Sleepless in Midland

A contest for bloggers with a .380 caliber handgun

This will be short and easy. But fair warning, it's a very self serving post.

Steve at thefirearmblog.com is running a contest to help an ammo seller give away 1,000 rounds of .380 ammo to the winning blogger.

Among his rules are requirements to write a post about the contest before the end of the month. Done. Link to his blog post about the contest and to Luckygunner.com. Done and done. Then send an email once it's posted. That will be done, but please Steve, no spam, jokes, political diatribes or offers to send me a dead finance minister's million dollar estate. Okay?

Getting your full 15 minutes worth (of fame)

Youtube just announce a 50% increase of their maximum video time limit from 10 to 15 minutes. Via PCWorld.com.

And in fact, Youtube itself wants to help videographers get that 15 minutes of fame with a contest:

Tag your video with “yt15minutes,” upload it by Wednesday, August 4, and we’ll select a handful of people to truly gain their 15 minutes of fame by featuring them on the YouTube homepage in a future spotlight.

Maybe we'll get more gems such as Leave Britney Alone, Baby Dancing to Beyonce and David after dentist, only longer!

Shackleton's Whisky

The story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his excursion to cross the Antarctic a hundred years ago is a fascinating tale that would put the modern day TV survivalists to shame.

This was Sir Shackleton's advertisement seeking men to sail with him:

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. —Ernest Shackleton." Source.

His ship, the Endurance, got trapped in the ice and was eventually crushed, so he and his crew of 27 salvaged what they could and camped out on the ice. Then with three lifeboats, they took their provisions to a small island. From there Shackleton and five others set out in a single lifeboat to get help for the others. It was 21 months after the initial departure of the Endurance before he got back to rescue the others, but not a man was lost.

Among the provisions they took with them on the Endurance were some crates of Mackinlay's whisky which the guys salvaged from the ship. Amazingly, those crates were discovered in 2006 embedded in ice.

So in late 2009 a team of New Zealand explorers were planning a South Pole expedition, and the whiskey company Whyte & Mackay asked them to try to retrieve a sample.

That expedition was successful, and one crate was retrieved. The whisky company plans analyze it, and if it's drinkable, they'll replicate the blend for thirsty historians.

So here's to you, Sir Ernest Shackleton and your hardy crew. Three cheers and bottoms up. Keep your boat afloat, your feet dry and your glass full.

Arizona's illegal immigration problem and the federal government's many agencies

Two things have recently made the headlines. And while at first blush they may not seem to be related, they are.

First -- The governor of Arizona signed into law the famous Senate Bill 1070 last April in an effort to control illegal immigration. Today a federal court in Arizona issued a partial preliminary injunction against portions of that law. See azcentral.com. An appeal would go to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

There's one major area of law enforcement that almost everyone can agree that the feds are ineffective, and that's border control. Some approve of that situation, and some disapprove making this a hot button issue right now. Arizona was simply trying to put a system in place that would do the job that the feds should be doing.

Second -- Another big news item was the article in the Washington Post titled Top Secret America. The premise:

The government has built a national security and intelligence system so big, so complex and so hard to manage, no one really knows if it's fulfilling its most important purpose: keeping its citizens safe.

Interestingly, the WaPo article has a section on Border Control. Those of us who thought CBP with it's nearly 27,000 employees had sole responsibility for border control were wrong. Incredible as it may seem, according to the WaPo article there are 23 government organizations and 50 contracted companies working on border control.

With all of that man/woman/computer power to keep control at the borders it would seem to be impossible if not very difficult for someone to sneak in. So if it's happening, it is either because of incompetence or dereliction of duty.

Heck of a job, Brownie. The people in charge of Obamacare can only hope to be as efficient.

IRS grants amnesty for small exempt organizations that missed the filing deadline

That headline is a little bit misleading. It isn't really amnesty, it's merely an extension of time to October 15, 2010, to make the simple little e-postcard filing for exempt organizations which normally have annual gross receipts of $25,000 or less.

A 2006 law made the annual e-postcards requirement beginning with the year 2007. Missing three consecutive annual deadlines was supposed to have resulted in the forfeiture of the exemption. But so many of those little non-profit groups ignored the filings and missed the last deadline in May of this year that the IRS had to take a second look at it.

