FERGUSON: the media strikes back.

IEEE SPECTRUM: What it would really take to reverse climate change. Actually, nothing, since there is no global warm.... oops, sorry, climate change.

But even if there were global warming, reversing it would be impossible using any currently known technology.

The only sensible statement in the entire article is this: "[R]ather than depend on politicians’ high ideals to drive change, it’s a safer bet to rely on businesses’ self interest: in other words, the bottom line."

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES is a little late this week. Here's my favorite:

There's plenty of variety this week. Check out the rest.

CHAOS IN FERGUSON: Grand jury’s decision prompts riots, arrests. Well, so much for the 'be nice to thugs and vandals protestors' theory of government....

UNDERBUSSED: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will officially resign amid growing pressure from the Obama administration.

FALL FOLIAGE 2014: Week 8. Gone....

I should have posted two pictures, a before leaf blower, and one after. There's green in this picture; there wouldn't have been if I had taken the picture before spending several hours blowing leaves around.

Here's last year's photo, same time, same station. I could have easily posted it again here, with no one the wiser. The one significant difference between this year and last is the neighbor's pear trees. In last year's photos, they were both bright red; this year they have just begun to turn.

Last week's picture is here; you can continue to click back in time from there.

SELF-DRIVING CARS: Saving Lives AND Energy. The IEEE is flacking for autonomous vehicles again.

I found this comment somewhat amusing: "Robocars driving together in platoons will use half the fuel that today's vehicles do."

They already exist ... we call them 'buses'.

ISRAEL’S RESPONSE TO TERROR: relax gun laws.

HOW SPACEFLIGHT affects men and women.

(click to enlarge)

The gist: "both sexes are 'pretty much screwed' if they spend too much time in space."

NEW MEASURE OF PROSPERITY aims to go beyond GDP to include not only conventional indicators of economic strength, but also metrics that correlate with self-reported happiness.

Thanks, but no. I don't want any measure that could affect my economic prosperity to include any subjective measures that activists can can corrupt to their own goals.

AL SHARPTON: "Only the little people pay taxes." Little people and the dead.

DEAD ON ARRIVAL: An A-10 retirement plan.

Since the Warthog is a close-air-support tank-killer; why isn't it in Iraq and Syria right now?

DEMOCRATS' DIVERSITY: old, white, and dull.

Beneath Obama are Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, both in their 70s. The Golden State is represented by Dianne Feinstein, 80, Barbara Boxer, 73, and Jerry Brown, 76, who was a new face when elected the first time in 1974.

The hot young faces belong to the Republican Party, which is (slowly) becoming more brown and more female, and which may appeal to the young and the restless.

The Democrat party has become the party of the 'old guard', fighting to retain their control.

FLYING DONUTS: A new kind of airplane.

HMM. The United Arab Emirates put U.S. Muslim organizations on their terrorist list. Do they know something we don't?

Probably.

OBAMACARE REPEAL IS MORE LIKELY, and the GOP needs an alternative.

[C]onservatives should push Republicans to have an alternative plan ready to pass should the Supreme Court strike down the federal subsidies — a decision that should come by late June.

If Republicans do not have an alternative to present when confronted by the political backlash, they will most assuredly buckle. Putting Republican leaders on record supporting one of the key aspects of Obamacare would almost certainly extinguish any glimmer of hope for repeal.

ObamaCare will surely die; if not by the Supreme Court, then by 1000 cuts. Republicans need to take the initiative and prepare the battlefield starting now.

INCOME TAXES: The rich don't pay just their fair share; they pay almost all.

Come April 15th, thank a rich guy.

D.C. POLICE: We plan years in advance to steal your things.

If only it were just the D.C. police....

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Is this the political map of the future? It looks to me like the blue areas are urban minorities (principally blacks) and their patrons, the gentry liberals.

GET READY FOR SOME HARDBALL: In Scathing Letter to Obama, Former FBI Assistant Director Slams Holder as "Chief Among Antagonists" in Ferguson.

