Wednesday, May 15. 2013
IRS faces class action lawsuit over theft of 60 million medical records
The Feds are always eager to stick their hands into places where they do not belong. I disagree with Mead that the intentions are good, but I agree that it's a nutty idea. For one thing, college is not job training. For another, the data would be meaningless.
By the way, what is Rubio's name doing on this idea?
Claim: Obama Campaign Co-Chair Attacked Romney with Leaked IRS Docs
This from a piece at Politico:
For five years, this president has been making the case that a growing and activist government has good intentions and can carry these intentions out with competence. Conservatives have warned that government is dangerous, and even good intentions get bungled in the execution. In different ways, the IRS uproar, the Justice Department leak investigations, the Benghazi tragedy and the misleading attempts to explain it, and the growing problems with implementation of health care reform all bolster the conservative worldview.
As you've no doubt heard, despite mankind's best efforts to fight off the peril of Natural Global Colding, at this point the relentless advance of ice continues:
Here's the latest on this impending horror:
BISMARCK, ND (AP) Mrs. Emma Dodson of Flatbush simply doesn't understand. "I gave to them Greenpeace folks over and over agin' and they said they'd take care of ever'thin'!," she exclaimed.
Despite such claims, the impending menace of global colding is right now happening in our own back yard as the relentless wall of ice advances. Below is a video as the Schwartz family of Flatbush gives their beloved home a final farewell. "I just can't believe it," said Mr. Schwartz. "I gave a buncha money to them Sierra Club folks and they promised me they'd fix the dang thing!"
Despite such claims, the video evidence simply cannot be refuted. Viewer discretion is advised.
Here, now, is the peril that you, too, will one day face.
It's not for the squeamish.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
Tuesday, May 14. 2013
 Well, you might have been wondering about 3D Printing and the Future of Stuff.
For example, you might have heard that the 3D-Printed Bionic Ear Hears Better than the Real Thing.
Yep, it's looking more and more like Your Future Will Be Manufactured on a 3-D Printer.
You also might have heard about the 3-D printed gun and, Yes, the 3-D Printable Gun Really Works.
As you'd expect, The Internet Rushes to Download 3-D Gun Blueprint.
And, given that this allows anyone with access to a 3-D printer the ability to produce a lethal, non-detectable weapon, it's no surprise that people are wondering Should Congress Impose a Ban on 3D Printed Guns?
As you might expect, until things get sorted out, the State Department Orders Firm to Remove 3D-Printed Guns Web Blueprints.
After all, this could be a pretty big deal if you understood How 3D-Printed Guns Violate International Arms Controls.
Because, as should be obvious to anyone older than ten, 3-D Printed Guns are a Boon for Criminals.
Well! You can bet the conservative blog sites didn't take too kindly to that. After all, the word "gun" is involved, which means it's a good thing — whatever the actual specific subject is.
Speaking for all of right-wing blogdom, here's Mary Katharine Ham from Hot Air:
...are the ways liberals are already dreaming up to thwart the 3-D gun.
Because, as everyone knows, anyone who opposes any aspect of guns is a dirty, rotten, scumdog liberal.
The battle over these plans touches on the Second Amendment, of course
Because, as everyone knows, what the Second Amendment is really saying is that every American has an equal right to kill any other American.
but the distribution of 3-D printing plans is a First Amendment issue
In other words, if I want to post plans on how to produce a dirty nuclear bomb in the comfort of your own kitchen, that's a First Amendment issue??
John in the comments enhanced the point:
It should also be noted that this isn't what is commonly referred to as a "gun control" issue, because those guns are detectable. A lethal, non-detectable weapon more properly comes under the heading of 'public safety', like your dirty bomb scenario.
Which is how the bloggers are viewing it, as just another gun control issue. But it's clearly not. As long-time readers of this site know, I'm famous notorious for reducing complex issues down to a single question or two, and this subject is no different.
1. Would you trust your family's health to a printed plastic gun?
2. Okay, then who would use these things?
I can tell you who wouldn't:
— You, because, come that desperate moment, you're going to want a good, solid metal gun that you know will work.
— Me, because as much as the average geek would love to play with the technology, the exorbitant price of the printer puts it far out of reach.
— Common criminals, because the store owner they're trying to rob would just laugh in their face.
And who does that leave?
Really bad guys.
Bad guys who will somehow get hold of a 3-D printer because they desperately need a gun that evades metal detectors.
You know. Those types of bad guys.
As of last Friday, the CAD (Computer-Assisted Drawing) file had been downloaded over 100,000 times. In typical Internet fashion, it was on such notorious pirate sites as Pirate Bay by the time the boys from State pulled on their pants that morning, so removing it from the home site obviously didn't do much good at that point.
