Month: June 2009

Call It Murder!

Our friends at PETA have done it again…….remember the renaming fish as sea kittens?  This time they are condemning Pres. Obama have his lethal attack on a fly.

Obama’s ninja-like moves, which resulted in the murder of said fly on Tuesday, has resulted in harsh condemnation of the president by the animal rights group.

To that end, they’re sending him a PETA-branded “Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher”. It allows you to place “the device over the bug and slowly slide its plastic trapdoor shut. The bug will step onto the trapdoor as it closes, and you can carry Katcha Bug outside, where all you need to do is slide the trap door open, allowing the bug to walk away.”

Blog of Hilarity says it all:

PETA would pretty much issue a press release if you hugged a puppy too tightly, so you can’t really take them too seriously. But still, this is a bit of a stretch. Flies exist in the billions in any given area. I’m sure this fly’s wife was kind of sad, but I’m pretty sure they’re not even legally married. Plus there’s a guy at the fly wife’s job who’s been really good to her and I’m pretty sure they’ll hook up once she gets over the initial heartbreak of losing her lover. He’ll take care of all the larvae for sure. Oh, also…they’re fucking flies so none of this matters.

I thought PETA was going a bit far when they dressed up in KKK uniforms at a protest….and then I thought that they had lost their minds when they suggested the fish be renamed “sea kitten”….but now they are even more weird than I first thought.  I guess their next campaign will be against “bug zappers”..I guess they could rationalize this as similar to the death camps during WWII.

Maybe they should market the stuff they are smoking…..would be a solid money maker.

I Have Gas!

Quick run to the car!

This is a novel idea to help break the dependence on foreign oil or coal, for that matter.  Reuters is reporting a innovated idea.

Manchester’s toilets will soon be contributing to the local gas network under a green energy project planned by United Utilities Group Plc and National Grid Plc.In a UK first, the two companies plan to turn a by-product of the wastewater treatment plant at Davyhulme in Manchester, northwest England into gas for the local network and fuel for a fleet of sludge tankers.

The Mancunian biogas will be upgraded to remove carbon dioxide and trace elements, leaving biomethane which will be conditioned with propane and odorants before being pumped into the network and back into their homes.

“Biomethane is a fuel for the future,” Janine Freeman, head of National Grid‘s Sustainable Gas Group said. “Not only are we reusing a waste product, but biomethane is a renewable fuel, so we helping to meet the country’s target of 15 percent of all our energy coming from renewable sources by 2020.”

Biogas is produced through a process called “anaerobic digestion” when wastewater sludge is broken down by the action of microbes.

“It is a very valuable resource and it’s completely renewable. By harnessing this free energy we can reduce our fuel bills and reduce our carbon footprint.”

One of United Utilities’ sludge tankers has already been converted to run on the gas and the company expects to save hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in fuel costs with the 24 tankers it aims to convert initially.

It was not clear whether Manchester’s home-made gas suppliers will get a discount on their own bills for their efforts.

IMO, this is an excellent idea….any idea that can generate enough product to keep the use of foreign oil down; is an excellent idea.

Random Thoughts

Once again I have made more notes than I could make posts out of….so these are just a few of the thoughts I had.

1–The Donald has stripped (not for Playboy) Miss California of her title because of contract violations.  Of course, Prejean says it is because of her answer on gay marriage.

2–Was Letterman joking about Bristol of Willow Palin—-who cares?

3–Since 9/11 all terrorist attacks in the US have come from domestic extremists.

4–Madonna gets ok to but another baby in Africa.

5–Ponetta says that bin Laden is close to being closed in on in Pakistan……imagine if he is caught on Obama’s watch…the GOP might as well take out their political sword and fall onto it….they will be spent.

6–Another politician gets caught with his peter in the payroll–Nevada’s Sen. John Ensign….thinking….was he not one of Clinton’s biggest critics and questioned his morals?

7–the health care debate……to much money…not enough substance and on and on….but think about this…the analysts that are debating the subject have their health care and IMO that disqualifies them from the subject.  Now ask someone without insurance and see what they say about the deficit as it pertains to health care.

