DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Archive for August, 2012

19 Shootings Overnight in Obama’s Home Town of Chicago

24th August 2012

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But they weren’t white people, so nobody cares, not even Barack the Magic Negro.

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The NFL’s Technology Cornucopia

24th August 2012

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I have zero interest in sports but the amount of technology that is permeating the professional ranks is just amazing. I’m waiting for the Packers to christen their new playbook ‘Air-Land’.

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MIT Grad Students Achieve Long-Sought Stable Nanocrystalline Metals

24th August 2012

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MIT researchers have designed and made alloys that form extremely tiny grains — called nanocrystals — that are only a few nanometers across. These alloys retain their nanocrystalline structure even in the face of high heat. Such materials hold great promise for high-strength structural materials, among other potential uses.

Why go to the trouble of designing such materials? Because they can have properties that other, more conventional metals and alloys do not, the researchers say. For example, the alloy of tungsten and titanium that the MIT researchers developed and tested in this study is likely exceptionally strong, and could find applications in protection from impacts, guarding industrial or military machinery or for use in vehicular or personal armor. But the researchers stress that this fundamental research could lead to a wide range of potential uses. “This is one case study, but there are potentially hundreds of alloys we could make,” Schuh says.

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Lance Armstrong, Latest Victim of the 2000-Pound Sponge

24th August 2012

Read it.

1. Note that he is to be ‘stripped of his titles’. As if that will make people forget that he actually won those races. No, it’s all about the ‘permanent record’, which is in the hands of the bureaucrats.

2. Note that he is to be ‘banned for life’. From what? From participating in the sort of competitions run by these slug. What a hardship.

Armstrong claims the USADA investigation “has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs”.

That seems like a true statement. (If you haven’t seem the movie, RollerBall, do so. It deals with a similar sports situation in a dystopian future that we seem to be rapidly approaching.)

 Armstrong, in a passionate defence of his career record, said USADA had no right to take away his Tour titles.

“USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles,” he said.

“I know who won those seven Tours, my team-mates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours.

So who is this USADA?

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is a non-profit organization funded by the US Government, sports organizations, and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States.

So it’s an organization set up by people who think that ‘doping’ is bad, supported by the government but with no legal authority. Welcome to the New World Order.

USADA is not a government entity, however the agency is mostly funded ($9 million) by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), with its remaining budget generated from contracts for anti-doping services with sport organizations, most notably the United States Olympic Committee.[4] The United States has also ratified the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport, the first global international treaty against doping in sport.

Putting aside the question of why the fuck the U.S. government is entering into a TREATY against ‘doping in sport’ — surely it has better things to do? — the more serious question is why the government is funding and giving apparent legitimacy to this group of international busybodies.

U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks noted, though, that the USADA’s “conduct raises serious questions about whether its real interest in charging Armstrong is to combat doping, or if it is acting according to less noble motives.”

No shit.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | 1 Comment »

Chuck Bottle Battle On Tap

24th August 2012

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WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia water and sewer authority is asking Congress to serve tap water instead of bottled water at the presidential inauguration.

The authority’s general manager yesterday wrote to New York Sen. Charles Schumer, saying tap water costs a penny a gallon while bottled water costs 100 times more and is environmentally harmful.

Well, Democrats are down on things that are environmentally harmful, aren’t they? Seems like a slam-dunk.

Schumer (D-NY) announced this month that New York-based Saratoga Springs Water will supply H20 for the inauguration.

Oh, I forgot — principles be damned when there’s some pork to be barreled. Can’t buy campaign contributions with tap water.

Bottled-water foes say that option creates more waste and pollution from trucking the water bottles.

Well, yeah. Let’s see if Senator Schumer finds that argument convincing. (Prediction: Not)

DC Water General Manager George Hawkins says that if bottled water is served, the authority is willing to provide reusable water bottles to lawmakers wanting to show their support for public- water systems and the environment.

Ah, the magic compromise. We’ll be happy to harm the environment, but in an environmentally-friendly way. That’s the modern Democrat party for you.

