Steve's Serendipities

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

"Great-grandmother is tagged for selling a goldfish"

The law is the law. You can be the judge...

Jaia Narain has the story in the U.K. Daily Mail:

"Her offence was to unwittingly sell a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy taking part in a trading standards 'sting'.

At most, pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, expected a slap on the wrist for breaking new animal welfare laws which ban the sale of pets to under-16s.

Instead, the great-grandmother was taken to court, fined £1,000, placed under curfew - and ordered to wear an electronic tag for two months."

posted by Steve @ 9:34 AM

0 comments

Barack Obama - vs. The Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation takes issue with Barack Obama's use of their name.
In their rebuttal, they point out behaviors that are being used across the spectrum to imply that liberal policies somehow incorporate conservative ideas and support.
That's just NOT true!...

Heritage Foundation President, Ed Feulner, begins with this:

"President Obama this morning cited The Heritage Foundation’s research in an attempt to sell his health care package as a “middle of the road, centrist approach.” We take great exception to this misuse of our work and abuse of our name. This is but the latest act in a campaign to sell this big-government program as a moderate law that incorporates conservative ideas. Americans should not be fooled.

Let’s be very clear: We oppose this new law because it is a radical new intrusion into the daily lives of all Americans and a massive takeover of one-sixth of the U.S. economy. We view the President’s health care law as inimical to our national interests and offensive to the historic American dedication to the principle of self-government."

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

Gloabl Warming - and the New York Times

This is from 1987.
The New York Times' current opinion has no mention of this previous one.
Now, what are we to believe?...

This is from an article by Philip Shabecoff back then:

"U.S. Data Since 1895 Fail To Show Warming Trend - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25— After examining climate data extending back nearly 100 years, a team of Government scientists has concluded that there has been no significant change in average temperatures or rainfall in the United States over that entire period.

While the nation's weather in individual years or even for periods of years has been hotter or cooler and drier or wetter than in other periods, the new study shows that over the last century there has been no trend in one direction or another."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Government at Work - Australia, Bitten by a Flithy Dog

Don't laugh. This COULD be coming to America...

L. Brent Bozell III reports at CNSnews.com:

"Subsidizing sleaze apparently is not shocking to Australia. Siobhan Duck of Melbourne’s Herald Sun reports “A television comedy about a bong-smoking dog that has sex with a cat and a teddy bear has received $1.5 million of federal and state taxpayers’ money.”

Wouldn’t you be so proud if you were a taxpayer Down Under? The federal agency Screen Australia contributed $400,000 to the first season and $580,000 to the second. The state agency Film Victoria contributed $210,000 for the first set of shows and $294,048 towards the second."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Happy Birthday to Secretariat

A race horse to remember...

David Schmitz writes at Bloodhorse.com:

"Secretariat mania swept the nation. The colt was on the verge of becoming the ninth Triple Crown winner and the first since Citation in 1948. His likeness appeared on the covers of Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated.

Under regular jockey Ron Turcotte, Secretariat swept the series, winning the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes by an astonishing 31 lengths in 2:24 and shattering Gallant Man’s stakes and track record by 2 3/5 seconds—a world record performance on dirt."

posted by Steve @ 10:34 PM

0 comments

The Media - and Presidential death threats

After you see the signs on this web page, it's hard to imagine getting upset at what the media is peddling these days.

Of course, it was a different story with President Bush...

You can see what I mean at ZombieTime.com:

"I support the arrest and prosecution of any person who threatens Obama or any president of the United States.

But the story of this arrest got me to thinking: Why was no one ever arrested for threatening President Bush at protests, when they displayed signs in public that called for his death?

Many readers may naively think, 'The answer is obvious: no protester was ever arrested for threatening Bush at a protest because no one ever threatened him at a protest. Who would be that stupid? I certainly never heard of any such threats.'

Alas, if only it were that simple."

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

Government at Work - in Austin, Texas

"Par for the course", "unintended consequences", whatever.
Elected officials are so eager to please that they fail to see the long term consequences of their actions (read laws)...

This is from an Associated Press article in the Hosuton Chronicle:

"It's a clear example of the City of Austin's left hand not knowing what its right hand is doing," Rick Cofer, co-chairman of the city's Solid Waste Advisory Commission, said in Friday's editions of the Austin American-Statesman."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

In the U.K. - "The pygmies and sleazebags who've wrecked Britain"

The U.K. seems to be an example of "what NOT to be"; but, is anybody watching, and listening?...

Richard Littlejohn discusses the U.K.'s leadership:

"Gordon Brown has been at its dark heart, first as chancellor, then as prime minister.

Brown's Britain is a failed state, led by an unelected Scottish sociopath and a gruesome gang of crooks, liars, political pygmies and smearmerchants.

He has bankrupted the country, smashed our once gold-standard private pensions system, sold out our sovereignty to Europe and destroyed the special relationship with the U.S. over the release of the Lockerbie bomber for the sake of a squalid, sectarian squabble with the Scottish Nationalists.

We have a ruinous welfare culture which rewards the feckless and a taxation system which punishes enterprise and the traditional family.

Economically, he peddled us a false prospectus and has succeeded in beggaring the country for generations to come."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Monday, March 29, 2010

Polls - Reviewing Last Week’s Rasmussen Polls

This page provides an overview of various recent Rasmussen polls.
I like to look at it to get an idea of what Americans are thinking...

