Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Gun purchasers offer more money than Seattle government for gun by back program. The market wins again.

Economy

Despite billions of bubble creation by the Fed counterfeiting an unprecedented amount of money creation, the economy declined in Q4. Many have predicted that for a while, but it's finally happened. If you were to take away the phony accounting additions created by the Fed counterfeiting money, the statistics would show the economy has been declining since 2008. I don't want our economy to decline, but I'm happy the decline created by government is finally showing up in the statistics. Maybe we can finally turn things around. But I'm not holding my breath. Obama will use this to attack Republicans, and they will do what they always do, spend more of our money. Boortz.

"Well naturally the 0bama junta needed to come up with an excuse for this economic decline.  0bama, of course, cannot any of the blame. ...
No … none of those things could possibly have contributed to negative economic growth.  The problem?  Republicans!  That’s right!  It’s the Republicans!  And more particularly, according to 0bama’s propagandist Jay Goebbels Carney, the blame should be laid on Republicans trying to preserve tax breaks for corporate jet owners."

That wasn't hard to predict.

Sports

This is weak attack on the report of Ray Lewis using a banned substance. Accurate or not, I don't care one iota about Ray Lewis using a banned substance. The man is an accomplice in murder. The gross hypocrisy is that the press cares more about deer antler spray than the murder of two people.

Police State

Expert warns Europeans to avoid storing data in US clouds because of spying.

The police state meets the gun control fanatics.

"This time, there was no gun, loaded with bubbles or otherwise, anywhere at "PS 4, on Fulton Avenue and East 174th Street" in Da Bronx, New York. No, a 12-year-old boy merely mentioned "his toy Nerf gun, which he left at home" to a "classmate." Alas, a snitch, which the report dignifies as a "campus aide," overheard this innocent chatter and duly ratted out our pint-sized gunslinger.
The usual nonsense ensued: cops "locked down" the place while parents panicked (ahem: why have you entrusted your children to Leviathan when you should be teaching them yourselves?): said one mother, "There are police officers here with assault rifles and there are helicopters flying around. It's really scary out here," while another added, “When I got to the school, it was crazy ... People were yelling and running around." Yep, count on the NYPD to gin up utter, shocking madness over nothing."

But this is a visible example of the ubiquitous violence of government we live under every moment of every day.

Regulation

In one of the more obviously stupid regulation cases, the Icelandic government allows - there's that word again - girl to keep her name. You may think I'm joking. I'm not.

Judge rules in favor of the status quo in Apple versus Samsung patent case. Who would have guessed?

Business fights OSHA regulation about hot roofs.

War

Pentagon expanding cyber-warfare facility.

It seems odd that the Israeli government would attack the Syrian government when the Syrian government is trying to survive an attack by radical Islamists who want to see Israel destroyed. I don't pretend to understand the complexities involved here. It's downright destructive that some Americans do.

Now that women can fight in combat, the only people left who won't are the neocons who start the wars. This might be the most profound statement I've read in a decade. Well said.

Misc

Time Warner is cutting prices and increasing bandwidth for customers in locations that compete with Google fiber. Competition is a wonderful thing.

Have you ever noticed that galaxies, the sun, Saturn and hurricanes on earth look the same? Probably not since nobody has provided pictures from the same perspective. When that happens, it will be clear all are created by similar phenomena.

Local

Family of disabled child attacked by police settle for $10,000 in damages. The city has virtually unlimited funds and connections to drag out a lawsuit for years, and this poor family couldn't stand that. Justice was not done.

War

Pentagon, NSA, surveillance, firey rainy from hell. Sorry, just sending out alarms.

Leaked email says the US intended to set off a chemical weapon in Homs, Syria in a false flag attack to bring the US into the war

"Mention of acquiring chemical weapons from Libya is particularly troubling. Libya’s arsenal had fallen into the hands of sectarian extremists with NATO assistance in 2011 in the culmination of efforts to overthrow the North African nation . Since then, Libya’s militants led by commanders of Al Qaeda’s Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) have armed sectarian extremists across the Arab World, from as far West as Mali, to as far East as Syria." 

Wonderful.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Savvy gun collectors buy from people in line for gun buy-back program.

Sports

It's ironic that Ray Lewis got away with stone-walling and lying about his role in killing two people a dozen or so years ago, and he's still lying and stone-wallling about taking illegal substances today.
Why wouldn't he? He's the NFL's poster child for good behavior. The NFL backed him up for stone-walling about killing two people a decade ago, and they're doing the same today. I have no problem with any person who gets around government's laws of aggression regarding drugs. But I don't support violence. I always believed, and said so publicly, Lewis had gotten away with a crime thanks to NFL support, and a decade of NFL propaganda only made me more sure I was right. Now we hear he partook of banned substances. Lewis is a bad man. He did bad things. Like Michael Vick, nobody should allow his children around that man. At best, he's an accomplice to murder. He's a liar for not being honest about it. He's a fraud for pretending to be a Christian while he's lying about his role in the murder. He's an historic ass for making football games all about himself. And now he's supposedly taking banned substances. I'll forgive him for the last, but not anything else. The NFL is cutting its own throat, and ESPN is reportedly doing the same by partnering with Lewis.

Federal Reserve

The power of the US Treasury to mint one trillion dollar coin undermines the power and the appearance of independence of the Fed. That's probably why it didn't happen.

Skeptics wonder what if the Fed doesn't have the gold Germany gave it? The sooner our fraudulent government, Fed, debt system is exposed the less bad, so let's hope this is the trigger.

Politics

Egalitarianism as a revolt against nature.

Global Warming and Energy

Because water is a powerful greenhouse gas and irrigation increases the amount of water interfacing with the atmosphere, irrigation leads to warming, increased rainfall and increased severe weather.

Another EPA official caught using a private email account.

Health Care

Flu vaccine only marginally effective, and new vaccine comes from GM insects.

Insecticides kill bees. Who knew?

Police State

US helicopters firing machine gun blanks in domestic war drills over Miami and Houston. This is to get us used to the next level of the police state.

