New Moon Word Association

By Noel Bagwell
October 31, 2009

© 2009 Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins || http://www.penny-arcade.com

While watching the World Series, I saw the trailer for the new Twilight New Moon movie that’s due out November 20^th, and it reminded me of something Jerry Holkins, of Penny-Arcade! fame, said.

By any reasonable barometer, any metric, by any comprehensive schema of assessment, undeath is this nation’s chief export. We deal it out globally, all the while surfing metabolically on the strange fumes of its production. Thus, in direct violation of the Ten Crack Commandments, we’re getting high on our own supply. And the resultant product is getting pretty thin.

If the work of our kind can be contained by a chart, The Vampire Diaries must certainly represent some kind of inverse apex; a negachievement which nullifies human progress. Imagine a Buffy the Vampire Slayer where there was no Buffy, and vampires are rarely slain. All you’ve got left is “The,” and Sally, that ain’t no kinda show.

We need to chart new territory, and I don’t mean we as in you and I, or we as in gamers, or even Americans. I mean that Gabriel and I need to chart new territory, so that we can become incredibly wealthy – plowing up some shambling new corpse to bind in service. Consider our bet placed.

Jerry (aka “Tycho”) makes a great observation. It seems that everywhere you turn, and not just this time of year, you find some sort of undeath. Zombies, vampires, mummies, ghosts, ghouls and more have infested our culture. This is nothing new, from an anthropological perspective, of course. People have been fascinated with death and life beyond it since the first human being died. That fixation doesn’t show any signs of waning.

It remains an interesting observation, though, that the United States has an entire Undeath Industry that exports a large volume of product globally, not to mention the amount of product it pushes domestically. I’m not sure Mummies are the new wave. In fact, it seems to be werewolves (a la the Underworld franchise and the Anita Blake novel series). So, Tycho, I’ll take that bet, and raise you a cultural fad that I hope fades before it becomes a full-fledged trend.

Nat.Geo.: Daylight Savings Time 2009: When and Why We Fall Back

National Geographic News
Updated October 26, 2009
When is the big daylight saving time (often called daylight savings time) switchover in autumn 2009?

Why do we fall back in the first place? (Hint: A lot of 19th-century train passengers, among others, suffered for your extra hour of sleep this weekend.)

Clockmaker Scott Gow touches up a large replica clock in 2003, in Medfield, Massachusetts. U.S. daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 1, 2009, at 2 a.m.

Daylight saving time in most of the United States ends at 2 a.m., local time, on Sunday, November 1.

Contrary to popular belief, no federal rule mandates that U.S. states or territories observe daylight saving time.

Most U.S. residents set their clocks one hour forward in spring and one hour back in fall. But people in Hawaii and most of Arizona—along with the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands—will do nothing. Those locales never deviate from standard time within their particular time zones.

The federal law first passed in 1918 and, thanks to a 2005 revision that went into practice in 2007, now stipulates areas that observe daylight saving time must switch back to standard time at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November. (Read about the 2007 daylight savings time change and its purported energy savings.)

Likewise, the new daylight saving time rule requires that regions that observe daylight saving time begin at the same time on the second Sunday in March.

The Dawn of Daylight Saving Time

The U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., sets what is known as standard time in the country through its maintenance of atomic clocks. But the observatory has nothing to do with regulating daylight saving time.

Oversight of daylight saving time first resided with the Interstate Commerce Commission. In 1966 the U.S. Congress transferred that responsibility to the newly created Department of Transportation.

Congress ordered the transportation agency to “foster and promote widespread and uniform adoption and observance of the same standard of time within and throughout each such standard time zone.”

So why is a transportation authority in charge of time laws? It all dates back to the heyday of railroads.

“In the early 19th century … localities set their own time,” said Bill Mosley, a public affairs officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“It was kind of a crazy quilt of time, time zones, and time usage. When the railroads came in, that necessitated more standardization of time so that railroad schedules could be published.”

In 1883 the U.S. railroad industry established official time zones with a set standard time within each zone. Congress eventually came on board, signing the railroad time zone system into law in 1918.

The only federal regulatory agency in existence at that time happened to be the Interstate Commerce Commission, so Congress granted the agency authority over time zones and any future modifications that might be necessary.

Part of the 1918 law also legislated for the observance of daylight saving time nationwide. That section of the act was repealed the following year, and daylight saving time thereafter became a matter left up to local jurisdictions.

Daylight saving time was observed nationally again during World War II but was not uniformly practiced after the war’s end.

Finally, in 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the start and end dates for daylight saving time but allowed individual states to remain on standard time if their legislatures allowed it.

A 1972 amendment extended the option not to observe daylight saving time to areas on the border of two time zones but within the same U.S. state.

Before the move by Congress in 2005 to extend daylight saving time, the most recent modification occurred in 1986, when the start date was moved from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April.

Daylight Saving Time = More Evening Daylight

The drive behind the switch was “to adjust daylight hours to when most people are awake and about,” Mosley said.

Daylight saving time decreases the amount of daylight in the morning hours, so that more daylight is available during the evening.

Not everyone benefits from the daylight saving time change, Mosley conceded. Farmers and others who rise before dawn may have to operate in the dark a while longer before daybreak.

And some experts suggest that the extended hours implemented in 2007 to save energy won’t actually do the trick. That’s because people may use more electricity during the darker mornings, canceling out any savings from not using as much power at night.

