The Bureau Of Land Management

Why those in the Northeast don't understand all the uproar about the BLM:

Federal ownership of land in Nevada:

Article HERE:

The BLM currently administers more federal lands than any other agency—247.9 million acres.

Property Confiscation (With Addendum)

Most readers of this blog have likely heard about the Cattle Battle at the Bundy Ranch. Technically, this confrontation did not involve eminent domain but rather the Bureau of Land Management and grazing rights on public lands.

Now something similar is afoot in Texas.  Before continuing to read this blog post, please go to THIS LINK to read the article and to watch the video about another possible impending land grab on the part of the Bureau Land Management.

Musical Interlude

(If you must have politics, please scroll down. Yesterday, I posted a Nincompoopery poll, which will close on Tuesday)

Friday morning, the tune below was blasting from our van's radio station to which Mr. AOW and listen when he's on his way to physical therapy.

Crank it up!


Question: In what ways is this tune NOT a break from politics?

Note: lyrics are below the fold:

Nincompoopery Poll

(Nincompoopery — and worse — abounds! This edition of "Nincompoopery" offers five links, and readers have the option of taking a poll as to which story they find the most outrageous. Discussion available in the comments section)

Links to read:

ONE: NBC News Scrubs Any Mention of “Islam” And “Muslim” From Story On Female Genital Mutilation

TWO: Teachers “White Privilege Conference” In Wisconsin: Whites Will Never Be Cured of Their Racism, Like Alcoholics

THREE: IRS awards bonuses to 1,100 [employees] who owe back taxes

FOUR: UN Says Vacuuming CO2 Out of Air May Be Only Way to Save Planet Earth

FIVE: Woman Wears Hijab to experience Discrimination but is Treated like Royalty; concludes people still Racist

Please cast your ballot in the poll, which closes on Tuesday:

survey service

Book Review: Room

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Emma Donoghue's 2010 novel Room was "inspired" by the Fritzl Case.  For good reason, Room received rave reviews and was named as one of the Top 10 books of 2010.

Yes, the novel tells the tale of a travesty, but Room should not be classified as a dark novel.  Rather, the primary theme is the resilience of the human spirit as told in the voice of the speaker: five-year-old Jack.

In addition to the rescue of Jack and his mother — a rescue in which Jack is the hero — the novel relates the subsequent well-meaning medical experts' interventions and the subsequent media feeding frenzy.  Totally plausible!

Ukraine: Grow up!

“Not being George W. Bush is not a foreign policy.” —Peggy Noonan

What most gratifies me about world news is that Americans are not our planet’s only morons. There are others, and while I won’t waste your time making the case for one group of imbeciles over another, I think it is fair to say that Ukrainians are striving to achieve the top five ranking, and were this not true, then why would they expect the United States to “save them” from the re-emerging Soviet machine? Are they daft? Is it a matter of watching one too many Eliot Ness re-runs on Channel One when they ought to have been watching ICTV News reflecting Obama’s withdrawal the United States from its former leadership position?

How ObamaCare Became Law

By exploiting the Constitutional process (hat tip to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS):

CLICK DIRECTLY ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT.

Where is America's outrage?

Tales From The Classroom

("Tales from the Classroom" is a feature posted occasionally here at this blog.  All tales are true and present matters about which I have personal knowledge.  The following tale relates the story of two messages that I received the week of April 13, 2014  — just in time for the resuming of classes today after our Easter break.  I say "just in time," because during Easter Break every year, I feel that I should have done more for my students.  Note: If you must have politics, please scroll down to other posts)

Via Facebook. I recently received affirmations from two former student of some fifteen years ago when I was teaching sixth grade at a small private school. Both of these students were challenges behaviorally, but I consistently held them accountable. They each lost many a recess for their constant talking in class.

They fought me all the way.

Back then.

But now?

Below the fold is the first message I received:

Fifty States?

The United States still consists of fifty states, but they no longer have fiscal independence (hat tip to Asylum Watch):

Percent of budget coming from the feds went from 37% in 2001 to 45% in 2012. Federal money per person went from $1,352 in 2001 to $2,603 in 2012.  The darker the color, the more federal monies the state receives.

For more details, please scrutinize this. The graphic is interactive; see the legend at the bottom of the graphic.

