2012 Crossfit Open: WOD 5 - Optimism

As in, unfounded, excessive optimism.  That's what I realized about my goal of 90 reps when I saw others' scores.  I only scored 66 reps.  I don't know Robert's score yet.  Damn!  Here's the video (edited for length).



And for comparison's sake, here's Neal Maddox.



Some day?  Probably not!

2012 Crossfit Open: WOD 5

My nemesis: Robert!

WOD 12.5, the final workout of the 2012 Crossfit Open, takes place this Sunday.  So far I've missed most of my goals, but I still have a chance at meeting one of them; beating my friend, Robert.  It may be a friendly competition, but it's still a competition!  Right now, Robert and I are 2:2.  Sunday is the tie breaker, and this is the workout.

MEN - includes Masters Men up to 54 years old 

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:
100 pound Thruster, 3 reps
3 Chest to bar Pull-ups
100 pound Thruster, 6 reps
6 Chest to bar Pull-ups
100 pound Thruster, 9 reps
9 Chest to bar Pull-ups
100 pound Thruster, 12 reps
12 Chest to bar Pull-ups
100 pound Thruster, 15 reps
15 Chest to bar Pull-ups
100 pound Thruster, 18 reps
18 Chest to bar Pull-ups
100 pound Thruster, 21 reps
21 Chest to bar Pull-ups...
This is a timed workout. If you complete the round of 21, go on to 24. If you complete 24, go on to 27, etc.

 First, let's look at the positives.

1. It's only seven minutes.  I can do anything for seven minutes, right?
2. I'm pretty good at pull-ups; even chest to bar pull-ups.

Now the negatives.

1. It's only seven minutes.  That means every second counts!  Every second spent resting is a missed rep.  If you've never done Crossfit, you probably think that doesn't sound so bad.  If you have done Crossfit, you know how a seven minute WOD can make you wish you'd die.
2. Speaking of wishing for death, thrusters are evil.  Even at 100lb, they'll hurt.

Here's the demo.



What should my goal be?  Jason Kalipa completed 155 reps, so I guess I can safely shoot for 90.  That's five rounds, with the last round being 15 thrusters and 15 chest to bar pull-ups.  Wish me luck!

I'll need it.

Third Day in Topeka, KS

Aimee and I were supposed to attend a Third Day concert last night in Topeka, but having just given birth two days earlier, Aimee didn't feel up to it.  I can't imagine why.  I took Isaiah instead, and had some great bonding time with my eldest son.  You can watch great video of the show on YouTube.  No, I didn't film it, and I found the link on Third Day's official site (they announced at the concert there would be video on their site), so I assume they're OK with it.

Re-enforcing Stereotypes, Blond Edition

"If you're driving 80mph, how long does it take you to drive 80 miles?"

Why We Home School (Continued)

In 2009, American public schools spent on average $10,499, according to the US Census Bureau, more than any other country.  By now it's more like $12,000 per student per year.  Keep in mind that American private schools charge $8,549 for tuition on average.  In that same year, American students ranked... 

...about average in reading and science, and below average in math. Out of 34 countries, the U.S. ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math. 

Obviously, we don't get our money's worth.  But wait, it gets worse.

Not content with wasting your money and mine on a sub-standard education, public schools often forego education completely and substitute political indoctrination.

A Virginia middle school teacher recently forced his students to support President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign by conducting opposition research in class against the Republican presidential candidates. 

The 8th grade students, who attend Liberty Middle School in Fairfax County, were required to seek out the vulnerabilities of Republican presidential hopefuls and forward them to the Obama campaign. 

“This assignment was just creepy beyond belief — like something out of East Germany during the Cold War,” one frustrated father, who asked for his family to remain anonymous, told The Daily Caller.

... 

“I was shocked that a school teacher would so blatantly politicize the curriculum of a middle school classroom,” the parent said. “I asked [my child] if a similar assignment had been handed out to examine the background and positions of President Obama to see if the teacher was at least being bipartisan.” 

No similar assignment was given to research Obama’s history, identify his weaknesses or pass them along to the Republican candidates.

When I was in second grade in then-Communist Nicaragua, my Communist teachers forced me to undergo Communist indoctrination.  Needless to say, It didn't take.  In fact, it backfired and made me particularly hostile to political indoctrination of children in schools.

My parents gave up the life they built in Nicaragua and suffered all kinds of uncertainty and hardship in a new country where they didn't even speak the language to escape that kind of political indoctrination.  I'll be damned if I voluntarily subject my children to it.

Why do so many parents put up with this garbage?  Even if their kids' teachers don't pull this kind of stunt, why do they put up with public schools' obvious waste of money?  When public schools come around begging for more money, why don't more parents ask; "what did you do with the $12,000 per student you got last year?"  Why don't more parents demand school choice, which would increase competition among schools and force them to improve?

I don't get it.

