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Labels: house project Labels: house project Labels: homosexuality, NAMBLA Labels: Iraqi WMDs Labels: house project Labels: global warming, hypocrisy
Never forget!
I ran for Idaho state senate in 2008--didn't win
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House Project: Air Conditioning Compressor Installed
Not much has happened--apparently our electrician is too busy to get to our house until Wednesday. The good news is that the air conditioning compressor is installed!
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The energy efficiency label indicates that this is the least efficient compressor available.
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I don't think this is particularly a problem, however. I am expecting to need the air conditioning at most a couple weeks a year in summer, so it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of extra money for a high efficiency air conditioning compressor that will only get used occasionally.
Why bother with air conditioning if I am expecting only minimal use? If it gets to 85 or even 90 degrees in the daytime around here, that's only slightly uncomfortable because humidity is very low in summer in Boise. In the daytime, you just open some windows and let the cross-breezes take care of you.
The problem is that if it is 75 degrees at night, I can't sleep. This was a problem when we lived in California--hot days are annoying--hot nights are hopeless.
The gas line is in place for the backup generator.
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The generator is still in the box, however, waiting for the electrician to install it.
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It is really quiet up there. If you have a high speed connection, click here to download some video to hear how quiet.
Last house project entry.
Vermont Constitutions of 1777 and 1786
Vermont, while definitely fighting on the American side, was an independent nation until 1791. More libertarian about religion than a number of the American states (there is no establishment of religion), the constitutions of 1777 and 1786 still reveal an attitude about religion that is completely contrary to the "neutrality between religion and irreligion" claim of the ACLU. Chapter 1, Article III of the 1777 Constitution: III. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship ALMIGHTY GOD, according to the dictates of their own consciences and understanding, regulated by the word of GOD; and that no man ought, or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, or erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any minister, contrary to the dictates of his conscience; nor can any man who professes the protestant religion, be justly deprived or abridged of any civil right, as a citizen, on account of his religious sentiment, or peculiar mode of religious worship, and that no authority can, or ought to be vested in, or assumed by, any power whatsoever, that shall, in any case, interfere with, or in any manner controul, the rights of conscience, in the free exercise of religious worship: nevertheless, every sect or denomination of people ought to observe the Sabbath, or the Lord's day, and keep up, and support, some sort of religious worship, which to them shall seem most agreeable to the revealed will of GOD.
Chapter 1, Article III of the 1786 Constitution is similar, but note the difference at the end: III. That all men have a natural and unalienable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences and understandings, as In their opinion shall be regulated by the word of God; and that no man ought, or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, or erect or support any place of worship, or maintain any minister, contrary to the dictates of his conscience; nor can any man be justly deprived or abridged of any civil right as a citizen, on account of his religious sentiments, or peculiar mode of religious worship; and that no authority can, or ought to be vested in, or assumed by any power whatsoever, that shall in any case interfere with, or in any manner control the rights of conscience, in the free exercise of religious worship: Nevertheless, every sect or denomination of Christians ought to observe the Sabbath or Lord's day, and keep up some sort of religious worship, which to them shall seem most agreeable to the revealed will of God.
It would be a very interesting question as to why the language was made more narrowly Christian in the 1786 Constitution.
South Carolina Constitution of 1778
Another example, in this case, Article III of the South Carolina Constitution of 1778: III. That as soon as may be after the first meeting of the senate and house of representatives, and at every first meeting of the senate and house of representatives thereafter, to be elected by virtue of this constitution, they shall jointly in the house of representatives choose by ballot from among themselves or from the people at large a governor and commander-in-chief, a lieutenant-governor, both to continue for two years, and a privy council, all of the Protestant religion, and till such choice shall be made the former president or governor and commander-in-chief, and vice-president or lieutenant-governor, as the case may be, and privy council, shall continue to act as such.
Article XII defines the qualifications of state senators: [N]o person shall be eligible to a seat in the said senate unless he be of the Protestant religion, and hath attained the age of thirty years, and hath been a resident in this State at least five years.
Article XIII defines the requirements to be an elector for the General Assembly, and to be elected to the General Assembly: The qualification of electors shall be that every free white man, and no other person, who acknowledges the being of a God, and believes in a future state of rewards and punishments, and who has attained to the age of one and twenty years.... No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion, and hath been a resident in this State for three years previous to his election.
Article 38 does establish a religion--but not a particular denomination: XXXVIII. That all persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God, and a future state of rewards and punishments, and that God is publicly to be worshipped, shall be freely tolerated. The Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed, and is hereby constituted and declared to be, the established religion of this State. That all denominations of Christian Protestants in this State, demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully, shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges.
Now, we wouldn't impose such requirements today, or think of granting just Protestants rights that other religions do not have. But to argue that the Framers intended the establishment clause to be read as neutrality between religion and irreligion--the ACLU's position--requires us to assume that the sentiments widely held in the various states all evaporated when the voters sent their representatives to the federal capital.
New Jersey Constitution of 1776
For some time, I've been collecting examples of how the American Revolutionaries regarded the relationship of government and religion. I've been tempted to write a book about this, because it is so completely contrary to the ACLU's ahistorical view of the subject. I've just run into another interesting example, the New Jersey Constitution of 1776. Article 18 guarantees that no one will be required to attend or fund any church: XVIII. That no person shall ever, within this Colony, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping Almighty God in a manner, agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; nor, under any presence whatever, be compelled to attend any place of worship, contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall any person, within this Colony, ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rates, for the purpose of building or repairing any other church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or has deliberately or voluntarily engaged himself to perform.
