lifson
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Cooper’s BBQ Sauce?: Texas Monthly Sound Off :: Recipe Swap
Hot Sauce
1/2 gallon water
1/2 gallon vinegar
8 oz ground cayenne
8 oz ground paprika
Boil together until mixed well, and bottle up for use.
Articles: Benjamin Franklin and Judaism
Franklin devised his moral-improvement method when he was in his twenties, and had originally intended to compose a book elaborating on it. In the Autobiography he laments that due to his many other concerns, this task was never accomplished: "I should have called my BOOK the ART of Virtue . . . But it so happened that my Intention of writing & publishing this Comment was never fulfilled . . . the necessary close Attention to private Business in the earlier part of Life, and public Business since, have occasioned my postponing it . . . [and] it has hitherto remain'd unfinish'd."
Saturday, December 29, 2012
US Budget for Dummies « The Greenroom
* U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
* Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
* New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
* National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000Let’s now remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:
* Annual family income: $21,700
* Money the family spent: $38,200
* New debt on the credit card: $16,500
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
* Total budget cuts so far: $38.50
Friday, December 28, 2012
News from The Associated Press
Hobby Lobby and religious book-seller Mardel Inc., which are owned by the same conservative Christian family, are suing to block part of the federal health care law that requires employee health-care plans to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar emergency contraception pills.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
A gallon of milk could cost $8 in 2013. Here’s why.
Without legislative action in the next five days, the government will have to revert to a 1949 dairy price subsidy that requires the Agriculture Department to buy milk at inflated prices.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Fathers disappear from households across America - Washington Times
The spiral continues each year. Married couples with children have an average income of $80,000, compared with $24,000 for single mothers.
Fathers disappear from households across America - Washington Times
Articles: The Case Against Public Education
The community, in this case, has lost all direction on matters of what Aristotle calls moral and intellectual virtue -- i.e., living according to human nature -- and thus fails to meet Aristotle's pre-condition for a good public system.
Articles: The Case Against Public Education
if you really want to raise a generation of rational, decent adults prepared to shrug off the chains that today's majority has accepted in exchange for its "fair share" of the state's ill-gotten booty, you must emancipate the next generation of young adults from progressivism's universal indoctrination program.
Study Finds Modest Declines in Obesity Rates Among Young Children From Poor Families - NYTimes.com
Dr. Blanck also pointed to changes in the environment, like those documented in a report about food marketing practices released by the Federal Trade Commission on Friday.
The agency found that the amount of money spent on food marketing to children declined by nearly 20 percent from 2006 to 2009, with the biggest drop in television advertising. The total spent on food advertising to youths in 2009 was $1.79 billion, the report said.
The report, based on data from 48 major food and beverage marketers, also found that cereals marketed to children ages 2 to 11 had about a gram less sugar per serving in 2009 than in 2006 and slightly more whole grain.
Marketing to children of the most sugary cereals — those with 13 grams or more sugar per serving — was virtually eliminated between 2006 and 2009, according to the report.
Study Finds Modest Declines in Obesity Rates Among Young Children From Poor Families - NYTimes.com
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
¡No Pasarán!: 卐mas Caroling: The Extremes Hitler Wanted to Go To in Order to Replace Christianity with the "Religion" of National Socialism
1937 — ‘Neo-Pagans’ Target Carols
BERLIN — De-Christianization of famous German Christmas hymns, such as “Silent Night, Holy Night,” is the outstanding contribution to the current holiday season of the rapidly spreading German faith movement or “religion” of National Socialism. In the new versions of the old songs reference to Nazi tenets of race, blood and soil replace familiar words concerning Christ, Child and the like. The accepted English translation of Mohr’s “Silent Night,” stanza three lines two and three is: “The Son of God loves pure light, radiant beams from thy Holy faith.” Equivalent lines in the Nazified version are “German blood, O how laugh the lips of thy children, blessed with joy.”
Monday, December 24, 2012
Google News
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Nurse who killed herself after Kate Middleton hoax attempted suicide twice before - NYPOST.com
The British nurse who killed herself after transferring a hoax call from Australian radio personalities to Kate Middleton’s hospital room earlier this month reportedly had attempted suicide twice before.
Jacintha Saldanha, 46, who was found hanging by a scarf three days after the prank, attempted to overdose on pills during a family visit to India last winter, according to Indian newspapers quoted by the UK’s Daily Mail.
Nine days later, the reports said, she attempted to jump from a building and was admitted to a psych ward.
Nurse who killed herself after Kate Middleton hoax attempted suicide twice before - NYPOST.com
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Transcript of CUNY Trustee Speech on Kushner Award - NYTimes.com
Now to Mr. Kushner’s quotes, “Israel was founded in a program that if you really wasn’t to be blunt about it was ethnic cleansing and that today is behaving abominably towards the Palestinian people. I have never been a Zionist, I have a problem with the idea of a Jewish state, it would be better if it never had happened.”
Transcript of CUNY Trustee Speech on Kushner Award - NYTimes.com
Article | First Things
Another clergyman who knew the Lincoln family confirmed Brooks' account of Lincoln's orthodox Christianity and added a piquant detail: his last words to Mary Lincoln that night at Ford's Theater, which the clergyman heard from Mrs. Lincoln herself. Lincoln had reportedly said that, as soon as his presidency was over, “we will visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior.” There was, he told his wife (according to the clergyman), “no city on earth he so much desired to see as Jerusalem.” Then the bullet hit him. The thought that Lincoln's last word was “Jerusalem” was greatly reassuring to his devout countrymen
Picture a Day: This Is What Abraham Lincoln Would Have Seen. Rare Jerusalem Photos to Be Released -- Here's a Preview
"He said he wanted to visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footprints of the Saviour. He was saying there was no city he so much desired to see as Jerusalem," Mary Todd Lincoln told the Springfield, Ill. pastor who presided at Abraham Lincoln's funeral. She explained that the 16th president told her of his desire moments before he was fatally shot in Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865.
