....about "education" in two easy graphs.
And why the State, its commands, minions, armies, and regulations, are to be resisted.
HT: PowerLine
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Global Warming = "Extinct" Critters = Mythology by Science
Well.
Seems that the "scientists" are--once again--not all that "scientific."
Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said.
A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.
Unfortunately, Progressives are not yet extinct.
Seems that the "scientists" are--once again--not all that "scientific."
Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said.
A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.
Unfortunately, Progressives are not yet extinct.
Chase Stops Foreclosures, for Good Reason
Ticker picked up a noteworthy item.
Secretary Brunner, in two letters dated 8/11 and 9/1/2010 referred matters of alleged notary abuse in thousands of home mortgage foreclosures by Chase Home Mortgage and the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. to U.S. District Attorney Steven Dettelbach in Cleveland.
Woopsie! That might have an impact on bonus, eh?
Secretary Brunner, in two letters dated 8/11 and 9/1/2010 referred matters of alleged notary abuse in thousands of home mortgage foreclosures by Chase Home Mortgage and the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. to U.S. District Attorney Steven Dettelbach in Cleveland.
Woopsie! That might have an impact on bonus, eh?
"Stimulated" Economy: +1.7%. Wow.
Not only did Porkulus run up the national debt AFTER the recession ended (in the estimation of the official measuring-bunch NBER), it hasn't done jack since.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of the economy's health -- expanded at a feeble 1.7 percent annual rate in the April-to-June quarter.
Yes, 1Q was better than 2Q.
...it marks a sharp slowdown from a 3.7 percent growth rate logged in the first quarter.
But 3Q is certainly not much (if any) better than 2Q.
Tennessee Ernie was a propet: another day older and deeper in debt...I owe my soul to the PRC store...
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of the economy's health -- expanded at a feeble 1.7 percent annual rate in the April-to-June quarter.
Yes, 1Q was better than 2Q.
...it marks a sharp slowdown from a 3.7 percent growth rate logged in the first quarter.
But 3Q is certainly not much (if any) better than 2Q.
Tennessee Ernie was a propet: another day older and deeper in debt...I owe my soul to the PRC store...
Released by Sankovitz, Going Back to Prison
Oh, well. Maybe the judge will learn something.
Keith Kalota, a paranoid schizophrenic who in 1987 stabbed to death his wife and two small children at their Milwaukee home, was back in custody Thursday, accused of violating the terms of his conditional release by attacking a woman.
...He was found not guilty by reason by of mental disease and confined to Mendota Mental Health Institute in November 1987. He was granted conditional release by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz in November 2003.
At least it's not another coroner call.
Keith Kalota, a paranoid schizophrenic who in 1987 stabbed to death his wife and two small children at their Milwaukee home, was back in custody Thursday, accused of violating the terms of his conditional release by attacking a woman.
...He was found not guilty by reason by of mental disease and confined to Mendota Mental Health Institute in November 1987. He was granted conditional release by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz in November 2003.
At least it's not another coroner call.
Everything You Need to Know About Marriage
Bayou points out a "point-system" to help men with their marriages.
I'm sure it will be helpful.
Example:
HOUSEHOLD CHORES
You make the bed (+1)
You make the bed, but forget the matching useless pillow shams (-1)
You cover the rumpled sheets with that nice tarp you brought Bambi home in so the blood stains will dry out (-100)
See? Simple!!
I'm sure it will be helpful.
Example:
HOUSEHOLD CHORES
You make the bed (+1)
You make the bed, but forget the matching useless pillow shams (-1)
You cover the rumpled sheets with that nice tarp you brought Bambi home in so the blood stains will dry out (-100)
See? Simple!!
Natural Law Killed by Evolution
Benedict XVI:
The idea of the natural law presupposed a concept of nature in which nature and reason overlap, since nature itself is rational. With the victory of the theory of evolution, this view of nature has capsized: nowadays, we think that nature as such is not rational, even if there is rational behavior in nature.
Explicated a bit, we have this:
For Ratzinger, the same-sex marriage onslaught does not originate in the sexual revolution of the 1960s. It lies deeper in modernity’s rejection of the logos – the meaning of being – in the world, from which morality and the truth about human nature derive. Darwin’s theory of evolution, or at least some readings of it, is a definitive break from the logos of creation. It asserts that our behavior does not follow logically from a created order, which is the essence of the natural law, but is the result of instincts whose origins stem from mere chance. Nature and human instincts are products of random, irrational occurrences, and therefore no universal law, rule, or moral principle can originate from them.
Not real hard to fine Freud and Jung there, either.
Not ALL readings of 'evolution theory' go that far, of course; but separating nature from reason is indefensible.
The idea of the natural law presupposed a concept of nature in which nature and reason overlap, since nature itself is rational. With the victory of the theory of evolution, this view of nature has capsized: nowadays, we think that nature as such is not rational, even if there is rational behavior in nature.
Explicated a bit, we have this:
For Ratzinger, the same-sex marriage onslaught does not originate in the sexual revolution of the 1960s. It lies deeper in modernity’s rejection of the logos – the meaning of being – in the world, from which morality and the truth about human nature derive. Darwin’s theory of evolution, or at least some readings of it, is a definitive break from the logos of creation. It asserts that our behavior does not follow logically from a created order, which is the essence of the natural law, but is the result of instincts whose origins stem from mere chance. Nature and human instincts are products of random, irrational occurrences, and therefore no universal law, rule, or moral principle can originate from them.
Not real hard to fine Freud and Jung there, either.
Not ALL readings of 'evolution theory' go that far, of course; but separating nature from reason is indefensible.
Should Des Moines Catholic High School Be Happy?
The first graf tells the story, almost:
President Barack Obama chose the backyard of a Catholic Des Moines family Sept. 29 to talk about issues ranging from the economy and taxes to education, poverty and health care.
That's a bit misleading. The "Catholic Des Moines family" OFFERED their backyard to B. Hussein Partial-Birth-Abortion Enabler, and he accepted their offer.
The family's head, by the way, teaches "social studies" at the Des Moines Catholic HS.
President Barack Obama chose the backyard of a Catholic Des Moines family Sept. 29 to talk about issues ranging from the economy and taxes to education, poverty and health care.
That's a bit misleading. The "Catholic Des Moines family" OFFERED their backyard to B. Hussein Partial-Birth-Abortion Enabler, and he accepted their offer.
The family's head, by the way, teaches "social studies" at the Des Moines Catholic HS.
More (!!) Fed Regulatory Costs
You're a local taxpayer? The Feds are going to cost you more money.
The federal government is forcing states and municipalities to change the lettering on street signs from all CAPS to initial Caps because it supposedly is easier for motorists to read, and therefore will save milliseconds of driver attention which might, I repeat, MIGHT, save lives.
For NYC, this is about $27 million in costs.
That Maine (R) candidate has the right answer:
HT: Insurrection
The federal government is forcing states and municipalities to change the lettering on street signs from all CAPS to initial Caps because it supposedly is easier for motorists to read, and therefore will save milliseconds of driver attention which might, I repeat, MIGHT, save lives.
For NYC, this is about $27 million in costs.
That Maine (R) candidate has the right answer:
Go to Hell!
HT: Insurrection
PPPA Likes Barrett. Strange, Eh?
P-Mac notes that the Barrett Administration has a serious cop-safety issue.
The city has been trying through all of Barrett's term to switch to a digital system called OpenSky. Millions of dollars over budget, it was supposed to be done by 2005 but went operational only this year. Maybe.
The city has been trying through all of Barrett's term to switch to a digital system called OpenSky. Millions of dollars over budget, it was supposed to be done by 2005 but went operational only this year. Maybe.
Police union head Mike Crivello says he's still hearing from officers that the system isn't working right. Police find places the radios won't work - notably, schools. They can hear but can't be heard. Calls are garbled. Fundamentally, says Crivello, they're unsure that when they press the button, they'll reach someone.
At the same time, the PPPA (Professional Police Ass'n) is running ads supporting Barrett in upstate media markets.
Well. The radio-failure problem affects cops, yes; if they can't communicate with other units and/or dispatch, they are at risk of life and limb. But at least the cops are armed and capable of some self-defense.
Not so if you're a law-abiding member of the public; you cannot carry a concealed weapon. So when the cops do NOT get your call-for-service due to a radio problem which Barrett simply will not act upon, you, your wife, and your children are at great risk.
Evidently PPPA doesn't really give a rotten damn about "public" safety.
Maybe PPPA can explain that--but the term "craven" doesn't really do justice to the action.
The Tax Increase: Kagen, Moore, and Baldwin Favor
Extending the Bush tax cuts is a good idea, for at least one more year.
But Kagen, Moore, Baldwin, and Obey don't care...
Just a reminder: for the lowest income bracket, Fed income tax will jump from 10% to 15%, and the "marriage deduction" will disappear, meaning that married-filing-jointly couples will see TWO tax increases, both in rate AND in taxable income.
And that's just one of the prizes in theCrackerJack Crack-Your-Back box.
Make your own voting decision...
HT: Egelhoff
But Kagen, Moore, Baldwin, and Obey don't care...
Just a reminder: for the lowest income bracket, Fed income tax will jump from 10% to 15%, and the "marriage deduction" will disappear, meaning that married-filing-jointly couples will see TWO tax increases, both in rate AND in taxable income.
And that's just one of the prizes in the
Make your own voting decision...
HT: Egelhoff
ObamaCare KO's MickeyD Health Plan
Owen caught a big one here.
While many restaurants don’t offer health coverage, McDonald’s provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.
Smooth move, Mr President.
While many restaurants don’t offer health coverage, McDonald’s provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.
Last week, a senior McDonald’s official informed the Department of Health and Human Services that the restaurant chain’s insurer won’t meet a 2011 requirement to spend at least 80% to 85% of its premium revenue on medical care.
From the excerpt, it appears as though McDonald's is trying to get the law changed rather than dumping its employees to the curb--which is what ObamaCare seems to require.Smooth move, Mr President.
Right Sentiment, Briefly Expressed
Apparently this is causing quite a stir in the little-girl-like ranks of the MSM:
Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage told a group of fishermen at a GOP forum that he won't be afraid to tell President Barack Obama to "go to hell."
Direct, to the point, and the correct sentiments.
He's running in Maine.
HT: AOSHQ
Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage told a group of fishermen at a GOP forum that he won't be afraid to tell President Barack Obama to "go to hell."
Direct, to the point, and the correct sentiments.
He's running in Maine.
HT: AOSHQ
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Clinton, Bush Screwed DoD on Rare Earths; Turtles, Too!!
When PRChina interests helped Bill Clinton secure the nomination for President, there was an expectation of payback.
Bet you never thought that GWBush would co-operate, did you?
Now PRChina has reduced rare-earth exports by seventy-two percent, and DoD is screwed for supplies of minerals required for tanks, choppers, and smart bombs.
Citing national-security concerns, two Democratic lawmakers are engaged in a last-ditch effort to halt plans for the transfer of an Indiana factory that produces critical technology used in the guidance systems of U.S. "smart bombs" to the People's Republic of China.
...The two lawmakers reportedly received no response from letters sent to President Bush on March 6 and May1.
Going back a bit further, we find Clinton.
In 1995, Beijing San Huan New Material High-Tech Inc. and China National Non-Ferrous Metals Import & Export Corporation partnered with investment firm the Sextant Group Inc. to acquire Magnequench and established the new entity as Magnequench International Inc.
Fast forward to today. Bloomberg reports:
...A generation after Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made mastering neodymium and 16 other elements known as rare earths a priority, China dominates the market, with far-reaching effects ranging from global trade friction to U.S. job losses and threats to national security.