It can be seen at the Rasmussen Reports website:

"What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls"

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

Government at Work - NASA pays sky-high $66 a person for seminar snacks

It's hard to believe that stuff like this still goes on...

The Houston Chronicle recently had this from the Associated Press:

"NASA has promised it will come up with better conference spending rules."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

The GOP 'Victory Lap' - WSJ.com

This is an article about the Republican reaction to the passing of the health care legislation.
Deep inside the article there is a discussion of who said what afterwards; and ONCE AGAIN, the media got it wrong, disparagingly wrong at the expense of Newt Gingrich.
Yes, there is a correction; but, how many people return to a website to read an article a second time, and would see that correction?...

It's all in James Taranto's Wall Street Journal opinion column:

"Editors' Note: March 23, 2010
The Paul Krugman column on Monday, about the health care bill, quoted Newt Gingrich as saying that 'Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years' by passing civil rights legislation. The quotation originally appeared in The Washington Post, which reported after the column went to press that Mr. Gingrich said it referred to Johnson's Great Society policies, not to the 1964 Civil Rights Act."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Hillary Clinton - Managing Our Money

This is bothersome to me. How about to you?...

Recently, Geoff Earle reported this in the New York Post:

"Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department is spending $5.4 million to buy fine crystal stemware for American embassies -- but it won't give the US economy much of a boost.

The contract was given to a tiny Washington, DC, interior designer, which in turn subcontracted the crystal work to a Swedish firm -- snubbing such US companies as the famous manufacturer in Clinton's own back yard, Steuben Crystal of upstate Corning.

The firm didn't even get a chance to bid on the contract, which will outfit embassies and ambassadors' residences with fancy crystal for ritzy functions."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Government at Work - Historical Debt Outstanding

The chart shown here is very disconcerting.
It should scare our younger generations a lot...

TreasuryDirect.gov has this chart on their website:

"Historical Debt Outstanding - Annual 2000 - 2009"

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Media - ...Took Us For A Ride In A Prius

My sentiments exactly.
Journalism is CLEARLY on the decline as far as getting the facts and reporting them without bias...

Michael Fumento was on this from the start. He recaps the issues at Investors.com:

"Why couldn't journalism school grads?

Obviously, many did. But the media have been pursuing a Toyota witch hunt regarding unexplained sudden acceleration. The Prius incident fit beautifully. Too beautifully, as it happens. So skepticism got the boot, as indeed it so often does with the media today. As one person put it in an e-mail to me, 'I weep for the state of American journalism.'"

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Radical's deadly 'booby trap' | The Sun

Just in case you don't have enough to be concerned about.
FYI - I believe "The Sun" is considered a "tabloid" newspaper...

Rhodri Phillips reports this:

"The shocking new al-Qaeda tactic involves radical doctors inserting the explosives in women's breasts during plastic surgery — making them "virtually impossible to detect by the usual airport scanning machines'."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Friday, March 26, 2010

The Media - and the menhaden

If your sole source of information is the mainstream media, then you are surely NOT getting the FULL story on almost everything...

Lawrence Meyers has the story at BigJournalism.com:

"So, how difficult was it for me to round up the salient facts behind this story? Twenty minutes. Yet the mainstream media seems curiously inept at finding the facts in order to present – gasp! – both sides of the story. Are journalists really that lazy, or are they merely following the Eco-Friendly marching orders of their editors?"

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Presidential "Permission Threshold"

This is pretty interesting; and, I have no reason to believe differently...

Tom Readmond discusses presidential politics at TheNextRight.com:

"But what's interesting is a candidate's 'bracket' is determined long before anyone votes, and indeed before a candidacy is even declared. What separates Brackets 1 and 2 is what I call the presidential 'permission threshold.'

What is the permission threshold?"

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Man Versus Afghanistan - The Atlantic

Read what General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan has to say...

Robert D. Kaplan has the story in Atlantic Magazine:

"'Look, this isn’t easy,' he sighed. 'Afghanistan for years got worse and worse, and the coalition sometimes lagged behind the reality of the situation.' Because the country is so decentralized, he explained, it is extraordinarily complex, with a different tribal and sectarian reality in each district. But then he ticked off ways the war could be won. 'The insurgency is only fundamentally effective in the Pashtun belt. The critical part of the population is where the water and the roads are. People near water are more important economically: along the Helmand and Kabul rivers. You secure these areas, and you take the oxygen out of the insurgency.' He continued, talking about developing a corps of Afghan-area experts within the United States military akin to the American 'China hands' of the early and mid-20th century, and 'British East India Company types' who went out for years and learned the local languages. His command sergeant major, Mike Hall of Avon Lake, Ohio, said that when McChrystal selected his team of generals and colonels to come with him to command the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan in June 2009, he more or less told them to 'get out of the deployment mentality—that they would be in-country for 18 months, two and a half years, for the duration, however long it took to win.'

McChrystal believes that the 'ideological piece' of alQaeda is 'truly scary': that a new brand of totalitarianism—alQaeda the franchise—is running amok and motivating small secretive groups around the world, and that victory in Afghanistan is necessary to deliver a 'huge moral defeat' to it."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Politicians - N.Y. Congressman Gregory Meeks

Just another one of many "less than perfect" elected officials...

Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein report in the New York Post:

"Meeks is ranked among the poorest members of Congress, yet he lives in a Queens mansion, associates with billionaires, travels the world and has four cars.