Republican Health Care?

Finally, after weeks of trashing the Obama health bill, the GOP has offered up an alternative.

As reported by NBC’s Luke Russert:

The plan, devised by the House Republican Health Care Solutions Group, promotes specifically targeting groups among the nation’s uninsured that could be covered by the existing system as well as keeping health insurance within the private sector. Republicans believe that if a government plan were to arise, patients would not be able to keep their existing health care — despite the president having said that’s not the case.

According to the Solutions Group press release, the GOP plan “encourages employers to opt-out rather than opt-in rules, which help the 10 million uninsured Americans who are eligible, but not enrolled in, an employer sponsored health insurance plan.”

Employers would be able to pay for this coverage through a creation of a new small business tax credit, Republicans say.

In an appeal to younger Americans, the GOP plan would also extend coverage to those under 25 years of age by “allowing dependents to remain on their parents’ health policies up to the age of 25.”

Oh my!  More do-do from the right.  Yet another plan with no information in it.  Sounds like their budget plan….nothing but old ideas from old men……their plan is about tax cuts and misinformation……sounds like their plan for everything.

Repubs are down on Obama for not telling the people what the Dem plan would cost…they go so far as to quote a CBO report that is based on estimates not reality…..and guess what?….the GOP plan has nothing in it about how their plan will be paid for…sound familiar?  They have left out the figures to support their plan….kinda like their budget plan.

The Huffington Post makes some good points about the GOP plan:

“The Patients’ Choice Act of 2009,” the plan will be introduced by U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC) and U.S. Representatives Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) at 11 a.m. The focus of the proposal — an advanced copy of which was obtained by the Huffington Post — is to push for a “guaranteed choice of coverage” in the private market through federal-state partnerships know as State Health Insurance Exchanges.

Individuals, the authors write, will have a “one-stop marketplace” to choose plans in the exchange, including the option of keeping their employer coverage and/or existing insurer. “Participating insurers,” meanwhile, would be required to “offer coverage to any individual — regardless of patient age or health history” though there is no mandate for an individual to purchase that insurance.

There are, finally, some budgetary concerns with the Republican proposal. The authors call for investing in chronic disease prevention for problematic, long-term illnesses — including providing $50 million annually for increased vaccine availability. They pledge major administrative improvements in Medicaid and Medicare as well. And they promise to ensure compensation for injured patients by encouraging legal reforms. All of this will require spending, and eliminating the tax exclusions for employer coverage can only get them so far.

The biggest problem is that the GOP would insure about 17 million leaving in the neighborhood of 29 million still uninsured.  The American people are concerned with health care and how they will provide for their family and the Repubs continue to ignore the majority of people and keep massaging their tired obsolete plans.

It Is Good To Be A Government Contractor

Do you remember Blackwater?  The security private army that works for the US government.  UPI is reporting the results of an audit into Blackwater:

An audit by the U.S. government found the Department of State overpaid security contractors with the company formerly known as Blackwater by about $55 million.A joint audit by the inspector general for the U.S. State Department and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, a temporary agency examining the abuse of funds intended for Iraq reconstruction programs, found the State Department overpaid security contractors by at least $55 million.

The audit also alleges Xe, as Blackwater is known currently, did not provide a sufficient number of guards, marksmen and other securitydetails for the protection of U.S. representatives to Iraq.

The audit comes as Xe lobbies for new government security contracts in Afghanistan potentially worth tens of millions of dollars, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Green Party On The Economic Situation

From a news release by the Green Party USA:

Green Party leaders said today that measures to end the recession must focus on the financial needs of middle- and lower-income Americans, and accused Democrats and Republicans in Congress and President Obama of favoring big banks, financial institutions, and insurance firms.

