Coming: "Romney Got a Bailout" Foofraw

From the Obama Partners at Rolling Stone, Sept 13 issue,

The Federal Bailout That Saved Mitt Romney

Except it wasn't really a bailout. 
FDIC accepted a deal for 5 million and forgave 10 million owed to a bank it had taken over. 

Whether the Bain Capital partners 'looted' the Bain & Co. consulting house depends on your point of view. A consulting house doesn't invest.

What's stated then ignored is Bain Capital wrote off  75 million owed them.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

UPDATE:
- On writing this I've not looked at any rebuttal.  Just the RS article.  {But I was jogged into it by a progressive on another site, wondering how I would explain it.}

Indeed Rolling Stone DID include all the pertinent facts, As far as I've read so far...kudos to them for that.
It's just their interpretation that's a little odd... to anyone who has the least idea of how corporate systems work.  I barely know, but the holes in the bailout argument were apparent to me.  While I DO understand how 'Progressives' would see it.... HOWEVER..
Key Point: A 'bailout' implies that tax money was somehow involved. Ummmm... nope.
I suggest anyone who doesnt understand how it's not especially shady or illegal read the article over several times until they at least understand the viewpoint.  It's all there.
Key points:
1. Bain and Company is a consulting house. 
2. Bain Capital is an Investment house.
- How much operating capital - Reserves- are required for each. The idea that the partners, being the same in both, somehow 'raided' the consulting house is ludicrous.

RS explains how Bain and Company came on hard times. As a separate corporate entity it would have been ethically wrong, if not outright illegal, for the Bain Capital partners to just inject cash to keep it afloat.
RS implies that it would have been better for the consulting house to go into bankruptcy. Better for whom?  FDIC as the operator of the seized bank would still have taken the hit, If not a bigger one.
RS correctly points out that Bain and Company... whose business it is to advise  clients on avoiding bankuptcy and hostile takeover... would have been effectively killed by declaring.
And FDIC was simply doing what it does in these cases, I see no evidence of 'cronyism' or special favors.

Leading us to the poison pill: Using the 30 million reserves still held for unearned bonuses.  That is standard operating procedure and meant to be used AGAINST takeover and milking assets, then selling off the remainders.
Exactly what Bain and Company counseled their clients to do, one would assume.

Update - Third Thought: What Rolling Stone wrote around, and didnt focus on, was why Bain and Company had all those loans outstanding in the first place. 
Why would any bank extend such credit lines to a floundering company? 
Perhaps THAT is the devil in the details. Just sayin'...

.. but I'll defend your right to say it!

... cuz the more you talk the dumber you look.  And it's great entertainment.
Probably not to the death, though.

Chrissie doesn't like being being heckled

That 'tingle' is now a running sore spot.

Chrissie Still Worries about a rising tide, calls 'soooo-ey!'
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Jason Biggs, American Idiot

sends out sick tweets about Paul and Janna Ryan

Then doubles down to include Christians and the Romneys

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Ignorance, thy name is Joe Robinson
- Read down the comments!
BeBe Winans hatefest

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Occupy RNC ends in tears, frustration.

“I love that we have an anarchist forum here, and I really love us, but I hate that our forum can’t even talk with their conservative forum,” he said. “The police just silence us, the Republicans just silence us. We are just getting silenced everywhere we go. It’s like no one wants to even hear what we have to say.”

- Insta-tip: "It’s easier to have an “open discussion” with people when you’re not dressed as a giant floppy vagina. "

And what's there to talk about?  You're a freaking anarchist.

Why I -and most Tea Partiers- Accept Mitt

Actually I wanted Mitt in 08.  Like most conservatives, I cannot trust John McCain.  And Mitt is, first and foremost, an excellent businessman/ CEO.  And that is certainly what we need.
Conservative griping about 'Romneycare' brushes over the facts.
MA was going to pass some healthcare legislation. Romney was Governor in a  capital where 80% of the elected were Democrat.  He had the choice of vetoing and being over-ridden, or guiding the inevitable program.

