Picaro
Picaro's JournalHave no problem with hunting
This was not hunting. This was a canned hunt where a lion which was used to the presence of people was lured into a spot where he could be ambushed.
I feel about this the way I feel about people who lease land and spread deer corn around and then kill the deer from a deer stand while they're feeding. That is not hunting.
The only saving grace of the deer killers is that at least they eat their kill.
This jack hole killed for a trophy. This is the latest in a series of kills that he is very proud of. He has killed a leopard, a bear (for which he was charged with bagging illegally but let off with a years probation), a rhino, and a beautiful elk... He also got a writeup in either the New York Times or the New Yorker as some sort of bow hunter extraordinaire. He had already bagged a lion, but I bet Cecil's head was going to make a better trophy. The other lion didn't look as good.
He's not right in the head.
He just won the stupid contest
My former governor, Rick Perry, just won the stupid contest between the candidates.
I've given up expecting there to be any impetus for change (we are the only developed country where mass murder is routine)--so I was not surprised when Bobby Jindhal declared that now is not the time to talk about solutions to this mass murder problem we have in our country. I'm resigned to the fact that there is no good time to discuss gun control in our country.
But I thought that maybe, just maybe--no one would try and contend that this would have all been avoided if the other movie patrons had been able to return fire.
I won't go into how quickly these incidents happen and how, especially in this case, there was no time to return fire. Or how it is really, really dark in a movie theater and how that might make it really, really hard to figure out the appropriate person to shoot. Or how many, many more might have died if everyone was armed and started shooting.
But, hell, this thinking thing is just hard and takes up too much time when you can be shooting off your mouth.
So, Rickie wins the contest. He's dumber than all the rest. Yay, Rickie P.!
K&R
I evaluate whether something is a "wedge issue" by giving it the economics test. In other words, is being for or against whatever is being proposed as a solution to the given wedge issue have any economic impact?
If the answer is "no" then almost always it is a "wage issue".
For example, the latest dustup with Planned Parenthood purportedly selling fetal tissue. This has a great gross out quotient but if they are constrained from selling fetal tissue will that improve anyone's life or allow anyone to get a job or pay their bills?
I can reel off a list of other wedge issues: prayer in schools, second amendment rights, display of the 10 Commandments in public buildings, the Confederate battle flag, "partial birth" abortion, bible study in public schools etcetera etcetera etcetera.
My only advice is to not take the bait. There is going to be a lot of chum in the water in the next year or so.
We are always at war with someone
The media is failing to point out that the alternative to this agreement is war.
We've become a proxy for Israel. Iran is the last middle eastern power standing. If we take the Iranians out there's no one left for Israel to worry about. And that, of course, is what Netenyahu wants.
Look at the map. Syria is not even a functioning state. Egypt? No, they've been crushed by Israel too many times to try again. The Saudis? Powerful economically but not militarily.
We will show ourselves for true fools if we allow Israel to goad us into war. Unfortunately, many of these Republican candidates are fools. Witness the words of Walker and Ted "I didn't vote for him" Cruz...
70 to 85% of any population are followers
this is true of any organization anywhere. Most people are followers. End of sentence.
This means that if the leadership of an organization condones brutality then most of the people in that organization will behave brutally.
If the leadership of an organization condones racism and then most people will let their racist flag fly.
I firmly believe that, in spite of some inherent and obvious problems, Police Departments need to have a civilian oversight board. In other words the power needs to reside outside of the police leadership.
I believe that really everything is tribal. We go with our tribe. And, I've got news for all of you, the police do not view us as a member of their tribe. We are the "other".
That is why when we see these incidents that there is always an automatic circling of the wagons. Shortly after that, no matter how obvious and how heinous the incident the police leadership invariably decides that it was a good shoot or policy was followed.
The McKinney incident where Eric Casebolt lost his mind and started brutalizing teenagers amazed me. The reaction of the McKinney police leadership with swift and sure. However, it is also an anomaly.
It is becoming clear that climate engineering on a global scale is our only alternative…
It is a very unpleasant and very very uncertain alternative. But it is becoming increasingly clear that if we do nothing we as a species will probably become extinct along with many other of our fellow species.
I'm not certain what sorts of things could be done to start reflecting back some of the solar energy pouring into our system but I'm pretty sure that there are some things that we could entertain. One of them would be to sow the upper atmosphere with reflective materials. Similar to what a large-scale volcanic eruption does. We would probably have to do it over and over and over again. Possibly for centuries . But that may be our only chance. Would it be better to do that than quietly die.
There are all sorts of ethical issues that will instantly arise if something like this is proposed. One of the problems with this sort of climate engineering is that you could end up making some areas very very dry and some areas very very wet. In addition you could bring on a mini Ice Age in northern climates that would make life very very unpleasant if not impossible for people living in those latitudes.
Some of the changes would probably result in famines and other forms of mass death. However, with the threat of extinction looming what choice for you matter to we have?
What do you think? Should we quietly die? It won't be particularly quiet. The resource wars that will and are already breaking out are going to be brutal, bloody, and utterly violent.
Or should we try to re engineer our climate to try and cool our world? We won't be able to completely predict the outcome whatever methods we use. The climate is an incredibly complex system that we are only just now beginning to understand. But we do understand enough to know that we are in the process of drowning in our own heat.
Featured in the Dallas Morning News
I'm surprised, but this ran on page 5A of the Dallas Morning News.
What struck me is that the feature clearly identifies out and out racism as the cause for the utter paranoia in Bastrop and in Mr. Ellison's mind. Racism is also the root cause of the complete and total disrespect shown for President Obama.
A well done piece that lets the quotes from those interviewed tell the story.
Too bad this isn't funny
There have been a lot of these Nil Admiari posts.
Too bad they aren't believable on any level and so don't rise to the level of satire.
Meh.
Profile Information
Name: Ernie FergusonGender: Do not display
Hometown: Plano, TX
Home country: USA
Current location: Plano, TX
Member since: Thu Apr 30, 2009, 11:22 AM
Number of posts: 1,526
