Who is Flying This Thing?

Between 2007 and 2010, Americans' median net worth fell 38.8 percent – or from $126,400 per family to $77,300 per family. This was the same net worth as in 1992. At this rate, if Obama wins again we will be down to $47,000. Forward.

www.nydailynews.com/news/money/americans-net-worth-fell-40-due-declining-home-values-report-article-1.1093810?localLinksEnabled=false

Guilty Pleasure

Okay, I admit it: Joe Biden is one of my guilty pleasures. I was upset with Obama winning the 2008 election but I consoled myself with the fact that Joe Biden would provide comic relief. I haven't been disappointed. 


Perhaps my favorite Biden moment was when he asked a guy in the balcony to stand up and take a bow at a political rally. The look on his face, and his subsequent spin control, were priceless when an aide leaned over and whispered in his ear that the gentleman was a paraplegic. You just never know what Old Joe is going to come up with. Shoot, Old Joe himself doesn't know what he's going to come up with until it has come up. Jonah Goldberg comments on this practical problem for President Obama:


"It's a fascinating weakness of this presidency: Obama has no reliable surrogates. Joe Biden is the vice president, and 90 percent of his job description is to be a carnival barker for his boss. But, particularly since Biden forced the president's hand on gay marriage, it's apparently dawned on the White House that Biden is less than dependable as a wingman. Sure, he might begin a statement by saying, "This president saved us from another Great Depression." But you never know if he'll finish by adding, "My neighbor has three rabbits," or, "These are not my pants."


Truer words have not been spoken and that is why Joe has been - and will remain - one of my guilty pleasures.


townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/2012/06/08/searching_for_a_surrogate

The Horse and the Rider Thrown Into the Sea

Here's an interesting piece. Remains of chariots are being found in the Red Sea. Can anybody say Moses? Included in the debris is a gold-plated chariot wheel that is relatively intact because coral and marine organisms cannot attach to gold. This is potentially a very interesting story to watch as it develops - one that makes you say, "Hmm..."

www.wnd.com/2012/06/chariots-in-red-sea-irrefutable-evidence/

Faster Than a Speeding Neutrino!

Remember the buzz a year or two ago that a sub-atomic particle had been measured going faster than the speed of light? Well, not so much. It turned out to be faulty measuring equipment. Rest easy Einstein!

news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57449418-76/cern-confirms-speedy-neutrinos-follow-laws-of-physics-after-all/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

How Many Planners Does it Take to...?

The I-5 bridge across the Columbia River has needed replacement for a long time. A planning group with all the bells and whistles has spent years and $140 MILLION dollars working on this project and managed to get something as basic as the height wrong. Unfortunately too for the planners the opposition is not a bunch of lightweights but the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers, both of which must sign off on the project before construction begins. What in the Sam Hill is going on? Basically, willful ignorance.

Public testimony was given on the height issue at several points in the hearing process that made it clear that 125 feet was the minimum height for the bridge and even higher was preferable. The Coast Guard dredge that clears out river mouths (like after Mt. St. Helen blew) needs 116' to clear the bridge. Many sail boats have masts that need that much clearance. Several steel fabricators on the east side of the proposed location are building Alaska drilling rigs testified that they need 178' to get the completed rigs down river. All of these can get through the current bridge. And so the planners promptly blew off all this testimony and made a calculated gamble that setting the height at 95', which would cover 97% of all users, would be good enough. Well, it's not. Neither the Coast Guard nor the Corps are going to approve the project. Great.

This is a great real time example of what is wrong with government. It spends colossal amounts of taxpayer money listening to everybody from the Merry Waifs of Portland to the Herniated Umbilical Striped Snail Society and gets even the most basic stuff wrong - really wrong. The Marion County office building is another fine example of this same trend. Whoever is doing the planning on the Columbia Crossing project should be summarily fired and the work turned over to someone who knows what the heck they are doing. Government is working very, very poorly and we can no longer afford the lame excuses that are standard table fare when things go wrong.

www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/06/planners_ignored_river_users_w.html

Into the Cauldron

June 6, 1944, D-day, zero hour. This is the view of Omaha Beach seen from an infantryman's eyes that fateful day. It was the beginning of the end of Hitler's Third Reich. Brave men and desperate times. Thank you for your service to humanity.

Forward - Take 3

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that unemployment increased from 8.1% to 8.2% in May. Yessir - this economy is definitely going somewhere!

www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm