Rusted Sky

In New York, It’s the Summer That Isn’t - NYTimes.com

It’s a gross, grungy, disgusting summer-in-the-city tradition: the muggy 90-degree day or, worse still, the 99-degree day.

But this summer has been conspicuously different in New York City. Not one 99-degree day in Central Park. Not a single day that the temperature even approached 90. For just the second time in 140 years of record keeping, the temperature failed to reach 90 in either June or July.

J.

Or - if you just say the right things, reality will somehow accomodate itself to your wishes...

I've been rather astounded lately by the folks in Washington. You have them fork out over $800 billion on a 'Stimulus' package that's more designed to fund payoffs than actually create jobs. They spend billions so GM won't go belly up - yet they still go bankrupt. Now we're seeing $4500 payments so people will trade in their gas guzzlers for more efficient cars - and they run out of money in the program. We see a 'Cap and Trade' proposal to reduce emissions - but the side effect of gutting the economy and killing off businesses doesn't seem as important as possibly reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. We see a health care plan that... well, we don't know what's IN it, the bill's too large - but we should trust them with 1/6th of our economy because it'll be terrible if we don't!

We see folks in CA, who should be concerned about both energy price and availability as well as environmental issues, as WELL as state revenue, doing everything they can to be 'environmentally correct' - to a point where the state's going broke, energy costs are soaring, and their productive people are leaving.

You see within the 'progressive' culture a cruel dichotomy. On the one hand, they embrace 'diversity' - in that every possible non-standard way of 'living' is preferable to the same-old-same-old. Homophobia is defined as not embracing every aspect of homosexuality. Feminist doctrine does not allow any subjugation of women. One dares not say anything negative about other religions - such as the fundamentalist versions of Islam - for fear of being labeled an Islamophobe.

Yet on the other hand, the 'diversity' they embrace has some of the most barbaric and cruel practices of any in the world today - so how are the homophobic (literal stoning to death) and anti-feminist (death to those who break the 'traditions' of Islam) conflicts with Islam dealt with?

You ignore them. They don't exist. And if they DO exist, and your nose is rubbed in the face that the concepts you support directly contradict other concepts you support - at that point you simply write it off as a 'cultural difference' - and having neatly filed it away you can safely ignore it. They refuse to see that their embracing of 'diversity' is completely and violently rejected by those they want to embrace - to the point where they'd be killed.

It's as if a blindness reigns - where the people are so blinded by their self-imposed belief systems that they can't see the inherent contradictions in them, or even accurately forecast what the actual results will be of proposed legislation.

We saw this with the Luxury Tax in the early '90s. Put a 10% tax on all 'luxury' items like yachts and planes - and watch the money roll in as the 'rich' buy them! Well, one thing that didn't seem to occur to the writers of the legislation was that the 'rich' didn't NEED to buy the taxed items, it was a LUXURY purchase. But the people producing the items NEEDED to have the items bought - or their jobs would disappear.

In the end, that tax almost killed off private aircraft manufacturing in the US, and hurt boatbuilders very badly. And, oddly enough - the tax was severely revenue-negative. By some accounts it cost twice as much to administer the tax than it ever collected.

But all the proper forms were made, all the right phrasings done - why didn't the money materialize?

The Cargo Cults of the South Pacific

After World War II anthropologists discovered that an unusual religion had developed among the islanders of the South Pacific. It was oriented around the concept of cargo which the islanders perceived as the source of the wealth and power of the Eurpopeans and Americans. This religion, known as the Cargo Cult, held that if the proper ceremonies were performed shipments of riches would be sent from some heavenly place. It was all very logical to the islanders. The islanders worked hard but were poor whereas the Europeans and Americans did not work but instead wrote things down on paper and in due time a shipment of wonderful things would arrive.

The Cargo Cult members built replicas of airports and airplanes out of twigs and branches and made the sounds associated with airplanes to try to activate the shipment of cargo.

Now we're seeing that in government - we have people who are testing what they believe to be the source of all progress and prosperity. They KNOW if they make the right noises, fill out the right papers, say the right things - and get the people to believe as they do - that we will have a time of unlimited prosperity and peace.

Make the right noises, and the cargo will appear.

Somehow - I think it takes just a little more than that. Don't you?