A news release on 7/26/2010 announced the extension. And note this:

The IRS will keep today’s list of at-risk organizations on IRS.gov until Oct. 15, 2010. Organizations that have not filed the required information returns by that date will have their tax-exempt status revoked, and the IRS will publish a list of these revoked organizations in early 2011. Donors who contribute to at-risk organizations are protected until the final revocation list is published.

Click here for links to PDF documents by state listing organizations at risk of losing their exemptions. There are a lot! The one for Texas, for example, is 744 pages long (landscape) going all the way from 081 Reed Employees Benefit Fund to Zumunta Association USA Inc. Surprisingly, the one for New York only contains 711 pages. But whoa, look at California -- 1162 pages!

Aside: Changing the name of "Form 990-N" to the innocuous sounding "e-Postcard" didn't seem to make it any more popular. But it was an admirable effort.

Previously, Many small non-profits missed IRS deadline.

It's 10 O'clock -- do you know where your oil came from?

The U.S. Energy Information Administration issued a list of the top 15 countries from which the U.S. imports crude oil.  Very interesting.  Here's the list from first to 15th:

Canada
Saudi Arabia
Mexico
Nigeria
Venezuela
Angola
Iraq
Colombia
Algeria
Brazil
Russia
Kuwait
Ecuador
United Kingdom
Congo (Brazzaville)

Click the link to see the volumes.

Via Cafe Hayek where you can read a concise explanation of why the principle of comparative advantage would mean that U.S. energy independence would lead to dependence in other areas.

[10 o'clock? -- ed.  Well, it must be 10 o'clock in one of those countries. -- GJ.]

Flying Pasties -- the coverup for airport body scans

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. The Great Recession tries to pull them down, but the TSA gives them life.

It's the Flying Pasties, rubber covers for one's private parts prior to getting the full body airport scan.

The website doesn't say how the pasties stay in place, but double sided tape could work.

In any event, it's a great idea.

Lazy nudists might welcome the chance to expose themselves without having to disrobe. But most of us don't necessarily want others staring at our nude images.

I don't really mind, but my handsome visage and amazing physique could be intimidating enough to the poor guy having to look at the scan. But then to see what's below the belt may give him such an inferiority complex he'll be in therapy for years. This humble blogger wouldn't want that to happen.

Via.

Texas and the missing housing bubble -- a mystery solved

There was no housing bubble in Texas. House prices didn't escalate to the degree that house prices did in other states. See chart on the right. And so an economic downturn didn't lock an anchor around homeowners' necks.

As to why the prices didn't rise like the others is the mystery, but there's no shortage of opinions. See Did Consumer Protection Laws Prevent Texas Housing Bubble?

One of the reasons floated around is that high property taxes deterred real estate speculators from buying up property due to the holding cost they would incur if they couldn't flip it fast.

[Aside: Oh yeah, Texans know all about high property taxes, so it's nice to know there's an upside. And it serves as a reminder of one of the key economic principals: Raise taxes to deter people from doing the thing that is taxed. Shelter, being one of life's necessities, is something few of us care to do without, but many of us would like to keep the tax as low as possible in spite of that unintended benefit.]

Another reason Texas avoided the housing bubble is that the land use laws are less restrictive than the bubble states, so there was not a shortage of land available for developing. That's the one economist Mark Perry likes, and it seems valid considering the attitude toward development Californians seem to have. Mr. Perry's blog is where that chart came from, by the way.

Finally, here's yet another reason. Texans remember the housing bust in the 80s. That was a consequence of the big drop in oil prices which triggered an economic tsunami that swept across the state. Texans learned the lesson the hard way, and that was a good reason not to bid up prices this time.

It was the wisdom of the bumper sticker: God, please give us another boom -- we promise not to piss it away this time.

How to spot a drowning person -- hey, is Obama drowning?

It has long been thought by many that Barack Obama was in way over his head as president.

And along comes a helpful article providing warning signs of a drowning person. No, they don't wave their arms and yell "help." Signs of a drowning person:

1.  Head low in the water, mouth at water level;
2.  Head tilted back with open mouth;
3.  Hair over forehead or eyes;
4.  Eyes glassy, empty and unable to focus;
5.  Eyes closed;
6.  Hyperventilating or gasping;
7.  Not using legs;
8.  Body is vertical and upright;
9.  Trying to swim in a certain direction but not making progress;
10.Trying to roll over on the back.

