COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, November 21, 2008

And we did it without one Chinese component



99 comments:

  1. Were we better off with the men from Houston in their Boss Mustangs or the shits in their BMW's from the Hamptons?

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  2. Why is Google showing the front of my head?

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  3. It's your interesting side;)

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  4. They did it with slide rules.

    I get mine out now and then, just for old time's sake. I bought a 1st generation HP-35 in 1972, and never used a slip stick again.

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  5. In July, 1969, the Greeks put little American flags on the tables of the resort down the coast from Athens to celebrate the landing. Being an American, I was a celebrity that week. Can't recall being one since.

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  6. From the resort you could see the Temple of Poseidon silhouetted at sunset as I recall. Cape Sounion.

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  7. Tolerance by Fiat

    This case is akin to a meat-eater suing a vegetarian restaurant for not offering him a rib-eye, or a female patient suing a vasectomy doctor for not providing her hysterectomy services. But rather than defend the persecuted business, the New Jersey attorney general intervened on behalf of the gay plaintiff and wrangled an agreement out of eHarmony to change its entire business model.

    The company agreed not only to offer same-sex dating services on a new site, but also to offer six-month subscriptions for free to 10,000 gay users, pay McKinley $5,000 and fork over $50,000 to New Jersey’s Civil Rights division “to cover investigation-related administrative costs.” Oh, and that’s not all. Yield, yield to the grievance-mongers:

    Additional terms of the settlement include:

    eHarmony, Inc. will post photos of same-sex couples in the “Diversity” section of its website as successful relationships are created using the company’s same-sex matching service. In addition, eHarmony, Inc. will include photos of same-sex couples, as well as individual same-sex users, in advertising materials used to promote its same-sex matching services;

    eHarmony, Inc. will revise anti-discrimination statements placed on company websites, in company handbooks and other company publications to make plain that it does not discriminate on the basis of “sexual orientation”;

    the company has committed to advertising and public relations/ marketing dedicated to its same-sex matching service, and will retain a media consultant experienced in promoting the “fair, accurate and inclusive” representation of gay and lesbian people in the media to determine the most effective way of reaching the gay and lesbian communities.

    I have enormous sympathy for eHarmony, whose attorney explained that they gave in to the unfair settlement because “litigation outcomes can be unpredictable.” The recent mob response to the passage of Proposition 8, the traditional marriage measure in California, must have also weighed on eHarmony management’s minds. But capitulation will only yield a worse, entirely predictable outcome: more shakedowns of private businesses that hold views deemed unacceptable by the Equality-at-All-Costs Brigade.

    aka - Fascist Faggots at Work.

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  8. To those who predict the End of America...

    F#$k you....

    This CORRECTION of assets is world wide, it is NOT, as many would predict, a bad thing...

    Within a 4 month period, the entire global markets have been cleansed of excess, tens of thousands of overpaid whores have been exposed....

    its painful, we (and others in the world) have lived beyond our means...

    No more cheap chinese money, trade imbalances will have to be corrected....

    No more yuan hanging on to the dollar unfairly...

    No more OPEC screwing us with price fixing

    this is the dawn of a new, great day...

    so many factories have been relocated to the 3rd world, where they NOW SIT IDLE....

    Pollution is NOT the issue it was in the 70-90's in america....

    Now those who had no business being in business will lose (good) and now those who are real businesses have a chance to thrive...

    I am bullish on America....

    I remember the Moon Landings, and I also remember that NO OTHER NATION STILL has put a MAN (or woman) on the moon SINCE....

    On a personal note? Just added an additional 1000 sq ft to my warehouse and hired another person....

    Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  9. Γλυφάδα, Glyfada, were you at Asteria Beach?

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  10. We foolishly assumed that China would focus on trade and join the family of nations. The Chinese showed themselves to be far more ambitious.

    This is an opportunity to scrap a lot of old and proven wrong assumptions. We can and should create an economically stronger America with a free trade orientation to the Americas and with free democratic countries. Not trade to make them free. Free first. Democratic first. Then the trade will follow as a reward.

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  11. Asteria Beach?
    Not that I recall. My girlfriend made the arrangements. I paid the bills.

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  12. I remember taking a tram ride up to a vista point on top of a steep hill in Athens and seeing the machine guns mounted at the vista point. Seems like the airport terminal had bullet holes in the walls, too.