J.

And then sees you bounding in it - he smiles.

Eco Transport 2.0: It’s Leaps and Bounds : Gas 2.0

Man, just thinking of the ankles, knees, backs, hips, arms, wrists, neck and head injuries makes me hope the makers of this thing have got REAL deep pockets...

Because they're gonna need 'em...

J.

You'd think that Obama would learn from the past - as Nixon proved, it's the cover-up that'll get you.

White House uses Web against Drudge attack - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – The White House is turning to the Internet to hit back at a Web posting that claims to show President Barack Obama explaining how his health care reform plans eventually would eliminate private insurance.

The three-minute White House video features Linda Douglass, a former network television correspondent and now White House Office of Health Reform communications director, sitting in front of a computer screen showing the Drudge Report Web site. That site carries a series of video clips from another blogger who strings together selected Obama statements on health care to make it appear he wants to eliminate the private health insurance business.
In the video Douglas says the site is "taking sentences and phrases out of context, and they're cobbling them together to leave a very false impression."

Not out of context, not cobbled together - it's rather hard to misinterpret this... but the President insists it's all out of context?

Well - I guess it all depends on trust, doesn't it?

Who are you going to believe? Obama, or Obama?

J.

You hear a lot about how bad health care is here in the US. Well, here's 10 reasons why some of the bad stuff is a bit of an exaggeration.

Hoover Institution - Hoover Digest - Here’s a Second Opinion

Now - I've been subject to the military health care system, and the civilian. Active duty military care is fine for trauma-related injuries, and the other injuries that are likely in a cohort of healthy, able-bodied people in the 18-45 age range. It wasn't so hot for vision care, was pretty slow on dental. Cancer? Nah. Cardiac? Not so much.

When I got out, I went without paid medical care for the better part of a decade. When you're going along paycheck to paycheck, hopping from low-paid job to job, you need to wait at least 90 days for insurance to kick in anyway, and then it's going to be probably 20% of your paycheck for the premium anyway... well, something gets cut out of the budget. If something really bad had happened, I had the VA system to fall back on - providing I could get in to see a doctor. THAT was a last-ditch choice. But I digress here...

The point I'm making is that the government wants to take over the entire range of health care. From pre-natal to geriatric, from wellness checkups to hospice care, for whatever reason the folks in Washington feel they can do it all better than the free market.

But one thing that's missed is that government does not adapt itself to the needs of those it serves - those it serves has to adapt to what the government will provide. And there's constraints on what the government can provide in a cost-effective manner.

When innovation is needed, it happens - but it takes a god-awful event (like a world war) to get innovation kickstarted, and that's usually focused in a particular direction. There has to be an OVERWHELMING need to innovate - and even then there's going to be a lot of money wasted to come up with a solution that will likely be considerably less than optimal.

Why? Because there's nothing to be gained for government to do the basic R&D on a whole lot of issues, much less force any particular idea to market in a timely manner. Technology? Yeah, DARPA does some - but what they do is usually the groundwork for a whole lot MORE innovation and research spending. Actual production? Not so much - because there's no REWARD for the government to produce something for public use in a retail market.

The private sector will spend millions on health care research because of the potential of making much more than that from selling the results. But when you have government take over health care, different factors kick in. The most important one being cost control... or the appearance of it, at the very least.

This will mean little to no research, little to no innovation, and the cheapest possible way of doing things will become the standard treatement - whether it's the best for the individual or not.

A good parallel might be how the USSR and the US developed PCs. There wasn't a monolithic government agency directing through 5-year plans how software and hardware were developed in the US - instead you had massive numbers of companies (lots of whom failed in their attempts to grab market share - anyone else remember Everex? Or the Samsung PCs in the late '80s? AST PCs?) chasing what they thought would be most profitable.

And after economic evolution - look at what we've got today. The USSR wasn't an innovator when it came to PCs or software (though it could be argued that Tetris was a worldwide hit, it was also developed by one person instead of by the government) and still isn't known for their innovative production capabilities. They had to reverse engineer items bought in the free world. They simply couldn't match the speed of innovation and response to customer demand in an unrestricted economy.

(As a side benefit - the Internet came about. Mixed blessing, eh?)

