On the bright side the nest is almost done. YAY! I should’ve posted this last night but I fell asleep…
Quotes of the Day:
“The Democrats are invoking Reagan so much I’m half expecting a Senate screening of ‘Hellcats of the Navy’ before the day is out.” –Doug Powers
“Nothing sucks more than waking up after a nasty Vegas bender that would kill an elephant, only to find out you got the “Deluxe Package” marriage at the cheesy corner chapel to the ugliest, most selfish and useless jackass known to humanity who blew all your winnings … and you just don’t have a dime left for a quickie divorce. –drillanwr from Babalu Blog
“Electing leftists to high office is somewhat akin to giving a 16-year old boy a fifth of Cuervo and the keys to the Ferrari.” -Doug Ross
“We’re getting kinda used to being called names. Racists and inciters of violence, and being accused of things that we have nothing to do with. But, I suppose it is a bit more appalling to have been called acting like terrorists by he who is second in command of the most powerful office in the world. It’s quite appalling and certainly proves how out of touch this White House is when it comes to realizing what the silent majority of Americans are seeing and feeling… To being called terrorists by the Vice President is quite appalling. It’s quite vile.” -Sarah Palin
Today’s Must Reads:
- Ann Barnhardt: We The Stupid
The Obama regime is not a failure. The Obama regime is not incompetent. The Obama regime has achieved more in two and a half years than anyone could have possibly foreseen. It has debased the currency by 50% of the GDP and guaranteed that our economy will collapse. It has looted the Treasury for more than the size of a top-ten economy and embezzled that wealth into the hands of their fellow Marxists in preparation for the final collapse of the United States. It has ground the economy of the United States to a screeching halt. It has destabilized the entire Muslim world and ensured that there will be a nuclear war centered around Israel within the decade.
The Obama regime has no interest whatsoever in “stimulus” or “getting folks back to work.” How can you not understand this? How can we possibly win this war if we refuse to come to terms with the fact that we are in fact fighting a war.
God save the United States of America, because the people are far too stupid to do it themselves.
- Spengler: The collapse of America’s middle class
- Chesterton and Tea Parties
- Five Things You Need to Know About the Economy
Finally, it’s important to remember that, as far as we know, you only live once. In some ways the transition we are going to live through is going to be pretty exciting. Perilous, certainly, but exciting as well. If you take the right steps, you should come out much better than most.
But if you overly obsess about this stuff – or the latest disingenuous move by the politicians – it will drive you crazy. Thus, it’s better to take the steps necessary to get in sync with the fundamental factors driving today’s troubled economy and then get on with your life.
T-Shirt of the Day! Gunwalker T-Shirts
Bumpersticker of the Day! Bigfoot (Though I like the one on the right better…)
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.
OVER 10 SIEVERTS/HR Radiation OUTSIDE Reactor 1 and 2
The survey meter went overscale, so no one knows how high the actual radiation really is.
TEPCO hasn’t updated the “survey map (contamination map)” of the plant for about a month, and I’ve been wondering why. (They have a new one out now, but it doesn’t mention the exhaust duct at all.)
If you are exposed to 10 sieverts radiation in a short time, you will be dead.
10+ Sieverts/Hr Spot Photos from TEPCO
Maybe it was not such a good idea to remove the debris. They may have shielded the workers from extreme radiation like these.
It Was Over 5 Sieverts/Hr at the Entrance of “Train Room” on 2nd Floor
The robot “Packbot” went to the opening to the “train room” and the survey meter went overscale. The actual radiation level at the opening could be a lot higher, and I hate to think how high it is INSIDE the room. The radiation could have fried the bot.
Notice how rapidly the radiation level rose, from 18 to 300 to 2000 to over 5000, as the robot went inside the air conditioning room to the entrance of the “train room”
Workers Knew About the Extremely High Radiation Around Exhaust Stack
They may not have known the exact number (well, for that matter, no one knows because the survey meter went overscale at 10 sieverts/hr), but they’ve been running past the area when they have to enter Reactor 1 building to install the external heat exchanger to the Spent Fuel Pool, according to the tweets by a worker currently at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.
So much for TEPCO’s word that “there is no work planned near the area, and there will be no effect on the progress of the work at the plant”, which is technically correct, at least the first half.
There may not be any work planned in the area there, BECAUSE RADIATION IS TOO HIGH. There may be no work planned there, but the workers have to go near it to enter the Reactor 1 building. The radiation is so high that the workers, with all their full protection gear and equipment and construction materials they carry, have been running past the area in order to minimize radiation exposure.
So it’s been known.
Pockets of lethal levels of radiation have been detected at Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in a fresh reminder of the risks faced by workers battling to contain the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) reported on Monday, local time, that radiation exceeding 10 sieverts (10,000 millisieverts) per hour was found at the bottom of a ventilation stack standing between two reactors.
Today, Tepco said it found another spot on the ventilation stack itself where radiation exceeded 10 sieverts per hour, a level that could lead to incapacitation or death after just several seconds of exposure.
It’s probably a job in the disaster-affected area called Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant…
Anyone care to join “Fukushima 50″? It’s not too late. They need fresh workers in the “new normal” at the plant where 10 sieverts/hour radiation is considered no big deal. (TEPCO says it doesn’t matter because no work is planned in the area of 10-plus sieverts/hr radiation.)
Radioactive Fallout in Tokyo in March: Iodine, Cesium, Tellurium, Radioactive Silver
Silver-110m, half life about 250 days, wouldn’t have been discovered unless the control rods had melted at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.
There was the news in early April that radioactive silver was detected in South Korea. There was no way the same nuclide wasn’t falling in Japan if it could fly all the way to Korea, I thought.
Sure enough.
It was not until 2PM on July 29 that the Ministry of Education and Science announced the “reading of environmental radioactivity level by prefecture [Fallout]” for March 2011.
What’s the point of telling us now? Just for the record?
People from All Over Asia Protest in Front of TEPCO Head Office
Radioactive Leaf Compost Spreads to Schools
possibly irradiating children as they planted flowers as part of school curriculum.
Now that the Ministry of Agriculture has set the provisional safety standard for compost at 400 becquerels/kg, this is the first manure to exceed that limit. It was made in Ibaraki Prefecture, and was being sold in Kyoto.
