You just can't escape the insanity.

As I've said many times, I never, ever buy the newspaper, I do not have cable TV nor rabbit ears broadcast TV, I do not listen to commercial radio.  And yet still I can't completely escape this sort of thing:

Outsourcing Christmas: Why the new Toronto disgusts me

Michael Babad's article (mbabad@globeandmail.com) is in the Blob and Snail today, and the headline was on my Report On Business news feed. I had to click on that, since Toronto disgusts me also.  Turns out for a different reason.

I know this is an obvious attack point for a bleeding heart, and I also know that governments at every level are scrambling to cut in the post-recession era. But still, getting rid of an agency that pulls together Christmas toys for underprivileged kids?

That's what Toronto's politicians decided yesterday with the Christmas Bureau, one of several measures to save about $28-million, The Globe and Mail's Elizabeth Church and Patrick White report. That's less than what had been proposed, and many things survived Mayor Rob Ford's quest to cut down the gravy.

Toronto is Canada's financial showcase, home to its banks and its premiere stock exchange, drawing business visitors from around the world. With a jobless rate of 8.1 per cent, is this really what we want to show the world?

City of Toronto has a nine billion dollar annual budget. That's $9,000,000,000 samoleans, kids. Rob Ford tried to cut some fat out of it, but every attempted program cut had its little base of support, its own little constituency of outraged simpletons up in arms. 
Examples from the article of things that were not cut are:

Last week, the executive committee removed several contentious cost-cutting proposals, including the closing of library branches and the elimination of 2,000 subsidized daycare spaces funded by the city alone.

An additional $600,000 in cuts were removed Tuesday. Services that were saved include:

– community environment days

– city staff support for the Toronto Youth Cabinet and the Seniors Forum

– the Public Realm's Neighbourhood Improvement Program

As well, a recommendation to sell the Toronto Parking Authority was removed.

Community environment days were too important to Toronto's survival to cut?
But, give them credit, the city council did manage to find sufficient spine to cut $28,000,000, that's TWENTY EIGHT MILLION BUCKS, among which was The Christmas Bureau. The cutting of which "disgusts" Mr. Babad.  He's disgusted the city won't be paying union workers for doing something churches already do faster/better/cheaper. This kind of thing is why we have churches.

And this guy is a business writer?  Are you kidding me?

The comments echo my discontent with Babad's apparent lack of fiscal common sense.

However the best part of this is the Mop & Pail didn't get a penny of income from my wasted ten seconds of reading this dreck.

The Phantom

Another good reason to disable cookies.

Turns out Facebook has been observing your internet browsing even when you are logged out.

Most would assume that Facebook stops monitoring them after they leave its site, but technology bloggers discovered this was not the case.

In fact, data has been regularly sent back to the social network's servers – data that could be worth billions when creating 'targeted' advertising based on the sites users visit.

The website's practices were exposed by Australian technology blogger Nik Cubrilovic and have provoked a furious response across the internet.

I used to think I was paranoid for disabling cookies, popups, Flash, Java and Active X crap.  Turns out no, I wasn't. It's not just that they know your name and where you live, they know every damn website you've ever visited.
Seems to me there's a real market out there for software to secure your browser against people like Facebook and Google.
Imagine what the -government- must be doing.

The Unfortunately Not Paranoid Enough Phantom

Gun control working as intended.

Gun control operating in the Real World.

ABOUT 11 P.M. on Sept. 9, dozens of youths with bats and pipes descended on a tidy residential area of Port Richmond looking for white teens who allegedly had attacked an African-American kid at Stokely Playground a couple of hours earlier.

Two fearful white teens [yeah, try little kids] spotted Mark LaVelle on Indiana Avenue near Belgrade Street and asked for help. Suddenly, the mob appeared. LaVelle, who said that he didn't know the two kids, who looked to be 13 or 14, ran with them into his nearby house.

Then it got ugly.

They were standing on his steps. One shouted, " 'Something's going to happen now!' " LaVelle recalled in an interview Friday at his house. LaVelle got nervous and went back inside, locking his door with a deadbolt.

But the attackers pounded on his front windows and kicked his wooden door so hard, it flew open and some of them entered his house.

"The first guy hits me with a pipe. The second guy knocks me in the face. All I'm hearing is my wife and kids screaming," said LaVelle, who feared that the next time they saw him, he would be in a casket.

He said that he was able to push the attackers out the door, but then a third man - who had a gun - tried to extend his arm. LaVelle grabbed onto the gunman's lower arm and shoulder so he couldn't raise the weapon. Then, police sirens screamed in the neighborhood, and the mob turned and ran.

I don't know what to say about this.  The same type of thing happened to me at age 19, and it scarred me for life even though I WON the engagement and left the other asshole bleeding on the floor.  First thing I did was go take up martial arts and become a fearsome looking son of a bitch.  Works great at scaring punks, sucks in a job interview, the nightmares don't go away.