Now, take a look at cell phones - think there'd be so many makes and models of them if there were only one carrier? Pretty much anyone thirty years old or less won't remember when there was only ONE phone provider in any given area, that it was a land-line only, and that you had a VERY limited range of options regarding telephones.

But once the monopoly was broken up - all of a sudden there was a LOT of innovation, cell phones went from an expensive curiosity to something eminently affordable, and the cell phones have so many features it's almost insane.

Can you imagine what a government-developed and produced iPhone would look like - if it existed at all?

How about cameras - wouldn't silver-nitrate black and white film be good enough? Who really needed color pictures, color slides, DIGITAL cameras, digital video cameras, portable digital storage, high-density storage, personal printers... well, you get the drift.

Now - just why again is it that it's supposedly 'better' for health care to be handled by the government?

J.

What would you want to put into orbit?

That weighs a half-pound?

TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit by Interorbital Systems launches a half-pound satellite.

For $8k.

How cool is that?

J.

(Bumped up because I blew the link. Sorry about that...)

RollCall.com

Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a possible bailout of their companies.
But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel: At the end of July, the House approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force to buy three elite Gulfstream jets for ferrying top government officials and Members of Congress.

The Air Force had asked for one Gulfstream 550 jet (price tag: about $65 million) as part of an ongoing upgrade of its passenger air service.

Obama: ‘Unleash prosperity for everybody’ - The Elkhart Project- msnbc.comOr not.

Somehow, I just don't see a massive drain of income from 'the people' as being a way to set up 'the people' for prosperity. (I think he's using some definition of the word that I'm completely unaware of...)

Slouching toward utopia. Ain't it great?

J.

Dinosaur Creationism Theme Park Seized By The Government - pseudo-science - io9

And I don't think it was Noah's flood that did them in...

Instead - T-Rex? Tasted like chicken. Brontosaurus? Prime rib, and lots of it. Triceratops? Mashed potatoes and gravy.

They tasted too good - but couldn't be domesticated. Alas - just think of the drumsticks on a T-Rex!

J.

Apparently, plenty. What's the Matter With IKEA: A Dialogue With Ellen Ruppel Shell - Megan McArdle

Me? I like the stuff. (Not so much now - but when they first opened they had a lot of quirky lighting. Multicolor LED panels and such... but they're gone at this point.) It's sturdy, it's durable (when put together properly) and looks pretty darn neat.

But ti's not for everyone, or every taste. We've got a heavy oak dining room set - but that's what we wanted. Overall, we're somewhat into Southwestern style - and IKEA doesn't do Southwestern.

It's good, relatively disposable furniture. It's not heirloom quality, it's not designed to last a hundred years, but if I'd had the money (and the availability) when I was starting out, I'd sure have gone the IKEA route for the whole apartment.

So - do you like IKEA? Dislike it? Don't care? Let me know what you think...

J.

YouTube - The Senate Doctors Show, Episode 8, 08/04/09

Senators John Barrasso, M.D. and Tom Coburn, M.D. answered health care reform questions from across the country.

"We don't manage Medicare well, we don't manage Medicaid well, the fraud rates are atrocious, and the whole idea behind this idea that we've got to have a government insurance program is the false assumption that Medicare and Medicaid cost less to manage. That's true - they do cost less in terms of direct management, but the fraud rate is 12 to 13 times that of private insurance. So when you look at total costs combined, private insurance costs a lot less than Medicare and Medicaid." (About 5 minutes in...)

Don't know about you - but the takeover of health care by the government is looking less and less attractive by the day...

J.

Seniors defend Medicare plan Obama calls 'wasteful' - USATODAY.com

WASHINGTON — One of the largest spending cuts Congress could rely on to pay for an overhaul of the nation's health care system comes from a Medicare program President Obama has called a "wasteful" subsidy for the health insurance industry.

Don't tell that to cancer survivor Maurice Engleman, 82, who says the controversial Medicare Advantage program — which allows seniors to buy Medicare coverage through private insurance companies — helped him beat cancer.

"There was a seamless link between the medical support and the emotional support," said Engleman, who was diagnosed with tongue cancer last year within a week of his wife's death. "I don't believe Medicare would have taken care of the kind of services I required."