Nor can you blame the guy, as he's been publicly working on it for over a year, so the Feds certainly had plenty of advance notice. And he certainly wasn't the only one tinkering with the idea. His was just the first to successfully fire a bullet without also blowing off the hand of the shooter.
So, it's kind of a sticky wicket, isn't it? It appears to boil down to that old confrontation, principle versus practicality. If we assume this is, by far, a bigger boon to airline hijackers than common homeowners, then the right-wing bloggers are standing by the principle that all guns, no matter what the situation, are good.
My question is, is that really what conservatism is all about?
All guns, no matter what the situation, are good.
That's how it is?
 Big storms are on the horizon, headed towards Washington DC.
The mainstream media, after over five years of protecting, insulating, glorifying, romanticizing Obama and his administration, is beginning to realize that, if they continue on that same path, they will be left behind. With the MSM running interference for the admin., perhaps they felt invulnerable in Washington.
I recall Michelle Obama once bragging about that. No longer. Now the election is over.
I suspect the MSM and talking heads feel torn between doing their job and protecting their political hero and Leftist ambitions in general. Probably many Dems in Washington are feeling the same way this week.
This administration is dead in the water, will need to be towed to harbor, will not recover even with MSM help. Too many problems, with maybe more to come, and the MSM has already focused on constructing a Hillary narrative as the next savior.
But how likely is it that Americans would elect two Chicago Alinskyites in a row?
 UN urges people to eat insects to fight world hunger
Ford previews the new F-150
The national pastime may be past its time. But those who think it’s boring need to think again.
Author uncovers surprising secrets of female sexuality, including monogamy and fantasies
He says women are hornier than men
Govt killing striped owls to save spotted.
Only gummint could be this stupid. Last I heard, Spotted Owl is just a subspecies of Barred Owl. So they are killing the Barred Owls? I like Barred Owls.
Primary school forced to turn off wind turbine after bird deaths
Ted Dalrymple says he's enjoying retirement.
He's not really retired - he just switched careers.
Gov't obtains wide AP phone records in probe
Watergate Was For Amateurs: Justice Department Spied For Months On Associated Press Reporters
The lies pile up and the president goes silent
"Employee Wellness" programs do no good
Detroit insolvent, EM Kevyn Orr says
Mead on Detroit:
It’s almost as if a gang of criminals, operating under the colors of an indifferent national political party, have been running the city for decades.
American Dream v. Israeli Dream: Jennifer Rubin and Mickey Kaus debate
The Weekly Winston: IRS Scandal Edition
After IRS, Benghazi, should I trust government?
Not before, not after. Never.
Attorney for Tea Party group: IRS told me a year ago about ‘secret working group’
Non-citizens voting?
With little comment from conservative media, President Obama last week appointed James Dobbins as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, the high-profile job long occupied by the late Richard Holbrooke.
From Benghazi to Boston: The government evades the truth about terror
The Wit and Wisdom of Herbert Romerstein
Stunning: The NYT refers to them as "babies"
Monday, May 13. 2013
A superstorm from the sun: Astronomers watching for potential catastrophe
I blame global warming
Toward Rivals, It's Craigslitigious - The company's response: lawsuits to prevent anyone from doing to it what it did to newspapers.
Stellar science schools in NYC
What Your High School Teacher Won’t Tell You
Top Urbanists Agree: Casinos Ruin Cities
Has Christianity Been Outlawed in the US Army? link fixed
Fish And Wildlife OK With Condor Deaths From Wind Farms
Is there any state where a college men's football or basketball coach is not the highest paid state official?
Who better to make the big bucks?
The Jobs Crisis: Bigger Than You Think:
We are seeing the greatest wave of economic transition since the mechanization of agriculture reduced the percentage of the labor force engaged in farming from more than half the American labor force in 1890 to less than two percent today.
The Incestuous Love-Child of the Democrat-Media Complex
Douthat: The Taxman vs. the Tea Party
Steyn: The Benghazi Lie - A failure of character of this magnitude corrodes the integrity of the state.
Talking Points on Benghazi Talking Points Changing - Out with the old, in with the new.
Cover-ups and crimes, then and now
Maine governor: So, can we back off on all of these wind initiatives yet?
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): Credentialed, Not Educated - Despite his law degree, an MSNBC appearance revealed him ignorant of two elements of the Constitution.
Sunday, May 12. 2013
The Director lied. IRS Scandal Expands.
We now officially have a "scandal-ridden administration" in Washington. That is not a good thing for us citizens.
