It Can Be Done.

The Fuzz thinks this is interesting.
If they could do it, couldn't the rest of us?

"Germany gets 50 percent of its electricity from solar for the first time"

"...now for the first time ever, that country has succeeded at generating over 50 percent of a day's electricity from solar. On Monday June 9th, which was a national holiday in Germany, solar power production peaked at 23.1 GW, which equaled 50.6 percent of total electricity demand."

"Germany’s successful solar strategy has been to encourage individuals to install them on rooftops rather than building huge solar farms. 90 percent of solar panels in Germany are located on individuals’ roofs."
- - John Aziz

From The Week

Of course it won't be easy, but the potential is here.

Or will we keep wasting of energy fighting over it.

NSA Secretly Tapped...

"NSA secretly tapped Google, Yahoo data centers worldwide, new report claims"

Was anyone actually stupid enough to think that stuff online is a secret?

How Convenient

From the BBC

"Retirement 'harmful to health', study says"

Pretty convenient considering the state of the economy.  But this is probably true.  Here's a link to the study.

Food for Thought

Subject of Envy: Britain Discovers Germany as a Model 

(From Spiegel On Line)

"Britain, which has yet to recover from the 2008 financial crash, is peering enviously at Germany's economic structure with its focus on engineering, its medium-sized firms, apprenticeships, regional banks and long-term business approach. The opposition Labour Party, but also the Conservative-led government, are starting to embrace German ideas."

Maybe they know what they're doing.

Genetically Engineered Crops

Saw this little item.


Obama signs bill that protects makers of genetically engineered crops from federal courts

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/30/obama-signs-bill-that-protects-makers-genetically-engineered-crops-from-federal/#ixzz2P4PASuad


"The so-called Monsanto Protection Act essentially requires the Agriculture Department to approve the growing, harvesting and selling of such crops, even if the courts rule environmental studies are incomplete -- undermining  the judicial review system and posing potential health risks, critics say."

Oh well.

Chicken and All That

The Fuzz has not been stuffing himself with Chick-fil-A chicken these days.  But that's only cause he doesn't care much for the stuff.
He does have a few thoughts though.
Professor Warren J. Blumenfeld writes:
 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/warren-j-blumenfeld/chick-fil-a-ceo-makes-no-bones-about-biblical-marriage_b_1720074.html)-
"Questioned about the opposition his company, Chick-fil-A, has received on its position supporting the so-called 'traditional family,' CEO Dan Cathy quipped, 'Well, guilty as charged.'  In a recent article appearing in the Baptist Press (July 22), he continued that 'We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.'"
Professor Blumenfeld then cites several examples of what he claims are "biblical principles". 
First Abraham:
"Approximately 4,000 years ago, Abraham (commonly referred to as "the father of the Jewish and Arab people" and patriarch of Jews, Christians and Muslims) was a distant ancestor [assume he meant descendant]  of Shem, son of Noah. When his wife Sarah (who in fact was his half-sister having a common father) was unable to conceive, as it is written, Sarah told Abraham to conceive a child with her Egyptian maidservant Hagar, who birthed a son, Ishmael."
This is actually an example of how not to do things.  This affair resulted in nothing but trouble for Abraham  and resulting generations.  The people in the Bible are as flawed as any of the rest of us, and everything they do should not be emulated. 
Jacob:
His polygamy caused family strife.  This is another example of how not to do things.
David:
Professor Blumenfeld implies that David and Jonathan's relationship was homosexual, quoting  2 Samuel 1:25-26: "...You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of women."  This is going a bit beyond what is actually written.  But, even if it were the case (which I doubt) David was also an adulterer and murderer.  These are hardly traits to emulate either.
Ruth:
"Naomi and Ruth likewise loved one another romantically."  This is another assumption based on a single word, that in it self, in no way implies a sexual relationship.
Mr. Cathy would be viewing the Bible from a Christian perspective of course, which does not condone polygamy.  Nor does it condone homosexuality.  Romans 1:26,27: "... even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature... Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men..."
Professor Blumenfeld quotes Ephesians 5:22: "Wives, be submissive to your husbands..." but ignores Ephesians 5:21: "submitting to one another..." and Galatians 3:28 "...there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
To equate Christians who oppose same sex marriage with Islamic fundamentalists who stone adulterers is a bit much in light of Jesus' own actions in the 8th chapter of John.
If same sex couples want to live together, that is their own business.  But let's not try to make it the same thing as marriage.  It seems to be only common sense to see this as a male- female relationship.
Mr. Cathy has every right to express his personal opinion on this subject.  If someone is offended by this, they don't have to eat his chicken.  Trying to run Chick-fil-A out of town, seems a bit excessive.
   

Food, Inc.

We watched Food, Inc. the other night. It was a bit of a bummer. The Fuzz wasn't really surprised by the meat industry, having seen this stuff before. We have raised goats, geese and chickens ourselves, and know it's not necessary to treat them this bad.
What got The Fuzz the most, was how the corporations were hounding and suing the little people to get a monopoly. That, and the apparent collusion by the government in all this.

At Least They Will Be Covered

Ah, "Health" Insurance. There was a meeting about insurance changes today. When it was over, The Fuzz crunched the numbers a bit.
If he were to have this insurance stuff on his family, it would take at least 1 week's pay per month.
The deductible would exceed another 2 month's pay.
1 out of 4 weeks pay would work out to about 3 months pay per year.
Add on the other months for deductibles.
We are looking at over 5 month's pay per year here.
And congress has decided to force him to pay this.
But on the bright side, at least they will be covered.

