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LinkSwarm for March 14, 2013

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

This week we’ll do it Thursday rather than Friday:

  • Obama is trying to work the same magic on America’s economy that a half century of Democratic rule has worked in Detroit. More details here.
  • And Detroit’s former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is going to prison.
  • Since 2002, total federal spending has increased 89% while median household income has dropped 5%.
  • In Iran, 5 of top 10 porn search terms are for gay porn (no nudity, but NSFW-ish terms, and the usual warning that it’s (ick) Gawker).
  • Thanks to ObamaCare, your veterinarian bills are going up as well as your medical bills.
  • Thomas Friedman hates the Keystone pipeline because the oil is dirty, but love China, where industry is a thousand time dirtier than here in the U.S. And where will that oil go if the pipeline isn’t built? China. Maybe Friedman just wants all the jobs to be in China. That, or actual checks from the Chinese government or their business subsidiaries, would explain an awful lot of Friedman’s writing over the last few years…
  • “Most developed nations are fundamentally broke.”

    The degrees of broke-ness varies: from completely and utterly broke, like Greece or Italy; to wobbly, like the U.K., France, the U.S., or Japan; to getting poorer like Germany. But all of them are going to have to raise the percentage of gross domestic product they collect in tax — and many of them very significantly.

    The U.S. deficit is more than 7% of GDP. The U.K.’s deficit is just as high. There is very little sign that spending cuts to close gaps of that magnitude are on the cards, nor is there any sign that growth will be sufficiently strong to make up the difference — certainly not in countries like the U.K. or Japan.

    Huge sums of additional revenue will have to be raised.

    Willie Sutton once famously remarked that he robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.”

    In the same way, governments will look to raise more tax from companies because that’s where the money is.

    Or they could, you know, actually cut spending…

  • I’ve not been following the Prenda Law case closely. Fortunately, Ken over at Popehat has. Exceptionally brief background: Scumbag copyright troll lawyers operate shakedown operation, filing dubious (at best) copyright infringement lawsuits. Then they compounded the problem by suing bloggers and lawyers in an attempt to silence them. As you might expect, that strategy isn’t working out very well for them… (Hat tip: Dwight)
  • Florida Democrats want mandatory anger management classes for people buying ammo.
  • From Popcap Games, the makers of Plants vs. Zombies, comes Trees vs. Rockets. Wait, did I say Popcap Games? I meant the Israeli Defense Forces.
  • White House journalists as Ring-Wraiths.
  • Third round of Climategate documents released?
  • Michael Totten says that Lebanon is ready to explode from the spillover effect of the Syrian Civil War.
  • News of the horrific 5-year old terrorist who brandished her fearsome Hello Kitty assault bubble gun (link fixed).

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    Posted in Budget, Democrats, Economics, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Guns, ObamaCare | No Comments »

    Texas vs. California Update for February 13, 2013

    Wednesday, February 13th, 2013

    Busy day! Here’s a quick Texas vs. California roundup:

  • Texas economic success is no mirage.
  • More on Rick Perry’s California raid. “I’d take free-market capitalism over socialism any day, and that was the decision that we made,” said Waste Connections Inc Chairman and CEO Ron Mittelstaedt. “He added that it took Waste Connections 16 months to design and build a new, 11-story building in Texas, including eight weeks for permits. He estimated it would have taken three years just to get the permits in California. The California Environmental Quality Act is often cited by critics as a major cause of pointless delays on construction projects in particular.”
  • California’s aversion to both nuclear power and fossil fuels will probably cause blackouts in the state this year.
  • “Thanks to appointments by Gov. Jerry Brown, the Public Employment Relations Board has gone from an obscure agency to a union front.”
  • The Milkin Institute’s Kevin Klowden takes a brief look at which state has a better business climate. “California’s higher costs and a difficult-to-navigate regulatory system mean that a split has developed. While research and development and innovation are more likely to stay in California, companies often expand or move their back offices and new manufacturing to Texas.”

