Sunday - August 09, 2009
Cash 4 Clunkers: FAIL
Gosh, it seems the government can’t even add up car sales the way the entire car industry does. Say I buy the base trim of car X. You buy the mid level version. She buys the fancy trim package. The car guys will tell you they sold 3 cars, all model X. The government can’t figure this out, so they count that as 3 different vehicles. Surprised? You shouldn
‘t be. They can’t do honest accounting or reporting of their own budgets or spending. Whatever made you think they could tally up auto sales, even though the entire industry has been doing it this way for nearly 100 years. DUH.
Because of distorted sales figures, Ford’s Escape cross-over SUV, not the Focus small car, tops the list for most popular ‘clunker’ buy.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)—What are people trading their clunkers in for? It depends on who you ask.
The government’s results showed small cars as the top choice for shoppers looking for Cash for Clunker deals. But an independent analysis by Edmunds.com disputed those results, and showed that two full-size trucks and a small crossover SUV were actually among the top-ten buys.
The discrepancy is a result of the methods used. Edmunds.com uses traditional sales measurements, tallying sales by make and model. The government uses a more arcane measurement method that subdivides models according to engine and transmission types, counting them as separate models.
For example, the Ford Escape is available in six different versions including two- and four-wheel drive and hybrid versions. The government counts each version as a different vehicle using guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency. Only the front wheel drive, non-hybrid version made the government’s top ten list.
The Ford Escape crossover SUV, instead of being the seventh-most popular vehicle under the program, as the government ranked it, was actually the best seller, according to Edmunds.com. The government pegged the Ford Focus as the top seller.
Trucks tend to be available in more variations than cars. That’s because truck buyers have a wider variety of needs than car buyers, General Motors spokesman Brian Goebel said.
“There’s just so many different uses for the truck, both retail and commercial, than with car purchasers,” he said.
Sales of truck models would tend to be heavily diluted using the government’s method because practically each version counts as a different vehicle. The difference in tallying methods would not affect the overall totals of trucks, as opposed to cars purchased under the program, only the sales rankings of individual models.
Sales of GM’s Silverado truck, under the government’s counting method, were divided among five different versions. So were the Ford F-150s. If the different versions of these trucks were considered the same vehicle, as auto sales are normally reported, sales of these trucks would look much heftier.
In the Cash for Clunkers program, trucks are actually subject to lower fuel economy requirements than cars, so it surprised many analysts that trucks weren’t more popular.
The actual sales leaders, in order, are:
1 - Ford Escape
2 - Ford Focus
3 - Jeep Patriot
4 - Dodge Caliber
5 - Ford F-150
6 - Honda Civic
7 - Chevrolet Silverado
8 - Chevrolet Cobalt
9 - Toyota Corolla
10 - Ford Fusion
Now I wouldn’t go calling a Patriot, a Silverado, or an F-150 high mpg vehicles. Looks like the government screwed up again, and is playing loose with the truth to make it look like we all “went greenish” and switched over to little 2 liter runabouts. Such is not the case at all.
Notice that FORD, the non-government owned car company, garnered not just the 2 top slots, but placed 4 vehicles in the top 10. Nice work.
Now, I haven’t even bothered to look at this C4C deal. I have no money to go buying a car right now. My 12 year old Saturn is still running just fine. Actually, since I replaced those sensors, I’m getting nearly 33mpg on the tankful. And it’s emissions levels are just about zero, same as it’s ever been since the little thing was new.
But the way I understood it, folks were supposed to trade in some old wreck of a vehicle for something new and small that got great gas mileage. So why the heck are full sized trucks even part of this deal? Or 4x4s of any size? Those things don’t get high mpg. But “lower fuel economy requirements than cars”? Oh, tell me this whole fug-schnizzle deal was all about emissions? Oh Please.
Sounds to me like “C4C” was another stupid government idea, passed into law way too fast without much thought. And now it’s just been recharged, to the tune of another $2 Billion we don’t have.
Link to CNNmoney.com article is here.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/09/2009 at 10:11 PM
Filed Under: • Government • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •
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Permalink • Terrorism on the courts
The England badminton team fled the world championships in India yesterday after reports of a ‘specific terror threat’. The eight-strong squad, including Olympic silver medalist Nathan Robertson, flew home after claims they would be targeted by Islamic group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
It was feared the group, which killed 188 in Mumbai last year, would strike on August 15, the anniversary of India’s independence.
Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy said: ‘This was an incredibly tough decision and one we didn’t take lightly.
The England badminton team fled the world championships in India yesterday after reports of a ‘specific terror threat’.The eight-strong squad, including Olympic silver medalist Nathan Robertson, flew home after claims they would be targeted by Islamic group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
It was feared the group, which killed 188 in Mumbai last year, would strike on August 15, the anniversary of India’s independence.
Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy said: ‘This was an incredibly tough decision and one we didn’t take lightly.
The modern face of the game: armed guards with automatic weapons patrol the gymnasium
‘After the Olympic Games, this is the most prestigious championships in the world but we were not prepared to risk the safety of our players, coaches and staff in what we felt could have been a very volatile environment.’The team’s decision to pull out was criticised by authorities in Hyderabad as 42 other teams, including Scotland and Wales, are staying for the competition which starts today. But Mr Christy said the England camp was ‘extremely grateful’ for the speed in which the BWF (Badminton World Federation) and the organising committee reacted to the threat.
‘We have carefully considered the comments made by the local police authorities and we know that they have the best interest of all competitors in mind. ‘We have also listened to the advice from the Foreign Office and British High Commission. We have been in constant dialogue with them over the past couple of days. ‘The conclusion is that safety is of paramount importance and therefore, with great regret, the team will be returning home immediately.’
Read More at The Daily Mail Online
Wales and Scotland did not leave. Was the English team targeted specifically? Are their coaches overreacting? Could this be the modern version of “the dog ate my homework”?
PS - One thing that I love about reading the Brit papers online, is that you can’t go 2 whole paragraphs without seeing a thumbnail for a sidebar story about some young pretty thing. I gather the Brits need tremendous sexual stimulus just to make it through the news. And I have noticed, over time, that they seem to have some rather different standards than we do over here. So, allow me to help them out, in case they might like a larger American audience ...
This porridge is too hot!”
This porridge is too cold!
This porridge is just right!
Posted by Drew458
on 08/09/2009 at 08:16 PM
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Permalink • Color Me Confused
I don’t understand this. I would have thought Right Wing meant Anti-Fascist. It does over here om our side of the pond, yes? So what gives. Anyway, big old punch up in the city streets:
Bottles, sticks and banners were thrown as police in riot gear struggled to stop the skirmishes in Birmingham. In all, 35 people were arrested - mainly for disorder.
Police knew both demonstrations were planned and let them go ahead as a sign of ‘a healthy democracy’.
Witness Gary Nichols said: ‘It started off with a group of white guys who were chanting, “England, England”. I thought they were just football fans, but then a larger group of black and Asian people turned up and it all kicked off. You had people burning the Union flag. People were being kicked, some weren’t anything to do with the protests.’
The rival groups had each held peaceful protests at different ends of the city centre before the trouble flared at around 7pm on Saturday.
The Right-wing protesters were from the English and Welsh Defence League, formed after British soldiers were abused by Islamic radicals at a homecoming parade in Luton earlier this year.
Their critics say they include soccer hooligans intent on inciting violence. They claim to be a ‘multicultural organisation against militant Islam’ which has ‘no issues with Muslims who wish us no harm’.The Unite Against Fascism group meanwhile is an umbrella organisation formed by the Anti-Nazi League and the National Assembly Against Racism in response to the rising electoral threat of the BNP.
On its website it urged people to join the protest to ‘show these thugs their brand of vicious racism is not wanted’. Chaos erupted when the opposing factions clashed in New Street, which runs between where the respective protests where held.
Read More
So, the right wing, pro-nationalism group is multi-culti, but got in a fight with the anti-fascist group made up of blacks and browns from the far south and south east. Because they see British nationalism as fascist, neo-Nazism? But, fascists and Nazis are just about as Left Wing as you can get, other than outright communists. What the heck is going on over there? I think somebody is either identifying one of these groups with the wrong end of the political spectrum, or else Right and Left are reversed in Europe, or else one of these groups doesn’t knows beans about political history.
Ok Brits, ya’ll got some ‘splainin’ to do for us poor Yanks.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/09/2009 at 07:55 PM
Filed Under: • UK •
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Permalink • Gangs with guns, gangs with knives. Now the new thing is .. SNAKES! And do not laugh. Isn’t a joke.