    Snapping fingers to applaud at night clubs. Theaters that were four walls with no roof. Saw them as we flew over. We drove by a harbor with huge yachts several times. Maybe that was Asteria Beach?

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  13. The Chinese showed themselves to be far more ambitious.
    ==

    They actually compete.

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  14. I think I know where you stayed, it is Glyfada. I unfortunately had my career modified in Greece

    I was declared persona non grata in January 1968 and given my marching orders. The good King Constantine decided to overthrow the military junta, but misplaced his balls and decided to take the good fight to Rome. Thruly an inspirational leader.


    That tram still works. the machine guns are gone.

    Instead of going to a new assignment to Cyprus and smelling the flowers i had to winter at RAF Lakenheath and smell burning coal.

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  15. CHINA IS AT WAR WITH US .. THIS IS NOT A DRILL ... 43,000 ATTACKS IN 2007 ,MUCH HIGHER NOW.

    China 'using cyberwarfare to challenge US power'
    China is using cyberwarfare to challenge American power and distorting economic policy to exert political influence over other countries, according to a hostile congressional report.

    By Richard Spencer in Beijing
    Last Updated: 11:01AM GMT 21 Nov 2008

    The report accuses China of using its foreign exchange reserves, built up through "heavy-handed government control" to buy influence.

    In one recent example, a government sovereign wealth fund agreed to use the reserves to loan money to Costa Rica in return for its dropping diplomatic recognition of China's rival, Taiwan.

    Meanwhile, it has built up its army of cyber-spies to such an extent that it can launch attacks "anywhere in the world at any time".

    The number of attacks on US government, defence companies and businesses rose by a third in 2007, to 43,880 incidents affecting five million computers, according to the claims by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

    People these cyperattacks are a causus belli, aggressive and we are at war. This is no small thing.

    http://tinyurl.com/57dd7u

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  16. CHINA IS AT WAR WITH US .. THIS IS NOT A DRILL ... 43,000 ATTACKS IN 2007 ,MUCH HIGHER NOW.
    ==

    How many Chinese American scientists and students in the US? I bet it's more than 43,000.

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. Doug, if eHarmony.com had to be dragged kicking and screaming into allowing gay and lesbian personals, then I'm not interested in steering my dollars that way.

    It being November, I got a wild hair and put Gordon Lightfoot's epic song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as a flash widget on my blog. I love, love, love this song. It was part of the soundtrack of my life growing up.

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  19. Last I heard a few minutes ago Frankenstein was only 129 votes behind Coleman.

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  20. COMPARING WIND AND NUCLEAR

    So how does offshore wind stack up to nuclear? Moody's Investors Service, commenting in May about the rising cost of atomic power, said the potential cost of a new plant being proposed today is more than $7,000 per kilowatt of capacity. This equates to about $5.3 billion for every 750 megawatts of nuclear capacity added to the grid.

    Helimax estimates that the average cost of offshore wind development in Ontario is about $3,800 per kilowatt, or $2.9 billion for 750 megawatts of offshore wind capacity – that is, a project the size of what Trillium has proposed.

    Such a comparison, however, is misleading. The lifetime "capacity factor" of Candu nuclear reactors around the world is about 80 per cent, a figure some would call generous in the Ontario context. This means the reactors have produced energy on average that amounts to 80 per cent of potential capacity. Helimax said offshore wind turbines have a capacity factor ranging from 35 to 40 per cent.

    So to get the same energy over the course of a year from an offshore wind farm you'd have to build twice as much. This makes offshore wind slightly more expensive than what Moody's is predicting for the cost of nuclear. But is it really? Offshore proponents are quick to point out that with wind power you don't need a lifetime supply of uranium fuel, don't produce toxic waste products, don't have to pay for long-term storage of those waste products, and have lower ongoing staffing and maintenance costs.

    They acknowledge offshore wind isn't baseload power like nuclear. Then again, there's no risk of a 1,500-megawatt reactor shutting down for a month or two in the summer because of unscheduled maintenance, like we saw last summer at Pickering generating station.

    Timing is also an important consideration. Ontario's first lake-based wind farms, should the province choose to go down the offshore path, could be built and operating by 2013 – a year before the last coal plant is scheduled for shutdown in Ontario. The new nuclear plant at Darlington, as much as the province may need it for baseload power, won't go live until 2018.


    http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/451466

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  21. Yeah,
    Edmund Fitz sunk when
    morality went on the Fritz.

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  22. Activist Faggots have been lying since day 1 about their agenda.
    Pure and Simple.

