Today’s must read: Economic Stagnation Explained, at 30,000 Feet
The man in the aisle seat is trying to tell me why he refuses to hire anybody. His business is successful, he says, as the 737 cruises smoothly eastward. Demand for his product is up. But he still won’t hire.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know how much it will cost,” he explains. “How can I hire new workers today, when I don’t know how much they will cost me tomorrow?”
He’s referring not to wages, but to regulation: He has no way of telling what new rules will go into effect when. His business, although it covers several states, operates on low margins. He can’t afford to take the chance of losing what little profit there is to the next round of regulatory changes. And so he’s hiring nobody until he has some certainty about cost.
Japan and the softly glowing world…
- BBC
- NHK in English(Live feed in upper right corner)
- Telegraph of London
- Kyodo Wire
- Japan Times
- Asahi Shimbun
- The Daily Yomuri
- Japan Today
- ImTranslator – Online Translator, Dictionary, TTS add on for Firefox (It comes in handy)
- Japanese government list of nationwide radioactivity concentration
- Japan Geigermap
- Ibaraki Prefecture Geiger Counter Readings
- US National Radiation Map (updated every minute)
- Via Soylent Green: Radiation Exposure in Daily Life
- Radiation Dose Chart
- Radiation Converter
- ZeroHedge commenter Max2205′s excellent post about radioactivity including a list of radioactive elements and their half lives.
- Donations to the American Red Cross that are being designated to Japanese Earthquake relief are already getting to the folks in Japan and are most helpful.
Typhoon Songda strengthens, and as luck would have it – heads straight for Fukushima
Fukushima reactors will be releasing radioactive steam for a year or more: US nuclear official
Remember two months ago I posted about how the Japanese government was looking to move the capitol away from Tokyo and the Japanese elites were moving out and snapping up real estate on Hainan Island?
- If we do nothing, even Tokyo could become off limits: Japan senior politician — “The government doesn’t tell the truth”
- Ozawa: We may not be able to live in Japan someday — Radiation is going to be flowing out for a long period of time
Radioactive materials in concentration that was up to several hundreds of times the normal level were detected from the soil on the ocean floor in the 300-kilometer strip along the coast from Kesennuma City in Miyagi Prefecture to Choshi City in Chiba Prefecture.
Oh what a surprise. Who could have known?
The Ministry of Education and Science, who did the survey, even goes to contradict the oft-repeated statement by the chief cabinet secretary and says “the marine products may be affected.” Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano’s favorite refrain whenever a new leak was found at Fukushima I Nuke Plant was: “It will have no immediate effect” on health, on environment, on anything. (These days, he is busy trying to “qualify” his use of “immediate”. Quite funny if the situation is not this dire.)
No word on other nuclides like plutonium, uranium, and strontium.
Fukushima Radioactive Debris to Be Disposed of As Regular Debris
Radioactive sewage sludge sold as cement, radioactive teas sold unchecked. Now radioactive debris in the middle section of Fukushima Prefecture to be burned and buried like normal debris, because the radiation level is “low”, according to the Ministry of Environment.
The Ministry of Environment has just given an OK sign to 10 towns and villages in the middle section of Fukushima Prefecture called “Naka-dori” region to burn, bury, or recycle the debris from the disaster (earthquake/tsunami) contaminated with radioactive materials, because the air radiation levels in these cities and villages were less than that of the city in the “Aizu” region (western third of Fukushima) with the highest level of air radiation.
Hong Kong background radiation is higher than most parts of Japan
Hong Kong finds radioactive iodine in fish — Almost 2,000 miles from Fukushima
World News:
SocGen: “The China Domino Has Fallen!”, Big-Time Inflation Coming All Around The World
Chinais about the export inflation to the rest of the world in a process that will resemble the fall of three dominos, one of which is already fallen, according to Societe Generale.
In a massive report titled “The China Domino has Fallen!” Soc Gen analysts outline the three dominos of the Chinese inflation export scheme, and their current progress.
- Domestic inflation: China switch to a consumer driven economy means more domestic demand. Supply remains constant, so prices rise. This is already happening.
- China exports inflation: “This dynamic seems as inevitable as gravity itself.” Chinese demand for oil and steel has pushed prices up in those markets. Now it is effecting commodities like cotton and food products. That’s being passed on to developed markets like the U.S., and it will really hit home in 2012. This is in the process of happening.
- China demand shock: The country’s long-term economic rebalancing results in an permanent increase in global demand. Supply is sticky, and it will take time for it to catch up, thus limiting the world’s ability to cope with this rise in demand. This is starting to happen.
