Off Topic and General Interest
Please post your off-topic and general interest items here.
What Do You Expect?
Lovely - Seth Leibsohn - The Corner on National Review Online
Blazoned across the NYT today is the headline: “Israel Feeling Rising Anger From U.S.” How I just pray for the headline someday that reads ”Iran Feeling Rising Anger From U.S.” or “Venezuela Feeling Rising Anger From U.S.” or “Cuba Feeling Rising Anger From U.S.” or “Myanmar Feeling Rising Anger From U.S.” or “Sudan Feeling Rising Anger From U.S.”
Instead we get a story that states in paragraph one: “The most serious conflicts between the United States and Israel in two decades is leaving a politically embarrassed Israeli government scrambling to respond to a tough list of demands by the Obama administration.”
All this, by the way, as the same issue of the NYT today reports Iran is set to hang six more protesters — and of course, as you know, that’s the country where the U.S. “should not be seen as meddling.”
When your country is run by people who hate your country, why would you be surprised that they like America’s enemies better than her friends?
Junk Science Is Always Popular
Gore Attaches Global Warming as Cause to Last Weekend’s Storm in Northeast
If there’s a drought – it’s global warming. When there’s a hurricane – it’s global warming. If there are heavy snows or even blizzards – it’s somehow global warming. And amazingly, the latest round of rainy and windy weather in the Northeast, well that’s consistent with this phenomenon as well, so says former Vice President Al Gore.
Gore, the self-anointed climate change alarmist-in-chief, told supporters on a March 15 conference call that severe weather in certain regions of the country could be attributed to carbon in the atmosphere – including the recent rash of rainy weather.
“[T]he odds have shifted toward much larger downpours,” Gore said. “And we have seen that happen in the Northeast, we’ve seen it happen in the Northwest – in both of those regions are among those that scientists have predicted for a long time would begin to experience much larger downpours.”
But Gore had a specific example in mind. He explained this recent soaking in the Northeastern United States was “consistent” with what global warming alarmists were projecting.
“Just look at what has been happening for the last three days,” Gore said. “The so-called skeptics haven’t noted it because it’s not snow. But the downpours and heavy winds are consistent with what the scientists have long warned about.”
Everything is consistent with global warming, according to the credulous and trusting (antonyms of skeptical…)
If it can’t be falsified, it isn’t science. And by the way, for an interesting view of exactly the same junk science phenomenon, an example with which we are still plagued today: The mass of lies, myth, mistakes, rent seeking, fraud, and junk science which led to the supposed “consensus” that the most healthy diets for humans are those which are high in carbohydrates and low in fat, is minutely detailed in the opening third of Gaury Taube’s book, Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage)
Junk
Government rebuked over global warming nursery rhyme adverts - Telegraph
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the adverts – which were based on the children’s poems Jack and Jill and Rub-A-Dub-Dub – made exaggerated claims about the threat to Britain from global warming.
In definitely asserting that climate change would cause flooding and drought the adverts went beyond mainstream scientific consensus, the watchdog said.
Note the new caveat: “mainstream” scientific consensus. This is quite clever, actually. Since it has become obvious to any thinking observer that there is no “scientific consensus,” the junk science global warming scammers have addeded a qualifier: mainstream. This lets them portray “denialists” as being out of the mainstream of science.
I suppose that’s the same mainstream that once enjoyed consensus on things like phlogiston, ether, and a flat earth.
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March 15th, 2010 | #1
“and a flat earth.” HUH? You mean it is not? I didn’t know that…
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March 15th, 2010 | #2
Advertisers have used this sort of psychological manipulation for years. I remember the Radio Shack catalogs, with the constant “Good — Better — Best” gear. The “Best” gear wasn’t there to sell; it was there to get people to move up to “Better”.
In politics, the media tries hard to paint morally equivalent extremists on both sides as flanking the moderate, pragmatic middle ground, which they just happen to completely believe in. It doesn’t matter to them whether one or the other of the extremist positions might actually have evidence on its side, or whether the position they like is actually supported by evidence. It’s just a psychological ploy.
You see it all the time when media hacks are challenged about bias. “Well, I get negative letters from both sides.” (Implied: “So I’m fair and correct.”) A hack from the Nashville Tennessean once tried to feed me that line personally, and I think she was surprised when I came back with a complete explanation of why that was BS.
The Socialist Democrat Coup Proceeds Apace
Tweet Tracker - National Review Online
@EvanGlassCNN House Dems may break pledge to publicize #hcr bill 72 hours in advance of vote. 3/12 5:34 P.M. - http://bit.ly/bB8p9O
Lying, cheating, thieving corrupt bastards.
They’ll do anything to cram this monstrosity down our throats. That’s all this current Democrat regime is - a bunch of Marxist “by any means necessary” coup artists.
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March 15th, 2010 | #1
I seem to keep seeing a lot of people who don’t quite understand the mechanics of this whole reconciliation dance, and why they’re being forced to do it if they want to “pass” the bill. It’s coming from those that I am fairly certain are not idiots - I think the main problem is that people are reluctant to believe what they’re hearing. The main detail they seem to be missing is the part where they’re skirting the 60 vote bit in the senate, now that Brown is in there. But, then, it’s not like you can count on most media outlets to point such things out.
However… if they ram this through, I think anyone willing to listen is eventually going to get a good explanation of just what happened. Particularly if (ok,when) it turns out to be a disaster.
Breaking promises like this 72 hour thing is just going to add more insult to injury. As will the “no middle class tax increases” promises, when they have to pay for this monstrosity. People are going to flip out.
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March 15th, 2010 | #2
By the time it is evident this is a disaster and people get presented the bill to pay for it the damage will already have been done.
We’ve got to get people to understand now what they are doing so that come Nov 10 we get a Congress that can stop this before implementation.
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March 15th, 2010 | #3
I meant Nov 2010, the upcoming Congressional elections.
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March 15th, 2010 | #4
I am concerned that if the bill can’t be stopped and is signed into law, the Dems could lose this upcoming election, sure, but if it’s not entirely repealed by the “is hereby repealed” language of an actual repeal, they’ll be back and they’ll be a permanent majority. Some will be like the people who spent the 1950’s through the early 1990’s buying the media/crat BS fear about Republicans taking away their Medicare/Social Security if they let them into power. The rest, a growing proportion of the electorate, won’t be able to conceive of “the right to medical care” not existing, and as with all things under collectivist tyranny, won’t be able to conceive of how much better everything is living in liberty. In other words, the entire electorate becomes a feminized and stupid bitch.
Which is why it has to be stopped before it’s passed, and everyone involved in its promotion and support has to be destroyed… politically, for now.
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March 16th, 2010 | #5
But that’s setting aside the point that all the wheels are going to fall off and it will all burn, and soon. There will not be 20, 30 years of slow socialist decline. The Fed/Treasury can’t prop things up forever, but they can’t stop or it’s over. The entire economy is waiting for one push to send it over the edge, and that push will be people realizing the actual state of it, not just things getting worse. There is a small but real chance that there will not even be any Nov 2010 elections.