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  23. Deuce, I thought that looked like you.

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  24. Bobal: Last I heard a few minutes ago Frankenstein was only 129 votes behind Coleman.

    It might come down to who does the Senate want to put in that seat. Take a wild guess.

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  25. Habu, now it's China? What happened to Iran? Always we have to have an enemy.

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  26. WiO: I remember the Moon Landings, and I also remember that NO OTHER NATION STILL has put a MAN (or woman) on the moon SINCE....

    Not just that, but we're the only ones with a GPS network. Even the Somali pirates use it to go into the deep water. Russia and Europe made a lot of noise about launching their own constellation of satnav birds but where the hell are they? No hardware, nothing but vaporware.

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  27. No comment on the LYING activist Fags, eh, T?
    ---
    Doug @ Sonia's:

    Luckily, the rise of the NEA, and the "Progressive" takeover of the Professoriate in the USA more than make up for the decimation of Western European Communist parties.
    ---
    Karl Marx said,

    “People would need a long period of re-education under socialism to condition them away from the selfish orientation produced by capitalism and toward the wider perspective necessary to creat communism.” This is why it is imperative that Obama gets your children from birth. Your children are already indoctrinated in public schools from Kindergarten through college. They must think it isn’t enough since we haven’t fully moved there yet. These young people following after Barack like puppies are exactly what he wants.

    The Communist Manifesto recommended free education for all children in public schools so that the ruling class couldn’t influence education - just the Communists.

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  28. Doug: No comment on the LYING activist Fags, eh, T?

    1. I'm not an activist. I did post a flyer from Lori Hahn for a marriage equality rally in Sacramento (two states away) but that's about as far as it goes.

    2. Fags? Got nothing to do with them.

    And Doug, the only time I see what Sonia is doing is when you link to it.

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  29. Democratic first. Then the trade will follow as a reward.

    How come Righties always tell me the US is not a democracy but a republic?

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  30. "Marriage Equality"

    =

    Redefining the English Language!

    Words MEAN THINGS!

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  31. What's so hard to understand about "Marriage" being a union of a man and a woman?

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  32. Doug: Activist Faggots have been lying since day 1 about their agenda. Pure and Simple.

    Maybe "faggots" (as you put it) have an agenda, but the only thing on our plate is our weekly mutual crack habit, if you follow me.

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  33. Doug: What's so hard to understand about "Marriage" being a union of a man and a woman?

    41 years ago, "Marriage" was defined as a union of a man and a woman of the same race.

    88 years ago voters were defined as white men.

    Before that blacks were defined as 60% of a person.

    We're making slow but steady progress.

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  34. Cracks are a necessity, robed in a habit, or not.

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  35. You can have Homosexual Union,
    we'll keep Marriage, thank you.

    ...even tho you ignore fellow flip Malkin's common sense about Vegetarian Diners.

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  36. To wit:

    Tolerance by Fiat

    This case is akin to a meat-eater suing a vegetarian restaurant for not offering him a rib-eye.

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  37. Doug: You can have Homosexual Union,
    we'll keep Marriage, thank you.


    There's no "we" and "you" Doug, that's the hurdle you have to jump. We're all just people. We all pay taxes and vote. We all work and pay our bills. The situation with my Sweetie is our own business. Your Sonia obsession, I'm cool wid dat!

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  38. 41 years ago, "Marriage" was defined as a union of a man and a woman of the same race.

    NOT TRUE

    88 years ago voters were defined as white men.

    NOT RELEVANT

    Before that blacks were defined as 60% of a person.

    NOT ACCURATE, NOT RELEVANT

    We're making slow but steady progress.

    MAYBE

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  39. No,
    Female is still Female,

    Male, still Male.

    "Gay," or "Straight."

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  40. 41 years ago, "Marriage" was defined as a union of a man and a woman of the same race.

    NOT TRUE


    On the contrary:

    From the 19th century into the 1950s, most US states enforced anti-miscegenation laws. From 1913 to 1948, 30 out of the then 48 states did so. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Loving v. Virginia that anti-miscegenation laws are unconstitutional. With this ruling, these laws were no longer in effect in the remaining 16 states that at the time still enforced them.

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  41. Doug: No, Female is still Female, Male, still Male. "Gay," or "Straight."

    You know, there is one thing I'm advocating, so I guess I am a sort of an activist:

    I SUPPORT A FEDERAL BAN ON DIVORCE

    The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. He abrogated the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law.

    Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery:

    "If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches another woman, he is an adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery, and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another's husband to herself."

    Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society.

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  42. Blacks are Humans.

    Homo Sapiens.

    Whites are Humans.

    Homo Sapiens.
    (but Dhimmis for the duration)

    Males are Males

    Females are Females

    Simple Logic

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  43. 2010 Honda Insight

    We expect it to start at about $19,000, which will make it the least expensive hybrid on the market.

    http://automobiles.honda.com/insight-hybrid/blog.aspx
    ==

    GM: We expect our Chevy Volt to start at about $69,000, which will make it the most expensive hybrid on the market. (If it makes it from vaporware status).

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  44. Doug said: NOT RELEVANT

    It's relevant because just as as a loving couple cannot choose their race, they cannot choose their gender. In 1967 the SCOTUS granted marriage equality to lovers of mixed race. Hopefully, someday the SCOTUS will grant marriage equality to lovers of non-mixed gender. If this truly is the Land of the Free, it must be so. If you truly are a limited governmentalist conservative you should believe the state must be constrained from interfering with personal decisions about who to marry, when to kick the bucket, what to smoke, what to read, what to think, what to say, what god to worship, and what size family you should have.

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  45. "I SUPPORT A FEDERAL BAN ON DIVORCE"
    ---
    Truly Revolutionary.

    I could become Father Teresa.

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  46. Fri Nov 21, 11:26:00 AM EST said...

    Blah, blah blah,
    blah, blah blah,
    blah blah blah...

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  47. "mixed race"

    =

    Male and Female HUMANS!

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  48. "race"

    an anachronism,
    like

    "Global Warming"

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  49. ...flat Earth,

    albob's fantasies...

    ...etc

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  50. AntiAmericanZionist
    ==

    Well then, $120Bn bailout for GM, and a $50,000 coupon for every American buying the Chevy Volt! (When it becomes available in 2030).

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  51. Bankruptcy Rules!

    ...so Sayeth the Mormon,

    Mitt!

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  52. (this space reserved for Desert Rat's Anti-Mormon Screeds)

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  53. Anti-miscegenation laws were designed to prevent interbreeding between so-called races. Nature does not need a law for anti-miscegenation. It solved the issue biologically by requiring reproduction to require a male and a female of the same species.

    Culture and society evolved to define the union of a female and a male human as marriage. It is a definition of an accepted state of affairs. Societies do those things. They make laws and define them. They recognize under law common practices and call that "common law."

    it is not very complicated.

    Few people care what adults do with each other in their living arrangements. It is a matter of profound indifference to me.

    Intolerance is not being able to accept the differences in others. The dividing difference in human being is their sex.

    Nature did that.

    It is a fact of human existence, not an idea of a passing fancy. Nature made it that way. Human beings chose to recognize it and make it everything from a sacrament to a state of law.

    Like it or not, it is what it is. My advice to the the gay community is that they try and do something about their intolerance towards those that differ from themselves.

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  54. And a fleet Gulf-stream IV jets for every motherfscker who managed his company to the ground. Oh wait, they already have those. Well then, a fleet Gulf-stream V jets for every motherfscker who managed his company to the ground.

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  55. ...and accept the FACT that some straight males will continue to regard some Lesbos as HOT!

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  56. (present company excepted, of course)

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  57. It'll be interesting if the US does change its policy towards China. I highly suspect both sides will end up poorer in the end, so the only question is: who gets the shorter end of the stick?

    American consumers will likely pay higher prices for locally produced goods compared to imports from China. Good or bad? Hard to tell, though my instincts indicate the latter. Each american household will definitely pay more for the same amount of stuff it had. You could argue that this loss in purchasing power is compensated by increased employment, but I'm not so sure.

    It worked in the past when overall tech levels were lower and the technological base had not gotten so big to support such a tall structure(tech level). Now? A smaller base might mean a lower tech level, because then you'd need americans to do jobs that the chinese or some other third worlder used to do... including lousier jobs which are not commensurate to their actual ability.

    Still, the fact that the chinese are atrociously lousy in terms of energy efficiency for production probably indicates that their comparative advantage is probably busted soon anyway. Or would have been if oil prices didn't go down. Alas.

    On the matter of democracy, the Chinese just need to take one look at the Russians, and consider themselves lucky they got their priorities right. After your 4-year dose of Obama, China might even decide that your brand of democracy is overrated anyway.

