The death panels have begun, deciding which newborn babies live or die. Don Surber says, "Under President Obama the purpose of the greatest medical system ever developed has been subverted from saving lives to saving money." To be fair, insurance companies could be accused of that as well. But they could compete on customer service. When the government tells them what they can and can’t do, and co-opts them into a national health system, the government then decides on what and will not be paid for. And there’s no competing with the government.

Eight years ago, the media was deeply concerned over whether Bush would go to war without Congressional approval. Today, when Obama actually does it, a collective yawn (with one small exception).

Running out of things to tax, politicians are now trying to push a toilet paper tax in Washington. No, really.

Hamas terrorists in Gaza broke a cease-fire to toss 50 rockets at Israel last Saturday, while the rest of the world’s gaze was diverted to Libya. Essay question: Did you hear about this in the media, and if not, why not?

And finally, speaking of the media covering for the President (click for a larger version):

Air Traffic Controller sleeps on duty at Reagan National Airport
Isn’t it ironic, considering that President Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers, that an air traffic controller falls asleep on the job at Reagan National Airport?

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Similar to the boy in the bubble among us? Or simply a nuisance to everyone else?
Where do we draw the lines to our accommodation of those with disabilities? At what point do we say, enough, you (the disabled person) need to limit your actions because of your predicament? Regardless, it’s another reason to homeschool.

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eBooks, weeding, and the demise of the public library?
No, the title is not an Elmer Fudd pun on the act of reading. An interesting op-ed argument regarding how the advent of ebook technology, along with the limits of ownership rights, may impact how libraries currently function.

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Imagine a truck, full of printer ink, spilling its load
Imagine no more (click the image for stunning detail)…

Image © Boston.com

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Video: Pelosi violates the “separation of church and state”
But it’s okay, because it suits her needs.

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Geek News of the Week:  Hi-res photo of Mars Rover Opportunity from orbit
7 years into a 3 month mission, Opportunity was photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Click the image for a hi-res version.

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Well, it IS “Frie”-day
For all those IN-N-OUT aficionados out there (and for those who long for the experience).

Good morning.

1. Somebody apparently hasn’t noticed that the Democrats too haven’t offered any substantial cuts.
2. “Napalm in the morning” in the movie was a good thing. 
3. Vindication for Bush and Blair.
4. Well, quagmire seems to be the plan going in.
5. Biden on Libya.
6. Recovery and Japan.
7. The Democrats are allergic to that notion, you know being the party of the people and all … they want to make sure no sorts get in the halls of power. After all, it’s the basis for much of their Palin allergy.
8. Law and consequence.
9. For myself, I don’t get the anti-trust part of the complaint. There are many choices out there.
10. Dragons and markets.
11. A word for today.
12. For … openers.
13. A prediction for Libya.
14. An interesting folktale.

Good morning.

1. The irrationality of Peter Singer.
2. Earthquake “fallout”.
3. Libya half a century ago.
4. Medals of Freedom and two Presidents.
5. Heh.
6. A problem noted.
7. 4G warfare in a nutshell.
8. Considering the Theotokos.
9. Prejudices.
10. A question for the President’s backers. And a question about tactics.
11. A film.
12. Practical consequences of Christian eschatology.

Beauty Queen drops home invader with her pink .38 special
First lesson of the story, though, is to not answer the door at 3 a.m.

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If you’re a shop owner, armed with a gun, remember to train
First lesson of the story: don’t grab at a robber’s gun. Second lesson: don’t try to fire your gun without having chambered a cartridge. Third lesson: don’t fire indiscriminately, over aisle counters, with one of your employees potentially in the line of fire.

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Where are the “Wild West shootouts” with “blood running in the streets”?
Is “permitless carry” becoming a trend? From Massad Ayood,

Called “Constitutional carry” by some, such a law allows any law-abiding citizen with a clean criminal record to carry loaded and concealed in public. It will entail only a cost-free vote and a stroke of the Governor’s pen. That model has worked for Vermont for as long as any living citizen can remember, and every year Vermont is one of our lowest crime states per capita, some years THE lowest. It has worked for years in Alaska. It is working in Arizona, and will undoubtedly work in Wyoming, which just became the fourth state to pass permitless carry.

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The Haves (read: politicians), and the Have Nots (read: citizens)
In light of the horrible mass shooting in Tucson, in which Rep. Gabby Giffords was critically wounded, some intrepid lawmakers [sic] in California have come up with a supposed answer – at least – an answer for themselves. From the L.A. Times,

Under current law Californians who want to carry concealed firearms must apply to their county sheriff or police chief and show “good cause” for permission. That can include threats of violence or a dangerous job. Under the new bill, being an elected state official or a member of Congress would constitute good cause. The officials would, like others, be subject to a background check, and a sheriff or police chief could still turn down the application.

