There's an article on Kitco that describes a situation that illustrates what I mean by the term "race to the bottom". The Japanese are weakening their currency. So, if Europe doesn't like this, their weaken theirs in response. Along comes another country or bloc of countries that will also do the same. What you have is competitive devaluations, all intent upon getting some type of trading advantage. But it doesn't work.
This is the mess we are in now. Nobody really knows what to do about it. Or, if they did, they are not implementing this. This policy is a failure before it even starts, but never mind that. Somehow, they all believe that it will be "different" this time.
Al Fin: "Cowboy Commentary", aka "Eat your veggies" The Flag banner is posted in order to defy those who would make patriotic symbols illegal or disreputable.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Daily English News - Carney: 'No Knowledge' of AP Phone Records Probe
How does this guy keep a straight face when he says all this? This administration is in favor of news media to do unfettered investigations? Ha, ha, ha.
Hard core
You can see it in their response to this scandal, as shown here in the WSJ online article. Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING will shake their unshakable conviction that they can do no wrong. Whatever is going on, it certainly can't be their fault.
quote:
Yep, hard freakin' core.
h/t Instapundit
quote:
Maynard, whose voice quavered several times during his asinine explanation, ended his perfectly invalid defense of the president by stressing that this was all politics and that "none of this would even be happening if the president were someone other than Obama."comment:
Yep, hard freakin' core.
h/t Instapundit
The Great Gibson Guitar Raid: Months Later, Still No Charges Filed
Uploaded on Feb 23, 2012 "They...come in with weapons, they seized a half-million dollars worth of property, they shut our factory down, and they have not charged us with anything," says Gibson Guitars CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, referring to the August 2011 raid on his Nashville and Memphis factories by agents from the Departments of Homeland Security and Fish & Wildlife. The feds raided Gibson for using an inappropriate tariff code on wood from India, which is a violation of the anti-trafficking statute known as The Lacey Act. At issue is not whether the wood in question was endangered, but whether the wood was the correct level of thickness and finish before being exported from India. "India is wanting to ensure that raw wood is not exported without some labor content from India," says Juskiewicz.
Mini Mag Orion, part 2
A closer examination of this concept reveals some weaknesses. As if it's gargantuan size wasn't enough.
The show stopper here isn't necessarily its size, although there are not rockets in existence yet that can lift such a mass. It cannot lift itself as its thrust will be insufficient.
This may be a surprise since it is based upon nuclear explosions, but the explosions are small---hence the name "mini". The amount of energy release is some small multiple of the energy released from the Saturn V's F1 engines. That it has a nozzle that isn't vaporized is a clue that these are small bombs. In fact, the fissile material is only 21 grams, or less than an ounce.
The problem in the configuration is that it is so big, after all. It requires a lot of other stuff to make the thing work. By the way, the use of nuclear bombs is not an issue. They are useless as bombs because the rocket itself provides the hardware needed to make the thing explode. Without that, the bombs can't explode. It shouldn't scare anti-nukes too much, but you never know with those people. Anyway, even with the small amount of fissile material, it is very rare stuff and you need a lot of it, relatively speaking. Over a ton in this configuration. That's enough in itself to be a show stopper unless you find a way to make the stuff more abundant.
The second show stopper, with respect to the configuration shown, was that it was one way. What good does all that performance do if you can't get home? You'll need a bunch more of the rare stuff waiting for refueling purposes, or you are stuck at Mars. You might get there fast, but you will be stuck there unless you can get a shitload of "bombs" delivered to Mars orbit. That ain't in the cards, I suspect.
It wouldn't be too difficult to send a bit over a ton of the rare stuff by itself, but the other stuff that is necessary would have to be manufactured on Mars somehow. Good luck with that, although it may not be impossible. The bomb looks like a cone with the fissile material at the tip of it. If there was a way to make the stuff needed for the bomb "casing" as it were, this may not have to be a show-stopper.
Besides all this, the idea may not work anyway. The article says that feasibility wasn't even proven. There wasn't enough funding. So, the thing may not even work.
In spite of all this, I still like the idea, but it is a bit far-fetched without a huge commitment from the government and that is the biggest show stopper of them all.
The show stopper here isn't necessarily its size, although there are not rockets in existence yet that can lift such a mass. It cannot lift itself as its thrust will be insufficient.
This may be a surprise since it is based upon nuclear explosions, but the explosions are small---hence the name "mini". The amount of energy release is some small multiple of the energy released from the Saturn V's F1 engines. That it has a nozzle that isn't vaporized is a clue that these are small bombs. In fact, the fissile material is only 21 grams, or less than an ounce.
The problem in the configuration is that it is so big, after all. It requires a lot of other stuff to make the thing work. By the way, the use of nuclear bombs is not an issue. They are useless as bombs because the rocket itself provides the hardware needed to make the thing explode. Without that, the bombs can't explode. It shouldn't scare anti-nukes too much, but you never know with those people. Anyway, even with the small amount of fissile material, it is very rare stuff and you need a lot of it, relatively speaking. Over a ton in this configuration. That's enough in itself to be a show stopper unless you find a way to make the stuff more abundant.
The second show stopper, with respect to the configuration shown, was that it was one way. What good does all that performance do if you can't get home? You'll need a bunch more of the rare stuff waiting for refueling purposes, or you are stuck at Mars. You might get there fast, but you will be stuck there unless you can get a shitload of "bombs" delivered to Mars orbit. That ain't in the cards, I suspect.
It wouldn't be too difficult to send a bit over a ton of the rare stuff by itself, but the other stuff that is necessary would have to be manufactured on Mars somehow. Good luck with that, although it may not be impossible. The bomb looks like a cone with the fissile material at the tip of it. If there was a way to make the stuff needed for the bomb "casing" as it were, this may not have to be a show-stopper.
Besides all this, the idea may not work anyway. The article says that feasibility wasn't even proven. There wasn't enough funding. So, the thing may not even work.
In spite of all this, I still like the idea, but it is a bit far-fetched without a huge commitment from the government and that is the biggest show stopper of them all.
Western Civilization's in big trouble
Maybe you can call this a disparate thought post. I've had a few of those. Just trying to tie a few things together into something meaningful.
With respect to the scandals, I read somewhere this morning that it isn't receiving much coverage in the media. Well, why be surprised at that? It's par for the course. If there was a Republican in the White House, there would be wall-to-wall coverage. All this has been said before, hundreds of times. It makes no difference.
On Zero Hedge, a short discussion of how Germany has gone into "full retard mode", just like the US has. He was referring to the total disconnect between the stock market there and the macro economic data which does not support the move. I mention this because it is so descriptive of where we are as a civilization--- in full retard mode. Our problems are there like a 800 pound gorilla in the room and the mention of the gorilla gets a response to the effect--- what gorilla?
Romney comes on Leno and they talk politics a bit. Romney seems like quite a gentleman actually. So have all the Republican candidates and those who became president. They were all gentleman. It struck me while watching him what is wrong. The Republicans can't afford to be gentlemanly anymore. We need warriors, not gentleman. Sure, that will play into the hands of the leftist propagandists that Republicans are mean, but that is false, like all the rest of their propaganda. You see, Romney referred to conservatism as "severe", but it is the other guys who are severe. Conservatives and Republicans are the nice guys, who in the words of Leo Durocher, "finish last". We need warriors. You don't have to be mean, but you definitely have to be tough and firm.
And so the evidence mounts of problems, but none of them will be addressed because the Republicans are just too gentlemanly to stoop to that. You're going to have to get your hands dirty. There's no other way.
There was a scene in War of the Worlds (2001), in which there was a conflict between two men in a basement. Tom Cruise's character has to fight the other guy, literally fight the other guy who was going to get them all killed. This scene doesn't show that, but the one I'm thinking of occurs not much later. Cruise realizes he's going to have to take the guy out before he does indeed get them all killed. We may be headed towards a scenario like that in our culture. The left is going to get us all killed if they aren't stopped. It may take a physical confrontation to do it. But the Republicans are just happy to use words right now. It won't be enough.
There's a lot of cheering for Romney's words, and the words of others in Congress yesterday, but my thoughts go back to the way the media is responding to this and the left's idea that it will all be over in a month. The cheering is hollow because there's nothing behind that scares the left. They ought to be scared, but they are not.
With respect to the scandals, I read somewhere this morning that it isn't receiving much coverage in the media. Well, why be surprised at that? It's par for the course. If there was a Republican in the White House, there would be wall-to-wall coverage. All this has been said before, hundreds of times. It makes no difference.
On Zero Hedge, a short discussion of how Germany has gone into "full retard mode", just like the US has. He was referring to the total disconnect between the stock market there and the macro economic data which does not support the move. I mention this because it is so descriptive of where we are as a civilization--- in full retard mode. Our problems are there like a 800 pound gorilla in the room and the mention of the gorilla gets a response to the effect--- what gorilla?
Romney comes on Leno and they talk politics a bit. Romney seems like quite a gentleman actually. So have all the Republican candidates and those who became president. They were all gentleman. It struck me while watching him what is wrong. The Republicans can't afford to be gentlemanly anymore. We need warriors, not gentleman. Sure, that will play into the hands of the leftist propagandists that Republicans are mean, but that is false, like all the rest of their propaganda. You see, Romney referred to conservatism as "severe", but it is the other guys who are severe. Conservatives and Republicans are the nice guys, who in the words of Leo Durocher, "finish last". We need warriors. You don't have to be mean, but you definitely have to be tough and firm.
And so the evidence mounts of problems, but none of them will be addressed because the Republicans are just too gentlemanly to stoop to that. You're going to have to get your hands dirty. There's no other way.
There was a scene in War of the Worlds (2001), in which there was a conflict between two men in a basement. Tom Cruise's character has to fight the other guy, literally fight the other guy who was going to get them all killed. This scene doesn't show that, but the one I'm thinking of occurs not much later. Cruise realizes he's going to have to take the guy out before he does indeed get them all killed. We may be headed towards a scenario like that in our culture. The left is going to get us all killed if they aren't stopped. It may take a physical confrontation to do it. But the Republicans are just happy to use words right now. It won't be enough.
There's a lot of cheering for Romney's words, and the words of others in Congress yesterday, but my thoughts go back to the way the media is responding to this and the left's idea that it will all be over in a month. The cheering is hollow because there's nothing behind that scares the left. They ought to be scared, but they are not.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Pundit Press: NY Times: Obama Administration KNEW of IRS Discrim...
