RANT: The car dealers got screwed; us too. Enjoy it?

Friday, January 22, 2010

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100122/D9DCJHOG1.html

About 600 car dealers try to get businesses back
Jan 22, 12:34 AM (ET)
By TOM KRISHER

*** begin quote ***

India Johnson, an arbitration association senior vice president who is in charge of the hearings, said she expects 700 to 800 dealers to seek binding arbitration before the deadline. Not all will get hearings, she said. Some filed paperwork to preserve their appeal but may not proceed, while others may settle with the automakers before hearings, she said. The hearings, which must be held in the dealership’s home state, are likely to cost both sides a lot of money. Some dealers may lack cash to pursue them because they’ve closed their businesses or aren’t making as much as they once did. Wolf said dealers who appeal are gambling the legal fees in an effort to keep franchise agreements that alone are worth $500,000 to more than $2 million. The nonprofit arbitration association will do all it can to keep costs down, Johnson said. In some cases, dealers may represent themselves without an attorney, and arbitrators in some cases may cut their hourly rates, she said.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has said the automaker may challenge the constitutionality of the arbitration law in federal court, but spokeswoman Kathy Graham said Thursday that no decision has been made.

*** end quote ***

Disclaimer: Frau lost 5k in GM bonds while America lost its liberty!

Clearly, the “auto company bailout” was:

  1. Mis-named. It was, in fact, a bail out of the UAW.
  2. Unconstitutional seizure of the bondholder’s property.
  3. A violation of the rule of law. What happened to the bankruptcy code?
  4. Socializing the losses while allowing the fat cats in “management” and labor to escape with the profits.
  5. A Nazi-style nationalization of the car companies; just like the banks.

Obama, in the style of FDR, seized the economy. And, like fascists and socialists have always found out, it doesn’t work. The economy is in the toilet. In a large part, due to the uncertainty that the Obama administration has introduced. Tax your bonus, windfall profits tax, taxes upon taxes, cap ‘n’ tax, healthcare taxes — all scare private investment to the side lines.

Argh!

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RANT: “Cash for Clunkers” thinking

Saturday, January 16, 2010

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/h-m-and-wal-mart-destroy-and-trash-unsold-goods-562909/

H&M and Wal-Mart destroy and trash unsold goods

   * by Joanna Douglas, Shine Staff, on Thu Jan 7, 2010 8:31am PST

*** begin quote ***

This week the New York Times reported a disheartening story about two of the largest retail chains. You see, instead of taking unsold items to sample sales or donating them to people in need, H&M and Wal-Mart have been throwing them out in giant trash bags. And in the case that someone may stumble on these bags and try to keep or re-sell the items, these companies have gone ahead and slashed up garments, cut off the sleeves of coats, and sliced holes in shoes so they are unwearable.

This unsettling discovery was made by graduate student Cynthia Magnus outside the back entrance of H&M on 35th street in New York City. Just a few doors down, she also found hundreds of Wal-Mart tagged items with holes made in them that were dumped by a contractor. On December 7, she spotted 20 bags of clothing outside of H&M including, “gloves with the fingers cut off, warm socks, cute patent leather Mary Jane school shoes, maybe for fourth graders, with the instep cut up with a scissor, men’s jackets, slashed across the body and the arms. The puffy fiber fill was coming out in big white cotton balls.”

*** and ***

After several days of no response from H&M, the company made a statement today, promising to stop destroying the garments at the midtown Manhattan location. They said they will donate the items to charity. H&M spokeswoman Nicole Christie said, “It will not happen again,” and that the company would make sure none of the other locations would do so either. Hopefully that’s the final word.

*** end quote ***

Argh! What is this? More “Cash for Clunkers” thinking.

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RANT: The first “Sertorius” for Cronkite?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=121035

Tavern on the Green and our delusional leaders
Posted: January 06, 2010
Barry Farber

*** begin quote ***

I propose the minting of a new award, like the Oscars, Emmys, Tonys and Golden Globes, for today’s cheerleading, sycophantic media. We’ll call it the “Ludwig,” named after Hitler’s favorite broadcaster during the war, Ludwig Sertorius. German newscasters began having a hard time toward the end of 1942 with sharp and fatal reverses in Russia and North Africa. None of them could spin as prize-winningly as Ludwig Sertorius.

