Thursday, December 31, 2009

Some Best and Worst of 2009

Politics

Best: Dick Cheney refusing to go gently into the good night
Worst: the 300 plus days of the Obama administration

Celebritude

Best: The death of Michael Jackson.
Worst: Having to wait as long as we did for that fucking freak to move on

Consumer Technology

Best: Amazon's Kindle
Worst: anything produced by those bastards at Brookstone

Day of 2009

Best: March 30
Worst: August 29

Automotive

Best: Bentley Mulsanne
Worst: Jeep Compass - brand destruction at its worst - front wheel drive? Really?!?

Toy

Best: Nerf N-Force Maverick Sword
Worst: Zhu Zhu Pets

Coffee

Best: Starbucks Venti drip
Worst: the crap SBD's mom served on Christmas Day

Television Show

Best: Fringe
Worst: Glee - enough with young people who want to sing

Shoes

Best: Allen Edmonds
Worst: Birkenstocks - goddamned things don't stay on your feet

Playa

Best: Tiger Woods
Worst: David Letterman

Citrus

Best: Clementines
Worst: Tangerine

Scandal

Best: Climate Fraud
Worst: Whores for Health Care Legislation

Kids

Best: Mine
Worst: Yours

Dow Performance - Blech!

Chart of the Day:

As the zeros decade concludes, today's chart presents the price performance of the Dow for each decade since 1900. So how do the 10 years just passed rank? As today's chart illustrates, the performance of the Dow from the close of 1999
through 2009 was the second worst performance on record. Only the Great Depression decade of the 1930s was worse. The current zeros decade also shares an unfortunate outcome with the 1930s in being a decade during which the Dow actually ended lower than where it started. Happy new decade.

Friday, December 25, 2009

The Christmas Family Tree

Walter Russel Meade:
It’s sometimes hard to know which pieces of Christmas come from the Bible (shepherds, manger, baby, parents, angels, wise men), what comes from paganism (date, trees, mistletoe, lights, logs, presents), what comes from pious legends(animals, crowns for wise men, one of them being black), what from medieval custom (manger scenes, carol singing), what comes from sentimental Victorian literature (named reindeer, flying sleigh, Santa Claus as a fat and jolly elf, Tiny Tim) and what comes from modern commercialism (dreaming of a white Christmas, Rudolf, the little drummer boy, the grinch).

Christmas Eve Story, part 14

Merry Christmas!!!

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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve Story, part 13

Time to walk the dog.

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Christmas Eve Story, part 12

Children are nestled all snug in their bed . . . While dad secured another beer from the shed

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Christmas Eve Story, part 11

Pie at last!

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Christmas Eve story, part 10

Christmas town looks for a designated driver

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Christmas Eve Story, part 9 and two thirds

A bit of Scrooge as the whipped cream is prepared and pecan pie warmed

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Christmas Eve Story, part 8 maybe

Wonderful, now what's for dessert?

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Christmas Eve Story, part dinerr time

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Christmas Eve Story, part 7

The necessary third beer

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Christmas Eve Story, part 5

Watching old Christmas shows . . .

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Christmas Eve Story, part 4

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Christmas Eve Story, part 3

Chicken, to go with the Parmesan

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The Christmas Eve Story, part 2

The necessary double bock

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The Christmas Eve Story, part 1

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Today's Small Act of Insurgency

**



At Toys R Us, took a few Smurf plushies and mixed them in with the first run Avatar toys.






**

Friday, December 18, 2009

Zhu Zhu Petals

Sydney Brillo Daughter has been rather explicit that Santa Claus could maintain his status as an actual living entity were he to deposit the following toy below Sydney Brillo Christmas Tree.


That, patrons, is Mr. Squiggles Hamster of the clan Zhu Zhu, a new species of battery operated Rodentia.

The benefit of having a Zhu Zhu pet appears to be that, as compared to a live hamster, they are slightly larger, fluffier, softer, cuter and they do not pee in your hand or puncture your thumb with little rabid teeth. Also, unlike real hamsters, they can be pressed quite hard about the head, body and nose without breaking and which instructs the creature to run tricks through an array of hamster playsets (sold separately), which are slightly larger versions of the old Hamster Habitats so fondly remembered from the 70s. Again, the advantage appears to be that one does not have to upend the Zhu Zhu habitats to dislodge small bits of feces and flush them with ammonia in order to kill the small colonies of plague and knock down the overpowering stench of rodent urine. There's also the small matter of not having to deal with fleas.

Now, Mr. Squiggles Hamster and his close relatives, Num Nums, Chunk, and Pipsqueak, are the number one requested toy this season and as such are sold out. Well, clarification: they are sold out at the MSRP of approximately $9.99. The recently unemployed appear to have used their entire severance packages to scoop up all available supplies of the little robots and are selling them on eBay and Craigs List under outrageous markups, which for SBD is one penny more than the MSRP of $9.99.

After an exhaustive five minutes of browsing online on Amazon and Toys R Us followed by a solid thirty minute search through the plush stacks at a local MomandPop toy store, SBD could not locate an iteration of Mr. Squiggles Hamster. Hoops erected by the media, by other parents, by guilt and by the Joneses presented themselves. But SBD did not and will not jump through them. But Zhu Zhu are out there nonetheless and some type of action is required.

There are two conflicting motivations here. First, SBD wants to help Sydney Brillo Daughter maintain her tenuous hold on childhood by proving her belief in Santa. She's not going to just believe on her own, of course. It's quite simple: Santa exists when the things you have explicitly asked him for show up on Christmas morning, regardless of what that knowitall little Miss Bitch Sadie in Miss Lawrence's class says about how Santa is really your parents. It's all about feeding the faith gene and building up the ability to maintain conceptual structures that strenghten the human spirit and maintain a sense of magic, for magic equals possibility and immortality in the face of compounding reason and reality. Bottomline: life sucks without fantasy. Zhu Zhu pets, unfortunately, confirm the existence of Santa.

The second motivation for SBD is that these damn Zhu Zhu pets exists to demonstrate to the world that Sydney Brillo Duodenum does not love his daughter. For every jackhole sitting home from his job next Wednesday or Thursday biting his fingers to stubs waiting for the promised expedited package from the eBay seller in Hot Springs, AR, there is a Sydney Brillo Duodenum who refuses to participate, who is too lazy to check another toy store, and who refuses to deal with the lady on eBay in Poughkeepsie who made a killing on limited edition WebKinz two years ago. Certainly, most of Sydney Brillo Daughter's little friends will slide the banisters of their well appointed homes and find below their Christmas tree a Mr. Squiggles, NumbNuts, Chump the Hamster or Pimpsqueak, or all four. A crowning jewell of parental perfection. SBD is not perfect, though. By all rights, he's a loser. And cheap. Also, there is the matter of devoting more of Sydney Brillo Duodenum's budget on toys, quite frankly, to meeting the expectations of Sydney Brillo Junior on Christmas morning for the simple and obvious reason that Sydney Brillo Duodenum can have fun with the Sony PSP Gran Turismo Package, not to mention the World's Greatest Shelby Slot Car Racetrack set from Restoration Hardware, just as well as Junior can. Zhu Zhu pets? Not so much fun.

So, there shall be no Zhu Zhu pet under the tree.

But what is a hamster, really? Well, it's essentially a cute, non-greasy rat.

So, while pawing the plushies at the toy store, Sydney Brillo Duodenum found these little rascals shoved to the back of a shelf, hiding under a pile of Ugly Dolls.



One of these beauties, wrapped just so, perhaps with an accompanying length of 4 inch PVC piping as a habitat, and with enough parental ohhing and ahhing upon unwrapping, along with a weepy story about how they are clearly escapees from the Island of Misfit toys, but true representatives of their species as compared to those charlatans Mr. Quiggles et al, could present a perfect opportunity for a weepy Christmas fable about giving mercy and kindness to even the lowliest of stuffed animals. Or it could be a freakn' disaster of epic proportions. And that's what makes Christmas morning so grand.

