So I was watching our local news cast with Mrs. J and the genial people at KTLA,

http://ktla.trb.com

Note: I'm generally a radio guy, but Mrs. J ever since 911, has taken to the habit of watching the news to make sure she isn't driving to work during a National emergency, for which I can't blame her.

Anyway, they mentioned that over 500,000 I-phones were sold over the weekend. Lines as long as the horizon. I admit, I would never ever do that. I am just not one of those people who has to be first to get the newest technology first. Actually, I'm one of those who waits for the kinks to be worked and for the price to come down. I guess that makes me a bit of a fuddy duddy. Oh, well.

So I thought to look around the state, nation, and such to see what amusing tidbits might be available to share with the readers of this place.

My first stop was Fresno, and I was just looking around when I came across this article, which seemed to me to be a bit more than a tidbit. 

"State air board chief is let go"

Decision comes shortly after governor criticizes support of cleanup delay for Valley By E.J. Schultz / Bee Capitol Bureau

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/72738.html

Note the lede of the Story is this:

"Gov. Schwarzenegger on Thursday fired the chairman of the California Air Resources Board, days after the governor criticized the board for agreeing to delay a clean-air deadline for the San Joaquin Valley."

The anecdotal reason we are given is this:

"'When one out of six residents in the San Joaquin Valley has been diagnosed with asthma and one in five children carry an inhaler to school, it is a call to action,' the governor said in a statement last week."

And like you, I thought wow that's a lot of people suffering from a chronic condition that is horrible. One in five children carries an inhaler? that doesn't happen even in LA.

But now I was curious, where was the information for the "one in five." I couldn't really find any, not to that extreme anyway.

Oh, and the context for the story is this:

"The state air board recently approved a 2024 completion target for smog cleanup in the Valley, one of the nation's worst air basins. The target date -- approved earlier by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District -- is more than a decade beyond the initial deadline set by the federal government."

The Regulator, excuse me Govenator, wants the above done by 2014, so he fired Robert Sawyer, a Democrat and former university professor, who Gov. Schwarzenegger had appointed 18 months prior.

So, what was the offense of Robert Sawyer? Good question. The following pretty well sums it up:

"San Joaquin Valley air district officials say the region's air will become cleaner in coming years but that the technology does not exist to eliminate vehicle pollution, a major contributor to the smog problem.

"In a recent letter to the editor published in The Bee, Sawyer defended that view: 'The delay takes advantage of approved technology that will not be available until 2014,' he wrote."

But, "'Environmentalists want regulators to adopt stricter standards sooner. Quicker deadlines will force companies to develop clean-air technology, they say.

'"Regulations really do incentivize the technology to be developed,' said Liza Bolaños, Fresno-based coordinator for the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, a nonprofit group representing public health and environmental organizations.

Now before commenting on all of this it's important to know that Asthma has multiple catalysts: such as cold air, house mites, pollens, inactivity--children playing inside, animals, dust etc. Most of the above are listed below (excepting cold air, which I came across more than once).

http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Causes_of_Asthma

So the Regulator Gov. proposes the most expensive, intrusive, business killing, people killing, pie in the sky technology which does not exist, solution. (down turns in the economy limit food and drug production and distribution resulting in bad people effects; lighter cars kill people).

Of course the San Joaquin Valley is one of the dustiest places on Earth, not to mention routinely housing the unique smells of agriculture (which, call me weird, I kind of like whenever I travel through or to) but even so this Asthma thing has been picking up steam since the 80's, which is counter intuitive because Air Pollution has been diminishing over the same time period, but what hasn't been is child inactivity (increased inactivity, stay inside, develop house mites kind of activity).

So, lets see, cheaper, practical solutions like promoting child activity, dusting, programs for mite removal which will work are ignored, but an expensive boondoggle that effectively, if not purposely, supports the fantastic pie-in-the-sky fantasy that Sacramento will be 22 ft. under water in a couple of years is pursued. Cynically?

