Save the Children - Ignore the 4th!

... does celebrating the Fourth of July turn you into a Republican?


Excerpt from a Harvard study:

We find that days without rain on Fourth of July in childhood have lifelong effects. In particular, they shift adult views and behavior in favor of the Republicans and increase later-life political participation. Our estimates are significant: one Fourth of July without rain before age 18 raises the likelihood of identifying as a Republican by 2 percent and voting for the Republican candidate by 4 percent. It also increases voter turnout by 0.9 percent and boosts political campaign contributions by 3 percent.

Oh.. the HUMANITY!!!

- image: vintage postcard from mommiesandbeyond.com

***

Speaking of the Children...

Remember this?

Think you'll be seeing that played on PMSNBC?

I think not... hits a little close, executive orders and decrees and whatnot.

More Schoolhouse rock classics you'll prolly not see on Mainstream Media, here

Virtual Flash Mobbing: How to push a lie and get away with it

When a group with an agenda wants to misinform, all they have to do is lie in a press release.. and best if done in the lead paragraph:

Background: The Heartland Institute is holding a seminar in Dc for climate change sceptics. Center for American Progress, one of Geo Soros pets, want to discredit Heartland by linking it with big oil and the evil Koch brothers.

PRESS CALL ADVISORY: Climate Deniers Congregate in the Nation’s Capital

June 24, 2011
.......
Washington, D.C. – The Heartland Institute, a conservative group funded by Exxon Mobil and Charles Koch, will be hosting their annual Conference on Climate Change on June 30 and July 1 in Washington, D.C., boasting a full agenda of notable climate deniers.

The author of the piece is listed of course as an 'expert' in the environmental field. An expert political scientist, I'm thinking.. and liar.
I'm pretty sure the forked tongue witch is aware that oil companies long ago distanced themselves from anything to do with climate sceptics or conservative organizations. In the case of Exxon mobil about eight years ago... and why shouldn't they. It might affect their fortunes. Far better to be a friend of green causes and get some of that gravy.
BP, Greenpeace & the Big Oil Jackpot
As to the Koch's..they seemed to have seen this coming. Try as the left can they can never really find a smoking gun that results in days of major press headlines.
The Kochs havent been associated with Heartland for years.

And of course 'CAP' knows all this. So how do they get away with lying?

Simple. Just wait till someone picks up on it then publish a version that is more reflective of the truth, never mind the SPIN is still there.
PRESS CALL ADVISORY: Boehlert, Climate Science Experts to Discuss Extreme Weather and Refute Climate Deniers' Claims

June 28, 2011

Contact: Christina DiPasquale
Phone: 202.481.8181
Email: cdipasquale@americanprogress.org

Washington, D.C. — Climate deniers and their conservative allies will descend on the nation’s capital later this week for the annual Heartland Institute’s Conference on Climate Change, whose sponsors in years past have included groups backed by Exxon Mobil and the Koch brothers. In the face of record-breaking extreme weather, from devastating storms and floods to droughts and record-breaking heat that the world has been experiencing, the conference boasts an agenda full of notable climate deniers and presentations disputing that global warming is manmade, despite the fact that the majority of climate scientists agree that human-induced global warming is real.

Never mind the linking of just about everything having to do with weather there. And the fact that just about all the 'warming advocates have disassociated those events from actual warming theory.. and that the majority of Climate Scientists no longer are sure of the CO2 theory. Or that the globe is actually warming.
But who reads a second version, or the followup, of a press release?

More on this propagandic debacle:
CAP and blunder – but Joe Romm is still invited to ICCC6

Sunday Funnies

-Not really 'funny' but just shows if you wait long enough, there's an answer to everything. With the great movie, one of the main questions was 'WHO is Jessica supposed to be?'
For the rare few who don't know, Hendricks is the smart as a whip office manager eye candy on AMC's 'Mad Men'.

Requiem for Myspace: Every DotCom is a bubble

In Businessweek: The Rise and Inglorious Fall of Myspace
The article deserves a read, or at least I agree with it. And the subhead tells all:

It once promised to redefine music, politics, dating, and pop culture. Rupert Murdoch fell in love with it. Then everything fell apart

 Ah.. the more things change, the more they're the same:  But it doesn't address in depth the truth of the net.

 The Nature (of the 'netizen) abhors a Marketing Strategy!

Early social networking sprang from  Darpanet users, back in the '70s with college students or defense contractor employees banding together to talk about their off-work interests. 

The real inventors of the internet 

They were, as you might expect, subject oriented.  This text-only discussion paradigm essentially started with mailing lists where one moderator registered an email address and wrote script to allow multiple posting and send functions to large number of subscribers. In other words you 'friended' the moderator and if he accepted you defacto friended everyone else on the list.

- This was my own first experience with the internet: I joined the 'Mustang Mail List about 1986.

- And with the mail list, came the world's First Spam Email
- understand that, in those days, you saw every bit of the headers; which meant you scrolled down through the addressees interminably to just see the message. And that's primarily what generated the HATE. It was fixed by the eighties but the first impression was not a good one. Probably just coincidence but the firm responsible - Digital Equipment Corporation though a multi-billion dollar leader in its field at the time is no longer in business.

Later came Usenet, a special protocol based service that allowed a 'Bulletin Board' type function without clunky mail servers. It was very popular for subject insiders until Usenet was declared abolished by almost all ISP's due to the ease of posting porn and concentration of anonymous porn users.

Going mainstream is the Kiss of Death

Before there was the web, before there was AOL, before there was Compuserve, or Prodigy.. There was 'The Source'

It was actually built as a new sort of marketing service for the hip in 1979.  And it was the first to be bought by a major publisher, Readers' Digest. It quickly failed because the subscribers used it mainly for social networking and comment and were not really interested in the commercial parts.

 It should be noted that the fate of all its successors was the same, even AOL which brought the average guy onto the net was doomed from the beginning. By the time AOL merged with Time Warner the writing was on the wall. AOL wanted to totally control content and access to net features and made it very hard to actually access the REAL internet.

All that was pre-ordained by the advent of the World Wide Web and the Mosaic interface. Now commonly called the browser.

I won't go into what the folks on the 'real internet' thought of AOL'ers. It would be hurtful.  The point is that concentration on product marketing is a tricky thing.  a little too much hawking of wares will quickly turn the user against you. It just took a lot longer for it to catch up with AOL.

UNLESS that sales aspect is the unabashed FEATURE of the site or service. Witness Ebay.. then Amazon. Or Craigslist.

Combine that with the fickle nature of youth, and the impatience with 'Spam' on every level and you see the future for not only Myspace but Classmates{dot}com and ultimately even Facebook.  Which brings up Twitter.  Where's the monetization plan for Twitter?  How you gonna do it without chasing users away?

Hmmm?

Nope.. the social DotComs all have the same life paradigm:

Idea-Build-social networking self promotion-popularity critical mass- SELL!

From Reader's Digest to Time Inc to Murdoch's News Corp. The moguls will be left holding the bag.

Aint the Free Market wonderful!

Stop bitching about McD's!!!!!

PLEASE!!! Are you people really such little children?
My BS detector just got set off by a FB friend 'liking' some FB group that 'exposed' the make-up of fast-food chicken, as mostly grain products.
The last time this happened, against Taco Bell, the complainant - a rent seeking Law firm 'tried to 'quietly withdraw its allegations' and hasn't been heard from since.
  
Taco Bell Beef Lawsuit Withdrawn

McD's recently changed their menus ESPECIALLY the Chicken offerings. Their chicken now SUX from all accounts .. mainly my wife's... but PLEASE let's not invite the government to 'do something about it'. McDonalds customers will take care of the problem.
Understand I am not absolving McDonald's of any and all blame.. Supersized Fries and Corn Fructose Drinks are not exactly healthy, but are we adults or not?!!
Are we really too stupid.. or consider other adults too stupid to make their own decisions?
And what if they made those decisions based on Government Guidelines that normal natural fats are bad for you?  Answer THAT!