"Just Like the Tea Party" (Continued)

From the Daily Caller:

Video footage obtained by The Daily Caller shows Occupy Wall Street protesters dumping large amounts of human urine and fecal matter around Lower Manhattan on the night of March 14.

A surveillance camera caught several people, who have been identified as members of the Occupy movement by the New York Police Department, pouring a large bucket of waste down a flight of stairs at the corner of Nassau and Cedar Streets. Around 20 minutes later, one man entered a Chase ATM vestibule on Water Street and dumped another large container of the repulsive mix. 

Police believe a 25-year-old Philadelphia man transported the group and their special delivery in his white van. A witness provided the NYPD with the van’s license plate number, and the suspect was apprehended two days later on Wall Street. 

The man, who had an illegal stun gun in the vehicle, was charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon, Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle, and Unlawful Possession of Noxious Matter.

Remember when a bunch of Tea Partiers got arrested for endangering public health and safety by dumping  human feces in public places?  No?  Huh... funny.... me neither.  I wonder why.

Jeremiah's Nursery

I completed the latest Snowgoose's nursery (really just a section of our master bedroom) just in time.  He'll be here in a few hours!

Fisker Karma: Your Tax Dollars at Work

Recently, I wrote about the Obama Administration's wasteful "investing" of billions of dollars into unproductive "green" business ventures.  To be clear, I oppose all government subsidies for private businesses.  Government inherently "invests" in failure, because when a business is successful, there's no need for government to prop it up with tax money.  A successful business's profits keep it afloat just fine.  That begs the question; why would we want government to prop up a failing business?  Answer; we don't.  So why do we citizens continue to allow it?

One of those businesses is Fisker, makers of the Karma, a luxury electric car with a range-extending, four cylinder, turbocharged generator made by another failed business in which the Obama Administration invested; GM.  Consumer Reports bought a Karma for $108,000 for testing and immediately had serious trouble with it.  After a trip to the dealership, CR finally got their car back, completed their road test report and found that many other customers are having similar issues.  Video and some text follow.

Normally when we have a car like this at our test facility, it has no problem accumulating break-in miles. After all, big luxury sedans lend themselves to road trips. But the Fisker is languishing in our lot, going out mostly for short commutes that remain well within cell-phone coverage in case of trouble--a concern in the rural area surrounding our track. Just this weekend, for example, the speedometer and energy meter display disappeared when driving, on top of having several other rogue warning indicators appear last week. It is expected we'll be revisiting the dealership soon. We've had cars in the past that have been troublesome, but never anything like this. 

From CR's report on customer issues:

Reading comments on our recent blogs, posts to owner forums, and searching the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints database, we have found several notable issues reported. While there are not a high number of complaints, it does show we are not alone. And remember, there have been only about 500 cars sold, according to Fisker, and the owners skew to the affluent, meaning the Karma is not the typical owner's only car and miles have likely been modest thus far.
Examples of complaints include:

My Karma (with less than a thousand miles on it) had a mysteriously worn-down coupling between one of the motors and the wheels. This will require a completely new differential. As of today... my Karma [has been] "in the shop" longer than I have driven the car. And the prospect of having it in the shop for another 2 weeks (or possibly longer) is making me really unhappy...

Great.  So the Obama Administration spent half a billion of your dollars and mine to subsidize a lemon for exceptionally wealthy people who want to be absolved of their sins against Gaia.

Again, if Pres Obama and his worshipers want to waste their own money on a venture like this, that's their problem.  But I don't have a lot of disposable income to flush down the "green" toilet.  Do you?

2012 Crossfit Open WOD 4: Expectations

I didn't meet my goal.  As a reminder, this was the workout.

MEN - includes Masters Men up to 54 years old 

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (20lbs to 10' target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

WOMEN - includes Masters Women up to 54 years old 

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (14lbs to 9' target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

My goal was to complete 195 reps; 150 wall balls and 45 double unders.  I completed 156 reps, so not even close.  It was great, however, to have my in-laws, Tom and Jaimie, there to cheer me on.  Tom also filmed the event.  Here are the last couple minutes.



For comparison's sake, here's a video of a few elite Crossfitters doing the same WOD.  Let's just say I'm not quite at their level.



Seriously?  One round + 53 wall balls?  How's that even humanly possible?  Anyway, here are some pics from last week, courtesy of Crossfit Manhattan, KS.

Lying About Petroleum

Yesterday, I pointed out how Pres Obama lies about the amount of petroleum we have right here in the US.  Investors Business Daily had already pointed out that fact earlier this week.

When he was running for the Oval Office four years ago amid $4-a-gallon gasoline prices, then-Sen. Barack Obama dismissed the idea of expanded oil production as a way to relieve the pain at the pump. 

"Even if you opened up every square inch of our land and our coasts to drilling," he said. "America still has only 3% of the world's oil reserves." Which meant, he said, that the U.S. couldn't affect global oil prices. 

It's the same rhetoric President Obama is using now, as gas prices hit $4 again, except now he puts the figure at 2%. 