Stephen Mansfield: Spielberg's 'Lincoln': The Art and the Impartation
Also disappointing is the treatment of Lincoln's faith, so defining of the man and the president but nearly absent in this film. Indeed, in one of the few nods to any kind of religion, the film captures the president and First Lady on a carriage ride discussing where they will go after the war. Lincoln would like to go Jerusalem, to the city of "Solomon and David," we are told. But the original account, given by Mary herself, has Lincoln saying that he would like to walk in the "footsteps of the Savior." Why the change? Neither Spielberg nor Kushner, both men Jews, have ever retreated from Christian themes. Why now?
Stephen Mansfield: Spielberg's 'Lincoln': The Art and the Impartation
Saturday, December 22, 2012
An opinion on gun control « Monster Hunter Nation
The vast majority (last I saw it was over 80%) are on some form of psychotropic drug and has been for many years. They have been on Zoloft or some serotonin inhibitor through their formative years, and their decision making process is often flawed. They are usually disaffected, have been bullied, pushed around, and have a lot of emotional problems. They are delusional. They see themselves as victims, and they are usually striking back at their peer group.
An opinion on gun control « Monster Hunter Nation
There were four mass killing attempts this week. Only one made the news because it helped the agreed upon media narrative.
- Oregon. NOT a gun free zone. Shooter confronted by permit holder. Shooter commits suicide. Only a few casualties.
- Texas. NOT a gun free zone. Shooter killed immediately by off duty cop. Only a few casualties.
- Connecticut. GUN FREE ZONE. Shooters kills until the police arrive. Suicide. 26 dead.
- China. GUN FREE COUNTRY. A guy with a KNIFE stabs 22 children.
And here is the nail in the coffin for Gun Free Zones. Over the last fifty years, with only one single exception (Gabby Giffords), every single mass shooting event with more than four casualties has taken place in a place where guns were supposedly not allowed.
An opinion on gun control « Monster Hunter Nation
The average number of people shot in a mass shooting event when the shooter is stopped by law enforcement: 14. The average number of people shot in a mass shooting event when the shooter is stopped by civilians: 2.5. The reason is simple. The armed civilians are there when it started.
An opinion on gun control « Monster Hunter Nation
The single best way to respond to a mass shooter is with an immediate, violent response. The vast majority of the time, as soon as a mass shooter meets serious resistance, it bursts their fantasy world bubble. Then they kill themselves or surrender. This has happened over and over again
Treasuries Yields Rise as Lawmakers Wrangle in Budget Showdown - Bloomberg
The week’s offerings closed the books on $2.153 trillion of government debt sales in 2012 that set a record for demand. The Treasury attracted $3.15 in bids for each dollar of the notes and bonds it sold, surpassing last year’s bid-to-cover ratio of 3.04 and the 2010 mark of 2.99.
Treasuries Yields Rise as Lawmakers Wrangle in Budget Showdown - Bloomberg
Friday, December 21, 2012
Articles: The Piltdown Warning
December 18, 2012 marked the centennial of one of the most notorious examples of how far the bureaucrats of official science will go to sustain a theory which allows them to dispense with God and to replace themselves as the new gods of life. On December 18, 1912, the Geological Society of London announced to the world that it had uncovered the "missing link" between our primate kin and Homo sapiens: the "Piltdown Man."
Articles: The Piltdown Warning
Henry Osborne, president of the American Museum of National History, proclaimed that the fossil remains were "without question" was proof of the evolution of ape to man. A monument to the discovery was erected at Barkham Manor to Charles Dawson, the founder of the fossils of this missing link.
The New York Times proclaimed "Darwin Theory is Proved True," and Nature, one of the most influential scientific journals in the work, announced that the Piltdown Man was an improvement proof of Darwin's theory. Textbooks included the Piltdown Man as evidence that Darwin was right.
As late as 1950, Nature was citing "New Evidence on the Antiquity of Piltdown Man" and announced that fluorine tests made it even more likely that the Piltdown Man was a single creature. From 1912 to 1953, college textbooks would treat the Piltdown Man as scientific evidence of Darwin's theory. The bulk of the scientific community accepted the Piltdown Man as true.
But in 1953, there arrived conclusive proof that the Piltdown Man was a complete hoax. It represented nothing more than a collection of fossil bones from different creatures which fulfilled the Darwinian fantasy of many scientists seeking a secular god in nature.
New Study Blames Community Reinvestment Act For Mortgage Defaults - Investors.com
Under Clinton's revised CRA, moreover, banks for the first time earned CRA credit for purchasing subprime securities.
A wave of these securitizations began in 1997, which also happens to mark the start of the housing bubble.
New Study Blames Community Reinvestment Act For Mortgage Defaults - Investors.com
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Articles: The Strategic Concentration of Modern Children
What any ruling class wants is to get children away from the influence of their parents. And what better way could there be to concentrate and homogenize children than in government child custodial facilities?
Articles: Lindisfarne To Sandy Hook: The Tragedy of Wishful Thinking
But they are ruins because one dark in the eighth century Lindisfarne's rock and walls were scaled by Vikings holding their swords in their mouths. Demons out of the northern seas who chased the unarmed monks from room to room in the monastery, butchering them for sport, sacking their golden altar and trampling their precious books underfoot.
Articles: Lindisfarne To Sandy Hook: The Tragedy of Wishful Thinking
Articles: Why Are Some People Prone to Obey?