This is a failure of not just social policy, this is a failure of basic civilization.  Roving bands of armed teenaged punks confident enough to attack a grown man in his own home, over nothing?  That's serious shit my friends.

When we hear about mobs of Muslims hauling a Hindu family out of their house in New Delhi and beating them to death in the street, we say "tsk" and wonder how a nation could allow such things. 

WELL NOW WE KNOW, DON'T WE.

The Completely and Utterly Disgusted Phantom

A hopeful sign: Hippie Punching back in vogue.

This picture is dedicated to Kathy, who'd have punched the hippie bitch herself had she been there.


Wall Street, 80 arrested, some pepper sprayed.

Police said 80 protesters were arrested or ticketed at multiple locations for disorderly conduct, blocking traffic and failure to obey a lawful order but the number could rise.

Officials said protesters did not have a permit for the march and one demonstrator was charged with assaulting a police officer, causing a shoulder injury. The NYPD was investigating the use of pepper spray.

That's the total content of the article that deals with what actually happened. The rest of it is a tale of woe, poor little innocent protesters unjustly attacked by the Blue Meanies.

Hippie punching is never a bad idea, you ask me. Frigging little weenies want to play flash mob, push people around and screw up traffic, they should feel some pain.

A fine won't make much of an impression, but pepper spray in the eye is a memory that will last a lifetime. The stupid chick in the picture above won't be quite so quick to lip off to the cops next time, no doubt about it.

The Phantom Meanie

Update: Welcome Five Feet of Fury fans. Kathy Shaidle should have her own program on Sun TV. Or at least Ezra should shut up and let her talk when she's a guest. ~:D

Big Brother wants your medical records.

The latest shoe to drop from the Obamacare nightmare: Health and Human Services will have access to your medical records. Yes, for real.

In a proposed rule from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the federal government is demanding insurance companies submit detailed health care information about their patients.

Yes friends, the federal government WILL have complete access to every shot you've had (or skipped) since you were born, your meds, your vision tests, any psych info you may have confided to your doctor, hospital visits, medical tests like colonoscopies, blood tests or CAT scans, the WORKS. Pictures too.

Just imagine what a well-meaning bureaucrat could do with that. Ever had a depressive episode? No guns for you! Ever had a heart murmur? You get the Special Diet and a fine if you're seen at McDonalds! Over weight? EXERCISE PROGRAM! In front of the TV that watches you! We even have that already, its called a web cam. Funny how 1984 keeps cropping up all the time.
And just imagine the sheer cost of doing it. The database alone will probably cost more than a squadron of B2 bombers, government computer systems always do. Then there's the staff, the policy wonks, the oversight committees, the scamming...

Two words my friends. Tea. Party.

The "I can seeeee you!" Phantom

Stingray is watching you.

Very informative article about how the cops track cell phones that are not even in use.

Stingrays are designed to locate a mobile phone even when it's not being used to make a call. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the devices to be so critical that it has a policy of deleting the data gathered in their use, mainly to keep suspects in the dark about their capabilities, an FBI official told The Wall Street Journal in response to inquiries.

A stingray's role in nabbing the alleged "Hacker"—Daniel David Rigmaiden—is shaping up as a possible test of the legal standards for using these devices in investigations. The FBI says it obtains appropriate court approval to use the device.

Cops are behind the times with their Stingray.  Check it: right here on the Phantom Soapbox, the semi-autonomous flying WiFi and phone sniffer. Geeks built it for a giggle.  Its better than FBI kit.

Sometimes it is a burden to be so right, about so many things.  ~:D

The Phantom

Toldja!

Barry's going to have to fight for his nomination.  Told ya, told ya, told ya.  The giggle?  They think he's not LIBERAL enough!  It is to die laughing!

President Obama's smooth path to the Democratic nomination may have gotten rockier Monday, after a group of liberal leaders, including former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, announced plans to challenge the incumbent in primaries next year.

The group said the goal is to offer up a handful of candidates from various fields and areas where the president either has failed to stake out a "progressive" position or where he has "drifted toward the corporatist right."

"Without debates by challengers inside the Democratic Party's presidential primaries, the liberal/majoritarian agenda will be muted and ignored," Mr. Nader said in a news release. "The one-man Democratic primaries will be dull, repetitive, and draining of both voter enthusiasm and real bright lines between the two parties that excite voters."

I don't think these morons have a hope, but they DO have some MSM noise going now.  Enough noise for the Clintons to step into.

Barry = dead duck walking.  Stick a fork in him, he's done like dinner.

Go Tea Party!

The Phantom

This is the trial balloon for Hillary.

Here we go.  Remember I said Barry wasn't going to make the Dem nomination next year?  Here's the setup.