But people dont instantly 'Like' Mitt.

Learning to Like Mitt

Andrew Ferguson, reluctant Romneyite

 I never liked Mitt Romney. My distaste for him isn’t merely personal or political but also petty and superficial. There’s the breathless, Eddie Attaboy delivery, that half-smile of pitying condescension in debates or interviews when someone disagrees with him, the Ken doll mannerisms, his wanton use of the word “gosh”—the whole Romney package has been nails on a blackboard to me.

Well, there it is.   Not only that.. what you see is what you get.. he is almost too good to be true.

The Romneys present a picture of an American family that popular culture has been trying to undo since—well, since An American Family, the 1973 PBS documentary that exposed the typical household as a cauldron of resentment and infidelity. 

And now, here, 40 years later, it’s as though it all never happened: a happy American family, led by a baby boomer with no sense of irony! Romney is the sophisticate’s nightmare.

..that last is worth a few million votes right there.

And then, there's his personal and private sense of charity..

Obama usees 'Brothers Keeper' in a speech to raise taxes but wont give a dime to his own brother. But Mitt will help out a total stranger with thousands.

Well there must be a flaw somewhere.. oh, yeah!

He put his dog on the car roof.

But if ..
The Campaign Is A Battle For America’s Heartland.

Then it's about people who like all the above values, once they see they are real.
And know that dogs love their muzzles to be in the wind.

 

I Helped Build That.. government just watched

NYT - The Secret Weapon: All of Us

In which a liberal digs the hole deeper... some people just NEVER get it!
Kristof have any idea how risky and hard it is to start a business? I do. I was in one at startup. I helped it succeed but if it didnt I could just walk away and look for another job.  And the owners had to see I got paid when they didnt.

I didn't even try to start my own business when I had the chance. I didnt have the guts because I saw how tough it was.
Roads highway yadadda-yadda! Gimme a break!  That's sixth grade argument.. 'Socialist? You dont dont like police fire teachers' logic.

SBA.. YES! So what. And not every small business success happens because of SBA.

Government Contracts.. WHAT?!!!! Think about that, again. I suppose bought from private vs government manufacturer/vendor?
Did that guarantee success? Who paid those taxes in the first place? How... From their inherited legacy?

The entire Obama text is available. Its tone stands. "All things good come from Government "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192oEC5TX_Q

Yes, our taxes developed the Internet. For use by other government agencies.  

Private and corporate initiative expanded it out to you and me.

Why we despise Urban Intellectuals

The class warfare schism is no more evident anywhere than in Australia.

It runs the gamut from Illegal Immigration Boat People to Carbon Taxes to things as silly as as a moving van impeding a Bikeway fashioned from what previously was curb and sidewalk.

Tim Blair is one of the most interesting and humorous aussie scribes finding fun poking holes in these city leeches' hubris. Elizabeth Farrely is one of his favorite targets..  A holder of a PhD in Architecture which certifies her to critique all things mundane that despoil the cityscape, as it were..
Immediately on writing a thinly disguised treatise, for the Sydney Morning Herald, on banning motorized vehicles altogether, now the academic gentry  are biking through urbania... 

Bike haters parked in the Jurassic

...she spares no acerbic semantics in flogging a working stiff just trying to do his job.  Because to make his delivery he has to park somewhere, that being the bike lane.. and .. 
Horrors! She has to get off and walk her bike around his truck.
But it gives her fodder for her blog.

Not one but three

- you really must read it all. It's entertaining and informative.

After marveling at the coolness of the van driver.. who might just as well have told her how to fold and park her bike where the sun wont hit it...Immediately I conjure the location of her stylish walkup {wouldnt be on street level, of course}.. situated in a very upscale gentrified part of old Sydney. Right on the Bike Path, naturally.
 And picture how the removal vans got to her place.. or the deliveries of whatever stylish new accoutrements are made.
Might they not ALSO have to block the bikepaths?  Or is rear alley access a primary concern when selecting new nests for harpies?