The grand jury decision is due any day now; whatever the outcome (likely riots), it will be directly attributable to Eric Holder.

IF IT WORKS, PREPARE FOR LAWSUITS: Pfizer’s quit-smoking drug Chantix suffers FDA setback.

Every drug has side effects. Chantix is remarkably effective, which is why I suspect it's being 'set up' for future lawsuits.

AND SOME AREN'T HUMAN: Vogue's new digs are reportedly swarming with rats.

Heh.

EXPLAIN TO ME why a do-nothing Congress is bad.

MILWAUKEE POLICE CHIEF unloads on black community leaders over violence.



"Sit down and shut up!" is beginning to make a comeback....

OOPS! Probe into IRS scandal may have recovered up to 30,000 Lerner emails.

Hmm. Perhaps ms. Lerner might want to reconsider a deal with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to testify in return for immunity from prosecution....

MESSAGE FOR CONGRESS: "Repeal Obamigration."

ENJOY YOUR 'UNDERBUS' RIDE: Sorry, Sen. Landrieu --- Democrats are committed to Obama's war on energy.

EXPLAINING OBAMA'S AMNESTY PROPOSAL: “These illegal aliens are willing to do the work that Americans will no longer do — namely, vote Democrat.”

I started to write "Truer words...." but now I'm not so sure. Democrats under Obama have so poisoned the well that I'm not convinced that the 'amnestied' illegals will vote for them.

And polls seem to suggest that Latinos who have become citizens are skeptical at best. I remember back in the early days of the feminist movement, the women who worked for/with me were thoroughly pissed that the affirmative action for females was devaluing their successes. That may be a factor here as well.

RANDOM THOUGHT on Obama's immigration speech: so loaded with strawmen that it would have exploded if someone had lit a match.

FROM 5 YEARS AGO TODAY: Interstate 66 was a mess. It still is.

SECRET SERVICE CHIEF: Morale suffering at agency. I can understand ... having to risk your life to protect the Moron-in-Chief can't be a morale-builder.

EMPEROR OBAMA: He likes the sound of it. Not satisfied to just be king.

PELOSI: Gruber wrote computer code, not Obamacare. And if you believe that, then surely you believe that then-Speaker Pelosi read the bill she voted for....

UPDATE: The higher education bubble.



As my wife has suggested, perhaps it's time to raise the voting age -- to 35.

IN CALIFORNIA: Berkeley, San Francisco consider plans to put climate-change warning labels on gas pumps. I have a better idea: ban gas stations within the city limits.

And then there's that ugly fossil-fuel produced electricity. They should also mandate that all electricity consumed within the city limits be produced by renewable wind and solar energy....

EBOLA NURSE Kaci Hickox would appreciate it if you stopped calling her that. Sorry, but my sympathy meter is pegged at zero. She earned the appellation and it is well-deserved.

BIONIC BIRD: A Christmas gift for your cats.

HOW ABOUT spending $10 million on a video game about escaping fat government? That, at least, might actually be worthwhile.

MYSTERY VIRUS NON-EPIDEMIC: It can't be an epidemic if the CDC won't comment.

MASSACHUSETTS TOWN pushes total ban on all tobacco, nicotine products. But will they ban marijuana?

THIS WILL BE INTERESTING: SpaceX to attempt Falcon 9 booster landing on floating platform.

YES, LET'S PANIC ABOUT EBOLA. That way we won't have to panic about something far more dangerous in the long run.

OBAMA LOYALTY PAYS OFF: Keystone XL pipeline bill fails in Senate by single vote in blow to soon-to-be-former Sen. Mary Landrieu. Instapundit translates: she was underbussed.

INNOCENCE IS NOT A DEFENSE: Hang him now; we can try him later....

JON GRUBER: 'Seniors do a terrible job choosing' health care plans. Uh, Jon, did it ever occur to you that it might be you doing a terrible job of choosing health care plans?

Oh, wait ... never mind ... you went to Harvard so you're smart.

