Saturday Randomness

I'm watching To Catch a Smuggler - it's absolutely fascinating.  There are many connections to chemistry, that I can bring back into the classroom.

I'm going to use the series next year to introduce How to Apply the Scientific Method.

Later in the evening:  I watched the Jazz Concert at the White House - quite enjoyable, nice way to spend the evening.

The weather is VERY wet.  Fortunately, we needed the rain.  There is some flash floods in the area.

The weather screwed up the DISH.  So, we've been watching standard network television.  We got a small receiver some time ago, that is about the size and shape of an iPad.  We pick up quite a few channels in HD.

Ignoring the REAL History

I've noticed this for some time.  Leftists impose a distorted view of Western history, that - er - "whitewashes" the evil that non-White people did to the White people they conquered.

Leftists will insist that Andalusian Spain was a Heaven on Earth - filled with Islamic scholarship, equality between all religions, and a Paradise for women.

Don't believe it.  The Muslims imposed their rule by force, and did NOT treat the Christians kindly.  Read the full Front Page Magazine story, and pass it on.

PRO-Western Civ

Isn't it funny that such a statement makes me stand out?  I'll make it more pointed:

I am devoutly, unashamedly in favor of teaching ALL students who are on track to be high school graduates, the Foundations of Civilization, from the perspective of Western History.

This DOESN'T mean that students shouldn't learn about other cultures, just that we shouldn't glamorize them at the expense of their own culture:

• Learn about Japan, including its history of rule by military, its current political and economic structure, and, by the way, Japan's complete exclusion of other races/ethnic groups from full participation in that culture.  They are quite racist, as well.


• China - its colonization of other countries, including the country of Tibet.  Its shaky economic structure, its refusal to allow Free Speech, Freedom of Religion, and its use of political prisoners as slave labor.


• France - its interlocking elitist governance, its abandonment of elderly people to die, its colonizing past (which, when they left Vietnam, did nothing to restore the country and led the condemnation against America for stepping into the breach), and it willingness to cooperate with vile dictators, while villifying Israel.

I could go on and on.  We need leaders whose first impulse is not to apologize for our country, our culture, and our history.  We need students to learn about the GOOD our country, and the whole of Western peoples have done.  We need proud defenders of democracy, freedom, and Western culture.

Read more here.

LOST Again

UPDATE:  Almost forgot to credit Bastion of Liberty, who first alerted me to this.

The Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST, for short) never did get ratified, despite SERIOUS efforts by the various Progressive/Liberal/Leftist/Socialist/Etc. groups.  What is LOST?  (Admittedly, the source at the link REALLY doesn't like the treaty, but it is a fair summary of it, and its potential consequences).

The Law of the Sea Treaty calls for technology transfers and wealth transfers from developed to undeveloped nations.  It also requires parties to the treaty to adopt regulations and laws to control pollution of the marine environment.  Such provisions were among the reasons President Ronald Reagan rejected the treaty in 1982.  As Edwin Meese, U.S. Attorney General under President Reagan, explained, "...it was out of step with the concepts of economic liberty and free enterprise that Ronald Reagan was to inspire throughout the world."

In additional to the economic provisions, the treaty also establishes specific jurisdictional limits on the ocean area that countries may claim, including a 12-mile territorial sea limit and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone limit.

Well, the LOST-pushers - um, LOST.  But, like any good vampire, the backers don't give up - they rise from their coffins, and again attack!

This time, they're using the high-minded Protection of the Environment angle.  (Link is to the UN resolution).

an international legally binding instrument under theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea1 on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.

The parts about resource-sharing (i.e., those that DIDN'T spend a dime obtaining those resources still have a claim to the $$$$$), technology-sharing (oh, how WELL other countries share with us; unfortunately, much of our "sharing" is involuntary).

But, will it pass?