***

Unasked and unanswered, as of yet, is:  Come the apocalyptic time and it IS coming, when everything breaks down, what does this woman have to offer in the way of reestablishing civilization?

Bless his heart: 'Can we just let the South secede?'

Remember back when the Hollywood libs threatened to leave the country after Dubya was elected.. and some great minds said the NE, NW and SoCal should secede?

How MANY of us wished they would.. or could!

Well here's a guy that goes em better.  He says the South  and those who thought like southerners ought  to be pushed out so the country would be better off.
That's be okay with me.. if all of Ohio from 50 miles south of Lake Erie is included. Or just Columbus and south.

Let's go back to just the deep blues seceding, okay?  They can have NY,  NJ, Boston, Philly, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St Louis, the Twin Cities of Minnesota, Western WA and ORE, The SF Bay Area, LA County. All of Maine, All of Vermont.

Yes, that's ALL the main financial, Business, intellectual and Cultural centers of the US.

Oh MY!  The rest of us would be left destitute and barren.  Except maybe we could get infrastructure jobs for a while building a big wall to keep us out of those Centers of Enlightenment.
Okay.. as long as we get to keep them in. 

Only one little problem. Who we kidding.. within 10 years, the 'New US' would invade to get their fled money back.

Here's the book in question:
"Better Off Without 'Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession"

WSJ: Review

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Because there always has to be something about Race..

Does Paul Ryan's Black Ex-Girlfriend Matter? 

Ten plus paragraphs

summary:
Ryan is probably not a racist and Lou Dobbs isnt either, despite his 'anti-immigration' rants.. but if they don't agree with me and Obama, it's all the same. After all Strom Thurmond certainly loved and supported his black daughter and we all KNOW he was a racist.. because REPUBLICAN.

 

Funny.. with Face Palm

Women in Vagina Costumes demand Respect!

If you ever thought Westboro Baptist and Occupy Wall Street couldnt be outdone in invoking Alice in Wonderland logic, you discounted Code Pink..

As a female FB friend said:  "I'm not sure what to think about that"
- exactly!
Even Betty Friedan might wonder.

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Seriously.. you couldn't make this stuff up!  Wait.. I guess you could because it is being made up.

Cutter: People Mag ‘equally important’ as WH press corps

Monday Morning in WH Press room:

 What are the President and First Lady's views on whether or not Jennifer Aniston will ever re-marry?

You'll remember Stephanie Cutter from last week's foof where she forgot she was was the one who discovered the steelworker whose wife Romney killed.

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Yet MORE lunacy;  this time on the GOP side:

GOP Senate Nominee: Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Do Not Get Pregnant

Idiot! And you're running for the Senate. YOUR correct answer is:  "I'm against abortion in all cases but that should be an issue for states to decide."

And let it go at that.  Why?  Because of Federal mandating for provision under health care funding .. we just covered that in the Supreme Court. 

- not to mention that really dodgy position on a woman's body preventing contraception.

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If that isn't 'alternate universe' enough for ya.. how about:

Poo Power from your dog

or..  

A urine based ‘potion’ can act as a CO2 absorbent

 Now.. the former is ridiculous.  Burning waste and trash for power has been tried countless times and it's money loser EVERY TIME.

The second might work.. if ALL the objectionable aspects can be overcome, however there are many sewage treatment issues actually caused by household water usage reduction, and I'm pretty sure the inventor hasnt addressed those.

WWJD: The 50/100 % Tax on the Rich

Jesus believed in a tax rate of at least 50 percent. So how does Paul Ryan's budget proposal stand up?

Oh, yes.. now I remember from Sunday School how Jesus organized a Crowd to Lobby Pilate so Rome would increase taxes.  Just need to find it in scripture...
But, here's what contextual search, in my own head, turns up:

"Thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord in vain"

Since Jesus is the son of God, seems to me if you put the wrong meaning in Jesus words you are blaspheming. Of course I'm not God.. and I'm not able to judge Christakos' heart so I guess it's just 'good intentions'.
Along with these other oddities, distilled from the last five commandments:

Do not envy your neighbor for that which he has and you do not.
Do not take that which is not yours to take.  Don't even THINK about it!

