Liveblogging from the passport office in Hamilton today, there's something close to 90 people cooling their heels here today. The awesomely efficient staff had 5 wickets open 20 minutes ago, and now that the crowd has swelled they redoubled their efforts and currently have 8 open.
Somebody asked why they didn't go faster if all these people were waiting. I replied that they don't get more money if they do more work.
But maybe I'm just cranky. Must be the waiting. And waiting, and waiting...
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
How to understand LeftSpeak.
LeftSpeak is a special language developed by socialists over the years to obscure what they are trying to accomplish and make themselves look like kind, caring, reasonable people. Here is an example from the USA, where they are having a real infestation of socialism lately.
The way to understand this is to know that it is exactly, perfectly backwards. In normal English the esteemed Senator means that currently, medical care is a service which can be purchased for money by anyone in the USA. Americans have the right to buy any medical service they can pay for. What his party wants to do is seize control of the medical system, so that Americans can no longer buy what they need or want, they have to take what the government offers them, and they have to pay for it with tax dollars whether they use it or not. If you are privileged, well connected, or just bribe somebody, you will get taken care of. If not, not.
More bluntly, he's lying like a Persian carpet. I don't have the words to express the foulness of his lie. He should be friggin'
Because the truth of the matter is that health care is a service performed by humans who must be paid. Nobody has a right to someone else's labor, only to their own. Well, except in the case of slavery. Russians tried that, it ended badly.
What the Democrats are doing is not changing the nature of health care, they are changing the payment structure. Instead of you paying the doctor directly as in days of yore, and instead of you paying an insurance company to soak up the risk of catastrophic injury, you pay the Democrats. Then they decide what care, if any, you will get. Can you say "death panels"? Sure you can!
In Canada this sleight of hand was accomplished by Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada back in the 1970's. It has ruined our health care system and come close to ruining the country. It took the Liberals 30 years to get to the formation of death panels. Which are currently in the planning stage in Ontario, because Ontario is broke, baby. Can't afford to keep Grandma in hip replacements no more, she's had a good life let her go. For real, my friends. Really really.
Watching the Senator and his buddies on Capitol Hill, I suspect that the Liberal Party had smarter, less crooked people in it, and that's really saying something given the crooked, venal, disgusting morons the Liberals are. The Democrats will ruin American health care in less than ten years, I think.
That is what you're in for, proven by recent history in Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Australia, and all of Communism. Or you guys down there could cut them loose, I suppose. Here in Canada doctors and nurses are getting closer and closer to organized civil disobedience, just to keep their heads above water. Something to consider for when the steamroller derby moves to consolidate the House and Senate bills after Christmas. Call your politicians, promise them they will be ejected. Maybe get some recall votes going, unseat the bastards before the election even.
I'd like to see that Tom Harkin guy with his head in a sling, selling pencils on an Iowa street corner by April. Only fair, that's what he's got planned for y'all.
Oh and by the way, if you want health care to be a bit cheaper, two little words for you: tort reform. Cut costs by half in two years, I bet you. Or, you could just make it so the loser's LAWYER pays court costs in any lawsuit. No more slip-and-fall ambulance chasing.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, responded Tuesday to widespread criticism that Democrats only garnered the 60 votes needed to defeat Republican stalling tactics on the health reform bill by catering to self-interest, saying Democrats are focusing on the big picture...
"We have to keep our eyes on what we're trying to do here. We're trying to cross a demarcation line," Harkin told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "On one side is health care as a privilege, on the other side is health care as a right. With these votes, with the vote that we'll take before Christmas, we will cross that line finally and say that health care is a right of all Americans."
The way to understand this is to know that it is exactly, perfectly backwards. In normal English the esteemed Senator means that currently, medical care is a service which can be purchased for money by anyone in the USA. Americans have the right to buy any medical service they can pay for. What his party wants to do is seize control of the medical system, so that Americans can no longer buy what they need or want, they have to take what the government offers them, and they have to pay for it with tax dollars whether they use it or not. If you are privileged, well connected, or just bribe somebody, you will get taken care of. If not, not.
More bluntly, he's lying like a Persian carpet. I don't have the words to express the foulness of his lie. He should be friggin'
Because the truth of the matter is that health care is a service performed by humans who must be paid. Nobody has a right to someone else's labor, only to their own. Well, except in the case of slavery. Russians tried that, it ended badly.
What the Democrats are doing is not changing the nature of health care, they are changing the payment structure. Instead of you paying the doctor directly as in days of yore, and instead of you paying an insurance company to soak up the risk of catastrophic injury, you pay the Democrats. Then they decide what care, if any, you will get. Can you say "death panels"? Sure you can!
In Canada this sleight of hand was accomplished by Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada back in the 1970's. It has ruined our health care system and come close to ruining the country. It took the Liberals 30 years to get to the formation of death panels. Which are currently in the planning stage in Ontario, because Ontario is broke, baby. Can't afford to keep Grandma in hip replacements no more, she's had a good life let her go. For real, my friends. Really really.
Watching the Senator and his buddies on Capitol Hill, I suspect that the Liberal Party had smarter, less crooked people in it, and that's really saying something given the crooked, venal, disgusting morons the Liberals are. The Democrats will ruin American health care in less than ten years, I think.
That is what you're in for, proven by recent history in Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Australia, and all of Communism. Or you guys down there could cut them loose, I suppose. Here in Canada doctors and nurses are getting closer and closer to organized civil disobedience, just to keep their heads above water. Something to consider for when the steamroller derby moves to consolidate the House and Senate bills after Christmas. Call your politicians, promise them they will be ejected. Maybe get some recall votes going, unseat the bastards before the election even.
I'd like to see that Tom Harkin guy with his head in a sling, selling pencils on an Iowa street corner by April. Only fair, that's what he's got planned for y'all.
Oh and by the way, if you want health care to be a bit cheaper, two little words for you: tort reform. Cut costs by half in two years, I bet you. Or, you could just make it so the loser's LAWYER pays court costs in any lawsuit. No more slip-and-fall ambulance chasing.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Hopenchangen de-breif.
First my compliments to Kate McMillan, upon whose blog I posted the following comments. Her posting linked here formed the catalyst for my remarks below. Her work on the recent Climategate revelations has been absolutely excellent.
Ahem.
Ahem.
We are presented with an interesting opportunity (again) to observe how our modern culture handles truth. This video presents The Truth, and the data its based on have been known for many years. Watch it and observe that you haven't really learned anything you didn't already know, unless you are a kid in high school. In which case, my condolences.
Ice cores have been getting dug up in the Arctic and Antarctic since a loooong time, probably since the 1950's. I remember these ice age temperature graphics from my dinosaur books as a little kid. I have always known that it has been both -much- hotter and -much- colder right here in Southern Ontario. There are glacial moraines not two miles from here to remind me of both cooling AND warming, as they are formed by glaciers which are retreating. For a more dramatic bit of glaciation, google up the Wisconsin Dells. These facts are verifiable through ice cores, archeology, geology, countless methods to arrive at the same evidence: It has been warmer than today, and the world did not end. It has been colder than today, and the world did not end. You can go see some of the evidence in person, don't even need a shovel.
But over the last 20 to 30 years the entire climate science agenda has been bent on obscuring and denying this reality which we all know. Coincidentally TV became the dominant news platform during that time, and a lot of scholarly specialties have been taken over by post-modern leftists. I watched it happen in Anthropology as a kid, and am watching it happen in medicine presently.
Now, today, we finally have people willing to RE-tell the truth, but not on TV. Coincidentally we have the internet providing another news source independent of TV, radio, newspapers and wire services. Coincidences which I find extremely interesting, to say the least. How many coincidences does it take before one suspects foul play? But that is a different story.
What will be most illuminating is the length of time it takes for decision makers in private industry and government to adjust to this re-revelation of what we all learned at school back in the day.
Cranky reactionary curmudgeons like Rush Limbaugh (and myself, and Kate, and y'all, sorry but that's our role in this narrative) have been raging on since the late 1980's that AGW is a freakin' fairy tale being told by real fairies, but we don't really count. We're just cranky.
What counts is the emergence of the non-cranky, non-conservative "reasonable" people. Meaning mildly left leaning liberal academics who looked at the data and said "Hey, wait a second... WTF is this?" These would be people who woke up one morning and realized that somebody spiked the koolaid they drank in undergrad Climate 101.
Right now we are about five years into the Rise of the Reasonable Climate Skeptics by my fairly sloppy rule of thumb, and the true believers are starting to get upset. Bets are starting to be hedged, Wall Street types are moving money around, the craftier politicians are very quietly making new deals in case the existing AGW deal falls through. How much longer will it take the rats to run off and the AGW ship to sink?
I've been making the prediction that Obama will be the last presidential candidate in the USA to run on AGW/climate change. The problem with that prediction is that it assumes a certain amount of common sense and self preservation on the Left side of the spectrum. This may not be possible for them though, because they have so deeply bought in to the ideological Green movement that they will go down with it. They are in this far, far deeper than they were with gun control in the 1990's and their own people probably won't allow them to escape. I mean, just imagine Nancy Pelosi grabbing on to Climategate Obama (or much more likely his replacement, I don't see Bary getting the Democrat nomination in 2012 after the Hopenchangen FIASCO he just put on) may well be forced by the nutroots of the Democrat party to run on an eco-fiend-ly carbon-tax-em-till-they-bleed platform to Save The World!
I hope so. It'll be AWESOME! ~:D
The Phantom Climate Denier.Friday, December 11, 2009
UN press conference, SHUT OFF THAT CAMERA, YOU!
Just so we are all perfectly clear where the IPCC and the UN stand on freedom of speech and freedom of the press:
Just so there's no possible mistake which side of the fight for truth justice and freedom the UN is on, eh?
The Phantom
A Stanford Professor has used United Nation security officers to silence a journalist asking him "inconvenient questions" during a press briefing at the climate change conference in Copenhagen.
Professor Stephen Schneider's assistant requested armed UN security officers who held film maker Phelim McAleer, ordered him to stop filming and prevented further questioning after the press conference where the Stanford academic was launching a book.
The video is classic. Big gut security boy playing the heavy. Sweet.
The reporter's questions weren't out of line either. "How do you feel about scientists destroying data collected with public money?" "How do you feel about Phil Jones telling people to delete inconvenient emails?"
The reporter's questions weren't out of line either. "How do you feel about scientists destroying data collected with public money?" "How do you feel about Phil Jones telling people to delete inconvenient emails?"