When British Gen. Bernard Montgomery counter-attacked German Gen. Erwin Rommel’s advance at El Alamein in Egypt, sending his “Afrika Korps” into history’s longest and fastest retreat, old Ludwig faced the microphone and – with the Germans fleeing at top speed, mind you – told the German people, “All British attempts to interfere with our systematic advance to the rear have been successfully frustrated, defeated and smashed!”

*** end quote ***

I’d suggest Walter Cronkite for the first “Sertorius” award. (Reserving the “Ludwig” for Ludwig von Mises, who is far more deserving.) Cronkite mislead me about his being a liberal. I thought he was being an unbiased reporter. Seeing him sailing with the Hero of Chapaquidick and his statement after his retirement made me realize that all those years he had an agenda!

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RANT: Time compression causes heartaches

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/2009/12/31/its-over/

It’s Over
December 31st, 2009

*** begin quote ***

2009 is over. The entire decade is over.

*** end quote ***

OK, you fell for the anti-mathematical propaganda. (I had teacher in high school geometry that ranted until we understood cardinality and ordinality. Year 1 ends 12/31/0001. By extrapolation, the “first decade” runs from 1/1/1 until 12/31/0010. Run it forward to today; this is the last year of the decade. Redefining decade? Maybe a new word.

On a more serious note, the urge to a decade review before the decade ends is indicative of time compression and language corruption. It’s indicative of our short term thinking and that’s one thing that is killing us as a civilization and a society. Corporations and their investors focus on the quarter’s results. Executives are compensated (excessively) on short term results that themselves create a contrary incentive.

GM is a classic example. Well compensated execs signed labor contracts that ENSURED the demise of the company. That string of executives are long gone, like the train robbers of old, and the people are reaping the negative rewards. We didn’t even have the common sense to INSIST that the corpse be buried in bankruptcy. Instead we now have another gooferment department that will be a drain on the Public’s purse for decades to come.

We need to change our focus. And, the tax code policy.

The model of the “family farm” is a better one. Sustainable over eons. An inter-generational asset. Instead, the estate taxes ensure that it has to be sold to pay the death taxes. Crazy. Family farms, family businesses, and such are all at risk. SO the thinking becomes short term.

The Dead Old White Guys had the gooferment running on import duties. That would have ensured that industries couldn’t be moved overseas. Now we have to look for wealth building activities that we can do that are NOT off-shorable. Farming, and food production, seems to be a great idea. We can feed the world.

So here we are at the end of my rant. The decade “mistake” points out our short term focus. The short term focus has led us to make some very bad mistakes. (Age discrimination being one of them. That calendar thing again!) Those mistakes when recognized can lead us to a long term solution.

Yeah, I know get a job.

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RANT: Say what you mean

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Argh!

Just got back from Walgreens, and I am annoyed (again).

Walgreens and I have a lot of history.

We’ve had two serious medication errors, many broken promises, and wasted a lot of time with them.

Today, I had a watershed moment. They have a leadership problem!

In a continuing saga, I’ve been trying to get the Old Lady’s insulin rx straight. For months. Originally, I brought the DIABETICDOC’s rxes in. Knowing the system, I had the doc write them for 90 days with three refills. (I promised that the patient would be back.)

The rxes were never recorded. They used the rxes from the old doc. Argh! The result was we’re always running out of insulin.

So I called in and talked through the problem with A pharmacist. She had to call the doc and get replacement rxes. Argh! Then the insurance would pay for it until January 5th. So no problem, we’ll wait until the Fifth. In the meantime, I order other rxes and find another quantity problem. That problem distracted me from the fact that I didn’t get the long awaited insuling rxes.

Argh!

I call. And, talk to some one who doesn’t know anything about it.

Argh!