No surprise. That last language sounds like it might have been intended to protect enforceability of pledges of tithes by a church member--but you would have to have voluntarily made such a contract.
Article 19, while a little clumsily worded, is rather like North Carolina's requirement that officeholders be Protestants: XIX. That there shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this Province, in preference to another; and that no Protestant inhabitant of this Colony shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right, merely on account of his religious principles; but that all persons, professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect. who shall demean themselves peaceably under the government, as hereby established, shall be capable of being elected into any office of profit or trust, or being a member of either branch of the Legislature, and shall fully and freely enjoy every privilege and immunity, enjoyed by others their fellow subjects.
It is interesting to see how this provision clearly prohibits "establishment" but still allows the legislature to impose a requirement that you subscribe to the beliefs "of any Protestant sect." The definition of "establishment" was clearly a bit different from the ACLU's notion.
Even more interesting is that the oath of office specifically addresses these two articles (along with a couple of others): XXIII. That every person, who shall be elected as aforesaid to be a member of the Legislative Council, or House of Assembly, shall, previous to his taking his seat in Council or Assembly, take the following oath or affirmation, viz:
Both the very libertarian--and the very Protestant--sections are specifically protected by the oath of office.
" I, A. B., do solemnly declare, that, as a member of the Legislative Council, [or Assembly, as the case may be,] of the Colony of New-Jersey, I will not assent to any law, vote or proceeding, which shall appear to me injurious to the public welfare of said Colony, nor that shall annul or repeal that part of the third section in the Charter of this Colony, which establishes, that the elections of members of the Legislative Council and Assembly shall be annual; nor that part of the twenty-second section in said Charter, respecting the trial by jury, nor that shall annul, repeal, or alter any part or parts of the eighteenth or nineteenth sections of the same."
Respecting Islam
I am impressed how many leftists I talk to who complain that the U.S. isn't sufficiently respectful to Islam--and say that's why the Islamic world hates us (which, of course, isn't correct, either). So explain this to me, you leftists who think that al-Qaeda enjoys the support it does because we aren't respectful enough to Islam: BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Suicide bombers killed 74 worshippers at two Shiite mosques near the Iranian border Friday, while a pair of car bombs targeting a Baghdad hotel housing Western journalists killed eight Iraqis.
I'm always amazed at how many leftists are prepared to make excuses for al-Qaeda--while calling conservative Christians here "American Taliban." I conclude that it isn't that the left loves terrorists who blow up mosques and force women into burkhas--it is that they hate America even more.
The suicide attackers targeted the Sheik Murad mosque and the Khanaqin Grand Mosque in Khanaqin, 90 miles northeast of Baghdad, as dozens of people were attending Friday prayers, police said. The police command said 74 people were killed and 75 wounded in the largely Kurdish town.
At sunset, dozens of people were still searching the rubble of the three-story Khanaqin Grand Mosque. As the men dug, 12-year-old Sarkhel Akram collected copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, then she kissed them and put them away.
The suicide attacker walked into the mosque and detonated his explosives in the middle of a group of people, said Ali Abdullah.
That al-Qaeda has been reduced to blowing up mosques tells me that they are getting desperate--hardly the time to pull out.
Another French Official Confesses
Instapundit excerpted part of this article about how a French diplomat has confessed to accepting oil allocations for "work" he did for Saddam Hussein's government--but there's more to the article that should be causing some real discomfort for people higher up the chain: The Frenchman, who holds the title "ambassador for life", told authorities that he regretted taking payments amounting to $156,000 (then worth about £108,000) in 2002.
More importantly:
The money was used to renovate a holiday home he owned in southern Morocco. At the time, Mr Mérimée was a special adviser to Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general.
According to yesterday's Le Figaro, he told judge Philippe Courroye during an interview on Oct 12: "I should not have done what I did. I regret it."
But he also said that the payments were made in recompense for work he had done on Iraq's behalf. "All trouble is worth a wage," he is reported to have said.No decisions have been announced about possible criminal charges against Mr Mérimée. He told the judge that he did not declare the income to the tax authorities, according to Le Figaro.
Hmmm. He doesn't declare it as income--works for Kofi Annan--and claims that the French government knew that he was doing this. Does anyone seriously think that the French government's interest in avoiding war with Iraq was anything but the most craven economic interest?
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The ambassador said the French authorities had known of his every move.
France has been gravely embarrassed by oil-for-food allegations against senior figures, including Charles Pasqua, the former interior minister. He has denied receiving any benefit from the oil allocations issued in his name.
Does This Cross The Line Into Treason?
