CS Lewis Lectures on the Novels of Charles Williams | Best Books
Friday, November 30, 2012
Home, squeezed home: Living in a 200-square-foot space - The Washington Post
The people aren’t really tiny, but their homes are — 150 to 200 square feet of living space, some with gabled roofs, others with bright cedar walls, compact bathrooms and cozy sleeping lofts that add up to living spaces that are smaller than the walk-in closets in a suburban McMansion.
Home, squeezed home: Living in a 200-square-foot space - The Washington Post
Mark Steyn: America not paying its fair share | percent, government, spending - Opinion - The Orange County Register
According to the most recent (2009) OECD statistics: Government expenditures per person in France, $18,866.00; in the United States, $19,266.00. That's adjusted for purchasing-power parity, and, yes, no comparison is perfect, but did you ever think the difference between America and the cheese-eating surrender monkeys would come down to quibbling over the fine print? In that sense, the federal debt might be better understood as an American Self-Delusion Index, measuring the ever-widening gap between the national mythology (a republic of limited government and self-reliant citizens) and the reality (a 21st century cradle-to-grave nanny state in which, as the Democrats' Convention boasted, "government is the only thing we do together.").
Jefferson and the Freeing of Slaves—Letters to the Editor - WSJ.com
Jefferson and the Freeing of Slaves—Letters to the Editor - WSJ.com: The reason Jefferson did not free but five of his own slaves in his will was simple: Under Virginia law at the time, slaves were considered "property," and they were expressly subject to the claims of creditors. Jefferson died deeply in debt.
Why Jefferson Didn't Free His Slaves — Letters to the Editor - WSJ.com
Why Jefferson Didn't Free His Slaves — Letters to the Editor - WSJ.com: Unfortunately for Mr. Turner's argument, this ignores that Kosciuszko's bequest would have provided value for the slaves, completely protecting Jefferson's creditors. As the Wiencek book makes plain, however, Jefferson had carefully calculated the financial return he received on his slaves, and he knew he wouldn't receive an equal return from the proceeds of their sale.
Washington Proposes $1 Trillion Bailout for Delinquent Student Loans
Washington Proposes $1 Trillion Bailout for Delinquent Student Loans: America’s now-nationalized student loan industry just reached a value of $1 trillion, according to Citigroup, growing at a 20 percent-per-year pace. Since President Obama nationalized the industry (a tacked-on provision of the Obamacare bill), tuition has gone up 25 percent and the three-year default rate is at a record 13.4 percent.
U.N. Disabilities Treaty Would Threaten American Sovereignty - Investors.com
Article 7 would incorporate into U.S. law the authority of the state to determine where children may be educated after the state determines when it is necessary to intervene.
It would doom forever school choice and possibly be the death knell for home schooling. The welfare of our children would be determined by the state.
U.N. Disabilities Treaty Would Threaten American Sovereignty - Investors.com
Video: Feds shut down 100-year-old oyster company, destroy some lives and dreams « Hot Air
The Lunny family, which owns the oyster farm, was among a group of families that sold their ranch lands to the National Parks Service in the 1970s to protect them from developers, with the understanding they would get 40-year-leases renewed in perpetuity. After buying and operating the oyster farm without incident— they were even featured as outstanding environmental stewards by the National Parks Service— the Lunnys learned in 2005 they were accused of bringing environmental damage to an area the NPS and environmentalists were anxious to designate as the nation’s first federally recognized marine wilderness.
Video: Feds shut down 100-year-old oyster company, destroy some lives and dreams « Hot Air
Articles: Benghazi 'Narrative' Reads Like TWA 800's
In a confidential taped interview with historian Taylor Branch on August 2, 1996, Clinton laid the blame for the presumed missile attack on Iran. "They want war," he told Branch. Clinton may or may not have been lying, but he did not want to mess with Iran, at least not right before an election he already had in the bag.
To control the post-crash narrative, the White House allowed the FBI to talk only to The New York Times. Four weeks after the disaster, the Times would report, "Now that investigators say they think the center fuel tank did not explode, they say the only good explanations remaining are that a bomb or a missile brought down the plane."
Does Government Want To Drain Americans' 401(k) Retirement Plans? - Investors.com
And nearly three years ago, Newt Gingrich and Peter Ferrara wrote on these pages about the Treasury and Labor departments "asking for public comment on 'the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams.'"
"In plain English," said Gingrich and Ferrara, "the idea is for the government to take your retirement savings in return for a promise to pay you some monthly benefit in your retirement years."
