect? No. If we can take out 90% of incoming shots is it worth it? I think so. We also have theater and strategic anti-missile defense capabilities that are getting better every day. Look for President Obama to kill these programs. 

Who Needs 'Em?

I hope that your Thanksgiving was a good one and that you gave thanks to God for all the many blessings He bestowed this year. Interestingly, President Obama did not give God thanks even once in his official Thanksgiving message to the nation. A pity but understandable.
www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/22/For-Fourth-Straight-Year-Obama-Thanksgiving-Message-God

It also helps explain why he is trotting out once again a proposal to limit the charitable deduction (see blog 2/5/10) - he thinks the government should do it all and charitable organizations are just superfluous. The President's proposal is to limit anyone making over $250,000 to total deductions that do not exceed 28% of their gross income. Of course this has non-profits of all kinds hopping mad. philanthropy.com/article/Nonprofits-Oppose-Obama-Plan/130776/  Many donors who funded Obama's campaign are upset as well. dailycaller.com/2011/09/14/obama-alienates-wealthy-donors-with-plan-to-limit-charitable-tax-deductions/  None of this seems to bother Obama one whit and you have to ask - why? 

The answer I believe lies in the fact that the guy is a True Believer and now that he has won a second term he flat doesn't care who takes issue with him. In the previous go-around Congress made short shrift of the proposal to limit the charitable deduction as they faced reelection and didn't need this albatross around their necks. Hopefully it will do the same thing this time. Obama can be exceptionally stubborn when he thinks he is right and I think this will be a preview of how bi-partisanship will go during his second term, or rather not go. Not going is good for the country in that no new idiotic ideas will come to fruition, but it also means that the nation's enormous problems will march on and D.C. will do bupkis to address them. Well, elections have consequences and I hope that we will still have the option of trying to address them. That, however, remains to be seen. 

A Light is Come into the World

There are certain rhythms in life that one ignores at one's peril. Anyone who has traveled internationally and gone through the rigors of jet lag knows this - their Circadian rhythm has been disturbed. There are deeper rhythms, though, that God has placed in life to keep our lives oriented toward Him and one of these begins on December 2.

Advent is the preparation for God intervening in human history in a way so profound that we measure time as Before Christ and After (His) Death. If we look at the time that He came into the world, not a lot has changed. The Middle East was and is a mess. Man plotted and betrayed man; decadence ruled; nations went to war with each other; famine, disease, and all the sordidness of the human condition existed then just as it does now. God made an emphatic statement, however, in the person of Jesus, that this was not the way things were supposed to be and there was hope that God would do what mankind had been unable to do  for all the thousands of years of human history. For the first time there was really hope.

And there is hope still, which brings us back to Advent. The Hope of the World continues to shine despite all the efforts to erase Him for our collective consciousness. Advent is the annual reaffirmation to ourselves and to others that the Hope is still there and that He will straighten the world out some day in God's good time. Until then, keep the faith and remember the Advent season. 

Observation Point

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.
Aim at earth and you get neither.

                                                               C.S. Lewis

Wrong Gun

Did you know that women are the fastest growing group taking out concealed weapon permits? Here's why.

A woman and her 6-year old were walking their dog at the park when a man walked up, flashed them and suggested that she watch while he did lewd things with his "shooter." Unfortunately for him she was carrying a real shooter, a Ruger .380 pistol to be exact, and suggested that she was going to shoot off his package if he didn't immediately vamoose, which he did. 

Nicely done. Think about it ladies.

www.kgw.com/news/local/Flasher-flees-after-woman-pulls-gun-on-him-179658621.html

We're From the Government and ...

Social Security and Medicare have combined unfunded liabilities of $25 TRILLION and even this is probably understated. To put this number in perspective, the output of the entire U.S. economy for a whole year (GDP) is about $15 trillion. Congress and the White House have raided the Social Security and Medicare "trust finds" for decades and given them i.o.u.'s, which are worth about squat. Even so, the Feds are ringing up budget deficits in the general fund to the tune of $1.2 trillion per year. 