Just so there's no possible mistake which side of the fight for truth justice and freedom the UN is on, eh?
The Phantom
When is a good time for your pistol to jam?
The only good time for a pistol to jam is after it has been stolen.
Amazingly, the rat didn't manage to kill anybody else in his suicide-by-cop because he probably held the gun sideways, punk style. The gun he'd never fired before and just assumed would work like in the movies. Thank you Hollywood, for making sure an entire generation of scum can't hit a barn from the inside, and think pieces of junk like the Mac 10 never malfunction. I know that wasn't the Hollywood plan, but thanks anyway. If there are going to be violent criminals, its good that they should be incompetent.
This is the only problem with Rudy Giuliani's Broken Windows policing policy. When you stop busting every single J-walker, double parker, dime bag saleman, graffiti artist and "illegal street peddler" the rats get bolder. Rats never sleep, something Liberals just can't seem to wrap their heads around. You have to keep them scared, or they come out and take over the place. Like during the fabulous reign of NYC mayor David Dinkins when the cops never ever got out of their cars.
Or like right now in Toronto, where they only arrest minorities when they are shop keepers who capture shoplifters.
The Phantom
Police said the gunman got off two shots before his [stolen] weapon jammed while the officer fired four times.
The bullets piercing nearby windows and even a baseball from a gift shop, but amazingly no one else was hurt.
Amazingly, the rat didn't manage to kill anybody else in his suicide-by-cop because he probably held the gun sideways, punk style. The gun he'd never fired before and just assumed would work like in the movies. Thank you Hollywood, for making sure an entire generation of scum can't hit a barn from the inside, and think pieces of junk like the Mac 10 never malfunction. I know that wasn't the Hollywood plan, but thanks anyway. If there are going to be violent criminals, its good that they should be incompetent.
This is the only problem with Rudy Giuliani's Broken Windows policing policy. When you stop busting every single J-walker, double parker, dime bag saleman, graffiti artist and "illegal street peddler" the rats get bolder. Rats never sleep, something Liberals just can't seem to wrap their heads around. You have to keep them scared, or they come out and take over the place. Like during the fabulous reign of NYC mayor David Dinkins when the cops never ever got out of their cars.
Or like right now in Toronto, where they only arrest minorities when they are shop keepers who capture shoplifters.
The Phantom
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Barry to GOP: Stop Scaring America, You Capitalist Bastards!
Yep, Barry's decided the problem with the USA is the scary Republicans and all their scary talk.
Because this here isn't scary at all. "The children who attended Kevin Jennnings’ 2005 GLSEN Conference also left with their own “Little Black Book – Queer in the 21st Century”. One word my friends, watersports. Yes its one word. If you have to look up what it means, you REALLY don't want to know what it means. But Kevin Jennings, watersports expert, is Barry's Safe Schools Czar. That's not scary at all.
And this is cool too. No scariness here. "The Obama administration is warning Congress that if it doesn't move to regulate greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency will take a "command-and-control" role over the process in a way that could hurt business. "
Or this: "President Barack Obama outlined new multibillion-dollar stimulus and jobs proposals Tuesday, saying the nation must continue to "spend our way out of this recession" until more Americans are back at work." Because all the spending to date has been working so well!
I could go on (and on... and on...) but it has become obvious by now that the Republicans are out of control! Clearly, any objections MUST be pure partisanship.
Damn Republicans! I hate those bastards.
In other news, sales of guns and ammunition remain brisk across the USA, if down from their record peak a bit. Supply side can't keep up with sales, apparently.
Because this here isn't scary at all. "The children who attended Kevin Jennnings’ 2005 GLSEN Conference also left with their own “Little Black Book – Queer in the 21st Century”. One word my friends, watersports. Yes its one word. If you have to look up what it means, you REALLY don't want to know what it means. But Kevin Jennings, watersports expert, is Barry's Safe Schools Czar. That's not scary at all.
And this is cool too. No scariness here. "The Obama administration is warning Congress that if it doesn't move to regulate greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency will take a "command-and-control" role over the process in a way that could hurt business. "
Or this: "President Barack Obama outlined new multibillion-dollar stimulus and jobs proposals Tuesday, saying the nation must continue to "spend our way out of this recession" until more Americans are back at work." Because all the spending to date has been working so well!
I could go on (and on... and on...) but it has become obvious by now that the Republicans are out of control! Clearly, any objections MUST be pure partisanship.
Damn Republicans! I hate those bastards.
In other news, sales of guns and ammunition remain brisk across the USA, if down from their record peak a bit. Supply side can't keep up with sales, apparently.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Here's some REAL science for ya.
I was going to post something about the revelation that global warming really IS a pile of steaming poo, but Kate is doing that much better than I can. So all I'm going to say about it is: I toldya so. Toldya toldya tollllllllldya!
Today we have a truly great discovery in biology.
We have known for a very long time that things move around inside a cell under their own power. We have known that DNA and RNA get copied and read for instructions by little gizmos that somehow drive the RNA strand through themselves. What's cool about this is now we know HOW they do it. The actual guts of the molecular sized motor that makes it go are laid bare.
This is like finally getting the hood off your new Dodge Challenger and seeing the Hemi inside for the first time. We get to watch the pistons move, see the gas squirt in, see the compression stroke and BANG watch it go round and round.
Check out the little video, its cool.
The Phantom
Today we have a truly great discovery in biology.
The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). These protein motors play pivotal roles in gene expression and replication, and are vital to the survival of all biological cells, as well as infectious agents, such as the human papillomavirus, which has been linked to cervical cancer.
We have known for a very long time that things move around inside a cell under their own power. We have known that DNA and RNA get copied and read for instructions by little gizmos that somehow drive the RNA strand through themselves. What's cool about this is now we know HOW they do it. The actual guts of the molecular sized motor that makes it go are laid bare.
This is like finally getting the hood off your new Dodge Challenger and seeing the Hemi inside for the first time. We get to watch the pistons move, see the gas squirt in, see the compression stroke and BANG watch it go round and round.
Check out the little video, its cool.
The Phantom
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Confusion in the enemy ranks!
In the Blob and Snail today, uberLefty Gerald Caplan attacks Smilin' Jack Layton for not being Lefty enough. I love this!
The bitter divisions over the long-gun registry are by no means over. When the House supported the bill to abolish the registry, it left significant numbers of Canadians feeling betrayed and wondering how to vote in the next election.Many of us lobbied publicly and privately against passage of this bill. The Liberals and New Democrats in Ottawa heard in no uncertain terms from a large, spontaneous alliance of their own political supporters and potential supporters. Trade unions, feminist organizations, NGOs, ordinary women, social activists of all kinds, women like Suzanne Laplante-Edwards whose daughter had been murdered by Marc Lepine in the Montréal massacre – all pleaded with both parties to stand united to defeat the bill. It did no good.
That's right Gerald, it did no good and the registry is done like dinner. This is because, oddly enough, Jack Layton is not a complete fool, and chose not to let his party die on this hill. Layton knows that continued support for the odious, useless and obscenely expensive registry will ensure the NDP never again gets a single seat in the West or in a rural riding anywhere else.
But please, keep attacking Taliban Jack. Do it louder and harder. Division and disorder among dippers is beautiful music to my ears.
The Mean Phantom
But please, keep attacking Taliban Jack. Do it louder and harder. Division and disorder among dippers is beautiful music to my ears.
The Mean Phantom
Thursday, November 19, 2009
So, WHY do we have to sue to get basic police services in Caledonia?
I'm following along in the papers with the Dave Brown Linda Chatwell lawsuit against the province and the OPP. Currently we have sworn testimony from individual OPP officers that they ignored Mohawk Warrior thugs doing violence to Caledonia residents UNDER ORDERS. Which confirms two things I've been saying, one is that OPP rank and file doesn't do crap like this except under duress from upper management (and they are pretty peeved about it too), and the other is that this whole cluster frack is organized crime. All of it.
The links: National Post
Toronto (Red) Star
Christy Blatchford at the Blob & Snail
The Hamilton Speculator (aka the Red Star)
The Regional News
Caledonia Wakeup Call has the whole thing with more links than you can shake a stick at. I can't read these things, they just torque me off too badly.
The question arises though, what sane political leadership allows things like this to continue, when all it can do is damage their chances at re-election. Why the hell would they do this?
All along I've been assuming that Big Names are on the take, because this is billion dollar sized stuff going on here. But I might be wrong about that. Check it:
Given that the HRTO is an official Ontario government outfit, I find I must re-examine my assumption of crime in high places and include the possibility that they are merely insane. Comprehensively barking mad. Whacko. Loopy. Three fries short of a Happy Meal.
Where's the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party? Why am I not seeing the Sterling Street bridge on fire in Conservative political ads every day? This lawsuit is a gift from the heavens. What the F%#& are you people doing, SLEEPING? Wake the hell up and smell your new majority brewing, morons!
The links: National Post
Toronto (Red) Star
Christy Blatchford at the Blob & Snail
The Hamilton Speculator (aka the Red Star)
The Regional News
Caledonia Wakeup Call has the whole thing with more links than you can shake a stick at. I can't read these things, they just torque me off too badly.
The question arises though, what sane political leadership allows things like this to continue, when all it can do is damage their chances at re-election. Why the hell would they do this?
All along I've been assuming that Big Names are on the take, because this is billion dollar sized stuff going on here. But I might be wrong about that. Check it:
Early one morning, Sharon Abbott was delivering newspapers to homes in Toronto's west end. Police Sergeant Stephen Ruffino observed her car double-parked outside an apartment.She then proceeds to break a bunch of traffic laws and refuses to stop, so obviously the cop busts her. Duh. Now the fun begins:
Yeah, I always expect docility from the black people I meet. We learnt that in school along with wife beating and cow tipping.Although the HRTO [Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario] found no "conscious" racism on Sgt. Ruffino's part, it nonetheless concluded his actions were motivated by a deep-seated prejudice ... of which he was apparently entirely unaware.
The Tribunal also stated, without substantiation, that white people in authority have "an expectation of docility and compliance" from black people they encounter.
Given that the HRTO is an official Ontario government outfit, I find I must re-examine my assumption of crime in high places and include the possibility that they are merely insane. Comprehensively barking mad. Whacko. Loopy. Three fries short of a Happy Meal.
Where's the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party? Why am I not seeing the Sterling Street bridge on fire in Conservative political ads every day? This lawsuit is a gift from the heavens. What the F%#& are you people doing, SLEEPING? Wake the hell up and smell your new majority brewing, morons!
