Hitchens goes to meet his Maker

Christopher Hitchens Dies at 62...

"The author and prominent atheist Richard Dawkins described him as the "finest orator of our time" and a "valiant fighter against all tyrants including God

He maintained his devout atheism after being diagnosed with cancer, telling one interviewer: "No evidence or argument has yet been presented which would change my mind. But I like surprises."

And, indeed, I believe he will be surprised. I wont speculate as to what happens now.
However...  God evidently has a sense of humor.
How else to explain Jesus' statement to Peter: "Upon this rock I build my church."   At once both a pun and highly ironic, as Peter had just denied Christ three times.

I've read Dawkins and I've read Hitchens.  Dawkins rails a lot against God,  a  more accurate depiction of Hitchens' views would be 'Religion Poisons Everything'.  I don't think that is true but, on general terms, it's not incorrect, either.  And I defy the most devout religionist to negate THAT.   Especially if you follow contemporary news.
But EVERYTHING?

No.  Compare and contrast, for discussion's sake, the Shaker Cult v the Amish community.
Religion poisoned the Shakers.  Where is the malignant effect on the Amish?

If Hitchens cited the Westboro Baptist freakshow.. or the global mission of the devout to kill, convert or gather tribute from all 'Infidels' he has a valid point.
Like I say, though, that isn't God, that's man's Religion.

 I've observed over many years, that there are two general types of Atheist:  Those who don't believe because they don't 'see' hard and fast proof of the greatest mystery of the universe.. and those who deny to avoid self-judgement and guilt. Of course it is usually a blend of philosophies, but with Hitchens I think it was mainly the former..

NPR, of all media, may help save us yet!

Like most conservatives I developed a deep mistrust of government funded public broadcasting.  The last thing a free society needs is an 'Official News Agency' and that has been borne out time and again by several small scandals within NPR and CPB showing they indeed carried water for 'Progressive' (read Socialist) interests.

But one thing that opened my eyes as to the credibility of NPR in particular was its handling of Congresswoman Giffords' shooting.
Unlike many commercial outlets, specifically the steaming pile at MSNBC, there was no jumping to conclusions as to the agenda and motives of the shooter. Indeed many of the blogs I read, usually labelled 'Right Wing Hatemongers' by the knuckledragging left, linked to NPR's coverage during the immediate hours afterward and not a few praised them for the factual coverage as opposed to fevered speculation that the shooter was somehow tied to Tea Party or Sarah Palin.

Of course it was quickly proven that the guy was simply a mentally ill nutjob despite the local sheriff's attempts to link him somehow to the right.
NPR, however, stayed the course in its news coverage and deserve all credit for not jumping to conclusions based on whatever political views the writers may have had. I, of course, recognize that not all the programming on NPR was as objective but I can separate opinion from news when I see or hear it.

Now that organization has put up several other interesting items of interest to Conservatives and Libertarians:

Libs, Warming and the Money Train

Cartoon by Josh...From Bishop Hill blog

One thing you can say about the devout of any religion, they will never change their views based on science or even fact put right in their faces. Despite serious papers such as this:
Submission to the Inquiry into Carbon Tax Pricing Mechanisms

There is in fact no empirical evidence that global warming is mainly man-made. If there was, we would have heard all about it. Tens of billions of dollars has been spent looking for it.
Climate scientists readily concede that there is no direct evidence that global warming is caused by our carbon dioxide. Instead, they say that our knowledge of how the climate works is embodied in their climate models, and the climate models say that global warming is man-made.
Models are logically equivalent to someone punching in numbers and doing sums on a calculator - models are calculations, not evidence. The problem is that the models contain many guesses and assumptions about how things work, and some of them are wrong.

Here are four bits of evidence that the climate models are fundamentally flawed...

Read the entire article

And they tend to project this irrationality upon their opponents without regard to logic or even the tendency of people to take the easy way out whether it applies to income or just self image.  And they never want to apply simple rules of life experience to their own beliefs.

People who wouldnt think of investing in some crackpot scheme promoted by email spammers or have their driveways sealed by some guy in a pickup truck holding a garden sprayer will bite on 2 cents out of 100 dollars worth of CO2 sending the planet into a burning inferno.
At the same time they see no urgency when their own government's annual budget is written on IOU's.