And while we respect SocGen’s opinion on China, most recently referenced to debunk a BCG report on imminent US-Chinese worker wage parity, in this case we wonder if SocGen has simply gotten on the boat of conventional wisdom a little too fast. What we mean is that “structural” inflation may not be all that “structural”especially if one considers a flip to a traditional Stalin saying: “no man – no problem“…. in this case “no electricity – no inflation.” Bernstein’s Michael Parker explains…
The Economic Death Spiral Has Been Triggered
For nearly 30 years we have had two Global Strategies working in a symbiotic fashion that has created a virtuous economic growth spiral. Unfortunately, the economic underpinnings were flawed and as a consequence, the virtuous cycle has ended. It is now in the process of reversing and becoming a vicious downward economic spiral.
One of the strategies is the Asian Mercantile Strategy. The other is the US Dollar Reserve Currency Strategy.
These two strategies have worked in harmony because they fed off each other, each reinforcing the other. However, today the realities of debt saturation have brought the virtuous spiral to an end.
One of the two global strategies enabled the Asian Tigers to emerge and grow to the extent that they are now the manufacturing and potentially future economic engine of the world.The other allowed the US to live far beyond its means with massive fiscal deficits, chronic trade imbalances and more recently, current account imbalances. The US during this period has gone from being the richest country on the face of the globe to the biggest debtor nation in the world.
Bottom line: China 2; US 0.
Flashback: Radicals, Terrorists And Tyrants Of The World Root For Obama
Ahmadinejad says Iranian people demand “complete elimination of Israel”
Islamic Spring, American Winter, Jewish State
Wow!… Canada Defends Israel From Obama Administration – Blocks 1967 Line From G8 Statement
Canada has left the United States in the dust on a number of fronts lately, including getting its deficit under control–hey, Canada actually has a budget!–and allowing economic growth. (Of course, Canada has an unfair advantage. There is no Democratic Party there.)
Russia joins Western chorus for Gaddafi to go
Thousands protest against Egypt’s military rulers in return to downtown Cairo’s Tahrir Square
At least eight killed in protests in Syria
Muslim terrorist group Hamas on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube
Suspected Rwanda genocide mastermind arrested
Lech knows a Commie when he sees one…
- Embarrassing snub for President Obama as Polish hero Lech Walesa skips meeting to go to a biblical festival
- Lech Walesa cold shoulders Obama: the US president is clearly no Reagan
I can see why Mr. Walesa has declined to meet with Barack Obama. The Obama administration’s approach to Poland, an important US ally, has been largely dismissive and lukewarm. In contrast to George W. Bush, who went out of his way to build friendships in eastern and central Europe, Barack Obama has paid little attention to ‘New Europe’, and has been far more interested in appeasing the Russians and “resetting” relations with Moscow.
President Obama famously threw the Poles under the bus when he announced that the United States would not proceed with Third Site Missile defences planned for Poland and the Czech Republic, and has largely treated the Poles as an afterthought in his drive to improve ties with the Kremlin and secure the New START Treaty. Obama has at times demonstrated extremely poor judgment when it comes to US-Polish relations, even playing golf during the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady, and 94 senior officials who perished in the Smolensk air disaster. The US president was unable to travel to Krakow for the funeral due to the grounding of flights over Europe at the time following the volcanic eruptions in Iceland, but he could at least have acted with dignity and respect at such as sensitive moment
YIKES! $2,000 for a dress that looked like it was made out of upholstery material? The pauper’s princess
As newly minted princess Kate Middleton greeted Michelle Obama in the ornate surroundings of Buckingham Palace Tuesday, it was hard to believe she was wearing a $340 dress from British retailer Reiss — a frock any commoner could buy.
*snip*
While Michelle Obama has also been applauded for wearing clothes from affordable stores such as J.Crew and H&M, she also favors big-name designers such as Jason Wu and Isabel Toledo. The floral Barbara Tfank dress she wore to meet Middleton this week cost at least $2,000.
EU lacks long-term plan to safeguard Schengen Treaty
The Schengen Treaty provides one of the most beloved benefits of the European Union, allowing both Europeans and visitors to travel between 25 countries without stopping at passport control. Now it is under threat from within its own borders.
What began as a tense battle between Italy and France after Italian authorities gave Tunisian migrants papers that allowed them to travel within the Schengen area, has become a full-blown crisis and has spread, as more member states share wide-ranging concerns about who can enter their territory. It has revealed serious weaknesses in one of the pillars of the EU’s identity ― trust between neighbors.
Shades of Franco…The Pain In Spain Comes Mainly In The Form Of A Police Baton
Jamon y Baton: Extended Photogallery From A Violent Barcelona
Looking at these pictures from Barcelona one would think this is Tunisia, Cairo, or at best, Athens. Instead, it is from the once incomparably wealthy capital of Catalunia (although they did have Olympics there: an event guaranteed to result in at least one municipal bankruptcy at some point in the future), and before the Barcelona-Man United game. One can only imagine what happens if Barcelona wins (or is that loses).
Air France crash sparks pilot mystery
US News:
Hail the size of canned Hams in Oklahoma!