In 1936, Walter Lippmann wrote in The Good Society1:
... the people have had it fixed in their minds that the state possesses a magical power to provide an abundant life. They have come gradually to think that their expectations may be as great as their government is powerful; that the stronger the government, the more certainly it can satisfy their heart's desires. After a while, when the doctrine is completely dominant in the popular mind, a point is reached where men cease to feel that there is any vital connection between production and consumption, between work and wealth.
It is no longer labor, but the law, the force of the state, the might of the government, that is looked upon as the source of material well-being.
The belief in this miracle is due to an optical illusion. The power of the state, as such, produces nothing: it can only redistribute that which has been produced
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Was the Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza On Hardcore Psychotropic Drugs?
James Holmes was hooked on a cocktail of Big Pharma drugs that have been found to be deadlier than cocaine and heroin combined (even at ‘safe’ levels). But the trend continues much farther.
Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, as well as 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, were all on psychotropic drugs. Even Ted Kaczinski the “Unabomber”, Michael McDermott, John Hinckley, Jr., Byran Uyesugi, Mark David Chapman and Charles Carl Roberts IV, the Amish school killer,were all on some form of SSRI psychotropic pharmaceutical drugs.
Was the Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza On Hardcore Psychotropic Drugs?
Portrait of Adam Lanza and his family begins to emerge - The Washington Post
The uncle said he was taking Fanapt. This needs to be explored to see if that's true. Fanapt is a horrible drug with a sketchy road to FDA approval.
Portrait of Adam Lanza and his family begins to emerge - The Washington Post
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Articles: Destructive Shepherds
The part of the Keynesian economic theory -- the so-called multiplier effect -- that says every dollar the government spends puts $1.50-2.50 back into the economy is an exaggeration and distortion.
Children in Connecticut rampage, all 6 and 7, shot repeatedly | Reuters
President Barack Obama, who a day earlier was moved to tears on national television by the tragedy, called for "meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this," but stopped short of specifically calling for tighter gun-control laws.
Children in Connecticut rampage, all 6 and 7, shot repeatedly | Reuters
Saturday, December 15, 2012
High school 'tech club' student turned cold-blooded executioner: How classmates remember 'genius' Adam Lanza | Mail Online
One of Lanza’s former classmates spoke of his ‘noticeable decline’ after his parents’ divorce. ‘He was a loner at school and hyper intelligent,’ he said. ‘But in recent years he disappeared off the radar.
‘The word is that he was badly affected when his parents split and that might be what pushed him over the edge.
‘He was always weird but the divorce affected him. He was arguing with his mother. He was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.’
Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza: 'Obviously Not Well' - ABC News#.UMvaN0bDVSI
Adam Lanza of Newtown, Connecticut was a child of the suburbs and a child of divorce who at age 20 still lived with his mother.
Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza: 'Obviously Not Well' - ABC News#.UMvaN0bDVSI
News from The Associated Press
Newtown, CT Cause of Death: No Father
Lanza's parents filed for divorce in 2008, according to court records. His father, Peter Lanza, lives in Stamford, Conn., and works as a tax director for General Electric.
Jeremiah 18 NIV - At the Potter’s House - This is the - Bible Gateway
18 They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”
Jeremiah 18 NIV - At the Potter’s House - This is the - Bible Gateway
Friday, December 14, 2012
Solar firms probed for ‘misrepresentations’ in getting public money - The Washington Post
Solar firms probed for ‘misrepresentations’ in getting public money - The Washington Post: SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity have received subpoenas from the Treasury Department’s office of inspector general for financial records to justify more than $500 million in federal grants and tax credits the firms tapped for performing work. The probe seeks to determine whether the companies accurately reported the market value of their costs when applying for federal reimbursement, which was calculated at one-third of the costs.
The solar companies received money through the Treasury’s $13 billion program, known as the 1603 program, which used funds from President Obama’s stimulus initiative to offer cash grants to clean-energy developers. The goal was to spur the spread of wind farms, solar panels and other clean power sources nationwide.
The solar companies received money through the Treasury’s $13 billion program, known as the 1603 program, which used funds from President Obama’s stimulus initiative to offer cash grants to clean-energy developers. The goal was to spur the spread of wind farms, solar panels and other clean power sources nationwide.
Aetna CEO Sees Obama Health Law Doubling Some Premiums - Bloomberg
Health insurance premiums may as much as double for some small businesses and individual buyers in the U.S. when the Affordable Care Act’s major provisions start in 2014, Aetna Inc. (AET)’s chief executive officer said.
Aetna CEO Sees Obama Health Law Doubling Some Premiums - Bloomberg
Man-made global warming: even the IPCC admits the jig is up – Telegraph Blogs
The climate alarmists can’t continue to claim that warming was almost entirely due to human activity over a period when solar warming effects, now acknowledged to be important, were at a maximum.
Man-made global warming: even the IPCC admits the jig is up – Telegraph Blogs
Report finds harsh CIA interrogations ineffective - The Washington Post
After a contentious closed-door vote, the Senate intelligence committee approved a long-awaited report Thursday concluding that harsh interrogation measures used by the CIA did not produce significant intelligence breakthroughs, officials said.
The 6,000-page document, which was not released to the public, was adopted by Democrats over the objections of most of the committee’s Republicans. The outcome reflects the level of partisan friction that continues to surround the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other severe interrogation techniques four years after they were banned.
Report finds harsh CIA interrogations ineffective - The Washington Post
Thursday, December 13, 2012
'Obama's "Plan" Adds $8.6 Trillion to the Debt' | The Weekly Standard
'Obama's "Plan" Adds $8.6 Trillion to the Debt' | The Weekly Standard: With Obama's latest plan, debt in 2022 is expected to be $25.4 trillion; otherwise, in ten years, it is expected to be $25.8 trillion.
