Seven Years Ago

Tropical Storm Allison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The storm that changed my life. I blogged about this three years ago at these two entries:
My Longest Week, Part One
My Longest Week, Part Two

The worst part is the financial situation that damned storm put me in, and the debt that I am still trying to pay off seven years later. If it weren't for that storm, I would have been completely out of debt except for my mortgage within less than a year. Why did God do that to me?

God has blessed me in other ways; I have a wonderful wife and four beautiful children. We live in Colorado now, which is way better than hot, humid Houston. My job is OK, but getting very very old. What will life bring us in the future?

Sure Beats Drowning

Sen. Edward Kennedy has malignant brain tumor - Yahoo! News

I do have a small bit of sympathy for the guy, and his family, given that my mother died of brain cancer. But not much.

On a related note, my mother did travel to Washington D.C. one year with my aunt, and they went into the Senate chambers to watch the Senators for a bit. Her comment on getting to see Ted Kennedy in the flesh was something like, "His head has got to be the biggest, fattest thing I've ever seen."

So that must be one hell of a brain tumor.

My Thoughts On Race

So yesterday I responded to a guy, "Homeowner", commenting at Vox's blog about how he just hates everything about black people, and goes around his town threatening them by telling them they are not welcome. He threw out the usual "less intelligent" and "higher crime rate" statistics, and stated that he wished we still lived under segregation. Well, that's all well and good, but it makes the guy look like an enormous jerk in my book.

Why? Because not all black people are crazy criminals bent on destruction, and black people should have the same rights as anyone else. Is this an abstract concept? Or do we really believe in the inherent, God-given, inalienable rights of all people?

Now, before I go on, I have to admit something which may seem to be hypocritical on my part. I would not want to live in an area that was majority black. This is for two main reasons: first, the aforementioned higher crime rate statistics, and second, the pent-up frustration and anger of many American blacks towards white people. Why place myself and my family in that situation?

The reason that I don't believe myself to be a hypocrite here is that I do not automatically assume that any particular black person is a criminal or whatever. Black skin does not automatically indicate anything at all about that person, other than their ancestry. I don't assume anything about any particular person with respect to their skin color.

Now, I am not a fool. If I were to meet someone on the street, there are many things about them that I do use to assume things about them. How are they dressed? How are they groomed? What expression shows on their face? How do they carry themselves? If these things indicate to me that the person is a possible criminal or otherwise presents a danger, then I would take appropriate action.

No, I do not believe that race alone is what determines anything. Rather it is the CULTURE that a person is raised in that determines what sort of person they grow up to be. One might choose to shift cultures in their life, but most do not.

And it is the culture that most American blacks have lived in for the past 50 years that I believe has poisoned a great many of them and led to racist attitudes against them such as are espoused by our friend "Homeowner". What sort of poison? Listen to the rants of Obama's minister, Jeremiah Wright. Listen to the gangsta rappers and so forth. Look at all the statistics of crime rates and incarceration rates and education levels. They hate this country, and they hate white people.

It seems to me that there has been a cultural war going on amongst American blacks since the Civil War. That war is between those who called for African Americans to build themselves up and take hold of their freedom to succeed, and those who claimed that white people owed them for the history of slavery, and fell under the influence of Marxism. The first group would be represented by Booker T. Washington, and the second by W.E.B. DuBois. I believe that the BTW group was dominant in black politics up to the 1950s, and since then the WEBD group took the reins and led to the situation we have today.

In a similar fashion, Marxism has grown deep roots among black Africans, and the results of this can be seen in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is so bad there, that I would advise any white people in all of southern Africa to get the hell out of there if they haven't already. Not because the population is majority black, but because it is majority black Marxist...with guns and machetes, and a desire to rape and kill your family before your eyes before killing you.

Back to the American context: The BTW group is accused by the WEBD group of wanting to "Act White". Why? Because they define success in the context of the dominant Anglo-Saxon American culture. The WEBD group defines success along the marxist lines of "fairness" and "equality", and wants to be paid "reparations" for their ancestors having been slaves. The BTW group says they should get over all that and move forward.