“The very banks, Wall Street firms, and insurance companies that are responsible for the economic crisis are calling the shots for economic recovery. They’re using their power over Congress and the White House to make sure that taxpayers’ money and workers’ retirement benefits rescue CEOs and major shareholders. They’re blocking badly needed regulation and the deeper reforms in our economic system that are necessary to dig us out of the hole. Unfortunately, President Obama and Democrats and Republicans in Congress are cooperating with them so that the power these corporations hold over America remains undiminished,” said Laura Wells, former candidate for California State Controller (TV interview: http://www.gp.org/flash/LauraWells/lw.html). Ms. Wells intends to run for the position again “until we — the people of this state — win. We need to follow the money, understand it, and correct it.”

Congress and the White House have refused to take real action against skyrocketing interest rates, especially on credit cards, by restoring laws against usury and imposing interest rate caps. Greens called the Democrats’ “Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights” a small step in the right direction but severely inadequate, with no limits on future credit card interest rates.

“The economic meltdown is the result of deregulated lending — predatory mortgage lending, outrageous credit card interest and fees, and other practices that have put working Americans into endless debt and bankrupted small businesses,” said Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States. “But Democrats and Republicans alike have refused to consider modest steps like an 18% interest rate cap, out of loyalty to major corporate campaign contributors and lobbies.”

“The most important step in ending the economic crisis must be reversal of the Reagan-Bush-Clinton revolution, which deregulated the financial industry. All that rhetoric about ‘shrinking big government’ really meant repealing protections for working people, especially laws against usury. Since 1980, bipartisan legislation favoring giant corporate lenders have paved the way for the current disaster. It’s time to restore and expand the Glass-Steagal Act, overturn recent bankruptcy bills that put millions of Americans in hock to credit card companies and other financial corporations, and place restrictive caps on corporate lenders and creditors,” said Ms. Grage

More information: “The Trouble With Democrats” by William Greider, The Nation, June 22, 2009 (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090622/greider).

Millionaires Policing Millionaires

There was lots of speculation on just what the Pres. was going to say about the regulation of Wall Street and now it is official.

As reported by the AP:

Obama’s plan would do little to streamline the alphabet soup of agencies that oversee the financial sector. But it calls for fundamental shifts in authority that would eliminate one regulatory agency, create another and both enhance and undercut the authority of the powerful Federal Reserve.

The new agency, a consumer protection office, would specifically take over oversight of mortgages, requiring that lenders give customers the option of “plain vanilla” plans with straightforward and affordable terms. Lenders who repackage loans and sell them to investors as securities would be required to retain 5 percent of the credit risk — a figure some analysts believe is too low.

Obama’s proposal would require the Federal Reserve, which now can independently use emergency powers to bail out failing banks, to first obtain Treasury Department approval before extending credit to institutions in “unusual and exigent circumstances,” a change designed to mollify critics who say the Fed should be more accountable in exercising its powers as a lender of last resort.

But the proposal also would do away with a restriction imposed on the Fed in 1999 when Congress lifted Depression-era restrictions that allowed banks to get into securities and insurance businesses. The Fed, as the regulator for the larger financial holding companies, had been prohibited from examining or imposing restrictions on those firms’ subsidiaries. Obama’s proposal specifically lifts that restriction, giving the Fed the ability to duplicate and even overrule other regulators. At the same time, the new consumer agency would take away some of the Fed’s authority.

The regulatory overhaul ended up eliminating only one agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, generally considered a weak link among current banking regulators. The OTS oversaw the American International Group, whose business insuring exotic securities blew up last fall, prompting a $182 billion federal bailout.

The failure to merge all four current banking agencies into one super regulator could open the door for big banks to continue to exploit weak links in the current system. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a leading Democratic voice on Wall Street issues, praised the administration’s plan but said he would consider further consolidation.

Basically as always it is all about Wall Street…..millionaires policing millionaires……To give the Fed more power is just idiotic…..the Fed is anything but rational.  Keep in mind that the Fed was a prime player in the crisis we have now…..do we need them having more power to do it all over again?

Do They Have An Idiot Button?

Of course, I am talking about the GOP.  These guys and gals just keep throwing buzzwords around and not alternatives to Obama’s proposals.

One of the most used…lately…is “socialism or socialist”.  This tactic may have worked 25 years ago but today it has nothing on it.

Demonstrators outside Obama appearances are waving signs denouncing his supposed embrace of “socialism.”

