RANT: The State of the Union is propaganda

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The State of the Union is propaganda.

The President panders to the left; the response panders to the right.

Proposing more taxes and more spending is a loser. With the R’s in control of the House, I’d be ASTONISHED if any new or increase in taxes passes.

In actuality, the deficit and the debt as a percentage of GDP has improved slightly. No thanks to anything the Gooferment, politicians, or bureaucrats did.

Argh!

The “unemployment rate” as pushed by the elite and the lapdog media is a joke. Look at the participation rate. Look at the disability rolls. Shadow Stats says that U6 is 23%. That’s one out of four territory. Black youth unemployment is 50%.

Time for some changes in the District of Corruption and it’s not increasing taxes!

Argh!

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RANT: Jane Fonda unrepentant hence unforgivable

Monday, January 19, 2015

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/01/18/jane-fonda-draws-protesters-at-maryland-appearance/

Jane Fonda draws protesters at Maryland appearance
Published January 18, 2015Associated Press

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As well she should. Unrepentant hence unforgivable.

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RANT: ShadowStats says 23% unemployment rate

Thursday, January 15, 2015

http://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/01/paul-craig-roberts/real-unemployment-is-23/

John Williams (shadowstats.com) on the December Payroll Jobs Report and Unemployment Rate
By Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
January 13, 2015

*** begin quote ***

When the headline unemployed [U.3 measure] become “discouraged,” they are rolled over from U.3 to U.6.  As the short-term discouraged workers roll over into long-term discouraged status, they move into the ShadowStats measure, where they remain.  Aside from attrition, they are not defined out of existence for political convenience, hence the longer-term divergence between the various unemployment rates.  Further detail is discussed in the Reporting Detail section.  The resulting difference here is between a headline December 2014 unemployment rates of 5.6% (U.3) and 23.0% (ShadowStats). [The U.6 unemployment rate containing the short-term discouraged workers is 11.2%.]

*** end quote ***

Why would anyone believe anything the Gooferment says?

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RANT: Blood Center of New Jersey shuts down

Monday, January 5, 2015

December 15, 2014

Dear Valued Donor:

I am writing to let you know about important news affecting the Blood Center of New Jersey (BCNJ). As you may know, the blood center has experienced significant financial difficulties over the past several years. To better serve the community, the Board of Trustees has taken steps to transition our operations to Community Blood Services (CBS), one of the oldest and largest New Jersey-based blood centers.

There are some legal processes to complete before the transition is completed, but BCNJ and CBS are working together to ensure that the transfer of operations occurs with minimal inconvenience to our donors and customers. We expect to know more in the next several weeks but until then, our blood centers are open and we and CBS are conducting blood drives throughout the area.

I urge you to continue to donate blood and to encourage friends and family to join you to assure a strong blood supply for the holidays. We will keep you posted on our news and hope to see you on a drive soon.

Sincerely,

BLOOD CENTER OF NEW JERSEY

Thomas R. Koester
Chief Financial Officer

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Argh! No wonder my platelet donations have been screwed up. 

I’ve rescheduled with ARC.

Argh!

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RANT: Christmas is about life

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

http://www.wsj.com/articles/seventy-years-on-an-executed-boy-is-cleared-of-murder-charges-1418876410

Seventy Years On, an Executed Boy Is Cleared of Murder Charges
George Stinney, a Black 14-Year-Old, Was Sent to the Electric Chair for Killing Two White Girls
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBIA, South Carolina—More than 70 years after South Carolina sent a 14-year-old black boy to the electric chair in the killings of two white girls in a segregated mill town, a judge threw out the conviction, saying the state committed a great injustice.

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Once again, we have another glaring example about the death penalty.

There’s no such thing as a “reversible error”.

Humans make mistakes. Humans are corrupt. Humans are stupid.

SO why would we EVER think that our “system of injustice” would not be flawed?

Project Innocence only looks into cases where the prisoner is alive and look how many errors they find!

Argh!

Merry Christmas.

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RANT: FDA has several negative effects

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

http://keywestlou.com/tonight-the-pope-president-of-france-and-chernobyl/#comment-232310

TONIGHT THE POPE, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE AND CHERNOBYL
Posted on December 9, 2014 by keywestlou

*** begin quote ***

I have to vent. Price of prescription drugs again. I had to pick up a 30 day supply of the blood thinner prescribed for me. $121. And I have one of the best AARP supplemental drug programs!

There is no generic. The blood thinner came out in 2009.