I don't want to go into a deeper analysis here, but just to say that I have no problem with the BTW group's culture, even those who are separatist in their philosophy, such as Bill Cosby. I can respect them completely.

But the WEBD group's culture has led to endemic weaknesses in their people, exemplified by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Those folks just sat around, not knowing what to do, waiting for someone else to come save their sorry asses. The mayor refused to use all means at his disposal to get people out of there. Even now, New Orleans is a cesspool. But just a few miles north in Mississippi, where the population is majority white, you don't see that. Those people got their asses in gear and rebuilt their lives and towns and got back to normal. Yes, they needed help at first, but their culture had given them the tools to take that help and then stand on their own feet. The New Orleans black culture had not given those people the same tools.

In conclusion, I believe that it is culture that defines what separates people, not race, and it is Marxism that has taken the culture of American blacks and screwed it all up. Not only that, but it is the Marxism of the Democrat party that has taken the whole American culture and screwed it all up. It's not just blacks that have falled prey; all sectors of our society have. Fortunately, we still retain a large enough Classical Liberal population to sustain the nation. But that will not last, especially since no one in the political culture wants to stand for Liberalism, they are all Socialists of one stripe or another.

And if you want to hate blacks because so many of them are caught up in black nationalist marxism, then go ahead. But I don't hate them, I would rather convert them and assimilate them into the Anglo-Saxon Liberal culture. This, sadly, is nearly impossible now because no one in that culture is willing to fight to maintain it. Why did that happen? I have no idea, other than that we're stupid and suicidal, and headed down the same road as Athens and Rome.

Wow, I'm Almost As Smart As VDH

Works and Days » The Problem is not conservatism, but conservatives who aren’t conservative

I was thinking about this stuff this weekend, and how I would run for President if I were able to be a candidate. The platform that I came up with (in my head) was almost exactly what Dr. Hanson wrote in this post.

Stupid Philanthropy

US giving China satellite images of quake damage: Pentagon

While I agree with the sentiment behind this, I sure as hell hope that they don't give them the highest quality images. You think China will be grateful for such help?

Shoot, when they said they were sending troops in to help with a dam that was about to burst, I imagined them all lining up along the dam sticking their fingers in the holes like little dutchboys. If it came to it, China would probably kill all their political prisoners and use the bodies to patch the dam. That is, after they harvested the useful organs from those prisoners to sell on the organ market.

What Do They Know?

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

I've often thought the exact same thing myself. Most people seem to think that the discovery of extraterrestial life would "disprove" religion, especially Christianity. But I do not believe this to be true, and obviously neither does the RCC. That's good to know.

But one has to wonder why they mentioned this now...

They Had Better Not Send Affleck

Closer encounter: Nasa plans landing on 40m-wide asteroid travelling at 28,000mph | Science | The Guardian

Cool. Asteroid wrangling. I like it.

Oh, they could send Affleck if he got killed. No, wait a minute, take that back because I like Jennifer Garner and wouldn't want her to lose her husband nor their children their father. Even though I really despise Ben Affleck. Ah well.

Until Further Notice

G.T.T.

Blogging will be light to non-existent for the next few days.

See y'all later.

Thank You Taxpayers!

Woohoo! Just got my $2400 check direct deposited into my bank account!

Thank you to everyone who makes way more than me so that you don't get a check of your own, and therefore your income was redistributed to me by our "compassionate conservative" President, George W. Bush and our Socialist-controlled Congress. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It won't do a damned thing to "help the economy", but I can sure use the extra money; it's like a couple of extra paychecks. Too bad that sweet $1000/child tax credit will go back to $600 in 2011.

Review: The 4-Hour Workweek

The 4-Hour Workweek - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and have neglected to post reviews here. One that I would like to comment on is "Four Hour Workweek" by Tim Farriss. It is actually a very good book, and unlike many authors of similar books, he actually outlines a method for making money instead of just giving a bunch of feel-good motivational crap like, oh, say, Robert Kiyosaki does in "Rich Dad Poor Dad". And Farriss gives examples of how he developed his methods in his own life.