GLOBAL WARMING: soon with 50% more lightning. Um, first you have to have warming....

GOV. MOONBEAM to challenge Hillary in 2016? Bring on the popcorn.

THE [LIBERTARIAN] FORCE IS STRONG in these young millenials.

GLOBAL WARMING causes Lake Superior to freeze weeks earlier than normal.

The reason, of course, is that global warming is letting all the hot out and the world is getting colder as a result. It's like leaving a window open in the middle of winter.

AND THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE THROWN AWAY EVERY THREE YEARS: The Surprising Complexity of Old-School Calculators.

BUT OTHER THAN THAT, everything was correct.

HUMANITIES: doomed to lose? Pretty much, yes.

“LIGHT THIS CANDLE!” Gulf wax for spaceflight. Ace is the place for helpful rocket fuel....

OBAMA’S IMMIGRATION PLAN: 10 executive actions being weighed by the president.

Looking at the list, it seems to me that if Obama would put border security at the top of the list (and back it with, you know, real progress), he could find common ground with Republicans on at least 7 of the 9 remaining executive actions.

From the Republican perspective, they need to make it clear that as a party they are not anti-immigration, they are for controlled immigration, and border security is the first step. The Washington Examiner has some suggestions.

EVEN IN BOSTON, Gruber's a goober.

Linked from the comments from Don Surber's post on Gruber and the 'credentialed class'.

Maybe that's why I was never called 'Dr.' -- insufficient arrogance.

A LESSON OUR 'RULERS' NEED TO LEARN: Just because you're a government agency doesn't mean you're above the law.

BUILDING A NEW SPACE STATION FROM THE INSIDE OUT? First 3D printer in space installed on the International Space Station.

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): GOP Opposition to Immigration Action ‘an Insult to the American People’s Intellect’. No, Sheila Jackson Lee is 'an insult to the American people's intellect'.

MR. PRESIDENT, some questions about immigration.

SPACEFLIGHT NOW: NASA’s first Orion capsule delivered to launch pad where it will be mated with the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle.

More pictures at the link.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION is a Potemkin village.

SO, SHALL WE BAN POT SMOKING? Secondhand pot smoke may pose similar health risk as cigarette smoke.

DONNA BRAZILE: Why Not Al Franken for President in 2016?

Franken, a comedian known for his work on Saturday Night Live and the author of the book Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, wrote a satirical book in 2000 about a Franken presidency titled Why Not Me? In the book, Franken’s presidency is a disaster and he is forced to resign after 144 days. In real life, some Democrats who want to find a liberal who could challenge a potential Clinton candidacy seem to think Franken would be a good choice.

File under 'Democrats are delusional'.

EXPLAINING OBAMA: The History and Danger of Administrative Law.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER KIND? Delusional Democrats.

THE ED SHOW: The first Mr. Ed was a talking horse; the current one is a talking jackass.

FALL FOLIAGE 2014: Week 7. Going, going, ....

Almost gone. This is yesterday's picture taken tomorrow (assuming that means anything), since I was too lazy to actually leave the house Sunday to take the picture (but I posted it as if I did).

Here's what it looked like last year about this time ... we seem to be on pace for another cold winter.

Here's last week's photo; you can click back from there.

ANOTHER REASON why tenure is a bad idea. He needs to be sent to Mecca, preferably by air -- from 35,000 feet.

ANOTHER BEHEADING: but don't worry, ISIS isn't coming for you -- yet.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR -- after only six weeks. Well, of course. Chelsea Clinton is being groomed for the first mother-daughter successive presidency: Hillary in 2016 and 2020; Chelsea is 2024 and 2028.

IF YOU LIKE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN, you must pay more to keep your health insurance plan. And you must have a 'healthcare' plan.

AMMO GRRRLL: "[S]eething is believing … that you have actually done something."

DEMOCRATS, PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY NOT.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures, amnesty and ecstasy edition, is up. As usual, here's my favorite: Democrats Leaving DC.

Bonus: I forgot to post last week's edition.

