The advertising above is just a source of revenue, and sometimes, I don't know what will appear there.
Unique grips and accessories for your 1911!
Relocating to Boise? Use my realtor, neighbor, and friend, Cindy Smith csmith@1realtyone.com.
Magazines for cheap!
PayPal members: to make a contribution
Email me at blogmail at claytoncramer dot com. Sorry to be so indirect, but all spambots must die! But they haven't died yet! Include the word spamIamnot in your subject line to make sure that my spam blocker lets you through.
Labels: homosexuality Labels: global warming Labels: child sexual abuse Labels: abortion Labels: house project
Never forget!
I ran for Idaho state senate in 2008--didn't win
I've written a number of history books, as well as scholarly and popular articles, (see my web page).
Sorry, high pressure isn't included.
My nephew Shippy makes very pretty ceramic items. Click here to visit his online studio. Give someone one of these, and you can be sure that they don't already have one!
Click here to find out why the Amazon.com Honor System paybox is no longer here.
RSS feed
Other blogs you may enjoy:
My civilian gun defense use blog
My daughter's blog
Pete Drum's Web Page
Gun Laws Don't Work
instapundit.com
Dissecting Leftism -- By John Ray
A courageous Briton arguing for relaxing Britain's gun control laws
Right Thoughts
Final Protective Fire
Amitai Etzioni's Blog
Scrappleface -- Dangerously Clever Satire
Michael Williams -- Master of None
Another Conservative Blogger
A Group Blog By Iraqis
THE MESOPOTAMIAN: TO BRING ONE MORE IRAQI VOICE OF THE SILENT MAJORITY TO THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD
Specializing in discussions of discrimination and affirmative action
An Iraqi dentist
Promoting children being raised by their own parents
A federal law clerk opines about the law
Michelle Malkin's blog
Impearls: a blog as electic and interesting as mine
Proving that the United States military does more than kill people and break things.
May not agree with this group on everything, but stopping the ACLU is high on my list
A conservative/moderate black blogger.
Another sensible American
Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party
Music, Politics, Motorcycles
Maggie's Farm: Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
A blog dedicated to "Documenting Saddam Hussein's support of Terrorism"
The blog of one of my fellow bloggers on the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog
J. Norman Heath's Blog--a circus rigger and Second Amendment scholar (really!)
Buckeye Firearms Association, for you Ohio gun owners and activists
Click here for a FREE NEWSLETTER on Ohio Gun Rights from Buckeye Firearms Association!
Another conservative.
Neocon Blues
Conservative Oasis
Other Idaho Bloggers
Bubbleheads is a retired submariner
An Idaho State University student. A Democrat. Someday, she'll start paying income taxes and change.
A retired Las Vegas stagehand, of all things.
archives
Search only this site: Click here and enter your search string at the beginning of the search field.
Sophistry & Law Professors Go Together Like Milk & Cookies
My favorite example is Professor Dale Carpenter over at Volokh Conspiracy, who is arguing that conservatives should oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment that is now before Congress: Fourth, the amendment as proposed is constitutional overkill that reaches well beyond the stated concerns of its proponents, foreclosing not just courts but also state legislatures from recognizing same-sex marriages and perhaps other forms of legal support for same-sex relationships. Whatever one thinks of same-sex marriage as a matter of policy, no person who cares about our Constitution and public policy should support this unnecessary, radical, unprecedented, and overly broad departure from the nation's traditions and history.
This would be a strong and persuasive argument against an FMA that prohibited the state legislatures from defining marriage except that:
1. Loving v. Virginia (1967) (which struck down Virginia's ban on interracial marriage) has already taken this "radical, unprecedented, and overly broad departure from the nation's traditions and history." Unless Professor Carpenter is prepared to condemn Loving's interference in state sovereignty, he's just engaging in sophistry to prevent Congress from stopping the puppets in black from imposing same-sex marriage.
2. Lawrence v. Texas (2003) is also a "radical, unprecedented, and overly broad departure from the nation's traditions and history," (and based on false history) and much more so than Loving. Unlike the Virginia statute banning interracial marriage, which is relatively recent, and was never universal, same-sex marriage has never been recognized. Professor Carpenter isn't going to buy this argument for why states should be allowed to criminalize sodomy, so it is just special pleading to argue that the state legislatures should be free to legalize same-sex marriage.