Debate over Medicare Advantage, which has 10.2 million enrollees — about one-fifth of all Medicare participants — illustrates a broader struggle Congress and Obama face as they look for ways to pay for a $1 trillion overhaul of health care without raising taxes on the middle class or compromising care.

Miss Information

Miss Information is annoyed by androgyny.

Miss Information is annoyed by the not-so-nice

Miss Information is annoyed by an alarm

Miss Information helps the aged learn about the Internet

Miss Information is annoyed by the stingy

Having worked in a bookstore, I can sympathize with Miss Information...

Well, they're serving us ramen.

Robot Chefs Run Restaurant in Japan - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News - FOXNews.com

The FuA-Men (Fully Automated raMen) restaurant in Nagoya, Japan features a chef and assistant — both fully autonomous robots. The robots perform all of the cooking tasks needed to make eighty bowls per day, serving the customers who come to their small shop.

When asked, customers seem to feel that there is little difference between noodle dishes prepared by real, human chefs, and meals prepared by autonomous robots. For those who appreciate precision in food preparation, you can't beat robot chefs.

J.

Abby窶冱 Agency ｻ Archive ｻ 389

YouTube - Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee talks on the phone as a woman asks a question at a town hall event

Well, there's things that are important - and things that aren't.

Constituents? Not important.

Telemarketers? Important.

This Reperesentative is just a bit more blatant about it than most.

We've managed to elect 'aristocrats' instead of public servants. Or at least, that's how they seem to see themselves. I'm encouraged by the town hall activity - it means people are actually attempting to hold their elected representatives responsible - and the reps sure don't seem to appreciate that...

J.

Summer of fail: Why are new shows bombing?--The Live Feed

This summer is one for the record books: more than a dozen new programs launched on broadcast television and not one breakout hit, with returning shows down and ratings at an all-time low.

After a tough season for broadcasters, summer has been a huge disappointment.

"The sheer amount of waste is staggering," one broadcast executive said. "They say reality is low cost, but there are still costs."

Plus, when you DO (through sheer chance) get interesting shows that develop a following, the networks seem to immediately shove the times around, in essence doing a bait and switch routine to get you to try to watch something NEW - and then people just stop watching both. Ratings tank - and 'pop' goes the program...

(We will not even talk about the promising shows that lasted only one or two episodes, but were quickly cancelled because they were put up against prime-time giants and didn't immediately gather the lion's share of the ratings.)

There are too many options available to the viewer to pull stuff like that. There's no reason to stay on the broadcast channels when there's nothing on you want to watch. And summer is notoriously poor in viewers anyway - there's too much else to do.

IMHO, they need to cut back severely on the shotgun work. Develop 3 or 4 shows, run them through the whole season. We're talking at LEAST 25 episodes. Show them on the same night, same time, every week, AND DON'T MESS WITH THE BLASTED SCHEDULING! No pre-empting the shows for 'specials', or basketball games, or football, or baseball. Set it in stone that every week at the same time that particular show will be broadcast.

If it's an episodic show with a story arc - DON'T MESS WITH THE ORDER!

But you know - I don't think they'll be able to figure that out...

J.

HelloFromEarth.net | Gliese 581d | National Science Week 2009

This site is collecting messages that will be transmitted to Gliese 581d, a planet outside our Solar System which may support life. Comments are moderated: inappropriate messages will de rejected, and messages must be in English (so we can evaluate them).

I'm thinking about sending the following lines...

"Beware our politicians. Especially the 'Reality Based' ones. They wouldn't know reality if it came up and bit them on the (appendage)"

"We're friendly, honest. But don't let anyone sell you a bridge."

"Got FTL? We'll give you our President in exchange."

"Caffiene and nicotine are the drugs that sparked our technological climb. What were yours? Want a trade?"

J.

Taking the Chicago Way nationwide...

Chicago City Government Closed For Business Monday, Due To Budget Constraints - cbs2chicago.com

The City of Chicago will basically be closed for business on Aug. 17, a reduced-service day in which most city employees are off without pay, according to a release from the Office of Budget and Management. City Hall, public libraries, health clinics and most city offices will be closed.

Emergency service providers including police, firefighters and paramedics will be working at full strength, but most services not directly related to public safety, including street sweeping, will not be provided, the release said.