Go thru it ALL again. He puts the rxes in again. (How did he get rxes if they were “missing”?) Their computer system gets it in and communicates with the insurance company’s computer. My 90 day rx magically becomes a 30 day rx. (Huh?)

At this point, I give up and say fine. (This TRIPLES my copay since I SHOULD get the 90 day supply for one copay of 25$!)

I picked it up.

Get home and find that the dosage instructions are “wrong”. (They were superseded twice already.) And, they charged my a double co-pay.

Argh!

Imagine if we weren’t seriously on top of the rxes in terms of taking the right meds and stuff? If I get frustrated with the insurance, imagine how older folks cope?

And, Obama-care is going to make this all better? Please don’t make me laugh!

Argh!

Back to what set me off.

I pull up to the drive up for a quick pick up. The pharmacist, who voice I recognize because I’ve talked to her so much, say: “Be with you in one minute.” I happened to look at the clock on the dash. It was 8:59. She came to the window at 9:03. That’s not ONE minute. Lest you think that’s no big deal, I disagree. It’s a leadership issue. It’s setting an expectation carelessly that can’t be met.

It’s a “systemic failure”!

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RANT: Self-reliance?

Thursday, January 7, 2010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1240629/At-mercy-deep-freeze-Schools-shut-firms-hit–6-inches-snow.html

Army rescues 1,000 drivers stranded in cars for 12 HOURS as UK is paralysed by heavy snow (with more on its way)
By Sophie Freeman
Last updated at 2:09 PM on 06th January 2010

*** begin quote ***

The 23-year-old said: ‘We went through hell. I am eight months pregnant, I couldn’t go to the toilet all night, I couldn’t warm the bottle up for my baby daughter. It was very frightening.

‘There were loads of cars parked up, just on the motorway. No-one knew what was going on – there was no-one to help.

‘We didn’t see any police, we’ve heard that the Army is out but we didn’t see anyone – it’s not very good really.”

She had set off for Heathrow Airport in West Sussex at 5.30pm yesterday and didn’t arrive until 8am today.

Ms Holt’s father, Mark, attempted to reach his daughter but was prevented from driving up the A3 beause it had been closed because of the weather.

He said: ‘It took my daughter 15 hours to get home and no-one came to help her, they didn’t see anyone.’

*** end quote ***

Totally unprepared Brits, throughout article, whine: “they” didn’t do this for me; “they” didn’t do this for me; wha, wha, WHA! No one takes responsibility for themselves. Maybe it is the welfare state culture?

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RANT: Simple health insurance fixes

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2009/12/how-to-strip-us-health-insurance.html

Monday, December 28, 2009

How To Strip US Health Insurance Companies of Their Power Forever in 1 Easy Step

Regulations Empower Insurance Companies

*** begin quote ***

These regulations usually consist of a long list of ridiculous coverage mandates that require customers to be covered for all kinds of things whether or not they want or need it.

So even if a woman in Maryland doesn’t want to pay $500/month to be covered for in-vitro fertilization, morbid obesity treatment, smoking cessation, substance abuse, and hair prosthesis, she has no choice.

And she can’t purchase more affordable insurance without any unnecessary coverage from another state because it would be non-compliant with Maryland’s regulations and mandates.

*** end quote ***

It’s interesting that the congress critters have deliberately created the “crisis” that they now seek to “save” us from that same crisis!

Argh!

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RANT: Arguing with idiots

Sunday, January 3, 2010

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2009/12/loose-lips-and-hyperbole.html
?showComment=1262014283785#c5749020565567766168

Anonymous said…

   Oh please, Health savings Accounts (HSAs) are the biggest bunch of crap ever, a steaming pile of cow dung. They are great if you are wealthy (they are a tax shelter for the rich), healthy or young. They do absolutely nothing for the poor, the lower middle class, for working folks who live from paycheck to paycheck. HSAs are crapola pumped out by the right wing and libertarians so they don’t have to think about all the people who are dying, suffering and going bankrupt from lack of health insurance or from being victims of greedy insurance companies.