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Defense Distributed

24th August 2012

Check it out.

Print your own gun. What the Internet did for the First Amendment, 3D printers will do for the Second.

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Siri Is the New Clippy

24th August 2012

Alexia Tsotsis says what we’re all thinking.

Because the truth is, unless you’re driving all the time, you don’t actually use Apple’s Siri for very much. Because of the endless “D’oh” moments, the only interactions you have with it is on accident; Ask Siri to call you an ambulance, and it literally calls you ‘An Ambulance.’

What bugs people the most about these ill-thought-out products is that they’re like that annoying person at work who’s always all, “Can I do anything to help?” when they can’t actually do anything, don’t know shit, and are actually neglecting their real job while they take the time to ask you that question. And everyone knows what eventually happens to that person product.

Hear, hear.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Siri Is the New Clippy

Survey: Small Businesses Worried More About Economic Uncertainty, Regulations Under Obama

24th August 2012

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Which is why four more years of Obama will not bring economic recovery. Duh.

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Timothy Egan, New York Times Columnist in Exile From the Upper West Side, Purports to Explain How Republicans Are Stupid

24th August 2012

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On matters of basic science and peer-reviewed knowledge, from evolution to climate change to elementary fiscal math, many Republicans in power cling to a level of ignorance that would get their ears boxed even in a medieval classroom. Congress incubates and insulates these knuckle-draggers.

Oh, really? Google the following: Sheilia Jackson-Lee. Cynthia McKinney. Major Owen. All Democrat Congresscritters. All dumber than sand. And I don’t even need to bring up Joe Biden, do I?

And when it comes to ‘matters of basic science’ and ‘elementary fiscal math’, I haven’t met a Democrat in my 62 years that knows what a market is or how it works. Getting your ears boxed in a medieval classroom? Most Democrats, put in a medieval classroom and allowed to vent, would get beaten until they couldn’t move for incorrigible stupidity.

Looks like Mr Egan knows as little about Republicans — and Democrats — as he does about medieval classrooms.

And they pay money for this drivel….

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 1 Comment »

To White Collar Psychopaths, Stealing and Backstabbing Come Easy

24th August 2012

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The notion of a colleague betraying you is at least as old as the tale of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, who famously uttered the phrase “et tu” as Brutus plunged a knife into his back.

And if you’ve ever encountered a co-worker who will do anything to get ahead — even if that means ruining your good name in the process — you know how calculating and callous such people can be.

But did you realize that such a person could also have psychopathic tendencies?

Oh, ya think?

We often think of a psychopath as being a serial killer. Yet according to former criminal profiler Gregg McCrary, psychopathy runs on a continuum — with white collar criminals falling in the middle.

Perhaps that’s why such people appear to be attracted to ‘public service’. Few professions offer such opportunities for stealing and backstabbing as government employment.

Posted in Think about it. | 1 Comment »

Us-Pakistan Tensions: Time to Stop Pretending We Are Allies?

24th August 2012

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Long past time.

The only reason we’re friendly with Pakistan is because (a) we need them to get to Afghanistan and (b) the government has this thing for giving blowjobs to Muslim dictatorships. If we were to GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN (hint, hint) and QUIT GIVING BLOWJOBS TO MUSLIM DICTATORSHIPS (hint, hint), then we wouldn’t need Pakistan, and we could recognize what India has appreciated long since, that Pakistan is one big human rights violation and terrorist training ground masquerading as a nation.

Posted in Living with Islam. | 1 Comment »

US Election: Bob Dole Urges Mitt Romney to Confront Republican Party Right Wing

24th August 2012

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And lose with dignity, as he did.

Dyspepsia Generation urges Mitt Romney to stay away from RINO squish losers like Bob Dole.

Note to Republicans: Advice from losers can safely be ignored.

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‘AP Exclusive: Romney Uses Secretive Data-Mining’

24th August 2012

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Yet another hit-piece by our ‘unbiased’ media. The completely factual ‘Romney Uses Data Mining’ is neutral and objective and doesn’t advance the pro-Obama agenda, so they needed to stick in some scare words to make sure everyone gets the message.