Throughout his political career, Meeks has benefi ted from a series of high-level friendships and political connections that have drawn scrutiny.

The Democrat also has a curious habit of fawning over brutal world dictators."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Along the Border - "In just 24 hours, 763 pounds of drugs"

Do you wanna bet that others were NOT caught?...

PRE-LINK TEXT Tony Barboza posted this on a L.A. Times blog called L.A. Now:

"Customs officers intercepted 12 alleged drug smugglers in a 24-hour period at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa border crossings and seized 763 pounds of marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine worth an estimated $1.16 million, authorities said Friday.

The spate of arrests took place between 6 a.m. Thursday and 6 a.m Friday."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Politicians - Four Labour MPs implicated

With politicians, it seems like there's always something questionable going on.
Not to mention, the exchange of money for something...

Rebecca Lefort reported this in the U.K. Telegraph:

"MPs Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon and Margaret Moran – who are all standing down at the next election – were secretly recorded discussing financial payment with an uncover reporter posing as a company executive looking to hire MPs for lobbying work."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Barack Obama - A New Anti-Obama Billboard

"Many a true word is said in jest"...

At StoryBalloon.org, Glenn Church writes at Foolocracy.com:

"These anti-Obama billboards seem to be sprouting up everywhere."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Inside the Pelosi Sausage Factory - WSJ.com

I don't know how politicians sleep at night...

Kimberley A. Strassel writes about it in the Wall Street Journal:

"Never before has the average American been treated to such a live-action view of the sordid politics necessary to push a deeply flawed bill to completion. It was dirty deals, open threats, broken promises and disregard for democracy that pulled ObamaCare to this point, and yesterday the same machinations pushed it across the finish line."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Monday, March 22, 2010

The bald eagle at work

Just something different...

Andy Bloxham published this on the U.K. Daily Telegraph website:

"This stunning series of images captures the moments a starling is chased down and snatched in mid-air by a bald eagle. "

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Politicians - Former Prime Minister Tony Blair

Politicians are likely all the same.
There's just too much money around for them, during and after their elected terms...

Jason Groves has the whole story in the U.K. Daily Mail:

"The former Prime Minister tried to keep the public in the dark over his dealings with South Korean oil firm UI Energy Corporation.

Mr Blair - who has made at least £20million since leaving Downing Street in June 2007 - also went to great efforts to keep hidden a £1million deal advising the ruling royal family in Iraq's neighbour Kuwait.

In an unprecedented move, he persuaded the committee which vets the jobs of former ministers to keep details of both deals from the public for 20 months, claiming it was commercially sensitive. The deals emerged yesterday when the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments finally lost patience with Mr Blair and decided to ignore his objections and publish the details."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Media - The New York Times' pay scale

It DOES seem inappropriate for these and their times...

The New York Post's Keith J. Kelly takes issue with the financial choices of the New York Times:

"Top executives at the beleaguered New York Times Company reaped hefty rewards last year, with Chairman Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger more than doubling his total compensation to $6 million.

CEO Janet Robinson got even more, reaping $6.3 million, a 31.9 percent hike.

The pay numbers were disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings yesterday.

The increases come against a backdrop of declining ad revenue, layoffs, frozen pension plans, unpaid vacations and a 5 percent pay cut for most of the rank-and-file workers last year."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The National Debt - and who owns us

I guess it matters who we owe to; however, what is really striking is the change since 2001...

The story is at NationalReview.com. The graph is right here:

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

In Our Schools - Discrimination

This article portrays an ugly scenario.
The situation is bad enough all by itself; and, with politicians and racial overtones involved, I can't see it getting better...

Abigail Thernstrom and Tim Fay write about it at American.com:

"How will the Obama administration respond to a formal complaint in the wake of serious black-on-Asian violence at South Philadelphia High School?"

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Friday, March 19, 2010

"The Budget That Devoured America?"

This is NOT a pretty picture!...

The accompanying story is at Investors.com:

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

"Obama By Proxy"

If you read this entire post and then stop to think about it, you may come to the same conclusion...

I found this in the DocZero.org blog post:

"Palin’s admirers often marvel at how the charges leveled against her are far more applicable to the current President. People who voted for an undistinguished junior senator from Illinois with few accomplishments are quick to assault Palin’s 'lack of experience.' The same folks who instruct us that Barack Obama is a physical paragon, and Michelle Obama is the most beautiful woman in the world – a goddess who causes fashion models to slink from her path in shame – belittle Palin for her good looks. Defenders of the most fabulously corrupt administration in modern history mumble about the murky details of obscure “scandals” manufactured by Alaskan bloggers. They turn away from the sad spectacle of a manifestly incompetent President to sneer that a woman who alters the course of legislative battles with blog posts is some kind of an idiot.

They dismiss Going Rogue as 'ghost written' while ignoring the specter of Bill Ayers plodding through Obama’s books, a sputtering bomb clutched in its skeletal fingers. A few lines scribbled on Palin’s palm glow more brightly in their imaginations than terabytes of data flowing across the screen of Obama’s teleprompter. They accuse Palin of being a 'divisive' and 'polarizing' figure, while Obama launches Taxi Driver rants against evil insurance companies, cops acting stupidly, tonsil-stealing doctors, and everyone else who crosses his path."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Politicians - the Conyers Family

These people are definitely living off taxpayers money...

The Associated Press reports on Google News:

"DETROIT — Former Detroit councilwoman Monica Conyers is relying on a court-appointed lawyer to pursue an appeal of her prison sentence for corruption.