132 Confirmed Dead in Joplin – 156 Still Missing
Sad News… Joplin Teen Who Was Sucked Out of Sunroof After Graduation Is Found Dead
15 Photos from the Joplin, Missouri Tragedy: Utter Devastation
Lee writes, “The President phoned in his concern between rounds of Guiness in Ireland and botched toasts to the Queen. Photos of the home front attached.”
Interactive map of Tornado activity 1950-2011
Rhymes with ditch… Claire McCaskill (D-MO) politicizes Joplin, Missouri disaster.
So, contrary to Senator McCaskill’s claims, a funding shell game is not being played. Money is being directed to help Americans who are in the most dire need, as it should be.
In fact, legislation passed out of committee the day before by cutting unspent money, something Senator McCaskill should be proud of if she was a real fiscal conservative. However, as most Missourians know, she is not.
The truth is, FEMA funding will pass unless Democrats in the Senate try to kill any such legislation by demanding the unspent DOE money be restored. After all, there is a need to continue the narrative that Republicans are all heartless meanies, right?
Less banger for your buck: The Memorial Day BBQ will cost you 29% more this year thanks to inflation
Gas tanks are draining family budgets
Heritage busts Obama gas price myths
As Americans across the country gas up their cars for their Memorial Day getaways this year, their wallets will take a bigger-than-usual hit. That’s because gas prices are up $1.06 from last year according to a study by AAA. In fact prices have more than doubled since President Obama took office. And while the media has been slow to demand answers of the President, he has been busy trying to deflect attention away from his incoherent energy policy with a number of gas price-related myths. From overstating the impact of green energy to downplaying the devastating impact of his drilling moratorium, the President should spend less time trying to deflect criticism and more time working to ease pain at the pump.
There’s a Reason Why it’s called the Forgotten Man
Asked about the fate of the economic “recovery”, which incidentally is nothing more than a $2 trillion dollar dilution-funded blip on the depressionary downtrend commenced in December 2007, Greg Peters, the head of fixed income research, at Morgan Stanley, the firm whose other fixed income strategist Jim Caron will now have been proven wrong three years in a row following his annual broadly bullish call for a jump in rates (not based on bearish considerations such as those postulated by Bill Gross… bullish), tells Tom Keene that the recovery is “Too Young To Die.” Yep. That’s the justification. Alas there was no mention that the 98 year old ponzi scheme perpetrated by the Fed since 1913 is now “Too Obvious To All.” And when that fails, many of the same people who get paid huge sums of recycled taxpayer money to come up with catchy four word slogans while spouting flawed economic projections will suddenly find themselves “Too Pitchforked To Fly Away (To Non Extradition Countries)”
Exactly what bold steps for peace have the Palestinians taken? Israel made three radically conciliatory offers to establish a Palestinian state, withdrew from Gaza and has been trying to renew negotiations for more than two years. Meanwhile, the Gaza Palestinians have been firing rockets at Israeli towns and villages. And on the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas turns down then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s offer, walks out of negotiations with Binyamin Netanyahu and now defies the United States by seeking not peace talks but instant statehood — without peace, without recognizing Israel — at the United Nations. And to make unmistakable this spurning of any peace process, Abbas agrees to join the openly genocidal Hamas in a unity government, which even Obama acknowledges makes negotiations impossible.
Obama’s response to this relentless Palestinian intransigence? To reward it — by abandoning the Bush assurances, legitimizing the ’67 borders and refusing to reaffirm America’s rejection of the right of return.
The only remaining question is whether this perverse and ultimately self-defeating policy is born of genuine antipathy toward Israel or of the arrogance of a blundering amateur who refuses to see that he is undermining not just peace but the very possibility of negotiations.
President Obama has a problem. No, not thatone, although surely the economy isn’t doing his popularity any favors right now. When a President loses control of Congress midstream, typically he turns to foreign policy — where the President’s import can’t be understated — to gin up his numbers.
Let’s take a look around the world and see how that’s going for Obama, shall we?
DNC Leaders to GOP: Shut Up and Let Obama Hand Holy Land to Hamas-Fatah Alliance
I warned people back in 2008 that if Obama was elected he would make Jimmeh Carter look like a rocket scientist and Richard Nixon look like a paragon of virtue and I was right! A 62% Top Tax Rate? P.S. Obama still thinks it is 2008…
Your tax dollars at work-funding Islamofascism…Obama Approves $20 Billion In Assistance for Egypt & Tunisia
Poll: Majority support a balanced budget amendment
Historical footnote-Roosevelt had to hustle back from the Tehran conference during WWII so he could sign a bill into law…Rep. Graves questions Obama’s autopen signing of Patriot Act extension
Obama signed the bill into law late Thursday night. The autopen was used because the president was in France, meeting with G8 leaders, and the bill’s provisions expired at midnight. Graves cited Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution, which says that the president must sign a bill to approve it into law.
“Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it,” the article reads.