This place gets more bizarre and more unruly by the minute. Never mind by the day.
No point in my ranting about this. Blow off steam yeah but who listens and even if someone did, so what?
Last week a couple went to see a movie. Normal night out right?
During the movie there were some intentionally loud and abrasive punks making noise. So this lady tells them to be quiet please, they aren’t the only ones in the theater.
After the show, the couple went to a cafe, or maybe a McDees. I don’t remember and it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the punks followed and went into the place and poured bleach on her full strength. She was actually burned and it went in her eyes and she may lose her sight.
Scares me to stay here guys. No kidding it does. Ya never know where it’s gonna come from or when. And btw, you do not have to do anything to invite it either.
Just happens.
Boy bitten by snake in Bristol gang attack
From Times Online
August 9, 2009
Ambulance staff used Google to identify a snake which bit a Bristol teenager on the hand during an attack by a gang armed with the reptiles, it emerged today.
The 14-year-old was bitten on the hand after he was set upon by the group who were “brandishing snakes”, the ambulance service said. The boy was pinned against a wall by his attackers in Bradley Stoke yesterday afternoon, before one made the python sink its fangs into him.
A spokesman for Great Western Ambulance service (GWAS) said today: “Ambulance staff consulted Google and Bristol Zoo experts after a teenager was attacked by a group of youths brandishing snakes.
“The 14-year-old was bitten on the hand by one snake after being pinned against a wall by his attackers in Merryweather Close, Bradley Stoke yesterday afternoon.
“The group was apparently carrying several snakes and forced one of them to bite the boy on the hand, leaving two puncture wounds.”
Michael Howells, an incident support officer, who was at the scene said: “In order to try and identify the type of snake I Googled ’snakes’ on my mobile to show the patient. He was reasonably sure he could identify the type, so I sent the image to our control room.”
Oliver Tovey, a duty control manager, added: “We contacted Bristol Zoo to talk to their snake expert. What we described they indicated was probably a type of python - so not venomous.”
The teenager was taken to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol for precautionary checks after being attended to by paramedics at 3.15pm. Mr Howells added: “Although the patient was suffering breathing difficulties after the attack, this was probably due to panic rather than a reaction to the bite - I would probably be panicky if that happened to me.”
Avon and Somerset police said the creature involved was a four-foot long green snake used on the boy after he was pinned down. A force spokesman said today: “The teenager had been subject to racist comments and then reportedly held down as a snake was held in front of him, which bit his right arm.
“The boy was taken to Frenchay Hospital with breathing problems, where he was treated for the injury to his arm. Experts have confirmed that the snake, described as green-coloured and about four feet long, was not venomous.”
Posted by peiper
on 08/09/2009 at 01:04 PM
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Permalink • Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent .
At first I thought this wasn’t much in the way of news considering what I saw posted by Drew with regard to the violence that took place at a town meeting in the states. Anyway, why should anyone care about this? It’s a long article and I didn’t post it all here so read the link below. I think we do care and any who don’t, take the ole head out of the sand before you suffocate.
Surely Europeans can’t want this in their future. Granted, it’s already here but unless they don’t start turning things around, even by the use of extreme measures, then soon all of Europe will live like this image and so to might the USA in time. One hell of a scary thought. Let nobody be lulled into thinking , no way. can’t happen to us. It can provided you allow it. And there are plenty at home who will. That’s the danger.
This article in the Telegraph, looks graphically tame compared to the double page spread with much more in a broadsheet paper.
The EU is facing an era of vast social change, reports Adrian Michaels, and few politicians are taking notice
By Adrian Michaels
Europe’s low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society. Photo: AFP/GETTYBritain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it.
The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain’s population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe’s Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys’ names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.
Europe’s low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society. The altered population mix has far-reaching implications for education, housing, welfare, labour, the arts and everything in between. It could have a critical impact on foreign policy: a study was submitted to the US Air Force on how America’s relationship with Europe might evolve. Yet EU officials admit that these issues are not receiving the attention they deserve.
Jerome Vignon, the director for employment and social affairs at the European Commission, said that the focus of those running the EU had been on asylum seekers and the control of migration rather than the integration of those already in the bloc. “It has certainly been underestimated - there is a general rhetoric that social integration of migrants should be given as much importance as monitoring the inflow of migrants.” But, he said, the rhetoric had rarely led to policy.