That means the public will pick up the tab, even though Conyers' husband John is a Michigan congressman who's paid $174,000 a year."

posted by Steve @ 8:04 AM

0 comments

"The Consent of the Governed"

I'm seeing more and more references to the principles that created America.
Currently, I would label them "rumblings"; however, I might remind everyone of that "rumblings" are often the warning sign of pending volcanic eruptions...

At BigGovernment.com, SusanAnne Hiller calls attention to this part of the Declaration of Independence:

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

In the U.K. - The National Health Service

Ugh Oh! Is this what we're headed for...

At the U.K.'s TimesOnLine website, Lois Rogers begins with:

"DAMNING reports on the state of the National Health Service, suppressed by the government, reveal how patients’ needs have been neglected.

They diagnose a blind pursuit of political and managerial targets as the root cause of a string of hospital scandals that have cost thousands of lives.

The harsh verdict on the state of the NHS, after a spending splurge under Labour between 2000 and 2008, raises worrying questions about the future quality of the health service as budgets are squeezed.

One report, based on the advice of almost 200 top managers and doctors, says hospitals ignored basic hygiene to cram in patients to meet waiting-time targets."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

"A parable about how one nation came to financial ruin"

I saw this post a while back.
I think it's quite appropriate for these times we are in...

On Slate Magazine's website, Charles Munger tells us a story. I won't keep you in suspense. Here's the outcome:

"Basicland is now under new management, using a new governmental system. It also has a new nickname: Sorrowland."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Sports - "Duck coach chooses character above winning"

I'm thinking "Coach of the Year"!...

Andy Staples tells the story at SportsIllustrated.com, and closes with:

"But you had to make a statement. You had to place character above winning. You had to send a message to all those little ones who wear green and gold and who sleep under Oregon posters that they shouldn't steal, that they shouldn't lie. You had to tell your fans and boosters that you'd rather risk losing a few games than risk selling your program's soul for a title that would make you a very, very rich man.

What on earth were you thinking?"

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

Global Warming - "Hoax of the Century"

That's right! And there is no longer any doubt about it!...

After making his points, Pat Buchanan writes at Townhall.com:

"Today's global warming hysteria is the hoax of the 21st century. H.L. Mencken had it right: 'The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.'"

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Hand Gun Bans vs. Murders

I've been aware of these statistics for quite some time.
Unfortunately, the anti-gun lobby has the ear and support of the media so most people ARE NOT aware of them...

This is from a recent Washington Times editorial:

"Every time gun bans have been tried anywhere, murder rates have risen. Whether one looks at Ireland, Jamaica or England and Wales, the experience has been the same. Not only did murder rates fail to decline as promised, but the rates actually increased following gun bans."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

"Israel Builds Homes/Iran Builds Nukes: Clinton Mad At Israel"

It is what it is and it couldn't be clearer...

This is from the Voice of Reason blog:

"One sign of an insane foreign policy is the laser-like focus on the absurd at the expense of the important. Over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a heated 45-minutes call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the announced construction of 1,600 homes in Jerusalem . . . Israel's capital."

posted by Steve @ 8:04 AM

0 comments

The Media - "AP Conflates Fake ‘Catholic’ Group With Catholic Church"

You know, I saw this headline and didn't read any further.
Shame on me, but more shame on the Associated Press...

At PubliusForum.com, Warner Todd Huston writes about the problem:

"Here is one of the sneaky tricks that the Old Media plays in order to support a cause. In this case it’s the Associated Press coming to the aid of Obamacare with 'news' that a 'Catholic' hospital group is coming out in support of Obamacare. Of course, the AP does not inform the reader that this purported Catholic group is not associated with the Church and is not authorized to speak for Catholics but it conflates this “Catholic” group with Catholics as if they do anyway."

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

Politicians - CA State Senator Roy Ashburn

This is an interesting dilemma.
I respect elected officials that vote to support the desires of their constituents.
I DO NOT respect those that misrepresent themselves in order to get elected.
And that's what solves this dilemma for me...

Demian Bulwa writes for the San Francisco Chronicle:

"Organizing a rally at Bakersfield's Patriots Park, Roy Ashburn stood with evangelical leaders to condemn same-sex marriage as gay-rights advocates shouted him down.

'Marriage between one man and one woman is fundamental to civilization,' Ashburn said that day.

Now, after a drunken driving arrest near a gay bar in Sacramento forced Ashburn to reveal that he is homosexual, people in his district - including some who were at Patriots Park that day - are wrestling with what to make of him and his long public career."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

"A Nation of Quiet, Peace Loving Men"

Deja Vu?
The similarities here are quite thought provoking...

Nancy Tengler makes some comparisons on her "Constitutional Guardian" blog:

"And if I had to characterize Americans I would say they are by and large quiet, peace loving men and women happy to lead their lives in private, away from the prying and covetous eyes of government. Our Founders were like that, too. They wanted and tried to get along with the King but eventually they tired of his abuse and took an irrevocable stand.

Thank God they did."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Monday, March 15, 2010

Meanwhile - in Marjah, Afganistan

This is certainly disconcerting.
It's no wonder that many have become skeptical of what we read.
For that matter, perhaps, including this...

In the Asia Times, Gareth Porter writes:

"For weeks, the United States public followed the biggest offensive of the Afghanistan war against what it was told was a 'city of 80,000 people' as well as the logistical hub of the Taliban in that part of Helmand. That idea was a central element in the overall impression built up in February that Marjah was a major strategic objective, more important than other district centers in Helmand.