HHS is ALREADY getting set to tell you what you can and cannot eat.. or smoke.. if you're on the Guvmint health plan. Not 'guidelines' and nagging'.. disqualification of benefits by physicians under the plan.

Is that what you all REALLY want?

Speaking of...  here's an interesting chart.  Can you see what it really means?
 Hint: Pertains to the first 'USDA Dietary Guidlines to recommend low fat diet rather than just moderating fats..

PDF File USDA Guidelines over time
 Remember?  The Science was settled! There was a concensus!!!!
So, now that they convinced you that your ancestors were stupid and you are too unless you eat what they tell you to eat,  the same tactic used against tobacco will be used for your dinner table.

Feds look to regulate food similar to tobacco, with hopes of saving money on health care

If you believe, subsequent to that, that the health care regime isnt going to penalize or reduce your medical care based on your diet.. then, say, I got some great Carbon Cap and Trade futures I want to sell ya!

It's all Sen. McCarthy's Fault!

How 'It's a Wonderful Life', Joe MacCarthy's paranoia, and the Mortgage crisis are connected.

The internet media is fascinating. At any given time, somewhere out there is a blogger studying history and finding nuggets of truth to make us think and relate to current events.

David Goldenberg: Why Joe McCarthy Hated It’s a Wonderful Life

..what made Senator McCarthy so angry? The part involving the maligning of fat-cat banker and slumlord Henry Potter. While Bailey (who lends money to the working poor) is the movie’s hero, Henry Potter (who focuses on the financial bottom line alone) is the villain. According to the FBI’s memo, portraying a capitalist in such a negative light was a classic communist trick.

McCarthy was, of course, right when he began his crusade to expose the Left in Hollywood but, like the evil Mr Potter, he became a caricature to be vilified because of his compulsive obsession.

Fast forward to the recent past, the red-lining, mortgage industry that typically required ten or twenty percent down and no more than 25% of gross wage payment... against the sub-prime push by Fannie Mae and the 1999 CRA. So now we recognize who represents who in the Movie, right?
Well almost.
Potter WAS a crook after all, trying to keep money he knew wasn't his.
BUT...Barney Frank as George Bailey? I think not.

Meanwhile, opinions about Henry Potter’s character have changed over the years. In light of the housing-market crisis, the fiscally responsible banker may not have been such a bad guy after all. The loans that he tried to prevent George Bailey from handing out were essentially subprime mortgages. Mr. Potter may have just been trying to stop the poor citizens of Bedford Falls from over-leveraging themselves. Who’s the evil capitalist now?

Like McCarty's witch hunt ending up going much further than was necessary... after all we SUPPOSEDLY had freedom of association and speech, even back then.. shining a light on the influential person's politics should have been enough for us. And it should never go to the extremes that it did. Just let us unwashed masses know about chicanery then decide for ourselves!

The OTHER difference is that 'Wonderful Life' centered around a community, not the country. You cannot extrapolate local to global because if you do then the crooks are far more likely to get off free. Community peer image means a lot.
Nationally, it doesn't matter, apparently, as Frank's cronies have raped Fannie and Freddie pretty much at will with no political repercussions.

And all the big bank Potters seem to keep raking it in. The banks and politicians fooled us with TARP, because we couldn't be sure. Now we can be... don't try to fool us twice.

I also find McCarthy's subsequent influence on the electorate of Wisconsin fascinating -it's taking WI voters fifty years to wash the taste of idiot conservatism out of their mouths- but that's another thread.

It's the little things that bring joy

I just bought a new old car. My father's day gift to myself.
It is my third 1993 TBird in a row, #2 having given me 5 years and 150,000 miles of faithful service at a total cost to buy, repair and service of about $2000. That's right .. 2 grand TOTAL. And it always gave me fair warning when it was gonna quit. Now though #2 has 300,000 on her and she's old and tired and ready to be driven to the salvage yard.

So naturally when I saw her skin twin in a chance meeting at the auto parts store, I offered the owner $2500 on the spot. I nagged him till he sold her to me.

Sunday Morning Sermon on Liars and Fools

Years ago I confined almost all my political musings to a sub-section on a Soccer Messageboard I moderated. Since I had grown into the habit - even before there were 'web-sites', of surfing the net in the classical sense of starting at point 'A' then following links to point B'" from there to 'C" and so on. I found most my argumental backup and posted links to same.
Imagine my frustration when those who debated points against me complained of my loading my postulations with LINKS! Especially when I took care to make sure they were links to media THEY would read and or approve of.. not some RW hack site. They complained ANYWAY about my loading my posts with links!
Bottom line: they didnt care, because they weren't about to have their cozy little life-views altered by anything approaching logic and facts. Well, we're all like that aren't we.
However, since I only write this stuff to try to exercise my mental powers in the fight against the ravages of senile dementia, I carry on. And frankly I don't give a crap whether the reader follows my links or not. As long as they don't rebut with non-fact and idiocies that the links refuted.

So let me recount how my surfing went this AM:

I started at Hot Air's headline roundup:  
Virginia AG tests politics from the pulpit

Summary: the VA AG tries to help define line on political advocacy by churches, but ends up just confusing matters more.
SOMEHOW, from there I got directly to the Houston Chronicle's Op-Ed criticism by a group of 'what we used to call 'Ecumenical'  religious leaders on Gov Perry's 'Day of Prayer' to be held at Reliant Stadium: 
Day of prayer violates separation of church and state
- First, I almost agree with the headline.  Elected leaders  have to be very careful when they 'proclaim' a faith event.
Perry comes dangerously close to pandering to faith. Like the unnecessary politically inspired insertion of 'under God' in the pledge when I was a kid. 
But the arguments made.. essentially rebut their own point.   These religious pastors are from the usual suspect 'social justice' denominations.  To wit: those that actually DO preach that Jesus was a social worker / community organizer and that God just might have been a construct of man's need for order in society.

 Let me make one thing perfectly clear:  If you worry that the practice of your religious faith might offend someone not of your faith you are, by definition of Jesus and St Paul, NOT A CHRISTIAN!
Note it is not me saying that, it is clearly stated many times in the New Testament. Find me where it says otherwise! Only thing you will find is 'Pray in Private'. THAT is valid. But so is 'Make a joyful Noise'

So that article pretty much absolves Gov Perry. It is not for me to judge his motives, that's between him and God.
And I have my own opinion of the chances for salvation for those who pervert gospel for their own viewpoints but the same applies. Do you really want me to tell you what I think of Social Justice Theology? Thought not. But it is NOT 'Christian' in the theological sense.

***

Moving on to the CONTEMPORARY 'Religion of Anti-Carbon', ie; worship of all things Gaia, there's Reason magazine's

Green Shoots Bustin' Out All Over: How Much More Awesome News Can One Economy Take?

There's a good roundup of the stupidity of the Green Economy. Notable is that the $5,500,000 stimulus grant to 'Cree Lighting' - who is btw the accepted technical leader in LED lighting - resulted in a grand total of THREE JOBS created.
Need I say more? Cree did not need that stimulus money to create jobs, they needed it to subsidize the PROMOTION of their products to attempt to get volume to a critical mass. Which may or may not work, because like in every other market venture you tend to get lazy and invest in political efforts if the Guvmint is feeding you. See GE.
LED lighting to save resources is a GREAT idea. But it will succeed on the market, not on government favor.. and cost us less in the long run if government just keeps their hands off!

***

But the cake-taker for GREEN IDIOT/LIAR OF THE WEEK is Forbes' Green Blogger

Todd Woody
Green Gulfstream: Flying To Paris On Biofuels

I've said before I was terrible in school math, but I became an Engineer anyway by being able to visualize mathematical constructs and looking up the appropriate formula. Woody is a guy who apparently can not figure OR visualize mathematically. Or he's a straight out liar!

