Saturday, July 31, 2010
Giant unmanned airships
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a blimp!...
Niall Firth reports in the U.K. Daily MailT:
"Packed with reconnaissance systems, the LEMV will be able to operate autonomously at altitudes of around 22000 feet for 21 days at a time, and travelling at speeds of up to 80 knots."
Friday, July 30, 2010
In Today's World - WikiLeaks
Governments have many secrets.
Some are better left that way and others should be exposed.
Now, how in the world do we decide which is which?...
Some are better left that way and others should be exposed.
Now, how in the world do we decide which is which?...
The Associated Press's Raphael G. Satter writes this and more:
"The team behind WikiLeaks is small, reportedly just a half-dozen people and casual volunteers who offer their services as needed. Assange has no permanent address and travels frequently — jumping from one friend's place to the next, occasionally disappearing from public view for months at a time, only to reappear in the full glare of the cameras at packed news conferences to discuss his site's latest disclosure.
The nomadism may come naturally: Profiles in the Australian press describe an unsettled childhood and run-ins with the law. The Age has quoted Assange as saying he had been to 36 different schools, including correspondence school. In 1991, while Assange was still a teenager, he was arrested and charged with a series of computer hacking offenses — he pleaded guilty and got off with a fine.
In an interview with Der Spiegel, which along with The New York Times and The Guardian in London was given early access to the leaked files, Assange said he got a kick out of poking the eye of the powerful."
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Our Divisive President - WSJ.com
The case made here is difficult to dispute...
Patrick H. Caddell and Douglas E. Schoen write in the Wall Street Journal:
"President Obama's Inaugural was a hopeful day, with an estimated 1.8 million people on the National Mall celebrating the election of America's first African-American president. The level of enthusiasm, the anticipation and the promise of something better could not have been more palpable.
And yet, it has not been realized. Not at all.
Rather than being a unifier, Mr. Obama has divided America on the basis of race, class and partisanship. Moreover, his cynical approach to governance has encouraged his allies to pursue a similar strategy of racially divisive politics on his behalf."
Government at Work - $1.45 billion for 85 jobs?
This looks a bit shady to me.
It's a lot of money for a relative of a politician and doesn't seem likely to do all that much...
It's a lot of money for a relative of a politician and doesn't seem likely to do all that much...
I saw this on the Daily Caller website earlier this month:
"Loan guarantees, unlike outright grants, are essentially promises to pay for the debt obligation of a borrower. Because they typically do not appear in the federal budget until after the government has to pay for them, and because they often attract companies with limited assets, critics charge that the guarantees obscure risks to the taxpayer and divert funds that could have been used more efficiently.
John McCormick at the Weekly Standard asks the $2 billion question: “Why did the government decide to bet hundreds of millions of dollars [on the solar plants]?”"
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Government at Work - at the dept. of Justice
Government doesn't handle OUR money very well.
It's something to remember every time they try to get more of it...
It's something to remember every time they try to get more of it...
Mike Riggs reports at DailyCaller.com:
"Children and teenagers who participate in crime-prevention programs funded by the Department of Justice are learning interesting things. According to a report released Monday by Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn’s office, millions of dollars in grant money doled out by the DOJ has gone toward teaching young people across the country the ins and outs of golf, appreciating fine art, and the proper use of binoculars."
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Fred Barnes: The Vast Left-Wing Media Conspiracy - WSJ.com
A biased media is difficult to overcome.
Most of us don't have the time or resources to determine what stories are true and what stories are "flavored".
Hopefully, those that do have the time continue to expose those "flavored" stories for what they are...
Most of us don't have the time or resources to determine what stories are true and what stories are "flavored".
Hopefully, those that do have the time continue to expose those "flavored" stories for what they are...
Fred Barnes writes about it in the Wall Street Journal:
"It's thanks to Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller website that we know something about JournoList, though the emails among the liberal journalists were meant to be private. (Mr. Carlson hasn't revealed how he obtained the emails.) In June, the Daily Caller disclosed a series of JournoList musings by David Weigel, then a Washington Post blogger assigned to cover conservatives. His emails showed he loathes conservatives, and he was subsequently fired.
This week, Mr. Carlson produced a series of JournoList emails from April 2008, when Barack Obama's presidential bid was in serious jeopardy. Videos of the antiwhite, anti-American sermons of his Chicago pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had surfaced, first on ABC and then other networks.
WSJ.com Columnist John Fund reports on a media scandal. Also, Columnist Mary Anastasia O'Grady breaks down the President's pledge to end bailouts and analyzes the Fed Chairman's latest visit to Capitol Hill.