I would prefer an amendment that simply declares that no state would be required to recognize marriages other than "one man, one woman." I agree that the proposed FMA probably goes too far. On the other hand, if homosexuals had been a little less willing to use their puppets in black, this whole issue wouldn't be happening right now. Overreach, and look where it gets you.
Global Warming: Can't Blame This One On Man
Mostly because it happened 55 million years ago, way before evil capitalism and evil mankind appeared: First-of-its-kind core samples dug up from deep beneath the Arctic Ocean floor show that 55 million years ago an area near the North Pole was practically a subtropical paradise, three new studies show.
Now, of course, the article is required to turn this example of how Earth sometimes gets warmer without any human intervention into an argument that the current much milder warming is somehow a call to action:
The scientists say their findings are a glimpse backward into a much warmer-than-thought polar region heated by run-amok greenhouse gases that came about naturally.
...
Millions of years ago the Earth experienced an extended period of natural global warming. But around 55 million years ago there was a sudden supercharged spike of carbon dioxide that accelerated the greenhouse effect.
Scientists already knew this "thermal event" happened but are not sure what caused it. Perhaps massive releases of methane from the ocean, the continent-sized burning of trees, lots of volcanic eruptions.
Many experts figured that while the rest of the world got really hot, the polar regions were still comfortably cooler, maybe about 52 degrees Fahrenheit.
But the new research found the polar average was closer to 74 degrees. So instead of Boston-like weather year-round, the Arctic was more like Miami North. Way north.
"It's the first time we've looked at the Arctic, and man, it was a big surprise to us," said study co-author Kathryn Moran, an oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island. "It's a new look to how the Earth can respond to these peaks in carbon dioxide."Skeptics of man-made causes of global warming have nothing to rejoice over, however. The researchers say their studies appearing in Thursday's issue of Nature also offer a peek at just how bad conditions can get.
Oh yeah, I'm expecting those giant mosquitoes to evolve from the current species in the next couple hundred years.
"It probably was (a tropical paradise) but the mosquitoes were probably the size of your head," said Yale geology professor Mark Pagani, a study co-author.What's troubling is that this hints that future projections for warming, several degrees over the next century, may be on the low end, said study lead author Appy Sluijs of the Institute of Environmental Biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Yup. And rather than assume that the warming is entirely--or even primarily anthropogenic (man-caused)--perhaps we should be looking more seriously at figuring out how much of this is solar variation induced?
Also it shows that what happened 55 million years ago was proof that too much carbon dioxide - more than four times current levels - can cause global warming, said another co-author Henk Brinkhuis at Utrecht University.
Purdue University atmospheric sciences professor Gabriel Bowen, who was not part of the team, praised the work and said it showed that "there are tipping points in our (climate) system that can throw us to these conditions."
Setting Speed Limits Appropriate to Conditions
I am pleased to point to this account of how Texas has raised the speed limit on some stretches of Interstate out in the vast empty regions of West Texas to 80 mph--recognizing that high speeds aren't necessarily dangerous on good roads. It brings back some memories....
One of the great idiot stunts from President Richard Nixon--which liberals spent decades defending--was the national speed limit of 55 mph. The original objective was to save fuel during the 1973 gas crisis, and it probably did save fuel. But there were lots of other steps that would have saved even more fuel--likely properly inflated tires, and not putting the ridiculous 5 mph bumpers on cars--which added about 400 pounds per car and reduced gas mileage by about one mile per gallon for cars of that era.
The repeal of the national speed limit, returning this decision to the states, was part of the 1994 Republican Contract With America, and it was a great success. Some states kept their speed limits low; many adjusted them to reflect actual road conditions.
Best of all, states could now allocate highway patrol units to the roads with the biggest safety problem--not the biggest speed limit violation problem. To continue receiving federal funds, states had to demonstrate that they were keeping everyone driving 55 on all the highways--even if the Interstates had very few deaths, while older roads, with the same speed limit, had lots of deaths.
In California, there are two main highways that you can take from Los Angeles to San Francisco: Interstate 5, through the Central Valley, and U.S. 101, which goes up through Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Interstate 5 is a modern road--one that I actually watched being built. It is a fast and safe fully divided, limited access highway. U.S. 101 in places is not divided, with many entry and exit points, and fairly dangerous for that reason.