No word yet on whether or not the autopen accidentally dated its signature 2008.
It’s possible that eventually TOTUS and the autopen will become completely self-aware, but I won’t assume that would be a bad thing. Maybe they’d sign a repeal of the health care law — you never know.
Forget the spin. Taxpayers still on the hook for auto bailouts
Health care SO GOOD that those who pushed the hardest for it want out of it! Unions Are Major Recipients of Obama Health Care Waivers
Democrats Plan: Destroy U.S. Healthcare So They Can Re-Build it in Socialist Image
Obama and his Democrat pals have been lying to you, America. They do not want to find a cure for America’s obviously ailing healthcare system. They want to erect its headstone. Democrats want to destroy every aspect of our healthcare system. They have to, you see, because if they don’t they cannot rebuild it to operate under a socialist model. More proof of that was highlighted by Conn Carroll earlier in the week at the Washington Examiner.
Carroll rightly points out that Obamacare is purposefully designed to collapse Medicare and to run 25% of all hospitals out of business. Sure this will hurt — even kill — thousands of America’s most vulnerable citizens, but, heck, you have to break a few citizen eggs to create the ideal, socialist omelet, don’t you know?
Seniors are very misinformed. Intentionally, of course. AARP (a partner of the DNC) and the MBM (a juniorpartner of the DNC) are telling them that Paul Ryan’s plan is a threat, and represents cuts in service.
What they are vigorously suppressing with all their might is that Barack Obama already cut trillions from Medicare and, through the Medicare rationing board, has proposed cutting trillions more, in a move he calls “reform” but everyone else knows as simple rationing.
And they’re suppressing the fact that the current “plan” for Medicare is for it to go bankrupt in 8 years or so, with seniors facing automatic across-the-board reductions in what Medicare pays their hospitals and doctors. And there is no law that says a doctor or hospital has to accept very-below-market rates of compensation.
They can turn away your business, and dump you off to the sort of doctor who is willing to take small money as payment. They’re already doing that now, and they’re going to be doing even more of that in the next few years.
The worst seniors-benefits cutter is ObamaCare, which slashed trillions to make room for new Medicaid enrollees. And then on top of that Obama proposed further trillions in cuts as his big idea for balancing the budget. Well, not balancing it, but lying about doing so.
Barney Frank’s Friends with Benefits; Update: New Fannie/Freddie lavish comp figures
Homeland Security Wants Mozilla to Pull “Domain Seizure” Add-On
Homeland Security’s ICE unit is not happy with a Firefox add-on that allows the public to circumvent the domains seizures carried out during the past several months. In an attempt to correct this ‘vulnerability’ in their anti-piracy strategy, ICE have asked Mozilla to pull the add-on from their site. Unfortunately for them Mozilla denied the request, arguing that this type of censorship may threaten the open Internet.
DOJ’s lies about immigration cases
The Justice Department has been deceiving us for years. A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies details the fundamental dishonesty of DOJ’s annual reports on immigration courts.
Immigration cases are handled by an administrative immigration court system, not life-tenured judges in the judicial branch. As Justice Department employees, the administrative judges have very limited authority. For example, they have no power to enforce their own deportation orders.
Enforcement is left to the Department of Homeland Security. And, as documented in the CIS report by former immigration Judge Mark Metcalf, DHS almost always opts not to enforce.
Combing through reams of data, Metcalf found there are more than 1.1 million unenforced deportation orders, an 84 percent increase since 2002. Even if an immigration judge rules that an alien has no right to be here, the chances that alien will actually be deported are almost nil.
Bill Would Keep Big Brother’s Mitts Off Your GPS Data
TSA Harasses Two Texas Wounded Veterans at Airport with War Shrapnel in their Bodies
TSA agents harassed two Texas Wounded Veterans trying to get on a plane. Where were these two wounded warriors going? They were going to a ceremony to honor them for their courageous service in defending America. One of the wounded warriors, a friend of mine who personally told me what happened, has bullet fragments in his leg. The other wounded warrior has shrapnel in his face.
The TSA agents cornered them and bombarded them with repeated questions like, “What are you hiding in your face?” The agents did not give the wounded warriors time to explain anything and went straight into accusing them of “hiding” something in their bodies. Yeah, they are hiding something alright. They have metal in their bodies from war! My friend told me that one TSA agent came up to him and asked what he was hiding in his leg, but before my friend could answer he said that the TSA agent grabbed him, without notice, right in the crotch area as if trying to find something hidden. My friend has served many tours of duty, and I believe him when he tells me that it took everything in him not to react defensively when this agent grabbed his crotch without even letting him know he was going to be pat searched.
Utah is following Texas lead, vets there can expect to be groped by the TSA thugs…Wimmer wants to stop TSA searches
“It is a work in progress,” Wimmer said. “What it would do right now is simply say TSA agents are not exempt from the requirement of reasonable suspicion or probable cause to pat down a citizen.”