OBAMA WON'T BUDGE on Keystone pipeline ahead of House vote. He's still voting 'present'.

It's hard not to notice that President Indecisive inevitably postpones any decision until the possible choices narrow to just one. Then he blames someone (anyone) else for having had to make it.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Progressivism is one big whine and cheese party.

TACKY SHIRTS: New front in the War on Women. Too many people with way too much time on their hands ... don't they have something better to do than whine?

DEMOCRATS REACT TO MID-TERM LOSSES:

But not the rainbows?

HEH: Marijuana causes global warming, er, climate change, er, climate disruption.

OBAMA: Lame duck or something worse? Thomas Sowell makes a good case, but I still lean toward Occam's Razor: never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity....

EMILY GETS HER GUN ... but can't (legally) carry it in D.C.

OH, GOOD GRIEF: ACLU claims drone rules infringe on (media's) freedom of speech.

THE PRICE OF FEMINISM: What a 1951 photo tells us about modern women’s loss of power.

SEND THEM BACK TO NYC: Tourism heavy cities unsure how to handle “homeless travelers” from Occupy movement.

Or to Indian Princess Elizabeth Warren's home town of Boston....

INDIAN AIRLINER hits buffalo during take-off from Surat airport. And this: "On other occasions, reports said jackals, antelopes, peacocks, porcupines, snakes, monkeys, foxes and dogs have strayed onto runways."

Oddly enough, it's not all that uncommon. When I was learning to fly, I had to abort two landings to avoid a deer and a coyote. The deer fled before I would have touched down, but the coyote was determined to play 'chicken'.

OBAMA TO GOP: My mandate is bigger than yours. Uh, right ... the 2/3 of the eligible voters who didn't vote were really voting for you....

GUN DEALERS sue over California law barring window displays. Not of the weapons themselves, but over pictures of weapons!

DROP THAT PLATE! Bureaucracy steps in just in time to prevent an act of private charity, which progressives believe must be the exclusive province of government.

THE INSTITUTE: Would You Take a Pay Cut to Learn New Skills? I would, IF -- (a) it were new skills and (b) it were voluntary.

OF COURSE: I have a pen, and I know what's best for you.

TECHNOLOGY: 3-D printing opens products to counterfeiting.

SIDELINED IN CONGRESS, liberal groups send Obama 'to-do' lists. Actually, they are 'to lose' lists....

I particularly love this statement: “Americans need to see a debate with Republicans in order to see what Democrats stand for.” Yes, and every time progressives find they can't win the debate, progressives whine, cry "unfair!", and promptly turn to extralegal means to accomplish their goals.

WISE: Commercial Spaceflight Industry Does Not Want More Regulations.

OBAMA: "We got beat." But never mind that; I still have my pen to sign executive orders.

SKYLINE DRIVE LEAF TOUR: We took a drive last week along Skyline Drive through the northern part of the Shenandoah National Forest. It was too late for the best of the seasonal colors, and a bit misty and foggy, but here are some pictures.

Entering Skyline Drive through the mist:

The next two are of Thornton Hollow, a now abandoned but once thriving small farming community:

Yellow leaves everywhere. A several mile stretch where everything was bright yellow on both sides of the road:

Two views of the Shenandoah River on the west side of the National Forest as we began our return to home:

And finally, a last good-bye.

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY makes final preparations to land spacecraft on a comet.

The launch of a small lander from ESA’s Rosetta space probe marks one of the key moments in the decade-long mission to examine comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

ESA scientists said Friday that a series of orbital manoeuvrs and calculations for the touchdown will take place over the coming days before the lander, dubbed Philae, is released at 0835 GMT (3:35 a.m. EST) Wednesday.

If all goes according to plan, the 100-kilogram (220-pound) lander will latch onto the comet’s icy surface seven hours later.

Tomorrow, about 10:30 a.m. Eastern time.

GO RUSH: Limbaugh threatens to sue Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Don't just threaten to punch back; do it.

SNEAKIN' IN to the USA:

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Republican rout at state level reflects backlash against federal control. More push punchback.