Realistically speaking I don’t think there will be the votes to repeal it even if the Dems get spanked in November, regardless of what the public does or doesn’t think of it at that point.
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March 16th, 2010 | #6
The wheels may be falling off - and soon, but what you get when the new cart is assembled may not be a wagon of freedom. Indeed, I would suggest that it is highly unlikely. The current state is the result of 220+ years of representative democracy. Its failure would suggest that representative democracy is flawed. Why would the winners in the struggle to define the new cart recreate the constitutional system that led to failure? Why would they trust “the people”, who had proved the truth of Franklin’s dictum, “when the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
If the wheels fall off the cart, the new cart is highly likely to be some form of intolerant dictatorship worse than what we now have.Better to stop the legislation and preserve the creaky cart. Remember, George III was indeed a tyrant. This time, the tyrant is the people. It is the war of ideas which must be won, not the struggle to clean up the mess after the idea, which is the republic, has failed
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March 16th, 2010 | #7
Not sure if the younger generations have any vested interest in “saving the cart”.
Do you think our system of government can survive a general default, or hyperinflation, or both?
If it can, it sure as hell can’t survive the expectation that my generation, and those after it, are supposed to foot the final bill for the social security ponzi scheme.
I frequently see reporting that takes for granted that I’m simply going to get hammered with taxes to pay for that, and it isn’t the cost that makes my blood boil, it’s the assumption that it’s somehow a done deal.
Whether or not what we have next is worse doesn’t really change the fact that what we have now is not sustainable. Who knows, maybe a rewritten constitution - that bows to the reality of voters, bread, and circuses - might work.
For the Rest of Us (Suckers)
Apple Details iPad’s Battery Replacement Plan - Reviews by PC Magazine
Apple just announced the terms of the deal for the iPad and, all jokes aside, it’s just like the iPhone’s battery replacement service… but bigger!
Apple’s warranties provide for varying measures of support depending on the product lines–iPhone owners get a free battery replacement if their devices’ capacities drop below 50 percent within the first year of ownership–the company offers its own battery replacement service for affected products.Provided your iPad hasn’t gone through some catastrophic amount of damage–”as result of an accident, liquid contact, disassembly, unauthorized service or unauthorized modifications,” suggests Apple–then you’ll be eligible to take advantage of the company’s battery replacement service.
But what does that entail? First, you’ll have to shell out $99 (plus $6.95 for shipping and whatever your local tax happens to be) for the opportunity for a brand-new device. And I phrase that as I do for a very specific reason.
When you send your iPad off to Apple, you aren’t just getting your same ol’ iPad back in the mail after one week or thereabouts. Opting for the company’s battery replacement service will basically put you on the list for a refurbished iPad–although the exterior case of the device will be brand-new, the underlying product will be one that’s gone through Apple’s fix-it procedures in some capacity. Naturally, any data you’ve kept on your old iPad device will go the way of the dinosaur: You’ll want to back up all your settings and information prior to asking Apple for a new battery.
Huh. I didn’t know this. Apparently there are non-apple kits out there you can use to replace a battery in an iPod. Anybody tried them?
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March 15th, 2010 | #1
Total control is the name of the game. You’re never able to replace any iPod and iPhone battery by yourself in the first place (that have to be done at an authorized Apple Store). Why should iPad be any different?
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March 15th, 2010 | #2
Yep. They work fine. You have to be pretty nimble and willing to take the heartbreak of perhaps putting a scratch or two on the iPod, but at that point, who cares?
iPad, on the other hand, is one of those unibody bastards, so I’m not sure how that works out.
This is one of those things that bruises the Apple for me. The refurb scam is pretty stupid. If the battery can be replaced, then just replace the damn thing. The price doesn’t bother me much; look at the cost of replacement computer and cell batteries. It’s the whole waiting in line for a refurb. WTF, Apple?
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March 15th, 2010 | #3
this is one of the biggest reasons i don’t buy apple products. they sell a watered down base model.. everything else is extra. the only reason you don’t use replaceable batteries is to drive up the cost of ownership and their bottom line.
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March 15th, 2010 | #4
yes, it worked as advertised, ifixit.com
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March 16th, 2010 | #5
I bought a non-iPod MP3 player (Creative) partly because it had an easily-replaceable battery. When it was still under warranty the left channel stopped working, so they had me send it in. I got back a refurbed unit with an empty hard drive.
Silly Europe
Does Barack Obama give a damn about us? - Times Online
What is unclear is whether these issues were mishandled or whether Obama really does not care about Europe.
Oh, don’t be silly. Obama cares about Europe just as much as he does about the wishes of American voters.
Schmoozing may not be the way to get Obama’s attention. Nicolas Sarkozy, the European leader most critical of Obama, is the first to have been rewarded with a private dinner in the White House, which will take place at the end of this month.
Of course. The French are famous for hating America and Americans. No wonder Obama likes them better. (via Instapundit).
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Gotta Nip This In the Bud Before Anybody Else Gets Any Ideas
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is investigating more than 70 threatening jokes or inappropriate statements made to IRS agents about the Feb. 18 attack on an IRS building in Austin, Texas.
Why is the biggest bunch of thugs in the entire government “investigating” the exercise of their First Amendment guaranteed rights on the part of the citizenry? (via Instapundit).
Another Item From the Department Of…
Just What we need.
FCC releases Internet speed test tool
I guess there aren’t any.(sarc) Another waste of our money. aybe the FCC needs to get online more often.
Feel free to add your favorite speed test in the comments.
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[…] On every speed test EXCEPT the Bright House Roadrunner, my speeds are way low. I’ve gone to many speed test sites, and Bill Quick provided a link to the new government broadband test site. Here are the screen shots of my connection today: #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } […]
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March 13th, 2010 | #1
What’s really interesting is that in order to use the government speed test, you have to feed them the street address from which you are testing.
Unlike any other speed tester I’ve ever seen.
I wonder why they are collecting locations with broadband capability?
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March 14th, 2010 | #2
uhh, it’s like Obama’s credit card donation system - you can tell it you’re Minnie Mouse living at DisneyWorld and it will work just fine.
Just Think About This Graph For A Moment
Then click the graph for the whole ugly story. (You may have to subscribe to Mauldin’s free email newsletter by providing an email address. Fear not: It’s a wonderful newsletter. I’m amazed he’s not charging for it. I’ve been reading it for years.)
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March 13th, 2010 | #1
Is the writer talking about all debt, or just public debt? I don’t feel the urge to subscribe, but, if it’s the latter, something about this doesn’t seem right.
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March 15th, 2010 | #2
That is definitely all debt, not just public debt.