Has it not occurred to these lawmakers that their constituents face acts of violence every day? Are they so blind that they see themselves only as potential targets?

It should be noted that California’s process for issue concealed carry permits is based on the law stating that the sheriff “may issue” the permit (vs. “shall issue”) upon the applicant showing good cause and completing the proper training, background checks, etc. That little one word difference, may instead of shall, has resulted in the virtual lack of issuance of permits in the state. “Good cause” suddenly becomes a subjective term and, regardless of whether or not good cause is shown, the sheriff still has the ability to not issue a permit. Of course, the criminals don’t really care whether they have a “permit” to carry, do they?

Once again, the law-abiding citizen is the person being overly restricted.

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Florida Highway Patrol office accidentally shot during a weapons inspection
Two points to consider here.

1: Always, remember the Four Rules of Gun Safety – 1) treat all guns as if they are loaded, 2) always point a gun in a safe direction, 3) keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot, and 4) know your target and what is beyond.

2: Accidents among law enforcement officers are more common than you may realize.

Good morning.

1. Remarks on things claimed by Mr Krugman.
2. Truth remains stranger than fiction.
3. Libya and lessons learned thus far.
4. Gay marriage?
5. War powers.
6. Well, it had to happen. Some nut thought the earthquake was caused by global warming.
7. A monastic library goes online. Probably more fun if you can read classical Greek.
8. A film noted.
9. IPCC authorship. What the … ?
10. A strategic analysis of Libya and NATO.
11. Our liberal friends will have to tell us why such things are a good idea.
12. Lawyers and the sort of “depends on what ‘is’ is responses.”
13. Freedom of expression and schools.
14. Mr Obama’s employment record.
15. Categorizing atheists (and a reminder that Mr Meyer is a dull sort of wit).

Civility Watch (combined with "Oh, that liberal media): If you missed the fact that Wisconsin Republicans were the target of death threats, you need to get your news from somewhere else.

Not taking this seriously were ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NBC, and NPR. LexisNexis and closed-caption dump searches of "Wisconsin and ‘death threat’" produced zero results for these so-called news outlets throughout the month of March.

Zero.

When you compare this to the hysterical coverage of last year’s Tea Party rallies and town hall protests, where conservatives were regularly depicted as either hostile or fomenting violence, one has to wonder how actual death threats against sitting politicians would not be considered newsworthy.

This seems particularly curious after all the talk about hostile rhetoric immediately following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in January.

And more civility in DC:

Paul Craney, executive director of the D.C. Republican Committee, says that a shooter took out the windows at the GOP’s storefront office, near 13th and K streets NW, with a small-caliber projectile, possibly from an air gun.

Craney said he got a call from an alarm company early Wednesday morning but didn’t pick up the call. And when he showed up to work this morning the alarm was on. But he didn’t notice the fenestration damage until later in the day. “I was getting lunch, and noticed: Oh my god, our windows are all shot up.”

While on the phone with a reporter, Craney discovered an approximately BB-sized piece of shot on the ground outside the window.

Following 4 closed-door meetings, the President was to get an award for being so open to the press. Sensing the irony, that award got postponed.

And finally, to make up for the dearth of links this week, two political cartoons. (Can you tell I really like Chuck Asay?)

Good morning. Moving towards Spring, eh?

1. International disaster relief and two Presidencies.
2. As the West struggled with the Reformation, the East received the theology of Palamas.
3. A mostly (likely) dismal list of films.
4. Stupid liberal rhetorical responses, use literalism to avoid confronting the real point, oh and don’t forget the most common (seen from my perch) liberal conversational tactic … the personal insult. The substantial point for the discussion in any rational environment would be the over-arching growth and intrusive reach of government regulation. Alas, it goes unnoticed.
5. In which the unfortunate Mr Carville is noted. Mr Carville, from my point of view, suffers from my minds insistence on every appearance of his to recall a remark during the Lewisnsky kerfuffle he made on a news program in which he noted something to the effect of, “Well, you see what you by trawling through a trailer park with $20 bills.” My immediate thought was to wonder why a Democratic supporter would be defending Mr Clinton trawling through trailer parks for sexual favors using cash as a lure … but apparently he intended it as a slur against the character (and discovery) of Ms Jones. It didn’t (for me) come off that way at all alas. 
6. For the “Stop Eating Cake” crowd.
7. Someone is forgetting that the size, prominence and military standing of the actor trumps this discussion. Russia, China, (and yes) the US, and other big powers can do whatever they damn well please and no intervention will occur.
8. Heh.
9. Political contributions and Libya.
10. Privatizing garbage collection.

Good morning.