Now, it seems to be riddled with failure also... Too much money's gone out to too many people, to too little effect. It'd be interesting to see what the results of a city-wide audit would produce - but it's something that'd never be made public.

J.

My lovely bride, as some of you (well, most of you, considering how many strangers don't read this site...) has had a very good career in oncology research for the last 16 years. Managing clinical trials of new treatments is a necessary part of the development process - but lately things have been slowing down. There's a number of reasons for it - but there's one thing that they're all worried about - and that's research is going to have to stop once government takes over health care.

It's EXPENSIVE to develop new drugs. Estimates range from $400 to $800 million to bring a new drug to market. (Kind of makes you understand why there's all the ED drugs being advertised continually, doesn't it?) This cost includes, by the way, the ones tested that DON'T make it to the light of day. (Ever wonder how they came up with that 4-hour limit on the ED drugs?)

So it's terribly expensive to develop anything new. So let's be honest here - what's the ONE main reason why a drug company would spend so much money trying to develop a worthwhile treatment?

Yep - you guessed it. They're benevolent altruists who just LOVE to spend billions upon billions so people can have their drugs for free.

*WHAP!* Think with your pocketbook, Jimmy! They're looking to make MONEY off of it! You don't spend $800 million and not expect to get SOMETHING back for it - preferably double to quadruple the development expense! You cannot keep a productive research environment going WITHOUT money coming in from somewhere.

When the private sector gets out of health care - where's the money supposed to come from? Where's the incentive to find new drugs, run clinical trials, develop new therapies supposed to come from?

From the government?

Organizing for America | BarackObama.com | Health Care

We are committed to putting responsible science and technological innovation ahead of ideology when it comes to medical research. We believe in the enormous capacity of American ingenuity to find cures for diseases that continue to extinguish too many lives and cause too much suffering every year.

I sincerely fear that we're about to the light of medical innovation be put out by high-minded rhetoric. Because it's far more important to be 'fair' than effective.

J.

Executive Meddling - Television Tropes & Idioms

Sort through here - can you find your favorite TV show, toy, game, movie, or play? See what was done to make it more 'palatable' by folks who didn't want to pay attention to what the audience wanted... but figured they could 'tweak' ratings instead.

They even hit "Pinky And The Brain."

Nothing is sacred...

You might want to be careful, though - the TVTropes.Org site can get you to waste time like crazy...

J.

About a month back, my mother fell and hurt her hip - since she’s 91 with osteoporosis she was immediately shuttled to the hospital. We were there in the ER for about 4 hours, and thankfully, a CAT scan and XRays showed nothing was broken, but they kept her for a couple of nights for observation.

One of the political memes these days is that the insurance companies are forcing hospitals to turn away the uninsured. We didn't see that this visit.

In the next bay of the ER, we had an entertaining (if short) succession of people. One was a young guy, in his 20s or so, who dropped an air conditioner on his bare foot. He didn’t have insurance - but he got things arranged with a case worker. He was actually kind of amused to get his foot xrayed - he said he’d broken his leg, his arm twice and his ribs several times, but never his foot. Stitches and novocaine, and he walked out of there.

The next customer was ‘Frank’ - who didn’t have insurance, didn’t have a job, was in a ‘program’ which was supposed to help him with something unspecified, wanted to see a case worker to get a machine that he could stick himself with, was in the ER last week because he passed out and they gave him some pills for his diabetes, but he didn’t know what they were. He was also thirsty, and wanted some ginger ale.

When asked if he’d been eating regularly, he said he had some meatloaf yesterday at the lake with some friends, but after that he took one of his pills and then he was feeling shakey, and he had some hot dogs this morning. The doctor examined him, asked him if he was using any illegal drugs.

Frank asked “Wha?” Patiently the doctor explained “Cocaine, Pot, Marijuana, speed, hash, you know.” Frank replied “Nah, they check us once a week to see if we’ve been drinking. On Sunday. I’m in a program, and we ain’t supposed to do stuff like that, they’ll tell my probation officer. Can I see a caseworker? And I’m almost out of those pills I got last week.”

Two folks, no insurance (and in ‘Frank’s’ case, I’m not sure he could keep track of an insurance card if it was surgically attached) who got the care they needed.