At Asylum Watch, Jim writes the following:

Our nation, as constitutionally formed, is The Republic of the United State of America. In theory, a republic is where the supreme power is vested in the citizens who elect people to represent them. Do you feel that we are living in a republic? Do our elected officials really represent their electorate? And, what about the words: United States? Are we, a constitutional union of states, where all power rest with the states except for the enumerated powers constitutionally assigned to the federal government? Our nation may have started out as The Republic of The United States of America but it has evolved into something quite different. Some of the changes came about through constitutional amendments and, thereby, the citizens of each state did have a voice in those changes. Most changes, in my opinion, have come about by either judicial fiat or by congress passing laws that no one asked for or by Executive Orders of a sitting president. The laws passed by congress have often created federal programs, which states must implement with partial or full funding from the federal government. When states accept those funds, the find they must comply with the strings, which are firmly attached. Those federal funds and the attached strings have given the federal government much power over the states that was never envisaged in our constitution.

[...]

...Louisiana receives 44% of their budget from Washington and New Mexico 37% and Idaho 35%....

The destruction of the principles of federalism!

Your comment on the above data?

My Redeemer Lives!

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.
(Job 19:25-26)
From Handel's oratorio Messiah (1741):


Information about the performance in the above video:

The Royal Choral Society has performed Handel's Messiah on Good Friday at the Royal Albert Hall every year since 1878. The RCS filmed their performance on 6 April 2012 by kind permission of the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Good Friday

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

From Act III of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal (1882), music and images to encourage meditation and reflection on this Good Friday, when all the world is renewed, and on Holy Saturday:


Scripture and another music video below the fold.

More Islamic Fascism

by Sam Huntington

Brandeis University recently redefined the notion of integrity and withdrew their conferral of an honorary degree on behalf of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  Ms. Ali is an outspoken critic of Islam and so has incurred the wrath of Islamacists, who have engaged in a remarkable campaign to silence her.  I should add, a successful campaign.

Brandeis University president Frederick Lawrence issued a statement after withdrawing their honors, saying, “She’s a compelling public figure and advocate for women’s rights, and we respect and appreciate her work to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world.  That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.”

Recommended Reading

See the letter Scholars working on the Middle East…have denounced well-founded scholarship as ‘Islamophobia’ by Jeffrey Herf (Ph.D from Brandeis, 1981), Professor, Department of History, University of Maryland College Park. Excerpt below the fold:

Tax Freedom Day 2014

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

[link with more information]
Tax Freedom Day 2014 for the state where you live may differ from the national average. What is your state's Tax Freedom Day 2014?

Fundamentalist Islam Rising

Hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance (Click directly on the image to enlarge it):

"It's the will of Allah!" cry the ummah.

Recommended Reading

See the essay What Drives Success? by Amy Chua and Jeb Rubenfeld. Excerpt below the fold:

Crows: As Smart As A Seven-Year-Old

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Remember Aesop's fable "The Crow and the Pitcher"?

It turns out the some crows can indeed solve certain puzzles involving principles of physics.

From the Washington Post:

Nincompoopery — And Worse

(Weekend roundup post.   For the definition of nincompoop, see THIS in the Urban Dictionary. Commenters are encouraged to post links that tell of more nincompoopery)

Links to read (more possibly added as the weekend progresses):

The Two Soviet Propaganda Posters Hanging In The White House Press Secretary's Home

'Heartbleed' Computer Bug Threat Spreads To Firewalls And Beyond

Brandeis University cancels honorary degree for Ayaan Hirsi Ali [additional information: Ayaan Hirsi Ali's statement about the cancellation, published in Time Magazine]

CDC: 200,000 Girls at Risk of FGM in US

Ohio Islamic Group Erects “Jesus Is Muslim” And “Mohammed Is In The Bible” Billboards

Easter Break!

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

After a grueling winter, both academically and meteorlogically, I am sooooo ready for this break, which lasts from today through April 21.

My students feel the same way as I, I'm sure.

The Long Arm Of The Federal Government

There is something very creepy about this.

Whatever happened to the filing of and IRS's acceptance of the estate return — and the 10 year limit on liabilities such as those explained in the article?  Read an excerpt from the article below the fold.