As we retrace Charles Lindberg’s 1927 pioneering flight across the Atlantic to Paris, the 50-50 blend of biofuel and petroleum aviation fuel in the right engine is burning 68 percent less carbon than the fossil fuel in the left engine, according to Rekoske.

Get that? If you suppose that the biofuel component has ZERO carbon content, my brain tells me it could reduce carbon burning by no more than 50%. What does YOUR brain tell you?
Here's a hint about 'Woody's brain':

By the time the G4 lands at the Paris Air Show, it will have saved a net 5.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

Yes he really wrote that. And it's on 'Forbes' and I took a screen shot of that page.
Think hard, my few readers! All we have to do is make about 250 transatlantic fights in that Gulfstream using PURE bio-jet in both engines and the ENTIRE ANNUAL US Carbon emissions are wiped away!!! Praise Gaia.. she has absolved our sins!

I'm not even gonna comment on using farmland to grow fuel instead of food. Or the fact that diesel is used to grow it.
And DON'T say 'Bio-Diesel'. Unless you believe that perpetual motion machines are possible.

If you dont get that by now you are too stupid to ever get it. Which puts you into the 'FOOL' category. Meaning the IRS should double your taxes to pay for this crap, and leave the rest of us alone.

A new Little Ice Age?.. oh.. and a piece of Africa is breaking off.

It was just a few months ago that the Sun woke up and we began seeing sunspots again after a long delayed start of a new solar cycle, but already those who study these things for a living see signs that this feeble peak activity isnt going to amount to much and we may see the next cycle skipped altogether.
Stunning Press release:“All three of these lines of research to point to the familiar sunspot cycle shutting down for a while.”
What's interesting about this is that, unlike the global temperature records, there has been a constant charting of solar activity since about the middle of the LAST global cold spell. - That would be the one that ended farming in Greenland and killed the vineyards of Great Britain.. yes the one Michael Mann and the Warmists dont want you to think about. And there's a strong scientifically noted connection between solar activity and climate.

NASA JPL on New Insights on How Solar Minimums Affect Earth

As the warmists continue to raise the cacophony on the imminent catastrophic results of a trace gas increase.. meaning.. give us your money and quit using oil and coal to save us all.. especially the children. Within a short time we're likely to see a reversal of immense magnitude and scientists running out for grants on how to prevent people from freezing to death.

***

In other interesting REAL SCIENCE news {meaning: as opposed to rent-seeking 'Climate Science'}, a formerly extinct volcano in Somalia's Eritrean region has erupted just months after new papers affirmed older ones that the rift in that area is subsiding rapidly and part of NE African continent will be isolated soon by an extension of the Red Sea.
'Soon' meaning: next month... within our lifetimes.. or within a million years.

But the real news in this is the connections to tectonic shifts - meaning the near simultaneous Chilean activity- point to yet more eruptions elsewhere, and a definite Pinataubo or Summer of St Helens effect.

Yes... even MORE cooling in the short term.

Archbishop of Assehatte Burned Again

- Iowahawk

Peter Hitchens in The London Daily Mail has a few corrections for 'His Eminence, the Asshat of Canterbury' on the subject of 'Christian Charity'

Blessed are the Spongers? That’s not what St Paul said, Archbishop

why does the Archbishop of Canterbury speak as if it was obvious that we should treat people who can work, but won’t, in the same way as we treat those who are truly in need?

As Dr Williams has decided to take up political commentating, I think I shall do a little bit of Archbishoping. Here beginneth the first lesson: In St Paul’s first epistle to Timothy, Chapter 5, we read: ‘If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.’

And in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, St Paul rubs it in, in that way he has: ‘This we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.’

This seems pretty clear to me, and a dozen generations before my own knew these words by heart and lived according to them. They gave to charity and supported the helpless and needy with all their might.

That's the best takedown of this simpering idiot, Williams, since Iowahawk did it in 2008.
Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte.

{excerpted here}

An Archbishop of Canterbury Tale
...............

75 And so it went, the pilgryms all

76 Complaynynge of the Muslim thrall;

77 To eaches same the Bishop lectured

78 About the cultur fabrick textured

79 With rainbow threyds from everie nation

80 With rainbow laws for all situations.

81 "But Father Rowan, we bathyr nae one

82 We onlye want to hav our funne!"

83 "But the Musselman is sure to see

84 Thy funne as Western hegemony.

85 'Tis not Cristian for Cristians to cause

86 The Moor to live by Cristendom's laws

87 Whan he has hise sovereyn culture

88 Crist bade us put ours in sepulture.

89 To be divyne we must first be diverse

90 So cheer thee well, thynges could be wors

91 Sharia is Englishe as tea and scones,

92 So everybody muste get stoned."

93 The pilgryms shuffled for the door

94 To face the rule of the Moor;

95 Poets, Professors, Starbucks workers

96 Donning turbans, veils and burqqas.

97 As they face theyr fynal curtan

98 Of Englande folk, one thynge is certan:

99 Dying by theyr own thousande cuts,

100 The Englande folk are folking nuts.

101 BURMA SHAVE

----------------------------------

I'm a poor Christian, performance wise. But at least I'm not an Anglican and have to pay attention to what some idiot head of a 'National Church' spouts as Social justice theology.

And God forgive me for judging others but I think I'm committing a pretty minor sin here when I say this guy, head of the Church of England, is either stupid or evil. Hmm.. can you be both? Maybe for St Peter to decide?

What could possibly go wrong?

Enterasys Wants You to Friend and Tweet with Your Switches and Routers

From CIO:

Enterasys this week rolled out software that allows network admins to access its management system via social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Salesforce.com's Chatter.

Our DoE Gestapo

The first hint for many of us.. which I missed but some found curious was:

WaPo: Education Department buying 27 shotguns

Now we know WHY..

No Really: SWAT Team Raids House at 6 AM and Handcuffs Father of Three Young Kids to Execute a Dept. of Education Search Warrant for Estranged Wife's Defaulted Student Loans

STOCKTON, CA - Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

"I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers," Wright said.

Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.

"He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there," Wright said.

According to Wright, officers also woke his three young children ages 3, 7, and 11 and put them in a Stockton police patrol car with him. Officers then searched his house.

As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there - Wright's estranged wife.

"They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids," Wright said. [...]

The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans.

Oh.. wait!

It wasn't the Stockton SWAT team, it was the Department of Education 'OIG'.. no doubt using some of those 27 shotguns.
And it wasn't a loan default that got them called into action but possible criminal fraud..

Dept. of Education SWAT Raid Update: Not for a Student Loan, DoE Says

Well!!!!

All BETTER, then! We are INDEED becoming more egalitarian, don't you notice? Now white collar crime like fraud and embezzlement is treated exactly as if it were done by armed robbers. Besides being easier in the sleuthing side, it's more fun and you get a chance to use all that swell assault training.


As a favorite blogger of mine often sez... "They told me if I voted for McCain, {insert outrageous activity here}.. and they were right!"

Quasi-Intellect Leads to Insanity

Further proof of the imminent end-times:

Foreskin Man!
- decidedly 'Aryan Avenger' style, wot?

Yet another Joo-hate effort by the atheist quasi-intellectual bunch!
For all you soft-hearted idiots out there..

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/womens-health/articles/2009/03/25/circumcision-guards-against-stds

I'm sorry.. I'm no longer soft-peddling my views for those of you who read Lame-Stream-Media by the 'learned and Informed' who eschew the least bit of common sense because of their 4 or 7 years of academic indoctrination.

If you are stupid enough to take the word of your 'intellectual betters' over F@##$$4king common sense given you by God, you and your children deserve what you get!

