It was sunny and warm in the morning and I assumed it would be that way for most of the rest of the day. But every time I would go out to the Official Weekend Pundit Clothesline to hand laundry it would start to rain, accompanied by lightning and thunder. So the clothes would have to go into the drier and once almost dry, the sun would come out. As soon as another load was ready to hang, another thundershower would come through.
I couldn't win.
Sometimes it just happens that way.
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I believe I mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating.The Manse no longer has a landline.
Since Deb, BeezleBub and I all have cell phones and the landline was used primarily for incoming calls, it made no sense to continue paying $44 per month to keep something we rarely use anymore. We probably kept it longer than we should have mainly from habit. Both Deb and I grew up in homes where a wired telephone was the norm. It was something we knew and were comfortable with having, so we really didn't think much about it. But with the continuing economic downturn and our household budget under strain (like so many others), we realized keeping the landline was more a concession to nostalgia than a necessity. So we decided to do away with it.
When we called the cable company to disconnect the line (our service was though the local cable MSO), the service rep understood our reason. She confided in me that she no longer has a landline either for the same reason.
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This is something I can get behind! (Or better yet, in front of...)(H/T Ann Althouse @ Instapundit)
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Cubachi links to and comments about Sarah Palin and her knowledge of energy policy.Of all potential presidential candidates from either party, she probably has the most comprehensive knowledge and experience. She also understands how the Obama Administration's efforts and policies have sent the wrong message and driven up oil prices needlessly.
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This just in: Osama bin Laden is still dead....***********
Ace of Spades has a comparison between President Obama's speech announcing the death of Osama bin Laden and President George Bush's speech announcing the capture of Saddam Hussein.Obama's speech was, as usual, all about him. He used the word 'I' continuously, as if he was the one actually there, pulling the trigger.
Bush, on the other hand, used the word 'I' twice, and both times saying “I have a message... ,” once for the Iraqi people and once for the American people. As RD Brewer writes, “President Bush's speech is completely outwardly directed. He speaks of the momentous occasion and gives all credit to the military and the intelligence community. There is no attempt to highlight his part in the story. Quite a contrast. “
Indeed. But then we've always known it's all about Obama.
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Did Osama's second in command, Zawahiri, rat him out? Or was it the Saudis, the Iranians, or the Mossad?Regardless, Osama bin Laden is still dead.
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So we go in an get bin Laden in Abbotabad, Pakistan without informing the Pakistani government or military because we knew there were sympathizers within their ranks who would have tipped him off. In return, the Pakistanis reveal the identity of the CIA station chief in Islamabad.Somehow I get the feeling the Obama's Administration's response will be “Ho-hum. I guess we had it coming.” Not that I expect any other response.
(H/T Pirate's Cove)
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I have to agree with Jay Tea on this one: If it weren't for double standards, they'd have no standards at all.I don't even need to explain who 'they' are. You already know the answer to that.
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I think this says it all:Vindication: When the loudest critic of your policies achieves his greatest success because of them.
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Have you ever wondered why so many Americans don't trust scientists? I certainly have. What's worse is that many will trust “scientists” on matters where there's little or no proof, just poorly proven conjecture (like AGW), yet totally distrust them on issues where there's reams of scientific data disproving popular pseudo-science (the vaccine-autism link).What could be the cause of this disconnection? Here's one possible explanation.
Emotion can play a large part in what we choose to believe or dis-believe. People will believe pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo because in their hearts they want it to be true.
Humans do seem to prize accuracy above all. We want our beliefs to be accurate—to align with what is really true about the world—and we know that science is a reliable guide to accuracy. But this desire to be accurate conflicts with other motives, some of them unconscious. People hold beliefs to protect important values, for example. Individuals who think of nature as sacred may perceive genetic modification as morally wrong, regardless of its safety or utility. People also hold beliefs that are rooted in their emotions. A flu pandemic that can cause widespread death among the innocent may cause feelings of fear and helplessness. One way to cope with those emotions is to belittle warnings of a pandemic as improbable.
Parents with kids suffering from autism want to be able to point to a cause and say “See, we knew it was some sinister outside cause that made our kids be this way!” Never mind the scientific evidence and years of clinical studies saying otherwise. This also applies to the ongoing Anthropogenic Global Warming debate, with so many people willing to believe all climate change is due entirely to human activity even though the many such theories put forth are so far unprovable.