This blog is no longer active as of October 31, 2011
I expect that we’ll hear more of this as time goes on….
Via Breit Bart: (Dateline WMAQ Chicago)
I just wonder, were the Police Officers that did the beating White or Black? That will answer the racism charge.
However, judging from comments on the WMAQ site, Chicago still got issues when it comes to racism.
Exit Question: Will the ObamaMassiah ask for a congressional Investigation into the mistreatment of his people?
This is truly a sad story. 🙁
Video (Thanks to Breit Bart)
I’m sure some idiot liberal will say, “See? This is why we need to get rid of guns!” While flapping their Liberal stained hands in the air.
Let me be clear on something, with owning a firearm, comes responsibility; obviously this man neglected to properly store his firearms away from the eyes of his son and his son accessed those firearms and now we have a double murder on our hands. Either this or that kid knew where the firearms were and how into get into the cabinet where the firearms were located.
Either way, this is a extremely sad case, and there is no easy answer, Guns are a America freedom that we cherish. However, with that freedom comes responsibility, we should always remember that. Least sad events like this happen.
First the video of Bambi-Elect via Breit Bart:
The Story, Via CNN:
President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday offered an outline of his economic recovery plan and jobs were the top priority.
American workers will rebuild the nation’s roads and bridges, modernize its schools and create more sources of alternative energy, creating 2.5 million jobs by 2011, Obama said in the weekly Democratic address, posted on his Web site.
“These aren’t just steps to pull ourselves out of this immediate crisis,” he said. “These are the long-term investments in our economic future that have been ignored for far too long.”
Details of the plan are still being worked out by his economic team, Obama said, but he hopes to implement the plan shortly after taking office January 20.
He referred to figures out this week showing that new home purchases in October were the lowest in 50 years, and that 540,000 new unemployment claims had been filed — the highest in 16 years.
“We must do more to put people back to work and get our economy moving again,” he said. More than a million jobs have been lost this year, he said, and “if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year.”
The plan will be aimed at jump-starting job creation, Obama said, and laying the foundation for a stronger economy.
“We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technology that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years head,” he said.
He noted he will need support from both Democrats and Republicans to pass such a plan, and said he welcomes suggestions from both sides of the aisle.
“But what is not negotiable is the need for immediate action,” he said. “Right now, there are millions of mothers and fathers who are lying awake at night wondering if next week’s paycheck will cover next month’s bills.
“There are Americans showing up to work in the morning, only to have cleared out their desks by the afternoon. Retirees are watching their life savings disappear, and students are seeing their college dreams deferred. These Americans need help, and they need it now.”
Throughout history, he said, Americans have been able to rise above their divisions to work together, he said.
“That is the chance our new beginning now offers us, and that is the challenge we must rise to in the days to come,” Obama said. “It is time to act. As the next president of the United States, I will.”
I personally think that we, as the loyal opposition, should take a wait and see approach towards this. It could help America. It might cost America a bit. But to sit and judge it foolishly before it is implemented will only serve to make us look foolish.
So, as someone who’s not had a job since 2005. I will reserve judgement at this time.
Others: Pajamas Media, www.redstate.com, EconoSpeak (Via Memeorandum)
Too Much Denial Going On Around Here
By: J.J. Jackson
Dear God in Heaven above! There is so much denial going on right now among Conservatives that I feel like I have just arrived at an AA meeting where there are bunch of first timers, who have been dragged there by their friends and family, and are shouting about how they, “don’t have a problem.” I have just gotten about as sick of this as I can take and am ready to start slapping you denial riddled fools upside your empty little heads. So here is my hand and here comes the slap that you all so rightfully deserve.
For nearly the past three weeks I have been hearing conservatives softening their tones on Barack Obama after he beat John McCain and his moderate ramblings on November 4th. And if it did not sink in when I said in the last paragraph that I am sick of it, then let me reiterate it again. I am damn sick of it.