Not surprisingly, before the national speed limit law, the speed limit on I-5 was generally 65 or 70, and the speed limit on U.S. 101 was often 55, and in some places, 65. I have driven the road from Los Angeles to San Francisco so many times that I can't count, in everything from a Datsun B-210 (on the small end) to a 1973 Chevrolet Caprice station wagon with a 454 cubic inch V8.
If you were stuck with driving the speed limit, U.S. 101 was an easy choice. It was slightly slower because of the extra 40 miles, but it was vastly more pretty, and especially in the early days, it had more in the way of services such as food, lodging, and gas. Not surprisingly, lots of people drove U.S. 101, which had a serious accident problem, while the California Highway Patrol was forced by federal mandate to devote disproportionate enforcement to I-5.
Before the national speed limit was enforced, I would expect to see at least ten CHPs in the stretch from Livermore to Buttonwillow. If I drove U.S. 101, I might see five CHPs total between Oxnard and San Francisco.
After the national speed limit was repealed, I drove from Sonoma County to Los Angeles for a speaking engagement, and back again. A few months later, I drove U.S. 101 for one leg of the trip. What a difference! I-5 was again a much faster trip, because the speed limit was 70--and in practice, people were driving safely and carefully at 85--and I saw two CHP on the entire trip.
On U.S. 101, the speed limits didn't change very much--but there were CHP everywhere--more than I could count. They were actually on the road with the safety problem--not the road where people were driving fast but safe.
More importantly, much of the contempt that I had previously had for speed enforcement started to go away. When speed limits were set for political reasons, not for safety reasons, it made me (and a lot of other people) skeptical of highway speed limits in general. When speed limits were set for reasons of road safety, it made me a lot more willing to believe that I should stick to that speed limit, or at least close.
Yes, when I get out on Interstate 84 east of Boise, there are stretches where the speed limit says 75, and I drive a little faster. Not a lot faster--but I drive with traffic, typically about 82 to 85. But on most of the non-Interstates, if the speed limit says 60, you will find me driving 60, maybe 62. It isn't because I might get a ticket. It is because I am inclined to think that the speed limits have been set by professional traffic engineers to conform to actual safety needs.
Decline and Fall of Western Civilization (Part 3,203)
From the Netherlands--where even the very liberal population of that country isn't too thrilled about this new political party: AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals, sparking widespread outrage.
Gee, I wonder why?
The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!"
The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether.
"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.
"We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion," he said, adding the subject had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighboring Belgium.
"We want to get into parliament so we have a voice. Other politicians only talk about us in a negative sense, as if we were criminals," Van den Berg told Reuters.
The rest of the article is trying to portray the Dutch public as shocked and disgusted: An opinion poll published Tuesday showed that 82 percent wanted the government to do something to stop the new party, while 67 percent said promoting pedophilia should be illegal.
So the 18 percent that don't care (and remember that political parties receive governmental funding in the Netherlands) must be the Dutch equivalent of the ACLU.
Greenpeace Does Fill In The Blanks Press Releases
But forgets to fill them in: Before President Bush touched down in Pennsylvania Wednesday to promote his nuclear energy policy, the environmental group Greenpeace was mobilizing.
No, but it does establish the cynical thinking that underlies press releases like this.
"This volatile and dangerous source of energy" is no answer to the country's energy needs, shouted a Greenpeace fact sheet decrying the "threat" posed by the Limerick reactors Bush visited.
But a factoid or two later, the Greenpeace authors were stumped while searching for the ideal menacing metaphor.
We present it here exactly as it was written, capital letters and all: "In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE]."
Had Greenpeace been hacked by a nuke-loving Bush fan? Or was this proof of Greenpeace fear-mongering?
The aghast Greenpeace spokesman who issued the memo, Steve Smith, said a colleague was making a joke by inserting the language in a draft that was then mistakenly released.
"Given the seriousness of the issue at hand, I don't even think it's funny," Smith said.
I have some concerns about nuclear power, but most of the realistic alternatives to fossil fuels, such as ethanol or hydrogen for internal combustion engines, or electric motors for urban vehicles, require significant energy inputs. Ethanol is very energy intensive in the refining process; hydrogen is going to come from electrolyzing water. Electric-only vehicles require electricity to recharge batteries.
At this point, hybrids seem questionable alternatives for vehicles because the added weight and cost of both gasoline engine, batteries, and electric motors takes away most of their energy savings.