The countries of the EU have long histories of welcoming migrants, but in recent years two significant trends have emerged. Migrants have come increasingly from outside developed economies, and they have come in accelerating numbers.
The growing Muslim population is of particular interest. This is not because Muslims are the only immigrants coming into the EU in large numbers; there are plenty of entrants from all points of the compass. But Muslims represent a particular set of issues beyond the fact that atrocities have been committed in the West in the name of Islam.
America’s Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, part of the non-partisan Pew Research Center, said in a report: “These [EU] countries possess deep historical, cultural, religious and linguistic traditions. Injecting hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of people who look, speak and act differently into these settings often makes for a difficult social fit.”
How dramatic are the population changes? Everyone is aware that certain neighbourhoods of certain cities in Europe are becoming more Muslim, and that the change is gathering pace. But raw details are hard to come by as the data is sensitive: many countries in the EU do not collect population statistics by religion.
EU numbers on general immigration tell a story on their own. In the latter years of the 20th century, the 27 countries of the EU attracted half a million more people a year than left. “Since 2002, however,” the latest EU report says, “net migration into the EU has roughly tripled to between 1.6 million and two million people per year.”
Posted by peiper
on 08/09/2009 at 02:41 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - August 08, 2009
What, no chickens, no ducks?
What can 40 goats and 20 cows buy a Kenyan man? Chelsea Clinton’s love, if you ask Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor.
The Kenyan man first offered the dowry nine years ago to then-President Bill Clinton in asking for the hand of his only child. He renewed it Thursday after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked about the proposal at a Nairobi town hall session.
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the session’s moderator, commented that given the economic crisis at hand, Chepkurgor’s dowry was “not a bad offer.”
However, Clinton said her daughter was her own person.
“She’s very independent,” she said. “So I will convey this very kind offer.”
The audience laughed, but Clinton’s comments were no joke to Chepkurgor, who described the younger Clinton as a “beautiful, disciplined and well-natured woman.”
“My wife has no problem with this,” he insisted. “She listened to the answers given by Hillary and did not complain.”
Polygamy is legal in Kenya, so Chelsea would be Chepkurgor’s second wife.
Boy, that Kenya sure is something ain’t it? Forget Norway!
Posted by Drew458
on 08/08/2009 at 04:00 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Humor •
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Permalink • Friday - August 07, 2009
yeah, what they said
VDH maybe comes late to the party, but he seems to get it now: http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/prairie-fire-anger/
Peggy Noonan chimes in, noting the change in the winds but still unable to smell the smoke on the breeze: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574334623330098540.html
Right, Wing Nut reads both and adds
If it does [ things take a bad turn to the dark side ] - and let’s pray it doesn’t - it won’t be the American people that are to blame. It will be a government that decided to be imperial instead of elected, representatives who mock their concerned constituents as “nutjobs”, and a president who sends in union thugs to"quiet the debate”, that will be responsible for any unrest we may see in the last summer of the first decade of a new century.
Do you think it was Pelosi’s hallucination of swastikas yesterday that caused these essays, or perhaps Obama’s “sit down and shut up and let me rule” statement (my minor paraphrasing) of today, or the media’s continuous poo-pooing of the whole lot of us “tea baggers”?
Hey, last week it was Ben Stein who finally woke up. Way to go Ben. Sheesh.
I wish I could write as well as these folks do. But to do so you have to be a little dispassionate, a little removed. Put me in front of a keyboard, show me the news, and it’s RCOB time. And then my sarcastic side gets in the way. I never take the time to turn the phrases fully, or to even think things through. It’s more of a shotgun blast reaction. It gets me so upset I don’t even want to write about it.
There is no satisfaction in saying “I told you so”, even though I did, you did, and millions of others did, a year and a half ago. And nobody outside this small VRWC circular blogworld listened. Not John McCain, not Mitt Romney, not the GOP. And sure as flying shinola, not the media.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/07/2009 at 11:54 PM
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Permalink • Health Care Town Halls Turn Violent, Part II
See Gateway Pundit
Obama’s “get in their face” and “punch back twice as hard” statements are triggering violence. SEIU union heavies are instigating violence at town hall meetings. Pelosi, in a typical fit of left wing lunatic projectionist pique, says that peaceful citizens are paid agitators wearing swastikas.
The SEIU is 100% in pocket for Obama. And they are just about the heaviest handed bunch of ne’er do well organizers in the land.