The PJ Tatler » California’s Blue Shield Seeks Up To 20% Rate Hikes
The PJ Tatler » California’s Blue Shield Seeks Up To 20% Rate Hikes: Health insurer Blue Shield of California wants to raise rates as much as 20% for some individual policyholders, prompting calls for the nonprofit to use some of its record-high reserve of $3.9 billion to hold down premiums.
Politico, Daily Kos Upset 'Fox News-Breitbart Crowd' Gaining Influence
Add Politico and The Daily Kos to organizations conceding that Breitbart News is reporting stories they refuse to cover.
Politico, Daily Kos Upset 'Fox News-Breitbart Crowd' Gaining Influence
Hubble identifies oldest galaxies yet | TG Daily
Astronomers have long debated whether hot stars in such early galaxies could have provided enough radiation to warm the cold hydrogen that formed soon after the big bang. This process, called reionization, made the universe transparent to light, and is thought to have occurred 200 million to a billion years after the big bang.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The American Spectator : Replacing Speaker Boehner
The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, these are shamefully dishonest institutions. They are not remotely practicing journalism. They are political activistsposing as journalists.
Federal Reserve to spend $45B a month to buy bonds, links rate hike to 6.5 pct. unemployment - The Washington Post
Federal Reserve to spend $45B a month to buy bonds, links rate hike to 6.5 pct. unemployment - The Washington Post: The Fed says it plans to keep its key short-term rate near zero until the unemployment rate reaches 6.5 percent or less — as long as expected inflation is tame. Unemployment is now 7.7 percent.
That plan adds detail to what the Fed had said before: that it expects to keep the rate low until at least mid-2015. For the first time, the Fed is making clear to investors and consumers that it will link its actions to specific economic markers.
That plan adds detail to what the Fed had said before: that it expects to keep the rate low until at least mid-2015. For the first time, the Fed is making clear to investors and consumers that it will link its actions to specific economic markers.
How Older Parenthood Will Upend American Society | The New Republic
How Older Parenthood Will Upend American Society | The New Republic: Fertility has fallen below replacement rates in the majority of the 224 countries—developing as well as developed—from which the United Nations collects such information, which means that more people die in those places than are born. Baby-making has slumped by an astonishing 45 percent around the world since 1975. By 2010, the average number of births per woman had dropped from 4.7 to 2.6.
» Syrian Rebels Pledge Allegiance to Al-Qaeda Group That Killed U.S. Troops Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
Hillary Clinton has admitted that Al-Qaeda is supporting the Syrian rebels, who are backed by the Obama administration with $200 million dollars in aid. According to McClatchy Newspapers one of these groups, Al Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, is now conducting “the heaviest frontline fighting” in Syria and has been responsible for terrorist attacks. Impartial observers such as Dr. Jacques Beres say the majority of rebels in Syria are foreign extremists whose goal is to impose Sharia law. These rebels have also been filmed burning U.S. flags and chanting anti-American slogans.
Jeremiah 15 NIV - Then the LORD said to me: “Even if - Bible Gateway
19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,”
declares the Lord.
21 “I will save you from the hands of the wicked
and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”
Jeremiah 15 NIV - Then the LORD said to me: “Even if - Bible Gateway
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
University of Texas professor claims black students are failing because they are raised by single women | Mail Online
University of Texas professor claims black students are failing because they are raised by single women | Mail Online: A professor at the University of Texas has sparked outrage by claiming black and Hispanic students are failing academically because they have been raised in single parent homes usually by females.
Law professor Lino Graglia was talking to the BBC when he said he could 'hardly imagine a less beneficial or more deleterious experience than to be raised by a single parent, usually female, uneducated and without a lot of money.'
Law professor Lino Graglia was talking to the BBC when he said he could 'hardly imagine a less beneficial or more deleterious experience than to be raised by a single parent, usually female, uneducated and without a lot of money.'
Heads of 36 private colleges earn more than $1 million - Philly.com
Topping the list in Pennsylvania was Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, who earned a base salary of $915,000 and total compensation of $1,463,000. New Jersey's top earner was Princeton's Shirley Tilghman, who earned $711,000 in salary and a total of $902,000.
Heads of 36 private colleges earn more than $1 million - Philly.com
Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law - Yahoo! News
Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law - Yahoo! News
Amy Garrett: Portland woman 'held at gunpoint by two boys aged 7 and 11 in attempted carjacking' | Mail Online
'Officers told the 11-year-old to keep his hands out of his pockets but he ignored the officers and tried putting his hand back in his pocket,' Portland police said in a statement. 'Officers grabbed his arms and recovered a cocked and loaded .22 caliber handgun in his pocket.'
‘...they took my statement while they had the 11yr old in the back of the cop car and he was kicking the car. The cop told me that the kid was acting like a 40yr old heroin addict. And the 7yr old was sitting on the curb crying hysterically,' Miss Garrett wrote on her Facebook page on Saturday.
Because of the boys’ young age, too young for jail even at a juvenile facility, officers returned the boys to their families.
AIG Bailout That Angered Bernanke to End With U.S. Sale - Businessweek
Taxpayers owned as much as 92 percent of AIG after saving a firm that insured 100,000 municipalities, retirement plans and companies and was a counterparty to some of the biggest banks. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has said saving AIG after it was hobbled by mortgage-related bets made him “more angry” than any other measure the government undertook to counter the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
AIG Bailout That Angered Bernanke to End With U.S. Sale - Businessweek
Stock futures edge higher as traders eye Fed - MarketWatch.com
The Fed is expected to announce fresh monthly purchases of $45 billion of Treasurys that will take effect at the start of the new year as the existing Operation Twist bond-buying program expires. See: Fed to do what it can to ease cliff uncertainty.