But anyway... to continue the update.

Recently it's been necessary to move my folks from Winnwood off the Marietta Square to a different assisted living facility. Mother Did.Not.Want.To.Move. Father said, basically, "too bad, we can't afford this place much longer and we need to stretch the money." Mother whined, barely audibly, that she was too tired to move. Father told her that's what "Two Men And A Truck" is for - they're pretty much the gold standard for assisted living moves in and out of Winnwood.

Come moving day, Father had everything ready. Curtains were down, everything was boxed up - the movers arrived on time, wrapped everything, got it over to the new place, set things up as ordered. There was a note on the door welcoming them, and a goodie basket... which was more than they got at Winnwood.

Overall, they've been very pleased at the standard of care they've been getting there. Everyone's friendly and helpful, the food is better, (Mother loves their fried okra...) and there's more to do there. Last Friday they threw a surprise 'luau party', complete with whole roast pig for the residents - and contacted a local dance group for hula work.

(And this place cost significantly less than Winnwood. Go figure.)

So - Mother and Father are happier now. Mother's happy because the food is better, Father's happy because it costs less. We're happier because it's a lot closer (about 5 minutes away) and the little guy's happier because he can see them more often.

Win-win all around - what a concept!

J.

And thus I start what I call the 'Winter Schedule'.

Since we've got the little guy in a private school, we have no bus service. This means we drop him off and pick him up daily. This hasn't been much trouble in the past - we've been able to wobble our schedules around and (with the afterschool program) we've been able to keep a semblance of normality.

However - this year they're not offering ASP for his grade, and they don't let the kids just hang around the library and gym for an hour or two. So we had to change things a bit...

My work day is now 6 AM to 3 PM. This is good in a way - a lot of the work I do is background work on machines here and in Texas, so it gives me a two to three hour window in the morning to do what I need with little interference. Then I get off work, go pick up the little guy, and haul him home.

It's bad in a way, however. I'm much more comfortable staying up to mightnight or 1 AM, then getting up at 7. You'd think there'd be no real difference, right? Sleeping from midnight to 6:30 is the same as sleeping from 10:30 to 5 AM, right? Well, so far it hasn't been working well for me, I'm having quite a bit of difficulty skewing my sleep schedule around. I've thought, in the past, about trying stuff like modafinil/Provigil - but I ain't that far gone yet.

Any suggestions?

j.

An unexpected export from the Golden State...

California Disease: Oregon at Risk of Economic Malady | Newgeography.com

California has been exporting people to Oregon for many years, even amid the recession in both states.
Indeed, the 2005 American Community Survey report shows that California-to-Oregon migration was 56,379 in 2005, the sixth-largest interstate flow in the United States. The 2000 census showed a five-year flow of 138,836 people, the eighth-largest over that time period. Until two years ago, Oregon was managing to absorb this population with mixed results, but generally as part of an expanding and diversifying economy. But that pattern has ended, at least for now.

So now what will Oregon do with a suddenly excess population?
California, at least, can say its emigres over time will reduce unemployment and reduce out-of-whack property prices. The immediate net benefits for Oregon are harder to discern.

J.

Michael Dacre -British test pilot dies after crashing own prototype plane on first flight | Mail Online

Too bad - it looked like an interesting little plane. Wingspan seems a trifle short, but I guess they made up for that with power?

Their web site is shut down temporarily. Some info is available at the Wiki, but certainly not enough to answer any real questions about the thing

J.

Don't count on Social Security being a major funding source...

Bachus discusses Social Security, health care | TuscaloosaNews.com | The Tuscaloosa News | Tuscaloosa, AL

“Social Security could face default within two years,” U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus predicted here Tuesday. “The situation is much worse than people realize, especially because of the problems brought on by the recession, near depression.

“That’s not been on the board — people don’t seem to know that,” Bachus, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, said in a wide-ranging interview with the Tuscaloosa News Editorial Board. “What this recession has done to Social Security is pretty alarming.

“We’ve known for 15 years that we were going to have to make adjustment to Social Security, but we still through that was seven or eight years down the road,” he said. “But if things don’t improve very quickly, we’re going to be dealing with that problem before we know it.”

Doesn't seem like much of a joke now, sadly...