It turns out, however, that the picture of Marjah presented by military officials and reported by major news media is one of the clearest and most dramatic pieces of misinformation of the entire war, apparently aimed at hyping the offensive as an historic turning point in the conflict.

Marjah is not a city or even a real town, but a few clusters of farmers' homes amid a large agricultural area that covers much of the southern Helmand River Valley. "

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Barack Obama - "No offshore drilling while he’s in office"

Another occurrence of going against the majority of Americans...
Presidents are at risk when they ignore the citizens too often, or too flagrantly...

Barbara Hollingsworth reports at WashingtonExaminer.com:

"The Obama administration’s six-month delay in approving new offshore drilling leases in federal waters will become a new three-year ban, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar quietly told reporters last Friday. Which means that no new oil and gas leases will be approved during President Obama’s term even though two –thirds of the American public supports such activity, according to a December 2009 Rasmussen poll.

Sixty percent also believe that gas and oil prices will drop if the government allows offshore drilling, opening up an estimate 14 billion barrels of oil and 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas"

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Media - and the Prius story

So, think about what you know about this according to the media, and then, read this fully.
Now, how good of a job is the media doing, and; furthermore, why should we trust them on anything?...

This is part of a post by MataHarley on the Flopping Aces blog:

"Sikes… originally quite happy to be in front of the cameras, is now staying extremely low profile."

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

The Media - Selective coverage?

Read this article and then you be the judge...

At BigJournalism.com, Bruce Carroll wonders:

"If Muslims Gay-Bash In San Francisco, Do They Make a Sound?"

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Obesity: The killer combination of salt, fat and sugar

So, we all have a "bliss point", and it doesn't serve us well.
This article might just provide all you need to know about controlling your weight...

Former U.S. FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler writes on the U.K. Guardians's website:

"Sugar, fat and salt make a food compelling. They stimulate neurons, cells that trigger the brain's reward system and release dopamine, a chemical that motivates our behaviour and makes us want to eat more. Many of us have what's called a 'bliss point', at which we get the greatest pleasure from sugar, fat or salt. Combined in the right way, they make a product indulgent, high in 'hedonic value'.

During the past two decades, there has been an explosion in our ability to access and afford what scientists call highly 'palatable' foods. By palatability, they don't just mean it tastes good: they are referring primarily to its capacity to stimulate the appetite. Restaurants sit at the epicentre of this explosion, along with an ever-expanding range of dishes that hit these three compass points. Sugar, fat and salt are either loaded into a core ingredient (such as meat, vegetables, potato or bread), layered on top of it, or both. Deep-fried tortilla chips are an example of loading – the fat is contained in the chip itself. When it is smothered in cheese, sour cream and sauce, that's layering.

It is not just that fast food chains serve food with more fat, sugar and salt, or that intensive processing virtually eliminates our need to chew before swallowing, or that snacks are now available at any time. It is the combination of all that, and more."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Media - ABC News' Brian Ross

I believe Mr. Ross has been involved in similar questionable exposes' in the past...

At Gawker.com, John Cook writes about the current issue and a bit more:

"As you can clearly see, the dashboard lights indicate that the car's doors are open and its parking brake is on. The first shot shows the tachometer beginning at below 1,000 RPMs—or idling speed, as opposed to the 20 mph that Ross said he was driving when the acceleration began. On the right of the images, the speedometer appears to show a reading of zero miles per hour. And to top it all off, the transmission indicator shows that the car is in park. In other words, Ross took footage of a parked Toyota's RPMs taking off and falsely portrayed the shot as having taken place while he was driving the car.

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider confirmed to Gawker that the tachometer shot was indeed taken from the parked car and spliced into Ross' death ride."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

"U.S. Sitting on Mother Lode of Rare Tech-Crucial Minerals"

This sounds pretty good...

Jeremy Hsu reports at LiveScience.com:

"'The fact is, the Diamond Creek property is today, the most accessible, undeveloped rare earth resource with significant [heavy rare earths] that there is in North America,' said Jack Lifton, an independent consultant who works with U.S. Rare Earths.

Recent USGS figures estimate that the U.S. holds rare earth ore reserves of up to 13 million metric tons. By contrast, the entire world produced just 124,000 metric tons in 2009..."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Friday, March 12, 2010

"Artificial Stupidity"

I've heard this story or something similar once before.
Still, I think it's worth revisiting from time to time...

This is from Thomas Sowell at JBS.org. The actual story is there also:

"This little episode revealed how conditioned we have become, responding like Pavlov's dog when we hear a certain sound — in this case, the sound of some politically correct crusade.

People are all born ignorant but they are not born stupid. Much of the stupidity we see today is induced by our educational system, from the elementary schools to the universities. In a high-tech age that has seen the creation of artificial intelligence by computers, we are also seeing the creation of artificial stupidity by people who call themselves educators."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Poll shows Obama, Dems losing ground - Washington Times

For what it's worth...

Joseph Curl reports at WashingtonTimes.com:

"A majority of Americans say the United States is less respected in the world than it was two years ago and think President Obama and other Democrats fall short of Republicans on the issue of national security, a new poll finds.

The Democracy Corps-Third Way survey released Monday finds that by a 10-point margin -- 51 percent to 41 percent -- Americans think the standing of the U.S. dropped during the first 13 months of Mr. Obama's presidency."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Barack Obama - Eligibility issue hits Hotlanta!

