davintosh

… At least on immigration policy. So many people have their underwear so incredibly bundled about Arizona’s new law giving police the ability to enforce existing US immigration laws. Those people somehow think it’s perfectly ok for the US to leave it’s borders wide open to allow illegal immigrants to flow back & forth across the Mexico/US border for any reason at all, and as long as they’re here anyway, it’s ok for those illegals take advantage of government-provided ‘entitlements’. After all, they’re just looking for a better life, right?

Although there are a lot of people thinking that way, I’m thankful there are a lot more who see the flaws in that kind of thinking, and they don’t all reside in Arizona. But Arizona, because of SB1070, has become the whipping boy for the open borders crowd. Everybody — from President Obama right on down to the foulest mouths in the blogosphere — is railing against Arizona, while not even understanding what’s in the bill. It’s like they’ve all heard that it’s awful and have no desire to learn any different. Heaven forbid they actually read the bill. The entire thing is only 17 pages long, and doesn’t take that long to read, yet even Attorney General Eric Holder admits he hasn’t read it, nor has Janet Napolitano or anyone else who says they don’t like the law, or so it seems anyway. It would take, what? 20 minutes to read it? I love how Holder claims he hasn’t taken the time to read it, but apparently formed a pretty definitive opinion of it based on what he’s read in the news about it. And this is the guy who is supposed to be briefing the President on this sort of thing; doesn’t give me much hope that Obama has much of a clue as to what’s in it either.

And things just don’t seem to be letting up on this subject; last week Mexican president Felipe Calderon visited Washington, DC, and did his share of taking shots at Arizona. But I wonder what Arizona’s critics would say if they were to examine Mexico’s immigration laws… Or if immigration laws in the US were modeled after Mexico’s?

Here’s an excerpt from an article that reveals some details about Mexican immigration policy…

Under Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony. The General Law on Population says,

• “A penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine of three hundred to five thousand pesos will be imposed on the foreigner who enters the country illegally.” (Article 123)
• Foreigners with legal immigration problems may be deported from Mexico instead of being imprisoned. (Article 125)
• Foreigners who “attempt against national sovereignty or security” will be deported. (Article 126)

Mexicans who help illegal aliens enter the country are themselves considered criminals under the law:

• A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison. (Article 127)
• Shipping and airline companies that bring undocumented foreigners into Mexico will be fined. (Article 132)

From what I’ve read of the Mexican justice system, enforcement is probably a bit of an issue, but a bit of cash applied to the palms of the right officials will likely get them to look the other way. Even so, it’s pretty hypocritical for Calderon to be criticizing Arizona’s law.

Another thing that gets me is how government officials all over the US are overreacting to SB1070; last week a Chicago-area girls’ basketball team had to cancel a trip to Arizona for a tournament because the school district’s assistant superintendent thought the trip, “would not be aligned with our beliefs and values.” Funny thing is, the school district has sent groups of kids to China and the Czech Republic, so apparently the policies of those countries are more closely aligned with her beliefs and values?

Yup, the name of the game is hypocrisy. Just doesn’t get much better than this.

This YouTube video is a great reminder of why it’s a good idea to stay in the right lane unless you’re actually passing another car:

Yes, it’s true we don’t typically have Corvette’s screaming down I-90 or I-29 at around 160 mph (actually, that’s not outside the realm of possibility during Corvette Classic Rally week) but I’d still argue that it’s a good idea to reserve the left lane for passing. No matter how fast you travel, whether at the speed limit or a few miles over it, it seem that there’s always someone going faster. Driving the freeways around Sioux Falls, it’s not uncommon to find some yokel lollygagging along in the left lane while people are passing him on the right. More common though is to come up behind someone driving alongside another car at the same speed, creating a rolling roadblock.

I encountered this not too long ago… A pack of four cars driving about 60 (in a 65 zone where most people drive just under 75); three in the right lane and one in the left. I came up behind the car in the left lane & flashed my high-beams to let him know I’d like to get through. The guy in the driver’s seat turned himself almost completely around & to show me his middle finger! After that demonstration of civility, he did move out of the way, but swerved his car at me a bit as I passed him. I was able to resist the temptation to return fire.