See Michelle Malkin for more.
Now, the SEIU thugs are looking out for The Boss. In Tampa, Florida and St. Louis today, the Purple People turned out to give cover to members of Congress targeted by Tea Party activists and town hall protesters. For the first time, the town hall protests were marked by physical aggression. More on the St. Louis arrests of confrontational Obamacare activists here. (Just like Obama wanted: “In your face.”) This is no coincidence.
Looks like these town hall meetings are a big FAIL all over the country.
Cling to your guns and bibles folks. This is just the beginning, and I fear it is going to get a whole lot worse. I’ve got to go to work now.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/07/2009 at 03:08 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Tyrants and Dictators •
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Permalink • Bribes Not Bullets? Or just more bullshit?
It’s official. The U.S. is no longer engaged in a “war on terrorism.” Neither is it fighting “jihadists” or in a “global war.”
President Obama’s top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
“The President does not describe this as a ‘war on terrorism,’” said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a “new way of seeing” the fight against terrorism.
The only terminology that Mr. Brennan said the administration is using is that the U.S. is “at war with al Qaeda.”
“We are at war with al Qaeda,” he said. “We are at war with its violent extremist allies who seek to carry on al Qaeda’s murderous agenda.”
Mr. Brennan’s speech was aimed at outlining ways in which the Obama administration intends to undermine the “upstream” factors that create an environment in which terrorists are bred.
The president’s adviser talked about increasing aid to foreign governments for building up their militaries and social and democratic institutions, but provided few details about how the White House will do that.
Take a tip from history Obama. Thomas Jefferson learned a very long time ago that bribery doesn’t work against Barbary. Giving these countries more money is the exact opposite of what should be done.
And, since you aren’t bringing the troops home, as you promised during your campaign, and you continue many of Bush’s anti-terrorism policies, just who the heck do you think you are fooling with this linguistic nuance bullshit? Many of the lands where “radical Islam” flourishes have plenty of money. Plenty of our money. And it’s a known fact that, just like Osama bin Laden, many of the terrorist leaders come from well educated and financially well off backgrounds. So throwing more money at those countries won’t do a bit of good. ( although “throw more money at it” seems to be a universal Democrat solution to all problems ) And just where do you think this money is coming from anyway? The magic money tree has been stripped of every last leaf.
“Upstream factors”? What a crock. Typical leftist nose dribble. You mean their poverty, squalor, lack of education, poor diet, and rampant disease? That’s caused by the tyranny of their own government and the laziness of their own people. It’s certainly not caused by billions of dollars pouring in from the rest of the world. Maybe you’re talking about their lack of any compassion for everyone not exactly like themselves, their perpetual anger, and their never ending sense of victimhood that rationalizes everything? Sounds like White Guilt. ‘scuse me, but we’re now the post-racial society. White Guilt don’t play here anymore. “Upstream factors” my ass. Invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert the population to Christianity by force. Or else just gas the fuckers and save us a whole bunch of cash. Like the pirates in Somalia, who are also terrorists by definition, you could kill these zeroes by the millions and the civilized world would not give one little shit. Not one.
But please stop with the bullshit. Our boys are still in the sand, still fighting the same deranged and unwashed freaks. Any place on the globe that they rise up. So it is a Global War. And the enemy are Terrorists. Granted, “Global War on Terror” was a silly name that came down from our last President, who was a terrible speaker. But his “strategery” works. And the concept is just. And not every fundamental islamic group who turns to terror tactics is associated with AQ, though you will never be able to prove otherwise. After all, I seem to recall that “al Qaida” simply means “the list”. We are at war with jihad, because in the real world, today, “jihad” means violent action against the West. Not some navel gazing, patchoulli sniffing, inward journey of self-revelation. It means killing people. People like me and mine. So let’s call a spade a spade. We’re in a war against a religion, like it or not. Because that religion is in a war against us. And in English, well, I do believe that’s called a Crusade. You’re all afraid of that word. I’m not. And while I never was thrilled with the name “war on terror”, it fit well enough. This latest “nuance” is stupid. A waste of time. And probably dangerous to boot, since al Qaida is not the only terrorist supercell that is working against us.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/07/2009 at 12:19 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • War On Terror •
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Permalink • TAX AND SPENDING AND LOTS OF BOTH
Check this site daily. This fellow is good.