Wimmer’s bill initially is being modeled after a bill that was being considered in the Texas Legislature, House Bill 1937. That bill states it would be an offense to search a person without probable cause and if the person performing the search touches the sexual organs of the other person receiving the search.
The bill caused some controversy in Texas, as a U.S. attorney from San Antonio reportedly sent a letter to Texas lawmakers claiming the state had no authority to regulate federal agents and employees. The letter went on to say the federal government would seek to block the law if passed and that TSA would likely shut down any flight or series of flights for which it could not ensure the safety of the passengers and crew.
The bill passed the House of Representatives in the Lone Star State but appears to have died on its Senate floor
Obama Crackdown on For-Profit Colleges Faces Stiff Resistance
President Obama and his education secretary are facing a bipartisan revolt from almost 300 lawmakers, an inspector general’s investigation and several lawsuits over a proposed crackdown on for-profit colleges, which train people for jobs ranging from plumbers to computer technicians.
“Can you think of any other issue that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the current Speaker John Boehner agree on?” asked Lanny Davis, a former legal counsel to President Clinton. “The policy is so wrongheaded that it brings liberals and conservatives together.”
This is a good part of the reason why you have the MSM and people like DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz running around in full blown “monkey flinging its own poo” mode. They have finally figured out that tossing The Race Card™ at everyone who dares not goosestep in line with them ain’t working so they are desperate to find something that will stick. Of course old habits are hard to break, especially with the Democrats and the MSM, so you can expect to keep on seeing The Race Card™ being used…The R-Word
In this exchange, Clyburn says nothing about race. The reporter could counter that the congressman’s meaning was clear to him, and it might well have been. But if Clyburn was making an accusation of racism–or, to avoid the “lethal word,” of racial animus or prejudice–he was doing so in code.
And that’s what makes this kerfuffle interesting. Earlier this month we notedthat The New Yorker’s David Remnick, while expressly accusing Donald Trump of “race-baiting” and “hatemongering” when he was birtherizing, felt obliged in an NPR interview to say: “Really, I’m not in the habit of screaming racist at every turn.”
Just as racism and the expression of racially prejudiced sentiments have become taboo, the word “racism” and the imputation to others of racially prejudiced sentiments are becoming taboo. As “The Daily Show” reported in August: “The race card’s maxed out.” Electing a black president really has made a difference.
Why the white working class is the most alienated and pessimistic group in American society.
Interview with House Speaker John Boehner (Part 1)
He is blunt about the president’s conduct toward Israel. “It is part of what they’ve done for the last two and a half years — throw allies under the bus in an effort to reach out to people who hate us.”
LOLOLOLOLOL! WARNING: Do not drink coffee while reading this or you may be out a keyboard…Joe Biden and Bud Light presents: teh bestest president EVAR!
But wait, there’s more!
Biden told New Hampshire Democrats, calling the Bin Laden operation “the boldest decision … any president has undertaken on a single event in modern history.”
Yes… An operation that’s been going on for ten years searching for our greatest enemy, (kind of a no-brainer that) and they finally find the guy, and Leon Friggin’ Paneta and Hillary Friggin’ Clinton still had to coerce the president into finally, finally, finally letting the Navy SEALs do their job (that they would do gloriously the split second you let those bad ass killers off the leash anyway) …
BOLDEST DECISION EVAR! IN MODERN HISTORYS!
Cuban Missile Crisis? Yeah, Threat Level DEFCON Kiss Your Ass Goodbye, standing on the brink of nuclear annihilation against an enemy prepared to burn the world to see who’d blink first? NOTHING COMPARED TO OBAMA! Go eat your “chowdah”, Kennedy. The only reason you got to bang Marilyn Monroe was because Obama wasn’t legal yet, so she had to settle!
Another howler from “Plugs” Biden! ‘We brought the U.S. auto industry back from the brink of extinction,’ brags Biden
Speaking of howlers…DNC Chair: If it Were Up to the GOPers, We’d All Be Driving Foreign Cars (Guess What She Drives)
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chairwoman of the DNC, ripped into Republican presidential contenders who opposed President Obama’s 2009 bailouts for General Motors and Chrysler.
“If it were up to the candidates for president on the Republican side, we would be driving foreign cars; they would have let the auto industry in America go down the tubes,” she said at a breakfast for reporters organized by The Christian Science Monitor.
But according to Florida motor vehicle records, the Wasserman Schultz household owns a 2010 Infiniti FX35, a Japanese car whose parent company is Nissan, another Japanese company…
The Best DNC Chair the GOP Ever Had
“What about Joe Biden?” you ask. “What is he, chopped liver?” I don’t want to sell Crazy Joe short, but he’ll never do the kind of damage Debbie Wasserman-Schultz does. He has a kind of lovable goofiness that will only become terrifying if President Obama’s health takes a turn for the worse. By contrast, Wasserman-Schultz is a nasty piece of work, as vicious as she is dense. That makes her a gift from heaven for the Republicans.