Me; I try to stay out of the left lane on the highway whenever possible. Of course, there are times when not always possible to get out of the way as quickly as some people would like… But that’s their problem!

They really can’t be serious about this, can they?

House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.
…
In the Slaughter Solution, the rule would declare that the House “deems” the Senate version of Obamacare to have been passed by the House. House members would still have to vote on whether to accept the rule, but they would then be able to say they only voted for a rule, not for the bill itself.

This is only another attempt by the Democrat “Leadership” to obfuscate the fact that even with the huge majority they have in the House, Nancy Pelosi still is unable to muster the votes to push this thing through. The Representatives know a ‘yes’ vote would be political suicide, so they don’t want to touch it. Comically, the story from Nancy is still that the Republicans are the problem (cue rolling of eyes). Even if they proceed with this cockamamie plan, a vote to accept the rule will still have the stink of death on it, so the issue is pretty much moot.

Speaking of leadership (or the lack thereof), for the last few weeks President Obama has been insisting that Congress get this healthcare thing put to bed before Malia & Sasha’s Big Adventure (featuring stops in Guam, Indonesia & Australia; one can only wonder whether a visit to Dad’s birthplace is on the itinerary…) The Southern Hemisphere Tour was supposed to take off March 18, but has been pushed back to March 21. Again, he has drawn a line in the sand, and allowed that line to be moved. Is it any wonder that his job approval numbers have tanked? Or have they tanked because he’s pushing so hard for something so many people don’t want? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Last Sunday our Adult Community class at church began a study of our church’s Statement of Faith. That document begins with the belief in the Word of God, so our study dealt with the ways that God reveals Himself to us; General Revelation and Special Revelation.

As part of the evidence of General Revelation, the teacher showed us some microphotographs of snowflakes, and I was amazed. Amazed that something so small and so commonplace (especially this year!) could be so beautiful and so complex. The photographs he used (and that I have linked below) came from SnowCrystals.com, which is part of CalTech’s website.

“How full of the creative genius is the air in which these are generated!
I should hardly admire more if real stars fell and lodged on my coat.”
— Henry David Thoreau, 1856

A couple of years ago my sister-in-law met and married a Dutch dairy farmer; around here that wouldn’t be much of a feat because there are plenty of Dutch dairy farmers in Northwest Iowa… but they now live on the farm in Holland! Keeping up with family means Skype and long airline rides are pretty much the norm. They made the trip back for a holiday visit a couple of weeks ago, and had some fun showing off (via photos & video anyway) the new toys they installed in the dairy barn; two milking robots.

The robots were designed & built by Lely, a Dutch farm equipment manufacturer. And they truly are robots; aside from routine maintenance, they require no human intervention to milk the cows. They and the cows just hum along, day and night, and in the process milk production is bumped up by a decent amount, which allows the dairyman to increase the size of the herd and focus on other details of running the farm. They really are pretty amazing:

• The cows are trained to walk into the machines when they feel the need to be milked (on average, 2.8 times a day)
• RFID tags allow the machine to recognize individual cows as they enter.
• A portion of feed is dispensed that is custom blended to meet that particular individual’s nutritional needs.
• The robot cleans the udder & teats,
• It then uses a laser tracking system to locate the individual teats and attaches a suction device to each and begins milking.
• When finished, it detaches from the cow and turns her loose from the stall.
• The robot then cleans the suction devices and prepares for the next cow.
• As the milk is drawn, the quantity tracked, and the chemical composition is analyzed to diagnose potential health problems in the cow.
• If the analysis shows the milk fails to meet predetermined quality standards, the milk is discarded.
• The computer controlling the robot also keeps statistics for the entire herd, allowing the dairyman to keep track of trends and potential issues with individual cows.

