Finally somebody in power is talking about the debt and deficit.
The proposals of Paul Ryan and Barack Obama are both ludicrous, but it’s a start.
Of the two disingenuous plans, Ryan’s is even worse. Claiming that giving a trillion dollars to the rich because they are “job creators” is as credible as President Donald Trump.
If you give a rich person money, what guarantee do you have that they will create a job?
Can’t Ryan imagine a more efficient way to create jobs with a trillion dollars than to give it to a rich man or company?
… Republicans are still shoveling as much tax money to their rich friends as they can, but there’s not much left in the government coffers.
Now that Republicans have finally realized Sarah Palin is nothing more than a kook, the latest star on the horizon is Congress Woman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota.
Bachmann is a supporter of the Tea Party movement and is founder of the House Tea Party Caucus. …
If you ever have to go to court, don’t go to court in Georgia.
If you ever have to go to court in Georgia, here’s the worst case scenario:
Judge Amanda F. Williams
This woman is symbolic for everything that is wrong with the American ‘tough on crime‘ trend.
I heard the awful story on This American Life – VERY TOUGH LOVE
This listener was moved:
…I am asking you to listen to the story. It takes a while, but listen to it. And then I am asking you to do something about it. I am asking you to please send an email to the Office of National Drug Policy asking them to please investigate this judge who is unfit to be on any bench.
Also, please send a letter or fax to the GA Judicial Qualifications Commission (they don’t accept email, apparently). Here is the contact information and a sample mock up.
I wanted to bring up a concern that I was recently made aware of by Ira Glass from This American Life. He gave an in-depth account with strong reporting about a particular Drug Court in Glynn and Camden Counties of Georgia. I am very concerned about the job that the Judge Amanda Williams is doing. The information presented in the news story about the manner in which Judge Amanda Williams is conducting herself is frightening. I live in metro Atlanta so I am not one of her constituents but I feel strongly that something should be done.
Though personally I prefer MY VERSION of Brian Mason, global warming skeptic … he keeps clarifying his views.
Brian:
… here an example of some good science that shows a completely different view than the alarmist one. To me, this video does NOT do a great job of explaining WHY we are seeing warming but it isn’t trying to do so. Instead, it does a very good job of explaining that there is much we don’t know, much that hasn’t even been considered, and that the stated certainty that we are doomed is ludicrous.
Click PLAY or watch Dr. Vincent Courtilloton YouTube.
… YEESH. 1930 was the hottest year in the USA. The last 12 years are flat or decreasing in temperature. Temperature variations have more to do with solar activity than my jet contrails. …
Don’t give us more uncertainties, Brian. Get definitive. What DATE will the world not burn up due to Global Warming. 🙂
______
original post March 22, 2011:
Brian Mason closely follows the science of the “global warming” debate.
He tells me there’s no real evidence that global warming is happening, nor that man is causing it.
He tells me that graphs like this are fear mongering.
…
There are lies, damn lies … and statistics.
I believe Brian. But most of my other friends (and Economist magazine) feel that there is enough evidence. That our planet is warming. That we should rally to FIGHT and reverse that temperature increase.
Here’s an interesting argument independent of whether or not Global Warming is actually happening.
Let’s say you agree with this argument. … Unfortunately for YOU, I fear there’s not the money nor political will to make any serious effort to fight Global Warming. We’d better hope it doesn’t exist.
Dave Sykes points out that this is a variation of Pascal’s Wager.
____ UPDATE from Brian:
Just wanted to correct your misinterpretation of my beliefs on this.
I suspect global temperatures are likely increasing (though data quality issues probably give a significant upward bias to the trend).
I suspect also that CO2 emissions have some effect (but realize that radiative effects such as these are not the whole story). If there were no (positive) feedbacks, we would have close enough to zero problems and I have little faith in the large and positive feedbacks posited by “the climate models”.
Why? Climate is messy and the climate models haven’t been able to deal correctly with clouds (see Roy Spencer for more here) and water vapour. I don’t think there is a conspiracy but I do think the big boys leading the scientific charge for alarmism are WAY out of line (see Muller’s recent video .)
Net net: I’m not concerned about global warming, but I am concerned that our concern with CO2 is going to push us into increased nuclear and into uneconomic (read subsidized) green energy such as windmills.
… It will be the fourth federal election in less than seven years for Canada, where no party has been able to obtain anything but a minority-government mandate from voters since 2004.
Everybody hates the waste of money and media time … except me.
Oddly I’m interested in this election. I might even vote. So few Canadians vote that I could decide the next minority government. 🙂
I’ll likely vote for the most fiscally conservative party. … … Since we don’t have one, it may come down to the best candidate in my riding – Calgary West.
