Saturday, August 3, 2013

Remembering Ploesti

On May 12, 1944, the day of the Leuna raid, the Third Reich ruled an empire comprising nearly all of continental Europe, with a collective population and industrial potential exceeding that of the United States. A year later, it did not exist.

comment:

Zubrin recounts how the Allies won War World II. He points out that oil was a strategic advantage in that war, and how it is a strategic weakness in the war on terror.

There's no excuse not to develop the molten-salt reactor. Zubrin didn't mention this, but it would also turn the weakness into a strength.

But our leadership is not interested in winning, evidently. If that were true during WWII, we'd all be speaking German, and saluting "Seig, heil!

You really can have it all---- no joke

Message from sender:

You can have it all if energy is radically abundant and cheap.

No, that's not the joke. The joke is in the story. That may seem to be the joke, but it may actually be possible.

Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)

Friday Humor: US Citizens 'Just' Want To Be Safe, Happy, Rich, Comfortable, & Entertained At All Times

By Tyler Durden

Created 08/02/2013 - 16:42

Fact or Fiction: In a new report released Wednesday, Americans indicated that when it comes to what they expect from their country, all they really want is to be safe, happy, rich, comfortable, and entertained at absolutely all times.

Nation Just Wants To Be Safe, Happy, Rich, Comfortable, Entertained At All Times

Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-02/friday-humor-us-citizens-just-want-be-safe-happy-rich-comfortable-entertained-all-ti

ITER: How it works - 09 October 2009 - New Scientist

New Scientist

quote:

Future fusion power plants will have to produce their own tritium. They will use "tritium breeding modules" made from lithium, which turns into tritium when bombarded by neutrons from the fusion reaction. Lithium is a light metal, as abundant as lead.

comment:

ITER is therefore, a breeder. They are building a super sophisticated breeder reactor.

There's a much simpler way to do breeding, and it was proven in the lab over 40 years ago. It is called the molten salt reactor. Adapt this to thorium, and you have a "thermal" breeder. That's in comparison with the "fast" breeder, in which the terms- "fast" and "thermal" - relate to the velocity of the neutrons which do the breeding work.

In a further comparison with ITER, tritium is bad stuff. It's really bad if it gets into the environment. Thorium floride isn't so scary. However, when it is bred, it makes fissionable uranium, and you don't want to mess around with this stuff. But in normal form, it is a solid, and a lot easier to control, I would think. In contrast, tritium is a gas, and it can leak. As a matter of fact, being that tritium is a form of hydrogen, it is all but impossible to keep it from leaking. That's what makes it really bad stuff.

So, ITER is being presented as safe, but is it really? On the other hand, molten-salt reactors aren't considered safe. Why not? If ITER is safe, molten salt reactors are just as safe, if not safer? Not to mention, the technology is already proven.

There simply is no reason not to develop the molten-salt reactor.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Why Russia Turned Against The Gays

buzzfeed via Instapundit

Basically, the theory says that Putin can't do anything else to save himself politically.

The second easiest thing has been to demonize the “Other,” creating an internal enemy for everyone to fear...Jews are out...Migrants are out...Who’s left? Gays.

Never mind the obvious. No nation that intends to survive as a nation can afford the luxury of sexual deviancy.

The trouble with the West is that it thinks it can afford to be irresponsible towards its own existence. The existence of a culture is not guaranteed. The only way to guarantee it is to have children and to teach the children who they are. The West won't do that and, as a consequence, is failing as a culture.

Russia is doing the right thing regardless of the catcalls from the peanut gallery here in the West. Even if Putin goes, Russian policy ought to remain the same. That's unless they get a death wish, like the West seems to have gotten.

Roy Orbison: Running Scared

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH-AafkQPEo&feature=youtube gdata_player

At some point, that's gotta stop.

Texas running out of lethal injection drug

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23544131

Then use a firing squad.

McCain is a liar

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-mccains-deals-wacko-bird-barbs-priceless-obama-050435577.html

So he fits in well in DC.

ZoNATION: Time to Manhandle Anthony Weiner and Piers Morgan

Funny name for Weiner... Mayor Nasty Wee-wee. lol

BREAKING>>> GOP Rep: Obama WH Is Hiding Benghazi Survivors AND CHANGING THEIR NAMES (Video)

Not only that, giving lie detector tests to see if any of them are talking!

"Phony" scandals my ass.

Single payer health care system is goal of ObamaCare

Message from me:

Boy do I hate this.

Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)

Guest Post: 10 Reasons Why Obamacare Is Going To Ruin Your Medical Care... And Your Life

By Tyler Durden

Created 08/01/2013 - 20:32

The bottom line is that Americans are losing more and more of their medical freedom. By 2015, so many workers will be trapped in the government-run health insurance exchanges that there will be no going back to the private plans we have today. At this rate, single-payer proponents will drive private insurance companies out of business, which has been their intention all along. Obamacare is a hodgepodge of new regulations, requirements, and penalties. Here are the ten most important points that doctors should tell their patients.

Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-01/guest-post-10-reasons-why-obamacare-going-ruin-your-medical-care-and-your-life

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Nothing's gonna happen

Watch the GOP track down the IRS scandal, and then the Democrats will say--- so what?

It's rather pathetic really. The GOP won't do shit.

Here's what they could do--- shut down the entire government and demand that the Democrats agree to do something meaningful about it. Otherwise, the fact that they may find definite proof of it won't even matter. After all, Obama has said recently that the scandals are phony. This is after saying that he was so bothered by the news before.

Got it? They'll just lie and brazen their way through it. Even if you catch them red handed, they'll just shrug their shoulders because they know that they can get away with it.

Unless of course you do something that they really won't like.

Only 256 views

Only 256 views. Too bad. A nice job.

Limbaugh: The Mess Made by Republican Consultants

Limbaugh.com

quote:

The Democrats and the media are telling Republicans that the Hispanics don't like 'em. "Hispanics do not like you! You guys, you know what? You're never gonna win the presidency, you're never gonna win it back -- and we Democrats, we really want you to win the presidency!

comment:

Limbaugh is making excuses for the GOP leadership. The leadership isn't being snookered. They know better than this. My theory is that they are being bought off in exchange for moving the legislation forward. Part of this theory is that they need a cover for doing it so as not to lose their asses with the rest of the party. Thus, the theory is that they are being snookered. They are not being snookered. They ( meaning the GOP leadership ) know what they are doing. They are screwing us for their own gain. The only way to stop this is to warn them that if they do this, they are finished. If they do it anyway, then make em pay. This stuff ain't gonna stop until somebody says "enough is enough" and makes it stick.

In case it hasn't been written already...

There's this saying that the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer.

Wrong.

In terms of gold, gdp peaked in 1970, or thereabouts. Since 1970, everybody has been getting poorer. If the rich were really doing so well, they'd be pulling up total gdp, but that isn't happening. If the rich made all the money, and were getting richer, it would be reflected in that number. That's the math.

To illustrate, let's say you had a kingdom of 100 people. The 1% is just 1 guy. Also, there's a thousand gold pieces to go around. After 40 years, there's still only 1000 gold pieces around. Maybe his share has gone up a bit, but there's still only 1000 pieces of gold. Maybe the rich guy added a few more pieces to his pile, but the total number of pieces are the same.

In other words, its a zero-sum kingdom. Slow growth or no growth is zero sum. This is the kind of world the left wants because it justifies redistribution of wealth. Like Obama says, "spread the wealth around". If that one guys gets everything, it is perceived as unjust, and so that gives society the right to confiscate his wealth and give it to the 99%.

But there's no acknowledgement that we really are in a zero growth situation as this mythical kingdom. We are told that the economy is growing, but in truth, it isn't really. Most of that is the smoke and mirrors of statistics. The government keeps fudging the statistics in order to fool us into thinking that we have a growing economy.

Instead of a zero sum economy, or fake growth economy, we should seek a real growth oriented economy. The real growth would justify unequal distribution. Those at the top would be earning their position there. When there was real growth in the economy, everybody, including the rich, got richer. But such is not the case today. The zero growth or limits-to-growth people are in charge and that's what's holding us back. As a consequence, you will see more and more of those at the top getting targets placed upon them. We aren't in a revolutionary mode yet, but we are getting there. Wealth confiscation is coming. Unless something changes to bring back growth, there's no stopping it.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Herb Alpert - A Taste of Honey

This was on the radio recently. It was the proverbial blast from the past. Had to put it up.

Massive solar flare narrowly misses Earth, EMP disaster barely avoided | WashingtonExaminer.com

Massive solar flare narrowly misses Earth, EMP disaster barely avoided | WashingtonExaminer.com

comment:

This very topic was covered back in May. The cost of bad government is going to get us one of these days.

Ford to sell natural gas powered pickup

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/31/autos/ford-f-150-natural-gas/

Will cost 10k more.

Culture of Crap

Nancy Pelosi came up with Culture of Corruption. It's much bigger than that. Corruption is part of the bigger thing in which I will call the Culture of Crap.