Number 9 certainly applies. Send in Tom Coburn for resuscitation. And bring a CPR mouth barrier.

A Beavis and Butt-head comeback

You can't keep a good man down. And sometimes you can't keep a couple of hilarious losers down, either.

Beavis and Butt-head may be making a comeback. NYPost.com:

The move to resurrect the hugely popular 1990s animated anti-heroes has been rumored for several days. But yesterday, sources at MTV confirmed that a new batch of "Beavis and Butt-head" episodes are in the works.

The new series would keep Beavis and Butt-head in their perpetual high-school state, but it would be updated so that the pals -- who obsessively watch music videos on a battered TV set -- could lob their snarky comments at more current targets like Lady Gaga.

I wonder which social networks they use?

Judge Sharon Keller -- File on time or die trying

There was a time when death penalty opponents thought they had the high moral ground -- killing was wrong. But that was before concepts of "right and wrong" went out of fashion, and the new wisdom held that we don't know whether the people on death row are truly guilty.

Regardless of what one might think about the death penalty, we really should want to insure that the people on death row are guilty and that the law was followed to get them there.  There are loads of safeguards built into the system to see that death row inmates get the full benefit of the law. Sure there will be those who abuse the system, and we'll just have to live with that. But judges shouldn't be out there throwing up road blocks.

The story of Judge Sharon Keller and death row inmate Michael Wayne Richard is a disappointing chapter in the history book of Texas justice.

Sharon Keller is the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA), the highest state court to which a convicted criminal can appeal. The complaint -pdf filed against her tells the story, and what follows is a brief summary.

Michael Wayne Richard was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on September 25, 2007 anytime after 6:00pm. On that very morning the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear Baze v. Rees, the case questioning the Constitutionality of the lethal injection process.

The nonprofit organization Texas Defender Service (TDS) was representing Mr. Richard, and they began work on a petition for a stay of execution. Through email communication, the TCCA was made aware of their intention to file the petition.

But the TDS had computer problems, and at 4:45 they called the TCCA clerk's office to tell them they would be a little late. Keller had gone home by this time, so the deputy clerk informed the TCCA general counsel who called Keller at home and asked her if the office could stay open past 5:00. According to the complaint:

Judge Keller said "no" and asked "why?" Mr. Marty replied: 'They wanted to file something, but they were not ready." Judge Keller again said "'no."

The TDS eventually called the deputy clerk shortly before 6:00pm and said they were headed there to hand deliver the pleadings. The deputy clerk told them not to bother, because no one was there to accept the filing. Mr. Richard was executed at around 8:20pm.

A complaint was filed with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, and on July 16, 2010, they issued an order - pdf in which the commission listed a blistering string of violations of standards by Ms. Keller in this case, then they administered the penalty: A public warning.

Huh? Yep, a public warning which shouldn't even qualify as a slap on the wrist. It's more like a frown. It basically means that we can read the various filings and orders on the internet. And if this astonishing claim is correct, she even vowed to appeal that ruling.

Judge Sharon Keller's position is an elected office. She was originally elected in 1994 and reelected in 2000.  And in 2006 she was reelected to the current term which expires in 2012. Texas voters love to reelect incumbents, and judges typically fly under the radar.  But this "public warning" just might put her on voters' radar screens.

Updated -- On July 29, 2010, Judge Sharon Keller's attorneys filed a petition with the Texas Supreme Court requesting emergency relief alleging the public warning was unconstitutional. Via Statesman.com. See petition here (pdf).

Updated -- On August 16, 2010, Judge Sharon Keller's writ of mandamus was Denied.

Followup -- Judge Keller's lawyers eventually got a favorable ruling from a three judge Special Court of Review. See Trying to Try Judges -- The ruling on Judge Sharon Keller.

Birth of a narrative

Russ Roberts announces a birth -- it's a brand new narrative.

Mr. Roberts notes that narratives have changed over the years, in particular, the narrative of some years back that FDR saved the country had to be changed when the historians faced up to the big 1938 spike in unemployment. The narrative changed from "FDR's Keynesian stimulus saved the country" to "the war spending became the Keynesian stimulus that saved the country." As Mr. Roberts says:

But my main point is that the narrative changed from “FDR proved Keynes was right” to “The New Deal didn’t disprove Keynes because the New Deal was never tried.”