...U.S. suppliers use the obscure but essential substances -- including those that silence the whoosh of Boeing Co. helicopter blades, direct Raytheon Co. missiles and target guns in General Dynamics Corp. tanks.
Nothing important.
The turtle-infested plant in California will re-open--in 2012. Kinda makes J-I-T a challenge if you're building a smart bomb in 2010.
Thanks, Rumsfeld and Bush. Thanks, Bill Clinton!
We hope you sleep well.
Bet you never thought that GWBush would co-operate, did you?
Now PRChina has reduced rare-earth exports by seventy-two percent, and DoD is screwed for supplies of minerals required for tanks, choppers, and smart bombs.
Citing national-security concerns, two Democratic lawmakers are engaged in a last-ditch effort to halt plans for the transfer of an Indiana factory that produces critical technology used in the guidance systems of U.S. "smart bombs" to the People's Republic of China.
...The two lawmakers reportedly received no response from letters sent to President Bush on March 6 and May1.
Two letters sent to Treasury Secretary John Snow (on May 20 and June 5) received a response turning down a request from the congressman for a meeting. Several phone calls also have received no response.
That was the Bush foulup.Going back a bit further, we find Clinton.
In 1995, Beijing San Huan New Material High-Tech Inc. and China National Non-Ferrous Metals Import & Export Corporation partnered with investment firm the Sextant Group Inc. to acquire Magnequench and established the new entity as Magnequench International Inc.
Magnequench, a high-tech company created in 1986 by General Motors, pioneered the development and production of sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) – magnets used in the guidance system of "smart bombs."
The 1995 sale required approval from the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S., or CFIUS. The CFIUS is an inter-agency committee chaired by the secretary of treasury, tasked with conducting reviews of foreign acquisitions that might threaten national security.
"Concerns raised by American officials about what they considered a clear case of the PRC attempting to obtain control of vital U.S. weapons technology were shot down, and CFIUS permitted the buyout," reported Insight magazine and WND.
Oh, yes, we used to have a rare-earth mine in the US. It was shut down, and you'll LOVE the reason:
In terms of the raw materials used to make the permanent magnets, the country's foremost supplier (80 percent) of rare earth materials (Molycorp) went bankrupt in 1998 and shut down after spending millions to remake its mining facilities following Bureau of Land Management complaints that it was endangering the desert-tortoise environment.Fast forward to today. Bloomberg reports:
...A generation after Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made mastering neodymium and 16 other elements known as rare earths a priority, China dominates the market, with far-reaching effects ranging from global trade friction to U.S. job losses and threats to national security.
The U.S. handed its main economic rival power to dictate access to these building blocks of modern weapons by ceding control of prices and supply, according to dozens of interviews with industry executives, congressional leaders and policy experts. China in July reduced rare-earth export quotas for the rest of the year by 72 percent, sending prices up more than sixfold for some elements.
Who uses this stuff? You won't be happy to know......U.S. suppliers use the obscure but essential substances -- including those that silence the whoosh of Boeing Co. helicopter blades, direct Raytheon Co. missiles and target guns in General Dynamics Corp. tanks.
Nothing important.
The turtle-infested plant in California will re-open--in 2012. Kinda makes J-I-T a challenge if you're building a smart bomb in 2010.
Thanks, Rumsfeld and Bush. Thanks, Bill Clinton!
We hope you sleep well.
Obama Knew Every Chicago Rabblerouser
Every rabblerouser, and some of them have very strange connections, indeed.
Seems that Mr Abudayyeh is a person of interest who runs the Arab American Action Network.
Chicago activist Thomas Burke said he was served a grand jury subpoena that requested records of any payments to Abudayyeh or his group. "The warrants are seeking evidence in support of an ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into activities concerning the material support of terrorism,"....
So what?
The Arab American Action Network was founded by former PLO operative and close Obama family friend Rashid Khalidi. Obama was a director of the Woods Fund from 1994 through 2001, when the board approved a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network.
So. Obama is tight with Khalidi, who founds AAAN, gets funding from Obama, and turns it over to Abudayyeh, whose close connex to terror groups gets current AAAN supporters a visit from the FBI.
HT: MoonBattery
Seems that Mr Abudayyeh is a person of interest who runs the Arab American Action Network.
Chicago activist Thomas Burke said he was served a grand jury subpoena that requested records of any payments to Abudayyeh or his group. "The warrants are seeking evidence in support of an ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into activities concerning the material support of terrorism,"....
So what?
The Arab American Action Network was founded by former PLO operative and close Obama family friend Rashid Khalidi. Obama was a director of the Woods Fund from 1994 through 2001, when the board approved a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network.
So. Obama is tight with Khalidi, who founds AAAN, gets funding from Obama, and turns it over to Abudayyeh, whose close connex to terror groups gets current AAAN supporters a visit from the FBI.
HT: MoonBattery
Notice Something Here?
A pal who does a lot of image and image-net stuff points to this photo:
HERE
...and suggests that the girl in the lower-left-hand corner has a peculiar "halo" where her waist meets the hip of the man to her left.
HERE
...and suggests that the girl in the lower-left-hand corner has a peculiar "halo" where her waist meets the hip of the man to her left.
"We Make Money the Old-Fashoined Way...."
Well, somehow or other...
A federal judge has ordered U.S. Bancorp to pay $53.2 million for infringing a patent held by Plano, Texas-based DataTreasury Corp.
They're not the only ones.
DataTreasury spokesman Eric Wetzel said Wells Fargo & Co., which has a sizable presence in Wisconsin, and dozens of other banks have settled for undisclosed amounts and agreed to license the technology since the first suits were filed in 2002.
HT: BizJournal
A federal judge has ordered U.S. Bancorp to pay $53.2 million for infringing a patent held by Plano, Texas-based DataTreasury Corp.
They're not the only ones.
DataTreasury spokesman Eric Wetzel said Wells Fargo & Co., which has a sizable presence in Wisconsin, and dozens of other banks have settled for undisclosed amounts and agreed to license the technology since the first suits were filed in 2002.
"Bank of America and the other defendants set for trial in October need to take notice because this decision by the court could set potential damages in that case somewhere between $2 [billion] and 3 billion dollars," he said.
An appeal is planned.HT: BizJournal
Finally! Muslims for Free Speech!
Nope, that's not sarcasm nor irony.
We, the undersigned, unconditionally condemn any intimidation or threats of violence directed against any individual or group exercising the rights of freedom of religion and speech; even when that speech may be perceived as hurtful or reprehensible.
Good show.
HT: Mihi Aquam
We, the undersigned, unconditionally condemn any intimidation or threats of violence directed against any individual or group exercising the rights of freedom of religion and speech; even when that speech may be perceived as hurtful or reprehensible.
We are concerned and saddened by the recent wave of vitriolic anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiment that is being expressed across our nation.
We are even more concerned and saddened by threats that have been made against individual writers, cartoonists, and others by a minority of Muslims. We see these as a greater offense against Islam than any cartoon, Qur’an burning, or other speech could ever be deemed.
We affirm the right of free speech for Molly Norris, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and all others including ourselves.
There follow a number of cites from the Koran supporting the declaration, and the signatories.Good show.
HT: Mihi Aquam
How to Fix Wisconsin's Economic Malaise
Long, long essay, but the takeaway is this:
Refocus Wisconsin calls for three initiatives — first, creating a new economic development initiative through a “charter model,” which is “an independent, private-sector-driven organization held to accountability standards for achieving public goals” — for instance, charter schools. “This could be called a public/private partnership, as Forward Wisconsin was in the 1980s. That underfunded partnership model in Wisconsin ended in 2005, when the state Department of Commerce took it over. In the charter structure, the governor would be the chief salesperson — but not the engineer building the model.” The other two proposed creations are a $1 billion five-year Wisconsin Idea Fund similar to Ohio’s Third Frontier, and a “pro-growth, pro-reform political dialogue” modeled on Bill Clinton’s Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute, as well as conservative institutions like the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
Not bad at all.
Refocus Wisconsin calls for three initiatives — first, creating a new economic development initiative through a “charter model,” which is “an independent, private-sector-driven organization held to accountability standards for achieving public goals” — for instance, charter schools. “This could be called a public/private partnership, as Forward Wisconsin was in the 1980s. That underfunded partnership model in Wisconsin ended in 2005, when the state Department of Commerce took it over. In the charter structure, the governor would be the chief salesperson — but not the engineer building the model.” The other two proposed creations are a $1 billion five-year Wisconsin Idea Fund similar to Ohio’s Third Frontier, and a “pro-growth, pro-reform political dialogue” modeled on Bill Clinton’s Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute, as well as conservative institutions like the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
Not bad at all.
Give the Regime a (D) Congress and....
Obama's own words in Rolling Stone, describing his next-Congress priorities (assuming continuing D control):
Everybody out there has to be thinking about what’s at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change
Although his word is not really good for anything, it should serve as a warning.
Vote Democrat and shut down electricity!
HT: Zero
Everybody out there has to be thinking about what’s at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change
Although his word is not really good for anything, it should serve as a warning.
Vote Democrat and shut down electricity!
HT: Zero
Those Public Employee Pensions? Ruh-Roh
Ticker uses material from someone he really does NOT like: Gross of PIMCO.
One of Gross' observations that should be a big red flag (repeat: BIG RED FLAG):
Investors are faced with 2.5% yielding bonds and stocks staring straight into new normal real growth rates of 2% or less. There is no 8% there for pension funds. There are no stocks for the long run at 12% returns.
So....
Looks as though public-employee pension funds (and for that matter, private-employee funds--the "fixed payment" pensions) which made promises based on 'normal' 6%++ returns (or worse, 7%++ "normal" returns) may be in trouble.
Ugh.
One of Gross' observations that should be a big red flag (repeat: BIG RED FLAG):
Investors are faced with 2.5% yielding bonds and stocks staring straight into new normal real growth rates of 2% or less. There is no 8% there for pension funds. There are no stocks for the long run at 12% returns.
So....
Looks as though public-employee pension funds (and for that matter, private-employee funds--the "fixed payment" pensions) which made promises based on 'normal' 6%++ returns (or worse, 7%++ "normal" returns) may be in trouble.
Ugh.
Can the US Really "Absorb" a Terror Attack?
The Captain says that Obama is flat wrong in his assertion that the US can 'absorb and recover from' a terror attack--given that the terrorists actually know WHAT to attack.
On any given day with the right timing, several well trained, dedicated, well armed fighters would be able to force their way on to utility property, fire missiles or lay explosives at the transformer, destroy it, and perhaps even go to the next given the security for coal plants. Next in line along the transmission system are other important transformers, not as important as the main step up transformers, but still important, that would also be vulnerable to attack. With the transmission system in chaos and completely isolated due to protective relaying, and with the coal units that supply the majority of the electricity to the nation incapable of providing that power for years due to the wait for step up transformers, whole cites, heavy industry, and homes and businesses would be left in the dark for a protracted period of time, all over the nation.
Hmmmmmm.
Don't get excited. The terrorists already know all about the above possibility.
On any given day with the right timing, several well trained, dedicated, well armed fighters would be able to force their way on to utility property, fire missiles or lay explosives at the transformer, destroy it, and perhaps even go to the next given the security for coal plants. Next in line along the transmission system are other important transformers, not as important as the main step up transformers, but still important, that would also be vulnerable to attack. With the transmission system in chaos and completely isolated due to protective relaying, and with the coal units that supply the majority of the electricity to the nation incapable of providing that power for years due to the wait for step up transformers, whole cites, heavy industry, and homes and businesses would be left in the dark for a protracted period of time, all over the nation.
