IF THIS GOES ON .... Texas highland lakes will soon be dry.


As a former -- and intermittent -- resident of Central Texas, this is the worst I can recall ever seeing. When my family first moved to Austin in the early 50's, Lake Travis (the easternmost major reservoir) was still filling. I've seen its 'sometimes islands' appear and disappear, but they've never become the 'sometimes peninsulas'. I've never heard of anyone being able to drive over the Lake Buchanan (the westernmost major reservoir) to old Bluffton.

Lake levels are nearing historic lows since records have been kept.

IS CLIMATEGATE back in the news?

SPENDING OTHER PEOPLES MONEY: Occupy D.C. cost local taxpayers $1 million.

PRESIDENT PRESENT: Romney Blames Obama for Supercommittee Failure.

BRIDGE TO HOPE 'N CHANGE NOWHERE: Supercommittee fails.

A FRIGHTENING FORUM IN IOWA. The secular Left simply cannot fathom any principled objection to their cultural fantasies. Read the comments.

EUROPEAN TAX RATES: If these rates are accurate, then one must concede that no matter how bad things looks in the U.S., they're worse in Europe.

IT'S BEGUN: Mr. Obama, please go quietly. Frankly, I didn't think it would take this long.

PROMPT GLOBAL STRIKE: The Army’s Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, lifted by a 34-foot, 36,000-pound rocket, successfully flew 2,400 miles from Hawaii to its target by the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. This in contrast to DARPA's more highly publicized Falcon HTV (hypersonic technology vehicle) which had two successive failures earlier this year.

The most interesting part of the article is the Environmental Assessment (here), which shows the degree -- and expense -- associated with satisfying the environmentalist movement.

SHOCKING (NOT): A USA TODAY analysis of companies who received money from Obama's stimulus found that those firms have "soundly beaten the stock market" since the stimulus became law.

But long-term success is still TBD, and the question of whether or not in the long term the companies that survive would have done better or worse can never be determined.

OCCUPY STUDENT DEBT: a self-bailout proposal. I suspect that the "Occupiers" will find their creditors not amused -- and quite willing to give them short shrift when it comes time for them to apply for a new auto or mortgage loan.

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME: This guy is shooting a .50 caliber rifle. The target is a steel plate, 1000 yards away. You can hear the ping of the hit and then hear the bullet coming back. It hits the ground just in front of him, then bounces up, hits the earmuffs, knocking them from his head.



LESSON: When shooting at a hard target, always make sure it's angled away from you. I learned at about 10 years old with my very first 'Red Ryder' BB gun.

"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the willingness of politicians to try to avoid making ... hard choices."

HEAD SCRATCHER: Seen on the road today, a large advertisement for

Amber Ale: Employee Run and Wind Powered

It was painted on the side of a diesel 18-wheeler.

SURPRISED? Almost half the homeowners aided by the Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program are in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Connecticut. All three states are heavily Democratic. No surprise there.

ANOTHER REMINDER: Regulations are for little people.

DAN MITCHELL is unhappy to hear that the Republican members of the Supercommittee may be capitulating on the "no tax increase" pledge for fear of sequestration, which he sees as a foolish fear. He needn't worry as it looks like sequestration is inevitable.

Road, can, kick.

GUNMAN SHOT AT BERKELEY near the Occupy demonstrations. There are actually two stories here; one about the campus police shooting an armed intruder on the campus, the second about police removing protestors at the behest of the University to uphold a ban on camping on the university campus.

So what does the Chancellor do?

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau launched an investigation into allegations that campus police used excessive force. He said videos of the protests were disturbing, and he plans to grant amnesty to all students who were arrested and cited for attempting to block police from removing the tents.

Utterly amazing.

MAPPING THE LUNAR SURFACE: a high-resolution topographic map of the lunar surface from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mapping data.

THE SENATE RULES COMMITTEE blocked the Tea Party Debt Commission from unveiling its budget proposal at the Capitol last Thursday, with staff members removing microphones and locking doors to the room where the group was set to present its findings. Naturally, the Senate is ruled by the Democrats who clearly don't want any serious budget proposals presented in any mainstream media covered public forum.

Having read it, the Tea Party's budget proposal is both serious and quite good. I can pick nits, but in general the Tea Party's proposal is strong.