A Tough Decade for NASDAQ


As the first decade of the new millennium rapidly comes to a close, today's chart takes a look back at the decade that was. Today's chart begins shortly after the stock market as well as the nation was partying like it's 1999 (i.e. dot-com boom). The proverbial punch bowl was taken away early in 2000 and the Nasdaq suffered its 2 1/2 year dot-com bust. The market eventually bottomed and began a five-year rally thanks in part some infamous financial innovations (i.e. Ninja loans -- No Income, No Job, and no Assets). Then as it became apparent that those financial innovations weren't quite as innovative as first hoped, the system went into near meltdown. Over the past nine months, the Nasdaq has been rallying (albeit at a pace that is slowing over time) and is currently testing resistance. All in all, a tough decade.

Decisions, Decisions

H/T: Don Luskin

Saturday, December 12, 2009

AP: Climate Science Is a Butterface, but AP Would Still Do Her

After an "exhaustive review," the AP declares there is no conspiracy surrounding the "stolen" climate alchemists' e-mails.

AP IMPACT: Science Not Faked, but Not Pretty
By Seth Borenstein, Raphael Satter And Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press Writers

LONDON – E-mails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled skeptics and discussed hiding data — but the messages don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an exhaustive review by The Associated Press.

The 1,073 e-mails examined by the AP show that scientists harbored private doubts, however slight and fleeting, even as they told the world they were certain about climate change. However, the exchanges don't undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

[...]

The AP studied all the e-mails for context, with five reporters reading and rereading them — about 1 million words in total.


Hmmm. Perhaps if the AP had assigned the eleven investigative reporters that they assigned to Sarah Palin's book, they may have come to a different "exhaustive" conclusion.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Hung By The Chimney with EOD Protection Gloves

With a little tinkering, this would make a great stocking stuffer . . .

Exploding Chewing Gum Blows Off College Student's Jaw

A chemistry student in the Ukraine was found dead with his jaw blown off by what is believed to be exploding chewing gum, according to reports.

The 25-year-old's disfigured remains were discovered at his parent's home in the northern Ukrainian city of Konotop, reports in the Eastern European country said.

The young man, who studied at Kiev Polytechnic Institute, was working at a computer late on Saturday when the alleged explosion happened.

"A loud pop was heard from the student's room," the ukranews.com Web site said, citing an aide to the city's police chief.

"When his relatives entered the room, they saw that the lower part of the young man's face had been blown off."

A forensic examination established that the chewing gum was covered with an unidentified chemical substance, thought to be some type of explosive material.

The student apparently had a bizarre habit of chewing gum after dipping it into citric acid, Russian news agency Ria Novosti said.

Officers found both citric acid packets and a similar-looking unidentified substance, believed to be some kind of explosive material, on a table near the body, the agency continued.

Investigators suspect that the student simply confused the packets and put gum covered with explosive material into his mouth.

Forensic experts were to travel from Kiev to investigate the substance, as local authorities feared it may explode if transported.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

A brief note on our fallen national hero, Mr. Tiger Woods. Really just a question.

Mr. Woods is, without a doubt, prior to his coitus interuptus, the most famous sports figure in this country and arguably throughout the anglosphere where the great golf courses are carved. He is - was - loved and revered and adored and admired and worshipped for his almost mystical skills with a club and little white ball. Young, serious, precise, technical and monomaniacal in his pursuit of the game, he was expected to dominate the sport for the next 25 years. A true post-racial representative of the new America.

That is all in the shitter now. His career lies on the floor of a Vegas hotel room like a day old yellowing cum-filled scumbag.

Today's compounding news: his antics have sent his mother-in-law to the emergency room. A new low.

So the question is this:

Where the fuck were all of Tiger's friends, agents, and lackies while he was out and about banging and whoring it up with 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or, as Drudge has helpfully detailed, today's 11 kinky little kittens? Are we to believe that not one person in Tiger's circle of confidence told him that he was seriously jeopardizing the Gatorade, General Motors, Titleist, American Express, Nike, Frosted Flakes, TAG Heuer, Electronic Arts, and Gillette endorsement lottery? Did he have no one i s his life to tell him he was dishonoring his wife and children and soiling his soul? On what fucking planet are Tiger's confidantes and lackies and closest bestest bros living that none of them told him to pick one girl, just one, buy her nice stuff to keep her quiet and bang her out on the QT somewhere in the Caribbean? Eleven skanks? Eleven? Was Tiger just too convincing? Did the conversation go something like this:

Tiger's Ass Licking Buddy: Um, Tiger, I mean Mr. Woods, dude, you may want to chill it with the ho's dude. I can't like keep track of all the names and cities and word might get back to the Mrs., you know what I mean?

Tiger: Well, here's how I see it. You see, most blokes will be playing at 10. You’re on 10, all the way up, all the way up...Where can you go from there? Nowhere. What I do, is if I need that extra push over the cliff...Eleven. One louder, if you know what I mean.

This is the critical question we must all ask ourselves: who's got our backs? Who is keeping an eye on us and who do we have in our lives who we can trust to say, "Dude, you cannot go to eleven. Nuh, uh. Sorry. Dial it back before you lose it all."

Before this year is over, we should all have a scold in our pocket, in our rolodex, or on speed dial.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Today's Liberal Poetry Mash-up

What happens when you combine President That Never Was Al Gore’s untitled 21 lines of “beautiful, evocative and disturbing” genius from the first chapter of his newest book predicting the end of the world with President Obama’s "Pop," written when he was 19 and wrestling with some deep dark secrets involving his grandfather?


Pop the Shepherd Cries

Snow glides from the mountain
Sitting in his seat, a seat broad and broken
In, sprinkled with ashes,
A floating continent disappears
Pop switches channels, takes another
Shot of Seagrams, neat, and asks
What to do with me, a green young man
In midnight sun
Who fails to consider the
Flim and flam of the world, since
Ice fathers floods for a season
Things have been easy for me;
One thin September soon
I stare hard at his face, a stare
That deflects off his brow;
A hard rain comes quickly
I'm sure he's unaware of his
Dark, watery eyes, that
Glance in different directions,
And his slow, unwelcome twitches,
Fail to pass.
Then dirt is parched
I listen, nod,
Listen, open, till I cling to his pale,
Beige T-shirt, yelling,
Here are your tools!
Yelling in his ears, that hang
With heavy lobes, but he's still telling
His joke, so I ask why
He's so unhappy, to which he replies...
"Unknown creatures
Take their leave, unmourned
Horsemen ready their stirrups."
But I don't care anymore, cause
For the lightning's celebration
He took too damn long, and from
Under my seat, I pull out the
Mirror I've been saving; I'm laughing,
The bell of the city,
Laughing loud, the blood rushing from his face
To mine, as he grows small,
A spot in my brain, something
On the hill is rung
That may be squeezed out, like a
Watermelon seed between
Neptune's bones, dissolve
Two fingers.
Pop takes another shot, neat,
Passion seeks heroes and friends,
Points out the same amber
Stain on his shorts that I've got on mine, and
Makes me smell his smell, coming
Vapors rise as
From me; he switches channels, recites an old poem
He wrote before his mother died,
The hour of choosing has arrived,
Stands, shouts, and asks
For a hug, as I shink*, my
Fever settles on an acid sea
Arms barely reaching around
His thick, oily neck, and his broad back; 'cause
Kindling is placed in the forest
I see my face, framed within
Pop's black-framed glasses
And know he's laughing too.
The shepherd cries.

How We Should Remember Pearl Harbor


Thursday, December 3, 2009

Excuse me, ma'am?!

Ma'am Barbara Boxer, Chairman, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
"You call it 'Climategate'; I call it 'E-mail-theft-gate."