JournoList contributors discussed strategies to aid Mr. Obama by deflecting the controversy. "
"Entertainers Who Spread Racism Rewarded By NAACP"
I see this as a type of rewarding bad behavior.
As with children, rewards like this do nothing to stop that bad behavior...
As with children, rewards like this do nothing to stop that bad behavior...
Ezra Dulis asks at BigHollywood.com:
"For which group is there more evidence of members assenting to racist comments: the Tea Party or the NAACP?
While the national leftist media outlets continue to fall over themselves trying to figure out a spin on the story that sticks, we at Big Hollywood thought we’d double down with some analysis of the NAACP’s treatment of racism in the entertainment industry.
For 41 years, the NAACP has awarded 'Image' awards to black entertainers who achieve excellence in the arts. Despite its rightful role in celebrating the accomplishments of people of color in the arts, the awards show has also been beset by controversy. Several nominees and winners of awards have engaged in openly racist behavior."
Monday, July 26, 2010
"Palin is at the top of her party"
Interesting...
Roger Simon recently wrote at Politico.com:
"I am basing my belief now, as back then, on Palin’s ability to connect with the base of her party. Name a bigger name in the Republican Party today. Heck, name any name in the Republican Party today.
And the most energized wing of her party — Republican tea partiers — has good reason to like her. At a February tea party convention in Nashville, Tenn., Palin told the crowd: “America is ready for another revolution, and you are a part of this.” Which set off one of many standing ovations.
Making fun of President Obama, Palin asked the crowd: “How’s that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you?”
She believed what the crowd believed: It wasn’t working out very well."
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Obama's Economic Fish Stories - WSJ.com
I think he IS intentionally misleading the American public.
Politicians keep getting more brazen with what they say because no one (in the media) is willing enough or brave enough to question or confront inaccuracies.
The media's won't or don't could be any or a combination of things.
Thinking about that takes one into some pretty ugly scenarios...
Politicians keep getting more brazen with what they say because no one (in the media) is willing enough or brave enough to question or confront inaccuracies.
The media's won't or don't could be any or a combination of things.
Thinking about that takes one into some pretty ugly scenarios...
Michael Boskin writes in the Wall Street Journal:
"Mr. Obama's economic statements are increasingly divorced not only from competing viewpoints but from those of his own economic advisers. It is surprising how many numerically challenged pronouncements come from this most scripted and political of White Houses. One slip is eventually forgiven, but when a pattern emerges, no one believes it is an accident."
Saturday, July 24, 2010
"July 21, 2010 * Obama Approval Drops To Lowest"
Well, it is what it is. I'm not surprised...
Here is Quinnipiac University's most recent poll headline:
"July 21, 2010 - Obama Approval Drops To Lowest Point Ever, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Independent Voters Turn On President Since Honeymoon"
Friday, July 23, 2010
"Spy swap puts halt to fact finding"
I would venture that ANYTHING is possible in the world of spying...
Bill Gertz recently reported at WashingtonTimes.com:
"The Obama administration's rapid release of 10 Russian intelligence officers removed the prospect of a public trial revealing embarrassing facts about Russian influence operations, like the targeting of a key Democratic Party financier close to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Current and former national security officials critical of the speedy exchange with Moscow also said trading the 10 spies for four Russians less than two weeks after their arrest also limited U.S. counterspies from learning important details of Russian espionage and influence operations."
Thursday, July 22, 2010
"Reporters at Pravda weren’t this insufferable"
It's hard to dispute that the stories the media chose NOT to publish, and then, HAD to publish, clearly define their partisanship...
Andrew Breitbart reminds us of them at DailyCaller.com:
"Talk radio and the Internet have allowed outsiders the ability to challenge a multiple generational shift from journalism being about the story, to journalism being crafted toward a partisan end. From Newsweek killing the Lewinsky story to the Swift Boat veterans (until the undermedia pressure got too big) to the Dan Rather implosion to the open attempt to keep the Al Gore masseuse story under wraps to the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter debacle to the Van Jones admission of missing the story to the networks ignoring the ACORN video footage to the media playing up trumped up charges of racism in the Tea Party — while ignoring exculpatory evidence to the mother of all media-as-political weaponry: the non-vetting of candidate Obama, the mainstream media has shown that it is in an ideological death spiral."
The Media - Not exactly impartial?
If you're inclined to think the media is NOT biased, see what you think after reading this...
Jonathan Strong reports at DailyCaller.com:
"Documents show media plotting to kill stories about Rev. Jeremiah Wright"
Meanwhile - there's Stanford's New Library
So, will libraries become museums?...