POST MID-TERM ANALYSIS: Seven important things to remember.

WELL, THEY WERE RIGHT: ObamaCare authors counted on the 'stupidity of the American voter'.

GOOD FOR TEXAS: Racially-charged tweet on Ferguson shooting to get teacher fired.

Punching back.

PRESIDENT OBAMA kisses Kim Jung Un’s ring. Expect more ass ring kissing before his reign ends in 2017.

A VETERANS DAY TRIBUTE to the U.S. military service personnel who gave their all for our freedom.

IT'S CALLED THE INVERSE MIDAS EFFECT: Everything he touches turns to shit.

GOOD RIDDANCE: Maine won’t have Kaci Hickox and her boyfriend to kick around anymore.

She - and her boyfriend - have proven themselves to be uniquely unqualified to remain in nursing. One could hope that they remain in obscurity, but I suspect that's too much to expect.

GLOBAL WARMING? We should be so lucky.

AFFORDABLE AND USER-FRIENDLY, amateur drones have skittered beyond the grasp of government regulators.

It strikes me that what we're seeing here is the beginning of the end of big government: too big, too slow, too overweening, and Americans are just beginning to ignore the regulators, go about their businesses, and dare the government to do something about it. With enough civil disobedience, the regulatory state will (hopefully) collapse.

RANDOM THOUGHTS on Republican racism and their 'war on women'. In last week's midterm elections, how many new blacks did the Democrats elect? How many new women did the Democrats elect?

FALL FOLIAGE 2014: Week 6. The leaves are going faster now, but surprisingly this year the leaf changes are species dependent: the oaks are almost nude, while the beech trees have just begun to turn, and the pear trees down the street haven't begun to turn yet.

Last week's picture is here.

OBAMA ON IMMIGRATION: It's my way or the highway.

HE MAY HAVE LOST THE MAJORITY, but Harry Reid won't necessarily lose his leadership post. Actually, I hope the Democrats are dumb enough to keep him; it will ensure a Republican victory in 2016....

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Beware a wounded Obama. A prediction that is now coming true.

IN BERKELEY, NO LESS: The 'War on Soda' claims its first victory.

But look on the bright side. The working poor, those most likely to be hurt by this new 'sin tax' may be able to qualify for free marijuana.

Well done, Berkeley.

OBAMA DEMOCRATS have left coal country. Left? Kicked out is more like it.

HEH: "The [Wendy] Davis campaign was so inept that 95 percent of its own straw men voted for Greg Abbott."

LIBERALISM RUINED MY PARENTING. But I'm going to stick with it anyway.

MARK STEYN: The Age of Intolerance.

Yes, I'd have a hard time tolerating the guy on the left, too.

THE ENTIRETY OF POLITICS FOR OBAMA: getting people to vote for him. Successful politics begins there. Obama’s politics end there.

SURPRISED? "[Obama's] kind of a self-centered jerk when you get right down to it."

THE MID-TERM ELECTION? It's not a wave election ... it's worse.

NATIONAL SECURITY: Extremists' routing of Syrian rebels thwarts Obama's strategy. But that's okay; the Obama 'strategy' was only designed to last until the mid-term election, which it did.

AVIATION WEEK: China's J-20 Stealth Fighter.

The J-20’s primary mission ... may be to use stealth and speed to break through the [defensive combat air patrol] CAP and threaten vital tankers and ISR platforms. Its range gives it a “long lance” advantage—if the tankers, ISR aircraft and escorts have to stay out of the J-20’s range, the tactical aircraft that they support will not have the airborne radar cover or range needed to reach their targets.

Also, an anti-radar missile would give the J-20 some capability against shipping, even with internal weapons. .

In a very broad sense, the J-20 could turn out to be an analogue to the Soviet-era Tu-22M2/3 Backfire bomber—an efficient and practical blend of low-risk technologies that generates options for its users and difficult problems for its adversaries.

A long article, but interesting.

