Guard Dog

Prior to 2017 you would have had a point. Now that we've had him in office for three years the bad has piled up high.

Happy Birthday Nep!

Every time I start thinking Bloomberg might make a tolerable President he says something or something he has said comes out. It's hard to be more arrogant than Trump but Bloomberg might come real close. It's no secret I despise the Democrats. That is due to a toxic combination of sneering arrogance and a self righteousness that would make any religious zealot blush. The love of liberty does not abide in the heart of that political party. They are the modern US embodiment of what CS Lewis meant when he wrote "those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience". But I would still hold my nose and vote for one in 2020 if they could produce one candidate... ONE that did not make my skin crawl. The only one that even came close (although not that close in the end) they are hell bent on running out of the party.

I hate this time of year. HATE IT. The Mississippi is up. The Hatchee River is up. Indian Creek is up. Cold Creek is rising. I walked down there just now and the water is less than a meter from my corner post. There is little danger it will reach the house. My foundation is some 35' above the average high for the Miss. Flooding would be catastrophic indeed to reach it. But there is plenty of damage that can be done if the river does not crest soon. Imagine being in a bathroom watching with horror as the water in the toilet circles ever higher towards the rim of the bowl after you just flushed it. That is February in the Mississippi River Valley. This is certainly an additional stress I can ill afford when everything else is going sh--ty. I do believe tonight I am going to put all my Led Zeppelin CD's in the stereo, blast it as loud as it will go and get filthy drunk. Starting with this one:

The Federal Reserve The difference is Boardwalk does not become worthless once this little scheme runs out.

There is that. Everyone agrees it was a captured Kuiper Belt object. Still, of all the moons to throw money at I figured Uranus with it's huge collection would be a more tempting target. It gets 40% more sunlight than Neptune. Both ice giants have only been visited by Voyager 2. And that was a fly by. An orbiter around Uranus would be more interesting I'd think. Not that planet itself. It's just a big ball of frozen helium, hydrogen, and other misc gasses. But the moons might be really interesting. Most of the Voyager images were poor. Miranda and Ariel were the only ones the probe got a good look at. Ariel looks a lot like Europa and Encaledus

There are two actually. One is unnamed and scheduled for a 2028 launch. That one will include a rover or, possibly, a submersible. To prepare to that is the Europa Clipper launching in 2025: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/

NASA has chosen four new mission proposals for funding. An orbiter and atmospheric probe for Venus. Two missions total. And orbiter for Io and an Orbiter for Triton. Venus of course is interesting because it is close, earth sized and only slightly less than earth gravity. Aerostat science has a possible future in the clouds above Venus before you get so far down into the hellish temperatures and pressures of the surface. Io is sort of interesting I guess. It is not just the most volcanicly active moon in the solar system, it is the most active of any body other than Earth. Triton though? It's only interesting feature is the age of it's surface. Neptune does not have the gravity to cause tectonic convection that would generate heat. It does not have the magnetic field of Jupiter or Saturn for it's radiation belts are minimal. IF Triton has water or an atmosphere it will be frozen solid. It's too far from the sun and Neptune has nothing to help it. Plus it's orbit it retrograde and the moon is doomed. Eventually it will either collide with Neptune or, more likely, break up and form a ring. IMO planetary science right now should for focused on Titan, Europa, & Encaledus. https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/14/world/nasa-discovery-program-mission-proposals-scn/index.html

Watched a little of the Vipers vs Dragons yesterday. It had it's moments.

I spent most of my career as an engineer and I can absolutely confirm the design plan as approved will be revised many times before production!

That is a circular argument. An oppressive system must be endured because the alternative might be opporession. And you seem to fear there are Nazis peeking around every corner. There are not. Not saying that warped way of thinking is not still around but it has no power. Certainly nothing that would convince someone to sacrifice the opportunity to make their own decisions to an almighty state out of fear of. Oh and by the way, the oppression of the Soviet Union might have lessened somewhat after Stalin but it never, ever went away. Until the day that govenment collapsed into the ashbin of history (where it belonged) the people it lorded over had no liberty in any meanigful sense of the word. Your admiration of it does you no credit.

Education in the US actually IS free. After a fashion. Public school is free and mandatory (no argument from me on that one bit of compulsion) up to 12th grade. Adult education is also free if circumstances or poor choices resulted in someone dropping out before completing high school. Vocational and technical schools are also free or reduced cost based on means in most states. In my state if you have a net income under $24k you can attend state vo-tech schools for free. Want to learn to become a HVAC Tech, auto mechanic/tech, office skills, computer literacy, etc all you have to do is enroll, show up, and earn a C average. Serve four years in the US Military and you will get enough in tuition assitance to pay for a BS/BA degree in any State university system with in-state tuition rates. Serve 6 years in the Peace Corps and you get a similar deal. Want to be a doctor or nurse? Apply for a VA scholarship. You do not need to be a vetaran. They will pay your tuition in return for going to work for them for a period of time after. There are literally hundreds of opportunities for education and self improvement avaialbale to anyone in the US who wants them. It's heartbreaking how many of them go unused. They don't hand them to you. You have to go and get them and work for them. But they are there. It amazes me how many starving people will turn down a hamburger because it wasn't a steak.