Anyone who doesn’t think that the Obama campaign isn’t using data mining to identify potential donors is too stupid to be allowed to vote.

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign has long been known as data-savvy, but Romney’s project appears to take a page from the Fortune 500 business world and dig deeper into available consumer data.

And there you have it: Obama is ‘data-savvy’, Romney is installing TV cameras in your toilet.

An AP analysis this week determined that Romney’s campaign has made impressive inroads into even traditionally Democratic neighborhoods, collecting more than $350,000 this summer around San Francisco in contributions that averaged $400 each.

Of course, it couldn’t possibly be that ‘traditionally Democratic neighborhoods’ might realize that Obama is a slow-motion train wreck, and it couldn’t possibly be that ‘traditionally Democratic neighborhoods’ might harbor people who, you know, actually prefer Romney. Nope, it’s got to be sleazy CORPORATE MANIPULATION. The swine.

High-dollar donors have been essential to Romney’s election effort, unlike Obama, who relies on more contributors giving smaller amounts.

Hollywood will be delighted to hear it — so I guess Morgan Freeman will get his $1,000,000 back? And all those $50,000-a-plate fundraisers that Obama’s been doing are just camouflage? Hey, good that the record is being set straight.

Romney and the GOP have out-fundraised Obama’s re-election effort for the past three months.

And that’s what really burns: People putting their money on the line to Support the Wrong Guy. That’s why this article had to be written, and plastered all over the nation’s front page; the first in a never-ending drumbeat until November.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 1 Comment »

Ice Core Shows Antarctic Peninsula Warming Is Nothing Unusual

23rd August 2012

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New ice core data from the Antarctic Peninsula has revealed that temperatures in the region during the past 10,000 years have often been higher than they are today, and that warming of the sort seen there recently has also occurred in the pre-industrial past.

Shucks – all that Global Warming hysteria, wasted. Well, better luck next time.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 1 Comment »

One-Molecule-Thick Material Has Big Advantages

23rd August 2012

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MIT researchers produce complex electronic circuits from molybdenum disulfide, a material that could have many more applications.

Posted in News You Can Use. | 2 Comments »

Urban Renewal: The Board Game

23rd August 2012

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n the game, players can assume one of the following roles: City Councilor, Developer, Community Activist, City Planning Employee, Man-On-The-Street, Academic Urban Theorist, Resident of Existing Development to be Demolished, Mayor, Random Federal Politician, Skyscraper Enthusiast, or Garbage Man. They take turns spinning the ‘Decision Engine Wheel’ which gives them license to place various types of development (condominium, office, commercial, park, etc.) on the board. Sometimes, players are given the option to bulldoze development, in which case they can use the ‘Tabula Rasa Rake’ to sweep any amount of placed development from the board. As all of this happens, the city evolves.

The most interesting part of this game might be the bulldoze option, as this simulates many actual urban renewal schemes of the 1950’s and 60’s.

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Why Government Needs a Diet

23rd August 2012

George Will nails it.

Because the possibility of effectively supervising government varies inversely with government’s size, so does government’s lawfulness.

 

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Could Pakistan Use Nuclear Weapons in a Future Conflict with Afghanistan?

23rd August 2012

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A possible scenario: The first use of a nuclear weapon since World War 2, happened in Afghanistan, where Pakistan used a tactical nuclear weapon on the plains just north of Kandahar…

 

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U. Cincinnati Free Speech Zone Violates First Amendment

23rd August 2012

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What does it say when a University feels the need to have a “free speech zone.”  Well, the obvious point is that speech is not free outside the zone.

My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Posted in Think about it. | 1 Comment »

Top Nevada Court Says Attorney Son Can Represent Dad in Divorce From Mom

23rd August 2012

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What family doesn’t have it’s ups and downs?

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Hassling the Law-Abiding

23rd August 2012

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There is a widespread phenomenon in the Western democracies that I refer to as “hassling the law-abiding”. I’m familiar with the American version, but the Canadian, Australian, and Western European versions are surely similar.