Think About This One
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief David Strickland told a congressional hearing on Thursday that the regulator is considering whether to make “black boxes” mandatory for all new vehicles. [ID:nN11246251]
The devices can capture data on speed, braking effort and other details which can be vital in reconstructing accidents.
Huh. My hunch is our cars have been snooping on us for quite a while.
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March 13th, 2010 | #1
No hunch.
“When there is an “event” - usually a crash - the EDR moves the last several seconds of information into long-term storage for later downloading. Well over half of the 2004 model passenger cars and light vehicles have some recording capability of this type.”
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March 13th, 2010 | #2
And how that is discoverable in litigation has been widely discussed in the legal press for several years.
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March 13th, 2010 | #3
andrewdb: any discussion of these devices constitution selff-incrimination? Just curious, IANAL
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March 13th, 2010 | #4
ny discussion of these devices constitution selff-incrimination?
No self-incrimination issue. I’m not sure what the full capabilities of these devices are, but, to the extent they would be useful in litigation, it would really be only civil litigation where there is no right against self-incrimination. If you don’t like an IRS audit, or if you’re generally worried about government surveillance, you better pray you don’t ever get caught up in civil litigation.
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March 15th, 2010 | #5
For some reason I seem to recall these boxes coming up as evidence in criminal convictions already…
Memory Lane
Remembering Ronald Reagan, and Andrew Sullivan when he was sane.
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March 14th, 2010 | #1
Sullivan was never sane, especially when he was making common cause with the enemy in the 1980’s. He can pretend after the fact all he likes, just like every Democrat pretends he wanted the West to win the Cold War. But I know otherwise.
Red Ribs
Came across this just now in my stickies. Not sure where I found this recipe, but it’s a wonderful way to use an often overlooked part of the cow. With the weather being all jumpy in either direction, I figure it’s still ok to do a braise.
Red Ribs
3 pounds beef ribs
Salt & fresh ground black pepper
Chipotle pepper powder
6 slices of good quality thick sliced smoked bacon, julienned and rendered. Set aside the bacon to drain. Reserve bacon grease.
Bacon grease.
4 chipotle chilis in adobo
4 sweet onions, rough chopped
4 stalks of celery, rough chopped
1 large bulb of garlic, peeled and rough chopped
1 750ml bottle of red wine, preferably Zinfandel. Not too cheap or expensive.
1 quart of BBQ sauce. I use Stubb’s Spicy.
1 quart of beef stock. Swanson makes a good “canned” low sodium beef stock now. It’s not the same as the beef broth. It’s more substantial and not bad at all for this sort of thing.
Preheat your oven to 350.
Take the ribs and rub them down with salt, lots of pepper, and as much chipotle powder as you feel comfortable with. Place them in ziplocks or an airtight container and let sit in the fridge for at least 8 hours.
Remove the ribs and pat them dry with paper towels. Heat up a dutch oven or whatever beast you use for braising in the oven over medium heat. Pour in some bacon grease and brown the ribs. Get some good color on them. Set ribs aside.
Toss in the chilis, onions, celery and garlic. Saute in the drippings. Pour in some of the wine and delglaze the pot, scraping up all the tasty bits. Pour in the rest of the wine, BBQ sauce and beef stock. Bring to a boil and turn off heat. Put the ribs back in, cover the pot and put it in the oven. Let them cook for 2.5 to 3 hours, or until you deem them tender enough for your tastes.
Pull the pot out. Remove the ribs and set them in a pan back in the oven to stay warm. Skim some, BUT NOT ALL the fat off the top of the sauce. Using an immersion blender while tilting the pot, puree the sauce, working the remaining fat into it. Fat is flavor, after all. Serve this glorious liquid over the ribs.
This is great with roasted potatoes or sweet potato wedges.
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March 11th, 2010 | #1
Damn, looks good. Any changes if one were to try it in a slow cooker?
Any ideas for low carb barbecue sauce? I made something that sort of fit, but I don’t know if I’d call it barbecue sauce. Basically rehydrate dried chilles in chicken broth, hit it with the immersion blender, and then use it like ketchup for ketchup based barbecue sauce.
Pissing In the Wind
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a speech today to progressive media in Nevada:
“The filibuster has been abused. I believe that the Senate should be different than the House and will continue to be different than the House,” Reid said. “But we’re going to take a look at the filibuster. Next Congress, we’re going to take a look at it. We are likely to have to make some changes in it, because the Republicans have abused that just like the spitball was abused in baseball and the four-corner offense was abused in basketball.”
Who’s this “we,” kemo sabe? You aren’t going to be around to take a look at anything in the Senate and, in fact, the Dem majority, which won’t exist after this November, won’t be around either.
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March 11th, 2010 | #1
He’s wrong about the spitter and the four-corner, too - no “abuse” there, in either case.
And what makes him think he’s named either Doubleday or Naismith, anyway?
…we’re going to take a look at the filibuster. Next Congress, we’re going to take a look at it.
Yeah, you just do that, Harry, you arrogant, Donkey-Kongress dumbass - let us know how that’s workin’ out for you, from that unpaved-crawl-space “office” wherever they hide you a few years from now…
(Isn’t this Donk dork up for
re-electiondefeat real soon? Please, let’s politically/electorally terminate his flea-bitten “professional politician” ass soon!!…) -
March 11th, 2010 | #2
Isn’t this Donk dork up for re-election defeat real soon?
Election 2010: Nevada Senate - Rasmussen Reports™
Two of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Republican challengers have again crossed the 50% threshold and now hold double-digit leads in Nevada’s U.S. Senate race. One big hurdle for the incumbent is that most Nevada voters are strongly opposed to the health care legislation championed by Reid and President Barack Obama.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Sue Lowden, ex-chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, with a 51% to 38% lead on Reid. Seven percent (7%) prefer some other candidate, but just three percent (3%) are undecided.
Businessman Danny Tarkanian posts a similar 50% to 37% lead over the embattled Democratic leader. Nine percent (9%) opt for another candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.
Reid is toast. And there is a marginally credible candiadate runnning against Pelosi in San Francisco. His name is John Dennis.
Ennui
Sorry, folks, I took my usual early morning cruise around the news venues I keep track of, and I didn’t see a single damned thing I wanted to blog.
It happens. Shrug.
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March 10th, 2010 | #1
Time to retire. You’ve obviously run out of opinions. And you call yourself a pundit. Cripes.
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March 10th, 2010 | #2
Would you be interested in hearing my opinion about anonymous bullshit from folks named Mr. Advisor?
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March 10th, 2010 | #3
Okay.
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March 10th, 2010 | #4
This should be fun…
(To watch, that is…)
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March 11th, 2010 | #5
Mr. Advisor, there’s something wrong with your post generator. It left out the link to your site “Hot Troll on Troll Action!!!” Please contact tech support immediately.
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March 11th, 2010 | #6
Okay.