Friday, November 20, 2009

A $2 Whore



The $100 Million Health Care Vote:

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate
Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)

Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.

How much does it cost?

According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.



Now, the health care bill is a $1 trillion prospect.

Sen. Landrieu tells us she is only worth 0.0001% of that prospect.

They don't come cheaper than that.

Update: Apparently, Senator Landrieu is not such a cheap whore. It seems she was able to talk the john up to $300 million in order to fuck the country.

Solving America's Obesity Problem

Under the direction of the Obama administration, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department is in talks with South American medical specialists on a new weight loss therapy for overweight Americans. Details of the new program can be found on page 1,789 of the Senate version of proposed health care legislation. It is one of the few instances in the bill where market forces are leveraged to solve a huge national problem.

This article describes it fairly succinctly:

Peruvian Police: Gang Killed People for Their Fat
Peruvian police says gang killed people for their fat,allegedly for use in cosmetics
By ANDREW WHALEN Associated Press Writer
LIMA, Peru November 20, 2009 (AP)

Police say a gang in the Peruvian jungle has been killing people and draining fat from the corpses to sell on the black market for use in cosmetics, although medical experts say they doubt a major market for fat exists.

Three suspects confessed to killing five people, but the gang may have been involved in dozens more, said Col. Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru's anti-kidnapping police. He said one suspect claimed the gang wasn't the only one doing such killings.

Mejia said two of the suspects were arrested carrying bottles of liquid human fat and told police it was worth $60,000 a gallon ($15,000 a liter). The fat was sold to intermediaries in Peru's capital, Lima, and police suspect it was then sold to cosmetic companies in Europe, Mejia said Thursday, but he could not confirm any sales.

You Can't Win

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Only One Man Is Capable of Filling the Spot

Newsflash:

Tony Blair Reportedly Exits Race to Become First EU Minister

Tony Blair is out of the race to become the first President of the EU Council, Sky News reported.

Sky's political editor Adam Boulton said Gordon Brown had decided that support for the ex-PM was insufficient for him to back him at a meeting of EU leaders to decide the appointment this evening.

Brown will of course seek the appointment of U.S. President Barack Obama to be the first EU President.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Winter Provisions, Part I



Well, Christmas is only 37 days away, so Sydney Brillo Duodenum is putting together his winter provisions list. Staying sated and tipsy is crucial during this time and requires very specific comestibles. Today, SBD is focusing on beer and spirits capable of carrying him well into the new year. In later posts, we shall examine foodstuffs - meats, fishes, cheeses and dips - and a post devoted to tobaccos. Let's begin.

On the beer list, we have:
The Dogfish Head Burton Baton – as the brewery notes: vanilla, oak, Brandied fruitcake, raisiney, citrusy. Now, that’s what the holidays should taste like.

Guinness – because an Irishman is going to cry during the holidays when he’s alone in his den at 11 pm and the tree's lights are the only thing shining truth upon his wicked, short pathetic existence

Sam Adams Holiday Porter - anti-Catholic bigots and merry church sexcapade pranksters they may be, but forgiveness being a partial holiday theme, they still make some of the best beer in the country. This porter will be a nice accompaniment to the snow covered, body littered London streets of Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3) unless Santa brings him Resistance 2.

Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic – because every holiday needs a bit of sourness. It can’t all be cherubs, sparkly lights, candycanes and evergreen.

On the spirits list:
Knob Creek Bourbon – because there is in the cabinet an unfinished bottle from last year preventing the purchase of new stuff this year.

Jim Beam Red Stag – infused with black cherry flavors - could taste like crap but it sounds holidayish so it’s on the list.

Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey – because it never fucking snows in the Nation’s capital for Christmas and some lucky bastard is sitting in his snow-buried Rocky Mountain chalet. With every sip, we wish an avalanche upon his head.

On the Scotch list:

The Dalmore Oculus – because SBD still believes in Santa Claus, and the Dalmore is at the top of his list and Santa wouldn’t disappoint SBD again after disappointing him for so many years. Right, Santa?

Glenfiddich 21 - because it's on sale at the Montgomery County Liquor and Wine stores and one must take advantage of the sales at Christmastime.


On the corrupted wines list:
Osborne Pedro Jimenez 1827 - you can't eat a nice blue cheese all by itself

Any 20 year old port - because it makes you feel grand and spoiled and that's a nice feeling on a cold winter's night

SBD invites his rare, random readers to share their must have liquid pacifiers in the comments section.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Dangerously Stupid

This little gem appeared in the New York Times Letters to the Editor page:

To the Editor:

The Obama administration is to be commended for its decision to try the alleged 9/11 plotters in federal court — an approach that should be followed with respect to all terrorism suspects, however, including the U.S.S. Cole suspects.

And it is troubling that administration officials “also suggested that they could continue to detain anyone deemed to be a ‘combatant’ under Congress’s authorization to use military force” — thereby indicating an intention to continue to hold the suspects regardless of the outcome of the trial.

I have not been professionally involved in these deliberations, and I am expressing my personal opinion based solely on the public record. But unless the United States is prepared to release these men if they are acquitted — or in the perhaps more likely event that the charges against them are dismissed on due-process grounds, because they have been subjected to procedures that “shock the conscience” — it is arguably merely conducting a show trial. The government cannot have it both ways.

John S. Koppel

Bethesda, Md., Nov. 14, 2009
The writer is a career appellate attorney with the Justice Department.


SBD would bet his bottom dollar that Mr. Koppel and his thousands of sympathetic clones throughout the Washington bureaucracy can't hardly wait for KSM and friends to be acquitted and let go. But Mr. Koppel is being entirely disingenuous. The entire purpose behind the Obama administration sending these admitted mass murderers to New York is to conduct a show trial - a show trial where the Bush administration, specifically, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, are in the defendant's seat. Obama would love to see KSM acquitted as it would be the final indictment of the War on Terror and the methods used by the Bush administration to protect this country. And Mr. Koppel just loves the drama this presents. It's a Watergate and Iran Contra Hearings redux wet dream; the hearings those pussy Dems in Congress wouldn't pursue because they knew Americans with torches and pitchforks would drive them into the Potomac. Mr. Koppel, after living in the shadows for eight horrible years under the Bush hunta, now crawls from under his laminated government-issued desk and cries "J'Accuse!" on the pages of his heroic chronicle of the oppressed and abused. It's rare to see a career government attorney put himself out this way, even on the letters page of the hallowed NYT, and it's clear message to Obama that his leftist base isn't yet convinced he is their savior. For the Mr. Koppels of this country, only when the perpetrators of 9/11 are freed into the world will the United States have adequately paid the price for not turning the other cheek on September 12, 2001.

If on some sad, outrageous day, KSM and friends are to be released, then they should be released to their freedom at the building site of the WTC at noon or so when all the hardhats are standing around the lunch wagons.

But SBD doesn't believe that day will come. He thinks KSM will be found guilty by a New York jury. He thinks he will be sentenced to death. He thinks the Supreme Court will eventually overturn his execution order on the grounds that he was "tortured." He will then be sent to ADX Florence for the rest of his life and be interviewed every ten years by Geraldo Rivera.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A Certain Madness

Here's an interesting item in the local Montgomery County, MD newspaper The Gazette.

Headline:
Area Americans Hope For Best But Prepare For Worst
Many fear hate crimes after Fort Hood shooting

The opening graphs read:
At the quiet Community Center in Silver Spring [MD] where even the local ping pong ace is said to avoid unncessary attention, community center regulars say they are facing constant news trucks at the front gates and a fear of retaliation against Americans in a post-9/11 world.