    They already have elections within the CCP itself, which is kinda interesting because weird and unexpected results did occur. So it's maybe limited democracy of a sort, not universal suffrage. Hey, waitaminute, universal suffrage got you Obama, didn't it? Sorry, but I just can't help rubbing it in.

    I've talked to quite a few chinese, and the more belligerent ones seem intent on punishing the West for their trangressions against China in the 19th and 20th centuries. The PRC certainly doesn't mind fostering this attitude, while angling to dominate Asia(at the very least).

    But worldwide superpower on the order of the British Empire and the US? They might not be all that keen, but they certainly do think there's no harm in trying... If they can get Africa stabilized, it might even be good for everybody. They also know to get enough hooks onto the US, all the easier to pull it down as well as extract all the goodies from its rotting corpse if the opportunity arises.

    How do you avoid that? Get your own house in order first. Start having sensible economic policies and avoid such boondoggles like the housing sub-prime mess. Balance your budget and reduce the current public debt(I know, easier said than done). Once you have a strong domestic sector in place, then you focus on the external players. But you can't do any of that until you're secure domestically, and despite what some would say, IMHO many of the problems the US faces domestically are almost entirely of its own making, and not due to foreign factors.

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  58. Deuce,
    In all seriousness.
    (such that can be summoned, these days)

    The reaction to Prop 8 has been truly Scary wrt the Fascistic Impulses of Man given almost free reign.

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  59. "If they can get Africa stabilized, it might even be good for everybody."

    STABILIZED???
    wtf?
    ---
    "IMHO many of the problems the US faces domestically are almost entirely of its own making, and not due to foreign factors. "

    Agreed

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  60. Too bad we have such a stupid SOB in the White House. Citibank has traded 400,000,000 shares at under $4 because of short selling. The financial damage to fund holders and individual investors in immense. Ass hole could get on the phone and tell Paulson to purchase use about $3B of the TARP to burn the living shit out of the scum trying to take down Citibank. it would make the US taxpayers a fortune and save small investors that believed in the system and voted for the unworthy bastard GWB.

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  61. Boston-Power readies long-lasting laptop batteries
    from Green Tech by Martin LaMonica

    Upstart Boston-Power is within months of having its long-lasting batteries shipped in notebook PCs, as it eyes expansion into portable power packs and electric cars.

    The three-year-old company says its Sonata batteries are able to recharge to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes, versus two hours to get to a 90 percent charge in conventional notebook batteries. And Boston-Power's batteries can be recharged 1,000 times before their performance starts to wane, versus 150 times in today's laptops, according to founder and CEO Christina Lampe-Onnerud. Typically, the amount of computing time that a laptop battery supplies goes down after hundreds of charges.

    I caught up with Lampe-Onnerud on Tuesday at the Fourth Conference on Clean Energy in Boston. Ironically, we bumped into each other at a water cooler where I was doing what so many laptop toters are stuck doing: plugging into a free outlet because my battery was dying.

    Lampe-Onnerud says the arrival of Sonata batteries will mean a completely different user experience, allowing people to go all day without having to carry cords and search out public power outlets.

    Hewlett-Packard last year said it has tested Boston-Power's batteries.
    Without mentioning HP by name, Lampe-Onnerud said Boston-Power expects to announce its first customer soon. A company representative on Wednesday said Sonata-powered laptops will be available early next year. Lampe-Onnerud added that the company is working with smaller laptop providers as well.

    Boston-Power, which has raised $70 million, has a technology road map to improve further on performance. In its labs, it has batteries able to recharge 1,400 times. Next year, it intends to release a portable power source for recharging consumer electronics, either through a USB connection or a small solar panel, Lampe-Onnerud said.

    In two years, it expects to have a product for plug-in electric cars, she added. "The specifications for laptops and electric cars are remarkably close," she said.

    The company has done a number of things to improve lithium ion battery performance and safety, according to Lampe-Onnerud. The company has also redesigned the battery pack to have fewer cells and has made a number of manufacturing improvements, she explained.

    She argued that the Sonata batteries are a "clean technology" because they are more energy-efficient. The company also seeks to use less harmful reactive chemicals and no heavy metals.

    To manufacture its batteries--a significant business challenge for any new battery company--Boston-Power has set up factories in Taiwan and China.

    http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10103848-54.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=GreenTech

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  62. I do not recall any anti-Mormon screeds, doug, just the fact that the Latter Day Saints are considered a cult, by many, and had been, less than 100 years ago a terrorist organization.
    One that actively descriminated against blacks and browns, as their darker shade was God's punishment for the sins of their fathers.