Robot seals help tsunami victims
The furry friends are now treated as pets by the residents, with many of them still dealing with memories of the quake. Some residents hold onto the seals for longer than others.
“If I hold onto this, it doesn’t matter if there’s a typhoon outside, I still feel safe,” said 85-year-old Satsuko Yatsuzaka after she had been hugging one of the seals for about half an hour.
World News:
The Imminent $2.5 Trillion Debt Ceiling Hike Will Unleash A Gold Price Surge To $1,950 And Higher
Surprise! Spot Gold Passes $1640
Is Gold A Bubble? 14 Charts, The Facts And The Data Suggest Not
Global outlook gloomier and gloomier
Sentiment Crumbles On Relentless Euro Crisis, French, Italian And Spanish CDS Hit Records
“We believe a growing number of European depositors are transferring their money out of EU banks, and many of them are reinvesting their capital into gold and silver for safety. It does not surprise us to see gold hitting all-time highs in euros and dollars. It’s worthwhile to acknowledge that those investors in Iceland and Ireland who had the foresight to convert their cash to gold before their countries’ respective bank runs have all fared extremely well in both nominal and real terms. We believe that gold and silver are the ultimate alternative for a chequing account in a vulnerable banking jurisdiction, and whether the ECB prints more euros or eventually defaults, both outcomes will continue to support a robust demand for precious metals as an alternative currency.”
Walter Russell Mead: French Secularism Dies in the Middle East
In Turkey, a sometimes feisty and over the top Kemalist regime has given way to a sometimes feisty and over the top group of Islamists; in the Arab world a gaggle of failed secularist modernizers is being driven from power by waves of public resentment and frustration.
Either way, the century in which French secularism was the dominant ideological force in the Middle East has now clearly come to an end. From Pakistan to Morocco the Muslim world has turned its back on the modernity of the 20th century.
God only knows what comes next.
Like father, like son…Here is what happened in 1982 in Hama.
Bloody start to Ramadan in Syria
Apart from the 10 deaths in the latest violence in Hama, two civilians were killed in the town of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, which was also stormed by tanks, three in house-to-house raids in the city of Homs, two in the port city of Latakia and six in the Damascus suburb of Erbin after protests that followed night-time Ramadan prayers, rights activists said.
A score of tanks and troops carriers entered the town of Zabadani near the border with Lebanon after people demonstrated in support of Hama following evening prayers, residents said. At least three protesters were wounded by machinegun fire.
The attack on Hama has evoked memories of a bloody 1982 confrontation when Assad’s father Hafez al-Assad crushed an armed Islamist revolt, killing many thousands of people.
Syrian tanks bombard residential areas of Hama
“The shells are falling once every 10 seconds,” a witness told Reuters by phone. The thump of artillery and explosions could be heard in the background.
Afghan Authorities Claim Pakistan Is Harboring Mullah Omar
China’s Aircraft Carrier Powering Up
Foxconn to Automate: Be Careful What You Wish For
Higher wages means that automation becomes, relatively, more profitable. And it is to automation that most jobs go to die, not trade or international competition.
These robots are being used at Foxconn for the same reason that self-service checkout counters are being used in supermarkets, for the same reason that self-service yoghurt shops proliferate. The change in relative prices between labour and machines means the machines are being used in place of the people.
Those who have been agitating for higher wages can pat themselves on the back for those who keep their jobs will indeed be getting higher wages. But there will be fewer of them as a result.
Manufacturing jobs, minimum wage jobs, service jobs, whatever, the result is always the same: raise the price of labour and more automation will happen.
How a Newspaper in Norway Has Transformed Me into a ‘Pro-Terrorist’ Criminal
It’s a food chain thing…If you truly want to save the Whales, the Polar Bears and the Penguins you have to save the critters they eat and the critters that the critters they eat eat. This is something that those egotistical enviroidjits like the Sea Shepherds do not understand. If they truly wanted to ‘save the whales’ then they would go after the fish and krill fleets, not the Japanese whalers. Of course that is not so glamorous and most of these enviroidjits gladly eat the fish that these fishing fleets haul in, plus the guys in those fishing fleets are not as ‘nice’ as the Japanese. They would have absolutely no problems with killing those Sea Shepherds. Learning How to Fish
Overfishing is one of the world’s more serious environmental problems, but it does not have to be that way. In 1974, less than ten percent of the world’s fisheries were depleted or overexploited, according to the FAO. By 1998, over 30 percent of fisheries were overexploited and depleted. At the same time, the percentage of fisheries under or moderately exploited dropped from 40 percent to 15 percent. There is an urgent need for better fishery management.
US News:
Just like at his 2009 Inauguration, Obama will celebrate his 50th Birthday tomorrow with millionaires, billionaires and corporate jet owners.
Happy Birthday Mr. President.
Let’s hope he can get that Satan Sandwich signed into law on time so he won’t be late for his big Me-Me-Me moment.
Your ‘surprisingly unexpected’ economic news of the day….
July 2011 “Unexpectedly” Compilation
Last month I decided to make a compilation of as many “unexpectedlies” that I could find. For those unfamiliar with the term, the Main Stream Media and news outlets sympathetic to President Obama always used the term “unexpectedly” (or some variation of the word) to describe bad economic news. The reason why they do this is simple: if bad economic news is unexpected, then good news about the economy is the norm. Get it?
The problem is, of course, that there has been a tremendous amount of bad news about the economy and, in fact, under President Obama’s leadership, bad news is indeed the norm. Yet the MSM trudges along, refusing to change despite how ludicrous they look.
I did not need to be told. Anyone who is not totally brain dead, a Democrat, a member of the MSM or an Obamaworshiper has figured this one out already…“Great Recession” Far Worse Than We Had Been Previously Told
Job Cuts Surge 59% In July, Highest Since March 2010 As Hiring Intentions Plunge
Expectedly, personal income drops
I grew tired of mocking the way the wire services began modifying each downturn in the economy under President Obama with the word “unexpectedly” — as if the many, many failures of this president’s economic polices are acts of God that no mortal could have prevented.
But Obama’s economic policies — crafted by book-smart people such as Christina Roemer and Larry Summers — suck.
Do not get me wrong. Roemer and Summers are nice people. They are simply poor advisers.