You cannot begin to imagine how little my interest is in anything you might find of interest.
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March 11th, 2010 | #7
Double tap right between the eyes.
Not very entertaining, relative to other smackdowns at DP, but justice none the less.
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March 12th, 2010 | #8
What a boring troll; hardly worth the name — a tino.
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March 12th, 2010 | #9
Bill must be too busy getting ready again this year to blog. That was one of the funniest things I’d read in a long time.
Bland food for thought.
Looks like they’re trying to drop NY restaurants to one star. New York Considers Legislation to Ban Salt in Restaurants
Not content with just trying to tax soft drinks, New York’s nanny-state politicians are also considering legislation to prohibit the use of salt in the preparation of restaurant food. Assemblyman Felix Ortiz introduced this absurdist bill on March 5. Ortiz is one of New York’s more strident food cops, having already introduced strict restaurant menu labeling proposals in the past. He is also following in the steps of fellow food nanny Mayor Michael Bloomberg who went so far as to compare salt to carcinogenic asbestos.
Reality check: Besides representing another attempt to run people’s lives, regulating salt intake would have few to no health benefits. A University of California study published last year found that our bodies naturally regulate sodium intake, ensuring that sodium levels remain within a certain range at all times.
If the law passes it will be BYOSS. One thing puzzles me. When did they determine that salt causes cancer?
Via Big Government
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March 10th, 2010 | #1
I will admit to not really liking the taste of salt. The amount I add to food is minimal. However, salt is a flavor enhancer. You use it even in ice cream. Not adding it to food will only make the food taste like crap.
Some people seriously need to get a life.
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March 10th, 2010 | #2
Some people seriously need to get a life.
I disagree only in the matter of degree, PG. Some of those people need to be pushed back HARD. I’m not ready to recommend the rope+lamppost solution (yet), but people need to organize some pushback.
If people had pelted Bloomberg with sticks of rancid margarine when he banned transfats, maybe Cali legislators would have thought twice about banning transfats statewide.
New Yorkers have a duty to us all to write letters of protest to their legislators - and shake some salt into the envelope. If nothing else results, at least legislators would be distracted from writing this crap while hazmat teams are scrubbing their offices.
If Tea Partiers truly believe in smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation and individual freedom, they should be the catalyst for opposition.
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March 10th, 2010 | #3
Perhaps the best response is not a push back but a push forward: Demand that New York ban not only salt but the other salt items–no bacon, no soy sauce, no canned tomatoes, etc.–go the PETA route. Create a ruckus by taking the issue to absurd lengths.
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March 10th, 2010 | #4
Some people seriously need to get a life.
I’m thinking the opposite for these guys.:)
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March 10th, 2010 | #5
Is this some kind of a first? They are trying to ban something that you will absolutely die from the total lack of.
Our bodies cannot manufacture salt, btw.
Unlike tobacco, liquor, transfat, etc., they are now banning stuff you have to have some of to live.
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March 10th, 2010 | #6
Ride Fast:
…they are now banning stuff you have to have some of to live.
Ride, this is just a trial balloon for the real thing — banning O2 since it just gets converted to that eeeevil CO2. Perhaps just a tax on O2 will do.
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March 10th, 2010 | #7
Unlike tobacco, liquor, transfat, etc., they are now banning stuff you have to have some of to live.
You may be able to live without liquor, but why would you want to?
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March 10th, 2010 | #8
This is fucking insane. Shit like this makes my eyes bleed. Someone needs to take a fucking clue hammer to this moron Bloomberg.
Simply put, I want to put this stupid bastard in a cage and force feed him everything I can think of that could be possibly bad for him.
Starting with bacon. Lots of it. Foie gras. Every goddamn bottle of corn syrup soda I can get my hands on. He’ll need to burp to make room for what’s coming…
I truly despise Bloomberg. He is the epitome of a health Nazi. He is a threat to individual liberty to the highest degree.
But mostly, he’s fucking with my livelihood. In times of economic uncertainty, never, ever fuck with another man’s livelihood.
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March 10th, 2010 | #9
Now, granted: I don’t work in NYC, but that’s not the point.
All over this country, health Nazis in every city and town are jerking off in ecstasy at what Bloomberg is planning. Eventually, they’ll start making noises.
“Well, they did it in New York!”
Screw that.
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March 10th, 2010 | #10
…banning O2 since it just gets converted to that eeeevil CO2. Perhaps just a tax on O2 will do.
For now, I’ll settle for a ban on The O - although taxing him out of existence would work about as well…
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March 10th, 2010 | #11
Create a ruckus by taking the issue to absurd lengths.
For a leftist control freak, there is no such thing as “absurd lengths.”
I truly despise Bloomberg. He is the epitome of a health Nazi. He is a threat to individual liberty to the highest degree.
And he also used to be a Republican. Just sayin’…
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March 11th, 2010 | #12
I think salt is compulsary for any food.Without salt any food is tastless.But on the other hand it is not good for health.We should use little amount of salt in our food as i do.
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March 11th, 2010 | #13
Funny thing is the freaking hypocrite uses way too much salt on everything he shoves in his self-righteous piehole:
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March 11th, 2010 | #14
I think salt is compulsary for any food
Especially for peaches and cream, and don’t forget to shake some onto your chocolate cake.
Without salt any food is tastless
That’s why I always salt my oranges.
But on the other hand it is not good for health.
I thought “too much” should go in there somewhere. I thought no salt (of any form) was a killer, but apparently not.
We should use little amount of salt in our food as i do.
Don’t you mean we should use none, since you advised us that salt is bad for our health? Are you actually advising us to do something bad for our health?
WE GOT A COMMIE HERE!
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March 11th, 2010 | #15
Screw all those food Nazis.
I salt everything, including corn chips.
Of course, my four basic food groups are salt, sugar, preservatives and alchohol.
DCP.
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March 13th, 2010 | #16
Good God, can anything top this as evidence of the nanny staters we have become?
four basic food groups are salt, sugar, preservatives and alchohol.
Heh, as I sat in Korea tonight with my Korean partner and two muslims and two hindu’s, all of us drinking, I mentioned to my friends an Iraqi reaction after the fall of Saddam - freedom, whiskey, sexy. Much laughter and a toast to the USA.
Good For Them
The Associated Press: Calif. jury recommends death for serial killer
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California jury on Tuesday recommended a death sentence for convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala, only hours after the 66-year-old pleaded for his life to be spared.
Alcala was convicted last month of murdering 12-year-old Robin Samsoe and four Los Angeles County women in the late 1970s. It was the third time he was sentenced to death in the Samsoe case. The previous sentences were overturned.
I don’t give a damn how much he pleaded. No doubt his victims pleaded as well. Did he spare them?
Amazing to find a sensible jury here in northern California. My only regret is that, given the broken legal appeal process, this murdering scumbag will probably die in bed, rather than strapped to a table gargling a cyanide cocktail.
