Bigot: One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain.
—————- Ambrose Bierce (Boy, there sure are a lot of bigots out there!)
Today’s Quote: On Bigotry
Mar 12
Weather Economics
Mar 11
I’m kind of shocked about a newspaper story I’m NOT seeing, namely the story that says that the recent slowdown is do the the harsh winter we’ve been having. They used to run stories about how warm weather increased spending:
The warmest January in more than 100 years lured consumers out to the shopping malls to spend money at the fastest clip in six months, giving a strong boost to the economy as the new year began.
So, does the weather play a role? My wife last night was lamenting that she hadn’t been able to do any real shopping in a long while because of the lousy winter weather. Yes, an anecdote, but a perusal of back issues says the weather spending connection was once taken seriously by the media. I don’t recall one story yet this winter making that claim.
Could it be that the media is trying to (1) tarnish Bush and (2) affect the outcome of the election?
Another interesting part of the 2 year old story:
However, a third report showed construction spending managed only a 0.2 percent increase in January, the weakest gain in seven months and far below the 1 percent analysts had expected.A big reason for the slowdown was a tiny 0.1 percent increase in private home building, the poorest monthly performance since an actual decline of 0.4 percent last June.
It was a further indication that residential construction, which has enjoyed five boom years, is beginning to slow.
Sales of both new and existing homes fell in January despite the warm weather. Economists predict continued increases in mortgage rates will slow housing further in coming months.
What’s this, a slowdown in the housing market 2 years ago? I thought the current slowdown was just that – current and because of the current sub-prime “debacle”. Sometimes it really pays to go back and read old news because the news itself has so little correct historical context to it and too much current narrative.
More Of My Wisdom
Mar 11
I have another revamped aphorism I like to say:
Rome wasn’t built without deadlines
——– Kevin Murphy
Okay, I’m a procrastinator, but I still think it’s right.
Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.
——– Howard Aiken (probably after an engineering design review)
Cheeseburger in a Can
Mar 4
What will they think of next! How do you improve on cheeseburger in a can? That will increase attendence at our scout campouts.
I admit I was intrigued by the other product mentioned, Peronin:
Peronin is easy to consume during the contest, is readily assimilated by the body, and enters the bloodstream immediately. In addition, in extreme situations, it eliminates the risk of suffering the much-feared fatigue caused by a lack of oxygen in the blood and it minimizes bowel movements.
I cannot stress enough the importance of minimizing bowel movements while camping, or during sporting events for that matter.
Clinton Agonistes
Mar 4
I have to feel sorry for Hillary Clinton. Only just a teensy bit, though. Here she was inevitable, Obama left for dead before Iowa, and now she’s on the brink of losing the nomination. And so she fights back with her “experience” and her “who do you want to answer the phone at 3AM at the Whitehouse” – but left unsaid is that John McCain wins both those battles. If those arguments persuade you, then why not vote for McCain in the general if you vote for Hillary for those reasons in the primary. I have real problems with McCain-Feingold, but at least it’s major legislation. What’s the legislation with Clinton’s or Obama’s name on it? John McCain has a huge track record in the Senate – Clinton has some, and Obama has what, if anything? McCain isn’t my first choice (Thompson), or my second choice (Romney), but I certainly feel comfortable with him answering the phone at 3AM, and I certainly feel comfortable with his track record of leadership and experience in office.
So when Hillary hammers Saint Barry on his experience and dovishness, all McCain has to do is replace Obama with Clinton and Clinton with McCain and he’s set.
Kirkwood Aesthetics
Mar 3
The Post finally ran my letter to the editor on the Kirkwood City Council shootings. I’m assuming that you know about them, but I’ll just mention that I’m third generation Kirkwood, even if I don’t currently live there. A lot of the coverage now focuses on “the racial divide” in Kirkwood.
I keep hearing about this racial divide in Kirkwood and how Charles Thornton was treated differently because he was black. But can anyone point to actual evidence of this unfair treatment? Can they point to white business owners who have been allowed to park their heavy equipment on residential streets or dump their waste on vacant lots? For instance, I notice that Ray’s Tree Service stores their equipment on a parking lot, not on the city streets.
My father, Kirkwood High class of 1942.5, was the executor of an estate in Kirkwood about 25 years ago. After his second citation for letting the grass grow too high, he started to mow the lawn one evening after work. He was then cited for disturbing the peace despite his whiteness.