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    Posted in Budget, Global Warming, Texas, unions | No Comments »

    “Superstorm Sandy? I say ‘Super Lobbyist Profits!’”

    Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

    “Good afternoon, and welcome to the Lipsky Extreme Lobbying Seminar. And by ‘Extreme,’ I mean both our proven seminar methods and the profits you’ll be raking in after you get out of here.”

    “Is that why we’re wearing the shock collars?”

    “Got it in one! Immediate, painful correction is necessary for maximum learning in minimum time. You’ll learn more here in three hours than three years of law school. Now, on to the topic at hand: Emergency funding bills. Today’s example: the relief bill for Superstorm Sandy. Now, let me ask you bright boys and girls a question: What should go in an emergency relief bill. Mr. Smith?”

    “Uh, emergency relief for victims of AGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

    “Sorry, Mr. Smith, but Mr. Shock Collar says you’re mistaken. Anyone else? Mr. Dewey?”

    “Whatever a lobbyist client pays for?”

    “Ding ding ding! Correct on all counts! Now, can someone give me an example of an ideal item to put in an emergency spending bill? Mr. Smith?”

    “Uh, $5 million for emergency power generAGGHHHHHHHHHH!”

    “Sadly, it appears that Mr. Smith is a slow learner. Ms. Cheathum?”

    “$150 million for Alaskan fisheries?”

    “Correct! Mr. Howe?”

    “$188 million for Amtrack?”

    “Excellent! Mr Smith?”

    “$20 million for tearing down flood damaged AGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH! Why does learning have to be so painful???”

    “Pain is just stupidity leaving the body. Mr. Solitary?”

    “$600 million for a global warming slush fund?”

    “Brilliant! That’s thinking big! Mr. Smith, care to give it one last try?”

    “$188 million for hurricane cleanAGGGHHHHHHHHHH I mean tunnels! Random tunnels!”

    “I’m glad to see that my proven learning methods have finally gotten through to Mr. Smith. Class dismissed.”

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    Posted in Budget, Democrats, Global Warming, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »

    Texas vs. California: Dog Days of August Edition

    Monday, August 27th, 2012

    It’s late August, and California’s slide toward insolvency continues apace.

  • How badly underwater is CalPERS? Try $884 billion.
  • Speaking of California unions, here’s how they’re trying to block reform.
  • California’s recovery is much slower than the already slow pace of the rest of the nation.
  • Things have gotten so bad that Moody’s is rexamining the outlook on all California cities.
  • What California should learn from Wisconsin.
  • CalTrans spends $22.5 million on unneeded home repairs, with a hefty side-helping of graft. (Hat tip: Dwight)
  • So what happened to all those Solyndra glass tubes? Can you say modern art?
  • Texas snags it’s lowest bond interest rate ever at 0.225%. That makes sense. Broke ass California getting a 0.43% rating doesn’t.
  • Texas has five of the ten fastest growing counties (including Williamson).
  • California’s “urban forest” offset scam.

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    Posted in Budget, Global Warming, Obama Scandals, Texas, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »

    LinkSwarm for March 27, 2012

    Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

    News! in tiny, bite-sized portions!

  • Kay Bailey Hutchison tries to walk back her comments, unsuccessfully. She says she opposes abortion, but supports taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood. That’s like saying you support the Second Amendment, but also support the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. You can believe one or the other, but not both at the same time.
  • Hey, how about sending some of that military surplus to the Mexican border?
  • Even The New York Times has noticed the absurdity of the Obama Administration’s position on ObamaCare: “The Justice Department is essentially arguing that the penalty is not a tax, except when the government says it is one.”
  • “Europe will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz.” The new Europe will be Judenfrei.
  • Escape from North Korea.
  • Thanks to Muslim pressure, SUNY Stony Brook will no longer celebrate Good Friday, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Passover.
  • Speaking of New York, here’s another case of insider looting at a Brooklyn hospital. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Still no signs of Global Warming.