This issue seems to go on and on...

Recently, WorldNetDaily.com posted this and a picture:

"The billboard campaign that launched a thousand imitators marches south this week with a new location seen by thousands every day as they enter downtown Atlanta on the MARTA subway train from Hartsfield International Airport.

As they say, you can't miss it."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

‘Presumed Consent’ Organ Donor Bill

This idea should get your head spinning.Think about it. The default owner of your body parts is NOT to be you!
Elected officials are out of control...

This is from a post by Warner Todd Huston on the PubliusForum blog:

"SB 3613, the Presumed Donor bill, amends the Illinois Anatomical Gift Act to define all Illinois patients as “presumed donors” unless they specifically avail themselves of the opt out clause. In other words, unless you tell the government that in the case of your presumed brain death you don’t want your body parts cut out and donated to other patients, they will be cut out and given to others.

As the law stands now a potential donor has to opt in to the organ donor program in order to allow the government to authorize usage of organs in case of brain death. One must inform the state ahead of time that one will agree to donate his organs. This bill would reverse that process of consent. If SB 3613 passes all patients will be assumed to be fodder for transplants unless they’ve specifically told the state that they do not want their body parts to be parceled out to other people."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Barack Obama - "The end of the road?"

Whew! The Brits DO have a way with words...

in The U.K. Telegraph, Simon Heffer closes his column with this:

"There are lessons from the stumbling of Mr Obama for our own country as we approach a general election. Vacuous promises of change are hostages to fortune if they cannot be delivered upon to improve the living conditions of a people. The slickness of campaigning that comes from a combination of heavy funding and public relations expertise does not inevitably translate into an ability to govern. There is no point a nation's having the audacity of hope unless it also has the sophistication and the will to turn it into action. As things stand, Barack Obama and America under his leadership do not. "

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

"Why make government the prime source for student loans?"

It's certainly a reasonable question.
After all, the government has a poor track record of administering almost everything...

Lamar Alexander's opinion column in the Washington Post:

"Here is what the administration and congressional Democrats have told us about this latest attempt: Starting in July, all 19 million students who want government-backed loans will line up at offices designated by the U.S. Education Department. Gone will be the days when students and their colleges picked the lender that best fit their needs; instead, a federal bureaucrat will make that choice for every student in America based on still-unclear guidelines."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

"The human cost of Obama’s theft of Chrysler dealerships"

I don't know if this is true or not; however, it sure smells badly...

This is part of a post by Suzanne Eovaldi on the Collins Report blog:

"Getting even with Republicans?

Soon after the Chrysler closings were announced last year bloggers began checking 2008 election donor lists and developed evidence pointing to a preponderance of Republican leaning Chrysler dealer owners among the “closed” list. Of course the media largely ignored this data, but facts are sticky nettlesome things."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Politicians - and their spending money

Somehow, I doubt they are frugal...

Sally Kestin reports for Orlando's Sun Sentinel:

"Each of the nation's 535 senators and representatives receives an annual allowance for staff salaries, constituent mailings and office expenses, based in part on the distance between the lawmaker's district and Washington.

Florida's two senators get more than $4 million apiece while the state's 25 members of the U.S. House of Representatives receive about $1.5 million each. The allowance does not include the lawmaker's salary of $174,000."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

The Media - "Treason Is A Matter Of Dates"

For me, the answer is clear.
The New York Times is far from what they used to be.
In fact, their published news is predominately biased and they don't report at all on those things that cast aspersion on their favorites...

Walter Russell Mead questions the actions of the New York Times:

"Gosh, one has to ask, if these terrible things were going on for such a long time, why didn’t the New York Times notice this earlier on? Why didn’t the New York Times break this important story back when it was news, rather than lamely sweeping up at the end of the parade?"

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Monday, March 08, 2010

Meanwhile - in the U.K. - Spy chips hidden in Trash Bins

So, what are we to think of this?
Is the chip "address-specific"?
Would people trade trash bins with their neighbors?
Would they just dump their trash elsewhere.?
How may government jobs would be need to administer this?...

Steve Doughty reports in the U.K. Daily Mail:

"The growing threat of a stealth tax on the rubbish we throw away was exposed by startling figures yesterday.

More than 2.5million homes now have wheelie bins fitted with microchips to weigh their contents."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Defense Department Accomodations

There are things most of us don't even know about.
The "Silver Bullet" is likely one of them...

I occasionally visit the Cryptome.org website. I'm never disappointed with their pictures. You'll have to scroll down to see them all:

"The 21st Air Mobility Operations Squadron is a dynamic, total force squadron of 36 different Air Force specialties.

During its 30-year history, the squadron has evolved into a weapon system of recognized experts in air mobility leadership, strategic and operational planning, command and control, theater mobility support and expeditionary communications.

Not only does it produce theater air mobility operations for combatant commanders as the core of an air mobility division in an air and space operations center, the squadron also execute the distinguished visitor [DV] airborne communication mission. This is unique to the Air Force, and it is the only squadron to provide this capability with the Silver Bullet and VIPER II Aeronautical Terminal systems."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Government at Work - Employing Tax Cheats

Well, I know what I would do.
Perhaps you can guess?...

Washington Post columnist Joe Davidson reports:

"If you work for Uncle Sam, but you don’t pay him after he pays you, look out for Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R- Utah)."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

In Our World - Patriotic Banners

This says an awful lot about where America is today...