Hmmmmmm.
Don't get excited. The terrorists already know all about the above possibility.
Tommy Barrett's "Gun Research"
You recall that Tommy Barrett belongs to "Mayors Against Illegal Guns"--an organization which is as confused as its name.
They released a "report" on "illegal guns"!
One of their allegations is that "49% of crime guns trace to only 10 States."
Oh, wow! How Awful!
Except, as Arms/Law learned, those 10 States happen to have (ta-da), 52% of the US population.
Some things are not coincidence.
And some 'reports' are just crap.
They released a "report" on "illegal guns"!
One of their allegations is that "49% of crime guns trace to only 10 States."
Oh, wow! How Awful!
Except, as Arms/Law learned, those 10 States happen to have (ta-da), 52% of the US population.
Some things are not coincidence.
And some 'reports' are just crap.
Unforced Errors?
Hennessey is a cool-hand observer. He's an ex-Bushie aide, very smart, maintained respectability, and asks whether the blue-team is making 'unforced errors' in the campaign.
Here's one example he gives:
In my experience, Republicans like to debate taxes more than almost anything else, especially before an election. I don’t understand why the President chose to elevate a tax fight to the #1 issue in this electoral cycle. If the 2010 elections are about economics, wouldn’t the blue team instead have been advantaged by a sustained fight over education spending or a partisan split over “Wall Street fat cats vs. real Americans”?
Well, that's easy. B. Hussein actually believes his ownbullshit ideology and thinks that the 26,700 people who showed up in Madistan are representative of the electorate in the not-10-square-miles-of-Madison.
IOW, it's hubris.
Here's one example he gives:
In my experience, Republicans like to debate taxes more than almost anything else, especially before an election. I don’t understand why the President chose to elevate a tax fight to the #1 issue in this electoral cycle. If the 2010 elections are about economics, wouldn’t the blue team instead have been advantaged by a sustained fight over education spending or a partisan split over “Wall Street fat cats vs. real Americans”?
Well, that's easy. B. Hussein actually believes his own
IOW, it's hubris.
Will Reid/Pelosi Ban ACORN Funding?
Although ACORN's taxpayer funding was cut off earlier this year, the ban expires Thursday.
That's tomorrow, people.
Yesterday it was reported that:
...federal investigators are recommending that government funding for ACORN's still operating housing affiliate be cut off immediately. In a recently completed probe, the inspector general for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that ACORN Housing (now renamed Affordable Housing Centers of America) appeared to have committed massive fraud against the taxpayers of the United States.
The Democrats, willing and culpable allies of ACORN fraudsters, don't seem to have an agenda item renewing the ban.
There's a reason, of course. Pelosi didn't even pass a BUDGET for the fiscal year beginning 10/1/10 and the old ban was for the LAST budget.
Birds, feathers, yadayada..."massive fraud" is not limited to ACORN. It's the Democrat Congress, too.
HT: AmSpec
That's tomorrow, people.
Yesterday it was reported that:
...federal investigators are recommending that government funding for ACORN's still operating housing affiliate be cut off immediately. In a recently completed probe, the inspector general for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that ACORN Housing (now renamed Affordable Housing Centers of America) appeared to have committed massive fraud against the taxpayers of the United States.
The Democrats, willing and culpable allies of ACORN fraudsters, don't seem to have an agenda item renewing the ban.
There's a reason, of course. Pelosi didn't even pass a BUDGET for the fiscal year beginning 10/1/10 and the old ban was for the LAST budget.
Birds, feathers, yadayada..."massive fraud" is not limited to ACORN. It's the Democrat Congress, too.
HT: AmSpec
Regulation and Taxes
We can't really say it often enough. You want to know why PRChina is stealing US economic activity?
According to a Small Business Administration report titled “The Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms,” the total cost of complying with federal regulations is $1.1 trillion a year as of 2004. That’s more than $10,000 per household. The cost of regulatory compliance was just $7,000 in 1995 — up 30 percent in less than a decade.
That was in the good old days--6 years ago.
Stipulating another 25% add in costs since 2004 would be safe--unless you're a small business, in which case it would be a choking hazard.
HT: AmSpec
According to a Small Business Administration report titled “The Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms,” the total cost of complying with federal regulations is $1.1 trillion a year as of 2004. That’s more than $10,000 per household. The cost of regulatory compliance was just $7,000 in 1995 — up 30 percent in less than a decade.
That was in the good old days--6 years ago.
Stipulating another 25% add in costs since 2004 would be safe--unless you're a small business, in which case it would be a choking hazard.
HT: AmSpec
Poverty in Milwaukee: The Barrett/Norquist Legacy
Skip all the foofoodust from Barrett (and even Walker, if you don't like him.)
Go to these grafs:
Marc Levine, executive director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said the latest census data reflect the city's lack of job growth.
Yah, that worked. /sarcasm
Go to these grafs:
Marc Levine, executive director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said the latest census data reflect the city's lack of job growth.
"Our analysis of employment data shows that Milwaukee has had among the worst job creation records of any big city in the U.S. for over a decade, so it is not surprising that poverty numbers have worsened, especially during the worst recession since the Great Depression," Levine said.
Ten years. Two Lefty Democrats (and Lefty Common Councils).Yah, that worked. /sarcasm
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
'Net Security or 'Net Command/Control?
Back to the Good Old Days of "Patriot Act" raw-power statism.
An amalgamated cybersecurity bill that lawmakers hope to pass before the end of the year includes new powers which would allow President Obama to shut down not only entire areas of the Internet, but also businesses and industries that fail to comply with government orders following the declaration of a national emergency – increasing fears that the legislation will be abused as a political tool.
Nothing can go wrong.
An amalgamated cybersecurity bill that lawmakers hope to pass before the end of the year includes new powers which would allow President Obama to shut down not only entire areas of the Internet, but also businesses and industries that fail to comply with government orders following the declaration of a national emergency – increasing fears that the legislation will be abused as a political tool.
Nothing can go wrong.
So What Makes Louvain Such a Good Place?
I've always heard mixed reviews of Louvain-as-a-seminary. Abp. Dolan loves it, others (well-informed) have their doubts.
[Edited per combox remark] The College is fooey. The sem looks better (see combox).
...Among other errors, the Kyrie consisted only of the words “Kyrie eleison,” without the words “Christe eleison” ever being sung. The Gloria did not use the correct words, and for the Sanctus, we actually sang the first verse of the English hymn Holy, Holy, Holy!
...A disregard for the rubrics, as witnessed at this Mass, greatly hampers our ability to worship as one; rather than celebrating together the Roman Rite with its proper rhythm, gestures, and music, we had a kind of Flemish-Roman hybrid Mass.
And not even that; one cannot replace the Sanctus with another hymn.
[Edited per combox remark] The College is fooey. The sem looks better (see combox).
...Among other errors, the Kyrie consisted only of the words “Kyrie eleison,” without the words “Christe eleison” ever being sung. The Gloria did not use the correct words, and for the Sanctus, we actually sang the first verse of the English hymn Holy, Holy, Holy!
...A disregard for the rubrics, as witnessed at this Mass, greatly hampers our ability to worship as one; rather than celebrating together the Roman Rite with its proper rhythm, gestures, and music, we had a kind of Flemish-Roman hybrid Mass.
And not even that; one cannot replace the Sanctus with another hymn.
The Stuxnet Worm: Weaponized 'Net?, Part Two
Apparently Stuxnet DID 'weaponize the 'net,' and the target was Iran. Iran is now learning that mutating viruses are very, very, very difficult to control and/or eliminate. They may have to buy a couple of (hundred? thousand?) new computers for their nuclear program.
Hold your sniffles...
Goldman tells us that this isn't the first time....
The first documented large-scale cyber attack produced one of America’s most stunning covert victories of the Cold War. In mid-1982, a Siberian natural gas pumping station exploded with the force of three kilotons of TNT.
Seems that the Russkis stole the software from a Canadian firm. Too bad we knew about the theft in advance and a couple of subroutines were, ........ahhhh.........modified.
Hold your sniffles...
Goldman tells us that this isn't the first time....
The first documented large-scale cyber attack produced one of America’s most stunning covert victories of the Cold War. In mid-1982, a Siberian natural gas pumping station exploded with the force of three kilotons of TNT.
Seems that the Russkis stole the software from a Canadian firm. Too bad we knew about the theft in advance and a couple of subroutines were, ........ahhhh.........modified.
Even MORE SEIU Newsmaking!
Houston has a problem, the Commies of Chicago and Minneapolis are subject to rectal exams of their papers, the Barrett campaign has collaborators in the press (!!!).
That was all last week's news.
Now this:
People interviewed by federal agents report the FBI and the Labor Department are investigating prominent labor leader Andy Stern as part of a corruption probe involving the Service Employees International Union.
All co-incidence, of course.
HT: Zippers
That was all last week's news.
Now this:
People interviewed by federal agents report the FBI and the Labor Department are investigating prominent labor leader Andy Stern as part of a corruption probe involving the Service Employees International Union.
All co-incidence, of course.
HT: Zippers
The Genesis of the TEA Party Insurgency
Interesting theory here, with a lot of weight. It favors the Tim Carney Theory--that Big Biz is NOT in opposition to Big Government, but an ally, albeit sometimes semi-willing.
...The American government has become a gigantic regulatory juggernaut. It decides the fate of individuals, businesses, whole industries, and entire regions. A few lines in a statute, or a paragraph in one of the many administrative codes that enmesh our productive lives, can mean wealth or ruin. This is a huge, unchecked, and increasingly unaccountable power. Where there is such power, as our Founders knew, it will be abused. Picking better people won’t solve the problem, because where such power exists, it will corrupt the people who have access to it. This is a political law almost as universal as those of Newton and Maxwell in the realm of physical phenomena. A regulatory state this powerful will necessarily be corrupting, venal, and suffocating.
The guy doesn't even bother to mention Wisconsin--or any other of the several States.
The most powerful force drives the leviathan-state: rational self-interest. The self-interest of the politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists and their employers (mostly businesses), drives this vampire-leviathan to grow more and more powerful, to consume more and more of the assets and energy of the American people, to became the only path to wealth and status and independence. Americans who once would have sought to invent and create and innovate, to seek wealth and status and self-fulfillment in private enterprise, are driven instead to become courtiers and lackeys and wire-pullers.
Drivers include Santelli (the immediate cause), and include:
There are appear to be three factors that have caused the rise of the Insurgency now, and the particular form it is taking: 1) technology, 2) a new, heightened awareness of the problem, and 3) the shock of the current crisis.
The reason that the Statism was successful is simple, and has been voiced countless times.
...each individual person in society—all of whose members bear the burden of this system—only personally suffers a small cost from each new inefficiency, new regulation, each new complication in the tax code.
Diffused costs, focused benefits. Simple.
Page Two tomorrow.
HT: McCain & Co.
...The American government has become a gigantic regulatory juggernaut. It decides the fate of individuals, businesses, whole industries, and entire regions. A few lines in a statute, or a paragraph in one of the many administrative codes that enmesh our productive lives, can mean wealth or ruin. This is a huge, unchecked, and increasingly unaccountable power. Where there is such power, as our Founders knew, it will be abused. Picking better people won’t solve the problem, because where such power exists, it will corrupt the people who have access to it. This is a political law almost as universal as those of Newton and Maxwell in the realm of physical phenomena. A regulatory state this powerful will necessarily be corrupting, venal, and suffocating.
The guy doesn't even bother to mention Wisconsin--or any other of the several States.