Police State

The government wants us to be afraid of hackers accessing 58,000 security cameras. I'm afraid of the government controlling those cameras, not hackers.

Economy

Peter Schiff's report on gold scams.

Global Warming and Energy

Court overturns one of the EPA's most silly biofuel's rules, the one about incorporating cellulose.

Ohio politicians to allow fracking companies to dehydrate their waste and dump it in landfills. This is another example of government undermining property rights and the responsibilities that go with them to externalize the costs of some process in order to enrich politicians and cronies at the expense of the people. It's another case of private profits, public losses.

Health Care

More on the connection between Big Food and dietitians.

Tax and Spend

Remember when Chris Christie and Democrats were attacking House Republicans for holding up spending for Sandy victims? That seems like a month ago. The Democrat controlled Senate just got around to passing the same bill. How come we didn't hear attacks on senators the whole time? Chris Christie is a big Democrat in Republican clothes.

Misc

Boy Scouts consider lifting ban on gays.

Sports

Raven's safety says the NFL won't exist in 30 years. I don't know about that, but it does look bleak. Roger Goodell runs the league like a government bureaucracy instead of as a business that must satisfy fans. As for safety, he's against better helmets, and I can't understand that. I've said that the NFL is already in decline, and Goodell or government may regulate it into an also-ran sport. Channel changing reply is already a burden for the fans and the league. I'm sure it will get worse until they fire Goodell and hire a business man.

In a related story, 61 percent of the players disapprove of Goodell. So do I.

War

Contrary to what was reported yesterday, French forces do not yet control Timbuktu. Now Mali forces along with French forces retake Timbuktu. Islamists destroy historic treasures before leaving Timbuktu. This sounds very much like an orchestrated story. Brits plan to send non-combat troops to Mali. This is escalating fast.

Illegal Immigration

Here comes amnesty.

Supposedly Republicans believe that by giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, they'll win more of the hispanic vote. I don't believe they think this. I don't believe they're that dumb. They know darn good and well that the majority of these new citizens will vote Democrat. So why are they doing this? Is this all about Marco Rubio and winning Florida? If they think they can alienate the majority of Americans without electoral consequences, and they may think that, they're sorely mistaken.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

States move to block Obama's gun control.

Gary North agrees with me that Obama made a mistake with his aggressive push for gun control.

"Obama is going to demonstrate in full public view two things. First, he is going to demonstrate for everybody to see that his executive orders are all rhetoric, no substance. Second, he is going to demonstrate for everybody to see that the Republicans in the House of Representatives can keep him from achieving his goals on gun control.
He is squandering political capital on a fight he cannot win. But the jerking knees behind him have kicked him into action."

That's why his approval rating started dropping.

Misc

Eight conspiracy theories that were true.

Media

The CIA and military dominate movies and TV. Government also spreads propaganda through video games.

"By way of example, former CIA director William Colby went to work for a video game company after he retired, and a former United States marine allegedly confessed to working at a video game company which was really a CIA front to create a game to drum up support for war against Iran."

It isn't working very well. Americans are still war weary.

Freedom of Speech

Glee producers copy Jonathon Coultan's arrangement of Baby Got Back without being prosecuted. If you did this, you would get prosecuted.

Global Warming and Energy

More on the Norwegian study showing global warming much less severe than IPCC claims.

Waste heat is another factor in global warming.

Police State

Regarding the politcally motivated prosecution of internet activist Aaron Swartz who committed suicide as a result, Glen Greenwald says:

"Prosecutors are vested with the extraordinary power to investigate, prosecute, bankrupt, and use the power of the state to imprison people for decades. They have the corresponding obligation to exercise judgment and restraint in how that power is used."

Spoken like a babe in the woods. Power corrupts. Hoping otherwise is like spitting in the wind.

"Nobody contests the propriety of charging Swartz with some crime for what he did. Civil disobedience is supposed to have consequences. The issue is that he was punished completely out of proportion to what he did, for ends that have nothing to do with the proper administration of justice. That has consequences far beyond his case, and simply cannot be tolerated."

Amazing naivety.  Prosecutors care nothing for justice, ever. They care about convictions which lead to promotions.

More on Swartz and the legal system.

FBI surveillance techniques.

"In July 2012, the New York Times reported that federal, state, and local law enforcement officials had requested all kinds of cell phone data, including mappings of suspects’ locations, a staggering 1.3 million times in the previous year. Worse, the real number was “almost certainly much higher" given they often request multiple people’s data with one request. The FBI also employs highly controversial “tower dumps” where they get the location information on everyone within a particular radius, potentially violating the privacy of thousands of innocent people with one request."

Yikes.

"In late 2012, we reported on the secretive new device the FBI has been increasingly using for surveillance known as a IMSI catcher, or “Stingray.” A Stingray acts as a fake cell phone tower and locks onto all devices in a certain area to find a cell phone’s location, or perhaps even intercept phone calls and texts. Given it potentially sucks up thousands of innocent persons’ data, we called it an “unconstitutional, all you can eat data buffet.”"
"In cities across the country, local police departments and other law enforcement agencies are installing automated license plate readers that create databases of location information about individual cars (and their drivers). These readers can be mounted by the side of a busy road, scanning every car that rolls by, or on the dash of a police car, allowing officers to drive through and scan all the plates in a parking lot."
"On top of all this, the FBI is one of just a few dozen public agencies that has an authorization to fly a drone in the U.S. There is no evidence at this time that they are actively pursuing or using a specific device. But we do know that other branches of the federal government, namely the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are conducting drone surveillance along the U.S. border, and have at least occasionally loaned these capabilities to other departments."
"This is just the latest example of the Obama administration trying to interpret public laws in secret without adequately informing its citizens. Currently, EFF is suing the government for its secret interpretation of the Patriot Act Section 215, and for secret FISA court opinions that could shed light on the NSA warrantless wiretapping program."

Secret law. Amazing.

The pervasive, immersive violence of government.