"With only 2% of the world's oil reserves, we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices," he said. "Not when we consume 20% of the world's oil." 

But the figure Obama uses — proved oil reserves — vastly undercounts how much oil the U.S. actually contains. In fact, far from being oil-poor, the country is awash in vast quantities — enough to meet all the country's oil needs for hundreds of years. 

The U.S. has 22.3 billion barrels of proved reserves, a little less than 2% of the entire world's proved reserves, according to the Energy Information Administration. But as the EIA explains, proved reserves "are a small subset of recoverable resources," because they only count oil that companies are currently drilling for in existing fields.
When you look at the whole picture, it turns out that there are vast supplies of oil in the U.S., according to various government reports.

Contrary to Pres Obama's dire estimate, various federal agencies, (including the US Geological Survey, as I pointed out yesterday), the US contains over 1.5 trillion barrels of recoverable petroleum.

Again, these are Federal Government reports.  Is Pres Obama not a member of the Federal Government?  Are these reports unavailable to Pres Obama, but available to me and IBD?  Is Pres Obama incapable of reading them?

So, Obamaphiles, is your messiah lying to you, or is he ignorant?  Because those are the only two possible reasons he keeps repeating the 2% myth.  So, which is it?

Motus MST & MST-R

Motus is a new American motorcycle company that I've been following for the last few years as they publicized their design process and began testing prototypes.  They just announced their production design, pricing and availability at Daytona Bike Week.  From Asphalt and Rubber:

Motus MST-R

Officially debuted last night to the masses of the Daytona Bike Week, the 2013 Motus MST broke cover in its production trim (the 2013 Motus MST-R is shown above), along with details about the bike’s final specs, pricing, and availability. As we reported earlier, the Motus MST will come without its originally planned gasoline direct injection (GDI), with the Motus team instead opting for direct port injection. 

With the Motus MST priced at $30,975 and the Motus MST-R getting a price tag of $36,975, our earlier reports of a $30,000 price tag appear to be spot on as well. A “comfortable sportbike” as the American company is calling it, the Motus MST will initially be available at seven premium dealerships nationwide, though sadly none of them are west of the Rockies.

First, let's look at the positive aspects of this development.

Motus-powered Dune Buggy

1. A new American motorcycle company is always welcome.  The engine, chassis and bodywork are all designed and built in the US, although some parts (suspension, brakes, exhaust, headlights and luggage, among others) are sourced from high-quality foreign suppliers.
2. An American motorcycle company that builds something other than Harley-wanabes is even more welcome.
3. The chassis is designed by Pratt & Miller, who build chassis for  the Corvettes that have dominated GT-1 endurance racing for years
4. The engine is designed and built by Katech, who build engines for those same Corvettes.  That bodes well for the engine's durability and reliability.  The 1.6L V-4 is basically a shrunken down, Chevy small block cut in half.  That means its design should be very familiar to tuners and aftermarket suppliers.  Motus actually encourages future owners to tinker with the engine.  Katech even offers crate engines for those who want to use them in other applications, like small race cars.  Hot Rod Magazine is already on it. 
5. At 1,650cc and 165hp (185hp for the MST-R), the engine is - true to its American muscle car roots - under-stressed compared with other modern motorcycle engines.  Again, great news for tuners.
6. As one would expect from an engine based on a Chevy small block, it sounds divine.  

Now the negatives:

Motus MST-R (left) and MST (right)

1. The price.  This is the single greatest negative.  Motus is a tiny start-up.  They don't have the economies of scale to make a motorcycle that is affordable for the majority of us.  Hopefully they will in the coming years.  Those who buy these bikes will essentially fund Motus's growth and benefit the rest of us who'd like to buy one eventually, so thanks!
2. Related to the price, all parts are of high quality, as far as I can see, but the headlights are from KTM and the saddle bags are Givis.  Both are great manufacturers, but if I spent $36,000 on a bike I'd want something far more unique.  I could buy Givi bags and slap them on any bike. 
3. It's only available at seven dealerships nationwide.  

Notice, however, that all the negatives should work themselves out as Motus grows, and the positives should keep getting better.  I'm very excited about this company and their bikes.

No Religious Liberty For You (Continued)

The Obama Administration announced late Friday that they will go ahead with rules (not legislation, mind you; all that constitutional separation of powers stuff is so old fashioned) that will force all employers and universities that offer insurance to cover contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so violates their religious beliefs.

Officials at the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury today took the next step in the Obama administration’s effort to ensure women access to recommended preventive services while respecting religious liberty.  The Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued today outlines draft proposals to implement the policy announced by President Barack Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Feb. 10, 2012. This policy will provide women with access to recommended preventive services including contraceptives without cost sharing, while ensuring that non-profit religious organizations are not forced to pay for, provide, or facilitate the provision of any contraceptive service they object to on religious grounds.
...
“The President’s policy respects religious liberty and makes free preventive services available to women,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Today’s announcement is the next step toward fulfilling that commitment.” 