Personally, I resent being forced into the medical-industrial complex. It it comes to that, I don't want it to be a windfall or the insurance industry. That's why they support this crap. If we are going to have socialized medicine, let's just quit the games and have it.

More on "Reform"

Who is this "reform" supposed to benefit? The way things seem to be shaping up the only "benefit" is going to be forcing everyone into the Medical Industrial Complex (MIC). This would be good business for the insurance companies, for sure. The Fuzz finds this a bit distasteful. What is happening to our freedom here? But most people are so scared of not having insurance that they'll put up with anything. Here's a news flash- the mortality rate is still 100%.
The Fuzz is not really into socialism, but, if we are going to be forced into this, why should all this borrowed money be given to increase the profits of this MIC? If the government is "mandating" universal participation, they may as well just run the whole thing anyway. But I guess that would hurt a lot of big corporations and their lobbyists.

Health Care "Reform"

Congress is working on "Healthcare Reform". Is the problem the "care" or the lack of money?
One of the major "reforms" seems to be compelling everyone to carry health insurance. I suppose there might be a justification for making all drivers carry insurance, if you consider driving to be a privilege rather than a "right". But is simply being alive a "privilege"? What about those (yes there are some) who simply don't want to participate in this medical system?
Is all this business just a way of forcing everyone into this Medical Industrial Complex?

Chastened Investment Bankers

From US News & World Report-

"Today, Citigroup shows that whole "chastened investment banker" meme is basically a lie. According to Bloomberg, Citi gets $45 billion in taxpayer bailout money and decides its chief executive and top lieutenants should spend $10 million on new offices."

The unemployment rate here is 14.5%

We have to fill out our *tax papers on the kitchen table since we lack a $10 million office to do it in.

These people seem to have totally lost touch with reality.

*The Taxes that are paying for these "Offices".

Communisn as Christian Heresy

In commenting on another Blog, I made mention of Communism as a "Christian Heresy". So for the one who asks-

"Fuzz - Christian Heresy? How so? I would actually love to see a post explaining that one."

I first ran into this idea in reading some of Francis Schaeffer's stuff, but I don't remember exactly where. But it makes sense to me.

There is a tradition of "Christian socialism". I suppose a lot of this thought goes back to the book of Acts in the New Testament, specifically Acts 2

"42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship [...] 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need."

It should be pointed out that Schaeffer specifically said "Idealistic" Communism, which I guess explains why it has never worked out in practice.

C.S. Lewis, in his Screwtape Letters, speaks of "Christianity and...." as a situation where the "and" ends up taking precedence over the "Christianity". So in the case of Christianity and Socialism, we keep the Socialism and lose the Christianity (which is about Him), resulting in heresy.

There is, of course, a place for social and economic justice in Christianity, but it can only come as a result of the change of heart resulting from the indwelling of the Spirit of God. And at least in this age, it will inevitably fall short due to the presence of sin in ourselves.

Anyhow, I hope this doesn't confuse folks too much.

"Market Adjustments"

The "Free Market" guys said "The Market" would adjust itself. I think they were right. All those worthless "Securities" are in fact, worthless.
But now they don't like this and don't want to let "The Market" adjust. The should just let those guys go broke and put them in a Homeless Shelter like real people.

The End Justifies The Means?

I can't help but wonder what some of these people think. Why was this war (Iraq) pushed? With Afghanistan, we knew the Taliban were in sympathy with and protecting our enemies.
But regardless of all that, the deceit involved is what bothers me. When the Politicians think they have to lie to the people it is a bummer. Do they think they're so much smarter than the rest of us? But we need to remember that this is not confined to one party. Johnson did the same thing with Vietnam in that Gulf of Tomkin thing.
But one thing leads to another and we see this same attitude in those "Enhanced Interrogation" techniques.
And The Fuzz believes that this attitude of "The End Justifies the Means" is what will bring America down. We can already see it happening.

The American Way

Weather or not you support Obama, I think his nomination says good things about this country. It proves that even in our present system, the opportunity exists for a "minority" person to rise to a high position. I think this says something good to the rest of the world about America.

McClellan's Book

Mr McClellan's book about the Bush administration is, unfortunately, no surprise. That they used "propaganda" is nothing unique. "Spin" seems to be all we get anymore from politicians anyway.
But one has to wonder about the motivation behind all this. I can't believe it was a personal grudge. I suppose it's the "O" word, oil. If so, there seems to have been a major miscalculation.
I was a bit uneasy about it from the beginning, myself. But then, it should be remembered that even if there were no nuclear WMDs, Iraq had possessed, and used Poison Gas in the past.
I suppose, this administration thought that "The end justifies the means" applied here. But nothing good ever comes from this way of thinking.
But all this is already done and now we are stuck with it.

Fascism's legacy: Liberalism

This is an interesting take.

"Liberal fascism sounds like an oxymoron - or a term for conservatives to insult liberals. Actually, it was coined by a socialist writer, none other than the respected and influential left-winger H.G. Wells , who in 1931 called on fellow progressives to become "liberal fascists" and "enlightened Nazis." Really."..................

Does this bother anyone but me?

Does this bother anyone besides me?

"John Edwards' Universal Health Care Plan Would Make Regular Checkups Mandatory

"TIPTON, Iowa - —  Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.

""It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care," he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. "If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK." "

Fuzz says:
Unless I'm mistaken, it seems that this proposal would FORCE everyone to use the healthcare system regardless of their preferences or desires. While I realize some do not have "health care" because of a lack of funds, there are some who have no desire to use this system. Will the "Health Police" handcuff them and drag them to the doctor ?

Hairy Campaigning

Great campianing here, $800 hair doo. Do I really want this man in charge ?