Religion of Pieces?
Say what you want about rednecks and domestic violence, usually when they beat their ex to death it doesn't take six of them to git 'er done. One redneck, a case of beer and a pool cue is pretty much the norm.
And they don't usually cut bits off to save for later.
Just sayin'.
Oh and by the way. I wouldn't want to twist the multi-culti knife or anything, but do you think a concerned neighbor, say a big huge REDNECK with a 12 gauge pump would have been useful in this situation? Like maybe while she was screaming like an air raid siren as they cut her hand off? Or haggled it off more likely, incompetent fucks probably used a knife.
Next anti-gun pacifist I meet is getting my size 10 boot in their ass, you better believe it.
And they don't usually cut bits off to save for later.
Just sayin'.
Oh and by the way. I wouldn't want to twist the multi-culti knife or anything, but do you think a concerned neighbor, say a big huge REDNECK with a 12 gauge pump would have been useful in this situation? Like maybe while she was screaming like an air raid siren as they cut her hand off? Or haggled it off more likely, incompetent fucks probably used a knife.
Next anti-gun pacifist I meet is getting my size 10 boot in their ass, you better believe it.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The End of the Democrat Party? Gawd I hope so.
I has been my feeling for some time now that the election of Barack Obama marks the end of the Democrat Party as presently constituted. Today's stories which support this thesis:
Jail time for people who don't get health insurance. I kid you not.
U.S. Department of Justice sent a subpoena to Indymedia ordering it to provide details of all reader visits
I don't see that as a recipe for roaring success in 2010 and 2012 elections. I do see it as the last desperate grab of a party who sees its former power base in the mainstream media being decimated by new technology, and its collectivist/pacifist ideology being demonstrated as both false and dangerous by the economy and the war.
Couple that with a spectacularly incompetent President, and you have the end of the Democrats. The Republicans can run a yellow dog against Obama in 2012 and the dog will win. Go Old Yeller!
The Phantom
Jail time for people who don't get health insurance. I kid you not.
During an exclusive interview with ABC News' Jake Tapper today, President Obama said that penalties are appropriate for people who try to "free ride" the health care system but stopped short of endorsing the threat of jail time for those who refuse to pay a fine for not having insurance.
"What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance and if you don't, you're subject to some penalty, that in this situation, if you have the ability to buy insurance, it's affordable and you choose not to do so, forcing you and me and everybody else to subsidize you, you know, there's a thousand dollar hidden tax that families all across America are -- are burdened by because of the fact that people don't have health insurance, you know, there's nothing wrong with a penalty."
Ft. Hood attacker may have "cracked from stress".
Note that Barry is off to Ft. Hood today, I have no doubt his speech will be mellifluous, moving and utterly meaningless upon close examination. Except possibly for yet another warning to the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to lay off the backlash crap. The VRWC seems to be easily cowed by all this tough talk from Democrats, they haven't even spray-painted a mosque this week.
JAKE TAPPER, ABC NEWS: Philosophically, what separates an act of violence from an act of terrorism?
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, look, we -- we have seen, in the past, rampages of this sort. And in a country of 300 million people, there are going to be acts of violence that are inexplicable. Even within the extraordinary military that we have -- and I think everybody understands how outstanding the young men and women in uniform are under the most severe stress -- there are going to be instances in which an individual cracks. I think the questions that we're asking now and we don't have yet complete answers to is, is this an individual who's acting in this way or is it some larger set of actors? You know, what are the motivations? Those are all questions that I think we have to ask ourselves. Until we have these answers buttoned down, I'd rather not comment on it.
Note that Barry is off to Ft. Hood today, I have no doubt his speech will be mellifluous, moving and utterly meaningless upon close examination. Except possibly for yet another warning to the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to lay off the backlash crap. The VRWC seems to be easily cowed by all this tough talk from Democrats, they haven't even spray-painted a mosque this week.
Chicago mayor blames guns for the Ft. Hood attack.
"Unfortunately, America loves Guns. We love guns to a point where that uh we see devastation on a daily basis. You don't blame a group."
U.S. Department of Justice sent a subpoena to Indymedia ordering it to provide details of all reader visits
In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.
The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.
note that this ain't the Daughters of the American Revolution:
Taken together, we have a regime that considers its citizens a bunch of crooks, idiots and madmen on the thin edge of exploding, who must be threatened into good behavior. A regime who's minions won't follow their own rules, and who don't even distinguish friends from enemies. A uniform policy of "comply or be ground under" is in force, and Leftists are not exempt. They hate that. Bush was supposed to be Hitler, not their guy. I can hear the "WTF?!" explosions from here.
The Independent Media Center is a left-of-center amalgamation of journalists and advocates that – according to their principles of unity and mission statement – work toward "promoting social and economic justice" and "social change."
Taken together, we have a regime that considers its citizens a bunch of crooks, idiots and madmen on the thin edge of exploding, who must be threatened into good behavior. A regime who's minions won't follow their own rules, and who don't even distinguish friends from enemies. A uniform policy of "comply or be ground under" is in force, and Leftists are not exempt. They hate that. Bush was supposed to be Hitler, not their guy. I can hear the "WTF?!" explosions from here.
I don't see that as a recipe for roaring success in 2010 and 2012 elections. I do see it as the last desperate grab of a party who sees its former power base in the mainstream media being decimated by new technology, and its collectivist/pacifist ideology being demonstrated as both false and dangerous by the economy and the war.
Couple that with a spectacularly incompetent President, and you have the end of the Democrats. The Republicans can run a yellow dog against Obama in 2012 and the dog will win. Go Old Yeller!
The Phantom
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Regarding the Ft. Hood attack.
First of all, let's not screw around with euphemisms about tragedy or crime. The media response is beyond insane and getting well into the range of traitorous, you ask me.
This was an enemy attack on the US military, and a damn good one. Surprise was complete, and the attacker was a competent shooter. 100+ rounds fired for 30+ wounded and 13 deceased is nearly a 50% hit ratio. Better than the usual bullet spray these types of attackers normally manage.
Armed response to it was one (1) female trafffic cop with the heart of a lion. If not for Officer Kimberly Munley, the jihadist would have killed many more people. All praise and honor to Kimberly Munley for sheer guts, for her marksmanship while under fire and particularly for continuing to function and return accurate fire after being severely wounded through both legs. Magnificent.
Kate at Small Dead Animals has posted a report by a friend of hers who was a paramedic at the scene. Read it, it will give you a good idea of what went on after the shooting stopped. Magnificent effort by the EMS people and the Army people on site. Many were save who might have died.
Article here by The Spectator UK on the epic fail by US officialdom to red flag the shooter ages ago.
It has also been revealed that he went to the same mosque with some of the 9/11 terrorists before they flew into the World Trade Center. No dots connected, eyes averted, fingers in ears, shouting LALALALALALA...
The reaction by the media is all the explanation we need for the willful blindness of the Army and medical officials. If anyone had even gently suggested that maybe the shooter might want to reconsider some of his whacky Islamic pronouncements they would have been pilloried, treated worse than pedophiles in fact. Its not a breakdown of security we're looking at here, its official policy. They did not connect any dots, deliberately, because they weren't allowed to. The American media demands it be that way.
My question is a little more practical. What possible excuse is there for having the only armed human being on a military base, in war time no less, be the civilian traffic cop? No MP's, no base defense SWAT team, no armed NCO's keeping an eye on the new recruits? What the hell is that? Scout camp?
The truth is even without the PC See No Evil approach, no conceivable security apparatus can dig out every enemy agent. They will get in, and they will attack. The only sane policy is to arm your people so they can be of some use when the attack comes.
Possibly now that they have taken serious casualties, some generals will re-think their idiotic gun-free-zone base arrangements. Possibly I hope for too much, but they are looking really, really bad right now so we'll see.
If they do re-arm common base personnel rest assured they will do it quietly. Barry Obama has made his priorities very clear, what with the shout-outs during his short speech about the attack, his "don't jump to conclusions" comments and his no-visit to the hospital because he was too busy with the health care bill and golfing this weekend. We got it, Barry. Message received, big daddy.
The Seriously Torqued Off Phantom
Update! Sometimes a cigar really IS a cigar:
This was an enemy attack on the US military, and a damn good one. Surprise was complete, and the attacker was a competent shooter. 100+ rounds fired for 30+ wounded and 13 deceased is nearly a 50% hit ratio. Better than the usual bullet spray these types of attackers normally manage.
Armed response to it was one (1) female trafffic cop with the heart of a lion. If not for Officer Kimberly Munley, the jihadist would have killed many more people. All praise and honor to Kimberly Munley for sheer guts, for her marksmanship while under fire and particularly for continuing to function and return accurate fire after being severely wounded through both legs. Magnificent.
Kate at Small Dead Animals has posted a report by a friend of hers who was a paramedic at the scene. Read it, it will give you a good idea of what went on after the shooting stopped. Magnificent effort by the EMS people and the Army people on site. Many were save who might have died.
Article here by The Spectator UK on the epic fail by US officialdom to red flag the shooter ages ago.
There can be no doubt whatever that this was a jihadi attack upon America, not least from the evidence that has now surfaced of Major Hasan's attitudes for months before his rampage – evidence that the US authorities simply ignored.
...Yet not only did the US authorities ignore these warning signs that its army psychiatrist was an Islamist fanatic – it has been revealed that he was even a member of the Homeland Security panel advising on the presidential transition -- but much of the media reaction to the atrocity on both sides of the Atlantic has demonstrated an astounding state of denial.
It has also been revealed that he went to the same mosque with some of the 9/11 terrorists before they flew into the World Trade Center. No dots connected, eyes averted, fingers in ears, shouting LALALALALALA...
The reaction by the media is all the explanation we need for the willful blindness of the Army and medical officials. If anyone had even gently suggested that maybe the shooter might want to reconsider some of his whacky Islamic pronouncements they would have been pilloried, treated worse than pedophiles in fact. Its not a breakdown of security we're looking at here, its official policy. They did not connect any dots, deliberately, because they weren't allowed to. The American media demands it be that way.
My question is a little more practical. What possible excuse is there for having the only armed human being on a military base, in war time no less, be the civilian traffic cop? No MP's, no base defense SWAT team, no armed NCO's keeping an eye on the new recruits? What the hell is that? Scout camp?