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March 9th, 2010 | #1
I can’t believe California is wasting a valuable resource like death row inmates. Hello, Californians! Have you ever heard of a little thing called the motion picture industry? Don’t you think Hollywood would love to be able to chop someone up in a slasher flick, shoot someone up in a Western, or blow someone up in a war movie or action/adventure drama? You’ve got plenty of scumbags in your state. Now, get those juries convicting and put away those cyanide bottles.
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March 10th, 2010 | #2
The case was actually tried in Santa Ana. Although Orange County demographics have changed over the past couple of decades, juries here still tend to be pretty conservative and it’s not really a surprise that the jurors rejected this scum bag’s pleas for mercy.
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March 10th, 2010 | #3
Three trials for the same crime??? When does triple jeopardy become quadra-jeopardy?
Yeah, Alcala is a scumbag that probably deserves multiple deaths, but we good Americans aren’t suppose to try people indefinably. That, after all, was an English trick we banned constitutionally.
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March 10th, 2010 | #4
Three trials for the same crime??? When does triple jeopardy become quadra-jeopardy?
Yeah, Alcala is a scumbag that probably deserves multiple deaths, but we good Americans aren’t suppose to try people indefinably. That, after all, was an English trick we banned constitutionally.
Double, tripe or quadra jeopardy doesn’t have anything to do with it. Although I’m not familiar with the case, it looks like the murder convictions or sentences were overturned on what some might characterize as technical grounds. It’s not the same as a verdict of not guilty, which is where x-jeopardy kicks in.
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March 10th, 2010 | #5
Yeah, to incur double jeopardy, you have to do something really heinous, like drink and drive or sell drugs.
When, in the course of human events….
Obama moving to limit fishing access - ESPN
The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.
Anglering for access united we fish rally capitol washington fishing
AP/Luis M. AlvarezOne sign at the United We Fish rally at the Capital summed up the feelings of recreational and commercial fishermen.
This announcement comes at the time when the situation supposedly still is “fluid” and the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force still hasn’t issued its final report on zoning uses of these waters.That’s a disappointment, but not really a surprise for fishing industry insiders who have negotiated for months with officials at the Council on Environmental Quality and bureaucrats on the task force. These angling advocates have come to suspect that public input into the process was a charade from the beginning.
“When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) completed their successful campaign to convince the Ontario government to end one of the best scientifically managed big game hunts in North America (spring bear), the results of their agenda had severe economic impacts on small family businesses and the tourism economy of communities across northern and central Ontario,” said Phil Morlock, director of environmental affairs for Shimano.
“Now we see NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the administration planning the future of recreational fishing access in America based on a similar agenda of these same groups and other Big Green anti-use organizations, through an Executive Order by the President. The current U.S. direction with fishing is a direct parallel to what happened in Canada with hunting: The negative economic impacts on hard working American families and small businesses are being ignored.
Key points: Input from leftist “environmental” (watermelons - green on the outside, red on the inside), and “Executive Order,” as in Obama as tyrant - again.
Honest to god, they won’t stop until they take every cent of your money, and control every aspect of your lives, and probably not even then. They can still impose a North Korean-style slave state, and start taking your actual flesh.
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[…] When, in the course of human events…. […]
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March 9th, 2010 | #1
I actually bought one of these recently because they are very cheap, but, y’know…
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March 9th, 2010 | #2
Mmmmm…I heart the .45 version when it comes out, rws.
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March 10th, 2010 | #3
.45, estimated availability August. I need one of these.
On a related note, anyone noticed that the ammo shortage appears to be greatly eased?
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March 10th, 2010 | #4
I like the .40 a little better for it’s longer range ballistics, but I can see the .45 version being a very nice unit to have around the house, for “vermin” control. Especially since that big, slow .45 bullet just cries out for a suppressor to avoid annoying the neighbors.
Quick range report: I can hit the range gong, about a foot square, at 200 yards 3 out of 5 times using a red dot sight. Of course that’s about a 40″ holdover, and instead of the “bong” you normally get with a rifle you only get a “tink” from the weenie 9mm, but at least the rifle is accurate enough for friendly socializing. And all the folk that have tried it out have had a big grin on their faces and vow to “get them one”.
Guess I’ll have to buy the other variations as they become available.
Democrat Taliban Swings Into Action
Massa Drama: Democratic Congressman Muddles Rahm’s Message - The Note
Massa, the soon-to-be-former Democratic congressman from upstate New York, gets another spin through the news cycle, with a series of interviews on Tuesday that probably won’t be the last we hear of him, if we are to believe his hardly credible word.
Self-contradicting, borderline paranoid ramblings need not necessarily be taken seriously, even when uttered by someone who, until now, held a seat in Congress — or who was part of Rahm Emanuel’s crop of “Fightin’ Dems” back in 2006. (They got the fighting part right.)
It’s always illuminative to see how the lockstep leftists of the Mainly Socialist Media line up to destroy any apostate Democrat. Massa committed the unforgivable sin of voting against the divine deeds of The Won. Therefore, he must be destroyed, and the good oppressariat at Always Been Commie line up to throw the first stones.
I Support Doug Hoffman for Congress in NY-23
I’m sure you remember the NY-23 congressional election of last year, the one in which Doug Hoffman ran against a garden-variety east coast left wing Democrat, and Dede Scozzafava, a garden-variety east coast left wing Republican supported by the national GOP establishment?
Hoffman lost by a few points after Scozzafava proved the RINO charges against her were accurate when she dropped out of the race on the final weekend and endorsed her Democrat opponent! In doing so, she also earned the sobriquet “Scuzzyfava,” deservedly so.
Hoffman is running again for Congress in NY-23, and he has both earned, and deserves, our support. It was his campaign that first demonstrated the electoral muscle that the Tea Parties and other disaffected, liberty-minded conservatives could wield in supporting candidates they, not the mandarins of the national party, wanted to vote for.
He’s paid his dues, and we could certainly use more like him in the House of (non) Representatives, which is presently dominated by a gang of Pelosi-Obama Democrats hell-bent on forcing socialized medicine down our throats even at the expense of their own jobs.
You can help out by sending a buck or two Doug Hoffman’s way here. Let’s send his opponent Bill Owens, the leftist Democrats, and the hidebound, go along to get along national GOP leadership another message, courtesy of Doug Hoffman.
Idiots to the Left of Me….
Althouse: The Obama-Hope-End-War sign is already tattered…
From the comments:
Obama has certainly not “rehabilitated” George Bush’s criminal policies, or reputation. He has merely succeeded in destroying his own name and reputation, and joins Bush as a discredit to America and as a war criminal.
Yes, folks, there really are idiots like this one out there. I know, hard to believe, but there it is….
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March 9th, 2010 | #1
Power Line Blog also took issue with it. I commented about it on my blog along with a critique of their latest drivel. They seem to be slipping in to a Charles Johnson style madness.
http://hittingmetalwithahammer.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/whats-wrong-with-power-line-blog/
Who Are The Al Qaeda Seven?