    As to Mr Bush, he is serving his cause well. The Boner elites are profiting from the meltdown. The China syndrome their agenda. The Boners and the Russell Company before them have always tried to profit from the coolie labor markets. Why bring the labor to the market, when they could be exploited and profitted from, at home.

    The Boner elite is gaining more power, through this engineered economic calamity.

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  63. 2164th wrote:

    "Intolerance is not being able to accept the differences in others. The dividing difference in human being is their sex.

    Nature did that. "

    That whole post of yours, though, dances around the issue, which, I presume, is what the courts will decide and that is if it is constitutional protected - equal rights. The constitution protects against a tyranny of the majority over a minority. If males and females can marry why cannot males and males, females and females? Sure you need opposite sexes to sire children but that is immaterial to marriage.

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  64. habu's announcement of War with China, he's not making that from the Republican platform, I'm sure.

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  65. p.s. as Ms. T was trying to point out - the courts ruled that discrimination against interracial marriage was unconstitutional so too sexual discrimination is not a basis to differentiate.

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  66. Marriage is a religous function that the State should have no part in.

    Unions should be accorded equal benefits, regardless of the genders of the contractual partners.

    That the State has attempted to secularize marriage, just another step in the processing of a progressive society.

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  67. Dancing around? No. Marriage is a definition. It is a union, but a union is not marriage. Just like iron is a metal, but wish all you like, lead is not silver no matter how hard you polish it.

    It is the most stupid of issues.

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  68. A detroit radio station called the Kenyan embassy after the election of Obama. After a lot of trouble they get through to the ambassador of Kenya.

    The ambassador of Kenya says that obama was born in Kenya and that his birth place has become a national shrine.

    Listen to the recording here

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  69. Personally I don't get too fired up about the issue myself. Those opposing it act as if they were being forced to marry someone of the same sex.

    The courts ruled race should not be factor in marriage law and that seems to indicate it is not considered simply a religious matter (heck many folks marry with no religion involved at all) and I'm guessing they rule that sexual discrimination is similar (the counter argument being that sports is sexually segregated but I doubt that'll fly)

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  70. We didn't have the sell-off, and resulting pop this morning. I guess we might have another "leg-down," to go. Whew.

    All the Doomer, TEOTWAWKI's are rushing their books to market, now. Reminds me of the "Gold-Bugs" back in the Seventies, and Eighties.

    My head's telling me that this is supposed to be Armageddon, but my "Gut" just won't buy it.

    Gonna take the rest of the afternoon off, and go get drunk. Maybe get a "vision." :)

    Cheers,

    Hic

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  71. DR: Marriage is a religous function that the State should have no part in.

    Lovely sentiment, but right now marriage is a state function. Otherwise atheists couldn't get married. There are tax benefits to file jointly rather than to file separate returns as singles. And marriage creates financial stability for two people because you have to go to court to dissolve the relationship. But most important of all, by denying marriage to same-sex couples, you entrench our status as second class citizens.

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  72. November 21, 2008 8:23 AM PST
    Google crunches numbers on clean-energy policy
    Posted by Martin LaMonica

    In just over 20 years, the U.S. could wean itself from coal and oil for electricity generation and nearly halve its gasoline consumption, according to an analysis done by energy experts at Google.

    The search giant's Google.org philanthropy on Thursday released updated numbers and policy recommendations on how the U.S. could dramatically change its energy consumption by 2030.

    According to its Clean Energy by 2030 Web site:

    Google's proposal will benefit the U.S. by increasing energy security, protecting the environment, creating new jobs, and helping to create the conditions for long-term prosperity. Some of the necessary funds will be public, but much of it will come from the private sector--a typical approach for infrastructure and high technology investments.

    The immediate policy proposals posted Thursday from Google.org program manager Michael Terrell and Google policy counsel Harry Wingo are:


    • Change the renewable energy subsidy so it does not rely on tax credits, a policy that is less effective now because corporate profits are drying up.

    • Fund existing programs to invest in smart grid technologies, which will allow consumers to monitor energy usage.

    • A $3 billion appropriation to weatherize 1 million U.S. homes, which will cut energy bills by about 30 percent.

    • Mandate that U.S. government agencies purchase energy from renewable sources, use energy-efficient building products, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.