I can believe that Mr. Thornton never adjusted to the change from the unfettered days before Meacham Park became part of Kirkwood, but after the protracted fight over a parking lot for the Baptists or the latest brouhaha over the tearing down of an old house to put up a new one that sparked the bumper crop of red “Protect Historic Kirkwood” yard signs, anyone who seriously believes that race counts for more than aesthetics in Kirkwood doesn’t know Kirkwood.
As usual it was edited, but this time I think they went a little far. I understand they edit the letters. I can understand why they edit them. It’s just that I’m not always happy with the edits. They removed “Can they point to white business owners who have been allowed to park their heavy equipment on residential streets or dump their waste on vacant lots? ” which I think is pretty important.
I think it’s important because I prefer to move away from the nebulous to the specific. No doubt people in Meachem Park, like almost anywhere else, can point to events and claim they are not treated fairly. I might even agree with them (amazingly enough, I too was once stopped for Driving while Black despite the fact that I, and all the car’s occupants, were white). But a lot of the continuing response seeks to bridge a racial divide. I wish them all the best but I don’t think the problem is racist in nature. It’s not entirely classist, either And that’s why it’s important to find out the exact complaints, and not be satisfied with generic ones – because reality can hide in that nebulous cloud. But if the reality is flushed out into the open, then and only then can it be examined and addressed.
There is nothing wrong with the dialogue and probably something oddly thereputic in all the hand holding and avowals of love and solidarity, but at the end of all that you’ll still have the majority in Kirkwood imposing its aesthetic values on the rest of the population.
Kirkwood is suffering from a clash of aesthetics and has for a long time. All the big fights for the last 30 years (or more, I can only speak personally to 30 years) have all been over aesthetics. Usually its couched in terms of the effect on neighborhoods and property values but the majority of Kirkwood wants to keep the city a place of high end residential properties (nothing wrong with that) and if that limits what you do with your property, so be it. And that’s when the fighting begins – when you do something with your property that goes against the Kirkwood aesthetic. Tear down an old house to put up a new house – fine if the old house is one of the many old small ones and the new one fits in with the look and feel of Kirkwood. Tear down a charmer to put up a McMansion – Kirkwood explodes in red yard signs “Protect Historic Kirkwood”. Tear down a house to put in a parking lot – don’t even think about it Baptists.
Meachem Park has been thoroughly reconstructed since it’s annexation from Kirkwood. Law and order, and all that that entails, has been provided. And if the order that is imposed doesn’t conform to the locals desires, it does to the wider Kirkwood aesthetic. And no amount of jawboning about race, no amount of representation on the city council will change that.
I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.I get satisfaction of three kinds. One is creating something, one is being paid for it and one is the feeling that I haven’t just been sitting on my ass all afternoon.
Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.
It had all the earmarks of a CIA operation; the bomb killed everybody in the room except the intended target!
Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.
You cultivate the essential virtues: high purpose, intelligence, decency, humility, fear of the Lord, and the passion for freedom.
There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self-reliance.
Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
I won’t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.
The academic community has in it the biggest concentration of alarmists, cranks and extremists this side of the giggle house.
Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other peoples’ money, except when it comes to questions of national survival when they prefer to be generous with other people’s freedom and security.
Truth is a demure lady, much too ladylike to knock you on your head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but people must want her, and seek her out.
Life can’t be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years.
One must bear in mind that the expansion of federal activity is a form of eating for politicians.
A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling “Stop!
——– William F. Buckly Jr.
After three days men grow weary, of a wench, a guest, and weather rainy.
——— Benjamin Franklin (I wonder if it was after a 3 day bout of the flu?)
The World Outside
Feb 27
Perhaps it’s because I’m getting over that killer flu that’s going around and it seems like winter is never going to end, but my thoughts keep returning to the Norse idea that the end of the world is presaged by a winter without end – Fimbulwinter. But then that leads me to think Ragnarok and Roll and I can’t help but smile.
And now, not only am I not alone in thinking this has been a particularly bleak winter, but I’ve got data to back me up.
No, I don’t honestly think the world is coming to an end, the weather and my frailty combine to make my mood sink like the Earth’s temperature recently. I know my mood won’t be permanently affected (I really do have a naturally sunny disposition), and I’m hopeful the Earth’s temperature isn’t permanently affected, because no matter what climate alarmists tell you, warmer is better than colder. In moderation, of course.