The most popular national political figure in America today is one who was rejected by her own party three years ago: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans hold a favorable view of her and one-third are suffering a form of buyer's remorse, saying the U.S. would be better off now if she had become president in 2008 instead of Barack Obama.

The finding in the latest Bloomberg National Poll shows a higher level of wishful thinking about a Hillary Clinton presidency than when a similar question was asked in July 2010. Then, a quarter of Americans held such a view.

"Looking back, I wonder if she would have been a stronger leader, knowing the games and the politics and all that goes on," said Susan Dunlop, 50, a homemaker in New Port Richey, Florida. "I don't think she would have bent as much."

I've been noticing a lot of anti-Obama chatter on the MSM lately.  You don't normally see that kind of lipping off to a DemocRat prezzy, they save it for the Republicans.  So the shine has worn off, and now some of the other Great Powers in the 'Rat Party are going to buck the Chicago Machine and try to get their own horse to run.

IMHO, not being an expert or anything, we are going to start seeing a lot of these manufactured polls in favor of Hillary.  Possibly some more candiates will pop up as the deadline for the Dem nominations approaches.  Could be this is the trial ballon that launches the avalanche. Or not. 

But we shall see.

The Phantom

P.S. Even Hillary the grifter would be less of a disaster than Barry.  He's not even a thief, he's a saboteur.  Our one bit of good fortune is that he's an inept saboteur.

Obama going full-on Brownshirt.

Can't really think of another way to say it.  Totalitarian political fink line set up (so it says) by Barry's campaign.

Introducing AttackWatch.com

The smears didn't end with the 2008 election. President Obama's opponents are still using false allegations against the President and his record in an attempt to derail the momentum of this movement.

That's why we're launching Attack Watch—to provide a hub for the facts and fight back with the truth.

But we can't do it alone. We need your help to render these attacks ineffective and expose them as the worst kind of politics. There are lots of ways to get involved: join our Attack Wire to stay up to date on the latest from our opponents, help spread the President's message by signing up to volunteer, or donate to support this site and the campaign as a whole.

Check this news feed for updates in the coming weeks, and be sure to follow @AttackWatch on Twitter for breaking news as it happens.

Paid for by Obama for America

This is so 1932 I can hardly stand it.  AttackWatch, forsooth.  Sharpen up those entrenching tools friends. Reading this right after the bit on the Amish, it makes my brain hurt.

The Phantom

Amish terrorism... its the real deal!

Yes friends, those insane Christian terrorists are out there.  The brave constabulary of Graves County Kentucky has eight of these heinous criminals behind bars tonight!

Eight members of a traditional Amish sect were behind bars on Tuesday after refusing to pay fines for failure to display orange-red safety triangles on their horse-drawn buggies.

Graves District Judge Deborah Hawkins ordered the men jailed Monday in Mayfield, about 200 miles from Louisville in western Kentucky. The defendants contend that paying the fines would amount to complying with a law that violates their religious restrictions against wearing or displaying bright colors or relying upon man-made symbols for their safety.

Imagine the chaos that would result if just anyone could decide not to post the required safety signage on their vehicle! Judge Graves has her work cut out for her though, according to the article she has 44 more of these miscreants to deal with on Monday. 

Jail the lot of them, I say!  Comply! Submit! Bend your knee to the power of the almighty State!

All hail Obama!

Comrade Phantom, Acorn North.

Apropos of 9/11 memorials...

... here's why there aren't any yet. Paul Krugman thinks that:

Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

So naturally any decent monument to the dead would be a rallying point for Republicans, and the Krugmans of the world can't have that. Therefore, there are no monuments, ten years later.

But there is a Tea Party. So perhaps by 2021 there will finally be a decent monument to the dead.

And Paul Krugman will be reduced to posting anonymously on some obscure blog while The Phantom will post under my real name. Could happen.

Real 9/11 memorial.

This is what I'd have done, had it been up to me. Athena.


Fifty stories tall. Throwing her spear at Mecca. The tip of the spear is a full-sized F-15 Eagle. Only my version has her throwing a lot harder and looking a lot more dangerous. She'd have 3,000 helpers holding her re-loads. And the construction would be finished.

'Nuff said.

Obama gets results!

ObamaNation: Noo Yawk City...

In one of the bloodiest weekends in recent city history, 31 people were brutally shot in roughly 48 hours this weekend -- including three kids at a house party-turned-shooting gallery in The Bronx.

25 people had been shot as of Sunday night, but by early Monday morning, six more people were shot in three separate incidents in Brooklyn.

How bad is that?

The one-day crime wave mirrored the city's drug-fueled epidemic of violence in the 1980s and '90s, police sources said.

"Last night was unbelievable," one source said. "I can't remember a couple of hours like these since the days of crack."

That's pretty frickin' bad. What was Bloomberg's reaction?