You little pansies, and you know who you are, who are talking about giving Barack Obama a honeymoon and talking about waiting to see what he actually does really do make me sick. You make me sick because a lot of you were the same people who were unloading on him and his Marxist ideology (clearly able to be seen by anyone reading what he has written and listening to anything he has said) for months prior to the election. He deserved that barrage from the big guns then and he deserves the same firepower, if not more, pointed and unleashed upon him now that he has won. The man does not deserve any sort of a “honeymoon.” There is no, “wait and see what he will do,” reasoning that is valid. We know what he wants to do. He has said it time and time again. The only question is will he be allowed to do it.
But a lot of you namby-pambies, who try desperately to put forth your conservative, pro-liberty credentials, are denying everything that the man has said and done within his life and his campaign. You are hoping, beyond hope if you ask me, that he will all of a sudden change his stripes and not go full auto Marxist on our butts. My God, what has happened to you cowards?
I would love to think that you are maybe just scared of saying something that Barack Obama or his “truth squads” might find objectionable and that you are moderating your tones out of fear. We all know that history is replete with examples of how people with Obama’s ideas deal with their political opponents. I cannot believe that you actually however believe that things will be different than what he promised when he was on the campaign trail.
Maybe he will be more moderate on taxes? He will not be if you keep making excuses for him instead of preaching economic reality!
Maybe he will be more reasonable in fighting the war on terror? If you start giving him a honeymoon and believing that now, all of a sudden, he will see how serious terrorism is, he will not be.
Maybe he will be a little more considerate of the first amendment? Yeah, I see that happening if you start making excuses and take a wait and see attitude!
Maybe he will not rush headlong into trampling on the second amendment? Ok, sure … you believe this despite all his anti-gun, anti-self defense remarks during his life and on the campaign trail why?
Oh, I know what your excuse is because you keep saying it. You keep saying that now, because he is actually going to be sitting in the oval office and (you assume) held accountable for his actions, he will recognize the reality of the myriad of situations which will confront him and that he will have to act in more moderate ways because his is “smart”. Yeah, “smart” … that’s what they call spouting Marxist talking points and promoting an ideology that has failed time and again from Mussolini’s Italy to Hitler’s Germany to Stalin’s Russia to Khrushchev’s Soviet Union to Mao’s China to Kim Jong Il’s North Korea to Castro’s Cuba to Chavez’s Venezuela? Not to mention how it is currently failing in the plethora of European states that continue to struggle under chronically high unemployment rates and legacy costs for the “free” healthcare and welfare of Marxism light and the entitlement mentality.
You want him to change his stance on anything he believes? You have to unload on him and keep hitting him with the truth. No honeymoons. No grace periods.
If I hear one more conservative or so-called capitalist (most of whom I believe are corporatists, in that they are capitalists looking to game the socialist system for their own ends, and not true capitalists) claiming that Obama is “smart,” despite my previous points about his promotion of an idiotic ideology that has always and will always fail, I may have to move from slapping them silly to putting a boot up in where the sun does not shine. It is a ridiculous notion that you folks espouse.
“Smart” people do not rush headlong down a road that leads off a cliff. I do not care how many degrees and letters they have after their names. As we all know the halls of academia are littered with the corpses of people that have such honors behind their names and could not think their way out of a paper bag. But they can certainly pontificate on the way things, “ought to be,” in their minds and muse and whine about why things are not that way.
It is time to stop denying who Barack Obama is, and always has been, and admit that he has given no reason to “hope” that he will be anything other than the man he has shown us to be. It is time to admit that in order to “change” him (and the course this country has been on for the previous century regardless of what liberals believe) that he must be ridden and ridden hard. He must be constantly smacked upside the head with the facts and not allowed to get by on good looks, charm and lofty, vacuous rhetoric. He must not be given a free pass. He must not be given a honeymoon. And most importantly he should not be given any more credit than he is due.
Right now, his credit is zero. So get up and stop being a bunch of wishful hopers like the mindless Obamatons that voted for him are. And stop feeling, as they do, that by merely having “hope” that our troubles will be washed away and get your butts to work.