Take it from one whose procedure was botched and suffered pain in adolescence because of it.. I'm STILL glad my mom did it!

H/T Hot Air!

*** 

For some more better news:

No handicap here:

***

BONUS!!!

Bank of America Gets Pad Locked After Homeowner Forecloses On It


DailyMail: President Obama wolfs down TWO chili dogs and fries... the day after his wife unveils new dietary guide

- If some of you hadnt yet noticed.. to get the REAL Scoop on some of the fascinating by-play in our government{s}, you have to read the BRITISH papers. Since it's not THEIR government.. hence no danger of being summarily excluded by Guvmint minders, they are free to look at ours.. unlike some unfortunates at the SF Chronicle who ask the wrong questions.
Good on OUR Pres. for doing .. or eating.. what he feels like with no regard to 'PC' .. shouldnt we all have that degree of choice? .. after all..

“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
–Thomas Jefferson

Why you MIGHT think he was talking about the corn Ethanol fuel, or GoreBull Warmening scams!!!
Or that to lose weight you need to go on a low-fat diet. After all the science is settled.. err.. well.. it WAS settled, wasnt it.?

Fannie and Freddie Frauds finally explored

Several years ago I posted on a soccer messageboard what I thought was the primary reason for the financial mess. It's all gone because someone supposedly hacked the site and the admin just wiped it out.
That was the CRA of 1999.

Funny thing is that most people using their common sense KNOW that government 'fair housing' programs incited the banking houses to get creative with those junk futures instruments. But in that thread all I got for rebuttal was mealy-mouth party memes.

But you'll get howls anytime you try to point fingers at exactly WHO was responsible. Because people will not admit that their political heroes would screw something up so badly. So far, the only politico I'm aware of who's come close is Bill Clinton. He said perhaps 'we went a little overboard'. I'll say! Before that you never heard all those mortgage brokers advertise 'no money down, up to 100% financing'.

Well someone has finally written a book on it and because of their credentials maybe someone will actually LOOK at Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and their role in the bust.

Volokh has thoughts and the link to the book:
A Book Length Account of Fannie and Freddie and Their Role in the Financial Crisis

Looks interesting. Maybe we'll get some justice in knowledge rather than just blaming the banks.

Palin exposes Media Boobs

Michelle Malkin has a precious writeup on how Sarah Palin has turned the tables on the very media that has mocked her since she's been in national politics:
Chasing Sarah: The Boys Behind the Bus

This is especially good:

The Atlantic's Garance Franke-Ruta griped that "reality TV star Palin" was "treating pol reporters like paparazzi -- needing and hating, inviting and making chase." Perhaps Franke-Ruta needs a reminder of what a truly parasitic press-pol relationship looks like. I have stacks of Obama 2008 profiles exulting over his glistening pecs and soaring oratorical skills, followed by countless spurned-lover laments from reporters disappointed about the control freaks who stage-manage his every press appearance.

As if they haven't ALWAYS treated Palin as if they were 'paparazzi'. How would you catalog Andrew Sullivan's fascination with her?

As my friend and blogging colleague Doug Powers put it: "Reporters whining about Palin are like kids who can't reach the cookie jar because she keeps moving it."

It's too bad the 'journalists' have forgotten how to do 'investigative reporting'. REAL press in the old days would be able to sniff out where she's going, obviously someone is expecting her somewhere. And you can bet it's not a union convention.

Now they'd rather just blame the stalkee for their own laziness.

And if they do figure it out that she's toying with them, they'll do it anyway:

NYT: Palin Dismisses the Media, but They Come Back for More

Free journalism? Well... Sometimes you DON'T get what you pay for.

Rainey, LATimes.. On the Media: The price of 'free' journalism

If you don't care to read it, the thing is focussed on the recent sale of Huffington Post and the subsequent complaint by its writer/bloggers that they got nothing for their content input that made Arianna Huffington a lot of money.

Implicit is the concept that perhaps content is worth more than what was directly paid for it. Interesting. Especially that this was published at nearly the same time as the NYT paid grudging respect to Matt Drudge, acknowledging that he is still very much the arbiter of what is news and what is not. IOW, most of the paid press reads him and puts their fingers in the wind accordingly. I hope everyone sees the irony there.

Contrary to the writer's apparent point, I contend that there are three forms of 'news' information: opinion, certifiable opinion, and factual rebuttal.
- non-factual rebuttal falling into 'opinion' category.

Opinion as provided by HuffPo, is just that, one person's (or publication's) opinion. And you know what they say about 'Opinions.. everyone's got one, just like...'  If HuffPo was forced to pay for content, that might be a good thing, in the big picture.  Folks that write dross that's easily refuted might be shed to protect the overall reputation.

Certified {not to say 'paid'} Opinion on the other hand, is more like legal publishing; ALL the pertinent factual information is addressed. You don't go to court on precedent supplied by Google search, or Drudge or even free internet caselaw. That would be Lexis/Nexis or Westlaw.  Or Bloomberg on stock performances and Corporate Reports.

Free factual rebuttal is exactly what the internet bloggers are best at.
- Ask Dan Rather.. oh, wait dont. He's a 'victim' you see!  Ask the 'scientists' at UEA on Climategate.  The fraud of 'Global Warming' has been well and truly exposed almost exclusively on the 'net. By people doing it for FREE!

OTHER than that, you PAY for vital information and indeed that is how the internet is now shaking out. What once was more or less free.. like the on line white pages, is now only readily available for a fee.  Did anyone seriously expect it to be otherwise? Who is going to pay for factual verification of someone's name, address and phone number?


Standards and Practices
News and journalistic standards used to be such that you could count on the front page to be a factual uncolored account. Who, What, When Where, and why or how. The latter being certifiable facts behind the issue or event. And the 'why or how facts' mostly disappeared from news reports sometime in the late sixties or seventies. Some say because of USAToday. I say EVEN BEFORE that in  my local paper.

We held the Wall Street Journal in high regard then, because it continued providing the factual background. The Opinion pages and sometimes Features were colored by POV, the news was generally not.

I refuse the premise that the only useful opinion is that which is compensated, at any rate. Going back to when dead tree news was still king, the publication might publish any sort of nonsense or opinion that it wanted to... whether on the Front, Editorial or Op-ed pages.

And that is why we also read the Letters to Editor. Once in a while or often, depending on the publication's journalistic standards, those letters presented facts that devastatingly rebutted the compensated professional's viewpoint. That content was free, and whether it's on the net article comments or printed on the pulpwood, it always will be supplied free of charge by the writer, who is usually more knowledgeable on the given subject or issue.

I appreciate the content providers for HuffPo wanting to be paid and submit that HuffPo certainly had the ability to gauge the value of the content to its readers and pay accordingly but what those writers should understand is that their credentials have nothing to do with the value of their content in the eyes of the general public. And Arianna's apparent hypocrisy on the subject is beside the point.


Paid Writing - Free Music? Does Not Compute!
However.. since a few of those same writers advocated that the net should allow free dissemination of other creative product, such as music and video, I think it rings hollow.
As does the idea that HuffPo is popular for its original content. The only value I see in it is argument against viewpoints published elsewhere and LINKED. Thus it goes one step, perhaps, beyond Drudge or even Instapundit.

Meanwhile NYT has re-erected its pay wall, trying to put a price on access to Dowd, Krugman et al. They brag of 100,000 subscribers in the first week. I don't care. I can find the same opinions in Washington Post or the Guardian or the Independent. Only some of the NYT Features have original content other than crass opinion. And most political opinion there has to pass through its editorial board to match their publisher's whims. In doing that they open themselves up to charges -by 'free' writers- of crass biases.

But the most important thing is that, paywall, writer compensation or not, the Media can't hide behind 'value of content' and force those who can rebut them to do the same thing.