THE DEMOCRATS are so desperate they resorted to honesty:

Democrats 2014                         we spent your $$$--

Follow the link to the fact check site, where you'll find that under Nancy Pelosi's 'leadership' the national debt increased by a $3.66 billion per day. Before her, Dennis Hastert, a Republican, added a mere $1.05 billion, and before that, Newt Gingrich was a piker, adding only $556 million per day.

Just for grins, I checked on John Boehner who, while no slouch himself, is still minor league compared to Pelosi: an average $2.81 billion per day so far.

JONI ERNST ON LEFTIST LUNACY: “Don’t worry folks, I’ve seen worse. But it was in Iraq.”

UPDATE & BUMP: Much more here.

ERIC HOLDER deploys poll-watchers to look for “discrimination”. Yeah, all those Republicans going to the polls today are intimidating African-Americans, Hispanics, illegal immigrants, and other victim groups from voting.

I DID MY PART. I voted against Mark Warner.

Now it's time for the rest of you to step up and do yours.

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION pushes new rules for flying in icy weather.

The new rules ... will test the design, performance and handling of these airplanes to certify them to fly through freezing rain and drizzle.

The FAA estimates the new safety requirements will cost industry more than $61 billion to comply with, but they could offer a public benefit worth more than $580 million.

Sixty-one billion spent to achieve a 'public benefit' of 580 million; that makes no sense whatever.

WHAT A LOVELY THOUGHT: Obama will leave the Democrats in shambles.

CONSERVATIVE INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: What to look for as the polls close tonight.

LOCKHEED'S F-35 LIGHTNING II JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER makes its first arrested landing on the U.S.S. Nimitz.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: No, Americans don't spend too much on elections:

[T]he truth is that Americans don't spend too much money on politics. Far from it. If anything, they don't take the matter seriously and so don't spend enough. Based on late projections from the Center for Responsive Politics, a grand total of $3.67 billion will be spent in this two-year cycle on the 471 congressional races to be decided today, which is equal to about one-twentieth of one percent of U.S. federal spending.

[T]his is ... much less than what we spend on beer ($83 billion), lottery tickets ($69 billion), pornography ($11 billion), potato chips ($6 billion) and Taco Bell ($6 billion). And according to White House estimates, Americans spend nearly 60 times as much each year ($109 billion) on retail purchases of cocaine, marijuana, heroin and meth.

The only campaign finance reform that will ever work is to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.

VOTER FRAUD IN VIRGINIA: Numerous, credible reports of voting machine irregularities have been reported in Virginia's Second Congressional District. Some voting machines have incorrectly recorded votes for the opposite candidate than the voter selected.



Republicans take note: we have to win beyond the margin for fraud.

REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU VOTE TODAY: All ages see higher premiums under ObamaCare.

BRING OUT THE BIG GUNS: Kim Kardashian stands with President Obama.

OPTIONAL for Democrats (and other non-citizens):

UPDATE: the deed is done.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I forgot to mention that in order to increase Democrat turnout, our normal polling place has moved to be closer to a Democrat stronghold: the cemetary is now less than 100 yards from where we vote. In fact, I've seen several voters passing through it on the way to the polls.

IT'S ELECTION DAY and here are the top ten reasons to vote Democrat.

[PROGRESSIVELY] EDUCATED WHITE DEMOCRATS run blacks off their plantation. Good news for Republicans....

DEMOCRATS SO DISTRAUGHT they've canceled their wake.

NEW YORK TIMES: It's time for you bumpkins to let us urban, sophisticated, smug Democrats decide your elections for you.

The hubris - and ignorance - of these urban 'sophisticates' is simply astonishing. Here's one who seems to think that simply enjoying an unapproved treat (a corn-dog) makes one a 'bumpkin'.

This time the bumpkins are punching back. (Be sophisticated. Be smug. Vote Democrat.)

NEW YORK TIMES: We're losing, so it's time to cancel midterm elections. This part is especially revealing:

[D]uring midterm elections, the electorate has been whiter, wealthier, older and more educated than during presidential elections.