=====================================
J.J. Jackson is a libertarian conservative author from Pittsburgh, PA who has been writing and promoting individual liberty since 1993 and is President of Land of the Free Studios, Inc. He is the lead editor contributor to American Conservative Daily and also the founder of SignalCongress.com. He is the owner of The Right Things – Conservative T-shirts & Gifts (http://www.cafepress.com/rightthings). His weekly commentary along with exclusives not available anywhere else can be found at http://www.libertyreborn.com
I am sure that you’ve heard about the Rumor or the Conservative talking point that the Detroit Auto Workers make $70 an hour. The Conservatives will try and tell you that if you figure in all thier benefits, it totals that amount.
There’s only one little problem with that, the math, is quite frankly, wrong.
Jonathan Cohn at TNR Explains:
Well, here’s one reason: The figure is wildly misleading.
Let’s start with the fact that it’s not $70 per hour in wages. According to Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automative Research–who was my primary source for the figures you are about to read–average wages for workers at Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors were just $28 per hour as of 2007. That works out to a little less than $60,000 a year in gross income–hardly outrageous, particularly when you consider the physical demands of automobile assembly work and the skills most workers must acquire over the course of their careers.
More important, and contrary to what you may have heard, the wages aren’t that much bigger than what Honda, Toyota, and other foreign manufacturers pay employees in their U.S. factories. While we can’t be sure precisely how much those workers make, because the companies don’t make the information public, the best estimates suggests the corresponding 2007 figure for these “transplants”–as the foreign-owned factories are known–was somewhere between $20 and $26 per hour, and most likely around $24 or $25. That would put average worker’s annual salary at $52,000 a year.
So the “wage gap,” per se, has been a lot smaller than you’ve heard. And this is no accident. If the transplants paid their employees far less than what the Big Three pay their unionized workers, the United Auto Workers would have a much better shot of organizing the transplants’ factories. Those factories remain non-unionized and management very much wants to keep it that way.
So, where did this wild figure come from? Jonathan continues:
But then what’s the source of that $70 hourly figure? It didn’t come out of thin air. Analysts came up with it by including the cost of all employer-provided benefits–namely, health insurance and pensions–and then dividing by the number of workers. The result, they found, was that benefits for Big Three cost about $42 per hour, per employee. Add that to the wages–again, $28 per hour–and you get the $70 figure. Voila.
Except … notice something weird about this calculation? It’s not as if each active worker is getting health benefits and pensions worth $42 per hour. That would come to nearly twice his or her wages. (Talk about gold-plated coverage!) Instead, each active worker is getting benefits equal only to a fraction of that–probably around $10 per hour, according to estimates from the International Motor Vehicle Program. The number only gets to $70 an hour if you include the cost of benefits for retirees–in other words, the cost of benefits for other people. One of the few people to grasp this was Portfolio.com’s Felix Salmon. As he noted yesterday, the claim that workers are getting $70 an hour in compensation is just “not true.”
I highly recommend that everyone that comes here, go read the rest of this great article. Because it really puts to bed some of the more idiotic rumors and false information. I mean, I have been raising hell about this whole bailout, but it is mainly because of the utter stupidity that is being parroted by the Far Right and by some of the not so far right. I will say this, that if this is the best that right can do, towards the middle class. They can forget about getting elected in 2010 or 2012. Of course, based upon what I’ve noticed as of late, there is not much hope of that happening anyhow.
I would suppose that there are those who might think, that I do not think that there is any problems with the Big Three. Trust me, I do. I also realize that the unions did get a bit greedy in the last 20 or so years. But, I also know this, that the errors that the present management and management in the past made at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are NOT the fault of the Employees. Nor do I believe that the employees of these fine companies should be punished for the incompetency of these companies. Nor do I blame the employees for the missteps of the Union officials, who were out for their own agendas.
It is just a plain and simple, the Republicans and some Libertarians think that punishing the middle class and allowing those who simply go to work and do their jobs to lose their jobs is perfectly acceptable. I am not one of those people.