Fair or not, the market decides.. for now, anyway.  That is the beauty of the 'net.

Meet Meghan McCain, Blonde.

"..and what do you call the other one?"

Meghan McCain is nowhere near that ditzy, but she's not exactly establishing herself as a serious commenter, either.
I, along with most other people, first became aware of the Senator's daughter during his 2008 campaign.  One of my favorite bloggers noticed that she had started one of her own, logging life on the campaign circuit from her viewpoint.
I was disappointed, though, as her point of view was as shallow as it could get.  We never got an insight on anything from her, alternately gushing about how super they were treated and then the hard travel schedule.

She hasn't grown up much in the years since.  New York Times Magazine just ran a human interest Q & A on her: Inside Meghan McCain’s Bachelorette Pad

Some samples:

HUMAN OBSESSION: I am borderline obsessed with Sofia Coppola. She is unbelievably talented and has a famous father and established herself as a force...

Well, Meghan.. you have a famous father and I suppose you have established yourself as a force

BODY IMAGE: I wake up every morning with large breasts, and it doesn’t affect me. But people had a meltdown when I posted a photo of myself on Twitter. I found such extreme sexism in it. I’ve spent as much of my career having my weight and body commented on as my writing and politics. 

 Uh, no.  Not in the sites I read, comments on your boobs referenced far less than the other meaning of the word as applied to you.

And here's a hint why:

FAVORITE DEMOCRAT: I like Anthony Weiner, the congressman from New York. He has YouTube moments I find entertaining, and he’s married to Huma Abedin, who works for Secretary of State Clinton. I have to tip my hat to him for landing such a hot woman.

Ironically this same day, the web is 'all-a-twitter' about a pic supposedly of Weiner in his gray tighties showing a boner. {no comments on 'vienna sausages, please} but that has nothing to do with this... other than chuckles and grins.
Read the rest of the piece. Then read Meghan's wiki.

In terms of economic policy, she has remarked on The Rachel Maddow Show that "I didn't even take Econ[omics] in college. I don't completely understand it so I'd hate to make a comment one way or the other. That's – truly of all the things – I keep reading and I just don't understand it."

Well, now. There's really nothing wrong with not understanding Economics.. and especially when you admit it. But economics is what the crux of the Republican Party platform is about.
And if you don't understand our economy is in deep trouble and why, and you're pro-choice and pro-illegal immigration and pro gay marriage then you might as well be a Democrat.   Cause they have such good cool people.. marrying hotties and all.
 So shut up about Bristol Palin.  Somehow I think if Bristol went to college, even Columbia, she probably would take at least one Econ course and probably WOULD understand it.

So let's face it.. Meghan does blonde women a disservice by reinforcing the old 'skin deep intellect' stereotype.

She may not actually be that dumb, most blondes arent really. But I can't imagine what she would have to say that would fill more than one book.

*****

Speaking of celebrities.. here's the Celebrity Headline teaser of the Week:

"Mila Kunis has finally realized.... 

{wait for it}

.. she was dating Macauley Caulkin!"

Now THAT'S FUNNY! I dont care where yer from.

I'm not linking it because it was a teaser for those sites that have you clicking from one to another just to finally get to the punch line.

Why Women hate CFL's

Not only are people finding Compact Fluorescents not saving much money in power bills, and not lasting as long as claimed.. unless there's special circumstances, but women HATE them when they try to dress or put on makeup.

- I find that ones installed outside last long time though switched on and off. Of course it takes forever for them to warm up.
- Also left on ALL the time typically last a couple of years.

I guess we guys all know it's really hard to find good ones to install in proximity of both woman and a mirror.
via XkCD, Doghouse Diaries hints on the reason why:

- Note: I have a minor blue color misperception {light blue eyes, 'Electric Blue' turns into a blob that hurts my eyes} and I cant see any difference in some pinks plus some color gradients, like 'eggplant', seem out of order to me.

XKCD has a lot more to say on the subject but it develops on why women see color differently than men.

Whatever the case, it's obvious even to me that CFL's fall short in the color hue department. Cool White or Daylight is the only acceptable color temperature.

Add to that the mercury 'hazmat' problem.. which is laughable on the single broken bulb handling, yet pretty serious when a whole truckload gets smashed.
- by the way the recent tornadoes present that problem. All the smashed Lowes, Home Depots and Walmarts turned into hazmat zones by broken shelf stock. Now..Imagine a warehouse FULL of CFL's!

Sadly even LED lighting, though making great progress, still hasn't solved the color hue to the extent of traditional bulbs.

Farmers Nervous.. and we should be, too.

With all the extreme weather we've been having and the coverage of tornado damage and deaths in the midwest and south, another aspect that has even more long term consequences for the world is the inability, because of wet fields, to get corn in the ground.
Marietta Ohio Times

As of the start of this week, only 11 percent of the state's corn crop had been sewn, compared to the nearly 90 percent average for this time of year.

An emergency meeting is planned for this morning in Columbus at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to address the issue, according to an official with the local Ohio State University Extension Office.

Indpls Star

Barely half of Indiana's corn crop for 2011 is planted and several million acres of seeds still must go into the ground with just a week remaining before Wednesday's optimal planting deadline.

- via Instapundit

This isn't just a localized problem it will affect everyone, national and global.

Global Food Output May Be Hurt as Climate Shifts, UN Warns

Drought in China has affected 6.5 million hectares of farmland, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said on its website on May 20. China has ordered the operator of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest, to release water to replenish the Yangtze River and counter the local region's lowest rainfall in half a century.
.....
In the U.S., floods along the Mississippi River and its tributaries have affected almost 3.6 million acres of cropland, causing the most damage in Arkansas, the American Farm Bureau Federation said on May 23. Floods in Canada's Frenchman River Basin may be the largest since 1952, and the waters slowed the nation's sowing, the Canadian Wheat Board said on April 20.

And some of us olders know that precipitation tends to even out during the year. Too much rain now will likely be countered with too little when the ears of corn are filling.

And yeah, it will even affect gas prices:
Bloomberg

Ethanol moved higher with corn, which rose on the Chicago Board of Trade as storms stretching from Iowa to Ohio may bring rain by tomorrow. Planting is behind the normal pace because of excess rain, with some of the biggest delays in Ohio, North Dakota and Indiana.

On the last, our government could help by telling the petroleum refiners to reduce ethanol in gasoline or eliminate it altogether.
- dont worry, your car can handle that just fine and your gas mileage would probably increase.
Only problem with that, of course is that the Agribiz corporations are very good friends or our elected.

So dont bet on it.. just remember where the real problem lies.. and it's not with CO2 global warming. Because temperatures have NOT gone up they are decreasing at the moment. The weather patterns {not climate} HAVE shifted due to ocean current changes and la Nina, but not for the first time nor will it be the last.

Retread your DVD library..watch them in B&W

from Flavorwire: 10 Modern Movies That Are Better in Black and White
Great idea.. turns adventure films into suspense films! And makes suspense films like Halloween and Fargo even spookier

Great example of that:



You appreciate them in a whole different way

O'Reilly / Stewart on Common at WH sends my blog hits up 500%

Note: 'Pettifog' means 'Make a big deal over little or nothing.'
-You're welcome. That's not exactly how I write on my blog but reflects how I like to look at everything related to an issue.

Blog hits went from minuscule to noticeable in one fell swoop... because first O'Reilly then Stewart use the term 'pettifog' several times to describe overstating the importance of an issue. In this case inviting the Rapper 'Common' to the White House.
Article in HuffPo on the 'debate'. The word first comes up about 4:48 of part 1.

All the traffic increase came from Google search of 'Pettyfog'.. meaning users were unfamiliar with the term and misspelled it.
I explain my spelling in 'about'

{So when} I got on the then young internet, I adopted the identity "Pettyfog" as my online personna. It was a play on words from the Dickensian use of 'pettifog' {self-important minor bureaucratic blather, not the 'evil lawyer' use, and I used 'y' instead of 'i' for two reasons. 'Little Fog' being one, identifiability the other.