Calling the chilling violence "just unconscionable," Mayor Bloomberg demanded that the feds step up their efforts to get illegal weapons off the streets.

"We just cannot continue to have these guns in the hands of kids who don't understand the value of human life," he said.

So no help there then, eh?

The Phantom

UPDATE: Final number for the weekend, 67 shot, ten dead.

Updated statistics obtained by NBC New York on Tuesday show that at least 67 people were shot between 12 a.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday. That includes nine on Friday, 10 on Saturday, 33 on Sunday and 15 on Monday.

Preliminary numbers indicate as many as 10 were killed.

New Jack City baby. Way to go Mayor Bloomberg, that gun control riff is really working.

Lefty stops pretending.

"We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war," Jimmy Hoffa Jr. said to a heavily union crowd.

"President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong," Hoffa added.

Bring it, Jimmy baby.

The Phantom

Today's kewlness: single molecule electric motor.

Yep. Electric motor made of one (1) molecule, driven and imaged by scanning tunneling microscope. The kewlness is extreme.

The butyl methyl sulphide molecule was placed on a clean copper surface, where its single sulphur atom acted as a pivot.

The tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope - a tiny pyramid with a point just an atom or two across - was used to funnel electrical charge into the motor, as well as to take images of the molecule as it spun.

It spins in both directions, at a rate as high as 120 revolutions per second.

But averaged over time, there is a net rotation in one direction.

By modifying the molecule slightly, it could be used to generate microwave radiation or to couple into what are known as nano-electromechanical systems, Dr Sykes said.

120 revs per second is 7200 rpm for gearheads. That's a respectable bit of spin. Motor for a mechanical creation the size of a bacteria? Hell yeah! Robots the size of bacteria. Sprinkle them on a junk heap and they'll print me a Ferrari.

The Phantom

Where money goes to die: government.

Our subject today is government waste as it applies to technology.  The specifics, Germany has lifted its ban on DOOM after 17 years.

As a result of the decision, Doom (released in 1993) and Doom 2 (1994) can now be freely distributed. The U.S. version of Doom 2 - Hell on Earth was excluded from the decisions as it includes two levels of Wolfenstein 3D, which includes "unconstitutional" symbols such as the swastika used by the Nazis. Wolfenstein 3D is listed as a "confiscated" video game in Germany.

According to the commission, the graphics and animations in Doom and Doom 2 are considered antiquated and not realistic. As the game has been generally considered as one of the most significant game titles in video game history and the U.S. Library of Congress decided to accept that game in its catalog of historically important media, the German commission argued that the game is historically significant.

Now, even though DOOM was one of my favorite things back in the day, (as our illustrious Arms Chest veterans will attest, hours and HOURS spent decimating aliens on the
Arms Chest Official Battle Simulator computer!) this is not really about that.

This is about the astounding amount of money involved in even having a commission that can decide to ban a video game in the first place.  Seventeen years ago some bunch of highly paid guys sat around and decided to BAN the most popular computer game in world history, and today some other bunch of guys decided the first bunch were wrong, also for very handsome pay.  I'm sure John Carmack is stoked about it.

Nobody involved seems to be asking the question, should government be doing that?  Because I think its friggin' insanity.  We'd all be better off if that whole commission and all its myriad support staff were out sweeping up dog poo in Berlin, even at full pay.  At least they'd be getting -productive- work done, instead of throwing rocks in everyone's path and f-ing up the world economy.

Just think of the numberless seat-warmers, chair polishers and Big Kahuna desk pilots we have in Ottawa and the provincial capitals doing jobs just like this.  Just think of the size of tax cut it would take to see them all out on the street looking for productive work.  Just phone up your MP and kick his butt for him.

TAX CUT NOW!

The Phantom

P.S. DOOM 4!!!! 

Big Brother says: "Its for your own good!"

Not a word of a lie, FDA proposes rubber tit registry.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- A federal advisory panel has recommended the creation of a nationwide database to follow women who have had silicone-gel breast implants for at least a decade after they had the surgery.

What does this mean?

While the idea of a breast implant registry is just in its beginning stages, it could potentially link some reimbursement to registration or else incentivize doctors in some other way to get their patients enrolled and to keep them in the study so longitudinal data could be obtained.

Patients may need an incentive too, to encourage them to go to follow-up doctor's appointments, fill out questionnaires, and participate in focus groups.

"You can have the most well-meaning company, but if patient doesn't want to participate, the study won't work," Maisel said.

It means if people won't volunteer for the study, you MAKE them do it.  Privacy schmivacy!

Because hey, more data is good, so lots more will be REALLY good, and everybody should get out there and do good.   And if you don't we will find a way to punish you.

The Phantom

The One blinks. Again!

Barry likes to play chicken, but he has no staying power. 

President Barack Obama, citing the struggling economy, asked the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday to withdraw an air-quality rule that Republicans and business groups said would cost millions of jobs.

The surprise move—coming on the same day as a dismal unemployment report—reflected the energy industry's importance as a rare bright spot in adding U.S. jobs. The tighter standards for smog-forming ozone could have forced states and cities to limit some oil-and-gas projects.

In making the move, the White House clearly judged that it had more to lose from industry and Republican criticism than it had to gain from environmental groups who support the rule.

Somebody in the White House counted up all the fruitbat Lefties who show up for Sierra Club events and then counted the Tea Party turnout.  Looks to me Watermelons came up short, so under the bus they go.
Coming on the heels of the big Alberta to Texas pipeline deal, the Storm That Never Was and the Republicans making him move his speech from Wednesday to Thursday,  Barry is looking like a sap.  Poor Barry.

The Phantom

Here's why its cheaper to let them take it.

Modern American law precludes defense of property.  If in doubt, let them take it.  It will be cheaper.

An El Paso County jury on Friday awarded nearly $300,000 to the daughter of a burglar who was fatally shot in 2009 while breaking into an auto lot.

 Parents of the victim, Robert Johnson Fox, embraced their attorneys after a judge announced the jury's verdict, capping a two-week-long civil trial in which business owner Jovan Milanovic and two relatives were painted as vigilantes who plotted a deadly ambush rather than let authorities deal with a string of recent burglaries.

Interesting finding by police, knives are not really weapons.  Kinda.

Police said in a 145-page investigative report that the intruder had knives in his pockets and one strapped to his ankle, but never posed a threat to Milanovic or the other men, his father Ljuban Milanovic and brother-in-law Srdjan Milanovic.

So armed robbery isn't really "armed" if the robber doesn't have as good a weapon as you do.  Please note, the business owner and his two friends were NOT CHARGED BY POLICE, because it was a righteous shoot and the DA knew he wasn't going to get a conviction.

The situation in Canada is much, much worse. If you kill a robber you will be charged with murder even if the guy shoots you first.

I reiterate, LET THEM TAKE IT.  Because the robbers can't take everything you own or ever hope to, but their lawyers can.

The Phantom

Steve Jobs Resigns from Apple.

Hot off the Drudge Report, Apple CEO and the guy who created the personal computer in his mum's garage, Steve Jobs resigned his post.

There are no details beyond his letter of resignation found here:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple''s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple''s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

I extend, for what its worth, my personal thanks to Mr. Jobs for everything his company and his work have done for me as an individual, my society and the world as a whole.  I wish him and his family well, and hope that his life is joyous.

The Phantom.

From our "this explains a lot!" file...

In case you were wondering why there's STILL no replacement for the space shuttle, despite the program being almost 40 years old this year, here's a hint:

...reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.

Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.

This highly speculative scenario is one of several described by a Nasa-affiliated scientist and colleagues at Pennsylvania State University that, while considered unlikely, they say could play out were humans and alien life to make contact at some point in the future.

Shawn Domagal-Goldman of Nasa's Planetary Science Division and his colleagues compiled a list of plausible outcomes that could unfold in the aftermath of a close encounter, to help humanity "prepare for actual contact".

In their report, Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis, the researchers divide alien contacts into three broad categories: beneficial, neutral or harmful.

Here's the link and abstract at Elsevier Science.
I couldn't justify paying $31.00 for the actual paper to find out who paid for it, but my suspicion is that the US taxpayer did. Whoever paid got ripped off harshly, they just re-stated the plots from half the crappy Hollywood SciFi movies of the twentieth century.
Predictably, The Guardian takes a respectful tone to this bit of nonsense because it has Climate Change in it. Proving once again that you can't lampoon the Left, all you can do is report what they do, then point and laugh.

The Phantom

The Phantom Was WRONG! update:

Wow, I WUZ RONG! That almost never happens, but today it did. Underpaid, overworked NASA wretch Shawn Goldman reveals that NASA did not pay for this crapulous paper, he did it in his spare time with some friends. Therefore NASA is not guilty of wasting taxpayer money on this paper, and the Suspicious Phantom's suspicions were WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

However Shawn and his friends are still doofi, and the Guardian is still a propaganda rag unfit to line bird cages with. Here endeth the mea culpa.

Ooh, ooooh! I know this one!!!

Question on Liberalism 101 final exam:

Q: The chilllldrun isn't lurning.  Despite a No Child Left Behind federal law which punishes school districts when kids fail their exams, kids are still failing their exams nine years later.

The proper Liberal response is
A) fire teachers who's pupils score low consistently and hire new ones.
B) take over some school boards with many under-performing schools, fire a bunch of people and try again with new staff.
C) give people tax vouchers so they can send their under-performing child to a school designed to meet their individual needs
D)Shut the federal Department of Education completely, stop giving federal money to school districts altogether, and let the States do it.

E) stop testing the kids.

What would Obama do?  Think, think... eureka!

State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn't answered the call.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break.

The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan said. More details on the waivers will come in September, he said.

The goal of the [Republican, boo, hissss!] No Child Left Behind law is to have every student proficient in math and reading by 2014. States have been required to bring more students up to the math and reading standards each year, based on tests that usually take place each spring. The step-by-step ramping up of the 9-year-old law has caused heartburn in states and most school districts, because more and more schools are labeled as failures as too few of their students meet testing goals.

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press.

Awesome solution Mr. Obama sir, truly you are The One.

The Phantom

Three interesting hacks.

Found at Slashdot today, Techworld article containing three interesting tech hacks for your viewing pleasure.  We have the flying camera launched by a flare gun, the semi-autonomous flying WiFi and phone sniffer, and most interesting, the cellphone cloud software. No towers needed, straight phone-to-phone file sharing.

Enjoy!

The Phantom

Scandal? Or not so much? WIRED reports, you decide.

An interesting article on Drudge today. 

It seems an enterprising hacker bought a bunch of remote control gear on Ebay for a Burning Man project.  Wanted to have an autonomous vehicle driving around amongst the thousands of people at the festival (which totally isn't totally insanely unsafe or anything, right ?)  Turns out this surplus gear was from a failed project for the Pentagon.  The company was Ionatron, they were making a machine to blow up roadside bombs with electricity.  It was supposed to be a remote controlled, semi-autonomous vehicle that tooled along the side of the road with a big bug-zapper that would basically shoot lightning at any metal object buried in the dirt.  Didn't work all that well, company went bust, now the vehicle control gear is on Ebay.

This article is from WIRED magazine, and is one of a series that just buries Ionatron, the US military and their equipment acquisition program.  Here's the outrage quote:

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the Pentagon sank tens of millions of dollars into remote-controlled lightning guns that it hoped would fry insurgent bombs before they killed any more troops. Now, disassembled parts from the one-time wonder-weapons are being sold on eBay. At least one buyer snatched up the gear, hoping to use it in his latest art project for Burning Man.

All of which would make for a funny little story, if that buyer didn't discover that the multimillion dollar "Joint  Improvised Explosive Device Neutralizers," or JINs, were kluged together from third-rate commercial electronics, and controlled by open Wi-Fi signals. In other words, the Pentagon didn't just overpay for a flawed weapon. On the off-chance the JIN ever worked, the insurgents could control it, too.

"This is the hack of all hacks," says Cody Oliver, a freelance technologist in San Francisco. "And this is what they were selling to the government? Holy shit."

More specifically, here's the details of that "Holy shit":

Oliver kept going through the strange gear he had indirectly acquired from Ionatron. The wireless router that was supposed to be mounted on the robot was a standard Linksys model, the kind that filled countless homes with Wi-Fi. There was no encryption, and no password to protect the information. Anyone could've tapped in. "All the video, all the commands, there were all in the clear, over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi," Oliver says, his voice rising.

There was one difference, though, between this Linksys router and a standard one: The tell-tale blue plastic had been removed, and the serial numbers were carefully shaved off. As if someone didn't want the government to know that they were using commercial parts.

... ooooooh, sneaky! ...

Oliver eventually dropped the idea of using the Ionatron gear for Burning Man — and not because of Parish's threat. The gear just seemed too jury-rigged. Its network detector was a wire connected to the "on" light on the front of the router.

"I just don't trust it," he says.

Ok, so the whole thrust of the article is that the prototype gear was running off an unsecured Linksys 802-11 WiFi router. The author ignores that Ionatron wasn't in the autonomous vehicle business, they were in the mine-zapping business and needed a quick-and-dirty AV to strap the zapper onto for some field tests.  Seems the Marine Corps is still testing the mine-zapper idea, they put theirs on a truck instead of a robot.  Oh, and it looks like a pair of balls.  Which is hilarious, of course.

This Noah Shachtman guy is a pretty good writer. He had me going! In truth, I was all set to post this as an outrage piece myself... until I took a look at the comments.  Its a sobering thing to realize that you're a sucker for a line of patter, and I was one right up until I read this comment:

Common practice in defense industry to use COTS products (Consumer off the shelf).  Far cheaper during prototyping than custom fabricating equipment before concept is proven.  Considering this didn't really make it out of development and into production, its not surprising it was not locked down or made with more rugged equipment.  They have to make it through proof of concept before money will be sunk into producing them with military grade equipment and then it has to make it into production before they'll start locking everything down.

This article, like most defense articles on this site, is reaching hard to find something to criticize with selective reporting or just simple ignorance of how defense development is done.

And then my brain said "duh". 

Its a hurry-up prototype of a vehicle control, NOT the finished product.  Which they surplussed and it ended up on Ebay because its a piece of crap. Some guy probably fired it together in an all-nighter so he could have something that would run and drive the next day. Like I've never done that myself.  This is a genuine "Column deadline approaching and I've got NOTHING!" kinda article.

So there you have it my friends.  Like most MSM productions these days, your WIRED subscription is a waste.  You will be dumber and less informed after reading it. 

The "almost had me" Phantom

DROP THE MILK AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!

Here's a new one for the "Should you be more worried?" file. We know that the US Dept. of Education has its own SWAT team, for arresting people who don't pay their student loans on time.  Turns out the Dept. of Agriculture has a SWAT team too, or can at least borrow one.  Why would the DoAg need a freakin' SWAT team you ask?  Two words my friends: unpasteurized milk!

(NaturalNews) The raid on Rawesome Foods by a combined force of agents from the FDA, Dept of Agriculture, CDC and the LA County Sheriff's office wasn't the only SWAT-style armed raid that took place today. Sharon Palmer, a mom and owner of Healthy Family Farms was also arrested and taken to jail. A third woman, Victoria Bloch, the LA County liaison for the Weston A Price Foundation (www.WestonaPrice.org) , was also reportedly arrested, NaturalNews has learned.

All three are reportedly being charged with conspiracy to commit a crime. What crime? The "crime" of advocating raw milk for consumers!

As NaturalNews previously reported (http://www.naturalnews.com/033220_R…), the SWAT-style raid was conducted like a terrorist operation, where the cops immediately went after Rawesome's cash and then began vandalizing and destroying the store's entire inventory. This raid was an act of economic terrorism against a legitimate, ethical business selling wholesome, healthful products to a very happy group of members.

Added to the charges against these heinous criminals was the dastardly terrorist plot to sell "mislabeled cheese".  I couldn't make that up.

UPDATE #2 (4:30 PM CST): A spokesperson for the Weston A. Price Foundation has learned that authorities are charging Victoria Bloch with conspiracy under California Penal Code Section 182a. Sharon Palmer is reportedly also being charged with conspiracy and a charge related to 'mislabeling cheese.' Similar charges are also believed to be pending for Stewart. Natural News reports that an LAPD squad car was also involved in the raid.

Now as a person trained in physical therapy, I have to say I'm not aware of any scientifically proven health benefits from consuming raw milk and cheese compared to the pasteurized variety, although there's all kindsa nutty ideas about it out there all the time.  I am aware of several unpleasant diseases you can catch from unpasteurized dairy products, a couple of which can kill you deader than a mackerel. Like tuberculosis, to name one. Plus, we're talking California here.  So I'm fairly certain that these people are a bunch of deluded hippies and healthfood phreaks.  They probably smell funny too.

But I'm somehow doubting that being a deluded hippie, smelling funny and selling raw milk to people who JOINED A CLUB whose specific purpose is selling raw milk could possibly be so illegal and dangerous as to rate a dynamic entry raid from a full-on SWAT team, followed by trashing the guy's premises.  It's not like the milk was going to blow up, right?

Here's something else to worry about.  The mainstream media is joining in with the DemocRats to smear the Tea Party.  No big surprise, but now they're really ramping it up.

MSNBC host Martin Bashir interviewed Stanton Peele, a psychologist and an "expert on addiction," this afternoon. Bashir urged Peele to psychologically evaluate supporters of the Tea Party. "It reminds us of addiction because addicts are seeking something that they can't have," Peele said. "They want a state of happiness or nirvana that can't be achieved except through an artificial substance and reminds us of the Norway situation, when people are thwarted at obtaining something they can't, have they often strike out and Norway is one kind of example to one kind of reaction to that kind of a frustration."

Bashir later asked: "So you're saying that they are delusional about the past and adamant about the future?"

"They are adamant about achieving something that's unachievable, which reminds us of a couple of things. It reminds us of delusion and psychosis," Peele responded.

So it looks like they're going to go all-in with the "Tea Partiers are dangerously insane terrorists" thing.  Maybe we should all think about that a little bit, particularly in light of the number of non-Justice, non-military government departments that seem to have SWAT teams at their beck and call.

Just sayin'.

The Phantom

Oh look, NASA satellite doesn't match the Warmie Watermellon computer models!

Warmies took another one in the groin today. Yay!

NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.

Study co-author Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer flying on NASA's Aqua satellite, reports that real-world data from NASA's Terra satellite contradict multiple assumptions fed into alarmist computer models.

"The satellite observations suggest there is much more energy lost to space during and after warming than the climate models show," Spencer said in a July 26 University of Alabama press release. "There is a huge discrepancy between the data and the forecasts that is especially big over the oceans."

In addition to finding that far less heat is being trapped than alarmist computer models have predicted, the NASA satellite data show the atmosphere begins shedding heat into space long before United Nations computer models predicted.

But hey, I'm just a conservative/right wingnut/Nazi/climate denier/mass murderer by proxy, what do I know?