Not to worry, as the British used to say!  The Obama administration won't let pesky things like Separation of Powers stop them from implementing their Very Good Ideas (VGIs).  For example:

The Administration has already anted up domestically on some of the big-ticket possibilities under discussion, with, among other things, its huge expansion by executive order in September 2014 of the Remote Pacific Islands National Marine Monument in the central Pacific Ocean into a half-million-square-mile oceans preserve.

U.S. environmental groups are lobbying now for additional marine monument areas off the coast of New England, site of some of the U.S.’s most important Atlantic fisheries.

Such preserves—known as marine protected areas or MPAs, in Law of the Sea jargon—are a major focus of attention for the U.S.-based Pew Charitable Trusts, which has been lobbying governments around the world for years to create them.

In other words - you silly states and commonwealths, you think you control the areas given to you?  Na-nah.  Big Daddy Fed is in charge of it ALL.

Practical Considerations, Not Hate

It's a practical issue. When I was working as a bartender, if a man had tried to enter the female bathroom, I was on firm grounds to eject him, and had the ability to call the police to remove him, with the practical side-effect of NOT having to have evidence that he had caused trouble. His male genitalia was evidence enough that he was in the wrong.
Without that power, you have to wait until AFTER he has caused harm. There was a book written about the West Side Rapist and one of the most interesting points is that the guy had been picked by the police several times, for "Peeping Tom" behavior - looking in windows at women.
Harmless, right?
Wrong.
James Neff explains this activity as "pre-rape behavior" - the scouting around due to the perp's preferring to ascertain whether the intended victim is sufficiently isolated.
THAT'S what the law is meant to deter.

NOT a female-appearing person entering the ladies room, doing his business, and leaving.  Not a female?  If you can pass successfully, who cares?

Not someone who has gone "the Full Monty", and no longer has male parts.

But, the physically-male person that hangs around, looks for victims, and takes advantage of the isolation.

And, without a firm line drawn between men - those with "outies", and women - those with innies, those opposing the law will unwittingly facilitate rape.

Elitist Snobbery - And What It Means for America

America, we are told by Progressives, is FILLED with those icky people who are not comfortable with those that differ from them ethnically, culturally, or religiously.

Progressives, on the other hand, PRIDE themselves on their carefree ability to associate with - well, just about ANYONE (because they are so cosmopolitan and worldly).

This is shown by their patting themselves on the back for having a passport, and using it, preferably in out-of-the-way places.  They sneer at those who travel by group; it shows their discomfort with cultures and places that are not familiar.

There is one ethnic group, and culture, that the Elites are afraid of, suspicious of, and nearly totally ignorant of - the White American.

Oh, the Elites will tell you exactly what the White American believes, thinks, does, and IS.  They KNOW.  Without any attempt to actually spend any time with "Those People".

Such ignorance, combined with disdain, is what Elites accuse "Those People" of (Yes, I do know that I am ending my sentences with a preposition.  That's what we Ohioans do.  Get over it.).

Muffin top on White Americans?  Evidence of their inability to control their appetites.

Muffin top on an Elite?  A relaxed attitude towards media-imposed conventions.

Drug use in White Americans?  Evidence of their laziness, criminal tendencies, and poor self-control.

Drug use in Black Americans?  Evidence of the oppression of them by White Americans.

Drug use in Elites?  Oh, come on!  EVERYBODY does it - totally unimportant.

Removing White American children from public schools, due to concerns about academic quality and poor cultural influences?  Evidence of Racism, a whole lot of -Phobias, and anti-intellectualism.

Removing Elite children from public schools, due to concerns about academic quality and poor cultural influences?  Just protecting their own - Totally justified (after all, the Clintons and Obamas did it).

White American not making the grade in school?  They're just stupid - probably a result of all that inbreeding.

Black American not making the grade in school?  Oppression by White Americans.

Elite not making the grade in school?  Child is (pick one or more): Learning Disabled, Autistic, Brilliant, but not understood by those mediocre teachers, Learns by a Different Modality (and, the teacher BETTER completely accommodate that difference - or ELSE).

Whatever the problem, Elites are excused from responsibility - unlike White Americans.