It seems that some shystershave a problem with an ad run by Liz Cheney and Keep America Safe. These shysters include some former Bush appointees, as if that makes them any different from the lowlifes employed by the incumbent. They claim the ad insults and denigrates 7 unnamed scumbags. Judge for yourselves.
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uncomfortable
Why yes officer I believe I have had 1 too many.
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March 7th, 2010 | #1
Oh yeah! Now, that’s a cat!
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March 8th, 2010 | #2
That is Aries (AKA Mike Tyson), he is a Maine Coon and tips the scales at just under 24 lbs. the Mike Tyson nickname is due to the fact that he has the tiniest, squeaky, little kitten meow I think that I have ever heard.
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March 8th, 2010 | #3
I have a 16 lb yellow tabby male that I have the same pic of. I call it “France”. It’s a yellow pussy who will roll over on his back for anyone.
you can’t make this shit up
I would find out who complained and make their life miserable forever. There is just no excuse for this.
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March 7th, 2010 | #1
There are always prudes who get upset about the most mundane thing. What is sad is that anyone listened to the fool who complained.
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March 7th, 2010 | #2
Don’t forget, we recently had an Attorney General who put up a curtain to hide a barebreasted statue of Justice. As foolish as that was, I’d rather have the guy back than the AG we have now.
SEIU Local 1991 forces closure of two hospitals.
Jackson decision is a tough one — and a wise one
Eneida Roldan went into medicine to save lives. Now she’s the hatchet girl killing jobs.
Or so some people would have us believe.
Roldan, CEO of Jackson Health System, came out with a wallop Friday after spending months begging unions to take pay cuts and pressing politicians to hand over more money for one of the nation’s top teaching institutions, now barely on life support.
Her solution?
Close Jackson North and Jackson South and lay off more than 4,400 medical professionals and staff — a $165 million clean slate.
Roldan already has cut her executive team by almost half, slashed their salaries and done away with perks. Her salary ranks in the lower 22 percentile of teaching hospital CEOs’ pay. She earns about $170,000 less than her predecessor.
And still, the union won’t budge. The SEIU Local 1991 labor union’s president believes her members should be exempt from any pay cuts. Hey, lady, we’re in a deep recession here. Would you rather have your folks fired?
Apparently the answer to the writers question is yes. Perhaps in the next union vote they’ll elect someone that actually cares about the workers.
News Flash for union goons. If they’ve cut admin and management jobs and pay and you refuse to accept a reasonable cut, they will have no choice but top shut it down.
If you missed it, this is a public, taxpayer supported hospital system. The union involved is the Won’s (and ACORN’s) favorite.
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[…] SEIU Local 1991 forces closure of two hospitals I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is “needed” before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents “interests,” I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can. - Barry Goldwater […]
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March 7th, 2010 | #1
Didja see this comment?
Miami Dade needs a mandatory “universal” healthcare insurance policy program. Otherwise, you must dump the uninsured and illegals out into the streets. We can no longer pay their costs and the “for profit” hospitals aren’t.
So… they can’t pay for it, so they need universal health care to pay for it?
I thought when you put together thought and anti-thought you released a lot of energy?
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March 7th, 2010 | #2
And still, the union won’t budge. The SEIU Local 1991 labor union’s president believes her members should be exempt from any pay cuts. Hey, lady, we’re in a deep recession here. Would you rather have your folks fired?
Apparently the answer to the writers question is yes. Perhaps in the next union vote they’ll elect someone that actually cares about the workers.
Of course the answer is yes. Take a look at the history of the growth of the Rust Belt. My home town, Muncie, IN, was a thriving factory town in the fifties. Ball Brothers canning employed eight or nine thousand workers. Borg Warner (the famous Muncie Four-speed tranny) employeed fifteen thousand over three shifts. Delco-Remy and Delco Guide (batteries and lights) employeed several thousand more.
The first crack in the dam occurred when the local union refused to budge on its exhorbitant demands to Ball Brothers, who said they would close the plant rather than meet them. The union said, “Go ahead.” So Ball Brothers closed the plant, moved their manufacturing operations to right-to-work states in the south, and dumped eight thousand morons onto the streets. The plant is still there, dark and empty. Same for the mile-long Borg Warner plant, which did away with its single remaining shift several years back. Delco Guide and Remy no longer exist, as far as I know. And a host of other factories - Kitselman Wire, Lift-a-Loft, many others - are gone with the wind as well. The two biggest employers are Ball State University and Ball Memorial Hospital.
Unions are only as smart as their members - but the union leadership works very hard to keep their members ignorant and stupid.
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March 7th, 2010 | #3
Union members aren’t any dumber - or smarter - than the general electorate. The same dynamic is at work in both cases.
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March 7th, 2010 | #4
I dunno, DSmith. I used to work at the post office.
In that particular case, the union attracted the worst the human race had to offer. It rewarded laziness and the squeaky wheel got the most grease.
I worked at the Remote Encoding Center, where hundreds of people sat around computer terminals and typed in the addresses that the computer couldn’t read. Minimum required was 650 an hour, and a stoned chimpanzee could have done that.
Many of the people there simply kept a running total of how many they had coded in an hour, and would stop at 650 and just sit there for however much longer they had. The longer someone would be there, the worse they’d get.
After a while, people really believed that the union meant they could do whatever they wanted and they’d not get fired. It was mob-thuggery at its worst.
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March 8th, 2010 | #5
It’s no coincidence that the largest sectors in most of the rust belt are medical (keeping the old people alive), and retail (employing the young who don’t or can’t move away).
Sometimes even the Won does the right thing.
School’s Shake-Up Is Embraced by the President
“If a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn’t show signs of improvement, then there’s got to be a sense of accountability,” Mr. Obama said. “And that’s what happened in Rhode Island last week.”
For some reason the teachers unions are upset with him.
Union officials said the administration’s stance on the Rhode Island firings seemed to put it on the side of management in what unions see as basically a labor dispute.
Shouldn’t everyone involved in the schools be on the side of the students?
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March 8th, 2010 | #1
I have to wonder if there isn’t another layer to this that we’re all missing. Because if ‘the Won’ likes it? I’m suddenly suspicious!
I’ve actually read some suggestions @ Vdare from Rob Sanchez that this might be an effort to force American teachers out, don’t know who’s right but I have a funny feeling that there’s more to the story.
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March 8th, 2010 | #2
It’s actually pretty simple, Man. The schools in that RI district are so bad that kids weren’t even learning to read - they couldn’t even read Das Kapital! The failure of primary schools to teach the basics makes indoctrination much harder.
If you’re looking for a political angle, consider that teachers’ unions routinely defy elected officials. When the elected officials are of the correct ideology and they already have their hands on the public purse, teachers’ union financial support is no longer needed.
