Month: May 2010

SHHH! It’s The Food Police

Daily Agitator

Maybe I should have titled this “How to fight the FAT””?

Daily we hear or see the studies that say just how obese the American people are…..and daily we hear this pundit or that rant and rave about overweight kids and adults…just how disgusting it is and a drag on the society….and they preach something has GOT to be done to stem this rising tide…..and then they go on to the regulation of salt or fat or sugar or……everything they find objectionable….

They find objectionable?  They?  Who the Hell are they?  Mostly they are people that make plenty of cash and have plenty of leisurely time on their hands….meaning they can afford the more expensive “healthy alternatives” and they have the time to play in a gym or run in the street and block traffic……unfortunately, most working people are not so lucky, they struggle with money and they have zero leisure time….

First of all, in a restaurant it is a choice of the people what they will eat and if they like a burger with bacon and lots of blue cheese then who the Hell are they to tell them it is not good to eat this?  Sorry, for now I still have free choice after that they can kiss my ass.

These self-centered people also support lower healthier food in schools, low fat, less salt and sugar free……a noble concern….but what about when they go home?  We all know the dangers of high sugar, high fat and high salt, or at least we should.

For all those bleeding heart dietary freaks…….most people that are obese are poor….they are poor because they have NO money……they buy what stretches the food budget the best….that means high fat, high sugar because those foods are the cheapest.  No matter what you try to do in schools or restaurants…they will go home and eat the foods that you are bitching about…..why?  They are poor!

Okay……you are on your high horse about the high fat, high sugar and high salt diets of people…here is an idea!  Make healthy eating less expensive and poor people would be eating more healthier…..the whole population would eat better…and is not the idea you originally started with?

But you will not….you will spend all your time and effort talking about the habits of obese people and their children….you will condemn and ridicule….instead of facing reality and attacking the real reason cause of obesity….POVERTY!

Are They Listening? Illegals And Jobs

From the Scriptorium

Recently the dialog on immigration has returned to the airways, thanks in part to the passing of the new law in Arizona….we see so many in protest on one side or the other….you have heard all the rhetoric from both sides of the aisle….like illegal immigrants are taking jobs needed for Americans in this recession…will the last American out of Arizona please turn off the lights…..and so many more little placards used to lather up the protesters…..But is any of that true?  I am posting on the economics of illegals and nothing else…..the economics of illegal immigration on the jobs market.

From the website factcheck.org……

Most economists and other experts say there’s little to support the claim. Study after study has shown that immigrants grow the economy, expanding demand for goods and services that the foreign-born workers and their families consume, and thereby creating jobs. There is even broad agreement among economists that while immigrants may push down wages for some, the overall effect is to increase average wages for American-born workers.

I have heard all the blame that is being passed around….it is NOTHING new……..was uttered during the Cubans arrival here and again when the South Vietnamese landed on our shores…..all the rhetoric being yelled is nothing but recycling from decades past.  None of the predictions those anti-immigration folk came to be true…but yet the Right and some on the Left keep recycling BS from the past……get a new line….your present one is a bit tiresome……

Before I get the inevitable hate mail let me be clear….I believe that the immigration laws and techniques need to be updated and made more clear….but that ball is in the government’s court….and you know just how worthless that is……

Hey, Lou Dobbs are you listening?

Constitution And TP

From the Scriptorium/Vomitorium

First of all the “TP” does not stand for toilet paper, even though I think the bill could be used as such, it stands for Tea Party…..

In the beginning of the “End of Days” the Tea Party guys/gals were up in arms about the government bailing out the banks using hard earned tax dollars taken from the average person…they then went head over heels against the health reform bill….you know the stuff they call “Obamacare”?  They have almost always been against taxes and tax increases….then they ….well let us just say they have been very vocal most of the time……..

Then they moved on to the constitutionality of ANY of the Dems programs….health care, FinReg, taxes, ………pick a situation an they see it as a slap at the constitution……..but yet a direct assault on the US Constitution goes without comment…..what am I going on about?  You may ask……

Arizona is the simple answer….illegal aliens is another…..put them together and you have the new bill signed by the governor of Arizona last Friday…..basically the bill reads like this:

SB1070’s broad instruction to police that when there is “reasonable suspicion” that a person is an illegal immigrant, a “reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable” to check for documents

It is saying to people of Hispanic descent, “Do not leave the house without your wallet”…….sorry you people but do not look now but this is possibly a violation of the 14th amendment, which reads:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

I point this out because for all their false bravado, none of them are coming in opposition to the Arizona bill…….so much for yelling about the Constitution…….if it applies to health care then it definitely applies to the racist law now in force in Arizona……sorry but your silence  puts an end to the argument that the Tea Party movement is NOT a racist grassroots movement……

So STOP standing on the Constitution because you hate Obama!  To you guys it is nothing but a political prop to be used in your hate-mongering…..Grow some nuts and for once tell the truth about your hate!