So, what's the method? Well, I'd suggest you buy the book for all the details. But basically, if you can think of something you'd like to sell to a targeted market, you can set up the whole thing online so that once it's set up, it's all on autopilot and you just have to monitor it every so often while collecting the checks. Of course, there's a lot of up-front work involved, and he suggests doing it all yourself for a while first before putting it on autopilot. And, you have to come up with an idea for something to sell, which I haven't done yet.

As for the motivational part... While I don't want to go traveling around the world like Farriss has done, I do like the part about being free from having to go to the office and work for my employer. I don't hate work as much as Farris seems to hate it, though. And boy, does he absolutely HATE the working environment. Anyway...all I want to be able to do is to afford to support my family and take them on road trips a lot. And I would like to be able to save money for their futures as well as my retirement, which in my current financial situation I'm not able to do.

I have a new goal: Instead of pursuing success at work, which will just get me more work and longer hours, Mrs. Astro and I are going to turn into entrepreneurs, and pass that on to our children as part of their schooling. We don't know what we're going to do yet, and I will have to keep my "day job" for quite a while, but I now know that I do NOT want to work here forever.

That's what you get when you zero out good employees, Company X, you stingy bastards!

Sarah Connor, Watch Out!

Police Make Headway In Baltimore Co. Mystery

Holy cow, there's this phenomenon that's been going on for months in the air in a Baltimore suburb, where late at night a loud boom and a flash of light wakes people up. Watch the TV news video; the police set up cameras to catch this on tape.

My Theories (add your own in the comments):
The Terminators are sending back a series of evil killer robots and the Resistance a series of human rebels to fight them. So far, the human rebels have been succeeding, but Skynet keeps trying. Eventually, the time loop will close, and the residents can get their sleep, at least until Skynet nukes Baltimore.

This summer, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will start operation. Some people have been concerned that this thing will create black holes or something. This phenomenon may be related: each time a LHC experiment is run in the mornings in France this summer, a loud bang and flash appears in Baltimore 9 months or so before. There's a fixed spacetime bias in their system somewhere, and they will probably fix it this fall or next year, and 9 months before then, the residents can get their sleep.

There is an alien invasion force coming, and they are targeting Washington, D.C. for destruction in order to paralyze our possible response to their invasion. However, their targeting system sucks because they are still out by Barnard's Star or something. We won't have to worry, because they will destroy the Baltimore suburb, not the Pentagon, and we will now be ready for them with all the force we have at our disposal (Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum have been put on alert). So as soon as we hack into their systems and blow them up, the residents can get their sleep.

My Response To Mr. Navarrette

Commentary: 10 ugly things about the immigration debate - CNN.com
This is a very good commentary by Mr. Navarette, and I just felt that I should give my personal response to the 10 points he brings out. If he wants us to understand where Mexicans are coming from, then I figured he might be interested in understanding where (what I believe to be) most Americans are coming from.

...U.S.-born Hispanics see it as plain as day. Here are 10 things they find distasteful about this debate:
• The hypocrisy. We have two signs on the U.S.-Mexican border: "Keep Out" and "Help Wanted."

Yep, I agree with him there. For too long, our "Help Wanted" sign has lured folks to move north because they could find work and support their families back home. And why shouldn't they do that? Mexico certainly isn't doing anything to help keep them at home.

What would I do? I would enforce our laws about not employing illegal aliens. This would be action against the employers, NOT against the illegal employees. Fairly soon, the jobs would go away and the illegals would have to go back to Mexico.

Before you protest, you might want to look into how the Mexicans enforce their own laws about foreigners working there

• The racism. With lightning speed, the debate went from anti-illegal immigrant to anti-immigrant to anti-Mexican.

Maybe that's true for some people, but it's not true for me or many other Americans. The issue is that we have at least 12-20 million people here breaking our laws. I don't care where they come from. But I do not want our culture diluted by all of these people who do not want to assimilate.