In a personal level, my Dad never, ever made more than $21 an hour at his job. He worked for general motors for 31 years. He drove a Hi-lo, otherwise known as a Forklift. He worked for those people faithfully, rarely took off sick, he would work as many hours as they asked him to. Sometimes double shifts, he even worked triple shifts, before they outlawed it. My Father earned his retirement, and now, I have to contend with idiot Republicans, Conservatives and some Libertarians; who want to punish my dad for G.M.’s stupidity. It just is not right. As far as his benefits go, he’s got some good benefits, but they’re not as nearly as good as they used to be. He used to pay zero for Doctor’s visits and Prescriptions, he now pays a large co-pay for doctor’s visits and prescriptions. I think my Dad has earned every last bit of those benefits, and those Conservative who would want to punish my Dad, I will say to you, what Keith Olbermann said about those in the Bush Administration who knowingly send your Nation’s troops into battle for their second and third terms, despite the fact that some, if not all, are suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome; they can go to hell.
It just seems very hypocritical of this Nation to give Wall Street 700 hundred BILLION dollars, for a damned bailout that did not even really work; but you let the big three ask for a bridge loan and the whole world is like “Detroit can go to hell!” It just does not make any sense to me at all.
I figured she would…. anyhow, Because everyone and their uncle’s brother is talking about it. I guess I’ll follow the herd here. (Walk like a buffalo…..80’s humor, sorry… 😛 )
Via the NYT’s “The Caucus”:
Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to give up her Senate seat and accept the position of secretary of state, making her the public face around the world for the administration of the man who beat her for the Democratic presidential nomination, two confidants said Friday.
Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for foreign policy, said one of the confidants, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the situation. Mr. Obama’s office told reporters Thursday that the nomination is “on track” but Clinton associates only confirmed Friday afternoon that she has decided.
“She’s ready,” said the confidant. Mrs. Clinton was reassured after talking again with Mr. Obama because their first meeting in Chicago last week “was so general,” the confidant said. The purpose of the follow-up talk, he added, was not to extract particular concessions but “just getting comfortable” with the idea of working together.
A second Clinton associate confirmed that her camp believes they have a done deal. Senior Obama advisers said Friday morning that the offer had not been formally accepted and no announcement will be made until after Thanksgiving. But they said they were convinced that the nascent alliance was now ready to be sealed.
Mrs. Clinton’s spokesman, Philippe Reines, issued a statement Friday afternoon cautioning that the nomination is not final. “We’re still in discussions, which are very much on track,” he said. “Any reports beyond that are premature.”
I can almost hear the Republicans screaming “RETREAD!” now. Which is pretty funny considering that Reagan used Nixon and Ford retreads.
The victims of the Waco Massacre, which included Seventy-six U.S. Citizens including 21 children and two pregnant women; were unavailable for comment.
Others: : The Campaign Spot, Washington Post, FishBowlDC, The Fix, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Donklephant, Guardian, Boston Globe, TPM Election Central, Sister Toldjah, NO QUARTER, Lost in Transition, TIME.com, RHRealityCheck.org blogs, Anglachel’s Journal, Wonkette, Tennessee Guerilla Women, The Reaction, Macsmind, Political Machine, The Daily Politics, Below The Beltway, MyDD, Talking Points Memo, Althouse, Salon and Patterico’s Pontifications and more via Memeorandum
….and it’s an interesting one, at that.
From Citizen Economists:
Therein lies the fundamental problem of gold as a backing for fiat money, or as a direct global currency.
There simply is not enough gold on the planet, existing above ground or yet to be mined, to back all the fiat currencies that have been created to accommodate the continually rising population in this world.
Better yet, if we applied simple supply and demand laws, the price of gold would reach enormous proportions compared to the universally accepted world standard of the equivalent US$700 per ounce at today’s values. Careful, please, the price may rapidly move or down from that level!
We know reasonably well how much gold there exists on the planet. We also know approximately who owns how much, both in physical gold and in reserves still to be mined. With the expected gold craze to continue, major exploration and mining companies are hoping to bring those underground reserves to daylight to join in the speculative fever of potentially recovering gold.
