“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

Perhaps this quotation explains a few things. By now everyone is familiar with the charges of “flip-flopping” that were hurled at Sen. Kerry during the 2004 election season. We are told that Barrack Obama is the candidate of “change”, although it appears to me that by “change” he really means “change my position as the winds may blow”. Even John McCain has changed his positions on a few things here and there. I know that I certainly have.

As we go through life, we learn, we are exposed to new idea, and if we are at all interested in growth we change our opinions as new information is presented to us. This isn’t a bad thing at all. The problem though comes when we change our positions for mere expediency, as it appears to me to be the case with Mr. Obama, or when we don’t hold to any principles at all and so are blown about on the breezes of popular fashion.

“Follow the money.”

That sounds like good advice when you want to know who’s behind a campaign or initiative doesn’t it? That’s part of the reason behind some of our campaign finance laws. Knowing who’s funding a campaign is important… if you assume that all money is corrupt… and if the campaign is for a person rather than an idea.

I’m not so sure that the same applies to initiatives. After all, most initiatives are about ideas, not people. Take for example, Washington’s initiative 1000, the so-called “right to die” initiative. The initiative’s supporters call it the “Washington State Death with Dignity Initiative”. The initiative’s opponents refer to it as “the assisted suicide initiative”.

Are you ready for this one?

Tell me please, where does every single penny that the "big oil" companies receive come from?

No, I’m not asking where is it minted. I’m asking where do the "big oil" companies get their money?

Are they stealing it? Do they hold a gun to your head when you go to the gas pump and tell you to fork over the cash? Or do you buy their product of your own free will like I do?

Does the government simply print money and walk up to the "big oil" company executives and say "here, have some cash"?

Isn’t it ultimately true that every single penny that "big oil" receives comes from the consumer?

Isn’t it ultimately true that every single penny that "big oil" spends on anything comes from the consumer?

What happens when you take farmland that is producing crops that are brought to market to feed your nation’s people away from the farmers that own it by force, murdering those farmers if they don’t comply with your desire to seize their land? Do crops grow without the seed being sown? Do crops thrive without fertilization? Do crops produce food when they are choked with weeds or burned to the ground? When you seize farmland from working farmers and give the land to men and women who know nothing of farming and who refuse to do the work required to nurture the crops what will the land produce for you to bring to market?

One of the news items on Orbusmax was this:

State GOP: No automatic citizenship for kids born in U.S. to illegal immigrants

The state Republican Party adopted a platform Saturday that includes a provision aimed at opposing automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.

This is not a new idea…

The state party approved a similar platform plank at its 2006 convention that proved controversial. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution recognizes citizenship for all persons born in the United States.

"Immigration is an issue that a lot of our party activists feel strongly about," state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser said. "And it's certainly a very defensible position. It's not at all something that's based on race concerns. It's a matter of what is citizenship going to be based on."

The sexpresso craze I first blogged about here, and then again here, continues to grow and flourish here in the Pacific Northwest, the home of Starbucks, the unofficial caffeine capital of the US.

The concept is really a no brainer.  Dress the baristas up in sexy clothes and see if they draw business.

Duh.  Of course they will.  You don't really think Hooters is still around for the food do you?  Seriously?

The latest craze started when a Bonney Lake mom, kids in the car with her, went through a Hot Chick-a-Latte stand, and the barista was wearing pasties. 

OK, that might be pushing it a bit, but then again some bikinis don't cover much more.

She has decided to organize a protest.  All well and good, though voting with her wallet is usually the most effective.  I do have to laugh at her stated intention of starting a clothing drive…Ma'am, I don't think lack of clothing is the problem here…

Courtesy of Reuters/Yahoo News:

Senate lawmakers in
Florida have voted to ban the fake bull testicles that dangle
from the trailer hitches of many trucks and cars throughout the
state.

Yes, you read that right: Fake Bull Testicles. But why?

Republican Sen. Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis,
Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban.

First of all, I don’t understand what Sen. Baker being a gun shop
owner has to do with this, unless it’s to A) prove that he’s REALLY a
Republican (i.e. gun nut, and unstable in general), B) denigrate all
gun shop owners by tarring them by association with this legislator.

My personal issue with Sen. Baker is that he wants to ban something
just because HE finds it “offensive”. In particular, I find the misuse
of government time and resources even debating such an issue as
offensive.

I have long been opposed to ethanol (and many bio-fuels) on many grounds, not the least of which is that I feel it immoral to use foodstuffs to create fuel while millions starve in the world.

Many others have noted that as the population increases, along with standards of living in the developing world, that the most basic resources will become scarce, including the two most basic: Food and Water.

I will leave speculation on the coming water wars for another time, as shortages of food are far more pressing today.

I had not given much thought to food shortages in the past, as, like most Americans, I was content that the Breadbasket of the World (in which I include the US and Canada) could easily produce enough to feed not only the North America, but the world. 

So,  I walk outside this morning to take my son to the bus stop, and hear a helicopter.

Not a starnge sound, as Frederickson is near Thun Field, McChord AFB, and Fort Lewis.

Then I realized that it was TWO helicopters.  As I squinted up into the sky (this is at 6:30am; pre-coffee) it took me a few seconds to realize that they were News Copters.

When I got back to the ranch, after making sure the young one actually go onto the bus, and was not kidnapped, run over, or otherwise dealt injury, I saw the wonderous footage from the sky cams, showing the remains of a house, just a few blocks away.

Seems that a young man with (at the least) anger management problems had detonated a bomb, most likely killing himself, as well as leveling about 80% of the house.