Currently that’s Rob Anders, Conservative, “the sole parliamentarian to vote against making Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen of Canada in 2001“.
He sounds moron hard right.
Who are the alternatives? … Green party candidate Anna Wagner?
Who else?
My pet issue is government regulation of the internet. So far I’ve like the talk of the ruling Conservative party. But they’ve yet to walk that talk.
Perhaps I’ll vote for whatever party is recommended by Michael Geist.
So far as I can see, that’s Mitch Daniels, Jr., (born April 7, 1949), current Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana.
… Upon becoming Governor, Daniels pressed for a series of changes that brought him into conflict with both Republicans and Democrats. During his first year in office, he proposed a number of tax increases, budget cuts, and privatization plans to balance the budget. …
He turned the State deficit to a surplus in one year, a proven business man.
… Daniels also suggested that the Republicans stop pursuing their social agenda on gay marriage and abortion, and focus on the economic crisis the nation faces …
Most recently he killed it with a speech at the 2011 Conservative Political Action (AUDIO) where Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, and other GOP presidential hopefuls …
… were a simplistic pastiche of conservative shibboleths, declarations in favor of motherhood and apple pie, and second-rate jokes about Democrats, particularly Obama. …
I heard about Daniels on left-leaning Slate.com. Even lefties are impressed.
Unfortunately, Daniels’ is still saying he doesn’t want to run. Let’s give him some encouragement.
Canadian politics truly are boring compared with most nations of the world.
What we call a scandal involves about $1 million dollars. … Or is it only $100,000?
The “In and Out” scandal is an ongoing Canadian political scandal involving allegations of improper election spending on the part of the Conservative Party of Canada during the closely contested 2006 federal election. …
Elections Canada places strict limits on campaign budgets in order to provide an even playing field between the parties. …
Large amounts of cash were transferred from the party organization to the individual riding associations that are in charge of running one candidate’s election campaign. The money was then distributed to the volunteers as payments for various expenses. The volunteers then donated that money back to the party. …
It was bogus. It was dirty accounting.
A few honourable Conservative candidates refused: Inky Mark, Helena Guergis, David Marler and Dave Mackenzie.
Good on ’em.
I heard David Marler interviewed on CBC radio’s The House. There’s no question in my mind that In and Out was crooked.
But it’s nothing on the scale of the Sponsorship Scandal (“AdScam” or Sponsorgate), a similar debacle that took down the LIberals and brought the current government into power.
Still, Stephen Harper’s government is racking up scandal after scandal. He never apologizes. Sooner or later one of them is going to crash him.
Do they know what they are getting themselves into?
For your reading pleasure, here are some of the major pieces of legislation that have been put forward by the Tea Party Republicans who are now in control of the legislature. This is not a joke. These are real bills, and they are currently taking priority in the Montana legislature.
1. Legalize hunting with hand-thrown spear (Senate Bill 112)
2. Create fully-armed militia in every town (House Bill 278)
3. Allow legislators to carry weapons in the Capitol (Senate Bill 279)
4. Create an 11 person panel with authority to nullify all federal laws (House Bill 382)
5 Allow guns in schools (House Bill 558)
6. Eliminate educational requirements for persons seeking job of State Superintendent of Schools (HB 154)
7. Lift nuclear ban for purpose of building a nuclear reactor in the Flathead Valley (House Bill 326)
8. Withdraw the United States of America from the United Nations (Senate Joint Resolution 2)
9. Eliminate all state incentives for developing wind power (House Bill 244)
10. Omit Barak Obama’s name from the 2012, ballot because his father was born outside of America (House Bill 205)(this guy was on CNN this week)
11. Compulsory marriage counseling for people seeking a divorce (House Bill 438)
12. Give sheriffs authority over the federal government in terror investigations (Senate Bill 114)
13. Legalize hunting with silencers (House Bill 174)
14. Lift the prohibition on carrying concealed weapons in bars, churches and banks (House Bill 384)
15. Eliminate law that requires landlords to install carbon monoxide detectors (House Bill 354)
16. Require the federal government to prove in court that the National Parks were lawfully aquired. (House Bill 506)
17. Officially designate the “Code of the West” as the “Code of Montana” (Senate Bill 216)
UPDATE: 18. Declare that global warming is good. (House Bill 549)
I follow Jeff Jarvis religiously, one of the best pundits on the WWW:
At two privacy conferences—one in New York, the other right now in Victoria, B.C.—I’ve watched the growth of privacy’s regulatory/industrial complex and seen its strategy in action: scare, then sell. …
… the emergence of Privacy, Inc., as a industry built on scaring people is beginning to scare me. …
Rick McCharles 