I expected failure.
I know my history.
FDR tried this.
He dragged out the Hoover recession into the Great Depression.
You cannot buy prosperity through a “stimulus.”
Heck, President Bush had tried that a year before Obama did.
Failure.
And another ugly economic data point. June personal income was just released at 0.1%, on expectations of 0.2%, and down from a revised 0.2% (previously 0.3%). Personal spending was far worse than expected, coming at -0.2%, down from a revised 0.1%, and missing expectations of 0.0%. PCE Core was the last metric missing, coming at 0.1%, down from 0.2%, down from a downwardly revised 0.2%. Just as importantly, as in the case of GDP, there were major downward historical revisions: “Personal income was revised up $69.1 billion, or 0.6 percent, for 2008; was revised down $244.7 billion, or 2.0 percent, for 2009; and was revised down $167.5 billion, or 1.3 percent, for 2010. .. For 2009, downward revisions to personal interest income, to personal dividend income, and to nonfarm proprietors’ income were partly offset by upward revisions to rental income of persons and to farm proprietors’ income. For 2010, downward revisions to personal interest income, to nonfarm proprietors’ income, to supplements to wages and salaries, and to personal current transfer receipts were partly offset by upward revisions to rental income of persons, to wages and salaries, and to farm proprietors’ income.” In other words, the “rental income” that offset downward income revisions came exclusively from the $50-100 billion squatters’ rent annually “generated” from homeowners not paying their mortgages. End result: a surge in the savings rate to 5.4% from 5.0%, the highest since March 2011, as consumers retrench across the board.
Great American Stores Starving for Customers
ISM Manufacturing: Barely Expanding
… “The PMI registered 50.9 percent, a decrease of 4.4 percentage points, indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector for the 24th consecutive month, although at a slower rate of growth than in June. (A reading above 50 indicates expansion — Ed.) Production and employment also showed continued growth in July, but at slower rates than in June. The New Orders Index registered 49.2 percent, indicating contraction for the first time since June of 2009, when it registered 48.9 percent.
This result should have been so expected that if it didn’t happen, it would have been time to revisit this key survey’s credibility. Yet according to Reuters, “Economists had expected a reading of 54.9,” or a tiny drop, and my Business Insider email had a consensus prediction of 54.3. These people need to get out more.
Three months ago, the index was at 60.4. The 9.5-point drop is the worst three-month plunge since the final five months of 2008, when three-month drops of over 10 points happened three times in a row as a result of the onset of the POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) Economy aka the Fear-Based Economy.
Are we heading towards Fear-Based Recession v. 2.0?
Bill Gross’ Latest: Here Is How The “Debt Man Walking”, aka Uncle Sam, Plans To Steal From You
Favor countries with cleaner “dirty shirts” and higher real interest rates: Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Germany come to mind. Shade equity and fixed income investments away from dollar based indexes towards those of developing nations with stronger growth prospects. Purchase commodity based real assets before reserve surplus nations do. And above all, don’t be lulled to sleep by Congressional law makers that promise a change in Washington. The last change I believed in was on Election Day 2008, and that turned out to be more fiction than reality.
HSBC to Cut 30,000 Jobs – Sell Half of Its US Branches
HSBC is looking to grow the number of employees it has in the Asia region. British banking giant HSBC will slash 30,000 jobs by 2013 and sell half of its US branches. The company said it was going to focus on emerging markets.
The Mancession Continues: Men Have Lost 192 Jobs for Every 100 Jobs Lost by Women Since Jan. 2008
Bottom Line: Despite the recent job gains for men since early 2010, the Great Recession has still had a disproportionately and significantly negative effect on men compared to women, and it’s not even close: For every 100 jobs lost by women since January 2008, men have lost 192 jobs, so it’s still very much of a “mancession,” despite the recent “hecovery.”
The Jobless Recovery and the Education Gap
While lacking a high school degree has always been a liability for workers, that liability has gone from a minor liability to now a major setback as we move increasingly into a knowledge-based economy. Comparatively, college-educated workers are doing quite well, it’s the less educated workers that are struggling, and will continue to struggle, to find employment and keep a job.
The Debt Ceiling/Budget Kabuki Theatre:
More Thoughts On the Debt Ceiling Deal
Here is the analogy I would offer: in the past, liberals have steamrollered conservatives on pretty much all issues relating to spending; hence today’s federal spending that almost everyone regards as out of control. This time, conservatives stood our ground and fought the liberals to a draw. This was not the end of the battle over the budget, but rather the beginning. We conservatives have a long way to go to bring fiscal sanity to Washington. On the other hand, we also have another election in November 2012. Like John Paul Jones, we should let the liberals know that we have not yet begun to fight.
The debt deal assumes we can spend the next 18 months driving headlong towards the cliff at 74 miles per hour instead of 75, and that we’ll still be able to put on the brakes in time before heading over it.
How can Washington’s establishment be so sure that we have that much time? They can’t be.
Congress Expected to Vote on Debt Deal Today; Left, Right Spin It in Blame Game
The idea of Aug. 2 as the drop-dead default date? Spin. Tim Geithner estimated the Aug. 2 date months ago but — even if you trust Geithner, which I don’t — it wasn’t like we were automatically going bankrupt Tuesday. Also, now that Mitch McConnell has approved a deal, this “expected Republican filibuster attempt” exists only in the minds of the kind of deluded young leftists who work as Senate Democratic leadership aides or CNN reporters.
You want neutral objective facts? Try the blogs:
The debt-limit deal relies on gimmicks . . . the credit rating is still at risk, and our massive federal debt will continue to grow like a malignant tumor.
That’s Right Klik, pushing back against a lot of spin — from Chris Cillizza of the WaPo, among others — claiming that this deal is a Gigantic Right-Wing Triumph, “Return of the King” for the Tea Party Hobbits, which it obviously ain’t.
Debt-ceiling bill passes the House
Democrats lost on virtually every issue of principle (taxes, a clean debt bill, real spending cuts) because the president insisted above all else on getting himself to the next election without another showdown. (That position became more sympathetic to those who agonized through the last week or so.)
FAR LEFT MOB Disrupts House – 20 Arrested (Video)
The protesters, who were sitting in one of the visitors’ galleries overlooking the Republican side of the chamber, unfurled a large black banner and began chanting against the debt-limit compromise.