The general idea is this: complex modern welfare states mobilize bureaucrats and law-enforcement agents to coerce conformity from ordinary people — normal well-behaved citizens who are (mostly) peaceful and productive members of society.

The prototype — some might say the Platonic ideal — of hassling the law-abiding occurs every day at the airport. When I travel by air I have to stand in line for half an hour, have my baggage X-rayed, remove my shoes and belt, and endure TSA employees staring at my junk on a screen. These procedures are supposed to ensure my “security”, but all they really do is display the absolute power of the State and allow sadistic low-level employees to get their jollies humiliating and inconveniencing thousands of innocent travelers a day.

Your tax dollars at work … sort of.

I could list more examples, but you get the idea. Law-abiding people experience routine hassles because they are, well, law-abiding. The authorities do this stuff to us because they can. Ordinary citizens are generally compliant, and put up with these things because they’re brought up to be lawful, orderly, and respectful towards authority.

Bruce Schneier accurately terms this ‘security theater’ — government employees who don’t really want to do anything, but are fully vested in wanting to appear to be doing something.

 Those who might really be dangerous — the guys in the beanies and nightgowns with their women dressed in shapeless black bags — are the ones who get the religious exemptions. Nobody wants to offend their religious sensibilities or, God forbid, profile them, so they can count on having the rules suspended for them whenever they yell loud enough. They’re not all that law-abiding, but they can cause mass trouble when riled. It’s much easier to just hassle Mr. Jones and let the others slide on by.

[insert sound of Maynard G. Krebs reacting to a mention of ‘work’ here]

And, practically speaking, it’s easier that way. So, no matter how much money it costs, no matter how many man-hours it wastes, we have to go through all this pointless folderol.

The only thing that saves us is that we don’t get all the government we pay for.

When those officers on the street in Toronto or Dearborn or Chelmsford confront a potentially explosive situation, they know that they must contain it in the cheapest way possible, or face wrath from above. And, let’s face it, cracking down on Christians and Jews is much cheaper than trying to keep a Muslim mob from murder and mayhem. Just think of the amount of police overtime and fuel use that would be required if the dogs or the crosses or the bacon or the Israeli flags were to get too close to the culturally enriched!

Cracking down on the guy walking his dog and the guy riding his bike is far easier — and cheaper — than actually enforcing the law. Police know that natives are far more likely to be peaceful and compliant than the enrichers. So they twist the arms of the law-abiding, and make sure they comply.

Like passing gun control laws that oppress the law-abiding and don’t even slow down the ones who are minded to commit a crime with a gun. The Path of Least Resistance is king.

If it takes, say, twenty officers to manage those annoying white guys with dogs and flags, how many would it take to contain the rage of all the Rage Boys if the flames of Islamic righteousness were to be ignited? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand?

Think of all the overtime! And the negative headlines! And the official investigation! And the questions on the floor of Parliament or Congress!

It’s far, far cheaper to hassle the law-abiding kaffir.

The fact that this actually amounts to the enforcement of sharia in the democratic West doesn’t ever have to enter the minds of those who do the enforcing. At most, they’re hoping to avoid being fired or sued for being “racist” and “discriminatory”.

They’re not thinking, “Gee, I want to do my part to bring Islamic law to my country!”

But they’re doing it anyway.

That’s the real cost. And there are no benefits.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Hassling the Law-Abiding

Scientists Create New Form of Matter That Can Dent Diamonds

23rd August 2012

Read it.

We have the technology.

Posted in News You Can Use. | 1 Comment »

Welshman Who Lives as an Apache Indian Wins the Right to Keep Badger Paws and Eagle Wings in His Home

23rd August 2012

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A British man who has lived as an Apache Indian for the past 20 years will be allowed to keep badger paws and eagle wings in his home after charges against him were dropped.

Father-of-six Mangas Colaradas, 60, was due to stand trial tomorrow for keeping protected wild animal parts in his semi-detached home filled with the trappings of his Native American lifestyle.