For example, Northgate Minerals Corporation (TSX: NGX, AMEX: NXG) announced September 8, 2008 that it found new mineral reserves at its Australian site, including some 140,000 ounces of gold. In their press release, the company stated that the find “will extend the current mine-life by an additional 18 months until the fourth quarter of 2011.” (biz.yahoo.com). (www.northgateminerals.com)
If you do simple math and use today’s value at $700/oz., that results in some $98 million. At a cost of some $20/oz, that results in a nice profit for the company and its shareholders.
However, that amount pales on a macroeconomic level.
Egad, don’t tell that to the people that support Ron Paul, The Ludwig von Mises Institute or the people that are hawking gold on all the Conservative sites that run the ads for gold. The only response to this that I can offer is, if they ended the federal reserve bank and stopped the mass production of money. Perhaps we could go back to the gold standard. However, I will be the first to tell you that I am not, nor have I ever been an expert in economics.
It is an interesting article, I do recommend that you read it.
(H/T Jeff G.)
Obama and the Liberal idiots are now flipping out of the sudden drop in gas prices! This according the Wall Street Journal:
Some government officials and environmentalists are worried the plummeting prices are reversing any energy-conservation gains realized in the past year, when high prices forced Americans to cut back. The economic case for investing in renewable energy, which was looking cheaper, compared with soaring fossil-fuel costs, now is less compelling.
Suddenly, public debate has shifted from trying to find ways to lower prices and give consumers a break to wondering whether federal gasoline taxes should be raised to support higher prices.
President-elect Barack Obama said this week it is even more important to curb Americans’ appetite for oil now that prices are cheaper. “Oil prices go up, gas prices at the pump go up, everybody goes into a flurry of activity. And then the prices go back down and suddenly we act like it’s not important,” he said during a television interview. “As a consequence, we never make any progress.”
🙄 First they bitch and gripe and say, “Aaaah! We have to get these prices lower!” and when they come down, They scream, “Aaaaah! We have to tax the gas so we’ll make a profit or tax it to death so people won’t buy it!” Tax it to support higher prices? Holy Moses… I hope that this story does not catch on with the rest of the media, or Obama might just find himself with some very upset supporters.
Liberalism is such a mental disorder.
An interesting article via Reason Hit & Run about a plane shot down by the Peruvian Air Force. Which had missionaries in it from Michigan.
The quote from this Blog entry that very much I agree with is this: (emphasis mine)
Collateral damage—and let’s face it, that’s how the CIA and federal drug warriors view Veronica and Charity Bowers—has always been an accepted part of drug prohibition, but this callous disregard for the loss of life and human rights seems particularly egregious in our foreign interdiction efforts. See the House of Death case, where federal agents looked the other way while one of their Mexican informants participated in a series of brutal and entirely preventable murders. See our pre-September 11 anti-narcotics alliance with the Taliban, or our continued drug interdiction aid to Thailand after the government mass executed thousands of suspected drug offenders, sans trial.
Collateral damage. That is how the Government viewed the victims at Waco, Ruby Ridge, The FLDS Children, and every other place that the United States Government; whether directly or indirectly; caused death and/or Destruction. All because some sort of supposed moral law could be upheld.
What this writer has to wonder aloud, how long will it be, before this new messianic President-Elect, will make the fatal mistake of using the Military power of the United States against an United States Citizen, all to uphold a so called, “Moral Law?” If Bill Clinton’s Presidency is any indication, it will be sooner than later.
Who killed the U.S. auto industry?
To hear the media tell it, arrogant corporate chiefs failed to foresee the demand for small, fuel-efficient cars and made gas-guzzling road-hog SUV’s no one wanted, while the clever, far-sighted Japanese, Germans, and Koreans prepared and built for the future.
I dissent. What killed Detroit was Washington, the government of the United States, politicians, journalists, and muckrakers who have long harbored a deep animus against the manufacturing class that ran the smokestack industries that won World War II.
For once in my life. I am in 100% agreement with a Republican. Click the link to see who it is.
This is not good…
Via Politico:
Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed Thursday night while giving a speech to the Federalist Society in Washington, according to three senior administration officials.
Witnesses said Mukasey, 67, was conscious as he was taken from the Marriott Wardman Park hotel to George Washington University Hospital. CBS News reported that the attorney general began slurring his words about 15 or 20 minutes into a speech touching on Bush administration successes in the war on terrorism. His federal detail attended to him until medical personnel arrived.
