And it’s called “stuff.”
(Warning – It’s a lengthy one, so pull up a chair, pour yourself a martini and settle in. But it does explain how to get out of this economic mess simply and clearly).
The Left’s Winning Formula: Divide and Conquer
One of America’s “leaders” đ
I think I agree
It is the most spectacular night view of earth.
Do yourself a favour and full-screen the video with the volume up.
Y2Kyoto: We Don’t Need No Stinking Twisty Bulbs
New research funded by the National Science Foundation has scientists warning consumers about the potentially harmful effects energy-saving CFL light bulbs can have on skin.
Can we go back to the pennies per bulb from North America vs. the dollars per bulb from China, now please?
Muslims 1 – Olympics 0
Reader Tips
Tonight, thanks to the power of the Internet, you will be lofted away from your chair and taken flying on Mont Blanc in the French Alps. Do watch full-screen with the sound turned up, if you can!
As always, your erudite reader tips are welcome in the comments.
What We Really Need Is Democracy
With a totalitarian party to vote for.
Mohamed al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, has said that the 572 military detainees pardoned by President Mohamed Morsy on Thursday included 25 leaders of Islamic Jihad and Jama’a al-Islamiya.
Probably what November and December will look like in America.
h/t: dmorris
You didn’t build this Pres. Obama, America did.
Via Ace of Spades,
A week after my father arrived in New York, he and a friend were walking around Manhattan in pure wonder. They got to midtown and stood in front of Bloomingdaleâs watching well-dressed people come in and out. They discussed it amongst themselves that they would obviously have to show evidence that they had money, or proof of income, or some other paperwork to get inside. Surely this store for the wealthy wouldnât just let them in. They watched and watched but didnât see people getting stopped. They walked slowly through the doors and found no one gave them a second look.
RTWT.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans
Quixotes Last Stand links to a Law and Economics Prof studying the implementation of Ontario’s Green Energy Act. Read the study. To call it damning of Ontario Premier McGuinty would be generous.
This is a sorry and sobering story of how a combination of unreflective environmental fundamentalism, a massive feeding-frenzy by corporate rent-seekers, and political hubris has the makings of an economic disaster for a province already in serious fiscal difficulties.
Another one of those pesky Profs who use real numbers. Bastards.
Interestingly enough, the study is for Energy Probe Research Foundation. They are described in the study as:
Energy Probe is the consumer and energy research team at EPRF, active in the fight against nuclear power, and dedicated to resource conservation, economic efficiency, and effective utility regulation.
This seems to differ from how they describe themselves on their web page.
Part of the conclusion:
The environmental assessment process for industrial wind turbine projects fails to meet all of these preconditions and hence justifies, with little or no qualification, the cynical view of the regulatory process. Only the role of the courts in policing administrative due process in this context remains to be tested.
h/t: pkuster
An American’s View of Canadian Healthcare
An American woman who moved to Canada and has had a number of babies born here thinks that our healthcare system is just peachy.
Genesis, the King Obama version
Jonathan Swift, eat your heart out.
1 In the beginning Govt created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the economy was formless and void, darkness was over the surface of the ATMs, and the Spirit of Govt was hovering over the land.
3 And Govt said, âLet there be spending,â and there was spending. 4 Govt saw that the spending was good, and that it separated the light from the darkness. 5 Govt called the spending Investments, and this he did in the first day.
That which can’t go on forever, won’t.
Der Spiegel releases a story saying the IMF and Germany would not throw anymore money down the Spartan Hole.
In order to clarify it’s position, the IMF has said:
The IMF is supporting Greece in overcoming its economic difficulties. An IMF mission will start discussions with the countryâs authorities on July 24 on how to bring Greeceâs economic program, which is supported by IMF financial assistance, back on track.
Clear?
h/t: maz2
Tommy Douglas, Not Dead Enough
Rates of C. difficile dropped by more than one quarter in Ontario after the province made it mandatory for hospitals to publicly report cases of the deadly hospital-acquired infection, according to a new study on the patient safety problem.
Researchers say the drop in rates suggest that public reporting helped to focus hospitalsâ attention on C. difficile, prompting them to find ways to prevent and reduce the spread of the infectious organism
Via Harry K., who writes;
So let me get this right: Only public exposure aka accountability made $300,000+ a year hospital administrators worry about not killing people needlessly?
It really really is time that public administrators and politicians were exposed to the same level of accountability as we are in the private sector.
In my property management business if say a fire door in one of my buildings does not latch closed properly and I do not notice it but the fire prevention office did after a couple of visits, I will be charged and be successfully prosecuted and face a fine of $1,000. And nobody has died.
So what can anyone say about healthcare administrators that allow people to die? Could you imagine how much money or how many lives could be saved in our country if public administrators would feel the same pain of at least a reduced pay cheque like the private sector does if a mistake happens?
#OccuChat
“@RealJamesConrad: To all right wing trolls: You have been asked nicely to stop disrupting #occuchat! NOW GO AWAY! ”
Hardee Har Har! I remember well all the OWS bums leaving when asked to.
Penn State
“It is not enough in a situation of trust in the commonwealth, that a man means well to his country; it is not enough that in his single person he never did an evil act, but always voted according to his conscience, and even harangued against every design which he apprehended to be prejudicial to the interests of his country. This innoxious and ineffectual character, that seems formed upon a plan of apology and disculpation, falls miserably short of the mark of public duty. That duty demands and requires that what is right should not only be made known, but made prevalent; that what is evil should not only be detected, but defeated. When the public man omits to put himself in a situation of doing his duty with effect it is an omission that frustrates the purposes of his trust almost as much as if he had formally betrayed it. It is surely no very rational account of a man’s life, that he has always acted right but has taken special care to act in such a manner that his endeavours could not possibly be productive of any consequence.” – Edmund Burke
Joe Paterno failed the test. The football team failed the test. Penn State University failed the test. The protests and rioters failed the test.
I could care less if they shut down all NCAA sports at that place for the rest of time.
Sometime tomorrow Penn State will receive the punishment from the NCAA. It won’t be enough.
The civil suits, now, they may well be another matter.
Update: Sanctions
- $60M fine
- Four year Post season ban
- Four year reduction of grants in aid from 25 to 15
- Five years of probation
- Vacation of wins from 1998 to 2011 reflected on Paterno’s stat sheet
- Waiver of transfer rules and grant in aid retention (team players can go anywhere)
- There may be individual penalties.
Reader Tips
Underwater astonishments, with David Gallo. Your tips in the comments. (h’/tRevnant Dream)
You know you’re on the side of light when….
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has signaled a preference in the U.S. presidential campaign by comparing Mitt Romney to his own challenger.
Chavez, who is up for re-election a month before U.S. President Barack Obama, has in recent weeks expressed a clear preference for the man currently in the White House.
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire
The Mexican government has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.
USDA has an agreement with Mexico to promote American food assistance programs, including food stamps, among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in America.
Justice
Sex assault victim and Twitter 1,
Predators and Judge 0.
h/t: Drudge
Pat Condell
h/t Shippedout