Monthly Archives: April 2009

Apr 30 2009

Ed Rollins Grades Obama’s First 100 Days

From CNN:

Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, was political director for President Reagan and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Commentary: Is Obama a Clinton or a Carter? – CNN.com: give him high marks as the commander in chief. From retaining Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (one of the best in that job I can remember) to the symbolic inaugural “Commander-in-Chief Ball” (for members of our military) to his redefining the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has impressed many skeptics.

And by allowing the Navy SEALs in Somalia to take out the pirates and by authorizing the use of drones to take out the suspected Taliban terrorists in Pakistan, he showed that he is willing to make the tough decisions and allow our troops to engage.

I do strongly object to his running around the world with “I am sorry!” as his message in apology for American missteps, and I think he has to realize that high-level diplomacy is about taking sides. Not everybody will be — or wants to be — your friend. And we need to pick our friends carefully.

…

All I can say after 100 days is: Good start, Mr. President; I wish you well!

This is the kind of analysis I like. Ed Rollins, clearly a conservative, clearly a Republican (look at his credentials) is being a thoughtful critic, giving Obama high marks where he deserves it, and taking him to task for things that he hasn’t done well.

I’m getting really sick of hearing the Republican Attack Machine (henceforth known as RAM) make stupid accusations, call for impeachment, and try and make it sound as if Obama’s been doing a crappy job.

He hasn’t.

Have I agreed with everything he’s done? Nope. Is he a tremendous improvement over the last few President’s? So far, I’d say yes. He’s provided leadership as needed, made a bunch of touch decisions, and has helped improve our standing in the world.

Overall grade: B.
Domestic grade: Not sure… his spending scares the hell out of me.
International grade: A

Keep it up Mr. President (but try not to spend too much of our money… we can’t afford it).

Apr 15 2009

Vista Safest? Yeah… Right!

From Slashdot:

Vista Post-SP2 Is the Safest OS On the Planet: pkluss noted Kevin Turner, COO of Microsoft making the proclamation that “Vista today, post-Service Pack 2, which is now in the marketplace, is the safest, most reliable OS we’ve ever built. It’s also the most secure OS on the planet, including Linux and open source and Apple Leopard. It’s the safest and most secure OS on the planet today.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Apr 10 2009

Fed up residents repair road in 8 days

From CNN.com:

Fed up residents repair road in 8 days — for free: Tired of waiting for government help, business owners and residents on the Hawaiian island of Kauai pulled together and completed a $4 million road repair job — for free. “We can wait around for the state or federal government to make this move, or we can go out and do our part,” said local businessman Ivan Slack.

This is a libertarian’s dream… citizens, when empowered, can solve problems better than the government can, and do it for less. In this case, they accomplished a civil engineering job that the government estimated would cost $4 million, and take 2 years, in just 8 days, and at a total cost to the tax payers of $0!!!!.

Apr 1 2009

Can Fractals Make Sense of the Quantum World?

From Slashdot:

Can Fractals Make Sense of the Quantum World?: Keith found a New Scientist story about fractals and quantum theory. The article says “Take the mathematics of fractals into account, says Palmer, and the long-standing puzzles of quantum theory may be much easier to understand. They might even dissolve away.”

This is the coolest article I’ve read in a long time. I’ve had a hobby for many years of trying to understand (at a very coarse, layman’s level) the nature of various theories in physics today.

I’ve read books by Feynman, and Hawking, and always wondered if there’d ever be a connection between quantum theory and relativity theory. I’ve also read several books on fractals and thought that the nature of our universe had to be fractal in some way. Well, it looks as though it is, and there might be a connection between quantum theory and relativity theory after all.