A student at Herndon Community College announced to the faculty that she had arranged for a speaker to come to speak--and the response she received from one the English professors seems to me to cross the line into treason. (It is also profoundly ignorant of history--but why am I not surprised?) November 13, 2005
Dear Rebecca:
I am asking my students to boycott your event. I am also going to ask others to boycott it. Your literature and signs in the entrance lobby look like fascist propaganda and is extremely offensive. Your main poster "Communism killed 100,000,000" is not only untrue, but ignores the fact that CAPITALISM has killed many more and the evidence for that can be seen in the daily news papers. The U.S. government can fly to dominate the people of Iraq in 12 hours, yet it took them five days to assist the people devastated by huricane Katrina. Racism and profits were key to their priorities. Exxon, by the way, made $9 Billion in profits this last quarter--their highest proft margin ever. Thanks to the students of WCCC and other poor and working class people who are recruited to fight and die for EXXON and other corporations who earning megaprofits from their imperialist plunders. If you want to count the number of deaths based on political systems, you can begin with the more than a million children who have died in Iraq from U.S.-imposed sanctions and war. Or the million African American people who died from lack of access to healthcare in the US over the last 10 years.
I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like your won't dare show their face on a college campus. Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors and fight for just causes and for people's needs--such freedom fighters can be counted throughout American history and they certainly will be counted again.
Prof. John Daly
The House Project: Stone Cutters, Thermostat
I went up there Wednesday to deliver another of lighting fixtures, and there were enough trucks up there that I could delude myself that the house might be done soon!
These guys were up to measure the counters for the Silestone:
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Here they are measuring the countertops. 
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My wife and I goofed on our measures of the kitchen--so instead of about $7000 for these beautiful granite-like counters, it is closer to $7800. If that seems like a lot--even the cheap laminate comes to close to $3000 to do everything--and these counters serve a very important purpose. When the time comes to sell the place, the wife of the potential buyer will walk in, see the view, see these absolutely gorgeous counters--and before you know it, she'll be insisting that a million dollars is perfectly reasonable. If you visit the Silestone web site , click on the Amarillo Palmira (that's the kitchen color), the Absolute Green (bathrooms 2 and 3), and the Kona Beige (that's the master bathroom). Three weeks to deliver, cut, and install these tops.
These guys were up to get the cooktop and water heater operational--but there seemed to be some miscommunication with the plumber, who was supposed to install the water heater--and the cooktop hadn't arrived yet.
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As usual, I was hassling my builder about the type of thermostat I wanted--one that would not just be programmable by the day and hour, but one that would know to transition from heater to air conditioning and back again. Our current house has a very sophisticated thermostat that has such a small display that I can't quite read it--and it still requires you to manually select either HEAT or COOL. The idea that the weather might change enough in a day to require automatic change seems a bit much, I guess. But this is Idaho, and that happens!
Anyway, the heating and cooling guy found a thermostat that does this automatic switchover, and has a nice big display.
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It occurred me that since this replaced an antiquity from the 1950s, I should go ahead and program it to drop down to 45 degrees at night, and not warm up until about 10:00 AM, when the workers arrive. My builder tells me that even if it below freezing outside, the heater only takes about 15 minutes to get the whole house toasty--even with a lot of doorknob holes still letting in the cold.
Adding to the complexity of all this was that we hadn't considered (or at least, hadn't communicated) to the vendor of sinks that we would want undermounted sinks. This adds some cost, of course, but it also meant that our sink vendor would be at least four weeks getting us the sinks we needed--in the color Bone. Much excitement, many calls, but the plumber seems to have found a more immediate source.
I really want to get this done--both for reasons of locking in interest rates, and because I want to move Big Bertha up there for deep sky observing. It has been so crisp, cold, and clear these last few nights--and Big Bertha a place where she can go for the deep sky objects.
Last house project entry.
"Boogie to Baghdad"
It is now a matter of conventional wisdom that there was no connection between Osama bin Laden and the Iraqi government. So I was startled to find this reporter mentioning concerns from someone in the Clinton Administration about Hussein giving bin Laden a place to hide on page 134 of the 9/11 Commission report: Clarke was nervous about such a mission because he continued to fear that Bin Ladin might leave fro someplace less accessible. He wrote Deputy National Security Advisor Donald Kerrick that one reliable source reported Bin Ladin's having met with Iraqi officials, who "may have offered him asylum." Other intelligence sources said that some Taliban leaders, though not Mullah Omar, had urged Bin Ladin to go to Iraq. If Bin Ladin actually moved to Iraq, wrote Clarke, his network would be at Saddam Hussein's service, and it would be "virtually impossible" to find him. Better to get Bin Ladin in Afghanistan, Clarke declared. Berge suggested sending one U-2 flight, but Clarke opposed even this. It would require Pakistani approval, he wrote; and "Pak[istan's] intel[ligence service] is in bed with" Bin Ladin and would him that the United States was getting ready for a bombing campaign: "Armed with that knowledge, old wily Usama will likely boogie to Baghdad."
Now, maybe Richard Clarke (hero to the left a year or so ago) and his sources were wrong about this. Are you still confident that Bush's concerns about a Bin Laden/Hussein alliance or working arrangement were completely bogus?
The Curious Relationship of Homosexual Activists & Child Molestation
I get lots of flak from Professor Volokh for pointing these matters out (it doesn't fit this beautiful intellectual model that he has)--but when someone who is libertarian, such as Cathy Seipp points out stuff like this, you have to wonder: What elephant in the bathtub? Seipp mentioned a Wall Street Journal article that she wrote about how California Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-SF) voted against a bill that would have allowed landlords to refuse to rent to registered sex offenders--and this wasn't the only action Leno and other liberals in the California legislature took to protect pedophiles: Like many who consider worries about pedophiles overblown, Mr. Leno pointed out that most such offenses are from people the victim knows. True. Such concern would seem more sincere, however, if Mr. Leno hadn't been the only Public Safety Committee member to vote against a bill closing loopholes in the treatment of incestuous child molesters.