Since the thing is controlled by standard PC hardware, they were able to pull up the machine via VNC to check up on things; it was evening when he was showing this to me, but about 3 am local time at the farm, and we saw that a cow had just stepped into the machine. Apparently one of the things that helps to boost milk production is that the old way of doing things — milking twice a day — doesn’t really fit with a cow’s natural cycles, as is shown in the stats with the robot; on average, they will go in to be milked 2.8 times a day. And they will go in at all times of the day and night, whenever they feel the need to be milked, which I would think makes for happier cows!

The video below shows the machine in action;

Great article about the shooter in last Thursday’s massacre at Ft. Hood over at NYTimes.com.

With all that has been discovered about this ordeal and the guy behind it — Maj. Nadal Malik Hasan — it’s amazing that there is so much handwringing over whether to call it an act of terrorism or not. The media and the politicians seem to be going way out of their way to avoid stating the obvious, seemingly motivated by out of an over-developed sense of political correctness.

The good news is that he was denied the reward he was likely seeking from a ‘martyr’s’ death; he was shot four times, and survived. Even though to him, being held by infidels is a punishment worse than death, I’m not sure if that’s quite enough.

Yesterday was Harvest Days at the local self-serve parts yard known as Nordstrom’s Ewe-Pullet (yeah, I know, corny), and it was downright crazy.

I had heard about their Harvest Days deal a while back, and had held off going there because of the deal… Fill a wheelbarrow with as much as you like/need, and it’s yours for $40, provided you can push said wheelbarrow for 40 feet in 40 seconds without losing anything from your load. I planned to get out there early to grab a bunch of miscellaneous stuff from the 735iL and the 525i they have on the lot. I got there at 10 am (they opened at 9) and ended up parking about as far away from the gate as possible. The place was packed.

I chatted with one of the guys directing traffic who said they had people show up at 4 am & wait for the gate to open. The gal signing people in said she had seen more than 500 people go through the gate already. When I got inside, it was pretty clear that most of them were still there; people everywhere! And a line of guys waiting for wheelbarrows. The times I’ve been there before, there might be a dozen or so people there at one time, but it’s a big enough place that it’s possible to get in & out without seeing another customer; not yesterday though. Everybody I talked with who worked there was shocked at the turnout.

It took me a couple hours to pull the parts I was after; some of the larger parts I would like to have grabbed — front suspension bits, brakes, rear axle halfshafts — were either too far gone or too difficult to pull, so I left them and got the low hanging fruit instead. Both the cars were already pretty well picked over, and for most of the time I was the only one grabbing stuff off them, but I still got some good stuff. While I was there a couple of groups of guys came by trolling for turbochargers; they had several stacked up in their wheelbarrow, and seemed to be grabbing them and other high-dollar items from random cars. Pretty sure they’d turn around and eBay those parts & turn a few bucks off their wheelbarrow load!

After stacking the stuff I wanted near the cars, I went to find a wheelbarrow, hoping nobody would want what I wanted. After standing in line for a half-hour or so, I finally got loaded up, then went & got in line to check out. Decided to grab a couple of the free hotdogs they were handing out & watch some of the action; it was pretty entertaining! Some of the guys that were there had their wheelbarrows really loaded down; some with entire engines, others with transmissions, many with wheels & tires, and a lot with various body parts, stacked ridiculously high. One bunch of guys had four or five bumper skins, a couple of doors, and a bunch of other stuff I couldn’t see, all piled on; something in the load shifted as they were approaching the start line and it all came tumbling down. I sure wish I had taken a camera along… I’m sure there will be some photos up on the Nordstrom’s site at some point.

It started raining a little while I was waiting (the forecast was for a sunny Saturday!) so I bugged out before it got too miserable. All in all, it was a decent deal. I grabbed several items that can be used on my 528 and 735, and several other things that can maybe be sold to offset some of my expense (and time!) But was interesting to see was how people were out to get the most for their $40, and all they were willing to do for it.