1. Housing and price, or at least supply.
2. NPR and boobs.
3. Computers meet the grenade. 
4. Speaking of weapon-tech.
5. No. It wasn’t because she was dressed in any way shape or form, it was because the guys were not fit company for dogs.
6. Talking Lent.
7. And exactly what is not needed for the Lenten fast.
8. Constitution and sex offender treatment, for non-sex offenders.
9. This is not a defense of Catholic priests and sex offenses but a question about hypocrisy in those who point at only that. There’s an order of magnitude problem lurking in there to grapple with.
10. How to max out the use of faint praise.
11. Economically rational but morally reprehensible normally means don’t do it … unless your a beltway Congress-critter of course.
12. Dude! I, too, like the look.
13. Not why he forded that Rubicon I suspect.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy?
“One conclusion seems clear: what we’ve witnessed in Wisconsin during the opening months of 2011 did not originate in this state, even though we’ve been at the center of the political storm in terms of how it’s being implemented. This is a well-planned and well-coordinated national campaign, and it would be helpful to know a lot more about it.”

Also from the link,

I don’t want this to become an endless professorial lecture on the general outlines of American conservatism today, so let me turn to the question at hand: who’s really behind recent Republican legislation in Wisconsin and elsewhere?…

…

The most important group, I’m pretty sure, is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which was founded in 1973 by Henry Hyde, Lou Barnett, and (surprise, surprise) Paul Weyrich. Its goal for the past forty years has been to draft “model bills” that conservative legislators can introduce in the 50 states. Its website claims that in each legislative cycle, its members introduce 1000 pieces of legislation based on its work, and claims that roughly 18% of these bills are enacted into law. (Among them was the controversial 2010 anti-immigrant law in Arizona.)

Aside from the fact that there was no “anti-immigrant” law in Arizona, I was left just a bit curious about ALEC. From Wikipedia,

The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) membership association of state legislators and private sector policy advocates. Among other activities, the group assists its members in developing model laws for state legislatures and serves as an easy-networking tool for fellow legislators to research how certain policy projects and problems have been handled in other states. ALEC has approximately 2,000 legislative members representing all 50 states, as well as more than 85 members of Congress and 14 sitting or former Governors who are considered “ALEC alumni”. While the alumni elected to the United States Congress and as Governors are often Republican, around one third of ALEC’s legislative members are members of the Democratic Party.

Hmmm. Sounds like a policy group claiming to be non-partisan but which, in all liklihood, leans one way or the other, as long as it’s right.

Do liberals truly believe that politics in America was designed to be exercised in a non-partisan manner?

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Wisconsin public teachers demonstrating to us why limiting power is important
From Ann Althouse, yet another reason to homeschool. Public teachers leading their students in protest chants inside the state capitol. Remember, they have control over your children.

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NPR donates more to left leaning causes
Sorry, I hate stating the obvious.

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Speaking of NPR or – rather – former NPR execs
VIdeo comparing 2 speeches by 2 execs. It’s smackdown time: Schiller vs. Schiller!

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168 out of 1,960,000 = 0.0086%
The number of concealed carry permit revocations compared to permits issued, in Florida.

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A Hellish interview
Yes, the MSNBC interview/skewering of Rob Bell has been covered all over the web, but for good reason. A good object lesson in how one squirms in one’s own loops. The interviewer does a good job of taking the roof off (despite an opening false dichotomy shot).

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What? God’s will for my life might not involve blessing?
Someone asked me for my “life verse” and I couldn’t remember Jeremiah 29:11 so I gave them 29:17. Big mistake! So I made a quick switch to 29:10. Sigh. Now I have to wait 70 years.

Good morning.

1. So. If we knew how it would turn out, would we do it anyhow?
2. Facts about the earthquake. 
3. Some meta-links, or a set of interesting links posted here.
4. Is Outrage!
5. Incentives. And … where do their incentives lie?
6. Our spending woes or … the satirical version.
7. Motor Oil (googling around, I found Exxon/Mobil also has developed for testing a similar oil).
8. Not getting the whole broken windows thing. Yes. The window (appliance) dealer might do well, and yes people might dip into the college fund to rebuild … but that just means they can’t spend or invest that money elsewhere.
9. Obama. Man of action … or not. Consistent, yes.
10. Money and value?
11. The snake did it.
12. An interesting question on the Obama mandate-as-tax. What sort of tax, eh?

Good morning.

1. And meaningless jobs … don’t create happiness.
2. Where it’s all about the team … you’ll not find citations of liberals making errors in speeches there.
3. Weather and some predictions. Let’s see, you can’t make accurate very short term (seconds/minutes), short term (week) weather predictions, mid-term (three month) predictions. Yet the claim is that long term (decade) predictions are easy. Well, if “easy” means unverifiable you’re right. Otherwise, not so much.
4. Yah. And he stood there in picture pose for 5 hours while it filled.
5. Coming to a laptop/cell phone near you … in 5-10 years?
6. Prudence.
7. Cinema.
8. Public unions and teaching.
9. Speaking of unions.
10. Words for Japan from India.
11. Kill the fallacy.
12. Trust.
13. What does due processes mean, from an Constitutional perspective?
14. A plug for courting.