The most powerful force drives the leviathan-state: rational self-interest. The self-interest of the politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists and their employers (mostly businesses), drives this vampire-leviathan to grow more and more powerful, to consume more and more of the assets and energy of the American people, to became the only path to wealth and status and independence. Americans who once would have sought to invent and create and innovate, to seek wealth and status and self-fulfillment in private enterprise, are driven instead to become courtiers and lackeys and wire-pullers.
Drivers include Santelli (the immediate cause), and include:
There are appear to be three factors that have caused the rise of the Insurgency now, and the particular form it is taking: 1) technology, 2) a new, heightened awareness of the problem, and 3) the shock of the current crisis.
The reason that the Statism was successful is simple, and has been voiced countless times.
...each individual person in society—all of whose members bear the burden of this system—only personally suffers a small cost from each new inefficiency, new regulation, each new complication in the tax code.
Diffused costs, focused benefits. Simple.
Page Two tomorrow.
HT: McCain & Co.
You'd Better Behave in Madison Today
Agitator doesn't think this is right.
...Obama is arguing the executive has the power to execute American citizens without a trial, without even so much as an airing of the charges against them, and that it can do so in complete secrecy, with no oversight from any court, and that the families of the executed have no legal recourse.
Gee. Whassamatta with that, anyhow?
...Obama is arguing the executive has the power to execute American citizens without a trial, without even so much as an airing of the charges against them, and that it can do so in complete secrecy, with no oversight from any court, and that the families of the executed have no legal recourse.
Gee. Whassamatta with that, anyhow?
LawDog Mows Down the Whiny Twit
It's a "twenty questions" format, questions posed by someone in the throes of PMS (based on the writing style...)
And LawDog draws the line:
I'm done with being reasonable, and I'm done with compromise. Nothing about gun control in this country has ever been "reasonable" nor a genuine "compromise".
It's a good read and refresher course.
And LawDog draws the line:
I'm done with being reasonable, and I'm done with compromise. Nothing about gun control in this country has ever been "reasonable" nor a genuine "compromise".
It's a good read and refresher course.
800,000 Jobs Down the EPA Porcelain Tube
We mentioned the "boilers" rules-proposal a month ago, which would demolish papermakers.
...it’s not just the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s minority contingent that fears the loss of nearly a million jobs from new EPA rules on greenhouse gases and other emissions issues. It’s also groups like the United Steel Workers, Unions for Jobs and the Environment, and experts like King’s College Professor Ragnar Lofstedt.
But it's for the chiiirrrlllllen, right?
And, as usual, the regulations and costs will move some jobs (making Portland cement) to PRChina.
Smooth move.
HT: HotAir
...it’s not just the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s minority contingent that fears the loss of nearly a million jobs from new EPA rules on greenhouse gases and other emissions issues. It’s also groups like the United Steel Workers, Unions for Jobs and the Environment, and experts like King’s College Professor Ragnar Lofstedt.
But it's for the chiiirrrlllllen, right?
And, as usual, the regulations and costs will move some jobs (making Portland cement) to PRChina.
Smooth move.
HT: HotAir
"Shovel Ready" But No Flights Departing
What's $750,000 between friends, anyway?
St. Cloud Regional Airport touts lots of amenities on its website—a café, ATM, free wi-fi, free parking and a $5 million completely renovated terminal whose capacity went up dramatically from 30 to 200 travelers. There’s also a new $750,000 passenger boarding bridge secured with federal stimulus funds to keep travelers out of the elements while catching a flight. One asset, however, the newly renovated airport notably lacks—commercial flights and passengers....
Seems that commercial flights stopped last year. No demand.
AmSpec
St. Cloud Regional Airport touts lots of amenities on its website—a café, ATM, free wi-fi, free parking and a $5 million completely renovated terminal whose capacity went up dramatically from 30 to 200 travelers. There’s also a new $750,000 passenger boarding bridge secured with federal stimulus funds to keep travelers out of the elements while catching a flight. One asset, however, the newly renovated airport notably lacks—commercial flights and passengers....
Seems that commercial flights stopped last year. No demand.
AmSpec
Fantasize With Us, Here....
Spectator reports...
Linda McMahon is closing in on Rihcard Blumenthal in Connecticut, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, the latest traditionally blue state with a Senate race is trending Republican.
Linda McMahon is closing in on Rihcard Blumenthal in Connecticut, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, the latest traditionally blue state with a Senate race is trending Republican.
McMahon now trails Blumenthal by a slim 49 percent to 46 percent margin, and leads him among independent voters.
So, when she wins, does she bring some of the boyzzzzz to do a little housecleaning in the Senate?
How about EPA? "Education"? Foggy Bottom? OSHA? EEOC?
So many bozos, so little time.
Tom Barrett Wrong. Dead Wrong.
The boys are slapping, but Tommy Barrett demonstrates the depths of cluelessness:
Republican Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who is running against Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett for governor said Monday that President Obama’s visit to Madison on Tuesday is a “sign that the Barrett campaign is in trouble.”
...Barrett dismissed Walker’s dig. “I think that if Mother Theresa were here, he would be critical of that, as well,” Barrett said.
Wrong, Tommy. Mother Teresa will NEVER campaign for an abortion-rights guy.
NEVER.
Republican Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who is running against Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett for governor said Monday that President Obama’s visit to Madison on Tuesday is a “sign that the Barrett campaign is in trouble.”
...Barrett dismissed Walker’s dig. “I think that if Mother Theresa were here, he would be critical of that, as well,” Barrett said.
Wrong, Tommy. Mother Teresa will NEVER campaign for an abortion-rights guy.
NEVER.
"Free Trade" Has Its Limits
Buchanan:
[The] China that has emerged from a quarter century of American indulgence, patronage and tutelage since Tiananmen Square.
UPDATE: And on the topic of that mercantilism and its results in the USA, see Ticker here.
[The] China that has emerged from a quarter century of American indulgence, patronage and tutelage since Tiananmen Square.
The Chinese tiger is all grown up, and it's not cuddly anymore.
And with Beijing's threat to use its monopoly of rare-earth materials to bend nations to its will, how does the Milton Friedmanite free-trade ideology of the Republican Party, which fed Beijing $2 trillion in trade surpluses at America's expense over two decades, look now?
How do all those lockstep Republican votes for Most Favored Nation status for Beijing, ushering her into the World Trade Organization and looking the other way as China dumped into our markets, thieved our technology and carted off our factories look today?
It's useful to pay attention to PRC, which has taken mercantilism to a new paradigm...UPDATE: And on the topic of that mercantilism and its results in the USA, see Ticker here.
What Milk, Brandeis, and The Civil Rights Act (1866) Have in Common
Very nicely presented 8-minute video on economic liberty with useful history of SCOTUS interference against same, complete with ludicrous example of Missouri regulation and naming of names.
By the way, it raises good questions which deserve thought.
HT: Examiner
By the way, it raises good questions which deserve thought.
HT: Examiner
My, My. Another SEIU Member!
Seems that the SEIU just can't stay out of the news.
Remember that the SEIU's ex-Pres Andy Stern is a Frequent Visitor to the White House.
RedStates mentions the Milwaukee anti-Walker guy and the Houston fake-voter deal.
Then there's this:
Federal agents searched homes of anti-war activists in Chicago and Minneapolis on Friday in an investigation of possible links with terrorist organizations in the Middle East and South America.
Sure enough:
And Iobsaker writes frequently for Fight Back, a Commie rag.
Plenty more at the link.
Maybe after 11/2, the actual Americans in Congress will re-form the HUAC?
Remember that the SEIU's ex-Pres Andy Stern is a Frequent Visitor to the White House.
RedStates mentions the Milwaukee anti-Walker guy and the Houston fake-voter deal.
Then there's this:
Federal agents searched homes of anti-war activists in Chicago and Minneapolis on Friday in an investigation of possible links with terrorist organizations in the Middle East and South America.
Sure enough:
Weiner, who said she and her husband for years have been active in labor causes and the anti-war movement, complained the search was an attempt to intimidate her and other activists.
“We aren’t doing anything differently than we have in 20 years,” said Weiner, a teacher at Wilbur Wright College. Iosbaker is a staff member at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a union steward for Service Employees International Union Local 73.
Burke said he received a grand jury subpoena requesting records of payments to Abudayyeh’s organization as well as two groups among the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).And Iobsaker writes frequently for Fight Back, a Commie rag.
Plenty more at the link.
Maybe after 11/2, the actual Americans in Congress will re-form the HUAC?
Monday, September 27, 2010
Once Again, The Stupid Party Proves Its Name
Beastie's Batchelor speculates a bit.
But if his speculation is accurate, Boehner and his slap-back stupids are going to feel heat, soon.
[Ryan] was missing in action last week at the ballyhooed Republican roll-out of “The Pledge to America” in a Virginia hardware store. Why was Ryan a no-show? Ryan’s flacks claim his absence was a scheduling problem...
We, too, noticed that Ryan was absent.
Says another observer: “Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy didn’t think as much of his ‘Roadmap’ as the (Wall Street) Journal does. (They think) it’s a ‘Roadmap’ to the minority.”
We noticed that as well.
John Boehner not only did not ask for Ryan’s help on the “Pledge,” but also Boehner’s flacks claim that the boss correctly handed the construction of the “Pledge to America” to a member who pulled off the pretentious gimmick of “Listening to America”—the two-term California back-slapper Kevin McCarthy, a man not known for policy cogitation of any sort. In fact, the general suspicion is that the document was cooked by a Boehner flack named Brian Wild, whose mission was to heat the stew—“we go forward now with optimism”—until it disappeared into instantly inedible, forgettable jargon.
Boehner's been working on his tan instead of actually working on resolving this Country's problems. But if he thinks he can simply ignore the trainwreck of Social Security, he has another think coming.
No problem for Conservatives to ram a couple of Gadsden Flag-tipped poles up Boehner's ass.
HT: Jo
But if his speculation is accurate, Boehner and his slap-back stupids are going to feel heat, soon.
[Ryan] was missing in action last week at the ballyhooed Republican roll-out of “The Pledge to America” in a Virginia hardware store. Why was Ryan a no-show? Ryan’s flacks claim his absence was a scheduling problem...
We, too, noticed that Ryan was absent.
Says another observer: “Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy didn’t think as much of his ‘Roadmap’ as the (Wall Street) Journal does. (They think) it’s a ‘Roadmap’ to the minority.”
We noticed that as well.
John Boehner not only did not ask for Ryan’s help on the “Pledge,” but also Boehner’s flacks claim that the boss correctly handed the construction of the “Pledge to America” to a member who pulled off the pretentious gimmick of “Listening to America”—the two-term California back-slapper Kevin McCarthy, a man not known for policy cogitation of any sort. In fact, the general suspicion is that the document was cooked by a Boehner flack named Brian Wild, whose mission was to heat the stew—“we go forward now with optimism”—until it disappeared into instantly inedible, forgettable jargon.
Boehner's been working on his tan instead of actually working on resolving this Country's problems. But if he thinks he can simply ignore the trainwreck of Social Security, he has another think coming.
No problem for Conservatives to ram a couple of Gadsden Flag-tipped poles up Boehner's ass.
HT: Jo
Names Signify Things
From a review of Weigel's new book on JPII:
Israeli intelligence gave John Paul II the code name OLD FRIEND.
I suppose that if you want someone at your six, Mossad's not a bad choice...
Israeli intelligence gave John Paul II the code name OLD FRIEND.
I suppose that if you want someone at your six, Mossad's not a bad choice...
Irony Squared
Here we are in election season, and....
"Isn't it great to live in a society where the penalty for lying to a congressman can be up to 30 years in jail, but the penalty for a congressman lying to you is another two years in office."
