Tex the Pontificator

The difference, if any, between reindeer and caribou.

Characterizing the more detailed explanation at the link, reindeer and caribou are the same species. In America, we call the wild ones caribou and the domesticated ones reindeer. In Europe, they don't use the term "caribou" and refer only to wild and domesticated reindeer. The domesticated creatures have some differences from the wild ones, no doubt as most domesticated animals are different from their wild antecedents, and are regarded as a separate subspecies.

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And Obama's Christmas present to the American people is the theft of their freedom. I'd prefer the Grinch, who stole only Christmas.

Most Americans
Out in America
Liked freedom a lot.
But Obama,
Who liked to rule over Americans,
Did not.
Obama hated freedom, the American ideal.
We all may wonder why, but he did it with great zeal.
Perhaps it was because he always tilted left,
And in using thuggish tactics, was unusually deft.
Another reason is the man wants to have more power,
That when he treads we common folk should bow and quake and cower.
But
Whatever his motives,
Thuggishness or power,
When thinking of our freedom, Obama would just glower.

Obama thought,
And thought and thought,
And came up with a plan.
He'd pretend to give us all a gift,
Which would give his power grab some lift.
Yes, he can!
He told the people healthcare was their right,
And he could give it to them all; he has the might.
He didn't tell them what it cost,
Or in the end what they'd have lost.
He promised them that, in his care, they'd all be fine
With the right to wait in line.
But
You bought the hope, so heave a sigh
And look Obama in the eye, and buck up now and don't you cry,
For he'll decide just when you die.
Your right to life has gone bye-bye.

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Labels: Congress, doggerel, Obamacare

My wife and I recently stayed in the Ant Street Inn in Brenham, Texas. I have no stake in or other connection to the place, but it's delightful and I recommend it strongly. Located in the old downtown area, which has been nicely preserved, the inn is a cross between a bed and breakfast and a small boutique hotel.

If you need to spend the night in Brenham and are looking for something other than a crash pad, the Ant Street Inn is the place. If you live within a radius such that you can get away for the weekend to stay there, you won't be disappointed. We certainly plan to go back.

If you need to clinch the deal, they even offer free ice cream. This being Brenham, of course it's Blue Bell.

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Labels: Miscellaneous, Texas

Robert Mugabe has addressed the Copenhagen climate conference. Instapundit notes:

If every leader did to his country what Mugabe has done, carbon emissions would drop dramatically . . . .

I'd never looked at it that way, but in hindsight, it's obvious. If most of your population is reduced to grubbing through landfills to look for food, your carbon emissions go down. Al Gore wouldn't see a problem with the trade off.

Robert Mugabe,
The Left’s kemo sabe,
Cut back Zimbabwe’s emissions,
Impoverishing people,
Who starve by the street full.
Old Robert’s immune from contrition.

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Labels: doggerel, global warming

Come running, running,
Reid is so cunning,
He wants to take over health care.
If we’ll just suckle the federal teat,
Republicans won’t have a prayer.

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Labels: doggerel, Obamacare

According to My Way news:

Senate leaders working round the clock trying to finalize their 10-year, nearly $1 trillion bill in time for a final vote on Christmas Eve.

Final vote on Christmas Eve. This is shaping up to be the worst Christmas in my memory.

You better watch out
Just keep a sharp eye.
Now don’t you doubt;
I would not lie.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.

He’s making a list
Of who’s a holdout.
He’s gonna use every ounce of his clout.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.

He’ll chase them down the hallways
And chase them down the street.
He knows just what to bribe them with,
And the man ain’t one bit meek.

Oh, you better watch out.
Just keep a sharp eye.
And don’t you doubt;
I would not lie.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.
Yes, Harry Reid is planning a vote.

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Labels: Congress, doggerel, Obamacare

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell alleges that Majority Leader Harry Reid is keeping the text of the latest Obamacare version secret while he tries to round up votes. From this we must conclude that the actual text of the bill is not germane to the "yes" vote of those whose votes Reid is able to get. Sheesh!

Voting on bills that haven’t been read
Just recently caused a kerfuffle.
We all laughed in scorn at what they all said,
At the tap dancers doing a shuffle.

But the text of Obamacare’s being kept secret;
Not even the staff gets to read it,
While Senator Harry stalks like an egret;
He’s got to get votes or concede it.

This pulls back the curtain on raw calculation,
The terms of the bill do not matter.
The merits be damned is the clear implication,
Remaining illusions just shatter.

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Labels: Congress, doggerel, Obamacare

Steven Den Beste writes of the difference between materialism and teleology. As I understand the point, teleologists support pacifism and socialism because they are beautiful ideas and it would be so nice if they worked. Materialists, such as myself, believe in free markets and peace through strength, because experience says they produce superior results.

Read the whole thing for a better explanation. The dichotomy addresses what I have observed and puzzled over in our society and offers a more detailed and persuasive explanation than anything I have come up with.

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Labels: cultural divide

Bill Whittle blogs about a poorly remember part of the same speech in which Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex. Ike was concerned about both the corrupting effect of federal money on scientific research and the risk that the federal funding mechanisms could become captive to research interests.

The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

Climaquiddick may be the most dramatic example of the latter ever to hit the public consciousness. And so, along the lines of an earlier post, I post this bit of doggerel:

They say the earth is warming and the climate we are harming,
All manner of more evil deeds we just keep on performing.
If they want a research grant, they surely must repeat the chant,
To keep the money flowing, key is that they don’t recant.
Of cataclysm they're the prophet, and they know they cannot stop it,
Yes, there is no god but Gaia, and researchers nicely profit.

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Labels: doggerel, global warming

Senator Barbara Boxer (D. Cuckoo Land) has let it be known that, in her view, the person revealing the Climaquiddick fraud should be prosecuted.  It is possible that release of the data was a crime, and I don't regard criminal activity lightly.  But ask yourself which is worse: perpetrating a fraud on the public or revealing the fraud.  Boxer was apparently happy enough with the fraud that she wants to go after the person disclosing it.


The stories we heard were greatly alarming,
Stories of dangerous global warming.
Now that we’re not, the senator’s peeved.


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Labels: doggerel, global warming