Which neatly explains why they're losing.

JUST ANOTHER BLINDING GLIMPSE OF THE OBVIOUS: In-car infotainment can distract drivers.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: On Tuesday we shall see whether Americans would prefer to be poorer, fleeced, and less safe just as long as they are not smeared as racists, sexists, homophobes, greedy, and selfish.

SO WHERE DID ALL THAT GLOBAL WARMING GO? Not the deep ocean, apparently.

ELECTION 2014: The dogs that aren't barking....

BE OFFENDED, but recognize that this is probably legal. It's what happens when government gets too big, too bureaucratic, and too powerful.

MISSION 'SELFIE' ACCOMPLISHED:

If all goes well, the Rosetta mission could perform the first-ever soft landing on a comet's surface.

FROM MY EMAIL: What is This Election About?

So what's this Election really about? Some would say - I have many times - that it's about the plethora of wrong choices that the Obama Administration and Democrats Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have made over the past 6 years. ObamaCare, burgeoning national debt, a feckless foreign policy, the weakening of our nation's military forces, no border control, etc. The list would take up the whole page.

But I think this Election is about more than just electing Republicans, and I hope and pray we will. It's about whether or not tomorrow - November 4th 2014 - will be known as that day we stood up and said in one collective voice of firmness "Enough!"

Many of you know that I often talk about the founding vision. Why, because I believe it. And I believe that the Founders wanted us to secure the work of freedom that they left to us as a legacy. That requires that we sustain the revolution they won with blood, treasure, and tears. That means we protect the Constitution they wrote to order our revolution. But they did those two things. We didn't. What is left to us is our duty - our sacred duty - to sustain revolution and if we don't, the whole body of their efforts will perish. We sustain revolution in the American contest - as Os Guinness so artfully taught - through the "Golden triangle of Freedom"; that is freedom requires virtue; virtue requires faith of some sort, and faith of any sort requires freedom.

This sustainment construct is under attack in America. The far left wants to limit our freedoms for their purposes from speech, to our right to keep and bear arms, to the expanding intrusion of government in our lives. They are the party of big government to be sure. Virtue is in horrible decline in just about every aspect of life and devoid from the civics we teach our children in school. And the assault on religious expression has never been more virulent in our history.

Enough is enough. That's what a huge number of Christian pastors are doing this year by endorsing candidates from the pulpit, using Sunday sermons to defiantly flout tax rules. Their message to the IRS: Sue me. They are in a way doing what pastors did during our revolution before there was an IRS to threaten them. I think it is courageous that they are. Personally, I prefer that we use the pulpit for the gospel and then boldly carry the gospel out into the world where we live and work. But I do admire their courage in speaking truth about what confronts us today. Our Founders NEVER wanted to block the INFLUENCE of faith in public life even while they did not want the state to tell you what faith to follow. They understood that the virtue from faith was needed to sustain free people to make them worthy of self-governance. The left neither understands our likes this notion very much. But tomorrow, Election Day 2014, we can give them a lesson...but only if you vote. It's clear these pastors will ... and a bunch of their folks too....

Scott Ligamfelter is my representative in the Virginia House of Delegates.

WENDY DAVIS: Twilight of the Froot Loops.

HAS THE MYSTERY of Amelia Earhart's disappearance finally been resolved?

IT'S TIME to tell them to "Stuff it!" And "Sit down and shut up!"

WOULDN'T IT BE WONDERFUL? Harry Reid may not even be minority leader after Tuesday.

FROM MY EMAIL: In case you didn't notice, on January 1, 2014

The top Medicare tax went from 1.45% to 2.35%.
The top income tax bracket went from 35% to 39.6%.
The capital gains tax went from 15% to 28%.
The dividends tax went from 15% to 39.6%.
And the estate tax went from 0% to 55%.

Remember: these taxes were all passed under the Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare. They were passed with Democrat votes only; no Republican voted for these taxes.

Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 4. Vote!

NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRAT: I'd rather spend your taxes than pay mine.

On the bright side, she did finally pay up.

WILL POLITICIANS EVER LEARN? After huge tax incentive package, Boeing still ships jobs out of Washington. One would think that eventually they would come to realize that the best strategy for keeping businesses in place is not to raise taxes in the first place.

HMM. Volvo technology makes trucks smart enough to not run you over.

I would simply remind readers that while technology can be made foolproof, it can't be made idiot-resistant.

HEALTH CARE: Rethinking electronic medical records. With the time-wasting required by the Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, I'm reminded of Augustine's Law XLVIII: "The more time you spend talking about what you have been doing, the less time you have to do what you have been talking about. Eventually, you spend more and more time talking about less and less until finally you spend all of your time talking about nothing."

NAVY'S STANDARD MISSILE-6 intercept targets in 'engage on remote' tests. For those of you unfamiliar with naval warfare, this is a 'big ... deal'.

DON SURBER: explains tolerance. His is a summary of this much longer piece, which is itself well worth reading.

KEYSTONE XL: Where have all the excuses gone?

JEFF JACOBY: No wonder voters like a candidate who knows how to castrate hogs.

FALL FOLIAGE 2014: Week 5.

A dramatic change this week, not so much in colors as in the sheer numbers of leaves that have fallen. The yard in this photo is covered in leaves, which only two days ago was mowed and the leaves blown to the 'forest' that surrounds our yard.

The other unusual factor this year is that the trees are not all turning at the same time. In this picture you can see that one tree is completely denuded, while others are still retaining some green.

Here's last year's Week 5 picture, taken (Nov 9, 2013), and here's last week's.

We seem to be ahead of last year by about a week.

EBOLA: Trust a politician? Or an expert? Frankly, neither, since neither one seems to exhibit so much as an ounce of common sense.

UM, BECAUSE THEY'RE FAR AWAY? Here's Why The Night Sky Is Dark Even Though Jillions Of Stars Are Shining Light Our Way.

RELAX: Open carry won't get you shot at Kroger. Or WalMart, since I've seen people carrying openly there as well.

UPDATE: But you could get HIV.

HO-HUM: Just another deranged Democrat.

EBOLA NURSE KACI HICKOX defies common sense and quarantine guidelines. This, six days after another case of 'self-isolation' gone stupid.

My thoughts, more or less:

From where I sit ... it’s the belief that you and your needs are acutely exceptional and important, and take precedence over those of the people around you. It’s the unspoken belief that your day radiating sickness at the office is worth a couple of your colleagues being bedridden with your flu for a week. You may not be actively thinking that, but that’s the math your actions ... imply. It’s selfishness and solipsism, pure and simple.

As much as I dislike the thought, it may be necessary for Kaci Hickox to become ill with the Ebola virus to overcome this sanctimonious moral preening.

Andrew McCarthy also comments.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, quarantine edition, is up. As usual, here's my favorite:

Follow the link to see the rest.

YOU EXPECTED SOMEHING DIFFERENT? Islamist Campaign Donors Overwhelmingly Back Democrats.

REMEMBER THAT QUOTE about laws and sausages? Keep that in mind the next time you go to the pharmacy.

THE CDC: centers for everything but disease control. Read the comments.

HEH: "The Environmental Protection Agency sent a proposed rule to limit smog to the White House...." They should have proposed a rule to limit smog from the White House.

ASTRONAUT EXPLORATION BIOETHICS: Would it be unethical to give birth on Mars? I'd suggest that it's a good thing that there were no bioethicists in 1620, lest the Pilgrims be dissuaded from coming to the New World on the Mayflower.

It's also a pity that the unemployment rate is so high that there are no real jobs available for 'ethicists'....

THE WAGES OF LIBERAL STUPIDITY: Public school outlaws swings. Public education would be better off if school districts banned 'educators'.

DEMOCRATS TO BLACK VOTERS: You’re idiots, but vote for us just because. Yes, we think you're too stupid to make your own decisions....

HUBRIS.