I don’t think it is the ‘spotlight’ that is taking the toll….Spotlight takes toll on first lady’s staff
Mr. President, Was This Book Really Necessary?
The war that dares not speak its name…US and Lybia:
*crickets*
Flashback: Obama: U.S. Involvement in Libya Action Would Last ‘Days, Not Weeks’
Never Saw This Coming: Goals Shift In Libya Kinetic Operation
It all begs the question, who blinks first: NATO or Qadaffi? Will we see Leftists out marching in the streets against this illegal war for oil? So far, haven’t really happened, much like the Leftists opposition to Iraq and Afghanistan has dried up. I suppose it makes a difference depending on whether someone has an R or D alongside of their names.
*crickets*
Look for the Union Label/Whackademia:
If they were Catholic priests it would be 24/7 howling out of the US MSM about this, seeing as they are lefty ‘educators’ you don’t hear a peep…Sex education: Why ARE so many female teachers having affairs with their teenage students… and is the ‘cougar effect’ to blame?
Bad news for unions, wackademics the LLP’s in general…School Choice Is the New Normal
As Heritage education policy analyst Lindsey Burke writes:
Indeed, this is the new normal: we are now taken aback by the states that haven’t implemented some sort of school choice option for families, whether its tuition tax credits, vouchers or online learning.
And with every state vying to outpace the next in providing educational opportunities for children, it’s hard to keep up with the proliferation of opportunities.
And yet, education special interest groups – teachers’ unions – are dead set against such options for children and the state as a whole. They consistently lobby to stop the school choice movement in its tracks, because they know it poses a threat to their power. But the union stranglehold over education is beginning to crumble – thanks to efforts in Wisconsin and elsewhere – and policies that are in the best interests of children – not adults – are being pursued.
Video: How Democrat Michelle Rhee Went From School Voucher Opponent to Advocate
Michelle Rhee used to oversee DC public schools, which are the worst performing schools in the nation after our own DPS. She is now a firm advocate for vouchers to let trapped children out of the failed government monopolies that are shackling minority populations to victim class status (and perpetual Democratic Party votes)
Mail carrier who defecated in yard gets to keep job
High School Bans White T-Shirts, Calls Them Racist
More moonbattery at government-run schools. Via memeorandum: Soquel High School Students Suspended for Wearing White T Shirts (They’re Signs of “White Supremacy”) It won’t surprise you that this takes place in California:
Several high school seniors wore white t shirts to their class’s group picture last Wednesday and were suspended for doing so. The reason: the school administrators suspect that white t shirts are a sign of “white supremacists.” This was a surprise to student David Mine, who is Asian. He isn’t sure how he could be a “white supremacist” because he’s not white.
In Other News…
The Jose Guerena Raid: A Demonstration of Tactical Incompetence
The Sheriff may as well have sent the Keystone Cops to raid the home. These clowns shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near weapons.
I wonder why we aren’t hearing about this on the US MSM? Could it be because Dupnik is a Democrat moonbat? I bet if this had happened in Maricopa county we would be hearing about this 24/7…Dramatic footage shows moment Iraq war vet was shot 70 times in home… as report reveals he did NOT open fire on SWAT team
People who perform acts of Marxian “atonement”feel like they have a license to steal. Everyone is doing it. And besides, they deserve it. And furthermore, ALL wealth is theft.
This attitude has corrupted both our government and our business to the point where capitalism works only by fits and startsand in the spaces between. People who believe they are in a world of thieves try to steal before they’re stolen from, to backstab before they’re stabbed in the back. And the government tries to oversee the theft in the serene belief its job is to distribute to those who have less and, of course, favor themselves and their friends, who look out for the “little people.”
Respect for private property erodes. Wealth is seen as evil and humans as drains on the system. Our finances lurch from crisis to bubble to crisis under the aegis of crony capitalism. Movies and books demonize business people and extol “selfless” bureaucrats.
Forget Ragnarok and the great battle between good and evil after the fall of the world tree. The battle is now and we’re in it.
The lesson of the previous decade seems clear: if you take a previously prosperous and creative state and subject it to high taxes and intrusive regulations, it loses 5% of its private sector jobs; if you take a previously somewhat less prosperous and creative state and govern it with low taxes and light regulation, it gains 9% more jobs, even as the nation’s economy is suffering.
I’ve explored previously this contrast between our two largest states. Here’s another set of numbers about our second and third largest states that tells a story about what has happened over a longer period of time. In 1970 New York had 18 million people. In 2010 New York had 19 million people. In 1970 Texas had 11 million people. In 2010 Texas had 25 million people.
Don’t tell me public policy doesn’t account for much of the difference.