"Children are raised up in a society that is now openly contemptuous of the right of peaceful individuals to simply be left in peace, to not be told what to do in every last detail – or else – by others with guns and the apparatus of the state behind them.  In which quite literally nothing is not – in principle and thus potential – on the table and up for a vote. They learn the forms and methods of  democracy early on – drinking deeply of the soul-poison that a “majority” having voted may do as it wishes to anyone."

"They are also taught the necessary corollary: That absolute submission to authority in every last detail is the duty of every individual. But here is where it gets interesting: They come to understand that they can be the ones exercising this authority. This power.
This lawful violence."

"All they have to do is get elected – or appointed – and they will acquire the legal power to order other people around; to take and dispose of the property of others at whim – even to have them killed. It is a game played with great success by the more sophisticated sociopaths a society such as ours produces in ever greater abundance – the ones who appear neat and clean, suit-wearing and well-coiffed. Who never or rarely have to raise their voices – much less their own hands. Never doing the actual violence themselves, but merely ordering it be done by others on their behalf – and enjoying the rich sense of power it gives them."

It starts with government schools.  

"The lesson is simply this: We ought not to expect a peaceful society when the generally accepted basis of society is reciprocal plunder via the ballot box. When people can elect thieves and in which aggressive violence for any reason is approved of – or even tolerated.  Such a society turns human beings into two-legged rats. Cornered rats, prepared – out of Darwinian necessity – to lash out, lest he be the one lashed out against."

This is a really good article.  

Tax and Spend

The parasites in Washington continue to get richer while everybody else gets poorer.

Health Care

Study exposes the ties between Big Food and registered dietitians.

War

French take Timbuktu. That sounds surreal.

Regulation

More on unlocking your cell phone.

Tax and Spend

If you thought the world wasn't going to end, take a look at this diagram.

Hold on.

Freedom of Speech

MegaUpload victim Kim Dotcom wants to encrypt the internet to protect people from governments. Hell yeah. The only problem is every big time internet company is a government subsidiary.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

For the moment, New Yorkers resist registering and turning in guns, but the government hasn't killed anybody yet. Once it starts killing people, this is likely to change.

Politics

Pat Buchanan on Obama's equality baloney. If I was as tall as Michael Jordon, I would rule the world. If I had hair as beautiful as Brad Pitt, I would be a Hollywood millionaire. But that's not the equality Obama is talking about. Obama isn't talking about equality at all. He's talking about stealing from some people and giving the stolen funds to another. But the law says otherwise. According to the law, all men are created equal. That means the law must apply equally to everybody. The law can't discriminate because some fruitcake wants to steal people's money.

Education

Thank goodness somebody has created a post proclaiming government school is bad for children. As if this violent, socialist experiment could be otherwise.

"Almost every child, on the first day he sets foot in a school building, is smarter, more curious, less afraid of what he doesn't know, better at finding and figuring things out, and more confident, resourceful, persistent and independent than he will ever be again in his schooling – or, unless he is very unusual and very lucky, for the rest of his life."

And there you have it. Every parent thinks their child is a loving genius until he or she enters government school. They are right. Government school crushes their desire to learn and their opportunity for greatness.

 Government schools are the cause of mass murders. In a normal world, children would grow up with their parents, neighbors, other kids, older and younger, and learn about the world in a healthy environment. But government rips children from their parents, isolates them from the siblings, and forces them into prison schools in which they are subjugated by teachers and administrators. Every child is harmed by this system, but some are harmed more than others. The government drugs the ones who are more harmed, diagnosing them with ADHD, but some of those are even more harmed the rest. Those most harmed end up going to shrinks, getting even more Big Pharma drugs, then shooting people in mass murders. Guns aren't the root cause. Big Pharma isn't the root cause. Government schools are the root cause.

Federal Reserve

The Italian central bank has been busted for corruption.

"The Bank of Italy scrambled on Friday to deflect charges that it failed to prevent risky derivatives trades by the country's third-largest lender, which took place when ECB chief Mario Draghi headed Italy's central bank.
The escalating scandal over Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank, has rocketed to the centre of the campaign for next month's Italian election with concerns that the ailing bank may need to be nationalized."

Not just any corruption. Political corruption. It's like the central bank is an arm of the central government, as if it could ever be any other way. A quick search turned up no articles about anonymous hacking the Fed. The Fed may be the only government institution that has decent protection from hackers.

The German central bank wants its gold back from the Fed. Interestingly, it is willing to wait seven years for receipt. That makes no sense unless the Fed doesn't have the physical gold.

Global Warming and Energy

Michael Mann's agent quotes $10,000 speaking fees, but Mann denies, then he accuses skeptics of making money from billionaires. This guy lies like Obama.

Headlines show global warming frauds in crisis. The climate just won't cooperate.

Frauds claim global warming will end snow at Pyrenees ski resorts.

Peak oil was a fraud the day it was first mentioned, so I'm not impressed with claims it suddenly bit the dust. That said, one day the world will run out of oil., but wasting time worrying about it is stupid. When it happens, the people will adapt. That's what separates us from animals.

Police State

For a decade, experts have raised the red flag about TSA making airline passengers vulnerable to terrorist attack by lining them up en mass at TSA blockades. Now the government is training TSA agents to run and hide and leave the passengers to die if a mass shooting occurs at a TSA blockade. Needless to say, this makes people wonder if the government is preparing to launch a false-flag attack against passengers already victimized by TSA.

"Why would Our Rulers murder more of us? Because another massacre "would likely lead to even more calls for gun control measures, as well as discussions of arming TSA workers...""

Such a false flag attack would boost the government's ability to wage war against Americans.

Regulation

Now the government is using copyright to ban people from unlocking their phones. I'd like to see the justification for that since unlocking a phone isn't copying anything.

"You can read the full docket here but, in short, it is illegal to unlock a phone from a carrier unless you have that carrier's permission to do so. If you're wondering what this has to do with copyright, it turns out not much.
"It wasn't a good ruling," Rebecca Jeschke, a digital rights analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told ABC News. "You should be able to unlock your phone. This law was meant to combat copyright infringement, not to prevent people to do what they want to do with the device they bought.""

