I Don’t Like Your Face, Obama. Either One of Them

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BmdovYztH8?rel=0]
Not that I expected anything different.  But it’s got to be a shock to those who thought him a “Lightworker.” 

Thanks to Grumpy Old Fart for pointing to this one in a comment.

Let’s add this one, too – also from a comment by QuadGMoto:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-H8tbcQP4?rel=0]

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!!

As Glenn Reynolds notes, all the scandals are about abuse of power:

(I)s it plausible to believe that a government that would abuse the powers of the IRS to attack political enemies, go after journalists who publish unflattering material or scapegoat a filmmaker in the hopes of providing political cover to an election-season claim that al-Qaeda was finished would have any qualms about misusing the massive power of government-run snooping and Big Data? What we’ve seen here is a pattern of abuse. There’s little reason to think that pattern will change, absent a change of administration — and, quite possibly, not even then. Sooner or later, power granted tends to become power abused. Then there’s the risk that information gathered might leak, of course, as recent events demonstrate.

Most Americans generally think that politicians are untrustworthy. So why trust them with so much power? The evidence to date strongly suggests that they aren’t worthy of it.

Let me repeat the GeekWithA.45’s warning again:

We, who studied the shape and form of the machines of freedom and oppression, have looked around us, and are utterly dumbfounded by what we see.

We see first that the machinery of freedom and Liberty is badly broken. Parts that are supposed to govern and limit each other no longer do so with any reliability.

We examine the creaking and groaning structure, and note that critical timbers have been moved from one place to another, that some parts are entirely missing, and others are no longer recognizable under the wadded layers of spit and duct tape. Other, entirely new subsystems, foreign to the original design, have been added on, bolted at awkward angles.

We know the tools and mechanisms of oppression when we see them. We’ve studied them in depth, and their existence on our shores, in our times, offends us deeply. We can see the stirrings of malevolence, and we take stock of the damage they’ve caused over so much time.

Others pass by without a second look, with no alarm or hue and cry, as if they are blind, as if they don’t understand what they see before their very eyes. We want to shake them, to grasp their heads and turn their faces, shouting, “LOOK! Do you see what this thing is? Do you see how it might be put to use? Do you know what can happen if this thing becomes fully assembled and activated?”

But the President advises, “Don’t listen to those voices.”

And here’s Bill Whittle’s voice on the subject from last year:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgrktRgjBXk?rel=0]

Your Moment of Zen

Arizona photographer Mike Olbinski has an interesting website.  In addition to doing wedding photos and such, Mike’s also a storm chaser.  I stumbled across him because someone posted a link to a time-lapse series of a supercell over Booker Texas he shot.  For YMoZ, here’s a picture I call “Smite.”

Smite photo smite.jpg
(click for full size)
He describes it as “Lightning over Casa Grande, Arizona.”  He doesn’t just do weather shots, though.  (THAT was a close second for YMoZ!)

If you live in Arizona and you’re looking for a professional photographer, you might want to contact him.  And if you like beautiful photographs, definitely check out his site.

Once Upon a Time…

…a newspaper journalist was on his way to cover a story when a tire on his car blew out.  He pulled to the shoulder and looked to discover that the passenger-side rear tire was shredded.  So, he popped the trunk and started working on changing it – he was running late.  As he was jacking the car up, he noticed that his car was just a few feet from a very tall, very sturdy fence, and the fence had a sign on it warning not to pick up hitchhikers because inside the fence was a facility for the violently insane.

He spun the lugnuts off the bad wheel and placed them carefully into the hubcap he’d put on the ground nearby, but as he was pulling the bad wheel off, he heard a cough behind him.  Startled, he dropped the blown tire and it fell onto the hubcap, throwing the lugnuts into the air.  When they came down, four of the five rolled directly into a nearby storm drain.

Looking behind him, he saw that a man in a suit and tie was standing just inside the fence, watching.  His hair was perfectly groomed, and he was freshly shaved.  He didn’t look insane.

“Well, hell,” the reporter said, “I’m running late, and now I only have one lug nut to put the spare on with.”

“Simple,” responded the man behind the fence, “take one lug nut off of each of the other three wheels.  That’ll give you four lug nuts per wheel, and that’s enough to get you where you need to go until you can get replacements for the ones you lost.”

A little stunned, the reporter replied, “That’s great!  I’d have never thought of that!  Are you a doctor?”

“No,” the man replied, “I’m one of the patients.”

“But, how could someone as intelligent as you be in there?” the reporter asked.

“I’m insane.  I’m not stupid.”

So we’ve had another rampage shooting, this time in California – land of the Roberti-Roos assault-weapon ban, no “gun show loophole,” “bullet buttons,” magazine capacity restrictions, etc., etc., etc.

And another known nutcase still managed to get his hands on an AR-15 and a bunch of standard capacity magazines, plus a black-powder revolver with a cartridge conversion cylinder.

But one more law will prevent this from happening again!

Which is both insane AND stupid.

Quote of the Day – Jerry Pournelle Edition

Sort of a twofer:

I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either. … Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty. When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves. Nations and large bodies of men, never.

John Adams, letter to John Taylor (15 April 1814).

The remedy, of course, was to form a Republic, and for over two hundred years the Republic endured. Now it is to be converted into a democracy, and the result is predictable and predicted. There are many good studies of what happens when a democracy commits suicide. If it is fortunate it gets a Claudius Caesar, but more often it must first endure a Caligula so that Claudius seems a blessed relief. And after Claudius as likely as not comes Nero. But I digress. For the moment we do not yet have Marius.

Take My Money! Entertain Me!

OK, I’ve just finished Larry Correia‘s latest, Warbound: Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles eARC (Electronic Advanced Reader Copy).

This is not my normal cuppa tea. I’m not a particular fan of… well, I was going to say “fantasy,” but that brings up images of orcs and elves and stuff, and The Grimnoir Chronicles does not fit into that genre. It’s literally unlike anything I’ve ever read, but it does have magic! Let me see if I can find Tam’s description of the earlier two books in the series… Here it is:

See, Larry writes stories about people. People with complex drives and goals and motives, who don’t always categorize easily into ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’. People you care about. The fact that they’re people that run around on top of a zeppelin shooting teleporting ninjas with shotguns is just a bonus.

It’s a genre-defying storyline, and probably one of the more original I’ve read in a long time. It’s got the magic thing, sure, but it’s also well-researched alternate history, with a sort of superhero flavor… Imagine a prose version of The Watchmen, but with fedoras and Tommy guns, and a supporting cast that runs from Buckminster Fuller to Black Jack Pershing. And the thing with shooting the teleporting ninjas on the dirigible with shotguns, which will make you realize that, no matter how highbrow your tastes, sometimes you need to just shut up and eat your awesome.

I’ve read all of the Monster Hunter series and his joint effort with Mike Kupari, Dead Six

At this point I will read anything that man writes, including his grocery lists.

Larry announced recently that his writing has allowed him to quit his normal dayjob as an accountant to concentrate full time on writing.

Faster, Larry.  Take my money!  Entertain me!!

Bordering on Tyranny, Piers?

OK, here we go again with Piers “I hate the Second Amendment” Morgan a few weeks ago:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKO8A285Rr0?rel=0]

And here he is just a day or so ago (sorry about the ad – can’t strip it out):

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embedwww&videoId=us/2013/06/07/pmt-guardian-greenwald-nsa-prism-program.cnn&contentId=us/2013/06/07/pmt-guardian-greenwald-nsa-prism-program.cnn

Even Glenn Greenwald is outraged!  Or is he just trying to sell more dish soap?

So I ask again:  Merely bordering on tyranny?