Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) apologized today for referring to President Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect" in private conversations during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Video: How banks got strongarmed into TARP
Via Captain Ed at Hot Air.
"John Allison, CEO of BB&T, not only didn’t want TARP money but openly opposed the program altogether, lobbying Congress against it. After all, BB&T had made wiser decisions and by normal standards was overcapitalized even after the financial collapse. Allison tells how Ben Bernanke became Time’s Person of the Year by pressuring healthy banks to take TARP money in order to hide which banks were actually in trouble."
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Government Surrenders on Second Mortgages
The Second Lien Modification Program, announced in April 2009, may be on the way out.
Cell phones, cancer and Alzheimer's
A couple of weeks ago a report came out indicating the cancer seems to deselect for Alzheimer's disease, and vice versa. Now the report on cell phones possibly providing some Alzheimer's protection. What's all that mean? No idea.
Remember, correlation is not causation.
Remember, correlation is not causation.
Hey, that's not 'cho cheese!
A fight over nachos resulted in the arrest of two roommates at their South Side apartment late Tuesday, according to San Antonio police.
Video du jour - Christmas Tree Rocketry
This is hilarious. These guys launched their Christmas tree on 32 model rocket engines.
Remember the Pan Am bomber with 3 months to live?
"Never mind the Underpants Bomber, who failed to blow up a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day and will now feel the full force of the American criminal justice system. The Lockerbie Bomber, who was successful, is alive and living quietly at home in Libya—nearly five months after his so-called “compassionate release” from a Scottish prison."
Not a health care crisis; a culture crisis.
Interesting viewpoint from a ER doc in MS.
Well said, sir.
Please meet Dr Starner Jones from Jackson, Mississippi.
His short 2-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on a "Culture Crisis" instead of a "Health Care Crisis". Its worth a quick read:
Starner Jones, MD
I am a seventh generation Mississippian and wanted to come back here after going somewhere else for college and medical school.. My extracurricular interests are golf, hunting, fishing and college football.
Dear Sirs:
"During my last night's shift in the ER, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient with an expensive shiny gold tooth, multiple elaborate expensive tattoos, a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and a new cellular telephone equipped with her favorite R&B tune for a ringtone.. Glancing over the chart, one could not help noticing her payer status: Medicaid. She smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and, somehow, still has money to buy beer.
And our Congress expects me to pay for this woman's health care? Our nation’s health care crisis is not a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. It is a crisis of a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. A culture that thinks "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me". Life is really not that hard. Most of us reap what we sow. Don't you agree?
STARNER JONES, MD
Jackson : 12/08/09 23:32:00
Well said, sir.
Please meet Dr Starner Jones from Jackson, Mississippi.
His short 2-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on a "Culture Crisis" instead of a "Health Care Crisis". Its worth a quick read:
Starner Jones, MD
I am a seventh generation Mississippian and wanted to come back here after going somewhere else for college and medical school.. My extracurricular interests are golf, hunting, fishing and college football.
Dear Sirs:
"During my last night's shift in the ER, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient with an expensive shiny gold tooth, multiple elaborate expensive tattoos, a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and a new cellular telephone equipped with her favorite R&B tune for a ringtone.. Glancing over the chart, one could not help noticing her payer status: Medicaid. She smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and, somehow, still has money to buy beer.
And our Congress expects me to pay for this woman's health care? Our nation’s health care crisis is not a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. It is a crisis of a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. A culture that thinks "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me". Life is really not that hard. Most of us reap what we sow. Don't you agree?
STARNER JONES, MD
Jackson : 12/08/09 23:32:00
Welcome to the Fight: We Are All Spartacus Now
"The revolt against the MSM empire is well and truly begun – and we are Spartacus...
We stand foursquare with the Founders. We believe in the First Amendment, not just for we, but also for thee. We believe the phrase, “Congress shall make no law…” could not possibly be clearer. We despise “political correctness” and everything it represents. We will not be told, “you can’t say that,” because to accept that stricture means we cannot think it, either. We believe that freedom of inquiry, freedom of opinion and freedom of expression are the fundamental liberties upon which this country was founded. And we will fight to defend them."
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Why Books Remain Unread
From Abe Books :
A list of reasons why we read some of the books in our piles, but leave other to gather dust. I'm going to use some of these the next time my husband complains about my stack. :) I've excerpted my favorite, but as they say, read the whole thing.
Remaining Unread: The Top Ten Reasons We Don’t Get to Certain Books
7. The siren call of the bargain bin.When we're standing right there, and a book costs $2, and it has a UKRAINIAN SPY with an OMINOUS MOUSTACHE, and a TORRID LOVE RHOMBUS and a SUSPICIOUS DASCHUND in it, it's difficult to not grab it on the spot - after all, it's cheaper than a fancy coffee. And oh man - suspicious daschund. Good times guaranteed. Even the covers tempt me. A woman in a silver leotard, draped unconscious in the arms of a swarthy astronaut, while the rings of Saturn loom behind? How can it NOT be good? And such a steal! But when you do this a lot - and Lord, I do this a lot - it's amazing how quickly they build up, and sit there, judging you, accusing you, when you walk down the hall.