Gizmodo.com recently reported this:
"Stanford University's new Engineering Library is scheduled to open this August, and when it does it will have 85% less books than the one it's replacing. It's a big step toward what the school's librarians envision as a bookless future."
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Power Line - Behind the mosque at Ground Zero
It appears that there are bad guys at work here.
Ground Zero is just the wrong place for something this controversial...
Ground Zero is just the wrong place for something this controversial...
Scott Johnson posts at the PowerLine Blog:
"Schwartz concludes with a simple proposition. If Rauf's planned mega-mosque is entirely above board, he should fully disclose its backing and finances."
Drop 'miles per gallon' as fuel measure,.."
I'm often skeptical of "green" ideas, but this one seems to be a reasonable idea...
Tom Chivers has the story in the U.K. Telegraph:
"The panel urged that fuel use be displayed as fuel consumed - perhaps as volume of fuel used per 100 miles - alongside the traditional miles-per-gallon measure. This standard is used already in Europe, with fuel use being given in terms of litres used per 100 kilometres travelled.
An environmental motoring website, GreenCarReports.com, welcomed the move, saying that it had been calling for the change for over a year and describing the mpg measure as "stupid". It asks the question: 'Do you save more gasoline by going from 10 to 20 mpg, or going from 33 to 50 mpg?'"
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Media - "Why the silence from The Post on Black Panther Party story?"
The problem is that newspapers like the Washington Post often publish stories that prove to be inaccurate and THEN publish an obscure correction that few see.
When the shoe is on the other foot, those same publications FAIL to print ANYTHING until everyone else has already done so, and the story is getting stale...
When the shoe is on the other foot, those same publications FAIL to print ANYTHING until everyone else has already done so, and the story is getting stale...
Andrew Alexander writes about the Washington Post's shallow reasoning. And by the way, he is the Post's ombudsman (read apologist):
"For months, readers have contacted the ombudsman wondering why The Post hasn't been covering the case. The calls increased recently after competitors such as the New York Times and the Associated Press wrote stories. Fox News and right-wing bloggers have been pumping the story. Liberal bloggers have countered, accusing them of trying to manufacture a scandal.
But The Post has been virtually silent."
"Republican Party Poised to Win Most Gubernatorial Seats in 90 Years"
It will be interesting to see how this plays out...
This is from the Smart Politics blog at the University of Minnesota:
"Republicans on pace to eclipse the 24 seats won in 1928, 1966, and the Republican Revolution of 1994; GOP could challenge 100+ year Party mark of 29 seats won in 1920"
Monday, July 19, 2010
"R.I. troopers embrace firm immigration role"
This shows that the country is quite mixed up when it comes to administering/policing illegal immigrants...
Maria Sacchetti recently reported at Boston.com:
"The trooper pulled up, stepped out of his cruiser, and asked one of the drivers for his license.
The man said he did not have a license, and under questioning, confessed that he was here illegally from Guatemala.
If the accident had happened 15 miles north in Massachusetts, the man would probably have been arrested for driving without a license, which carries a fine of up to $1,000 and 10 days in jail, then released pending an appearance in district court.
But in Rhode Island, illegal immigrants face a far greater penalty: deportation."
The disability scam - NYPOST.com
We've all seen stories or situations like this before.
Elected officials don't have the need or incentive to watch over taxpayers money.
Of course, the root cause is that displeasing unions likely diminishes political contributions...
Elected officials don't have the need or incentive to watch over taxpayers money.
Of course, the root cause is that displeasing unions likely diminishes political contributions...
The New York Post recent published this:
"Retired FDNY Lt. John McLaughlin probably should be paying taxpayers for his remarkable fitness as a top long-distance runner, given his years of strenuous work as a firefighter.
Instead, as The Post's Carl Campanile reported yesterday, the 55-year-old 'Iron Man' triathlete is collecting an $86,000 disability pension from taxpayers.
No wonder New Yorkers are increasingly fed up with public employees, as a fascinating poll last week found.
Since retiring in 2001, McLaughlin has run numerous marathons and other races, often finishing near the top -- and first or second in his age group."
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Barack Obama - and the billboards
Here's another one...
Janice Allen recently reported this at Indiana's WISHtv.com:
"A new billboard criticizing President Obama is raising eyebrows and some controversy. The 48 feet wide and 14 foot tall sign stands out from I-69, near the Hillegas Road overpass in Fort Wayne.
'My wife and I were looking out the window and we saw them putting it up,' said nearby business owner Dan Leonard. 'When it was done, we said whoa, somebody's really mad, or somebody wants to say something.'"