Nuclear power is the most obvious source for electricity to produce ethanol or hydrogen--and we don't have to buy uranium from nations that also produce crazy people with turbans wrapped too tight.
Slippery Slopes
One of the arguments for allowing abortion points to horrible defects such as anacephalia, where the baby may indeed be born, but won't live for long, or Tay-Sachs Disease, which involves tremendous suffering and usually death by age four. Even many people who are morally repelled by abortion can look at situations like that and accept that this may be acceptable.
But how severe does a defect have to be to justify abortion? This article from the British newspaper the Daily Mail should disturb anyone who supports abortion rights: The ethical storm over abortions has been renewed as it emerged that terminations are being carried out for minor, treatable birth defects.
The article goes on to explain that some of these defects, such as club foot, can be corrected without surgery.
Late terminations have been performed in recent years because the babies had club feet, official figures show.
Other babies were destroyed because they had webbed fingers or extra digits.
Such defects can often be corrected with a simple operation or physiotherapy.
The revelation sparked fears that abortion is increasingly being used to satisfy couples' desire for the 'perfect' baby.
A leading doctor said people were right to be 'totally shocked' that abortions were being carried out for such conditions.
Campaigners warned we are turning into a society that can no longer tolerate imperfection. Doctors were recently told they can now screen IVF embryos to try to weed out inherited cancers.
Thanks to Michael Williams for the pointer.
Note to Boise Residents: Garage Sale at the Cramers!
Saturday is the Legends Neighborhood Garage Sale, and we intend to dispose of a lot of stuff at that sale. There are items that we don't need in the new house, because it is a bit smaller--items that are full of memories, some painful, some humorous--stuff that is part of the old life of raising kids, that is fast disappearing.
Some of the stuff that we are going to try and sell include an ancient Sears Kenmore washer and dryer that look terrible, but still work pretty well. (We bought these when we bought our first house in San Jose in 1987. They will be priced accordingly--like $25 for the pair.)
We also have an IBM Selectric II typewriter which seems to work, for anyone who wants an antique for their museum, or perhaps as a gag for the first day in a high school computer word processing class.
And a motorcycle battery, originally bought to power my telescope mount, until it spilled in the back of my Corvette, turning the upholstery into an interesting experience in what happens when you depolymerize plastic. That's free to anyone who has a need for it.
There's an edge trimmer, not terribly old, but there isn't going to be much in the way of sidewalk to grass interfaces at the new house.
There's some assorted furniture, some nice, some appropriate to homes that have pets who would destroy nice furniture.
There are a fair number of books, some serious and weighty, some too silly to keep, and gobs and gobs of National Geographic maps!
House Project: Starting To Move In
Much of the weekend was spent removing shelving from the garage at the old house, and putting it in the new house's garage. This gets very important stuff (junk to anyone else) off the floor, and makes it easier to clean. (You do clean your garage regularly, right?)
Boise was having one of those weather situations that are typical for this part of Idaho: completely unexpected rain and cold weather on Memorial Day weekend. This gave us some snowfall on the mountains between Boise, and some really neat clouds.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
All the rain has made the hillsides around our house very green, and everything awash in wild flowers.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Last night, as the sun was setting, all I could think was that it looked a good bit like the Highlands of Scotland--a place that my wife is in love with, even though we have only just touched the Highlands on our travels.
We have spent some time moving road mix to improve the appearance of some areas around the drive way, and I expect that we will continue these activities for some weeks now. Our builder keeps forgetting to haul away a trash can of construction debris and fermenting garbage from December, so we transferred it into lawn and leaf bags and hauled it away ourselves.
There's still a small leak on the (now empty) lead filter housing, which we are hoping will be corrected in the next couple of days.
Last house project entry.
Memorial Day
Scroll down for the excerpts from Lt. Col. Hagerman's speech.
There was a memorial service at Hillcrest Cemetery in Caldwell, Idaho yesterday. I went because the Scottish pipe band my wife performs in was asked to participate, so I tagged along. (The band is the Sleekit Beasties; it's a reference to a Robbie Burns poem, "To A Mouse.")
It was a beautiful day--alternating light rain and sunshine, but in the plains of this part of Idaho, there are some amazing sights in the distance.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
There's still a bit of culture shock to seeing so many people come together to praise and appreciate duty, patriotism, and sacrifice--especially after living in the San Francisco Bay Area, a place that praises and appreciates greed, smug self-righteous anti-Americanism, and hedonism. The crowd was substantial, and included not just members of the World War II generation, but a fair number of people in their 20s and 30s.
