On this day....

On this day in 1965, the Canadian flag we know and love was adopted. All around the world, this is seen as the flag of justice, peace and freedom.

Hope and Change second to Super PACs

Isn't this the guy who said he wanted to change politics as we knew it and end corruption in DC? He looks sort of like the same guy who campaigned against Super PACs in 2008, calling them a "threat to liberty."

Of course, we can also thank the Supreme Court for ruling in 2010 that corporations were people. Remember, this is the same organization that ruled slavery and segregation was legal. Sorry if I seem skeptical about their logic...

Nonetheless, the Obama flip flop on PACs below for your consideration courtesy of Yahoo news.




http://news.yahoo.com/obama-shows-weakness-super-pac-stance-change-184400868.html

Germany rising?

For the 17th or 18th time, I read in the news that stocks rallied on impending deal/hope of solving the Greek debt crisis. It is not solved and it is not going away. The Eurozone is not going to become any kind of political union or superstate. It might turn into a German vassalage though.

All of the Euro bailouts have come straight out of Germany's pocket and Chancellor Angela Merkel has said there will be no more. Germany, located in the center of Europe, and possessing the continent's strongest economy is clearly the strongest country in the faltering EU. Without Germany, there is no European Union but with or without the European Union, there will be a Germany.

Germany has the lowest unemployment rate (6.6%) in the EU, an economy that is an interesting mix of industrial and financial, and seems to be developing an interesting relationship with Russia when it comes to oil. It kind of looks like 1880 all over again when Bismarck gave the Czar loans to modernize Russia and keep them from allying with France.

Some extremists start shouting about 1939 and "the Germans are coming!" but I can't see that happening. A possible swing rightward and a resurgence in patriotism but I don't see the swastika making a comeback.

Oddly, Angela Merkel may succeed where Kaiser Wilhelm and Adolf Hitler failed. Germany may conquer Europe without firing a shot or even intending too do so. Greek, Spanish, Irish, and Italian debt is held by a lot of Germans and at some point, they will call in the markers. Deals will be made but with those come concessions. What sort of concessions will there be? I don't think the Germans are out to overrun Europe but it is looking like they will own a good piece of it.

Europe, with or without the EU, will continue to revolve around Germany. Europe's history is usually the story of a power vacuum in Germany or a Germanic attempt to expand in all directions, from the Romans to the Third Reich. Sometimes it was just migrations and others it was an attempt at conquest. Sometimes, historians hate to use this phrase, it "just happens". The law of unintended consequences can lead down roads no one even knew existed. Take a look at Europe's history in the 1860s and you will see what I mean.

I have heard from a lot of people that the European Union was formed not only to create a unified Europe but a European Germany. It might end up creating a German Europe. It just might be inevitable.

TSA messes with the wrong guy....

Senator Rand Paul had a standoff with the TSA nitwits in Nashville today. There should be a lively debate coming out of this. Please, just get rid of these pervert morons masquerading as "security" at our airports. They have never caught a terrorist and have failed every security test ever administered. They only turn Americans against each other and are an admission we have lost the war on terror.

The story from Yahoo for your consideration:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/senator-rand-paul-detained-refusing-tsa-pat-down-161010280.html

How to lose an election...

President Obama vetoed the Keystone Pipeline Project today because he claims the deadline to consider the project had passed before the State Department could study the merits of the proposal.

What else does the State Department have to do?

The pipeline could provide thousands of jobs and help edge the US off non North American oil sources. If this government was truly interested in solving the energy problems plaguing America, they would use this as a first step while developing alternative energy. The term "alternative energy" has been around since the 1970s when then President Nixon pledged energy independence from the Middle East "by 1980." You can see how well that has worked out.

When summer arrives, we will hear the all too familiar refrain that "Americans are driving more" and the oil speculators will use that as an excuse to drive up oil prices and we will be paying $4 a gallon.

If that happens, say goodbye to any hint of economic recovery and Obama had better start dusting off the resume.

Get the commodities under control, (bring back Glass-Stegall) or this will never get any better.

pic from Splicetoday.com

Tim Tebow

What is it with the sports media and Tim Tebow?

For some reason they really seem to hate him. Some people give us the "liberal media hates Christians" angle and you begin to wonder if they have a point.

I am not the most pious person on the planet but I believe everyone has a right to worship whoever or whatever they want or not worship anything.

The sports media should focus on sports and keep it there.

His open piety can be a little tiresome at time but so are morons with drooping pants, hats on crooked and idiotic "celebrations" for things as mundane as making a catch that is not even a touchdown. Tebow, on the other hand, seems much more wholesome and could be an excellent role model in a league full of people who often end up in jail.

They have derided Tebow declaring that he was an NFL "bust" before playing a down and somehow forgetting he is a rookie and rookies can be taught to do things differently. Every game he started in 2011, elements of the sports media analyzed his every move and when he had a bad game, declared his fifteen minutes of fame were over.

Then he goes and beats my Steelers in the playoffs.

The media better get used to Tim Tebow because I think he is going to be around a while. He has Someone bigger than the media in his corner.

I also think Pittsburgh will beat him next time around.....

Pic from ESPN

Footnotes, footnotes, and more footnotes!

If there is anything more mind numbing than putting in footnotes on a master's thesis, I don't want to know what it is!

I put in, over two days, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY of them!

Wow.....

Later today, I will put in my maps and battle diagrams and declare the project officially over.

Now, it is time to prep for the defense, and get ready for the PhD applications.

It never ends but at least you won't be bored!

Welcome to 2012!