Daylight saving time, however, can bring many benefits, Mosley said. Research has shown that more available daylight does decrease the number of traffic accidents, traffic fatalities, and incidences of crime.

Congress noted other advantages while updating legislation in 1986, including “more daylight outdoor playtime for the children and youth of our Nation, greater utilization of parks and recreation areas, expanded economic opportunity through extension of daylight hours to peak shopping hours and through extension of domestic office hours to periods of greater overlap with the European Economic Community.”

Daily Times: Hillary Clinton – “We tax everything that moves and doesn’t move”

Daily Times – Site Edition [Printer Friendly Version].

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween! I think our Jack O' Lantern turned out pretty well, this year!

 

 

Cash for Clunkers costs taxpayers $24,000 per car – Oct. 28, 2009

Cash for Clunkers costs taxpayers $24,000 per car – Oct. 28, 2009 .

Poll: President Obama has had only a minimal impact on race relations – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room

Poll: President Obama has had only a minimal impact on race relations – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

 

 

 

 

 

Illegal Aliens in the U.S. Government?

My abhorrence of forwards and chain emails notwithstanding, I occasionally receive one that I will actually read. Probably 1/100 of these is worth sharing for its humorous value, though I don’t deny that – at least in this particular case – its factual desiderata is notably absent… but, then… that’s not really the point. It’s funny. That is all. Enjoy.

The year is 1947. Some of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, a little over 60 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and mule ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico . This is a well known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other federal agencies and organizations.

However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of April 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people were born:

• Albert A. Gore, Jr..
• Hillary Rodham
• John F. Kerry
• William J. Clinton
• Howard Dean
• Nancy Pelosi
• Dianne Feinstein
• Charles E. Schumer
• Barbara Boxer

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep and jackasses? I certainly hope this bit of information clears up a lot of things for you. It did for me. No wonder they support the bill to help illegal aliens!

Again, not factually accurate, but still amusing. Thank you to the large number of people involved in chain-forwarding this email until it reached me.

Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group

Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group .

A Newt Gingrich run in 2012? Quite possible but… | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

A Newt Gingrich run in 2012? Quite possible but… | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times.

Common Sense and Spending

By Noel Bagwell
October 24, 2009

One of the things I don’t understand is why we’re spending so much money – why we’re spending so many taxpayer dollars – on things for other countries. We provide the bulk of the national security (except police, etc.) for the entire nation of Japan. Did you know that? Article 9 of Japan’s constitution, written at the end of World War II, prohibits an act of war by that state. The official English translation reads:

ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. (2) To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

Because Japan has no standing military, we act as their military. This is a crude description of the situation, of course, but it is generally accurate. The question, though, is why? Why, now, are we doing this? I could understand post-WWII Japan being completely disarmed, and the U.S. assuming a sort-of provider/protector role with regard to Japan during the reconstruction era after World War II. Why, though, does this continue? It is a huge drain on our resources at a time when we are out of money.

Along the same lines, why are we offering to “provide financing of between 25 and 150 million dollars for selected projects and funds” for Muslim nations?

According to AFP:

“The Global Technology and Innovation Fund will “catalyze and facilitate private sector investments” throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the White House said in a statement.”

If “we’re out of money, now,” as the President said, back in May, why are we offering to provide 25 to 150 million dollars in funding for projects in other countries?

In fact, why are we spending any money at all on projects in other countries? We can’t even pay for all the spending our government is doing in our own nation.

At some point between 2030 and 2040, the nonpartisan GAO projects mandatory spending will exceed government revenues.

What would happen to you if you made $50,000 per year, but you spent $75,000 per year? What would happen if you did that every year for 25 years? Essentially, that’s what our government is doing. They’re spending more than they’re taking in. “Revenue” means “taxes.” If the revenue (taxes) don’t cover the spending, it adds to the deficit (which means debt).

You wanna know what our debt looks like? Just click here: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Now, ask yourself: Do you really think we should be spending taxpayer dollars to protect other countries? Do you really think we should be spending taxpayer dollars on a technology fund for Muslim nations? Do you really think it’s the role of our government to provide – with taxpayer dollars – humanitarian aid to other nations?

Care likes to dishonestly say that because our humanitarian aid spending is less than 1% of our GDP (according to their numbers from 2005), that our government does not reflect our values.

Their website says:

“The United States allocates less than 1 percent of its federal spending to poverty-focused assistance for other countries. That makes us the smallest contributor among major donor governments. Americans are a caring and generous people, and our government should reflect our values.”

The truth is that our government’s role is not to “reflect our values” when it comes to spending money on humanitarian aid. That’s the moral duty of private citizens, their faith-based institutions and private organizations the purpose of which is to reach out to those in need around the globe. The government’s role is to provide for the common defense, facilitate trade between the states and foreign powers, and to build and maintain necessary infrastructure.

Statue of Grover Cleveland outside City Hall in Buffalo, New York

Humanitarian aid is not the purpose of government, and that goes for domestic spending as well as spending on foreign humanitarian aid. President Grover Cleveland said,

…I do not believe that the power and duty of the general government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly enforced that, though the people support the government, the government should not support the people. The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood.

The President isn’t right about much, but he is right about one thing: We are out of money, now. We do not need to be spending money we do not have on things that we shouldn’t spend money on even if we did have it!