“When you hear people saying, `socialized medicine,’ understand I don’t know anybody in Washington who is proposing that, certainly not me,” he said at a town-hall meeting on health care.

“Socialized medicine would mean that the government would basically run all of health care. They would hire the doctors, they would run the hospitals. They would just run the whole thing. Great Britain has a system of socialized medicine. Nobody is talking about doing that, all right?”

Obama is leaving it to Congress to take the lead in designing a health care plan. He has endorsed broad proposals, supported by many Democrats, to create a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers.

Republicans claim such a system would lead to government rationing and denial of care and could drive the private companies out of business.

That is the ploy being used……”the government will come between a doctor and his patient”  cute saying but someone needs to actually explain how that will happen.  Sorry, but saying so does not make it so.

Sorry Irene, but no where in Obama’s proposal does it smack of socialism.

After watching the debate on health care, as well as other proposals, I have found that the Repub strategists are pushing the same idiot button as the politicians.

Is It Really Global Warming?

Or if you want……climate change.

I have been hit on here by many on the right that say that I am ignorant or stupid or just plain wrong on the global warming thing.  I have looked at both sides of the question and say what I think…but then that is an opinion just like my critics have their opinion.  It is an argument that will continue for decades longer because NO ONE has a spine.

But beyond that opinion…who is right and who is wrong?

In a recent issue of Time Magazine a report has been published with predictions of what is to come.  Now with that said, why not write these down and see if they come true….then maybe we can put the debate to bed.

The predictions from Time are:

Water Woes. Precipitation will generally become heavier in northern areas, and will tend to fall in severe downpours, leading to more widespread flooding. Meanwhile, the South — and especially the Southwest — will become drier. That’s alarming because the Southwest and Southeast, where populations are growing faster than in any other U.S. region, are already struggling with drought.

Heat Index. Get used to sweating. Under a business-as-usual course, by the end of the century, Washington, D.C., could average as many as 90 to 100 days a year above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, up from around 30 to 40 days now. Southern Florida and southern Texas could see more than 160 days a year above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Polar Thaw. Climate change is being felt first in the Arctic regions, which explains why Alaska is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the country, and could warm by as much as 13 degrees Fahrenheit in the next 50 years. That will melt sea ice and severely affect already endangered species like the polar bear and the walrus. And warming could ruin the state’s valuable fisheries — as sea temperatures warm, the habitat for cold-water fish like salmon and trout could all but disappear in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

Northeastern Exposure. Warming will make skiing, ice-skating and snowmobiling pastimes of the past in many areas of the Northeast, decimating the multibillion-dollar winter-sports industry. The center of maple-syrup production will shift from New England to Canada, and production of apples and other produce that depend on cooler winters will decline.

Early Deaths. All those heat waves will take a serious toll on human health, with a significant increase in deaths due to high temperatures. The poor and the young will be most vulnerable.

The list is out there…..now we must watch to see who is right in the climate debate.

Are We Headed For A Recovery?

If you believe some in the media….then yes….a recovery is on the way…at least that is the line they are pushing to give investors more confidence and to help loosen the grip they have on their money.

The economic recession in the U.S. will end during the third quarter, although unemployment and federal deficits will continue to weigh, economists for the American Bankers Association said Tuesday.”The economy will return to growth, but not to health,” said Bruce Kasman, chairman of the group’s economic advisory committee. “Growth in the coming quarters is likely to gather momentum but will not prove sufficiently robust to undo much of the severe damage done to our labor markets and public finances.”

So reports the ABA on the current economic condition.  Unfortunately not everyone is seeing that same light in that tunnel.

A top Federal Reserve official warned on Tuesday not to take recent gains across a range of asset prices as proof the U.S. economy is on the verge of a strong recovery.

Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh said private demand, the true arbiter of economic performance, “remains weak” even while government spending has surged, and the the jobless rate is likely to peak at a higher rate, and linger longer at those high rates, than in recent recessions.

Once again there is the same continuous disconnect within Wall Street.  The real question to ask is “who do you believe”?