Details about Mukasey’s condition were not immediately available.
Audience members said they began praying, fearing a stroke.
Mukasey is a former federal prosecutor from New York City who succeeded former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
At 10:30 p.m. Eastern, medical officials were still working on him on the stage, administration witnesses said.
Video via Fox News:
I think the best we all can do at this point is to pray for this man.
Update: Kathryn Jean Lopez Reports:
I’m told he is doing better at George Washington University hospital. And I think he’d be happy to know you read his Wall Street Journal oped on enemy combatants today.
Update #2: CNN Reports that Attorney General Michael Mukasey got a clean bill of Health and did not have a stroke. But what I don’t get was why did he faint?
(Updates Available at Memeorandum)
I normally do not like to promote organizations on this Blog, other than the one’s in the links section of this Blog.
But this one, is important; As much as I know that going into Iraq was a mistake, because of bad intelligence. I believe that those that are over there now, mopping up the mess that Bush created over in Iraq are very worthy of our Honor, Love, and Support. That also goes for those still fighting the very justified war in Afghanistan.
I ask that all my readers, of all political stripes, whomever you might be, to head on over to the website Below and give as much as you are able. It is because of these fine men and woman, who putting their asses on the line, that we’re to live free here in America.
A couple Videos to Watch:
Get the Book:
click on the picture below to head over to Survivor Corps:
Give to these Guys, God knows, they’re the ones that deserve the honor and glory, not those dirt bags in Washington D.C.
Man, I do not know just how much stupidity I can handle in one day… I mean really.
The bleary-eyed blond, Carol Platt Liebau over at Townhall.com yowls on her Blog:
This AP piece just points out what should be obvious to everyone by now — that Barack “Change you can believe in” Obama has been filling the top ranks of his administration with Clinton era and/or beltway insiders.
What should, of course, be obvious is that such a move is probably necessary for a relative novice like President-elect Obama. If he chose to surround himself with people who are as lacking in national experience as he is, the results would resemble . . . well, the Carter administration.
Obama is a true ideological believer when it comes to the ends he wants to pursue, but he’s a hard core pragmatist about the means for achieving them. If a certain frisson of excitement is lost among his liberal base when they learn that the West Wing will be filled with a bunch of retreads, no doubt he figures that’s a trade-off everyone will be willing to make, so long as the results are worth it. And make no mistake — he’s committed to making sure the results are worth it, at least for those on the left.
Uhm, Carol ever read any history books? Did not Reagan use Gerald Ford and Nixon Administration retreads in his Administration? Admittedly, he did have a few select Reagan-ites in doing his bidding, but the good majority of them were, in fact, Nixon and Ford Retreads. This was because Reagan did not have much experience and wanted people around him, who knew the beltway and could get things done. Sort of like, well, Obama.
Seriously, do these idiot Neo-Cons ever crack a book, before they spout? 🙄
ChildScare Worker?
For more fun visit the website/blog at www.diversitylane.com or go directly to the blog at www.diversitylane.wordpress.com.
Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, The Random Yak, Right Truth, Shadowscope, DragonLady’s World, Cao’s Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, , Faultline USA, Allie is Wired, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, Wake Up America, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Rosemary’s News and Ideas, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, CORSARI D’ITALIA, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
(Via NRO)
Business Wire is reporting that Roger Ailes has been signed to a 5 year deal with the Rupert Murdoch owed News Corp.
Well, at least Keith Olbermann will have something to do for the next four years. 😉
Neo-Con Shill Mary Katharine Ham calls convicted felon Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, “Uncle Ted“. *gag* 🙄
Pretty Lady, dumber than a box of rocks though.
I normally would not link to this guy’s Blog. But because my Dad is a Retired G.M. Worker and a UAW man. I’m linking to it.
I think everyone who is worried about thier jobs and what’s happening with the big three need to read this Blog posting.
