Banned?

I read a post on another blog that claimed some 70,000 WordPress accounts had been seized by the government. So I checked to see if it affected me, which at first it appeared to have done.

I found myself unable to post a new message or log in. In retrospect though, I think they changed my password without telling me, although a few months ago I asked them to remember my password always. Anyway, I could still change my password, so I did.

Tar balls

When those guys have finished cleaning up the tar balls in the Gulf, we should ship them all to Bermuda to clean up the tar balls there.

Boston Pops 4th of July etc.

I watched this on TV for the umpteenth time, having previously watched it live for umpteen years, but this is the first time I realized that the great unwashed masses never had the opportunities that I’ve had.

1. I never get tired of the 1812 Overture or the Stars and Stripes Forever. When I was a boy, I knew a lot more of Sousa’s marches than I do now. Actually, my knowledge of Sousa had disappeared by the first time I saw it live (some time in the early 70s, I would guess) — I though they were playing the Washington Post March, not the Stars and Stripes Forever. Go figure.
2. CBS has figured out how to do camera work. They took over the show about 5 years ago (or was it earlier?), and until this year, they apparently thought that we wanted to watch the skyline and the backs of necks. I can’t speak for others, but… They appear to have used a blimp this year, which is the way to go, since you get a good view of the fireworks and from an angle that you usually can’t see. Now if they’d only get rid of Craig Ferguson…
3. The fireworks itself has improved a lot over the years, and this year’s was the best synchronized I have ever seen.

So what’s special about America?

I’m amazed at the number of people who don’t know the answer to this. Woody Guthrie got it right. This land belongs to you and me. USA is the only country on earth to be designed and implemented by its people. Every other country was created by a warlord (or several of them). Teachers don’t like to mention warlords, so they have invented prehistory.

Here’s another issue

that I raised on my old blog, and appears to be relevant these days. I previously asked several times why it mattered that global warming (which almost certainly exists) should be anthropogenic (almost certainly total nonsense). In a recent post on my old blog, I asked if it was OK that I assumed that global warming is not anthropogenic, since I never got a reply to my original question.

Canada

I admit to having a soft spot when it comes to Canada, and I really hope they don’t destroy themselves trying to prove that they’re independent of us. See here for details (and a hat tip to Mark Steyn).

Trying to catch up

I lost a lot of posts on my old Blogger account, entirely due to Google, who I intend to badmouth at every opportunity. I may even switch to bing.

Meanwhile, let me propose something that I had previously proposed, since it has become a hot topic recently, given that the media doesn’t want to talk about what is actually happening. Apparently, some group of idiots is trying to amend the procedure we currently use for electing the President and Vice President (namely, the Electoral College), without bothering to check to see what it says in the Constitution.

The procedure used in Maine and Nebraska is better suited to the Presidential election than a National Popular Vote. Here are a few of its advantages:

1. It doesn’t require a Constitutional amendment. The Constitution already allows states to choose Electors in any way they deem fit, which in practice means that the Electors chosen are generally political hacks who are being rewarded, which in turn is the real reason why Electors are currently chosen on a winner-take-all basis in most states (anyone who likes the winner-take-all system might as well stop reading).
2. A recount under the National Popular Vote system would be both more frequent and more harrowing. A recount under the Maine/Nebraska system would be no more frequent or harrowing than a recount of a normal Congressional election. For example, in the last close election in 2000, Bush would have won somewhat more comfortably (how could it have been worse?), enough so that Gore wouldn’t have bothered with a hopeless recount.
3. Big states would no longer have their tyrannical advantage.

Meanwhile, it has only one disadvantage:

1. The party hacks (of both sides) wouldn’t like it.

It’s hard to see where the NPV movement is going, or why. They could easily have started by trying to get the necessary votes in Congress, which is not going to be any easier later. If they get fewer than 3/4 of the states behind them, then they will have no credibility anyway. BTW, few people seem to know that the President plays no role in the amendment process.