But brave Mangas vowed to fight the court case on the grounds that it is part of his Apache lifestyle – even though he lives in a three-bed semi in Swansea, South Wales.

Life imitates Monty Python.

JUDITH: Here! I– I’ve got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can’t actually have babies, not having a womb, which is nobody’s fault, not even the Romans’, but that he can have the right to have babies.

FRANCIS: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother. Sister. Sorry.

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | Comments Off on Welshman Who Lives as an Apache Indian Wins the Right to Keep Badger Paws and Eagle Wings in His Home

Public Sector Unions Planning to Forcibly Enroll Non-Government Employees

23rd August 2012

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Here’s how they plan to do it: they are using state governments to set up shell corporations that will turn self-employed workers receiving money from government programs into “government employees” who can be unionized.  Already there are ten states that have set up shell corporations or other structures to forcibly unionize independent care providers, who are often people taking care of their disabled children or people taking care of their elderly parents who receive benefits from federal-state programs for their care .

The steps involved in the forced unionization are simple:

  1.  The providers have clients who pay for their services using government funds as “government employees.”
  2.  Because the providers are self-employed people who work for disabled people, but are partially or fully paid for with government programs that pay for the care of the disabled, either the state itself becomes the “employer of record” or the state creates a fictional council or government shell entity to serve as the “employer” of these self-employed providers. This may be done by a governor’s executive order or by act of a state legislature. Some of these shell entities are:  the Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MQC3), the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council (MHBC3), and Missouri Quality Home Care Council.
  3.  Once the independent providers are “government employees”, they can be unionized, and forced to pay union dues, whether or not they join the union—in forced dues states.

A lawyer for the unions even admitted in court that this is a “slippery slope” and states could unionize “any group that accepted state subsidies” if the state considered it in its interest to unionize them.

Reminds me of the tame ‘unions’ that the Nazis and Communists set up under their totalitarian regimes.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | 1 Comment »

CU-Boulder: Profs Have No Right to Cancel Classes Over Gun-Carrying Students

23rd August 2012

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University of Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano notified the Boulder campus faculty Tuesday afternoon that professors “do not have the right to shut down a class or refuse to teach” should they learn that one of their students is lawfully carrying a gun under a concealed-carry permit.

And, DiStefano added, any faculty members who do so will be in violation of their contracts and face disciplinary action.

DiStefano’s message comes a day after Professor Jerry Peterson, chairman of the Boulder Faculty Assembly, told the Daily Camera that, under his own “personal policy,” he plans to cancel class if he ever learns any of his students are carrying firearms. A Colorado Supreme Court ruling this spring overturned CU’s Boulder campus gun ban, and university officials say that students with conceal-carry permits are allowed to bring guns into classrooms and labs.

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Why the Mushy Middle Annoys Me

23rd August 2012

Bob Belvedere speaks for all right-thinking folks.

Up until about the 1950?s there never was a time in American Politics where partisanship did not rule in our public affairs, even in War. And it served the cause of preservation of The Republic well because it gave us clear lines of demarcation between the different visions that were competing to direct the course of our progress and survival.

It was only when the Left was well on it’s way in it’s march through all of our institutions that ‘Bi-Partisanship!’ became the Holy Grail of our politics. And this was something touted by the Left.

Once they had taken control of The Narrative, once Leftist Thinking began to dominate our politics, it was in their best interests to convince everyone that cooperation on all things was the most important goal. This was because they now dictated the rules, they ran the game, so any compromise would naturally favor them and their schemes. As it has.

The Mushy Middle is composed of people who are not willing to pull a regular shift of guard duty for our freedoms and liberties. They treat their obligations as citizens of a constitutional republic like they treat any other tiresome, but forced-upon-them obligation — they’ll expend the absolute minimum effort on it and quickly move on to something more ‘enjoyable’ and/or more ‘fulfilling’.

They possess no sense of responsibility as citizens of The United States Of America. They cheerfully boast of their dereliction of duty and joke about their self-imposed cluelessness.

They annoy the living Hell out of me.