I have never been so angry at my Government and at Washington D.C. as I am, right now. Go read the posting and you’ll see why. 😡
A Picture of our Economy
(H/T to ParaPundit)
New York Times has the story:
But the inventory glut in Long Beach is not limited to imported cars. There has also been a sharp drop in demand for the port’s single largest export: recycled cardboard and paper products.
This material typically goes to China, where it is used to make boxes for new electronics and other products that are sent back to the United States. But Chinese factories reacting to sharply falling demand are slowing production, so they need less cardboard. Tons of paper are piling up recycling businesses around the port, the detritus of economies on hold.
Long Beach is an important port, particularly for the West. It is where imported products arrive and filter through the tributary of trucks, trains and retailers into the hands of consumers. But now, products are just sitting.
“We’re supposed to move things, not store them,” Mr. Wong said.
Roughly 20 percent of the nation’s container imports last year came through Long Beach, putting it close behind the largest container port, Los Angeles. This year, shipping volume at Long Beach is down 10 percent from 2007, and nearly all major ports around the country have seen similar declines. Veteran port workers say the slowdown since mid-October is like nothing they have ever seen. And it is having a cascading impact on other businesses and workers. – Read the rest
Go read the rest of the story. But it’s not only cars, it’s everything. I think Obama might just come; too little, too late. 🙁
Via Lew Rockwell: A very interesting article on what caused the housing bubble and collapse.
(H/T and Thanks to Michelle Malkin)
This Liberal piece of trash just crossed into the “You don’t got there” area with me. It seems that the liberal message is being parroted loud and clear on “The View.”
Here’s the Video, the rant towards homeschooling starts at 6:10 and comes to a head at 7:10:
You see before this Liberal idiot was a so-called “comedian”, she was, you guessed it; A Public School Teacher.
This is why I am even mentioning this; Normally, I could give two flips what these idiot women talk about every week on the view. But there’s a bit of a personal reason as to why.
I, your host, was homeschoolled for about 2 years. Before I moved out of Detroit. I was attending a Private School, run by some Baptist Christians. The teacher that was there, when I first started attending there, retired. He was replaced by an idiot who couldn’t teach his way out of a paper bag. He just was not able to handle the kids. So, I opted for the homeschooling. I was on the ACE Program.
Now, admittedly, I ended up dropping out of School when I turned 18. This was no fault of the School or the program I was on at all. It was me. I had A.D.H.D.; I still have it. That program is not for everyone, it is not geared towards those who have learning disabilities. It is geared towards kids who have zero learning disabilities. I just could not handle the math, it was very tough, I was good till the multiplication started and after that, I was toast.
The reason why this blows up my skirt so much, is because people watch this show, every freaking day and they hear the B.S. lie of homeschooled kids are demented and they believe it, because they hear this liberal buffoon saying this crap.
Let me just say this, as someone who attended Christian Schools all his life. There are many more demented kids in Public Schools, then they are in Private or among HomeSchooled kids.
Let me give a good example, Does anyone remember this picture?:
Remember this?:
Or Maybe this:
In case you don’t know what I am referring to, this video and pictures of the Columbine High School massacre which took place on Tuesday, April 20, 1999.
The two Demented shooters:
The Shooters: Eric Harris (left) and Dylan Klebold (right)
Public school kids, demented, in fact, it is recorded the about the two:
However, on the fifth anniversary of Columbine, the FBI’s lead Columbine investigator and several psychiatrists went public with their conclusions in a news article.[27] There they argued Harris was a clinical psychopath and Klebold was depressive. They believed the plan was masterminded by Harris, who they thought had a messianic-level superiority complex and hoped to illustrate his massive superiority to the world. – Source: Wikipedia
Um, Joy Behar, what was it you were saying about demented Homeschooled kids again?
Others Blogging: Conservative Pilgrim, The Daley Gator
(H/T independentpoliticalreport.com)
As I recover from Election Day and my US Senate campaign that preceded it, it is time to take stock of where the Libertarian Party stands and what we accomplished in the election season just passed.
While I know that we are disappointed that more of our candidates did not win, and that the Barr/Root presidential ticket and our other candidates did not win as many votes as most of us thought they would get, there is much that we gained in 2008 and a lot to be proud of for the Libertarian Party.