The defiance of those elected officials then represents an independent power center that must be eliminated. In all socialist systems, unions must be a tool of the leadership, not a force to oppose it.
They got him. Now what will we do with him?
Both hanging and beheading are too quick.
American al Qaeda spokesman arrested in Pakistan, official says
Adam Gadahn, an American spokesman for al Qaeda, has been arrested in Pakistan, a senior Pakistani government official source told CNN.
The official said Gadahn was arrested Sunday in Karachi.
I hope it’s true and that he has a quick trail and a slow execution.
Earlier Sunday a video was released showing Gadahn praising an Army major of Palestinian descent who is charged with shooting other soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas. The mass shooting “lit a path” for other Muslim service members to carry out such attack, Gadahn said in the video, which was posted Sunday on Islamist web sites.
“I believe that defiant Brother Nidal is the ideal role model for every repentant Muslim in the armies of the unbelievers and apostate regimes,” Gadahn says in English.
“The Mujahid brother Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers and yearns to discharge his duty to Allah and play a part in the defense of Islam and Muslims.”
At least he admits that we are only fighting one war.
“It is rapidly becoming clear that this already hot global battle is about to get even hotter,” he says. “This is a war which knows no international borders and no single battleground, and that’s why I am calling on every honest and vigilant Muslim in the countries of the Zionist-Crusader alliance in general and America, Britain and Israel in particular to prepare to play his due role in responding to and repelling the aggression of the enemies of Islam.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if the media and politicians realized that?
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Democrats: Borrowing and Spending Your Money
National debt to be higher than White House forecast, CBO says - washingtonpost.com
The CBO and the White House are in relative agreement about the short-term budget picture, with both predicting a deficit of about $1.5 trillion this year — a post-World War II record at 10.3 percent of the overall economy — and $1.3 trillion in 2011. But the CBO is considerably less optimistic about future years, predicting that deficits would never fall below 4 percent of the economy under Obama’s policies and would begin to grow rapidly after 2015.
In view of this news, I thought you might like to know what one trillion dollars looks like.
It looks like an italics markup has escaped.
Link
I stumbled on this 2 minute snippet of an interview with Richard Feynman. Perhaps Al Gore should look at it the next time he writes (or tells someone else to write) his next op-ed.
Epic fail doesn’t begin to describe just how “visionary” this Newsweek article from 1995 was. Title? Why the Internet will fail.
I’ve read Paul Ryan’s Roadmap 2.0 and it is one statist POS. All he’s trying to do is save big government by freezing it in place. As though Big Government is OK, it just needs to find that sweet spot where it can stay big and not go bankrupt. To me, this is precisely why the word “conservative” is as vomit-inducing as “liberal”.
I can’t help but think this plan is the anti-Laffer curve.
In Maryland, black clad men with guns invade 4.5 homes a day
How could have foreseen this: Ford, private company, is starting to outsell GM, Government Motors:
Go Capitalism!
Justices signal they’re ready to make gun ownership a national right
I know this is not a new story here, but I just love the headline. I could have sworn the Constitution already made gun ownership a national right.
You’re just disturbing the leftist illiterati, claymore. They think all rights are gifts from the government, to be taken away if we displease them.
The stupid party: Bad at Politics. Bad at Maths.
The Constitution only enumerated an existing right to keep and bear arms.
The Supremes ruled correctly in Heller that reasonable restrictions are not prohibited, because nowhere does the second amendment say “shall not be infringed”…oh…wait…what?
I heard a commercial on the radio this morning asking listeners to lobby the governor of NY to re-introduce the tax on “sugary soda” - a link to an op-ed by a typical nanny-state-lover on it is here
Am I wrong to think that the Federal government actually subsidizes soda (by its main ingredient, high fructose corn syrup) through farm subsidies? Can’t we reduce the use of soda simply by ending the subsidies? I am not in favor of government taxing behavior it deems immoral, but shouldn’t the hypocrisy of subsidizing immoral behavior be brought up, if my premise is correct? This one’s above my pay grade…
I get various US Government bond market color each day from a variety of sources and I’ve been seeing this idea bubbling up there now as well as some blogs and other sources:
Stealth Q-E. In other words “money printing” by the Fed that is not transparent to anyone, like the Chinese but also like US citizens. All in the hopes that we can print money and also run massive budget deficits without spooking the US Government and GSE bond markets into sending rates higher.
If a corporation was selling large amounts of bonds in public offerings but at the same time was expanding it’s liabilities (those Federal Reserve Notes are technically Fed liabilities, a claim on the Fed’s assets, which used to be backed with gold but are now backed with, voila, dodgy mortgage loans and US Treasury securities) through hidden maneuverings that didn’t allow investors in the bonds to see those expanding liabilities (ie potential future losses by FNMA and FHLMC that the US Government now de facto guarantees) would that company run afoul of the law?
Think about what our government is trying to do here.
kennycan/nemo,
I keep seeing rumors that the Fed is propping up the stock market by buying stocks. Do you have any comment on that?
Jack, they’ll probably comment on their own, but every time folks think the markets should be plummeting, and they aren’t, rumors of the plunger protection team surface. Note that the linked article dates from 2008. I remember hearing the same rumor back in the dot.com bust.
Also, the usual rumors are about buying futures or options, not stocks themselves.
‘Dream Team’ Agrees Huge Asteroid Killed Dinosaurs
Damn skeptics. Where’s the UN when you need ‘em.
In bed with children.
The Plunge Protection Team rumor has been around for a decade. To outright buy stocks in size enough to keep the market elevated probably would mean owning enough to force disclosure, so if they were doing it, options or other derivatives would be the way to go. I am also not sure what disclosures the Fed would have to make, but I would think it would be less onerous and off balance sheet if they used options. Hence, easier to mask what they were doing.
Let me read the link Bill provided because I have never seen any wonky characters that have found any anomaly in the Fed data that support this. Then again, I have not focused on this too much, because although the stock market gets the headlines, the debt and forex markets are much larger and, in this day and age of leverage, usually lead the equity markets around by the nose ring. So manipulating those markets and especially the fixed income markets, would be a better way of acting as a plunge protection team without directly entering the equity markets.
Bill
That link appears to be broken. Can you check that.
Jack
Let me relate how one market was influenced greatly by the government. During the 1970’s the major Money Center banks lent a lot of money to Sovereign nations in Latin America and even in Eastern Europe (Poland especially) on the premise that sovereign nations taxing authority meant they could not default and anyway with oil revenues running so high for countries such as Mexico and Venezuela, this was “money good” lending. Walter Wriston of Citibank was a leading proponent of this idea. He was wrong. Very wrong. As the price of oil and other commodities fell during the high interest rate environment of 1979 - 1982, all of these governments found they had overborrowed and could not pay the money back. Meanwhile, the Money Center banks had been syndicating a lot of these loans to regional banks, but still keeping a large exposure for themselves. The US banking system, had the banks had to adequately reserve for those loans, would have been bankrupt.