-- Peter Schmuck, Baltimore Sun sports writer
Cadged from Julie
"Isn't it great to live in a society where the penalty for lying to a congressman can be up to 30 years in jail, but the penalty for a congressman lying to you is another two years in office."
-- Peter Schmuck, Baltimore Sun sports writer
Cadged from Julie
Spreading Toxins: Now the Bond-Raters
We all knew that there were .....ahhh......"problems" with mortgages.
How many?
“According to testimony last week, from January 2006 to June 2007, Clayton reviewed 911,000 loans for 23 investment or commercial banks, including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley.
How many?
“According to testimony last week, from January 2006 to June 2007, Clayton reviewed 911,000 loans for 23 investment or commercial banks, including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley.
The statistics provided by these samples, according to Mr. Johnson and Vicki Beal, a senior vice president at Clayton who also testified before the inquiry commission, indicated that only 54 percent of the loans met the lenders’ underwriting standards, regardless of how stringent or weak they were.
Some 28 percent of the loans sampled over the period were outright failures — that is, they were unable to meet numerous underwriting standards and did not have positive factors that compensated for their failings. And yet, 39 percent of these troubled loans still went into mortgage pools sold to investors during the period, Clayton’s figures showed.”
--Ritholtz, quoting the NYT
The article has to do with what appears to be complicity on the part of the bond-raters: Moody's, S&P, and Fitch.
The Shift to Red States
Heh.
Preliminary analysis of Census data shows that a few changes are coming.
From blue to red!
...Florida would gain two House seats and New York would lose two seats...
That might not be a "change," as most of Florida's population is ex-New Yorkers.
But:
Texas is expected to gain four House seats and Ohio likely will lose two seats
and
...six other states each would gain one seat: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. Eight states would each lose one seat: Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania...
Read 'em and weep.
HT: Lott
Preliminary analysis of Census data shows that a few changes are coming.
From blue to red!
...Florida would gain two House seats and New York would lose two seats...
That might not be a "change," as most of Florida's population is ex-New Yorkers.
But:
Texas is expected to gain four House seats and Ohio likely will lose two seats
and
...six other states each would gain one seat: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. Eight states would each lose one seat: Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania...
Read 'em and weep.
HT: Lott
"Data-Gathering": Your Children's Sex Preference
Tammy Baldwin (D-Loonyland) is curious.
At the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing last Thursday, Democrats passed a bill to require federal health officials to question anyone seeking services from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) community health centers or other programs about their sexual orientation and “gender identity.”
OK, Tammy. Whatever.
At the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing last Thursday, Democrats passed a bill to require federal health officials to question anyone seeking services from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) community health centers or other programs about their sexual orientation and “gender identity.”
Introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), H.R. 6109 requires HHS to obtain, retain and analyze sexual identity information from patients who seek healthcare, including children.
Baldwin calls is "data-gathering."
And when ObamaCare gets into high gear, that "data gathering" will be mandatory for ALL US citizens, no matter what facility they visit.
But her reasoning (if you call it that) for this bill is pure comic gold:
According to Baldwin, the current “lack of cultural competency” among federal officials means that “we are left with gaping holes in our knowledge on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) policy” resulting in “significant health disparities.”OK, Tammy. Whatever.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
A Little "Vote Caging" For Xoff
Since "vote caging" is not a legal term, but Xoff thinks it's just a horrible thing to do, let's examine one example for his benefit.
A local watchdog group called "True the Vote" had formed after their experience as poll-watchers during the 2008 elections curdled their blood. They decided early to focus their attention on homes containing more than six registered voters. Most voting districts had a couple of thousand of these. One had 24,000. That's where the group found that a group called "Houston Votes," headed by an employee of SEIU, had submitted 25,000 voter registrations, fewer than 1,800 of which appeared to be valid. Houston Votes issued the usual "mistakes were made" press release and fired some workers.
Yah, well. If at first you don't succeed, lie, lie, like Hell.
HT: Grim & Co.
And, yes, I know I mentioned this already.
A local watchdog group called "True the Vote" had formed after their experience as poll-watchers during the 2008 elections curdled their blood. They decided early to focus their attention on homes containing more than six registered voters. Most voting districts had a couple of thousand of these. One had 24,000. That's where the group found that a group called "Houston Votes," headed by an employee of SEIU, had submitted 25,000 voter registrations, fewer than 1,800 of which appeared to be valid. Houston Votes issued the usual "mistakes were made" press release and fired some workers.
Yah, well. If at first you don't succeed, lie, lie, like Hell.
HT: Grim & Co.
And, yes, I know I mentioned this already.
Stolen Humor
Yup. I stole this, whole and entire.
I met a fairy today who promised to grant me one wish.
"I want to live forever," I said.
"Sorry," said the fairy. "I'm not allowed to grant wishes like that!"
"Fine," I said. "I want to die after the Democrats get their heads out of their butts!"
"You sly fox you," said the fairy.
Thought you'd like that.
HT: Larry
I met a fairy today who promised to grant me one wish.
"I want to live forever," I said.
"Sorry," said the fairy. "I'm not allowed to grant wishes like that!"
"Fine," I said. "I want to die after the Democrats get their heads out of their butts!"
Thought you'd like that.
HT: Larry
Hollywood's Money Is Feingold's Milk
Well, isn't this special!!
Among Feingold’s contributors are filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein, actors Michael Douglas and Edie Falco, as well as music executive David Geffen, and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife, Marilyn, according to CQMoneyLine.com.
Among Feingold’s contributors are filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein, actors Michael Douglas and Edie Falco, as well as music executive David Geffen, and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife, Marilyn, according to CQMoneyLine.com.
Writer and producer Tom Fontana, creator of the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Oz,” also ponied up for Feingold, as did actress Kathryn Erbe, who has appeared in “Law and Order” and “Oz.”
In fact, Weinstein, Douglas and Fontana all gave donations that were over the $5,000 legal limit per cycle and had to be reimbursed for the surplus.
Long way from Middleton, Rusty.Allan West!!!
We mentioned that LTC West is ahead in the polls.
In this short clip, you can understand why.
Leadership always, always, always shows.
In this short clip, you can understand why.
Leadership always, always, always shows.
Karl's Not-So-Rhetorical Question
Denninger asks a good question here.
And yes, he brings up the lawless Regime; but then, in the very next post (here) he also brings up the previous lawless Regime (that would be Bush & Co.) and/or the SEC and/or the Federal Reserve.
The common denominator, by the way, is Congress--whether held by (D), as for the last 6 years, or (R), previous.
No wonder most people I know would simply remove all 535 and start over again.
And yes, he brings up the lawless Regime; but then, in the very next post (here) he also brings up the previous lawless Regime (that would be Bush & Co.) and/or the SEC and/or the Federal Reserve.
The common denominator, by the way, is Congress--whether held by (D), as for the last 6 years, or (R), previous.
No wonder most people I know would simply remove all 535 and start over again.
You Could Have a Little Trouble With the Mortgage...Or...
Or you could be a Washington politician.
And get all kinds of ......ahhhh....... nice deals from .......ahhhh....... friends.
And get all kinds of ......ahhhh....... nice deals from .......ahhhh....... friends.
The Ozymandias Stub
P-Mac features an embarrassment brought to Milwaukee by Norquist, the County Board of LeftyManics, and Barrett.
And the gravel there? It's shards of the statue of Ozymandias.
And the gravel there? It's shards of the statue of Ozymandias.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
SEIU Takes Over ACORN Vote-Fraud Duties
Since the SEIU and ACORN shared an address in New Orleans, it should come as no surprise that they share objectives, too: destruction of the country through Cloward-Pivens techniques, both fiscally and in vote fraud.
Two weeks ago the Harris County voter registrar took their work and the findings of his own investigation and handed them over to both the Texas secretary of state’s office and the Harris County district attorney.
HT: Zippers
Two weeks ago the Harris County voter registrar took their work and the findings of his own investigation and handed them over to both the Texas secretary of state’s office and the Harris County district attorney.
Most of the findings focused on a group called Houston Votes, a voter registration group headed by Steve Caddle, who also works for the Service Employees International Union. Among the findings were that only 1,793 of the 25,000 registrations the group submitted appeared to be valid. The other registrations included one of a woman who registered six times in the same day; registrations of non-citizens; so many applications from one Houston Voters collector in one day that it was deemed to be beyond human capability; and 1,597 registrations that named the same person multiple times, often with different signatures.
I will say this: ACORN/Milwaukee's vote-fraud efforts are pathetic in comparison.HT: Zippers
Allahpundit (!!) On Feingold, the No-Party-Name Candidate
Didn't notice this myself, but that's because I don't care what Feinie says...
...Feingold’s approach here is the smart way to go this year: Not once in either ad do the cursed names of his party or the president appear, although the word “independent” is mentioned and in the first spot he vows to put people ahead of “any party or corporate interest.” Even so, this is a vivid illustration of just how epically the alleged Great Liberal Realignment of 2008 has failed.
After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead
Now Feinie's riding the horse with no name.
...Feingold’s approach here is the smart way to go this year: Not once in either ad do the cursed names of his party or the president appear, although the word “independent” is mentioned and in the first spot he vows to put people ahead of “any party or corporate interest.” Even so, this is a vivid illustration of just how epically the alleged Great Liberal Realignment of 2008 has failed.
After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead
Now Feinie's riding the horse with no name.
Let the ACLU Come and Take It...
Interesting stuff in North Carolina.
A group of Stokes County residents said Thursday they plan to stake out the Veterans Memorial every hour of every day for the next month, ensuring that a Christian flag is being displayed at the site
...An anonymous man complained to City Manager John Cater earlier this summer, saying that flying the flag was unconstitutional. Cater then received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union charging that flying the flag on public property violates the Constitution.
I have no idea what a 'Christian flag' is, but it appears that it's more a principle thing than a particular flag.
HT: Gateway
A group of Stokes County residents said Thursday they plan to stake out the Veterans Memorial every hour of every day for the next month, ensuring that a Christian flag is being displayed at the site
...An anonymous man complained to City Manager John Cater earlier this summer, saying that flying the flag was unconstitutional. Cater then received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union charging that flying the flag on public property violates the Constitution.
I have no idea what a 'Christian flag' is, but it appears that it's more a principle thing than a particular flag.
HT: Gateway
How Stupid IS Tom Barrett?
Yes, I know that Tom Barrett went to Marquette High School.
And that he wandered off to obtain a degree in law.
But, ya know, something doesn't add up.
Belling reported that the Barrett campaign didn't have a City of Milwaukee OCCUPANCY permit for its Milwaukee headquarters. That's not necessarily Tommy-Boy's fault; some operative should have done it.
Then Belling reported that Tommy-Boy didn't have the required inspection at his personal residence in the City of Milwaukee for his heating system boiler. Maybe he can blame that on his wife.
Now it's reliably reported (cop-shop pals) that Tommy-Boy's pooch has bitten the mailman twice --AND that the pooch does not have a City of Milwaukee license.
Was it your kids who "forgot"--
--or are you too damn dumb to know what the City of Milwaukee requires of its residents...
Or don't you give a damn, Tommy-Boy?
And that he wandered off to obtain a degree in law.
But, ya know, something doesn't add up.
Belling reported that the Barrett campaign didn't have a City of Milwaukee OCCUPANCY permit for its Milwaukee headquarters. That's not necessarily Tommy-Boy's fault; some operative should have done it.
Then Belling reported that Tommy-Boy didn't have the required inspection at his personal residence in the City of Milwaukee for his heating system boiler. Maybe he can blame that on his wife.
