Musings from Brian J. Noggle
Saturday, July 30, 2005
 
It's a Constitutional Medley!
First, we have "The Interstate Commerce Blues".

Next, "Kelo (The Banana Court Song)".

Finally, my contribution, "Kelo-Backed Seizure", which goes something like this:

Kelo-Backed Seizure

The court ruled hard against homeowners' rights
Across the country in D.C.
Eminent domain is in the eye
Of local governments and their greed

Our house is ours, it holds all our things
Our town doesn’t want it yet
But if it wants another mall
Or industrial court for someone else....

Kelo-backed seizure
Down the road for more tax base
Kelo-backed seizure
Through enforcement of the law
Kelo-backed seizure
Once it’s started, what will follow?
Kelo-backed seizure
An invention of a blight

When I was young, I thought I could own
A home and land as property
But on the weight of New Castle’s want
I know now that it’s a dream

Yeah

Kelo-backed seizure
Down the road for more tax base
Kelo-backed seizure
Through enforcement of the law
Kelo-backed seizure
Once it’s started, what will follow?
Kelo-backed seizure
An invention of a blight

No, no, no....
No, no, no....
No, no, no....
No, no, no....

Kelo-backed seizure
Down the road for more tax base
Kelo-backed seizure
Through enforcement of the law
Kelo-backed seizure
Once it’s started, what will follow?
Kelo-backed seizure

Down the road for more tax base
Through enforcement of the law
Once it's started, what will follow?
An invention of a blight

(Apologies to Mr. Mister, and although it's not my fault, I'd like to apologize for Clay Aiken's remake and for Rick Springfield's remake of "Broken Wings". I should really send them a card.)

(Other portions of the medley seen on The Volokh Conspiracy.)


- posted by Brian J. @ 10:58 AM   0 comments
 
Perhaps It Calls For Eminent Domain
In Nebraska, one government entity wants to take over other separate government entities by force:
    Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman said Thursday that he is against an Omaha Public Schools plan to take over schools in the metro area.

    OPS wants to annex 21 Millard schools and four in Ralston, which are within Omaha city limits. Eventually, Elkhorn Public Schools also would be part of OPS under the plan. The OPS School Board calls it a plan of one city, one district and said the move would level the playing field.

    Four school districts have banded together to fight the plan, and Douglas County officials have told OPS that they have no authority to redraw borders or reassign taxes.
More evidence, along with intragovernment lawsuits over funding and eminent domain for "public use" that is merely an increased tax base, that government of the people, by the people, for the people has indeed perished, with government of the government, by the government, for the government holding the pillow over the republic's head until it stopped kicking.


- posted by Brian J. @ 8:45 AM   0 comments
Friday, July 29, 2005
 
State Legislator Opens Her Wallet
From an op-ed from one of Missouri's state legislators regarding Medicaid budget cuts:
    Before voting against the Medicaid and adoption-subsidy cuts, I urged my fellow legislators to remember that we must accept responsibility for what happens to Missourians who lose health coverage and necessary family supports.
I laud this legislator for taking personal responsibility for helping out the underprivileged and by conceding her own income to ensure they have a minimum level of sustenance....

Aw, hell, who am I kidding? By we must accept responsibility, she means we must compel the citizens of Missouri to take fiscal responsibility. Her only effort needs to be to act to ensure that others must act.


- posted by Brian J. @ 5:00 PM   1 comments
 
When You Outsource PR to Fourth Graders
You get statements like this:
    In April, Hilton issued a terse statement saying it was "no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends. Nicole knows what she did, and that's all I'm ever going to say about it."
How profound.


- posted by Brian J. @ 1:58 PM   0 comments
 
Kling Sums Up
At Tech Central Station, Arnold Kling sums up the expensive and ineffective security measures the government is putting into place in response to terrorism.

They might sound familiar, gentle reader, because you might have read similar sentiments right here.


- posted by Brian J. @ 1:52 PM   0 comments
 
The Unspoken Words
A tavern closes down in Wisconsin to make room for a Walgreens. Which words are missing from this sepia-toned account?

Oh, yeah, eminent domain.

But its synonyms and sentiments abound:
    The answer to his Walgreens question is "economic development," something that seems much needed in an area with boarded-up Polish flats being stripped of their siding, wandering transients and a fair trade in drugs and prostitution.