Warmists claim that  skeptics are either ignorant or financed by big oil and energy interests ignoring the fact that all their heroes depend on urgency in taxing carbon for thier livelihoods.

Who is gonna spend tax money on proving that there's no emergency and even if there is, there's really nothing we can  do about it?

I'm finding that I am settling intto 'elderly curmudgeon' mode now and I really get irritated by people who dont address these simple flaws in human nature.  Not so much the devout.. they are who they are.  But the people who believe they may be right.  The agnostics, as it were.

Let's face it.. the 'climate scientists' who promote this most urgently are exactly the same as the scantily clad woman standing more than 15 minutes on a street corner in a seedy neighborhood. 
They arent waiting for a bus, they arent checking out the weather.. they're promoting their income and protecting their lifestyles.
They are whores.

As for me, I dont believe man is causing climate change to any significant extent.  If carbon was doing it, the continued rise in carbon dioxide would show at least in rising ocean temperature.  It isnt.
Not only that, the computer models on which all their religion is based did not predict what is happening now. More importantly, they predicted things that are not happening now.

All the extreme weather events they point out arent extreme and arent unusual when addressed historically.

And guess what... I dont really care if the earth is warming so I dont have anything invested in denying it.  It wont affect me .. I'll be dead.
And somehow I think my kids and grandkids will have more urgent things to deal with.  Like trying to live in more than a subsistence manner while trying to pay back the huge federal debt my generation ran up, supposedly in their name.

Danger! Man made Warming causing seas to dry up; Tax Carbon Immediately!

Der Spiegel: Global Warming ... Causes Sea Level Drop…Through Weather Shifts!

Global sea level has dropped by more than half a centimetre over the last 12 months. That equals 5 metres of sea level drop over the next 1000 years – at least that’s what my computer simulation shows.

Now how on earth are the island states supposed to cope with all this expanding land? What a catastrophe! We have to immediately form a special commission charged with the task of managing the great transformation of these regions and setting down ecological guidelines. Professor Schellnhuber – it’s up to you!”

- from the notricks page.
Now, of course, that's absurd, and it's meant to be.  

But the point it makes is exactly on target.  When you want to find the truth you follow the money.  Frauds like the Goreacle of course bray about skeptics being in the thrall of Big Oil or whoever but of course NEVER name names or end up with categorical undeniable trails... everytime they've tried to link the Koch Bros, for example, they've hit a dead end so they just lie about it.

How about we follow THEIR money.. it's been right there all along..

Reasons to be a Global Warming Skeptic

Read the whole thing but here is the money quote:

 Now, it happens I did my PhD work on Federally funded modeling, from which I developed the NBSR Law (named after the group for which I worked):

All modeling efforts will inevitably converge on the result most likely to lead to further funding.

Rollin, rollin, rollin... keep up that good trollin'!

Best of the last week in celebrity news:

Al Gore Says Debating With Him On Climate Science is Moral Equivalent of Racism

I say that discussion is the intellectual equivalent of '69', with raincoat.


_________________________________________________________

The Hill:

Vt. senator credits Obama with quick action on Hurricane Irene

 A Democratic senator touring hurricane damage in Vermont on Monday credited President Obama with a successful response to the disaster.

"Glad Pres. acted quickly on VT disaster declaration," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) tweeted.

Obama declared emergencies in New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Virginia last week ahead of Hurricane Irene's expected landfall. The federal declaration allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to mobilize resources and predeploy response teams to areas likely to be affected by the storm.

 Glad the Pres was on the ball on this.. unlike Bush and Katrina for Louisiana

Oh.. wait... that's right. You cant declare a federal disaster area unless the incompetent political hack running the state asks you to...
Never mind!

 Vermont was hit hard with record   flooding: some photos HERE

- Photos of Sen Leahy handing out warm blankets, serving soup and sandwiches to the displaced and suckling orphaned infants still being processed.

 - Rumors that Sean Penn was on his way to Vermont with a rowboat and a carton of beer cups were untrue, according to his agents.