Pundit Press: NY Times: Obama Administration KNEW of IRS Discrim...: The big one. From the New York Times : The Treasury Department’s inspector general told senior Treasury officials in June 2012 he was audi...
comment:
I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you. /sarc
comment:
I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you. /sarc
Mini Mag Orion
This is a type of nuclear pulse propulsion that was part of a study concluded about 10 years ago.
After reading the pdf about the study, I like the idea. It does appear to be rather large as you might infer from its nozzle shown below:
Perhaps something of this size can be lifted using the beamed power idea of Parkins.
It is still of awkward shape that may not be amenable to being launched all in one piece. It may need to be assembled in space after numerous launches.
Once assembled, it could get a crew to Mars in 90 days, it says. Some technical data below ( there's a lot more than this):
After reading the pdf about the study, I like the idea. It does appear to be rather large as you might infer from its nozzle shown below:
 |
| frickin' huge |
 |
| big sucker |
Perhaps something of this size can be lifted using the beamed power idea of Parkins.
It is still of awkward shape that may not be amenable to being launched all in one piece. It may need to be assembled in space after numerous launches.
Once assembled, it could get a crew to Mars in 90 days, it says. Some technical data below ( there's a lot more than this):
 |
| for 90 day Mars trip, over 1.5 million pounds |
dailymail.co.uk: Smackdown!
Full Story:
www.dailymail.co.uk
17 May 2013
quote:
Nobody knows nothing. I guess the Fairy Godmother did it.
quote:
Congressional hearing turns into IRS smackdown as disgraced former commissioner and Treasury Inspector General face tea-party scandal questions
Republicans and Democrats on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee agree that the IRS abused its power and played political favorites by targeting conservative groups beginning in 2010 [ emphasis added]
Nobody knows nothing. I guess the Fairy Godmother did it.
IRS Made Calculated Decision to Not Confess to Political Scandal Until After the 2012 Elections
Ace
Provides link in which this video can be seen, so here it is:
IRS denies any problem during the election season and then only mentioned it recently when it was about to break anyway. It was covered up for political reasons.
Provides link in which this video can be seen, so here it is:
IRS denies any problem during the election season and then only mentioned it recently when it was about to break anyway. It was covered up for political reasons.
Benghazi Narrative Shift Was Perfectly Clintonian
americanthinker.com
comment:
Richard Clarke's name was mentioned. That he was in on some cover-up of a terrorist act prior to 9-11 shows that whatever he said about 9-11 was suspect. Of course, that how they, meaning the left wing, began the discrediting of George W. Bush.
Read the article to see how Clarke is corrupt.
comment:
Richard Clarke's name was mentioned. That he was in on some cover-up of a terrorist act prior to 9-11 shows that whatever he said about 9-11 was suspect. Of course, that how they, meaning the left wing, began the discrediting of George W. Bush.
Read the article to see how Clarke is corrupt.
CREDIT SUISSE: 'Gold Is Going To Get Crushed' ($1100 By End Of Year)
Free Republic
comment:
Here we go again. There's a sell off in gold again. This is a paper market. It is not backed by actual, physical gold. If people sell their physical gold because of this, they are allowing themselves to be fooled by the paper money action.
History has shown that fiat currencies fail every time.
The central bankers are buying gold. They are also puffing up this bubble. When the bubble bursts, people will want their gold back, but they won't get it because the central banks will have it. If they can't get it by trickery like this, they'll get it by fraud or extortion.
The dollar is up. It means nothing when everybody is pouring paper money into the system. The dollar is just another paper currency amongst many.
God, gold, guns and guts made this country. If you let them take it away from you, shame on you.
comment:
Here we go again. There's a sell off in gold again. This is a paper market. It is not backed by actual, physical gold. If people sell their physical gold because of this, they are allowing themselves to be fooled by the paper money action.
History has shown that fiat currencies fail every time.
The central bankers are buying gold. They are also puffing up this bubble. When the bubble bursts, people will want their gold back, but they won't get it because the central banks will have it. If they can't get it by trickery like this, they'll get it by fraud or extortion.
The dollar is up. It means nothing when everybody is pouring paper money into the system. The dollar is just another paper currency amongst many.
God, gold, guns and guts made this country. If you let them take it away from you, shame on you.
A dailymail.co.uk article: Obama makes Marines break the rules
17 May 2013
Full Story @ www.dailymail.co.uk
quote:
This President doesn't have great respect for the law or for tradition, does he?
quote:
President Obama makes U.S. Marine break the rules, and he does not look happy about it!!This was a story about the Marines who were ordered to hold umbrellas so that the Turkish official and the President wouldn't get wet.
Even though he is the commander in chief, there are some orders that even President Obama cannot give - as he found out today, much to the chagrin of a put-upon U.S. Marine.
This President doesn't have great respect for the law or for tradition, does he?
Peter Thiel & Founders Fund lead $2m funding round in BitPay
coindesk.com
quote:
These investors aren't chumps, they are for real. But I don't get how Bitcoin can ever become an accepted currency without it having some sort of value attached to it.
quote:
Apart from ex-PayPal boss Peter Thiel, the fund’s advisers include Napster founder and Facebook adviser Sean Parker along with ex-Google and SpaceX staff.comment:
These investors aren't chumps, they are for real. But I don't get how Bitcoin can ever become an accepted currency without it having some sort of value attached to it.
Debt/Tax Serfdom
Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)
Guest Post: The Trick To Suppressing Revolution: Keeping Debt/Tax Serfdom Bearable
By Tyler Durden
Created 05/16/2013 - 21:49
Parasites must balance their drive to maximize what they extract from their host with the risk of losing everything by killing their host. This is the dilemma of the parasitic partnership of the central state and financial Elites everywhere: to extract the maximum possible in debt payments and taxes without sparking rebellion and revolution. The 30 million whose labor funds the parasitic status quo don't have to rebel; they simply have to stop going to work, stop starting enterprises, stop being productive. They just have to tire of being the host, tire of being debt-serfs, tire of being tax donkeys. The trick to suppressing revolution is to keep debt-tax serfdom bearable. The parasitic Elites are keeping the host going, but at a high cost in resiliency. Let's see how long the host lasts once a crisis hits.
Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-16/guest-post-trick-suppressing-revolution-keeping-debttax-serfdom-bearable
Update:
Here's another very compelling post at Zero Hedge. It is about the death the American worker---but I think of it as a WAR.
Update:
Here's another very compelling post at Zero Hedge. It is about the death the American worker---but I think of it as a WAR.
Dorf on Law: The IRS Mess Is Already Badly Misunderstood -- And...
Dorf on Law: The IRS Mess Is Already Badly Misunderstood -- And...: -- Posted by Neil H. Buchanan Last Friday, a news story broke that quickly came to be known as "the IRS scandal." Even the just...
Comment:
This is a very charitable post that favors Democrats. However, it should be kept in mind that Obama has not been who he said he was. He has failed to keep his promises on a broad front of issues... from the economy to civil liberties.
Comment:
This is a very charitable post that favors Democrats. However, it should be kept in mind that Obama has not been who he said he was. He has failed to keep his promises on a broad front of issues... from the economy to civil liberties.
Just getting around to a question I was asking BEFORE the election
Althouse via Instapundit
The question is:
Yes, I think I can prove it with links to posts I made here:
If you distill it down even further, you will have to admit that Romney was not the best candidate in that election. He was plainly and simply outmatched.
The question is:
SO WHY DIDN’T ROMNEY, OR THE GOP, PUSH THESE SCANDALS HARDER BEFORE THE ELECTION?
Yes, I think I can prove it with links to posts I made here:
- First Principles.
- Prevent defense only prevents you from winning.
- Romney got punked.
- Romney is not comfortable with ideas.
If you distill it down even further, you will have to admit that Romney was not the best candidate in that election. He was plainly and simply outmatched.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
conspiracy to keep you poor and stupid
Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)
Guest Post: The Empire's Next Effort To Extract Your Wealth
By Tyler Durden
Created 05/16/2013 - 18:35
Since before the tech bust, we've been suggesting that while Americans "think" they're getting richer... they're actually heading in the other direction. They're getting poorer. This proposition has been easier for folks to entertain since housing busted and the financial crisis reversed the "wealth effect" in 2008. With that in mind, let's take a look at the logic of the American Empire and what you can expect in the year(s) ahead.
Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-16/guest-post-empires-next-effort-extract-your-wealth
This Is What Happens When You Ask Too Many (Or The Wrong) Questions
Zero Hedge
Looks like a familiar story today. He gets into trouble because he asked the wrong questions.
We have an Orwellian state. Down is up, up is down. Two plus two equal five. Watch the video if you dare.
Looks like a familiar story today. He gets into trouble because he asked the wrong questions.
We have an Orwellian state. Down is up, up is down. Two plus two equal five. Watch the video if you dare.
"Barbra Streisand" Inflation and Economic Numbers
Unemployment went up "unexpectantly" as Instapundit notes. So, I went there and looked at the numbers they're claiming. Ridiculous.
quote:
It's like the unemployment numbers. The numbers are as low as they are because so many people aren't looking for work anymore. They're being paid to sit on their ass, actually.
There's a huge, huge credibility gap with the government and the media. When they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar like they have, for them to turn around and say stupid stuff like this must mean that they are going to continue to depend on deception to maintain themselves in power.
I saw Chris Matthews on video blaming all the scandals on racism. It's starting. They're circling the wagons.
quote:
The number that most economists were watching was Thursday’s CPI report. Consumer prices slipped 0.4% in April because of a sharp decrease (8.1%) in gasoline prices. Food prices rose 0.2%. CPI increased 1.1% over the last 12 months, the smallest 12-month increase since November 2010. Core CPI – which excludes volatile items like food and energy – inched up 0.1%. The core rate has risen 1.7% over the last 12 months.Core CPI only up 1.7% in the last 12 months? No way Jose. That number is higher than that.
It's like the unemployment numbers. The numbers are as low as they are because so many people aren't looking for work anymore. They're being paid to sit on their ass, actually.
There's a huge, huge credibility gap with the government and the media. When they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar like they have, for them to turn around and say stupid stuff like this must mean that they are going to continue to depend on deception to maintain themselves in power.