The truth is even without the PC See No Evil approach, no conceivable security apparatus can dig out every enemy agent. They will get in, and they will attack. The only sane policy is to arm your people so they can be of some use when the attack comes.
Possibly now that they have taken serious casualties, some generals will re-think their idiotic gun-free-zone base arrangements. Possibly I hope for too much, but they are looking really, really bad right now so we'll see.
If they do re-arm common base personnel rest assured they will do it quietly. Barry Obama has made his priorities very clear, what with the shout-outs during his short speech about the attack, his "don't jump to conclusions" comments and his no-visit to the hospital because he was too busy with the health care bill and golfing this weekend. We got it, Barry. Message received, big daddy.
The Seriously Torqued Off Phantom
Update! Sometimes a cigar really IS a cigar:
U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.
More lyin'...
The Red Star is on a roll.
The Regusted Phantom
Darn Conservatives! Vote Liberal, they are much nicer. We know, because they give us goodies when they come to our newsroom every morning and tell us what to print that day.Prime Minister Stephen Harper's law-and-order Conservatives have no valid reason to kill off Canada's rifle and shotgun registry, beyond pandering to their rural constituencies. So they've resorted to playing up the cost of the so-called "long gun" database and denying its usefulness, trying to cast it in the worst possible light.
And sadly, with support from a handful of spineless New Democrats and Liberals, the Harper government nudged forward a private member's bill in the Commons last week that would kill the long gun registry and deprive police of a crime-fighting tool they find helpful.
The Regusted Phantom
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Star keeps on lying and lying.
If you want to see the most shameless display of brown nosing to a political party ever in Canadian history, just read anything they write about the gun registry.
Today's pack of lies, headlined "Firearms database popular with police" :
So the Star's message is the cops LOVE the registry, it provides valuable info that they access all the time, and more people are registering their guns because the number registered keeps going up.
Lie one, cops don't love the registry. Cops -ignore- the registry because it contains zero useful information. Unless they are checking to see if a specific person has a license or that a specific gun is registered, the registry tells them nothing they can use.
Lie two, cops are checking the registry more. The registry gets checked with every police database inquiry. If they run your plate for a parking ticket, the registry gets checked. Its automatic.
Lie three, "more guns in the hands of Canadians are being legally registered." Implying people are all happy about it and getting on board. New purchases get registered because they have to, and that is what the number indicates. New purchases. Possibly more people are buying guns? Gee, ya think?
The best part is where they go after the Conservatives.
Yeah, 9,700 traffic tickets and 300 actual questions about an actual gun. But you know, its STILL A LIE, because the implication is these are police inquiries about criminal matters. No, they aren't. Most of them are POLICE INVENTORY CHECKS. Also museums, stores buying and selling between themselves and to customers, and etc. The registry is lucky if it gets one inquiry a day about a gun used in an actual crime.
And is anything worthwhile learned? NO! They learn who owned it before it got stolen, not who used it in a crime.
But all that aside. Since when do we arrange public policy to keep the RCMP happy? Is this a police state where the cops call the tune and we all dance?
The Star thinks it should be, and so does the Liberal Party of Canada. Me, I don't think so.
Today's pack of lies, headlined "Firearms database popular with police" :
New quarterly figures posted on the RCMP's website reveal not just increased police use of the controversial firearms registry, but increased civilian use as well, meaning more guns in the hands of Canadians are being legally registered.
So the Star's message is the cops LOVE the registry, it provides valuable info that they access all the time, and more people are registering their guns because the number registered keeps going up.
Lie one, cops don't love the registry. Cops -ignore- the registry because it contains zero useful information. Unless they are checking to see if a specific person has a license or that a specific gun is registered, the registry tells them nothing they can use.
Lie two, cops are checking the registry more. The registry gets checked with every police database inquiry. If they run your plate for a parking ticket, the registry gets checked. Its automatic.
Lie three, "more guns in the hands of Canadians are being legally registered." Implying people are all happy about it and getting on board. New purchases get registered because they have to, and that is what the number indicates. New purchases. Possibly more people are buying guns? Gee, ya think?
The best part is where they go after the Conservatives.
Those cheaters!!!MP Dave MacKenzie, parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, quietly tabled the 2008 report in the Commons, and left without taking questions from reporters. A largely positive review of the gun-control program, the 2008 report was not released prior to a Commons vote Wednesday that now puts the long-gun registry's future in doubt.
Cheater, he's lyin' too! Well, but except he's not. They even say so:Van Loan justified withholding the 2008 report until now, saying it contained "no new information," and accused staff of the national database of failing to provide relevant statistics in an attempt "to justify the existence" of the registry.
The minister, who was unavailable after the report's release, claimed that although police use of the registry has increased, "only 2.4 per cent" of police queries to the database were related to long-gun registration or serial numbers.
Of the more than 10,000 daily queries, the average number directly related to the guns registered – the serial number or registration certificate – was 296 or 2.7 per cent. But that number is not broken down to long guns versus other firearms.
Yeah, 9,700 traffic tickets and 300 actual questions about an actual gun. But you know, its STILL A LIE, because the implication is these are police inquiries about criminal matters. No, they aren't. Most of them are POLICE INVENTORY CHECKS. Also museums, stores buying and selling between themselves and to customers, and etc. The registry is lucky if it gets one inquiry a day about a gun used in an actual crime.
And is anything worthwhile learned? NO! They learn who owned it before it got stolen, not who used it in a crime.
But all that aside. Since when do we arrange public policy to keep the RCMP happy? Is this a police state where the cops call the tune and we all dance?
The Star thinks it should be, and so does the Liberal Party of Canada. Me, I don't think so.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
So why are we all lining up for swine flu vaccine?
We are all lining up because there is one (1) manufacturer of the swine flu vaccine, and they are having "production problems". That's why. There's a shortage due to incompetence and/or misadventure at the sole provider.
Next question, why is there only one (1) manufacturer? How stupid is that? What idiot decided that? Harper?
Well, no. Not Harper.
Jean Chretien. In 2002, as it happens.
By a miracle, CTV actually did their freakin' jobs for once and dug that little gem up out of the memory hole.
Way to go, Liberals.
Next question, why is there only one (1) manufacturer? How stupid is that? What idiot decided that? Harper?
Well, no. Not Harper.
Jean Chretien. In 2002, as it happens.
By a miracle, CTV actually did their freakin' jobs for once and dug that little gem up out of the memory hole.
Way to go, Liberals.
The exact thing that makes Toronto suck.
We have here in this story from the Toronto (Red) Star the exact thing that makes Toronto suck as a place to live and work.
Store owner catches shop lifter dead to rights, WITH VIDEO to boot, tackles the guy, doesn't harm the shoplifter at all, waits for the cops to finally get there. What happens?
Mr. Chen's comment is the beautiful round red cherry on top:
The Phreakin' Irritated Phantom
Store owner catches shop lifter dead to rights, WITH VIDEO to boot, tackles the guy, doesn't harm the shoplifter at all, waits for the cops to finally get there. What happens?
That my friends is what makes Toronto suck. The Powers That Be are making it suck on purpose. They think it is much more important that David Chen knows his place than that Anthony Bennett should be prevented from shoplifting. Mr. Chen's place is tax payer peon, not free man of business.[David Chen] The 35-year-old shopkeeper and two of his employees were arrested following a May 23 incident in which they allegedly chased down and tied up a shoplifter, detaining him in a delivery truck until police arrived.
[David] Chen, Jie Chen, 21, and Qing Li, 40, were charged with assault, forcible confinement, carrying a concealed weapon and kidnapping.
But in a pre-trial hearing Tuesday morning, Crown prosecutor Colleen Hepburn tossed out the latter two charges for all three men.
This was welcome news for Chen and his lawyer, Peter Lindsay, but outside the courthouse, both expressed dismay with the Crown's decision to proceed to trial on the other two charges.
"I don't believe that Mr. Chen should have ever faced criminal charges," Lindsay told a group of reporters in front of Old City Hall.
"My much-preferred outcome would have been that all four (charges) had been dropped."
On Aug. 17, Anthony Bennett pleaded guilty to stealing 10 plants from Chen's Lucky Moose Food Mart on Dundas St. W., as well as plant thefts at another store on King St. W.
Bennett was sentenced to 30 days in prison.
Bennett will now testify as a Crown witness at Chen's trial, which is scheduled to begin on June 21.
If convicted, Chen and his co-accused face a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
Mr. Chen's comment is the beautiful round red cherry on top:
He ought to know, he's from there. If he thinks he'd get better police service and be safer from abjectly stupid justice officials in COMMUNIST CHINA, maybe that's something we ought to think about a little bit. I can tell y'all one thing, if he'd done this in Phoenix Arizona he would have got the Good Citizenship award from Sheriff Joe Arpaio's own hand, with an additional commendation for his restraint in not shooting the shoplifting son of a bitch."In China, if this happened, a lot of people in the area would help, plus the police would arrive immediately," he said in Mandarin.
"The thief would be on trial, not the store owner."
The Phreakin' Irritated Phantom
The Canadian media and why they are going out of business.
The Toronto (Red) Star flatly lies about the long gun registry and an upcoming bill to repeal it. Business as usual at the Red Star.
First we have the "news" story wherein we see this lovely statement.
That is simply not true. The gun registry was created as an election campaign ploy to win votes from the Kim Campbell PCs in 1993. It was rammed through in 1995 by the detestable Alan Rock despite vociferous and intense disagreement from police services across the country, including the RCMP. Rocky went with it anyway, because it looked good to Liberal voters in 905/416, and because it gave Liberals a bat to beat up PC voters everywhere.
Everybody knows this. Its no secret.
Here's the opinion piece, wherein they say:
First we have the "news" story wherein we see this lovely statement.
"I'm concerned about the vote," Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley said in an interview.
"People shouldn't play politics with public safety. The gun registry saves lives; it protects police officers," Bentley said.
Well we do expect Liberal politicians to lie, so that statement is no real shocker.
But the last sentence in the piece is:The registry was established as part of an overhaul of gun laws after the 1989 Montreal massacre.
That is simply not true. The gun registry was created as an election campaign ploy to win votes from the Kim Campbell PCs in 1993. It was rammed through in 1995 by the detestable Alan Rock despite vociferous and intense disagreement from police services across the country, including the RCMP. Rocky went with it anyway, because it looked good to Liberal voters in 905/416, and because it gave Liberals a bat to beat up PC voters everywhere.
Everybody knows this. Its no secret.