Of course the Governor's plan is supported by Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA), which came about in1985. They do good work, but it is possible to be overly enthusiastic and perhaps tunnel visioned. I found reference to them in many places. Here are a couple.

http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0503/feeds/rss.xml (scroll down)

http://www.venusproject.com/ecs/Non_Toxic_Times_June_04.html
(regardless of AANMA's work certain people see ways its work can be leveraged)

There home site is here: http://www.aanma.org

My thoughts: Asthma runs form a bad nusciance to possible death for those who suffer from its chronic effects. It is a horrible condition that deserves remedy, and from those of us who don't suffer from it, our sympathy.

I'm not sure that giving children a ubiquitous right-to-carry guarantee is wise, particularly as inhalers have become a common drug for abuse from junior high school on. Though to be clear, any child that could suffer from it to the point of death must have an inhaler in possession, and even those who wouldn’t suffer to that extent but could end up hospitalized, likewise.

But though it is horrible thing, I would certainly hope that the condition wouldn't be used cynically to pass legislation whose primary goal is to increase the power of the state in contradiction to the will of the people.

Is that what is happening here? Can't tell from the bits of information available, but there is a strange smell enveloping the Central Valley.

1) A new wave of illegal aliens coming across the border to steal amnesty provisions.

2) Largest immigration in the history of the United States through a new round of almost unlimited chain migration.

3) Depressed wages for years by a generational flood of serf labor.

4) Half a wall to keep illegal aliens from crossing over the border in direct sight of town folk. That is make them cross in the shadows and out of sight of towns, seeing as how they don't have the good manners to do so on their own.

5) New laws on the books that won't be enforced.

6) A finger in the eye of the American People.

7) The destruction of the Republican party as we know it.

8) Instant legal status for 12 to 20-million illegal aliens.

9) Higher, higher, highest taxes or rot and decay of civic social structure, including Social Security.

10) Legal status for illegally entered embedded terrorists. BTW didn't the Kennedy Airport nut-job terrorists come from S. America?

To Senators and Representatives: The issue of who we are is beyond your purview.

Look again at the Preamble:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Mr. President, Congress, Jurors of the Supreme Court you derive your respective powers from We The People. And who we are is given to us to decide. So let me repeat:

Forget every consideration on National Security, if you must.

Forget every sense of justice for those who live by the rules; specifically, immigrants who immigrate legally, if you must.

Forget the costs you levy on the backs of the American People, if you must.

But do not forget that you are rending the Bill of Rights. Do not forget that you are rending the Preamble and First Amendment: You are rending the right of Free Assembly: You are rending the right of the people to freely assemble and determine the shape and meaning of our own society; our own culture; our own government. You are rending from us the duty, obligation, and responsibility of self determination.

This one issue at least is beyond the reach, absolutely, to those who would act in our own best interests. You may not define for us who we are. In this most fundamental consideration, this that is the pre-eminent statement of We The People, in this you are obligated, must seek, and entreat not for our advice, but wholly for our consent--if not legally bound then ethically and morally you are charged, and with this charge you shall be held accountable and will be answerable.

This is not defense policy; this is not energy policy; this is not economic policy; this is the very definition and essence of the United States: We The People. This is not something you can do for us in the name of our own good. In this we are our own good.

KILL IT

I came across a captivating story in our local paper, The Daily News, that I have to pass along:

"Push on for National memorial to U.S. 'war dogs'"

I heard there was some kind of carping going on about Talk Radio, and I was, well, a bit flumoxed because when I did a search for carping this is what found.



As you can imagine I was a bit confused, but  reading the text below the picture all became clear.

http://gf.nd.gov/fishing/ans-animals.html

"I'm sorry, excuse me? not carp the fish but Feinstein carping. Hmmm, Oh well..."

http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/0a6d34ec-56c8-4a91-93fe-d20f52d100e6?

I was doing some organizing of link favorites, some I really have no memory of saving, let alone why, and I came across this from something called Global Security News Wire, paraphrasing, Senators on The Foreign Relations Committee have called for President Bush and President Putin to reaffirm the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

According to the story by Jon Fox (nope not me) the respective administrations are reluctant to reaffirm the 1991 START as constituted.

The salient quotes:

“'I urge the presidents to solidify new areas of cooperation on weapons of mass destruction,' said Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the committee."

"Biden said it would be 'the single greatest negative legacy this administration could leave' if it fails to work out a successor to the START agreement."

"Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried...said, 'he would take the senators’ *strong views* back to his State Department colleagues.'"