 _____________________________________________________

 In Envir-ornamental News..

U.S. to beat Brazil as world's leading ethanol exporter

With U.S. corn-based ethanol relatively inexpensive, U.S. ethanol producers have been able to win out contracts to supply countries that previously imported ethanol from Brazil. U.S. farmers have also benefited from Brazil eliminating its 20-percent import duty and lower European tariffs on ethanol.

Since the federal renewable fuel mandate classifies sugarcane ethanol as an advanced biofuel, but corn-based ethanol as only a biofuel, it's quite likely the United States will continue to export corn-based ethanol to Brazil while at the same time importing mass quantities of the sugarcane-based biofuel from Brazil.

Milo Minderbinder, anyone?

 Related..
Nestlé CEO: Biofuels Have “Returned Hundreds Of Millions Back To Extreme Poverty”
Must be some sort of trick or spin.. everyone knows multi-national corporations are evil and hate poor people.

Whatever happened to 'Question Authority'?

I guess it all depends on who the authority .. dare I say 'establishment' is.

Schizo lamebrain leftists now call those who question government or funded academics 'idiots morons and deniers'.
heh...

Judith Curry, a climate scientist who is NOT a skeptic or denier because she recognizes the ridiculous flawed science and arguments fomented by the Goracle flock:
Cool dudes

Cool dudes: the denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States

Aaron McCright and Riley Dunlap

article in press, Global Environmental Change.

The article is unavailable online, but I received a copy of the article and the press release via email. From the press release:

Research Highlights

* Conservative white males are more likely than other Americans to report climate change denial.

Well, here's the thing: CWM's already have a finely tuned Bullshit Detector. What the liberal left dont understand is that they have turned theirs off, so as to feel comfy with their world views.
Isnt it funny, also, that it's conservatives and Libertarians that point out the too-cozy ties of wall street and the executive legislative branch members?

I guess it's all down to whose gore is being oxed.

NASA: CO2 is not a cozy quilt, not even much of a blanket

Forbes: NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism

NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.

Finally we're seeing science confirming what common sense tells anyone who bothers to think.

- CO2 is increasing due to human activity but because it re-radiates, not reflects, it doesnt have much effect on the real source of climate .. oceans.
- All that heat produced by human energy use is ending up in space just as it should.

Of course anyone who has common sense would know to look at the motives of anyone predicting climate catastrophe in the first place . By that I mean 'follow the REAL MONEY'.

But lemmings ave always trusted their leaders, haven't they.

To Ashley: Power Wives

My niece is getting married today. Scott's getting a winner.
There's not a lot of daughters in my family - some sort of chromosome thing, I'm told.
But those few are certainly capable of 'going all Wendi' for their man.


Forbes: Wendi Deng And Wives Who Stand Behind Their Men

When May-Bowles charged toward Murdoch with a foam pie, Deng’s protective instinct kicked in, signaling to the world that she will stand behind her man through scandal, humiliation and even assault. Here’s a look at the women you’d want on your team—the power wives who have gone to bat for their men.

Murdoch Derangement Syndrome

The News of the World scandal seems to have infected the imaginations of every liberal in the English speaking world.. the jackals smell blood, Rupert Murdoch blood, and they're going to go in for the kill.

Or will they.

I remember the liberals' heady days after the election of 2006, Almost every lefty blog and many columnists speculated that now was the time to IMPEACH!
Impeach Bush, Impeach Cheney, Impeach Rumsfeld.

The grounds for that action was always a little nebulous, of course, though it usually had to do with lying about Saddam's WMDs. Some of us that had seen these things before knew that 'impeachment' wasn't about to happen.
Oh, how I wished it would.

But it's not in the nature of hyenas and jackals to actually physically attack prey that can defend itself and I knew the Dem's would never impeach. It would most certainly have a bad outcome for them. Among other inconvenient revelations, it would come out that Saddam actually promoted the idea of his WMD's long after he put them out of reach in order to protect himself from them being turned against him.