I saw Chris Matthews on video blaming all the scandals on racism. It's starting. They're circling the wagons.
Report: You Know Who Might Kind Of Be At Fault For Benghazi Facility's Insufficient Security? The Dead Ambassador.
AOSHQ
quote:
Good point. From this and other indications, it looks like the Democrats are going to fight back. They won't go down easy, that's for sure.
quote:
Not everyone who works in government is a rogue, low level employee. Stevens was simply following the orders he received from DC. He and his staff were in an ongoing battle with those officials to get them to change their minds but he didn't disobey them and go running to another agency.[ emphasis added, comment: which is what he is being accused of not doing as a reason for criticism. If he had run to the military for assistance, he would have been fired from his post.]comment:
Good point. From this and other indications, it looks like the Democrats are going to fight back. They won't go down easy, that's for sure.
Reporter Claims IRS Harassment After Tough Obama Interview *UPDATE: Conners Muzzled | The Dana Show
danaloeschradio.com
quote:
quote:
St. Louis Reporter Larry Conners revealed via Facebook yesterday that he has been “hammered” by the IRS since his much-discussed interview with President Obama.
Is CIA Director, John Brennan, a convert to Islam?
Looks like he may be. Check out this link.
quote:
Why would he do this if he isn't Muslim? What's more: how does this not become an issue in his confirmation? Why isn't this news? Oh, forgot. The media would never report anything that reflects badly on their boy, Obama.
quote:
In a Skype video interview with the radio show, Guandolo referred to a video showing Brennan saying that during his time in Saudi Arabia, he “marveled at the majesty of the Hajj and the devotion of those who fulfilled their duty as Muslims by making that pilgrimage.”comment:
Guandolo concluded that this “video confirms Brennan converted to Islam” since non-Muslims are not allowed to visit Medina and Mecca especially during the Hajj season.
Why would he do this if he isn't Muslim? What's more: how does this not become an issue in his confirmation? Why isn't this news? Oh, forgot. The media would never report anything that reflects badly on their boy, Obama.
LIVE Joint Press Conference From the WH – Obama Responds to Questions on Recent Scandals
legalinsurrection.com
quote:
Has Obama been taking lessons from Slick Willy? We'll know if he starts debating what the meaning of the word "is" is.
quote:
Interesting selection of words.comment:
Has Obama been taking lessons from Slick Willy? We'll know if he starts debating what the meaning of the word "is" is.
Washington Post: Jennifer Rubin
Holder's recusal and the leak investigation are unprecedented
quote:
Holder's story looks fishy.
quote:
But he can’t recall when he recused himself. And it wasn’t in writing. In one of the worst security leaks of which he is aware (he says), he never told the White House (he says) that he took himself out of the loop.[ emphasis added]comment:
Holder's story looks fishy.
Milton Friedman Tells Phil Donahue Why Socialism Fails
We miss Milton Friedman. We could use him right now.
Under Pressure: Democratic senator pressured IRS to investigate nonprofits
freebeacon.com
Now Baucus is on the bandwagon to investigate the scandal.
Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Tom Udall (N.M.), and Al Franken (Minn.) sent a similar letter to Shulman in February 2012, asking for the IRS to investigate tax-exempt groups they believed were engaged in political activities.
Similar letters were also sent to the IRS by Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) in 2010 and House Democrats in 2012, the Atlantic reported on Monday.
Now Baucus is on the bandwagon to investigate the scandal.
Ahead of the Bell: Tesla Motors gain on debt plans
businessweek.com
comment
They have to stay ahead of the crash that's sure to come. God knows where all that could lead.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla said it will offer 2.7 million shares of its common stock and $450 million in convertible senior notes. The company has also given underwriters the option to buy another 405,454 shares of stock and $67.5 million in notes.
comment
They have to stay ahead of the crash that's sure to come. God knows where all that could lead.
Is a constitutional crisis brewing?
americanthinker.com
This is an allegation of the administration spying upon the Congress. This is what could bring on the crisis because each branch is co-equal and independent of the other. If the Executive is attempting to suborn the Legislative, that's even bigger than Watergate. In Watergate, Nixon was only going after a Party, not a branch of government. Much more serious thing here, if it holds up.
The left has a choice here. Either they join in and discipline this administration or you could easily have a coup. Or civil war.
This is an allegation of the administration spying upon the Congress. This is what could bring on the crisis because each branch is co-equal and independent of the other. If the Executive is attempting to suborn the Legislative, that's even bigger than Watergate. In Watergate, Nixon was only going after a Party, not a branch of government. Much more serious thing here, if it holds up.
The left has a choice here. Either they join in and discipline this administration or you could easily have a coup. Or civil war.
Economy: Bubble Will Burst – Dick Morris TV: Lunch Alert!
Economy: Bubble Will Burst – Dick Morris TV: Lunch Alert!
comment:
Morris sounds like Zero Hedge!
Update:
Actually, Morris doesn't sound much like a "middle of the road" guy now. Morris, in case you aren't aware, worked for Clinton. He's saying Obama may not survive. Check it out.
comment:
Morris sounds like Zero Hedge!
Update:
Actually, Morris doesn't sound much like a "middle of the road" guy now. Morris, in case you aren't aware, worked for Clinton. He's saying Obama may not survive. Check it out.
Texas No. 1 State in CO2 Emissions from Energy
www.environmentalleader
quote:
comment:
"EarthJustice"? This is being heralded as good news, but it is bad news because they've accepted some faulty premises. All of the high emitters of CO2 are oil producing states. These people are nuts.
Nothing wrong with Texas.
quote:
EarthJustice had petitioned the EPA to add coal mines to the Clean Air Act list of stationary sources and use the law to regulate their greenhouse gas emissions, similar to what the agency has proposed in its emissions rules for new power plants issued last year. [comment: WTF????]
comment:
"EarthJustice"? This is being heralded as good news, but it is bad news because they've accepted some faulty premises. All of the high emitters of CO2 are oil producing states. These people are nuts.
Nothing wrong with Texas.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Part 6 of lunar station
Part 5 here.
This all started with the idea of making a lunar station that could lift itself off the ground.
Well, that may get diverted a bit with this post. Or perhaps not.
A problem to solve is how to make fuel to get back and forth between the asteroid and the lunar surface?
The advantage to this is save money. It costs a lot of money to use disposable rockets. You want to use them over and over again. Secondly, you don't want to transport fuel from Earth. It costs 25,000 dollars a pound to put something on the lunar surface.
NASA wants to bring an asteroid to the moon and have a mission there someday. Okay. So, when you get there, what do you do?
If the asteroid is typical, it will be carbonaceous with a good deal of water content. With that, you can make fuel, but not enough to get to Mars.
So, what do you do with that capability?
It turns out that you can "burn" elemental carbon with carbon dioxide provided that you have plenty of energy. One thing you may consider doing is bringing solar panels from the moon to where the asteroid is. You can use the ever increasing capability of the solar power panels that you obtain with each trip down in order to make more and more fuel. Do the same thing on the surface.
Here's the way it would look:
This all started with the idea of making a lunar station that could lift itself off the ground.
Well, that may get diverted a bit with this post. Or perhaps not.
A problem to solve is how to make fuel to get back and forth between the asteroid and the lunar surface?
The advantage to this is save money. It costs a lot of money to use disposable rockets. You want to use them over and over again. Secondly, you don't want to transport fuel from Earth. It costs 25,000 dollars a pound to put something on the lunar surface.
NASA wants to bring an asteroid to the moon and have a mission there someday. Okay. So, when you get there, what do you do?
If the asteroid is typical, it will be carbonaceous with a good deal of water content. With that, you can make fuel, but not enough to get to Mars.
So, what do you do with that capability?
It turns out that you can "burn" elemental carbon with carbon dioxide provided that you have plenty of energy. One thing you may consider doing is bringing solar panels from the moon to where the asteroid is. You can use the ever increasing capability of the solar power panels that you obtain with each trip down in order to make more and more fuel. Do the same thing on the surface.
Here's the way it would look:
- Make enough fuel to make a trip down to a water source.
- Obtain the water. Make fuel on the surface to use to go back up.
- On the way up, bring back some completed solar panels and repeat.
- Once you completed processing the asteroid, you will have a big fuel production facility on the surface and where the asteroid was.
- Get another asteroid, and repeat as often as desired.
- Repeated often enough, and you'll have enough to go to Mars. Or you could send the orbital facility on to Mars and build a new one at the moon.
- You may even take the solar panels with you to Mars with your crew. You will make your own fuel for your trip down.
- Perhaps you could lift off the lunar surface the production facility on the surface and transport it to Mars.
Think it would work?
Market Analysis - The Problem With Gold!
By Robert Martin Williams, Kitco commentary
Like the man said, people, you are being manipulated. Hard to resist higher stock prices. Hard to hold on to gold if the prices are falling. But that's what the manipulators are counting on.
The whole thing is political. It's to buy time so that Obammy can sink his claws into us forever.
Gold took it on the chin today. Stocks made new highs. It's obvious that people are buying into the Fed's game.
quote:
Right now central banks have loaded their balance sheets with, for the most part, worthless debt and precious little real money. The manipulation is a play for time so they can somehow unload their worthless debt and accumulate gold. In short they want to print fiat paper and accumulate gold. Normally excessive printing would inflate the price of gold, but this time is different...combination of events has gold heading lower for the moment and that benefits the central banks and smart money that want to buy cheaper gold.comment:
Like the man said, people, you are being manipulated. Hard to resist higher stock prices. Hard to hold on to gold if the prices are falling. But that's what the manipulators are counting on.
The whole thing is political. It's to buy time so that Obammy can sink his claws into us forever.
Two bald eagles in air battle crash-land at Duluth airport
grindtv.com
Two things about this story. One is the unusual nature of it. Two eagles get into battle and crash land at an airport. The eagles are going to be okay.
Second thing is the comments to this article. They don't talk about the frickin eagles, they talk politics.
Is every damn thing now political, even eagles crashing on the ground?
Two things about this story. One is the unusual nature of it. Two eagles get into battle and crash land at an airport. The eagles are going to be okay.
Second thing is the comments to this article. They don't talk about the frickin eagles, they talk politics.
Is every damn thing now political, even eagles crashing on the ground?
Can you burn pyrolytic carbon? Part 5 of lunar station
Part 5 of a series. Part 4 was here.