Seipp went on to explain on her blog:
...
Mr. Monroe was one of those who testified in favor of AB 438 to the Public Safety Committee. "It was shocking," he recalls. Mr. Leno "basically said the gay community has had to fight for its rights for so long, he didn't want to put sex offenders through the same thing." Mr. Leno doesn't remember it that way. "I would not have proactively brought up the gay community and sex offenders. I'll be gracious and say there's been a misunderstanding."There wasn't room for this in the Journal piece, but among Mark Leno's other worries are that since San Francisco is such a geographically small city, keeping sex offenders a mile-and-a-half away from schools would force them out of the area....
Hello? Is anyone else seeing a pattern here?
He also once called a San Francisco police sting against Internet sex predators "mean-spirited" and "a waste of tax-payers' money." What, I wondered, does Leno consider a good use of taxpayers' money? Well, besides gay marriage, his projects have included hosting self-esteem conferences for young men, making sure the transgendered aren't denied medical insurance, and fighting anti-porn filters in public libraries.
More On The Fields Decision
Professor Volokh is discussing the recent 9th Circuit decision Fields v. Palmdale School District. I agreed at the time that as much as I didn't like the result, I believe that Judge Reinhardt's decision was correct.
Where I don't agree with Professor Volokh is in seeing something wrong with the House of Representatives passing a resolution 320-91 asking the 9th Circuit to hold an en banc hearing to reverse that decision. There is nothing illegitimate about Congress (who does, after all, write the laws that the courts are supposed to be applying), letting the judicial branch know, "Hey, we think you made a mistake." The House isn't threatening to stop Reinhardt's paycheck, or send him to the dungeon for his decision.
What's interesting is to see Professor Volokh's unwillingness to see that Reinhardt's sudden discovery of judicial restraint is dishonest: I also realize that many people are particularly peeved because the panel decision was written by the liberal Judge Reinhardt, who they suspect would be happy to make up other more liberal-seeming constitutional rights that he liked better than this sort of broad parental right to control what the school says to your children. I'm always troubled by these sorts of hypothetical-based charges of inconsistency — that Judge Reinhardt is willing to recognize some ambitious constitutional claims doesn't obligate him to recognize all ambitious constitutional claims; he might well have a perfectly good explanation for why this claimed right is different from other claimed rights.
Yes, it is true: it is better for Reinhardt to sometimes get this right than to always get it wrong. What a lot of Americans are becoming tired of, however, is the way in which judges like Reinhardt use no consistent strategy for deciding cases, other than getting the results that they want.
The Constitution certainly provides some guarantees of individual rights. I am not particularly interested in living in an unlimited democracy--the masses sometimes make mistakes, and sometimes very serious mistakes. Increasingly, however, judges are arbitrarily deciding which cases involve fundamental human rights (and therefore the majority does not rule) and which do not (the majority can do as it wishes) based primarily on the results that the judges want to see. With a choice like this, I'll take my chances with unlimited democracy.
The entire notion of a Constitutionally-limited republic is in danger of being discredited by judges like Reinhardt--who would certainly have ruled the other way if the Palmdale School District had taught elementary school kids that homosexuality was a bad thing, or asked kids, "So, do Mommy or Daddy ever smoke marijuana?" Let's stop the pretense that liberal support for this decision is because of concern about preserving the integrity of the judicial process. The reason is that Reinhardt's decision creates the correct precedent for public schools to run propaganda campaigns for homosexuality and promiscuity--issues of paramount importance to the left.
Coming Home: Idaho National Guardsmen Arriving Home This Evening
It is said that to take a great photograph, you need to take a lot of pictures--and throw nearly all of them away. I guess that I haven't taken enough pictures yet, and none of these are great, but these show something very powerful: the homecoming of a company of Idaho National Guardsmen at Gowen Field this evening. We went to greet them--in particular the son of a member of my wife's band. Some of the pictures, as a result of not enough light and too aggressive image processing on my part, may have changed the race of a few participants! Big deal! The only color that matters is Army Green!
There's nothing that I can add to these pictures of sons and daughter, wives and husbands, mothers and fathers returning to their families and friends. It was hard not to start crying as we shared their joy.
Booking a Cruise on the Titanic
That's the only way that I can describe these statements by Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League: Warning that the Evangelical right has made alarming gains in social and political influence, a leading Jewish church-state watchdog is calling for a tougher and more unified Jewish response.
Pandering? Excuse me, but if "Democrats and Republicans alike" are pandering to us, what would they have to be doing for Foxman to call it insults? Foxman's concern is that large majorities of evangelical Christians perceive that the society is rapidly becoming hostile to our values:
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, speaking to the group’s national leadership here last week, signaled a sharp shift in ADL policy by directly attacking several prominent religious right groups and challenging their motives, which he said include nothing less than “Christianizing America.”
Among the groups he cited were the powerful Focus on the Family ministry and the Family Research Council.
Foxman said as these groups seek to use the government to further their missionizing goal, Democrats and Republicans alike are “pandering” to the religious conservatives. But even more threatening, Foxman said, is how the views of many of the most strident Evangelical leaders have started to pervade American society, which he said will be revealed in a forthcoming ADL poll.