When Maj. Nidal M. Hassan, a Muslim Army psychiatrist, allegedly opened fire on a crowd of people at Fort Hood in Texas Nov. 5, killing 13 people, Americans at community centers, theaters, malls, waiting lines at the DMV, pumpkin stands, grocery check out lines, bus stops, Home Depot parking lots, town squares, farmers' markets, ball fields, playgrounds, street fairs, block parties, marathons, restaurants, business conferences, gas station pumps, Disney World, tailgates, camp grounds, stopped at red lights, monuments, and in their homes have been once again thrown into the spotlight as they try to understand the violence behind Hasan's outburst.

Of course that's not really what the article says. Here's what it really says:

Headline:

Area Muslims Hope for Best but Prepare for Worst
Many Fear Hate Crimes After Fort Hood Shooting

At the quiet Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring [MD]where even the holy leader is said to avoid unncessary attention, worshippers say they are facing constant news trucks at the front gates and a fear of retaliation against Muslims in a post-9/11 world.

When Maj. Nidal M. Hassan, a Muslim Army psychiatrist, allegedly opened fire on a crowd of people at Fort Hood in Texas Nov. 5, killing 13 people, Islam had been been once again thrown into the spotlight as Americans try to understand the violence behind Hasan's outburst.

"I don't think it's right to relate it to his religion, because people do crazy things regardless of their religion, whether they're Christian, Jewish, whatever," said Imam Mohamed Abdullahi, the center's holy leader.

"Why is it that whenever Muslims are involved in a crime, it's because of religion?" asked Arshad Qureshi, chairman of the center's board of trustees. "It's a double standard."

Now, here's where it gets crazy:

It's a double standard that center members are quick to dismiss, with worshippers such as center member Abdoulah Oyola bringing up other crimes, such as the recent discovery of 10 bodies and a human skull at a Cleveland sex offender's home. These crimes aren't linked to religion, he said.

Some members questioned how Hasan could even commit such an act, saying they question the reported accounts of what happened.

"To this day, I'm still not convinced this man did it," Oyola said. "I can't fathom it. I [used to] see this man every day." He questioned how Hasan could have fired so many shots during the attack without stopping to reload.


Whew, that is a deep, profound uncrossable river of denial.

But the concern of the article is the oppression committed daily upon the Muslim community following these non-religious-oriented attacks by what must be serial rapist-killers whose Jihadism, communications with extremist imams and Al Queda, and powerpoint slides on the proper decapitation of infidels are minor contrivances of a nationally hostile to Muslims mainstream media.
But the fear of vandalism, threats and other hate crimes lingers at the center and among many Muslims in the county.

Yes, and it lingers among Americans at community centers, theaters, malls, waiting lines at the DMV, pumpkin stands, grocery check out lines, bus stops, Home Depot parking lots, town squares, farmers' markets, ball fields, playgrounds, street fairs, block parties, marathons, restaurants, business conferences, gas station pumps, Disney World, tailgates, camp grounds, stopped at red lights, monuments, and in their homes.
At the center's regular Friday services, Abdullahi spoke out against hate crimes, saying he had heard from one person who received a threatening phone call. Non-Muslim Debbie Shankman, who regularly attends services at the Muslim Community Center, said one of her friends at the center told her she would not go to service Friday because she and her husband were scared.

Well, the evidence is incontrovertable - an annecdote about a person receiving a threatening phone call but without any detail as to the actual threat. Was it Comcast calling about a late payment? And a further annecdote, provided by, for lack of a better term, a groupie, about a couple running scared and being prevented from worshipping. Where's the Justice Department when you need it?!? Fortunately, according to the article:
Immediate statements from the Islamic Center of Washington and other Islamic groups were sent out, denouncing [Hasan's] purported attacks. The Muslim community learned to be more involved in the community and proactive about speaking out against violence.

Well, just going by the first quotes in the article, Mission Accomplished!! Muslims are speaking out about imagined violence against Muslims following a mass murder by a serial-rapist killer murderer who just happens to be a Muslim but is probably not the killer because questions linger as to how one person, particularly someone in the Army, could handle two semi-automatic handguns without apparently reloading while in a room full of unarmed men and women.
Officials from the Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg released a statement cautioning Muslims to be careful when visiting religious facilities or wearing clothing associated with Islam. The center also recommended that parents discuss the shooting with their children and what to do if they experience harassment at school.

But there is hope. There is always hope. Because it turns out that depiste the fear and self-pitying and basically made up bullshit about Americans driving Muslims underground . . .
As much as Muslim communities say they fear for the worst, many say they are overwhelmed by the support they have received over the past week.

Obligatory Emily Litella insertion - Nevermind!
"I think the media, the government and our military were very positive about this, " Abdullahi said. The center hasn't received any threats, he added, "But you have to understand, after 9/11, everybody is scared."

Oh, indeed, Mr. Abdullahi, indeed.
"There have actually been more expressions of support in the past rather than these isolated incidents [of hate crimes]," Ahmad said of the Islamic Center of Maryland. "The problem is that one incident can cause a lot of harm."

Ah, if it were only just one incident.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Monday, November 9, 2009

Read the Names

Peter Fechter, Age 18, Shot Dead, Berlin Wall, Aug. 17, 1962


Chris Gueffroy, Age 20, Shot Dead, Berlin Wall, Feb. 6, 1989

In the years between the murders of these two men, hundreds, some say thousands of others - no one is really sure how many - joined them. Their one quest - reach freedom on the other side of a barrier.

On one side of the barrier, an act of heroism. On the other side, an act of treason.

Today, U2 will play a concert; pols will make speeches; artists will use government funds on installations teaching us what it's really all about; the putative leader of the free world will not show up; idiots will think everything was better before; and American high school students will ask, "What wall?"

Read some of the Names. Just read the Names.