"Felons Voting Illegally May Have Put Franken Over the Top in Minnesota, Study Finds"
This is NOT pretty. In fact it's just plain sad.
Close elections are a disaster in that they expose how poorly the voter records are administered and maintained...
Close elections are a disaster in that they expose how poorly the voter records are administered and maintained...
Ed Barnes reports on it at FoxNews.com:
"That's the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman.
The final recount vote in the race, determined six months after Election Day, showed Franken beat Coleman by 312 votes -- fewer votes than the number of felons whose illegal ballots were counted, according to Minnesota Majority's newly released study, which matched publicly available conviction lists with voting records.
Furthermore, the report charges that efforts to get state and federal authorities to act on its findings have been 'stonewalled.'"
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Politicians - N.J. Gov. Chris Christie
Brief snapshots of people often go a long way toward telling what they are about. I see this as one of those instances...
This is from the DailyChristie website:
"Governor opens up in candid interview with Neil Cavuto"
"Somali asylum seeker family given 2m house... after complaining 5-bed London home was 'in poor area'"
As they say, you can't make this stuff up...
Chris Hastings, George Arbuthnott and Matt Sandy combined on this story in the U.K. Daily Mail:
"A family of former asylum-seekers from Somalia are living in a £2.1million luxury townhouse in one of Britain's most exclusive addresses at a cost to taxpayers of £8,000 a month.
Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in a fashionable area of London last month because they didn't like the 'poorer' part of the city they were living in.
Mr Nur, 42, an unemployed bus conductor, and his 40-year-old wife, who has never worked, are now living in Kensington despite the fact that they are totally dependent on state benefits. "
Friday, July 16, 2010
Meanwhile - In the Gaza Strip
I don't know if this is accurate; however, it would NOT surprise me...
Laura T. posted this at FiveDoves.com:
"This is a captured Palestinian garbage truck from Gaza."
The Uncertainty Principle - WSJ.com
Government at work again, with policies, rules, and regulations, that cannot be helpful for businesses.
Could I be missing that businesses may actually have to HIRE people to comply with the government's demands?...
Could I be missing that businesses may actually have to HIRE people to comply with the government's demands?...
The Wall Street Journal editorializes about the Financial Reform bill:
"In a recent note to clients, the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell needed more than 150 pages merely to summarize the bureaucratic ecosystem created by Dodd-Frank. As the nearby table shows, the lawyers estimate that the law will require no fewer than 243 new formal rule-makings by 11 different federal agencies.
The SEC alone, whose regulatory failures did so much to contribute to the panic, will write 95 new rules. The new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection will write 24, and the new Financial Stability Oversight Council will issue 56. These won't be one-page orders. The new rules will run into the hundreds if not thousands of pages in the Federal Register, laying out in detail what your neighborhood banker, hedge fund manager or derivatives trader can and cannot do."
Thursday, July 15, 2010
"US does what it's suing Arizona for"
So, how can anyone read this, and conclude that the government knows what their doing?...
Paul Sperry recently wrote in the New York Post:
"Perhaps this hypocritical administration should look into suing itself."
The Rabbi Sees the Light
Slowly but surely, and in spite of the biased media, it appears that opinions are changing...
Roger Aronoff writes about one of them at AIM.org:
"He explained, “It kind of rocked my world a little, because I have to kind of reevaluate my life and my standing and the agendas, because I’m a New York Democrat, Jewish, liberal, supporter of Obama, [and] donated to his candidacy for a year.”
He said he came to believe in Obama because the media constantly said 'give him a chance.
But now he questions the media and Obama’s policy toward Israel, even though the Obama White House denounced Thomas’s comments.
Personally, the rabbi was surprised at the venomous emails he received and attacks in the media against him. After all, he didn’t take Helen Thomas’s words out of context and he didn’t suggest or urge that she be fired or resign.
Clearly angry, he said, 'They want to make me out to be a racist—how dare they!'
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
"Costs rise as Capitol crumbles"
Considering all the money that government throws around (not to mention: wastes), not allocating for repairs that will only get worse and more expensive really seems stupid...
Erika Lovley recently reported at Politico.com:
"Key parts of the antiquated U.S. Capitol campus are literally crumbling, desperately in need of more than $200 million in repairs.
Water is leaking through pin holes in the Statue of Freedom. Lead-based paint chips are flaking off the Rotunda walls and collecting on the tour route to the Capitol dome, putting visitors at risk. Last summer, a U.S. Capitol Police officer was injured when he was struck by a falling ceiling tile in the Cannon House Office Building. And in the garage of the Rayburn House Office Building, parts of the parking deck require a full concrete-slab replacement — and without it, vehicles could be damaged, according to previously unreleased committee testimony."