This isn't at all hard to square. As the courts and the entertainment industry work hard to marginalize Christianity, evangelical Christians invest time and energy into gaining political influence. Perhaps if Foxman's friends in the ACLU and Hollywood spent a bit less time marginalizing Christianity (which is, after all, the majority religion in the U.S.), there would be less need to gain political power.
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According to the survey, 70 percent of weekly churchgoers and 76 percent of self-described Evangelicals agreed that “Christianity is under attack” in this country — a conclusion that is hard to square with their growing influence in Congress, the White House and the courts, he said.
What is just astonishing is how clueless Foxman seems to be: Traditional support for strong church-state separation, he warned, is withering under the assault. Politicians in both parties, eager to appease the religious conservatives or at least not open themselves up to charges of being anti-religion, are adding to the problem.
Perhaps you start asking why even politicians who are fairly liberal on social issues are headed this direction--and ask if perhaps the evangelical concerns might have some merit to them.
“When you have [Democrat Sen. Joseph] Lieberman and [Republican Sen. Norm] Coleman on the same page on the religion issue, and the fact that Senator [Hillary] Clinton is moving toward the center on these issues, where do you go then?” he asked.
The good news is that Foxman's concerns don't seem to be resonating in other parts of the Jewish community: Rabbi Korn said Israel and the growing Evangelical support for the Jewish state at a time when “mainline” Protestant groups are increasingly hostile “should be very much a factor” in shaping Jewish-Evangelical relations.
One problem that I have with the ADL is that it seems to be more a part of the liberal coalition than particularly concerned about protecting Jews. Religious Jews actually have more in common with evangelical Christians on most of the questions related to the establishment clause; you won't find any interest in seeing the government funding or giving preference to particular Christian denominations. At most, we have a desire that the government be allowed (by majority vote) to express a preference for religion over irreligion. I can see why secular Jews might have a problem with this, but this is really a question about religion vs. irreligion, not Christians hostile to Jews.
He conceded that “Jews have always fared badly in systems where religion is allied with the government. But I just don’t see that there is a serious move to do that in this country. I’m not frightened by the issue of whether the Ten Commandments should be in public buildings.”
The Nova Program On Isaac Newton
I caught about half hour of the PBS Nova program, "Newton's Dark Secrets" last night. I was pleased with how much they correctly identified Newton as one of the most important scientists of the millennium, and did a decent job of explaining some of Newton's revolutionary ideas without excesses of math, which tends to drive off the liberals arts crowd, who need to know more about why Newton matters.
I was even more pleased that they discussed, at considerable length, Newton's interest in theology. In particular, several historians of science and biographers of Newton made the point that to Newton, science and theology were not separate fields, but both part of the pursuit of truth--and that he wrote at great length of theology. You can read quite a bit of Newton's thoughts on theology, here.
While Newton was in some ways rather unorthodox--and had to keep his disapproval of Trinitarian doctrine a secret at the time--in other respects, he is a lot closer to the majority of Americans today than many of those who worship at the Holy Shrine of Science: In matters of religion the first & great Commandment hath always been: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart & with all thy soul & with all thy mind. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self. On these two hang all the Law & the Prophets. Matth. 22.27. And the Gospel is that Iesus is the Christ. Whoever beleiveth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God, & every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Iohn 5.1.
Like many Protestants then and now, Newton was quite focused (I would say, overly focused) on determining the date of the Second Coming of Christ. According to the program on PBS, he apparently thought that the year would be 2060.
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Repentance & remission of sins relate to transgressions against the two first commandments. We are to forsake the Devil, that is, all fals Gods & all manner of idolatry, this being a breach of the first & great commandment. And we are to forsake the flesh & the world, or as the Apostle Iohn expresseth it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, & the pride of life, that is, unchastity, covetousness pride & ambition; these things being a breach of the second of the two great commandments. And we are to beleive in one God, the father, almighty in dominion, the maker of heaven & earth & of all things therein; & in one Lord Iesus Christ the son of God, who was born of a Virgn, & sacrificed for us on the cross, & the third day rose again from the dead, & ascended into heaven, & sitteth on the right hand of God in a mystical sense, being next unto him in honour & power, & who shall come again to judge the quick & the dead raised again to life, & who sent the Holy Ghost to comfort his disciples & assist them in preaching the Gospel.
HPV, Mouth Cancer, & Oral Sex
Interesting news article about a correlation between these three items: Certain cases of mouth cancer appear to be caused by a virus that can be contracted during oral sex, media reported, quoting a new Swedish study.
Actually, I think the correct statement is that you should avoid promiscuity, and ditto for your partner, thus reducing the risk of exposure to HPV. Two virgins who get married can have all the sex they want without much risk. (Obviously, sharing dirty needles complicates this matter a bit.)
People who contract a high-risk variety of the human papilloma virus, HPV, during oral sex are more likely to fall ill with mouth cancer, according to a study conducted at the Malmo University Faculty of Odontology in southern Sweden.
"You should avoid having oral sex," dentist and researcher Kerstin Rosenquist, who headed the study, told Swedish news agency TT.
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Comparing 132 patients with mouth cancer with a control group of 320 healthy people, Rosenquist found that 36 percent of the cancer patients were carriers of HPV while only one percent of the control group had the virus.
The main factors that contribute to mouth cancer, most commonly contracted by middle aged and older men, are smoking and drinking alcohol, scientists agree.