    "Just because something is old doesn't mean it is historic," said Ald. Bob Donovan, who represents the 8th District, within which the tavern sits, and who made an unusual parliamentary maneuver to get the development the City Hall green light earlier this year after its chances for passing had stalled over the previous two.

    Donovan said he saw in the $5 million development a chance for the neighborhood to "get a shot in the arm."

    "What the neighborhood is getting is an investment in their community," said Michael Polzin, a New Berlin native and spokesman for the suburban-Chicago-based chain, which has 31 stores in Milwaukee proper. He's never been to the National Liquor Bar.
"Just because something is old doesn't mean it is historic." Replace the word old with yours and the word historic with not ours to dispose of as we wish if you want to get to the heart of the grabby little thought processes of small-time government power brokers.


- posted by Brian J. @ 1:47 PM   0 comments
 
Slip a Little Unsupported Causation into That Story, Please; I Need To Know What To Think and To Implore My Government to Do Something
3 Teens Accused Of Kidnapping 10-Year-Old Boy: Boys Were Playing Video Games:
    The case started when the boy was at his grandmother's home and went next door to play video games with the teens.

    Police said the teens stopped playing the games and started a real-life drama with real weapons.
The newspaper offers the hint of causation; had the young man gone next door to play Parcheesi, would we have heard about it?


- posted by Brian J. @ 1:29 PM   0 comments
 
Trick Question
How many planets are there in the solar system?

Ten:
    A newfound object in our solar system's outskirts may be larger than any known world after Pluto, scientists said today.

    It also has a moon.
I guess that's one argument against book learnin'; the books become obsolete after a while, even on the most settled subjects.


- posted by Brian J. @ 1:25 PM   0 comments
 
Birthday Wishes
Happy Birthday to Wil Wheaton, born on this date in 1972, and anyone else who might share this birthday.

I hope she likes what I got her enough to make up for that....


- posted by Brian J. @ 11:23 AM   0 comments
 
A Guide to Better Living
Dungeong and Dragons for Complete and Utter Idiots.
    DID YOU KNOW?

    Some people are green.
    Look in mirror. Are you green? No?
    Then kill all green people.

    TIP! Green people flammable!

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:20 AM   0 comments
 
The English QUAGMIRE!
Let the drumbeats begin:
    Police apparently using stun grenades raided a west London home Friday seeking suspects in the failed July 21 bombings targeting the capital's transit system, and a British television network reported one arrest.

    Police snipers participated in a raid in the Notting Hill section of London, where suspects in the failed July 21 bombings were thought to be hiding.

    The raid took place near Portobello Road in the chic Notting Hill neighborhood famous for its weekend street market.

    Metropolitan Police confirmed that "an armed operation is currently in progress" but said it was in the "very early stages."

    Sky News reported two small explosions in the area, where helicopters buzzed overhead and police cordoned off a number of streets, and said one person had been arrested.
Compare London to Baghdad:
  • An increased pace of suicide bombings? Check.

  • Increasing violence? Check.

  • Armed operations leading to hunt the insurgents? Check.

  • Squabbling political rivals with incendiary rhetoric? Check.

  • Rationing/shortages that impair the quality of life of citizens? Check. In Baghdad, it's water or electricity; in London, it's health care.

What's the contrast? We hear positive news regularly coming out of London, about people who go about their daily lives, entertain themselves, raise families (well, letting the government or street raise families), and some sense of normalcy.

If all we got was a steady stream of stories like this one from England, along with some stories of soccer hooliganism (I mean, attacks by forces loyal to local warlords) to break it up, perhaps we would want to abandon England.

(Link seen on Michelle Malkin.)


- posted by Brian J. @ 10:29 AM   1 comments
 
Silver Lining
Prices have risen here on nearly everything but beer

So, what's the problem?


- posted by Brian J. @ 12:43 AM   0 comments
Thursday, July 28, 2005
 
Looks Like a Paradox
From the story Popular combination of Missouri Lottery numbers drawn twice in same day, we get this potentially earth-shaking rethinking of number theory:
    Triple numbers are popular Pick 3 bets, with 4-4-4 ranked as the top combination and 0-0-0 coming in 11th, Gonder said.
0-0-0 comes in 11th of a possible 10 triple number combinations?

Gonder might have said that the two triple number examples are ranked relative to the combination of all possible values and not just triple numbers, but the paragraph is not really clear.