And now a new narrative is in the making.  Mr. Roberts points to a recent a Krugman opinion piece describing Rahm Emanuel's efforts to hold down the Obama stimulus amounts. And so the new narrative will be that if only Rahm Emanuel and the Republicans hadn't prevented more stimulus spending the economy would be in fine shape. Link.

Meanwhile, to avoid hurting their case on unemployment benefits, the White House may have buried a study on whether unemployment benefits deterred workers from seeking work. It's a tough job trying to keep up with all the narratives.

Mozilla sniffs out a nasty Firefox add-on

Last month some scoundrel uploaded malware to the Mozilla website in the form of a Firefox add-on. And 1,800 Firefox unsuspecting users downloaded it into their browsers. Read about it at blog.mozilla.com. Via Graham Cluley’s Blog.

"Mozilla Sniffer" was the name of the add-on, and it captured any login information entered at any website and transmitted that information to another site. Now that's not very nice.

Blog.mozilla.com reports, "Upon discovery on July 12th, the add-on was disabled and added to the blocklist, which will prompt the add-on to be uninstalled for all current users."

This serves as a valuable lesson to those of us who are big fans of open source software. It's a jungle out there. It's open source, so that allows anyone to examine the stuff for malicious code. And apparently that's what happened in this case, and a good citizen dutifully reported it. But unfortunately, it wasn't the Mozilla vetting process that found it. They ran a virus scan on it but didn't examine the code before making it available to the public.

So it might pay to wait a bit before downloading newly introduced open source software. As the old saying goes, be not the first on whom the new is tried nor the last to cast the old aside.

Post Script: That same Blog.mozilla.com article noted that 334 of those who downloaded it are still using it. That raises a couple of troubling question: what other information does Mozilla gather from Firefox users? And do Apple, Microsoft and Google gather browsing information from users of those browsers?

How to make a $100 bill -- CNET toured the mint

CNET toured the manufacturing plant of the new $100 bill. It's a highly mechanized process that can do 10,000 sheets an hour, but they slowed down the process to about 8,000 sheets an hour for the new $100 bill. Read the tour write-up at cnet news. Looks like a topic the History Channel would tackle, if they haven't already.

The Treasury says the $100 bill "is the most widely circulated and most often counterfeited denomination outside the U.S. " So they've got some new security features in the bill that are easy to see but hard to duplicate.

For example, the bill has a 3-D security ribbon plus a bell in an inkwell on the face that both change appearances at different angles. Roll it around and see it for yourself at this cute flash tutorial. Other features include watermarks, security threads, a color shifting "100," microprinting, and raised printing.

This Russia Today video says Russia is the largest holder of U.S. currency outside the U.S., and hopefully that's the only reason the new $100 bill is of such interest to them. The old bills are still valid currency, and one would think counterfeiters will stick with those. So that problem isn't solved.

The new bill is set to enter circulation on February 10, 2011, and maybe by then the value of $100 will not be substantially different from what it is today. And finally, for anyone yearning to correct me, it's really a note and not a bill.

California -- An initiative to legalize and tax weed

California voters have their own set of problems with their government, but one thing they have that only 21 other states have is the right to place a statute on the ballot and vote it up or down.

This November Proposition 19 will allow California voters to decide whether to allow people to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, smoke it privately or in a licensed facility, and grow some for their own use. Via Joseph Henchman.

Will this initiative, if it passes, raise or lower the price of marijuana in California? One could extrapolate a lesson from Prohibition and speculate that the black market price of an illegal substance would be higher than the price of the same substance if legal. The taxing authorities would be tempted to raise the tax as high as the market would bear, but finding that point would take some experimentation.

But the winning issue is the prospect of saving countless dollars that might have been spent on law enforcement, prosecution and incarceration.

The rest of us can watch and learn from the California experimental weapon in the war on drugs.

Tax tanning, kill businesses

The 10% tax was slapped on ultraviolet indoor tanning services by the ObamaCare bill because it was expected to raise so much money. See WaPo article:

Supporters -- including the Obama administration, congressional Democrats and dermatologists -- have argued that the tax will raise an estimated $2.7 billion toward the cost of expanding health coverage to the uninsured, while discouraging a practice that increases the risk of skin cancer by as much as threefold in frequent users, according to scientific research.