In fact, I don't recall Jesus ever organizing a crowd.  As I recall, when he 'spoke to the multitudes', he was addressing each individual in those crowds. He never organized a community, or addressed the iniquities of Rome. He said: Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.."   That's pretty much it.

His only 'political action' was to upset the moneychanger tables inside the House of the Lord.

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Romney pays only 13%!!!!
Hmmm... ever wonder why you dont see the American Bar Association and H&R Block {check Joel Hyatt's political contribution history} lobbying for a flat fair tax or reducing the number of deductions?
{sarc}
'Me too!'
{/sarc}

Mitt Goes 'All-In' with Ryan

First, a prediction:
Expect many Democrat wonks to start pushing for the Obama Campaign to replace Joe Biden. He's a joke, even within the party, and in head to head debate on ANY ISSUE the Democrats pick.. Ryan will grind him up and spit him out.
As another blogger sees it:

 

- Rightreactions

I'm serious.. you read it here first.

That said.. to get support of the various grass roots Tea Party activists and voters, Romney couldn't have made a better choice. Both Pawlenty and Portman are policy liteweights compared to Ryan.

But unlike the 2008 ticket, where Palin would have been nothing but a cheerleader like Biden is now, this one promises a working partnership.  A good executive doesn't need to know all the facts about everything.. or anything, for that matter.
A good executive only needs to have the vision and execute the vision, leaving the details to his operational staff.
For President Obama that has meant his key cabinet appointments.  And if you need to know where the President really stands, you vet those people.
- Sadly, most people HAVENT read their bio's or noted their politcal positions, prior to joining the executive branch.

What Romney is going to promote is a working team.. in the full sense of the word.  Much like the left claimed Cheney was, Ryan is going to actually be the candidate for 'Chief Operating Officer' of the US.  Those familiar with corporate hierarchies know THAT is the guy who gets things done; as opposed to the Chief Executive Officer who proposes (to the Board or Country in this case) and executes.

It's a dream team in every sense of the word for those who want to save this country's economy.
But it's going to make it harder for Romney to get elected.

Because there is no way to skirt the terrible economic straits we are now in.  And fixing the problems, mainly health care and the deficit, wont be easy... the pain is going to be very much akin to pulling an infected wisdom tooth.

I propose this election is not going to be just about issues and how to resolve them, it's going to test whether or not average voters are as ignorant and fearful as the Democrats think we are.

That's why I say 'Mitt went all in'.  He just made it harder for himself to win the November vote.  
Because if Romney tells the truth he will admit it's going to hurt everyone for a while, and may possibly not work.  Hopefully he will be able to make the case that disaster is certain on this track.
When folks see Ryan point out just how bad things are and the unsustainable direction we are heading at this time.. lots of people will prefer to put disaster off as long as possible.

UPDATE:  An article in Reason.com points out that even Ryan's budget plans don't really address much of the deficit. Maybe.. but we have to start someplace.

Ryan Plans: Radical or Weak Beer?

The Genius of Justice Roberts

The blog reaction on the rulings on Obamacare illustrates why I am MOSTLY 'Libertarian' in my politics.
Many radio talkers, like Neal Boortz, are ranting non-stop about onerous taxation.
Those who see the big picture, though, realize this - PERHAPS- was a colossal win for fiscal conservatives and federalists.
By stating that a penalty to both states and individuals under the Commerce Clause was unconstitutional, there is now precedent AGAINST the Fed withholding of state funding for ALL activities under agency programs should states refuse a new addition to the program.  Not to mention unfunded mandates threatening previously accepted funding.

The Commerce Clause has been used and abused to force compliance for years.  This may be the beginning of the end for the big nasty hammer.

On the other hand, a tax may be repealed much more quickly than it's enacted.