OK. Let’s examine this assertion. HSA’s are characterized by (1) a high deductible insurance policy and (2) a basic deposit savings account like and FSA. When I’ve priced HSAs, they are about a third of the cost of other policies. So which is better, have an HSA policy or none? Can’t go bankrupt from a medical expense with an HSA. And, using the SA part of the plan, the individual is in control of their expense.

Insurance companies typically earn about 4% on their capital. No one is getting rich on earnings like that. So “greedy” doesn’t fit.

   What the hell do tax credits do for the poor or for working folks who work from paycheck to paycheck, who can’t save anything and who are in fear of going bankrupt from medical expenses, whether they are insured or not.

So, is the problem paycheck to paycheck? Or underemployment. As usual, ANONYMOUS want to be chicken little. THe sky is always falling. Automobile insurers offer payment plans; I know BCBSNJ does the same thing. The “POOR” have medicaid; the working folks have payment plans. SO what IS the problem?

   Buying insurance across state lines is more garbage from the right wing and their libertarian lap dogs. Buying insurance across state lines will have no affect on anything worth mentioning.

Except that state mandated coverage for hair implants, and all sorts of other “stuff”, makes the cost of insurance in New Jersey higher that without it. Insurance should allow one to CHOOSE what risks you wish not to bear. Personally, I’d like to forgo “hair implants” insurance. Old folks don’t need maternity coverage. So, once again with the gooferment interference, “one size” fits all!

   Single payer or Medicare for all would have been the way to go. This whole libertarian freak show is a cancer on any intelligent discussion about health care and is a total waste of oxygen.

Medicare is going broke in the next few years. Your beloved Health Care Bill cuts 500M$ from Medicare while the coverage group will increase 30%. And, what about all the fraud that’s going on?

   Why should there be caps on suits for medical malpractice? If hospitals, doctors, drug companies, medical equipment companies screw up, they should pay up, no damn caps. Right wingers love to protect the rich and the powerful against some poor schlub who has been maimed through medical malpractice.

Tort reform is to take the GIGANTIC lottery aspect out of the system. And, when the gooferment takes over healthcare and you get screwed, who will you sue then? The gooferment int he gooferment court.

   Ending FDA regulation of pharmaceuticals is just insane. If anything, the FDA and its regulations should be beefed up and strengthened.

Sure, no one wants cheap drugs quickly. For someone who argues against corporations, you don’t recognize “regulatory capture”!

   The drug companies have too much power and influence over our government as it is, the FDA must be insulated from undue influence and all this massive economic power of the drug companies.

Never ever going to happen. Name one “regulatory agency” that hasn’t been “captured”?

   Dr. Mary J. Ruwart works for Cannabis Science Inc and previously worked for Upjohn. She’s nothing more than a corporate shill for the drug companies who don’t want any kind of regulations and the public be damned.

That’s why she advocated for more freedom.

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RANT: It’s not OK to run up the score

Sunday, January 3, 2010

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/recap?gid=201001020050&prov=ap

Griner dunks twice, No.5 Baylor rolls 99-18

*** begin quote ***

WACO, Texas (AP)—Brittney Griner and No. 5 Baylor put on a show—at the expense of Texas State.

*** and ***

“We would have beat a lot of teams tonight,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “I don’t care who we would have played tonight, this basketball team was ready to play.”

*** end quote ***

What idiot SCHEDULED this game in the first place?

Guess Coach Mulkey thinks beating up on little kids is “OK”!

Sorry, but even if the scrubs were in, I wouldn’t permit this embarrassment.

If there is any justice in this world, the admonishment will come from UConn.

OK, Geno, I hereby release you from any criticism if you run up the score on Baylor.

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RANT: Air travel sucks

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Note: TSA at PHL is now enforcing a “two carry on bag limit” as you enter their lines. People are being told “Either consolidate or check it”. I’m sure the airlines are happy about this now that they all charge extra for each bag (i.e., 15$ to 100$).