Rudolf Urban, age 47, August 19,1961 Injured while escaping, later died
Günter Litfin, 24, August 22, 1961 Shot swimming across Humboldt Harbor
Ida Siekmann, 58 August 22, 1961 Leaped from fourth-floor apartment
Unknown Male, August 29,1961 Shot swimming across Teltow Canal
Axel Brückner, 25, September 3, 1961 Shot
Olga Segler, 80, September 25, 1961 Died from injuries suffered after jumping to a rescue net from a third-floor apartment
Bernd Lünser, 22, October 4, 1961 Shot while trying to escape on a clothesline strung across the wall. Jumped to his death
Unknown Male, October 4, 1961 Beaten to death on roof, presumed to be accomplice of Bernd Lünser
Udo Düllick, 24, October 5,1961 Drowned after being shot while swimming across Spree River
Unknown Male, October 5, 1961 Shot trying to swim across Spree River
Unknown Male, October 13, 1961 Shot escaping on a freight train
Werner Probst, 25, October 14, 1961 Shot swimming across Spree River
Unknown Male, October 18, 1961 Shot escaping on a freight train
Unknown Male, October 27, 1961 Shot while crossing barbed wire
Unknown Male, October 31, 1961 Shot
Unknown Male, November 17, 1961 Drowned in Spree River
Lothar Lehmann, 20, November 17, 1961 Drowned in Havel River
Dieter Wohlfahrt, December 6, 1961 Shot
Ingo Krüger, 21, December 10, 1961 Drowned in Spree River
Dorit Schmiel, 20, February 19, 1962 Shot
Heinze Jercha, 27, March 27,1962 Shot while trying to help others escape by tunnel
Philipp Held, 20, April 11, 1962 Drowned in Spree River
Klaus Brüske, 23, April 18, 1962 Shot trying to escape in a truck
Peter Böhme, 19, April 18, 1962 Shot
Horst Frank, 20, April 29, 1962 Shot
Lutz Hablerland, 24, May 27, 1962 Shot
Axel Hannemann, 17, June 5, 1962 Shot while trying to swim across Spree River
Erna Kelm, 54, June 11, 1962 Drowned in Havel River
Unknown Male, June 22, 1962 Shot
Siegfried Noffke, 22, June 28, 1962 Shot in attempt to rescue his family by tunnel
Unknown Male, July 29, 1962 Shot
Peter Fechter, 18, August 17, 1962 Shot. Left to bleed to death by East German border guards
Hans-Dieter Wesa, 19, August 23, 1962 Shot
Ernst Mundt, 41, September 4, 1962 Shot while climbing over the wall
Unknown Male, October 8, 1962 Shot trying to cross Spree River
Ottfried Reck, 18, Late November, 1962 Shot
Unknown Male, Late November, 1962 Shot
Two Unknown Males, December 6, 1962 Shot and drowned after falling through the ice on Griebnitz Lake
Hans Raewal, 21, January 1, 1963 Shot and drowned swimming across Spree River
Horst Kutscher, 32, January 15, 1963 Shot
Peter Kreitloff, 20, January 23, 1963 Shot
Unknown Male, January, 1963 Shot by Soviet Military patrol
Wolf-Olaf Muszynski, 16, April 1, 1963 Found dead in Spree River
Unknown Male, April 16, 1963 Drowned trying to cross the Teltow Canal
Unknown Person, April 16, 1963 Drowned in Spree River
Unknown Male, April 26, 1963 Shot trying to cross Teltow Canal
Klaus Schroeter, 23, November 4, 1963 Shot swimming across Spree River
Dietmar Schutz, 24, November 26, 1963 Shot
Dieter Berger, 24, December 13, 1963 Shot
Paul Schultz, 18, December 25, 1963 Shot
Adolf Philipp, 20, May 5, 1964 Shot
Unknown Male, June 22, 1964 Shot
Hans-Joachim Wolf, 17, Nov. 26, 1964 Shot swimming across Britzer Zweig Canal
Unknown Male, January 19, 1965 Drowned in Spree River
Christian Buttkus, 21, March 4, 1965 Shot
Hermann Döbler, 42, June 15, 1965 Shot crossing Teltow Canal
Heinz Sokolowski, 47, November 25, 1965 Shot
Heinz Schöneberger, 27, Dec. 26, 1965 Shot when group attempt to escape by car failed. Three companions were arrested. Schöneberger was shot as he ran towards West Berlin. He made it but later died of his wounds
Willi Block, 32, February 7, 1966 Shot
Unknown Male, March 19, 1966 Shot
Michael Kollender, 21, April 25, 1966 Shot swimming Teltow Canal
Paul Stretz, 31, April 29, 1966 Shot
Heinz Schmidt, 46, April 29, 1966 Shot
Two Unknown Males, ages 10 & 14, 1966 Shot while attempting to escape. Due to the young ages East German authorities informed the parents one boy died of drowning and the other was struck by lightening. The bodies were then cremated. This dark secret was uncovered in 1997.
Max Willi Sahmland, 37, Jan. 27, 1967 Shot swimming Teltow Canal
Unknown Person. November 16, 1968 Killed in shoot-out while trying to escape
Werner Kuehl, 22, July 24, 1971 Shot
Horst Kullack, 23, January 1, 1972 Shot
Klaus Schulze, 19, March 7, 1972 Shot
Peter Kreitloff, 20, January 23, 1973 Shot
Manfred Gertzki, 30, April 27, 1973 Shot
Burkhard Niehring, 23, January 5, 1974 A border guard, Niehring was shot when he took another soldier hostage and tried to escape at Checkpoint Charlie
Marietta Jirkowski, 18, Nov 22, 1980 Shot
Lothar Freie, age unknown, June 4, 1982 Shot
Unknown Male, December 1, 1984 Shot
Name Withheld, November 21, 1986 Shot or killed in truck attempting to crash through border
Unknown Male, November 24, 1986 Shot
Lutz Schmidt, 28, February 12, 1987 Shot
Name Withheld, August 11, 1987 Shot (Death occurred in 1984 but was not made public for several years.)
Chris Gueffroy, 20, February 5, 1989 Shot
Winfried Freundenberg, 32, Mar. 3, 1989 Died in crash landing of homemade gas balloon

Friday, November 6, 2009

Government vs. Private Sector

Here's some tasty research:


Incentives and Creativity: Evidence from the Life Sciences

by Pierre Azoulay, Joshua Graff Zivin, and Gustavo Manzo

Despite its presumed role as an engine of economic growth, we know surprisingly little about the drivers of scientific creativity. In this paper, we exploit key differences across funding streams within the academic life sciences to estimate the impact of incentives on the rate and direction of scientific exploration. Specifically, we study the careers of investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute HHMI), which tolerates early failure, rewards long-term success, and gives its appointees great freedom to experiment; and grantees from the National Institute of Health, which are subject to short review cycles, pre-defined deliverables, and renewal policies unforgiving of failure.

Using a combination of propensity-score weighting and difference-in-differences estimation strategies, we find that HHMI investigators produce high-impact papers at a much higher rate than two control groups of similarly-accomplished NIH-funded scientists. Moreover, the direction of their research changes in ways that suggest the program induces them to explore novel lines of inquiry.

So, the institution started by a mad man is more successful and productive than the institution run by mad men.

Quel surprise.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

About those elections . . .

Great!

Now listen Christie you fat fuck and McDonnel with your Bob Forehead Hair and you small pikers in those super wealthy NY counties and burgs: don't fuck it up by being all centrist and buddy-buddy with Democrats. They hate your fucking guts. And the voters that voted against you do too. So fuck them, too. And the independents who voted for you this time, fuck them as well. Govern by your principles. Conservatism is by definition unpopular and so you will barely break 50 percent by the end of your first terms. Why? Because you won't be handing out candy, right? You won't be glad handing special interest groups, right? You'll be cutting government operations and vetoing bills "for the children," right?

Repeat after SBD: limited constitutional government, smaller government operations, low taxes, law and order; veto every fucking nanny state transfat, anti-smoking, cellphone hating, eco-scolding piece of legislation that comes to your desk.

If you claim to be a conservative, then, goddamnit, act like one. Sign not one bill that raises one further penny for any government operation of any sort. Sign only bills repealing bureaucracy. Sign executive orders returning freedom to citizens to do what they please to build small kingdoms of entreprenuership for themselves and to maintain their happiness. Tell your citizens that they are responsible for themselves and you are going to help them get there by getting out of the way. Willy-nilly cut government employees 10 or 15 percent. Throw them into the street. Enforce the laws that matter, crush the gangs.

Stick to common sense and stay the fuck out of our lives.

Be the anti-Obamas.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Hey, it's Sunday, so the President must be golfing

On Capitalism

J.T. Young on capitalism:

Capitalism straddles today's globe. Every economic competitor has fallen before it - predecessors, feudalism and mercantilism, and would-be successors, communism and socialism. It is the greatest wealth generator in history, and it has done, or is doing, so on every continent and in every culture.

In the broad span of its ascendancy, the current economic crisis is barely a blip. Yet many on the left seek to advance the dubious argument that capitalism precipitated this crisis. Even more preposterous is their assumption that planned economies are devoid of crisis.

Those systems choosing planning overcapitalism exist in perpetual disequilibrium. They are distinguished not only by their reliance on the state, but in an inability to right themselves. As a result, they move to ever greater disequilibrium.

As with a body, the fundamental health of an economic system lies not in never getting sick, but in its response to contagion. The current financial crisis apparently has ended in less than two years. Compare that to the continuous degeneration of communist and socialist systems.

[...]

Communism's response to capitalism offers two versions of the same tale. In the late 1980s, communism imploded across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The rot of communism sapped the economy, the state collapsed, and capitalism rushed in.

[...]

The West, having first received capitalism, now faces its own reckoning as its entitlement societies increase their tax and debt burdens and decrease their competitive advantages. The first nation to resolve this will reap an enormous advantage. Those that fail or that deny the necessity to resolve it need only look back to the history that is rapidly gaining on them.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Pelosi Models Her Halloween Mask


House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer compliments Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on her Halloween mask at the Annual Congressional Health Scare Party.