Unemployment Benefits Aren't Stimulus - WSJ.com
This is the best explanation of unemployment consequences that I've seen.
Somehow, I think many of us know this.
Of course, we're not afflicted with the political disease...
Somehow, I think many of us know this.
Of course, we're not afflicted with the political disease...
Arthur B. Laffer explains it in the Wall Street Journal. Here's just a part of it:
"On the face of it, the idea that higher unemployment benefits won't lead to more unemployment doesn't make much sense. Imagine what the unemployment rate would look like if unemployment benefits were universally $150,000 per year. My guess is we'd have a heck of a lot more unemployment. Common sense and personal experience indicate higher unemployment benefits will make unemployment less unattractive and thereby increase unemployment even in the Great Recession. As the chart nearby clearly shows, since the 1970s there's been a close correlation between increased unemployment benefits and an increase in the unemployment rate. Those who argue that things are different today don't have the data to back up their claims."
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Government Pay Bonus - WSJ.com
On this subject, there is general apathy when things are going well.
Nonetheless, government workers have distinct advantages.
Their income, healthcare, and retirement is seemingly without risk.
Going further, government clearly is NOT more efficient or productive that the private sector, so why should they get more?...
Nonetheless, government workers have distinct advantages.
Their income, healthcare, and retirement is seemingly without risk.
Going further, government clearly is NOT more efficient or productive that the private sector, so why should they get more?...
Andrew G. Biggs and Jason Richwine write about it in the Wall Street Journal:
"Pay cuts, layoffs and the highest unemployment rates in decades have reignited a debate over the relative treatment of public and private workers. USA Today reported in March that federal workers earn substantially higher wages than private sector employees who work the same types of jobs."
FDA Approves First Implantable Miniature Telescope to Improve Sight of AMD patients
Wow!...
FDA News Release:
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it has approved the Implantable Miniature Telescope (IMT) to improve vision in some patients with end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Surgically implanted in one eye, the IMT is a small telescope that replaces the natural lens and provides an image that has been magnified more than two times."
Monday, July 12, 2010
Politicians - Minnesota State Senator Satveer Chaudhary
Same old, same old...
Duluth News Tribune has this from the Associated Press:
"An embattled state senator owes the federal government about $250,000 in past-due income taxes, the Duluth News Tribune reported Friday.
Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, was stripped of his party's endorsement late last month because he inserted last-minute language into a major fish and game bill to improve walleye fishing on a northeastern Minnesota lake where he owns a cabin. That provision was one reason Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed the bill.
On Friday, the newspaper reported that tax records show Chaudhary and his wife, Denise, failed to pay $100,000 in income taxes in 2007 and $151,000 in 2008."
NYT: Illinois facing fiscal 'disaster' - msnbc.com
The State of Illinois is in financial trouble too...
Michael Powell recently reported in the New York Times:
"Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.
He picks the papers off his desk and points to a figure in red: $5.01 billion.
“This is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university — and it’s getting worse every single day,” he says in his downtown office.
Mr. Hynes shakes his head. “This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services,” he says. 'That is obscene.'"
Sunday, July 11, 2010
"Lawyer busts climate science"
The alleged man-made global warming issue has disappeared from the headlines; however, politicians are still using unproven information to attempt the passage of laws that would be very expensive and likely unnecessary...
JoNova posted this and more on the Australian blog, JoanneNova.com:
"As things now stand, the advocates representing the establishment climate science story broadcast (usually with color diagrams) the predictions of climate models as if they were the results of experiments – actual evidence. Alongside these multi-colored multi-century model-simulated time series come stories, anecdotes, and photos – such as the iconic stranded polar bear — dramatically illustrating climate change today. On this rhetorical strategy, the models are to be taken on faith, and the stories and photos as evidence of the models’ truth. Policy carrying potential costs in the trillions of dollars ought not to be based on stories and photos confirming faith in models, but rather on precise and replicable testing of the models’ predictions against solid observational data."
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Along the Border - Jihadis
This video is 6.5 minutes long.
As with many videos, it may be best to let it download the first time in the background, and then "replay" it without interruption...
As with many videos, it may be best to let it download the first time in the background, and then "replay" it without interruption...
Friday, July 09, 2010
Why Is the Gulf Cleanup So Slow? - WSJ.com
Here's a well written article discussing the answers.
It's NOT complementary to the governement or the administration...
It's NOT complementary to the governement or the administration...
Paul H. Rubin has this and more in the Wall Street Journal:
"As the government fails to implement such simple and straightforward remedies, one must ask why.