Today, my wife’s nephew, his wife, and their twins had an “interesting” experience. Driving them to the airport, they found that their flight had been cancelled. Hubbie was booked on a later flight and Wifey with kids was delayed until the morrow. (Good luck finding a room on New Year’s Eve!)

Conflicting directions of where to check in. United moved them to US Airways in a different terminal. Then the lines again. Conflicting directions. More problems.

It all worked out. But not without a lot of angst!

Argh!

Confirms my firmly held conviction to never fly again.

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RANT: Self-defense is a mind set

Thursday, December 31, 2009

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091226/D9CR18JO0.html

Passengers help foil attack on Detroit-bound plane
Dec 26, 8:49 AM (ET)
By JIM IRWIN

*** begin quote ***

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) – An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke – sending passengers scrambling to subdue a Nigerian man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to blow up the airliner, officials and travelers said.

*** end quote ***

One thing is new — passenger docility.

The days when passengers would sit idly like sheep and let terrorists act with impunity.

And, how did the explosive get on board?

Yes, security theater!

See it’s all about fooling the traveling public into complacency. And giving job to people who will vote the “correct” way.

Argh!

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RANT: Good after bad

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Govt gives GMAC $3.8B in new aid, boosts stake

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON (AP) – The government gave GMAC Financial Services another $3.8 billion in cash and took a majority stake in the auto lender, aiming to stabilize the company as it struggles with big losses in its home mortgage unit. The fresh infusion is on top of $12.5 billion in taxpayer money…

*** end quote ***

How dumb!

Time to cut the taxpayer’s losses.

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RANT: Lift her light beside the golden door

Thursday, December 31, 2009

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15108634&source=hptextfeature

Going to America
A Ponzi scheme that works
Dec 17th 2009 | ANNANDALE, VIRGINIA AND DALLAS, TEXAS
From The Economist print edition
The greatest strength of America is that people want to live there

*** begin quote ***

When he arrived, Mr Lee was astonished by how rich nearly everyone was. He recalls his first dinner with Americans: the huge bowls and immense portions. He was startled to see lights left on in empty rooms. He is still impressed: “The roads are so wide, the cars so big, the houses so large—everything is abundant,” he says.

Yet this is not why he came, and it is not why he stayed and became a citizen. For Mr Lee, America is a land that offers “the chance to be whatever you want to be”. More prosaically, it is a place where nearly any immigrant can find a niche.

*** end quote ***

We NEED these immigrants. Everyone who wants to come and work.

Kill welfare and then there is no reason not to have them come.

Take the trash bag off the Statue of Liberty and get back to our roots.

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RANT: Emulate Israel’s security strategy and tactics

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/it_the_incompetence_stupid_Smobhu7UYi3kwiQzGPHnMP#ixzz0b6x74uRB  

It’s the incompetence, stupid
Last Updated: 6:50 AM, December 29, 2009
Posted: 12:42 AM, December 29, 2009
Rich Lowry

*** begin quote ***

It’s never going to be easy for a free society to defend itself from furtive enemies, but that doesn’t excuse willful obliviousness. We should move to a more Israel-style security system, devoting more energy to the intelligence and on-the-spot assessments necessary to focus on the greatest potential threats. And we should resist the civil libertarians who create pressure to narrow down the most meaningful watch lists and work to forestall adoption of more effective whole-body imaging scanners.

For its part, the Obama administration should frankly acknowledge that the “war on terror” wasn’t a Bush-Cheney construct to scare and manipulate the American public. Speaking from Hawaii, Obama sounded stalwart yesterday, but it took him 72 hours to address the incident. The administration’s body language says it would prefer to keep counterterrorism on a back-burner while it engages in the more important work of nationalizing health care and fighting global warming.

*** end quote ***

If we aren’t going to emulate the KGB in handling terrorists, then El Al seems to not have any such problems.

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RANT: Organizational purity

Monday, December 28, 2009

http://www.lifenews.com/nat5767.html

Fake Catholic Groups Resurface in Health Care-Abortion Funding Debate
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 11, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — They led the way in confusing Catholic voters about the pro-abortion record and views of presidential candidate Barack Obama. Now the fake Catholic groups that claim to be pro-life but advance the pro-abortion agenda are back — this time in the national debate over health care and abortion funding.

Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good proved that adding “Catholic” to the name of an organization could get one media attention — and condemnation from pro-life Catholics who knew better.

*** end quote ***

Guess we need some official board for who can use the word “catholic”. Do Coke and Pepsi have these types of problem?

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RANT: Fire Napolitano and ask Hillary some hard questions

Sunday, December 27, 2009

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091227/D9CRN3B02.html

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON (AP) – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says there is no indication that the man who attempted to destroy an airliner in Detroit on Christmas Day is part of a larger terrorist plot. Napolitano refused to say whether Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has a connection to al-Qaida

*** end quote ***

Doesn’t anyone think she should be fired? Like the baseball manager who gets the ax for a poorly performing team, it may well not be her “fault”, but she’s the “manager”. TSA and Homeland Security “failed”; with some blame left over for Hillary and the State Department. (How did he get a visa?) Bet the next Czar of Homeland Security / TSAwill do better. (Or, they should be fired too!)

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RANT: Congress “fixes” the Airlines; we should “fix” Congress!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2009/12/22/congress-fixes-airline-customer-service-with-new-law

Congress Fixes Airline Customer Service With New Law
Posted in December 22nd, 2009
by CAL, Curmudgeon at Large

*** begin quote ***

I would like to comment, but being Christmastime and all, there’s a risk it might make me appear to be all curmudgeonly. But, still.

Way to go, Congress. Can you imagine any other American business or institution other than the airlines so tone deaf as to ignore thousands of irate, tarmac-stuck, can’t-use-the-toilet customers? Again, thanks Congress. You fixed it. And Mr. Airline, you are lucky you didn’t get worse. You could have been shot.

*** end quote ***

May I blame the gooferment for the reason they pass a “Traveler’s Bill of Rights”?

Can we spell “regulatory capture”? That explains the FAA.

The Air Traffic Control system si generously credited to the 1950’s. Airports and their gates are a locally controlled joke.

How about if we make the airlines responsible for: the ATC, the airports, and their security?

Bet that the cost of fuel would give us a digital control system. Bet that the airports would be models of effiency and convenience. Bet that the security would be easy and transparent.

It’s the gooferment that is the problem.

Every time; every where!

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RANT: Child abducted by non-custodial parent

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6650456/
Mother-abducted-five-year-old-daughter-and-fled-to-America-in-tug-of-love-battle.html

Mother abducted five-year-old daughter and fled to America in tug-of-love battle
A mother has abducted her five-year-old daughter and is believed to have fled to America in a bitter tug-of-love battle.
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Published: 11:20PM GMT 16 Dec 2009

*** begin quote ***

Helen Gavaghan, 32, secretly snatched her daughter Pearl from nursery in Blackpool last December and fled abroad having changed her name by deed poll, after an acrimonious split from her partner, Henry Da Massa.

A High Court judge has declared that the child was removed illegally and allowed details of the case to be disclosed for the first time in the hope the pair can be traced.

*** end quote ***

Just like the New Jersey man who’s child was abducted by his mom, we should turn over rocks to get this child back home.

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RANT: Win in Iraq and Afghanistan

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

http://uncabob.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-win-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-in.html

UncleBob’s Treehouse
Bob Wallace on Everything

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
How to Win in Iraq and Afghanistan in One Easy Step

*** begin quote ***

In one easy step, here’s how we do it: pull out completely. That’s it. Just leave. The countries will do just fine without us.

*** end quote ***

Reminds me of the lesson from the movie “War Games” — the only way to win is not to play!

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RANT: Tokens — another broken promise

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

http://thomsinger.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-next.html

Monday, December 14, 2009
What’s Next?
  This decade is coming to an end.

*** begin quote ***

It came in with all the attention on Y2K and is going out with our world forever changed. Many things, big and small, have morphed our society: The terrorist attacks on 9-11, the mass adoption of cell phones, and the changes in communication due to social media are just a few things that have impacted the ways we live.

