… Physics kills people:

Damage = ½mv²*Bc

And we all know that the laws of physics are no respecter of persons!

In light of how Obama and his fellow socialists/tax-evaders in Congress are doing such a bang-up job of shipwrecking our nation…

I thought it might be appropriate to change my flag image on the right to the recognized “signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property” per Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10 § 176(a).

I make this change under the firm conviction that We, the People, have erred grievously in choosing this very flawed individual, President Barrack Hussein Obama, along with so many of his extreme far-left fellow party members in Congress.

These men and women who decry individual liberties and small government, and ignore the facts history teaches us about government over-meddling with the economy… whose desire to return to the horrendous, bankrupting policies of LBJ’s Great Society with a not-very subtle twist toward “reparations” with the tossing of even more federal funds to various social and corporate welfare projects (regrettably, a trend cheered and signed by his predecessor, former President Bush).

The distress flag shall remain until We the People, have finally awoken from the stupor of unbridled Socialism, and once again returned to the principles of fiscal conservatism, and laissez-faire governance that marked our ascendancy in the 20th century.

Until then… as former NYC Mayor Ed Koch said concerning his loss of the mayoralty to David Dinkins:

“The people have decided… and now the people must be punished.”

While I have been no great fan nor a gentle critic of Former President Bush…

…amidst all the hype and hoopla about President Obama (there, I said it) taking office today, and media outlets fanning themselves because they have the flutters over how everything is going to be all about the “Hope” and “Change” … (for me, it is a “hope” that the dollar doesn’t collapse, and a “change” from dollar denominated investments to certain more stable markets)…

I’d like to tip my hat to outgoing, and by now, Former President George W. Bush.

Here is a man who despite whatever ideological issues he has, or we may have toward him… he largely stuck by his guns and for the most part, held his dignity even when the GOP was devouring its own, and the winged harpies of America-hating liberals were flinging their excreta at him, instead of excoriating the 530+ elected crooks, liars, and other rapscallions who sit in plush chairs on Capitol Hill.

Best wishes to you Mr. Bush, and may peace be upon you and your household as you retire to your property in Texas.

Not that I update this blog with any degree of regularity (not that I have a staggeringly huge readership beyond the Google spiders that pop in every so often for a bite)…

… but with the past year or so of this blog mainly focused on Election 2008, I will need to decide what to focus on next.

Most likely, I will probably steer ahead in a more “spiritual” direction (as was the original intent of this incarnation of the blog) and avoid too much overt criticism of politics (ya never know when the Thug Thizzles™ or the Civilian National Security Service™ a.k.a. the Obamastapo™ or maybe even some billy-club brandishing Black Panthers might show up to take issue with my issues).

At least until President-Elect Obama or his minions do something so completely over the top that it warrants my Opinion™ of it.

And of course, once the final Cylon is revealed in the final half of the final season of Battlestar Galactica to bring that series to its (happy?) ending… I’ll be there to blog it.

But for now, I’m going to rest my weary head.

Dear RightwingProf:

Since you’ve disabled comments for this particular blog post, I’m going to post here with a trackback on the off chance you’ll actually care to read my reply.

As a supporter of Ron Paul’s ideas of liberty and adherence to the Constitution as the final law of the land… I’d like to say that most of us aren’t too concerned with who is or isn’t a Jew.

Sadly, there are a few nutjobs in any political movement who do it great disservice by not setting a guard over the trapdoor that is their mouth: whether it be the handful of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists or some crazed idiots at McCain rallies calling Obama an “Arab” and a terrorist, or worse, putting themselves in dire legal jeopardy by making threats against his person.

To be accurate, Obama is a non-dual-citizen half-Kenyan, and he is _friends_ with domestic terrorists.

I am friends with people who have garages, but that doesn’t make me a car… although I might have parked my car in their garage at some point in time. And I’ll be the first to admit that the antics of some of my fellow “Ronulans” really put me off of Dr. Paul during the first two thirds of the primaries — though I came to appreciate his message of non-interventionism far too late in the game.