Perry says he will consider White House run
Bachmann notes ‘calling’ to run for president
The Progressive View of Herman Cain
What I find so sad about this is that he doesn’t see that what he is saying is about race. What he is missing is the fact that the country is running out of money. So unless we start spending our money more wisely and more effectively we will be unable to help the poor. Conservatism is not about leaving the disadvantaged to fend for themselves, it is about enabling them to get to the point that they no longer need government assistance and are able to help themselves. Herman Cain would like to stop the alarming high rates of abortion in the black community. Abortion kills more blacks than gangs. Cain supports school choice in the poor performing schools, many of which are in minority communities. Giving these children a better education will greatly improve the chances of lifting themselves out of poverty. Cain’s view of homosexuality is the norm in the black community. It isn’t that Cain’s values are different from many within the black community, it is that the black community doesn’t vote its values.
Mitt Romney Still Loves His Ethanol, Especially in Iowa
Awwwww! Isn’t that nice…Mitt Romney Sends Leftover Pizza to Obama Chicago HQ
After spending the day in Chicago fundraising, Mitt Romney sat down with small business owners at Gino’s East, a pizza joint famous for their deep-dish pizza.
Not wanting any of the leftover slices to go to waste, Romney sent the remaining pies to where else but President Obama’s Chicago reelection headquarters.
Weinergate: Congressman Claims “Facebook Hacked” As Lewd Photo Hits Twitter
Weiner, who married Hillary Clinton’s longtime assistant, Huma Abedin, last year, has been Tweeting about hockey this evening. Confusion reigns online as puzzled Weiner followers wonder what occurred to Weiner’s timeline.
The photo, stored at Weiner’s alleged yfrog account, is connected to his verified Twitter account. Were his yfrog and Twitter accounts hacked as well? We checked his Facebook pages, which seemed to be unaltered.
Memo to Michigan: If you want to revive the state and stop the diaspora then quit electing Democrats and become a right to work state: Its not just Detroit…over 13% of population ABANDON parts of Michigan’s Upper peninsula
But boosters have long hoped the natural beauty that makes the U.P. a tourist haven would spark an economic renaissance, drawing throngs of retirees, telecommuters and entrepreneurs.
*snip*
About one-third of the U.P.’s workers are in the public sector — teachers, prison guards, park rangers. But government spending cuts are reducing their ranks as well.
‘It’s a downward spiral that’s probably going to continue until we find a way to stop the unemployment and get some industry strted,’ said Brian Cherry, co-director of the Center for Rural Community and Economic Development at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
The US Constitution Still Applies In Dearborn, Michigan, Even If It Offends Some
You may remember the case of the Christians who were handing out leaflets at a Dearborn Arab Festival last year. Well, the case made it to a federal appeals court and the city’s chief of police will be surprised the 1st Amendment is operative in his jurisdiction
CT: Muslim Brotherhood founded group to hold convention Memorial Day weekend
California releases 450 ‘violent and dangerous’ criminals after computer glitch sets them free
Every day and in every way, Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown is proving to be an utter disaster for the beleaguered taxpayers of California. Just a month ago, he approved a deal that will cost taxpayers dearly. And, despite evidence that some staff members help facilitate a massive smuggling operation into prisons — corrections unions are blocking all efforts to self-police.
In other news comes today’s Drudge Ku:
STATE OF THE UNION
Metal Scrappers Swipe Teen's Wheelchair...
Copper strippers possibly posing as road crews darken DC...
Iron Thieves Caught Dismantling 100 Yards Of Railroad Tracks...
ATM Serviceman Cleans Out Machines, Refills With Photocopies Of Cash...
“Every time I go to Costco, I buy more wattage,” Ms. Williams said the other day. She is as green as anybody, she added, but she can’t abide the sickly hue of a twisty compact fluorescent bulb, though she’s tried warming it up with shade liners in creams and pinks. Nor does she care for the cool blue of an LED.
It should be noted that, like most decorators, Ms. Williams is extremely precise about light. The other day, she reported, she spent six hours fine-tuning the lighting plan of a project, tweaking the mix of ambient, directional and overhead light she had designed, and returning to the house after dusk to add wattage and switch out lamps like a chef adjusting the flavors in a complicated bouillabaisse.
While standing in line at Aunt Annie’s to get some pretzels, I was showing the little guy a video from my IPad. It was the Naval Academy cadets throwing their hats in the air after graduation and the crowds of people running up to grab one as a souvenir. For some reason he found this very funny and kept asking me to play it again. I guess it started annoying the lady behind me. Actually, I think my Freedom Works T-shirt was what really annoyed her. She turned to me and said
I thought you people (much emphasis on you people) hate people living off the government. Why do you think it is ok for them to get a free education? The rest of us don’t get one.
