Too Lazy To Push

Too lazy to inhale.

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Consumers Not Confident

From FT.com:

US consumer confidence falls sharply

By Alan Rappeport in Washington

Published: February 23 2010 15:43 | Last updated: February 23 2010 16:00

Figures on Tuesday showed that consumer confidence in the US fell to the lowest level in 10 months on fears about a slow labour market recovery.

The Conference Board’s index of consumer sentiment fell to 46 in February from a revised 56.5 the prior month. Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board’s consumer research centre, said that fewer consumers were expecting improvements in business conditions or the jobs market in the next six months.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

US home loan foreclosures reach record high - Feb-19

Homebuilding begins year on bright note - Feb-17 [uh, see link above ???]

In depth: US downturn - Nov-17

The weaker than expected report likely reflects the grim political climate and volatility in the financial markets, argues Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley. More worrying, Mr Wieseman said, is that the weak jobs outlook could bode poorly for next week’s employment report.

Read more....

Perhaps because actions to ameliorate the jobs and housing situation have simply exacerbated them?

Ignore The Man Behind The Curtain

From the BBC...

Iran's supreme leader denies nuclear report claims

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said international concerns were 'baseless'

Iran's supreme leader has denied it is developing nuclear weapons, after a new report from the UN atomic watchdog, the IAEA, sparked an international outcry.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the outcry was "baseless" as Iranians' beliefs "bar us from using such weapons".

The blunt report raised concerns Iran was working on nuclear weapons.

Germany said the report "confirms our great concerns", while the US warned Iran it faced consequences if it failed to meet international responsibilities.

Moscow said Iran must co-operate more actively with the International Atomic Energy Agency to convince the world its programme was peaceful.

But Ayatollah Khamenei countered: "We do not believe in atomic weapons and are not seeking that."

Read more....

Just what are the basis of their beliefs?

Christian Violence In The News

• Christian Insurgent Group Claims Failed Suicide Attack On Defense Minister
• Egypt says Christian members planning attack
• Christian militant blasts upcoming elections, threatens violence
• Should France ban the Christian symbols?
• Fort Hood report doesn't mention Christian extremism.
• Can violence truly defend Christianity?
• West has not fully acknowledged threat of radical Christianity

Okay, so maybe one little word was changed. All religions are basically the same, right?

Global Warming Quiz

What is the highest temperature ever recorded?

In 1922 the temperature reached 136° Fahrenheit (58° C) in Libya.

Death Valley in California holds the record for the highest temperature in the U.S. at 134° in 1913.

Shouldn't that be 2009? How can almost 100 years of global warming go by without new extremes? Must be a typo.

Jimmy Carter Returns

From CNNMoney.com

Obama's disco-era jobs bill
By Jia Lynn Yang, writer
February 15, 2010: 11:37 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Fortune) -- The ghost of Jimmy Carter's one-term presidency is hovering over President Obama as the Democrats try to pass a jobs bill in time for this year's elections. So why is the centerpiece of the measure -- a tax break for companies that make new hires -- a play straight from Carter's economic policy circa 1977?

Then, as now, the economy looked anemic and unemployment was high: 7.8% when Carter entered office, compared with 9.7% now. So just eleven days after his inauguration, the president proposed giving companies a temporary tax break if they hired new employees, calling it the New Jobs Tax Credit. The law went into effect for 1977 and 1978, over which time the unemployment rate fell 2%.

A success, right? Economists today are divided, and their reasons get at the heart of the current jobs bill debate. The goal of any jobs tax credit is to spur a company to hire when it otherwise wouldn't. The trouble is, it's impossible to distinguish exactly which companies have plans to hire anyway. Lawmakers can only do their best to design a bill with the right incentives.

Critics of Carter's plan -- and Congress' now -- say that the problem with any jobs credit is the potential for waste. It's estimated that of the companies that claimed the tax credit under Carter's plan, two-thirds would have hired those employees regardless of the tax break.

Read more....

Also...

James Earl Carter, III

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a tool that allows website owners to get some general information about what brings people to their sites [not the personal information about the people themselves].

This just seemed a bit odd for what brought people to a particular post:Why were those searches in Japanese?