I guess the justification is this was a big kiss-up to giant corporations. How this decision could cost you money. Of course it will cost people money. It transfers power from the people to corporations.

"The worst-case scenario for an individual or civil offense could be as much as a $2,500 fine. As for those planning to profit off of the act or a criminal offense -- such as a cellphone reseller -- the fine could be as high as $500,000 and include prison time."

That sounds like the punishment fits the crime. Not.

War

US to give $32 million to train African troops in Mali, but the US is already supporting French forces.

CNN documents the growing US involvement in Mali.

Eric Margolis believes western governments are creating a new Osama bin Laden in Algeria. Includes the Mali connection.

Health Care

HPV vaccine may be giving girls cervical cancer. In addition to diet, exercise, sleep and suppliments, here's Dr. Mercola's 11th suggestion for avoiding cancer:

"Have a tool to permanently reprogram the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. My particular favorite tool for resolving emotional challenges, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). "

But our government is the most stressful government in the world. Every law, regulation and tax is a threat of violence against the people. If you compare the number of laws and regulations in the US to any other country, the US has outrageously more. Every one adds to the stress in our lives, making us more vulnerable to disease including cancer.

Panera Bread reportedly offering paleo menu items, but they aren't on the menu. The customer has to ask for the hidden menu.

War

The terrorist attack in Algeria as blowback for western countries waging war in Mali.

The Pentagon is not updating the critical technology list, ostensibly because of budget cuts. Yeah, right.

Tax and Spend

Criticism of Reagan on taxes.

Education

Department of Education orders schools to accommodate children with disabilities who want to play traditional sports. How much do you think it would cost for a school to implement a parallel football team for kids with disabilities? These bureaucrats have nothing better to do than waste taxpayer money.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Interesting observation on the difference between gun grabbers and gun supporters.

"Guns are a curious fracture line: As a nation, America is way and gone the most militarily aggressive country on the planet, as note Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali, Mexico, Columbia, Somalia, and so on. The economy is militarized beyond redemption. Yet if a little boy draws a picture of a soldier with a rifle, or a little girl points a gun blowing soap bubbles at a friend, they are likely to be led from school in handcuffs and subjected to psychiatry. Diversity."

This isn't what Reed makes of it. Gun grabbers aren't really against guns. They're just against guns in civilian hands. They love guns in government hands. The article does a nice job illustrating the large negative effect of diversity.

Martin Luther King was a gun owner and his home was protected by private gun owners.

Misc

Police and firemen work in relatively safe professions.

On self-interest, social good and ethical behavior:

"It’s in your selfish best interest to provide the maximum amount of value to the maximum number of people – that’s how Apple became the giant company it is. Conversely, it is not altruistic to help other people. I want all the people around me to be strong and successful. It makes life better and easier for me if they’re all doing well. So it’s selfish, not altruistic, when I help them.
To weaken others, to degrade them by making them dependent upon generosity, is not doing those people any good. If you really care about others, the best thing you can do for them is to push for totally freeing all markets. That makes it both necessary and rewarding for them to learn valuable skills and to become creators of value and not burdens on society. It’s a win-win all around."

Well said.

Criticism of Irving Fisher whose monetary ideas were adopted by Milton Friedman.

Politics

Tina Turner renounces citizenship.

Analysis of Obama's anti-liberty inaugural speech.

"Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm."

That's a really scary sentence to conclude with.

Dayton Construction

Here's the last Dayton Construction post.

Government is cutting down the last three large trees on the levee.

Global Warming and Energy

Another study determines that the earth's climate is not very sensitive to CO2, just as an honest person would expect.

Ways government wastes our fuel.

Health Care

Many Medicare beneficiaries don't pay their co-pays, so the federal government pays it.

Global Warming and Energy

Belief in global warming varies greatly with the weather. As one might expect, the hotter it is, the more people believe in it. You have to wonder why the yearly global warming cabal meetings are held in December. They should have been held the first week in August.

The already nearly dead EU carbon price drops 40 percent in one day.

Huge shale oil find discovered in Australia.

Thanks to US taxpayers, a solar facility that would have lost 9 percent on investment will produce an 18 percent return for Siemens. It's so nice of the US taxpayers to enrich big corporations like Siemens.

Greenland was much warmer during the last interglacial period.

Team of 20 ex-NASA scientists blast the great global warming scam.

Ice melt in western Antarctica due to natural climate cycles.

Obama missed Hansen's four year window to save the earth.

Dissolving rocks in the ocean is another scary geo-engineering project.

Part of Obama's inaugural address about climate change.

Index ranks 2012 54th for extreme weather.

The urban station bias problem was known since at least 1952.

London mayor says it feels like the start of another little ice age.

Health Care

Piers Morgan gets flu ten days after receiving flu shot on the air. Karma.

Local

Another sudden spike in gas prices coming to Dayton.

Remember when the Warren County commissioners were going to obey the law and graciously allow - there's that word I hate - a truck stop in their community. Not so fast. They're still looking for ways to block it.

"The commissioners at that time indicated they didn’t like the truck stop idea, but said they would have to approve it because the industrial zoning already exists.
A group of residents hired attorney Tim Mara, who discovered fast food restaurants and overnight accommodations are prohibited in that zoning classification."

Another case of the government using the law as a weapon against the people. If residents don't want a truck stop, they can buy the property or get out of the way.

Tax and Spend

California implements tax on investors retroactive to 2008. That'll drive investment out of California in a hurry.

Freedom of Speech

The government of Antigua to launch pirate website to thwart US trade restrictions.

War on Drugs

US customs seized a record sized load of marijuana, reminding us that loads like that cross the border undetected all the time. It also drove up the price, insuring higher profits on future loads.

War

List of children killed by Obama's drones in Pakistan and Yemen.

This post just made me think a terrible thought. Americans are war weary. By putting women on the front lines, it's inevitable one will be captured, raped and stoned or something. Our rulers know that. They also know that when that happens, the American people will be whipped into war frenzy like never before. Is that the real reason they put women on the front line?