Well, let's review a lesson so widely understood that they don't even bother teaching it in school: raise the price on a non-necessity and chase away customers.

And so we learn from that same WaPo article:

"In 26 years of business, this is the worst I've seen it," said Scott Shortnacy, owner of the Arlington Solar Planet as well as six other branches in the Washington area. "Normally for people who tan, it's a part of their lifestyle. They keep doing it even in a recession. But everybody has been looking for ways to cut back on those areas. . . . Our sales are down 20 to 30 percent."

Could ObamaCare have been over-promised?

Via Joseph Henchman who also notes: "The tax is in a long line of excise taxes on 'luxuries' (the telephone excise tax and automobile excise taxes started out that way too)."

Token white guy jobs in China

Are you a white guy, need a job, and want to stand out? Well, here's an opportunity that might not last too much longer.

In China, white people can be rented. For a day, a weekend, a week, up to even a month or two, Chinese companies are willing to pay high prices for fair-faced foreigners to join them as fake employees or business partners.

Source: CNN. Via Carpe Diem.

Dog de-snaking clinic coming up

Seems late in the summer to be doing this, but it's the hunting season that guides the schedule.

The next annual Llano Estacado Bird Hunting Association dog de-snaking clinic is set to take place on August 14, 2010, at the Permian Basis Shotgun Range. Here's the announcement PDF.

It's supposed to be very good. But don't take my word for it, Janie tells the whole story in a way that only she can do.

Dallas District Clerk's records now online

A couple of months ago we wished upon a shooting star that Ross Bush, the new Midland County District Clerk, would put the official records online so that anyone wanting to see them wouldn't have to run the gauntlet and get strip searched as part of the Court House entry routine. In the process, we discovered that they are already available online, unfortunately it's quite expensive to use with a yearly fee of $120 plus a $0.10 per page fee, paid in advance, to view or print a document. See previously.

In that previous posting we noted that the District Clerk of Harris County (Houston) has their records online. Well now it looks like the Dallas County District Clerk's records are online too.  See District Clerk Reaches Historic Milestone with Public Access to Court Records at the District Clerk's blog.

[Aside: "District Clerk's blog?" Yep. Note to Ross Bush: if you want to blow our minds, start a "District Clerk's blog" of your own.]

What you have to do to see the Dallas records online is first go here, pick the type of court, do a name search, and get the case number. Then go here and plug in the case number. Pretty nifty. And based on the sample searches I did with some very common names, it's free!

Maybe it isn't fair to compare Midland with larger cities. We may not be able to keep up with the big boys. But if we hope to be something other than an ordinary small community we should at least try to keep the gap from growing so large that we give up trying.

Free press or a government subsidized press -- Pick one

What if our local paper took government subsidies?

Columbia University president Lee Bollinger has an editorial in the Wall Street Journal in which he proclaims that government subsidies of the main stream media will not have an effect on their independence. To try to prove it he says this:

There are examples of other institutions in the U.S. where state support does not translate into official control. The most compelling are our public universities and our federal programs for dispensing billions of dollars annually for research. Those of us in public and private research universities care every bit as much about academic freedom as journalists care about a free press.

Yeah right. There's no better example of group-think than some of the political research that comes out of the universities. Take that recent survey asking academics who was the best U.S. president -- see Image over substance --FDR still ranked number 1 -- which parrots liberal orthodoxy ever so closely. For more credentialed eviscerations of Bollinger's editorial, see Cato and Mises.

But what about our local paper? The poor thing has gotten thin with news and thick with bulky advertising inserts, but that at least suggests they have some advertising revenue to bulk up their cash flow. But do we want them taking government money to help them stay afloat? Hell no. They are so shy about saying anything critical about their favorite politicians already that they would go mute if Congress held the purse strings.

So as harsh as it may sound, it's much better for the nation if they sink or swim in the free market. We don't need any more government bailouts, especially those that could serve as a gag on the First Amendment.

Woody for President!

Toy Story 3 is jumping off the movie screens these days. It's in 3D, you know.  But the characters are what make the movie so good.