The United Snow States of America

From USA Today:

Storm could mean snow on ground in all 50 states

An Oklahoma forecaster is predicting an unusual weather phenomenon snow on the ground in all 50 states at the same time. Read more....

See, it's all of that warm air from global warming that has invaded the Arctic and is pushing out the cold air causing snow in semi-tropical areas. Polar bears are dying from the heat and alligators are dying from the cold.

It's global warming! We're all gonna die!

Michigan - Just Say "What's The Difference?"

After 8 long, dreadful years as Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm is stepping down and new bodies are trying to step up. Rasmussen Reports did a polling of 500 likely voters [which is small and early] but they came up with some interesting results... there was no clear winner in either the Democratic Party [incumbent] or Republican Party [challenger].

The numbers from Michigan at this early stage of the campaign appear to be largely about voter unhappiness over the continuing bad economy and the governing Democrats’ seeming inability to do much about it so far. No matter who the Democratic candidate is and which Republican he or she is matched against, the findings are virtually the same.

In almost all instances, the Democratic Party hypothetical candidate fared poorly against the Republican/Some Other/I Don't Know or Give a Rat's Ass hypothetical candidate.

What do you expect from a state where the Democratic Party can't even figure out how to make winners out of its cronies, much less the whole state.

You Can Insult Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews... But Not Them

Well, yes, but they were insulting....

From The Jawa Report:

Pakistan, India, Netherlands Against Free Speech and Religion

The common theme speaks for itself.

Pakistan:

A court in Faisalabad, Pakistan, sentenced to life imprisonment Imran Masih, a young Christian, for having insulted and desecrated the Koran, according to the Minorities Concern newsletter.

India:

Islam or any other religion can be criticised, but a malicious criticism aimed at promoting communal hatred and painting the whole community as villainous is not permissible, Bombay High Court held today.

Netherlands:

Wilders, in the bizarre inquisition that has replaced justice in the Dutch courts, is accused of offending Muslims by pointing out that Muslims invoke the Qur'an and Muhammad's example to justify violence.

Dubai selling off the Queen Elizabeth 2?

A stunning headline: Dubai selling off the Queen Elizabeth 2?

Her Majesty The Queen

I knew the British were in trouble, but this...?

Black Special Interests Want More Interest In Blacks

It's apparent that President Obama's program is not "black enough."

WASHINGTON — There was no big speech or fancy ceremony when President Obama observed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday last month. Instead, for his first King holiday as president, Mr. Obama quietly installed a rare signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in the Oval Office and invited a small group of African-American elders and young people to come see it.

The private gathering — “an intimate discussion,” in the words of Dorothy Height, a 97-year-old grande dame of the civil rights movement — was typical of Mr. Obama, who has steered clear of putting race front and center in his administration. But that low-key approach is frustrating some black leaders and scholars, who are starting to challenge Mr. Obama’s language and policies.

On Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are expressing irritation that Mr. Obama has failed to create programs tailored specifically to African-Americans, who are suffering disproportionately in the recession. In December, some of them threatened to oppose new financial rules for banks until the White House promised to address the needs of minority groups.

Read more....

The SEC Knows Hot Air

From Weasel Zippers:

(WaPo)- A politically divided Securities and Exchange Commission voted on Wednesday to make clear when companies must provide information to investors about the business risks associated with climate change.

The commission, in a 3 to 2 vote, decided to require that companies disclose in their public filings the impact of climate change on their businesses — from new regulations or legislation they may face domestically or abroad to potential changes in economic trends or physical risks to a company.

..."I can only conclude that the purpose of this release is to place the imprimatur of the commission on the agenda of the social and environmental policy lobby, an agenda that falls outside of our expertise and beyond our fundamental mission of investor protection," Republican commissioner Kathleen L. Casey said.

9.7% Jobless Rate

I guess it depends on your perspective:

• The Wall Street Journal - Jobless Rate Hits 9.7%; U.S. Sheds 20,000 Jobs
• The New York Times - Labor Market Shows Signs of Reawakening in New Data
• CNNMoney.com - Dow dips on debt and job woes
• The Washington Post - Unemployment rate falls to 9.7 percent in Jan.

And you thought you were confused about the economy....

