Jim Yardley

Zen, Galileo and Global Warming

Followers of Zen have a word that specifically describes a special event, a recognition of some profound truth or reality--satori. Satori is often described as a sudden awakening, and I recently experienced satori for myself.

How Effective is an “Oil Free Zone”?

Unless you have been living under a very large rock in the middle of the Mojave Desert, with no wifi and the battery in your lap top died about four years ago, you ought to have at least a passing knowledge of the concept of a “Gun Free Zone.”

Obama’s Malleable View of Constitutions

Checking to make sure that there was an easily understandable definition of the word, the dictionary defines Constitution as “the fundamental political principles on which a nation-state is governed, especially when considered as embodying the rights of the subjects of that nation-state and the statute embodying such principles.”

So Crimea and Ukraine are a Surprise? Really?

For some reason (and there must actually be one although what it actually might be eludes me), the government of the United States of America, in particular John Kerry’s State Department, the CIA, the NSA and for all anyone can tell, the Centers for Disease Control, were all caught by surprise by the Russian incursion into the Crimea.

The Perfect Explanation

As the Obama Administration continues to flounder about what should be their brilliant response to Vladimir Putin's invasion and de facto annexation of the Ukrainian province of Crimea, many of our fellow citizens wonder why the "smartest guy in the room" is having a hard time determining just how to react to these provocations.

Simony Makes a Comeback

Many heretics, er, global warming skeptics, have viewed the climate change herd as being a new incarnation of a religious cult. These fine folk believe what they believe without the benefit of logic, reason, evidence, and (if that’s not enough) they also believe in miracles.

Super Bowl or Super Taxes?

Well it’s Super Bowl Sunday, that annual homage to men who unwittingly risk brain damage just so they can earn a few million for themselves. Among the better informed among the players, it might simply be their own risk assessment of the chances of brain damage. Either way they face a serious risk.

What Hath Diversity Wrought

In thinking about diversity and immigration, the idea of establishing of immigration quotas based on a desire for diversity is insane.

Goals for 2016

Let me start by saying that I am not a Republican. But since the nation has been used to Democrats versus Republicans since about 1860, it’s hard to change their view of a two-party electoral system. Given the make-up of the current “leadership” in the Democrat Party such as Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Henry Waxman, the idea of even considering a Democrat for President in 2016 is unthinkable.

Living has Consequences

Elections have consequences. Really? Well, thank you so very much, Captain Obvious.

Someone is Going to Die

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or as it is more popularly known by everyone except the White House and Congressional and Senatorial Democrats threatened by the midterm elections that are on the horizon, ObamaCare has forced the cancellation of health insurance policies that protect the access to health care for at least six million Americans. Since there are no accurate numbers available as to how many of these cancelled policies are family-type plans, the real number of people who have lost their coverage is unknown.

Does John Kerry Really Meet This Requirement?

It might be a great idea for both future Republican and Democrat administrations (and any conceivable third party administrations as well) to name a retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to be our Secretary of State.

N.I.H.

No, N.I.H. doesn’t mean the National Institutes of Health, which is possibly a fine and valuable organization, but it’s not the identity that the initials N.I.H. was intended to convey.

A Modest Proposal for Reforming Health Insurance

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is a legislative title which provides three lies for the price of one, since it doesn’t protect patients, is not affordable and has no provision for improving or expanding patient care but only acts to limit patient care. As a bonus, it is also patently unworkable and as proof it is observably not working.

We Weren’t Affected

The response of a large plurality of Americans, if not an absolute majority to almost everything Barack Obama has done in the past five years can be summed up in a single phrase: It doesn't directly affect me, so I don’t care.

Nuclear Response to Harry Reid’s Nuclear Option

Harry Reid, the most loyal foot soldier of the Obama regime, has infamously executed the so-called nuclear option, destroying any vestige of comity and collegiality in the United States Senate. The Senate is now clearly and openly acting as the legislative arm of our thugocracy in the White House. And ol’ Harry thinks that the memory span of the average American voter is so short that by the time he runs for re-election in 2016 all may not be forgiven, but the majority of it will be forgotten.

Yeah, Barry, Words Really Do Matter

Remember the phrases "Change We Can Believe In" or "Hope and Change" along with the ever popular “Yes, We Can”? They were used quite effectively by the Barack Obama Snake Oil and Dream Factory Corporation in 2007-2008. Change, for Obama, was simply a synonym for Progress. And Progress, again for Obama, meant moving ahead to a changed human condition that was superior to the one which existed when his self-proclaimed exalted person appeared on the scene.

So You’re Offended, Are You?

Every day we see news stories in the main stream media reporting that activist atheists and non-religious groups, such as those involved in the LGBT community, attack any demonstration of religiosity. Catholic hospitals, schools or charitable organizations, for example, who employ anyone who is not a nun, priest or brother, are being forced to ignore their own religious doctrines and supply contraceptives and abortifacients as part of the health insurance that they offer to their lay employees under the mandates of ObamaCare.

Shrugging Off “White Guilt”

The RAR (Radical Agitation Racketeers) in conjunction with the Progressives in government at all levels, including local school districts, have been promoting the idea of "White Guilt". To be honest, I'm not too clear on what they think that they will accomplish beyond increasing the incomes of psychoanalysts in the Berkeley-San Francisco area and giving some sort of justification for black mob violence.

So the Democrats are Nervous, Are They?

Democrat members of the Senate who are facing re-election in 2014, and even some of those who are up for re-election in 2016, are in a cold-sweat panic that they will be held responsible for the disastrous roll-out of the ObamaCare website (or perhaps the failure of not having anything useful to roll-out).