As usual with the Obama Administration, that's a lie.

[B]y drawing a distinction between actual churches and church-operated businesses like hospitals and schools, the administration effectively appropriated for itself the power to determine what constitutes ministry.

So these employers will still have to provide the health insurance, and the health insurance must cover the contraception and abortifacients.  

The White House apparently wants to pretend that the funds for these outlays will come off of the Unobtanium Tree, where insurers find money to cover mandates. This exposes once again a stunning ignorance of risk pools and how costs are passed along to consumers. 

Let’s just take this one step at a time.  

Where do insurers get money to pay claims? They collect premiums and co-pays from the insured group or risk pool.  No matter what the Obama administration wants to say now, the money that will cover those contraception costs will come from the religious organizations that must now by law buy that insurance and pay those premiums.  Their religious doctrines have long-standing prohibitions against participating in contraception and abortion, and nothing in this “accommodation” changes the fact that the government is now forcing them to both fund and facilitate access to products and services that offend their practice of religion. Basically, the Obama administration told religious organizations to stop complaining and get in line.  This “accommodation” only attempts to accommodate Obama’s political standing and nothing more.

But, hey, they can always refuse to provide insurance at all, pay a fine under the Obamacare law and dump their employees onto Federally provided insurance, right?

Great.  So then, people who are religiously opposed to contraception and abortion still have to pay for both with their taxes.  See how that works?

No matter how you slice it, Pres Obama's rules violate religious people's right of conscience.  But this isn't just about religious liberty, and we religious people shouldn't only argue on religious grounds.

This is about liberty in general.  The government has no right to force anyone, religious or not, to offer any coverage at all.

If employers think they need to offer certain coverage to their employees to attract the best workers, they have the right to do so.  If employees prefer to choose certain employers because of the coverage they offer, they have the right to do so.  But government has no right to interfere in those transactions.

Christians; if you don't yet understand why we should all oppose bloated, morbidly obese government, I don't know what it'll take.

New Ballistic Helmet

From Kit Up:

The Marine Corps and Army have tapped Ceradyne Inc., to make the first of the new Enhanced Combat Helmets, ending a five-year search for a brain bucket capable of stopping rifle rounds. 

The Marines and Army have given the green light to Ceradyne to build 8,600 ECHs, which will be split between the services. Fielding won’t begin until after the services approve the ECH for full-rate production, a decision scheduled for May, according to a recent press release.

SPC Tom Albers survived a rifle round to the helmet
with no injuries in Afghanistan.

Our current helmets are already very good.  A very short search turned up several stories of US Soldiers and Marines, and a UK Soldier who survived rifle rounds to the helmet; none of which penetrated the shell.

I did find one story of a UK Soldier who survived a rifle round to the helmet even though it penetrated.  That being said, British and Australian helmets are different than ours.  I don't know which is better.

German sniper team.

Armor - whether on battle ships, tanks or individual Soldiers - is always a compromise between protection and mobility.  Given the same technology, more protection = more weight = less mobility.  That's why Special Ops servicemen, who generally require more mobility than ordinary Soldiers, often use helmets like the ones to the below.  Note the large cutouts over the ears that make the helmets lighter and block less sound, but also provide less protection.

The new helmets the US Army and Marine Corps commissioned supposedly use new technology that provides more protection without adding weight.  I think I'd be happy with the same protection our current helmets provide with less weight.  

Obama on Gas Prices: Suck it Up

Back in 2008, when Hope'n'Change (TM) was all the rage, then-Senator Obama was a little more honest about his energy policies.

Monterey Park, CA (LA Times)

USA Today reports that gas prices average $3.83/gal for regular gasoline nationwide, but for about 1/3 of Americans, they've already crested $4.00/gal.  Fortunately for us, Kansas - a petroleum producing state - has lower gasoline prices than the majority of the country.  The last time I bought Diesel it cost us $3.96/gal.

What does Pres Obama say now about how his energy policies affect prices?



Essentially, "It's not my fault.  I'm doing everything I can to keep gas prices low for you".  Pretty different tune, right?

By the way, Pres Obama's oft-repeated trope that "we only have 2% of the world's proven oil reserves" is a lie.  Either that, or he's ignorant of the facts.  Take your pick.  According to a report published in 2008 by the US Geological Survey, the Bakken Formation of North Dakota and Montana contains "3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil... a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil."  The RAND Corporation published another study in 2008 stating that:

The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil
resource in place within the Green River Formation range from 1.5 to 1.8 trillion
barrels. Not all resources in place are recoverable. For potentially recoverable oil shale
resources, we roughly derive an upper bound of 1.1 trillion barrels of oil and a lower
bound of about 500 billion barrels. For policy planning purposes, it is enough to
know that any amount in this range is very high. For example, the midpoint in our
estimate range, 800 billion barrels, is more than triple the proven oil reserves of Saudi
Arabia. Present U.S. demand for petroleum products is about 20 million barrels per
day. If oil shale could be used to meet a quarter of that demand, 800 billion barrels
of recoverable resources would last for more than 400 years.