They chanted several slogans, including: “Boehner, get off it; it’s time to tax corporate profits.” It appeared that after one officer tried to yank the banner from the group, a protester either took a tumble or dove over the row of seats in front.
The protesters could be heard chanting even after they were brought into the hallway outside the gallery. According to reports by CNN and the Hill, the protest included members of the groups Vocal New York and National People’s Action.
The only surprising thing about this rally is that Code Pink did not take part in it.
It’s 74 pages. We’ve heard various explanations of “the deal.” I have some views on the deal as explained, but I’d be interested in what readers find that may be at odds with what they’re hearing or at odds with the Boehner PowerPoint.
My reading of the Budget Bill some quick comments
This bill is not an example of steaming in the right direction, it is an example of completing the turn of the ship so it is facing in the right direction but you have to turn the ship before you change directions, this is the turn.
Quick summary of the Budget Control Act
Budget Deal Doesn’t Cut Spending
And let’s be clear about things: We’re getting a definite increase in $900 billion in new debt for the phantom menace of cuts sometime over the next decade. And as Matt Welch and I pointed out in yesterday’s NY Post, in this context, cuts means minor reductions in planned increases.
Which is enough to get Paul Krugman to hyperventilate thusly:
There will be big spending cuts, with no increase in revenue. Then a panel will make recommendations for further deficit reduction — and if these recommendations aren’t accepted, there will be more spending cuts….how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy? And the answer is, maybe it can’t.
Me? I’m just hoping whatever Krugman is smoking is covered under Obamacare. As Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) points out in an excellent retort to the deal in the works, this “compromise” adds at least $7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade (because it claims to cut up to $2.5 trillion from a baseline that assumes $10 billion in added debt; whoopee).
In fact, the real reason to be bothered by the whimper with which the debt-ceiling squabble seems to be ending is this: It doesn’t address the real issue, which is the debt load of the country
Our Biggest Budget Issue: Increased Spending on Payments to Individuals, i.e. “Entitlement Nation”
So while it looks like the short-term problem has been temporarily fixed with an increase in the debt limit, the long term problem won’t be fixed until we address the nation’s most serious problem: we’re increasingly becoming an “entitlement nation,” with “payments to individuals” increasing both in absolute dollar amounts and as a share of total federal spending, or in the words of John Merline:
“The federal government has over the years essentially turned into a gigantic wealth-transfer machine — taking money from a shrinking pool of taxpayers and giving it out to a growing list of favored groups. This situation will make getting the federal budget under control increasingly difficult, since it will invariably involve pitting those writing checks against those cashing them.”
How the Tea Party ‘hobbits’ won the debt fight
The Tea Party came under fire from all sides Friday after House conservatives nearly brought down Speaker John Boehner’s debt-limit bill. John McCain went to the Senate floor to mock Tea Partyers as “hobbits,” and Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen said Tea Party Republicans “are unfit for governing.”
What a difference a weekend makes.
Most pundits are crediting this U-turn to the political muscle of the Tea Party and it’s true that President Obama would never have agreed to this deal if the Tea Party Republicans in the House of Representatives hadn’t engaged in the brinkmanship of the past few weeks. But to focus on the Tea Party is to ignore the tectonic political shift that’s taken place, not just in America but across Europe. The majority of citizens in nearly all the world’s most developed countries simply aren’t prepared to tolerate the degree of borrowing required to sustain generous welfare programmes any longer.
Introducing the Democrat Crappy Meal
Democrats are now digesting their own bad serving of “Satan sandwiches and Satan fries” — washed down with a tall, unsweetened glass of of “Yes, You Will” juice.
Why do Democrats want high taxation as their brand?
Ezra Klein’s piece this morning is headlined: “Democrats will lose now. But they can win later.” The next thing you see is a chart depicting “Tax increases over 10 years if Congress passes…” various proposals (or nothing). He begins:
Democrats are going to lose this one. The first stage of the emerging deal doesn’t include revenue, doesn’t include stimulus, and lets Republicans pocket a trillion dollars or more in cuts without offering anything to Democrats in return.
Pocket? There’s nothing to pocket! All we’re getting is a trillion less in overspending. The debt piles up at an alarming rate all the time. Holding back one trillion over the next 10 years isn’t much (seen in proportion to the vast spending).
But, in the mind of Ezra, that nonexistent money goes to Republicans, and Democrats deserve something in return: taxing and spending. (Otherwise known as: revenue and stimulus.) That’s the Democratic Party brand — as spun by Ezra Klein.
Now that the Democrats, the MSM and the LLP’s have beaten The Race Card™ to death they had to invent a new card-The Terrorist Card™. Unfortunately for them it will be just about as effective as the now defunct Race Card™. All this will do is to serve to piss all us raaaaacist ‘Hobbits’ off even more….The Agony of Defeat: Democrats Finally See Their Policies Failed America – Lash Out in Response (Video)
When your policies don’t work – When you are exposed as complete failures – When no one believes in what you offer because it doesn’t work – What do you do?
You lash out.The left has nothing. They know it. We know it. Even the Vice President knows it.
Their policies have completely failed America. The deficit is tripled. The unemployment rate has doubled in 4 years. The double dip recession is here.But rather than admit failure, they’ve decided to lash out at the adults in the room.
This week the far left has gone from calling conservatives and tea party patriots “racists” to their latest smear.
They now are calling tea partiers “terrorists.”
I got two words for you, ‘plugs’…errrr…Joe. The first one starts with an “F”, the second is “You”! Joe Biden likened tea partiers to terrorists
Let it be noted that just about 40 days before America solemnly remembers the most deadly attack ever to take place upon its shores — an attack made by genuine terrorists, killers hiding in plain sight, un-uniformed and “blended” into our society — the American Vice-President (along with some co-politicos) has denounced his well-identified, not-hiding anything, policy-disagreeing opponents and fellow-countrymen as “terrorists”.
Look at that video.
Listen to those screams.
Remember the loss of life, not just in New York, but in Washington DC and in Pennsylvania, and in the Khobar Towers, Nairobi, aboard the USS Cole and elsewhere, for too many years.