- the HuffPo staff did add a definition later, spelling it correctly.

But.. on the issue of Common: I expected from the HuffPo account that O'Reilly had gone off the deep end again. He truly is often guilty of blowing things up to ridiculous extents and he did pettifog here, somewhat. But hell, Stewart does the same thing. I dont watch either of them for that reason.

O'Reilly is right in that it does define the White House. Stewart's on shaky ground.

But it's still trivial because we already should know this would happen, the invite's a sop to Obama's most solid constituency; 2012 is just around the corner and he hasn't done much of anything for them, yet.

Apparently there is now ..

.. GOOGLE ENTRY FOR “CAPTAIN SEXY BANJO.”

Instapundit posted:

THERE’S NO GOOGLE ENTRY FOR “CAPTAIN SEXY BANJO.” Well, maybe this will fix that problem.

And lo.. it sure did

And yet... none of the 90 or so links listed were for Amazon{dot}com.

Taliban 'Tet' a dud; MSM weep!

On May 8 the Taliban attacked the provincial capital of Kandahar in a much anticipated effort to repeat the NVA/ Viet Cong Tet offensive which the US won militarily, utterly destroying the attacking forces, but the press blew into a 'We Cant Win' meme.

Despite their loads of bombs and sniper tactics, the Taliban failed miserably.

But Time Mag and the NYT aren't giving up on their Cronkite-ish theme. 'Analysts', particularly those with facial hair to make them look serious and wise, are free to put any sort of spin on it they can think of:

NYT: Broad Taliban Attack Paralyzes Kandahar

The attack ended as night fell Sunday, when the last two suicide bombers were killed in a hotel near the provincial headquarters of the national intelligence department. Spent casings littered the streets “like hail after a storm,” one Kandahar resident said, and ranks of police officers stood guard at official buildings.

The scale and organization of the attack as well as the targeting of government buildings suggested that the Taliban had been planning it for some time — and that they had relied on support from inside Kandahar.

Among the places singled out were the provincial governor’s palace, the police headquarters, the transportation police headquarters, a police substation and other buildings used by the military, according to a NATO statement.

Those are among the most well-guarded spots in Kandahar, the biggest city in southern Afghanistan and a major base for NATO forces. Still, the 27 insurgent fighters involved in the attacks were able to move in those areas while toting explosive vests or driving vehicles laden with explosives, raising questions about complicity with the attacks.

- summary. None of those targets were captured, let alone occupied. And yet the tone is one of 'woe' with the inevitable negative statements from locals who fit the profile.

Time holds out hope even after the one sided debacle:
Afghanistan: A Taliban Offensive Hopes to Repeat Vietcong's Tet Effect

So much so that Time's bearded wunderkind writer former anti apartheid activist brings up a totally off the wall statement by Gen Westmoreland about the enemy in Nam, months previous to Tet:

{{Tet's} historical impact was to mock the triumphalist claims of General William Westmoreland, who had told Americans months earlier that the Vietcong were on the ropes and unable to mount a major offensive, and that the war would soon be over.

Of course there's no parallel example in the modern military effort, but hey.. that was just too good to pass up. And never mind most of us who were actually voting age adults, and paying attention at the time, thought Westmoreland was an idiot.
Well the writer was alive, too. Maybe ..what.. six years old.

The Washington Times has a different view of the Taliban flop.

...the Taliban launched a major attack on Afghan government targets in the insurgent’s spiritual capital of Kandahar. Press reports called it a “vengeance attack” for the killing of Osama bin Laden a week earlier. Time magazine forebodingly compared it to the 1968 Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. The general tone of the coverage was thick with knowing dread.

The outcome of the attacks was far from the doom presaged in the press. “All of the Taliban involved in the Kandahar attack were either captured or killed,...”

At a heavy price, no doubt? Well it disrupted everyday life in the city for 30 hours. Does that count.. guess it depends.

The series of attacks in Kandahar reached none of their assumed objectives. No Afghan government public buildings were seized and the insurgents inflicted few casualties. The most underreported good news story was that the defense of the city was conducted by the Afghan National Security Forces. “The ANSF did a really good job,” our source said. “They were calm; they were capable.”

But all that good news didn't change the theme for the IDIOT Leftist press. And it never will.

Bureaucrats rethink "All your cash are belong us"

Dallas police have change of heart on cash found by teen 

From WFAA

There are new developments in the story of Plano teenager Ashley Donaldson, who turned in $2,000 she found in an envelope on the ground in North Dallas — only to find out that when no one claimed it the city planned to keep it.
Dallas police Chief David Brown issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying the department will follow a provision in state law in determining what happens to the funds.

 But previously:

On Tuesday, police said under a new city policy, the unclaimed money will go into Dallas' general fund — not back to the person who found it, as in years past.
"We appreciate your honesty," said Dallas police spokesman Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse. "We're going to put the money to good use. It's not going to be wasted, but put to good use for the City of Dallas."

 Now the reason I highlighted Cpl Janse is that he probably hasnt been a civil servant long enough to become SO EVERLOVING FREAKING STUPID as to think the government claiming found money is a good idea.
And it probably wasn't even the Dallas chief.. No, that takes years of 'public service' and would be someone who has a law degree and also one in 'political science'.

It takes that sort of training to acquire the myopia needed to believe that it was a good idea for future crime solving.
Because, you see, the first think I thought when I read the original article was
"What!!! No one who hears about this and finds an unmarked envelope with cash in it will bother turning it in."
And lets face it, that could be money from a drug deal. And the loser might be dumb enough to claim it; it's happened before.
If that was the case, THEN the police would keep it and there's precedence for that but the finder would get some satisfaction from helping out the police.

And you know what.. I'm just a guy with some common sense but I noted there were others who got that point. Only those who think the people are there to serve government wouldn't get it.

* * *

There's a lot more to the story about Ashley and her family on the WFAA site, read the 'related' links

WSJ: Giggles and Grins column

For some muted chuckles on world and national affairs, in a large national paper, you could do worse than bookmark the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web Today"

In the May 9 edition, The bin Laden Book Club, we learn:

- bin Laden was a fan of idiot savant Noam Chomsky and commented favorably on Jimmy Carter's geo-politics

- John Kerry thinks it's a good time to raise taxes.

Now that Osama bin Laden is defunct, John Kerry, the haughty, French-looking former junior senator from Massachusetts, who by the way served in Vietnam, thinks it's time to raise taxes.

note: Rush probably wishes he had copyrighted that.

- The New York Times still largely has a staff of Blow-hards and Coastal Elitists

But the best stuff is the skim of the 'net - linked news articles, at the bottom of the article, which usually include things like:

Life Imitates the Onion

which uses wordplay to add silly summaries to straight news headlines
and

Questions Nobody Is Asking

and

Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking

which are not pointing to the same issues, btw.

Everyone should bookmark that section.

Science: Man-Brain > Food, Sex, Sleep.. all the same.

LiveScience Article: Men Think About Sleep & Food as Much as Sex

... men paid no greater attention to sex than they did food and sleep, Fisher found.

Men think about sex every seven seconds, right? Not according to a new study that finds men ponder sleep and food as much as they do sex.

The median number of thoughts about sex by college-age men was 18 times a day to women's 10 times a day, the study found. But the men also thought about food and sleep proportionately more.

"In other words, there was nothing special about sexual thoughts," study researcher Terri Fisher, a psychologist at The Ohio State University, Mansfield, told LiveScience. "Males thought more about any of the health-related thoughts compared to females, not just thoughts about sex."

So... since men think about those three more than women do, the question is 'What are the women thinking about, instead?
- Hmmm.. On further rumination, I'm pretty sure it relates to what they are wearing and how they look in it.