Saturday, May 11. 2013
Via Zero Hedge:
On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging suspect groups was changed to, "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement," the report says.
So, by implication those who still believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are if not enemies of the US, then certainly subject to far more scrutiny by the country's tax collectors?
Educating on the Constitution seems very dangerous. Subversive. The populace can not be trusted to read it because they won't understand that it doesn't mean what it says. Something like that.
The IRS never got to auditing Maggie's Farm's accounts as far as I know. Whew. Under the radar. We're just a bird-watching site, anyway. We hide our vast advertising income in the Caymans, like everybody else, and it is delivered to the contributors to Swiss accounts, in gold bullion carried on private sailboats to the port at Zurich and thence by courier to our private bank.
Posting for Maggie's is a good, tax-free gig if you don't mind spending the income overseas. But who would mind doing that, as long as it's done quietly at the craps tables in Monte Carlo?
Latest at Drudge: IRS also targeted Jewish groups
Going after the Jews too? To get serious for a moment, political corruption of the IRS is about as bad as it gets in America. Criminal at the least. Not funny. Heads must roll for this. I will assume that smart lawyers are on top of this already because it is an outrageous abuse of power in a free country.
Update: IRS officials knew of tea party targeting
 It is, indeed, looking much worse than Watergate.
Oh Good Grief… Jay Carney Blames Romney for Benghazi Scandal
David Gelernter: Who is on trial for Benghazi?
MSNBC (!): Benghazi-Gate Is a Potential Impeachment Issue; Is Comparable to Watergate
Unlike Watergate, an unremarkable political dirty trick with a dumb and unnecessary White House cover-up (if a handful of people had been fired it would have been a big nothing), in this case American public servants died seemingly because of State Dept and possibly White House incompetence or indifference, and both may have been complicit in an attempted cover-up a few weeks before a national election. Possibly the CIA too. People have been intimidated about speaking out, but maybe no longer.
If this is the way it smells, this is a big problem for Washington. One more from Jim Hoft:
Benghazi Whistle-Blower Attorney: I Have More People Who Want to Testify, Including CIA Officials
In a week in which the IRS finally admits that they were harassing Conservative organizations prior to the elections, the administration is looking terribly corrupt. Whatever happens, I think this Chicago administration has blown itself up and lost whatever credibility it ever had. Plus, with the low-life Putin making John Kerry wait three hours to meet with him, it's looking sort of pitiful too.
Buddy suggested that I add the tar and feathers image to this post. Seems right. Even though we disagree with the administration on most policies, we take no pleasure in seeing our US govt in this position. An embarassment for all of us. Respect must be earned, and these people thought they could easily fool us low-information citizens.
Farm gal above is Theo's new girlfriend
7 Kinky Sex Tips For Curious Vanilla Girls
Are you old enuf to remember the Police Gazette?
Fat America
What depression is like
5 Unbelievable benefits of masturbation for women (h/t Insty)
Should Retirees Avoid Blue States?
I've noticed it's mostly the Liberal grey-hairs who get their spots in Florida for half the year plus one day.
Will Harvard Law School also be adopting a strict 50/50 quota for intellectual diversity? Is this sort of quota appropriate for gender?
Samuelson: Overselling ObamaCare
How could insurance make you healthy?
How the IRS Wrecked Your Pension - Don't blame the fund managers, blame the tax code.
Benghazi: Caught playing politics with tragedy, what's next for the Obama administration and GOP investigators?
Dems accuse me of being crazy.
Call me anything you want as long as you call me for dinnertime.
Dershowitz: Ted Cruz one of Harvard Law’s smartest students
Democratic strategist: Dem Party 'in decline'
IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups
10 crazy things the IRS asked Tea Party groups
State Department Removed Terror, al-Qaida References in Benghazi Talking Points:
Benghazi occurred seven weeks before election day. The administration's strategy was simple: Downplay the terror attack, change the narrative, and run out the clock. And that's what it did.
But now the dam has burst. Carney's "here at the White House" comment has essentially thrown Clinton under the bus. Republicans, who leaked the edited emails to Karl and Hayes, have succeeded on two fronts: They've got the administration on the defensive over Benghazi, and they've weakened the Democrat's most formidable 2016 candidate.
I think Peggy Noonan has it right: The Inconvenient Truth About Benghazi - Did the Obama administration's politically expedient story cost American lives?
NGOs vs those who serve
How Stephen Hawking Abandoned Einstein and Turned on Israel
Thanks to a bombshell report from ABC News, GOP accusations that the White House politicized a tragedy no longer seem so unsubstantiated
Liberal lefty dude at her gym does not approve of the Jews
Swedish Court Sentences Muslim Who Stabbed His Sister 107 Times to 4 Years in Prison
Religion of peace, ya know
Friday, May 10. 2013
I agree with this take: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Next Bull Market.
