Vasa, the other ship

Hasn't anything to do with the Kennedy years nor with folk songs that I know of but it is comparable to Obamacare, specifically the launching of Obamacare.

Linked by Instapundit to Wesley Smith at the Corner who in a sweeping epiphany realized the similarity between the launching of Obamacare debacle and the launching of the Swedish warship the Vasa in 1628. It sank within minutes of launching less than a mile from the dock. As soon as the first wind came up.

The problems and similarities, chiefly:
1.) top heavy
2.) insufficient ballast
3.) haste
  a) King Gustavus Adolphus wanted to join the Baltic fleet in 30 Years War
  b) subordinates lacked political courage to inform king of structural problems.
4.) inquiry
5.) nobody found culpable nobody punished

Wesley Smith says, "Perfect!"
A few commenters say not so perfect.

Imagine what a Swedish warship looks like. What do you picture?

"Dick Cheney's daughter eyes Senate bid in Wyoming"

"[Liz] Cheney, eldest daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, told Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi that "she's looking at" challenging him in a Republican primary next year, according to a New York Times story from this weekend."

Dick Cheney was Wyoming's lone congressman from 1979 to 1989, before becoming Defense secretary for George H.W. Bush and then Bush 43's vice president. The NYT story says Dick Cheney has been more visible in his home state since his daughter moved to Wyoming -- and that he and Enzi are fly-fishing buddies.

This is welcomed news, as a relief valve from the Hillary Inevitability run away train.

ADDED : While Hillary has to dress up like the Iron Lady, Liz Cheney acts like the Iron Lady.

  Soul Asylum - Runaway Train

Etiquette, Not a social con, SiteMeter, Weddings

Those are the tags that caught my eye this morning at an Althouse post titled ...

"Do I seem like a 'social con'?"

I never heard those two words together like that. Goggle took me to a story of fraud arrests of 58 people in connection to a Social Security Contract.

 

Althouse couldn't possibly be worried about Social Security. Is she?

 

So it must be something else... oh that's right.... I forgot.... we are not allowed to inquire directly.

 

 

No Comments from you.  

Althouse Street and corner of Arab Spring

"A Google Street view screen grab, mailed to me by a reader."

Says Althouse at a new post this afternoon.

I didn't think Althouse would subscribe to the idea that the best way to move forward was to go backwards first.

Shelter in Place until we figure out what we are dealing with!

Creepy Althouse lockdown.

The photo-op.

Its deja vu all over again.

Why Blog Crashes Have Become More Mundane

"Why Catastrophic Airline Crashes Have Become More Survivable."

"Over the many decades of commercial air travel, the airlines have learned more and more about why airplanes crash and how passengers survive."

 

"Ah! What we could do if we faced a sudden stark threat, as our ancestors did in evolutionary times! We inherited the capacities they needed then, but we've got so little use for them these days. We go to action movies and ride roller coasters or paraglide to activate the antiquated bodily systems. It's not that we're nostalgic for danger, but built into our depths, there's a need for something that — we in no conscious sense — desire."

 

Says Althouse at a new post this morning.

 

And we've found an unconscious way to feed that need with... competitive games.

 

Sports are a problem... the breed the Aaron Hernandez... women and kids looking up to these monsters.

 

Ban something already!... What, over the top?

 

I'm exaggerating I'm sure but ... oh well, this is just for me and my Neanderthal.

Bridge to Now-That-You _ Are-Not-Here

"After more than 40 years as the Bridge to Nowhere, it is brilliant news that this infamous landmark has finally been completed..."

"... and will serve as a vital link in Glasgow's network of walking and cycling routes."

"And yet, as a metaphor, it is no longer useful."

 

Says Althouse at a new post this morning

 

And yet, as a metaphor with regards to her dynamiting, road side bombing her blog, it is totally useful. Its useful because I'm here on the other side, w/o a direct connection, which she had built and tended to for years and decided to cut off with a seemingly careless haste.