It is the donut again. You who are over 65 will especially understand. I have been in the donut since June. I telephoned the insurance company last month. They said I could get out of the donut if I paid $4,000 odd dollars.

The drug companies and insurance companies continue to rip us off. Neither Obamacare nor anything else helps. The drug companies have continued to receive basically a free ride under Obama.

 *** end quote ***

>The drug companies and insurance companies continue to rip us off. 

You’re pointing at the wrong villain. It’s the Gooferment that allows Crony Capitalists to be protected from a true free market. AND, its FDA has several negative effects: (1) it raises the cost of getting a drug “approved”; (2) it adds decades to getting a drug to market; (3) it regularly denies approvals because it’s politically safer; and (4) it ignores that there are natural remedies and lifestyle changes that are more effective than drugs — but no one makes a profit on those.

>Neither Obamacare nor anything else helps. 

Obamacare was written by the insurance companies. You expect that to change anything?
Medicare was camel’s nose of getting the Gooferment into healthcare. 
And, it’s been more and more intrusive ever since. 

We need Separation of Medicine and State!

>The drug companies have continued to receive basically a free ride under Obama.

Not just a free ride. They’ve actually INCREASED their political influence to Society’s detriment.

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL News Alert

FDA Advisers’ Financial Ties Not DisclosedThe Food and Drug Administration hasn’t disclosed numerous financial ties between medical-device makers and the doctors and other experts who review devices for the FDA, a Wall Street Journal analysis of corporate, state and federal data shows.

In panels evaluating devices involved in cardiology, orthopedics and gynecology from 2012 through 2014, a third of 122 members had received compensation–such as money, research grants or travel and food–from medical-device companies.

Nearly 10% of the FDA advisers received something of value from the specific company whose product they were evaluating.

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RANT: KMA Charles Barkley Critics

Sunday, December 14, 2014

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/12/212901-charles-barkley-race-critics/?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1780&listID=

‘Kiss My Ass’: Charles Barkley Responds to Critics
Who Didn’t Like How He Blasted Ferguson Thugs & Looters

BY SHAWN BEVANS 

*** begin quote ***

Charles Barkley is no stranger to controversy, especially as of late when the NBA Hall of Famer voiced his opinions to CNN on a variety of tumultuous topics such as Ferguson, Eric Garner and the general relationship between police and the black community.

*** end quote ***

He’s move up in my view. 

Call ‘em as you see ‘em!

I like his Grandmother too.

And, he’s honest about it’s sad. I’m a pro-lifer.

But we have to be honest about the facts.

“You’re entitled to your own opinion but you’re not entitled to your own facts.” —Daniel Patrick Moynihan 

Argh!

Kudos to Mister Charles.

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RANT: “Drunk” driving

Saturday, December 6, 2014

https://local.nixle.com/alert/5313506/?sub_id=241886

South Brunswick Twp Police Department
Thursday December 4th, 2014 :: 09:43 a.m. EST

Advisory: “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” statewide campaign. Beginning December 5th continuing through January 2nd

Dear Nixle User,

South Brunswick Police Department will be cracking down on drunk drivers as part of the annual holiday season “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” statewide campaign. Beginning December 5, 2014 and continuing through January 2, 2015, local and state law enforcement officials will conduct saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints looking for motorists who may be driving while intoxicated.

The national “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” effort seeks to raise awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving through a combination of high-visibility enforcement and public education. “We want the holiday season to be a safe and happy time of year. The holiday season has an increased potential for impaired drivers with holiday parties and events being held. We typically see a 10 percent increase in impaired drivers this time of year. We hope the increased police presence will serve as deterrence to anyone thinking of drinking and driving,” said Chief Raymond Hayducka. He added, “In South Brunswick there has been nearly a 40 percent decrease in impaired drivers involved in motor vehicle crashes with injury this year. This latest effort looks to continue the decrease.”

Last year, 22% of all motor vehicle fatalities in New Jersey were alcohol-related. Nationally, more than 10,000 people die each year in drunken driving crashes. The societal cost associated with drunken driving crashes is estimated to be $37 billion annually.

Law enforcement agencies participating in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over 2014 Year End Holiday Crackdown offer the following advice for holiday season

  • Take mass transit, a taxicab, or ask a sober friend to drive you home.
  • Spend the night where the activity or party is held.
  • If you see an impaired driver on the road, contact law enforcement. Your actions may save someone’s life, and inaction could cost a life. 
  • Always buckle-up, every ride. It’s your best defense against an impaired driver.
  • If you are intoxicated and traveling on foot, the safest way to get home is to take a cab or have a sober friend or family member drive or escort you to your doorstep.
  • Be responsible. If someone you know is drinking, do not let that person get behind the wheel.

