QOTD

Tam, on Sunday morning news talk shows:

The panelists, as is usual for one of these round-table chats, spanned the entire msnbc political spectrum, from Trotskyite to Anarcho-Syndicalist.

QOTD

From Borepatch:

What is it that is best?  To crush your enemy's ideology, to see it driven from the airwaves, and to hear the lamentation of his Professors.

Is It Really Paranoia?

Just thinking aloud here.

How much would you like to bet that sometime in the next eight months, the IRS starts taking a close look at the Catholic Church - specifically, how the leadership of every Catholic Church dioceses has "injected" themselves into the political process, possibly in violation of their tax exempt status.

If not in the next eight months... then suppose Obama manages to eke out a victory in November.

Hmmmm.

Nah.

I'm sure that, even given four years, he'd never even consider throwing his former Catholic supporters under the bus.  As long as the Catholic Church adapts its religious and moral teaching to the secular requirements of the government, obviously.

Revoking the Catholic Church's tax-exempt status would also sock them for a good-sized chunk of back taxes, fines, and the like.  Why bother?  I mean, what in the world would the government do with all that money?

I'm sure, too, that the idea of setting some precedents and then using the IRS to punish political opponents is a complete non-starter.  Especially for a president who doesn't have to worry about re-election, and whose former opponents are largely religious conservatives.

Even if there are some issues with the Catholic Church, I'm sure they'll be handled appropriately, after all. Just because one particular group butts heads with the government, that certainly doesn't mean that it's going to spill over and affect freedom in general or anything.

Nah.

I'm absolutely sure that nothing like that could ever happen.

The A Miracle Occurs

Obama on America's energy future:

"We’re making new investments in the development of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel that’s actually made from a plant-like substance, algae -- you've got a bunch of algae out here," Obama said at the University of Miami today. "If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we'll be doing alright. Believe it or not, we could replace up to 17 percent of the oil we import for transportation with this fuel that we can grow right here in America." 

If I may translate:

"We have no idea about how to actually use algae for fuel.  But we do know the exact effect it would have on our economy if we did."

Riiiight.

Mr. President? 

Ah-yep.

Quote of the Day

From John C. Wright:

Determinists believe, in effect, that we do not make decisions, so I am aways puzzled why determinists so patiently spend their efforts in trying to persuade me to decide to be a determinist. None seems to accept my explanation that I am programmed in inescapably to believe in free will, and have no choice in the matter.

Heh!

81 = 51 = 121 = 01010001

Not that I'm feeling braggy or anything...

[samrobb@laptop ~]$ uptime
14:06  up 81 days, 22:17, 2 users, load averages: 0.46 0.43 0.41

Well, OK.  Maybe a little bit braggy.

Quote of the Day

Seen on /.:

The UN is totally dysfunctional in way that makes Washington DC look like a [bastion] of efficiency, honesty, and virtue.

A Brokered Convention for the GOP?

Bring on Gary Johnson, please.

I think that the only real hope the GOP has to survive as an entity that is more than superficially distinct from the Democratic party is to leave the left/right axis and move towards freedom, and a more Libertarian position.

Jennifer Fulwiler: HOW I BECAME PROLIFE

I realized that my definition of how and when a fetus became a “baby” or a “person,” when he or she began to have rights, also depended on his or her level of health: the length of time in which I considered it OK to terminate a pregnancy lengthened as the severity of disability increased. Under the premise of wanting to spare the potential child from suffering, I was basically saying that disabled fetuses were less human, had fewer rights, than able-bodied ones. It didn’t sit well. 

The whole thing started to get under my skin. At some point I started to feel like I was more determined to be pro-choice than I was to honestly analyze who was and was not human. I started to see it in others in the pro-choice community as well. On more than one occasion I was stunned to the point of feeling physically ill upon reading of what otherwise nice, reasonable people in the pro-abortion camp would advocate for.

Reposted by John C. Wright.  Read the whole thing.

Ruminations on Separation

There's a place near home that I work a volunteer at a couple of times a week.

There's a small staff - maybe 20 people.  The copier room in the main office has all the usual EEOC, OSHA, and other posters hung up.  You know the ones - all the applicable government regulations on minimum wage, working conditions, discrimination, hostile workplaces, workplace injuries, and so on.  All the rules and regulations that apply to a small organization.  No surprise; it's par for the course for every employer I've been at.

It's an educational institution, so there's kids about.  That means that the employees and the volunteers all have to get yearly background checks done.  Again, no surprise.  At this point - having been in the Navy, with three adopted children - I've probably had more background checks done on me than any 10 normal people.  Rules are rules, as they say.

The organization is a 501(c)3, so while I'm not involved in the financial side of things at all, I imagine there's quite a bit of paperwork and such involved with the accounting, reporting, and the like.  Maintaining non-profit status can be a bit of a bear, from what I understand.  Fortunately, they're able to have a full-time accountant to keep the books and file the right paperwork so they can keep their non-profit status.

They also get legal advice from another non-profit on how to avoid the various regulatory pitfalls that might cause them other problems with the government.  There are certain things they have to avoid in order to maintain that status, and the government's kind of picky about it.

They were fortunate enough to be able to build a new facility a few years ago.  There was quite a bit of wrangling with the municipalities involved... unfortunately, the property they bought spanned a township border, which lead to additional legal complications.  Nothing insurmountable, though there were environmental regulations that came into play as well.  All told, there were enough obstacles so that actually getting permission from the townships, county and state governments to break ground was something of a minor miracle.  

The facility is indeed nice - there's the school, a library, a full gym, a modern cafeteria, and all the offices and meeting rooms you'd expect.  I don't know for sure, but imagine that they get regular visits from the local building inspectors, fire chief, state health inspectors, and the like.  I'm sure the school has it's own set of inspections and auditing to deal with as well.  There are certainly state requirements for students (medical, dental, and attendance records), curriculum minimum standards to meet, national standardized tests they're required to administer and report, and so on.  Oh, and reporting requirements as well, for a variety of health and safety issues.

So many rules and regulations to follow, but follow them they do.

So many entities at the local, state, and even federal level that have some form of authority or oversight.

So far, they've managed to keep all their i's dotted and t's crossed, and so keep their doors open.

So far.

I'm quite glad that's the case.  It's a really good church.

Now... tell me again about this concept of "separation of church and state"?