Here's the opinion piece, wherein they say:
The gun registry was a reaction to the 1989 "Montreal massacre" – where, it should be noted, the killer used a rifle, not a handgun. But it soon became a political football, with the Reform party, in particular, vilifying it as unwarranted intrusion on the rights of legitimate gun owners. The public has split on the issue largely along the rural/urban divide, exploited by Reform and, latterly, the Conservatives.
The politicization of this issue is unfortunate. As Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says, the gun registry is really an issue of public safety, and "public safety is everybody's issue." Wavering Liberal and NDP MPs ought to take heed of his words.
Again, the gun registry was a political ploy from the outset, to give Alan Rock a way of looking tough on crime without actually being tough on crime.
The net result of the gun registry has been two things. First, it gave the Liberal Party of Canada a way to steal two billion dollars from the taxpayer. That's $2,000,000,000 for a database you could run on a laptop. Really. The whole thing is less than a gigabyte of records. Even the most appalling stupidity can't explain why something so trivial can cost two billion. It isn't like they were trying to automate health records or something, right?
Second and much more dangerous, is that the majority of gun owners have defied the law. It is estimated (by reliable sources, not the Liberals) that there are between five and seven million gun owners in this country, and that they posses anywhere from 16 to 20 million guns between them. Currently less than three million gun owners are registered. Three to five million Canadians have decided to risk ten years in jail rather than comply with this asinine law.
When people openly defy the law, that's a bad thing. When they defy a STUPID law because the have to, that is much, much worse. Liberals don't care, and the Star doesn't care.
That's why the Star and the other big papers are in so much trouble. They know the above lies are lies. They know that we know they are lying. They continue to lie anyway. Recipe for disaster, and disaster is what they've got.
Looks good on them. Liars never prosper.
The net result of the gun registry has been two things. First, it gave the Liberal Party of Canada a way to steal two billion dollars from the taxpayer. That's $2,000,000,000 for a database you could run on a laptop. Really. The whole thing is less than a gigabyte of records. Even the most appalling stupidity can't explain why something so trivial can cost two billion. It isn't like they were trying to automate health records or something, right?
Second and much more dangerous, is that the majority of gun owners have defied the law. It is estimated (by reliable sources, not the Liberals) that there are between five and seven million gun owners in this country, and that they posses anywhere from 16 to 20 million guns between them. Currently less than three million gun owners are registered. Three to five million Canadians have decided to risk ten years in jail rather than comply with this asinine law.
When people openly defy the law, that's a bad thing. When they defy a STUPID law because the have to, that is much, much worse. Liberals don't care, and the Star doesn't care.
That's why the Star and the other big papers are in so much trouble. They know the above lies are lies. They know that we know they are lying. They continue to lie anyway. Recipe for disaster, and disaster is what they've got.
Looks good on them. Liars never prosper.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Welcome to People's Republic of Canuckistan!
Where the sick line up for their medicine... outside.
Here's your H1N1 vaccine clinic in Cayuga Ontario today, Nov. 3 2009, at four o'clock in the afternoon give or take a bit. Temperature a nice windy, rainy 8 degrees C or ~48 Fahrenheit for y'all in America. Wait time, 3 hours. I asked.
Here it is again from another angle.
Take a good look Americans, this is what happens when you let government decide how its going to be in health care. They couldn't even find a heated building big enough for people to wait in. Like the arena. Which is about 30 yards from where this picture was taken.
Or a school. Or the court house. Or a friggin' barn, for crap sakes.
Here's your H1N1 vaccine clinic in Cayuga Ontario today, Nov. 3 2009, at four o'clock in the afternoon give or take a bit. Temperature a nice windy, rainy 8 degrees C or ~48 Fahrenheit for y'all in America. Wait time, 3 hours. I asked.
Here it is again from another angle.
Take a good look Americans, this is what happens when you let government decide how its going to be in health care. They couldn't even find a heated building big enough for people to wait in. Like the arena. Which is about 30 yards from where this picture was taken.
Or a school. Or the court house. Or a friggin' barn, for crap sakes.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wow, this is a surprise!
Well, if you're a frickin' LIBERAL its a surprise, the rest of us predicted this. Really loudly.
New Yorkers are fleeing the state and city in alarming numbers -- and costing a fortune in lost tax dollars, a new study shows.
More than 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the United States from 2000 to 2008, according to the report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy. It was the biggest out-of-state migration in the country.
The vast majority of the migrants, 1.1 million, were former residents of New York City -- meaning one out of seven city taxpayers moved out.
Monday, October 26, 2009
"Can we have an adult conversation about taxes?"
Not in the Toronto (Red) Star, apparently.
Nice straw man, Hugh! A decline in public services is what's required if we want to avoid becoming some frozen backwater where they dig iron ore out of the ice with shovels. Less government is what you get with a tax cut of sufficient magnitude, not a reduction in waste. They still burn the money, they just have less to burn. That's the idea. Duh.
Still wondering why the Star is bleeding red ink?
The Phantom
For Canada's political right-wingers, their insistence that we can have massive tax cuts without suffering any decline in public services is worse than childish; it's delusional. Any 4-year-old knows if you go to the store with less money, you're going to come away with less candy. Eliminate government waste, they say, and we can have lower taxes without cuts in services.
Still wondering why the Star is bleeding red ink?
The Phantom
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Why modern management is a force for evil.
Wal-Mart fires employee for chasing after thief
Company says Josh Rutner violated policy when he pursued alleged shoplifter
That's why.Monday, October 19, 2009
What's more important than the environment?
FOOTBALL!!! No, really. I couldn't make this up.
This is in a state that despite being at least half rocky mountains, imports gravel from Canada because local gravel pits can't meet the insane environmental regulations.
Just don't watch it on that big screen TV, fat boy!
The phootbaw Phantom
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he's going to sign an environmental exemption bill that will clear the way for construction of the LA Stadium.
State senators approved the bill, which would nullify a lawsuit over the project's environmental impact report by citizens in neighboring Walnut.
This is in a state that despite being at least half rocky mountains, imports gravel from Canada because local gravel pits can't meet the insane environmental regulations.
Just don't watch it on that big screen TV, fat boy!
The phootbaw Phantom
physical pressure changes gene expression!
Here we have a BIG discovery in the embryology/cell biology business.
So all you myofascial release, active release, shiatsu, cranio-sacral types, SHAZAM! You are right. The doubters are wrong. Proven at the cellular level. Hot damn!
The "No, I'm not bitter!" Phantom Therapist
Cell softness is an intrinsic property of embryonic stem cells and dictates how a cell responds to forces in its physical microenvironment. Those responses include how strongly the cell attaches to a surface, how far the cell spreads on a surface, and, most surprisingly, whether specific genes are expressed.This is the first demonstration that -proves- physical strain changes the action of cellular machinery, and can even change what genes are expressed in a given cell. This is big news for people like moi who practice manual therapy and have been screaming for years that this takes place.To study cellular sensitivity to force, Wang and his collaborators first attached a magnetic bead, 4 microns in diameter, to the surface of a living embryonic stem cell. Then they applied a tiny oscillating magnetic field, which moved the bead up and down. By precisely measuring the magnetic field and the distance the bead traveled, the effect of the mechanical force and how soft the cells are could be determined.
The cyclic nature of the mechanical force is very important, Wang said, as it simulates natural forces within a living cell, such as the cyclic movement of the motor protein myosin.
The researchers found that mouse embryonic stem cells were softer and much more sensitive to localized cyclic forces than their more advanced, differentiated counterparts.
So all you myofascial release, active release, shiatsu, cranio-sacral types, SHAZAM! You are right. The doubters are wrong. Proven at the cellular level. Hot damn!
The "No, I'm not bitter!" Phantom Therapist
Fusion takes a big step forward.
New hydrogen fusion design gets fired up and they generated a "pinch" on their second shot. SWEET! Because a pinch is when they get a fusion event.
Mr. Fusion here we come.
More dope about the company here: http://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/article/169/
Cool animation here: http://focusfusion.org/assets/animation/DPF_Movie.avi
The Phantom
The baby is born! After seven years of theoretical work and raising money, five months of design, five months of construction and assembly, and a week of testing, LPP now has a functioning dense plasma focus, Focus-Fusion-1. The first shot, using helium as the fill gas, was achieved at 5:29 PM today, Oct.15, and the first pinch was achieved at 6:04 PM on the second shot. The fact that a pinch was achieved so soon was evidence of the soundness of the design.
Mr. Fusion here we come.
More dope about the company here: http://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/article/169/
Cool animation here: http://focusfusion.org/assets/animation/DPF_Movie.avi
The Phantom
Sunday, October 18, 2009
the innelekshual left.
this is a special post just for one special person, balbulican. i'm putting it all in lower case so balby will feel at home. lefties seem to like lower case for some reason.
anyways, over at blazing cat fur balby asks: "[Geert] Wilders says the Koran should be banned. Now, all you brave free speakers who believe that there should be no interference with the publication of things like the Mohammed cartoons (and I agree, by the way): are you supporting Wilders' right to call for a ban on the Koran, or are supporting the idea of a ban?"
ok balby, it should be stunningly obvious by now that i, The Phantom, do not care for speech codes, human rights commissions, government regulation of trade, speech, guns, food or most other things. In fact about the only regulations I do support are the building code and the local health department guys who inspect food processing plants and restaurant kitchens.
therefore your question is deliberately obtuse and does not deserve a polite answer. My impolite answer is that obviously geert wilders can say any fucking thing he likes and obviously his call to ban the koran is abject stupidity.
equally obviously the british government was insane for banning him from visiting parliament on the occasion of his movie being screened there, no matter what he's ever said.
now, given your purposefully obtuse questioning, i will also add that you are a stupid, stupid man. or woman, or surgically mutilated whatsit, whichever applies.
by the way, as to your post about banning the hijab. godwin's law, much? however, to briefly entertain the concept: it is not the government's place to dictate garb. period. ever. because when they do that it is not a free country anymore, and it doesn't work anyway. the only place they have any business doing that is in the public service, where that battle is already lost. driving a car is an outside possibility, given peripheral vision being blocked by the damn things.
otoh, the hijab/veil/burkha/fucking circus tent bullshit these radical islamic types demand their women wear is an insult to me personally, to my religion and to my culture. i should not have to put up with that. therefore in a free country i should be free to make my views known to each and every individual i choose to communicate with, particularly women wearing tents and the men who make them do so.
