Quote of the Day
It is less important to redistribute wealth than it is to redistribute opportunity.
Arthur H. Vandenberg
Virginia Earthquake: A Personal Experience
My apartment building in the Baltimore suburbs is located with a few others at the apex of elevated ground in the area. Shortly before 2PM EDT, my above-ground floor started shaking, and I thought some kind of area or building repair was going on. However, after 10 seconds or so, it seemed to intensify, and the whole building was shaking--for what seemed to be forever. My head was telling me it was an earthquake, but I was in a state of denial: I have lived in this area for years and never experienced or even heard of earthquake-prone local areas. I live, depending on traffic, around 15 to 20 minutes from BWI: I thought maybe some airliner was on the verge of impact in the immediate are, or some military operation. The odd thing was while the apartment building continued to shake I looked outside my window and I couldn't tell this was different than any other summer day--no visible shaking of the ground, cars, or other objects in the area. My cable and Internet seemed unaffected, although my phone service was unusable.
My first confirmation this was not my imagination was seeing other apartment residents exit the building. I decided to call via my cellphone my apartment complex office at 2:01 PM and tried to phrase my question as generally as possible: did something just happen of an unusual nature? I didn't have my cable at that time on FNC or a local station. The apartment front office confirmed that there had been a 5.8 Richter scale earthquake about 100 miles away. I then switched to FNC on cable. I was somewhat amused to see FNC and/or Internet sources talk about DC or Pennsylvania or New York. The difference between Baltimore and DC is roughly 35 miles; Philadelphia is about a 2-hour drive away and New York City 3 hours.
As I've mentioned in past posts, I've lived through a tornado going through the local area near Salina, KS, I experienced a hurricane while I was a doctoral student in Houston, I experienced multiple minor tremors while I lived in Santa Clara, CA. I figured it would be a flood in the Baltimore area; I never felt I would experience an earthquake worse than my exposure to California, but I was wrong.
Maxine Waters: Tea Party Go To Hell?
Is there a Democrat around whom isn't a joke? This isn't intended a political rant, but I was trying to think of a single Democratic lawmaker. I've been one of Bachmann's and Palin's most severe conservative critics, but if I wrote a novel about an allegedly brainy black President trying to connect with the average voter by complaining about the right cost of arugula at Whole Foods, a prior "intelligent" Democratic President whom leaves DNA evidence on an intern's blue dress, a prior Democratic Presidential nominee who's best remembered for how he rides in a military tank or a former New York Attorney General and governor whom gets busted for involvement with a call girl operation, a New York Democratic Congressman sending around pictures of him nude or a shot of his arousal or a New Orleans lawmaker storing dirty money literally in his freezer, what publisher would publish such an improbable work?
It just occurred to me today as I started writing this commentary, I can't think of a single Democrat politician I respect. In what Alice in Wonderland worldview, when you have $50T in unfunded liabilities, you have just over $2T of revenue yearly, but the LEAST deficit over the past 3 years is $1.3T, you actually have the audacity to suggest a massive new health care entitlement will "cut" the deficit? You attack the GOP for trying to end Medicare as we know it, but you've chopped $500B from Medicare to fund the same new entitlement. In less than 3 years, Obama has run up a debt it will take 2 years--assuming no expenditures--to work off.
In the real world, if you can't cover a 40% gap in your household budget, there are consequences--like losing your car or house. In the real world, the credit card issuer does not increase your debt ceiling when you're spending like a drunken sailor. You sell some assets or cut your expenses. You accept responsibility for your spending decisions--disingenuous politicians like Maxine Waters (or political hacks like David Axelrod) should not have the ability to tell the credit card issuer that he should go straight to hell for not selling out future generations to pay off your crony political backers.
I don't get excited over lack of civility of Democrats in general--it is the rule, not the exception. I mean, Maxine Waters comes from the same state as does Nancy Pelosi--need we say more? When Maxine Waters talks about the Tax Party needing to go straight to hell, I thought she was encouraging them to spend money in her own Congressional district in the Los Angeles area.
Maxine Waters doesn't understand Obama's "strategy". I do. When you're winning 95% of the black vote without results to show for it, black voters make up maybe 11% of the national population, and you have a 38% approval rating from Gallup, where do you think the President is going to campaign?
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Bread, "Everything I Own". Simply one of the greatest songs ever written.