Now it's reliably reported (cop-shop pals) that Tommy-Boy's pooch has bitten the mailman twice --AND that the pooch does not have a City of Milwaukee license.
Was it your kids who "forgot"--
--or are you too damn dumb to know what the City of Milwaukee requires of its residents...
Or don't you give a damn, Tommy-Boy?
200,000 "Green" Jobs, Eh?
Apparently damn near ANY job is "green."
For months, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley has been pushing the administration to substantiate its claims of having created nearly 200,000 green jobs. More fundamentally, Grassley has asked Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to state clearly what a green job is. So far, he hasn’t gotten an answer.
Now, Grassley has learned that, in lieu of a settling on a straightforward definition of a green job, the administration has adopted an extraordinarily broad description of such jobs that could include not only financial advisers, wholesale buyers, and reporters, but also public relations specialists, marketing managers, and many more...
OK.
HT: Zippers
For months, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley has been pushing the administration to substantiate its claims of having created nearly 200,000 green jobs. More fundamentally, Grassley has asked Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to state clearly what a green job is. So far, he hasn’t gotten an answer.
Now, Grassley has learned that, in lieu of a settling on a straightforward definition of a green job, the administration has adopted an extraordinarily broad description of such jobs that could include not only financial advisers, wholesale buyers, and reporters, but also public relations specialists, marketing managers, and many more...
OK.
HT: Zippers
By All Means, Tax the Rich!
Go ahead, make their day. Fix it so that they don't spend money.
Aircraft maker Cessna will cut jobs after its parent company Textron (TXT) said new airplane orders were less than previously expected.
Textron said today that it will reduce headcount at Cessna while cutting its 2010 forecast for free cash flow from operations to $400 million from as much as $550 million.
The company didn't specify how many jobs would be cut, but Cessna will fire about 700 people in Kansas
Those rich bastards factory workers were making too much money, right?
HT: Melnick/Badger
Aircraft maker Cessna will cut jobs after its parent company Textron (TXT) said new airplane orders were less than previously expected.
Textron said today that it will reduce headcount at Cessna while cutting its 2010 forecast for free cash flow from operations to $400 million from as much as $550 million.
The company didn't specify how many jobs would be cut, but Cessna will fire about 700 people in Kansas
Those
HT: Melnick/Badger
Friday, September 24, 2010
Is Wisconsin On This List?
The Democrat Party will steal you blind--just on Election Day. The tax part comes later.
In June 2009, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) issued its bi-annual report concerning which states appeared not to be complying with Section 8′s list maintenance requirements. The report identified eight states that appeared to be the worst in terms of their non-compliance with the list maintenance requirements of Section 8 [of the Voting Rights Act]. These were states that reported that no voters had been removed from any of their voters’ list in the last two years. Obviously this is a good indication that something is not right with the list maintenance practice in that state. As Chief of the Voting Section, I assigned attorneys to work on this matter, and in September 2009, I forwarded a memorandum to the CRD Front Office asking for approval to go forward with Section 8 list maintenance investigations in these states.
During the time that I was Chief, no approval was given to this project, and my understanding that approval has never been given for that Section 8 list maintenance project to date. That means that we have entered the 2010 election cycle with eight states appearing to be in major noncompliance with the list maintenance requirements of Section 8 of the NVRA, and yet the Voting Section which has the responsibility to enforce that law has yet to take any action. From these circumstances I believe that Ms. Fernandez’s statement to the Voting Section in November 2009 not, in effect, initiate Section 8 list maintenance enforcement activities has been complied with.
--Ass't US Attorney Chris Coates, prepared testimony of today.
And, in case you haven't guessed:
...the list maintenance provisions of Section 8 are likely to have partisan consequences as well. A number of the jurisdictions that have bloated registration lists are where there are sizable minority populations and are Democratic strongholds.
HT: VerumSerum
In June 2009, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) issued its bi-annual report concerning which states appeared not to be complying with Section 8′s list maintenance requirements. The report identified eight states that appeared to be the worst in terms of their non-compliance with the list maintenance requirements of Section 8 [of the Voting Rights Act]. These were states that reported that no voters had been removed from any of their voters’ list in the last two years. Obviously this is a good indication that something is not right with the list maintenance practice in that state. As Chief of the Voting Section, I assigned attorneys to work on this matter, and in September 2009, I forwarded a memorandum to the CRD Front Office asking for approval to go forward with Section 8 list maintenance investigations in these states.
During the time that I was Chief, no approval was given to this project, and my understanding that approval has never been given for that Section 8 list maintenance project to date. That means that we have entered the 2010 election cycle with eight states appearing to be in major noncompliance with the list maintenance requirements of Section 8 of the NVRA, and yet the Voting Section which has the responsibility to enforce that law has yet to take any action. From these circumstances I believe that Ms. Fernandez’s statement to the Voting Section in November 2009 not, in effect, initiate Section 8 list maintenance enforcement activities has been complied with.
--Ass't US Attorney Chris Coates, prepared testimony of today.
And, in case you haven't guessed:
...the list maintenance provisions of Section 8 are likely to have partisan consequences as well. A number of the jurisdictions that have bloated registration lists are where there are sizable minority populations and are Democratic strongholds.
HT: VerumSerum
Bono or Bozo?
Doesn't seem like this is.......ah....cricket?, eh?
...the New York Post has uncovered some figures that will embarrass supporters of the self-righteous Irish crooner who calls himself “Bono”. His US-based anti-poverty ONE foundation received almost £9.6 million in donations from philanthropists in 2008, but gave only 1.2 per cent of this to good causes. It’s an “advocacy organisation”, it explains, so apparently we shouldn’t expect it to hand over cash to charities. Still, it does a remarkable job of fighting poverty within the ranks of its employees: £5.1 million went towards salaries.
Direct charity is 100% efficient, of course.
HT: HolySmoke
...the New York Post has uncovered some figures that will embarrass supporters of the self-righteous Irish crooner who calls himself “Bono”. His US-based anti-poverty ONE foundation received almost £9.6 million in donations from philanthropists in 2008, but gave only 1.2 per cent of this to good causes. It’s an “advocacy organisation”, it explains, so apparently we shouldn’t expect it to hand over cash to charities. Still, it does a remarkable job of fighting poverty within the ranks of its employees: £5.1 million went towards salaries.
Direct charity is 100% efficient, of course.
HT: HolySmoke
Attendance Solutions From St. Mattress of Holysprings Parish
Just a taste, rest at the link.
One parish, St Mattress of the Holy Springs in western New York, believes they have the answer. They've put a new twist on an old stand-by - the Youth Mass - by having kids lead the liturgy.
"It's edgy, it's daring, it's bold," said Hayley Ruffington-Smythe, Liturgical Engineer at St Mattress. "But I felt that in order to truly reach out and engage the youth of our parish, this was the only thing we could do. We were losing kids just as they were discovering who they are in their soul, and they were migrating to the edgy, daring and bold services at local evangelical non-denominational communities. Our pastor, Fr. Phlüff, challenged the Worship Committee to come up with a way to reel them back in."
HT: Apostasy
One parish, St Mattress of the Holy Springs in western New York, believes they have the answer. They've put a new twist on an old stand-by - the Youth Mass - by having kids lead the liturgy.
"It's edgy, it's daring, it's bold," said Hayley Ruffington-Smythe, Liturgical Engineer at St Mattress. "But I felt that in order to truly reach out and engage the youth of our parish, this was the only thing we could do. We were losing kids just as they were discovering who they are in their soul, and they were migrating to the edgy, daring and bold services at local evangelical non-denominational communities. Our pastor, Fr. Phlüff, challenged the Worship Committee to come up with a way to reel them back in."
HT: Apostasy
Holy Cow! Volcker Goes on a Rant!
Barry reports that Paul Volcker went off script and just opened the bomb bays yesterday.
Volcker unloaded on banks and CEOs; he trashed regulators and the inept business schools. He opened fire on the Fed, bombed money-market funds. And while he had good things to say about the financial overhaul law, the bottom line is the system remains at risk.
A couple more excerpts...
...Investment banks became “trading machines instead of investment banks [leading to] encroachment on the territory of commercial banks, and commercial banks encroached on the territory of others in a way that couldn’t easily be managed
[On Business schools' stupidity]: I think that was the general philosophy that markets are efficient and self correcting and we don’t have to worry about them too much.
“Central banks became…maybe a little too infatuated with their own skills and authority because they found secrets to price stability…I think its fair to say there was a certain neglect of supervisory responsibilities”
Other than that, no problems at all!
You wish.
More at the link.
Volcker unloaded on banks and CEOs; he trashed regulators and the inept business schools. He opened fire on the Fed, bombed money-market funds. And while he had good things to say about the financial overhaul law, the bottom line is the system remains at risk.
A couple more excerpts...
...Investment banks became “trading machines instead of investment banks [leading to] encroachment on the territory of commercial banks, and commercial banks encroached on the territory of others in a way that couldn’t easily be managed
[On Business schools' stupidity]: I think that was the general philosophy that markets are efficient and self correcting and we don’t have to worry about them too much.
“Central banks became…maybe a little too infatuated with their own skills and authority because they found secrets to price stability…I think its fair to say there was a certain neglect of supervisory responsibilities”
Other than that, no problems at all!
You wish.
More at the link.
Loretta King: "Blacks Are More Equal..."
Yah, that Ms. King would be an Obama appointee to Justice's "Civil Rights" Division.
...Obama appointee Loretta King ordered Coates to stop asking applicants whether they supported race-neutral enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The question became necessary because of resistance in the Civil Rights division from career attorneys to enforce the law when it resulted in African-American defendants rather than victims...
Read the rest. The "civil rights" division is indicted as a revenge squad. The 14th Amendment, to them, only applies to certain people--who are NOT white.
HT: HotAir
...Obama appointee Loretta King ordered Coates to stop asking applicants whether they supported race-neutral enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The question became necessary because of resistance in the Civil Rights division from career attorneys to enforce the law when it resulted in African-American defendants rather than victims...
Read the rest. The "civil rights" division is indicted as a revenge squad. The 14th Amendment, to them, only applies to certain people--who are NOT white.
HT: HotAir
It's Lack of Customers, Not Taxes...
Interesting item.
A combination of the slow economy, tight bank underwriting and a shortage of investors has stalled $504 million available locally for a tax credit program ...
This is a bit complicated:
The U.S. Treasury New Markets Tax Credits program is designed to encourage real estate development and business expansion in distressed areas. The Treasury allocates credits to community development groups affiliated with banks and local development agencies. Those groups, in turn, issue credits to companies and developers to enhance the capital structure of financing projects.
Some organizations that allocate the credits are ready to close deals, but can’t because the banks that used to buy the credits as a hedge against income tax payments don’t need the credits. The banks aren’t as profitable as they were before the recession and have less income tax to offset.
Who needs tax offsets when there's no damn income subject to tax?
By the way, the offsets are also commonly purchased by insurance companies such as NML.
HERE is the real problem:
Businesses seeking credits and banks that provide the senior financing for projects also have become less plentiful. If they’re pursuing projects, they are much more cautious and face challenges including luring tenants.
There is no DEMAND for development. No customers. No ringydingy on the cash-registers.
HT: Jo
A combination of the slow economy, tight bank underwriting and a shortage of investors has stalled $504 million available locally for a tax credit program ...
This is a bit complicated:
The U.S. Treasury New Markets Tax Credits program is designed to encourage real estate development and business expansion in distressed areas. The Treasury allocates credits to community development groups affiliated with banks and local development agencies. Those groups, in turn, issue credits to companies and developers to enhance the capital structure of financing projects.