A Special Thanks To My Readers

I like to commemorate special events that happen on this blog with a post of thanks or whatever needs to be said…….

For the first time since I began Info Ink I have had more comments than posts….I would like to thank my loyal readers and especially those who take the time to comment on a post.

A special thanks goes out to Terrant of My Corner To Vent and the followers on Why We Worry and all others that have participated….and a super thanks to Quin of Quintessential Havoc for keeping me on my toes……Please go to blogroll and participate on these blogs…they are thoughtful and insightful….

Thanx again guys…..you help make the experience worthwhile………

Deja Vu–All Over Again

From the VOMITORIUM

It is a cool morning on the Gulf of Mexico….it is 3 June 1979….but all the serenity is about to blow up in everyone’s face…..a well is being drilled in 160 feet of water…….BAM! …….the well suffered a blowout and is recognized as the second largest oil spill in history and the largest accidental spill in history.    There problem was….and here is where the Deja part comes in…..when things got tight the Blow Out Preventer did not work and the result was a huge damaging oil spill.  Wait for it!  There is more deja moments!  One techniques that was tried was to lower a cone shape structure over the busted pipe called a “sombero”  maybe they should have called it a “top hat”…….that did not work!  They used chemical dispersant, booms and suction to try and control the oil in the water…Deja vu…..

The spill was finally controlled….and how was that, Professor?  They drilled a relief well…and it took 10 months to stop the leak.

Now does any of that sound at all familiar?  Uh Huh…………we can count the nose hairs on a terrorist in Bumfukenstan from space but we have NOT made any progress in controlling oil leaks or techniques for fighting them in over 30 years……..I am so proud!  (In case you missed it…that is SARCASM!)  This is the best we can do?  If so, then someone needs to shut the “F’ up about how far we have come in the use of technology!

The whole free market argument is one of the causes of this disaster…..I say fine…let them rape us, but if they are allowed then there should be criminal charges for any leaks from now on….I am not talking about penalties that does little than whack on the pee-pee…I am talking about fine and JAIL TIME…..

Surprise–You Pay!

Daily Agitator

From the VOMITORIUM

The BIG news for the last month is the raging oil leak a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico…..BP, the responsible party, has tried several different methods of capping this massive flow out of a broken drill hole.  Their next attempt will be to pump drilling mud and concrete into the hole to try and seal it up and stop the killing of the environment.

Back in the day, the Exxon Valdez run a ground with a drunk captain at the wheel and was the responsible one and after years of litigation, the Supreme Court let Exxon off the hook for only about half of what they owed.  The environment in Alaska that was effected by the oil spill, still has not recovered some twenty years later…..and the Gulf spill has all the earmarks as a much bigger spill with  more devastation than Alaska.

Sorry to be a downer, but there are some things that the people need to know.  There is a proposal before Congress as we speak…….

The House “oil spill response” measure, included among others in a larger bill, proposes that the tax be increased from its current rate of 8 cents a barrel to 32 cents. This is projected to raise nearly $10 billion over the next 10 years for the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

A good idea, right?  They want to replenish a quickly disappearing clean up fund and also to try and expand the fund.  I hear the yell, “make them pay!”….if this passes it will do nothing to the company as a xconsequence of bad drilling procedures….it will be passed on to us, the American people…..

“We’re not talking a big impact here; we are talking about adding less than a penny to the cost of the fuel,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, referring to the impact that the increase would have on the price of gasoline.

According to Kloza’s calculations, the 8-cent tax on a barrel of oil works out to 0.19 cents per gallon of gas. He said that an increase to 32 cents on a barrel of oil would equal 0.76 cents per gallon of gas.

Now you have something to yell about……you WILL be paying more and the oil companies will be making more…..YOU will be paying the oil company’s “irresponsibility” tax for them……once again the American people will be bent over and no lube…….Ain’t capitalism great?

This Needs Explaining

From the VOMITORIUM

The oil is gushing a mile down and everyone is running around blaming everyone else….no it is BP’s fault, no….Halliburton, no….Transocean, no….Obama’s….no, there is blame flying around like free weed at a Dead concert.  And of course, the GOP wants an explanation of why the Prez is NOT doing more……they screamed when the Dems did this to Bush and now they, the GOP, wants the US to step in and take control….the same people that screamed about this and that it stank of socialism…this all too typical of the morons in this country.

But the explaining that I am talking about is that of BP…..when the spill happened their stock slid, as it should and it kept falling each time they announced a technique to stop the flow…..with the top hat procedure to the junk shot proposal to the siphoning hose…each time their stock fell even more…….and then along came the drilling mud and concrete proposal, which they are trying as we speak…..but the day before the procedure was tried the BP….. stock went up….you heard me went up!

If this shows that confidence is high for this to work, why was it not tried 33 days earlier?  Why were all the ones that NO one had confidence tried first?  Was this a way to manipulate the stock price?  Is there more to this than just a coincidence?  We need some serious questions asked of the participants in the drama……..the sniff test tells me this is a crap!

