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, December 20, 2013

Do criticisms of N.S.A. programs by a presidential panel and a federal judge show that Edward Snowden is a principled whistleblower?

RECALL WHAT THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WAS CLAIMING ABOUT SNOWDEN JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO:
N.S.A. Dragnet Included Allies, Aid Groups and Business Elite

Published: December 20, 2013 


Secret documents reveal more than 1,000 targets of American and British surveillance in recent years, including the office of an Israeli prime minister, heads of international aid organizations, foreign energy companies and a European Union official involved in antitrust battles with American technology businesses.




While the names of some political and diplomatic leaders have previously emerged as targets, the newly disclosed intelligence documents provide a much fuller portrait of the spies’ sweeping interests in more than 60 countries.
Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, working closely with the National Security Agency, monitored the communications of senior European Union officials, foreign leaders including African heads of state and sometimes their family members, directors of United Nations and other relief programs, and officials overseeing oil and finance ministries, according to the documents. In addition to Israel, some targets involved close allies like France and Germany, where tensions have already erupted over recent revelations about spying by the N.S.A.
Details of the surveillance are described in documents from the N.S.A. and Britain’s eavesdropping agency, known as GCHQ, dating from 2008 to 2011. The target lists appear in a set of GCHQ reports that sometimes identify which agency requested the surveillance, but more often do not. The documents were leaked by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden and shared by The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.
The reports are spare, technical bulletins produced as the spies, typically working out of British intelligence sites, systematically tapped one international communications link after another, focusing especially on satellite transmissions. The value of each link is gauged, in part, by the number of surveillance targets found to be using it for emails, text messages or phone calls. More than 1,000 targets, which also include people suspected of being terrorists or militants, are in the reports.
It is unclear what the eavesdroppers gleaned. The documents include a few fragmentary transcripts of conversations and messages, but otherwise contain only hints that further information was available elsewhere, possibly in a larger database.
Some condemned the surveillance on Friday as unjustified and improper. A spokeswoman for the European Commission, Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, said that the latest revelations of American and British spying in Europe “are unacceptable and deserve our strongest condemnation.”
She continued, “This is not the type of behavior that we expect from strategic partners.”
Some of the surveillance relates to issues that are being scrutinized by President Obama and a panel he appointed in Washington that on Wednesday recommended stricter limits on the N.S.A., including restrictions on spying on foreign leaders, particularly allies.
The reports show that spies monitored the email traffic of several Israeli officials, including one target identified as “Israeli prime minister,” followed by an email address. The prime minister at the time of the interception, in January 2009, was Ehud Olmert. The following month, spies intercepted the email traffic of the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, according to another report. Two Israeli embassies also appear on the target lists.
Mr. Olmert said in a telephone interview on Friday that the email address was used for correspondence with his office, which he said staff members often handled. He added that it was unlikely that any secrets could have been compromised.
“This was an unimpressive target,” Mr. Olmert said. He noted, for example, that his most sensitive discussions with President George W. Bush took place in private. “I would be surprised if there was any attempt by American intelligence in Israel to listen to the prime minister’s lines,” he said.
Mr. Barak, who declined to comment, has said publicly that he used to take it for granted that he was under surveillance.
Despite the close ties between the United States and Israel, the record of mutual spying is long: Israeli spies, including Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was sentenced in 1987 to life in prison for passing intelligence information to Israel, have often operated in the United States, and the United States has often turned the capabilities of the N.S.A. against Israel.
The interception of Mr. Olmert’s office email occurred while he was dealing with fallout from Israel’s military response to rocket attacks from Gaza, but also at a particularly tense time in relations with the United States. The two countries were simultaneously at odds on Israeli preparations to attack Iran’s nuclear program and cooperating on a wave of cyberattacks on Iran’s major nuclear enrichment facility.
A year before the interception of Mr. Olmert’s office email, the documents listed another target, the Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an internationally recognized center for research in atomic and nuclear physics.
Also appearing on the surveillance lists is Joaquín Almunia, vice president of the European Commission, which, among other powers, has oversight of antitrust issues in Europe. The commission has broad authority over local and foreign companies, and it has punished a number of American companies, including Microsoft and Intel, with heavy fines for hampering fair competition. The reports say that spies intercepted Mr. Almunia’s communications in 2008 and 2009.
Mr. Almunia, a Spaniard, assumed direct authority over the commission’s antitrust office in 2010. He has been involved in a three-year standoff with Google over how the company runs its search engine. Competitors of the online giant had complained that it was prioritizing its own search results and using content like travel reviews and ratings from other websites without permission. While pushing for a settlement with Google, Mr. Almunia has warned that the company could face large fines if it does not cooperate.