Click to enlarge
Lt. Col. Dean Hagerman of the Idaho 116th Brigade Combat Team spoke quite movingly about duty, sacrifice, and honor--and about what he and his unit had done in Iraq. I'll post some excerpts from his speech a bit later today; it was moving, and a reminder that what you see on television about Iraq is only a small part of what is going on there.
Click to enlarge
After the speeches, members of the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars marched with current members of the Army and Air Force down to a memorial, and placed a wreath. Seeing these old men marching with M1 Garands (and M1 Carbines)--and realizing that some of these men marched with these same guns in World War II--was very touching, especially having watched Band of Brothers quite recently.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Someone had gone through and put American flags on the graves of veterans buried in this cemetery. 
Click to enlarge
A few, however, from the year of death and their age must have died while in the service, but a lot more of them were like this fellow.
Click to enlarge
MacArthur's famous statement that, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away" isn't true, except in the sense that most soldiers do not die in service. They return to civilian life, raise families, and grow old. Ideally, they are respected and cherished by their nation for putting themselves in harm's way.
UPDATE: I mentioned that Lt. Col. Hagerman's speech was inspiring and presented information that you aren't going to be seeing on television. A few excerpts:It is a day to speak of courage and sacrifice. Winston Churchill once said, "All great things are simple, and many can be expressed single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."
These are words that I can understand; sentiments that I am comfortable talking about. I feel that these simple words express much of what this nation stands for, and they aptly reflect the values shared by those with whom I have served over the last thirty plus years.
Last year I served in Kirkuk, Iraq as a member of the 116th Brigade Combat Team. Our mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom was to stabilize the security within our area of operations in order to provide the Iraqis a chance to establish a functioning democracy. Additionally, we were charged with developing the province's infrastructure. We also tried to improve the area's economy by using local contractors and laborers to complete the work.
We set ambitious goals and attained most of them. For example, we completed the reconstruction of schools, clinics, water and waste treatment plants. We facilitated the upgrade of a local television station and helped equip the first privately-owned radio station. We trained Iraqi police and army personnel, and provided guidance on how to implement democracy to provincial officials from the Arab councilmember to the Kurdish governor. We even obtained dump trucks and built a landfill. We taught them about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, and the responsibilities that are part of such freedoms.
We also provided something else, something that was intangible: an example of what can happen if you work, share and sacrifice, together, to achieve a common goal. As members of the National Guard, we brought unique skills and experiences to the reconstruction of Iraq. We also brought stories from home of our families, friends and our way of life. As Idahoans, we treated the people of Iraq, whether Arab or Kurd, Turcomen or Assyrian, Muslim or Christian, with dignity and respect.
...
During my tour, I watched soldiers and airmen volunteer their time to stuff Ziploc bags full of crayons, pencils, paper, scissors and other donated school supplies. Other soldiers and airmen then took these bags of supplies and distributed them to children in local schools. Others put themselves at risk to ensure voters were able to get to their polling sites for the two elections we supervised. I saw soldiers jeopardize their safety by getting out of their armored vehicles to check on a village well, to see if it was functioning properly, or to give out toys and clothing to children. Still others went into harm's way to provide medical and dental treatment to rural villagers.
...
Which brings me back to why we are here today, to honor those heroes who have fallen in defense of this country and what it stands for. Our country was the first to come into being with the belief that all men are created equal and that they have rights that have been bestowed upon them by their Creator. We have fought many wars to defend this idea. We have also fought side by side with other democratic nations to protect these same ideals in many parts of the world. As a nation, we believe that this sacrifice of time, talent and treasure is in our self-interest because, by defending this idea, by protecting and improving the lives of others, we improve our own. In is in service to one another that we most completely express our ideals.
...
In closing, let me remind you of the words I mentioned as I begin today. Freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope, sacrifice and courage; single words that express simple and yet profound ideas. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Somalia, Kuwait, Vietnam, Korean, Japan, Germany, and back through American history, service men and women have manifested these words, in their lives and through their deaths. That such people exist is a wonder, and for their existence, I am grateful. On this day of remembering and in their presence, I am humbled.