And the subjects of beer and sports wasn't even covered, leaving an even larger gap. One that surely can't be explained completely by "Do I look fat in this?" can it? Naw.. it's probably "Wonder if the kids are all right?"

I was a little troubled, at first, by the 'thinking about sleep' part. Then I realized it was college kids and I remembered being that age. I too missed a fair amount of sleep on occasion. Closing time was 1:30 even on weekdays back then.

Now I'm sixty eight and for me it's mostly 'food - nap - food - sleep'.

And I never think about beer unless someone else brings up the subject.
But when I DO think about beer, I think about a Dos Equis

Taking out the Trash

First, kudos to President Obama for giving the go ahead to erase the Al Quaeda mentor.
Second kudos to Navy Seals for collecting and sanitizing the garbage.

But we all must realize that this is somewhat equivalent to 'capture the flag', where one side steals the talisman of the other and it was not only captured but deep-sixed so that it could never be used again.

As a symbolic victory it cannot be denied as a scoring coup. In reality it changes little other than to underscore that the US will only put up with so much humiliation from its supposed 'ally', Pakistan, who knew full well where bin Laden was stashed and did absolutely nothing about it in order to appease its large population segment who still live in the dark ages.

There will, no doubt, be reprisals from these cretins, and we don't know where or when. But it's important that they don't get away with it, on the premise of 'allowing free expression from other cultures'.
You can be sure there will be some sort of street demonstration, in the UK, against this action. You can also be sure that unless it breaks out into full riot, the British will treat these stinking Islamists with kid gloves. Jailing and charging as few as possible.
On the other hand if native cultural Brits counter demonstrate with the same sort of rhetoric and actions, they will be jailed and prosecuted for hate crime or anything else that applies and to the full extent of British law.

And THAT would serve greatly to repair the damage to Islamist morale that losing bin Laden inflicted. Nothing is more important to terrorists than to show how weak and ineffectual their opponents are. From the embassy hostages in 79 to the first WTC bombing to the Cole to the attacks on the two African Embassies. they had their way until the two towers fell.
It could even happen that way in the US... already the 'progressive left' is mewling about International Law being violated. Well when the other side is bringing knives to the fight, you throw away the Marquis of Queensbury rulebook.

So... Taking out the Trash, finally, is a good thing. That the garbage collector comes around often and as scheduled is most important.
___________________________________________________________

Deep Background:
The Secret Team That Killed bin Laden

Taxes: WWJD? - "Jesus would take it all"

.. or so says Monsigneur Larry O'Donnell of the Holy Church of Social Justice. aka MSNBC.

Seems that Rush got on the subject of what Jesus would say about the rich being taxed enough. And the 'WWJD' thing got him probably a little flummoxed so he shifted the meme to what most of us would consider firmer ground; "What Would Jesus Take?" Rush answered himself; "Nothing."

Obviously this is too much for some people, especially those who might say Jesus was a social activist, or a community organizer:



Now I'm not a very good Christian, but I believe. And I've read the Bible through a few times. The first, when I was young, scared the stuffin's out of me. Then as an adult I learned how to read it. And read it through twice. With all verses in context of those coming before and after. In fact the Gospel only really makes sense in context of the Old Testament.

So.. in those terms this guy's takedown covers the particulars O'Donnell cited pretty darn well.

But I've got another thought on it. Or maybe.. would like to advise O'Donnell of a few words also in the Bible.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

as well as..

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's.

Now since we all have to act on our own beliefs and free will, something that O'Donnell seems to have a problem with, I'm gonna have to desist writing 'My Judgment' on that. After all it's possible O'Donnell is right and I am wrong.

If we believe the Bible, we know the devil is a great deceiver and may have pulled scales over my eyes and I've got it all wrong. But, from what I've always believed, I have to side with Rush.. Jesus wouldn't TAKE anything. Isn't that what Free Will is all about?

So, I can't speak for Jesus any more than Rush can. But, when I see what O'Donnell thinks, 'Pharisee' comes to mind.
Read more:
MSNBC's O'Donnell Slams Limbaugh As Biblically Ignorant

"Trump, you Magnificent Bastard!"

.. so says the creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams in his blog.

This morning I read a news item saying that some folks at NBC think Trump might be pretending to run for president to boost ratings. The story noted that ratings for his TV show are up 20% lately. I laughed out loud because sometimes I forget that at least half the country doesn't realize he's just screwing with the media.

The magnificent part of this whole thing is that he's putting no effort whatsoever into concealing his prank. That's what I love about the guy. He knows that no level of clownery in a field of clowns will single him out as the one clown that doesn't really mean it.

In other words, the conservative electorate are being 'Punked'.

Sadly this is one more time Adams shows his acumen in separating out all that is unattractive in human nature.

He goes on to cite Trump's loudly voiced opinion on the birther nonsense. Then explains that Trump is no dummy having graduated from Wharton. While I'll demur on how smart that really makes you, I can't really argue it.

The birther issue is a stupid issue. It attracts the same sort of divisive, idiotic thinking that the 9/11 'Truthers' projected.

Somehow Trump has managed to cross basic issue agendas and gain following from those in both the mainstream GOP and Tea Party, despite some glaring inconsistencies. Approving Eminent Domain for Commercial Development being another sore point. Of course he approves it, he uses it.
I've seen similar behavior before and thought.. well maybe the guy really could open up some discussion, though certainly we dont need yet another narcissist President. so I didn't say anything. Now I think it's true, especially now that 'Dilbert' points it out.

Yet another elitist showing that the electorate are foolish.

Just 'Bastard', in my view.

80/80 rule: Why the Masses are too stupid to govern

Australia is set to implement a carbon tax in 400 days or so. The interesting part is the present Labor/Greens coalition was elected on a promise of no carbon tax. Yet it seems that was the core of the coalition agreement, so there will be a carbon tax.

The purported aim of the tax is to help save the planet. Australia's efforts, if totally effective, reducing global CO2 emissions by a whopping 1%.
Except the PM, Julia Gillard is now solemnly saying that it wont hurt the poor, or industry, or energy companies; somehow all these will be kept whole and job-producing coal exports won't suffer a bit.
Amazingly enough, the 'rough crowd' doesn't buy it.

Tim Blair, a columnist-blogger, who amuses greatly just by pointing out things things like this, focuses our attention on a great piece by thinker/writer/PhD in Architecture,
Elizabeth Farrelly: Democracy is blocking intelligence

It may be, as one correspondent wrote last week, that advertising works on the "80/80 principle", the assumption that 80 per cent of Australians have an IQ average of 80. Now I'm fine with stupidity in advertising. Indeed, I expect nothing less - isn't that why God gave us the mute button? But what makes the 80/80 thought especially gripping - as in, by the throat - is how much it explains that branch of advertising we call politics.

Everything is dose related. Whether it's arsenic in your diet or radioactivity in the sea, small amounts now and then are OK, even beneficial, but large amounts, repeatedly, are bad and even terminal. It's the same with almost everything else - cars, houses, chocolate, holidays, even happiness.

For one person to live in an acre of grass and trees is perfectly harmless, even lovable. But for the numberless hordes to do it means an end to wilderness, clean air and polar bears.

By the last, I assume the verdant one-acre domicile is meant for those who truly appreciate and will protect it, like herself and her peers. Certainly not for a jobsworth, barely getting his ticket out of high school, who owns a couple of pizza stores.

She sets all this up by invoking Thomas Jefferson and the beloved 'pursuit of happiness' phrase. And the summary is that either the pursuit or the happiness - maybe better, BOTH- must be rationed and regulated for the good of the whole.

