barnson.org Half-baked opinions, served lukewarm.

I ran across a piece that gives a concise description of why we are currently withdrawing from Iraq (according to the President's news conference yesterday) and the motivations for this move. Although some of my more liberal friends, I am sure, will take issue with the reasons for withdrawal and positive emphasis on the timing, it's a useful description of the motivations for the move.

Yeah, you read that right, NASA is in need of more urine in order to test their Orion space capsule.

Two weekends ago, I had an opportunity to ride my father-in-law's four-wheeler around the ruins of the Teton Dam. It was an incredibly good time, and now I realize the appeal that these types of tiny vehicles provide. It's a totally different experience from riding a car.

I've been struck over the past few days with the scope of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts. I mean, we're talking about the taxpayers footing the bill for the difference between US house values and the borrowed price for a $5 trillion portfolio.

My yard has a terrible gopher problem. I'm not talking just a few burrows... I'm talking DOZENS of holes. The gophers are eating the roots of our plants, we can't grow a garden because they literally pull the plants down the hole -- much like in Caddyshack -- and then devour them.

Frustrating!

Man gets filled with the holy ghost, falls, gets hurt, sues:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0605081spirit1.html

I am alternately roasting and freezing in this building today. The air conditioning to the network operating center is on the fritz, causing the temperature to alternately rise to over ninety degrees, then fall to a frigid fifty a few minutes later. This just exacerbates my mood, already pensive and tight-lipped, just barely restraining the rant I want to cut loose.

OK, the first rant is that I can't type today. I mis-spelled "rant" as "ranr", "rand", and "ranf" before I finally got it right.

Rant #35,636: Why do people believe other people so much?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1818197,00.html

I'm not big on churches, but as far as churches go, that's pretty darn cool.

Quote of the day from What Women Know:

We distrust separate-but-equal rhetoric; anyone who is regularly reminded that she is “equally important” is probably not. Partnership is illusory without equal decision-making power.