Does Government Want To Drain Americans' 401(k) Retirement Plans? - Investors.com
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Asia Times Online :: Post-US world born in Phnom Penh
What does the United States have to offer Asians?
It is borrowing $600 billion a year from the rest of the world to finance a $1.2 trillion government debt, most prominently from Japan (China has been a net seller of Treasury securities during the past year). It is a taker of capital rather than a provider of capital. It is a major import market but rapidly diminishing in relative importance as intra-Asian trade expands far more rapidly than trade with the United States. And America's strength as an innovator and incubator of entrepreneurs has diminished drastically since the 2008 crisis, no thanks to the Obama administration, which imposed a steep task on start-up businesses in the form of its healthcare program.
McConnell 'Burst Into Laughter' as Geithner Outlined Obama's Plan | The Weekly Standard
The “guess” of those involved in the negotiations, Politico reported, is that a bipartisan deal “will include a rate hike, higher taxes on carried interest and probably capital gains and dividends, and either a cap on total deductions for rich people or some form of a minimum tax rate for them.”
McConnell 'Burst Into Laughter' as Geithner Outlined Obama's Plan | The Weekly Standard
Articles: The Governing Class and the Decline of America
Since 1956 the United States has seen a phenomenal growth in its Gross Domestic Product from $3,700 Billion (inflation adjusted) to $16,100 Billion (+335%). However, government spending at all levels has grown from $978 Billion (inflation adjusted) to $6,400 Billion (+554%) and the nation's debt, $2,250 Billion in 1956 (inflation adjusted) is now $16,300 Billion (+625%). (source: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com)
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
james hansen changes baseline
14 to 15C ... is global warming is real, why do they have to fudge the data?
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Youth HIV Rate High, Testing Low - ABC News
Americans between the ages of 13 and 24 accounted for more than a quarter of new HIV infections in 2010 -- about 12,000 cases -- but only a third of that age group had ever been tested for the virus, the CDC reported.
Bond bubble bust - NYPOST.com
Bond prices (your principal) and interest rates (yield) move in opposite directions. When rates rise, bond prices fall. The inverse is, of course, true as well. When rates fall, the price (your principal) of the bond rises.
The problem today is that short-term Federal Reserve funds rates are pegged at zero percent. In addition, the Fed’s irresponsible bond-buying spree, dubbed QE, has driven even long-term rates insanely low, to 1.5 or 1.6 percent on the 10-year Treasury.
Without rewriting arithmetic, rates have nowhere to go but up — and, eventually, up quite a bit. And the principal invested in bonds will fall substantially.
Why the Recovery Is Feeble | RealClearPolitics
Since late 2008, the federal government has run $5 trillion of deficits; the Federal Reserve has held short-term interest rates at near zero and has, through purchases of bonds, pumped more than $2 trillion into the economy.
What would happen if Texas actually seceded? - The Week
Obama would close down or repossess federal courthouses, prisons, national parks, and military bases that pump tens of billions each into local economies. Plus, Texas and other newly minted nations would have to pay for their own militaries, says Jack Simmons at the UT-Arlington Shorthorn. "We would also need some form of health care, some sort of disaster relief, a postal service, welfare, social security, FDA, CIA, FBI — the list goes on," totaling well over a trillion dollars. "And that's just start-up costs."
Ministers order an inquiry into the care pathway payments that saw hospitals receive millions to implement controversial system | Mail Online
Care and support minister Norman Lamb said there had been too many cases of patients dying on the pathway while their families were told nothing about the withdrawal of life-saving treatment.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Articles: Learning the Hard Way
What liberals forget, or choose to ignore, is that even if such social and legal protections are achieved, this does not remove the tough natural consequences of immoral behavior.
Articles: Approaching Crunch Time on the Student Loan Debacle
Two recent studies suggest that this bubble is indeed real and is beginning to burst. The first is the recent Department of Education report on student loan default rates. The report shows that the two-year default rate rose from 8.8% in FY (fiscal year) 2009 to 9.1% in FY 2010. This marks the fifth year of increases in the two-year default rates -- indeed, the two-year rate is nearly double what it was in FY 2005.
Articles: Approaching Crunch Time on the Student Loan Debacle
End of the doctor's surgery | UK News | Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express
A BID to save nearly £3billion by slashing appointments with a doctor and treating patients via computer will put lives at risk, ministers were warned.
End of the doctor's surgery | UK News | Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Articles: Whither the Republicans?