And Vice-President Joe Biden, veteran legislator, onetime plagiarist, calls his fellow countrymen — mere political opposites — “terrorists.” His fellow-democrats who are also throwing the word around are miscreants, political opportunists or the most insensitive of idiots.
UPROAR BUILDS Over Joe Biden’s Tea Party “Terrorist” Remarks
And yet these same radicals have the nerve to lecture conservatives on civil discourse.
Disgusting.
I thought from the Black Panthers having tea and finger sandwiches on Park Ave. to the rehabilitation of Bill Ayers, to Sen. Patty Murray’s embrace of Osama bin Laden in 2003 to Michael Moore’s declaration the following year that anti-American terrorists in Iraq were the new Minutemen, the left was all about exploring the root causes of terrorism, and seeking a common understanding to make peace and progress forward together.
“Understanding never runs out for Islamist killers, but there are limits to how much tolerance they can gin up for American Taliban,” Ace writes of today’s Democratic party. Though as Jonah Goldberg adds via Twitter, “Obama’s Arizona ‘civility speech’ is meaningless if his VP can call opponents terrorists.”
Let Us Look Back at the Calm, Rational Rhetoric of the Debt Ceiling Circus
Biden, driven by his Democratic allies’ misgivings about the debt-limit deal, responded: “They have acted like terrorists,” according to several sources in the room.
Hmm. That wasn’t quite what I expected from a leader of the Democrats who, you’ll recall, lectured Tea Party members for their “violent rhetoric” not all that long ago. Perhaps White House adviser and CNN contributor Fareed Zakaria exercised a bit more calm.
…the Tea Party is trying to pass a particular agenda, which is basically this all-cuts budget. It cannot get it through the Congress of the United States. It cannot get it through the political democratic process that we have, which is that Congress passes something and the president must sign it. That’s the normal workings of democracy.
So, instead of accepting some compromise that can get through the democratic process, what they’re saying is we’ll blow up the country if you don’t listen to us. We’ll hold hostage the credit of the United States, the good standing of the United States and we’ll blow it up.
“Blow up” America? Hold it “hostage”? Well, that’s pretty much the Biden line. Gee, I’m beginning to detect a carefully-scripted talking point.
‘Wait, Does That Mean Obama Won the Terrorist Vote?’
I guess Joe Biden thinks she is a ‘terrorist’, too…Giffords votes yes on debt deal as lawmakers wipe away tears
Libs Whine About Tea Party – Say Obama Had Successful First 2 Years
The far left is just crying because they have no answers to the current economic challenges. Keynesian economics have failed and the American public is no longer willing to allow these crooks to continue their binge spending.
They are out of ideas… And they are furious.
The root of progressive despair
The problem for progressives is the end of the Cold War and the global financial panic of 2008. The public has seen the slow demise of totalitarian socialism and is now watching the slow demise of democratic Euro-socialism. Seeing Margaret Thatcher’s comment about running out of other people’s money playing out in the daily news leads public opinon to conclude that entitlements need fundamental changes. The public may not actually want to effect those changes; it will be as hard to wean the public off debt as it is to wean any individual debt addict. But enough of the public is starting to recognize that past progressive over-promising is enough of a problem without signing onto another round of over-promising. This is why the public could not be convinced ObamaCare had merit; they (correctly) did not believe it would reduce the deficit. The public did not need to study the CBO’s alternative fiscal scenario to figure this out; they could look at the history of Democrats and entitlements.
The problem for progressives is that the debt ceiling deal occasioning all of this extremist rhetoric from the left will probably not head off a downgrade of the nation’s credit. A downgrade will be yet another step on the path to hitting the one true debt ceiling. There is likely no amount of messaging — however euphemized – that will convince the public to remake our country in the mode of the failing economies of Europe. And every day carries us closer to the point where the opinion of the public matters less than the opinion of our creditors.
“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany” (except for the UN, of course)…
Poor baby BamBam can’t appoint anymore Maoist totalitarians by executive fiat…Once again. No recess appointments for YOU!
File this one in the “credit where credit is due” folder. Having finished their exhausting work on the debt ceiling question, the House of Representatives prepared to head out of town for more than a month. But before shutting off the lights and making good their escape, somebody had the foresight to remember one very important item.
After the House of Representatives passed the bill to extend the debt limit, it adjourned for the summer, but not before Republicans took advantage of a procedural move that will help block President Obama from making recess appointments during the upcoming break.
While the House will be adjourned, it will continue to hold so-called “pro forma” sessions throughout August. Though it’s the Senate that must confirm presidential appointments, under the U.S. Constitution, it cannot adjourn for more than three days without the approval of the House. Therefore, the House has maintained the ability to prevent the Senate from going into full recess, effectively blocking Obama from making recess appointments.
Fortunately, this is one area where even the Democrats will be too embarrassed to argue very much. That, of course, is because Harry Reid did the same thing to George W. Bush after taking the majority in the Senate in 2007.
Agenda 21 Update: Family Farms Are Under Attack
The move by the DOT appears to be “legislation through regulation.” By reclassifying all farm vehicles and implements as Commercial Vehicles, the federal government will now be able to claim regulatory control over the estimated 800,000 farm workers in America, at the same time, overriding the rights of the states.
This proposed change literally means family farms could no longer legally allow young workers, not old enough to drive and seniors who no longer drive on the public streets, to operate a tractor… even on the family’s private property.
Congress out to spy on your ‘puter
The centerpiece of this ill-conceived law is a sweeping requirement that commercial Internet providers retain a one-year log of all the temporary Internet Protocol addresses they assign to their users, along with customer-identification information. The Justice Department says this will help track down child-porn peddlers by linking online activity and real-world identities. But the government would be able to access that sensitive data for all kinds of investigations, most of which would have nothing to do with child porn.
Traditionally, citizens in a free society are presumed innocent. If the police want to look through your computer files, the Fourth Amendment requires them to show a judge that there’s “probable cause” to suspect wrongdoing. The PCIPA turns that assumption on its head, treating every Internet user as a presumptive criminal and exploiting a serious Fourth Amendment loophole.
The Constitution protects privacy against government intrusion, but it doesn’t stop the government from forcing private companies to do its dirty work. Records held by a corporation don’t enjoy the same Fourth Amendment protection as does the data on your personal computer — so a search warrant isn’t necessary.