First, I think Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root were outstanding candidates that represented the ideas of individual liberty in an exemplary manner. There was not a single time that I saw them on television or looked at their Web sites where my reaction wasn’t, “Right on!” They represented our message of individual liberty and responsibility in an outstanding fashion, and I want to thank them for that. I also have personal knowledge of diligently the campaign staff worked—Russ Verney, Shane Cory, Mike Ferguson, Andrew Davis (on loan from LPHQ) and others. Thank you for dedication to the effort in the face of many challenges that were outside the control of any of us.
Two of our candidates for office earned over 1,000,000 votes. They were John Monds, who ran for Public Service Commission, District 1, in Georgia. His was a two-way statewide race (even though he going to represent a particular district). Also, William Bryan Strange polled a seven-digit number of votes for Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9, in Texas, in another two-way statewide election.
And, speaking of Georgia, our US Senate candidate in the Peach State, Allen Buckley, forced a nationally publicized runoff election between the two major party candidates. Also, Brandon Givens, Public Service Commission, District 4 in Georgia, forced a runoff election for the major party candidates for that office.
We came out of the 2008 election with ballot access for the presidential ticket in 27 states—the same number as at the end of the 2004—and more than any other minor party. However, one of those states that we gained was North Carolina, where Duke University professor Michael Munger earned nearly 3 percent of the vote for Governor, qualifying the Libertarian Party of North Carolina for the ballot for the next four years. That alone will save the LP about $200,000 in ballot access expenses—not to mention that it will allow more LP candidates to run for office over that period. We also achieved major party ballot status in Massachusetts, while we lost it in South Dakota.
Even though some people reregistered Republican to vote for Ron Paul in the presidential primaries, the number of voters registered LP nonetheless increased from 225,229 in February 2008 to 243,293 in October 2008. (Those numbers are from the 23 states that allow voters to register Libertarian and that report those numbers.)
The sustaining membership (those giving at least $25 over the past year) of the LP also increased; it is up over 22 percent from this time last year.
There is indisputably much that was accomplished this year for which we can all be proud.
However, our victories in 2008 not withstanding, the work of the Libertarian Party never ends. The battle for ballot access begins as soon as it ends, and we have no time to waste to keep the ball rolling. With ballot access, we need to do as much as we can, as soon as we can—to get it done and to get it done as efficiently as possible. Last minute fire drills greatly increase petitioning costs and risk not making the ballot at all.
How can you help with ballot access? First, donate to the Libertarian Party. You can do this at https://www.lp.org/contribute, or mail your donation to the Libertarian Party at the address noted on the front page of this newspaper. Your contribution of $25, $50, $100 or $1,000 will be used to begin the next cycle of ballot drives as absolutely soon as possible.
Also, please sign up for email announcements at LP.org to stay up to date on our ballot access projects. Even if you cannot help fund our drives with a donation, we could use your volunteer help collecting signatures where these drives will occur. Every volunteer signature means one less paid signature, and the savings add up.
Thank you for all your support of our candidates in 2008. Because of your efforts, the candidates of the Libertarian Party received more than 13 million votes! This is a record for the Party, and it is all due to our wonderful donors, volunteers and candidates across the country. I emphatically thank you all.
Sincerely,
William RedpathNational ChairmanLibertarian National Committee
Seen over at Taki’s Magazine:
A very well done video, I might add.
Do I dare go there? Why hell yes I dare! 😛
I got this via e-mail… It’s wrong as hell, but it’s funny… I think anyhow…
It’s going to be one funny 4 years. 😀 😛
He’s back with a new video! and a cool looking Website too! 😀 (Language Warning!)
It seems that my friends M.J. and Jake are going have to put Blogs for Borders on Long term hiatus, due to a personal financial situation. Hey, it’s tough everywhere right now, including in the world of border security. I know their pain, all too well, this is why I stick up for the middle class on this Blog.
Here’s their “final” Video:
I don’t know if they’ll be back, but until then, you can head on over to their Blog called “Freedom Folks” and check out the latest on the battle against illegal immigration.