Women will reportedly face the same standards as men.

"The military has different physical standards at Army and Marine basic training. But for those trying to get into the infantry and other combat arms specialties the standards for men and women would be the same."

None of this will matter when one of them gets captured. This is a big story today, but I bet the Pentagon will soften the rules for women later with no mainstream media coverage.

Allowing women in combat opens opportunities for women who like killing people and being killed.

"“The enemy doesn’t see a gender,” the Springfield resident and Army reservist said. “They just see the uniform.”"

The first woman who gets captured will learn the horrible fallacy of that statement the hard way.

Clinton admits al Qaeda obtained US weapons from Libya. They purposely armed those guys.

Why is lowering the fertility rate in Afghanistan a laudable goal? Shouldn't Afghans make that decision? This sounds like an expression of the environmentalists hatred of men other than themselves.

I'm not shocked by this, but apparently some are. Renowned activist and philanthropist reports that Obama is asking top military leaders if they will fire on Americans, and if not, he is forcing them to resign. He specifically mentions guns and the second amendment. I like how this China expert backs up my contention that China is more American today than the US is.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

More sheriff's speak out against Obama's gun control proposals.

Foreign Policy

The UK is warning of a specific and imminent threat against westerners in Benghazi. Congratulations to Obama and NATO for turning a relatively calm Libya into a hotbed of terrorism.

Global Warming and Energy

The IPCC's own data shows that the planet has cooled over the last 15 years despite great increases in CO2 output.

Since I advocated skeptics go on the offensive over the manipulation of past data records, pointing specifically to 1934 and the 1930s in general, Anthony Watts has done just that, and it's paying big dividends. The frauds are on the defensive. Watts may not call them frauds - he maintains a relationship with many of them - but I don't hesitate. I have no idea if my comment triggered this, it could be just coincidental, but it's fun to watch it progress.

Here's a walk down memory lane when NASA was forced to fix its manipulated data and admit 1934 was the hottest year in the US.

Renewable energy drives up German electricity costs 61 percent since 2000.

2010 Spiegle report on the global warming movement in crisis.

Federal Reserve

Japan to crank up the printing press.

"I predict that the debt to GDP level in Japan is going to surpass over 250% this year and with it, a crash of the economy coming soon (not to mention overwhelming inflation)... I have been warning that this debt problem cannot continue. "

If something can't continue, it won't.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Missouri sheriffs write open letter to Obama defending the right to keep and bear arms.

"As the duly elected Sheriff of Johnson County, Missouri, it is my sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitutions of the United States of America, and the State of Missouri against all enemies both foreign and domestic. This means I not only have the duty to protect my constituents from incidents of crime, but I also have a duty and responsibility to protect and preserve the individual rights and liberties afforded and guaranteed to every citizen by our constitutions. This, Mr. President is a duty I fully understand, appreciate, and will carry out with great vigor and conviction. I will most certainly urge my fellow Sheriffs in the State of Missouri and across this great nation to rise to the defense and aid of all Americans should the federal government attempt to enact any legislation, or executive order that impedes, erodes, or otherwise diminishes their constitutional right to keep and bare arms. I will use all means legal to meet this solemn and sacred responsibility."

Excellent.

Canadians failed to comply with gun registration laws, and New York's rulers fear New Yorkers will do the same. Let's hope so.

Politics

Derogatory terms for federal government employees. I like Fedcoats.

Local

The number of foreclosures is up. The number of abandoned homes is up. The number of homeless people is up. What a surprise.

Air Force announces Wright-Pat cuts. It's already started.

"In preparation for the cuts, Wright-Patterson has already reduced spending on operations by 20 percent this year out of a budget of $70 million, she said."

That's going to hurt.

Local rulers OK racino on Wagner Ford.  Their demands reek of coercion and political correctness.

Economy

Unions continue to decline.

"The Bureau of Labor Statistics said union membership for private sector workers dropped to 6.6 percent last year, from 6.9 percent in 2011, a drop that has caused some labor leaders to voice fears that unions were steadily fading into irrelevance for many large employers. "

That's because they are harmful to employers and employees alike. Politics can't change the laws of economics.

Recession and technology kill middle class jobs.

Trouble in iZombieland as iPhone sales and Apple's numbers disappoint. I believe Apple is a bubble activity. But Apple sales in China double.

Tax and Spend

Paul Ryan submits new budget that he claims will balance the budget in only ten years. While that's still bad, it's not nearly as bad as his last budget. It's good to see some structured resistance to Obama. But don't let him fool you into thinking he actually wants to cut spending. He's proud of his vote in support of the fiscal cliff deal even though most Republicans voted against it.

Boortz shows how upside down our world has turned when Phil Mickelson has to apologize for wanting to keep more of the wealth he earned. I know he's rich, and nobody wants to hear a rich guy whine about wanting more money. But it's his money, not anybody else's. He earned, not anybody else. Mickleson isn't greedy. The organization which steals the money and the people who benefit from the stolen money are greedy.

Obama says welfare makes the country great.

Police State

Google reports that government's demands for personal information continue to grow, but Google is better at saying no.

Ohio AG DeWine tries to hide rape trial from public.

Foreign Policy

Hillary Clinton grandstands in testimony on Benghazi in preparation for running for president in 2016.

"In one of her last acts as America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hit back hard Wednesday at fierce Republican criticisms over the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Clinton, delivering long-awaited congressional testimony, alternately choked up, pounded the table in anger, laughed and offered clinical replies while vowing to do her utmost to prevent similar tragedies in the future."

That sounds like impressive political theater. Maybe she can get a role in a theater troop. The press understands this, but they won't come right out and say it.

"In a couple of years, if Hillary Rodham Clinton decides to make another run for the White House, both her supporters and detractors may look back at comments she made at Wednesday's hearings on Benghazi as evidence of what she's made of."

And...