I look around the web. Nothing but crap. Like he said in the Don Henley song "Crap is King". But Henley was talking about the evening news. No. It isn't just the news, it's every damned thing. Our entire culture is being reduced to Crap.

For some reason, and perhaps it's human nature, crap seems to be the great preference. Instead of something better or uplifting, people prefer the crap.

But I don't think I can oblige the public's appetite for crap. At least not deliberately. I leave my portion of crap in the toilet, thank you very much.

News you can use

Message from me:

In case you want to be prepared, this will tell you how you might save your assets in a crisis.

Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)

Here's Some Data On The 'Safest' Fiat Currency

By Tyler Durden

Created 07/30/2013 - 14:30

Is there such a thing as a 'safe' fiat currency? The term itself is as intellectually disingenuous as terms like 'fair tax' or 'government innovation'. But as we've been exploring recently why modern central banking is completely dysfunctional, it does beg the question – is any currency 'safe'? Let's look at the numbers for some data-driven analysis. But which is the safest major currency?

Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-30/heres-some-data-safest-fiat-currency

Obama: Top Tax Rate Should Be 28% for Corporations, 40% for Small Business

weeklystandard.com

quote:

In a speech delivered Tuesday afternoon, Obama did not explain why he thinks it's a sound economic idea to raise the top marginal tax rate on small businesses but lower it for corporations.

comment:

Something sticks out here like a sore thumb... It isn't "progressive" to favor the big guy over the little guy. Once again, Obama shows his total lack of sincerity. You can't believe him on even something like this.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

People put up with too much bad government

There ought to be a way to do something about that.

Government is bad because elected officials do not serve the public interest, but their own.

You can tell that by a simple method. In the old days, it was considered bad form for a presidential candidate to actually campaign for the job. Others did that instead. A potential candidate made himself available, he did not seek the office directly.

If all politicians were required to act that way, perhaps we'd get a different breed of elected official.

Let's say an individual gets nominated by petition. If enough qualified people signed it, a person would be in position accept the offer of public service, and then "run". But their candidacy would be undertaken by others, not by themselves. An elected official would not be bound by their efforts. That is to say, there'd be no "quid pro quo" for helping the candidate win.

A party could nominate someone, but that person need not be bound to that party's principles.

Another way of saying all this is that we need some reforms.

Mona Charen: Can We Avoid Another 2012?

Mona Charen, Jewish World Review

quote:

Does the prolonged fundraising and primary process cause us to wind up with second-rate candidates who don't represent the Republican grass roots very well and cannot win general elections? Jeffrey H. Anderson and Jay Cost believe so.

comment:

They'd better do something.

Are Republicans fooling themselves about ObamaCare?

Byron York, Jewish World Review

quote:

a lot of thoughtful conservatives are looking beyond Oct. 1 to Jan. 1, the day the law (except for the parts the president has unilaterally postponed) is scheduled to go fully into effect. On that day the government will begin subsidizing health insurance for millions of Americans. (A family of four with income as high as $88,000 will be eligible for subsidies.) When people begin receiving that entitlement, the dynamics of the Obamacare debate will change.

comment:

Yeah. They should shut the government down and refuse to implement the law. But they won't do that.

The above scenario just looks flat out insane to me. Why should the government be subsidizing anybody with that much income? It will be popular, though. They'll be plenty of pigs lining up at the trough to feed. There's no excuse for people with the means to pay for their own stuff to receive any kind of aid from the government.

MUST SEE Political Correctness Exposed!

Uploaded on Dec 8, 2010

Bill Whittle socks it to em big time. Good analysis and history, but the solutions ( not presented in this video, but presented in others ) could use some work.

The Sad Fate of Democrat Women

pjmedia, Klavan on the Culture via Instapundit

quote:

the party that facilitates a black abortion rate that would bring a smile to the face of Planned Parenthood’s genocidally racist founder — has somehow managed to sell itself to African Americans as the friend of black people!

But it’s beginning to be equally galling (and equally comic) to reflect that the Democrats have also contrived to present themselves as the party of women.

comment:

The other part of the strategy. That is, to divide the white vote, and then have a unified black vote deciding the outcome of elections. Without this tactic, the Democrat party cannot win----ever.

Yet, the GOP cannot figure it out. The tactic wins, and wins, and wins. The GOP is like the quarterback who cannot handle the blitz, so the opposition keeps blitzing. Best way to beat the blitz is to burn it big time.

Exhortations to morality won't get it done.

Monday, July 29, 2013

For your consideration

I ran this by somebody who shall remain unnamed in order to protect the guilty. I didn't think he'd like it, and I was right.