• The opportunism. Too many politicians are trying too hard to portray themselves as tough on illegal immigration.

Hmm, that must mean that they know where the votes are on this issue.

Look, the problem is not that we have people coming up here for work. The problem is that we also have a great number of criminals and terrorists making use of our lax immigration and border enforcement. We have to get that under control. It would make it safer for everyone on both sides of the border.

• The simple solutions. "Build A Wall." "Deport All Illegals." A quick rule of thumb: If it fits on a bumper sticker, it's not a workable policy.

OK, I agree with you there too. A wall can be breached, and it would be a cruel undertaking on the scale of Nazi Germany to deport all illegal aliens.

Instead, how about we control our borders with stepped up, military patrols. We are the just about the only country who does not do that. Then, we enforce the laws against hiring illegals, and we let them back across the border as they leave. Then, we encourage Mexico to do things to improve their own economy so that they don't have over 10% of their people leaving just to make a living!

• The naiveté. People ask why Mexico won't help stop illegal immigration. Hint: Last year, Mexicans in the United States sent home $25 billion.

Yeah, I know about that. This whole thing is propping up the crappy Mexican economy, so that instead of fixing their problems, Mexican politicians can ignore them

• The profiling. Dark skin and Spanish surnames shouldn't be proxies for undocumented status. Been to Arizona lately?
• The meanness. Nazi-produced Internet video games let players shoot illegal immigrants crossing the border. Fun stuff.

That sort of thing is stupid and hateful and I don't go for that either. No reasonable person would.

• The amnesia. Americans think grandpa was welcomed with open arms and that he plunged into the melting pot. Whatever.

My grandfathers fought in World War II. But that's beside the point.

What we have here is not IMMIGRATION, but MIGRATION. Unlike the various waves of European immigrants in the last 150 years, the current crop of illegals does not want to become "American", they just want to live off of our largesse. Immigrants become assimilated to the culture they move into, migrants bring their own culture and replace the existing one. I don't know why you don't expect Americans to resist this change to our culture, Mr. Navarrette.

• The buck-passing. Americans love to blame Mexico for their choices, yelling across the border: "Stop us before we hire again."
• The double standard. The same folks who have zero tolerance for illegal immigrants easily tolerate those who hire them.

Again, no argument from me on these two. We have serious problems on our side of the border, just as Mexico has on theirs. If things do not change, then the problems will remain and grow worse for everyone involved. But if we can get control of the situation on the border, they things may get better for all involved.

Again: the calls for stronger border control are calls for stopping the incredible amount of crime that takes place down there. Drug trafficking, human trafficking, corruption, violence...it's growing and spreading all over the place. We have groups like MS-13 expanding into cities all over the U.S. We have groups like Aztlan and MECHA calling for the "restoration" of the southwest U.S. to their mythical "people". We may even have al Qaeda operatives crossing our borders to come here and infiltrate us to plan attacks. Oh WAIT...that already happened!

I don't really care if Pedro wants to come up here to mow grass, but we need to know that he's not a criminal or a terrorist. I supported some sort of "work visa" plan to allow folks to still come here for work. But it has to be reasonable, and workable, and we cannot let people get away with breaking our laws.

Mexico doesn't.

But You May Go Blind

Study: Masturbation May Prevent Prostate Cancer

OK then.

Not By Fire But By Ice

Sorry to ruin the fun, but an ice age cometh | The Australian:

THE scariest photo I have seen on the internet is www.spaceweather.com, where you will find a real-time image of the sun from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, located in deep space at the equilibrium point between solar and terrestrial gravity.

What is scary about the picture is that there is only one tiny sunspot.

Disconcerting as it may be to true believers in global warming, the average temperature on Earth has remained steady or slowly declined during the past decade, despite the continued increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, and now the global temperature is falling precipitously.

All four agencies that track Earth's temperature (the Hadley Climate Research Unit in Britain, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, the Christy group at the University of Alabama, and Remote Sensing Systems Inc in California) report that it cooled by about 0.7C in 2007. This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record and it puts us back where we were in 1930. If the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over.