I found this on the Thomas More Law Center website:

"California Federal District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez ruled late this past Friday that the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, CA, violated math teacher Bradley Johnson’s constitutional rights when it ordered him to remove two patriotic banners from the walls of his classroom because they “over-emphasized” God."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Sir! Requesting permission to fire

I suspect more than a few people still have trouble comprehending that this is possible...

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

"Palin vs. Edwards, a case study in media bias"

Regardless of your opinion about these two people, I think you have to admit that there is/was a huge difference in their coverage by the media...

In the N.Y. Daily News, Jamie Weinstein writes about the differences:

"Search 'Edwards is unqualified' in Lexis-Nexis from the time Edwards was tapped by Kerry through Election Day 2004, and you get 11 results. Do the same for Palin and you get 174 results - and the search period is nearly two months shorter for Palin, because she was picked by McCain much later in the 2008 election cycle.

We now definitively know just how much of a liar, cheat and phony John Edwards is. But if the media had been one half as interested in exposing Edwards as a fraud as they have been in excoriating Palin, perhaps it would not have taken the National Enquirer to discover the truth that has led to the downfall of a politician who had a very real chance of becoming President."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Friday, March 05, 2010

Forced Unionization - John Stossel

Unless there is much more to this story, something is very wrong here...

At FoxNews.com, John Stossel leads this story with:

"Michelle Berry runs a day-care business out of her home in Flint, MI. She thought that she owned her own business, but Berry's been told she is now a government employee and union member. It's not voluntary."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

"Space disgrace?"

Remembering so many of the wasteful "earmarks" I've seen in recent years, I think NASA is an investment, not an expense.
I sure hope Congress can save NASA and it's exploration programs...

In the Houston Chronicle, former astronaut Walter Cunningham asks:

"Have we really degenerated as a country to the point where we can no longer fund our own exploration? Did we spend $460 billion becoming pre-eminent in space, only to stupidly surrender it? What does our new dependence on other countries to send Americans into space say about our culture, society and prospects for the future?

NASA was always considered in a class by itself. Now, when the world is becoming increasingly dependent on space-based systems, we seem bent on slipping back into mediocrity. How do you rationalize surrendering our pre-eminence in space?"

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Thursday, March 04, 2010

"...America Needs Palin More Than Ever"

I came across this article a while back.
I don't know what the future holds; however, the comparisons seem quite accurate...

Pamela Geller wrote this at NewsMax.com:

"Looking back in hindsight, could the differences between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama be more stark? Obama is all artifice. Palin is all real, all that. Obama is all style. Palin is all substance. Obama is anti-American. Palin is all-American. Obama holds the U.S. military in contempt. Palin reveres the military. The military loves Palin. The military is on to Obama. The corrupt activist media loves Obama. The corrupt activist media loathes and libels Palin."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Global Warming - "U.S. Climate Data Compromised by Sensors' Proximity to Heat Sources, Critics Say"

I've posted about these sensors before.
Finally, some of the major media seem to be catching on...

Here's part of Joseph Abrams' article at FoxNews.com:

"For the past three years, a group of zealous laymen has visited and photographed nearly every one of the weather stations to determine whether they have been placed properly. And what they found is a stunning disregard for the government's own rules: 90 percent of the sensors are too close to potential sources of heat to pass muster, including some very odd sources indeed:

• A sensor in Redding, Calif., is housed in a box that also contains a halogen light bulb, which could emit warmth directly onto the gauge.

• A sensor in Hanksville, Utah, sits directly atop a gravestone, which is not only macabre but also soaks up the sun's heat and radiates it back to the thermometer at night.

• A sensor in Marysville, Calif., sits in a parking lot at a fire station right next to an air conditioner exhaust, a cell phone tower and a barbecue grill.

• A sensor in Tahoe City, Calif., sits near a paved tennis court and is right next to a 'burn barrel' that incinerates garbage.

• A sensor in Hopkinsville, Ky., is sheltered from the wind by an adjoining house and sits above an asphalt driveway.

• Dozens of sensors are located at airports and sewage treatment plants, which produce 'heat islands' from their sprawling seas of asphalt and heavy emissions.

'So far we've surveyed 1,062 of them,' said Anthony Watts, a meteorologist who began the tracking effort in 2007. 'We found that 90 percent of them don't meet [the government's] old, simple rule called the '100-foot rule' for keeping thermometers 100 feet or more from biasing influence. Ninety percent of them failed that, and we've got documentation.'"

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

In Our Schools - in Central Falls, RI

Wow!...

Recently, Jennifer D. Jordan and Linda Borg reported this at Projo.com:

"The teachers didn’t blink.

Under threat of losing their jobs if they didn’t go along with extra work for not a lot of extra pay, the Central Falls Teachers’ Union refused Friday morning to accept a reform plan for one of the worst-performing high schools in the state.

The superintendent didn’t blink either.

After learning of the union’s position, School Supt. Frances Gallo notified the state that she was switching to an alternative she was hoping to avoid: firing the entire staff at Central Falls High School. In total, about 100 teachers, administrators and assistants will lose their jobs."

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

In Our World - A Cure for Character

There is a lot said in this article.
Don't miss that Peter De Vries wrote about this in 1983. I think he was spot on...