So, why is Pres Obama still repeating this lie?  Simple.  The tiny percentage of our available petroleum and gas reserves to which he allows access only amounts to 2% of the world's known reserves.  So, when Pres Obama brags about increasing oil production in the US, keep in mind that he and his fellow Democrats continue to prevent far greater exploration.

What about all the "investments" Pres Obama brags about in his weekly address?  Does the word "Solyndra" mean anything to you?



How about Beacon Power Corp, or EnerDel?

Take, for instance, Beacon Power Corp., the second recipient of an Energy Department loan guarantee in 2009. In March 2010, the Massachusetts energy storage company paid cash bonuses of $259,285 to three executives in part due to progress made on the $43 million energy loan, Securities and Exchange Commission records show. Last October, Beacon Power filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

EnerDel, maker of lithium-ion battery systems, landed a $118.5 million energy grant in August 2009. About one-and-a-half years later, Vice President Joe Biden toured a company plant in Indiana and heralded its taxpayer-supported expansion as one of the "100 Recovery Act Projects That Are Changing America." 

Two months after Biden's visit, EnerDel corporate parent Ener1 paid $725,000 in bonuses to three executives -- including $450,000 to then-CEO Charles Gassenheimer, who led Biden on the tour. This January, Ener1 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 

In fact, the Government Accounting Office reported that 85% of the Department of Energy's "investments"  granted and committed under their "Loan Guarantee Program — $30 billion in all — shows systemic mismanagement, uncompleted reviews, missing documentation, and a process failure rate of 85% or more".   


What about all those wonderful electric cars Pres Obama touts constantly?



But it gets worse than ABC reported.  According to CNN:

Fisker Automotive, the electric car company that received $528 million in Energy Department loan guarantees, announced layoffs at its Delaware production facility on Monday.
...
"We have temporarily delayed work at the plant based on ongoing discussions with the DOE regarding funding for the Project Nina program. As a result, we have laid off 26 people," the company said in a statement Monday. 

I love Fisker's quote in the video.  "We're not in the business of failing, we're in the business of winning, that's why we make the right choices for the company, that's why we went to Finland."  That's great, Mr Fisker.  I fully support you doing what makes your company most profitable... with your own damn money!

And note how EnerDel and the Fisker plant in the US went to Delaware - VP Biden's home state.  It's almost as though all this "investing in green technology" is nothing more than crony capitalism.  Say it ain't so, Joe!

Check out what happened when Consumer Reports bought a Fisker Karma to test.



Then there's the biggest case of crony capitalism in history - General Motors.  Pres Obama wants to increase the tax incentive to buy a Chevy Volt from $7,500 to $10,000.  Here's a silly question.  If the Chevy Volt is such a wonderful, desirable vehicle, why does the Federal Government need to pay people $10,000 to buy it?  Because, as The New York Times explains:

The credit’s enhanced value would bring the purchase price of alternative-energy vehicles more in line with conventional models, supporters say. Partly because of the vehicles’ costs, sales have been a problem. General Motors announced last week that it was suspending production for five weeks of the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid that Mr. Obama has promoted in the past. 

And as Tina Korbe explains:

So, supporters admit that, right now, the benefits of alternative-energy vehicles don’t yet outweigh the costs to consumers. To the producers of such vehicles, I say: Tough luck. The onus is on them to produce a product that consumers actually want to purchase at a price they can afford. Tax credits might give consumers more reason to purchase the vehicles, but it won’t give the producer any incentive to look for cheaper ways to manufacture them. The president’s tax credit ensures that taxpayers will continue to pay an arbitrarily high price for the vehicles long after the market would have brought costs down. 

That's the story with all of Pres Obama's "green tech investments"; risking your money and mine on long shot gambles.  Did you authorize those gambles?  I didn't.

Worst of all, these "investments" amount to subsidizing the wealthy.  The Fisker Karma and Tesla Roadster both cost over $100,000.  Can you afford a $100,000 car?  I can't.  The average Chevy Volt owner's income is $170,000.  Do you make $170,000/year?  I don't.  Yet you and I are paying $10,000/car so that someone who makes $170,000/year will buy one.

Does that make sense to you?

I oppose all subsidies for private industry.  Private companies should stand on their own profitability or not at all.  That includes energy companies.  We need energy to do absolutely everything we do in our economy - buy, sell, ship, store and/or provide goods and services.  So if our energy sources are not economically viable, our entire economy can't be economically viable.  Ed Morrissey Puts it well:

I like Ace’s approach to technological development:

I prefer the “Old” approach to emerging technology: We adopt new technology when it is better and cheaper than the old technology, not when it is worse and more expensive, forced to convert over by a government demanding we pay more for less. So we can reap all these speculative benefits in a hypothetical future. 