Yeah, this is basically what I've been saying for a while. If you read the article, the author goes on to describe the apocalyptic details of the next ice age, which I think he takes a little too far. But still, the point is that "global warming" or "climate change" is something that NATURALLY HAPPENS, has happened throughout the history of Earth, and there is NOTHING that we can do about it, we just have to adapt as it occurs.

Here's an idea: perhaps "Atlantis" was an advanced civilization much like ours today that was destroyed by the onset of the last Ice Age, and all that survived were the legends by the time the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, and so forth came about? It's very possible, I'll have to admit. Or you might believe that the last ice age was very brief and was a result of the aftereffects of the Flood...well, whatever.

This makes me wonder...Denver is situated pretty well for global warming, because we're a mile above sea level. But if we are going to have an Ice Age, we'll be among the first to get squished by the glaciers as they advance off the foothills.

It's Spring and the Mormons are Blooming Idiots

So I'm out front this evening with the kids, and here come a couple of young Mormon missionaries. They came up to me after harassing some of my neighbors, and to be honest I wasn't very nice to them. I was up early to get to work, and am very tired. So I just told them, if I recall correctly, "Yes, I know all about y'all, and I am not interested. I would respectfully ask you to leave me and my family alone." "May I ask why?" the 'elder' asked. "No, you may not, and goodbye, please get off of my property." And they left.

I know that I should have tried to engage them in debate or whatever, but for one thing, I was not in the mood, and for another thing, I was trying to enjoy the evening with the kids, who were engaged in their various activities, including "making ants have fun" and getting out different toys. I did not want to get into a big discussion about their stupid little cult. Oh well.

Scientology: ROTFLMAO

Jason Beghe: Scientology a 'Con'

Ha! Here's an interesting little story about how when Mr. Beghe left Scientology, and tried explaining to his friend David Duchovny, they both busted out laughing about how stupid it all is.

Guess they won't be getting work from certain circles in Hollywood any more.

Wow This Seems Early

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World | The New York Sun

Hmm. What does this mean?

Battle of San Jacinto (21 April 1836)

Battle of San Jacinto (21 April 1836)

The 21st of April dawned bright and beautiful. The main forces of the Texas army were there, totaling about 750 men. They faced over 1500 of the enemy, secure and flushed with pride at the offense they had enjoyed for the previous few weeks against the Texans. Early in the morning, Houston sent Deaf Smith, the celebrated Texas spy, with two or three men, to destroy Vince's bridge over which the Mexican army had passed, thus cutting off their only available escape.

When Houston's long awaited order to advance was given, the Texans did not hesitate. When within seventy yards the word "fire" was given, the Texan shouts of "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad" rang along the entire line. Within a short time, 700 Mexicans were slain, with another 730 taken as prisoners. The battle for Texas was won.

And then later, dumb old Santa Anna was captured wearing his silk undies...

Too bad we're handing our country back over to Mexico, and no one seems to want to do anything about it. Oh yeah, those that try end up in jail.

Why Are Republicans Losing?

Yeas & Nays - Gov. Daniels: People need to get over Reagan, already - Examiner.com

Because too many of the Republicans in elected office now are not conservative, and they don't govern as conservatives. Get over Reagan? Sorry, buddy. You see, the conservative longing for "a Reagan-style conservative" is not "clinging to the past" like these liberal Republicans like to put it. No, instead it is holding to an ideal, and that ideal is a return to classical liberalism and constitutionalism, which Reagan represents. It is basically the idea that THE PEOPLE have rights given BY GOD, not granted them by any government or earthly power. The idea that LIMITED GOVERNMENT, following the Constitution, is the best for all people. That the people, left unhindered by regulation by a large, intrusive government, will, by pursuing their own self-interests, give rise to the highest level of overall prosperity and general welfare.

This is not something that conservatives will "get over", and it is something that will cause liberal Republicans like this idiot Daniels to lose. We cannot fight Socialism with Socialism Lite.

How Do You Like This Map, Sweden?

.

