SOUNDING THE ALARM about the importance of technology and innovation for US competitiveness: thoughts from former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine.

Some tidbits:

China is now graduating more English-speaking engineers than the United States.

The only countries with fewer engineering graduates than the United States include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Madagascar and Swaziland.

The 35 largest U.S. companies are creating three times more jobs abroad than they are in the United States.

Not a pretty picture, is it?

SINCE WE CAN'T BAN GUNS, let's ban ammunition.

While we're at it, let's also ban non-armor-piercing (e.g., lead) bullets. Face it; if you don't die outright, lead poisoning could kill you later.

WHEN YOU RUN THE NUMBERS, the U.S. already has a flat tax.

Play with the calculator. The value of tax credits (read deductions and loopholes) is stunning.

THEY AREN'T ALONE: House Republicans Lack Faith in Obama Promises of Future Reform.

PRIVATE ENTERPRISE: The Golden Spike Company announced that they have plans to fly manned crews to the moon and back for a price of $1.5 billion per flight by 2020. When you realize that their intended customers are nations (and possibly multi-national corporations), that's probably a fair price.

More here.

MOMENTUM GROWING for a Republican Plan B. Republicans need to (1) let the Democrats pass their 'tax the millionaires and billionaires' proposal; (2) hold them to it when they inevitably seek loopholes for their contributors; and (3) start working (publicly and transparently) on health insurance legislation, medicare/medicaid legislation, social security legislation, immigration legislation, and -- most importantly -- comprehensive tax reform for introduction in the 2015 Congress.

THAT'S A LONG WAY TO GO just to get ice: "Scientists are developing a mission concept that would snag icy particles from Saturn's moon Enceladus and return them to Earth...."

SANTA DAD.

PASSIVE RESISTANCE: Coersion only works when states allow themselves to be coerced.

The same applies to individuals.

FOOD NANNIES RETREAT: Let them eat meat.

MORE: "By the time these kids grow up they may well have forgotten who exactly stuck them with trillions and trillions worth of debt, but they will always remember who made them eat s#*tty pizza."

THE PIONEER ANOMALY.

SHIT HAPPENS. Media ignores.

READING IS FUN:

I like reading. I love reading. I always have. I read recreationally still. I read on buses, in planes, while crossing streets. My entire apartment is covered in books. And now, through some strange concatenation of circumstances, I write for a living.

And it’s all because, as a child, my parents took the time to read me “Recommended Levels of Insulation.”

The road to Hell is paved with progressive reading pedagogy.

NEWT GINGRICH: a Republican strategy for 2013 and beyond.

IF YOU HAVEN'T GUESSED ALREADY, it's all about control.

HUNT THEM DOWN and kill them. Make examples.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE: ABC, NBC and CBS ignore union thugs' attack on Fox News contributor.

SEMPER FI:

“THIS IS PAINFUL FOR A LIBERAL TO ADMIT, but conservatives have a point when they suggest that America’s safety net can sometimes entangle people in soul-crushing dependency.”

Like his fellow editorialist at the New York Times, Nick Kristof is living proof that liberals are from Oz: there's no need for a brain if one has a certificate.

HEH: Washington Post pays 2013 dividends now so investors can avoid tax increases championed by president the paper endorsed.

Do as I say, not as I do.