My reply:
Lady, I have no problem giving an education to people who are going to spend a minimum of five years defending this country for a pretty paltry paycheck. There are three wars going on right now and many of those young people will be heading off to those war zones. When they entered the academy they knew that and did it anyway. Some of them will not make it home. If we are going to ask someone to stand up and defend this country the very least I can do is make sure that they are educated and trained at the highest level. Why exactly do you have a problem with giving them an education? I get this feeling that you would rather see the money go to people who will have little to no appreciation of it. Why exactly is that?
She left in a huff. So sad, too bad. I felt so much better after that. It amazes me how much better I feel when I get a chance to snark at some liberal.
MSM Circus and Celebutard Side Show:
How CBS’s 60 Minutes Works Overtime for the Obama Left
The NY Times Lied About Israeli Reaction to Netanyahu’s D.C. Adventure
If the NY Times had any interest in the truth it would have declared that Israelis saw the Netanyahu trip as a success, and as a result the Likud party grew in support. But the truth isn’t the story the progressive media wanted to convey. The Times, like most progressives wanted to brand the Netanyahu trip as an object failure for the Israeli PM, because he committed what is to them, a felony, he had dared to “school” the precious infallible President.
Know Why Obama Stammers? Cause He’s So Frikkin’ Brilliant!
But consider this: It’s not that Obama can’t speak clearly. It’s that he employs the intellectual stammer. Not to be confused with a stutter, which the president decidedly does not have, the intellectual stammer signals a brain that is moving so fast that the mouth can’t keep up. The stammer is commonly found among university professors, characters in Woody Allen movies and public thinkers of the sort that might appear on C-SPAN but not CNN. If you’re a member or a fan of that subset, chances are the president’s stammer doesn’t bother you; in fact, you might even love him for it (he sounds just like your grad school roommate, especially when he drank too much Scotch and attempted to expound on the Hegelian dialectic!).
See! It’s so easy. He’s so super-duper awesomely mega-brilliant that he can’t actualize an coherent sentence. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the ticket.
Obama’s trip overseas is a total disaster. He screwed up a toast to the Queen of England, screwed up relations with Israel, and looked like a buffoon in both instances. Which he is. The timing of his trip wasn’t so good either.
With The View covering for me, I can safely say that a perfectly reasonable nickname for the Marxist crackpot running the DNC is Debbie Wasserman-Slut — aka “The Best DNC Chair the GOP Ever Had”.
Rosie O’Donnell: Hard to Believe All These Tornadoes Aren’t Caused By Global Warming
Before considering her argument, it’s worth noting that this analysis is from the same Science Laureate who doesn’t believe fire can melt steel.
Oprah Winfrey, Champion of Present-Tense Culture
Curious though, that in 2008, she backed a president who, if you believe his rhetoric, finds that sort of business acumen anathema, and has done his best to punish business and wealth creation, both small and large. Or as Kathy Shaidle quipped when President Obama had his “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money” Kinsley-esque gaffe a year ago, “So, who wants to be the first one to tell Oprah?”
But then, once you’ve reached the top as Oprah did, why would you make it easier for the little people in your audience to get there as well? In that sense, she’s very much inline with, not just the rest of Spy magazine’s targets, but the punitive worldview of the magazine’s editors and publishers as well.
Global Warmening:
Oops. US, Russia, Japan, And Canada Nix New Climate Pledge
Separately, US President Barack Obama, at Thursday night’s G8 dinner, confirmed Washington would not join an updated Kyoto Protocol, the diplomats said.
That should piss his base off. But, how about some interesting historical rewrites?
The United States, the second largest carbon emitter, signed the Protocol in 1997 but in 2001 Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, declared he would not put it to the Senate for ratification, judging it unfair and too costly for the American economy.
No, the US didn’t. Al Gore signed it symbolically, but, as VP, that had no actual weight in law. Bill Clinton refused to sign Kyoto after the Senate voted 97-0 against it, and refused to put it up for ratification. Bush followed Clinton’s lead.
A list of scientific facts about CO2, anthropogenic global warming, and climate change showing how people are misinformed by the “official climate science” of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The claim that CO2 is causing warming/climate change is the greatest deception in history. The IPCC makes the incredible case that
…past climate changes were natural in origin (see FAQ 6.1), whereas most of the warming of the past 50 years is attributable to human activities.
This means CO2 from human activities overrode the effects of the sun, the oceans, and the atmosphere, which is scientific nonsense.
The Sock Drawer:
VLT (Very Large Telescope) HD Timelapse Footage
Aussie student finds universe’s ‘missing mass’
High suicide rates related to anti-smoking drug Chantix were ‘left out of crucial safety review’
Gun pr0n video-AA-12 Fully Automatic Shotgun
Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images
Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt.
Here’s a new cause you can, uh . . . get behind
Amazon carries everything under the sun! Even things that come from where the sun don’t shine like, for an example, these new ribbons dedicated to promoting the cause of raising “Diarrhea Awareness.” My guess is that, if you yourself are living with this challenging condition, you’re probably already well enough aware of its presence that you don’t need a ribbon to remind you of it.
