Tales of the Heliosphere

The worst journalist in the world weighed in the other day on Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia won the "worst person in the world" honor on Keith Olbermann's joke of a news show. What was Scalia's offense? Upholding the right of Americans to keep and bear arms. You know, the one that's right there in the Second Amendment.

It's inevitable in arguments over the meaning of the Second Amendment that the person who wants to disarm Americans will mock "original intent" or "strict construction" by saying something like what Olbermann says in his rant about Scalia:

"Despite years of fog created by the NRA and right-wing organizations, that isn‘t very complicated; for the purposes of forming a state militia, you‘re entitled to keep and bear arms. Obviously, those would have to be the kind of use in arms since 1791, when the Bill of Rights was passed, the musket, the wheel-lock, the flint lock, the 13th century Chinese hand canon. Stuff like that." (Here, scroll down.)

Of course, Olbermann's point is a stupid one.

Americans' right to travel embedded in the Privileges and Immunities Clause (here) is not limited to interstate travel on foot, horseback, carriage, or sailboat. Americans' right to petition their government for redress of grievances is not limited to sending notes by messenger to their elected representatives. The United States Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce is not limited to goods that travel by wagon, barge, or sailboat. Finally, Americans' freedom of speech is not limited to publishing pamphlets on hand-operated printing presses or standing on a soapbox in a local park and ranting at passersby. Although come to think of it, Olbermann's phony news show, and especially his very special comments, are the television equivalents of a crazy person standing on a soapbox in a local park ranting at passersby.

Today's worst constitutional scholar in the world: Keith Olbermann.

-tdr

Labels: America, Guns, Law, Media, TV

The United States Supreme Court today rejected the procedures developed by Congress and the President for the detainees at Guantanamo. The court held the detainees are entitled to file habeas corpus petitions in federal district court, even though the detainees are foreigners held on foreign soil. (Story here and opinion in pdf format here.)

Perhaps it's time to transform the macho slogan, "kill them all and let God sort them out," into an official rule of engagement.

-tdr

Labels: America, Law, War on Jihad

This just in from Reuters:

"One of the last shipments to a U.S. research base in Antarctica before the onset of winter darkness was a year's supply of condoms, a New Zealand newspaper reported Monday.

"Bill Henriksen, the manager of the McMurdo base station, said nearly 16,500 condoms were delivered last month and would be made available, free of charge, to staff throughout the year to avoid the potential embarrassment of having to buy them." (Here.)

Let's see, 16,500 condoms divided by 365 days is 45 condoms per day. Whatever gets you through the night, as they say. And the nights are long down there. Cold, too.

Go here for information on job opportunities in Antarctica.

-tdr

Labels: America, Antarctica, Sex

One of the ironies of modern American politics is how much Democrats complain that Republicans are mean practitioners of the politics of personal destruction. Why can't Republicans just talk about the issues? Why all the personal attacks? So go the lamentations.

Yet Democrats regularly talk smack about Republicans, and in a very matter of fact way, as if the ickiness of Republicans is as obvious and ordinary as the sun in the sky during the day and darkness at night. For instance, get a load of this comment by Lorena Gonzalez, a labor leader in San Diego, about Carl DeMaio, a newly elected Republican member of the City Council. "'Do I think he cares about poor people? No,' she said. 'But I think I can have a relationship with him.'" (Here.)

First, Gonzalez attacks DeMaio's character by accusing him of having no compassion for the poor, then, in the next breath, she expresses hope that she can work with him. Priceless.*

-tdr

* For the record. I appreciate negative, personal politics. How a candidate reacts to personal attacks says a lot about that candidate's strength of character. Elections are about placing particular people into positions of power not platforms or issue papers. The personal character of a political leader is as important an issue as there is.

Labels: America, Elections, Politics

IBM may have been left behind in the personal computer revolution, but the company rules when it comes to superfast, supercomputers. An IBM devised and built military supercomputer recently set a world record for computing speed by performing over over 1 quadrillion calculations per second, that's a "petaflop" in computerspeak. The computer is built from components originally designed for video game machines. The processing speed feat has helped keep the US in the lead in the international supercomputer speed race.