I'm not well versed in what the issues are, but it would seem to me that the world has changed just a wee bit since 1991, and further I am against anything that would undercut our SDI program.

Here's the link to the story (BTW, the NTI news wire seems fairly left wing, or more): http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2007_6_22.html#522EC0A6

I was reading The Corner (http://corner.nationalreview.com/) the other day and Michael Ledeen mentioned a confrontation between the Australians and Iranians in the Persian Gulf. As it so happens one of the six or seven books I’m reading (I seem constitutionally incapable of reading one at a time), which I recently uncovered--read found--from a pile of notebooks, magazines, and sundry is Touched With Fire. The book itself is one of those I found while piling through a trough of books on sale at one of our local book stores. It’s written by a military historian named Eric Bergerud, and the subject matter is The Land War in the South Pacific.

Cutting my long windedness short, it so happens I was reading his account of the Australian Army, and in particular a battle at Milne Bay, a horrid place on the southern tip of Papua New Guinea, whose claim to fame seems to be, or least seems to have been, mud, jungle, 200-inches of rain a year, and last but worst, Malaria.

Bergerud peppers his work with plenty of quotes, and I thought I would share this one with you from E.J. Randall of the 2/9 Battalion at Milne Bay (note: the language gets a bit colorful):

"Our troops were committed to the battle. The road to the front was not trafficable, so everyone was knee deep in mud and the rain teemed down. We were moved to a tented area near the sea where we would spend the night before being shipped a short distance up the coast to a place where we would take the van of the attack. It was a dreadful night. The ground in the tents was covered in tarpaulins and investigation of movement under the tarps revealed a mass of snakes. I remember quite a few of us slept out in the rain. We attacked the Jap by day. Once making contact, we were expected to push at all costs. There was no rest…

"Officers came in to put us in the picture. The Japs were not taking prisoners, therefore we must avoid capture at all costs. ‘Keep the last grenade for yourself,’ they said. We moved to the front and the sight of the Japanese atrocities was unfathomable…our blokes who had been captured…[were] tied to trees…and used for bayonet practice…For many of us that went through those major battles, the hatred persists."

Now a couple of thoughts ensue: 1) War is hell, always. And hell doesn’t admit much affection for those deemed responsible for hell coming through the gates. 2) The resiliency and almost super human qualities of a warrior are born as much by determination and resiliency, as by training. A military’s resiliency and determination can either be buttressed and the bullocks manned by an equally resilient, determined, and supportive civilian population, or said population can undermine the fighting spirit needed for victory.

Undermining the determination and resiliency necessary to win does not lead inevitably to loss, but it does inflict casualties, if for no other reason than it gives stoutness of heart to the enemy, and for this we can thank Senator Reed, Speaker Pelosie, and others such as Representative Murtha.

But rather than digressing there, I would like to leave this post with a quote from Marine Donald Fall:

"I’m not bragging but I think we were the best. Period. Except for maybe the Aussies. If anyone could fight as well as the Corps it was the Aussies. If it was up to me they would have all been inducted into the Marines then and there."

Now if everyone agrees that Free Speech is a wonderful thing, except for sometimes it isn't, just exactly when isn't it? Well, the Soviet regime who had a bunch of mini me soviets ensconced in all public affairs would say, whenever you agree with me and never otherwise.

Senator Clinton, Speaker Pelosi, (is this a remake of Velma and Louise?), Representative Kucinich, taking a page out of the soviet handbook, believe that free speech shouldn't be something with which the American people should be trusted . Free market principals? Free market-place of ideas? Heck no--teleprompters are more trust worthy, when written by them of course.

Aren't they special.

http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/ecfd59a3-ac48-42d7-806e-f668249e6525

Ha, some good news: Icebergs cure global warming. If only we could export icebergs to Mars then it too wouldn't get hot. Oh, yea, it's already bloody cold, but it is getting warmer.