"When Clinton departs from her post later this week, she will leave as perhaps the most popular politician in America and as the prohibitive favorite for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. (Her favorability rating stands at a whopping 67%, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll published Wednesday.)"

Rand Paul gets in on the theater.

"Had I been president, I would have relieved Secretary Clinton of her duties."

The 2016 race is on.

North Korea must feel very neglected.

"North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy". The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction the country for a rocket launch in December that breached its bans.
"We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States," North Korea's National Defence Commission said, according to state news agency KCNA."

The US eats this stuff up. Let's gin up some fear about North Korea.

War

The US is overwhelming Iran in a cyber-war.

"It's fascinating that Iran continues to do nothing more despite the fact that U.S. critical infrastructure currently has the defensive posture of a dog waiting for a belly rub. Keep that in mind the next time you hear that a 'cyber Pearl Harbor' is imminent."

It's like the US is hoping for a significant cyber-attack against critical infrastructure so it can use that as an excuse to seize total control of the internet. This sounds a lot like Pearl Harbor right before the Japanese attacked.

US military to allow women into combat. This is going to cause so many problems.

"The services will have until January 2016 to implement the changes, the official said. Last year, Panetta opened up an additional 15,000 jobs to women. He ordered the remaining exclusions lifted because he had been committed to doing so since taking office, the official said."

Timed so that Obama won't get blamed for the problems.

The gonorrhea rate for active soldiers is up 3.5x. Rapes and sexual assault rates are also outrageously high.

"Rape within the US military has become so widespread that it is estimated that a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be attacked by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. So great is the issue that a group of veterans are suing the Pentagon to force reform. The lawsuit, which includes three men and 25 women (the suit initially involved 17 plaintiffs but grew to 28) who claim to have been subjected to sexual assaults while serving in the armed forces, blames former defence secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates for a culture of punishment against the women and men who report sex crimes and a failure to prosecute the offenders."

That statement seems weird since the Iraq war is officially over. Now they want to put women into the far more violent, amoral crucible of combat. It's insane.

US funds Taliban.

US special forces have been training and equipping Malian troops since 2004, but they are ill-equipped to fight rebels.

The war in Mali is about controlling resources, not fighting terrorism.

"To top it all, this is no cakewalk. The Salafi-jihadis are flush, courtesy of booming cocaine smuggling from South America to Europe via Mali, plus human trafficking. According to the UN Office of Drugs Control, 60% of Europe's cocaine transits Mali. At Paris street prices, that is worth over $11 billion. "

Sounds a lot like Afghanistan.

"It all started with a military coup in March 2012, only one month before Mali would hold a presidential election, ousting then president Amadou Toumani Toure. The coup plotters justified it as a response to the government's incompetence in fighting the Tuareg.

The coup leader was one Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, who happened to have been very cozy with the Pentagon; that included his four-month infantry officer basic training course in Fort Benning, Georgia, in 2010. Essentially, Sanogo was also groomed by AFRICOM, under a regional scheme mixing the State Department's Trans Sahara Counter Terrorism Partnership program and the Pentagon's Operation Enduring Freedom. It goes without saying that in all this "freedom" business Mali has been the proverbial "steady ally" - as in counterterrorism partner - fighting (at least in thesis) al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). "

Once again the US is involved a war.

"Over the last few years, Washington's game has elevated flip-flopping to high art. During the second George W Bush administration, Special Forces were very active side by side with the Tuaregs and the Algerians. During the first Obama administration, they started backing the Mali government against the Tuareg"

Gosh knows we wouldn't want to a war to end, now would we?

"The official "leading from behind" Obama 2.0 administration rhetoric is, in a sense, futuristic; the French bombing "could rally jihadis" around the world and lead to - what else - attacks on the West. Once again the good ol' Global War on Terror (GWOT) remains the serpent biting its own tail. "

There haven't been any real terrorist attacks in the US lately, so starting another war may change that to continue justifying the military-police-surveillance state.

"Writing in the January edition of New African, Keenan stresses, "Libya was the catalyst of the Azawad rebellion, not its underlying cause. Rather, the catastrophe now being played out in Mali is the inevitable outcome of the way in which the 'Global War on Terror' has been inserted into the Sahara-Sahel by the US, in concert with Algerian intelligence operatives, since 2002."

In a nutshell, Bush and the regime in Algiers both needed, as Keenan points out, "a little more terrorism" in the region. Algiers wanted it as the means to get more high-tech weapons. And Bush - or the neo-cons behind him - wanted it to launch the Saharan front of the GWOT, as in the militarization of Africa as the top strategy to control more energy resources, especially oil, thus wining the competition against massive Chinese investment. This is the underlying logic that led to the creation of AFRICOM in 2008. "

All these wars come down to the US using violence in an attempt to control resources that the Chinese are attempting to control through investment.

"Keenan's analysis is absolutely correct in identifying what happened all along 2012 as the Algerians meticulously destroying the credibility and the political drive of the NMLA. Follow the money: both Ansar ed-Dine's Iyad ag Ghaly and MUJAO's Sultan Ould Badi are very cozy with the DRS, the Algerian intelligence agency. Both groups in the beginning had only a few members. "

Of course the Algerian government is funded by the US.

"As early as February 2008, Vice Admiral Robert T Moeller was saying that AFRICOM's mission was to protect "the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market"; yes, he did make the crucial connection to China, pronounced guilty of " challenging US interests". "

"Last month, at Brown University, General Carter Ham, AFRICOM's commander, once more gave a big push to the "mission to advance US security interests across Africa". Now it's all about the - updated - US National Security Strategy in Africa, signed by Obama in June 2012. The (conveniently vague) objectives of this strategy are to "strengthen democratic institutions"; encourage "economic growth, trade and investment"; "advance peace and security"; and "promote opportunity and development."

In practice, it's Western militarization (with Washington "leading from behind") versus the ongoing Chinese seduction/investment drive in Africa. In Mali, the ideal Washington scenario would be a Sudan remix; just like the recent partition of North and South Sudan, which created an extra logistical headache for Beijing, why not a partition of Mali to better exploit its natural wealth? By the way, Mali was known as Western Sudan until independence in 1960. "

The US is even admitting it.