Stock futures edge higher as traders eye Fed - MarketWatch.com
Monday, December 10, 2012
Dexter Filkins: How General Petraeus Turned the Tide in Iraq : The New Yorker
Dexter Filkins: How General Petraeus Turned the Tide in Iraq : The New Yorker: How the Army got to such a point is the subject of Thomas Ricks’s “The Generals,’’ a series of vivid biographical sketches of American commanders from the Second World War to Afghanistan. In Ricks’s view, their quality, with a few exceptions, has steadily declined. His poster boy for the terrible early period of the Iraq war is Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, whom he accurately portrays as a decent man but an incompetent commander
Gay marriage or economic Armageddon: which do you think matters more? – Telegraph Blogs
Gay marriage or economic Armageddon: which do you think matters more? – Telegraph Blogs: But how many other MPs are there out there who understand that the world is facing not just the worst economic crisis since the Thirties but the worst economic crisis in history, that few if any governments anywhere in the world are taking the necessary measures to deal with it, and that, as a result, we are still slouching towards Armageddon?
Barone: Soul-crushing dependency | WashingtonExaminer.com#.UMYoWKzAGdB#.UMYoWKzAGdB
Barone: Soul-crushing dependency | WashingtonExaminer.com#.UMYoWKzAGdB#.UMYoWKzAGdB: Kristof is writing from Breathitt County, Ky., deep in the Appalachian mountains, about mothers whose Supplemental Security Income benefits will decrease if their children learn to read. Kristof notes that 55% of children qualifying for SSI benefits do so because of “fuzzier intellectual disabilities short of mental retardation,” far more than four decades ago when SSI was just a new program.
Articles: Millionaires, Billionaires, and Teachers
Articles: Millionaires, Billionaires, and Teachers: The main reason the US Post Office, the federal government and many state and local governments face unsustainable debt, bankruptcy and default is due to the costs of public employee pensions. GM went bankrupt largely due to the costs of its retirees' pensions and benefits.
Authors exercise their "write" to self-publish - CBS News
Although she no longer gets advances, or upfront payments for her work, she gets royalties of up to 70 percent, instead of the 10-15 percent publishers usually pay.
And even with charging only 99 cents for some books, Bond says she made more than half a million dollars in the last year.
Authors exercise their "write" to self-publish - CBS News
That's right, with just a few strokes Bond is creating an electronic book, or "e-book."
"That's it, I'll get an e-mail from Amazon saying, 'Your book is live and congratulations,'" Bond said.
Extreme weather & superstition - NYPOST.com
The link between extreme weather and global warming has as much scientific basis as the pagan rite of human sacrifice to ensure a good harvest.
Clean Water Act 40th anniversary: The greatest success in environmental law made rivers stop burning. - Slate Magazine
In 1972, a landmark law reversed the course of this filthy tide. Today, four decades later, the Clean Water Act stands as one of the great success stories of environmental law. Supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, the act took a completely new approach to environmental protection. The law flatly stated there would be no discharge of pollutants from a point source (a pipe or ditch) into navigable waters without a permit. No more open sewers dumping crud into the local stream or bay
Saturday, December 8, 2012
'Bullish' November Data Mask The Ugly Truth About Employment - Investors.com
In the last six months, 621,000 of the 847,000 new jobs created have been in government, not the private sector, according to CNSNews.com. That's 73% of all jobs — not a healthy labor market.
As for that big "drop" in the unemployment rate, all of it was due to the fact that 540,000 Americans are no longer looking for work. They either dropped out, took early disability or retired. Since the start of 2009, 9.7 million Americans have fallen into this category.
'Bullish' November Data Mask The Ugly Truth About Employment - Investors.com
Friday, December 7, 2012
‘Anecdotes’ continue to add up and multiply - BostonHerald.com
‘Anecdotes’ continue to add up and multiply - BostonHerald.com: So this morning, Governor, I’d like to introduce you to 11 more “anecdotes.” They are all from Haverhill. Ten of the anecdotes are accused of distribution of heroin and the 11th for “sale of ammunition.”
According to testimony last week in Haverhill District Court, all 11 are on welfare — mostly SSI and SSDI. According to federal statistics, despite their relative youth (they range in age from 26 to 51), they have only a 1 percent chance of ever ... recovering. By which I mean, getting off welfare.
According to testimony last week in Haverhill District Court, all 11 are on welfare — mostly SSI and SSDI. According to federal statistics, despite their relative youth (they range in age from 26 to 51), they have only a 1 percent chance of ever ... recovering. By which I mean, getting off welfare.
Weekly Standard: Who Built the Recession? — American Principles Project
There remains one explanation that has escaped both sides’ scrutiny because they share culpability for it. Beginning in 2001, easy money from the Federal Reserve flooded the markets with cheap credit, creating asset bubbles and finally tipping the American financial system on its side. This was a period of legitimate economic success (52 consecutive months of job growth under President George W. Bush) mixed with fake wealth attached to real estate and financial assets. No Republican is eager to wade into that story, while no Democrat wants to admit that their current strategy is reminiscent of it: Lean on the Fed to juice the economy.
Weekly Standard: Who Built the Recession? — American Principles Project
Obamacore: The substitution of propaganda for great literature in our schools | Power Line
Another Common Core’s non-fiction exemplar is an excerpt from a 2009 New Yorker essay by Atul Gawande on health care. This too is propaganda – an effort to show that Obamacare is wise policy.