News of the World occupied a special place in British news. In many ways like the National Enquirer and the New York Daily News do here. As a soccer fan, though, I rarely took it seriously.. its coverage of the Premier League focused more on player personality and gossip than sport analysis and commentary. in other words, for a sports fan, NOTW was irrelevent. I assumed it was for other subjects, as well.. just a bottom feeding tabloid. But it was the most read paper in the UK. Albeit one that actually subsidized 'The Times', an altogether different sort of paper.

There is no doubt that certain folks are going to jail for invading the privacy of private citizens, and it will be justice. But those who are culpable were not idiots, then, and they aren't now.
Whether they thought Murdoch was winking when he responded to the prior hacking bad acts or they believed that their performance was more important than News Corp policy guidelines, it's a sure thing that Rupert has culpable deniability.

Murdoch's enemies, though, see a chance to deny him his media goals; in Uk, his taking over of BSkyB, a sports network. In the US, striking against the hated Fox News. It's not clear what forcing Murdoch to lose Fox would do, though. Certainly there would be no shortage of media companies eager to assume ownership, and little chance of its format changing as a result. If anything, new owners would take the network even further away from 'the moderate center'.. I use the lefty view in that phrase; moderate to them being MSNBC.

So just as during the hue and cry for Dubya's impeachment, I really WANT a full investigation and hearing of Murdoch. The absolute worst outcome would be that he did know something and prosecuting ol' Rupert; but the next step would be using the precedent to investigate the New York Times and their role in hacking and disclosure of information vital to our national security.

Whether the lefties are stupid enough to follow that path remains to be seen. My gut tells me they are.. they never seem to see further than 2 steps ahead.

My common sense tells me that lefties are not that stupid and this is all baying at the moon. Which is, after the feasting on dead and decaying carcasses, in the true nature of hyenas and jackals.

______________________________________________________________________

Bonus:
Totally non-partisan proof that creative genius is incremental:

Reggie Watts!



-via The Crack Emcee

Byte is Back and so is Jerry Pournelle

The KIM-1, circa 1970's

Byte magazine is back. It was the prime publication for the 'personal computer geek' in the seventies. All us geek old-timers know Byte magazine was the go-to source for 'What's happening now' in the small computer field.  As a hardware guy who sucked at math, I was most interested in the applications.  I was very good at visualizing what could be done with those early microprocessor systems, in fact I bought a KIM-1 board for use as a cassette controller for an early autodialer prototype.
Yes, I was indeed responsible for some of those spam 'Vote for Me' phone calls if you got them in the mid seventies. But I only made two of them and that would have been only if you lived in the Dayton area.

Well, what's old is new again, and a booming field in the geek community are projects involving 'microcontrollers' but compiled from high level language.
Two examples of this are 'Arduino' and 'Nerdkits'
Hopefully Byte - now online only- will cover this and regain the enthusiasm of the homebrew hobbyist.
I know I have a project I'd like to build, if I can find someone to do that pesky software work.

And Jerry Pournelle was big in personal computing futures, writing in Byte in the here and now, and with Larry Niven in some of the best science fiction.
He's back with Byte as well.

I know I'm going to be reading the new on-line Byte with some interest, hoping that we'll see some references to what's going on in the hobbyist fields, but I wont be privy to  that if I have to sign in to see it..  because to register, I have to provide a whole lot of info, including my snail-mail address.

Sorry, just getting my junk mail down to a manageable amount based on info provided as long as twenty years ago. So unless there's some real goodies I'm missing, I'd rather pay money to read it.

- H/T Instapundit

Don't get taken

In hot weather like we're having now, it only SEEMS like your air conditioning is more likely to fail.

But lots of people are going to be more likely to pay for unnecessary repairs and replacement than usual because they can't bear the thought of losing their comfort.

Let me just say that this sort of weather will make membership in 'Angie's List' a bargain for those who have Air Conditioner problems. The reason being of course that those highly rated HVAC companies are less likely to do unnecessary work.