One possibility is sheer incompetence. Many critics of the president are fond of pointing out that he had no administrative or executive experience before taking office. But the government is full of competent people, and the military and Coast Guard can accomplish an assigned mission. In any case, several remedies require nothing more than getting out of the way.
Another possibility is that the administration places a higher priority on interests other than the fate of the Gulf, such as placating organized labor, which vigorously defends the Jones Act.
Finally there is the most pessimistic explanation—that the oil spill may be viewed as an opportunity, the way White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said back in February 2009, 'You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.'"
"Top 50 Most Popular Phrases From The Bible"
Maybe you know about these. I didn't.
I know most the sayings, but I didn't realize the source...
I know most the sayings, but I didn't realize the source...
This is posted on the Aggie Catholics blog:
"In our modern culture, we commonly use phrases which have originated from the Bible without even knowing their origin.
After doing a bit of research, I have compiled my top 50 list of commonly used phrases which originate from the Bible.
Note- I have put the phrase and the reference where it originated from, which may or may not be a direct quote from the Bible. Some originate from the Bible yet have changed over time."
Thursday, July 08, 2010
"Will Congress Kill Volunteer Fire Departments?"
If it's not broken, don't fix it.
Some may see this as broken. I don't...
Some may see this as broken. I don't...
Robert B. Bluey writes at HumanEvents.com. He begins:
"Volunteer fire departments are about as American as apple pie. But under legislation moving quickly in Congress, this staple of American life could soon be a thing of the past.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D.-S.C.) wants to include the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act as part of the war supplemental coming before the House this week. The bill forces state and local governments to collectively bargain with police, firefighters and emergency workers. Its critics say it would compel volunteer firefighters to join unions, threatening the survival of America's nearly 26,000 volunteer fire departments."
"Grim news from Afghanistan"
I read somewhere that the "rules of engagement" were to be reviewed by General Petraeus.
I hope that's true...
I hope that's true...
George Will recently wote about them in the New York Post:
"Returning from a mission, his unit took casualties from an improvised explosive device that the unit knew had been placed no more than an hour earlier. 'There were villagers laughing at the US casualties' and 'two suspicious individuals were seen fleeing the scene and entering a home.' US forces "are no longer allowed to search homes without Afghan National Security Forces personnel present." But when his unit asked Afghan police to search the house, the police refused on the grounds that the people in the house 'are good people.'"
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
This Is Pete Rose's Corked Bat
I guess I'm not surprised.
At all levels, every athlete is looking for an "edge".
For some, being known as the "best", and it's financial rewards, corrupts absolutely...
At all levels, every athlete is looking for an "edge".
For some, being known as the "best", and it's financial rewards, corrupts absolutely...
Barry Petchesky has this at DeadSpin.com:
"You're looking at an X-ray of a Mizuno PR4192 bat, commissioned by Pete Rose specifically for his 1985 chase of baseball's all-time hits record. Inside, clear as day, is a piece of foreign material, about 6 inches long, and the diameter of a nickel. This is the story of that bat."
"Reports Finds Negative Correlation Between Immigration And Education Levels"
This is apparently an unintended consequence.
Knowing who is legal vs. illegal might tell a story.
I'm guessing that Asians are NOT contributing to this decline as much as other nationalities...
Knowing who is legal vs. illegal might tell a story.
I'm guessing that Asians are NOT contributing to this decline as much as other nationalities...
Bob Livingston's PersonalLiberty.com website has this:
"A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has found that California has the least-educated labor force of any state in the United States, and this may be due to the high levels of immigration in recent decades.
According to the study, 9 percent of California’s population was comprised of immigrants in 1970, but by 2008 it was 27 percent. Forty years ago, the state had the 7th most educated workforce of all U.S. states in terms of the share of workers who had completed high school, but by 2008 it ranked 50th.
The researchers now estimate that one in six workers in the Golden State have not graduated high school."
"Retired, then rehired: How college workers use loophole to boost pay"
Considering the unemployment rate, I don't like this.
On the other hand, poorly written laws or policies allow it, so it's not illegal.
That's my bottom line...
On the other hand, poorly written laws or policies allow it, so it's not illegal.
That's my bottom line...
Nick Perry and Justin Mayo write about this in the Seattle Times:
"A Seattle Times investigation has found that at least 40 university or community-college employees retired and were rehired within weeks, often returning to the same job without the position ever being advertised. That has allowed them to double dip by collecting both a salary and a pension.
The pattern of quickie retirements has continued despite the Legislature's efforts to crack down.
A Times analysis of state payroll and retirement records shows that, as of the beginning of this year, about 2,000 people were collecting both wages and a pension from the state"
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Meanwhile - in Switzerland
Interesting...