And that says pretty much everything that needs to be said on the subject.

Posted in Think about it. | 2 Comments »

We Need a ‘Conservative’ Party

23rd August 2012

Thomas Friedman is a comedian but just doesn’t know it.

This is like Stalin writing an article on Jeffersonian democracy.

True conservatives know that both Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush used both tax revenue and spending cuts to fix budget shortfalls.

Actually, true conservatives know that Reagan accepted increased taxes as the price he had to pay to get Democrats to agree to spending cuts that then never happened — in effect, he was rolled by Tip O’Neill & co. And George H.W. Bush isn’t a model that any true conservative would want to emulate. But Friedman, a classic Beltway liberal, has a definition of ‘true conservative’ that only another Beltway liberal would recognize. I’m sure he things of Andrew Sullivan and David Brooks as ‘true conservatives’.

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California’s For-Profit Two-Year Schools Are Kicking Community Colleges’ Asses

23rd August 2012

Read it.

There is a two-year college in California with a graduation rate of 72 percent. That’s a remarkable number. California’s community college graduation rate is a horrifyingly awful 25.3 percent.

Pacific College, though, isn’t a public school. It’s one of those for-profit schools that the Obama administration has tried blame for rising college debt and loan defaults. It’s a nursing school, too, so it’s a good bet those graduates are able to get jobs.

Funny how that works. People who are paying for their own education, as opposed to the drones who are leeching off of the taxpayers, tend to want to study something useful. Gender Studies and Queer Theory need not apply.

California’s community college system is a disaster. It’s heavily subsidized and cheap with no entry barriers. This may sound like a dream to those with no knowledge of economics (and those folks are certainly in abundance), but the reality is that California’s declining revenue has made it impossible for the state to keep up with demand, resulting in lengthy waiting lists for training for high-demand fields.

Waiting lists? For something the government provides for free? Who would have thought that would happen?

Then there are the thousands of folks who simply lack the aptitude for higher education, and we all get to subsidize this journey of unfortunate self-discovery.

Lucky us.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | 3 Comments »

US Open Tennis Umpire Charged With Murder

22nd August 2012

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A US Open tennis umpire, who officiated at matches involving players including John McEnroe, has been arrested and charged with the murder of her husband after allegedly bludgeoning him to death with a coffee mug.

Memorandum: Never argue with the umpire.

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20 Years After Ruby Ridge, Newspapers and Hatewatch Groups Can’t Quite Bring Themselves to Fully Describe the Government Screw-Up

22nd August 2012

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Twenty years after FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot her mother in the head in front of her, eldest Weaver daughter Sara is more at ease, greatly thanks to her born again Christianity. Getting over that loss, as well as the death of her little brother — shot by a U.S. marshal the day before her mother was killed —took her many years, but she seems to be at peace.

More than I could do. If it were my family, Lon Horiuchi would be a dead man walking.

 

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on 20 Years After Ruby Ridge, Newspapers and Hatewatch Groups Can’t Quite Bring Themselves to Fully Describe the Government Screw-Up

Holder Justice Department Recruits Dwarfs, Schizophrenics, and the ‘Intellectually Disabled’

22nd August 2012

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The PJ Tatler has obtained documents from the Justice Department detailing efforts to recruit attorneys and staff who are dwarfs or who have “psychiatric disabilities” or “severe intellectual disabilities.”  On May 31, 2012, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez issued a directive to affirmatively recruit people with these “targeted disabilities.”

Shucks, they’ve been recruiting people with moral disabilities for decades; I guess physical disabilities couldn’t be far behind.

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Tasmania Considers Cigarette Ban for Anyone Born After 2000

22nd August 2012

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Gotta love Australians, but they can be unclear on the concept of personal freedom.

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Twenty Thousand Muslims Expected to Attend Democrat Convention in Charlotte

22nd August 2012

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No doubt to collect their share of the jizyah.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Twenty Thousand Muslims Expected to Attend Democrat Convention in Charlotte

Your Stimulus Dollars at Work

22nd August 2012

The Other McCain blows the whistle.