I've taken care of 40 plus older residential units for ten years and in that time exactly TWO AC systems have had to be replaced.  Both were WELL over 20 years old.
It pays for you to know what your outside unit - the condenser - sounds like when it's running well.
Before a compressor fails it will start to make more noise/ get louder than usual, this may continue for days, weeks or even years.  But do make a note of it.  Chances of that compressor suddenly failing without warning -getting louder-a re very low.
There are two common failure parts in the condenser: 
The power relay called a 'contactor' and the motor capacitor{s}. When the AC suddenly quits working, odds are over 90% it's one or the other at fault. 

If the capacitor fails, the fan and/or the compressor tries to run but cant get started.
- Retail price of capacitor: $25-$35

If the condensor fan motor itself fails, it will be relatively hard to turn.  It should react like a pedestal fan. Easy to turn.
With thermostat in 'Off' position, try to turn the fan with a ruler or thin wood piece. If it's stiff or hard to turn, the bearings are bad.. actually usually 'dry' but it may not be worth having it lubricated. It has sealed bearing and must be disassembled to do it.
- Chances of fan motor failing electrically - almost zero.  If it turns easily, and tries to start but wont.. chances of bad capacitor about 99%.
Retail price of fan motor: $150-$200.

If the outside unit does nothing at all, listen for a faint hum. That is the relay coil trying to start it. It is getting a signal from your thermostat. The A/C breaker may be tripped, in your inside box, the fuse {if any} in the outside box may be blown or the relay may be bad.
- If there's no hum, check to see if you can turn the furnace blower on by changing thermostat switch from 'auto' to 'on', your furnace breaker may be tripped or there's an electrical problem in your furnace controls.

- If there is a hum, the compressor and fan do nothing, and your outside unit is getting power, that relay/contactor  is probably bad. Common in ten year old or more.

Ice on lines to condenser unit.  Means bad furnace airflow 90% or low refrigerant - not likely because it only happens at a certain point of capacity. Change filter or your furnace blower is bad or blocked air return registers.
If the outside lines have ice, that means your inside coil is a solid block of ice.  Turn heat/cool OFF, furnace  blower 'ON' and allow at least 2-3 hours for ice to melt. You will likely have water puddling around the furnace when that's done.
Use cheap furnace filters in cooling season.  The wet inside coil gets those little bits of dust anyway. and the airflow is better.

more later as I think of it.

The Not So Simple Life

On another site I frequent:

Kate Moss asks Royal Air Force to stop Afghanistan-bound flights during her wedding.

Cheeky RAF said No! Imagine that.

(Who is Kate Moss again?)

***

Looking for a more authoritative source on that than Fox News - cuz they're just full of bile and hate, ya know.. also found:

Paris Hilton: 'I thought I'd be married by now'

Gem Quote:

she said that watching her reality show, The World According to Paris, helped her see the way things really were.

I guess she means she watched it sober. Too bad she didn't watch 'The Simple Life' that way.. she might have been married by now.

St Peter: "Your penance is to kiss Dr Atkins' Ass"

This isn't really NEW News but the combination of the articles says something about unquestioning 'acceptance of authority', and it's more than just an 'Oooops!'
God is forgiving and I'm sure that 'good intentions' count for something on Judgement Day but if there's any justice in the hereafter for the misery of millions inflicted by educated fools, I'd think that would be the LEAST penance required.

A reversal on carbs

Consumption of carbohydrates has increased over the years with the help of a 30-year-old, government-mandated message to cut fat.

And the nation's levels of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease have risen. "The country's big low-fat message backfired," says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. "The overemphasis on reducing fat caused the consumption of carbohydrates and sugar in our diets to soar. That shift may be linked to the biggest health problems in America today."

'May be linked', hell! Guess when those 'nutritional guidelines came out!

- source: {PDF File} USDA Guidelines over time


Read that WHOLE article, and then..
Low-calorie diet offers hope of cure for type 2 diabetes

People who have had obesity-related type 2 diabetes for years have been cured, at least temporarily, by keeping to an extreme, low-calorie, diet for two months, scientists report today.
...
Eleven people with diabetes took part in the study, which was funded by Diabetes UK. They had to slash their food intake to just 600 calories a day for two months. But three months later seven of the 11 were free of diabetes.

That 'drastic intake cut' would be about the same as Atkins' purge period wouldn't it .... Hmmmmm?