Unemployment Rate
Do you notice how the Democrats used to screech about the unemployment rate, blaming it on Bush (even though the unemployment rate was already rising when Bush came into office)? The October rate was 5.0 per cent--a level that Democrats used to crow about when Clinton was President.
In fact, a 5.0 per cent unemployment rate is probably too low. There's a certain level of "frictional" unemployment that is both expected and necessary in an economy as workers quit jobs, or get fired, and take a few days to a few weeks to find a new job.
One of the factors delaying the completion of my house is a shortage of workers. My builder is having a heck of a time getting construction workers--especially in the skilled trades--to do the finish work. Not surprisingly, this shortage of unemployed workers starts to cause demand-pull inflation of wages, as existing workers demand higher wages to change positions.
Wow! The White House Is Fighting Back!
No more curling into a fetal position and letting the left beat them to a pulp about Iraq! This press release quotes a number of "misstatements" by the New York Times on this issue, and quotes from many of the same reports that I have read to demonstrate that their claims are nonsense. Here's a sampling: The New York Times Editorial Says Foreign Intelligence Services Did Not Support American Intelligence. "Foreign intelligence services did not have full access to American intelligence. But some had dissenting opinions that were ignored or not shown to top American officials." (Editorial, "Decoding Mr. Bush's Denials," The New York Times, 11/15/05)
By the way, if you want a detailed list of my blog entries on this subject over the last couple of years:
But Even Foreign Governments That Opposed The Removal Of Saddam Hussein Judged That Iraq Had Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WMD).
Iraqi Government Preserving WMD Capabilities
Iraqi Survey Group summary discussion of Iraqi plans to revive WMD programs.
UN inspectors upset that the production equipment for the WMDs had been moved.
The WMD production facilities were looted at the outset of the war--perhaps destroying evidence that would have confirmed that the product capabilities (if not large quantities of chemical weapons) were actually present.
How The Various Intelligence Services Got Snookered
Evidence that the Iraqi government lied to its own generals about having WMDs, as part of an effort to keep neighboring countries afraid.
Iraq's weapons program chief explains why they deceived everyone about maintaining WMD programs--and the Butler Report explains how western intelligence agencies screwed up.
More about the Butler Report and intelligence screw-ups.
WMDs Actually Discovered (In Small Quantities)
The discovery of mustard gas and sarin chemical weapons in Iraq.
The Polish Army buys sarin nerve agents weapons in Iraq.
Did Iraq's chemical weapons get shipped to Syria before the war for use by al-Qaeda in the planned attack on Amman? Curious coincidences.
Niger, Yellowcake, & Joe Wilson, Liar
Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that Joe Wilson's claims were false, and that the claims about Iraqi attempts to purchase uranium in Niger were strengthened by his work.
The Butler Report confirms that the yellowcake Niger reports were apparently accurate.
CIA Engaged in Partisan Politics To Cover Its Mistakes
The CIA allows an employee to publish a book anonymously.
WMDs Weren't The Only Reason We Went To War
Senator Boxer's short and flawed memory.
Pre-Kindergarten Programs
The crowd that thinks of themselves as progressive and enlightened, compared to their neighbors here in Idaho, is all twitterpated because Idaho doesn't fund a preschool program like more enlightened states. The Idaho Statesman ran an article today discussing the controversy, and how some recent studies seem to undercut the argument for making such programs universal: State support for early education programs is increasing nationwide, even as data from University of California Berkeley and Stanford question the benefits of pre-K.
Now, Doggett works for a pre-K advocacy group in Washington, DC, called, predictably enough, Pre-K Now.
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[L]ate last month, researchers from UC Berkeley and Stanford released a report that raises questions about pre-K — showing that programs have the greatest positive effect on the academic abilities of students from less-affluent homes.
The same report concluded that children cared for at home show more advanced social and emotional development than children in pre-K programs.
Doggett called the study “interesting,” but criticized it.
“What it does make clear is that neither its authors, nor many parents, have a full understanding of what exactly a high-quality pre-Kindergarten program looks like,” said Doggett. “The report’s findings clearly indicate that low-income children make the biggest gains in a quality pre-K system.”
Doggett said that middle-income families still need access to high-quality programs for their children. ”Quality pre-K can no longer be considered a luxury for wealthy families or a targeted program for low income families ...”
The press release on this study, "The Influence of Preschool Centers on Children's Development Nationwide: How Much Is Too Much?" reports: While middle-class children benefit modestly from preschool, youngsters from poor families experience two times the gains in early language and mathematics learning, according to a new study of more than 14,000 kindergartners nationwide.
I don't find any of this to be a great surprise.
...
Most surprising, according to the researchers based at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University, is that the social skills of white, middle-class children suffer- in terms of cooperation, sharing and engagement in classroom tasks - after attending preschool centers for more than six hours a day, compared to similar children who remain at home with a parent prior to starting school.
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"The biggest eye-opener is that the suppression of social and emotional development, stemming from long hours in preschool, is felt most strongly by children from better-off families," said UC Berkeley sociologist and co-author Bruce Fuller.
Why do poor kids get most of the educational advantage, and middle class kids get very little gain? Poor kids going into preschool are moving from an environment where adults have a limited education and probably less enthusiasm for education (that's why they are poor) into a setting where adults are at least college graduates and are enthusiastic about education (that's why they work as preschool teachers).
