tvashtarkatena

I just don't know how Canadian's sleep at night without spending half their federal budget on bombs.... America maintains a big military, in part, as a means to enforce it's economic policy to keep our consumption juggernaut (over) fed. Successful or unsuccessful, this has been a cornerstone of our foreign policy strategy for decades. But the party line that our military is defensive? Uh...yeah, right. If defense were all that we were worried about, we could adopt the Dominican Republic's Coast Guard system: An old man, his nephew, and a double barreled shotgun.

The infrastructure to support our overseas military interventions seems to survive the President, no matter what political party or even specific viewpoint expressed before the election. You think Christie is any different? Anyone need or want us to go back and cherry pick Candidate Obamas quotes pre-election regarding this issue? When "change" was discussed, most of us were not thinking it would be a "change" of opinion after the election:-) Yeah, he's got the right stuff: he's a really convincing liar. Of course, he wouldn't need to be all that convincing to rope in most of the fans he's garnered so far....

Our 'rival' nation states gave up trying to keep up 2 decades ago. Apparently, we haven't gotten the memo. Good thing we're rolling in dough. Still, though, there IS the possibility of alien invasion....

Nothing in the world can touch it? Ahem... It's not a high performance fighter - it's designed to be a modular, 'inexpensive' "bomb truck" for ground troop support, etc, with a low radar sig. Just sayin'. So....why do we need 2500 of these things again?

I remember a buddy of mine coming out of Harvard School of Govt infused with a new religion: "Shareholder Value". He got a great job...at Enron. Hence, the quarterly circle jerk we now call 'The Private Sector', where long term anything, most particularly stewardship (of anything), means nothing.

Election 2012: Who's Cock's up YOUR Ass? Will it come down to a choice between an incumbent with a Wall Street cock up his ass or a crazy chick whose sole agenda is to to keep cock and ass separated?

Well, at least we've got Obama's human rights record to fall back on....

Ionz!

Dawn began orbiting Vesta late yesterday. No new pics just yet.... Nicely done.

Dore Gold? Seriously? Did you ever hear that f@#$%^ lie between his teeth on anything to do with the Palestinians as unoffical Israeli spokeman after he left the UN and as JCPA spinner. Granted, he may have some interesting take on things but man could that guy lie with a straight face. No thanks. Like most Americans, and probably people in general, BCo is a lot better at disseminating than discriminating.

If we can figure out how to maneuver asteroids to impact specific geographic areas, we could save a mint on munitions.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft may or may not have gone into orbit around the large asteroid Vesta yesterday. The spacecraft is still firing its thrusters for the rendezvous - it must wait until the burn is over before turning its antenna back towards earth to communicate. Dawn is scheduled to transmit its first data from Vesta orbit around midnight tonight. If it misses orbital insertion, it has enough fuel for at least one more try. Dawn will orbit Vesta for a year, then move on to Ceres, the solar systems largest asteroid for a second orbital survey. Good stuff.

PIIGS - taking pedantism to a whole new level.

"Massages"? Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?

Just paid my first $10 DiscoPass so I could kayak through Deception Pass with the GF and, I've got to say, it was a pretty damn good experience all around.

Got one. Actually, I'm repurposing a plexi cook pot lid as a translucent glass shade for a hanging light fixture. These things are a buck at Goodwill and the perfect shape for mid century modern stuff, once the center hole's been drilled out 7/16" to accommodate standard threaded lamp rod. Plus, if the fixture ever catches on fire due to my questionable wiring, at least the glass will survive.

Anyone have any experience painting glass with a translucent enamel? I'm looking to mimick the color of amber. Best paint/local availability? Trying to sort through the Googlechaff....

White trash seek to bring the rest of the world down to their level of dysfunction. The debt ceiling tantrum now provides them with a vehicle to do this for the entire country.

43 years after the Summer of Love and hippies are STILL pissing people off. Hippies come in two models: active and passive. The active ones actually do stuff. Like all hippies, they have a good nose for freebies, but that's not the sum total of their existence. The passive kind? Pretty much just white trash in a tie dye. Still, if you ARE white trash, it's better for every else if you do nothing rather than something, cuz pretty much anything you touch turns to shit. The state should subsidize our white trash with free TVs, porn and malt liquor to promote this harm reduction oriented outcome.

The problem here isn't dihydrogen monoxide: it's oxygen itself. Oxygen oxydizes our tissues, which eventually kills us all. Love is like oxygen.

We're the best at everything. Anyone who doesn't think so is anti-American. We've got the best diet, the fittest population, the best energy policy, the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per capita, the best foreign policy, and unbeaten and unbeatable military, the happiest, most worry free people, we produce the best manufactured goods, the lowest incarceration rate, the best health care, the lowest drug use, and our kids are as smart as they come because we've got the best education. Go ahead, pick your measure. We've got it figured out. Why? 40 years of conservative policies, that's why. Exactly what the Founders intended.

Bachmann's hoisting herself on her own petard with this fucked up vow. Santorum never had a chance in hell anywhere, anyhow. What a freak show. I could never associate myself with such a party of dysfunctionals in any way, shape, or form. I mean, Christ almighty.

The GOPs game of primary checkers continues...

she said.... this morning, actually...

You don't and can't know that, but if it makes ya feel good.... Don't believe everything your read in the papers (or blogs.)