By Alan Caruba
We sometimes forget that the primary reason we live in the United States of America and not some British Commonwealth nation is that the people who fought our Revolution got fed up with all the taxes that King George and Parliament kept imposing on them. No taxation without representation was the rallying cry.
Now all we seem to have, whether at the federal, state or local level is endless taxation on virtually everything we purchase, use or own. In many cases those taxes have risen obscenely in recent days.
The new tax on tobacco products is, we’re told, intended for our own good, making them so expensive we will give up smoking. Other proposed taxes on “fast food” and even soda are passed off as being an incentive to eat in a more healthy fashion. Our personal health is our business, not the government’s and surely not an excuse to tax us!
There have always been “sin” taxes on things like tobacco and alcoholic beverages, but thanks to the profligate spending of all legislatures everywhere, these taxes are rising to obscene levels, unrelated to anything than a desperate effort to fill gaps in the budget.
Neither the states, nor the federal government seem to understand the need to STOP SPENDING. Every new “entitlement” program, like the proposed healthcare “reform” just imposes more and more taxation, and creates larger debt.
Here’s a list of just some of the taxes we pay:
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline TaxGross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges re IRS Penalties
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property TaxService Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation TaxIn my home state of New Jersey, the tax per gallon of wine and spirits increased 25% this month. That’s about $5.50 for liquor and 87.5 cents per gallon of wine. New Jerseyeans are famous for being among the most taxed citizens in the nation. No wonder some of us drink! We have exorbitantly high property taxes, along with income and sales taxes. Born and bred here, I remain mostly out of inertia and old age.
Now, in President Obama’s words, “we’re broke” and the answer he and Congress propose is to raise taxes while increasing the national debt by trillions so that your children’s children will be born having to pay it off.
The history of the Great Depression and sheer common sense argue against this.
At the same time, the federal government is taking ownership of a large piece of the automotive industry, owns a majority interest in a huge insurance company and is owed billions in TARP money by banks, investment houses, and AIG.
The Democrats want to take over healthcare in America.
The Democrats want to put a tax on all energy use.
The Democrats are even proposing to set how much executives can be paid.
There is a word for this. It’s communism.
There has long been talk of “a flat tax” and a “value-added tax.” The former is advocated by Steve Forbes and, if he’s for it, it is probably a good idea. The latter is favored by European nations and is a form of sales tax.
The great problem with all taxes is that, once imposed, they are rarely, if ever, repealed. The profligate spending by state and federal legislatures is the problem.
What is wrong with this picture? EVERYTHING!
Posted by peiper
on 08/07/2009 at 11:05 AM
Filed Under: • Economics • Editorials • Taxes •
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Permalink • Health Care Protest Turns Violent
An anomaly or a beginning? An actual event or a setup? I wonder.
Town hall meetings called to discuss proposed health care legislation turned violent Thursday, with a meeting in Tampa, Fla., descending into shouting and one in St. Louis ending in arrests.
Close to 1,500 people came to the Tampa suburb of Ybor City to speak with Democratic State Rep. Betty Reed and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, an event that exploded into a near riot.
According to local media reports, the larger-than-expected crowd gathered outside the Hillsborough County Children’s Board building, where several hundred people, most of whom opposed a government health care plan, began to loudly chant and scuffle with organizers posted at doorways after the auditorium filled to capacity.
A freelance videographer was roughed up in an altercation, which damaged his camera equipment and glasses, and at least one man was treated for minor injuries after a scuffle left his shirt partially torn from his body.
“That’s the most violent anyone has been towards me,” Mark Bishop told WTSP-TV. “It was surprising, to say the least.”
In Mehlville, Mo., St. Louis police arrested six people, some on assault charges, outside another forum that was billed as a meeting on aging but was attended by activists on both sides of the health care debate.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the police showed up toward the end of the forum held by Democratic Rep. Russ Carnahan. One conservative activist, interviewed at a local emergency room where he was being treated for injuries, said he was attacked by some of the individuals who were arrested as he passed out “Don’t tread on me” flags.
A forum with Democratic Rep. John Dingell in Romulus, Mich., also got rowdy as foes and supporters of health care reform argued with each other and one man, with his son in a wheelchair, shouted at the congressman. A similar scene reportedly unfolded as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited a homeless clinic in Denver.