"Already in early December a "multinational" war in Mali was on the Pentagon cards."

That's why France expects US backing.

Health Care

This is why the US is dead last in life expectancy among the 17 richest nations.

"Considering the fact that human health tends to be primarily affected by a) nutrition, b) exercise, and c) toxic exposures, do they seriously believe that we can improve public health while ignoring these three basic areas? "

It's not rocket science.

FDA orders manufactures to cut sleeping pill doses in half, so when your sleeping pill quits working, blame the government, not the manufacturer.

Politics

Much like Obama, Israeli PM Netanyahu barely won re-election. The difference is the press is acting like Obama's tiny victory was a mandate and that Netanyahu's was a repudiation. I believe both were repudiations, and Republicans, if they really supported small government, would have made that clear from the beginning.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

The United States began by resisting gun control.

Guns, Lexington and Concord. More.

"On April 14, 1775, Gage received instructions from Secretary of State William Legge, the Earl of Dartmouth to disarm the rebels, who had supposedly hidden weapons in Concord, and to imprison the rebellion's leaders. Dartmouth gave Gage considerable discretion in his commands."

Will it end by submitting to the same?

Misc

I have theory that people who cooperate better with others will tend to earn more money that people who don't. I also think that people who work for government will earn more money than their cooperation level would imply in a free market. So if I created a graph with increasing cooperation on the left and increasing income on the bottom, there would be a group tending toward the upper right based on the free market. There would be another group tending to be horizontal based on government. We can call this Mark's theory of cooperation and income.

Global Warming and Energy

The Dayton Daily News hates that Ohio isn't draconian enough in pushing for more expensive solar energy.

Tax and Spend

In the interest of anything is better than nothing, I appreciate this attempt by Republicans to force Democrats to defend not producing a budget. This is pure politics. It's not about trying to cut spending. But it's something better than nothing. Many people will probably get caught up in the no pay provision, but that's just theater. Neither party nor house will support it. If anything, this will make Republicans more likely to vote for more spending. That's probably what they had in mind.

Maybe I was wrong about this Republican plan:

"The Republican-led U.S. House plans a vote today to temporarily suspend the nation’s borrowing limit, removing the debt ceiling for now as a tool for seeking deeper spending cuts."

Suspend is different than raise.

"The House is expected to pass legislation to temporarily suspend the government’s $16.4 trillion borrowing limit until May 19. At that point, the measure would allow the nation’s borrowing authority to automatically be increased to accommodate the amount the U.S. Treasury borrowed during those three months. "

This is outrageous. If the limit is suspended, the government could spend gazillions during that suspension, and Obama will do just that. This is just another big government kiss-up to Obama. I don't support any suspension. Raising the limit conditional on a Senate budget and other cuts would be less bad than normal, but Republicans made things wore that usual. The stupidest part is, while giving Obama a blank check, that's like giving termites a blank check to your house, Republicans are still talking about spending cuts. It's insane.

Obama likely to sign measure. Well, duh. Why wouldn't he sign a law allowing him unlimited spending? We're the stupidest people in the world.

"Under the plan, the government's $16.4 trillion borrowing limit would be suspended until May 19. At that point, the measure would let the nation's borrowing authority automatically increase to cover the amount the U.S. Treasury borrowed during those three months."

So if Obama spends $999 trillion in that amount of time, no problem. Republicans just gave Obama the biggest blank check in history.

The Onion scores again: NASA searches for planet that can support NASA.

"The area can best prepare to withstand cuts and push economic growth with a focus on core areas tied to Wright-Patterson and its industrial and research base: advanced human performance technologies, automation efficiencies, unmanned aerial systems, and information technology, among other things."

No. The opposite is true.

War

Remember when Yemen was al Qaeda's new launching pad? That's so never was. Now it's Africa except they're not attacking the US either. Be very afraid.

Afghan top commander Allen cleared of wrongdoing for spending pretty much every hour of every day sexting some bimbo in Tampa while US troops died.

"At the time, officials said 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents from Allen's communications with Kelley between 2010 and 2012 were in question. None of the emails have been made public."

Imagine if your boss discovered you had sent 20,000 to 30,000 sexting emails to somebody while at work. Do you think he would let you keep your job?

"At the same time, Allen's nomination to be the next US commander of Nato forces in Europe was put on hold. The officials said on Tuesday the White House had not decided whether to go forward with the nomination.
...
Allen's successor in Kabul, marine general Joseph Dunford, has been confirmed by the Senate and is scheduled to take over on 10 February."

So maybe this is more about expediency than anything else. That last thing the military wants is scrutiny of its actions.

Economy

Robot flips 360 burgers an hour. This is wonderful news for our economy. All those burger flippers will be freed to accomplish tasks that produce more wealth.

Local

Corrupt politician - redundant, I know - sentenced to three years in prison for eight felonies and a misdemeanor. A mere mundane would get far more than three years for eight felonies.

"A Dayton democrat, Luckie faced 45 felony counts and four misdemeanor charges, including money laundering, forgery, tampering with evidence and theft in office."

Oh my goodness. Talk about getting a light sentence. This stinks. More. Notice how big a story this warrants? More.

More on Wright-Pat cuts.

Another dangerous power outage.

"At 10:05 p.m., Dayton Power & Light reports that 725 customers were still without service in Clinton County. That’s down from 1,508 customers who were initially affected by the outage at 6:53 p.m., according to Judi Blair, DP&L; spokeswoman.The outage was caused when a circuit malfunctioned and crews are working on Ohio 68 and Ohio 134 to restore power, Blair said.
“Weather is always a factor. When temperatures get so frigid, the extremely cold and wind have an impact,” she said."

Note to DP&L. It gets cold sometimes.

Agents of the state break into man's house, but they suffer no consequences.

"“Ultimately, the worst damage here is the glass door, which the crews had to force open.” Rose said. “We apologize for that. It was just an unfortunate thing and sometimes it happens.”"