A Wrong and Despicable Thing

Obama's first foreign policy "success" - Honduras:

On October 28, Robert Micheletti’s interim government and ex-president Manuel Zelaya reportedly agreed to a formula that should restore “pariah” Honduras to the ranks of normal states. It should also permit Hondurans to elect their next president on November 29 without the international community breathing down their necks.

[...]

Since the Hondurans removed Zelaya from office for violating the constitution, the Obama administration has mismanaged the situation. It sided with the Chávez-influenced Organization of American States; it called Zelaya’s legal removal a military “coup;” and it threatened not to recognize the winner of an election process begun well before June 28.

The Obama team did an excellent job of undermining the Honduran economy by cutting off economic assistance, throttling tourism with travel warnings, yanking visas away from Hondurans, and creating a climate of massive uncertainty that spooked U.S. investors and businesses. The U.S. embassy in Honduras did yeomen’s work watching out for the interests of the Zelaya clan, leaving many to wonder which side it was pulling for.

In short, against a small, friendly, anti-Chávez ally, the administration mustered the sort of muscle it would never dare use against Iran, Russia, or Venezuela.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

A Right and Honorable Thing

A rare moment during which President Obama appears to understand the burdens and responsibilities of his Office.

Obama goes to Dover to receive U.S. dead

As the nation slept, President Obama received home the bodies of 18 U.S. military and law enforcement personnel killed Monday in Afghanistan, participating in a solemn and ceremonial process in which he prayed over each flag-draped "transfer case" and saluted as they were removed from the plane at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Update: There is, of course, always something to be suspicious about with this man.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

But Not Anytime Soon

Nouriel "Nostradamus" Roubini on your future:

IU.com:When you say “stay away from risky assets,” many people hear that and think, “Aha, gold!”

Roubini: I don’t believe in gold. Gold can go up for only two reasons. [One is] inflation, and we are in a world where there are massive amounts of deflation because of a glut of capacity, and demand is weak, and there’s slack in the labor markets with unemployment peeking above 10 percent in all the advanced economies. So there’s no inflation, and there’s not going to be for the time being.

The only other case in which gold can go higher with deflation is if you have Armageddon, if you have another depression. But we’ve avoided that tail risk as well. So all the gold bugs who say gold is going to go to $1,500, $2,000, they’re just speaking nonsense. Without inflation, or without a depression, there’s nowhere for gold to go. Yeah, it can go above $1,000, but it can’t move up 20-30 percent unless we end up in a world of inflation or another depression. I don’t see either of those being likely for the time being. Maybe three or four years from now, yes. But not anytime soon.


Hmmm. A world of inflation. Or depression. Maybe in three or four years. But not anytime soon.

Well, then there's time to run up a few more credit cards, isn't there?

Yeeeeeeehaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!

One True Thing about the Swine Flu

Sydney Brillo Duodenum can tell you one true thing about the swine flu - after six days of it, you still don't want a beer.

It's an evil, accursed affliction.

Get your shot, friends, get your shot.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Rumination

**


Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone."

-- Zhuangzi



**

How's the driver?

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Sydney's posterous

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The March of Science



From Communications Daily [subscription only], the following groundbreaking research is announced to be published in "Applied Cognitive Psychology:"
People walking and talking on their cell phones are more than twice as oblivious as those not on their phones, according to a new study by Western Washington University Psychology Professor Ira Hyman.

Hyman hired a unicycling clown and found that just 25 percent of those using a cellphone noticed when the clown passed them as they walked. Half of those not talking on a cellphone said they noticed the clown.

Of course, the purpose of this research is to enlarge the Nanny State:

"If people experience so much difficulty performing the task of walking when on a cellphone, just think of what this means when put into the context of driving safety," Hyman said. "People should not drive while talking on a cellphone." Hyman said cellphone users "walk more slowly, change directions and weave more often and fail to notice interesting and novel objects."
So, now, presumably, cell phones are to be banned from the sidewalk, lest we miss out on the stream of clowns flowing past us on unicycles and fail to notice other novel and interesting objects, like psychology graduate students hiding in vans with clipboards. Of course, it's everyone's favorite supposition that any jackhole gabbing into a small piece of plastic while weaving a line in front of us on the sidewalk is just a preoccupied twit, a clown, right? You know, the kind preoccupied with their wife or kid or boss or client. The kind taking care of their business.

SBD's own sidewalk research is that no one walks precisely at the pace and in the direction that he walks and is then by definition a clown, in the way and should be tossed in front of a bus. SBD's murderous intentions are actually lessened when that clown is talking on a cell, giving excuse to his meanderings.

SBD is interested in research on people who spend all their time while on a sidewalk paying attention to other people as they go about their lives and wonders how many "interesting and novel objects" they are missing out on because they aren't minding their own fucking business.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Let Them Party . . .

. . . and decrease the surplus population.

From the Center for Disease Control H1N1 "Questions and Answers" page:

What is CDC’s recommendation regarding "swine flu parties"?

"Swine flu parties" are gatherings during which people have close contact with a person who has 2009 H1N1 flu in order to become infected with the virus. The intent of these parties is for a person to become infected with what for many people has been a mild disease, in the hope of having natural immunity 2009 H1N1 flu virus that might circulate later and cause more severe disease.

CDC does not recommend "swine flu parties" as a way to protect against 2009 H1N1 flu in the future. While the disease seen in the current 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak has been mild for many people, it has been severe and even fatal for others. There is no way to predict with certainty what the outcome will be for an individual or, equally important, for others to whom the intentionally infected person may spread the virus.

CDC recommends that people with 2009 H1N1 flu avoid contact with others as much as possible. If you are sick with flu-like illness, CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.) Stay away from others as much as possible to keep from making others sick.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Friday, October 2, 2009

The World Has Spoken and . . .

. . . Chicago is out of the running for 2016.

Clearly,


THE WORLD IS RACIST!!!






*

Friday, September 25, 2009

Home Sweet Mother of Mercy Home



Chart of the Day:

Today, it was reported that the median price of a single-family home dropped 2.3% in August. The stock market sold off on the news. For some perspective into the all-important US real estate market, today's chart illustrates the US median price of a single-family home over the past 39 years. Not only did housing prices increase at a rapid rate from 1991 to 2005, the rate at which housing prices increased – increased. That brings us to today's chart which illustrates how housing prices are currently 30% off their 2005 peak. In fact, a home buyer who bought the median priced single-family home at the 1979 peak has seen that home appreciate by a mere 4%. Not an impressive performance considering that three decades have passed. Over the past two months, single-family home prices have resumed their decline and remain (until proven otherwise) in an accelerated downtrend.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A Brief Word About . . .

Patrick Swayze. Here he is in all his awesome badness.



Swayze is most appreciated for his ability to wear size 28 jeans and kick-fu hick ass in the film Roadhouse (1989). But the plain truth is that no one watches Roadhouse because Swayze convinced anyone he was a tough guy. For god's sake, his character's name is "Dalton." Oooh, scary. We didn't keep coming back to the movie because of the delicious and glorious throatectomy performed on one of Gazzara's henchmen. We don't even watch it for the Ben Gazzara caricature of Ben Gazzara as an actor doing a caraciture of himself.

We watched -- nay, watch - Roadhouse for one simple reason: Kelly Lynch has one tight bod. And that's it.

Swayze's true accomplishment, though, is his consistent ability to sport a mullet hairstyle. Even when he is playing a chick, he's got a mullet.




Whether he was more successful with that look in The Outsiders or Red Dawn or Roadhouse we will leave to the Eburts and Rogers and Roepoerts of the world. For SBD, a movie is either great or crap. Swayze and his mullet made his films great.

Except for Ghost. Crap.

Could Be Moments

Sydney Brillo Duodenum sauntered across this headline . . .


Irish real estate tycoon found dead, suicide suspected

. . . and immediately thought Sen. Chris Dodd had fallen on his own sword.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Our Bad Mood Day

Today is not a day of service.

