Say Anything Blog

Here’s a study that suggests that a major factor in abortion in Minnesota is “the economy.”

Now, never mind the fact that unemployment is low, and that GDP is growing.  Rather, contemplate the fact that we have wildly varying perceptions of the economy, but the abortion rate this year is about the same as that of last year.

In other words, just because people said something in a survey doesn’t mean that it’s true.  It means that people have been conditioned to give the “excuse of the month” by mass media for whatever they do.

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Florida teenager gets very drunk, jumps into swamp with 11’ alligator.  While he says he’s not feeling sorry for himself, he’s calling for the state to do more to control the alligator population. (more...)

Maybe we should try the one room schoolhouse again, or possibly a two or four room schoolhouse to make legal liability less problematic. 

Why so?  Well, start with the basics; the distance kids go to school is a function of how many students attend.  A smaller school can have more kids walk there, and those who ride the bus won’t be on it as long.  Less fuel, less cost, better health.

Going on, look at the building; a one, two, or four room schoolhouse can easily be converted to a home or business.  Try that with a 2500 student high school! 

You don’t need reinforced concrete to make it ($$$), nor do you need to find 50 acres of open space ($$$$$).  All you need is a few city lots, or perhaps just an unused storefront, and you’re ready to go.

Finally, the most important thing; if we judge by the data, children thrived in such a setting.  We achieve more in less time because they’re not spending two hours per day on the bus, and older students could help younger ones with lessons.  The teacher wasn’t bored out of her mind because she was going through “Dick and Jane” for the 50th time in her career.

If the government must be in education, maybe it’s time to go back to something that worked.

Take a look at which landlords provide housing under Section 8.

Yes, this will predictably get liberals up at arms at the NIMBY crowd, but I dare suggest that it’s time we review Section 8 and possibly end it.  Certainly landlords who care about the value of their properties due to crime ought to think very seriously about taking the short term loss of not accepting Section 8 in return for the long term gain of having a safe, well kept, apartment complex.

The Asia Times has published an interesting opinion on one reason that many manufacturers are leaving the United States; managers are following not the best priorities of their business, but have rather become preoccupied with aligning their business with the business “fad du jour” endorsed by the biggest MBA schools and such.

Now certainly that’s not the only thing that causes manufacturing to go offshore—wage rates, unions, regulation, and taxes also play a big role.  However, I’ve got to wonder whether ending our infatuation with the MBA might do wonders for many companies.

The governing body of government (public) education in Washington D.C. is apparently called the “District of Columbia State Board of Education.”  Apparently, none of the thousands of teachers employed there remember that the District is not, in fact, a state.  However, they can demonstrate to you that you can put other things on a cucumber besides brine and dill, even if their students are hard pressed to spell “pickle.”

Specifically, pants. Not only does it look dumb to wear hiphugger/lowrider pants, it also forces you to carry a smaller pistol for self-defense, or none at all. You can conceal a much larger weapon if your pants fit properly (at the top of the hip or at the waist) and have the proper amount of “ease.” (they’re not skin tight)

For reference, the Biblical story of Ehud. I bet ‘ol Eglon wished that the bearer of Israel’s tribute had been wearing hiphugger jeans instead of properly fitting robes.

Fashion. It can be a life or death decision.

Cross-posted at Bike Bubba’s Bits.

Saw (again) one of those fake $5 bills with “good for one gallon of gas” printed on it, and wondered....what if we went to an 87 octane gasoline monetary standard?

Now there are all kinds of other things to consider, but one effect that could be very positive would be that if the Fed and Congress wished to inflate the money supply, they’d have to open up drilling in ANWR, in the oil shales of Colorado, and off the coasts of California and Florida, among other places.

Or they could reduce the regulations on refineries and distribution facilities.

I dare say that at least this effect of a “fuel standard” could be very good.  For once, the desire of Congress and the Fed to devalue the currency could be put to good use.

You may have read that the “Smart Car” achieved, despite its miniscule size, a five star safety rating.  Well, let’s take a look at the actual article, paragraph three.