Here's the problem. The left has the black vote sewn up. They nearly get it all.

What the black folks think they are getting for their votes is a better shot at success. In reality, they aren't getting much, with a whole lot of side effects that they, and the rest of us can do without. The left, with the power that the black vote gives them, are raising absolute hell with our culture. They are absolutely running this country right into the ground. Somehow, you've got to separate the black vote from the far left.

The far left, by and large, are super rich white folk. Conservatives are the true middle class.

So, let's cut a deal with the black folks. Guarantee them an equal share of the economic bounty of the country for their political support. Let the conservatives take the reins and clean up the cultural mess that the left has created.

I have a hunch, based upon a few conversations with black folks, that they really don't respect the far left. It is a marriage of convenience.

This sounded like socialism to my sounding board. I replied that this is a far cry from socialism.

The last thing I would do is suggest socialism.

There would be some other strings attached. Like cleaning up their culture. But the blame for that falls on the left. I'm sure that the black people, if given a chance, will clean things up. Anyway, the left has just about destroyed the white culture too. They'll destroy the hispanic culture in due time. The main goal is to stop their cultural degradation of the society. If they are not stopped, they will destroy it all.

Think of this as a buy off. Their opposition will be bought off. It will require the buyoff of a small minority so as to save the whole. Otherwise, the small minority will be used as leverage to destroy the whole.

Maybe it won't work. Considering the path we are on, anybody feel free to make a suggestion.

The £250,000 hamburger: First test tube-grown beef will be served in London restaurant this week

www.dailymail.co.uk

quote:

The world’s first test-tube burger will be served in London next week. It is made from meat grown in a laboratory, rather than cattle raised in pastures.

comment:

This could have an application in space travel. Imagine growing these for protein in order to supplement one's diet in space. All the food a person needs to live could be grown onboard a spacecraft as it heads on its way to Mars. Everything could be carefully recycled. This could minimize space needed and weight.

Gold higher in early trade

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-29/gold-declines-before-fomc-meeting-as-data-may-point-to-recovery.html

Mayoral Candidate Thompson Faults Police on Stop and Frisk

wsj

quote:

In the most politically charged part of his 16-minute speech—read from a script but delivered with a vigor not typically associated with Mr. Thompson—he said there were similarities between the conduct of Mr. Zimmerman and NYPD officers.

comment:

Racial politics, pure and simple. The article goes on to show that Thompson, who is black, supports the same policy that he is condemning.

New York City used to be a lot more violent. That got turned around. Maybe New Yorkers have forgotten what that was like.

There was one problem with this article, if I may be a bit critical. It claims that Zimmerman "confronted" Martin. The evidence didn't show that conclusively one way or another. It may well have been that it was Martin who confronted Zimmerman.

A small quibble, it seems. However, if the media reported this way back then, we probably wouldn't even have heard about Martin and Zimmerman, and there wouldn't have been any trial.

Detroit in 1965 and the divisive rhetoric that poisoned its economic future

Legal Insurrection

Racial politics as a factor in Detroit's demise.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Chart looks like a good match to my own

Message from me:

The chart provided by the post shows a peak in personal income growth in the late sixties to early seventies. It hasn't returned to that peak since.

Note: Please read the bottom chart backwards in time ( most recent time on the left).

Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)

Is This The Recovery Obama (And Jack Lew) Is Talking About?

By Tyler Durden

Created 07/27/2013 - 20:41

Obama: "...the economy is far stronger now than it was four and a half years ago" [1]
...as long as one ignores the reality of the following chart...

Source URL: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-27/recovery-obama-talking-about

Links:
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/us/politics/interview-with-president-obama.html?pagewanted=1&_r=4&smid=tw-share&

Finished re-reading Mining The Sky

The main thing to take away is that if we fail, it won't be because of a lack of resources. It won't be because of technical impossibilities.

Lewis repeatedly used the term "intelligence test". Intelligence from who? Obviously, he was intelligent enough to think of these things himself. So, there's plenty of intelligence out there. We won't fail because we aren't smart enough.

But that intelligence may not reach to the ones it needs to reach. Besides, it isn't necessarily a matter of intelligence that makes one blind. You can see and thing and still not see it. Perception is also a matter of training.

As usual, that brings me back to leadership. In this culture, we choose our own leaders. At least, in theory we do. Elections can be rigged. These can be decisively influenced by those who wish a certain outcome. In other words, corruption can lead to our downfall. Corruption can prevent reform, especially if it is badly needed. In my opinion, any dystopian future will likely have at its root cause the curse of corruption.