An absolutely awful world, that is. It would be quite a bit worse than this one, but then we're talking about Santa Anna's Mexico, not Nazi Germany. While Santa Anna was no Hitler, he did style himself as "The Napoleon of the West". There were more groups of people than the Texians who revolted against his rule; they were just the only successful ones.

And may I remind you, my dear Swedes, without America, the map of Europe may well have resembled this one.

In Defense of Cults

Texas officials defend removing FLDS children

The recent events in West Texas are very disturbing. Just what in the heck gives the Texas "authorities" the right to go into that cult's compound and take away over 400 children from their parents and their homes because of a possible accusation of abuse from ONE anonymous girl? Thank God that they didn't try to defend themselves from this government action, or they would all be dead now like the Branch Davidian cultists.

This is not to say that I agree with this little cult at all, in fact I don't even agree with the the mainstream Mormon church, but they do all have rights as American citizens. I heard that one definition of "cult" is "any religion that your father didn't belong to". Well, that's a pretty good one. Another definition might be a religion that marries young girls off to older men, and allows those men to have several wives.

Is this any of our business? If you go back 100 years, you'd find that most girls were married by the age of 15, and they were perfectly fine. Mrs. Astro's great-grandmother was one of them. This FLDS group seems to want to live "in the past" by shutting themselves off from the modern world, so I don't necessarily see a problem with this aspect of their lives. They're being accused of abuse. How, other than marrying their girls off young? I wouldn't be surprised if these folks actually do have their legal proof somewhere that they met Texas law with respect to the girls' ages when married. Of course, polygamy itself is illegal so there is that.

Well whatever.

If the government can go and take the children away from these people without due process, then what's to keep them from coming tomorrow to take YOUR children away?

Happy Tax Day

You know, when Tax Freedom Day is after April 15th, something is wrong. At least this year it's only on April 23, though.

And a big THANK YOU to everyone who isn't getting Bush's BS Tax Rebate this year for the money we will be getting!

Ostentatious Displays of Wealth

Porcus brings us this article from the Washington Compost:
Three Kids? You Showoffs.

Oh for crying out loud this article is filled with such a huge load of crap that it makes me want to puke! Unfortunately, I don't have time to comment fully now, but I will come back tonight to finish this post.

Rest assured, our four kids are not a sign of wealth, they are simply gifts from God who we are trying our damnedest to raise into fine adults one day. And that definitely does NOT involve spending tons of money we don't have on crap that they don't need. Rather, it involves spending tons of time and effort, such as homeschooling them.

Thanks, Merci, y Gracias

Radio Lingua Network | Podcasts

I just recently discovered this little company from Scotland that has been producing language learning podcasts for Spanish, French, Italian, and German. So far, I have been going through the Spanish and French lessons, and I have to say that they are really well done. I took four years of Spanish in school, so while it's review for me, I wanted to evaluate it for Mrs. Astro and the kids. I know almost no French, however, or at least I didn't before I started listening to their "Coffee Break French" lessons.

Like I said, these podcasts are produced in Scotland, so the instructor has this really great Scottish accent, and the discussion is Euro-centric. But I like that, because after all these are all european languages. Besides, if it's not Scottish, it's crap!

Green Oil

Algae: The ultimate in renewable energy - CNN.com

Now this is interesting: growing a bunch of algae in order to process it into oil. What's neat about this is that the biogenic oil theory says that the oil we drill for out of the ground came from prehistoric deposits of algae from shallow seas that later got covered over by layers of rock.

I have posted about the abiogenic theory of oil formation before, which says that oil doesn't come from prehistoric life but from deep deposits of methane in the crust and mantle. But the biogenic theory holds water too: oil can be produced from plant and animal materials. The thermal depolymerization process that converts trash into oil works on the same principle as that described by the biogenic theory: put organic materials into a high pressure/high temperature environment and they break down into hydrocarbons.

So why not short circuit the process and farm algae? More detail here: Valcent Products.