J.

But they're supposed to fix health care?

NY dealers pull out of clunkers program

Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government's Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday.

The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They're also worried about getting repaid.

J.

Crystalens IOL Georgia | Crystalens HD Atlanta

But I think I'll wait a while longer. This is designed to replace your natural lens after cataract surgery. I'm still quite a ways away from needing THAT - and I'm pretty sure our insurance vision care isn't going to support pre-emptive surgery.

And above that - the thought of someone operating on my eyes just gives me the willies. I'd definitly need a heavy duty trank beforehand...

J.

Obama fires back at political critics

"The media was obsessed with it, cable was 24 hours a day," Obama told a friendly audience of grass-roots Democratic activists at a Washington forum broadcast live over the web.
"'Obama's lost his mojo,' you remember all that?
"There is something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all wee weed up!"

MY President? (True, I didn't vote for him...) MY President, leader of the free world, diplomatic head of our government - said "everybody in Washington gets all wee weed up?"

IN A PUBLIC SPEECH?

WHAT CLOWN COLLEGE DID THIS BOZO GRADUATE FROM?!?!

I can see stuff like this coming during a roast, where everyone pokes fun at everyone else. I can see it coming out when talking with friends.

But this?

US President Barack Obama launched a mocking counter-attack Thursday at pundits who believe the euphoric early promise of his presidency is evaporating amid bitter political warfare.

THAT'S what's got us all 'wee weed' up.

Man, I can't imagine the Bushes, Clinton, Reagan, or even CARTER saying something like this. Nixon? Maybe... but not in public. Johnson? Heh. No way.

We simply have someone in office who isn't suited for the position. And we're stuck with him for the next couple of years. Man, what a joke... on us.

J.

Now what does he do?

American Thinker: The Alinskyite's Big, Fat Governance Failure

Even Barack Obama himself admitted in his "Audacity" book that lawyers aren't good at solving problems, that they're trained to win arguments, not formulate policy or find workable solutions. He also denounced political operatives in print, summarizing that too many lawyers and too many political operatives were the very source of the mountainous un-workability of our federal government.

Then, why oh why, is his whole administration a flailing mix of lawyers and political operatives?

Of course, none of this should come as a surprise.

We had the president's own shadowy record, with far more deletions than "allowable" information, which should have raised the skeptical antennae of anyone with half an ounce of common sense. What is the single reason why anyone assumed and portrayed as brilliant-beyond-brilliant hides his own scholarship and grade transcripts? If these records were demonstrably brilliant, they would be on prominent display.

But then, it's not really about the reality of Obama, is it? It's about the promise. Obama said it himself - lawyers are trained to win arguments.

And afterwards? That's not the lawyer's problem. A lawyer gets a murderer freed, and the murderer goes and kills someone, it's not the lawyers' fault, right? Even if the lawyer saw enough evidence, and knew enough from talking with his client to be sure he was GUILTY - he still has to try to get an acquittal.

Lawyers don't think beyond that. Just like Obama didn't really think beyond becoming President - he just figured that he could bull his way through any obstacles to what HE knew was best for the country...

Only to find those obxnoxious peasants just don't do what they're supposed to.

J.

AMC - Blogs - SciFi Scanner - John Scalzi's Guide to the Most Epic FAILs in Star Wars Design

Stormtrooper Uniforms
They stand out like a sore thumb in every environment but snow, the helmets restrict view ("I can't see a thing in this helmet!" -- Luke Skywalker), and the armor is penetrable by single shots from blasters. Add it all up and you have to wonder why stormtroopers don't just walk around naked, save for blinders and flip-flops.

The other nine hit home also. Enjoy!

J.

YouTube - Town Hall Meeting with U.S. Congressman Brian Baird

I, David William Hedrick, a member of the silent majority, decided that I was not going to be silent anymore. So, I let U.S. Congressman Brian Baird have it. I was one questioner out of 38, that was called at random from an audience that started at 3,000 earlier in the evening. Not expecting to be called on, I quickly scratched what I wanted to say on a borrowed piece of paper and with a pen that I borrowed from someone else in the audience minutes before I spoke. So much for the planned talking points of the right wing conspiracy.

Spread this far. Spread this wide. Did you catch the line by Baird - "I didn't call you people brownshirts" - followed by "I apologized for that."