1000 Years in Five Minutes

As a footnote, I want to say that the “bad old days” are still with us. We refer to the Cold War as a thing of the past, but it is still with us today. Conflicting ideologies continue to exist between east and west, we remain conflicted about what constitutes national interest, and we continue to suffer the plague of government incompetence. Our failure to learn any lessons from history is that we end up electing fools to high office, and they in turn somehow manage to murder our children. While this is going on, we the people look on and smile.

Hypocrisy On Display

At the March 2014 National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, those claiming to be tolerant and inclusive bully female conservative reporter:

If Satan ever laughs, it must be at hypocrites; they are the greatest dupes he has; they serve him better than any others, and receive no wages. — Charles Caleb Colton (1780–1832)

Cicero (?) Was Right

Nabbed from the sidebar of Diary of a Right Wing Pussycat (Kid's site):

The Cicero entry at Wikipedia

Cicero was exiled for opposing Julius Caesar's tyranny.

Authentic money quotes HERE. Worth considering.

Note (addendum): A commenter has rightly pointed out that there is no evidence that Cicero actually said or penned the words in the above graphic. See comments section of this blog post.

Curing Income Inequality

Consider the following excerpt from Were your parents rich? Maybe you should pay more in taxes, published in the Washington Post on March 28, 2014, and written by Yo Jeremijenko-Conley, a freshman at Stuyvesant High School in New York City, and Dalton Conley, a professor at New York University:

Sunday Break From Politics

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Remember the Winnie-the-Pooh stories by A.A. Milne?  The first volume of those delightful stories was published in 1926.

From this recent article in the Daily Mail comes this 100-year-old photo of the bear cub Winnipeg, the real Winnie-the-Pooh:

Nincompoopery — And Worse

(Weekend roundup post.   For the definition of nincompoop, see THIS in the Urban Dictionary. Commenters are encouraged to post links that tell of more nincompoopery)

Links to read (more possibly added as the weekend progresses):

Dearborn: Muslim parents angry over Easter egg hunt school flyer

'Honor Diaries' screening shut down by CAIR

Local couple upset after receiving pre-marked voter registration card from Covered California [the state's ObamaCare web site]

HHS Started Obamacare Applications for Americans Without Their Knowledge or Permission

Always The Last Place!

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Was I ever in a state of agitation this morning! For at least thirty minutes, I was in an absolute frenzy.

I couldn't find the vouchers needed to pay the April 2014 federal estimated tax payment! I knew that our accountant had provided the papers, but they were nowhere to be found.

Learning the hard way ...

by Sam Huntington

I’m actually not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I have to admit that I do enjoy a good mystery. For example, I enjoy the puzzle surrounding the disappearance of a Boeing 777 aircraft. I mean, come on ... this 70-ton aircraft was there, and then suddenly no one had a clue about its location.  As I said, puzzling —but from a multidimensional standpoint. Not only is this airliner missing, but we also have college-educated journalists proposing, among other things, that possibility that extraterrestrials may have snatched it out of the air, or that the aircraft flew into a black hole. Admittedly, both ideas would be excellent grist for the History Channel.

I feel sorry for the people trapped on this aircraft. I feel sorry for the pain and suffering of their relatives. But maybe there is a lesson here, or at least an alarm bell for the tens of thousands of sheep inured to doing whatever the airlines tell them. Perhaps it is time that the people who pay to ride in these Goliath airbuses begin participating in their own safety. For example, what is the name of our pilot today? What? Zaharie Ahmad Shah? And his co-pilot is Fariq Abdul Hamid? Oh ... okay. Well, uh ... who do you have scheduled for tomorrow’s flight?

BREAKING: Active Shooter(s) On Fort Hood Army Base

Right now, at the time of the publication of this blog post, Fort Hood is on lockdown with shelter-in-place instructions.  At least one is dead, and there are multiple injuries.

Thought For Today

As I have mentioned at various locations in the blogosphere, my mother-in-law is in the final stage of Alzheimer's Disease. She is a pitiful creature, and all who love her are more than ready for the Lord to call her home.

Before she was diagnosed as having Alzheimer's, she was very difficult.  The word difficult doesn't begin to convey her personality.

Jihad Alert!

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

The following is not an April Fool's Day prank:

FBI, military hunt ex-Army recruit suspected of plotting 'Ft. Hood-inspired jihad'

More information below the fold:

April Fool!

Actually happened (hat tip to Weasel Zippers):


A bit of reading below the fold: