Are you SURE you want an iPhone?

Jobs and company just keep making it harder and harder for me to want to buy their shit. New feature, undisclosed third parties can cripple your five hundred dollar iPhone at whim.

The leading computer company [Apple] plans to build a system that will sense when people are trying to video live events — and turn off their cameras.

A patent application filed by Apple revealed how the technology would work.

If an iPhone were held up and used to film during a concert infra-red sensors would detect it.

These sensors would then contact the iPhone and automatically disable its camera function.

People would still be able to send text messages and make calls.

The new technology is seen as an attempt to protect the interests of event organisers and broadcasters who have exclusive rights to concerts.

Because mere Apple -customers- have no interests or rights that need protecting, of course.

And of course the only place the special infra-red sensor/iPhone video shutter-offer thingie would ever be used is at a concert, right?  Mean people would never be able to buy/steal one, right?  And nobody would never be able to hack this concept to just shut the whole phone off, right? Or make it do something they want it to do but you don't?  And no basement genius would be able to make one out of a TV remote, right?

Right.

Are these Apple guys deliberately trying to get us all to buy Blackberries?  I know RIM is hard up and all, but geeze.

The non-iPhone Owning Phantom

Sneaky new ways to keep the Net up.

H/T to wifi LunchboxGuy for this NY Slimes story, seems Uncle Sam has been spending some money on creating sneaky ways to keep the Internet up and available for people in places like Egypt and Syria when the government shuts it down.

The effort includes secretive projects to create independent cellphone networks inside foreign countries, as well as one operation out of a spy novel in a fifth-floor shop on L Street in Washington, where a group of young entrepreneurs who look as if they could be in a garage band are fitting deceptively innocent-looking hardware into a prototype "Internet in a suitcase."

Financed with a $2 million State Department grant, the suitcase could be secreted across a border and quickly set up to allow wireless communication over a wide area with a link to the global Internet.

The American effort, revealed in dozens of interviews, planning documents and classified diplomatic cables obtained by The New York Times, ranges in scale, cost and sophistication.

Some projects involve technology that the United States is developing; others pull together tools that have already been created by hackers in a so-called liberation-technology movement sweeping the globe.

The State Department, for example, is financing the creation of stealth wireless networks that would enable activists to communicate outside the reach of governments in countries like Iran, Syria and Libya, according to participants in the projects.

Sadly the Times article is seriously low on details, I guess they don't want the "secrets" to get out.

The Phantom

Death is life? Life is death? I'm so confused...

New idea, Australia has a plan to save the planet by killing camels.  No, this is not the Onion.  But it could be.

Killing a camel to earn a carbon credit may seem a curious way to tackle climate change, but one country is poised to allow investors to do precisely that.

The camel culling plan is one of the first to arise under the Australian government's new "carbon farming initiative", a scheme that lets farmers or investors claim carbon credits if they can show they have cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Hatari! ?  Not so much, sadly.

All "removals" will be humane, the company says, with shooting done by "animal welfare trained and accredited marksmen".

Yes, they promise to make sure nobody has any fun with this.  Not the hunters, not the camels, and not the "investors". But its all in a good cause!

Dr Moore said one camel emitted about one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, measured as 45kg of methane, plus they consume about one tonne of vegetation eaten.

He says each camel's death will result in an "emissions avoidance benefit" of about 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Imagine how much carbon you could save by killing every frickin' camel in the whole frickin' WORLD!  Lets get right on that!

The Phantom Camel Destroyer

Should we be more worried? UPDATE, YES!!!

Anybody out there remember back in March 2010 there was a little news story about the US Department of Education buying shotguns?  I noted this in a blog post at the time.  My take was, WTF does the Dept of Education need shotguns and body armor for?

Well, I just found out.  They have their very own SWAT team.  Yes friends, the US Department of Education has a SWAT team.  For f-ing real.  Dig it:

STOCKTON, CA - A federal education official Wednesday morning offered little information as to why federal agents raided a Stockton man's home Tuesday morning.

The resident, Kenneth Wright, does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe why what he thought was a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 in the morning.

Seems they were rather badly behaved as well.  The jackboots, that is.

According to Wright, officers also woke his three young children, ages 3, 7, and 11, and put them in a Stockton police patrol car with him. Officers then searched his house.

"They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids," Wright said.

As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for - Wright's estranged wife - was not there.

Wright said he later went to Stockton Mayor Ann Johnston and Stockton Police Department, but learned the city of Stockton had nothing to do with the search warrant.

Federal warrant for a person who did not live at the address in the warrant.  Genius.  But it gets better!

U.S. Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton confirmed for News10 Wednesday morning federal agents with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), not local S.W.A.T., served the search warrant. Hamilton would not say specifically why the raid took place except that it was part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Hamilton said the search was not related to student loans in default as reported in the local media. 

OIG is a semi-independent branch of the education department that executes warrants for criminal offenses such as student aid fraud, embezzlement of federal aid and bribery, according to Hamilton. The agency serves 30 to 35 search warrants a year. 

The Dept. of Ed maintains its very own police force/special weapons attack squad to serve thirty five (35) search warrants annually.  That is completely insane from almost any angle you look at it. Duplication of effort much? 
Plus, a no-knock raid such as the one described is supposed to be a last resort, reserved for armed and dangerous subjects with a high likelihood of injuring police and/or bystanders. Because they are DANGEROUS, and people get killed in these things all-the-time. Fraud, embezzlement and bribery do not fall into that category. Overkill much? Completely f-ing mental much?
Tea Party time, my friends.  Very definitely Tea Party Time.

The Phantom

Just by reading this blog YOU'RE KILLING THE PLANET!!!

Could I make that up?  No way.

It's Saturday night, and you want to catch the latest summer blockbuster. You do a quick Google search to find the venue and right time, and off you go to enjoy some mindless fun.

Meanwhile, your Internet search has just helped kill the planet. Depending on how long you took and what sites you visited, your search caused the emission of one to 10 grams of carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

Sure, it's not a lot on its own — but add up all of the more than one billion daily Google searches, throw in 60 million Facebook status updates each day, 50 million daily tweets and 250 billion emails per day, and you're making a serious dent in some Greenland glaciers.

Yes friends, if all you inconsiderate jerks don't put down that mouse and go live in a mud hut, Greenland might actually be green!  Oh, the humanity!
Say, if its all ice up there why do they call it Greenland again?  Oh yeah, because when the Vikings discovered it the climate there was like DENMARK.

Every day in every way, the watermelons just keep getting dumber and dumber.

The Phantom Planet Killer

P.S.  I'm going to go use a welder now.  Wonder how many Death Points I get for that?

Didn't I see this in a movie?

Can't quite place this tattoo thing...

Surely it's time for climate-change deniers to have their opinions forcibly tattooed on their bodies.

Not necessarily on the forehead; I'm a reasonable man. Just something along their arm or across their chest so their grandchildren could say, ''Really? You were one of the ones who tried to stop the world doing something? And why exactly was that, granddad?''

Oh, Schindler's List.  That's it, I remember now.

As Kate says at SDA, "The Left, our moral and intellectual superiors."

WHO says cell phones cause cancer, I say I smell something fishy.

This just in, that iPhone is going to rot your head off dudes.

Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

Before its announcement Tuesday, WHO had assured consumers that no adverse health effects had been established.

A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, made the decision after reviewing peer-reviewed studies on cell phone safety. The team found enough evidence to categorize personal exposure as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."

All based on purely correlative studies, and (probably) ignoring the mass of animal studies which found no such correlation.  Given that EVERYTHING we own with a chip or a motor in it generates microwaves, I must say this new pronouncement smells strongly of flounder.  Flounder left on the beach in the sun all day.

We've seen this show before.  Some study finds ice cream sales weakly correlated with increased crime rates. Then some "authority" comes up with a theory that sugar excites the "criminal area" of the brain. Pretty soon there's dairies getting sued, ice cream is banned within 1000 feet of a school, and the cops are rooting through your freezer looking for contraband.  Hey, if it saves just one life right?

In the case of the cell phone, this is interesting.  Think "Big Tobacco lawsuit".

The best performing tech companies in the world are Nokia, Apple, RIM etc. and the outfits that supply them with parts, all companies with lots and lots of cash to steal.. 
Cell phones are -extremely- inconvenient to The Authorities in all countries because of flash crowds, YouTube videos of embarrassing events involving officials (See Syria, Egypt, Libya, Wisconsin, California...), incriminating pictures on the web, social networking, tracing issues, texting/talking while driving, and on it goes.  And only due to become more empowering to the individual and more inconvenient to authorities as they become faster and more capable every single day.  Check out iPad II for sheer capacity and capability.

Gee, maybe somebody big in world government thinks it might be good to stuff this cell phone genie back in the bottle and weld the lid on. A few well publicized lawsuits in Europe and North America, POOF no more cell phones.  Well, except for China, Asia and Africa, maybe India, and who cares about those backwaters?  Nothing important going on there, eh?

The Phantom

Nobody ever listens to me, and its starting to hack me off.

Government tracking people is a regular feature on this blog.  I post stuff about ubiquitous surveillance all the time.  People seem to think I'm some kind of nut with this stuff.  To be fair, that thing with the lithium in the water does seem like a crazy nutcase conspiracy theory.  Except it didn't come out of the UFO News, it came out of the medical literature, New Scientist and the BBC.

Well kids, here's ANOTHER one.  The USA is going to propose mandatory full-up, airliner style Black Boxes in your car.

The U.S. Transportation Department said today it will propose making vehicle "black boxes" mandatory in all vehicles by the end of the year.

The department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has long considered whether to make black boxes, officially called event data recorders, or EDRs, mandatory. They collect data about the seconds leading up to a crash and can help investigators determine the cause.

Yes, your car testifies against you in court. This is not a new thing.  All cars with EFI engines have data logging.  They vary as to what data gets logged and for how long, but they all have it.  Further more:

In August 2006, NHTSA issued a rule setting standards for EDR data collection.

The rule, which takes effect in the 2013 model year, standardizes the information EDRs collect and makes retrieving the data easier. Devices must record 15 data elements, including vehicle deceleration, in specific formats.

Well, gee.  They already have the Black Box thing laid on for 2013.  Good thing I bought my new car already. 
So then, what's this new "proposal"?  The article is a little vague, but it does say:

In May 2010, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade association GM, Ford, Chrysler Group LLC, Toyota and eight other automakers, endorsed making EDRs mandatory in all vehicles, but expressed concerns that some in Congress wanted more elaborate and expensive ones than are available.

Thanks Big Three for having our back like that.  "Spying is ok but jeeze, don't make us spend too much money!" They should get the good citizenship award.

But what would "more elaborate and expensive" look like?  The one they have right now probably costs ten bucks.  But if you take a Wii remote and stick a 32 gig flash drive on it, the thing will remember every tiny motion your car makes.  It will remember it for -years-.  If you add a GPS, it can remember everywhere you've ever been.  If you add a cell phone,  it can phone home with the data. That could all be done on one chip for probably fifty or sixty bucks.

Android phones and IPhones already do this. 

The Feds have surveillance envy.  So they are going to wire your car. 
Additionally, if the car can phone them, they can phone it.  Just think OnStar.  Only mandatory.  Oh, and they can use it to TAX YOU. Pay by the mile, ring a bell?

Thought experiment, lets pretend Barry wins in 2012 and the Dems can continue with their agenda.  What does America look like by 2016?

-Government follows your every move from your cell phone and your car, plus cameras -everywhere-. Most likely there will be a Central Surveilance Directorate or some other alphabet soup acronym that spells "We can seeeee you!"
-Government reads -all- your mail and watches you surf, but openly.  There may be a "We can seeeee you!" icon flashing on your screen at all times.  They also log keystrokes and examine your hard drive..
-TSA will be groping you at the airport... and the train station, the bus station, the gas station, the mall, the baseball game and the senior prom. TSA agents will not resemble Hooters waitresses in any way.
-Carbon tax, collected at pay-by-the-mile variable rates based on traffic congestion, time of day, number of people in the car, season, and route, comes directly out of your bank account daily.  SUVs pay double, of course.
-Illegal parking will be automatically billed to your bank account because they know where your car is.
-All traffic infractions will be automatically billed to your bank account because again, they know where your car is, how fast its going, if you are following too close, if you signaled that lane change, blew that stoplight, came to a complete dead stop at that stop sign...
-but don't worry if you get arrested because prisoners in jail will be released "by accident" every week,
-but that might be bad because you will not have a gun.
-Your income tax rate will be 62% or more,
-but that's ok because you will not have a job (unless you are a postal worker)
-and you won't have a car or a phone because of double or even tripple dip recession ,
-and your house won't be worth anything.
-But you will feel good about it all because of the lithium in the water supply.

That is The Official Un-Official Semi-Secret Democrat Plan. For real.

Awesome eh?  And that's just the stuff that's made the news lately.
This concludes today's Happy Thoughts round up. Be sure to tell your friends.  Often. And loudly.  And buy some wheel weights.

The Drugged And Happy About It Phantom

Brave New World is a cautionary tale, not a MANUAL!

Once again, life mirrors art as "scientists" start agitating for LITHIUM to be added to drinking water.  I kid you not.
From New Scientist:

In Japan's Oita Prefecture, cities with higher levels of lithium in their drinking water experienced lower rates of suicide. The study, in the British Journal of Psychiatry, made me wonder if governments should add lithium to the water supply.

Yes, REALLY.  A couple of purely correlative studies, and these liberal assholes want to start in on a mass campaign to medicate the entire population.  Involuntarily.
If I recall correctly, Huxley didn't think that would work really well.
Perfect example of the modern liberal thought process.  Something is good (maybe!), so the best way to proceed is to SNEAK IT IN through the public water supply when the proles aren't looking.  If it saves just one life, its worth it! 
Hey! Its for your own good so shut up, morons!

Lithium: Its not just for batteries any more.

The "Anything Not Forbidden Is Compulsory" Phantom

Barry FINALLY drops the other shoe.

Personally I've been wondering what's been taking him so long. 

In a speech outlining U.S. policy in the Middle East and North Africa, Obama on Thursday sided with the Palestinians' opening position a day ahead of a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is vehemently opposed to referring to the 1967 borders.

We've known the DemocRats wanted to cut Israel loose since 9/11, I'm sure they think if they just throw some chum in the water the sharks will leave them alone.  Also I think maybe they just don't like those Jews.  The nutroot Dem base certainly doesn't.

Oh and gee, does anybody think the Muslim Brotherhood isn't in this thing up to the neck?  Egyptian guns on the Gaza border anyone?  Maybe some nice Syrian missile batteries in the Golan Heights?  1967 borders ringing a bell now?  Artillery that can reach Tel Aviv?  Oh yeah.

Oh and, can we now figure out -why- Barry sent the SEALs on a kill mission when they could have just as easily captured Bin Laden and squeezed him like a grape for five years?  Head shot with hurried burial at sea making more sense now ain't it?  No inconvenient prisoner to screw things up, plus Barry can say "Hey, I killed Bin Laden!  War's over!" Then tip Israel under the bus with one nicely polished loafer.

Next move is by Congress.  They can pretty much frag Barry by cutting off the money.  Maybe they better man up and get to it.

The Phantom

Liberal propaganda machine in full turbo-nitrous mode.

Over at Borque Newswatch the Liberal media are absolutely FREAKING OUT that PC leader Tim Hudak opened his mouth.  Oh baby, the outrage.  You could spread it on toast.  (Note, Mr. Borque sells coverage to the highest bidder.  In this case, the Liberals.)

The Toronto (Red) Star:

Tearing up a 20-year deal worth $7 billion of private sector investment, 16,000 jobs and 2,500 megawatts of green power is bad energy policy and shortsighted economic policy. So, too, is getting rid of the preferential rates paid to jumpstart other solar and wind energy projects, something else Hudak vows to do.

The Windsor (Red) Star:

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak's pledge to scrap the $7-billion Samsung green energy deal was like a hammer to the head for Windsor and Essex County. 

Local 2 in Sault St. Marie:

Tim Hudak to Scrap Green Energy Programs and Return to Dirty Coal Fired Power

Hudak's reckless and short-sighted plan will threaten thousands of jobs in Ontario's clean energy industry, including jobs in Sault Ste. Marie at Heliene Solar, Elementa, Brookfield Renewable Power Wind Farm and the Starwood Solar Power energy farm. And Hudak's plan is already causing significant concern among investors who are hoping to open alternative energy businesses that would create and support thousands of jobs in Northern Ontario.

Meanwhile, most people who live outside the favored  "green jobs" zones have "STOP the wind turbines!"  signs on their street like I do.  Or they know somebody who fell for the solar panel scam and now can't recoup their $50K-$100K investment in solar panels because Ontario Hydro decided not to hook them up to the grid.  Because the wire running past their house is too small, and it would MELT every time the sun came out.  Duh.

There was another guy in history who pulled something like this Green Energy Initiative in his own country.  His name was Mao Tse Tung, and he decided that China could become the steel-making capital of the world if everybody put a little smelter in their back yard and made steel in it. He called it the Great Leap Forward.  Seems that it didn't end well.

Dalton McGuinty seeks to do the same thing, end our "dependence" on "dirty coal fired power" by putting a solar panel or a windmill in every back yard between Niagara Falls and Hudson's Bay. Power will cost ten times as much of course, but it'll be "green" and we'll be "energy independent". Awesome.

Of the two men, I think McGuinty may end up viewed by history as the baser scoundrel.  Mao's Great Leap Forward may have killed 48 million Chinese people by starvation, but Mao reportedly did the whole thing because he was honestly convinced it was going to work.  The same cannot be said of McGuinty, who was most definitely told hooking windmills and solar panels to Ontario's rickety, busted old power grid was a dangerously stupid idea. 

The Phantom

Doctors + guns = fish + bicycle

Or possibly screen door + submarine.
From "signaller222" in the comments at Kate's Small Dead Animals, a doctor speaks his surprisingly tiny mind.
San Francisco peds doc Ricky Y. Choi, MD, MPH asks the musical question, "Should pediatricians be punished for asking about guns in the home?"
Quoth the doc:

Florida's Governor Scott is on the verge of signing into law a bill that would penalize doctors for asking about guns in the home. The original bill shockingly included a $5 million fine and a five year prison sentence if a doctor asked about a patient's gun ownership, entered gun ownership information into a medical record, or refused to care for patients who declined to answer related questions. An unsatisfying compromise amendment between the NRA and the Florida chapter of the AMA limited the penalty to the possible revocation of a medical license and would allow questions about gun ownership and entry of that information into the medical record only if "medically necessary". 

Those Nazi BASTARDS!!!

Particularly bewildering to me were claims made by state legislators that gun safety was outside the scope of a pediatrician's practice. According to Marion Hammer, a past president of the NRA, "Families take their kids to pediatricians for medical care, not to talk about guns."

I would beg to differ.

Really? Pray, tell me more good doctor.

The scope of practice I am talking about we all can own. I have a responsibility to ask about, diagnose, educate, and treat obstacles to health. For those who see children in their practice, discussing topics such as swimming pool safety and smoke detectors are routine at regular check ups.

But let me take it a step further. I would argue that nutritious food, safe medications, air quality, domestic violence, affordable housing, access to health care, sex trafficking, cultural factors, schools, safe neighborhoods, voting, human rights, international trade agreements, and the state budget, to the extent they impact health of my patients and communities, are also in my scope of practice.

Not only do I feel an obligation to explore these issues, my patients expect it of me.

Well, aren't you the special one then.  Have you considered the possibility your patients expect it because you live in the most Lefty-liberal anti-gun city in the entire USA?
Personally, if a pediatrician asked me about my views on guns, voting and the state budget, I'd be backing out of the room as expeditiously as possible, never to return.  That's the answer to the question, really.  If you want some officious, holier than thou liberal for a doctor, that's up to you.  And anything he puts in your PERMANENT, SEARCHABLE medical record becomes your problem.  Forever.

Thirty years of anti-gun propaganda in the medical literature have created a whole cohort of little crusaders like this guy, who think everything in the world is their business. Legislating what a doctor can and cannot ask or put in his notes seems a bit much, but I do I think it would be excellent if the liberal nosy-Parker sons of bitches all found themselves out of business due to lack of trade.

The Phantom

Finally, confirmation from a credible source!

All you conspiracy nuts can relax now, Reuters finally has confirmation Ossama Bin Laden is dead, and its from a source you can believe.

Al Qaeda confirmed the death of Osama bin Laden on Friday in an Internet message that vowed revenge on the United States and its allies, including Pakistan, according to a statement issued by the Islamist militant group.

And hey, it looks like Pakistan is in the clear, because the AQ boys still hate 'em.  Way to go Mubarak.
Best of all, Reuters has downgraded Al Qaeda from "murdering terrorists" to "Islamist militants".  Good news all 'round.

AlReuters: they report, we deride.

The Phantom

Why are we pretending to be afraid of these Iranian retards again?

Somebody remind me, I forget.

Close allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "magicians" and invoking djinns (spirits).

Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".

Can't somebody send these freaks a doll with pins stuck in it or something?  I mean, come ON.

Big Brother wants you... to pay by the mile.

Obama trial balloon, pay-by-the-mile car tax.

News of the draft follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven.

Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine how many miles were driven; payment could take place electronically at filling stations.

The CBO report was requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who has proposed taxing cars by the mile as a way to increase federal highway revenues.

Obama's proposal seems to follow up on that idea in section 2218 of the draft bill. That section would create, within the Federal Highway Administration, a Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office. It would be tasked with creating a "study framework that defines the functionality of a mileage-based user fee system and other systems."

No doubt this per-mile tax will be in-addition-to gas tax, vehicle tax, tolls and etc, rather than instead-of.  Lets not be silly, right?
And let's face it, there's going to be a humongous database of tracking info which will -never- be deleted.  These machines will be cell phones, they will transmit this data in real-time 24/7 to a server as the Apple and Google phones do. Most likely they will attach to the  car's engine management computer, giving Big Brother  your location to within 50ft AND the ability to turn on/off your car, lock/unlock your doors, blow the horn, whatever OnStar can do they will be doing too.
It will also be incredibly, astronomically, insanely expensive, because government run databases always are.  What Apple or GM/OnStar can cook up on a whim for a couple million bucks will cost the US/Canadian governments a trillion.  Remember the two billion for the gun registry?  It could run on a laptop.  Imagine this monstrosity.

Government regulators have a major woody for this tracking technology, as apparently do Apple and Google.  The tech exists right now, and it seems there's a whole lot of money in knowing where we all are every minute of the day.  We as a culture are going to have to decide if we will allow this kind of ubiquitous surveillance or not, and by the looks of things we will be deciding pretty freakin' soon.

Call your MP/Congress critter, tell him/her this is a very, very bad thing.

The Phantom

Study: Half of Detroit illiterate.

Well, this explains everything.

According to a new report, 47 percent of Detroiters are  "functionally illiterate." The alarming new statistics were released by the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund on Wednesday.

WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with the Fund's Director, Karen Tyler-Ruiz, who explained exactly what this means.

"Not able to fill out basic forms, for getting a job — those types of basic everyday (things). Reading a prescription; what's on the bottle, how many you should take… just your basic everyday tasks," she said.

Those of us who have always wondered HOW the idiots who use the lawnmower as a hedge clipper got that stupid, here's your answer.  They can't READ all those big red warning labels plastered all over everything.
Dear liberals, when you go and deliberately destroy a public institution like the schools, that has consequences.

The Phantom

What's most important about Bin Laden's life and death?

Bunnies. No really, bunnies.

Zarar Ahmed, 12, is a resident of the small town of Abbottabad, not far from the compound where Bin Laden had been hiding with relatives and associates for the past five years until his death at the weekend.

Zarar told how the family had even given him a gift of two rabbits during one of his visits to the $1 million home. He said: "I used to go to their house. He had two wives, one spoke Arabic, and the other one spoke Urdu. They had three children, a girl and two boys. They gave me two rabbits.

Aren't they cuuuuute?! Eee!

The Phantom

Been a lovely few days, hasn't it?

Wow, eh? Taliban Jack caught with his pants down, Taliban Ossama caught slippin' by the US Navy, and now we've got a Hidden Agenda majority, with no more BlockHead party, no more Count Iggula to kick around, and EXTRA BONUS...

...every Question Period will have Rin Tin Lizzie the performing sea mammal doing her act. Throw that girl a herring!

The awesome just keeps on coming, as Jack would say. Bwaha!

The Phantom

DC Comics breaks new ground.

Yeah, they break new ground in the "trying to go bankrupt as fast as possible" direction. Dig it, baby:

After recently undertaking a journey to walk -- not fly -- across the United States in the "Grounded" storyline and reconnect with the country and everyday Americans, Superman appears to be taking another step that could have major implications for his national identity: in Action Comics #900...

...Superman announces that he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship. Despite very literally being an alien immigrant, Superman has long been seen as a patriotic symbol of "truth, justice, and the American way," from his embrace of traditional American ideals to the iconic red and blue of his costume. What it means to stand for the "American way" is an increasingly complicated thing, however, both in the real world and in superhero comics, whose storylines have increasingly seemed to mirror current events and deal with moral and political complexities rather than simple black and white morality.

From what I saw in the comments section, this idea appears to have very, very few supporters.

Clearly, the problem DC has is not the recession or management or any of that. Their problem is they have too many old Leftists working in the place, bitterly clinging to their no-guns and no-religion schtick.

Enjoy Chapter 11, assholes.

Spy-Apple Update: Stevie Jobs is sorry.

From the "Easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission" file:
 

Hoping to put to rest a growing controversy over privacy, Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, took the unusual step of personally explaining that while Apple had made mistakes in how it handled location data on its mobile devices, it had not used the iPhone and iPad to keep tabs on the whereabouts of its customers.

"We haven't been tracking anybody," Mr. Jobs said in an interview on Wednesday. "Never have. Never will."

Mr. Jobs said that Apple would fix the mistakes in a free software update that it would release in the next few weeks.

Yeah, they haven't been tracking anybody.  They've been tracking EVERYBODY.  Nice that they promise to stop, now they've been caught red handed.
And people wonder why I'm pro-gun.  Jeeze.

The Phantom

Spy-Apple update, Google spies too!

Google and Apple have admitted today that yes, your phone does spy on you.  Furthermore, not only does your phone spy on you, THEY DO TOO.  All that location data gets downloaded to Apple for iPhones and Google for Android OS phones.

Apple Inc.'s iPhones and Google Inc.'s Android smartphones regularly transmit their locations back to Apple and Google, respectively, according to data and documents analyzed by The Wall Street Journal—intensifying concerns over privacy and the widening trade in personal data.

Google and Apple are gathering location information as part of their race to build massive databases capable of pinpointing people's locations via their cellphones. These databases could help them tap the $2.9 billion market for location-based services—expected to rise to $8.3 billion in 2014, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

And open source types call Microsoft the Evil Empire.  Ha!  Gates never dreamed of a ripoff this huge.  These bastards are using their customers as nothing other than remote sensing drones, sniffing out data for the companies to use as their bottom line sees fit.  This is amazing!

I can't wait to see if RIM is collecting location data from the BlackBerry.  If not, I'm never switching to anything else.  BlackBerry forever.

The Phantom

Gun control not enough for Nova Scotia!

In news today, Nova Scotia has decided that not only are you not going to be able to shoot back, you better damn well DIE when they shoot you.

Nova Scotia is going to regulate the sale and possession of body armour.

Justice Minister Ross Landry says it's a reasonable safety measure because more people involved in criminal activity are wearing armour.

He says the legislation will be based on laws in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba where only people who legitimately need body armour can have it.

People without a permit or licence to possess or sell body armour can be charged and the product seized.

Canada is a frigging stupid country.   License to own BODY ARMOR?!!!  WTF?!!!  Its a passive protective device, it has no offensive use!

What if you have a freaky neighbor and you can't get a GUN PERMIT?  What if your ex says he/she is going to KILL YOU and you can't get a GUN PERMIT? What if you are the counter clerk at 7/11 and you get robbed twelve times a year?  And you can't get a GUN PERMIT?

We have to be the biggest imbeciles in the world to let guys like  Ross Landry run things.

Your Apple product is spying on you. Right now. For real.

Yes my friends, from the massive, huge, monstrous "...but am I paranoid -enough-?" file, we have this new story about Apple products remembering exactly where they've been.

Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner's computer when the two are synchronised.

The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program.

For some phones, there could be almost a year's worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with Apple's iOS 4 update to the phone's operating system, released in June 2010.

Oh and by the way, its legal.  You said they could.

Apple can legitimately claim that it has permission to collect the data: near the end of the 15,200-word terms and conditions for its iTunes program, used to synchronise with iPhones, iPods and iPads, is an 86-word paragraph about "location-based services".

Call me picky, but one paragraph of abstruse legalese hidden among 15,200 words of same does not seem like sufficient notification for something like this.  I'd be happier with a big red label on the front of the box that says "ATTENTION!!!   WARNING!!!! This device will record your every movement, forever, and you can't delete it!!!"

Warden and Allan have set up a web page which answers questions about the file, and created a simple downloadable application to let Apple users check for themselves what location data the phone is retaining. The Guardian has confirmed that 3G-enabled devices including the iPad also retain the data and copy it to the owner's computer.

Go check that web page out ASAP if you have an Apple iAnything and don't want Steve Jobs to know exactly  where you  you were at 2:10 pm yesterday.
Now, this next article is where we all get to see that we are nowhere near paranoid enough.

The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous.
...
A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.

"Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags," a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities. "The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps."

Your TomTom GPS unit remembers where its been too.  I'd wager the police community has known about this iPhone location file for a while now.  They've also known for a while that your car GPS makes an EXCELLENT witness against you in court, as does the OBDII engine management computer in your car.  You can almost do lap time analysis with an OBDII download, it records throttle position, engine speed, braking events, what gear your transmission is in, all kinds of things. 

You may think you have nothing to hide, but against an all-seeing eye that knows where you parked illegally 18 months ago, you probably do.  Your GPS plus your iPhone plus your car's computer and a bit of data minning from customer loyalty cards and such, a reasonably competent data analyst could probably guess if you have a mistress, and what her taste in deserts runs to.

If the cops are going to start vacuuming portable electronics during a routine traffic stop, I'm going to start digging into the best way of blanking a phone and GPS.  Older cars don't have computers.  And as always, cash is king.

Additionally, it occurs to me to wonder if the Kindle ebook reader remembers where its been.  Those things are 3G enabled, they do phone home too.   Hmmmmn.....

From our bulging "I couldn't make this up" file:

Newsflash, Minnesota, "where the corn grows as high as an elephant's eye" and not one other damn thing can be seen for hunnerts of miles in all directions: a story so fundamentally stupid I couldn't have made it up.

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- The Minnesota Department of Transportation is looking for 500 people to test technology that could someday be used to collect a mileage-based user fee.

Mn/DOT anticipates a fee on road usage might someday be necessary as more fuel efficient and hybrid cars are on the road, decreasing revenue from the gas tax.

Because toll booths on the highway would just be too easy.

No evidence of intelligent life on Planet Liberal

You know, sometimes election campaigns really do tell you something about the candidates.  These two pictures tell me Mr. Ignatieff:

• Has never been in a Home Depot before.
• Has zero upper body strength.
• Has never split a single piece of firewood.
• Bought a brand new work vest for this photo op and wouldn't be caught dead in one otherwise.
• Can't hold his face still to save his life.
• Employs morons to advise him on his PR and campaign, people who can't even set up a photo op that makes their guy look good.

Imagine what these geniuses would do if they controlled Canada's monetary policy.

Hat tip to Kate at Small Dead Animals.

Waterloo proves the Lefty rot has spread to engineering school.

Two posts I spotted at Five Feet of Fury today prove that the Ivory Tower in Canada today is ruled over by humorless, incompetent peckerheads who are also utter hypocrites.

Item: Victorian prudery isn't dead!

The University of Waterloo in Canada has suspended a team of students who built a racecar after a female member was photographed posing next to the car in a bikini and high heels.

University spokesman Michael Strickland said the temporary suspension is in response to an "inappropriate and denigrating" photograph that appeared online, as well as in Tuesday's edition of the Waterloo Region Record.

"The decision also considered the guidelines in place to ensure the safety of students," Strickland wrote in an email to FoxNews.com. "The university's engineering design centre, where the photo was taken, has rules covering the type of equipment that can be brought in as well as the manner in which it can be used." 

Students on the Formula SAE team will now be unable to enter the car in an international contest to be held in Michigan next month since the suspension lasts until June 1, the Waterloo Region Record reports.

Translation:  The token females in the Eng department were jealous of both the girl's brains AND her "equipment", so they stabbed her in the back the best way they could.  If the kids on this team have any stones they'll tell the UofW to shove that suspension up their ass and go compete anyway.  I'd haul their car to Michigan as a public service.

Item: When criminals do this we call it "collusion".

It's reported that student debt in the USA is approaching a trillion dollars, five times what it was ten years ago.

Are those in debt buying more education or are they seeking better branding in the form of coveted diplomas? (…) 

Neither.  They're reacting to the fact that large companies and all GOVERNMENT AGENCIES require specific accreditation degrees and courses for all jobs.  You can't get a government job cleaning computers without being A+ certified.  Certification is the craze which has swept private and public orgs alike, as they require not just evidence that the job applicant in front of them is competent, they require a guarantee.  And as this demand for people to be certified competent has risen, so universities have jumped on the chance to SELL COURSES to the poor bastards trying to get certified.  Often in cooperation with government and industry, because certification goes hand in hand with regulation.  With the enthusiastic applause from banks.  Student loans pay pretty good.

Example, American universities in the last ten years have started offering a "Doctorate" in Physical Therapy.  Which doesn't mean the graduates have done and defended some original science in a thesis. nonono!  They took some COURSES, and got a PT-PhD -certificate-.  Which is utter bilge, from a science/scholarship perspective.  But of late, hospitals, schools and companies have started requiring a PT-PhD for management positions, where previously a Masters was considered sufficient. (Masters in PT is also bullshit IMHO, and I have one.)  So who's in PT-PhD courses?  Older PTs who need to get into management because their bones are starting to hurt from lifting fat fugly patients all day. Do they need these courses to do a management job?  No.  Do they need it to -get- a a management job?  Oh yeah.

I believe the certification craze will shortly come to an end on its own, as big industry all moves off-shore and governments go stony broke.

By popular demand, The Phantom losing it. Again.

I post a lot of comments at Small Dead Animals.  This is one I posted earlier today in response to Kate's linking to this article about what bastards the French are for banning the burka, that tent-like garment some Muslim women wear.

It kinda hit my button:

Anybody who uses the term "scapegoat" in an article like this is a leftist idiot. In one breath this genius warns of dire consequence from banning the burka (which garment is an offense against his very own views of women's rights), in the next breath if asked he will surely support a 100% ban on firearms.

Therefore one may assume he thinks its is bad for government to ban things, except those things he doesn't approve of.

Me, I think its a bad idea for government to ban the burka too. It gives them ideas.

I propose it would be sufficient to RETURN the right of shop keepers and private property owners to refuse access to burka wearers, a la "no shirt, no shoes, no service". Serve them if they loose the tent, otherwise no.

We don't need Big Brother to protect us from the scary dangerous tent-ladies, unless we have already lost all our rights to determine our own culture and control who enters our own property.

People who want to wear the tent can wear it at home. Maybe they can start tent colonies, the way weirdos have had nudist colonies all these years.

Governments don't decide what Canadians will or won't tolerate. WE DO.

Nothing to add. 

Who IS this John Galt guy?!!!

And why has he taken away my hockey sticks?!!!

Sher-Wood Hockey Inc., Canada's storied hockey stick manufacturer, is leaving home ice for good at the end of this year, moving the last of its stick production to China to slash costs.

 

Yes my friends, from here on out the national sport of Canada will be played with sticks imported from CHINA. Why, you ask?

 Mr. Rodrigue would not provide details of how much lower costs are in China, but he said there are other competitive advantages as well, such as the potential to develop new products in the region.

He cited competition from larger, more aggressive rivals in the consolidating hockey equipment industry as a key factor in the company's shift to Asia, which followed the lead of all the major players, including top dog Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. and rivals Easton and Reebok.

Sher-Wood's dwindling wooden-stick manufacturing was outsourced five years ago to a local company.

In other words, they nearly went bankrupt from trying to stay in Sherbrooke PQ, and if they don't get the hell out of Canada there won't be a Sher-Wood Hockey Inc. by this time next year.  The competitive advantage is unbeatable. A 60 year old Canadian company has to start making hockey equipment in China, a country where nobody ever heard of hockey, that has to IMPORT all the raw materials from halfway around the world, and then ship the finished product back half way around the world, if they want to stay in business.

Question for Count Iggula, Smilin' Jack Layton, RinTin Lizzy and the frickin' Separatiste Bloc-head guy who ought to be all over this: What kind of of bullshit is this, that I can't buy a f-ing HOCKEY STICK that's made in Canada?

The Phantom

Where on Earth is The Phantom?

Here's where I was at sundown tonight, Scottsdale Pavilions car show. Yep it was warm, with cool cars. ~:D

3D printer with ~0.001" resolution, very cool!

This is a link to Junior Veloso's blog, where he's documenting his 3D printer build.  Its a very impressive achievement.  He's using a photo-setting resin with a DLP projection light source to make the image, and has managed to tweak this thing to very high resolution.  He can print at about 3.5 cm/minute, reportedly.

By the way, if there was ever a case where lawyers are holding back progress for all of us, this is it. The reason he hasn't released his whole build so far is he's afraid of getting sued for IP infringement.  I expect the DLP chip or controller has some kind of bullsh1t  legal verbiage attached, and he can't afford to hire a lawyer as part of his development.  Obviously!  Who hires a lawyer when they want to hack the guts of an expired color TV?

The Phantom

Greenies want a car-less Europe.

According to this Daily Mail piece, (h/t Small Dead Animals) the EU is planning on banning all "fossil fuel" vehicles from European cities by 2050.

The Commission is calling for a 50 per cent shift away from conventionally fuelled cars in urban areas by 2030, phasing them out altogether in cities by 2050.

Brussels says the aim is also to achieve "essentially CO2-free movement of goods in major urban centres by 2030".

Setting out another major goal, it adds that by 2050 Europe should "move close to zero fatalities in road transport", with an interim target of halving all road casualties by 2020.

In typical dork fashion, one incompetent imbecile spokesman spills the beans on -why- they want to do this.

But EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas defended the green policy drive: "The widely held belief that you need to cut mobility to fight climate change is simply not true.

"Competitive transport systems are vital for Europe's ability to compete in the world, for economic growth, job creation and for people's everyday quality of life."

He insisted: "Curbing mobility is not an option; neither is business as usual. We can break the transport system's dependence on oil without sacrificing its efficiency and compromising mobility. It can be win-win."

  I'll just observe that its much easier to control a population when they can't shoot back and they can't run away. The EU has already got the shooting back part handled, now they aim to fix the running away part.  Hitler would approve.

The Phantom

OMG She's got a GUN!!!

Every once in a while, something comes along that's just TOO frickin' good to ignore.  This is one of those things.

After breaking into an Oregon residence last night, Timothy Chapek, 24, barricaded himself in a bathroom after the owner unexpectedly arrived home. Chapek, you see, was worried that Hilary Mackenzie might be armed (or that her barking German Shepherds could prove problematic).

So he called 911 seeking help. "I just broke into a house and the owner came home," Chapek told a police operator. "You broke into a house?" the surprised operator responded. "I think she's got guns," Chapek added.

You can listen to the dueling 911 calls at the link.  Make sure you go to the bathroom before you listen or you'll pee your pants.

The Phantom

And speaking of burning stupidity...

Women still scarce in top ranks at Canada's biggest companies

Gasp!  This is TERRIBLE! 

The worst sector was publicly traded companies, where women held only 14.3 per cent of senior officer jobs last year, up from 13.9 per cent in 2008.

Those Capitalist BASTARDS!!!  What can we possibly do to stop them?!!!

Other advocates are asking the federal government to support legislation tabled in the Senate by Liberal Céline Hervieux-Payette that would require publicly traded companies in Canada to have gender parity on their boards of directors. So far, the Conservatives are opposing the proposal, which means it is unlikely to be adopted.

Those Conservative BASTARDS!!!

Help make this Liberal holy cause a reality my friends, Gender Parity in the Boardroom!!!  Because what's most important in running a business is... wedding tackle?

Hey, wait...

The Phantom

We get letters...

Here at the fabulous Soapbox we (royal "we", anyway) get the odd comment that can't be left to the comment section.  No, these special comments need full examination.
Couple days ago I posted that when the CEO of 3M corporation asks the President of the USA "Who is John Galt?!!!" and right up in his face to boot, that's a remarkable event.
Well didn't someone named "liberal supporter" make the following comment:

Wasn't John Galt the guy who "goes Galt" when he doesn't get his way. You know, like going on strike?

Meanwhile, that bastion of fiscal rectitude, Rob "stop the gravy train" Ford, is now revealed. He only wanted to stop the gravy train to change drivers, add a few cars (including an extra dining car). And who should pay for this? Why somebody else, as it always is from the far right. Privatize the gains and socialize the losses, right?

Hahahahahahaha!

So I answered him/her/it.

Probably a mistake, but I figure usual troll so, whatever.

Last night I get this biiiig long thing, the salient bits of which are:

Typical fright wingers.
tax breaks for the rich,
take pleasure in sneering at anyone less fortunate
impose the fascist agenda you promote
the far right agenda
the far right in the US

But this here is the capper, the piece du resistance as it were:

Too bad you can't refute my argument and have to resort to ad hominem, and now I see, comment moderation. Typical.

Of course I can't refute that.  Its not an argument.  Its a smear.  Its a handful of monkey shit flung from the tree tops. "You're a FASCIST!!!"   I'm supposed to say "Am not!!!" so monkeyboy can shriek "Are too!!!" and fling some more shit.  This is the entire strategy of the modern Left.  Shrieking and flinging shit.  Working great in Wisconsin, eh?

All there is for me to do is say "Hey, look at the frickin' liberal!"
Its almost as good as a day at the zoo.  Added bonus, no smell.

The Phantom

The burning stupid of Michael Moore.

Micheal Moore explains exactly how he thinks the US economy works.  Its a video.  He's says of "rich people":

"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it,"

Proving once again that not only is Michael Moore a flaming red Communist, he is a truly world-class buffoon. You could cook an egg on his head, the stupid burns so hot.
No word on whether or not he views his money as a "national resource", I speculate probably not.

The Phantom

We. Are. WINNING.

Yes, we really really are winning.  Check it out, an article about guns at HuffPoo.

When your children go to college what do you pack to send with them?

You probably include their clothing, some sheets and towels, a laptop computer and maybe a small refrigerator or microwave.

But, how about a gun?

Don't be shocked. It's not that farfetched. And guns could be coming to a college campus near you.
In the aftermath of several campus shootings in recent years and the gun fueled violence in Arizona that killed 6, wounded 13 and incapacitated Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, there is a movement to give college students and their professors the right to carry weapons onto campus.

Oh my GAWD!!!!  Guns, in our schools!  EEEEEK!

Ok, so she goes through all the fricking Brady Bunch boilerplate.  But then there's this little bit at the bottom:

Truth be told I'd like to see all guns - from small handguns and glocks to rifles and semi-automatic types - melted down and used for scrap.

Tra-la-lah! Wouldn't it be a wonderful world that found no need for guns at all? My logical brain tells me that is never going to happen.

Holy crap my friends, she admits to having a logical brain. Are you kidding me?

So, the question becomes do we run the risk of regulating gun ownership so much that the responsible people among us decide it isn't worth the hassle of multiple classes, training sessions and big fees to get a license? When that happens only police and the bad guys will have guns. And as we all know the police can't be everywhere.

Double plus holy crap my friends, the cops can't be everywhere?!!!!  OMG!

Dependable Americans with permits already carry their weapons into shopping malls, banks, churches and grocery stores among countless other places every day. Why should a university campus be any different?

 Some Americans can be [gasp!] "dependable"?  Who ARE you?!!!

Final facts to ponder: A group called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus reports that over 70 American campuses currently allow licensed guns. There hasn't been a single reported instance of shoot-outs, accidents or heated confrontations with a gun involved at any of them. In fact, statistics show the crime rate at Colorado State University has gone steadily down since concealed carry was enacted.

Yes friends, a LEFTY at the Huffington Post just let mere facts sway her judgment about guns.  In writing.
Truly, a sign of the apocalypse.  Be on the lookout for four weird looking guys on horseback.

The Shocked and Stunned Phantom

Christie Blatchford on Sunday's shenanigans in Caledonia.

Alternate title: "The cops ain't the cavalry, son."

How fitting that the report of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association on the policing of the G20 should be released on the fifth anniversary of the native occupation in Caledonia, Ont.

The same organization now screaming for a full-scale public inquiry into alleged abuses – particularly, the troubling breach-of-the-peace arrest authority used over that June weekend – was and continues to be absolutely silent about similar and worse abuses that occurred in the small town just south of Hamilton, just a few klicks from the Six Nations reserve.

As the professional Lefty human rights industry in this country continues to resolutely look the other way on Caledonia, Christie continues to kick them square in the balls at every opportunity.

For myself, I did not go.  I admit cowardice, I do not want to be on the "enemies of the OPP" list. And make no mistake, everybody who showed up there Sunday has a file on them today.

H/T to Caledonia Wake Up Call and kudos to Gary McHale for having the event in the first place.

The Phantom

CEO of 3M asks Barry:"Who is John Galt?"

You know, when the head of one of the biggest companies in the entire USA starts talking like an Ayn Rand novel, people should perk up their ears.

[George Buckley, chief executive and chairman of 3M]  Mr Buckley, who has run the diversified manufacturer since 2005, said: "There is a sense among companies that this is a difficult place to do business. It is about regulation, taxation, seemingly anti-business policies in Washington, attitudes towards science."

He added: "Politicians forget that business has choice. We're not indentured servants and we will do business where it's good and friendly. If it's hostile, incrementally, things will slip away. We've got a real choice between manufacturing in Canada and Mexico – which tend to be pro-business – or America."

The 3M chief also criticised US immigration policy, saying the difficulty of obtaining visas was forcing companies to move research and development overseas. "About 68 per cent of our science PhD candidates are from outside the US," he said. "Many want to stay here afterwards but we're not allowed as many visas as we would like."

"We are now exporting science overseas to China, India, Germany, building labs there. There's a good strategic reason for it, but we also have no choice – if we can't get the people here and we're competing with the people there, we have no choice but to do it locally."

That's some pretty straight freakin' talk there.  That's some "Smarten up or we are OUT of here, beatch!" kinda talk.
CEO of Intel said the same thing a couple years ago.  Their chip-fab was built in Arizona because there was literally no amount of money -in the world- that could get it built in California.  Couldn't be done.  And the reason was government.
Here at home, if the Liberal Party of Ontario and the federal Conservative Party of Canada had even an ounce of brains between them, they would be cutting regulations and taxes on manufacturing to all-time lows just to attract 3M and Intel and all these guys here to Canada.  They should lay out the Red Carpet and scatter pink rose petals on it.

What are they doing instead?  Windmills and tax increases, that's what.  Union/NDP/Liberal astroturf violence at the G-20.  Oh, and trying to strong arm the CPC into continuing the tax-and-spend toboggan ride.  Anybody remember Iggy threatening to overturn the government over the "stimulus" he demanded?  I remember.

Hey Dalton!  Hey Iggy!  Who is John Galt?!

The Phantom

Republicans win, Democrats freak out!

Its gonna be CIVIL WAR I tells ya!

Some residents, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and even some Republican lawmakers say the bills are making Montana into a laughingstock. And, they say, the push to nullify federal laws could be dangerous.

"We are the United States of America," said Schweitzer. "This talk of nullifying is pretty toxic talk. That led to the Civil War."

Uh huh.  Whereas running the city, state and national debt up to over a hundred trillion will be all cake and ponies for everybody.  Article tries REALLY hard to portray the Tea Party as some bunch of insane people with no teeth, fails miserably.
Hey, Dems.  Just face it dudes, we all finally figured out what you've really been working towards since the 1930's. You are busted. Its over.

The Phantom

Crazy is not just an industry, its a growth industry.

From Kate's Small Dead Animals today, this sparkling gem of insanity that needs to be widely spread.

If Washington voters were to approve it, this measure would make it illegal for Washington farmers to raise egg-laying hens in cages. Additionally, regular eggs would be banned from grocery stores. (Unlike in California's "Proposition 2," there's no ambiguity about whether farmers can use "enriched" cages of the type that Temple Grandin and the American Humane Association endorse. They would also be banned.)

Signature-gathering animal rights activists will likely tell voters that the only way to ensure hens lead happy and healthy lives is to force every farmer to go cage-free.

Tell all your friends.  Or get used to the idea of eggs that cost a dollar each.

The Carnivorous Phantom

New Yorkers behaving badly. As usual.

Here's something I've never heard before, New Yorkers are frickin' rude assholes.

Study: 'Sidewalk Rage' Plagues New York City Streets

They needed a study for this? 

I remember walking with a friend in the rich snooty part of NYC, out in front of Bloomingdales or some such.  I turned my head to say something to my friend, and this well dressed older woman stiff-armed me.  And of course fell right on her ass, because stiff-arming The Phantom is like stiff-arming a Clydesdale.  The horse ain't going to be the one that moves.  She kinda bounced off me and measured herself on the pavement, I thought she'd broken a hip or something.  I bend over to see if she's ok, she starts yelling "YOU'RE IN MY WAY!!!".  I can't recall if I offered to kick her a couple times while she was down there, or if I just thought it really loud.  I do believe we helped her up though, good manners are firmly ingrained in Canadian boys pretty much at a reflex level.

Its the kind of thing that I've never seen happen anywhere else but Noo Yawk.  What a dump.

The Phantom Clydesdale.

Iran proudly joins the 20th Century!

Yes friends, the great nation of Iran has achieved a new milestone in computer technology!  Their mighty armies have achieved what pimply adolescent Americans have been doing in mum's basement since 1994.

Iranian computer hackers on Monday hijacked the website of the Voice of America, replacing its Internet home page with a banner bearing an Iranian flag and an image of an AK-47 assault rifle.

The group called on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to "hear the voice of oppressed nations."

The banner stated that "we have proven that we can."

Tremble before our power, O great Shaitan!

The Tremblin' Phantom

Remember drawing pictures of the teacher in your notebook when you were little?

Remember how she was always getting blown up, shot, stabbed, run over, nuked or had a flaming anvil dropping on her? Kinda like this?

YOU SICK BASTARDS!!!!

An 11-year-old Arvada boy was arrested and hauled away in handcuffs for drawing stick figures in school, something his therapist told him to do.

His parents say they understand what he did was inappropriate, but are outraged by the way Arvada Police handled the case. The parents do not want their real names used.

They say "Tim" is being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder and his therapist told him to draw pictures when he got upset, rather than disrupt the class. So that's what he did.

Last October, he drew stick figures of himself with a gun, pointed at four other stick figures with the words "teacher must die."

He felt calmer and was throwing the picture away when the teacher saw it and sent him to the principal's office.

This must have been on one of the days the teacher was at work and not rioting in Wisconsin.

Well I hope young Tim has learned an important lesson. Where government employees are concerned you keep your head down, your mouth shut, and don't leave any evidence of impious thoughts lying around. That's what school is for, after all. Teaching people how to behave in public institutions.

The Sick Phantom Bastard

Nice article about Wisconsin union stickup.

Washington Examiner:

Taxpayers are becoming acutely aware of the have-yours as a class -- something like Angelo Codevilla's ruling class -- whose gains in salaries and benefits aren't associated with harder work and important innovations but political access. Public-sector unions rallying in Madison aren't even taking a hit for their political activism, given that their protest is made possible by paid sick days, negotiated for them by their collective bargaining units who, it must be said, donate to the very people with whom they negotiate.

This guy is SO making my point about these union clowns shooting themselves in the head with this.

This whole exercise in protesting isn't civil disobedience -- it's just another transaction, one in which the have-yours labor leaders are trying to reassert their authority over taxpayer resources by arguing that it's inhumane to ask government workers to pay more into their own health care and pensions, and that collective bargaining means only one side gets a bargain.

To distract from the sheer avarice of this position, the AFL-CIO, the SEIU, and others are trying to get as many people as possible to protest and show some kind of consensus that Gov. Scott Walker's, R, position is unreasonable, even cruel. The numbers are impressive and the photos really do depict the us-vs-them drama, but not in the way union leaders and member hope because the chilling have yours subtext of every sign held aloft by a protesting union member is clear: We don't work for you, taxpayer. You work for us.

Yeah, we do.  Half of your total income goes to pay these assholes, Canada is no better off than Michigan.  Difference between now and last year?  This year there's a new sheriff in Wisconsin.

So, how much damage could two measly shoplifters do anyway?

Five. Million. Bucks.  From one chain. That they know of.

Safeway officials say they have proof that a local couple stole more than $5 million in merchandise from stores in the Portland Metro area over the past several years.

Police arrested Richard Lavern Remington, 52, and Angela Rose Evans, 32, on Tuesday and the couple was arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court Wednesday.

The probable cause affidavit showed that Safeway began formally tracking the pair last November after suspicions surfaced they had been shoplifting.

Interesting to note Mr. Lavern there already had a parole violation, and should have been in jail the whole time he was stealing all this stuff.
That's a pile of money to lose, but just imagine how much the EMPLOYEES rack up in five finger discounts.

The Phantom