I wonder if maybe the government might issue a license to pursue? Hmmm..
Or just POSSIBLY.. that license to pursuit of happiness is inherent in completing post-graduate studies.
You know, I think that's it! After all it IS a 'Doctorate of Philosophy' isnt it.
And Elizabeth Farrelly has one in Architecture! Leads one to think it isnt so much continuing education in engineering and architectural sciences as it is meant to further appreciation and application of architecture in civilization and society.

So that PhD, really not mattering what field it's in, is indeed a pass into the hallowed halls of the intellectual. Giving the bearer full rights and privileges of the governing elite / protector of the stupid masses.
Which is probably what Jefferson had in mind in the first place, right?
And which, taken to the utmost, explains Noam Chomsky {Dr of Linguistic Mechanics} so beloved by the progressive intellectual elite that he needn't even bother debating his awesome philosophies.

The whole point is that when you read opinions like hers, you should start thinking about what the attack on the previously benign, harmless, beloved of all plant life Carbon Dioxide, really means.

Fragrant Dried Petals and Leaves

Attractive men have long... ring fingers: study

For the visual test, the results were unambiguous. "The longer the ring finger compared to the index -- that is, the greater the exposure to testosterone -- the more attractive the face was rated," she said by phone.

"I feel pretty.. oh so pretty..."
pffffft!

______________________________________________________________________

Facebook poll:

Do you think they should put prayer back in school?

The knee jerk for most who've seen it eliminated is 'yes'.. BUT.. the keyword is 'put back in'
The older I get, the less I believe in Ritual Prayer and more I believe in spontaneous silent prayer. And that is Biblical.
Which means: No, not really. Look at it this way.. watered down invocations to everyone including Gaia. And possible use of prayer rugs to show 'solidarity'.

No thanks.
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How Japan Compares With The World In English Proficiency

or

'Which Furriners Speak English Good?'.. note the Dutch rank #2 to the Norse. Why do the Dutch seem to have a more North American, than British, accent? Dunno.

Texas History Re-Writ

President Obama: "Texas has always been a pretty Republican state, for, you know, historic reasons."

'Aggresive Reporter' Interview seen here: NPR
LBJ? Sam Rayburn? Lloyd Bentsen? Ann Richards?

And this was from a Columbia University Poli-Sci major. As far as we know.

Well, I'm not. so there's that. Reckon the girls on 'The View' will comment?

h/t Powerlineblog

What an odd coincidence!

April 13, 2011
Internet gambling is coming to D.C.

April 15, 2011
FBI shuts down poker sites in major online gambling crackdown

I'm sure it's just a failure to communicate.. or something

Geeks v Suits

Sometimes even cynics take Sunday off
It occurred to me after a little tiff on a soccer message-board that I'm becoming far too sarcastic and cynical in my typing. Paying too much attention to current events and news coverage of those events can do that to you. At least that's the excuse I'll use for the moment.

So I decided I would look around for some good news to comment on.  There really isn't a whole lot of that, unfortunately, but I'll settle for anything the least bit neutral and I did stumble across a theme I'm pretty familiar with:

Code Monkey vs Biz monkey
- To put it another way, the eternal struggle for supremacy in the workplace of the Geek squad and the MBA mob.
The discussion seems to boil down to which is most important in the pecking order of a startup company

In search of a biz monkey (why bother?)

MBA's with buzzwords and the ability to raise a million dollars around some web idea are not scarce. They are fungible.
People who understand technology and are willing to bend it to their will, on the other hand, are scarce. They can't be found with a classified ad on Craigslist or in a blind project ad on eLance.

Which was referring to...

.. and if you can't teach it, regulate it

Not always a good idea to match up a bureaucrat with a politician/lawyer/small businessman, that has more than half a brain.

Easy pickin's ... courtesy  HotAir



Of course they don't look at jobs, they just look at political leverage and tax/fee/fine possibilities.

Nor do they even attempt to address the Cost of Living multiplier effect of any energy tax.
- If tax adds one cent at the beginning of a product's supply chain, it's probably 10 cents or more at the end of it.

This tax and regulation environment explains why there's a freaking mob rush of even 'Green' industries to get out of California.

Gore: Global Warming a lot like the Civil Rights Movement

via Ed Morrissey


The Hill: Gore to young advocates: Battle industry lobbyists to turn the tide on climate

“You need to ask that question and other related questions. Don’t they see the evidence, don’t they hear what the scientists are saying, do they actually believe this lying from the large carbon polluters, that the scientists are making this up?” Gore added.
He went on the offensive against climate change deniers, citing a litany of extreme weather events – ranging from floods in Pakistan to droughts in the U.S. southwest – and noted that nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred in the last 12 years.

All of which has been proven bullshit by scientists NOT trying to make a buck in more funding.

Want to see Al go red-faced to critical mass?  Bring up his claim that Venus is super hot because of runaway carbon warming.
Ask him what the median temperature is in Venus atmosphere where the air pressure is the same as earth sea level.
Interesting that, despite Venus being closer to the Sun and CO2 making up about 60% of its atmosphere, Venus' median air temp at an altitude equating to 1 BAR is about the same as Earth's
 No Al.  It's NOT like the Civil Rights movement.  It's more like the Carpetbaggers era.

How Guvmint Stuff Works

Back in 2005 the Science was settled. The climate was warming like never seen before and we were causing it.
The UN wanted its share of the carbon mitigation/reparations pie but it had to provide something to justify the shakedown... so it put some eager interns to the task and somehow found an estimate of 50 million climate change refugees by 2010.

And that story remained on their website right up until this week.

Anthony Watts has the story of the inept effort to 'disappear the inconvenient facts':

The UN “disappears” 50 million climate refugees, then botches the disappearing attempt

How much credibility should you give any group, which YOU indirectly fund, that attempts to cover up their mistakes rather than simply say they were wrong and explain how it might have happened?
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More from WUWT, this time real climate science.
Ocean cold/warm water fronts mix CO2 much more than previously thought

More Pie?

Look at this pie again!


- Townhall: Michael Ramirez

via Ace:
 Another way of looking at that pie. Take those numbers, Divide by 100 MILLION

We have a family that is spending $38,200 per year. The family’s income is $21,700 per year. The family adds $16,500 in credit card debt every year in order to pay its bills. After a long and difficult debate among family members, keeping in mind that it was not going to be possible to borrow $16,500 every year forever, the parents and children agreed that a $380/year premium cable subscription could be terminated. So now the family will have to borrow only $16,120 per year.

 Need a video.. there's yet another way of seeing it.....

Two Signs of the Times: Lady Liberty Faux and Personal Massagers

Post office uses image of Vegas Liberty statue for stamp by accident

- somehow seems fitting, dunnit!

Walgreens as a Sex Shop?

- yeah, I've been noticing those 'personal items' sections have been getting more and more 'in yer face'.

Oh.. I almost forgot: a little bonus sign of the times:

Carbon-neutral Bra's

- Funny, I thought that problem was solved in the sixties.

How much longer till AKC comes clean on Rotties and Pit Bulls?

Yet another tragic story of child killed by family pet..

Mom: Baby Attacked, Killed By Dog

Police are investigating the death of a 7-month-old baby whose mother said was attacked by the family dog.

Katrina Mitchell called 911 Tuesday afternoon saying her infant daughter had been attacked by the family's Rottweiler.

This is a tragic story, yet anecdotal, and we only hear about these things because of the ubiquitous capacities of the internet. But one thing is clear when you read enough of them; you never hear that the family Jack Russell Terrier, or Labrador Retriever attacked the baby. Last one I recall that was not a Pit Bull or Rottweiler was a Great Dane. And while it MAY have happened, I cannot remember a family German Shepherd (Alsatian} attacking a child.
Dog 'Experts' explain the attacks by those two ferocious breeds away by saying they were improperly trained or socialized.
Sorry but Bullshit! We all can't ship our puppies off to Cesar Millan to be trained properly.