The Embedded Theologian: November 2010

Retweeting: it's srs bsns:

A retweeted joke has landed a Chinese woman in a labor camp for a year, Amnesty International reported Wednesday.

On the day of her wedding, Oct. 27, Chinese online activist Cheng Jianping disappeared. Only this week did her whereabouts surface: She had been detained and sentenced by police to a year of "re-education through labor" for retweeting a suggestion that Chinese youth attack the Japanese Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo.

The BBC comments that "Ms Cheng may also have been targeted because she is a local human rights activist."

Gee, ya think?

Lately it occurs to me...

I just realized that most active military commanders - those who, essentially, have the power to level a small country - are pretty much limited to serving for less than 30 years. In addition, any misstep on their part - social, political, or military - can result in their removal from command, and discharge into civilian life.

Compare and contrast with 40-year political hack Charles Rangel.

Just sayin'.

Tapioca Minds in an Iron World

Snerk!

Mica, one of the authors of the original TSA bill, has recently written to the heads of more than 150 airports nationwide suggesting they opt out of TSA screening. "When the TSA was established, it was never envisioned that it would become a huge, unwieldy bureaucracy which was soon to grow to 67,000 employees," Mica writes.

Mica is someone who obviously failed to understand Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy:

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself... in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.

What a coincidence!

How odd...

The government says one in five American adults suffered from mental illness during the past year. Most didn't receive treatment.

Before I even followed the link to read JWF's comments on the article, though, I was already thinking along the same lines as him.

Great minds, you know.

The Decline And Fall of California

Remember, unemployment in California has absolutely nothing to do with their policies.

A Christian Officer's Toolbox

A very interesting article from the Officer's Christian Fellowship discussing "A Christian Officer's Toolbox". It's an excellent article for anyone in a leadership position, military or otherwise; a good, practical reminder that while, as Christians, we are not of the world, we are definitely in the world. A world that needs our attention and prayer.

A Modest Proposal

Courtesy of the Czar, who muses over the viability of private unemployment insurance.

And if you think this is an unreasonable idea... a quick look at health insurance quotes shows me I can get a decent comprehensive health care plan for under $100/month. That's for a plan that I'm almost certainly going to use year-to-year. I've probably had a good half-dozen covered health expenses for my family in the past year, for example.

In comparison, unemployment insurance is - ideally - for catastrophic situations, which (hopefully) turn up infrequently. You just keep socking it away as an investment until such point as you need to start drawing on it, or cash it in entirely. Think of it as a 401(k) that you can access without penalty if you're unemployed for more than 2 weeks, and there you have it. Just another specialized investment fund.

Tam? Snarky? No!

Air Quality Alert: Heavy Smug.

It takes a special kind of hubris to wake up one morning and decide that what this world is lacking is your visionary leadership, and an even more perfectly-distilled narcissism to think that if millions of people don't like you, the problem is with all of them.

And So It Begins...

More as they come rolling, rolling, rolling in. I'm sure that after the election, we'll find a few uncounted crates of voting fraud stories here and there as well. Those uncounted crates do seem to show up with a startling regularity, don't they?

[ Updates as time rolls on. Articles are posted under the date I encounter them, not the date they are published. ]

10/27

10/28

10/29

10/30

10/31

11/1

11/2

No news. Well, not no news, but nothing to post as as I was busy acting as our local judge of elections. No issues, no contested votes, and an unusually high voter turnout, by the way.

11/3

11/4

Ballot Battle Continues After Election

11/5

Perparing for performance reviews

Erick over at RedState reminds you to start preparing to review your employee's performance.

You only have two years to decide if you want to keep them, after all.

Seen on Ann Althouse's site

Advice for our newly elected federal representatives:

Step One. Act like we are broke.

Step Two: Act like it is your fault.

Step Three: Repeat.

Reprehensible

Violence against women is absolutely reprehensible.

Unless, you know, they're the right kind of women:

The magazine reported that the violent attacks by pro-abortion feminists left 50 women injured, and one hospitalized. The story was passed over by the vast majority of local and national news media.

It also detailed how pro-abortion groups sought to expel women who were identified as Catholics from a workshop in which the issue of abortion was debated, to keep them from voicing their opinions.

So nice to see the inherent misogyny of the left out in full force.

Drawing lines

Judge: Tea party and voter ID buttons can be banned from polling places

The Northstar Tea Party Patriots also want to wear t-shirts that read, “Don’t tread on me,” “Liberty,” “We’ll Remember in November,” and “Fiscal Responsibility, Limited Government, Free Markets” along with the tea party logo.

Attorneys for the government said the buttons and shirts could be construed as partisan. The judge agreed and dismissed the case.

OK. The last two designs mentioned? No problem - they are clearly partisan. However... a historical mottos concerning the unity of the American people and a simple noun? If you follow this reasoning, then answer me this question:

Which party is the party of unity?
Which party is the party of liberty?
Which party is the party of fiscal responsibility?
Which party is the party of limited government?
Which party is the party of free trade?

Which of course brings us to the questions:

Which party is the party of divisiveness?
Which party is the party of slavery?
Which party is the party of fiscal irresponsibility?
Which party is the party of expanded government?
Which party is the party of restricted trade?

Hmm. I wonder.

The Embedded Theologian

Upping the Ante

Srs Bsns