Where was I, oh yes, icebergs cure global warming by making new eco-systems. Is that cool or what? Apparently, plankton like icebergs and they use CO2--stunning, here we are again with supply driving demand. Now does this mean more oxygen for? us? Yes. I believe, just a theory now, that more oxygen will mean clearer thinking, but as of yet I don't have any empirical evidence.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/22/MNGT5QJSP21.DTL&type=science

Not long ago I wrote somewhere that barriers, fences, can make good neighbors, apparently, they improve safety too. (You'll have to click the link--I couldn't imbed it, oh well.)

http://www.ivpressonline.com/content/articles/2007/06/22/news/news01.jpg

It is true that this barrier won't keep out all manner of critters, but as reported by DARREN SIMON (http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/06/22/news/news01.txt):

"The barriers, officials said, are meant to stop...illegal traffic and save lives, and on Wednesday the final barrier — at least until 2008 when another three-mile stretch will be built — was put in place."

And further stating the case:

“'This is important to keep the drugs and bad people out of our country,' said National Guard Specialist Vincent Buotte, a member of the 1058th."

Imagine, making it difficult for your average hard working bad people and drug runners to crash into our backyard.

How dastardly.

****

Due to time constraints I can't regale you with more tidbits and such, but for those who are dieing to know what happened to the wayward whales that for some unforeseen reason felt the need to visit Sacramento, well, I have an old update.

They got hungry and left. And said good riddance to the humans making a nuisance of themselves. But not content, the busy bees, thought to chase them down to make sure they wouldn't make a wrong turn. You would think whales can't find their way around the ocean or something.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_6026312

So it occurred to me that perhaps I should pass along the locations of places I visit. If you look at the links I've listed, you'll see that some are huge and not truly blogs, and certainly not in need of promotion by me, but nonetheless they are places I visit. The bulk of the links are more properly understood as blogs, but some of these are huge themselves, and you probably already know about them, but what the heck, now if you're here you can simply click and go there. And some of the blogs are less well known, like mine, or perhaps bigger, but in any case are worth a visit.

There are many more that I need to add, but I feel like I would be overloading the list, so I'll be adding more in the coming days.

Have fun,

Jon

The Immigration bill, Kennedy McCain, as a question of wise policy has decidedly been rejected, at the very least as currently written. Even those who approve admittedly disapprove of many details and demand amendment.

But when we consider the problems of the bill, what at heart, are we rejecting. We are rejecting the very real threat of lost sovereignty. But say our interlocutors, "come now, isn’t that just a bit hyperbolic?" NO.

12 to 20-million, or more, new residents, citizens, not chosen by us, legally, but self chosen, by them, illegally, means a voting bloc that can shift our nation in a direction that they approve, but a direction not approved by us. By them our self rule is flatly rejected.

But they won’t be able to vote say the pros of the bill. Yes, but they will count in apportionment, and who says they won’t vote. But leaving that aside, apportionment is everything in the House and in the Electoral College.

Further, it denies the sovereignty of the host country that these illegal aliens come from. How? They have left the country of their birth and in doing so have removed themselves from the daily civic life of their land. But they can vote you say. Yes, and a few do. Most don’t, but worse they are not contributing to, and living, the daily effect of their own culture, society, government.

We are told that Mexico has been liberating their economy, and so it has. The last growth rate I found for their economy showed a growth rate of 4.2 percent. Very good. If you look at the Index of Economic Freedom evaluation by The Heritage Foundation you’ll see that Mexico scores well on almost everything except corruption and their judicial system.

http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm

Taking just the issue of corruption: Corruption is a hidden tax and a hidden fee. It locks up capital and freezes labor. It is a great detriment to entrepreneurship. And, it is that last which leads to the greatest growth of the Middle Class. Freed up capital, flowing freely is unpredictable and will accumulate in unsuspected ways which is all too often threatening to the monied elites.

So it is that we are propping up monied elites in Mexico and elsewhere that is afraid of too much free capitol and unpredictable accumulations of wealth. So it is that they reject not only their own sovereignty, but too, our own.

I believe it is not ethical, nor humane, to allow ourselves to be a safety value for the ruling elites of countries that de facto encourage their own citizens to emigrate. They have only their own interests, and not the interests of their own people, at heart.

But as a practical matter I am not, and will not, advocate the removal of our uninvited guests. They are here, and we need to figure out a humane way to deal with them, yet, on the other hand, I am saying that we should not allow ourselves to take on another 12 to 20-million uninvited guests. And without securing the border that will happen to our detriment and to the detriment of the society from which they come.