"But .. but.. it's a CONSENSUS of all Experts in the field!!!"
The really sad part is that the academics really could have gone across the campus to the Agriculture Dept and talked to livestock nutritionists and gotten some insight. Or do the believe that human metabolism is somehow separate and distinct? Or were they in thrall of some social agenda outside group?

Added: And THIS is exactly the kind of idiot who needs round the clock supervision on her diet and I presume anything else else she does!

Kiss my ass, Dr. Atkins!!!

So pretty much for the past seven months I have been on a strict diet of just protein and veggies and few to no carbs. Except for this week. My period came back after a week and a half, and add to that it's been a very stressful week. I take my anger out on carbs.

Well, guess what?

I've lost more weight this week than I have any other week, and I still have to take into account the fact that I hold water like a camel when I'm on my period. What is going on??? I've eaten NOTHING but carbs this week. I've barely touched protein.

*Scratches head* I don't get it. When I do low-carb, which is supposed to make your weight drop like that, I either lose weight really slowly or not at all. I go back to what I ate in college (pasta and not much else) and look! It's my ribcage! I have hipbones again!

I'm going back to my all-carb diet for a little while, just to see what happens.

SEVEN MONTHS!!! What a moron! Atkins never said SEVEN MONTHS.
And in about 3 more months she'll start packing on the weight again as her body craves fats and protein and she tries to make up for it in all veggy pizza. Three times a day.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Now let's talk about the 'consensus' that 2 hundredths of a percent increase of a benign gas causes water to warm. And follow the grant and funding money there to see which side's being bet on.

I cant help others if they are fools and believe folks whose income depends on finding trouble where none is, but I don't have to go along with it. And I consider it my duty to say what common sense tells me to say.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Never too early to start planning next Independence Day

It's the time of year when we celebrate the breaking away from the shackles of an elitist overbearing and intrusive government which neither knew nor cared about the aspirations of the ordinary man and woman, instead only caring about the tax revenue available from its subjects. Thus July 4th can never be 'undercelebrated.'

The celebration:
Start planning now for a safe and sane 4th: I offer these tips:

*Put pets in an isolated room away from the noisy festivities, leave their favorite toy, blanket, etc, with them.

*Use welding glove to hold that sparkler, wear goggles, have another person light it. holding both sparkler and lighter at full arm extension, best to employ at least 15 ft away from flammables and over concrete driveway with no oil patch. When done with sparkler, dispose of in coffee can filled with water. Drain water from can next day and Label can 'Danger: contains sharp/piercing objects' before disposing in trash', as outlined for similar objects in the OSHA Hazardous Materials documents.

*Hold poppers well away from face and other people before pulling that string. Pull string to right angles from body to avoid hitting yourself in face. Goggles cant hurt; neither can gloves, to avoid possibility of paper cut.

* Firecrackers, no matter how small, are dangerous and best left to professionals who are trained in government approved programs to set them off safely

* Equivalent noisemaker can be made cheaply by buying a perfectly flat 1x4 x 4ft board at your home improvement store and having the trained professional cut it in half. Securely attach some sort of handle/holding device on one side of each board. If unsure how to do that take boards to union journeyman finish-carpenter to attach.

*Wearing OSHA approved ear protection suitable for 120 db environment, clap the two boards together continuously at 5 second intervals from sundown till one half hour later. You will be gratified to know you are creating the same atmosphere as you recall from your youth and are annoying the neighbors just as much, if not even more.
- do not use near small children. Maintain at least 25 feet separation to avoid hearing loss and possibility they may stick fingers between boards.

* Best thing about this firecracker substitute is it is reusable -you may even wish to paint it a festive red/white/blue and adorn with an eagle decal- and after cutting and attaching handle and optional painting, has zero carbon footprint.
- A sound activated strobe light is also a nice touch, assuming local ordnance permits their use, and though it affects the carbon footprint to some extent. Unless it runs on batteries charged by solar panels.

Thus not only are you keeping yourself and loved ones safe, you are saving the planet and far-away polar bears at the same time

Have a Safe Progressive Fourth!

Next up, ditch that carbon belching grill and build -or buy- a solar cooker.

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.