this is canada balby. we don't wear tents here. people who come here must adjust to us, we do not adjust to them. you want your six wives to wear tents, stay in the desert.
anyways, over at blazing cat fur balby asks: "[Geert] Wilders says the Koran should be banned. Now, all you brave free speakers who believe that there should be no interference with the publication of things like the Mohammed cartoons (and I agree, by the way): are you supporting Wilders' right to call for a ban on the Koran, or are supporting the idea of a ban?"
ok balby, it should be stunningly obvious by now that i, The Phantom, do not care for speech codes, human rights commissions, government regulation of trade, speech, guns, food or most other things. In fact about the only regulations I do support are the building code and the local health department guys who inspect food processing plants and restaurant kitchens.
therefore your question is deliberately obtuse and does not deserve a polite answer. My impolite answer is that obviously geert wilders can say any fucking thing he likes and obviously his call to ban the koran is abject stupidity.
equally obviously the british government was insane for banning him from visiting parliament on the occasion of his movie being screened there, no matter what he's ever said.
now, given your purposefully obtuse questioning, i will also add that you are a stupid, stupid man. or woman, or surgically mutilated whatsit, whichever applies.
by the way, as to your post about banning the hijab. godwin's law, much? however, to briefly entertain the concept: it is not the government's place to dictate garb. period. ever. because when they do that it is not a free country anymore, and it doesn't work anyway. the only place they have any business doing that is in the public service, where that battle is already lost. driving a car is an outside possibility, given peripheral vision being blocked by the damn things.
otoh, the hijab/veil/burkha/fucking circus tent bullshit these radical islamic types demand their women wear is an insult to me personally, to my religion and to my culture. i should not have to put up with that. therefore in a free country i should be free to make my views known to each and every individual i choose to communicate with, particularly women wearing tents and the men who make them do so.
this is canada balby. we don't wear tents here. people who come here must adjust to us, we do not adjust to them. you want your six wives to wear tents, stay in the desert.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Ok America. Joke's over, you fat bastards.
Get in shape or pay a price.That's a message more Americans could hear if the health care reform bills passed by the Senate Finance and Health committees become law.
By more than doubling the maximum rewards and penalties that companies can apply to employees who flunk medical evaluations, the bills could put workers under intense financial pressure to lose weight, stop smoking or even lower their cholesterol.
Why? Because you Americans are stupid, greedy, fat and disgusting creatures who can''t be trusted to come in out of the rain. You must be controlled. At gunpoint. Furthermore, you deserve to suffer for your many and various sins, and suffer you will.
Just so we are all clear, that is not my opinion. Not me, none of my doing guys. I'm just the messenger here. In fact, it isn't even an opinion.
That, my friends, is the official policy of the United States government.
Have fun.
Just so we are all clear, that is not my opinion. Not me, none of my doing guys. I'm just the messenger here. In fact, it isn't even an opinion.
That, my friends, is the official policy of the United States government.
Have fun.
Where we are in the culture war.
Anyone who is not an extra-galactic visitor knows there's a war on in Western civilization. Here's where we are at right now.
Where we are:
A) The college had to institute an official policy to straighten out five (5) guys who were dressing up like chicks to freak out the other guys at school rather than unofficially telling them to straighten up. Said policy is called a "crackdown".
B) The other guys at the school were unable (or unwilling) to impress upon the 5 (five) perverts that they were perverts and had better straighten up. Meaning they are seriously unable to make their personal views know to other students, for whatever reason.
C) This story made it to CNN.
D) CNN wrote it as if there were some kind of moral controversy here. "Crackdown".
E) The very idea of an all-male school is being treated as somehow edgy or questionable in the story.
F) You don't find out until half way through the story its a BLACK all-male school, with a long and proud history of scholarship and bravery in the face of bigotry.
G) Because its a Black school, this "crackdown" is merely controversial. Had it been for example MIT or Harvard the reaction would probably be very different. As in catastrophic, with burning cars, 24/7 coverage and helicopter video. IMHO, anyway.
The way I read it, the people running the school have reached their limit for politically correct leftist stupidity, and are taking the obvious steps needed to have a functional work environment for scholars. Furthermore they are declaring that they will do this regardless of the uproar they know is going to happen in the media.
In other words, common sense is starting to make a come back in the academic world. Awesome.
The Phantom
An all-male college in Atlanta, Georgia, has banned the wearing of women's clothes, makeup, high heels and purses as part of a new crackdown on what the institution calls inappropriate attire.
Where we are:
A) The college had to institute an official policy to straighten out five (5) guys who were dressing up like chicks to freak out the other guys at school rather than unofficially telling them to straighten up. Said policy is called a "crackdown".
B) The other guys at the school were unable (or unwilling) to impress upon the 5 (five) perverts that they were perverts and had better straighten up. Meaning they are seriously unable to make their personal views know to other students, for whatever reason.
C) This story made it to CNN.
D) CNN wrote it as if there were some kind of moral controversy here. "Crackdown".
E) The very idea of an all-male school is being treated as somehow edgy or questionable in the story.
F) You don't find out until half way through the story its a BLACK all-male school, with a long and proud history of scholarship and bravery in the face of bigotry.
G) Because its a Black school, this "crackdown" is merely controversial. Had it been for example MIT or Harvard the reaction would probably be very different. As in catastrophic, with burning cars, 24/7 coverage and helicopter video. IMHO, anyway.
The way I read it, the people running the school have reached their limit for politically correct leftist stupidity, and are taking the obvious steps needed to have a functional work environment for scholars. Furthermore they are declaring that they will do this regardless of the uproar they know is going to happen in the media.
In other words, common sense is starting to make a come back in the academic world. Awesome.
The Phantom
Friday, October 16, 2009
Greenies de-cloaking off the port bow.
Well, it seems that the Left leaning greenie contingent has decided to stop pretending and do what they really want to do. They are going to decide for you what kind of a TV you are going to watch.
This is what environmentalism has been about since the late 1970's. Dictating what people are going to drive, wear, eat and now watch. Next up is health care reform, where they get to decide who lives and dies.
In other news, Peterson Publishing's Guns 'N Ammo Magazine head office has finally admitted they can't take it anymore and moved from their LA Wilshire Blvd. address to Peoria Illinois. I can't imagine why they went to Illinois when Arizona is only a couple hours drive from LA, but nevertheless, they've pushed off from the People's Republik of Kalifornistan. Just like everybody else with a lick of sense.
Will the last sane person to leave California please light the fuse?
The Phantom
Reporting from Sacramento - The influential lobby group Consumer Electronics Assn. is fighting what appears to be a losing battle to dissuade California regulators from passing the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions.
In other news, Peterson Publishing's Guns 'N Ammo Magazine head office has finally admitted they can't take it anymore and moved from their LA Wilshire Blvd. address to Peoria Illinois. I can't imagine why they went to Illinois when Arizona is only a couple hours drive from LA, but nevertheless, they've pushed off from the People's Republik of Kalifornistan. Just like everybody else with a lick of sense.
Will the last sane person to leave California please light the fuse?
The Phantom
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Excellent essay to back up what y'all have been thinking.
Read this essay.
"There have been more Hollywood hagiographies of the revolutionary communist Che Guevara in the last five years than there have been studio pictures in the last two decades about the revolutionary anti-communists who dramatically toppled totalitarians from Tallin to Prague..."
It will fill in your yearning for proof to back up what you think, that central planning is utter stupidity and freedom is on the march everywhere except the USA. And maybe Canada.
The Phantom
P.S. Important attribution note, first seen by me at Small Dead Animals!!! Hi Kate!
"There have been more Hollywood hagiographies of the revolutionary communist Che Guevara in the last five years than there have been studio pictures in the last two decades about the revolutionary anti-communists who dramatically toppled totalitarians from Tallin to Prague..."
It will fill in your yearning for proof to back up what you think, that central planning is utter stupidity and freedom is on the march everywhere except the USA. And maybe Canada.
The Phantom
P.S. Important attribution note, first seen by me at Small Dead Animals!!! Hi Kate!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
New angle of attack: "Junk food farms".
Interesting new attack path for greenies from the Toronto (Red) Star.
Follow the flow of food. That's what any farmer will tell you. Because apples don't grow in supermarkets.
So to get to the root of the exploding obesity epidemic, I went in search of a junk food farm.
Such farms are not so easy to spot. No fields of Dorito bags waving in the breeze, no orchards blooming with soda pop, no soil bursting with 99-cent burgers.
What you do see are vast operations growing the raw materials for junk food: soybeans and corn.
The two crops go into the production of many things: pharmaceuticals, industrial products, animal feed – and inexpensive calories.
Tonnes of soybeans and corn are turned into "edible food-like substances," as food system critic Michael Pollan calls them, used in virtually all processed foods, beverages and junk food.
Last year, Ontario farmers planted 2.4 million acres of soybeans and just over 2 million acres of corn. That's nearly half of all cropland in the province, a near-colonization of Ontario farms by the soy and corn industry.
I read the whole thing. This schmuck attempts to connect obesity, water quality, soil degradation and Big Food into one "crisis" which threatens Canada. Farmers are the new bad guys.
Cute.
This kind of scare propaganda is what keeps the masses of asses in 905/416 voting Lieberal and NDPee. Fortunately it isn't selling newspapers. The Toronto (Red) Star can't go out of business fast enough to suit me. Faster please!
Cute.
This kind of scare propaganda is what keeps the masses of asses in 905/416 voting Lieberal and NDPee. Fortunately it isn't selling newspapers. The Toronto (Red) Star can't go out of business fast enough to suit me. Faster please!
Curse of the Mattel 16? Nope.
News from Afghanistan today regarding the M4 jamming in a firefight. Its like Vietnam all over again. DemocRat in the White House and US Army rifles jamming. Damn Republicans buying crappy gear for the troops!!! Check it:
When the battle in the small village of Wanat ended, nine U.S. soldiers lay dead and 27 more were wounded. A detailed study of the attack by a military historian found that weapons failed repeatedly at a "critical moment" during the firefight on July 13, 2008, putting the outnumbered American troops at risk of being overrun by nearly 200 insurgents
...
A week ago, eight U.S. troops were killed at a base near Kamdesh, a town near Wanat. There's no immediate evidence of weapons failures at Kamdesh, but the circumstances were eerily similar to the Wanat battle: insurgents stormed an isolated stronghold manned by American forces stretched thin by the demands of war.Usual bafflegab from military spokesmen. So what's the rest of the story? You go alllll the way to the bottom to find this nugget from the military historian's report. Emphasis mine.Army Col. Wayne Shanks, a military spokesman in Afghanistan, said a review of the battle at Kamdesh is under way. "It is too early to make any assumptions regarding what did or didn't work correctly," he said.