A list of reasons why we read some of the books in our piles, but leave other to gather dust. I'm going to use some of these the next time my husband complains about my stack. :) I've excerpted my favorite, but as they say, read the whole thing.
Remaining Unread: The Top Ten Reasons We Don’t Get to Certain Books
7. The siren call of the bargain bin.When we're standing right there, and a book costs $2, and it has a UKRAINIAN SPY with an OMINOUS MOUSTACHE, and a TORRID LOVE RHOMBUS and a SUSPICIOUS DASCHUND in it, it's difficult to not grab it on the spot - after all, it's cheaper than a fancy coffee. And oh man - suspicious daschund. Good times guaranteed. Even the covers tempt me. A woman in a silver leotard, draped unconscious in the arms of a swarthy astronaut, while the rings of Saturn loom behind? How can it NOT be good? And such a steal! But when you do this a lot - and Lord, I do this a lot - it's amazing how quickly they build up, and sit there, judging you, accusing you, when you walk down the hall.
Filling another quota
From Frank J.
"President Obama recently named a Transgendered-American (I thought the PC term was “person of cross-sexualism” but I guess I’m behind the times) to be a Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department.
Personally, I think we need more transgenders in government.
For example, I’d gladly support using taxpayer money to get Obama a set of balls."
Running shoes may cause damage to knees, hips and ankles
Running shoes may damage knees, hips, ankles more than barefeet or high heels? More support for my position that exercise is dangerous.
Burj Khalifa opening ceremony
You've probably already seen this, although maybe not the whole thing. The Burj Khalifa is the giant skyscraper (twice as tall as the Empire State Building) in Dubai. The three-minute clip is the opening ceremony - lots of fireworks.
Interesting article on the background and construction (and ongoing structural) problems.
Interesting article on the background and construction (and ongoing structural) problems.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Underfunded public pensions - $2 trillion worth
At Volokh: The Financial Times runs a story today by Francesco Guerrera and Nicole Bullock on the looming problems of underfunded public pensions at the state and local level in the United States. The news story cites a new study by Orin Kramer, chairman of New Jersey’s pension fund:
The estimate by Orin Kramer will fuel investors’ concerns over the deteriorating financial health of US states after the recession. “State and local governments are correctly perceived to be in serious difficulty,” Mr Kramer told the Financial Times.
“If you factor in the reality of these unfunded promises, their deficits will rise exponentially.”
Estimates of aggregate funding requirement of the US pension system have ranged between $400bn and $500bn, but Mr Kramer’s analysis concluded that public funds would need to find more than $2,000bn to meet future pension obligations.
Dr. Zero - The Carnivorous Government
The Obama Administration answers every question with a demand for more power, to implement nebulous plans no one is allowed to review. It’s striking that, over a year after the subprime mortgage crisis caused by activist government legislation, there is absolutely no area in which the Democrat Party thinks government should be made smaller… no problem they believe American citizens should be given greater liberty to solve. Their menu for the future of America consists of nothing but pork-fried government spending, sauteed in reckless deficit sauce and coated with greasy regulations… and just wait until you see the tax-hike surprise they’ve got under glass for the second course.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Study: Spanked Children May Grow Up to Be Happier, More Successful
Per Fox News:
"According to the research, children spanked up to the age of 6 were likely as teenagers to perform better at school and were more likely to carry out volunteer work and to want to go to college than their peers who had never been physically disciplined."
Discuss amongst yourselves.
"According to the research, children spanked up to the age of 6 were likely as teenagers to perform better at school and were more likely to carry out volunteer work and to want to go to college than their peers who had never been physically disciplined."
Discuss amongst yourselves.
Stimulus Funds Went to Nonexistent Zip Code Areas
"First it was phantom Congressional districts. Now it is phantom zip codes.
Closer examination of the latest recovery.gov report for New Mexico shows hundreds of thousands of dollars sent to and credited with creating jobs in zip codes that do not exist in New Mexico or anywhere else."
Via Instapundit.
Closer examination of the latest recovery.gov report for New Mexico shows hundreds of thousands of dollars sent to and credited with creating jobs in zip codes that do not exist in New Mexico or anywhere else."
Via Instapundit.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Steyn: The Pantybomber wasn’t the big joke. We are.
Must read.
The real laugh was the United States government. The global hyperpower spent the next week making itself a laughingstock to the entire planet.
The real laugh was the United States government. The global hyperpower spent the next week making itself a laughingstock to the entire planet.