First of all, where did that question come from? In part 4, I was wondering about which fuel to use. So, I decided to look elsewhere as opposed to using solid rockets.
So I started reading the Wikipedia article on the Sabatier reaction, to answer that question. Pyrolytic carbon can be produced by pyrolyzing methane. The point of pyrolyzing methane is to obtain the hydrogen. This is all anticipated as a way to close the carbon-water cycles in outer space for life support. If you do that, you can remove a lot of the mass that has to be taken along. That mass is in the form of food, which is eaten and produces carbon dioxide and water in respiration.
Anyway, this didn't start out as a life support thought experiment. The idea is if you can obtain methane via pyrolytic carbon. If you can do this with that form of carbon, can you do it with other forms of carbon? My hunch is yes, but I'm not sure.
Why would you care about obtaining methane from carbon? Well, if you have a source of carbon, as what exists in asteroids, then you can make methane as fuel. That's provided that the said asteroid has water. NASA wants to send an asteroid to lunar orbit, so that's where the asteroid will come from.
The carbon can indeed be burned using carbon dioxide. So, you would need a source of carbon dioxide to burn the carbon which produces carbon monoxide. This requires an energy source to accomplish. Provided that you have such a source, just use this process to produce the carbon dioxide by burning the carbon monoxide thus produced. In other words, the carbon dioxide is generated, but you need some in the first place in order to jump start the process if there's none available from the asteroid.
Once you have the carbon dioxide, you can make the methane and LOX for a rocket. The methane is produced from the Sabatier Reaction. LOX is obtained from the lunar surface or the asteroid by cracking water from the moon or the asteroid. Or it can be obtained from the regolith on the moon. In that case, hydrogen will have to be brought down.
Now the only thing you need is a carbon source and a water source. There's water on the moon, but you have to get it to a handy location.
Now you can use a rocket to send down the raw materials, but that defeats the whole purpose doesn't it? Can we mitigate that to some extent?
Maybe you could just de-orbit the carbon, which is pretty indestructible stuff. Collect the carbon after it is crashed into the lunar surface. You'd have to be pretty precise so that you don't hit anything important and it's not too far away that you can't get to it.
Next problem is finding the water. There's water on the moon, but it is hard to get at. You'd have to get it from the poles or by baking it out of the regolith. The second option will take an enormous amount of energy. Third option is bringing it down via the asteroid. Any old way you look at it, this part won't be easy.
If you brought the hydrogen down from the asteroid, you'd have to make some for the trip down too. You'd make the LOX on the surface and generate the methane from the carbon that was crashed into the surface.
Then you'd have a way of transport from the surface to the asteroid and back. This could use the same vehicle over and over again.
On each excursion, you'd build up your space station. Eventually, you will have enough carbon and water to make the LOX to fill up the fuel tanks and blast your newly built station into lunar orbit.
First of all, where did that question come from? In part 4, I was wondering about which fuel to use. So, I decided to look elsewhere as opposed to using solid rockets.
So I started reading the Wikipedia article on the Sabatier reaction, to answer that question. Pyrolytic carbon can be produced by pyrolyzing methane. The point of pyrolyzing methane is to obtain the hydrogen. This is all anticipated as a way to close the carbon-water cycles in outer space for life support. If you do that, you can remove a lot of the mass that has to be taken along. That mass is in the form of food, which is eaten and produces carbon dioxide and water in respiration.
Anyway, this didn't start out as a life support thought experiment. The idea is if you can obtain methane via pyrolytic carbon. If you can do this with that form of carbon, can you do it with other forms of carbon? My hunch is yes, but I'm not sure.
Why would you care about obtaining methane from carbon? Well, if you have a source of carbon, as what exists in asteroids, then you can make methane as fuel. That's provided that the said asteroid has water. NASA wants to send an asteroid to lunar orbit, so that's where the asteroid will come from.
The carbon can indeed be burned using carbon dioxide. So, you would need a source of carbon dioxide to burn the carbon which produces carbon monoxide. This requires an energy source to accomplish. Provided that you have such a source, just use this process to produce the carbon dioxide by burning the carbon monoxide thus produced. In other words, the carbon dioxide is generated, but you need some in the first place in order to jump start the process if there's none available from the asteroid.
Once you have the carbon dioxide, you can make the methane and LOX for a rocket. The methane is produced from the Sabatier Reaction. LOX is obtained from the lunar surface or the asteroid by cracking water from the moon or the asteroid. Or it can be obtained from the regolith on the moon. In that case, hydrogen will have to be brought down.
Now the only thing you need is a carbon source and a water source. There's water on the moon, but you have to get it to a handy location.
Now you can use a rocket to send down the raw materials, but that defeats the whole purpose doesn't it? Can we mitigate that to some extent?
Maybe you could just de-orbit the carbon, which is pretty indestructible stuff. Collect the carbon after it is crashed into the lunar surface. You'd have to be pretty precise so that you don't hit anything important and it's not too far away that you can't get to it.
Next problem is finding the water. There's water on the moon, but it is hard to get at. You'd have to get it from the poles or by baking it out of the regolith. The second option will take an enormous amount of energy. Third option is bringing it down via the asteroid. Any old way you look at it, this part won't be easy.
If you brought the hydrogen down from the asteroid, you'd have to make some for the trip down too. You'd make the LOX on the surface and generate the methane from the carbon that was crashed into the surface.
Then you'd have a way of transport from the surface to the asteroid and back. This could use the same vehicle over and over again.
On each excursion, you'd build up your space station. Eventually, you will have enough carbon and water to make the LOX to fill up the fuel tanks and blast your newly built station into lunar orbit.
[PJ Media] : NAACP Chair Emeritus Backs IRS Targeting of Conservatives
check out this link!
quote:
comment:
Julian Bond, a familiar name. I recall a PBS show that aired many years ago ( when I still watched TV). On that show, Bond compared the use of the word "racist" with "nigger".
He advocated the use of the word racist in the same way as the now understood offensive "n-word".
Just think about that for a moment. When he uses the word racist, he, in his own mind, is calling you a "nigger". That's the meaning of what he said in that PBS show. It's what he means. He does it intentionally and hurtfully. It means a way of marginalizing someone else. Gaining power over someone else.
If you are black, you are supposed to be offended when someone calls you a "nigger". Why can't the same be said when he calls you, a white person, a racist?
Additionally, he hasn't demonstrated the truth that he asserts with regards to "racism". But even if he were right, and it is wrong to say something true, then why is it wrong to call him a "nigger"? He is black, is he not? Isn't that true? Doesn't the truth hurt a little?
Yet, one more thing. He says it's okay to hurt the Tea Party, but not okay to hurt Obama. Isn't that a bit of hypocrisy? If it is wrong to hurt Obama, it is also wrong to hurt the Tea Party. In any event, it is called free speech. Obama is a political figure. He jumped into that arena. He is fair game. It goes with the territory.
quote:
“I mean, here are a group of people who are admittedly racist, who are overtly political, who tried as best they can to harm President [Barack] Obama in every way they can,” Bond continued....When asked if his assessment of the Tea Party was “a little harsh,” Bond said that it was not. “The truth hurts,” Bond insisted.[emphasis added]
comment:
Julian Bond, a familiar name. I recall a PBS show that aired many years ago ( when I still watched TV). On that show, Bond compared the use of the word "racist" with "nigger".
He advocated the use of the word racist in the same way as the now understood offensive "n-word".
Just think about that for a moment. When he uses the word racist, he, in his own mind, is calling you a "nigger". That's the meaning of what he said in that PBS show. It's what he means. He does it intentionally and hurtfully. It means a way of marginalizing someone else. Gaining power over someone else.
If you are black, you are supposed to be offended when someone calls you a "nigger". Why can't the same be said when he calls you, a white person, a racist?
Additionally, he hasn't demonstrated the truth that he asserts with regards to "racism". But even if he were right, and it is wrong to say something true, then why is it wrong to call him a "nigger"? He is black, is he not? Isn't that true? Doesn't the truth hurt a little?
Yet, one more thing. He says it's okay to hurt the Tea Party, but not okay to hurt Obama. Isn't that a bit of hypocrisy? If it is wrong to hurt Obama, it is also wrong to hurt the Tea Party. In any event, it is called free speech. Obama is a political figure. He jumped into that arena. He is fair game. It goes with the territory.
ObamaCare Funded IRS Big Data
chrissstreetandcompany
quote:
comment:
Sounds familiar, yes?
You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
quote:
The funding from Obamacare allowed the Martinsburg Computer Center to receive a complete military level “Big Data” upgrade to IBM zEnterprise 196™ Systems. The IRS could positively employ the predictive power of Big Data to improve cost efficiency and provide better customer service. But the IRS also now has the equivalent “Big Data” cybernetic power of the Star Trek Borg hive that in the wrong hands could be used to mercilessly track and attack enemies. [ emphasis added]
comment:
Sounds familiar, yes?
You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Like Deja vu all over again
What the hell is going on here? ( back to the future clip)
Maybe Doc Brown did invent a time machine.
- Stock market making new highs
- Deficit shrinking faster than anticipated
- Impeachment talk running wild in DC
Maybe Doc Brown did invent a time machine.
Another dot to be connected
Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)
Late Ramp Pushes S&P To Close At Now Standard All Time High
By Tyler Durden
Created 05/14/2013 - 16:17
Thanks to POMO (and the simple explanation of what everyone already knows from David Tepper), the 18th Tuesday in a row has closed with a bright green shade across the screen. Trannies gained 2% but the 25 point gain off overnight lows for the S&P 500 is the most impressive... with gains sustained by more short covering. As predicted first thing today, when we said the S&P 500 EPS multiple will increase by at least 0.15x on the back of POMO, we were not surprised to see the closing print result in precisely this amount of multiple expansion:
Today's POMO: $2.75 - $3.50 billion. Should be enough to expand S&P multiples by 0.15-25xA QE-unwind theme was modestly evident in other asset-classes: Treasuries (snapping higher after EU Close); Oil, gold, and silver all down; and credit spreads notably rolled over. But of course, equities don't care; why would they?
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 14, 2013 [1]
Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-14/late-ramp-pushes-sp-close-now-standard-all-time-high
Links:
[1] https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/334305878595473408
[1] https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/334305878595473408
Why Did the IRS Target Conservative Groups?
| Comment: Nixonian tendencies of the Obama administration. Just another dot that needs to be connected. | |
 | Why Did the IRS Target Conservative Groups?