Wasted Recycling In San Francisco

San Francisco prides itself in its waste management system. There are three containers collected on trash pickup days: black for trash, blue for recycling, and green for compost. Having just moved into the city, my son dutifully separated the trash from the recyclables he had accumulated during the move.

I happened to be looking out the window when the garbage truck pulled up. The black container was hooked on the left lift and, immediately next to it, the blue container was hooked to the right lift. Both lifts were engaged simultaneously and dumped into the hopper. I thought that was odd, but perhaps there was a separating panel.

The truck moved down the street and repeated the process, this time with the blue container on the left and the black container on the right. Same simultaneous lift and dump. It was obvious that the carefully separated materials were combined inside the truck.

Will the EPA restrict water vapor?

From Icecap:

Water vapour worse climate change villain than thought

By Shanta Barley, New Scientist

A rise in water vapour in the atmosphere fuelled 30 per cent of the global warming that took place during the 1990s. This discovery suggests that the potent greenhouse gas plays a bigger role in climate change that we previously imagined.

Susan Solomon and colleagues at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration combined satellite measurements and weather balloon data to track changes in the concentration of water vapour 16 kilometres up in the stratosphere, between the 1980s and today.

Water vapour levels in the stratosphere increased in the 1990s but dropped by 10 per cent in 2001. After feeding their measurements into a climate model, the team suggests that vapour was to blame for almost a third of the warming that happened in the 1990s.

The model also suggests that the decline in water vapour concentrations that occurred in 2001 slowed down the rate of global warming in the last decade by 25 per cent.

“This research does not change the consensus view that human emissions drive climate change,” says Fortunat Joos, a climate modeller at the University of Bern, Germany.

Journal reference: Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1182488

-------------------------

U.S. Deficits Spell Future Problems

When the New York Times has a problem with the Obama administration, there is a problem....

Huge Deficits May Alter U.S. Politics and Global Power

By DAVID E. SANGER

Published: February 1, 2010

WASHINGTON — In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power.

The first is the projected deficit in the coming year, nearly 11 percent of the country’s entire economic output. That is not unprecedented: During the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the United States ran soaring deficits, but usually with the expectation that they would come back down once peace was restored and war spending abated.

But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is the one that really commands attention: By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years. In fact, in 2019 and 2020 — years after Mr. Obama has left the political scene, even if he serves two terms — they start rising again sharply, to more than 5 percent of gross domestic product. His budget draws a picture of a nation that like many American homeowners simply cannot get above water.

Read more....

Economy Bad? Raise Taxes

Spotted in a California newspaper.


Any thought to realistic budgeting? Just asking.

Debt Control ... Not Really

When we said we wanted to control debt, we didn't mean the government's....

Senate nixes debt commission

By Jeanne Sahadi, senior writerJanuary 26, 2010: 1:26 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposal to create a bipartisan commission charged with reining in the country's debt.

The goal was to create a framework to force Congress to make some tough choices -- specifically tax increases and spending cuts.

Had it passed, Congress would have been required to take speedy votes on the commission's recommendations. The recommendations would have gone up for a vote by the end of this year.

The proposal fell by a vote of 53 to 46. Sixty votes were required for passage. The measure was attached as an amendment to a bill that would increase the legal limit U.S. debt by $1.9 trillion.

"While the statutory fiscal task force proposal ... did not secure the necessary 60 votes for adoption, I am heartened by the 53 votes we did receive," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who co-sponsored the amendment with Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., the committee's top-ranking Republican.

Read more....

Trust Us; We're From The Government

Transparent: not visible.

Axelrod: "People Will Never Know What's in the Healthcare Bill Until the President Signs It!"

Intelligence Chief Slams Handling of Christmas-Bomb Case

Someone in the government with common sense???

Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday that officials botched the handling of terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused of working with a Yemen-based offshoot of al Qaeda to try to bring down the Detroit-bound jet carrying 290 passengers and crew.

A new panel charged with designating so-called high-value terrorism suspects for special interrogations should have been used in the case and the suspect should have been questioned by an elite group of interrogators, said Mr. Blair, who used the expression "duh" to emphasize his point.

Read more....

Democrats start to question strategy

It's amazing that they slept through all of the alarms going off for the past 6 months....