"White House vs. Boy Scouts..."
It seems pretty clear that Barack Obama has few feelings about things that most of us consider American traditions...
Chuck Norris wtites about it at Townhall.com:
"Last week, I discussed a series of evidences regarding how President Barack Obama is leading the White House pack in distancing his administration from the Boy Scouts of America.
As I pointed out, the White House has delayed Eagle Scout certificate signings, denied the invitation to go to the Boy Scouts of America's 100th anniversary gala, downplayed Obama's acceptance of BSA's honorary presidency, dodged official communications about the BSA, not defended the BSA against cultural attacks, and diminished Obama's all-around role as BSA's honorary president.
And to boot, Obama's administration has followed suit, collectively believing as progressives that the BSA is behind the times or too traditional and conservative."
Monday, July 05, 2010
"A Pure Miracle" - Ernie Pyle
When we celebrate our freedom, I wonder if we really know what it took to get it and keep it.
Freedom is easy to live with, but it has never come easily.
Is this age of high-tech everything, including war, I doubt we can imagine how it used to be...
Freedom is easy to live with, but it has never come easily.
Is this age of high-tech everything, including war, I doubt we can imagine how it used to be...
Indiana University archives the reporting of Ernie Pyle, a World War II war correspondent. It's quite revealing. Here's part of one:
"Ashore, facing us, were more enemy troops than we had in our assault waves. The advantages were all theirs, the disadvantages all ours. The Germans were dug into positions that they had been working on for months, although these were not yet all complete. A one-hundred-foot bluff a couple of hundred yards back from the beach had great concrete gun emplacements built right into the hilltop. These opened to the sides instead of to the front, thus making it very hard for naval fire from the sea to reach them. They could shoot parallel with the beach and cover every foot of it for miles with artillery fire.
Then they had hidden machine-gun nests on the forward slopes, with crossfire taking in every inch of the beach. These nests were connected by networks of trenches, so that the German gunners could move about without exposing themselves.
Throughout the length of the beach, running zigzag a couple of hundred yards back from the shoreline, was an immense V-shaped ditch fifteen feet deep. Nothing could cross it, not even men on foot, until fills had been made."
"Avertible catastrophe"
If you live on the Gulf Coast, this article may make you angry.
For the rest of us, it just highlights the incompetency of government (ours); or, how the need to politicize everything for some advantage gets in the way of accomplishing anything efficiently...
For the rest of us, it just highlights the incompetency of government (ours); or, how the need to politicize everything for some advantage gets in the way of accomplishing anything efficiently...
Lawrence Solomon tells about it in the Financial Post:
"Three days after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, the Netherlands offered the U.S. government ships equipped to handle a major spill, one much larger than the BP spill that then appeared to be underway. 'Our system can handle 400 cubic metres per hour,' Weird Koops, the chairman of Spill Response Group Holland, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, giving each Dutch ship more cleanup capacity than all the ships that the U.S. was then employing in the Gulf to combat the spill.
To protect against the possibility that its equipment wouldn't capture all the oil gushing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch also offered to prepare for the U.S. a contingency plan to protect Louisiana's marshlands with sand barriers. One Dutch research institute specializing in deltas, coastal areas and rivers, in fact, developed a strategy to begin building 60-mile-long sand dikes within three weeks."
Sunday, July 04, 2010
2010-07-04 - Independence Day
Enjoy your day.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
"Iron to be dumped at sea to...
I don't like this idea.
It seems like a drop in the bucket, is not environmentally neutral, and has no lasting effect.
So, why bother?...
It seems like a drop in the bucket, is not environmentally neutral, and has no lasting effect.
So, why bother?...
U.K. Telegraph recently reported this:
"Thousands of tonnes of iron will be dumped at sea in an attempt to cut global warming by sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it has been reported."
Meet the face of Big Brother in NSW
And if it's happening in the U.K., could it be happening in the U.S.A.?...
Gemma Jones has this story in the U.K. Telegraph:
"THE State Government is quietly compiling a mathematical map of almost every adult's face, sharing information that allows law enforcement to track people by CCTV.
Experts said yesterday few people realised their facial features were being recorded in an RTA database of drivers licence photos that the Government has allowed both state and federal police to access."
Friday, July 02, 2010
"Hero of the Gulf..."
When I first heard about this equipment I was skeptical at best.
Go figure!...
Go figure!...