Tell you what I know.  I know its going to take more than a bunch of mouthy college kids trying to guilt me over Anders freakin' Brevik to make me ignore -facts-.  Go ahead, reach for that button you commies. We unhooked it when you weren't looking.

The "No Pressure" Phantom

Atheists: the new hate cult?

This little outrage just caught my eye.

A group of atheists has filed a lawsuit to stop the display of the World Trade Center cross at a memorial of the 9/11 terror attacks. The "government enshrinement of the cross was an impermissible mingling of church and state," the American Atheists say in a press statement.

These guys are going to a whole lot of trouble and a whole lot of people are going to spit on them in the process, so what's the big deal?  Quoth the atheists:

"The WTC cross has become a Christian icon," said Dave Silverman, president of the atheist group. "It has been blessed by so-called holy men and presented as a reminder that their god, who couldn't be bothered to stop the Muslim terrorists or prevent 3,000 people from being killed in his name, cared only enough to bestow upon us some rubble that resembles a cross. It's a truly ridiculous assertion."

Call me a fundie if you must, but that quote doesn't sound like a guy who thinks there is no God. That sounds like a guy who thinks there IS a God and hates him. Like, super duper hates him.  And is going to pop a head gasket if he has to look at another cross ever again.  (Also sounds like a pencil necked little dickhead, but that's a different post.)

The Phantom Cultist Crasher

Its official, middle class white people are the true terrorists.

Bad white people!

The video is part of Homeland Security's $10 million dollar "See Something, Say Something" program that encourages Americans to report "suspicious activity," which in every case throughout history has been a trait of oppressive, dictatorial regimes.

In the course of the 10 minute clip, a myriad of different behaviors are characterized as terrorism, including opposing surveillance, using a video camera, talking to police officers, wearing hoodies, driving vans, writing on a piece of paper, and using a cell phone recording application.

Despite encouraging viewers not to pay attention to a person's race in determining whether or not they may be a terrorist, almost all of the scenarios in the clip proceed to portray white people as the most likely terrorists. Bizarrely, nearly every single one of the "patriotic" Americans who reports on their fellow citizen is either black, Asian or Arab.

Those freakin' WASPS are destroying the country!!!

The Phantom WASP

Minority Report 2011

Remember from that Tom Cruise snoozer Minority Report the iris scanners they had everywhere?  Guess what:

Dozens of police departments nationwide are gearing up to use a tech company's already controversial iris- and facial-scanning device that slides over an iPhone and helps identify a person or track criminal suspects.

The so-called "biometric" technology, which seems to take a page from TV shows like "MI-5" or "CSI," could improve speed and accuracy in some routine police work in the field. However, its use has set off alarms with some who are concerned about possible civil liberties and privacy issues.

The smartphone-based scanner, named Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, or MORIS, is made by BI2 Technologies in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and can be deployed by officers out on the beat or back at the station.

An iris scan, which detects unique patterns in a person's eyes, can reduce to seconds the time it takes to identify a suspect in custody. This technique also is significantly more accurate than results from other fingerprinting technology long in use by police, BI2 says.

When attached to an iPhone, MORIS can photograph a person's face and run the image through software that hunts for a match in a BI2-managed database of U.S. criminal records. Each unit costs about $3,000.

The kicker is the price.  Three grand is -nothing- for cop equipment these days. Before long you are going to be getting face/iris scanned for every traffic stop and minor infraction, every time you fly, etc.   They already do this at the US border, have done for several years. 

Please note, Dept. of Homeland Security is rolling out airport-level security for train stations, bus stations, subways, sports events, and in Texas the local high school prom. Yeah, they already did that last one. Complete with the groping.

The joke is that this tech does nothing that isn't accomplished by plain old picture ID for identification purposes. But what it is great for is -finding- people.  If you get on somebody's sh-t list, the little red flag goes up and then you're busted.  Airport, side of the road, bus station, government office, random camera checkpoint, boom.

Which is fine if everybody on the government side is playing by the rules.  But (GunWalker/Fast and Furious, Waco, Ruby Ridge, Caledonia, name your scandal) we know by now that they don't.

On another note, this story is from Reuters.  I suspect (but can't prove) that the only reason Reuters published it is the scanner attaches to an Apple iPhone. Reuters and other American MSM outlets of late seem to have taken a stance of "viewing with alarm" anything to do with Apple and iPhone particularly.  All part of the same old Britney Spears-style "build them up then tear them down" media algorithm. Apple is entering the tear-them-down phase, so look for lots more negatory stories about them in the coming months.

 Anybody who thinks they're getting informed from TV/newspaper "information" is severely deluded. What they are really getting is kept in a box and fed BS like a mushroom.

Who is this John Galt and why is he leaving California?

California passes tax on the Internet. Amazon.com pulls out of the state the same day.

Duh.

The Phantom

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