Middle class and above kids don't get much of a gain from preschool because they are moving from a setting with generally well-educated adults into a preschool with more well-educated adults. I suspect that the average middle class parent has only two or three years of college, which is a bit less than the average preschool teacher. Still, the advantage of smaller "class size" at home almost certainly overwhelms the small educational gap between parents and preschool teachers.
That "the social skills of white, middle-class children suffer- in terms of cooperation, sharing and engagement in classroom tasks" is also not surprising. They are moving from a home, where the typical child to adult ratio is 1:2 or 1:3 to a preschool where the ratio is more often 1:6, 1:10--or even worse. An adult-dominated environment will encourage maturing, cooperating, and behaving more than a child-dominated setting.
That Idaho Statesman article also contained two quotes from locals that really captures the inability of the two sides of this debate to communicate effectively: Some parents, like Katie Baker of Meridian, feel early-childhood education belongs in the home.
Pretty obviously, someone like Katie Baker sees early-childhood education as too important to leave to the government.
“What mother would leave her child’s education and upbringing at the delicate age of a toddler to a stranger, ‘the state’?” Baker asked. Other parents, like Tari York, who lives in Boise, was surprised at the polarized opinions about pre-K.
Tari York seems to think that opposition to pre-K programs is the same as "opposition to early learning." She also seems to think that the average child staying at home with a parent is going to watch TV all day--and parents aren't going to do anything to prevent it.
“I had no idea there was so much opposition to early learning. To say that children between the ages of 3 and 5 are better off staying at home with a parent is absurd. What do most young children like to do all day? Watch TV. We have seen study after study of the ill effects television has on a young child and it has been linked to anything from obesity to Attention Deficit Disorder.”
I'm just guessing here, but something tells me that Tari York's notion of the average parent is dramatically different from Katie Baker's notion. My experience is that there are parents in both categories. There are a distressing number of mothers who spend the day watching television, and don't much care if the kids spend all day in front of the idiot box. My experience suggests that a more common stay-at-home mom is like my wife was with our kids: she spent most of the day reading to our kids, teaching them to read, doing art projects, and in general, stimulating their little brains.
I think there is a case for preschool programs--but the goal should be to help poor kids move beyond the limitations of their parents. Middle class kids don't need preschool programs--except as a way for working mothers to get past their feelings of guilt, and for liberals to pretend that the problems of the underclass are generally shared.
I used to tell people that my kids were in the ultimate daycare center: a one adult to two children ratio; an adult who cared more passionately about protecting those children, and educating them, than any other adult on this planet; and it didn't cost anything (except for my wife not being able to bring in a paycheck). For most kids, this is still the ultimate daycare center and preschool. There's no need to treat every family like a ghetto dweller, if the goal is to educationally enrich poor kids.
Communication Difficulties
The Daily Spork recounts her recent experiences attempting to mail a package at the Post Office, with a clerk who did not understand English, and barely spoke any. This might be acceptable in a country where most people don't speak English (and come to think of it, The Daily Spork does live in Los Angeles), but not in the United States!
If someone has a limited grasp of English, there might still be a job for them with the Post Office. Perhaps, even, sitting in an office where this person could communicate by phone with customers who walk into local post offices and do not speak English. But putting them at the counter makes no sense! I fear that someone, somewhere, thinks that it is some form of discrimination based on national origins to expect counter help to speak and understand English.
One of the last little disappointments before we left California was when a friend of the family took my son over to Baskin-Robbins. My son wanted a banana shake. The person behind the counter did not understand English, apparently. The first attempt was a mashed banana shaken in milk. It took about three tries before this person figured out that a banana shake involved ice cream!
The House Project: When Am I Allowed My Nervous Breakdown?
Because it has taken so long to get to the point where we are ready to put countertops on the kitchen cabinets and vanities--we had to start all over on the decision process about the countertops. Since we started over, we made an entirely new set of selections--but run through the following complexities:
1. We decided that the Silestone cultured granite stuff looked so cool, and it wasn't much more expensive than the Corian ($60 per square foot instead of $43 per square foot).
2. The kitchen and the master bath get the Silestone; we'll use Corian in the other two bathrooms, because it is a bit cheaper.
3. My wife decides to use Silestone in the other two bathrooms--$17 per square foot difference when you only have about eight square foot total isn't that much money.
4. We forgot about the utility sink in the laundry room. Okay. We'll Corian that.
5. Nope. That's below the minimum order for Corian. So we'll use Corian in bathroom three.
6. What's the size of the counters? The builder has clearly the wrong dimensions for the master bath vanities, so we drive up there to remeasure everything.
7. Gee, if we are getting Corian, we can get the sink and the countertop as a single unit. Won't that be cool? Besides, undermounting the sinks we had specified over at Consolidated adds $195 to the cost of the Corian, and the Corian sink included is about $305--so it comes out about the same or cheaper to go for the Corian sink as part of the countertop.
8. But there's no utility sink or even close to that size in Corian.
9. I call the builder from Home Depot, and tell him what we are planning. Then he reminds me that the utility sink is so large that there isn't going to be much of a Corian countertop around it--why not just go for cheap laminate around it, and save the $498 that we would be spending for the Corian countertop and undermounting of the sink? Great idea! Now go back and revisit item #5 above.