In Tampa, video shot outside the auditorium showed several people holding signs and posters, banging on doors and windows, while others argued face-to-face and were seen screaming at one another in the parking lot as police looked on.
Inside, Democratic lawmakers had a difficult time delivering their opening remarks, as they were met with shouts of “You work for us!’’ “Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!’’ and “Read the bill!” the Tampa Tribune reported.
This is only the beginning. The whole country is mad as hell and we’re not going to take it any more. Obama and his far left cronies have pushed their crazy agenda too hard and too fast, and the people are beyond fed up. Whether you call his actions and beliefs Fascism, Communism, or Socialism doesn’t matter. People are waking up to it, FINALLY. Government takeovers. Cap & Trade. Health Care “reform”. Spread the wealth. Insane levels of debt. Worthless currency. Open borders. A government full of corrupt thieves who vote themselves above the laws. Higher taxes, higher spending, bailouts, Acorn, special interests. It’s too much. And it’s gone way too far. And it’s long past time.
Be angry people. Scream and shout. Don’t trust the media AT ALL. But let’s do it peacefully, even though you’ll be branded as a swastika wearing, well dressed hooligan for doing so. WTF, we’re all on that proto-terrorist watch list already.
Oh, by the way: I am old enough to remember the campus protests during the Sixties. Many of those turned violent, but only after the television cameras arrived. Learn from the past, yes?
Posted by Drew458
on 08/07/2009 at 11:00 AM
Filed Under: • FREEDOM • Government •
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Permalink • Two thousand year-old remains of Emperor Vespasian’s house discovered . WOW!!!
I wish there were photos but maybe that’s coming later. Wow, what a find.
After all this time I am still constantly amazed at what archaeologists can find.
A team of British and Italian archaeologists have discovered the remains of a lavish villa belonging to the emperor Vespasian, exactly 2,000 years after his birth.
By Nick Squires in Rome
Published: 7:00AM BST 07 Aug 2009The archaeologists have unearthed reception rooms, colonnades, mosaic floors and traces of a hot bath complex at a site in mountainous countryside near the town of Rieti, north of Rome.
The villa is close to the ancient Roman village of Falacrinae, where Vespasian was born in AD 9.
Its discovery coincides with events in Rome and elsewhere in Italy marking the 2000th anniversary of his birth.
“We’ve found a monumental villa with elaborate floors made of marble brought from quarries in Greece and North Africa,” said Dr Helen Patterson, of the British School at Rome, the archaeological institute involved in the excavation.
“There’s also a very extensive bath complex which is just beginning to emerge. It’s the only large villa in the area, and the size and dating fits in perfectly with Vespasian.
“Until we find a stone or marble inscription saying ‘Vespasian lived here’, we can’t be 100 per cent certain, but it seems very likely. It’s in a perfect position, overlooking a river and the old Via Salaria trade route.”
The head of the team of 25 British and Italian archeologists, Professor Filippo Coarelli of the University of Perugia, said: “It’s a very important find. It’s a rich villa which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.”
Before becoming emperor, Titus Flavius Vespasianus had a successful military career, commanding the second legion in the invasion of Britain in AD 43 and penetrating as far as Devon and Cornwall in an attempt to subdue the south-west.
He later became governor of the province of Africa and a trusted aide to the emperor Nero.
He is best known for ordering the construction of the Colosseum in Rome but is also remembered for his decision to tax the collection of urine, which was valued for its ammoniac properties. Even now, public urinals in Italy are known as “vespasiani”.
“The villa is in what would have been a very small, very remote village,” said Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, director of the British School at Rome.
“He was a local boy made good. He was the first of a series of emperors who did not come from Rome itself. Given where he was from, to have risen to the position of emperor was amazing.”
Posted by peiper
on 08/07/2009 at 10:40 AM
Filed Under: • History •
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Permalink • Muslims angry over German football song. How do these pin heads find so much to be PO’d over?
Was a time they might have ignored it and realized there wasn’t any offense BUT ....
Some special groups have discovered that they are now, ENABLED.
Who enabledem? Silly white liberals.
A German football team’s anthem has been criticised by Muslims for suggesting that the Prophet Mohammed was not an adept at the Beautiful Game.Fans of FC Schalke 04, which represents western Germany’s Ruhr Valley in the country’s top league, the Budesliga, support their team with a round of “Blue and White, how I love you”.