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    Posted in Border Control, Global Warming, Jihad, ObamaCare, Supreme Court, Texas | No Comments »

    Moonbat Zero Comes Out in Favor of Nuclear Power

    Monday, March 21st, 2011

    An interesting development, to say the least.

    I still think Monbiot is more loon than not, and Anthropogenic Global Warming more scam than threat (I think it possible that the earth has warmed slightly, but regard the case for this possible warming trend being man-made as far from proven). But at least some hardcore greens are beginning to realize that if you really want to reduce carbon emissions without wrecking the world economy, nuclear is the way to go.

    On a related note, for my latest Japan update (including news on the Fukushima Daiichi reactors) go here.

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    Posted in Global Warming, Media Watch, Regulation | No Comments »

    More Live Egypt Updates

    Saturday, January 29th, 2011

    Not a lot of news coming out. The longer it takes things to happen, the more likely Mubarak is to hold onto power. Yesterday brought scattered reports that the army may be wavering in support of Mubarak. Today? Not so much. There are sporadic reports of gunfire, and lots of reports that citizens groups are banding together to prevent looting.

    The old links down the page stopped updating at the end of the day. The new links are:

  • The BBC.
  • The Atlantic.
  • Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey’s Twitter feed

    • As for what an actual popular Egyptian government might look like, Michael Totten reminds us that the answer might be pretty ugly:

    In Egypt, 82 percent want stoning for those who commit adultery; 77 percent would like to see whippings and hands cut off for robbery; and 84 percent favor the death penalty for any Muslim who changes his religion.

    Asked if they supported “modernizers” or “Islamists” only 27 percent said modernizers while 59 percent said Islamists.

    Elsewhere in the Middle East, there are reports of unrest in Yemen. Conversely, yesterday’s reports that Syria had also taken down nationwide Internet access appear to have been false.

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    Posted in Global Warming, Jihad, Media Watch | 1 Comment »

    Linkswarm for Monday, November 29, 2010

    Monday, November 29th, 2010

    Like everyone else, I’m a little slow getting back into the post-Thanksgiving swing of things, so here’s a collection of links:

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    Posted in Border Control, Communism, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Republicans | No Comments »

    Voluntarily Cut Emissions or WE WILL KILL YOU!!!

    Friday, October 1st, 2010

    The Eco-Left indulges their misanthropic fantasies of homicide against those that disagree with them, with comically horrifying results.

    Keep in mind that the kind of people who heartily approve of such things are in the Obama Administration (and staff positions in the Pelosi/Reid congress) right now…

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    Posted in Democrats, Global Warming | No Comments »

    “Mom, can I be propagandized? Please? PLEASE???”

    Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

    From the Houston Chronicle comes word that some area developers are planning a huge ecology theme park off north I-59 in Montgomery County, just north of Houston. “Like Disney, the unique underpinning will be the story that we’re telling — the whole issue of how to sustain our planet.”

    Yeah, because there’s nothing kids love more than spending their vacation getting the same propaganda lectures they get in school.

    The article says the park, still in the planning stage, is two years behind schedule and having problems getting financing, and I can see why: the entire project has “money-losing rathole” written all over it. Still, if they could get it done entirely on private funding, more power to them. Nothing wrong with liberals suffering staggering financial losses from their own pockets while propping up the local economy.

    However, it’s obvious they can’t, since they were able to wrangle special taxing powers from the state government. I’m sure the residents of Conroe and The Woodlands are thrilled at the prospects of their tax dollars being used to propagandize them.

    The strange thing is, that it probably wouldn’t even be the weirdest (or least successful) theme park in the Greater Houston area, since that would be the the park featuring 1/20th scale replica of China’s Forbidden Kingdom.

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    Posted in Global Warming, Texas | 4 Comments »

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