2010 Anal-Ocity #21

Usually it is a politician that makes the anal statements and is caught with their participles dangling……and they give people like me ammo to keep going on our quest for the truth and the end of the political BS.

But this time we have a CEO making an anal statement, actually it is more like an outright LIE, and in doing so gets labeled…….THe CEO of BP wants to be up front with the American people…..

From the Times on-line:

“We are committed to providing the American people with the information they need to understand the environmental impact from the spill and the response steps that have been taken,” said Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive.

Great!  He has NOT done anything close to that in over a month and now we Will get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?  When Pigs Fly!  They lied about safety….they lied about the flow of the spill and they lied about just everything concerned for the spill….even have gone so far as to say the the spill will not be that bad when all is said and done.

And I thought this was going to be a slow year for anal stuff…..Damn!  I love my job!

Land Of The Lost (Decade, That Is)

I am sure when the word “Lost” is mentioned we will have a wealth of people that will tear up at the mere mention of the now defunct TV show……thanks to say this is NOT about a bunch of fictional people lost on the island of Manhattan…..but rather…..

Back in the 1990’s I was a frequent player on the stock exchange…made some money…lost even more….but I recall the days of my adventurism……Japan was a shining light of capitalism especially in the later 80’s….but that was about to change…..

The economic miracle ended abruptly at the very start of the 1990s. In the late 1980s, abnormalities within the Japanese economic system had fueled a massive wave of speculation by Japanese companies, banks and securities companies. Briefly, a combination of incredibly high land values and incredibly low interest rates led to a position in which credit was both easily available and extremely cheap. This led to massive borrowing, the proceeds of which were invested mostly in domestic and foreign stocks and securities.

This popped the bubble in spectacular fashion, leading to a massive crash in the stock market. It also led to a debt crisis; a large proportion of the huge debts that had been run up turned bad, which in turn led to a crisis in the banking sector, with many banks having to be bailed out by the government.

Overall, this has led to the phenomenon known as the “lost decade”; economic expansion came to a total halt in Japan during the 1990s. The impact on everyday life has been rather muted, however. Unemployment runs reasonably high, but not at crisis levels (the official figure is a little under 5%, but this is a considerable underestimate – the real level is probably around twice that).

I will bet you wonder why I mention this……does it sound familiar?  It should or you are not paying attention to your life.

I gave you a little economic history because I see this happening in the US and I am not alone….Paul Krugman writes:

It’s not that nobody understands the risk. I strongly suspect that some officials at the Fed see the Japan parallels all too clearly and wish they could do more to support the economy. But in practice it’s all they can do to contain the tightening impulses of their colleagues, who (like central bankers in the 1930s) remain desperately afraid of inflation despite the absence of any evidence of rising prices. I also suspect that Obama administration economists would very much like to see another stimulus plan. But they know that such a plan would have no chance of getting through a Congress that has been spooked by the deficit hawks.

We hear daily that the US could become the next Greece because of the growing deficit….which seems to be the call of most conservatives these days,,,,,,,but I see it differently….I see the possibility of the US becoming another Japan with a “Lost Decade” and many years of suffering for the working majority of the country.  Slow growth, high unemployment and a rise in the inflation rate.

It’s All Greek To Me

Oh my God!  So much has been said about the crisis in Europe and most verbally the situation in Greece.  Gloom and doom is predicted…..if Greece then on to the others in P.I.G.S. and then if that why not the US going down the drain?

But what if?  What if the crisis in Greece could ultimately benefit the US?  In an article written by Derek Thompson for the Atlantic Business:

But what if Europe’s debt disaster actually works out for the United States … kind of? Tim Duy finds three reasons:

1. Capital Gains for the U.S. Scared investors are running from peripheral EU states that look like they could follow Greece into the abyss. (It’s called the contagion effect: explanation here.) Running from Europe, investors might seek shelter in US investments, driving down our interest rates and giving companies looking to hire more access to capital. Duy concludes, “the odds of sustainable recovery look better every day.”

2. No Tightening from the Federal Reserve. Some liberals and moderates are concerned that the Federal Reserve might try to prematurely tighten its monetary policy by selling assets to squeeze inflation before we’ve achieved sustainable recovery and consistent job gains. But the crisis in Europe makes it more likely that the Federal Reserve will sit tight and keep money easy. After all, a Greece default — which is all but certain — could shock high-debt, low-growth states like Portugal and Spain and send jitters throughout the global economy. The Fed, nervous about feeding those fears, will probably keep interest rates low for an extended period of time with the European debt bomb ticking.

3. Cheap Oil. A weak Euro and a stop-start European economy means cheap oil, relief at the pump for the re-emerging American consumer, and marginally higher demand for cars. An exogenous oil shock helped to pop the housing bubble in the mid-2000s. Cheap gas is an economic lubricant.

What is the possibility that the US could see some minor benefit from the crisis in Greece and possibly the rest of the EU?  What are the possibilities of other countries seeing the same?