Super! EPA going after ozone now
Never ones to let a little think like that stop them, the EPA is now pushing to tighten the ozone standard to 60 ppb. (A proposal which has raised any number of eyebrows, since certain popular destinations fail to meet that standard today, including Yellowstone National Park.) But this will at least improve everyone’s health, right? According to a new study from NERA Economic Consulting, the health benefits are “greatly exaggerated” at best.
EPA’s assumed causal relationship between ozone and mortality has not been supported by EPA’s science advisors;
The health benefits EPA attributes to the tighter ozone standard should are due to a slight reduction in particulate matter (dust), which already is regulated separately by EPA; and
The EPA’s own data show that the benefits of the proposed ozone standard will not outweigh the costs.
But there must be some upside to this, right? We’re all supposed to focus on jobs now, as I recall. Hopefully this will at least help us out on that front!
Oh, it’s going to have an effect, alright. A study by Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI estimates that strengthening the ozone standard to 60 ppb could cost the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion per year between 2020 and 2030, and destroy 7.3 million jobs.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled banging of your heads against the wall.
ObamaCare Buys Your Birth Control – Morning After Pill – Breast Pump: It’s Science, don’t ya know
I learned today that I am forced to pay for your birth control and your morning-after, or a-few-days-later, abortion. Condoms included. It will all be “free” to you, because Obama said so. I’ll pay for your breast pump and other breast feeding “supports.” If I’m sounding bitter, I guess shouldn’t. “These historic guidelines are based on science and existing literature.” Nevermind. I’m. Still. Bitter. No copays. Complete coverage. You still have time to run out and buy your condoms. Coverage starts today. There’s about 4 hours left to do what you’re going to do and bill it to me. Go on now.
Your tax dollars at work…Medicade Plundered by Rip Off Artists
Holder Launches Witch Hunt Against Biased Banks
For example, the government has ordered Midwest BankCentre to set aside almost $1 million in “special financing” for residents living in predominantly black areas of St. Louis. The program includes originating conventional home loans at fixed prime rates for African-American borrowers “who would ordinarily not qualify for such rates for reasons including the lack of required credit quality, income or down payment.”
The same federal order, signed last month, praises Midwest for adopting “less stringent underwriting criteria” while under investigation.
In the case against Citizens Bank of Detroit, settled in May, the U.S. decrees that “the bank may choose to apply more flexible underwriting standards in connection with the programs under this order.”
Such efforts risk recreating the government-imposed lax underwriting that led to the housing boom and bust, critics fear.
Surprise, surprise, surprise….Isn’t it amazing that soon as Holder tries browbeating banks to give loans to ‘deadbeats of color’ that Obama and Clinton’s BFF’s in ACORN show up to pull this kind of stuff? I am surprised that their purple shirted SEIU goons didn’t show up for the ‘party’… ACORN Thugs Stink Up the Wrong Bank
Nobody ever said all the criminal street thugs at ACORN were bright.
The left-wing astroturfers of ACORN’s new front group in California, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), were behind a garbage-dumping stunt at a branch of Wells Fargo bank in San Jose, Calif.
News reports consistently depict the players as angry homeowners who spontaneously erupted in a spasm of righteous indignation.
As if.
These “homeowners” were reportedly unhappy about the upkeep at a foreclosed property they thought Wells Fargo was responsible for so they decided to dump uncollected garbage at the bank. The problem is that while Wells Fargo is listed as a trustee for the property, it is actually owned by Bank of America, a longtime ACORN ally. (In recent years Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc. has given $5 million to the mortgage bubble generators at ACORN Housing Corp.)
*snip*
America needs to know that ACORN is restructuring in time to help re-elect President Obama in 2012. Obama used to work for ACORN and represented the group in court as its lawyer. These radical leftists who use the brutal, in-your-face, pressure tactics of Saul Alinsky want to destroy America as we know it and will use any means to do it.
Will DOJ Shoot Down South Carolina’s New Voter ID Law?
To the liberal ideologues inhabiting the Division, voter ID is the equivalent of Jim Crow, a completely ridiculous and historically preposterous claim. Their handling of Georgia’s voter ID law in 2005 (not to mention Arizona’s voter ID statute) makes it clear that they have no regard for the legal standards that apply under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. [Note: Every court decision on voter ID laws has found them to be not racially discriminatory.]
In the Georgia submission, several Division lawyers assigned to the case basically tried to ignore all of the evidence that the State submitted, including detailed driver’s license records from the DMV and college ID records from the state university system. These records showed that minority voters in Georgia would have no problems meeting the ID requirement. Still, the ideology-driven lawyers wanted to challenge Georgia’s voter ID law as racially discriminatory.
A Modest Proposal: Cut 15% Of The Federal Government Workforce, Save $1.4 Trillion In Ten Years
In a nutshell: do to the government, what the privates sector has done to itself in the past 3 years, and fire 15% of the federal government workforce. After all everyone, even the government, complains about the bloat in the system. Here is the chance to fix it. And the benefits, unlike the back-end loaded and extremely loose “bipartisan plan”, which happens to invoke such pseudo-totalitarian constructs as the “Super Congress”, can be quantified immediately, with the applicable savings made abundantly clear to all from day one. In this case – slimming the US government ever so modestly, by just 15%, would generate savings of $117.4 billion a year, of $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years. And no, these are not reductions in future spendings: these are real actionable cuts from the day they are enacted, with fungible cash able to be used for any other, much more needed purposes, up to and including economically stimulative projects, which actually generate jobs for the private sector.
2012: The Fork in the Road…
Anyone who was paying attention in 2008 already knew this. The MSM was too busy behaving like a bunch of teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert to notice this. Now they are beginning to grasp the obvious-they don’t like it because it illustrates just how stupid they are despite their claims to the contrary…Obama Lacks Presidential Skills – “A Plumber Would Be More Qualified” Than Obama
Maybe it’s because Hillary Clinton’s “three in the morning” ad was right—maybe he just doesn’t have the experience to be president. Of the top 100 jobs that would qualify one to be president, being a law professor isn’t one of them. A plumber would be better qualified than a law professor. Seriously—a plumber is a problem solver who has to keep customers happy. A used car salesman knows how to close a deal. A UPS deliveryman knows how to meet a deadline. A diplomat knows how to be, well, diplomatic. Meaning he doesn’t lecture people about “eating their peas” when he needs them to jump on board.