It just happens when uniformed home invaders break into a house. This is another case in which crimes have been legalized if they have be perpetrated by state agents.

The increase in home sales was highest since 1998. This is supposedly a good thing, but it's not a good thing for prospective home buyers. It's not a good thing that the Fed is reinflating the housing bubble.

Health Care

The best way to resist the flu.

"More people than ever are reportedly sick this winter,¹ including those who got their flu vaccination. But while the push for vaccination reaches a fever pitch, the hard evidence has yet again shown that flu vaccines rarely work, and when they do, they don’t offer much in terms of protection.
There are many other, far more effective ways to prevent the flu and other flu-like illness, such as dietary interventions, making sure your vitamin D and gut flora are optimized, being more meticulous about washing your hands, getting enough exercise and sleep, and eating foods that support your immune system like oil of oregano and garlic."

But the government wants you to enrich its Big Pharma cronies.

"According to one report, 112 million Americans had been vaccinated against the flu by late 2012. Walgreen’s recently reported they’d administered 5.7 million flu shots so far this season — up from 5.3 million in 2012.¹¹ The fact that many flu shot recipients are still coming down with serious influenza should be a testament to the ineffectiveness of the flu vaccine — not a selling point for it... Especially when you consider the fact that the vaccines available this year are a good match to the actual influenza type A and B strains in circulation."

So everybody is getting vaccinated, and they're still getting sick. That's a pretty good disincentive for getting a flu shot. Regarding the vaccines,

"...they do not have a good track record. The evidence from the hundreds of studies that we’ve synthesized, is that sometimes they work a little, and sometimes they don’t. In general, the quality of the literature is such that it is very difficult to understand if they actually work."

That's not very positive.

"Authors of this review assessed all trials that compared vaccinated people with unvaccinated people. The combined results of these trials showed that under ideal conditions (vaccine completely matching circulating viral configuration) 33 healthy adults need to be vaccinated to avoid one set of influenza symptoms. In average conditions (partially matching vaccine) 100 people need to be vaccinated to avoid one set of influenza symptoms.
Vaccine use did not affect the number of people hospitalized or working days lost but caused one case of Guillian-Barré syndrome (a major neurological condition leading to paralysis) for every one million vaccinations."

That's a horrible record. A doctor accidentally spill the beans about how much money they make off vaccines:

"It is undeniable that vaccinating against influenza is good for patients. As luck would have it, vaccinating against influenza is good for the financial health of your practice as well. For example, let’s calculate monies generated for administering influenza vaccine for a doctor with a panel of 2,000 patients. We’ll be conservative and consider that only 1,000 patients will get their influenza vaccine in your office. Some of the 1,000 not receiving the vaccine in your office might be infants younger than 6 months of age and not eligible for the vaccine, and some patients will go to retail-based clinics or refuse the vaccine.
I know you are all financially savvy and you have purchased influenza vaccines at the lowest possible price... The fee you receive has been set by your contract with each managed care organization and you are seeing a 10% to 25% profit. 
If your practice purchased the vaccine at approximately $10, the profit on these 1,000 patients will range from $1,000 to $2,500. Additionally, you are receiving a vaccine administration fee, which should range from $14 to $30. This amounts to $14,000 to $30,000 for the 1,000 patients. Furthermore, in my practice, we do not vaccinate if a patient has not received a well visit in the last 12 months. If 100 patients who call for a flu shot ending up scheduling a well visit, you should be generating an additional $10,000. Bottom line: $25,000 to $42,500, which is not bad! Influenza can be devastating. Offering influenza vaccines to your patients is good for their health. It is good for the whole community. Giving influenza vaccine is also good for the financial health of your practice.”"

It's a nice racket.

Monsanto GMO crops contain dangerous virus, but EU regulators are trying to cover up for Monstanto.

The farce of claiming violence is a disease.

Local

Two more local power failures.

Misc

Skeptical chemistry bloggers testing the claims of chemists.

Global Warming and Energy

Despite the contrary science and lack of public support, Obama to take on climate change. The most divisive president in our lifetimes appeals to his base in his inaugural speech. What a surprise. It's almost like he was the most liberal member of the senate or something.

Global Warming and Energy

NOAA quietly discovers bad siting for their temperature stations is driving up recorded temperatures.

War

It looks like there's way more dead in Algeria than previously reported.

Eric Margolis says Islamists are not the problem in Mali.

"Western governments and media have done the public a major disservice by trumpeting warnings of an "Islamist threat" in Mali. It’s as if Osama bin Laden has popped up on the Niger River. Our newest crisis in Africa is not driven primarily by religion but by a spreading uprising against profoundly corrupt, western-backed oligarchic governments and endemic poverty."

Western governments, with their welfare for dictators, have been promoting poverty for decades.

"France’s overheated claim that it faces a dire Islamic threat in obscure Mali could attract the attention of numbers of free-lance jihadists, many who are now busy tearing up Syria. Paris was better off when it claimed its troops were to protect ancient Muslim shrines in Timbuktu. Or it could have quietly sent in the Foreign Legion, as in the past. "

But unpopular French President Hollande has gained politically from the invasion, so that was probably the real motivation for invading.

"US air forces and small numbers of Special Forces from its new Africa Command are now entering action in Mali and Algeria. More are sure to follow as West Africa smolders."

Yet another undeclared, illegal Obama war.

US special forces reported in Mali in March, 2012.

The US has had special forces intervening in North Africa since 2004.

"Units of around 200 from the US army's 10th Special Forces Group are already installed, or are due to arrive, in Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger to train their armies in anti-terrorism tactics and to improve coordination with the US military.
Military cooperation with Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia - where many suspected violent Islamists detained in Europe over the past two years come from - is also being boosted."

How's all that advance work working out for us?

Health Care

Researchers blame humidity for flu coming in winter. They should check vitamin D levels which go down in the winter.

Government and its propagandists are creating flu hysteria.

Government's beef burgers rarely contain 100 percent beef.