The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two MSNBC cable shows, records show.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Your Stimulus Dollars at Work

Reading What Ex-Wikipedians Have to Say

22nd August 2012

Roger Pearse uncovers a rock.

Obviously the articles on these sites are very much the work of the disillusioned ex-Wikipedians; but none the less they represent a valuable corrective to the quite misleadingly positive impression that many people have of Wikipedia.  Most people suppose that the way Wikipedia represents itself is accurate.  Even those who have enough experience to realise that this presentation is not how things actually work, and that there is endless fighting involved, nevertheless tend to suppose (as I did) that the administration is honest at least in intent.  The testimonies of the ex-Wikipedians suggest very strongly otherwise.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | 1 Comment »

Iran’s Supreme Leader Orders Fresh Terror Attacks On West

22nd August 2012

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My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

 Iran’s Supreme Leader has ordered the country’s Revolutionary Guards to intensify its campaign of terror attacks against the West and its allies in retaliation for supporting the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

That’s some fine Religion o’ Peace™ you got there, Mohammed.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Iran’s Supreme Leader Orders Fresh Terror Attacks On West

US Army Engineers Turn Shipping Containers Into Mobile Manufacturing Labs

22nd August 2012

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The US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF) is sending expeditionary labs housed in 20-foot shipping containers to Afghanistan, allowing engineers to manufacture parts on-site and provide soldiers with real-time technical support. Each lab costs $2.8 million and contains a 3D printer to print plastic parts, a CNC machine to manufacture steel and aluminum parts, a number of tools, as well as satellite equipment for engineers to collaborate via video conference with others worldwide.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on US Army Engineers Turn Shipping Containers Into Mobile Manufacturing Labs

Our Billionaires Are More Virtuous Than Your Billionaires!

22nd August 2012

John Hinderaker has some fun bashing biased reporting.

Mayer, no believer in Occam’s Razor, hypothesizes that the problem is that rich Republican donors are greedy, while rich Democratic donors are altruistic:

    Creating a sense of intimacy with the President is especially important with Democratic donors, a frustrated Obama fund-raiser argues: “Unlike Republicans, they have no business interest being furthered by the donation—they just like to be involved. So it makes them more needy. It’s like, ‘If you’re not going to deregulate my industry, or lower my taxes, can’t I at least get a picture?’”

This is profoundly stupid. Given the endless overreach of the federal government, every substantial business is affected by federal laws and regulations. Democratic businessmen have “business interests” just like Republican businessmen–leave my industry alone, or regulate my competitors, or don’t single out my industry for a destructive tax, or don’t adopt a stupid regulation. Or pay my business money: when the federal government spends $3 1/2 trillion a year, it is supporting not just a lot of senior citizens, but a lot of businesses, too.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 1 Comment »

Energy Regulators Think You’re Crazy

21st August 2012

Read it.

Federal regulators evidently believe that Americans are irrationally choosing to spend hundreds of billions more on energy than they should. Consequently, benevolent bureaucrats have imposed regulations to guide hapless consumers toward making the proper energy saving choices when it comes to purchasing cars, air conditioners, clothes dryers, refrigerators, and light bulbs. A new study finds that the regulators are, in fact, the ones being irrational.

Jonathan Adler chips in:

 While most of the fuel standards were adopted in the name of the environmental protection, many are actually the result of special interest pleading. Producers of various products, ethanol in particular, sought fuel content mandates or performance requirements that would benefit their particular product. (I detailed part of this history in “Clean Fuels, Dirty Air,” in Environmental Politics: Public Costs, Private Rewards (Greve & Smith eds. 1992).) Worse, some of the content requirements are irrelevant for new cars due to modern pollution control equipment. Federally imposed boutique fuel requirements have outlived whatever usefulness they ever had.

 

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Energy Regulators Think You’re Crazy

Green Tea Extract ‘Eradicates Cancer Tumours’

21st August 2012

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Powerful new anti-cancer drugs based on green tea could soon be developed after scientists found an extract from the beverage could make almost half of tumours vanish.