Obamacore: The substitution of propaganda for great literature in our schools | Power Line
The American Spectator : Waiting for the Gods
The bill for Obama’s first term has yet to come due. The administration poured $5 trillion down a rat hole for trendy projects run by political allies without providing any discernible lift to the economy. Instead, it’s increased our debt load and placed us in the unpleasant company of Portugal and Greece.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Articles: Who elected Obama?
Articles: Who elected Obama?: Dr. Robert Vanderbei, a professor of Operations Research at Princeton, developed the visualization shown above by combining Democrat blue with GOP red according to popular vote proportions taken at the county level and printing the result as a 3D map in which apparent vertical height is a stand-in for the number of voters counted.
Nationally, Obama won the popular vote by 4,452,910 -- but because 4,516,701 of those came from California and New York, Romney and the GOP can reasonably argue that he won the rest of the country by just about 64,000 votes
Nationally, Obama won the popular vote by 4,452,910 -- but because 4,516,701 of those came from California and New York, Romney and the GOP can reasonably argue that he won the rest of the country by just about 64,000 votes
Ken Burns Blasts Tea Party for Rampant Use of 'N-word'
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns called both the current secessionist movement and elements of the Tea Party racist during an interview late last month on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Articles: Ireland, Beware the 'Suicide' Exemption
In 2006, Tiller and his political patroness, then Governor Kathleen Sebelius, used his money and her muscle to defeat the one person who stood in their way, Republican Attorney General Phill Kline. Before leaving office, however, Kline filed 30 counts against Tiller for performing illegal late-term abortions. In other words, Tiller stood accused of taking the life of fifteen fully viable unborn babies whose mothers were equally healthy in utter disregard of Kansas law.
The first dinosaur. Or not … | Dr Dave Hone | Science | guardian.co.uk
Though, having said that the identity of this newly named genus is not entirely clear. It may be a dinosaur or fall just the other side of this line in the sand. This is not a major surprise or problem – there's not much of the animal preserved and so providing such an exact ID is naturally difficult. However, it's not actually much of a problem and either way, as the features of this animal show it is clearly close to dinosaur origins and pushing back the date of the earliest known dinosaurs.
The first dinosaur. Or not … | Dr Dave Hone | Science | guardian.co.uk
The first dinosaur. Or not … | Dr Dave Hone | Science | guardian.co.uk
Previously dinosaurs were known to be present around 230 million years ago, but Nyasasaurus is somewhere between 240 and 245 million years old. The animals formerly regarded as the nearest relatives to dinosaurs date from this earlier time, so the presence of either a very early dinosaur, or an animal which is the new closest relative to the dinosaurs had been expected. Nyasasaurus therefore fills a gap in the fossil record and drags the origins of the dinosaurs further back in time. We expected to find them at this kind of time, but confirmation is of course always nice.
The first dinosaur. Or not … | Dr Dave Hone | Science | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
'Voter Suppression,' Debunked - WSJ.com
'Voter Suppression,' Debunked - WSJ.com: It is true that in some states, including Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, laws requiring voters to show photo identification either were struck down or had their enforcement delayed until after this election. But according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 11 states had photo ID requirements as of Election Day, four of them "strict." If those states saw a drop-off in minority voter participation, we haven't heard about it.
As we noted last Thursday, the argument for the continuing relevance of the 1965 Voting Rights Act--the most dubious section of which is currently under review at the Supreme Court--rests heavily on the supposition that voter ID laws discriminate against minorities. If they do not have that effect, it may be that the problem of voting discrimination--which was, of course, quite serious half a century ago--has been entirely solved.
As we noted last Thursday, the argument for the continuing relevance of the 1965 Voting Rights Act--the most dubious section of which is currently under review at the Supreme Court--rests heavily on the supposition that voter ID laws discriminate against minorities. If they do not have that effect, it may be that the problem of voting discrimination--which was, of course, quite serious half a century ago--has been entirely solved.
Friendly reminder from GAO: You’re about to hit the entitlement iceberg, people « Hot Air
The Government Accountability Office warned in a report Monday that if cuts are not made to mandatory spending — including Social Security and Medicare — there will be a fundamental gap between spending and revenue as more baby boomers retire.
“Significant actions to change the long-term fiscal path must be taken,” the GAO warned.
Friendly reminder from GAO: You’re about to hit the entitlement iceberg, people « Hot Air
The Sebelius Coverup | The Weekly Standard
Prior to the election, most reporters — or their editors — weren’t interested in looking into any of this too closely. But in the wake of the refusal of elected GOP leaders in the states to do the Obama administration’s bidding on Obamacare, the development of the federal Obamacare exchanges might now receive closer examination. The idea of funneling about $1 trillion (according to the Congressional Budget Office) over Obamacare’s real first dozen years (2014-25) from American taxpayers, through Washington, to private insurance companies was always problematic. But it’s more problematic to hire a subsidiary of one of those insurance companies as an architect and policeman of the exchanges through which the Obama administration intends to have this abundant taxpayer money flow, more problematic still that Obama’s first head of the CCIIO may have profited personally from the venture, and most problematic of all that HHS may have told a private company to violate federal securities law in order to aid Obama’s reelection prospects.
The Sebelius Coverup | The Weekly Standard
The Obama administration’s congressional allies botched the drafting of this aspect of the health care overhaul, as the plain language of Obamacare doesn’t empower federal exchanges to distribute taxpayer-funded subsidies to individuals; it empowers only state-based exchanges to distribute the subsidies. (The administration pretends otherwise.) Moreover, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is lagging behind in developing the federal exchanges.