You know what I liked best about the old approach, other than the fact that it worked; It didn’t require government to place bad bets on companies like Solyndra that wouldn’t have survived otherwise to ruin more capital and resources.  

Think about that for a moment: these government interventions cost us money whether we get more energy efficient or not. And what has it produced? Nothing of consequence, and nothing that would last once the subsidies that make them artificially competitive now (to the extent they’ve even achieved that status) once the subsidies end. The old method of allowing capital to produce innovation and consumers to choose winners brought us prosperity and technological advancement. Obama’s has brought us bankruptcies, soaring debt, and no progress at all. That’s change, all right.

UPDATE: Fisker may turn out to be worse than Solyndra. 

Trailer: October Baby

Film review by Ed Morrissey:

October Baby tells the story of a young college student, Hannah (Rachel Hendrix), who has had numerous health issues in childhood but emerged as a generally healthy young adult when supported with proper medical care — at least until she collapses during a school play.  The subsequent medical tests, and the reading of her private journal by her parents, lead to a clash in which she discovers for the first time that she was adopted, and that she survived an abortion at 24 weeks.  Shocked, angry, and lost, Hannah joins her childhood confidante Jason (Jason Burkey) on a quest to find her true identity and some real meaning to her life. 

Read the whole review at the link above.

I don't normally go for dramas, but considering that this movie deals with two subjects very close to Aimee and my hearts - adoption and everyone's right to live - I look forward to watching this one.

Paul Ryan: America Deserves a Better Path

Looks like a presidential ad, doesn't it?  Too bad he's not running for president, or even vice.  He's right.  The refusal of politicians to do anything about the looming Federal debt crisis - caused mostly by "entitlement spending" - is immoral.  Hell, they can't even pass a budget.  I understand Democrats' refusal to face reality.  The welfare state is their life's blood.  Republicans' cowardice, in that sense, seems even worse.

IFBB Athletic Fitness Competition

Somebody's feeling the heat from Crossfit.



It's good to see the International Federation of Body Building and Fitness finally embrace the kind of competition that requires participants to - you know - actually do something, as opposed to just posing.

It's still pretty lame compared to this, however.



                        <

Active Duty SFC in US Paralympic Shooting Team

From The Firearm Blog:

Sgt. 1st Class Josh Olson, with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, is the first active-duty Soldier to be nominated to the U.S. Paralympic Team and will compete in London this summer. 

Awesome!

2012 Crossfit Open: WOD 4

Seriously?  You have to be kidding me!  I just told Aimee that I like how Crossfit HQ has, so far, picked workouts that any Crossfitter can do, but still seriously challenge the elites.  Then they go and pull something like this.

MEN - includes Masters Men up to 54 years old 

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (20lbs to 10' target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

WOMEN - includes Masters Women up to 54 years old 

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (14lbs to 9' target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

Technically, this WOD is still accessible to any Crossfitter.  Anybody can do wall balls.  Doing 150 wall balls in 12 min, however, is a challenge.  My goal is to do 195 repetitions total; 150 wall balls and 45 double unders.

There.  I said it.  Now it's official.  I'll let you know on Sunday how awful it is.

The Obama Spangled Banner

Presidents always receive some measure of hero worship.  It's human nature, unfortunately.  However, Obama worshipers take it to levels normally unseen outside third world dictatorships.  Case in point; the Obama Spangled Banner.

“It’s a cult of personality to show his face, like Stalin or Mao,” said John Masterjohn, a former Marine and retired schoolteacher from Leesburg. “It’s despicable. They don’t realize how sick they are.” 

Like I said, this is the kind of thing normally seen in third world dictatorships.  Qaddafi, Assad, Hussein, the Kims - all of them actively cultivate(d) this kind of worship.

“It’s absolutely disrespectful,” Jim Bradford, a 71-year-old veteran who participated in the Bay of Pigs Invasion told FoxNews.com. “It’s totally ridiculous. To put somebody’s picture there, to me, it’s a disgrace to do that.” 

Amen, brother.  It doesn't surprise me at all that fellow war veterans are the ones who called attention to this insanity.

Here's what I don't understand, though.  People in Communist China, the Soviet Union, North Korea and every other Socialist utopia (i.e., hell hole) are forced to worship at gun point.  They got (or get) sent to "re-education camps" if they fail to do so.

Obamaphiles do it voluntarily.  In fact, they go out of their way to worship their god.  For example, these people in Florida actually had to get these Obama flags specially made.  Seriously; what's wrong with these people?

I don't know about you, but I already have a Savior.  I don't need another one.

That brings me to another point.  Christians; this is yet another reason to oppose bloated, morbidly obese government - it becomes a god - people's omnipotent, benevolent provider and protector.  Look at Europe.  It's not a coincidence that their atheism/agnosticism and government control rose congruently through the second half of the 20th century.