Just when you thought the economy might just be back on the upswing, a story like this pops up…

Denise Tejada bought a house last month at the age of 20, thanks in large part to a loan guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority…

… Without question, Tejada’s loan is toxic — to her and to the taxpayers who are backing the loan. Her house cost $155,000. Tejada’s loan was apparently made on a micro-down payment of just 3.5%, the minimum down payment to qualify for an FHA loan. On top of this, however, she got an additional government backed loan to make improvements. Her total loans amount to $183,0000. In short, she was immediately underwater on her new house.

The monthly payments on her debt amount to $1328. Her income is $2470, leaving her with just $285 a week to live on. She’s paying 54% of her income to make the mortgage payments. She earns that income by holding down one full time and two part time jobs. Obviously, this woman has a strong work ethic. But it also means her income is precarious…

“Precarious”? Ya think? Did we learn nothing in the last 12 months? Whoever is writing & approving loans like this ought to be slapped. Hard.

Guess this makes it official; Barack Hussein Obama (mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!) being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize means that the Nobel Peace Prize means absolutely dick. i.e. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nothing.

It was bad enough when the prize was awarded to Al Gore, who at that time was singularly undeserving of such an award, but Barack Obama? What has he done to deserve this prize? Nothing that I can think of, unless he leads a secret life of which the public is largely unaware (oh wait, we still don’t know much about what his work as the editor of the Harvard Law Review, nor do we know anything of the grades he earned at Harvard.) According to one Reuters article, he deserves it for “… offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament”? I guess you could say that his naive striving for nuclear disarmament gives hope to some, like Iran, North Korea, China and Russia (who surely were all laughing in their sleeves at his “… dreams of a world without weapons…” while “… right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite.”)

The prize surely isn’t for his leadership at the nation’s capitol when it comes to bipartisan cooperation, nor for his leadership in his dream of universal healthcare… All of that has left the nation even more polarized than when he (mis)took the Oath of Office in January. And the prize can’t be for his leadership in the role of Commander in Chief, as troop morale is at an all-time low in Afghanistan, exacerbated by the lack of clear mission goals and confusing rules of engagement that leave them poorly equipped to even defend themselves in the face of an enemy unafraid to hide behind civilians…

But according to the Nobel Prize Committee, he gets the prize because, “Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.” So it’s all about celebrity. I laugh, as do many when they first heard this news. The only hope inspired in me by Obama is that his agenda for this country fails, and by the grace of God and the arrogance & incompetence of the Democrats in Congress, thus far it has.

Since the Nobel comes with a cool $4 million bonus, I wonder whether the Obamas will be inclined to “share the wealth” with the country. Something tells me that ain’t happening.

For the last few summers we’ve had some scary looking bugs in our yard. Thankfully, they’re just scary looking, and nothing to really be afraid of, provided you’re not a cicada.

A female cicada killer wasp in flight, approaching a prospective nest site.

The lifecycle of the cicada killer wasp sounds like something out of a Ridley Scott movie… The female cicada killer wasp hunts down a cicada and stings it to paralyze it. When the cicada is safely immobilized, the wasp carries the cicada back to its burrow — a hole dug in loose soil. The cicada is placed in a dead-end chamber of the burrow; the female then lays a single egg (sometimes two) on the still paralyzed but very much alive cicada, and seals up the chamber. When the egg hatches, the larva gnaws through the exoskeleton of the cicada and feeds on its internal organs, saving the nervous system for last so as to maximize the length of time that the cicada remains alive. Gruesome, no?

The same female digging in the loose dirt for a new nest site.

The female cicada wasp killers are very large; up to 2 inches long. I’ve had them buzz by my head a few times and the sound is pretty unnerving if you’re not expecting it. The males are supposedly much smaller, but I can’t say that I’ve seen any.

Very scary looking, but very cool. It’s this kind of thing that makes me really question the theory of evolution. The evolution of physical body parts is only part of the equation; what about complex behaviors like this? So the larvae that just happened to leave the nervous system for last gained an evolutionary advantage over the others? And how did that “just happened” get passed on to the progeny of those lucky larvae? Nah; not buying it. I wouldn’t need to believe in an omnipotent, omniscient Creator to know that something like that doesn’t happen by chance.

God makes some cool stuff!