To be fair, he didn’t make a good law professor either. He was reportedly lazy, unqualified and skipped meetings.
The Obama Administration: A Brief Pre-Post-Mortem
President Obama has had a good two-plus years, handing out deficit-busting goodies to all the favorite Democrat constituencies. The EPA has become the monster it always threatened to be, the unions are stuffed full of automakers and have the mighty Boeing trembling at their power. The insurance companies are wards of the state, the medical profession has been saddled and broken. The symbiosis of Washington and Wall Street is complete, each too big to fail and utterly, sickeningly and dangerously co-dependent.
But yesterday’s debt deal showed that Obama’s goodie bag is empty. There’s nothing more to hand out. Santa Claus has left the building, and the Grinch has taken his place.
“Honestly,” the Democrats must be wondering, “what good is he to us now?”
Floundering Obama aims for ’12 miracle
But no one comes out of this as well as Obama — who, to have any hope of winning re-election next year, desperately needs to get his wretched stewardship of the economy onto the back burner.
Gunwalker/Fast & Furious/Castaway
Ironically, in testimony before the congressional committee on July 26, 2011, Newell insisted the alleged gun sales-to-gun walking scenario associated with Gunrunner and Fast and Furious didn’t happen, despite the existence of facts to the contrary “clearly showing they did, [and that] he knew it and approved it time and time again.” During those same testimonies, Darren Gil, former ATF attaché in Mexico, told lawmakers how dangerous things became in Mexico in 2010, and how overwhelmed he felt when he learned of the existence of Gunrunner and Fast and Furious. Gil said, “Never in my wildest dreams, ever, would I have thought of [gun walking] as an [investigative] technique. Never. Ever. It was just inconceivable to me.”
The problem, of course, is that the operations weren’t that far-fetched to the decision makers above Gil: Thus Obama provided money for them and Holder, by his own admission, handled their earliest logistics (remember his speech from April 2, 2009).
Therefore, even as Issa and Grassley continue to investigate this mess, other legislators should begin taking the proper steps to remove Holder from office. If they don’t remove him, it appears rank-and-file ATF agents will take the fall for both Gunrunner and Fast and Furious, although those same agents have testified numerous times that they only allowed guns to move across the border because their supervisors ordered them not to intervene.
If Holder isn’t removed from office, we at least owe Richard Nixon an apology.
This reminds me of what Hitler did to General Paulus during the final hours of The Battle of Stalingrad. He promoted him to Field Marshal. Hitler was basically telling him to commit suicide because no German Field Marshal had ever been captured alive. Paulus disappointed his Fuhrer, he surrendered. I suspect that, in the end, these guys aren’t going to stick their heads in the noose for Obama, Holder, Clinton and Napolitano….ATF HQ’a response to Operation Gunwalker Hearings
Promote everyone responsible. In particular, agent McMahon will become the Deputy Assistant Director of ATF’s Internal Affairs… that is to say, someone who essentially oversaw Operation Gunwalker, and was less than credible in his testimony about it, will become second in command to its division investigating misconduct, and in a good position to level scores with honest agents
That ain’t no ‘Old Grey Lady’! That is an ‘Old Grey Whore’….NY Times Spins Fast & Furious
Naturally, if Big Government abuses its authority by using the ATF to help drug cartels smuggle American guns into Mexico, the only response could be to grant the bureauweenies still more power. That’s the “mainstream” media’s unvarying response to literally everything it reports and distorts.
The war that dares not speak its name…US and Libya:
*crickets*
Look for the Union Label/Whackademia/The Badger Rebellion:
Wisconsin Sup Ct “Chokehold” Update
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office, which was tasked with investigating allegations that Justice David Prosser put a “chokehold” on Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, has concluded its investigation without a recommendation of prosecution.
Axis of Evil?* NJ Government Unions Unite Against Chris Christie and Taxpayers
In New Jersey, where the last Democrat governor (while he was a US Senator) had a girlfriend who just happened to be the head of New Jersey’s largest government union, where the property taxes are the highest in the nation, and where the state faces a $10+ billion budget gap and the real debt may be as high as $176 billion, government union bosses have spent millions of their members’ money fighting the reforms Governor Chris Christie has been pushing.
To his credit, Christie has not backed down from the fight–even going so far as to call the state’s teachers’ union (the New Jersey Education Association) a “political thuggery operation.”
Now, however, government union bosses are banding together to attack Christie by filing a joint lawsuit against the
taxpayersState of New Jersey.*snip*
[* NOTE: If Democrat Rep. Mike Doyle [PA] and the Vice President Joey Biden have the audacity to call tea partiers “terrorists,” then turnabout can only be fair play.]
With the Obama regime doing its best to destroy the concept of private transportation (except for Bamboo bikes) I wonder who will need all these roads….The Union Job Security Act Equals Endless Road Construction
Obama is providing people with jobs, but it is union members and at an enormous cost to everyone else. Soon after Obama took office, he signed Executive Order 13502, which essentially forces contractors who bid on contracts worth $25 million or more to submit to union representation for their employees,known as project labor agreements (PLAs). He rescinded a Bush executive order from 2001 that prohibited PLAs on federal projects.
This is unfair considering 85% of the workers in the construction industry are not union members, and union representation increases project costs by up to 20 percent. According to the Cato Institute, union membership has been declining over the years. In 1983, 27.5 percent of construction workers were in a union. By 2008, that had decreased to 15.6 percent.
More money for road construction sounds good superficially, since road expansion is necessary to keep up with the growing population, and no one likes driving in increasingly congested traffic. But it is not as simple as that. There must be accountability to keep costs from escalating irresponsibly. All too often when politicians recognize a problem, they have an instinct to throw money at it. Who can forget Massachusetts’ mismanaged “Big Dig” from the 1990’s, the most expensive road construction project in the country that ended up 600% over cost and six years behind schedule.
In Other News…
The Comforting Life of Ideological Fanatics
What happens to an ideologue when the president in whom he invested enormous hope is increasingly seen as a failure?