The regulators allowed several things to happen. One, they allowed the banks to “restructure” the debt and lend more money to make payments on them. Rinse, repeat and kick the problem down the road. Very liberal regulatory treatment indeed. The banks then took much of their profits from 1982 - 1989 and reserved against these loans. Then the Bush admin engineered the “Brady Plan” using the IMF (whose major funding came from the US) to lend to these countries in order for them to buy long dated US Treasury zero coupon bonds to defease the principal on new Brady Bonds which carried lengthened maturities and/or reduced interest rates. Granted, they did ask these countries to make pretty stringent budgetary and other fiscal reforms in order to qualify for the Brady Plan. Without that, the Plan would not have worked.
As government solutions to problems go, the Brady Plan and Brady Bonds as they were known, was one of the better idea because it did team government and market forces with real reform in the debtor nations. But it was an instance where the US government intervened albeit behind the scenes (with regulatory leniency and political pressure on the debtors) and through a third party which essentially was controlled by them (the IMF).
The Fed and US government have many tools at their disposal to affect markets without directly intervening. I think the FNMA/FHMLC maneuvers are just such an instance and I would think the Plunge Protection Teams are too direct for them. I can’t rule it out though and there may be points in which they do this for very short periods under extreme market duress (hence the “plunge” moniker implying they prop up a plunge so that sellers can get out in an orderly fashion).
kennycan,
Thanks for the comments. As I understand it, could the Market really be manipulated through the debt and forex trading? Maybe the $500B slush fund is really being used for that? Although I have seen some say the govt is directly buying stocks, that doesn’t seem likely to me. Too easy to get caught. Manipulating the Market through some indirect pressure seems unlikely but it appears the Market is being held up by air. Maybe it’s a lack of moral hazard.
On your second longer comment, I remember events a bit differently but I am a believer in Wanniski’s theories about commodity inflation due to the breaking of Bretton Woods. After we broke Mexico’s bank we had to do something to save them.
Kennycan, your remark about manipulating the fixed income markets reminded me of the recent plunge in the 10-year treasury yield, from around 3.8% to 1.5% for a time. It then bounced back to its former level. The graph is stunning.
Now the 30-year is following suit, dropping just as suddenly from 4.6% to 1.5%. Is that the result of manipulation, or a perfect storm of circumstance at the offerings, or is it better explained by chaos theory? What the fed/treasury is going on?
The Fed’s very existence is premised on manipulating the markets. As James Grant would say, a group of 10 - 12 people get together in Washington DC or converse by telephone in between periodic meetings and decide what is the “right” interest rate. They then direct trading desks to add or subtract money from the system to take the market price to their preferred “right” price. How they know what is the “right” price would be and why the market, with it’s myriad of transactors, is not setting the “right” interest rate is a subject of much consternation on his part. Strangely enough these 10 - 12 people, although consisting of different names and different faces through the years, all seem to have a bias that the market has set the rate too high and seek to lower it below where it might logically be otherwise. Nominally independent, they are part of the same ‘academic/Washington DC cocktail circuit/career Fed employees’ circle and are subject to confirmation and reappointment pressure from the President and the Congress. Perhaps that “independence” from politics has been compromised?
That’s for starters. The knock on effect of setting this interest rate too low is that it sets an artificial low rate for riskier debt. Set the rate below inflation and the Fed is paying you to borrow short and lend long. As more money chases risky bonds it drives those prices down, forcing speculators to keep migrating out the risk curve taking ever more risk. It also drives ordinary citizens to go out the risk curve. After all, you aren’t going make your retirement objectives if money markets are yielding 1% and 30 year US Treasuries 4%. You need to get into equities and high yield bonds. Suddenly as money keeps chasing yield, Leveraged Buy Outs start looking attractive (low financing costs and asset prices being driven up artificially).
This is what the Fed did in 1991 - 1994, again in 1997 - 1999 and again in 2001 - 2006. Like heroin, each money injection required lower rates and more money creation to get the same result. A bigger fix just to make you feel better and take the withdrawal pain away.
In the Fall of 2008 until now the Fed and US Treasury went beyond anything we’ve seen before. The Fed took rates to 0% and then began “Quantitative Easing”, buying securities in the market like US Treasury and FNMA and FHLMC debt. The US Treasury started spending like mad men, taking an already record deficit and quadrupling it and promising now to do that for as far as the eye can see. The Fed lent against riskier collateral than they had done in anyone’s living memory. They tripled their balance sheet and injected 1.4 Trillion dolalrs into the banking system. The Treasury guaranteed all money market funds and increased the bank insurance levels to US$250k. They bailed out AIG to the tune of 160 billion and counting. FNMA and FHLMC have gotten more than 100 Billion. And counting.
Basically at one point the Fed and Treasury were pretty much setting market prices for the whole fixed income market. I don’t think they ever forced 10 Yr and 30 Yr UST to 1.5%. Matter of fact I think they want the UST yield curve to remain in a range where they have it now. I know that 10 yrs went to around 2.75% and 30 yrs to about 3.10% or so. By keeping 10 Yr and 30 Yr yields in the 3.5 - 3.80% range and the 4.5% - 4.80% range respectively they allow the banks to earn the spread between 0% short rates and 3.5 - 4.5% long rates, but they keep the rest of the world from boycotting UST securities because they’ve got this huge budget shortfall to finance. Hence Quantitative Easing to keep a lid on rates.
So the Fed/Treasury has set a floor and a ceiling on rates, pumped trillions into the markets, bailed out a half dozen or more financial institutions, GM and Chrysler (remember they have huge auto financing arms as well). Let me ask you now. Do you think all of this could indirectly put a floor under the equity markets?
NY Gov Race. Scozzafava II: The Dickering
Sorry for NYT link.
Here’s something from the Corner to chew on: House considering passing the Senate bill without the bother of actually voting on the Senate bill.
I need to check my investments, because tar, feather and pitchfork futures are about to go through the roof.
I predict it will pass.
Well, so will some kidney stones, Jack, if you’re willing to endure that much pain.
Hemorrhoids (aka: Congresscritters, mostly in general and Demonrat/RINO in particular), on the other hand…any not passing (away) on their own must be removed from the body (politic) by any means necessary…
Link
Now this is bi-partisanship that I can believe in.
JSB,
I’ll go you one better. I have consistently maintained that our limited government has been dead for a while. And that I want the Big Government criminals to over-step. I want it to happen while I am still relatively young and healthy. So, I want this bill to pass. I want us to be Greece and California and Zimbabwe. Maybe enough people will wake up and do something about it. Maybe not. But I’d like my shot. If we wait on the Republican timeline, I’ll be too old to do anything. If this bill doesn’t pass, I’ll be too old when we become Greece.