I think, if I can ever get hold of my wife on the phone, we're going to do Silestone everywhere now. What we save on the utility sink will be more than the extra cost of doing the third bathroom in Silestone instead of Corian, and keeps a consistent and very sharp looking interior design.
Of course, it is three weeks to get the Silestone ordered up--and of course, that holds up not just the countertops, but also installation of the sinks that undermount the counters. Groan.
I've learned so much from this project. And I hope that I don't have to use that knowledge again!
Tinfoil Hats
It is not at all uncommon for schizophrenics to both have extraordinarily keen senses, and to hear, smell, or see things that aren't there. This is one of the reasons that when LSD first appeared, scientists spent a lot of time studying how it worked--because an acid trip, at first examination, had some similarity to schizophrenia.
For some schizophrenics, this appears as hallucinations (as the film A Beautiful Mind so powerfully depicts). In some cases, schizophrenics hear voices that the rest of us do not.
Schizophrenics may also hear something different from the rest of us. As my brother's descent into madness begin, one of the clues of this that we did not recognize was that he kept changing radio stations. He did it so often that it was obviously bizarre, and he would give rather odd explanations for why he was doing so. This station changing behavior often indicates that the schizophrenic believes that the stations are talking about him.
Most people are aware that some small number of mentally ill people wear aluminum foil inside of their hats. This is often an indication of schizophrenia. A few may identify that this is a method to keep out the voices, or insist that there are messages being beamed into their heads by the government.
Anyway, this purports to be a paper examining the effectiveness of aluminum foil hat lining for stopping radio transmissions. It is amusing, in a sad way, because for some people, this isn't a joke, but a tragedy.
This Is So Sonoma County
But it actually took place in Colorado. I guess anywhere that being a "cool Mom" takes precedence over being a parent this will be a problem: GOLDEN - An Arvada mother tearfully apologized Monday and was sentenced to 30 years in prison for hosting sex-and-alcohol parties for teenagers.
Well, a 41-year-old guy who had sex with teenaged girls would be heading to the slammer, too. There's no double standard now.
Silvia Johnson, 41, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of sexual assault, and nine counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Prosecutors said between 2003 and 2004, Johnson held 15 to 20 parties at her home and gave teens alcohol, marijuana and methamphetamines. She also confessed to having sex with two of the teenage boys.
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In a taped police interview, Johnson admitted inviting underage students to her home for the parties because she wanted her daughter's friends to think of her as a "the cool mom."
In the interview released to the media, Johnson says, "I fell in love with being a part of the group in a way.
"Because that was never something (inaudible), never something I was a part of growing up. I was never in the popular group."
Johnson also said in that interview that she resented what she described as a double standard for men and women. "I think what I always had a hard time with is guys who do it are considered studs," she said. "A girl does it, she's considered a slut."
Finally! The Republican Party Is Fighting Back!
With this video, consisting of prominent Democrats, such as President Clinton, Sandy Berger, Senator Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid talking about the danger that the Iraqi government represents to the U.S., and why we can't wait until the threat is imminent. (Yes, this is old video.)
If they keep this up--you know, trying to win, instead of trying to lose--I might start contributing money to the RNC again.
A Question For Spammers
Why does someone using the email name "Psychic Reminder" need to spam me? Can't such a person spam me telepathically?
I Guess I Have To Buy State of Fear
Laurie David, limousine liberal environmental activist who criticizes the masses for buying SUVs--but flies around in a private jet--and is now accused of environmental despoilation on Martha's Vineyard--is attacking Michael Crichton for writing State of Fear.
Gee, Maybe Bush Intends To Fight Back
Instapundit points to this White House press release pointing out that the Washington Post's coverage of the dispute over pre-war intelligence is somewhat deficient.
Instapundit asks, I wonder if they're going to start doing this sort of thing daily? It would be smart.
It would be very smart. The left has been winning largely because Bush hasn't been trying. I wonder if Karl Rove has been too distracted by other matters to keep his eye on the ball.
Another New Blog That You Might Not Be Expecting
The Camp Katrina blog: news analysis, political commentary, movie reviews and posts about our military's humanitarian side.
This is the work of Spc. Phil Van Treuren, Ohio Army National Guard and some friends, recently returned from Katrina relief. The only irritation is that one of the guest bloggers: Every Monday, guest blogger Jake Moses offers views from the left in a post on the normally conservative Camp Katrina.
Jake is apparently a friend of Phil, and so gets a chance to provide left-wing "equal time." This is silly--the left has control of three of the four television networks, and effectively all major daily newspapers. They need more chance to propagandize us?
One of the postings is about how Starbucks is working on what is effectively a chance to recruit workers out of the high schools--while many urban high schools are telling the military that they aren't welcome: Spc. Van Treuren is a coffee-loving conservative, but this is ridiculousness in its rawest and most unabashed form, Katrina Campers. While recruiters are being marched out the back doors of our nation's institutions of learning, the baristas are marching in through the front.
Someday soon, our nation may not be able to defend itself . . . but at least it will be able to make a mean cup of Joe.
My Daughter's Blog
Bug's Blog: The Life of a Frazzled College Student.
In case you are wondering why it is "Bug's Blog": her nickname when she was little was Hilabug. Before Hilary was born, we had some neighbors, Cliff and Tami. Cliff would call their little toddler, "bug butt." I don't quite remember why, but a year or two later when we had Hilary, my wife started to call her Hilabug.