Get a Rope

Chinese Spy "Slept" In U.S. for 2 Decades

Prosecutors called Chi Mak the "perfect sleeper agent," though he hardly looked the part. For two decades, the bespectacled Chinese-born engineer lived quietly with his wife in a Los Angeles suburb, buying a house and holding a steady job with a U.S. defense contractor, which rewarded him with promotions and a security clearance. Colleagues remembered him as a hard worker who often took paperwork home at night.

Eventually, Mak's job gave him access to sensitive plans for Navy ships, submarines and weapons. These he secretly copied and sent via courier to China -- fulfilling a mission that U.S. officials say he had been planning since the 1970s.

Dammit.

I figure they ought to start investigating all Asian-Americans with security clearances. It's really too late, though, to stop the transfer of technology. I went to an engineering graduate school where about half the students are from China! We may not have sold the Soviets the rope they would have used to hang us, but we sure as hell sold it to China.

In the meantime, we ought to string up this Chi Mak and whatever other scumbags they find that are spying on us.

Now Here's a Great Idea

NASA to Burn Sponsor Logos into the Surface of Mars

Yes! It's about time that our space program thought about coming up with ways to pay for itself. NASA's budget isn't getting any bigger, and they're expected to develop all that new stuff for the Orion program while also operating the Shuttles and the ISS.

Aetna Sucks

Aetna, you're a bunch of cheap bastards, and that's the truth.

Cool Army Robots

Big Dog on Walkabout - Military.com

Wow, look at this thing. I especially like the part where the guy comes up to it and kicks it, and it staggers but remains standing. Then it slips on ice but stays up. These guys at Boston Dynamics have done a great job on this thing. The way it walks, it looks like two people facing each other, one going forward and the other backward.

Now all it needs is arms, weapons, and a metal skull with red glowing eyes.

Oh No! We're All Going To Die!

Massive ice shelf on verge of breakup - CNN.com

Um, y'all, it's the end of summer down there in Antarctica, and ice falls off the edges every year about this time. This piece is the size of Manhattan? Whoopee doo. Sorry to tell you media people this, but Manhattan is not the center of the universe, nor is it the standard measure for "really big iceberg". Now, if an iceberg the size of Texas was breaking off, THAT would be a story. But it's not going to, because all the water around there is fixing to freeze back up as the fall turns into a bitterly cold winter.

On the bright side, if the seas do rise, then Manhattan will go under.

Yes, They Are ALL Ours

I'm getting really sick and tired of people making negative comments and looking at us in disbelief when we are out in public with our four children. Yes, we have four children. Yes, they are a lot of work sometimes, but they are also a lot of fun. I feel sorry for those who have fewer than four children!

Mrs. Astro took our four and the baby she sits for on Monday-Wednesday to the park yesterday, since it's finally warm enough here to go outside with them. So she had five kids with her. A couple of the other mothers who were at the park with their singular children were just flabbergasted or something that my lovely wife had so many children there.

"How do you DO it?," most of them want to know. Do what? Be a parent? You just do it!

What do they want us to have done? God blessed us with four wonderful children. Neither of us really want to go through another pregnancy, admittedly, but we would definitely not mind having even more children. Maybe we'll adopt from somewhere like Colorado Christian Services, who helps young girls to not have abortions and give their kids up for adoption instead. We'll see about that, because we sure can't afford it right now.

But really...we're married, have been for a long time, and if Mrs. Astro gets pregnant, we're going to have the baby. What do most people do? The wife's on birth control all the time? She gets pregnant with a third so they abort it? What?

And guess what: We homeschool too! Call out the men in the white coats.

Christ is Risen

Happy Easter everyone! Remember the "reason for the season"; it's not Easter bunnies and colored eggs, it's God placing His Son, Himself, on the cross, to pay the price for our sins.

Arthur Clarke Passes

Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke dies aged 90

Well, the man was a child molester who moved to Sri Lanka so he could have easy access to young boys, and a government who would leave him alone despite his breaking their "very strict" laws. So he's probably pretty toasty by now, but I'm not going to judge, I will leave that up to the Judge.