The American Spectator : Planting the Seeds of His Own Demise
Warren Buffett, call your office, which is the headquarters of the largest tax shelter in the world. The more Obama raises tax rates on the rich, the more will flee to Buffett's tax shelter, which protects investors from precisely the capital gains taxes, and taxes on dividends, that Obama is raising the most. Buffett is laughing all the way to the bank, but if you are middle class, or poor, the joke is on you, as we will see.
The American Spectator : Planting the Seeds of His Own Demise
'Everyone in US under virtual surveillance' - NSA whistleblower — RT
My line is in declarations in a court about the 18-T facility in San Francisco, that documented the NSA room inside that AST&T facility, where they had Naris devices to collect data off the fiber optic lines inside the United States. So, that’s kind of a powerful device, that would collect everything it was being sent. It could collect on the order over of 100 billion 1,000-character emails a day. One device.
RT: You say they sift through billions of e-mails. I wonder how do they prioritize? How do they filter it?
WB: I don’t think they are filtering it. They are just storing it. I think it’s just a matter of selecting when they want it. So, if they want to target you, they would take your attributes, go into that database and pull out all your data.
'Everyone in US under virtual surveillance' - NSA whistleblower — RT
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Keeping Pesky Birds Away From Fruit Trees - Science News - redOrbit
Mona Diaz, owner of Fernwood Nursery in Madera Ranchos, recommends planting EZ-PICK fruit trees. These are started in a nursery with lower branching structures so fruit grows closer to the ground; the trees should be kept pruned to 6-12 feet. Not only does this mean easier picking, Diaz says, but it also makes using protective netting more feasible should a gardener choose this option. Fernwood Nursery sells EZ-PICK trees during bare-root season, although Diaz recommends orders be placed in August.
"With the low branches, the birds don’t go down that low," Diaz says. "Birds want to get up high, away from people or anything that will disturb them."
Keeping Pesky Birds Away From Fruit Trees - Science News - redOrbit
The PJ Tatler » To What Lengths Did Someone Go to Scapegoat George Zimmerman?
The PJ Tatler » To What Lengths Did Someone Go to Scapegoat George Zimmerman?: Had the color photo been available in the days after Martin’s unfortunate death, there might never have been a backlash against the Sanford police. There might never have been a national movement to arrest and prosecute Zimmerman. President Obama might never have taken sides with the New Black Panthers, who put a bounty on Zimmerman’s head, and with the usual tragedy trolls who always seek to convert corpses into political talking points. The NBC News edit that made Zimmerman sound racist could have been countered with a color photo showing Zimmerman’s wounds, corroborating his explanation of what happened that night. But someone chose to hide the color photo and manufacture the black and white, so that that photo would tell a different story.
Queens father fatally crushed by train after deranged man flings him onto Midtown subway tracks - NYPOST.com
Queens father fatally crushed by train after deranged man flings him onto Midtown subway tracks - NYPOST.com: Han’s devastated wife said she and her husband had quarreled before he left the house at around 11 a.m. and headed for Manhattan.
She told cops he’d been drinking, and one witness claimed he was the aggressor on the platform, law-enforcement sources said, adding that authorities found a bottle of vodka on Han afterward.
“We had a fight,” the widow said through tears. “I kept calling him and calling him to see where he was, but he didn’t answer.”
She told cops he’d been drinking, and one witness claimed he was the aggressor on the platform, law-enforcement sources said, adding that authorities found a bottle of vodka on Han afterward.
“We had a fight,” the widow said through tears. “I kept calling him and calling him to see where he was, but he didn’t answer.”
Study Finds Working Couples Face Greater Violence Odds
Study Finds Working Couples Face Greater Violence Odds: Intimate partner violence is two times more likely to occur in two income households, compared to those where only one partner works, a recent study at Sam Houston State University found.
Photo appears to show Zimmerman bleeding after Trayvon Martin killing - CNN.com
Photo appears to show Zimmerman bleeding after Trayvon Martin killing - CNN.com: A photo posted online Monday shows George Zimmerman with blood on his nose and lips. His attorneys say it was taken the night unarmed teen Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford, Florida.
Susan Rice’s Enrichment Program | Washington Free Beacon
The portfolio of embattled United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice includes investments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in several energy companies known for doing business with Iran, according to financial disclosure forms.
Al Jazeera Owner has Poet Jailed for Life for Insulting Him
while these passages may constitute a violation of Article 134 of the Qatari Penal Code, which provides for five years’ imprisonment for criticism of the Emir, this provision of the law violates freedom of speech standards under international law.
Business Line : News / Science : Planets around ‘solar twins’ of Sun more habitable than Earth
The interiors of any terrestrial planets in these systems are likely warmer than Earth - up to 25 per cent, which would make them more geologically active and more likely to retain enough liquid water to support life, at least in its microbial form.
Business Line : News / Science : Planets around ‘solar twins’ of Sun more habitable than Earth
Serial killer suspect dead: Delicate investigation preceded suicide - latimes.com
Keyes told investigators he hadn't chosen a victim but had specific criteria for whom he wanted to attack. He wanted somebody whose house had an attached garage, who didn't have children. It had to be somebody without a dog, and somebody whose house had a simple layout, so he could easily find the bedroom.
Serial killer suspect dead: Delicate investigation preceded suicide - latimes.com
Authorities: Israel Keyes Confessed to Vt. Killings, Texas Bank Robbery - ktuu.com
Surveillance video images taken Feb. 16 inside the National Bank of Texas branch in Azle, Texas, just west of Fort Worth, show a man resembling Keyes, wearing a white hard hat and breathing mask with sunglasses, brandishing a pistol and ordering employees and customers to the floor. Keyes was never charged in relation to the robbery.