    At the core of Google.org's energy transformation proposal are mandates to increase efficiency of electrical appliances and vehicles; rapid increase in the use of wind, solar, and geothermal; and a transition to plug-in vehicles.

    Pressure building for fast action?
    It's the most recent call to Washington leaders for quick action on energy and the environment.

    President-elect Barack Obama earlier this week reiterated his campaign pledges to invest heavily in clean-energy programs and make the U.S. a leader on climate change.

    Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday said that a simplified climate change bill will be introduced next year. Meanwhile, the replacement of Rep. John Dingell by Henry Waxman at the head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is interpreted as a move that can accelerate energy policy reform.

    Google first introduced its 2030 energy road map in October of this year; CEO Eric Schmidt, an adviser to Obama, made speeches earlier this year, calling on the federal government to show more leadership on climate change by fostering clean-technology businesses.

    A number of other high-profile individuals and groups, including former Vice President Al Gore and businessman T. Boone Pickens, have called for government-led "moonshot" programs in energy, recalling how the Apollo Program in the 1960s led to a flourishing of technology progress.

    Obama advisers have indicated that clean energy will be one of the incoming administration's top priorities, tied to economic recovery. Whether the administration can successfully pass legislation, such as regulations on carbon emissions, remains to be seen, of course.

    There is significant support for action on climate change and clean energy among voters and businesses. But any sort of bold policy proposals will face stiff resistance in Congress.

    In the past two years, several attempts to pass carbon regulations, renew renewable energy tax credits, and increase fuel-efficiency standards have been defeated.



    http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10105175-54.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=GreenTech

    ReplyDelete
  73. I've heard marriage described as a mistake. But here in Idaho, if you live with the girl 5 or 7 years, you're married anyway, in the eyes of the law, like it or not.

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  74. You know, there is one thing I'm advocating, so I guess I am a sort of an activist:

    I SUPPORT A FEDERAL BAN ON DIVORCE


    Good Grief! And plenty of it. Your papa surely wasn't a divorce lawyer. Some marriages just don't work.

    And no-fault divorce is the best solution the legislature has come up with yet.

    Down with living hell!

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  75. I think Jesus was more likely just standing up for a woman's place in the society of his day, when if your husband divorced you, you were sort of out on your ear. But things have changed dramatically, at least in the western world, so a divorced woman has many options not available before.

    As for divorce bringing disorder to a family, it does to the kids in a way. On the other hand the disorder is a precondition to the urge to a divorce.

    My own experience for what little it's worth is it's best to make a real try to keep things together. Sometimes--a lot of times--disorder is the result of temporary financial or other difficulties, that can be overcome. Sometimes though, people just get so they can't stand one another. Nobody's fault.

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  76. Bobal: Good Grief! And plenty of it. Your papa surely wasn't a divorce lawyer. Some marriages just don't work.


    I've been with one gal for 19 years, but if I bring up the subject of marriage equality for all, righties will lecture to me on how it would destroy the institution of marriage to let two womenfolk get hitched. Meanwhile Rush Limbaugh has been married THREE times, Britney Spears was married for 55 hours, and 49% of all marriages are destined to fail (with all the attendant damage to kids' lives) because of the existence of easy divorce. So while the Mormons and Catholics go around trying to change the constitution of this and that state to reverse their respective high court decisions granting marriage equality all in an effort to save marriage, I say we have a federal ban on divorce nationwide and save millions of marriages all in one fell swoop.

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  77. I think the likely result today would be a dramtic decline in the marriage rate. Who wants to get locked into a building with no fire escape?

    But I agree there's way too much libertinism, these days.

    Maybe there's some real wisdom in comman law marriage law. You live together long enough, you're married. You got five or seven years, seeing if you get along, at which point, it's assumed you do.

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  78. Tes,

    Lesbostan? In the US? Is there such a reservation?

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  79. Mat,
    re: Your comment with the Google news at:
    Fri Nov 21, 02:47:00 PM EST

    With due respect to you, and acknowledging you may be only passing on news, my opinion is it's more smoke and mirrors by the usual suspects, e.g., Gore, Pickens, and the others who are big on government mandates and picking pockets for government subsidies that favor them, or their agendas.

    Tax eaters they've been called. Also, some of the info there is steaming bullshit, i.e.,

    • A $3 billion appropriation to weatherize 1 million U.S. homes, which will cut energy bills by about 30 percent.

