Looks like a hot, hot summer

The IPCC is predicting cooler global temperatures.

Movies and politics

Evidently Mrs. Clinton is now comparing herself to the Sylvester Stallone character "Rocky" in an effort to revive her campaign. I can't totally speak against this, as I've enjoyed the first half of most of those movies, and one of my favorite songs is "Theme to Rocky XIII".

Wal-Mart update

Apparently someone in Bentonville has figured out that saving half a million bucks has just cost them tens of millions of dollars in employee and customer goodwill, so they've reversed their attempt to help themselves to a settlement intended for the care of a paralyzed former worker. Peer pressure works, evidently.

If they want me as a customer again, though, they're going to have to pay the legal fees for the Shanks as well, not to mention they really ought to consider firing some of those involved in trying to bankrupt this poor family. Morals matter, after all, and the people involved have cost Wal-Mart tens of millions of dollars at least.

They might also want to take a very close look at how they're implementing their cost-cutting measures, as this article demonstrates. Note to Wal-Mart; theft and bankrupting your employees are not legitimate cost-cutting measures. Thank you.

This would explain some things...

....at local upscale boutiques. Apparently, Botox injections used to reduce wrinkles can move to the brain. Word is that the Obama and Clinton camps are lobbying the manufacturers to get them to reduce the price in time for the November elections.

Speaking of upscale boutiques, a local home decoration magazine saw fit to feature a bathroom decorated with a female nude on its cover. If I doubted that our society is changing, this would convince me that I was wrong--it wasn't that long ago that such art was found only in the homes of creepy bachelors, not on the cover of magazines found in childrens' swim schools. I'm guessing that next month's edition will feature a den with black velvet artwork.

Or maybe the main clientele of the magazine has been taking too much Botox, and needs some assistance in figuring out appropriate attire for taking a bath. Whatever.

Your government at work

Back in grad school, one of the mandatory sessions for EE grad students was a presentation by a NASA scientist, who was pushing for a manned flight to Mars before the year 2000 to take advantage of close proximity between the two planets that wouldn't exist for quite a while thereafter.

Fast forward 15 years, and NASA figures out that (oops!) the radiation encountered during such a flight would likely kill any astronauts unlucky enough to start it. That's my objection to NASA in a nutshell; lots of blue sky, but when it comes down to figuring out the likely problems, they're just as incompetent as any other government agency.

(possible fix for the problem; build any spacecraft around a magnet to produce a field like the Earth's--but that would end up making it a LOT heavier. Ooops)

Legal, but wrong

It appears that Wal-Mart is setting a new standard for "stupid PR and HR decisions" by this; after a worker of theirs was rendered permanently mentally and physically disabled in a traffic accident and won a sum of money intended for her long term care, Wal-Mart sued for more than the former worker received in the settlement to recover medical care costs.

Thankfully, a court reminded them that they could, legally speaking, only recover the remainder of the trust fund, but it's really sad to see people thinking that just because "it's legal," that it's somehow moral or ethical to deprive people who cannot support themselves of the resources they have. I'm holding out hope that state bar associations and pastors censure those involved here; the Scripture does, after all, say some pointed things about prosperous people abusing the poor in court!

It's also incredibly poor business; Wal-Mart has more or less just told their workers that they will sue them into the poorhouse if they can find a suitable legal excuse. Given that Wal-Mart has 1.9 million employees, I figure that it took about ten seconds or less for this to actually cost them money.

Say what?

A top (?) cancer researcher suggests that cell phone use is more dangerous than cigarettes, as it may double the risk of brain cancer. Having relatives who've died of lung cancer, and not having relatives who've died of brain cancer, I was skeptical.

Turns out my skepticism was justified. Only about 13000 people die each year in our country from brain cancers and tumors, and over 160,000 people die each year from lung cancer--and this doesn't even count smoking-related deaths from emphysema, heart disease, and so on.

Plus, the relative risk for cell phones is 2.0 or less--generally in the "statistically insigificant" category. For smoking, it's about 40--clearly statistically significant.

I do believe that medical journals used to do a process called "peer review" to figure out "subtle" problems with methodology like this. Evidently that's no longer the case.

Weekend report

Well, God's sense of humor is wonderful; I post about the glories of Spring, and this is what we get. Glorious snow; serves me right.

Spent time this weekend at a "Men for Christ" rally at my church. The brownies and coffee were excellent--John M., you missed out--and even a man as dense as I was able to pick out a pattern going to the "break-out" sessions. Ministering to paroled convicts? Don't act as if the sin nature doesn't apply to them. Ministering to couples at a crisis pregnancy center? Don't forget that bowing down to sin got them where they are today--they need the Gospel. Ministering to others? Don't forget that....you know, I'm seeing a pattern here. It's like the Gospel is central to life--oh, and that's the theme of the closing session, too.