Good morning.

1. A film noted.
2. Better than CNN for news on Japan.
3. Lenten links. 
4. The Lenten prototype. Jesus, it might be noted, remarks on “when you fast” … not “if you fast” implying that the whether question regarding the fast is assumed.
5. Byzantine revival.
6. What happens when you can’t do High School Physics.
7. Fears for Nuclear Energies future? I’ve seen nuclear energy proponents talking about this as a big blow, however I’ve not seen any triumphial remarks from nuclear energy detractors pointing to this as a proof positive that nuclear energy is too dangerous to consider.
8. Gender pay gap and abortion.
9. Quake and the bike.
10. Quake and seapower.
11. Quake and the voice of God.
12. Ramblings on the US and our worldview.
13. Mr Bush’s new book a capsule summary/review.
14. Raising kids and atheism, a question asked.

Hunter Baker, writing at "First Things", responds to Jim Wallis’ question "What Would Jesus Cut", referring to government spending. (Which begs the question, would Jesus borrow us into prosperity?)

Obama’s HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, admits to double counting some savings that ObamaCare™ would bring. Not really news, except for those who haven’t been paying attention.

Media Matters, an allegedly non-partisan press watchdog group, has a Transparency project that lists major donors to conservative and libertarian organizations. "The Agitator" notes that, while a number of those conservative organizations themselves already provide this transparency, Media Matters itself does not.

Who’s going to clean up this mess in Wisconsin?

It could cost as much as $7.5 million to repair damage protesters have done to the Capitol Building marble say officials in Madison. Fixing posters to the marble with tape and glue appears to have done the bulk of the damage.

During testimony Thursday, a representative from the Attorney General’s office said a contractor estimated it would cost $500,000 to remove all of the posters and garbage. He says it would cost $6 million to restore the marble inside of the Capitol building and another $1 million to touch up the marble outside of the building.

Guess who came to the rescue? The Tea Party. Liberals trashed it, conservatives will care for it.

Mark Steyn notes a very odd way to say, "Thank you.". A young Kosovar is who killed 2 US servicemen in a Frankfurt airport. I mean, we didn’t even wait for UN resolutions before helping Kosovo get its independence. That’s gratitude?

Remember how upset the Left was about indefinite detentions and military tribunals at Guantanamo, and how much the press covered it? Yeah, well, all that is back on again and now they’re rather quiet about it. Wonder what changed.

Michael Moore and Rachel Maddow say, no, we’re not broke as a nation. Reality begs to differ.

Bummer. A set-back for reprogrammed adult stem cells. Undisturbed adult stem cells continue to be extremely useful, but trying to reprogram them into what are essentially embryonic stem cells is having problems.

Look, if you’re going to be biased in what you say, I have no problem with that. Just be honest about it. NPR isn’t. James O’Keefe strikes again at the heart of liberal bias at the network. NPR tries some damage control, but Patterico calls their ombudsman on it. Predictably, liberals now deplore gotcha’ journalism. (Though calling up a governor and misrepresenting who you are is just fine. Wonder what changed.) And apparently O’Keefe isn’t done with the revelations.

The UK’s CEO of the national power grid is predicting that blackouts will be just a part of the new normal once wind turbines become more prominent and supplant other means of electricity generation. How long before paying to not get blacked out becomes popular, and the politization of energy begins?

Civility Watch: Credible death threats against the Palins.

And finally, the Society of Centurions is named after the Centurion who was at the cross when Jesus died, and ultimately admitted, "Surely he was the Son of God". It is an organization for former abortion providers. Changing one’s view on abortion is one thing. Considering it wrong after you’ve provided them is another thing entirely. Priests for Life admonishes, "Let’s pray for the Centurions, and may their numbers increase!" Amen.

Good morning.

1. A proxy for Presidential popularity measured.
2. Smash, with color.
3. Hmmm. China’s growth and cost.
4. Uhm, auto-stop features do not require hybrid cars, even though auto-stop is found on all hybrids.
5. Repurpose your bike pump?
6. The priest in the brothel.
7. The Canon of St. Andrew, Ukraine and I’d show you pictures from our parish … but our parish website has no perma-links for photos for the next few days you can see them here.
8. Gender imbalance and economic risk taking.
9. Unintended consequences of consumer protectionism, although I’d suggest those “unintended” consequences were in fact easily predictable.
10. ID and a Constitutional can of worms.
11. Three Lenten meal suggestions.
12. Words to fear.
13. Women in science.
14. Recent discussions on the ontological argument discussed.