Source: thedailybeast.com
Was it a legitimate reaction to an explosion of tax-exempt electioneering?
|
3D Printing is Way Scarier Than Plastic Guns
shellypalmer.com via Instapundit
quote:
I don't agree with very much of what Schumer says, but I think he has a point with this. I read through the article, and I don't see what is naive about it. This is a problem and it has to be addressed somehow.
If someone wants to make plastic guns that can get by security, it will mean a nightmare for everybody's security.
Certainly, I understand that the genie is out of the bottle and have posted that on this here blog.
The response is going to have to be something along the lines of new detection equipment. Or people will have to be frisked every time they go into a courtroom, airplane, or any other place where there's a lot of people. Personally, I don't like airport security the way it is now. This will become even more onerous and pervasive.
What would be worse? Controlling the machine or controlling the people? I don't know the answer, but this will have consequences. This article doesn't even begin to address those issues.
quote:
comment:[Sen. Schumer, NY said] We’re facing a situation where anyone — a felon, a terrorist — can open a gun factory in their garage and the weapons they make will be undetectable. It’s stomach-churning.”...[article resumes] This naive, sensationalist rant so misunderstands the issue, I almost don’t know where to start.
I don't agree with very much of what Schumer says, but I think he has a point with this. I read through the article, and I don't see what is naive about it. This is a problem and it has to be addressed somehow.
If someone wants to make plastic guns that can get by security, it will mean a nightmare for everybody's security.
Certainly, I understand that the genie is out of the bottle and have posted that on this here blog.
The response is going to have to be something along the lines of new detection equipment. Or people will have to be frisked every time they go into a courtroom, airplane, or any other place where there's a lot of people. Personally, I don't like airport security the way it is now. This will become even more onerous and pervasive.
What would be worse? Controlling the machine or controlling the people? I don't know the answer, but this will have consequences. This article doesn't even begin to address those issues.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
People aren't connecting the dots
That's the impression I get.
As a matter of review, let's look at how things developed with respect to Benghazi:
So, with a big assist from the media, which he was manipulating, Obama was successful in marginalizing Benghazi as a campaign liability. For Romney's part, he failed to follow up on his original criticism and appears to have been successfully silenced by the media which was being manipulated by Obama.
Now the media is fighting back? Or is it a public relations gimmick in order to maintain some credibility?
The point is that there's a connection with what the media is doing and Obama is doing. It will probably continue. We will get political spin doctoring on this event as with all the others. If the media goes all in on this, Obama may well get into big trouble yet. But there are holdouts in the media. In the end, they may well resort to the Big Lie.
So, the pattern remains. The left is controlling the narrative and will continue to do so. The only thing the opposition can do is to continue working it and hope that people will connect the dots. They are being deceived by this administration. But given the indifference that still remains, Obama may skate on all this yet.
As a matter of review, let's look at how things developed with respect to Benghazi:
- There was an apology of sorts for a video, rioters storm the Egyptian embassy
- Romney issues a criticism of the apology
- News comes out that the American Ambassador in Libya was killed
- The media jump all over Romney for "jumping the gun" in order to score political points
- The administration continues to blame the video for the "riots" in Libya that killed Amb. Stevens
- News comes out that it was NOT a riot, but an act of terrorism instead. The administration changes its tune.
- Obama claimed in a debate that he called it terrorism from the start. This was disingenuous.
- Public interest in Benghazi was tepid, it was not a major factor in the outcome.
- Romney took criticism against him seriously and toned down his response on Benghazi.
So, with a big assist from the media, which he was manipulating, Obama was successful in marginalizing Benghazi as a campaign liability. For Romney's part, he failed to follow up on his original criticism and appears to have been successfully silenced by the media which was being manipulated by Obama.
Now the media is fighting back? Or is it a public relations gimmick in order to maintain some credibility?
The point is that there's a connection with what the media is doing and Obama is doing. It will probably continue. We will get political spin doctoring on this event as with all the others. If the media goes all in on this, Obama may well get into big trouble yet. But there are holdouts in the media. In the end, they may well resort to the Big Lie.
So, the pattern remains. The left is controlling the narrative and will continue to do so. The only thing the opposition can do is to continue working it and hope that people will connect the dots. They are being deceived by this administration. But given the indifference that still remains, Obama may skate on all this yet.
Would all the reporters who savaged Bob Woodward now like to apologize?
legalinsurrection.com
The post puts up this video:
So I looked up what I wrote at the time.
So, the administration gets into a feud with Woodward and Woodward says "fix it". But they didn't in spite of Obama's words. Now we got just another scandal brewing.
Undoubtedly, the administration will look into it. /snark
The post puts up this video:
So I looked up what I wrote at the time.
Over and over again, I am struck at the incongruity between what Obama says and what Obama does. He said the above, and now he has a feud with Woodward. "It does not compute."
So, the administration gets into a feud with Woodward and Woodward says "fix it". But they didn't in spite of Obama's words. Now we got just another scandal brewing.
Undoubtedly, the administration will look into it. /snark
The Holy Grail of Power Schemes: Obamacare
By Robert Ringer - Tuesday, May 7, 2013
It seems like just yesterday that liberty lovers were doggedly trying to get the attention of low-information voters who were oblivious to the horrors on the Obamacare horizon. But now, as the long-concealed facts about Obamacare are surfacing at an accelerating rate, more and more free-ride fools are starting to get it: Obamacare has nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with increasing the power of politicians over their subjects.
Obamacare accomplishes this by being a massive redistribution-of-wealth scheme. Political hack Donald Berwick, whom Obama named as the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2010, made this clear to the sleepwalking public back in 2008 when he said, “Any healthcare funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized, and humane must — must — redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is by definition redistributional.” Nasty, but honest.
Why is it important to understand that Obamacare has nothing to do with providing people with affordable healthcare — that it’s nothing more than a redistribution-of-wealth scheme aimed at increasing government power? Because so long as politicians and the media are successful in peddling the fairy tale that Obamacare is a serious program that addresses the healthcare needs of every citizen, people will continue to obediently march toward their unaffordable healthcare deaths — as in, death panels.
Gay marriage … abortion on demand … illegal immigration … Benghazi-gate … Obama’s vacations and golf matches … Fast and Furious — all interesting topics to ponder and debate. But they are nothing more than distractions from the central issue of government tyranny: increasing power over the citizenry through the lure of redistribution-of-wealth schemes.
Of course, none of this is new. I have long maintained that Barack Obama gets far too much credit for transforming America into a nation of socialist tyranny. The Presidential Imposter is merely an accomplished facilitator, and the sad truth is that if he had never risen from the community-organizing sewers, we still would have arrived at where we find ourselves today — just not as quickly.
We were moving toward more government power and less individual freedom quite nicely even under Ronald Reagan, let alone George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. While professing to be conservatives, Republican presidents and congressmen have been passing legislation to redistribute wealth for decades with nary a pause.
That’s right, both Democrats and Republicans have been leading us down the road to serfdom for at least a hundred years. February marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 16th Amendment (giving Congress the power to tax incomes), the Holy Grail of increasing government power through the redistribution of wealth. It’s no coincidence that the Federal Reserve, the perfect complement to the income tax, was also created in 1913. Taxing and printing beat two aces every time.
Since the vast majority of countries throughout recorded history have been ruled by a dictatorship of one kind or another, people unhappy with their financial status have never been much of a problem. They were, and still are, simply jailed or extinguished. Think Saddam, Stalin, Hitler, Napoleon — all the way back to Rome or even ancient Egypt.
What made America unique was that the Founding Fathers set up a government whose main purpose was not to redistribute people’s wealth but protect it. Almost paradoxically, however, they also instituted free speech, which gave people the right to openly demand higher incomes.
Because they clearly understood human nature, the Founders were skeptical about their experiment in self-government. They realized that, human nature being what it is, no matter how much workers are compensated, they will always claim to be underpaid.
But it’s worse than that. Even if everyone’s wages were tripled overnight, the triplees would still complain — as they do now — about the “unequal distribution of wealth.” Of course, in a free society, the demand for higher wages is legitimate free speech. But the demand for redistribution of wealth is a call for politicians to violate the Constitution and take people’s property by force rather than protect it.
Even so, not one conservative member of Congress has ever dared to state the obvious — that there is nothing inherently wrong or immoral about unequal distribution of wealth. Conversely, redistribution of wealth — even to a small degree — is inherently immoral.
This lack of moral courage on the part of politicians is why redistribution of wealth has long been an accepted part of our modern socialist fabric. All the Kenyan Kommie wants to do is move things along at a faster pace.
Which is where Obamacare comes in. It is the boldest, most brazen scheme to redistribute wealth in American history. Unfortunately, as we approach January 1, 2014, the day Obamacare will begin to grab the entertainment-addicted public by the wallet, it appears unlikely that anyone will do anything to try to stop it.
It’s true that more and more people are becoming aware of some of the nastier aspects of Obamacare, e.g., excise taxes on medical devices, penalties for individuals and employers who do not purchase government-approved health insurance, and a 40 percent tax on so-called Cadillac insurance plans. And the talk-radio guys are warning them that hundreds of new taxes, penalties, restrictions, and rules are on the way.
Optimists believe there is a chance that the whole noxious Obamacare scheme will implode before it kicks in full bore on January 1. I’d like to believe that, but I’d feel more confident if those optimists were on television every night hammering home the most important thing about Obamacare — that it is, at its core, totally unconstitutional, not to mention the fact that it has nothing to do with making healthcare affordable to more people.
But for some reason, no one seems to care about the fact that it’s unconstitutional — not even the chief justice of the Supreme Court. And certainly not Republicans in Congress, because, if they did, they would feel duty bound to defund Obamacare on constitutional grounds.
Sometimes I feel very lonely, but I guess it’s to be expected when you have goofy thoughts that are so far outside the mainstream. Anyone care to join me?
You have permission to reprint this article so long as you place the following wording at the end of the article:
Copyright © 2013 Robert Ringer
ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron's, and The New York Times.
To sign up for his one-of-a-kind, pro-liberty e-letter, A Voice of Sanity, Click Here.
