The Bishop is a holy and spiritual man.  I fear for him in this awful time - but I applaud and embrace his courage.

An interesting site.  I too noticed several telling typos - they need an editor, or they should drop the literary pretention.  In any case, the prose in the articles seems to lean to verbosity - they wear their pretensions openly.

As for the level of science - I read a few of the articles on astronomy, and they seemed up to date and accurate, if quite "lite."  In fact, the "science" quality is noticeably lower than current Scientific American - the site seems more aimed at bright non-sciene types who have some interest in the subject but won't do the math.

Finally - Pencilvania's point about the editorial undercurrent is spot-on - the authors sprinkle materialist propaganda throughout their pieces - unnecessary asides that build into a low background noise of smug (and sophomoric) scientism.  Pity.

So - the content seems somewhat interesting, but the current fare is more political and culture-war agitprop than science.

Thanks for pointing it out, though - it may be worth a few visits to see if the writers/editors hit a different and better pitch. 

I think Ontos has it about right, regarding the flaws of the Bush Administration. 

I never met Bush personally, but knew many who worked directly for him and frequently spoke with him.  By all accounts - even from those who were politically opposed to him - he came across as an unusually intelligent and analytic man.  His often noted personal weaknesses were what most described as Bush's sarcastic snipes at people - unnecessary and pointed jibes - and impatience to the point of abruptness.  Maybe that is understandable, given the job description.

For what my opinion is worth, in international matters and defense policy, most of the negative aspects of his Administration came from Donald Rumsfeld and to a lesser extent Bob Gates.  Rumsfeld was not the monster the press/progs made him out to be, but he was arrogant and ignorant to an astonishing degree - still, he had great sway with the President, at least for a while.  Gates was out of his depth, incapable of seeing through the shallow careerism of DoD's lower-level political appointee caste.  Neither was a "bad" man - they just turned in flawed performances in a hugely demanding job.

Dave - cogent summary of last week's foul brew of provocateurs and propaganda.  The Murderers' Mommy is a real winner.

"Speed bump."  Epitaph for a loser.

Yes, and most of the rest of the corrupt legislative agenda - all about power passing from a carefully and wonderfully designed republic to the mob.

odi profanum vulgus et arceo

Still sound sentiment.

I would be willing to support this approach, provided the airline does its bit and provides me a seat that is not meant for an underweight teenager.  I'm 6'1" and - at retirement weight - just over 200lbs, but I absolutely cannot get remotely comfortable in the cattle car seats that currently populate almost all airliners.  Fair's fair.

No worries; send them in - I am very often in the sound footprints of Langley AFB and NAS Oceana - I find the sound soothing.

Which probably means I am deaf.

And my appreciation of your work is very genuine (as is my admiration of the Air Force, of course)

Dave - may I heartily second the wish that you write more!  The reason I keep reading Ricochet is your moral and intelligent commentary on our poor, beleaguered country - written in unusually lively, good prose.

You provide a needed touchstone for reality - something largely lacking in many other websites dedicated to political discussions.

In your honor, I have even begun to refrain from making gratuitous comments on your former paramilitary organization, the Air Force.

One quibble about an earlier nomination: Jimmy Stewart almost always played himself - with the notable exception of the detective in Vertigo.  He managed to low key enough creepy fixation and general unhealthiness in the role as to make the character genuinely disturbing and repellant.  Very uncharacteristic role for him, though he tried to play something similar in a much older movie - one of the Thin Man series, in which his character seemed to be pure "Jimmy" but ended up being a nasty wacko.

Interesting discussion.

Dave - brilliant and elegant (but I repeat myself).  You just convinced me to keep reading Ricochet.

The article makes two valid points - the Russians don't understand the US, and US foreign policy is stupid.

The article is weak in that it implies the Russians are in some sense good faith actors, honestly suspecting the US of nefarious diplomacy.  In truth, the Russians are adroitly expanding into the vacuum left by deflating European powers, and political cardiac fibrillation and budget crises in the US.  The current US administration (political level) is determined to erase US standing as a superpower - Putin is smart and taking advantage of our resultant floundering.  In four years, he may make up a lot of ground, ground lost when the USSR assumed the role of squashed armadillo in history's highway.

US diplomacy is just partly stupid - there were some brilliant coups in the 20th century.  Unfortunately, the highest level of diplomatic policy making has been poorly prepared and/or incapable since Bush I went home (and he had issues).  At the career level, State has some of the very smartest, most capable people alive working for them - they do solid work, and are hardly ever recognized for it by the press or public or all-wise commentators.  

My dear sir - it is posts like this that give lie to the canard that you are a liberal squish. 

A bas la metrique!

30 of 33 - missed the decreased spending bit, and a couple of economic questions I did not read closely enough.  Economics has never been my strong suit - more  a history, literature, science, math guy.

I have got to get my daughters to take this...

dash - good one

Actually, there is a lot of misinformation about the sequester.  I can say accurately that the DoD cut is $56 billion dollars from the baseline working budget for FY13 - DoD does not actually have a budget, but is funded at the FY11 level by the Continuing Resolution  which expires on 27 March.  Voluntary administration budget cuts already amounted to several billion dollars for this year.

So - it is not, as some think, a cut in increased budget authority.  It is a real, deep, brutal cut.  When you exclude items which are not to be sequestered - i.e., military salaries and retirement - it is much, much worse.

Serious harm is about to be done to the best military on Earth - it will not be easy, or perhaps even possible, to undo it.  You may not like it, but this is the truth.

I have two beautiful Pickett slide rules, from my youth.  I think I still remember how to use them fairly well.  I have a couple of ancient typewriters - one from 1929 and another from from 1935, or so.  The 1935 beast is a portable, with an integral wooden case.  They work, though I have not used them in a while.

Most of my tools are hand tools, though I have modern ones, too.  I use film cameras, wear an analog, automatic watch, and ride old (1970s) bicycles.  Yes, I am a luddite.

I tend to the classic in my firearms, also.

I just like that stuff better - I can actually repair these things.