Well, if he truly feels that way then one would think that he would leave….Rapper Motivates Youth By Proclaiming America is ‘Biggest Terrorist in The World” (Video)
More People Consider Themselves Conservative Today Than at Any Time Since 1994
As a result, Match began “weighting” variables differently, according to how users behaved. For example, if conservative users were actually looking at profiles of liberals, the algorithm would learn from that and recommend more liberal users to them. Indeed, says Thombre, “the politics one is quite interesting. Conservatives are far more open to reaching out to someone with a different point of view than a liberal is.” That is, when it comes to looking for love, conservatives are more open-minded than liberals.
To paraphrase the Hamm’s Beer jingle: From the land of Hope and Change™ comes the budget devastating….Illinois Budget Deficit: Worst of the Worst
Illinois owed $37.9 billion more than all of its assets combined, including cash, investments and property, as of July 1, 2010, according to a recent statewide financial audit by the Illinois Auditor General William Holland and Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.
So far and just like the states unpaid vendors, even taxpayers expecting refunds got stiffed because the state somehow forgot to put $1.4 billion in the refund fund for taxpayers that overpaid their taxes. Now those awaiting refunds will have to wait.
The report notes that things would have been even worse if it weren’t for the $3 billion in cash brought into the state by Obama’s stimulus. But, just think what that means? It means that in Illinois the so-called stimulus did not go where it was supposed to go. Instead of “stimulating” the economy like Democrats said it was to do, in Illinois the stimulus just went to make up for the money the state didn’t have to pay its bills!
The state’s black hole of a budget is so bad that it is $10 billion worse than it’s closest competitor, New Jersey — the state that came in as the 49th most indebted state.
California discovers innovative new way to destroy small business
Not to worry, California residents. You can count on a burgeoning black market to take care of most of your needs “under the table”.
Which is, of course, one of the distinguishing characteristics of a Third World country.
It is The Chicago Democrat Way™ after all…..Is Gov. Steve Beshear (D, KY) extorting campaign contributions?
That’s the rather bombshell allegation being made today; the gist is that Rodney Young (a retiring psychologist for the Department of Juvenile Justice has reported that his colleagues were the target of an attempt to extort $500 contributions to Steve Beshear’s re-election campaign, with the threat that they could lose their jobs if they did not so contribute
Inmate Ran $1 Million Credit Card Scam Using Cell Phone & Secret Shoppers
MSM Circus and Celebutard Side Show:
Fox 19 Cincinnati’s Sherrod Brown Interview Typifies Weak Media Coverage, Dems’ False Talking Points
Saturday night in Cincinnati, Fox 19′s Kimberly Holmes Wiggins interviewed Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown from Washington about the state of the debt-ceiling debate. A full transcript follows.
Contained therein readers will see the untruthful establishment press memes which have dominated their coverage, and all too typical disgraceful and predictable demagoguery by Brown. Similar reports involving other Democrats likely played on stations across the nation this past weekend.
Center for (Reversing) American Progress drones while Obama drives up gas prices
Reading the latest ravings of the Center for American Progress (CAP, but increasingly recognized as the Center for Reversing American Progress) is akin to a family being forced at holiday to listen to the crazy old Uncle George repeat the same old complaints about some injustice he suffered when everyone knows what he suffered was of his own making.
CAP’s latest screed is no different, screaming as they do about the profits of oil companies. What they never mention is that their policies – and the policies of other anti-energy groups including the Obama Administration – are what are making and keeping gas prices high. In psychology, it’s called projectionism; in politics, hypocrisy.
We’ve all heard it before: “Big Oil Pumps Up Profits With Americans’ Cash” – the Left says the same thing with a different title every quarter when earnings reports are released.
If he believes his taxes are too low, I have some advice: Matt Damon can donate a few million to Uncle Sam.
Otherwise, I suggest he keep his thoughts on taxation to himself.
But he should give. It’s for the children. Or does Matt Damon not want to save Reading Is Fundamental and Head Start?
Global Warmening:
Ten year NASA study: There is no global warming!
UK Faces Anti-Green Backlash As Energy Prices Rise
The Sock Drawer:
Christchurch fish: a second survival story
Last week Campbell Live introduced you to Daphne and Shaggy, the goldfish that survived without food for 154 days in Christchurch’s red zone.
But Daphne and Shaggy aren’t the only scaly survivors in the city.
After seeing the story, another Christchurch resident wrote in to tell us about his own goldfish, ‘Fish,’ who has an amazing story of his own.
10 Things You Shouldn’t Keep in Your Wallet or Purse
Drug Could Make Aging Brains More Youthful?
Penguins graduate from ‘Fish School’ Speaking of Penguins it has been quite awhile since I reported on the goings on at the Penguin Pool at the Edinburgh Zoo. All the chicks are now fledged, most of the parents have abandoned their nests and the chicks have, too. The occasional chick still begs their parents for a free meal, the ones that do are either severely pecked by their parent (Go away, son, you are bothering me!) or the parent runs away from them, hops into the pool and swims away. I have not seen Butterball at his/her nest for over a week and Mr. and Mrs. Snowflake’s chick is long gone though Snowflake is still hanging about the nest.
The tides, they are a changin!
One of the major variables in ancient tides, of course, was sea level changes that were caused by previous ice ages. When massive amounts of ice piled miles thick in the Northern Hemisphere 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, for instance, sea levels were more than 300 feet lower.
But it’s not that simple, Hill said.
“Part of what we found was that there are certain places on Earth where tidal energy gets dissipated at a disproportionately high rate, real hot spots of tidal action,” Hill said. “One of these today is Hudson Bay, and it’s helping to reduce tidal energies all over the rest of the Atlantic Ocean. But during the last ice age Hudson Bay was closed down and buried in ice, and that caused more extreme tides elsewhere.”
Honda Civic No Longer Recommended by Consumer Reports
In the issue, Consumer Reports pulls no punches on the Civic saying, “Stopping distances are long, the ride is choppy, road noise is pronounced, and the interior feels cheap.”
Honda responded to the Consumer Reports non-recommendation, saying, “The new Civic excels in areas that matter to small-car customers, including fuel efficiency, safety, and reliability.”
Consumers have bought the Civic in large numbers year after year. In fact, it’s often among the top-selling vehicles, right up there with the Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord.
