Quote of the Day...

In referece to Hillary Clinton:

At a minimum, a head of state should have a head.

So says Vladimir Putin.

Well. You can't really disagree with him, can you?

All the same, that's a little more crude and direct than heads of state usually are...

Nightmare...

Circulating via email right now:

Last night I had the strangest dream. It was so real, so life-like and so vivid I woke up in a cold sweat and said "Not On Sunday".

Let me describe it to you briefly...

1. Hillary wins the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States

2. Naturally, she wants to choose as her running mate someone with a lot of knowledge and experience in government and foreign affairs, someone who is a seasoned campaigner who could bring a lot of strength to the ticket. Who better than Bill, her husband?!!?

3. Hill and Bill go on to win the election in November and the Democrats maintain control of the House and the Senate.

4. Hillary is sworn in as President on January 20, 2009. The next day, after all the inauguration parties are over, she calls a press conference to make an announcement: she is resigning as President!!! Bill, as the Vice President, immediately becomes President!!! This is all perfectly legal under the 22nd Amendment the Constitution, for it states that no person "may be elected as President more than twice". Bill is not being elected for a third term but is merely serving out the remainder of Hillary's term --- all 4 years of it.

5. But wait! There's more! The following day Bill calls a press conference to make an announcement. He has chosen someone to fill the now vacant Vice President Position. Guess who he picks? Why, Hillary, of course!!!

Now you stay awake and let me get some sleep !!!!!!!

As best I can tell, the scenario described above is, in fact, completely legal. There's a good discussion of the issues on Snopes; it looks to me as though Bill as VP is technically legal but quite likely to be unacceptable to the electorate (I hope!), Hillary resigning is certainly legal, but unlikely if my perceptions about her desire for power are correct, and the notion of Hillary being appointed VP is legal but exceedingly unlikely.

But all of this is probably moot, given the current political winds – Obama looks like he's going to win the Democratic nomination in a landslide. You might think I'd be happy about that, but Obama's apparent emptiness scares me. I'm afraid he's all show and no substance – and he's unabashedly a proponent of pulling out of Iraq unconditionally and immediately, and of treating the war on terror as a “police operation”. These are not comforting or hopeful positions to me, and the change they represent is not a positive one...

Rain and Snow...

Yesterday a storm hit the San Diego area, dropping 3/4" of rain on us, along with some sleet and even snow. As I arrived home from work, big sloppy-wet snowflakes were falling, and our yard was covered in a thin sheet of white. This morning the temperature is hovering around the freezing point, and much of the thin snow blanket is still there.

The most interesting thing about this storm was how it caught the weather forecasters completely by surprise. Even 24 hours before the storm hit, there was no hint of precipitation at all in the forecast.

If the weather forecasters can't even get tomorrow's forecast right, how much confidence should I have in those who forecast global warming over the next few decades?