For the Record: I am for legal immigration, but how much that should be, and what should be the criteria for admittance, would seem to be a discussion our nation should have.

The ingrates next door are making a loud enough racket to wake leviathan himself.

So lying in bed my thoughts turned to Parris Hilton, no not for that reason.

1) Envy and vindictiveness are not two of our more admirable traits. And though not all of MSM and those who watch this mock tragedy are doing so for the above reasons, still, it can’t be denied that those are the reasons this mock tragedy is getting so much play.

2) The same people who salivated over every move Miss Hilton made as Diva are many of the same people showing glee over her travails.

3) Parris’s lewd crude behavior was egged on by MSM, and MSM was egged on by us. Not very flattering for any of us is it. Living vicariously through her, we showed our envy, and condemning her with our vindictiveness we show both our shame at living through her, and we prove our hypocrisy.

4) Whatever Miss Hilton is, dumb ain’t it. You don’t become a mega media star by being dumb. That is you don’t become one and then have the ability to manipulate that stardom over time by being dumb.

5) She gave the public what it wanted. She is a self made reflection of what we paid in our energy, our time, our carbohydrates to gobble up these tawdry moments with the limited time we have here on this earth. If she gave us junk culture then it is a path we made available. That is she saw what media adulates and Miss Hilton provided the content.

6) The judge is less impressive than Miss Hilton. Not an easy thing to do.

7) Thankfully there are those who actually care about Miss Hilton, but then these are the same people who care about all of us. Not from envy, not from vindictiveness do they disapprove of her behavior. Not from hypocrisy do they lecture on the merits of a better lived life, but because a better lived life is a healthier one on all levels, and as always, it is it’s own reward, and as always, that always translates into so much more.

8) I hope that when Miss Hilton is released she does not run to MSM, Hollywood, and the culture mavens for absolution because it is those parasites that fed on her, so we could feed on them, so they could feed on us, so she could feed on them. They abetted her ill behavior in the first place. I would rather she did anything but turn to the liberal mavens of our culture, even enter a Buddhist monastery, anything, but turn to the same people who goaded her ill behavior. Because as surely as my neighbors are ingrates, they’ll just use her again just as they used her before.

I was watching a PBS program that grabbed my attention. It was discussing issues of law and at its opening it began with issues of morality, ethics, and law. At this point, the distinctions were fuzzy. So here are my idle musings.

Morality: deals with metaphysical, transcendent applications of appropriate human behavior--personally answerable weighed and understood, if you well.

Ethics: deals with the above but within a civic context--the cultural setting: Caesar’s thing. Answerable to the culture and society within which one lives.

Law: deals with what is and is not permissible by and within a society where the state is compelling in a very real sense.

Here I thought the abomination of the amnesty bill was dead and gone. To my horror, it turns out, the nasty thing is trying to rise from the grave, and worse, it seems to be morphing.

 

Let me see if I can get this straight. We have a judge who can throw the book at Scooter Libby, and not to be outdone, we have a judge that can throw the book twice at Paris Hilton, but I can't find a judge anywhere that will throw the book at illegal aliens committing crimes?

Is this a great country or what:

Apparently the best way to avoid prosecution is to confess you don't belong here.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5559442,00.html

Wait, there's an update Gov. Ritter (D) Co. signs bill without comment. Is that like one-hand clapping? Gov. Ritter couldn't look? Oh, I see, mortgage fraud was the primary issue on his brain.

http://www.colorado.gov/governor/press/june07/48-bills-signed.html

Clinton judge proves fierce! Defender of illegal aliens? Does it always have to be so typical? Or to put another way how often are citizens ordered to coddle law breakers.

http://www.corruptionchronicles.com/2007/05/_clinton_judge_blocks_law_to_c.html

The story below seems to segue somehow into the Middle East, which makes McCain Kennedy 2.0 (is that like Window's 3.0 only dumber) all the more reassuring.

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/jan/13/judge-sentences-man-helping-illegal-aliens-get-fal/

Uh oh. From the spoke too soon file: Judge throws the book! What's that? Judge throws book, but not at illegal drug runner, but at the border patrol agents who shot a drug runner? How's that?

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52545