Having done such a stellar job across the board, they now want to grab your 401(K) accounts and other private retirement investment accounts and pour them into a "safe" government administered system. Translation: having burned through all their money, they now want to burn through all yours too. Two Federal agencies have held initial hearings to do just this. This is going to get ugly fast. 

www.nationalseniorscouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=89%3Aobama-begins-push-for-new-national-retirement-system&catid=34%3Asocial-security&Itemid=62

They Did It

Updating my blog from the other day about the union-caused trouble that Twinkies were in, the situation has now gone terminal. Hostess announced yesterday that it is shutting down because the 5,000 members of the bakers' union hadn't budged. Another 13,500 employees not affiliated with that union will also be terminated. 

It's a sad day in America. It's a sad day for the 13,500 Hostess employees who had nothing to do with this debacle. I hope the union guys enjoy their non-jobs. Oh that's right - they get 99 weeks of unemployment courtesy of Obama. Even so, I bet the bennies aren't as good. Enjoy.

finance.yahoo.com/news/18-500-workers-jobs-hostess-125500616.html

Obama Zombies

It is an understatement to say that I was disappointed in the election results.Pity parties aren't healthy, though, so it's important to understand what happened and adjust and adapt accordingly. In that regard, Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal has the most interesting analysis that I have read so far.

There are a lot of theories and post postmortems floating around. For the record, I think Romney and Ryan did a good job with the campaign. Sure they could have done some things differently, but I think these are in the category of minor tweaks and changes of emphasis rather than fatal grand themes or blown strategic decisions. The GOP can also go after minority voters more enthusiastically, Hispanics in particular. What really happened, though, according to Henninger is a permanent campaign for re-election that never stopped after the first election and is anchored by young Obama zombies who are more like Communist youth workers than traditional political volunteers. 

They lived in swing states for 4 years and pushed Obama 24/7 with as many people as they could. I wouldn't be surprised if they had little red books and stood on street corners reading from them for Chairman O. Essentially it is morphing the "community organizer" into a permanent political organizer. This is, I fear, the new political paradigm to which Republicans are going to have to quickly adjust or continue losing a string of Presidential elections. We were all sick of the the election by the time November 6 rolled around, but we ain't seen nothing yet.

 online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323551004578117420761844996.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

WHAT???!!!

Have you ever gazed on something so lovely as these little pieces of sponge cake filled with white goo? Never mind that they are totally synthetic and have a half life of centuries - I love 'em! And now they are in danger of disappearing forever.

That's right. Hostess has filed bankruptcy and as part of the process received court permission to cut the wages of their union employees that were killing the company. The union's response was to go out on strike. With revenues dwindling, Hostess says that unless the union employees go back to work soon they will shut down and liquidate the assets. 

C'mon Mr. President - this is a true national emergency! Let those injunctions and back-to-work orders roll forth! The Twinkie must be saved!

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/14/Unions-May-Kill-Off-The-Twinkie

Taking the Lid Off

Victor Davis Hanson takes at look at the garbage from the Obama Administration that is now coming out after the election is behind them. It should be an interesting second term.

townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2012/11/14/oh_we_forgot_to_tell_you

What Are the Odds?

"According to one CBO analysis, U.S.-government spending is sustainable as long as the rest of the world is prepared to sink 19 percent of its GDP into U.S. Treasury debt." The Edge of the Abyss, Mark Steyn

www.nationalreview.com/articles/333116/edge-abyss-
mark-steyn

Always Faithful - Semper Fi

I'm tired of politics. I'm tired of politicians. This is a story about a real hero. 

A funeral was recently held in Yuma, Arizona for a Marine, Lt. Col. Chris "Otis" Raible. He was the commanding officer of the maintenance wing of VMA-211, a Marine air wing flying AV-8 Harriers. When Afghan insurgents penetrated their base and began blowing up aircraft and trying to get to the barracks where Marines were sleeping, Raible led his men with a pistol and counterattacked stopping the enemy before they could get there. The bravery of Raible and his men saved untold numbers of fellow Marines but cost him his life in the sharp firefight. 

Lt. Col. Raible - well done Marine. This is what the real America looks like. If we are to survive as a free nation it is men and women like this who will get the job done. 

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324439804578104850491484908.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

But I Voted for Obama!