I hate bubbles. I am 100% out of equities right now. My self-directed IRA. Market is just floating on hot air. Just my humble opinion, of course. Time will tell whether I was lucky or unlucky.
VDH: How To Lose A War - Before the United States enters Syria, it should consider the lessons of history.
Wine-tasting is bullshit
I don't know much about wine, but I know I prefer the expensive red-colored stuff
105-Year-Old Woman Says Bacon Is Key To Longevity
Duh. That's old news.
Cicada emergence map
The cicada crisis is coming. I blame global warming. They haven't emerged here, yet.
The new VW Camper Van
Vultures eat hiker in Pyrenees before help arrives (h/t Jungleman)
Never hike. Stay home and read Maggie's Farm.
Your son has a weapon!
Students Told Not To Drink Tequila, Eat Tacos on Cinco de Mayo
Is the FDA heading toward age limits on caffeine products?
Tornado activity hits 60-year low
I blame global warming
The Price Of Copper And 11 Other Recession Indicators That Are Flashing Red
Liberals Don’t Understand How Agricultural Subsidies Work
Yes they do. It's vote-buying.
How wealthy is Fidel Castro? Up to $900 million
Almost a billion, but nothing to buy except Tequila, rum, cigars, tacos, and chicks.
Harrison H. Schmitt and William Happer: In Defense of Carbon Dioxide - The demonized chemical compound is a boon to plant life and has little correlation with global temperature.
What sorts of nervous nellys would worry about a little warmth anyway? Myself, I worry constantly about the coming Ice Age. Visions of an advancing glacier towering over ye olde cabin. It keeps me up at night. The science is definite on this. It's just a matter of time.
DOE Spent Over $11 Million Per Permanent Green Job
EU May Roll Back Costly Climate & Green Energy Policies
Elizabeth Warren finds way to inflate Higher Ed bubble even more
Beware the Dictators of Virtue
Liberal media spin Benghazi scandal to protect Team Obama
Of course. Their job is to protect the powerful, isn't it?
Water, Energy, and Trade? Who Needs Those?
Thursday, May 9. 2013
 23 Signs You've Lived In New York City Too Long
People mostly wish to leave when they realize they will never be able to afford to live comfortably there. Too many other people want to live there.
New York’s War on Food Trucks Rolls On
Everybody loves the food trucks. Amazing variety, ethnic, cheap, and in NY nobody has time to sit for lunch.
The Incredible Talking Weiner
Amusing, from Derbyshire. Weiner's a dick and everybody knows it.
 Hollywood "Script Evaluators" Now Being Consulted to Punch Up Scripts into Box Office Gold
Eastern US about to be overrun by Cicadas
Birds love to eat them.
Free school breakfasts: Another Destructive Liberal Idea
Europe's Bureaucracy Warns That Resistance Is Futile
I can't believe...that every faculty member at Texas A&M is really happy about signing a climate loyalty oath.
Warmists Invent Yet Another New Way To Say Warmth Is Being Hidden
Ross:
Hillary Clinton has been an utter disaster as Secretary of State. Syria
is awash in mass murder, chemical weapons, and Iranian missiles. Egypt
is under the control of the Nazi-esque Muslim Brotherhood. Libya is a
cauldron of terrorist activity. And Iran has -- or is about to --
acquire nuclear weapons. At the same time, North Korea and the People's
Republic of China are seemingly at a tipping point.
But she's the greatest Secretary of State ever!
Related: CBS News Bosses Irked by Correspondent's Thorough Benghazi Reporting
Benghazi stinks – but it won't be Obama's Watergate. As Dennis Miller put it:
Maybe some guy on the internet will break it eventually. But you realize Woodward and Bernstein became Woodward and Bernstein because what they did to Nixon. The key thing in that equation was Nixon. You had a free rein on him.
You can't go after this guy. You won't get Woodward and Bernstein status. You’ll be out of the game. If you’re the one who brings down Barack Obama, you will be out of the game. And if you go after Hillary, who’s going to run the next eight years, you’ll be more out of the game. So, in this case, it’s, you know, it's not going to happen. The press isn't going to dig on on this.
Eighth grader hauled into court for calling classmate ‘horse’ and ‘fat ass’
Whatever happened to "sticks and stones..."?
Lefty wants government bailout of homeowners
Isn't the mortgage interest deduction enough of a bailout?