The tests, released Wednesday, show how well vehicles stack up against others of similar size and weight. The institute noted that the front-end test scores can’t be compared across weight classes, meaning a small car that earns a good rating isn’t considered safer than a large car that did not earn the highest rating.

In other words, the “Smart Car” will do just fine in a collision with your Schwinn, but not against a “massive SUV” like a Honda Civic.

I dare suggest that it’s time for some truth in advertising by the safety ratings people.

Evidently the EPA and the White House would have us believe that somehow polar bears are threatened by hypothetical global warming.  Let’s take a look at that idea, specifically at a location called James Bay.

Where is James Bay? Take a look at a map of Canada; it's at the southern tip of Hudson's Bay, about 53 degrees north, or about 12 degrees and ~600 miles south of the Arctic Circle. On the other end, the bruins range as far north as polar pack ice--submariners tried (and rejected) polar bear steaks on one expedition back in the late 1950s.

Given the huge range of this species, I'm hard pressed to believe that 1-2C in warming would kill them off. It might force them to move north from James Bay, Ontario, but it certainly wouldn't kill them off.

Anyone who reads the paper has heard the claim; if you ride the bus or light rail, you’ll prevent such and such amount of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.  I have rarely, however, seen an actual estimate of fuel usage of buses.

Until last week, that is, when the local transit authority revealed it had 1 million passengers, and used about 316,000 gallons of diesel fuel in taking them to their destination.

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I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that Utah police chief Dave Hansen would like to remind you of a few things about gun safety today.

1.  Finger off the trigger unless you’re ready to fire the weapon.

2.  The muzzle should be pointed in a safe direction at all times (this can include “at a dangerous criminal or animal")

Or at a tasty animal; H/T Rob.

3.  Drop the magazine if possible before clearing a jammed round.

Get better quickly, Chief.

I’ve noticed that the news reports are coming out about various allegations against the FLDS sect in Texas—lurid allegations like sacrifice of young boys, sexual abuse of young boys, and more.  Fox News has a little blurb about a documentary by one Kelly Hefner (no apparent relation to Hugh, if you’re curious) that makes these claims, and backs them up with the apparent testimony of former members.

Yes, I’ll point out again and again that polygamous societies are inherently abusive, but I’ll also admit that even I am surprised by the reports.  Whether the lurid allegations are true or not, the fact that all of them seem to be coming out now would seem to cast some doubt on my thought that the authorities are keeping some evidence close to the vest until the investigation is done.

If they are, it could get even uglier—especially if a lot of it gets thrown out because of sloppy warrants.  Yikes, and how sad for all involved.

Woof quoted an interesting comment on John McCain’s charitable giving:

between 2001 and 2006, the John and Cindy McCain Family foundation “made contributions of roughly $1.6 million. More than $500,000 went to his kids’ private schools, most of which was donated when his children were attending those institutions. So McCain apparently received major tax deductions for supporting elite schools attended by his children.”

What do we have here?  More or less, we have the assumption that if someone in your family benefits from your choice of charitable gifts, then it no longer qualifies as charitable. 

Now of course, they don’t apply this to the foundations of liberals, but let’s go with the logic for a minute.

The charities that you know the best—the ones which are most accountable to you and other supporters—are deemed by liberals to be non-charitable.  Conversely, it is only charitable to support charities where you do NOT have the strong bonds of friendship and accountability.

This is, in turn, a recipe for disaster; the assumption that we ought to be supporting structures that are completely unaccountable to us.  It is, in a nutshell, the failure of liberal charities.

I had a lot of fun with Obama’s, a little bit with Clinton’s, and now for a little fun with John McCain’s tax returns.

Here they are for 2006 and 2007, by the way.

What do I note?  First of all, the McCains file individually—presumably Cindy’s got a nice pre-nup that preserves her family fortune.  Most of their assets are in a foundation in their name.  Having looked at McCain’s assets, though—in the millions—it turns out that he’s no slouch in accumulating assets, either.  Let’s go further.

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