The third verse contains the line:
Mohammed war ein Prophet, der vom Fussballspielen nichts versteht/ Doch aus all der schoenen Farbenpracht hat er sich das Blau und Weisse ausgedacht.
(Muhammad was a prophet who understood nothing about football/ But of all the lovely colours he chose [Schalke’s] blue and white.)
But since a reference to the ode to team’s colours was carried in Turkish media, the team has received hundreds of complaints from Muslims.
A spokesman said the club had hired an expert on Islam to look into the question.
Aiman Mazyek, the head of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims, said his group would not call for a ban on the song, but acknowledged that the line could anger some. He noted that the area represented by the team had a large Turkish population.
German has a Muslim population of over four million.
Posted by peiper
on 08/07/2009 at 10:26 AM
Filed Under: • RoPMA •
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Permalink • Protect Your PC
Passwords are a pain in the tail. But they have become an aspect of our everyday lives. Use your ATM card at the store, enter your PIN. That’s a password. Access your bank account online, enter a password. Log onto BMEWS to make a comment, enter your password. You can’t get away from them.
Lots of people use short, simple passwords that are meaningful to them and easy to remember. Birthdays, Social Security Numbers, favorite colors, the name of your secret fantasy movie star. And these are all very unsecure and easy to crack, especially by anyone who knows a bit about you.
Sarah Palin had her email hacked during the ‘08 campaign. She had an account on Yahoo, and somebody was able to reset her password by properly guessing the clues that Yahoo asked for in their “I forgot my password” area. Most places have that kind of area, and most of them use pretty common questions, which defeats the whole concept of passwords. Some banks and credit card companies have come up with a few new questions since then. It’s a small help, but only a small one.
Lots of people use just a couple of passwords for almost everything. I know I do. Trying to remember the 70 or so passwords I need to log onto various forums, blogs, my accounts at any number of business pages, etc., is impossible. Sure, I could write them all down. Or I could let Windows “remember” them for me. Not a chance, no thanks. And even if I did write them down, I’d hide the list somewhere smarter than the underside of my keyboard or taped to the back of the monitor. Duh.
I do not let my computer store anything about anything, not even browser history, cookies, Most Recently Used lists, nada. I am forever stripping information out of my PC by using CCleaner, MRUBlaster, and RegCure daily. I have an old co-ax A/B switch on the back of my computer, so that when I am not online I can physically disconnect my computer from the internet. I only do online business with places that don’t store my credit card information. Any bills that I throw out go through the bi-directional shredder. And I check my credit rating and my Social Security a couple times a year, just to keep an eye on things. So far, I have never had any kind of problems, but hacking and identity theft happen. You have to be aware, and you have to act smart.
I have one “don’t care” password I use for all the blogs and web sites I need to log on to. It’s of reasonable length, and has nothing to do with any aspect of my life. I use serious, unique passwords for all my credit card and banking sites, and my private email. And I change those at least twice a year. I don’t pay for any credit card “protection”, but I do have credit cards with companies that will alert me if something unusual occurs.
It turns out that most people don’t do anything as “extreme”. Most folks still use passwords that are short, simple, and easily guessed by people who know them even a little. Bad form.
By the way, I can not read your passwords here. Even though I own this blog and have access to everything right down to the database tables and the blog template source code, I can not read your member password. I can reset it if necessary, but I can’t see it.
So, what to do? Try making a smarter password. Add numbers, spaces, and special characters if you can. Then run the new password past the Microsoft password strength checker (there are others too) to see if it scores at least a “medium”. And figure out a “best” password for each online credit card and bank account that you access.
Passwords not to use? Here is a list of the 500 lamest ones. “abc123”. “password”. “letmein”. Oh come on, you have to do better than that these days!
You want a good password? Are you a car junkie, or a gun nut? “454 Ch3vy R0cks!” meets all the criteria for a “best” rating. It even has a tiny bit of “leet” in it, which can help. (substituting 4 for A, 3 for E, 1 for I, 0 for O adds a lot to password strength. Many places do not let you use spaces or special characters) Another strong one is “Marlin 336 .30-30”. And they are especially good if you don’t have one of either. “I Love Lucy” only rates a “medium”, and it isn’t on that list of 500, but if people know that’s your favorite TV show, then it’s a poor choice.
So be smart. Just in case.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/07/2009 at 09:59 AM
Filed Under: • Crime • Self-Defense •
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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