*** and ***

Polaroid Photo – Don’t count Polaroid out just yet, they are looking at releasing some new products.

Bank Deposit Slips – Ummmm I still use these.

Subway Token – I live in Austin, this city has avoided any real mass transit for decades, so I have no idea.

*** end quote ***

Tokens were replaced with Metro Cards in NYC. It allows the MTA to steal back all the unused rides by tourists, lost cards, and such. Tokens used to mean something.

# – # – #

Akin to removing the country from the Gold Standard, which allowed the explosive growth of Gooferment, replacing the token with the metrocard allows the MTA to sell promises that it has no intent to deliver on.

And, close the token booths which provide some measure of persona security to the traveller.

Maybe I do need a tin foil hat?

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RANT: “Climate Change” sounds like “barbara streisand” to me!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/12/11/a-few-notes-on-climate-change/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Cato-at-liberty+%28Cato+at+Liberty%29

A Few Notes on Climate Change

Posted by Andrei Illarionov

*** begin quote ***

20. The impact of all anthropogenic factors (not only CO2) on climate is unclear when compared with factors of nature. Therefore, the most effective strategy for humanity in responding to different types of climate change is adaptation. That approach is exactly the way that humans have reacted to the larger-scale climatic changes in the past, even though they were less prepared then for such changes. Now mankind has greater resources to adapt to lesser climate fluctuations and it is better equipped for them scientifically, technically and psychologically. The adaptation of humanity to climate changes is incomparably less costly than other options being proposed and imposed by climate alarmists. Human society has already adopted to climate change and will continue to do so as long as economy and society are vibrant and free.

*** end quote ***

“Climate Change” sounds like “barbara streisand” to me!

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RANT: Do we remember Pearl Harbor?

Monday, December 7, 2009

Tommorrow, December 7th, Americans MIGHT remember the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On a Sunday morning, 68 years ago, the US Navy were the recipients of a well-planned and poorly executed raid.

Twenty Five Hundred deaths that day; uncountable more in the resulting war.

Generations disrupted as they were in WW1.

And, the “cure” to the “Great Depression”. Would this be the beginning of the Leviathan Gooferment State?

Donning my tin foil hat, I call your attention to the role of FDR in provoking, if not orchestrating, the war he needed to restart the economy.

Our entry into WW1, by the “peace candidate” Wilson, allowed the seeds of WW2 to be sown. Our entry into WW2, by the instigator FDR, allowed the creation of a permanent “warfare” state.

This day is a reminder that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

… … not for the military invasion or aggression, but against the politicians who would enslave us in debt, welfare, and the never ending “war”.

Argh!

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RANT: Guess the “war” isn’t over

Sunday, December 6, 2009

http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-happened-on-flight-297.html

Friday, December 04, 2009
What Happened on Flight 297

*** begin quote ***

If you were really paying attention, you might have heard about AirTran Flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston, which was delayed on 18 November. According to the “official” version, (reported by Houston’s KHOU-TV, Fox News and other outlets), a male passenger refused to end his cell phone call, forcing the crew to return to the gate.

Since then, a far different version of events has emerged. Based on reports from other passengers, that “phone call” looks more like a terrorist dry run.

*** end quote ***

Interesting. Too bad we don’t have a “free press” in the USA any more. Getting some facts would be nice!

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RANT: THe gooferment creating jobs? Yeah, right!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2009/12/04/how-to-create-real-jobs-mr-president/comment-page-1/#comment-119216

How To Create Real Jobs, Mr. President
Posted in December 4th, 2009

*** begin quote ***

I hear some of the folks in Washington were talking about creating jobs and it just made me cringe. Obviously, out here in the private sector one does not “create” a job. We create businesses that solve problems. Some of those businesses require people to run them, service accounts, and build stuff. While there are businesses that don’t require many workers, that’s still OK, because the person who figured out how to do more with fewer employees goes out and buys a new flat screen TV, new garage doors, and upgrades the furnace. Since I wasn’t invited to the White House jobs summit, I thought I would mail in a few of my suggestions:

*** end quote ***

Dear WWDS:

Don’t quit your day job. :-) Not that ANY politician would follow anyone’s advice. But it can only be hoped they might accidently listen.