There were 5 pages of upcoming layoff notices filed with the Feds today by major companies. Today's Best of the Web contained a tweet with excellent advice for the folks about to experience the joys of unemployment:

"Dear people being laid off today - it is day 1 of your new involuntary polysci/Econ class. Pay attention. There's a test in 4 years."--tweet, @pigwithwings, Nov. 8

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324439804578109051314776698.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

A Once Great Nation

Homecoming

On Sunday November 4, 2012, Lisa Harder, homecoming queen, (see blog 10/1/12) went home. Welcome home Lisa.

statesmanjournal.com/article/20121106/NEWS/311050044/West-Salem-student-who-spread-positive-messages-during-cancer-fight-dies?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

President Romney's Foreign Policy To-Do List

This is a bit premature I realize but I wanted to get a jump on some important items that should be on incoming President Romney's to-do list. Take China and the Azores. 

What? Where the Sam Hill is the Azores? Well, it's a Portugese territory in the Atlantic 2,300 miles from New York and the site of a major U.S. air base. Unfortunately, the base is being discussed for closure and the Chinese are interested in buying rights to it from Portugal. 

Is anyone awake in D.C. any more when it comes to the geopolitical implications of decisions like this? There have been many times when various European governments have refused overflight permission, especially it involved Israel and the Middle East and this base (Lajes) was very useful.  The Chinese already run the Panama Canal because we bailed. Now they want a jumping off point for Europe and could effectively use it to block maritime access to a large area in the Atlantic, as well as destinations in the Middle East. 

Mitt - get somebody with half a brain on this ASAP!

www.nationalreview.com/articles/332454/red-flag-over-atlantic-gordon-g-chang

Vote!

NYC Marathon - Way to Finish!

The race was canceled and many runners did help in the recovery efforts in New York and New Jersey. Thank you for your decency and demonstrated compassion.

One by One

My wife Clover has been nominated for a second time for a Crystal Apple Award recognizing educational excellence. I am of course justly proud of her and have seen how many students and sometimes parents that she has positively affected over the years by being salt and light as a Christian in an often trying environment. There is no doubt in my mind that South Salem High School is a much better place because of her presence. She is not the only one.

I have also seen from our circle of friends how Barb Cameron and Kelly Jamieson have done the same thing in their Salem-Keizer classrooms, Marsha Lyons at Blanchet High School, and Peggy Ramsay at Salem Academy.  Although the venues are different, they have all poured themselves into children's live. In a lot of cases, what they have been and done are one of the few redeeming lights in these kid's lives. 

Thank you all for being salt and light. It is scary to think what this city would be like without your contributions bringing the redemptive work of Christ into the schools. 

Let Them Eat Sand

While 90-year olds on Staten Island are without heat, light, and food, Mayor Bloomberg is diverting the NYPD, other volunteers, and food and generators to the New York Marathon to be held this weekend. I am not surprised at Hizzonor. I am a little surprised that the runners did not cancel on their own and instead go out and work to help the victims of the hurricane. 

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/01/Bloomberg-Diverts-Needed-Food-and-Generators-Away-From-Desperate-Staten-Island-to-NYC-Marathon

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

"This administration is an embarrassment on foreign policy and incompetent at best on the economy - though a more careful analysis shows what can only be a perverse and willful attempt to destroy our prosperity. Back in January 2008, Barack Obama told the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle that under his cap-and-trade plan, "If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them." He added, "Under my plan ... electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." It was also in 2008 that Mr. Obama's future Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, famously said it would be necessary to "figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe" - $9 a gallon.

Yet the president now claims he's in favor of oil development and pipelines, taking credit for increased oil production on private lands where he's powerless to block it, after he halted the Keystone XL Pipeline and oversaw a 50 percent reduction in oil leases on public lands.

These behaviors go far beyond "spin." They amount to a pack of lies. To return to office a narcissistic amateur who seeks to ride this nation's economy and international esteem to oblivion, like Slim Pickens riding the nuclear bomb to its target at the end of the movie "Dr. Strangelove," would be disastrous.

Candidate Obama said if he couldn't fix the economy in four years, his would be a one-term presidency.

Mitt Romney is moral, capable and responsible man. Just this once, it's time to hold Barack Obama to his word. Maybe we can all do something about that, come Tuesday."

Las Vegas Review-Journal

townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/11/02/nevadas_largest_daily_newspaper_obama_unfit_to_serve