The law does not generally force anyone to DO anything. It is a bar AGAINST doing things. The law is supposed to PREVENT you from hurting other people, stealing their stuff, etc. Other than paying taxes (do NOT get me started on THAT...) there is very little activity that is compuslory. In other words is is almost never a crime to do nothing.

You know the funny thing is those special interests don't get a vote. They do wield a lot of influence and the government get's bigger and more powerful every year. And the voters keep sending the same kind of people that do it to them. What are the options? Take their vote away? You can't do that. Get money out of politics? How is that even possible? If the voters keep sending the same kind of people to the legisaltures and executive offices around the country nothing ever can or will change. No argument from me the justice system in the US is abloody mess. You know my take. No victim = no crime. And society cannot be a "victim". You'll spend more time in prision from burning dried plant matter and inhaling the fumes that you would for murder in some states. How can we fix that? See my previous paragraph. Obesity is a huge problem. OMG, no pun intended there. But people don't get that way by accident and the "system" didn't make them that way. They made bad decisions when the choice to do otherwise was equally available. Even in the so called "food deserts" here in the US where small grocery stores have been run out of business (mostly by the government) there are healthier options than candy, potato chips, and Big Macs. What is the alternative? Tell people the MUST eat what you say? You do not get to make choices for people. And they cannot blame the "system" when their bad choices lead to a bad outcome. A mostly free society is never going to be perfect. We DO have equal opportunity here. What we do not have is equal outcomes. But that is life. I don't blame people for being in dire circumstances. I am more than willing to help them improve their lot through charitable donations and even a tax supported social safety net. But I have no sympathy for people who choose to remain in dire circumstances. Gromnir and I have discussed this before. You as well. He is right that some people just give in to hopelessness. But that too is a choice they make themselves and not something that the people who didn't owe them any apology for.

Back OT Communisim, Socialisim and Facisim are all the same thing in my book. Forget for a moment the details of each. That is just minutia. At the core of each is compulsion. There is a person with a gun who will happily kill you for non-compliance. Any system that compels participation is inherently evil IMO. Say what you will of capitalsim. It does not compel participation in it's (relatively) free market. You can choose to to consume or not. You can choose to to produce or not. You can even do nothing and live on the charity and largesse of your fellow citizens if you want. You can move out in the middle of the woods and grow your own food in a garden and no one will say you can't. You can join a commune that operates as a toatally insular and communist community and that too is perfectly fine. That isn't far off how the Amish live. And you are free to come and go. But in the big evil 3 you have no choices. They are all made for you. You only choices are to comply or don't. And of you opt for the latter people will take you away and maybe even kill you. The only people who could be honestly attracted to such are either hopelssly deluded or they imagine they will be the one's making the choices and doing the killing.

She WAS a mod!

Remember Dark Raven? She did that!

While I am quite certain I have spoken to the same person under multiple names I choose to treat every new name as though they were new. There have been folks who come here and make a genuine (if overly idealisitc) argument for the merits of communisim and it's ugly kid sister socialisim. And do it without invoking admiaration for for all the the curelty, repression, and scores of people who died because if it. But if you come here talking about how f-----g awesome the Soviet Union was your credibility meter is on 0. And another thing. Anyone who lauds the glory of the Nazi's and the BS Germany did in the 1930's and 40's is equally abusrd. Except no one here is really doing that. And facisim might never go away but to suggest it's taking over the US or anywhere else is also absurd. And even if there were politicians with facist sympathies (there are none right now I know of) the US is too decentralized for them to ever do much with it. Hey look, I'm all for staking out indefensale and even sometimes crazy positions to provoke good forum discussion. I've done that myself. But when you do it all the time people figure that is how you really think. And if you really think that way you are already too damaged to debate with. I'm not directing these comments at anyone in particular. Just sayin'

Sure. Purges, labor camps, masse executions, secret police disappearing people in the middle of the night, waiting in line for just enough food to keep you from starving. Long prision sentences for expressing contrary political opinions, barbed wire fences, machine gun and dog patrols to keep you from travelling. I can certainly see the attraction. Come to that what the f--k do YOU find so attractive about all that? Like I said, I am trying to take you seriously but sometimes you make me wonder.

Michael Bloomberg says Hillary Clinton will be his running mate! Wow. That is a HUGE mistake. Especially if he wins. He will be the first President to commit suicide in office! Probably the day after inaguration! Hell she may not even wait THAT long!

Why? There is very little about Russia that is worthy of emulation. The average folks are as nice as people anywhere but collectively speaking there has never been a generation of Russians who have not lived in relative misery compared to their neighbors to the west. They were the last country to emerge from feudalisim and traded it in for something far worse. And after finally escaping the horrors of communisim end up with the kleptocracy. It's an improvement I guess but only by degree.

I would not buy US Bonds if they took dried dog poop for payment. One of two things will happen before those mature: The government will default The currency will be worthless Sorry Uncle Sam. You spending habits and money management has convinced me you are NOT a good credit risk. https://www.wsj.com/articles/treasury-to-sell-30-year-bonds-at-record-low-yield-11581614475