We “Paul-Bots” are concerned with the creeping socialism on the so-called right, and the rocketsled-pace flight to socialism on the left. We are concerned about horrendous levels of government interventionism foreign and domestic, and the seemingly deliberate destruction of our republic via poor economic policies.

Please feel free to peruse the pages at http://www.campaignforliberty.com for more about what Dr. Paul is talking about, or read his book, The Revolution: An American Manifesto to learn more.

As for Ms. Palin, she seems like a very sincere, thoughtful woman - and I think she makes an excellent state governor. Unfortunately, she was woefully under prepared to be on the national stage, and makes little sense to pick a running mate from an arguably strong red state as opposed to someone like Tom Ridge from a key battleground state

I strongly detest the Mr. Ridge’s politics vis-a-vis his pro-choice stand, and his selection as VP would have been a bit of a deal-breaker for me even if I wasn’t already set against McCain for being such a liberal … I’m just sayin’, ya’ know?

Dan Riehl over at Riehl World View has a compilation of his 9-11 memorial posts.

It’s hard to believe how fast time has flown by since that fateful day, when most if not all Americans were either slumbering or barely awoke - blissfully unaware of the horror that was to unfold that day.

The question for us now is: What is the great lesson that we should have learned from this tragic event?

And here is one of my few works of art I’ve whipped up just for this very occasion. Do enjoy, and click to view it in its three-shades-of-smog-brown glory.

[ Clickie to see it in its 2000 x 1200 size… ]

Here’s hoping that the smog doesn’t tamp down our athletes’ performances in Beijing over the next few weeks. Good luck, Team USA!

The past week we have all been aboard the Norwegian Spirit setting sail to Cape Canaveral and to the Bahamas. It was a first for us, and the ship itself held quite a bit of a wow factor for us … and especially so for our nearly-two year old son, who could barely contain himself in one of the restaurant venues that had a copious supply of ceiling fans. Naturally, entering this particular venue resulted in him exclaiming rather loudly: “Wow! Fan!” and gesturing wildly at any one of the two dozen or so fans.

Of course, this only meant that he wanted me to pick him up and let him spin the fan(s) as is our habit at home. For whatever reason, these particular fans were not running, and I obliged him when there was an available fan without anyone sitting nearby (kind of rare, given the business of the place).

His other attractions were the driving-simulator arcade games (for the steering wheels) and of course, the mock-up of the old-style Captain’s Wheel on Deck 12 Forward, which actually had at times quite a bit of competition from the other toddlers on board.

We also got a kick out of the fact that the original name of the ship was SuperStar Leo, sharing a name (Leo) with our boy. This ship is itself several years old, and was launched in its original configuration in 1998 under its original Hong Kong-based owner, Star Cruises. It was transferred to Norwegian Cruise Lines around 2005 as a part of a trade deal in which one cruise line acquired 50% of the other’s stock, and was refurbished somewhat around that time.

Norwegian Spirit remains one of the larger cruise ships in service, although when we docked in Nassau (Bahamas) we were greeted by the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the humbly named Sovereign of the Seas, a couple of decks taller, if not a tad longer. And apparently, that isn’t long by the standards of of Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, at a staggering 1100 feet long and 15 decks!

The excursions were quite nice, with a run on the famous Ron Jon’s Surf Shop at Cocoa Beach, and naturally, a visit to that beach for some body surfing and sand castle building, and clear sailing days between Florida and the Bahamas, where crystal clear waters and sandy beaches greeted us.

Docked alongside the humbly named RCI cruise ship and our own vessel in Nassau was a British missile frigate, the HMS Richmond, which sported a rather menacing-looking 114mm cannon and a pair of 30mm anti-aircraft cannons, along with a less obvious but devastating array of ASROC type anti-sub missiles and a sub-hunter helicopter on the rear deck… easily a third the length and a fifth of the height of the civilian cruise ships next to her, but infinitely more deadly, if she had to be put to the test.

The Brits weren’t the only folks showing off their hardware - on the way into Cape Canaveral we passed a USN submarine heading out on patrol (though it was at such a distance I couldn’t tell what sort she was — and I wouldn’t tell even if I did… heh! )

The Bahamas themselves were quite nice, with breezy days in the mid 80’s °F (about 30°C) and plenty of cheap and negotiable shopping.