Authorities: Israel Keyes Confessed to Vt. Killings, Texas Bank Robbery - ktuu.com
Vt. couple tried to flee killer they didn't know - News - Boston.com
When Keyes died, he was being held for the slaying of 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, who was abducted from a coffee kiosk in Anchorage in February. He was later arrested in Texas after using her debit card.
Vt. couple tried to flee killer they didn't know - News - Boston.com
Monday, December 3, 2012
Who's Not Bargaining in Good Faith? | RealClearPolitics
Who's Not Bargaining in Good Faith? | RealClearPolitics: In fiscal 2012, non-interest federal spending totaled $3.251 trillion. Of that, $762 billion went for Social Security, $469 billion for Medicare (insurance for the 65 and over population) and $251 billion for Medicaid (insurance for the poor -- two-thirds goes for long-term care for the aged and disabled). Altogether, that's 46 percent of non-interest spending. Defense, $651 billion and declining, was 20 percent.
The Hispanic Challenge (To America) A MUST READ Samuel Huntington (Long But Good)
The Hispanic Challenge (To America) A MUST READ Samuel Huntington (Long But Good): The persistent inflow of Hispanic immigrants threatens to divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages. Unlike past immigrant groups, Mexicans and other Latinos have not assimilated into mainstream U.S. culture, forming instead their own political and linguistic enclaves—from Los Angeles to Miami—and rejecting the Anglo-Protestant values that built the American dream. The United States ignores this challenge at its peril.
Articles: We Are a Nation of Immigrants...Sort Of
Articles: We Are a Nation of Immigrants...Sort Of: Contemporary Mexican and, more broadly, Latin American immigration is without precedent in U.S. history. ... Mexican immigration differs from past immigration and most other contemporary immigration due to a combination of six factors: contiguity, scale, illegality, regional concentration, persistence, and historical presence.
A call to end a corporate welfare agency | Timothy P. Carney | Beltway Confidential | San Francisco Examiner
A call to end a corporate welfare agency | Timothy P. Carney | Beltway Confidential | San Francisco Examiner: Ex-Im exists to subsidize the exports of U.S. manufacturers -- mostly Boeing -- by loaning money and guaranteeing private bank loans to foreign buyers who buy American goods. In short, Ex-Im puts taxpayer money on the line to boost the sales of Boeing, GE, Halliburton, Bechtel, and Westinghouse.
Boeing and Obama sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G | WashingtonExaminer.com
Boeing and Obama sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G | WashingtonExaminer.com: President Obama's export subsidy agency funneled 82.7 percent of its taxpayer-backed loan guarantees to just one exporter: Boeing. Out of $14.7 billion in long-term loan guarantees in fiscal year 2012, $12.2 billion subsidized Boeing sales, according to Ex-Im's annual report issued last week.
Blog: Obama wants $255 billion stimulus to offset his tax increases on the rich
No - this is not a joke. The president is absolutely serious.
Acknowledging that his tax increase on the wealthy will slow economic activity, the president wants $255 billion in new spending.
Blog: Obama wants $255 billion stimulus to offset his tax increases on the rich
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Articles: Ending the Spiraling Out-of-Wedlock Childbirth Rate: A Unique Opportunity for Republicans
It also just so happens that the out-of-wedlock childbirth problem is largely a budgetary issue. For example, out of the approximately $450 billion spent last year on Medicaid, $330 billion went to single parents. And the cost of Medicaid is expected to reach almost $675 billion annually by 2017. In addition, approximately 75% of the 1.6 million inmates in the U.S. prison system were born out of-wedlock. At a cost of approximately $30,000 per prisoner per year, that comes to a total taxpayer annual cost of $36 billion annually. Taxpayers have also lost an additional $50 billion over the last three years due to deadbeat parents not paying child support, which the government must then subsidize.
Articles: Ending the Spiraling Out-of-Wedlock Childbirth Rate: A Unique Opportunity for Republicans
Articles: Ending the Spiraling Out-of-Wedlock Childbirth Rate: A Unique Opportunity for Republicans
That refusal has indirectly manifested into the now-out-of-control out-of-wedlock childbirth rate, which recently reached 41% of the population and is directly linked to the problem of government dependency.
Articles: Ending the Spiraling Out-of-Wedlock Childbirth Rate: A Unique Opportunity for Republicans
Saturday, December 1, 2012
The Weekend Interview with Harvey Mansfield: The Crisis of American Self-Government - WSJ.com
It is a project begun at the turn of the previous century by "an alliance of experts and victims," Mr. Mansfield says. "Social scientists and political scientists were very much involved in the foundation of the progressive movement. What those experts did was find ways to improve the well-being of the poor, the incompetent, all those who have the right to vote but can't quite govern their own lives. And still to this day we see in the Democratic Party the alliance between Ph.D.s and victims."
The Obama campaign's dissection of the public into subsets of race, sex and class resentments is a case in point. "Victims come in different kinds," says Mr. Mansfield, "so they're treated differently. You push different buttons to get them to react."
The Weekend Interview with Harvey Mansfield: The Crisis of American Self-Government - WSJ.com
The Weekend Interview with Harvey Mansfield: The Crisis of American Self-Government - WSJ.com
'We have now an American political party and a European one. Not all Americans who vote for the European party want to become Europeans. But it doesn't matter because that's what they're voting for. They're voting for dependency, for lack of ambition, and for insolvency."
Few have thought as hard, or as much, about how democracies can preserve individual liberty and national virtue as the eminent political scientist Harvey Mansfield. When it comes to assessing the state of the American experiment in self-government today, his diagnosis is grim, and he has never been one to mince words.
The Weekend Interview with Harvey Mansfield: The Crisis of American Self-Government - WSJ.com