Space-time continuum rift: Averted!


- posted by Brian J. @ 10:36 AM   0 comments
 
Because Otherwise It Would Have Been Unsporting
NHL returns Oct. 5 with busiest night ever: All 30 teams will be playing when league resumes after missed season:
    The NHL will return to the ice with the busiest night in the league’s 88-year history.

    Not wanting fans to have to wait one extra day to see their teams, the NHL has scheduled 15 games — including all 30 clubs — on opening night Oct. 5.
Because otherwise it would have been unsporting to schedule 15 games and only 29 teams. How the Atlanta Thrashers would have complained about their loss to the New York Rangers had they not actually played....


- posted by Brian J. @ 12:22 AM   0 comments
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
 
Optimism Marks the Start of Major Spending
Final funding approved for Highway 40 project:
    East-West Gateway Council of Governments put the final funding in place today for the overhaul of Interstate 64 (Highway 40) between Sarah Street in St. Louis to Spoede Road in St. Louis County.

    The regional planning agency approved $329 million in federal money for rebuilding the highway. At earliest, construction would start in early 2007. The Highway 40 work was among more than 175 other construction projects worth $1.1 billion that East-West Gateway approved. The money will be spent through 2009.
That marks the final portion of the anticipated funding, before the budget overruns.


- posted by Brian J. @ 6:39 PM   0 comments
 
In Unrelated News
Goats, cows offered for Chelsea

Chelsea close to Essien deal


- posted by Brian J. @ 6:29 PM   0 comments
 
Charitable Execution: A Nice Job If You Can Get It
Hidden in plain sight in the story Hotels taking fresh sheets off room-service menu, we get this tender nugget:
    Barbara Huberman wants fresh sheets on her hotel bed every night.

    She's annoyed that a growing number of lodgings are now changing them less often. "It's ridiculous," says the executive for a Washington-based charitable organization who stays up to 100 nights each year in a hotel. "I have always looked forward to that feel of clean pressed sheets every night. At $200-plus a night, I think I deserve this."
That sure looks like $20,000-plus a year from the charitable organization's budget to get this executive into hotels where she thinks she deserves clean sheets every night.

Here's the charitable organization: Advocates for Youth. Its goals:
    Advocates for Youth is dedicated to creating programs and advocating for policies that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates provides information, training, and strategic assistance to youth-serving organizations, policy makers, youth activists, and the media in the United States and the developing world.
Ah, one of those charities, whose goals is simply to advocate that someone else take action. Right, then. Carry on.

(Link seen on Outside the Beltway.)


- posted by Brian J. @ 6:19 AM   2 comments
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
 
Perhaps He Was Just Dodging ATM Fees
Latest in the UN Oil For Food scandal: Oil-for-food chief 'has overseas accounts':
    Investigators in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal have discovered a network of overseas bank accounts operated by Benon Sevan, the former head of the United Nations programme, who is the subject of a criminal inquiry by New York prosecutors.

    Officials from investigative agencies, including the UN's Volcker inquiry, say that Mr Sevan has accounts in his native Cyprus, Turkey and Switzerland.
Hey, perhaps he was just avoiding punitive ATM fees and conversion rates when he travelled.

(Link seen on Roger L. Simon, that other guy with a fedora.)


- posted by Brian J. @ 10:16 AM   0 comments
Monday, July 25, 2005
 
Our Midwestern Givhan
Richard Roeper:
    You probably read the stories or saw the footage of little John Roberts acting up as President Bush introduced John's daddy, Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. He wiggled and danced around, and generally acted like any 4-year-old would in such a formal situation. It was the most hilarious display of mischief by a politician's son since Rudy Giuliani's kid blew kisses to the crowd and pretended to take the oath of office when his father was sworn in as mayor of New York City.

    But whose idea was it to dress the kid like a summertime version of Little Lord Fauntleroy? An Easter Egg-colored suit with short pants, white socks and saddle shoes? Was that a tribute to John-John circa 1962? That kid is going to be teased on a lot of playgrounds, even private school playgrounds, if he's dressed like that in the future.
This, from the token skinny guy on the Ebert and ? show.


- posted by Brian J. @ 11:36 PM   0 comments
 
Personal Message
When the first words of a personal message are FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, you know it's a poll-felt communication from a politician.