That Woody, what a guy! He's smart, articulate, honest, resourceful, adaptable and caring. Just the qualities we should look for in a president. So let's draft Woody to run for President!

There was a villain in the movie, too. He was a bully: arrogant, selfish, manipulative, disdainful of others. But otherwise he didn't much resemble the current White House occupant.

What about Buzz Lightyear for vice president? Nah, he's too easily reprogrammed. For V.P. we need someone like Jessie: tough, clever and not afraid to speak out.

We need to put a cowboy in the White House.  Yes we can!

OK, I know it's just a movie. And those characters are figments of someone's imagination. No human being could possess all of those traits and make it through the primaries. But a fellow can dream, can't he?

NAACP firing blanks at Tea Party

Claver Kamau-Imani addressed the Odessa Tea Party rally earlier this year with a timely message about race. When playing "dozens" -- the head to head insult hurling match -- and your opponent calls you "racist," he/she is out of ammo. They've just admitted that they don't have a rational basis for opposing you. (See Sipping tea at the West Texas Tea Party."

So now we encounter articles like this one from ABC: Michelle Obama Rouses NAACP Before Vote Condemning 'Racist' Elements of Tea Party. The NAACP is considering a resolution condemning racism of the Tea Party. Politico has it too.

What a farce. New Black Panther Party can threaten voters, and Eric Holder gives them a get-out-of-jail pass. Yet people protesting government spending are the racists. What a backwards world we are living in.

President Obama is running on empty. Whether he intended the result or not, he's made great strides toward the toward the destruction of the U.S. economy and seems to have that same plan for the rest of the world.

The American public is finally wising up. The cataracts that covered their eyes before the 2008 election have been washed away by the reality of the Obama presidency.  And anachronistic groups like the NAACP, living off their past accomplishments, seem to have trouble adapting to a target immune to the "racist" charge.  They are out of ammo.

Liberal: out; Progressive: in

The "P" word is ubiquitous. Progressive is in; liberal is out. It means the same thing, but there's enough confusion that many liberals now shun "liberal" in favor of "progressive" to avoid the negative baggage the "L" word carries with it.

A Gallup poll brought forth evidence of that confusion:

Bottom Line
The progressive label seems to be gaining popularity in American politics, with numerous high-profile political players and groups using it either as a substitute for "liberal" or as a nuanced alternative to it. Given the high degree of public uncertainty about what the term means -- as well as the lack of opposition to it from the political center -- that could be a successful strategy, at least if the goal is to avoid being pigeonholed.

Meanwhile, Philip Klein, who pointed us to the Gallup poll, reminds us that Elena Kagan boasted of being politically progressive. She wouldn't want to call herself Liberal, now would she?

And for Progressives who don't aren't sure how to display their progressive-ism, try this guidebook: 538 Ways to Live, Work, and Play Like a Liberal.

Bill Clinton haranguing folks for not donating enough money to Haiti

Former President Bill Clinton is in the news again, this time complaining that the world has not come forth with enough money for earthquake ravaged Haiti. Never mind that the most countries are suffering under heavy debt loads and poor economies.

If we might be so crude as to ask, what are the Clintons doing with their own money? They are house shopping. See Clintons dealing for $11M Westchester mansion. It must be hard trying to live comfortably in that shot gun shack in Chappaqua.

Mr. Clinton is trying to help Haiti the only way he knows how, with other people's money. If he really wants to help Haitians he should encourage the government to reform their property rights. And who knows? Maybe Mr. Clinton might be tempted to buy a vacation house there.

Soluto -- software shortens Windows boot-up time

There's a handy little free program out there called Soluto. It counts off the minutes and seconds it takes for the computer to boot up. And it gives the user the option pause or delay some of the programs in the boot up process. I've done about all I can to speed up my own boot-up time, and it still takes too long, but it was nice to whittle off a half minute.

Download the free version at Soluto.com.

Via Technologyriview.com and Sbot.org.

Dogs for adoption -- get them while you can

This afternoon, as with every Saturday afternoon for the past three years, Laura Hollifield and some other Animal Outreach volunteers had some of the pets under their care up for adoption at the PetSmart here in Midland, Texas.  Here are a few photos from today's adoption showcase.

 

That's Ms. Hollifield in the first picture above left, and these are some of the dogs that were available today.

