"It's not a crisis of biblical proportions, but President Obama's plan to recognize the National Day of Prayer on Thursday with a paper proclamation"This is the way it should be.
posted by Jim VAT @ 5:00 PM
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What they are basically arguing is that a carbon tax works by hundreds of millions of individuals making decisions in reaction to higher prices, and chosing their own way to reduce carbon production. They don’t trust this kind of bottom up chaos, despite the fact this is how our entire economy and society works, except for a few corners where beltway guys live and breath in their own reality. They want a few “scientific” guys at the top picking winners and subsidizing technologies and particular approaches.It is really telling that a democracy boils down to electing a political aristocracy that endevours to control everything and everyone. They don't trust us to act in our own best interest, but infinitely trust themselves to act thusly on our behalf. To that I say "No Thanks!".
posted by Jim VAT @ 2:29 PM
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"The research aircraft “Polar 5” (see photo above) today concluded its ArcticQuick. Let's get the destructive "cap and trade" legislation through Congress and on the President's desk before this information is integrated into the global warming theory.
expedition in Canada. During the flight, researchers measured the current ice
thickness at the North Pole and in areas that have never before been surveyed.
The result: The sea-ice in the surveyed areas is apparently thicker than
scientists had suspected. "
posted by Jim VAT @ 12:16 PM
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"Because we're dumb, and you need to manipulate us."
posted by Jim VAT @ 6:30 PM
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"Which brings us to the real question, which is, when did it become the government's job to intervene in the bankruptcy process to move junior creditors who belong to favored political constituencies to the front of the line? Leave aside the moral point that these people lent money under a given set of rules, and now the government wants to intervene in our extremely well-functioning (and generous) bankruptcy regime solely in order to save a favored Democratic interest group.Answer: money lending to companies with strong unions will demand a high premium to pay for the extra default risk. That is, the cost of "Patronage Payback" just went up.
No, leave that aside for the nonce, and let's pretend that the most important thing in the world, far more interesting than stupid concepts like the rule of law, is saving unions. What do you think this is going to do to the supply of credit for industries with powerful unions?"
posted by Jim VAT @ 6:16 PM
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To put this budget "cut" in perspective, suppose that the typical American family, earning $50,000 annually, plans this year to run a budget deficit proportionate to the deficit that Uncle Sam will run. Such a family would plan to spend $75,000.It is almost like it was planned this way. Breed an apathetic population that also cannot do math. Hmmmmmm.....
This family would declare - surely with much fanfare - that it will reduce its planned expenditures for the year by $2.08! Perhaps it might promise to survive the year with one less gallon of gasoline or with one less cup of coffee.
posted by Jim VAT @ 9:44 AM
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"only half the population understands what a precipitation forecast means well enough to make a fully informed answer, a new study finds.So sad. They should not worry about the weather, and instead go back to watching American Idol or the Miss USA Pageant.
If, for example, a forecast calls for a 20 percent chance of rain, many people think it means that it will rain over 20 percent of the area covered by the forecast. Others think it will rain for 20 percent of the time, said Susan Joslyn, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Washington who conducted the study.
Joslyn said that the research, funded by the National Science Foundation and detailed in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, shows the difficulty of making decisions where uncertainty is involved. People find it easier, she said, to simplify the situation to a single outcome: that it will definitely rain, but not for the whole day or the whole area."
posted by Jim VAT @ 6:13 PM
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"When van Houtryve approached North Koreans, they walked off or averted their eyes. He never once photographed a smile. Even children ran away from him. “They’d turn and notice me and immediately bolt off—as if a wolf had come up to them.” Pyongyang’s somber trams are old East German models, giving the city a Soviet feel two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall."I traveled to South Korea in the late 1990's, both before and after the Asian currency crisis. Of all the places I've traveled, the Koreans were the most generous and genuine. That their country could be split in two via Socialist / Communist tyranny is a crime against humanity. I dream that before I die, the North can be freed and recombined with the South. As I always say, "if you are going to dream, dream big!"
posted by Jim VAT @ 2:50 PM
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"One need not agree with the tea-partiers to concede that these worries are ones that reasonable people can, and do, have."After all, it is not about partisanship, it is about mathematics. When the math does not work, the peasants tend to get restless.
posted by Jim VAT @ 8:27 PM
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posted by Jim VAT @ 8:09 PM
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posted by Jim VAT @ 3:39 PM
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Contained here are the thoughts, views and analysis on subjects ranging from economics, politics, sports and anything else I feel like talking about.
I'm a 30's-something male who enjoys living, working and playing in Houston, Texas. I am an engineering professional working in the chemical industry. The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog.