By Anna Fifield in Washington

Published: January 20 2010 15:21 | Last updated: January 20 2010 18:11

Democrats were on Wednesday morning conducting an autopsy into their humiliating Massachusetts Senate defeat, which puts President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda at risk and underlines the challenges the party faces in this year’s mid-term congressional elections.

The loss of one of the safest liberal seats in the country will cause many Democrats to question their entire strategy. It has also rattled those in more marginal seats and prompted warnings that the party needs to focus on the middle political ground.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

‘Forces of populism’ set to rise - Jan-20

Pelosi weighs options to save bill - Jan-20

In depth: Obama’s first year - Jan-20

Gideon Rachman: Unhappy anniversary - Jan-20

Dotcomment: Does Massachusetts matter? - Jan-20

Clive Crook: What’s the message? - Jan-20

“There’s going to be a tendency on the part of our people to be in denial about all this,” said Evan Bayh, a centrist Democratic senator from Indiana, whose own seat could be in jeopardy in November.

“If you lose Massachusetts and that’s not a wake-up call, there’s no hope of waking up ... The only way we are able to govern successfully in this country is by liberals and progressives making common cause with independents and moderates,” Mr Bayh told ABC News.

Read the rest here....

You Call It Bribery

We call it "TIPS...."

UN Afghanistan survey points to huge scale of bribery

The UN says corruption is holding back Afghanistan's development

Afghans paid $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in bribes over the past 12 months, or the equivalent of almost one quarter of legitimate GDP, a UN report suggests.

Surveying 7,600 people, it found nearly 60% more concerned about corruption than insecurity or unemployment.

More than half the population had to pay at least one bribe to a public official last year, the report adds.

Read more...

Washington Screws Samoa

CBS 60 Minutes aired two segments about two tropical islands half a world apart: Haiti and Samoa. Most Americans don't even know that Samoa exists and that it is an American territory.

Last year an earthquake of 8.0 magnitude hit along with a 20-ft. tidal wave [tsunami]. This is the official report:

Samoa

Disaster Assistance at a Glance Recent Disaster Declarations: Tsunami OFDA Response: Emergency relief OFDA Preparedness: Disaster preparedness, capacity building Latest OFDA Report: East Asia and Pacific Tsunami and Storms Fact Sheet #5 (79KB PDF) Asia and Pacific - Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Programs (67kb PDF) and (map)

Most Recent Disaster Declaration:
Tsunami, 10-01-2009

On September 29, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake occurred off the coast of Samoa, 120 miles south of the capital of Apia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake generated a tsunami surge that resulted in waves reportedly reaching as high as 20 feet, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The tsunami surge particularly affected the south and southeastern coast of Upolu Island, while also affecting villages on Savai’i, Manono, and Apolima islands. The earthquake and associated tsunami killed 110 people, injured 180 others, and displaced approximately 32,000 individuals according to the Government of Samoa (GoS) Disaster Action Council (DAC). On September 29, the GoS issued a declaration of disaster. On October 1, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., Arnold H. Campbell issued a disaster declaration due to the effects of the tsunami. In response, USAID/OFDA provided $100,000 through the U.S. Embassy in Apia for the purchase and distribution of relief commodities in coordination with the GoS DAC and the Samoa Red Cross Society.

The American Samoans total less than 100,000 people and are as poor as the Haitians. But there is no political/ethnic pressure group in Washington D.C. pushing for a similar response that the Haitians are receiving. To be fair, the devastation in Haiti is much worse and the Haitian society does not have the cultural cohesiveness and strength of the Samoan society. Still, the response from Washington was anemic, at best.

The Samoans primary industry is canning tuna which accounts for 80% of the islands' income. Last year, one cannery closed. In response, Congress decided that the other cannery must pay U.S. minimum wages. As a result, the other cannery may be closing.

Washington once again showed that it can screw up any screwed up situation even further.

White House nears deal on health care

2018... isn't that about the end of Obama's 2nd term? Perhaps it would be less stupid if he were not given a 2nd term.

By Lori Montgomery and Michael D. Shear

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 15, 2010

Gripped by a building sense that its window of opportunity could be closing, the White House on Thursday broke the last major logjam blocking enactment of far-reaching health-care legislation, cutting a deal with organized labor on how to tax high-cost insurance policies.