"By breaking the petaflop barrier sooner than was generally expected, the U.S. supercomputer industry has been able to sustain a pace of continuous performance increases, improving a thousandfold in processing power in 11 years. The next thousandfold goal is the exaflop, which is a quintillion calculations per second, followed by the zettaflop, the yottaflop and the xeraflop."(Here.)

But what about the Fosbury flop? (Here.) No word in the story either about solving the garbage in, garbage out problem.

-tdr

Labels: America, Technology

People in Kenya are being fed by a nutritious and drought-resistant wheat that makes better bread and grows well on land too barren for more traditional varieties.

"Scientists and crop researchers at Kenya´s Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) developed the new wheat seeds over the past decade. Through a process called 'mutation plant breeding', they applied radiation-based techniques to modify crop characteristics and traits. Kenya worked closely with the IAEA, through its technical cooperation arm and a regional programme called AFRA (African Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology). ...

"KARI is the country´s premier institution for agricultural research and technology transfer. Its plant breeders successfully released their first mutant wheat variety in 2001. Called Njoro-BW1, it was bred to be tolerant to drought and use limited rainfall efficiently. Key side benefits include a moderate resistance to wheat rust; high yields, with grains valued for flour production of good baking quality."

Read more about how scientists in Africa are saving lives and increasing prosperity for their own people. (Here.)

-tdr

Labels: Food, Good News, Science

On the occasion of Senator Barack Obama's ascension.

They tell us we can't "distract" the voters with "wedge" issues like abortion, religion, marriage, and guns in the campaign against the candidate Obama.

Yes we can.

They tell us we can't impute the radical beliefs of his long time associates to the candidate Obama.

Yes we can.

They tell us we can't criticize his wife's campaign speeches in attacks on the candidate Obama.

Yes we can.

They tell us we can't discuss race when talking about the identity of the candidate Obama.

Yes we can.

They tell us we can't ask questions about his Muslim childhood when talking about the life of the candidate Obama.

Yes we can.

They tell us we can't use his full name when referring to the candidate Barack Hussein Obama.

Yes we can.

They tell us we can't use religion as a wedge or patriotism as a club.

Yes we can.

All's fair. Let the swiftboating begin.

-tdr

Republished once to correct a typo.

Labels: America, Elections, Politics

Breakfast is supposed to be all about comfort food. Not sure where breakfast cake falls in that category. Judge for yourself here. The odds are about even that the pictures of breakfast cake being made will either sicken you or get you thinking of trying it yourself.

And for lunch, there's Gold Loaf, a sandwich made famous by Elvis, consisting of a hollowed loaf of Italian bread filled with a jar of peanut butter, a jar of grape jelly, a pound of fried bacon, all smothered in butter and baked or deep fried into yummy goodness. (Gold Loaf website here.)

-tdr

Republished once to correct a typo.

Labels: Food

Today on a continent far, far to the south, a conflict is developing between Peru and Chile over the origin of the potato.

"Peruvian agronomists, historians and diplomats are chafing at an assertion by Marigen Hornkohl, Chile's agriculture minister, who said recently, 'Few people know that 99 percent of the world's potatoes have some type of genetic link to potatoes from Chile.'

"Peru, where the potato is a source of national pride, could not let such a comment pass.

"'Obviously the world has known for centuries that the potato is from Peru and that the Peruvian potato saved Europe from hunger,' Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcma Belaunde told reporters here last week. 'The entire world knows this.'" (Here.)

Not a word in the story about the origin of the Irish potatoes that did so well in the 19th Century.

If war breaks out, invest in the company that manufactures these high tech potato guns: (claytonbailey.com here.)

-tdr

Labels: Food, International, War

Blame Canada! The linked article (here) got the author, Mark Steyn, and his magazine, Macleans, dragged before a Human Rights Commission in Canada for supposed hate speech against Muslims.

About par for the course for Islamists. Don't like what others say about Islam? Intimidate, intimidate, intimidate! But why a supposedly free country would allow the trial of an author and a magazine for publishing political opinion others find disagreeable is beyond me. (Follow the proceedings in all their totalitarian glory at Macleans blog here.)

-tdr

Labels: Canada, Islam, Law