Keynes Addiction

Someone said 'all politics is local' and indeed it does start locally... and ends up manifested with local outrage.

But it carries down from the very top.

Every time you see a 'Tax Reform' package purporting to fix inequities and injustices, you see a few clauses in there that favor the 'friends of...'. Most often those who make their living preparing taxes and litigating tax law. You think it's an accident that Joel Hyatt -H&R Block, Hyatt Legal Services- is a Liberal.. or is that 'Progressive'?
And after all the years of trying to make sure the 'one percent pays their share' how is it exactly that wasnt fixed long ago? Hmmmm?
My long term outrage at how the economy works bears very much on taxes and government manipulation of the economy and it started 45 years ago, in the first few months of my one year in college.. when Keynesian economics was presented.
I realized I was not suited for academia when I realized I would have to listen to drivel like:
'You reduce inflation by raising interest rates and taxes.'

Indeed that's true.. if all you care about is the next two years. But when you carry those forward for more than a few business cycles and especially union contracts {remember that was the sixties} you find all you did was push inflation forward.

It seemed to me that anyone with a least degree of common sense should know that everyone is going to at least TRY to get theirs back.

You have to remember that Keynesianism DOES provide effective short term tweaks. If it didnt, it wouldnt still be around. But it also encourages market manipulation by those entrusted to promote good for all by manipulating for gain.
What economic model was used to promote the 1999 CRA? ANd the subsequent housing bust.. Keynes. See how we fixed the mortgage problem? By keeping at the same thing that caused it in the first place.

And it's self-perpetuating. When you try to fix an economy distorted by Keynes, you have to go slow. Being an addiction, withdrawing from Keynesian situation, where we borrow one third of our federal budget, must be carefully done.

So it REALLY pisses me off when I see bullshit like this:
Why Don’t Republicans Mind When Romney Talks Keynesian?
Why Don’t Republicans Mind When Romney Talks Keynesian?

Romney: Well because, if you take a trillion dollars for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5%. That is by definition throwing us into recession or depression. So I’m not going to do that, of course.

Chait notes, bemusedly, that this deviation from orthodoxy has provoked no outrage on the right, which to him is further proof of just how cynical the Republican anti-Keynesian stance really is:

So Mitt tells the TRUTH. And people with the least degree of common sense understand that.. and it's used AGAINST him? And them?

This is why I despise 'Liberals'. Either they are too stupid to be allowed to write that BS.. or they are evil in intent. You tell me.

The bottom line is that Keynesian Economics not only lends itself to Central Planning, but REQUIRES Central Planning to fix the results of applying Keynesian Economics

It's your world...

Gee.. I havent posted in months.  And I'm starting to overload and annoy my FB friends. So I thought I'd better come back here.
Items of Interest to me:
What has Tebow done to deserve having to play for the Jets?
 
Hallelujah: Tebow trade to Jets hits a snag

I say this as an atheist, a lifelong Jets “fan,” and a Tebow admirer: If fate intervenes at the last minute to spare this poor kid from having to play for this hopeless loser franchise, it really is a data point in favor of believers...

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Onions Make you Cry

What does it mean when real Science Journal articles read like they are trying to compete with 'The Onion'?
You tell me...
Note these are NOT from Onion.. just seem like it.

Climate Science From the Onion?

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Related?  Astrology and Climate Change

Doesnt SAY that but it's what it means, IMO. 

Interesting. Makes at least as much sense as Gore's dumb Temp and CO2 chart.
If it's true.. we aint warming, folks. We'll need all the CO2 we can pump out.

Scafetta’s new paper attempts to link climate cycles to planetary motion

 Anthony is.. well.. skeptical

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Finally...
 In 1942 a flight of P38's and B17 crash landed on Greenland ice cap. In 1992 one of the P38 was dug out from under 80 meters of ice. In 2008 another P38 in the same flight was dug out from 100 meters of ice.
Certainly, left alone, those planes will end up in the rocks under the ice cap.

Something to think about, nonetheless.
 

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.


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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.

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 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.