The worst part is that many of Pres Obama's worshipers are "Liberal" Christians who should know better.

Pew Survey: "Liberals" Are More Intolerant

In a result that'll surprise no one who's honest about the subject, it turns out "Liberals" are less tolerant of others' views on social networking sites than any other group.

Liberals are the most likely to have taken each of these steps to block, unfriend, or hide. In all, 28% of liberals have blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone on SNS because of one of these reasons, compared with 16% of conservatives and 14% of moderates. 

First, let me brag about my wife and point out that she's way ahead of Pew.

Second, this isn't the real problem with "Liberals".  Everyone has the right to tune out whomever they want.   The problem is that "Liberals" are eager to use government coercion to deny everyone the right to say anything with which "Liberals" disagree.

Farewell Odyssey, Hello Sprinter

It's strange how we invest emotion into inanimate objects.  We say they have sentimental value.  I do it, and I don't understand why.  Of all our possessions, we probably invest the most emotional capital in our cars.  We certainly did in our 2006 Honda Odyssey.  We loved that car.

Outside our apartment in Warner Barracks,
Bamberg, Germany

We bought our Odyssey in 2007 just before we adopted our first five kids, and when I returned from Afghanistan, we drove it all over Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.

Watching the portable DVD player en route to Croatia.

Through it all, the Odyssey carried our family in comfort and safety, while actually being fun to drive.  I'm not exaggerating.  For a vehicle its size, the Odyssey is actually nimble.  It handles like a large sports sedan, not a truck.  I actually enjoyed driving it through the mountains of Slovenia (Isaiah, didn't; he puked).  And it averaged 23 mpg on the autobahn!

We moved back to the States (Fort Leonard Wood, MO) in 2009, and in 2010 Aimee gave birth to Elijah.  Every one of the Odyssey's eight seats was now full.  That summer, we moved to Fort Riley, KS.  Then we loaded up the van again with two adults, six kids, a dog and a rabbit, and went home on leave to WA State.  The writing was on the wall.  We needed more room.  We needed a full-sized van.  Even if we never had any more children, we could tell that our tall, lanky daughters would eventually get cramped as they grew.  As much as we loved the Odyssey, we had to replace it.

Loaded to the gills for Croatia.

Of course, with six kids and our first mortgage, we didn't have much disposable income, and we weren't excited about taking on more debt.

Then I got Aimee pregnant again.

After months of research, test drives and internet searches, we settled on a replacement; the Mercedes Sprinter 2500.  We chose it over "similar" offerings from Ford and GM because they're not all that similar.

When I drove the Ford and GM, I could tell the kids would still be cramped.  How is that possible?  There's very little leg room between bench seats.  Worst of all, there is zero, and I mean zero, cargo room behind the last row.  Aimee couldn't even take the kids grocery shopping if we'd bought one of those!  The Mercedes has a cavernous space behind the last row.  Furthermore, the bench seats are immensely more comfortable in the Mercedes than the domestics.

Our new Mercedes Sprinter 2500

Sheba cleans the interior after I washed the van.

Then there's safety.  The Mercedes comes standard with an electronic stability, traction control and anti-lock brakes.  The Ford and GM don't even have head rests for the passengers.

The Mercedes has a 3.0L turbo Diesel engine, so it's mileage is as good as our old Odyssey's.  Diesel is more expensive than regular gasoline, of course, so it's still more expensive to drive than our Odyssey was, but Ford and GM don't even offer a Diesel, and their gas engines get a maximum of 18 mpg on the highway.

On top of that, the Mercedes has two batteries, one to run the accessories and one to run the starter, so the starter battery never runs out and will never leave Aimee and the kids stranded.  The windshield is heated, as are the front seats.  The heater has electrically heated ceramic elements that warm up in 30 seconds.  It has a separate air conditioner just for the back to keep the kids cool.  It has a Diesel burning furnace to heat up the back in seconds on really cold days.

As you can probably tell, I already love this van.  I particularly love the whistle of the turbocharger when it accelerates.  I miss the automatic double sliding doors, leather seats, sun roof and great handling of the Odyssey, among other things.  Still, I think we'll quickly grow as attached to the Sprinter as we did the Odyssey.


The biggest drawback is price.  It's far more expensive than the Ford or GM, but you get what you pay for.  Aimee and I reasoned that we'll keep this van for many years, since our newest baby isn't even born yet.  Besides, if FedEx gets an average of 300,000 miles out of these, I figure we can do the same.  We don't drive it nearly as hard as a parcel delivery business, after all.  We are extremely have this new van.

Ford and GM seriously need to step up their game.

Abigail cleans Elijah's car seat.

2012 Crossfit Open: Blood, Sweat & Chalk

I was right.  It hurt.  I was surprised that the hardest part of the workout turned out to be the push presses.  Using the efficiency tips in the following videos, I did the toes to bar unbroken and with efficient form for the first round.  After that, however, my form went to crap and I had to break them up in sets of five and four.  I did the box jumps unbroken for the entire workout, which is unusual for me.