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Samsung to Invest $4 Billion in Texas iPhone, iPad Chip Plant

21st August 2012

Read it.

Why not Michigan, I hear you say. And well may you ask.

Posted in Think about it. | 1 Comment »

France: Muslim Woman Beaten by Her Uncle for Not Observing Ramadan

21st August 2012

Read it.

“Righteous women are therefore obedient, guarding the secret for God’s guarding. And those you fear may be rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and beat them.” — Qur’an 4:34

And the feminists say: [chirp] … [chirp] … [chirp] ….

Of course, if a Christian had beaten his niece for not observing Lent, it would be headline news 24/7 for months.

Posted in Living with Islam. | 1 Comment »

Makerplane Lets You Build an Experimental Aircraft With Digital Printers

21st August 2012

Read it.

If, of course, you should want to do that.

The open source aviation organization will allow you to download its plans and schematics for free, then build your plane’s parts using CNC (computer numerically controlled) mills and 3D printers. If you don’t have one of those lying around, you’ll be able to go to a “makerspace” replete with all the necessary tools to get your wings whipped up, instead. As for keeping the blue side up, open source avionics software will also be included, allowing bold dabblers to create digital flight instruments and displays.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | 1 Comment »

The Nation: Condoleezza Rice Is Wrong Kind of Female to Break Gender Barrier at Augusta National

21st August 2012

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We want women and Negroes in these previously white-male bastions of privilege, but it has to be the correct (or should I say Correct?) kind of women and Negroes.

So glass ceilings only truly get broken by ladies who have the right kind of politics. Duly noted, white man!

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Layers of Difference

21st August 2012

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Imagine if you will that some women engaged in similar acts in India or the Islamic world. Obviously they would not dare unless they had a death wish. And that is a difference which unites Russia and the West: religious offense is not a matter of violent retribution. The women of the Pussy Riot collective were lucky that they did what they did in Russia, and not Iran. In a Muslim country they might have been torn limb from limb by enraged believers on the spot.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Layers of Difference

Ontario, World Center for Severed Human Body Parts

21st August 2012

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Still more severed human body parts have appeared in central Canada.  This time it’s two hands, and they surfaced not too far from last week’s other Canadian human remains discovery.

I’ve always wondered about Ontario. The name sounds like a breakfast cereal.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Ontario, World Center for Severed Human Body Parts

Phoenix Woman Ordered to Not Give Out Water in 112 Degree Heat Because She Lacked a Permit

20th August 2012

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This is what government is all about. Forget roads, mass murder through warfare, or locking people up for their consumption choices: it’s making sure that no one gives out water without a permit.

The only thing that saves us is that we don’t get all the government we pay for.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | 2 Comments »

Progressive Labor Leader Speaks Explicitly About Occupy Movement’s Communist Goals

20th August 2012

The Other McCain blows the whistle.

Leadership Institute intern Danielle Saul got video inside an Occupy DC meeting Sunday where union activist Mike Golash said:

“Progressive Labor is a revolutionary communist organization. Its objective is to make revolution in the United States, overthrow the capitalist system and build communism. . . . An organization has to be built which can bring down capitalism . . . a disciplined organization made up, not of a few people, but of millions and millions of people, can bring down capitalism.”

My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Progressive Labor Leader Speaks Explicitly About Occupy Movement’s Communist Goals

Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law Targets 11-Year-Old Christian

20th August 2012

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The story went on to explain that local NGOs report the girl has Down syndrome.

Doesn’t matter – she’s a Christian, Christians are kufr, and kufr are fair game for anything a Muslim wants to do.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law Targets 11-Year-Old Christian

Why We Have The Entitlement Programs We Have

20th August 2012

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We currently make 60% of our Federal expenditures towards wealth-spreading government programs; Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other entitlements. In FY10, we spent $2Tr on those programs alone. We spent $1.5Tr on every other activity the Federal Government engages in.

Some people think that’s not enough, that 90% of what the government spends ought to be on benefits programs.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | 1 Comment »