George Will includes this sentence in his recent article at Townhall.com:

"Today's therapeutic ethos, which celebrates curing and disparages judging, expresses the liberal disposition to assume that crime and other problematic behaviors reflect social or biological causation."

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

In Our Schools - "The Personal Testimony of a Teacher on the Failing Educational System In America"

This isn't the only teacher who is distraught at the ways things now are.
Schools are not what they used to be...

This is just one paragraph from a Retired School Teacher's post at TheIgnorantFisherman.com:

"The moral decline in the public educational system of today is very evident. Political correctness, relativism, profanity, blaspheming the Lord’s name, teaching the use of condoms and clean needles, filthy sexual language, etc., is common practice. Graffiti is prevalent everywhere. All one has to do is to walk through the hallways to see the decay. Try scheduling a visit and walk around a school unannounced. I seriously doubt if you will be allowed to do so, but if you are able to, talk to the custodians, security guards, cafeteria workers and substitute teachers. They will testify to the collapse of order and structure to be found in these 'institutions of learning.' I have personally seen disruptive students removed - swept under the rug, as it were - to disclosed locations for concealment from view of visiting administrators. Why the fear? Why hide the problems? There is no reality to be found in the delusional, bizarro world educational system of today."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Barack Obama - and the eligibility issue

If you believe in this issue, you get labeled a "birther".
The main stream media has tried to make that a disparaging term, equating it to "truther", a term describing those who think the government was involved in the World Trade Center collapse...

Bob Unruh has been following the Obama eligibility issue for quite some time. This comes from his latest posting at WND.com:

"An appeals court has indicated it is listening to arguments in a case that challenges Barack Obama's occupancy in the Oval Office with a ruling that gives special permission for an extra-long document to be filed in the case.

WND has reported on the case brought by attorney Mario Apuzzo in January 2009 on behalf of Charles F. Kerchner Jr., Lowell T. Patterson, Darrell James Lenormand and Donald H. Nelson Jr.

Named as defendants were Barack Hussein Obama II, the U.S., Congress, the Senate, House of Representatives, former Vice President Dick Cheney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The case alleges Congress failed to follow the Constitution, which 'provides that Congress must fully qualify the candidate 'elected' by the Electoral College Electors.'

The complaint also asserts 'when Obama was born his father was a British subject/citizen and Obama himself was the same.' The case contends the framers of the U.S. Constitution, when they adopted the requirement that a president be a 'natural born citizen,' excluded dual citizens."

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

In Our World - "Kids These Days"

When I read stuff like this, it always makes me wonder what their future will be like, or, specifically, how long they will have to work before being able to retire...

Bella English writes in the Boston Globe. She begins:

"A lot of us have what is known as an 'adult child.’ It sounds like an oxymoron, but for those of us with offspring in their late teens and early 20s, the emphasis is more on the 'child.'"

posted by Steve @ 8:02 AM

0 comments

Global Warming - "A perfect storm is brewing for the IPCC"

If anything, the last few months of admitted inaccuracies by Global Warming advocates are a good reason for adopting a skeptical position.
Unfortunately, huge, powerful, vested interests (and money) remain that may be difficult to overcome...

In the U.K. Daily Telegraph, Christopher Booker details some of the inaccuracies as he writes:

"Too many people have too much at stake to allow the faith in man-made global warming, which has sustained them so long and which is today making so many of them rich, to be abandoned. The so-called investigations into Climategate and Dr Michael "Hockey Stick" Mann seem like no more than empty establishment whitewashes. There is little reason to expect that the inquiry into the record of the IPCC and Dr Pachauri that is now being set up by the UN Environment Programme and the world's politicians will be very different."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments

Monday, March 01, 2010

Exclusive Excerpt: 'Here We Are On The Late Show Again'

We probably all remember Ronald Reagan during his years as President; however, he had some interesting times before that. This article is an except from "Here We Are On The Late Show Again"...

The article, by Steven F. Hayward is posted at Claremont.org with the title:

"How Ronald Reagan Defied Expectations And Beat 'Giant Killer' Pat Brown"

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

"Edwards epilogue: Does the press really vet presidential candidates?"

Here's a well-written article discussing the media's coverage/non-coverage of former Presidential candidate John Edwards.
While I have no issues with the article itself, I still consider the media to be negligent.
For a large percentage of voters, the media is the ONLY source for information which they subsequently use to make their voting decisions. That's why the media's role is MOST important.
If media organizations can't find the resources to do investigative reporting, their current decline will likely continue...

At Politico.com, Michael Calderone begins his article with:

"Over the past few weeks, the world has learned quite enough about John Edwards – from the lies he told in trying to cover up an adulterous affair to the compulsive vanity that left some people close to him questioning his judgment and even his grip on reality.

Democrats who seriously considered making Edwards the party’s 2008 presidential nominee could be forgiven for asking: Now you tell us?

The revelations about Edwards, contained in two best-selling books, have undermined one of the favorite conceits of political journalism, that the intensive scrutiny given candidates by reporters during a presidential campaign is an excellent filter to determine who is fit for the White House."

posted by Steve @ 8:03 AM

0 comments

Robots and bees to beat the Taliban

Improvised Explosive Devices - The weapon of choice of the bad guys...

In the U.K. Times Online, Christina Lamb gives a behind the scenes look:

"The homemade IED is the extremists’ deadliest weapon and America is spending billions on trying to combat it. We are granted access to this secret, smart and bizarre world."

posted by Steve @ 8:01 AM

0 comments