Seen Around...

Via my lovely bride.  I don't know if they're real or they're photoshopped, but I like the sentiment:

Seen on the back of a U.S. Marine's Jeep...

At the intersection of Highway 59 and Highway 43 in Hutchinson, Kansas...

Along Highway 61, also in Hutchinson, Kansas...

Race in Action...

A photographer captured this beautiful shot of Race (our border collie who competes in agility) cresting an A-frame obstacle.  Most dogs (in fact, every other dog I've seen) clambers over the A-frame, some more quickly than others.  Race, on the other hand, simply leaps over the top!

Race, leaping over the apex of the A-frame...

Five Stars...

Via my lovely bride:

The kids filed into class Monday morning. They were all very excited. Their weekend assignment was to sell something, then give a talk on salesmanship.

Little Sally led off. "I sold Girl Scout cookies and I made $30" she said proudly, "My sales approach was to appeal to the customer's civil spirit and I credit that approach for my obvious success."

"Very good", said the teacher.

Little Debbie was next. "I sold magazines" she said, "I made $45 and I explained to everyone that magazines would keep them up on current events."

"Very good, Debbie", said the teacher.

Eventually, it was Little Johnny's turn. The teacher held her breath. Little Johnny walked to the front of the classroom and dumped a box full of cash on the teacher's desk. "$2,467", he said.

"$2,467!" cried the teacher, "What in the world were you selling?"

Toothbrushes", said Little Johnny. "Toothbrushes", echoed the teacher, "How could you possibly sell enough tooth brushes to make that much money?"

"I found the busiest corner in town", said Little Johnny, "I set up a Dip &Chip stand and I gave everybody who walked by a free sample." They all said the same thing, "Hey, this tastes like dog poop!" Then I would say, "It is dog poop. Wanna buy a toothbrush?" I used the President Obama method of giving you some crap, dressing it up so it looks good, telling you it's free and then making you pay to get the bad taste out of your mouth."

Little Johnny got five stars for his assignment.

Preconditions for the American Revolution...

Dave Carter over at Ricochet looks at current conditions to see how they map onto the Declaration of Independence.  He concludes with this:

The hour is late, and the moment urgent. Moderates didn't risk their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor by signing the Declaration of Independence. The men who signed that document went, as they say, "all in." The weak of heart didn't storm the beaches at Normandy. There was no compromise at Iwa Jima. Liberty isn't cheap, and can be lost much more easily than earned. Do we have the heart to reclaim liberty in America? The answer lies in the heart of the free man, if there are enough of us left. Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness, …these are the gifts of "Nature's God," and nature has unyielding determination.

Read the whole thing...

Obama's Autobiography...

What does it tell us when we discovery that our President simply made up large and important parts of his autobiography?

Mostly it makes me distrustful of him, and that in turn makes me very uncomfortable.  I'm now even more skeptical of anything he says or any position he takes, than I was before.  In other words, I now assume he's a dishonest man.

Yet another way in which Obama reminds me of Tricky Dick...

Another Posner Apple Patent Spanking...

Groklaw has it...

A Hopeful Sign for America...

In general, businesses and individuals make decisions more rationally than governments do.  An example from current events gives me some hope about U.S. politics, for reasons that will take a bit of explaining.

Airbus (the European aircraft manufacturer and only major competitor to Boeing) recently decided to locate a new plant in the U.S. to help it win future contracts with the U.S. government.  But where would they locate that plant? 

Would it be in Washington state, alongside Boeing, with tens of thousands of appropriately skilled workers nearby?  No. 

Would it be in California, with tens of thousands of high-tech workers readily available?  No.

Where, then?  Why, Alabama, of course.

What?!?  Alabama?  Why would any manufacturer in its right mind locate a plant in a state that epitomizes (to the legions of urban “progressives”, anyway) redneck hicks?

Perhaps for the same reasons that Mercedes and Toyota have already located plants there: business-friendly political environments, large and well-educated workforces eager for jobs, and low taxes.  Alabama is a right-to-work state (translation: unions are constrained), has a top income tax rate of 5%, a sales tax rate of 4%, and some of the lowest property tax rates in the country.

So why does this give me some hope about my country's future?

The fifty states that currently make up our union are in competition with each other, and a significant component of this competition relates to the political environment.  Good ideas in the political environment tend to win the competition.  This has been happening in Texas for the past decade – business-friendly politics has resulted in Texas having a booming economy and being relatively unscathed by the housing bubble.  It also has the largest rate of population growth of any U.S. state – our citizens are voting with their feet. 

My hope stems from this: in the long term, the political marketplace afforded by the fifty separate states will reward the winners.  And the winners are being chosen by people and businesses as they make decisions about where to live, or where to locate their business.  Alabama looks like one of the winners right now.  California lobbied Airbus hard to get that plant, and failed.  Politicians and citizens alike took note.  The more this happens, the less defensible the progressive economic death spiral becomes.  In the end, we all win.

So...I takes my hopes where I can get them.  And I'll take some here, with this news...