Sultan on amnesty and the Food Stamp Nation
New White House amnesty campaign: “Unless you’re a Native American, you came from someplace else”
The Indians came here from somewhere else too, Mongolia or something, and totally screwed up the ecology, killed off all of the big animals and set fires to the prairies
Tuesday, May 7. 2013
5 Benghazi Mysteries that Must Be Solved
As we have said ad nauseum, if this had happened under Bush, imagine the media uproar. However, they are attempting to run interference for Hillary ("at this point, what does it matter?") Clinton.
Were she male, would they love her so much?
If you have been raped, you dial 911. If in danger of being raped, you try to use 911 or else pull out your Derringer or your Glock if you have one. Rape and assault are felonies. Why one would phone a campus administrator is beyond me because law enforcement is not their job. They do not live in reality.
Swarthmore, Occidental and Their Kangaroo Courts.
For the purposes of income, satisfaction, challenge, skill-enhancement, personal growth, relationships, and pleasure, I have been planning and pursuing my life goals for ten years. Like Prof. Boudreaux, I have zero interest in income equality. I want to be prosperous, but I recognize that most people do not if they have to work or plan for it too hard, or take too many risks. I want to support a wife and kids without help, I want to help my parents when and if they need it, I want to keep learning, I want to be my own boss and to learn how to lead, I want my own Conquest, I want a white picket fence, I want a cushion of cash in the mattress, and I want to go places the way Bird Dog does.
Also, I am also entirely opposed to the idea of minimum wage, especially for people under 18 or 20 years old. All it does is to deprive the youth of valuable work experience. Labor is a market, same as cars or arugula. Child labor is a good thing, much better than teen tours. Work never hurt anybody. Not working seems pretty bad for people unless they are Moms raising a young litter.
Who was Robert Ripley?
Bad Science is everywhere. It's about the money.
Preposterous Waste, Pentagon Style
Free Speech on the internet?
New York Times execs on hot seat - Shareholders question wages, Globe sale
Al Gore, richer than Romney
Bill Ayers and the Culture of Rape
Ayers Defends Weather Underground Bombings
Andrew Cuomo Launches Ad Campaign to Lure Businesses to N.Y. - with Sandy Storm funds
Canada: The Bureau of Diversity Compliance
German Finance Minister Who Launched Euro, Calls For Euro's Breakup
Senate Dems prepare to throw Obama under the Obamacare bus
Rise of the Republican Governors - A new liberal era? Not according to these reformers.
Driscoll:
When I see the announcement that Salon has gone offline, having voluntarily given up its air conditioned Internet server rooms for the sake of preserving Gaia and staving off “the apocalypse,” I’m willing to revisit the cheeseburger argument.
From Jim Rogers' PARAMOUNT ADVICE TO ALL INVESTORS:
"Mr. Bernanke has no clue about economics or currencies, and no clue about how markets work. You have to be very careful and watch those guys. Many people for some reason have some kind of faith, even worship of the Central Bank, like they know what they are doing. Its has only been in the past few decades people even knew who Central Bankers were. Nobody knew about these guys 100 years, 80 years ago yet now they have become exalted and that is a bubble.
Fortunately Central Bankers are going to pop and this particular crisis may well lead to it. In America we've had 3 Central Banks, the first two disappeared and this one will too in my view. They are making such horrible mistakes. "
Syria's Civil War: The Empire Strikes Back
Tech guru Jaron Lanier prophesies a chilling virtual reality:
“If you have the biggest computer and the biggest data, you can calculate how to target people with a political message, and have almost a guaranteed deterministic level of success,” says Lanier. “Politics then becomes about who has the biggest computer. The way Obama won the last US election was by having the best computer strategy.”
“If that is to be the future of politics, it will no longer have meaning. The path we are currently on now is not compatible with democracy.”
Europe: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Monday, May 6. 2013
 There's a style of AGW propaganda that I call the 'Little Lie, Big Truth' format. This is when some tiny lie of the AGW campaign is soundly debunked, making the author look 'clinical, scientific and impartial', then, almost as a 'P.S.', it's noted that, by the way, man-made global warming is here, real, and must be dealt with now. One little lie debunked, but one grand truth revealed.
Allahpundit (aka 'God's Critic') over on Hot Air has linked to a number of these articles over the years in their 'Headlines'. Whether he's just skimming over the article and failing to spot the Big Truth paragraph at the end, or actually believes in AGW and is posting these links to appear clinical, scientific and impartial, is anybody's guess.
He's in good company, though. Matt Drudge does the same thing:
Tornado spike in 2011 attributed to climate change. So what to make of this year’s tornado drought?
Damn good question, right?
Continue reading "AGW Update: The "Little Lie, Big Truth" edition"
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