Can inducing a stroke be the cure for liberalism?

Liberalism is a disease. It is an affliction that doesn’t happen by chance, it is the direct result of indoctrination via academia or some other external influence, generally in our youth. The good news is that much like some physical diseases such as asthma, we can simply outgrow it as we age. Thus we tend to see many younger liberals finally see the light and convert to conservatism later in life. Unfortunately, the bad news is that irreparable damage may have already occurred to our rights and the American way of life along the way.

I ask the question in the title of this post not out of curiosity for I have actually witnessed this phenomenon. Yes, it’s true! Well, sort of.

What I witnessed was not an induced stroke. It was a stroke that happened to a brother-in-law of mine due to years of heavy drug use. So in a way, it was induced, just not proactively as a cure for liberalism.

However, that’s just what the result seems to have been. My brother-in-law, let’s call him Lefty for purposes of this story, was a died-in-the-wool democrat for the many years I have known him. A union worker in the sheet metal trades, he was also a union steward. Lefty fit the standard description of a liberal democrat.

His American made cars always had some sort of barrage of bumper stickers promoting “buy union” or “buy American” alongside whatever democrat candidates were running for office. Of course, he’s been an advocate of all things Obama and refuses to watch Fox News. Needless to say, politics were avoided at all family functions as much as possible in order to avoid resurrecting the Hatfield-McCoy type of family division.

We also had to stick to the standard Ford-Chevy battles we here in the midwest have had ingrained in us for many a decade. Should you try to convince Lefty that the most American made car you can buy is a Toyota, he would launch into a tirade that I’m surprised never induced a stroke on the spot.

At any rate, Lefty suffered a heart attack some years ago that left his heart functioning at only 15% of its capacity. I didn’t believe anyone could survive such an event, but he did. He never worked again as he never fully recovered and remains today on long-term disability. Fortunately for Lefty, the union benefits package is substantial and he has managed to get along OK with relatively inexpensive drug costs and the like.

Some in the family speculate that Lefty returned to dabbling in drug use. To this day, I still don’t know if this is true, however, he had a stroke some 6 months ago which really surprised everyone as we thought he had put all of his health issues behind him.

This brings us to the amazing transformation. Lefty has recovered for the most part from the stroke. The doctors tell us it’s an on-going process due to the fact that he is rewiring his brain. He actually has an improved long-term memory now recalling things he had long forgotten. His short-term memory is not good at all. He has some problems with his peripheral vision but just last week was able to pass the test and resume driving.

By far the most astonishing change has been his politics. He is no longer a liberal. He’s like a little kid that just discovered some secret that no one else knows and can’t wait to tell everyone. Gone are all the bumper stickers. Now, he’ll never drive a Toyota, but that’s OK by me. We can now discuss such a wide variety of topics that were always off-limits before. He hasn’t seen the light on everything yet, but he’s well on his way.

Scientists tell us that the right part of the brain controls speech and emotions and the left side controls movement and logic. Clearly, that doesn’t equate to politics as the left is all based upon emotion and the right utilizes critical thinking. However, in the case of Lefty, the evidence shows that the brain can actually rewire itself and correct this small oversight the Good Lord apparently never saw coming.

Now, I would never want the liability to suggest that we should encourage all liberals to head down to their local pharmacy and see if they can purchase just such an inducement drug, but if they should happen to take it upon themselves to do so…well, you get the idea. Hey, you never know, it may even be covered under Obamacare!

Better batteries: New technology improves both energy capacity and charge rate in rechargeable batteries

A team of engineers has created an electrode for lithium-ion batteries — rechargeable batteries such as those found in cellphones and iPods — that allows the batteries to hold a charge up to 10 times greater than current technology. Batteries with the new electrode also can charge 10 times faster than current batteries.

Better batteries: New technology improves both energy capacity and charge rate in rechargeable batteries.

I say it can’t get here fast enough because my ‘smart’ phone battery life sucks!

Would you feel guilty buying a Volt?

So what do you think? Are you a buyer at $41,000 ($33,500 after rebate)? This is supposed to be the savior, at least for GM. It will be the 2011 Motor Trend car of the year. It will get an unprecedented advertising blitz. It will be subsidized by your fellow taxpayers to the tune of $7,500 per copy. I have to wonder, does that bother you at all if you’re a buyer? We all know how tough times are and the huge problem our debt and spending is causing. You could buy many different cars in the mid $30 grand range, either GM or not, so it’s not a buy American issue . For example, a Cadillac CTS starts at just over $35,000. They won’t put the taxpayers on the hook for your subsidy. I’m talking about someone who is already making a car purchase anyway. Does the feeling of being “green” offset the fact that you are increasing our debt to own this car?

Has the U.S. attack on Iran already begun?

James Bond, step aside. You’ve been punked by Stuxnet. Stuxnet is the computer malware that has been wreaking havoc around the globe. It is an extremely sophisticated, state sponsored cyber-warfare weapon. It is well beyond the scope of traditional hackers. It takes a well-funded, well-connected organization to pull something like this off. Stuxnet is not the norm. Usually, viruses and malware that make news headlines are over-hyped. This one is the opposite.

I’ll link to a place where you can read the details of Stuxnet if your interested later in this post. Suffice it to say, it’s very techno-geeky stuff. The bottom line is it worked and was, and still is, a significant setback to the Iranian nuclear enrichment program. As far as who was behind it, no one yet knows for sure. It has been speculated that it was a byproduct of the cyber war between China and India. Others say it carries the signature of Israel. And beyond that, it was the CIA that started it all using Israel as a state sponsored terrorist.

This would explain one thing. Many wonder why the U.S. has sat on its hands while Iran continues to near completion of obtaining a nuclear weapon despite dire warnings from around the globe. Perhaps the U.S. did develop the Stuxnet malware and utilize the Israeli’s to execute it. They would have known this was going to buy them significant time due to the setbacks in store for the Iranians. Ehud Barak of Israel has gone on record in June of 2009 as stating that we only had a window of 6-18 months in which to stop the Iranian nuclear enrichment program. After that, there would be unacceptable collateral damage from an attack on Iran. Well, next month is the outside of that window. Perhaps, he gave such a wide window based on the knowledge that the Stuxnet malware operation was underway with an unknown execution date.

Best Bond gadgets

This video runs down some of the best tech inventions from 007 over the years. What’s weird is it looks like real life is reverse engineering tech gadgets from the movies.

B-2 bomber unveiled on this date

The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber was finally unveiled publicly on this date in 1988 in Palmdale, CA. This was a rare case in which the Air Force publicly displayed a top-secret airplane before it had ever even flown a test flight. That didn’t happen until July of 1989. $40 billion was spent on development and each plane carries a price tag exceeding $1 billion. 132 were originally ordered, but they only made 21 in total and 20 remain after one crashed and burned. Here is what was left of that one.