But when I was a kid, say starting about age 8, I was reading all of Clarke's novels and short stories, along with Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Frank Herbert, and many other science fiction authors from the years since WWII. In fact, it's probably all these men's fault that I am now an aerospace engineer. I wanted to grow up and make those stories become real. In some respects I have done that, but in others real life space exploration is a disappointment. Where's our moon base? Where's our Mars base? Where's our warp drives? Where's my flying car?

My Reaction To Obama's Race Speech

Transcript: Senator Barack Obama's speech
OK, it was a good speech, and I'm sure he delivered it very well. He's good with a teleprompter, but not so good off the cuff. But there was one passage that really ticked me off, and that's when he tried to show that he understood white attitudes towards blacks:

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

That's right, I DO NOT feel particularly privileged by my race. I was born in the early 1970's. I am NOT responsible for the racism that came before me; I am only responsible for myself. And my experience is NOT the "immigrant experience" because I can trace my roots all the way back to about 1700 in this country. But my roots are Scots-Irish, not English, and as far as I know, none of my ancestors owned slaves. In fact, my ancestors were affected negatively by the slave trade because it depressed wages for the labor that they otherwise might have performed. Not all whites are descendants of slave owners, Mr. Obama.

And another thing: Yes, the Constitution contained the 3/5 Compromise. Who wanted to count black slaves as full persons? Who wanted to NOT count them at all? Huh? It was Southerners who wanted them counted, and Yankees that did not! And another thing: I do know that I have Confederate soldiers among my ancestry; I could join the Sons of Confederate Veterans if I chose to do so. Does THAT make me a racist? Hell no! Those men were defending their homes against invasion; none of them owned slaves or even really cared about that issue. But they did care about armies burning and pillaging their towns and farms.

Back to myself, though: I'm still pissed off about the way race affected me, and that is in the late 80's and early 90's as I finished high school and went to college. There was way more money available if you were not white, in the form of scholarships and what not. Yet I know of several people who were the beneficiaries of those monies and THEY threw it all away. I still did get about half my college covered by scholarship, but had to work a job as well. I got off better than a good friend of mine, who had to work full time at a lumberyard while going to school full time.

I'm also still pissed about having to sit through classes (thankfully not many) in the early 90's at UT Austin where I was told that white men are the cause of all evil in the world. I was guilty for stuff I never did because of who I am!

And then, when I was getting out of school, I shouldn't even have bothered to apply for a job at NASA because they weren't hiring young white men at the time. But they sure hired every available woman and minority. I know; I worked for them as a contractor. I'm not saying that none of them can do their jobs; some can and some cannot, just like white men.

But what really makes me angry is how he's using all this racial guilt to push a Socialist agenda. Just give the Benevolent Government control over more and more aspects of your life, and you will not only be absolved of your racial guilt, but you will prosper! This guy is just another totalitarian: he wants government to have total control over the lives of the people. To him, "the people" are of foremost concern, but the individual is nothing.

NO! Just leave me alone, and let people deal with each other as they will. Let everyone compete and interact in all aspects of society, in freedom! The real racists of all colors would pay a price if we did that, because being racist is not generally beneficial.

Good grief. I'd prefer Hillary to this guy. I agree with Vox that this whole racial issue blowup is a strategy to make Obama "unelectable" so she'll get in despite the vote. I sure hope this doesn't all blow up at their stupid convention in Denver. We sure as heck aren't going downtown that week.

Dadgum Euro Cars

I am about sick to death of hearing about people at work FLYING TO FRICKING EUROPE to go pick out their stupid ass european cars. "Oh, I just got back from Sweden, where I got to drive my new Volvo." "Oh yeah? Well, I just got back from Germany where I got to drive my new BMW."

WHOOPEE FREAKING DOO, PEOPLE!

Yeah, like I'm going to go to Detroit or wherever to get my new Chevy pickup.

NOT!

When I can next AFFORD a "new" vehicle, I'm going to be looking around at all the area dealerships for a clean, in-good-condition, 2-3 year old, USED Suburban, van, or truck.

Sons-a-bitches.