The platoon-sized unit of U.S. soldiers and about two dozen Afghan troops was shooting back with such intensity the barrels on their weapons turned white hot. The high rate of fire appears to have put a number of weapons out of commission, even though the guns are tested and built to operate in extreme conditions.
This is not a Vietnam era Mattel 16 fouling and stoppage problem. This is troops using the M4 as if it was a Minigun. You can't put 12 mags through a rifle in five minutes and not expect problems. M4, FN-FAL, H&K G3, doesn't matter. They all over heat, they all cook off rounds, they all jam when shooting too fast. Because when you take a long skinny piece of metal and turn it white hot, it tends to BEND a bit, you know? That's how blacksmiths make horse shoes.
Therefore, as much as I continue to think the M4/M16 Stoner black rifle is a poodle gun, I can't say this report lowers it in my opinion. The surprise isn't that some rifles jammed, the surprise is that most of them didn't. Way to go Eugene Stoner.
Also, the US Army kicks Taliban ass if they were that outnumbered and only lost nine guys. I note that the article doesn't say how many guys the Taliban lost. More than nine, I think.
The Phantom
Therefore, as much as I continue to think the M4/M16 Stoner black rifle is a poodle gun, I can't say this report lowers it in my opinion. The surprise isn't that some rifles jammed, the surprise is that most of them didn't. Way to go Eugene Stoner.
Also, the US Army kicks Taliban ass if they were that outnumbered and only lost nine guys. I note that the article doesn't say how many guys the Taliban lost. More than nine, I think.
The Phantom
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
NFL finally admits the sky is blue.
This is the DUH! story of the day today. Dare I say it, a no-brainer.
So yes, the NFL has finally admitted what the rest of the medical universe has known for dead sure since the invention of the MRI scanner: being hit on the head a lot while playing football can give you brain damage. Otherwise known as diffuse brain injury. Otherwise known as what happens to boxers most of the time. They even have a name for it in the boxing world, its called being "punch drunk". Its why you don't see very many jocks living to ripe old ages. Duh.
Also happens when you head the soccer ball for 20 years, so don't be getting too cocky all you soccer geeks. Oh, and hockey too. Life is dangerous, and will eventually kill you no matter what. So get out the cotton batting and wrap yourself up before its too late!
Next up, the medical community will propose a blanket ban on public, high school and university football and some DemocRat will take up the torch. And somebody will sue the NFL.
In 3, 2, 1...
Now, interestingly rugby players and Ozzy rules football players have markedly lower rates of diffuse brain injury. Its because they don't wear pads and helmets. Helmets actually cause this type of injury, believe it or not. Also major spinal cord injuries to the neck and upper back as well. Funny, eh?
That's something else that has been known for a loooong time that the NFL won't admit. Because they are money grubbing weasels who don't care a damn about sport, their players or anything else, is why. Same as the Olympics really.
Shut off your TV. That is what will finally fix it. Nothing else will.
The Phantom
A study commissioned by the National Football League reports that Alzheimer's disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league's former players vastly more often than in the national population — including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.
So yes, the NFL has finally admitted what the rest of the medical universe has known for dead sure since the invention of the MRI scanner: being hit on the head a lot while playing football can give you brain damage. Otherwise known as diffuse brain injury. Otherwise known as what happens to boxers most of the time. They even have a name for it in the boxing world, its called being "punch drunk". Its why you don't see very many jocks living to ripe old ages. Duh.
Also happens when you head the soccer ball for 20 years, so don't be getting too cocky all you soccer geeks. Oh, and hockey too. Life is dangerous, and will eventually kill you no matter what. So get out the cotton batting and wrap yourself up before its too late!
Next up, the medical community will propose a blanket ban on public, high school and university football and some DemocRat will take up the torch. And somebody will sue the NFL.
In 3, 2, 1...
Now, interestingly rugby players and Ozzy rules football players have markedly lower rates of diffuse brain injury. Its because they don't wear pads and helmets. Helmets actually cause this type of injury, believe it or not. Also major spinal cord injuries to the neck and upper back as well. Funny, eh?
That's something else that has been known for a loooong time that the NFL won't admit. Because they are money grubbing weasels who don't care a damn about sport, their players or anything else, is why. Same as the Olympics really.
Shut off your TV. That is what will finally fix it. Nothing else will.
The Phantom
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Just how partisan is the media, anyway?
Quite.
Remember the frothing outrage over Bush's continuing the ban on press being present as caskets were received? You're supposed to forget that now. Democrat in the White House y'know.
Now that a Republican is no longer the president, nobody except the AP seems willing to shift themselves to cover the honored dead as they come home from the war. As Byron York says,
Yea, verily.
The Phantom
Remember the frothing outrage over Bush's continuing the ban on press being present as caskets were received? You're supposed to forget that now. Democrat in the White House y'know.
In April of this year, the Obama administration lifted the press ban, which had been in place since the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Media outlets rushed to cover the first arrival of a fallen U.S. serviceman, and many photographers came back for the second arrival, and then the third.
But after that, the impassioned advocates of showing the true human cost of war grew tired of the story. Fewer and fewer photographers showed up. "It's really fallen off," says Lt. Joe Winter, spokesman for the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where all war dead are received.
"It seems that if the weather is nice, and it's during the day, we get a higher level of media to come down," says Lt. Winter.
Now that a Republican is no longer the president, nobody except the AP seems willing to shift themselves to cover the honored dead as they come home from the war. As Byron York says,
With casualties mounting, the debate over U.S. policy in Afghanistan is sharp and heated. The number of arrivals at Dover is increasing. But the journalists who once clamored to show the true human cost of war are nowhere to be found.
Yea, verily.
The Phantom
Monday, September 28, 2009
Another for the "Why regulation is bad" files.
Today's lesson on why regulations are bad: because innocent grandmas get arrested for buying over the counter cold medicine at the pharmacy, is why.
The larger question, of course, is what idiot arrests an -obviously- innocent woman for an -obviously- legal business transaction. Answer, Vermillion County Prosecutor Nina Alexander, the usual kind of civil servant idiot one usually finds behind these stories.
Here's what Nina baby says about it:
AKA, she's just following orders. And herein lies the problem. They are all, always, just following orders. The fact that no human being could possible know all the myriad regulations, laws, codes, guide lines, strictures and etc. we are supposedly subject to is completely irrelevant. Orders are orders.
This is a common theme these days. There is no reasonableness in bureaucracy. Reasonable men do not become bureaucrats and officials. Power tripping, by-the-book, "I was just following orders" willfully heedless cretins are who become bureaucrats. Its the nature of the job. Reasonable, intelligent human beings quit in disgust.
Therefore regulations have to be designed so that UNreasonable robot-men can't hurt innocent people with them through malice, boredom or simple stupidity. Which is pretty near impossible. No matter how foolproof you make something, the universe will keep delivering greater and greater fools until it breaks.
The answer is to de-fund the bureaucracy. You can't trust them to make reasonable laws, and you can't expect them to enforce laws reasonably. All you can do is starve them out.
Tax cut now. No cut is too big.
The larger question, of course, is what idiot arrests an -obviously- innocent woman for an -obviously- legal business transaction. Answer, Vermillion County Prosecutor Nina Alexander, the usual kind of civil servant idiot one usually finds behind these stories.
Here's what Nina baby says about it:
"Just as with any law, the public has the responsibility to know what is legal and what is not, and ignorance of the law is no excuse, the prosecutor said. "I'm simply enforcing the law as it was written," Alexander said.
AKA, she's just following orders. And herein lies the problem. They are all, always, just following orders. The fact that no human being could possible know all the myriad regulations, laws, codes, guide lines, strictures and etc. we are supposedly subject to is completely irrelevant. Orders are orders.
This is a common theme these days. There is no reasonableness in bureaucracy. Reasonable men do not become bureaucrats and officials. Power tripping, by-the-book, "I was just following orders" willfully heedless cretins are who become bureaucrats. Its the nature of the job. Reasonable, intelligent human beings quit in disgust.
Therefore regulations have to be designed so that UNreasonable robot-men can't hurt innocent people with them through malice, boredom or simple stupidity. Which is pretty near impossible. No matter how foolproof you make something, the universe will keep delivering greater and greater fools until it breaks.
The answer is to de-fund the bureaucracy. You can't trust them to make reasonable laws, and you can't expect them to enforce laws reasonably. All you can do is starve them out.
Tax cut now. No cut is too big.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
America's future?
One in six patients in the Brit National Health service misdiagnosed.
On the bright side, Britain does have a private care option, which oddly does not seem to have many scandals or outrages associated with it of late. Barry doesn't like the private care option.
The Phantom
On the bright side, Britain does have a private care option, which oddly does not seem to have many scandals or outrages associated with it of late. Barry doesn't like the private care option.
The Phantom
NEA propaganda update!
New audio from Big Hollywood on the government funded NEA search for the next Lenni Reifenstahl.
Fits right in next to the newspaper bailout, eh? Gotta have some shiny Obama content to print in your Obama propaganda machine.
Best thing that could happen here? The US government gets out of the art business. And shames the Canadian government into getting out of it as well.
Fits right in next to the newspaper bailout, eh? Gotta have some shiny Obama content to print in your Obama propaganda machine.
Best thing that could happen here? The US government gets out of the art business. And shames the Canadian government into getting out of it as well.
New DemocRat Majority Protection Bill gets The One's approval.
Yes friends, the man who gave you the Bank Bailout, the Car Bailout, the Porkulus Bailout and is trying hard to jam a big ol' Health Care "Bailout" down your resisting throats has said he'd be delighted to see a Newspaper Bailout on his desk. Yes he would.
So, Barry and the Dems (sounds like a band, doesn't it?) would like for the MSM to go "not for profit" (I'm not making that up, they said that) and get a big ol' "cash infusion" from Uncle Sam so they don't have to keep printing mean divisive stuff about The One just to make a buck and keep the presses rolling.
Translation, Barry is getting his ass handed to him by the Internet and would like to have his very own media machine that he calls -all- the shots on to win the next election. With you paying for it, of course.
This is a bigger deal than healthcare. Watch this one move along under the radar.