Some organizations that allocate the credits are ready to close deals, but can’t because the banks that used to buy the credits as a hedge against income tax payments don’t need the credits. The banks aren’t as profitable as they were before the recession and have less income tax to offset.
Who needs tax offsets when there's no damn income subject to tax?
By the way, the offsets are also commonly purchased by insurance companies such as NML.
HERE is the real problem:
Businesses seeking credits and banks that provide the senior financing for projects also have become less plentiful. If they’re pursuing projects, they are much more cautious and face challenges including luring tenants.
There is no DEMAND for development. No customers. No ringydingy on the cash-registers.
HT: Jo
Weaponizing the Veggies
Wendy finds that gardening has more advantages than you thought.
Police say a Montana woman fended off a bear attack with an unlikely weapon — a zucchini.
200 pound black bear, whapped with a fast-pitched z-veggie, runs away.
OK.
BUY MORE ZUCCHINI!!
Police say a Montana woman fended off a bear attack with an unlikely weapon — a zucchini.
200 pound black bear, whapped with a fast-pitched z-veggie, runs away.
OK.
BUY MORE ZUCCHINI!!
"Climate Change": More Myths Explode
Ron Johnson will be happy to know this part:
..Over the famous 11-year solar cycle, the sun's brightness varies by just 0.1 per cent. This was seen as too small a change to impinge on the global climate system, so solar effects have generally been left out of climate models. However, the latest research has changed this view, and the next report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due in 2013, will include solar effects in its models...
By 2013, Rusty Feingold will have PLENTY of free time to absorb therays meaning of that report.
And happy days are here for the polar bears!
...Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences finds that Arctic sea ice extent at the end of the 20th century was more extensive than most of the past 9000 years...
Greenland farm property now for sale.
HT: AOSHQ
..Over the famous 11-year solar cycle, the sun's brightness varies by just 0.1 per cent. This was seen as too small a change to impinge on the global climate system, so solar effects have generally been left out of climate models. However, the latest research has changed this view, and the next report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due in 2013, will include solar effects in its models...
By 2013, Rusty Feingold will have PLENTY of free time to absorb the
And happy days are here for the polar bears!
...Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences finds that Arctic sea ice extent at the end of the 20th century was more extensive than most of the past 9000 years...
Greenland farm property now for sale.
HT: AOSHQ
Another Hidden Cost of Bank "Reform"
You didn't know that 'bank reform' would cost Wisconsin more money, did you?
Under the federal financial reform law, state securities regulators next summer will take responsibility for overseeing investment advisers with assets under management of up to $100 million. Currently, the state's threshold is $25 million.
Under the federal financial reform law, state securities regulators next summer will take responsibility for overseeing investment advisers with assets under management of up to $100 million. Currently, the state's threshold is $25 million.
That is expected to add 50 to 60 advisers to state oversight, the department said. Hedge fund advisers also will become subject to state regulation.
Perhaps the advisers will pay for the service, but in the end, YOU will.
New Blogger Editor: Good, But....
Tried the new Blogger editor. It's nice--more dashboard, and supposedly lotsa neat features (which I'm not likely to use.)
One major problem:
Hitting the return key doesn't do what it's supposed to do. It acts, instead, like a "home" key, taking you back to the beginning of your text. One can jiggleswop paragraphs eventually, but hey--the old editor is still here!
And I double-dare you to find the issue on their site...
One major problem:
Hitting the return key doesn't do what it's supposed to do. It acts, instead, like a "home" key, taking you back to the beginning of your text. One can jiggleswop paragraphs eventually, but hey--the old editor is still here!
And I double-dare you to find the issue on their site...
Stifling Statism: Regulation Reform? Or Passing the Buck, Again?
It ain't just the laws and taxes. It's regulation, too.
Maybe some of that's coming to an end, although as usual, Congress is trying to blame the Administration for Congress' own laziness, lack of courage, and desire for re-election through political statements rather than hard-nosed decision-making.
"Major rule" uses $100 million in economic effect as a trigger, or would cause large price increases, or would have 'significant effects' on the economy.
The proposal is more 'hat' than 'cattle;' and there's a reason for that.
Congress typically passes bills which require the regulators/agencies to do the dirty work. That way, Congressmen get re-elected for their political foofoodust-throwing ability, and citizens get screwed blue and tattooed by "regulators."
There's more to this story, though, which should be highlighted.
Maybe some of that's coming to an end, although as usual, Congress is trying to blame the Administration for Congress' own laziness, lack of courage, and desire for re-election through political statements rather than hard-nosed decision-making.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday introduced a bill that would require congressional approval for major regulations issued by federal agencies.
...It would require every major rule proposed by federal agencies to be approved by a joint resolution passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the president before it could take effect.
"Major rule" uses $100 million in economic effect as a trigger, or would cause large price increases, or would have 'significant effects' on the economy.
The proposal is more 'hat' than 'cattle;' and there's a reason for that.
Congress typically passes bills which require the regulators/agencies to do the dirty work. That way, Congressmen get re-elected for their political foofoodust-throwing ability, and citizens get screwed blue and tattooed by "regulators."
There's more to this story, though, which should be highlighted.
Republicans supporting the bill point to a recent report by the Small Business Administration, which said the annual cost of federal regulations in the U.S. increased to more than $1.75 trillion in 2009. According to that report, if every U.S. household had paid an equal share of the federal regulatory burden, each would have owed $15,586 in 2008.
Further, a Heritage Foundation study showed that the Code of Federal Regulations – a compendium of all existing federal rules – hit a record 163,333 pages in 2009, an increase of 22,000 pages since the beginning of the decade.
Actual Conservatives have a great deal of work to do. Holding Congresscritters responsible for their legislation would be a gigantic step forward.
"Regulatory reform" is only a small part of the process.
Fun With Commercials
You all remember Dale Peterson--the guy with the .30-30.
He's back! The second video here (the duck) is a lot of fun.
He's back! The second video here (the duck) is a lot of fun.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
You Can Smell Politicrap; Now Sykes Lets You SEE It!
Worth hitting his blogsite every day: PolitiCrap.
Yay!! LTC West Surges!
Despite the (D) crapweasel pointing to a previous IRS problem (and leaving West's social security number visible), West's momentum is going the right way.
Republican 22nd Congressional Candidate Allen West leads Incumbent Ron Klein 48% – 42% in a survey conducted by Wilson Research Strategies on September 20-22, 2010.
Beautiful.
HT: Gateway
Republican 22nd Congressional Candidate Allen West leads Incumbent Ron Klein 48% – 42% in a survey conducted by Wilson Research Strategies on September 20-22, 2010.
Beautiful.
HT: Gateway
Why Obey Bailed and Kagen, Feingold Are Endangered
In one word:
Our turn, bitches.
OBAMACARE
HT: Ace
And in Ace's own delightfully succinct and descriptive words:
You exercised raw political power without regard to our opinions, just to show you could. We're stupid animals, you thought; these stupid animals will all fall in line when we tug on the leash hard enough.
No. And we're not just tugging back. We're going for your fucking throats.
You exercised raw political power.
Our turn, bitches.
Obama No Longer Requires Umpty-Vehicle Escorts
Hmmmmmmm.
Tix went from $100.00 list to $50.00, and then people were surreptitiously let in free.
And even THEN, only 450 in a room built for 650.
Six weeks before the election, President Obama couldn’t fill the ballroom at the Roosevelt Hotel, despite cheap tickets on offer. And then he was met by hecklers.
Tix went from $100.00 list to $50.00, and then people were surreptitiously let in free.
And even THEN, only 450 in a room built for 650.
Walker Agenda, Part 33,454
Wisconsin's budget problems can be resolved with the help of the easy cuts.
Here's how Christie's doing it:
About $160K in one easy swipe.
HT: CathVote
Here's how Christie's doing it:
After the New Jersey state Senate defeated an attempt to override the decision of Gov. Chris Christie to cut off state taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood abortion businesses
About $160K in one easy swipe.
HT: CathVote
Not Marketing. Evangelization.
B-16, interviewed on the flight to England:
Not that long ago, the Church attracted people through beauty. Now we have Broadway instead, and STILL people join.
Gates of Hell, indeed.
HT: Leonardi
I would say that a church that seeks above all to be attractive is already on the wrong path. Because the Church doesn't work for herself, does not work to increase her numbers, her own power. The Church is at the service of Another, she doesn't serve herself. She doesn't exist to be a strong body, but rather serves to render accessible the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the great truths, the great forces of love, of reconciliation, which appeared in this Figure and which always come from the presence of Jesus Christ.
Not that long ago, the Church attracted people through beauty. Now we have Broadway instead, and STILL people join.
Gates of Hell, indeed.
HT: Leonardi
Democrat Proposes Indoctrination and PopCon. Surprise!!
It's a matter of early-application of propaganda.
Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) told CNSNews.com at a "Sustainability Education Summit" hosted by the U.S. Education Department on Tuesday that environmental education in schools can "promote the agenda" of climate change and population growth through the influence it has on children.
“Like I keep saying over and over again, if you get young people invested in those ideas early on, that will result in those kinds of positive policy developments," Sarbanes told CNSNews.com. "So, whether it’s climate change, whether it’s population growth, whether it’s all these factors that impact the health of our world, raising that awareness early among young people is only going to promote the agenda.”
WHOSE "agenda", Congresscritter?
Why not the educate the darlings in the agenda of the American Constitution? or Limited Capitalism?
Or, God forbid, Right Order?
HT: CMR
Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) told CNSNews.com at a "Sustainability Education Summit" hosted by the U.S. Education Department on Tuesday that environmental education in schools can "promote the agenda" of climate change and population growth through the influence it has on children.
“Like I keep saying over and over again, if you get young people invested in those ideas early on, that will result in those kinds of positive policy developments," Sarbanes told CNSNews.com. "So, whether it’s climate change, whether it’s population growth, whether it’s all these factors that impact the health of our world, raising that awareness early among young people is only going to promote the agenda.”
WHOSE "agenda", Congresscritter?
Why not the educate the darlings in the agenda of the American Constitution? or Limited Capitalism?
Or, God forbid, Right Order?
HT: CMR
Creighton Profs All Wrong on Sexuality Issues
Gee whillikers. Imagine this!
In their 2008 book, "The Sexual Person," theologians Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler "reach a whole range of conclusions that are contrary to Catholic teaching," the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine said in a 24-page critique.
The document, dated Sept. 15 and made public Sept. 22, said the theologians' methodology "marks a radical departure from Catholic theological tradition" and their conclusions "cannot provide a true norm for moral action and in fact are harmful to one's moral and spiritual life."
But these authors are not from just any old place. Nosirree!
Salzman chairs the theology department at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and Lawler, who retired in 2005, is a professor emeritus there.
Jebby school. Figures.
Just curious--is that book a required purchase for Creighton U. theo students?
In their 2008 book, "The Sexual Person," theologians Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler "reach a whole range of conclusions that are contrary to Catholic teaching," the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine said in a 24-page critique.
The document, dated Sept. 15 and made public Sept. 22, said the theologians' methodology "marks a radical departure from Catholic theological tradition" and their conclusions "cannot provide a true norm for moral action and in fact are harmful to one's moral and spiritual life."
But these authors are not from just any old place. Nosirree!
Salzman chairs the theology department at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and Lawler, who retired in 2005, is a professor emeritus there.
Jebby school. Figures.
Just curious--is that book a required purchase for Creighton U. theo students?
Cry Me a River
Some PRChina mucketymuck:
“We cannot imagine how many Chinese factories will go bankrupt, how many Chinese workers will lose their jobs, and how many migrant workers will return to the countryside” should China acquiesce to demands for a 20 percent to 40 percent gain, Wen said in New York yesterday. “China would suffer major social upheaval.” Bloomberg via Ticker
the "20-40% gain" refers to letting the yuan run at market rates, rather than the manipulated discount PRChina currently enjoys.