Sadly though, Saturday (yesterday) saw us back in the gray-green waters of New York Harbour, and while knowing that Monday brings with it much work and many demanding emails to answer in the week I’ve been away, we will still have memories of this cruise and kind treatment by the staff and crew of the Norwegian Spirit and the friendly Bahamians to keep us afloat for the next year or two.

A good read at RedState about how the 3/5ths Representation Compromise in the Constitution may have actually been quite unfavorable to the emancipation of the slaves than if there had been no representation for them at all…

Link

The basic gist of is that the Slaver states wanted to pad up their Representative count in the House by counting all their slaves and seeking their representation (even if they couldn’t legally vote, being slaves) ; the Free states wanted not to count them at all, which would have drastically reduced the Slaver states’ representation in the House.

Not that this item was likely debated altruistically on the basis of the merits of ending slavery, but probably as a way of weighting the more thinly populated agrarian South (where one out of every three persons was a Negro slave) against the more densely populated proto-industrial North.

The alternate title for this post was “Hyperinflation, and Reptiles, and Nibiru, oh my!”… but somehow, that would simply miss the doomsday quality I wanted to present.

I’m not a prophet nor a son of a prophet, so please don’t take these “predictions” too seriously. These are more like loose trends I’ve extrapolated well beyond any meaningful point, and I am certain that most of these ideas are grossly misinformed.

This is more of a vent of some of my doomer tendencies that I’ve likely harbooured into my salvation, and which also, in the light of the gracious gift of salvation I have by the redeeming love the Blessed Father has shown us through His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ… are not much of a thing to get worried about.

Here goes… by the end of summer 2008, I expect we will see:

• The Housing market continues to implode as $450k+ McMansions plummet to something closer to their true worth (depending upon local markets, possibly as low as 50% of the peak of the 2006 bubble — especially in oversaturated markets like North California and Florida)

  And having personally (helped) frame and build some of these McMansions, they really aren’t worth much more than the $20k lumber pack they are made from, if my opinion counts for anything.

• Gold creeping above $1500 an ounce (makes me wish I had listened to my gut feelings about buying some a couple of years ago when it was in the $400/oz range…. *urk*).
• The $USD falling under ¥70 JPY (Mrs. Seeker’s mum will be happy to visit us from Japan and buy several dozen designer handbags on the cheap while here, assuming hyperinflation hasn’t set in by this summer)
• The Euro (€) rising to over $1.80 USD (largely as a function of Fed cranking up the printing presses and the Red Chinese and most other people with a brain dumping the dollar as silently as possible … at first)
• The British Pound Sterling (£) trading at $2.40 USD
• Oil bourses switching to Euro, Russian Rubles, Saudi Dinars and Red Chinese Yuan Renminbi (RMB) over the dollar (this may serve to dampen the dollar collapse somewhat, but will also signal the end of American economic significance)
• Unemployment begins to ratchet up as layoffs cascade from a staggering economy, and the rise of tent cities (Bushtowns, ala the Hoovervilles of the 1930s, or perhaps if it takes effect in 2009, they might be Hillaryvilles or Obamaburghs)
• The distant rumblings of possible food riots in the Fall, and perhaps silent removal of overseas Army unit and National Guards units back to the States as grain prices skyrocket, and food generally creeps ahead of rising gas and diesel costs, (which will easily creep north and stay north of $125/Bbl) … oh yeah, and let’s not forget the rising cost of 30.06 and 5.56 ammo for the trusty weapons.

Well, that’s just grist for the doomer mill, I reckon… fit only to be mixed in with those reports of reptilian aliens, CFR and Bohemian Grove conspiracies, and Planet Nibiru popping in for its 3,600-year reunion with our solar system in 2012 to usher in the “end of the universe” according to the I-Ching, Nostradamus and some gigantic Aztec calendar stone with pretty carvings.

I’m sure the Annunaki and a pile of outsized cannibal Nephilim will nip on over for some tea, biscuits, and human cattleburgers to set things up for the Final Antichrist while their planet is in the neighborhood too.

…

Really, I got to start reigning in the dumb web sites I visit at night.