Today is not your day of service.

Today is not My Good Deed Day.

It’s not a day to recycle more.

Today is not the day for “rekindling the spirit of service, tolerance, and compassion that unified America and the world in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.”

It’s not the day to go to the grocery store and finally buy that cloth grocery bag you’ve been admonished to keep on your person every time you shop.

Today is not the day for signing up to be a AARP Tax Aide Volunteer.

Today is not the day to volunteer at your neighborhood soup kitchen.

Today is not the day to make a “simple food donation to Project Open Hand in Columbus, Ohio [which] is dedicated to meeting the nutritional needs of people living with HIV/AIDS"

Today is not the day to “be at my county animal shelter, working with dogs that have been abused, neglected, or abandoned and helping them become loving, faithful companions.”

Today is not the day we turn everyone into little community activists.

You can do all that tomorrow.

Today is not the day to remember a tragedy.

A volcano did not explode.

An earthquake did not bring down a city.

A hurricane did not scrub beach front property.

Today is not a day of national tragedy.

What happened today was not an act of God.

What happened today was the mass murder of thousands of Americans.

Men did that.

Those people are still out there. They’re not done.

Today is not the day we think of giving back.

We didn't take anything.

Today is a day of remembering our taken, our dead.

Today it's OK to house some quiet rage, to grind your teeth, to have tunnel vision.

It's not a day to feel good about yourself for petty acts of kindness.

You do more for this country by sitting in a room and stewing for a few hours.

Harden your heart today. Go cold for a bit.

You're an American and so you're inclined to help your fellow Americans anyway or the soaking child in tsunami ravaged village on the other side of the globe. You have 364 other days this year to make it your Good Deed Day.

Don't waste this day thinking about making yourself feel better about you.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

NASA Shoots Its Load

Another diminution of American greatness:

A White House panel of independent space experts says NASA's return-to-the-moon plan just won't fly.

The problem is money. The expert panel estimates it would cost about $3 billion a year beyond NASA's current $18 billion annual budget.

"Under the budget that was proposed, exploration beyond Earth is not viable," panel member Edward Crawley, a professor of aeronautics at MIT, told The Associated Press Tuesday.

The report gives options to President Barack Obama, but said NASA's current plans have to change. Five years ago, then-President George W. Bush proposed returning astronauts to the moon by 2020. To pay for it, he planned on retiring the shuttle next year and shutting down the international space station in 2015.

All those deadlines have to change, the panel said. Space exploration would work better by including other countries and private for-profit firms, the panel concluded.

The panel had previously estimated that the current plan would cost $100 billion in spending to 2020.

Former NASA associate administrator Alan Stern said the report showed the harsh facts that NASA's space plans had "a mismatch between resources and rhetoric." Now, he said, Obama faces a choice of "essentially abandoning human spaceflight" or paying the extra money.

[...]

The panel also urged NASA to pay private companies to develop spaceships to ferry astronauts to the space station and low-Earth orbit. That may be riskier, but it would free up NASA to explore elsewhere, the panel said. Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX, said within a few years he could send astronauts to space for about $20 million a person, less than the $50 million Russia is charging. He hopes to launch his private rocket, Falcon 9, later this year or early next.

NASA should encourage other countries to join the U.S. in exploring space beyond Earth orbit, the panel said.

"If after designing cleverly, building alliances with partners and engaging commercial providers, the nation cannot afford to fund the effort to pursue the goals it would like to embrace, it should accept the disappointment of setting lesser goals," the report said.

If this country can't find the means to send a man to the moon (again), then how the hell can it subsidize healthcare for every man, woman and child? The total moon shot cost of $100 billion is the amount lost to Medicare/Medicaid fraud and mismanagement every year. Imagine the "savings" under a fiat system! Interestingly, the moon panel calls for expanding the effort by coordinating with other countries and involving more private for-profit firms. Sounds almost federalist in nature.

Our Shameful Past, Present and Future

This opinion letter in the Philadelphia Inquirer perfectly exemplifies this country's shameful past and illuminates our country's current shame, which will serve to frame our future shames.

Dear Attorney General Holder:

I read with dismay the inspector general's report concerning enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA to extract information from al-Qaeda terrorists. Buzzing power drills, gunshots, threats - all utterly appalling.

I write not to add to the informed legal opinion that supports your decision to investigate the CIA for these atrocities. Instead, I am asking that you expand the scope of your investigation to include similar horrors that occurred right here in the United States.

I am referring, of course, to the mistreatment I and millions like me suffered while undergoing Catholic primary and secondary educations in the period from 1950 to 1962 (hereinafter "The Reign of Clerical Terror"). I cannot begin to catalog all the violence inflicted on me and others by the nuns and priests who taught us. But a few examples may be instructive.

In 1955, I was a fifth grader in Catholic school (hereinafter "Indoctrination Center X"). One day, while in the cloakroom adjacent to the classroom, I was engaged in a creative, albeit nonacademic, pursuit - i.e., preparing a spitball that I intended to use as a means of self-expression by splatting it on the back of Dave Beckley's head. (Beckley was a known collaborator with those who ran Indoctrination Center X.)

I was almost finished chewing the paper when either Sister Mary Mark or Sister Margaret Mary - it was dark in the cloakroom, and they all dressed alike, so I'm not sure which - grabbed me by the throat, slapped me hard across the face, and made me swallow the spitball. This not only caused me a great deal of physical discomfort - I experienced a simulated choking sensation not unlike that caused by waterboarding - but it also denied my right of self-expression.

Similarly, at my all-male Catholic high school (hereinafter "Indoctrination Center Y"), the priests subjected us to daily assaults with paddles, drumsticks, closed fists, open hands, books, or anything else that was heavy, handy, and capable of getting our undivided attention when applied with force to our heads.

Put aside that most of my classmates went on to outstanding careers in business and the professions. This inhumane treatment undoubtedly stifled our creativity and deadened our sensitivities. I mean, how many choreographers, lyricists, and poets were lost in the cauldron of abuse and suffering that was Indoctrination Center Y?

Mr. Holder, my fellow internees and I would have gladly traded getting slapped or whacked with paddles for someone merely buzzing a power drill at us or making some other empty gesture. You see, unlike the CIA, the nuns and priests actually delivered on their threats. And sometimes they delivered spontaneously - without making any threats at all.

American principles and basic humanity demand that you expose the Reign of Clerical Terror.

Respectfully,
L. George Parry, Esq.

P.S. It occurs to me that, if these al-Qaeda guys stop talking, you may consider having them spend some quality time with Sister Margaret Mary. She is getting along in years and may have lost some of her wallop, but I am sure she would still be up to the task.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Monday, August 31, 2009

Our Green Future

There is some common theme here, but Sydney Brillo Duodenum can't quite put his paw on it.


From Autoblog:

Ever hear of neodymium? How about dysprosium or yttrium? Thulium or lutetium? These are just some of the metals that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is considering either banning the exportation of, or at least severely limiting the amount that it will let leave the country. These precious metals are used in manufacturing new (and sometimes green) technologies, and China wants keep the goods available for its growing domestic use.

[...]

every Toyota Prius you've ever seen contains 25 pounds of rare earth elements.

[...]

Right now, China mines more than 95% of the rare earth minerals that are taken out of the ground.


New York Times: More Sun for Less: Solar Panels Drop in Price:

For solar shoppers these days, the price is right. Panel prices have fallen about 40 percent since the middle of last year, driven down partly by an increase in the supply of a crucial ingredient for panels, according to analysts at the investment bank Piper Jaffray.

[...]

Until recently, panel makers had been constrained by limited production of polysilicon, which goes into most types of panels. But more factories making the material have opened, as have more plants churning out the panels themselves — especially in China.

H/T: Sweetness and Light

WSJ: TCP to Sell Bulbs With Its Name in U.S.