Tell it to Mayville's, or Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan's, or Ohio's, or (for that matter) Mexico's former factory-workers.
See if they'll buy you a beer for your tears.
“We cannot imagine how many Chinese factories will go bankrupt, how many Chinese workers will lose their jobs, and how many migrant workers will return to the countryside” should China acquiesce to demands for a 20 percent to 40 percent gain, Wen said in New York yesterday. “China would suffer major social upheaval.” Bloomberg via Ticker
the "20-40% gain" refers to letting the yuan run at market rates, rather than the manipulated discount PRChina currently enjoys.
Tell it to Mayville's, or Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan's, or Ohio's, or (for that matter) Mexico's former factory-workers.
See if they'll buy you a beer for your tears.
PRChina Could Submarine the Green Agenda
Maybe those old Commies will get obstreperous with us.
Sharply raising the stakes in a dispute over Japan’s detention of a Chinese fishing trawler captain, the Chinese government has blocked exports to Japan of a crucial category of minerals used in products like hybrid cars, wind turbines and guided missiles.
Chinese customs officials are halting shipments to Japan of so-called rare earth elements, preventing them from being loading aboard ships at Chinese ports, industry officials said on Thursday. --NYTimes quoted at Legal Insurrection
Of course, the thing to do is to be prepared. Dropping the "green economy" BS into the memory-hole would be a good start.
Sharply raising the stakes in a dispute over Japan’s detention of a Chinese fishing trawler captain, the Chinese government has blocked exports to Japan of a crucial category of minerals used in products like hybrid cars, wind turbines and guided missiles.
Chinese customs officials are halting shipments to Japan of so-called rare earth elements, preventing them from being loading aboard ships at Chinese ports, industry officials said on Thursday. --NYTimes quoted at Legal Insurrection
Of course, the thing to do is to be prepared. Dropping the "green economy" BS into the memory-hole would be a good start.
Rep Sensenbrenner!! Rep. Ryan!! Pay Attention!!
Klein pretty much said all that's necessary about the "Republican Contract" issued yesterday.
Instead of offering bold solutions to today's most pressing challenges, Republicans chose to compile some small ideas that wouldn't endanger their chances of regaining the majority this November.
Timidity and craven "elect us" pablum in the face of TWO crises...
...Republicans shouldn't expect conservatives to adopt this exercise in cowardice as their battle cry. Republicans like to address Tea Parties and talk in terms of the revolutionary spirit sweeping across the nation, and they even invoke the Declaration of Independence in the opening of their "Pledge to America." But the proposals contained within the document show that all this revolutionary talk is mere rhetoric, and that in reality Republicans have learned nothing from their time in the wilderness.
Reps. Sensenbrenner and Ryan would do well to order up a pair of balls for Boehner and the others who wrote that "contract." Put it on the House budget's tab.
Instead of offering bold solutions to today's most pressing challenges, Republicans chose to compile some small ideas that wouldn't endanger their chances of regaining the majority this November.
Timidity and craven "elect us" pablum in the face of TWO crises...
...Republicans shouldn't expect conservatives to adopt this exercise in cowardice as their battle cry. Republicans like to address Tea Parties and talk in terms of the revolutionary spirit sweeping across the nation, and they even invoke the Declaration of Independence in the opening of their "Pledge to America." But the proposals contained within the document show that all this revolutionary talk is mere rhetoric, and that in reality Republicans have learned nothing from their time in the wilderness.
Reps. Sensenbrenner and Ryan would do well to order up a pair of balls for Boehner and the others who wrote that "contract." Put it on the House budget's tab.
Agenda for Paul Ryan: Eliminate Carbon Reduction Scheme
The EPA gratuitously determined that CO2--which you exhale and which all plants inhale--is some sort of poison when found in the atmosphere. The decision was a pure power-grab, not authorized by Congress. Evidently the EPA has far too much money at its disposal.
That'll cost you, big-time.
A dramatic reduction in the carbon dioxide emitted by power plants in Wisconsin, where about two thirds of power comes from coal plants, would likely carry a price tag numbering in the billions of dollars, according to a new state assessment. The reduction would hinge on “carbon sequestering” –scrubbing the gas, often blamed for global warming, from emissions and storing it underground. Although the process would be a dramatic undertaking for electric utilities in the state, it could be prompted by new federal restriction on carbon emissions now being developed.
The only "good" news is that the Doylet Administration wants to pump the carbon to Illinois, a payback for Illinois' importation of carp into Lake Michigan. Or something like that.
And THAT would cost money, too:
The Wisconsin panel found the state lacks in suitable geologic formations and would need to build the pipelines at an estimated construction cost of $2.93 billion with yearly maintenance costs exceeding $100 million.
That little old lady ("typical customer") that WE invents? You know, the one who has one 60-watt lightbulb, no air conditioning, and no electronics, who pays only $70.00/month for electricity?
She'll have to turn off the lightbulb.
Paul Ryan should be trimming EPA budgets hard. Not some namby-pamby "freeze," Paul. A 20% reduction would seem like the hint EPA needs.
That'll cost you, big-time.
A dramatic reduction in the carbon dioxide emitted by power plants in Wisconsin, where about two thirds of power comes from coal plants, would likely carry a price tag numbering in the billions of dollars, according to a new state assessment. The reduction would hinge on “carbon sequestering” –scrubbing the gas, often blamed for global warming, from emissions and storing it underground. Although the process would be a dramatic undertaking for electric utilities in the state, it could be prompted by new federal restriction on carbon emissions now being developed.
The only "good" news is that the Doylet Administration wants to pump the carbon to Illinois, a payback for Illinois' importation of carp into Lake Michigan. Or something like that.
And THAT would cost money, too:
The Wisconsin panel found the state lacks in suitable geologic formations and would need to build the pipelines at an estimated construction cost of $2.93 billion with yearly maintenance costs exceeding $100 million.
That little old lady ("typical customer") that WE invents? You know, the one who has one 60-watt lightbulb, no air conditioning, and no electronics, who pays only $70.00/month for electricity?
She'll have to turn off the lightbulb.
Paul Ryan should be trimming EPA budgets hard. Not some namby-pamby "freeze," Paul. A 20% reduction would seem like the hint EPA needs.
Madistan Police: Dumb and Dumber
We mentioned the other day that the residents of Madison were about to fork over large money to a couple of guys ticketed for "obstruction" because they did not provide identification when open-carrying at a Culver's.
That was not smart--a similar case in Kenosha cost THOSE taxpayers $10 Large.
Someone in Madistan actually reads legal cases, so the cop-shop rescinded the 'obstruction' tickets, and instead, issued "disorderly" cites to all the carriers.
"It seems to me like (police) are just digging a deeper hole," said John R. Monroe, a Georgia attorney who specializes in open carry and firearms cases.
Ya think?
After the appearance of the men, some old lady called the cop shop. Get this:
...a patron called 911 because she was concerned about the armed men and feared something "horrible" could happen.
She and another patron were "disturbed." (Let's be charitable, folks. They were not identified as residents of Central Colony).
But disturbed, fearful, old ladies do not disorderly conduct make.
Monroe, who is also vice president of GeorgiaCarry.org, said that is not enough to warrant a disorderly conduct charge. "If they were doing nothing more than carrying firearms," he said, "that cannot constitute disorderly conduct in and of itself."
Good luck, Mr. Wray.
By the way, many of us will be "disturbed" and "fearful" about "horrible things" when Obama shows his face in Madistan next Tuesday. Think the cop shop will cite the Secret Service?
That was not smart--a similar case in Kenosha cost THOSE taxpayers $10 Large.
Someone in Madistan actually reads legal cases, so the cop-shop rescinded the 'obstruction' tickets, and instead, issued "disorderly" cites to all the carriers.
"It seems to me like (police) are just digging a deeper hole," said John R. Monroe, a Georgia attorney who specializes in open carry and firearms cases.
Ya think?
After the appearance of the men, some old lady called the cop shop. Get this:
...a patron called 911 because she was concerned about the armed men and feared something "horrible" could happen.
She and another patron were "disturbed." (Let's be charitable, folks. They were not identified as residents of Central Colony).
But disturbed, fearful, old ladies do not disorderly conduct make.
Monroe, who is also vice president of GeorgiaCarry.org, said that is not enough to warrant a disorderly conduct charge. "If they were doing nothing more than carrying firearms," he said, "that cannot constitute disorderly conduct in and of itself."
Good luck, Mr. Wray.
By the way, many of us will be "disturbed" and "fearful" about "horrible things" when Obama shows his face in Madistan next Tuesday. Think the cop shop will cite the Secret Service?
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The Failure of the (R) Brand
Sure, I'll drive it home. It's the SPENDING, Stupid!!!
Remember Gingrich's "Contract" foofoodust? If you don't, it's because he never meant a word of it.
Over the past three years the Republican-controlled Congress has approved discretionary spending that exceeded Bill Clinton’s requests by more than $30 billion. The party that in 1994 would abolish the Department of Education now brags in response to Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union Address that it is outspending the White House when it comes to education. My colleagues Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski found that the combined budgets of the 95 major programs that the Contract with America promised to eliminate have increased by 13%.
THAT was written in the November, 2000 edition of Forbes by Ed Crane.
According to RedState, the (R) bunch has another "Contract." But this time, they didn't bother with 'earmark elimination.'
It would have been a waste of ink, if history is a guide.
Remember Gingrich's "Contract" foofoodust? If you don't, it's because he never meant a word of it.
Over the past three years the Republican-controlled Congress has approved discretionary spending that exceeded Bill Clinton’s requests by more than $30 billion. The party that in 1994 would abolish the Department of Education now brags in response to Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union Address that it is outspending the White House when it comes to education. My colleagues Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski found that the combined budgets of the 95 major programs that the Contract with America promised to eliminate have increased by 13%.
THAT was written in the November, 2000 edition of Forbes by Ed Crane.
According to RedState, the (R) bunch has another "Contract." But this time, they didn't bother with 'earmark elimination.'
It would have been a waste of ink, if history is a guide.
As for the USCC? You Can Ignore It
Short but useful from Light/Law:
[Bp. Vasa's] talk deserves, I think, an especially careful reading by two groups: Catholics concerned that the USCCB is usurping the leadership role of local bishops (Vasa argues that it’s really some bishops who are ducking behind conference statements as if those statements absolved them of having to make their own decisions); and, secular journalists who routinely exaggerate the authority of the episcopal conference because they prefer the kind of “low-confrontation” language that committee documents tend to use, as opposed to reporting on the straight talk coming from many diocesan bishops today.
Worth knowing!
[Bp. Vasa's] talk deserves, I think, an especially careful reading by two groups: Catholics concerned that the USCCB is usurping the leadership role of local bishops (Vasa argues that it’s really some bishops who are ducking behind conference statements as if those statements absolved them of having to make their own decisions); and, secular journalists who routinely exaggerate the authority of the episcopal conference because they prefer the kind of “low-confrontation” language that committee documents tend to use, as opposed to reporting on the straight talk coming from many diocesan bishops today.
Worth knowing!
It's the SPENDING, Stupid!!, Part 110,356
Click to enlarge--that way, you can see the Household Income line (in gray) which roughly paralleled Fed Spending until the year 2000.
It is clear that the TEA Party folks are not making stuff up, and (R) politi-slime with bad spending habits (see Murkowski, Bennett, etc.) are also targets for a reason: they're bankrupting our children.
HT: PowerLine
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