Cut the spending. Cut the size of gooferment. Cut the people free to create.

Note: Since the gooferment has several ways to tax people (i.e., direct unavoidable taxes like sales taxes, indirect yet avoidable taxes like income taxes, inflation to steal value from your wallet, debt which binds the current and future taxpayers, regulation that has fees, and direct theft by seizure.

On “corporate taxation”, I have yet to see ANY corporation “pay” taxes. By tax, I mean ANY collection from the company to the government regardless of label. They are just pass-along fictions to move along hidden taxation onto the backs of the people. And those sheeple are too stupid to realize.

Note: Impose a tax on a corporation and it passes it along. If the marketplace won’t pay the increase, corporation folds. So a “corporate tax” is just a hidden tax on real people. Only real people pay taxes.

If we truly want to “create jobs”, we must starve the pig that the gooferment has become.

A limit must be placed on the sources the gooferment uses to fund itself. Borrowing is the place to start. Don’t let them raise the debt ceiling. In fact, we should keep dropping the debt ceiling.

Then, we should eliminate the corporate “taxes”.

Yes, I said eliminate the corporate “taxes”!

Note: How fast would the corporate headquarters be coming back here?

Don’t forget, A corporate tax is any money that the government taxes from a company. So “fees” would be zero.

Repeal the income tax. Repeal.

Then and only then, will we truly be free.

All taxes, and other sources of funding, for the gooferment would be OBVIOUS!

ONLY REAL PEOPLE PAY TAXES.

Of course, the political class isn’t going to do this because then it would be OBVIOUS that the sheeple were being shorn.

Baahhh! Baahhh! Baahhh!

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RANT: The paranoia in all of us

Sunday, November 29, 2009

http://www.michaelshermer.com/2009/09/paranoia-strikes-deep/

Paranoia Strikes Deep
published September 2009
Why people believe in conspiracies
Michael Shermer

*** begin quote ***

Conspiracies do happen, of course. Abraham Lincoln was the victim of an assassination conspiracy, as was Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand, gunned down by the Serbian secret society called Black Hand. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a Japanese conspiracy (although some conspiracists think Franklin Roosevelt was in on it). Watergate was a conspiracy (that Richard Nixon was in on). How can we tell the difference between information and disinformation? As Kurt Cobain, the rocker star of Nirvana, once growled in his grunge lyrics shortly before his death from a self-inflicted (or was it?) gunshot to the head, “Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.”

*** end quote ***

Argh! “THEY” are out to get us. Violent people want to seize the power of the gooferment to exercise over us. If you don’t think you are “being controlled”, just try doing something the establishment (left or right) doesn’t like!

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RANT: Climate-gate is a fraud

Friday, November 27, 2009

http://www.mrc.org/bozellcolumns/columns/2009/20091125064520.aspx

When the Press Favors Secrecy
The New York Times has no trouble reproducing damaging documents not meant for the public eye when the subject is national security — but not when the documents embarrass the “scientific experts” used to scare people about global warming.
By: L. Brent Bozell
November 24, 2009 10:39 ET

*** begin quote ***

The e-mails prove just how dishonest this left-wing global warming agenda truly is. And now suddenly, the New York Times has found religion, and won’t publish these private e-mails. Environmental reporter Andrew Revkin, who’s more global warming lobbyist than reporter, quoted – sparsely – from the e-mails, but declared he would not post these texts on his “Dot Earth” blog on the Times website: “The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won’t be posted here.” That rule didn’t apply to things like the disclosure of the SWIFT global bank monitoring program against terrorists.

*** end quote ***

Climate-gate proves that the issue is a fraud and the “scientists” can be trusted.

DIsgraceful! Guess they’l get a Nobel Prize for Science now.

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