    • Mandate that U.S. government agencies purchase energy from renewable sources, use energy-efficient building products, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Defense News
    NOv 20 2008

    Chinese Cyber Attacks On Rise: U.S. Report
    By william matthews
    Published: 20 Nov 16:07 EST (21:07 GMT) Print | Email

    Cyber attacks on U.S. military and defense industry computer systems are increasing, and many of the attacks are coming from China, a U.S. government commission says.

    "China has recognized the importance of cyber operations as a tool of warfare," the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission says in a report released Nov. 20 (more)

    http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3830559&c=AME&s=TOP

    *****

    http://tinyurl.com/6jxtzj
    The Pentagon logged more than 79,000 attempted intrusions in 2005. About 1,300 were successful, including the penetration of computers linked to the Army’s 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and the 4th Infantry Division. In August and September of that year Chinese hackers penetrated US State Department computers in several parts of the world. Hundreds of computers had to be replaced or taken offline for months. Chinese hackers also disrupted the US Naval War College’s network in November, forcing the college to shut down its computer systems for several weeks. The Pentagon uses more than 5 million computers on 100,000 networks in 65 countries (more)

    ****
    ABC News
    Hackers Launch Cyberattack on Federal Labs
    Investigators Believe Chinese Hackers Carried Out 'Sophisticated' Hit
    By JACK DATE, JASON RYAN, RICHARD SERGAY and THERESA COOK
    Dec. 7, 2007

    A "sophisticated cyberattack" has been detected at Oak Ridge National Laboratory over the last several weeks, and authorities suspect the hackers are based in China.(more)

    http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3966047

    ReplyDelete
  81. Defense News
    NOv 20 2008

    Chinese Cyber Attacks On Rise:
    U.S. Report
    By william matthews
    Published: 20 Nov 16:07 EST (21:07 GMT) Print | Email

    Cyber attacks on U.S. military and defense industry computer systems are increasing, and many of the attacks are coming from China, a U.S. government commission says.

    "China has recognized the importance of cyber operations as a tool of warfare," the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission says in a report released Nov. 20 (more)

    http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3830559&c=AME&s=TOP

    ReplyDelete
  82. I guess Rino rat doesn't know what's going on outside his home town's Democratic Party.

    I guess you can't expect more when you're in horse shit all day or fondly remembering your "Triangle of Bar" Days.

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  83. Nary a Republican in the bunch, making that claim, habu.

    Though the stories may well be accurate, as to the intrusions, the claim of WAR because of it, not the Republican position, not at all.

    You are a Republican in more than name, are you not? A Party man to the core, always loyal to the platform and candidate?

    What does Maverick McCain have to say about WAR with China?

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  84. A fellow I know, he was going to Avanti's Italian restuarant, last night, he and his wife.

    Two burly boys with earpieces and shoulder holsters asked them to wait a moment before entering, as their "charge" was leaving.

    Sure enough, out of the door and into the waiting limo came the Governor of AZ, that Democrat, Ms Janet Napolitano.

    This, in and of itself, nothing special, but the next fellow out the door, flanked by his hurley burly boys, Sheriff Joe.

    Now those that "know Joe" know he has a thick Federal resume. If he goes back to DC, as number 2 at Homeland Security, guess then Joe'll be a RINO, too.

    Putting Country First.

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  85. McCain spoke out on the China issue.
    He knows the deal, as a Republican Standard bearer, does he not?

    Seems habu is "... preying on the fears stoked by Asia’s dynamism ..." just as McCain forewarned.


    It must be a priority of the next American president to expand America’s economic relationships in Asia.

    Unfortunately, in what has become an all-too-predictable pattern, some American politicians—including the Democratic candidate for president— are preying on the fears stoked by Asia’s dynamism; rather than encouraging American innovation and entrepreneurship, they instead propose throwing up protectionist walls that will leave us all worse off.

    ...

    China and the United States are not destined to be adversaries. We have numerous overlapping interests and I hope to see our relationship evolve in a manner that benefits both countries and, in turn, the Asia-Pacific region
    and the world. Our ties must be rooted in a broader regional and international order that provides the indispensible bedrock for the shared prosperity and stability we all desire. America itself must be a stakeholder in that system, and we must take seriously our responsibilities to contribute to it. It is in this spirit that America’s relations with China, and with the countries that comprise the region surrounding it,
    should proceed.

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  86. This comment has been removed by the author.

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