The Phantom
"I haven't seen detailed proposals yet, but I'll be happy to look at them," Obama told the editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade in an interview."Probably because as he said all over the place, nearly wall to wall on Sunday night, the MSM is behaving "rudely". Despite the two miles of column space the New York Times has given him and the record TV face time he's been getting, there's still all this rude commentary going on. Darn that Rush Limbaugh anyway.
So, Barry and the Dems (sounds like a band, doesn't it?) would like for the MSM to go "not for profit" (I'm not making that up, they said that) and get a big ol' "cash infusion" from Uncle Sam so they don't have to keep printing mean divisive stuff about The One just to make a buck and keep the presses rolling.
Translation, Barry is getting his ass handed to him by the Internet and would like to have his very own media machine that he calls -all- the shots on to win the next election. With you paying for it, of course.
This is a bigger deal than healthcare. Watch this one move along under the radar.
The Phantom
Friday, September 18, 2009
Finally, you can buy Buckeytubes by the square yard.
Press release by Nanocomp Technologies indicates they have succeeded in making carbon nanotube yarn and cloth as strong as kevlar.
The US Air Force want to use it for wiring in their aircraft because its as conductive as copper (or possibly more so) and weighs a fraction of what an insulated copper wire does. Its also tremendously stronger than copper, making it pretty awesome for damage reduction in combat aircraft. You can cast it in directly as part of composite sheets too, making it possible to eliminate wiring altogether for some applications.
I've been stoked about this stuff since Buckyballs were discovered 'way back in the late 1980's. Diamonds by the square yard, how cool is that?!
The Phantom
Cruising the web site, they say they have delivered 10,000 meters of yarn to one customer, so it looks like this is finally the real deal. Commercial quantities of nanotube cloth, on demand. Expensive sure, but you can get some if you need it.In April, Lashmore had a mechanical multicaliber gun shoot bullets at different versions of his sheet, each less than a fifth of an inch thick, at a speed of 1,400 feet per second. Four sheets were breached, but three showed no damage. Lashmore and his 35 employees were ecstatic.
"We didn't expect it to work at all," he admits.
The US Air Force want to use it for wiring in their aircraft because its as conductive as copper (or possibly more so) and weighs a fraction of what an insulated copper wire does. Its also tremendously stronger than copper, making it pretty awesome for damage reduction in combat aircraft. You can cast it in directly as part of composite sheets too, making it possible to eliminate wiring altogether for some applications.
I've been stoked about this stuff since Buckyballs were discovered 'way back in the late 1980's. Diamonds by the square yard, how cool is that?!
The Phantom
Overflight report!
Reporting overflight by Westland Lysander. I've got PICTURES baby! Yeah!
Ok, so its a crappy picture. It was far away by the time I scrambled to get the camera.
Here's what it looked like a couple weeks ago at the Warplane Heritage museum.
It looks like a sweet flying machine in the air. I love Cayuga!
The Phantom
Ok, so its a crappy picture. It was far away by the time I scrambled to get the camera.
Here's what it looked like a couple weeks ago at the Warplane Heritage museum.
It looks like a sweet flying machine in the air. I love Cayuga!
The Phantom
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
The One's Glorious speech.
The One spoke in his patented mellifluous tones this evening to the US lawmakers. He was received thus:
Joe Wilson is my hero.
South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" after Obama had talked about illegal immigrants.Well, Barry did lie, he said that illegal immigrants wouldn't be covered under his health care bill. Which ain't true. They will be.
Joe Wilson is my hero.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Laws are for the Little People
The Obama White House steams onward at full speed into new, uncharted waters in search of more/better/different sources of propaganda. This time its the NEA in a conference call. As the author says, the silence of the mainstream media is deafening.
From the comments, the best comment of the day:
But there is more fun!Another conference call has materialized, revealing a concerted effort by government to use the arts to address political issues.
Lee Rosenbaum, a blogger for Artsjournal.com, posted her experience with a meeting that occurred on August 27th and confessed that she also felt “uneasy” about the government’s arts effort. The meeting invitation (viewable here) went out to all “member local, state, and regional arts agencies, community-based arts organizations, and national partners of Americans for Arts.” Americans for Arts is a non-profit arts organization that has received substantial grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Even more disturbing than learning that the White House and NEA are using the arts to address specific issues, is to learn what was discussed on this new conference call. Rosenbaum mentions that there was much talk of “leveraging federal dollars” to get artists and cultural organizations involved in social-service projects.Yes friends, you can use your National Endowment for the Arts grant to make propaganda for The One. Which will no doubt ensure that you get another, bigger grant for your next crucifix-in-pee display.
From the comments, the best comment of the day:
"If I put a Hope and Change sticker in a glass of urine - will they pay me?"
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
I love it when Lefties say what's really on their minds!!!
What's on the Obama administration's mind? "Republicans are assholes!" No kidding, the guy said it on video.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/09/02/obamas_green_jobs_czar_van_jones_republicans_are_aholes.html
'Nuff said!
The Phantom
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/09/02/obamas_green_jobs_czar_van_jones_republicans_are_aholes.html
'Nuff said!
The Phantom
Friday, August 28, 2009
While we are on the subject of unreasonable gubmint power... you got a receipt for that song, boy?
Did you know they can seize any/all laptops, cell phones, ipods, cameras and etc. etc. etc. at the US border and keep them as long as they want? As in forever? And they can analyze the contents thereof to see if you've committed a heinous crime, like downloading songs? Or skipping out on parking fines!
Yep. They can. 9th Circus Court of A Peel says so. Mind the slippery slope there, they just greased it for you.
You got receipts? On ya?
Didn't think so. Uncle Phantom says wipe it or leave it at home, kids. Mail an ENCRYPTED stick to yourself, just to be on the safe side. They can't open your mail without a warrant.
Yet.
The Lead Foil Hat Phantom. (Because tin foil just isn't enough anymore.)
Yep. They can. 9th Circus Court of A Peel says so. Mind the slippery slope there, they just greased it for you.
So friends, if you are crossing the border, EVEN IF YOU ARE AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, may I suggest you make bloody good and sure you do it with a blank hard drive in your computer, blank SD chips in your phone and a blank pen drive. I mean, can you absolutely prove every single song and ring-tone on your phone/ipod/whatever was legally purchased? How about that copy of Windows XP, is it bootleg?On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced new guidelines for searching and seizing electronic devices at the border. In a press release, DHS said the guidelines will "enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S. ports of entry."
Rhetoric aside, in reality, not much has changed. Laptops and electronic gear can still be seized and held indefinitely; there's no requirement that they be returned to their owners after even six months or a year has passed, though supervisory approval is required if they're held for more than 15 days. The complete contents of a hard drive or memory card can be perused at length for evidence of lawbreaking of any kind, even if it's underpaying your taxes or not paying parking tickets.
This kind of open-ended scanning should worry anyone who travels internationally, not just privacy advocates. When we have laws like the No Electronic Theft Act, which makes sharing a sufficient number of MP3 files a federal crime, how many college students are unindicted felons? File this under the show-me-the-man-and-I'll-show-you-the-crime department.
You got receipts? On ya?
Didn't think so. Uncle Phantom says wipe it or leave it at home, kids. Mail an ENCRYPTED stick to yourself, just to be on the safe side. They can't open your mail without a warrant.
Yet.
The Lead Foil Hat Phantom. (Because tin foil just isn't enough anymore.)
Democrats move on the Internet.
We are soooo not paranoid enough, my friends.
Licensing of network guys, just like doctors. It gets better:
This is a bill that grants the President of the USA control over non-government networks in the USA, guys. Meaning your PC and your internet connection, got it?Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.
They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.
The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.
Licensing of network guys, just like doctors. It gets better:
Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defense and security." The White House is supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government. ("Cyber" is defined as anything having to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks.)
"The language has changed but it doesn't contain any real additional limits," EFF's Tien says. "It simply switches the more direct and obvious language they had originally to the more ambiguous (version)...The designation of what is a critical infrastructure system or network as far as I can tell has no specific process. There's no provision for any administrative process or review. That's where the problems seem to start. And then you have the amorphous powers that go along with it."
Translation: If your company is deemed "critical," a new set of regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.
Bottom line here, if they pass this Barry Obama can personally shut off the Internet and all communications networks to do with telephones, faxes, cell phones, and so forth, whenever he sees fit and for as long as he likes. Like, during an election. Or if somebody shows up with a stained blue dress(TM), or if he f-ing well feels like it because things aren't going his way on some legislation.
One more thing to call your congressman and raise Hell about. My condolences mi amigo Americanos, it sucks to be you this year.
Update: Welcome to Kate's Flying Monkeys! Tell your friends, ladies and gentlemen.
The Phantom
One more thing to call your congressman and raise Hell about. My condolences mi amigo Americanos, it sucks to be you this year.
Update: Welcome to Kate's Flying Monkeys! Tell your friends, ladies and gentlemen.
The Phantom
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Saw this today at Kathy Shaidle's Five Feet of Fury:
Succinct and to the point, as always Kathy.
The link is to Christie Blatchford's column of the other day in the Blob and Snail regarding Caledonia and the lawsuit presently under way in court. Quoth the Blatch:
This reminded me I had my own little run-in with the OPP that year, June 23 2006, which I mentioned in a comment at Kate McMillan's Small Dead Animals:
The Liberal government of Ontario, the OPP and Chief Fantino have been called to account for the breathtaking failure to do their duty in 2006, and protect Dave Brown and Dana Chatwell, or even to allow they to protect themselves. To this day, nothing has been done for these two. To this day, the illegal occupation continues. To this day, Mohawk "protesters" are running all around the region trying to jack up small towns and businesses in the biggest protection racket since Al Capone. Illegal smoke shacks are springing up weekly in Caledonia on Highway Six, on private property. Otherwise known as the front lawns of retired farmers. Who got charged that time? The FARMER. Ernie Palmer. Look it up.
So hell yeah Kathy, Canada sucks. No question.
The only positive result out of this freak show so far is that nobody has been killed yet. Not for lack of trying mind you, given the heart attack, the several beatings and the Indians trying to run cops over, but still nobody got planted. Way to go, boys.
In closing I should mention I do not blame the rank and file OPP policemen for the ongoing bollocks this is. They do what they are told, as always. I could wish they would be a little more proactive about refusing to follow illegal orders, but realistically they wouldn't have made it through the selection process if they were likely to do that. This is why it is insane to think the police are going to protect you from the monsters. Police protect themselves first, just like everybody else.
The Phantom