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room » Baird apologizes for 'brown shirt' comments

Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) apologized yesterday for accusing town hall protesters of "brown shirt tactics" and comparing them to a "lynch mob."

Baird, who originally decided against holding town hall meetings because of expected protests, now says he'll schedule some forums during the August recess.

J.

The thrill is gone for Obama and the media | Washington Examiner

There’s nothing like a summer vacation to rekindle a romance. So maybe a week on Martha’s Vineyard can bring back some of the magic between the Obama administration and the media.

Before White House press secretary Robert Gibbs left town, he tried to clarify President Barack Obama’s comment that “everybody in Washington gets all wee-weed up.” Gibbs explained to reporters that what the president meant was that they were a bunch of bed wetters who made too much out of the implosion of the White House health care strategy.

Gibbs has grown more sardonic and patronizing as the summer wears on and Obama’s poll numbers wilt.

The press secretary has lectured reporters on the nature of their jobs — apparently to defend the administration against “misinformation” rather than asking impertinent questions like “How will you pay for it?”

It's a bit early to paint Obama as a dictator in the Stalinist mode- because realistically he isn't one. But I'm starting to think that it's the only governance model he believes in. He is at the head of the government, so he believes it's his right to make it as HE wants it - whether anyone else thinks its a good idea or not.

J.

Sen. Ted Kennedy dies at 77 - Edward Kennedy, 1932-2009- msnbc.com

BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate and haunted bearer of the Camelot torch after two of his brothers fell to assassins' bullets, has died at his home in Hyannis Port after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.

With his passing, the most influential generation of Kennedys is gone. I leave it to you to decide if that's good or bad.

J.

Some beer cans...

Man, that shouldn't happen to a dog...

J.

Bill would give president emergency control of Internet | Politics and Law - CNET News

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

Can you imagine the screaming on the left if Bush had proposed something like this? Do you think you'll see the same outrage now, from the same people?

I don't either.

J.

This kind of stands on its own.

Organizing for America | Event | 2 PHONE CALLS ON 9/11 - Illinois!

---* RECLAIM OUR LAND FROM THE HEIRS OF, YES: BIN LADEN *---* YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE *---

In case you haven't seen it in the News: Republican Representatives, Senators, GOP Party Leader, GOP Political Machine top personnel (e.g., Gingritch), etc etc etc --- they're ALL every one of them applauding and encouraging their zealot-horde by merrily referring to them as "Proud Right-Wing Terrorists". Google it - I'm not pulling your leg.

But don't hate them: Misguided citizens are easy-pickings for demagogues, whom they blindly follow because they’ve been trained all their lives not to question the dogma of their religion, so it’s natural for them NOT TO QUESTION what’s being spoon-fed to them by their FALSE PROPHETS who, themselves, shamelessly seek Worldly Glory.

They don’t apply the simple Test: “Am I being led closer to God, when I do what these folks say? – Or, am I on a Bullet-Train to the Devil, and I’m just a pawn to make these folks richer and more powerful?” Because, you know: the Faith one has in God, is different from faith one should have in Man. And you need to be even MORE skeptical, when one of ‘em says that God picked them for something or another. You can bet whatever they’re doing is making them more powerful/ more wealthy, and certainly less pious, no? Ooops, and following them is making YOU less pious too, in thought, and in deed. Yesseree, it’s a real thing to chew on.

Just remember: We Are The Super-Heroes Who Yes WE DID, and YES, WE SHALL commence administering Super-Hero Karate Chops, beginning now.

Oh, and can some of you facebook and tweat this around? I'm not that good at it yet.
IF YOU MISS THIS DAY, JUST DO IT OVER THE WEEKEND – IT'LL ALL GET REPORTED TO THE RESPECTIVE SENATORS ON MONDAY, ANYWAY.

"Zero Pride-of-Ownership", here Folks! - Cut and Paste all of this together your own Event or create your own wording, at the city/town of your choosing, since lots of people look for an event that's 5 miles close.

I imagine this will be taken down fairly soon. You want to see this for yourself, anyway...

There are crazies among us, and they really, really want the power to control you in thought, word, and action. And it ain't the right want wants the control...

J.