Regina Louise Carmichael, a heeler/corgi mix, shows off her one blue eye and one brown eye as she poses for the photo, above left. Those three pups in the next shot demonstrated how relaxed they could be in a crowd.

 

What fine pets these dogs would make.



That's Cowgirl above left in the bandana, showing off one of her tricks.  And on the right we see a curious canine investigating that big eye of the camera.  Maybe she'll be on TV.

They were such lovely dogs. And they are sure to make great pets for someone caring enough to adopt them. The animals have already been vaccinated, spayed or neutered, so the new owners won't have to worry about that.

Animal Outreach doesn't have a facility for the dogs, so volunteers provide foster homes for them until permanent homes can be found. It must be sad for the foster families to part with them, but one volunteer said it means they've helped one more animal and can go on to help another one.  Keep up the good work, y'all.

How to tick people off

If at first you don't succeed, keep going down the list:

How to tick people off 32 ways. Here is a sampling:

4. If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.
10. Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.
13. Disassemble your pen and "accidentally" flip the ink cartridge across the room. 14. Holler random numbers while someone is counting.
20. TYPE IN UPPERCASE.
23. Buy a large quantity of orange traffic cones and reroute whole streets.
26. Try playing the William Tell Overture by tapping on the bottom of your chin. When nearly done, announce "No, wait, I messed it up," and repeat.
27. Ask people what gender they are.
29. Sit in your front yard pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.
30. Sing along at the opera.

Via.

You don't wanna mess with the momma grizzlies

She's a phenomenon, a force to be reckoned with. Her political opponents feared her so much they applied the full Alinsky against her when she ran for V.P.

It's Sarah Palin -- check out her new video.

And whether you love her, hate her, fear her or loath her, you have to admit that she's certainly hit a chord with many Americans.

Via Diane Ellis.

Is Obama the dumbest president ever?

Being very much aware of my own intellectual limitations and having only a public school education about past presidents, I couldn't possibly answer that question. And others have gotten presidential intellect woefully wrong in the past -- see the Bush-is-dumb meme.

But that didn't stop Stuart Schwartz who makes a compelling case that President Obama is The Dumbest President...EVER! Here's his working definition of intelligence:

A very special mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings---"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.

Mr. Obama's process of "figuring out" what to do might include some of the elements of intelligence, but that gets canceled out when he always comes up with the wrong answer.

The "dumbest president" title is currently held by James Buchanan, Mr. Schwarz tells us. But Mr. Obama is within grabbing distance of it.

Some might argue that he's really quite intelligent and his decisions weren't dumb mistakes but part of a plan to bring the country down to level the playing field for all people of the world. Well, if that's true, he must not be very bright.

The government's economic meddling

There's a general disagreement about whether the government should stimulate the economy, or whether government is even capable of stimulating the economy. The government probably could it if it were done right. But there's a real art to doing it, and few in government service have the artist's talent to touch up just the right spots at the opportune time.

We end up with old school government handouts -- rewards to those who are useful to the people in power. The spoils system is the dominate driver of government stimulus. And the people currently in power are just making the situation worse.

Larry Kudlow is an entertaining and astute market observer, and he has penned a nice article on how government is hurting business and how that hurts us all.

The article is titled Business-Power Neglect. Excerpt:

Liberal-left Nobel Prize winners like Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz believe government spending should be increased substantially. But if it hasn't worked up to now, why should we believe it will ever work? Taxing or borrowing from Peter to pay Paul does not create new investment or jobs. Nor do extended unemployment benefits.

Businesses create investment and jobs. I call it business power. And this power has been totally ignored in the debate over economic policy.

/snip/

During the Reagan 1980s, when a deep recession led to a 10.8 percent unemployment rate, the Gipper cut domestic discretionary spending, lowered tax rates across-the-board (including corporate tax rates), and sped up tax write-offs for business investment. The first two years of that recovery generated nearly 8 percent growth, with hundreds of thousands of new jobs created monthly.

Right now, we are facing one of the largest tax hikes in U.S. history, scheduled for 2011. Taxes on investor capital and business will go up significantly. So will individual income-tax rates. This is exactly the wrong medicine.

We have an administration staffed with people who are either ignorant about basic economics or uncaring of the harm they do in order to achieve their misguided ideological goals.

Can we change that?  Yes we can.