It seems like just yesterday that liberty lovers were doggedly trying to get the attention of low-information voters who were oblivious to the horrors on the Obamacare horizon. But now, as the long-concealed facts about Obamacare are surfacing at an accelerating rate, more and more free-ride fools are starting to get it: Obamacare has nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with increasing the power of politicians over their subjects.
Obamacare accomplishes this by being a massive redistribution-of-wealth scheme. Political hack Donald Berwick, whom Obama named as the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2010, made this clear to the sleepwalking public back in 2008 when he said, “Any healthcare funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized, and humane must — must — redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is by definition redistributional.” Nasty, but honest.
Why is it important to understand that Obamacare has nothing to do with providing people with affordable healthcare — that it’s nothing more than a redistribution-of-wealth scheme aimed at increasing government power? Because so long as politicians and the media are successful in peddling the fairy tale that Obamacare is a serious program that addresses the healthcare needs of every citizen, people will continue to obediently march toward their unaffordable healthcare deaths — as in, death panels.
Gay marriage … abortion on demand … illegal immigration … Benghazi-gate … Obama’s vacations and golf matches … Fast and Furious — all interesting topics to ponder and debate. But they are nothing more than distractions from the central issue of government tyranny: increasing power over the citizenry through the lure of redistribution-of-wealth schemes.
Of course, none of this is new. I have long maintained that Barack Obama gets far too much credit for transforming America into a nation of socialist tyranny. The Presidential Imposter is merely an accomplished facilitator, and the sad truth is that if he had never risen from the community-organizing sewers, we still would have arrived at where we find ourselves today — just not as quickly.
We were moving toward more government power and less individual freedom quite nicely even under Ronald Reagan, let alone George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. While professing to be conservatives, Republican presidents and congressmen have been passing legislation to redistribute wealth for decades with nary a pause.
That’s right, both Democrats and Republicans have been leading us down the road to serfdom for at least a hundred years. February marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 16th Amendment (giving Congress the power to tax incomes), the Holy Grail of increasing government power through the redistribution of wealth. It’s no coincidence that the Federal Reserve, the perfect complement to the income tax, was also created in 1913. Taxing and printing beat two aces every time.
Since the vast majority of countries throughout recorded history have been ruled by a dictatorship of one kind or another, people unhappy with their financial status have never been much of a problem. They were, and still are, simply jailed or extinguished. Think Saddam, Stalin, Hitler, Napoleon — all the way back to Rome or even ancient Egypt.
What made America unique was that the Founding Fathers set up a government whose main purpose was not to redistribute people’s wealth but protect it. Almost paradoxically, however, they also instituted free speech, which gave people the right to openly demand higher incomes.
Because they clearly understood human nature, the Founders were skeptical about their experiment in self-government. They realized that, human nature being what it is, no matter how much workers are compensated, they will always claim to be underpaid.
But it’s worse than that. Even if everyone’s wages were tripled overnight, the triplees would still complain — as they do now — about the “unequal distribution of wealth.” Of course, in a free society, the demand for higher wages is legitimate free speech. But the demand for redistribution of wealth is a call for politicians to violate the Constitution and take people’s property by force rather than protect it.
Even so, not one conservative member of Congress has ever dared to state the obvious — that there is nothing inherently wrong or immoral about unequal distribution of wealth. Conversely, redistribution of wealth — even to a small degree — is inherently immoral.
This lack of moral courage on the part of politicians is why redistribution of wealth has long been an accepted part of our modern socialist fabric. All the Kenyan Kommie wants to do is move things along at a faster pace.
Which is where Obamacare comes in. It is the boldest, most brazen scheme to redistribute wealth in American history. Unfortunately, as we approach January 1, 2014, the day Obamacare will begin to grab the entertainment-addicted public by the wallet, it appears unlikely that anyone will do anything to try to stop it.
It’s true that more and more people are becoming aware of some of the nastier aspects of Obamacare, e.g., excise taxes on medical devices, penalties for individuals and employers who do not purchase government-approved health insurance, and a 40 percent tax on so-called Cadillac insurance plans. And the talk-radio guys are warning them that hundreds of new taxes, penalties, restrictions, and rules are on the way.
Optimists believe there is a chance that the whole noxious Obamacare scheme will implode before it kicks in full bore on January 1. I’d like to believe that, but I’d feel more confident if those optimists were on television every night hammering home the most important thing about Obamacare — that it is, at its core, totally unconstitutional, not to mention the fact that it has nothing to do with making healthcare affordable to more people.
But for some reason, no one seems to care about the fact that it’s unconstitutional — not even the chief justice of the Supreme Court. And certainly not Republicans in Congress, because, if they did, they would feel duty bound to defund Obamacare on constitutional grounds.
Sometimes I feel very lonely, but I guess it’s to be expected when you have goofy thoughts that are so far outside the mainstream. Anyone care to join me?
You have permission to reprint this article so long as you place the following wording at the end of the article:
Copyright © 2013 Robert Ringer
ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron's, and The New York Times.
To sign up for his one-of-a-kind, pro-liberty e-letter, A Voice of Sanity, Click Here.
State pushes to keep Trayvon Martin's past out of George Zimmerman trial
clickorlando.com
Comment:
This is the OJ Simpson trial in reverse.
The state refused to convict Simpson and he went free in spite of overwhelming evidence of guilt. If you recall, they put the police officer on trial, even though that information was irrelevant and pointless. Even if the officer was a racist, it doesn't bear upon whether or not Simpson did what he did.
A lefty author and former prosecutor told how it should have been done in his book Outrage. But now, in this case, the roles of prosecutor and defendant are reversed. The prosecutors in this case are pursuing this with the kind of vigor completely missing in the OJ trial. In fact, they are crossing the line.
There's a plausible defense for Zimmerman, and it is more relevant than the "evidence" used in the OJ trial, but the prosecution won't allow it to be pursued. Why not?
According to Bugliosi, the state has a duty to allow a defendant an adequate means of defense. The court bent over backwards to help Simpson, so why not allow Zimmerman the same opportunity? It appears they want a kangaroo court to convict Zimmerman. Suppressing evidence that would free Zimmerman is just the kind of thing that would make this a kangaroo court.
Comment:
This is the OJ Simpson trial in reverse.
The state refused to convict Simpson and he went free in spite of overwhelming evidence of guilt. If you recall, they put the police officer on trial, even though that information was irrelevant and pointless. Even if the officer was a racist, it doesn't bear upon whether or not Simpson did what he did.
A lefty author and former prosecutor told how it should have been done in his book Outrage. But now, in this case, the roles of prosecutor and defendant are reversed. The prosecutors in this case are pursuing this with the kind of vigor completely missing in the OJ trial. In fact, they are crossing the line.
There's a plausible defense for Zimmerman, and it is more relevant than the "evidence" used in the OJ trial, but the prosecution won't allow it to be pursued. Why not?
According to Bugliosi, the state has a duty to allow a defendant an adequate means of defense. The court bent over backwards to help Simpson, so why not allow Zimmerman the same opportunity? It appears they want a kangaroo court to convict Zimmerman. Suppressing evidence that would free Zimmerman is just the kind of thing that would make this a kangaroo court.
[PJ Media] Recommendation: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Barack Obama
check out this link!
Summary:
History repeats itself---first as tragedy, then as farce. The article shows how that applies to America's situation today and why Obama has succeeded [comment: at least for the moment ] in overthrowing our government and way of life.
h/t Ann Barnhardt and WND commenter
Comment:
I'd like to think we can do something about this. We can turn this around, perhaps even rather quickly, but this has to start soon.
Adopt molten-salt reactors, nuclear rockets, and watch the country recover quickly.
Why?
Molten-salt reactor tech is cheaper than coal. It has little waste, it is a proven technology, and is modular. It can placed anywhere. With this technology, we can become the low cost producer of energy and this will save our economy.
With nuclear rocketry, we can secure the future of our civilization and mankind indefinitely.
It all sounds too good to be true, I'm sure, but it was all within reach 40 years ago. I think it still is. We just need to seize it while we still can.
Summary:
History repeats itself---first as tragedy, then as farce. The article shows how that applies to America's situation today and why Obama has succeeded [comment: at least for the moment ] in overthrowing our government and way of life.
h/t Ann Barnhardt and WND commenter
Comment:
I'd like to think we can do something about this. We can turn this around, perhaps even rather quickly, but this has to start soon.
Adopt molten-salt reactors, nuclear rockets, and watch the country recover quickly.
Why?
Molten-salt reactor tech is cheaper than coal. It has little waste, it is a proven technology, and is modular. It can placed anywhere. With this technology, we can become the low cost producer of energy and this will save our economy.
With nuclear rocketry, we can secure the future of our civilization and mankind indefinitely.
It all sounds too good to be true, I'm sure, but it was all within reach 40 years ago. I think it still is. We just need to seize it while we still can.
VOA - Voice of America English News
Check out this article from VOAnews.com:
Comment:
Damn, I'm starting to sound like Ann Barnhardt.
Comment:
The Ottomans behead hundreds of Christians who refused to convert to Islam. The new Pope has proclaimed them as saints.
But there's concern about how the Muslims will take all of this.
Have they missed the point entirely?
The Christians had the courage of their convictions. Something that appears to be missing today.
Instead of learning the example, they seem to be fearful of the Muslim response.
They are missing the point.
Damn, I'm starting to sound like Ann Barnhardt.
Obama knee-deep in Nixon-esque scandal
Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald
quote:
"Tricky Dick" had an abysmal presidency, in my opinion. Not only for his scandal that brought down his administration, but his policies too. It was under Nixon that the molten-salt reactor program was terminated and the Nerva rocket was canceled. Both of these could have led the country into a better outcome than this has been.
I've been saying that the mastery of energy and space will lead the country and the world to a higher level of existence. Here's Nixon stopping all of that and we've been going downhill ever since. Cheaper energy would mean more jobs and more growth. We got limits to growth instead. And the country that went to the moon can't put anybody into LEO.
quote:
Who would have guessed that just a few months into his second term, President Obama would be compared to Tricky Dick. And by a liberal Massachusetts Democrat — U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano.comment:
"Tricky Dick" had an abysmal presidency, in my opinion. Not only for his scandal that brought down his administration, but his policies too. It was under Nixon that the molten-salt reactor program was terminated and the Nerva rocket was canceled. Both of these could have led the country into a better outcome than this has been.