The fact that this vision works in the real world is shown by studies that demonstrate that marriage alone, even among minorities, reduces the statistical chance of poverty by 75 percent and is the single most important lifestyle choice that any individual can make to avoid poverty.
Articles: Qatar Casts a Giant Shadow
The world's attention has been focused on Saudi Arabia whose attention has been focused on the U.S. It has built 80% of the mosques in America and has installed Wahhabi Imams in all of them. For almost a century, it has cultivated relations with the State Department and the White House making certain to reward diplomats and presidents, when they retire, with oodles of money for "good behavior". It also has made grants in the tens of millions to some high profile U.S. universities such as Harvard, Columbia, and Georgetown.(See "The Vast Power of the Saudi Lobby.")
Do We Still Need the Voting Rights Act? - The Daily Beast
Sometime early next year, the Supreme Court is expected to invalidate Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the most powerful and effective tool that the United States government has to combat discriminatory election practices
Doubt of the benefit - NYPOST.com
It is time to reconsider the old-school economic idea that paying people to be unemployed reduces employment. The more we pay poor people, the more poor people we will have. The more we help people and institutions in financial distress, the more financial distress there will be.
The American Spectator : Jaws ’12
and the mainstream media’s own hubris, their tendency to view their authority as an entitlement rather than a trust that they must continuously earn anew by adhering to standards of impartiality.
About 200 search for missing 13-year-old boy
The boy lives in Colorado Springs but was visiting his father in Vallecito on Thanksgiving break, according to the Durango Herald.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Economists, Obama administration at odds over role of mortgage debt in recovery - The Washington Post
Nearly all said Obama should introduce a much bigger plan to forgive part of the mortgage debt owed by millions of homeowners who are underwater on their properties.
Japanese Stocks? Yes, They Really Think So - Businessweek
Last year, for the first time, sales of adult diapers in Japan exceeded those for babies
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
fha
more subprime loans
fed housing policy
at
ed pinto slides
podcast
how to fix fha
bigger threat
atlantic next bailout
ending nightmare
zerohedge
fed housing policy
at
ed pinto slides
podcast
how to fix fha
bigger threat
atlantic next bailout
ending nightmare
zerohedge
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Fordham President Shames College Republicans for Inviting Ann Coulter
Fordham has previously hosted controversial TV host Chris Matthews as a commencement speaker in 2006. Infanticide and euthanasia advocate Peter Singer will speak on Fordham's campus the same week of the Coulter controversy.
Fordham President Shames College Republicans for Inviting Ann Coulter
Union: 'Bain-style' killing of Twinkie - Kevin Cirilli - POLITICO.com
The closure of Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, means the company will lay off its 18,500 employees. In 2009, Hostess came out of bankruptcy thanks in part to private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, which made a $130 million investment, CNBC reported Friday. Hostess filed again for bankruptcy in January, and its debt was later purchased by investment firms, including two hedge funds: Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital, according to a CNN Money report.
Union: 'Bain-style' killing of Twinkie - Kevin Cirilli - POLITICO.com
Maine’s striking Hostess workers say company’s collapse a strong message of union resolve — Business — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine
Bakers’ union officials and their supporters say also that the demise of Hostess Brands Inc., which failed to convince striking workers to return to their jobs, is a warning sign for corporate investors seeking to squeeze more profits out of the working class.
From Russia With PR - ProPublica
What readers of the CNBC and Huffington Post pieces did not know — but Justice Department foreign agent registration filings [2] by Ketchum show — is that the columns were placed by the public-relations firm working on a contract [3] with the Russian government to, among other things, promote the country “as a place favorable for foreign investments.”
Friday, November 16, 2012
Articles: The Big Tent is Empty
Immigrants, for whatever reason, are predisposed towards state largesse; 43 percent of immigrants who have been in the U.S. for more than 20 years are using welfare benefits
Articles: Outnumbered but not Outgunned
This is a man who doesn't even believe in Second Amendment rights. While teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, Obama told Dr. John Lott that he believed people should not be allowed to have guns.
Articles: Obama's Jonestowns
Jones took another tack. "I decided how can I demonstrate my Marxism," he would recount years later. "The thought was 'infiltrate the church.'"
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Was Petraeus forced out to silence his account of Benghazi killings? – Telegraph Blogs
british ambassador, failed assassination attempt in summer, closed embassy
Was Petraeus forced out to silence his account of Benghazi killings? – Telegraph Blogs