Contact Information:
Lieutenant James Ryan
732-329-4646
jryan@sbtnj.net

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OK. Time for my pet peeve.

If this was so dangerous, I would not have survived my high school and college years.

As a little L libertarian, if the driver causes: an accident (not just involved in on), damage, injury, or Heaven Forbid kills someone, then they deserve to “get the book thrown at them“.

In the case of damage or injury, restitution. 

In the case of a death, clearly that can’t be “restored”.

AND, clearly, if this is a subsequent conviction, then clearly drastic measures have to be take to protect society,

ALL THAT BEING SAID!

* Random checkpoints are unreasonable search and seizure.

* Lowering the settings is also unreasonable.

* Driving infractions while under the influence are “driving infractions”.

This goes along with my laissez faire attitude. “No victim; no crime”.

Unfortunately, of the three DUI arrests that I am familiar with this year, all three were bogus.

In one the car was parked. Another the driver was stopped on the side of the road, lost, and trying to read a map. The third, the driver fell asleep at a stop light.

Where is the victim?

And, what about the police causing fatalities under the influence and getting off?

Double standard.

We know it’s all about money.

Argh!

It has nothing to do with safety.

Look at the stories of repeat offenders with 10 convictions or more. There’s the problem!

Argh!

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RANT: “Rent Control” is the Gooferment using force and fraud on the Free Market

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

https://www.quora.com/Real-Estate-in-New-York-City/Without-rent-control-would-anyone-outside-of-the-top-1-be-left-in-Manhattan

Real Estate in New York City: Without rent control, would anyone outside of the top 1% be left in Manhattan?

Trey Clark
Trey Clark, Founder, http://www.RealtyShares.com

Rent Control actually increases market rents by removing at-market rental stock from a given city/area.

I live in San Francisco, where roughly 80% of the rental units are subject to rent control. Rents here have spiked approximately 15% in the last 18 months.

Here’s the dynamic: people with below market rents stay in those apartments, because they don’t want to pay market rates. Thus those units tend to stay out off the market. When demand increases, as has happened here in the last 18 months due to increased start-up hiring, there is a reduced inventory of units to absorb that demand. Market rents spike.

The same holds for Manhattan, though I’m not sure as large a share of the apartment stock is rent controlled/regulated. If rent control was removed, market rents would drop, though average rent paid would likely go up (no more renters paying below rents far below market).

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Like most Gooferment actions, it has intended and Unintended Consequences!

The use of force or fraud is always immoral, as well as ineffective and inefficient.

It enriches the politicians and bureaucrats who can extract “tribute” and must be “kowtowed” to. Graft, kickbacks, corruption, bribery, and extortion are all the direct observable effects of “rent control”!

It’s ineffective because it actually raises the rents that poor people must pay. 

It’s inefficient because it incentivizes the wrong behavior. Old pensioners “lock up” large apartments that they don’t “need” and have to heat ’n’ cool the larger space 

Anytime the Gooferment institutes “price controls”, the Free Market is distorted. 

The Free Market’s “invisible hand” allows the maximum happiness and minimum unhappiness without the use of force or fraud. 

The Free Market allows peaceful exchanges that benefit everyone.

Argh!

Seems so simple.

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RANT: Monsanto’s Roundup Pesticide is expsed

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/is-monsantos-roundup-pesticide-glyphosate-safe/

Transcript: Is Monsanto’s Roundup Pesticide Glyphosate Safe?
Michael Greger M.D.

*** begin quote ***

Similar results were found for other major pesticides. It took until 2014, but 8 out of 9 pesticide formulations tested were up to one thousand times more toxic than their so-called active ingredients, so when you just test the isolated chemicals you may not get the whole story. Roundup was found to be 100 times more toxic than glyphosate itself. Moreover, Roundup turned out to be among the most toxic pesticide they tested. It’s commonly believed that Roundup is among the safest, though, an idea spread by Monsanto, the manufacturer. However, this inconsistency between scientific fact and industrial claim may be attributed to the huge economic interests involved.

*** end quote ***

I sense that Crony Capitalists are manipulating the Gooferment’s regulations.

I’m shocked!

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault in Casablanca

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