The agreement, forged in a marathon negotiating session that included White House officials and seven prominent labor leaders, would exempt union members from a proposed surtax on expensive insurance plans until 2018, five years after the legislation would take effect. The tax is a key source of financing for Democrats' plan to extend coverage to as many as 36 million additional Americans over the next decade.

Read more....

That fits right in with Nebraska's Medicaid exemption.

More thoughts about this.

The Terrible Twos

Life's progression in 2s. When you are:

• 2... toys are important
• 12... music is important
• 22... sex is important
• 32... children are important
• 42... career is important
• 52... finance is important
• 62... grandchildren are important
• 72... estate planning is important
• 82... medicine is important
• 92... waking up is important
  

CNN: She Is "A Horrible Woman"

Via Instapundit:



Where was CNN in 2008?

Police Protect Florida From Road Terrorist

I guess the Politically Correct police are busy protecting the rights of would-be jihadists...

Grandma Wrongfully Jailed for Driving Too Slow

Woman jailed for two weeks, but her license wasn't suspended

By TODD WRIGHT

Updated 9:23 AM EST, Tue, Jan 12, 2010

Broward's justice system is apparently doing their part to keep old people off of the roads in South Florida. Only next time, they might want to get their facts straight.

Police arrested 78-year-old Gabrielle Shaink Trudeau in November for driving with a suspended license and the grandmother was jailed for more than two weeks before someone figured out her license wasn’t suspended after all, according to the BrowardBulldog.org.

Trudeau was released at the behest of a Broward County judge who didn’t mince words about who really deserved to be shackled.

“I want her released. I think she's suffered enough at our system's mistakes," Circuit Judge Lee Seidman wrote in his court order.

The problem for poor Trudeau was, well, she’s poor. She had no one to represent her in court and the Public Defender’s Office failed to appear at her arraignment, which may have solved the problem immediately.

“We fell down and we fell down badly," Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein told BrowardBulldog.

Trudeau’s problems with the law started after she was pulled over a few months earlier by police for driving her car too slowly. That caused the DMV to question her ability to drive. The grandma’s license was revoked pending a review of her skills.

Then, after receiving a notice in the mail saying that her driving privileges had been restored, Broward Sheriff’s Office showed up at her door with a warrant for Trudeau’s arrest. Apparently they didn’t get the memo.

“They came on real strong, like I had killed somebody or something," Trudeau said. "There were neighbors all around. They put handcuffs on me. It was very embarrassing."

Trudeau had to spend Thanksgiving in jail instead of with her family.

Prosecutors have dropped the charges against her and offered an apology.

Ouch

Health care and the economy all rolled into one:

An Israeli doctor says, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we
can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him
looking for work in six weeks."

A German doctor says, "That is nothing; we can take a lung out of one
person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks."

A Russian doctor says, "In my country, medicine is so advanced that we
can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have
them both looking for work in two weeks."

An ILLINOIS doctor, not to be outdone, says. "You guys are way behind.
We recently took a man with no brains out of ILLINOIS, put him in the
White House for SIX MONTHS, and now half the COUNTRY is looking for
work."

H/T Wilbert

Chilean presidential candidate vows to deepen ties with China

Now where do you suppose this is going?

Chilean presidential candidate of the ruling coalition Eduardo Frei Friday promised to further boost ties with China if he wins the Jan. 17 run-off election.

The former president told Xinhua that he is "proud" of being the first Chilean president engaging in direct contact with China when he was in office in 1994-2000.

"Now we have closer ties with China and in the future we have to march ahead much further," Frei said.

"We have had excellent ties with China," Frei said, adding that official statistics to be released soon will prove that "China is the main commercial partner of Chile."

He called for more efforts to enhance mutual investment and academic exchanges between both countries. There also exists a huge potential for the two developing nations to collaborate on environmental protection, he said.

The second round presidential election will be held on Jan. 17,pitting Frei against opposition candidate Sebastian Pinera, after the first round on Dec. 13 failed to produce an outright winner.

Pinera garnered 44 percent of the vote in the December poll, while Frei got 29.6 percent.

The new president is expected to take office on March 11 to replace President Michelle Bachelet.

Source

Perhaps nowhere.