- posted by Brian J. @ 3:18 PM   1 comments
 
Some Want Full Irresponsibility For Their Actions
Headline in St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Some want unwed dads to pick up Medicaid’s birth costs:
    Some Republican legislators want to charge unwed fathers thousands of dollars for hospital birth costs incurred by low-income mothers on Medicaid.

    The twin goals: making fathers shoulder more responsibility and reducing taxpayers' costs.

    "I don't intend for anything to be punitive at all for mom and baby," Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields said at a recent meeting of the Missouri Medicaid Reform Commission, which he co-chairs.

    "But the last time I checked, it takes two people to make a baby. And there is some responsibility, not just for child support, but for the cost of bringing that child successfully into the world," said Shields, R-St. Joseph.
A capital idea, I say. But the Post-Dispatch can find some to say otherwise:
    Critics say mother and baby would suffer under Shields' proposal because some women would give up Medicaid and forgo prenatal care rather than cooperate in efforts to bill the father for hospital costs.
Some women would give up Medicaid because they didn't want to give up the father. The Post-Dispatch summons forth an anecdote about an unwed couple begatting their third child. Father's working sixty hours a week to support the family and thumps his chest in the article about taking on responsibility.

But his "responsibility" includes not paying for the actual babies prenatal care and by not marrying the mother because it would reduce her Medicaid eligibility. Also, his responsibility includes having a large family in his early twenties that he cannot support with a retail career.

I'd grade his responsibility at "incomplete" at best.

But I came not to judge this fellow; instead, I came to judge those critics who say that any state-based assumption of personal responsibility--personal fiscal responsibility--must be exposed as ill-advised and cold-hearted.


- posted by Brian J. @ 8:03 AM   0 comments
 
Climactic Cognitive Dissonance
Ice ages linked to galactic position: Study finds Earth may be cooled by movement through Milky Way's stellar clouds:
    It might sound preposterous, like astrology, to suggest that galactic events help determine when North America is or isn't buried under immense sheets of ice taller than skyscrapers. But new research suggests the coming and going of major ice ages might result partly from our solar system's passage through immense, snakelike clouds of exploding stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

    Resembling the curved contrails of a whirling Fourth of July pinwheel, the Milky Way's spiral arms are clouds of stars rich in supernovas, or exploding stars. Supernovas emit showers of charged particles called cosmic rays.

    Theorists have proposed that when our solar system passes through a spiral arm, the cosmic rays fall to Earth and knock electrons off atoms in the atmosphere, making them electrically charged, or ionized. Since opposite electrical charges attract each other, the positively charged ionized particles attract the negatively charged portion of water vapor, thus forming large droplets in the form of low-lying clouds.

    In turn, the clouds cool the climate and trigger an ice age -- or so theorists suggest.
And yet global warming is caused by man.


- posted by Brian J. @ 8:00 AM   0 comments
 
Office Buildings with Air Conditioning Set Too High
Just answering the question, "Why would someone wear a coat in July unless he or she was hiding Semtex lingerie?"


- posted by Brian J. @ 7:45 AM   1 comments
Sunday, July 24, 2005
 
Historical Perspective
The last time someone other than Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France:
  • Companies were using Windows NT, and home users were buying Packard Bells pre-installed with the new Windows 98. First Edition.

  • Ken Starr was preparing a report that would lead to impeachment of President Clinton.

  • Bill Clinton had not given the televised speech saying he might have inappropriate contact with an intern.

  • NATO was threatening air strikes against Serbia for its continuing slaughter of Albanians.

  • NASDAQ was almost to 2000, less than half of its peak in the dot-com bubble.

  • Matthew Shepherd was an anonymous student in Wyoming.

  • The Truman Show really creeped me out, so I saw it three times in theatres.

  • I was four months into my first job in IT, and four months out of my last blue collar position. I had just moved out of my mother's basement, rock on!, and was about five months ahead of my first IT layoff.

  • I was a mere days away from proposing to my girlfriend, whom I had tricked into moving to St. Louis from Columbia by pretending I was pregnant.

  • John Grisham had dominated the bestseller lists.

  • When you said "Potter," people thought of Sherman T., but that was about to change.

  • More people still used Netscape Navigator than Internet Explorer.

  • Feminism was in an uproar when Ally MacBeal appeared on Time as an icon of feminism.


- posted by Brian J. @ 6:22 PM   0 comments
To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."