Poll question needs a third option

From CTV.ca

Too bad there's no third option.

Just sayin'... OK?

Babble moderator feels "icky"

The Left has a problem. This nasty freedom of speech thingy keeps popping up. Some of them, (see my post about el presidente below) have the power and resources at their fingertips to crush alternative viewpoints. Others, like Michelle over at Babble, don't have to shoulder that much responsibility. Not entire South American countries anyway. Just the odd right-wing troglodyte like yours truly. They say that we'll all garner our 15 minutes of fame, but my time as a Babbler was almost as fleeting. I remember it like it was only yesterday (sigh): from registration to banning took about 90 minutes. My crime? Using Jihadwatch.org as a source. If you haven't already guessed, I'm "Ripstop".

I'm used to tossing people from babble but it sucks. I hate doing it because it makes me feel like there has to be a better way...

Oh there is a better way Ms. Moderator. It's called considering opinions that differ from your own. It's called debating the issues in a reasonable and logical manner. Free speech? Not at Babble.ca. Not now. Not ever. It's no wonder a certain moderator feels icky.

The wonders of socialism

Hugo's taking his country further down the road to socialist utopia. This from Publius Pundit:

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has signalled his true intentions with more clarity than ever today, announcing that he would expropriate:

1. All the phone lines
2. All the electricity

As this happened, a provincial governor from Bolivar state down south let it all hang out, simply saying he wanted to confiscate the entire media, forcing it all under state control. Just ‘nationalization’ don’t you know...

This clearly is an effort to Cubanize the nation, turning its free media into a state monopoly to disempower the opposition, and end all free inquiry or accountability. It’s something that is a mighty curious step for Chavez to take, given his claims he won the December election by an overwhelming majority. Something already doesn’t sound right.

This isn’t all the thug is up to, by the way. He’s also stealing the entire central bank, by ending autonomy for it. He’s turning that into an instrument for money-printing, now that he’s badly mismanaged the entire oil bonanza, wrecked the oil fields, fired all of the talent who could clean up this situation, and wasted hundreds of billions of dollars of oil earnings on stealing, corruption and socialist mismanagement.

In short, Chavez is turning Venezuela into the wasteland of nothingness that is communist Cuba.

We've all seen this dreary movie before, and we all know how it's gonna end. Colby Cosh knew as much back in December of '05:

One may be certain that other essential institutions--disguised paddywagons, vast windowless buildings of unstated function, great fenced and guarded areas in inaccessible rural regions--will eventually appear as needed.

None Deeper

If I ever get down to the Smithsonian, the Trieste will be the first item on my list. In 1960, it dove to over 35,000 feet, the world' s deepest dive in the Mariana Trench, near Guam. In over 40 years this feat has never been repeated.

Most significant of these was "PROJECT NEKTON" in which TRIESTE conducted a series of seven dives including three deep dives, climaxing on January 23, 1960 in a 35,800 foot descent into the "Challenger Deep". This abyss, the deepest known spot in the earth's oceans, had never been penetrated by a manned vehicle. The record set that day stands alone today. For this series of dives, TRIESTE was fitted with a new pressure sphere, manufactured by the "Krupp Werke (works)" of Germany and designed for operation to 36,000 feet. That dive gained, not only a record which cannot be exceeded but, world wide recognition of the TRIESTE and its occupants on that dive, Jacques Piccard, son of Auguste Piccard and Navy lieutenant Don Walsh...

Also check out this multimedia presentation at PBS.org.
Zork out.

World's most annoying turboprop.

At least that's what my ears tell me. A noisy high pitched rasp comes outta this thing as it sails overhead. I've been told it's because the prop blades are chopping the exhaust into pieces (this aircraft being a pusher design). Probably otherwise a nice airplane. Zork out.

Hinterland spiders

8-legged addicts.