My final score: five rounds + 15 box jumps and five push presses.  All in all, I'm happy with my performance.  I probably could have done a couple more reps, but I'm satisfied.  I just need to work on jumping under the bar more quickly.  Oh, and I broke a small blood blister open.  Hey, I've done a lot worse.




Now some pics from last week.

Lee Anne kicks butt in every WOD.  She sure is "bulky",
right, ladies?  ;-)

Setting up for my first 135 lb snatch...
ever! 

Melody, whose birthday it was today.
Yep, definitely "bulky".  ;-)

The last athlete always has a big cheering section, which
can be good and bad. 

Third Day Live: "Thief"

Man, I love this song!



Few stories in the Bible exemplify the Gospel more completely than the story of the thief on the Cross (Luke 23).

³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
 ⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
 ⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.^[d]”
 ⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

It's all there in five short verses; confession, repentance, recognition of Jesus as the Messiah and complete dependence on Him.  The thief had no time to make up for all the evil he'd perpetrated on others.  He had no good deeds to his name.  He couldn't possibly rely on his good deeds to outweigh the bad, and he knew it.  In case you didn't know this already, neither can any of us.

I love this song!

The Wonders of Government Medicine

When Pres Obama needed someone to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, he chose Donald Berwick, who once stated;

I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country.

The NHS to which Berwick referred is the British National Health Service; a completely government-controlled healthcare system that not only gives British subjects "free" health care, but makes it illegal for them to pay for their own health care.

Here's a short excerpt of  Berwick's speech.



So, how does that system that supposedly "guarantees healthcare as a human right" and is "politically accountable" work out in real life (as opposed to Berwick's wet dreams)?

More than half of elderly and disabled people in care homes are being denied basic health services while staff are failing to to do enough to preserve their dignity, according to an official review. Some older people routinely have to wait up to three months for formal checks for painful conditions such as bed sores, according to figures from the health care watchdog.Campaigners blamed NHS bureaucrats showing a “lack of interest” and failing to provide expert assessments for conditions as basic as incontinence.

Wait a minute: how can a system that "guarantees health care as a human right" deny anyone health care?  How can staff who are "politically accountable" fail to do enough to preserve the dignity of the elderly and disabled?  How can government bureaucrats whose job is to "anticipate needs and plan for them" fail to do so?

Anyone who's ever visited the DMV knows the answer.

It's not that complicated.  When government arbitrarily sets prices (in this case, "free"), they create shortages.  Politicians and government bureaucrats - no matter how capable (and many of them are incompetent) - are incapable of anticipating everyone's needs.  It's impossible.  There's no point in asking them to try.

Again, it's not that complicated.  No one understands your needs better than you do, least of all some nameless, faceless government bureaucrat in some cubicle somewhere.  That's why free markets serve people better than government bureaucrats.  Free markets allow people to choose the provider who best meets their individual needs.

By the way, we don't have a free market healthcare system in the US.  We have a bastardized system in which government provides the majority of our healthcare and causes the majority of our problems.

There is no such thing as "universal healthcare".  The "free" healthcare governments offer causes long waits which result in people living for months, years or even dying unnecessarily from their illnesses.  Our system, bastardized and flawed as it is, actually provides more care, to more people, on time than purely government-run systems.

We need more economic liberty in health care, not less.

Guess which route the Obama Administration took?

Constrained or Unconstrained?

Are human beings intrinsically flawed, or are we intrinsically virtuous?  What do you think?  Bill Whittle explains how these two views resulted in very different political ideologies.



In Federalist Paper #51, James Madison explains why government should be constrained by a system of checks and balances whereby separate branches of government with competing interests prevent each other from gaining excessive power they could use to oppress the people.

It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

Madison believed government is necessary because men are not angels.  In other words, because people are flawed - imperfect.  He also saw constraints on government (limited government) as necessary because the people who work in government are just as flawed as the rest of us!

Where, exactly, did James Madison get the idea that human beings are intrinsically flawed?  It's no coincidence that Madison studied for two years under Reverend Thomas Martin, and thank God (I mean that literally) he did.  He helped write the Constitution and pushed for - and drafted - the bill of rights, the most government-limiting document in history.

The idea that people are intrinsically flawed and therefore can never be trusted with too much power originates exclusively from the Judeo-Christian doctrine of Original Sin.  The ultimate source of our liberty is Judeo-Christian doctrine.

An honest observation of history and the world around us makes the truth of Biblical doctrine obvious - people are inherently sinful and selfish, which is why any philosophy that assumes otherwise ends in unspeakable misery.  Anyone, anyone, who promises Heaven on Earth - regardless what he/she calls him/herself - is either lying or deluded.

Christians, if you actually believe Biblical doctrine, you will stand, fight - and most importantly, vote - against excessive government, and for limited government.