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2006 Archives
February 13, 2006:
Risk Analysis:
Our government does not know how to do it. In particular, the
Department of Homeland Security does not know how to do it. That
is why they are protecting the wrong targets. They are like chicken
little. They will protect a bridge or a dam, but leave our power
grid unprotected. We can hope or enemies do not know how to do
risk analysis either. Sure!
Risk analysis is real simple. There is some simple math involved,
but, in essence, you weigh the likelihood of something happening
against the outcome if it does happen. If the outcome is total
disaster, you must protect against it if it is at all possible.
This means we should forget the bridges and dams ans protect
our power grid and water supply. Losing either of those would
result in total disaster. If the head honcho cannot see that,
he should be fired.
George Will:
He made a telling point in the Stephanopolous panel discussion.
It was about the phoney protests over the cartoons of the allegedly
great prophet Mohammed. I can paraphrase what he said. These
people pretend they have some kind of inherent right to go through
life without being offended, but being offended is inherent in
the concept of democracy. I can add, these phoneys also seek
out and provoke situation where they can feign offense so as
to give themselves excuses for murder and other kinds of violent
behavior. The truth is, these people are simply primitive minded
savages. So long as there are a large percentage of these savages
in the Arab world, and there are, there is no hope for democracy
there.
In America Too:
Unfortunately, we are now encouraging that same kind of mindlessness
in America. Huge numbers of Americans are now pretending they
have that right to not be offended. Politically correct crap
is all over the place. We are not allowed to say merry Christmas
because of these fools. Our kids are not allowed to celebrate
Halloween because of nut cases who call themselves Wiccans. We
are criticized by feminists for using common figures of speech
like mankind. Because of some alleged noble savages a highschool
football team is no longer allowed to call themselves the Chippewas,
though the have had the name for several decades Where will it
end? Will it someday be illegal to say my wife because it implies
ownership? I would not be a bit surprised.
I'm Offended Too:
I'm offended by our government in Washington. I am offended by
the people in Lansing who pretend to be leaders. I am offended
by our courts colluding with known criminals. I am offended by
the media's presumption that I am stupid. I am offended by the
babbling rabble all around me. None of that gives me an excuse
to commit murder. I does give me a great deal of grist for my
mill. I see idiots, morons, and fools all around me and everywhere
in government and I can criticize all of them to my heart's content.
I do have the right to speak out. I also have a right to try
to legally dislodge these buffoons from their high perches. I
do not have a right to violent behavior.
Examples:
To be sure, these Islamic madmen have some historical examples
of how to deal with threats from other religions. The crusades
and the sacking of Constantinople are outstanding examples given
to them by the Christians.
Congratulations Detroit:
I was pessimistic when you won the Super Bowl hosting job. I
thought for sure you would blow it. You did not. You did a first
class job. I am eating crow. Please pass the salt.
What Cost Vanity?
Pride goeth before the fall. Mr Lund claims he was taking a pill
to make his hair grow back. Perhaps he wanted to be more attractive
to women. Who knows? Anyway, he tested positive for drugs and
was barred from the Olympic Games. Whoops!
Low Fat:
Now there is a study that pooh poohs the so called low fat diet.
It seems the benefits are somewhat illusory. There is a great
deal of disagreement among doctors on this. It's all so silly.
The Great Buddha laid it our centuries ago. We need only heed
what he said, "All things in moderation." It's so simple.
It is not necessary to count calories or fat grams or to know
the difference between trans fat and other fat or any of that
claptrap.
Burning Churches:
There have been a number of churches set on fire recently. For
sure, that is evil and the arsonists, when caught, should be
treated harshly. There is just one thing that bothers me about
the public attitude over these acts of arson. There seems to
be some kind of strange idea that burning a church is somehow
more heinous than burning some other building. We even have special
laws protecting religious property. How can that be? Does this
mean there is implicit permission to burn a private home or a
saloon? How can one act of arson be more heinous than the other?
Am I to supposed if these madmen burned down nine saloons, no
one would give a damn. Our cultural notions about God and religion
are a bit beyond irrational.
UPS:
I guess I'm not the only one who is disappointed with UPS. It
seems someone set one of their airplanes on fire. The pilot managed
to land it, but the plane was burning brightly when the media
showed it to us on the runway. Talk about going down in flame!
Selling out Democracy:
It seems money is more important to Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft
than ethics. They have gone into the business of helping communist
China track down and imprison dissenters. They have had no problem
in tracking these dissenters down. Let us remember these are
the very people who claim it is impossible to stop spam because
they cannot track down the source. Sure!
Their rational for helping the Chinese oppressors is that's
the only way they can do business in China. The idea of refusing
to do business in China has apparently never occurred to them.
For myself, I think I will just "Ask Jeeves" from now
on. For your convenience, there is a link to "Ask Jeeves"
on my "Portals, Directories and ISPs" page.
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