I've been saying that the mastery of energy and space will lead the country and the world to a higher level of existence. Here's Nixon stopping all of that and we've been going downhill ever since. Cheaper energy would mean more jobs and more growth. We got limits to growth instead. And the country that went to the moon can't put anybody into LEO.
Management of perceptions not going according to plan
Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)
No Mo' POMO?
By Tyler Durden
Created 05/13/2013 - 15:22
Despite the aura of control, Fed officials (and casual observers) may sense things spinning out of control. Of course, hyper-fragility is exactly the effect that all the Fed's own actions would predictably lead to. When you divorce truth from reality, strange things are bound to happen. There is one thing that we know for sure in this strange period when bankers have tried to manage reality in the absence of truth: that advanced industrial-technological economies designed to run on $20-a-barrel oil can't run on $100-a-barrel oil, and that is why the US economy was subject to financialization in the first place - to offset declining productive activity by an attempt to get something for nothing. The world is about to find out that you really can't get something for nothing. It will be a harsh lesson.Monday, May 13, 2013
What kind of fuel to use? Part 4
A series about a self launching space station built on the moon. Part 3 here.
A few questions arise from the latest post.
What sparked this idea was that there's plenty of aluminum and oxygen on the moon. That's the primary components of a solid rocket booster. But there's more stuff, which kinda throws water on the idea. If you can find chlorine, that'd be great. But you also need a binder. That makes up a considerable portion of the mass.
If you can find all of these materials, you still have to put it all together. This would require some type of facility of the moon. Like a permanent moonbase. This may help to answer #4. One mission would be as a bus that can transfer people back and forth. Or it can stay in space for awhile if it is properly provisioned. If it is to stay for a long time, it will need a lot more capabilities that I envision at the moment.
I was thinking it could have legs and with five separate tubes, it could be quite stable when it landed.
On the opposite end could be the docking ports. One for each tube. Each tube would have its own dock because there's no simple way to add a capability to move to one tube to the next when the thing is spun up in space. It should be spinnable and unspinnable at will in order to allow docking and to handle contingencies.
This leaves question 2. How big? A lot depends on what you intend for the mission to do. If it is just to be a bus, it need not be very big at all. If it is to be a big station, it will have to be tall. In fact, so tall that getting it into position to be launched may be something of a problem.
It could be a flexible design that would allow for growth in capabilities depending upon mission needs.
A few questions arise from the latest post.
- What kind of fuel will it use?
- How big will the station be?
- How will it dock in space?
- What kind of missions will it perform?
What sparked this idea was that there's plenty of aluminum and oxygen on the moon. That's the primary components of a solid rocket booster. But there's more stuff, which kinda throws water on the idea. If you can find chlorine, that'd be great. But you also need a binder. That makes up a considerable portion of the mass.
If you can find all of these materials, you still have to put it all together. This would require some type of facility of the moon. Like a permanent moonbase. This may help to answer #4. One mission would be as a bus that can transfer people back and forth. Or it can stay in space for awhile if it is properly provisioned. If it is to stay for a long time, it will need a lot more capabilities that I envision at the moment.
I was thinking it could have legs and with five separate tubes, it could be quite stable when it landed.
On the opposite end could be the docking ports. One for each tube. Each tube would have its own dock because there's no simple way to add a capability to move to one tube to the next when the thing is spun up in space. It should be spinnable and unspinnable at will in order to allow docking and to handle contingencies.
This leaves question 2. How big? A lot depends on what you intend for the mission to do. If it is just to be a bus, it need not be very big at all. If it is to be a big station, it will have to be tall. In fact, so tall that getting it into position to be launched may be something of a problem.
It could be a flexible design that would allow for growth in capabilities depending upon mission needs.
Lunar self launching station
I've been thinking how to alter the design of my space station launched from the moon's surface.
Its supposed to have all its materials coming from the lunar surface itself. It is also supposed to be very simple to make which requires you to use as few tools as possible.
In this new design I'll try to alter it to use less material.
To achieve that we will put 4 nodes that will be opposite each other in pairs giving you 4 nodes all together, and they will balance off each other while spinning like a top in space.
Each node will be a habitat with sufficient equipment to do a variety of tasks.
There will be a cylinder to which all the nodes are attached. This cylinder will actually double as a rocket that will place the vehicle into orbit.
The nodes will be deployed once in space.
Once the vehicle is in space it will be spun up and the nodes will be spun out via a cable which is attached to the cylinder, or rocket.
Update:
This is now being designated as a series. Part 2 is here. Part 1 can be linked from part 2.
Its supposed to have all its materials coming from the lunar surface itself. It is also supposed to be very simple to make which requires you to use as few tools as possible.
In this new design I'll try to alter it to use less material.
To achieve that we will put 4 nodes that will be opposite each other in pairs giving you 4 nodes all together, and they will balance off each other while spinning like a top in space.
Each node will be a habitat with sufficient equipment to do a variety of tasks.
There will be a cylinder to which all the nodes are attached. This cylinder will actually double as a rocket that will place the vehicle into orbit.
The nodes will be deployed once in space.
Once the vehicle is in space it will be spun up and the nodes will be spun out via a cable which is attached to the cylinder, or rocket.
Update:
This is now being designated as a series. Part 2 is here. Part 1 can be linked from part 2.
Right Mauls Hillary Clinton Over Envoy's Murder in Benghazi | RealClearPolitics
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/05/13/right_mauls_hillary_clinton_over_envoys_murder_in_benghazi_118378.html
Mentioned book about how Romney goofed on Benghazi. Also, how gop isn't playing quite so soft as they were before.
Mentioned book about how Romney goofed on Benghazi. Also, how gop isn't playing quite so soft as they were before.
Russia Approaching the Breaking Point
Американский мыслитель ( americanthinker, comrade )
Comment:
The article shows how leadership of a country can get control over a people and prevent progress.
The same damned thing is happening to this country. Perhaps it is not quite so bad here as in some places, but it does exist here as well.
Comment:
The article shows how leadership of a country can get control over a people and prevent progress.
The same damned thing is happening to this country. Perhaps it is not quite so bad here as in some places, but it does exist here as well.
Washington Post: Freaking Fear of Fracking not Funny
plans to increase exports of liquefied natural gas could accelerate fracking boom critics say
Comment:
They've actually got people on the far left who oppose this because it will lead to a stronger dollar and higher consumer prices?!
These people are insane.
Comment:
They've actually got people on the far left who oppose this because it will lead to a stronger dollar and higher consumer prices?!
These people are insane.
Articles: Marco Rubio's Theater of the Absurd
Articles: Marco Rubio's Theater of the Absurd
Comment:
Amnesty must not include citizenship. You cannot reward law-breaking with citizenship. The illegals aren't interested in that anyway.
The article rightly points out that the deluded Republicans who are pushing this bill expect it to lead the Latinos to the Republican party.
Sure, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn on sale cheap.
The only thing the Democrats want is citizenship so they can get the Latino vote. For the Republicans to fall for this is stupidity and foolishness beyond comprehension.
The bill is political suicide for the GOP. Even more incomprehensible is why approve amnesty when jobs are scarce? Where's the demand for this bill except from the political parties? The people don't care about it.
When the parties actually listen to the people, they may actually start to solve problems rather than creating them the way they do now.
Comment:
Amnesty must not include citizenship. You cannot reward law-breaking with citizenship. The illegals aren't interested in that anyway.
The article rightly points out that the deluded Republicans who are pushing this bill expect it to lead the Latinos to the Republican party.
Sure, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn on sale cheap.
The only thing the Democrats want is citizenship so they can get the Latino vote. For the Republicans to fall for this is stupidity and foolishness beyond comprehension.
The bill is political suicide for the GOP. Even more incomprehensible is why approve amnesty when jobs are scarce? Where's the demand for this bill except from the political parties? The people don't care about it.
When the parties actually listen to the people, they may actually start to solve problems rather than creating them the way they do now.
Commercial quantum computer leaves PC in the dust - physics-math - 10 May 2013 - New Scientist
Commercial quantum computer leaves PC in the dust - physics-math - 10 May 2013 - New Scientist
Comment:
Quantum computers seem to have a lot of upside potential. They are just getting started on exploiting the concept, whereas conventional computers are reaching the limits of their capacity for improvements.
Comment:
Quantum computers seem to have a lot of upside potential. They are just getting started on exploiting the concept, whereas conventional computers are reaching the limits of their capacity for improvements.
Space Show's 2000th show
Occurred last week, as Robert Zimmerman notes on his blog.
If it weren't for the Space Show, I probably wouldn't be much interested in space. I'm sure I wouldn't know about John S. Lewis, and I probably wouldn't have read Mining The Sky.
As noted before, the first I heard of the Space Show was when Robert Bussard called the show. I was following Bussard's idea of the Polywell device, which is a way to get positive energy out of fusion without harmful radiation.
I found Bussard's google talk in response to what I considered to be an energy crisis I discussed in the previous version of the Boots and Oil blog back in 2004.
Bussard gave the introduction to the book I'm reading now by Alvin Weinberg.
Incidentally, I probably viewed the Ascent of Man series because of Zimmerman.
Smart people. The smartest in the world.
If it weren't for the Space Show, I probably wouldn't be much interested in space. I'm sure I wouldn't know about John S. Lewis, and I probably wouldn't have read Mining The Sky.
As noted before, the first I heard of the Space Show was when Robert Bussard called the show. I was following Bussard's idea of the Polywell device, which is a way to get positive energy out of fusion without harmful radiation.
I found Bussard's google talk in response to what I considered to be an energy crisis I discussed in the previous version of the Boots and Oil blog back in 2004.
Bussard gave the introduction to the book I'm reading now by Alvin Weinberg.
Incidentally, I probably viewed the Ascent of Man series because of Zimmerman.
Smart people. The smartest in the world.