Even a dense guy like myself can start to figure that out. Lots of wonderful opportunities out there to serve Him. One fun one; you can love your wife better by stopping snoring. And how to do that? Lose weight--excess fat can vibrate in the nasal passages.

If you wonder why it's important for men and women to have separate teaching from time to time, think about how men would take that one with other men, vs. how they would take it if their wives were next to them.

And for a bit of fun, my family turned on all the lights in the house at 8pm on Saturday in honor of this. The whole thing is really surreal; if all those lights in the city are really unnecessary, why not turn them off all the time and save the money? Of course, if they really cared for the environment, they wouldn't get all that good press.

Friday video

Don't try this on dial-up, but here's a link to a video that really puts the glorious season called Spring into perspective. H/T, or possibly blame, can be assigned to NightWriter.

Here you go.

Can't you imagine it with a man in a top hat and a woman in Victorian dress and parasol?

A heartwarming story

In our age of vicious personal attacks, brutal politics, and international terrorism, I think that sometimes we need a few inspirational stories to get ourselves through the day. Here's one that I think fits the bill.

Semper Fi, and once they find the punk, I think I'll nominate him for a Darwin Award.

"But they've done so much good!"

It's a common refrain when someone gets caught saying or doing something really foolish, wicked, or absurd; to try and point out "all the good" that person had done. My brother did that once for a junior high school book report. He told about a man who seems to have done a lot for his country: he restored the currency, brought it out of an economic depression, restored his military from decades of neglect, funded the arts, restored his country's industries to great esteem, and re-established normal, respectful diplomatic relations with his neighbors where one-sided domination of his nation by others had been the case.

Then he pulled the book from behind his back. Somehow we don't remember that man for all the good that could be said about him, and for good reason. Just because someone has done something commendable doesn't excuse him from responsibility for the mistakes he's made and the sins he's committed. Romans 6:23.

What can you learn....

....from a candidate's tax returns? Well, plenty, really. Let's take a walk through typical tax forms and see what they can tell us about a man.

Look at the 1040 form, and see if he's got any interest, capital gains, or dividend income. Look at the schedules for those as well. If they've had great income for decades, but not a lot of interest, dividend, and capital gains income, you can infer that they might not be very good at handling money. Do you want to put such a person in charge of a three trillion dollar budget? Not I.

Look at Schedule A. Do they itemize? Do they therefore have before them the impact of the taxes they create and modify? Do they have charitable giving? What does it say when someone supports government charity, but supports no private charities with his own money? Doesn't he suggest that he's not confident enough in his own ideas to support them with his own resources?

Look further at the mortgage & investment interest columns. Is the candidate paying more, or less, interest each year? If you've got increasing mortgage interest every year since 2002, you have your hint that they're using their home as a piggy bank--and again, their financial acumen is suspect.

As many pastors will tell you, if you want a good look into a man's heart, take a look at his checkbook and his daytimer. It's not for no reason that the Bible talks a LOT about how a man handles money, and if you can't look at his checkbook and credit card receipts, tax forms are the next best thing.

What would you say...

...if the likely Democratic candidate for President reported no interest on his tax returns until 2005, as well as negligible dividend income and few capital gains?

Well, you have your opportunity now. Barack Obama, despite income (with his wife) of around $200,000 per year, reported no taxable interest or dividends in 2001, 2003, and 2004, and negligible amounts in 2000 and 2002--and it appears that neither his tax preparer nor the IRS called him on it.

If other people notice this, it could get very interesting.

The original post notes his low charitable giving; somehow his great affection for his pastor didn't seem to translate into financial support for his church. Sad to say, that doesn't surprise me with liberals anymore--Al Gore was well known to be very stingy that way as well. However, this tax form thing is very interesting.

(and also not unprecedented for a Chicago politician; Harold Washington had a scandal of "forgetting" to file his tax returns for a number of years)

Who knew?

It turns out that Robert's Rules of Order were compiled from parliamentary procedure by a general who happened to be a Baptist layman. Given the stereotype about my fellow Baptists not exactly being the most orderly in our meetings, I've got to smile at the irony.

Or maybe it's appropriate. H/T Veith. Hopefully he gets his stamp soon for his contribution to general sanity in meetings.

A bit of fun

Since Ben & Gino haven't done the "six things nobody knows about me" thing, I figured I'd help 'em out with some things that nobody would ever say about either of them. 'cause they're made up. Fiction alert.

1. What's for dinner? Nothing like a nice tofu salad with a big glass of wheatgrass juice.

2. Pilgrimages for both of them next year; Ben to Trent, Gino to Wittenberg.

3. Ben's closet is full of "Blue Devils" apparel, and Gino's got a dresser full of Barry Manilow shirts.


4. Nothing goes down like a smooth cup of Folger's or Farmer Bros.

5. Both are tireless advocates for government schooling.

6. You'll never meet anyone who knows fashion better than these guys. (does this apply to KD too?)

Hey, maybe a fun new theme to carry around; make up six things that are absolutely not like the person, but are not fightin' words, either?