John Nolte has the story at BigHollywood.com:
"Hero of the Gulf? That’s certainly what it’s starting to look like. Not only has BP purchased 32 of actor Kevin Costner’s oil/water separators but they’ve tested the hell out of them and seem legitimately amazed at how well they work. The video below demonstrates the effectiveness of these centrifuges. Once the processing is completed the water looks safer to drink than Los Angeles tap water. The best news is that a couple of these machines have already been deployed and the rest should be within the next 60 days:"
Government at Work - in Massachusett
I don't doubt that all of these laws are well-intended; and, may even serve a purpose; however, when you look through the lens of desiring less government, many of them are a bit questionable...
Chris Moody writes about this at DailyCaller.com:
"The top five most ridiculous regulations in Massachusetts | The Daily"
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Triumph of the Regulators - WSJ.com
These two Senators seem to be reading from a different (fictitious) history book...
The Wall Street Journal doesn't think much of Senators Dodd and Frank:
"President Obama hailed the financial bill that House-Senate negotiators finally vouchsafed at 5:40 a.m. Friday, and no wonder. The bill represents the triumph of the very regulators and Congressmen who did so much to foment the financial panic, giving them vast new discretion over every corner of American financial markets.
Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, those Fannie Mae cheerleaders, played the largest role in writing the bill. Congressman Paul Kanjorski even offered a motion to memorialize it as the Dodd-Frank Act. It's as if Tony Hayward of BP were allowed to write new rules on deep water drilling.
The Federal Reserve, which promoted the housing mania and failed utterly in its core mission of monitoring Citigroup, will now have more power to regulate more financial institutions and more ability to dictate the allocation of credit."
"Inside the Black Panther case Anger, ignorance and lies"
This is about that voter intimidation case in Philadelphia during the 2008 election.
For some reason, the government won't do anything about it, and, of course, our beloved biased media won't call attention to it.
This person does...
For some reason, the government won't do anything about it, and, of course, our beloved biased media won't call attention to it.
This person does...
J. Christian Adams recently wrote in the Washington Times:
"Based on my firsthand experiences, I believe the dismissal of the Black Panther case was motivated by a lawless hostility toward equal enforcement of the law. Others still within the department share my assessment. The department abetted wrongdoers and abandoned law-abiding citizens victimized by the New Black Panthers. The dismissal raises serious questions about the department's enforcement neutrality in upcoming midterm elections and the subsequent 2012 presidential election.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the dismissal and the DOJ's skewed enforcement priorities. Attorneys who brought the case are under subpoena to testify, but the department ordered us to ignore the subpoena, lawlessly placing us in an unacceptable legal limbo.
The assistant attorney general for civil rights, Tom Perez, has testified repeatedly that the 'facts and law' did not support this case. That claim is false."
The Media - "Let Them Eat Cheeseburgers"
If you really think about it, this writer makes quite a point.
Whether it is willful or sloppy, our media is not doing the job for us.
They don't question what politicians tell them, and as shown here, they are easily diverted to reporting what borders on nonsense.
Imagine your doctor telling you about lunch, while you're trying to get your test results...
Whether it is willful or sloppy, our media is not doing the job for us.
They don't question what politicians tell them, and as shown here, they are easily diverted to reporting what borders on nonsense.
Imagine your doctor telling you about lunch, while you're trying to get your test results...
Edward Cline writes at BigJournalism.com:
"One really can’t satirize this kind of “journalism.” All one can do is point out its awfulness, its neglect, its illiteracy, its ignorance. It is the kind of “journalism” the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission must have in mind in the way of its “reinvention.” It was written for public consumption, as entertainment. It could have been a White House press release. The article could also have appeared in The National Enquirer, headlined: “Russian and American Presidents on First Date!” Subtitled: “They’ll keep in contact, says Medvedev. Romance blooming?”"
The Media - The Washington Post
Phoney baloney from the get go.
As with the many biased news sources, the Washington Posts is being called out.
Apparently, even their best efforts to pretend impartiality are being questioned.
I believe the questioner is right on...
As with the many biased news sources, the Washington Posts is being called out.
Apparently, even their best efforts to pretend impartiality are being questioned.
I believe the questioner is right on...
Neil Patel calls attention to the issue at DailyCaller.com:
"The Washington Post holds out Weigel as their reporter of choice to cover conservatives and Republicans. Weigel spends all his time going to conservative and Republican events and claiming to be an objective reporter there to cover them fairly. In between these events Weigel goes online and vents on JournoList to 400 other journalists — many who claim to be of the 'objective' variety — about just how much he hates those 'ratfucker' (his word) conservatives and Republicans. All of the other journalists in the know about this fraud just sit tight and let the fraud continue. Are these the “basic journalistic norms” that those on JournoList are upholding? The reporters on JournoList owe their readers an explanation."