Day trader has some success
Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)
Meet Dylan The Day-Trader, Or When Fundamentals No Longer Matter
By Tyler Durden
Created 05/12/2013 - 17:28
Only 25, self-described 'risk-taker' Dylan Collins plays the markets with a pot of more than $1 million - $100,000 of his own money earned from trading over the past two years, the rest provided by his bosses and partners at AMR Capital Trading. As The Washington Post reports [1], Dylan exclaims, "trading is fun; for me this is the dream job;" but as they note, for most of us, day trading conjures up the image from the dot-com era of some dude in his pajamas with a two-day growth of beard logged on to a Charles Schwab account buying Nortel Networks and Pets.com on margin. But have no fear for - New York-based AMR, a division of G-2 Trading, is a lot more disciplined and sophisticated than that - specializing in "momentum trading," riding hot stocks up and cold stocks down, taking advantage of the irrational herd behavior that characterizes financial markets. "I understand the idea that maybe you'd want to do something more meaningful, but I don't think I need to worry about that at my age," Dylan explains as he exploits momentary mispricings and sudden spikes in volume. The thing about this kind of trading is that you don't have to know very much about the companies whose shares you are buying or selling. "So much of trading is just about intuition," he adds brushing off how quickly knife-catching turns to blood (as the BTFD strategy backfired on Sino-Forest and Digital Domain). History repeating or Darwinian justice?
Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-12/meet-dylan-day-trader-or-when-fundamentals-no-longer-matter
Links:
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/meet-dylan-the-daytrader/2013/05/09/00786200-b5d6-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_print.html
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/meet-dylan-the-daytrader/2013/05/09/00786200-b5d6-11e2-b94c-b684dda07add_print.html
McCain Defends Obama Against Impeachment For Benghazi, Will ‘Give President Benefit Of The Doubt’
Free Republic
quote:
How much of a benefit of the doubt has Bush been given?
Anyway, even Inhofe has said that it is doubtful that impeachment will result in Obama's conviction. When Romney et. al blew the opportunity in the general election, that was pretty much the ballgame. The rest of this is window-dressing.
Still, let them dig all they want. Maybe some folks will learn something worth knowing.
quote:
“With all due respect, I think this is a serious issue,” McCain told guest host Martha Raddatz. “I will even give the president the benefit of the doubt on some of these things. We need a select committee.”[emphasis added]comment:
How much of a benefit of the doubt has Bush been given?
Anyway, even Inhofe has said that it is doubtful that impeachment will result in Obama's conviction. When Romney et. al blew the opportunity in the general election, that was pretty much the ballgame. The rest of this is window-dressing.
Still, let them dig all they want. Maybe some folks will learn something worth knowing.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Analysis of Fed Policy not encouraging
Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)
Why Policy Has Failed
By Tyler Durden
Created 05/12/2013 - 13:04
Put down the Sunday newspaper; grab a pot of coffee; and call 'mom' and tell her she has to read this. Doug Rudisch has written a far-reaching summary of the true state of the world and 'why policy has failed'. Simply put, there is no faith in the system; real underlying faith and trust in the system, as opposed to the confidence born from economic steroid injections or entitlements. There also is a subtle but important distinction between faith and trust versus confidence. Faith and trust are longer term and more powerful concepts.There is more going on than a temporary lull in animal spirits that current fiscal and monetary policy will cure. If that was the case, it would be working already... We have ended up with a system where the worst of the risk takers have the ability to take the most risk and are currently taking it at extreme levels. We wish we could be more prescriptive and offer more solutions for the problems. But in order to solve a problem, you must first realize you have one. With respect to the Fed, we don't think the U.S. realizes it has a problem.
Interview with Andrea Rossi About 1 MW E-Cat Plant Delivery
pesn
quote:
Rossi's still got believers. Maybe he'll come through and we see something amazing.
Over the two and a half years of blogging here, I've come across several examples of an energy or technology development that appeared to be getting suppressed.
What is dismaying is the idea that wind and solar are examples of advances in energy, when in fact, these are backward sources of energy. Wind and solar power have been around since the beginning of civilization. Sure, the technology may be better, but that's not very impressive really. After all, if you come out with a better horse-drawn buggy, this is nothing to cheer about.
So, I wish Rossi success. And I continue to wait for developments.
quote:
While from a roll-out speed point of view, things have been progressing with this technology more slowly than we had hoped; from a legitimacy point of view, I came away from the interview even more convinced that the E-Cat technology is real and poised to eventually revolutionize the energy scene, not to mention science and the economy, while helping to clean up the planet.Comment:
Rossi's still got believers. Maybe he'll come through and we see something amazing.
Over the two and a half years of blogging here, I've come across several examples of an energy or technology development that appeared to be getting suppressed.
What is dismaying is the idea that wind and solar are examples of advances in energy, when in fact, these are backward sources of energy. Wind and solar power have been around since the beginning of civilization. Sure, the technology may be better, but that's not very impressive really. After all, if you come out with a better horse-drawn buggy, this is nothing to cheer about.
So, I wish Rossi success. And I continue to wait for developments.
X-51A Screams to Hypersonic Success
popular mechanics via Instapundit
quote:
It needs a rocket booster in order to get up to speed. I'm not that impressed.
quote:
A nine-year development effort has finally paid off to create air-breathing planes that can hit Mach 5 and above. PM gets an update from program officials about what this means to the future of flight.
It needs a rocket booster in order to get up to speed. I'm not that impressed.
The Outsiders - Time Won't Let Me
Blast from the past, 1966.
Even the rock and roll sounded more civilized back then. But the older generation then didn't like my music any more than I like the younger generation's today.
Today's just sounds mean and low.
Even the rock and roll sounded more civilized back then. But the older generation then didn't like my music any more than I like the younger generation's today.
Today's just sounds mean and low.
Thought experiment: Can you build a station on the moon and launch it from there?
Given that you could use nuclear explosions to launch massive objects into space, I was wondering if there was another way to do it. It may be the harder way, but it could have a better chance of making it past the anti-nuke crowd.
If we are going to have a space station, why not launch it from the moon, which requires only 15% or so of the energy?
We want to spin up our space station, so lets figure that out first.
Using the formula below, I experimented with several combinations of radius and rpm by using a spreadsheet.
Here are the results:
Since I want to make the space station as small as possible, but large enough to do something useful, I'm going to select a 90 meter radius at 2 rpm. This will give us a Martian like gravity of .40 g
I want to build the station on the moon and launch it from the moon using solid rockets which make use of the aluminum and oxygen which is so abundant there. Hopefully, we can keep the mass down to a minimum.
The station will be in the shape of a torus ( think do-nut). There was something I blogged about which was about how to make an extruded tube like structure on the moon. I would figure an aluminum skin of sufficient thickness will give us a stiff enough structure, with a lightest possible weight.
But it may not give us enough protection from the harsh radiation in space.
Let's make it a double hull, and fill in the gap with water. We may have to skimp on the water.
Let's divide the station into sections so that if one part of the station starts to leak, we can isolate it and possibly repair it before we lose all of our air.
Let's make it eight feet in diameter. I don't know if an extrusion device could make it that big, so we have to keep it small as possible.
Let's make it and inch thick for each side of the hull, plus a foot thick of water.
That seems like too much as the weight will begin to get out of hand.
Luckily, the mass comes out to 324k pounds. That means relatively small boosters like on an Atlas V could boost it into orbit. The trick would be to make the boosters on the moon and attach them to the station.
In order to outfit the internals a bit would require more weight. You wouldn't launch crew with it.
You'd also need access and so forth. Plus a docking area.
Let's say it all doubles the weight. We could still comfortably launch it using relatively small boosters in my opinion.
Update:
Come to think of it, it may be easier to just use methane and lox.
Update:
Ooops! Too soon to post on this. I found a significant error in the mass calculations. It will be much heavier.
Probably about 4 or 5 times heavier on a rough guess.
Update:
You'd need to downsize to maybe a 50 meter station and spin up to 3 rpm. It still be several times heavier than my original calc.
Other considerations would be the stresses and strains on the metal. It may not be strong enough for what is being "attempted" here.
If such is the case, the water could wait until you get into lunar orbit.
Update:
With those thoughts in mind, you could still launch it without the water and with a powerful nuclear rocket.
By the way, this is starting to look a little iffy.
Update:
This is designated as a series now. Consider this as part 2. Part 1 was the previous post to this.
If we are going to have a space station, why not launch it from the moon, which requires only 15% or so of the energy?
We want to spin up our space station, so lets figure that out first.
Using the formula below, I experimented with several combinations of radius and rpm by using a spreadsheet.
Here are the results:
 |
| As you may notice, increasing the radius doesn't move the g's very fast, but rpm does. Unfortunately, humans can't tolerate rpm's too much above 6 and most can tolerate 2 rpm. |
Since I want to make the space station as small as possible, but large enough to do something useful, I'm going to select a 90 meter radius at 2 rpm. This will give us a Martian like gravity of .40 g
I want to build the station on the moon and launch it from the moon using solid rockets which make use of the aluminum and oxygen which is so abundant there. Hopefully, we can keep the mass down to a minimum.
The station will be in the shape of a torus ( think do-nut). There was something I blogged about which was about how to make an extruded tube like structure on the moon. I would figure an aluminum skin of sufficient thickness will give us a stiff enough structure, with a lightest possible weight.
But it may not give us enough protection from the harsh radiation in space.
Let's make it a double hull, and fill in the gap with water. We may have to skimp on the water.
Let's divide the station into sections so that if one part of the station starts to leak, we can isolate it and possibly repair it before we lose all of our air.
Let's make it eight feet in diameter. I don't know if an extrusion device could make it that big, so we have to keep it small as possible.
Let's make it and inch thick for each side of the hull, plus a foot thick of water.
That seems like too much as the weight will begin to get out of hand.
Luckily, the mass comes out to 324k pounds. That means relatively small boosters like on an Atlas V could boost it into orbit. The trick would be to make the boosters on the moon and attach them to the station.
In order to outfit the internals a bit would require more weight. You wouldn't launch crew with it.
You'd also need access and so forth. Plus a docking area.
Let's say it all doubles the weight. We could still comfortably launch it using relatively small boosters in my opinion.
Update:
Come to think of it, it may be easier to just use methane and lox.
Update:
Ooops! Too soon to post on this. I found a significant error in the mass calculations. It will be much heavier.
Probably about 4 or 5 times heavier on a rough guess.
Update:
You'd need to downsize to maybe a 50 meter station and spin up to 3 rpm. It still be several times heavier than my original calc.
Other considerations would be the stresses and strains on the metal. It may not be strong enough for what is being "attempted" here.
If such is the case, the water could wait until you get into lunar orbit.
Update:
With those thoughts in mind, you could still launch it without the water and with a powerful nuclear rocket.
By the way, this is starting to look a little iffy.
Update:
This is designated as a series now. Consider this as part 2. Part 1 was the previous post to this.
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