Ellis Yan, the founder and CEO of fluorescent-light maker TCP Inc., said his company will begin selling TCP-branded products in North America this fall and plans to open a factory near Cleveland in about a year.

TCP already is the largest manufacturer of CFL bulbs sold in the U.S., according to industry players.

It produces 300 to 400 million CFL bulbs per year in China, selling many under brands such as GE Lighting, Osram Sylvania and Philips Lighting.

The Freedonia Group Inc. in Cleveland expects U.S. demand for advanced lighting products -- LEDs, CFLs, halogen lights and other products that will replace traditional incandescent bulbs -- to grow nearly 11% a year to $6.8 billion in 2013, driven by legislation that bans the sale of incandescent lamps starting in 2012.


Financial Times: BYD to sell electric car in US in 2010

BYD, the upstart Chinese car company backed by US investment guru Warren Buffett, said on Monday that it would start selling its e6 all-electric sedans in the US next year, a year ahead of schedule.

[...]

BYD is a global leader in rechargeable battery technology, but only a recent entrant to the Chinese car industry. Mr Wang, an engineer-turned-entrepeneur, plans to combine batteries with cars to spearhead a green revolution in electric vehicles, with the help of Chinese government subsidies.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Feeling Safer Every Day

Breaking News From Your Department of Homeland Security:

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press SecretaryContact: 202-282-8010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and more than 25 senior DHS officials today received training in medical emergency preparedness and response by instructors from the American Red Cross.

“Emergency preparedness requires both large-scale planning and personal readiness,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Learning these critical skills is fundamental to our preparedness efforts and the safety and security of all Americans when disasters strike.”

Secretary Napolitano was joined by newly-confirmed DHS Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alexander Garza, who assisted in leading the session and emphasized personal responsibility for all emergencies in advance of National Preparedness Month in September.

The training covered basic skills essential to helping in an emergency until professional responders arrive. During the two-hour session, Secretary Napolitano and her staff received hands-on training from Red Cross instructors in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), basic first aid and use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs)—recommended for use in all federal buildings.

This marks the first year the Red Cross has provided this type of training to federal officials in Washington, D.C. Last week, Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute and approximately 20 additional DHS senior staff members received the same training.


Here's a suggestion: train Ms. Napolitano and her staff on the use of night vision goggles, desert terrain navigation, field maintenance and assembly of the H&K P2000 and M4, and horseback riding, and then send them to the U.S. southwest border.

Today's Probing Question

Dad, when you were little and you got new shoes, did you wear them out of the store?

But, but . . . his heart was in the right place . . .

From Sweetness and Light, we are reminded how some men of power and high regard are so blinded by their passions and self-righteousness that they will commit treason.

The Crusader – Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, Paul Krengor

Appendix

TEXT OF KGB LETTER ON SENATOR TED KENNEDY
_________________________________________
Special Importance Committee on State Security of the USSR 14.05. 1983 No. 1029 Ch/OV Moscow
Regarding Senator Kennedy’s request to the General Secretary of the Communist Party Comrade Y.V. Andropov

Comrade Y.V. Andropov

On 9-10 May of this year, Senator Edward Kennedy’s close friend and trusted confidant J. Tunney was in Moscow. The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Center Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov.

Senator Kennedy, like other rational people, is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations. Events are developing such that this relationship coupled with the general state of global affairs will make the situation even more dangerous. The main reason for this is Reagan’s belligerence, and his firm commitment to deploy new American middle range nuclear weapons within Western Europe.

According to Kennedy, the current threat is due to the President’s refusal to engage any modification on his politics. He feels that his domestic standing has been trengthened because of the well publicized improvement of the economy: inflation has been greatly reduced, production levels are increasing as is overall business activity. For these reasons, interest rates will continue to decline. The White House has portrayed this in the media as the "success of Reaganomics."

Naturally, not everything in the province of economics has gone according to Reagan’s plan. A few well known economists and members of financial circles, particularly from the north-eastern states, foresee certain hidden tendencies that many bring about a new economic crisis in the USA. This could bring about the fall of the presidential campaign of 1984, which would benefit the Democratic party. Nevertheless, there are no secure assurances this will indeed develop.

The only real threats to Reagan are problems of war and peace and Soviet-American relations. These issues, according to the senator, will without a doubt become the most important of the election campaign. The movement advocating a freeze on nuclear arsenals of both countries continues to gain strength in the United States. The movement is also willing to accept preparations, particularly from Kennedy, for its continued growth. In political and influential circles of the country, including within Congress, the resistence to growing military expenditures is gaining strength.

However, according to Kennedy, the opposition to Reagan is still very weak. Reagan’s adversaries are divided and the presentations they make are not fully effective. Meanwhile, Reagan has the capabilities to effectively counter any propaganda. In order to neutralize criticism that the talks between the USA and the USSR are non-constructive, Reagan will grandiose, but subjectively propagandistic. At the same time, Soviet officials who speak about disarmament will be quoted out of context, silenced or groundlessly and whimsically discounted. Although arguments and statements by officials of the USSR do appear in the press, it is important to note the majority of Americans do not read serious newspapers or periodicals.

Kennedy believes that, given the current state of affairs, and in the interest of peace, it would be prudent and timely to undertake the following steps to counter the militaristic politics of Reagan and his campaign to psychologically burden the American people. In this regard, he offers the following proposals to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Y.V. Andropov:

1. Kennedy asks Y.V. Andropov to consider inviting the senator to Moscow for a personal meeting in July of this year. The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA. He would also like to inform you that he has planned a trip through Western Europe, where he anticipates meeting England’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Mitterand in which he will exchange similar ideas regarding the same issues. If his proposals would be accepted in principle, Kennedy would send his representative to Moscow to resolve questions regarding organizing such a visit. Kennedy thinks the benefits of a meeting with Y.V.Andropov will be enhanced if he could also invite one of the well known Republican senators, for example, Mark Hatfield. Such a meeting will have a strong impact on American and political circles in the USA (In March of 1982, Hatfield and Kennedy proposed a project to freeze the nuclear arsenals of the USA and USSR and pblished a book on the theme as well.)

2. Kennedy believes that in order to influence Americans it would be important to organize in August-September of this year, televised interviews with Y.V. Andropov in the USA. A direct appeal by the General Secretary to the American people will, without a doubt, attact a great deal of attention and interest in the country. The senator is convinced this would receive the maximum resonance in so far as television is the most effective method of mass media and information. If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview. Specifically, the president of the board of directors of ABC, Elton Raul and television columnists Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters could visit Moscow. The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.

Furthermore, with the same purpose in mind, a series of televised interviews in the USA with lower level Soviet officials, particularly from the military would be organized. They would also have an opportunity to appeal directly to the American people about the peaceful intentions of the USSR, with their own arguments about maintaining a true balance of power between the USSR and the USA in military term. This issue is quickly being distorted by Reagan’s administration.

Kennedy asked to convey that this appeal to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is his effort to contribute a strong proposal that would root out the threat of nuclear war, and to improve Soviet-American relations, so that they define the safety of the world. Kennedy is very impressed with the activities of Y.V. Andropov and other Soviet leaders, who expressed their commitment to heal international affairs, and improve mutal understandings between peoples.

The senator underscored that he eagerly awaits a reply to his appeal, the answer to which may be delivered through Tunney.

Having conveyed Kennedy’s appeal to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Tunney also explained that Senator Kennedy has in the last few years actively made appearances to reduce the threat of war. Because he formally refused to partake in the election campaign of 1984, his speeches would be taken without prejudice as they are not tied to any campaign promises. Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988. At that time, he will be 56 and his personal problems, which could hinder his standing, will be resolved (Kennedy has just completed a divorce and plans to remarry in the near future). Taken together, Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic Party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president. This would explain why he is convinced that none of the candidates today have a real chance at defeating Reagan.

We await instructions.

President of the committee

V. Chebrikov