The surveillance reports do not specify whether the interceptions of Mr. Almunia’s communications were requested by the N.S.A. or British spies. Nor do the reports make clear whether he was a longstanding surveillance target or swept up as part of a fleeting operation. Contacted by The Times, Mr. Almunia said he was “strongly upset” about the spying.
Ms. Hansen, the spokeswoman for the European Commission, said that it was already engaged in talks with the United States that were “needed to restore trust and confidence in the trans-Atlantic relationship.” She added that “the commission will raise these new allegations with U.S. and U.K. authorities.”
In a statement, the N.S.A. denied that it had ever carried out espionage to benefit American businesses.
“We do not use our foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of — or give intelligence we collect to — U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line,” said Vanee Vines, an N.S.A. spokeswoman.
But she added that some economic spying was justified by national security needs. “The intelligence community’s efforts to understand economic systems and policies, and monitor anomalous economic activities, are critical to providing policy makers with the information they need to make informed decisions that are in the best interest of our national security,” Ms. Vines said.
Spies have a freer hand with economic targets in Britain, where the law permits intelligence gathering in the service of the “economic well-being” of the country. A GCHQ spokesman said that its policy was not to comment on intelligence matters, but that the agency “takes its obligations under the law very seriously.”
At the request of GCHQ, The Times agreed to withhold some details from the documents because of security concerns.
The surveillance reports show American and British spies’ deep appetite for information. The French companies Total, the oil and gas giant, and Thales, an electronics, logistics and transportation outfit, appear as targets, as do a French ambassador, an “Estonian Skype security team” and the German Embassy in Rwanda.
Germany is especially sensitive about American spying since reports emerged that the agency listened to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone calls. Negotiations for a proposed agreement between Germany and the United States on spying rules have recently stalled for several reasons, including the refusal of the United States to guarantee that it would never spy on German officials other than the chancellor.
Multiple United Nations Missions in Geneva are listed as targets, including Unicef and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. So is Médecins du Monde, a medical relief organization that goes into war-ravaged areas. Leigh Daynes, an executive director of the organization in Britain, responded to news about the surveillance by saying: “There is absolutely no reason for our operations to be secretly monitored.”
More obvious intelligence targets are also listed, though in smaller numbers, including people identified as “Israeli grey arms dealer,” “Taleban ministry of refugee affairs” and “various entities in Beijing.” Some of those included are described as possible members of Al Qaeda, and as suspected extremists or jihadists.
While few if any American citizens appear to be named in the documents, they make clear that some of the intercepted communications either began or ended in the United States and that N.S.A. facilities carried out interceptions around the world in collaboration with their British partners. Some of the interceptions appear to have been made at the Sugar Grove, W.Va., listening post run by the N.S.A. and code-named Timberline, and some are explicitly tied to N.S.A. target lists in the reports.
Many of the reports, written by British teams specializing in Sigint, shorthand for “signals intelligence,” are called “Bude Sigint Development Reports,” referring to a British spy campus on the Cornwall coast. The reports often reveal which countries were the endpoints for the intercepted communications, and information on which satellite was carrying the traffic.
Strengthening the likelihood that full transcripts were taken during the intercepts is the case of Mohamed Ibn Chambas, an official of the Economic Community of West African States, known as Ecowas, a regional initiative of 15 countries that promotes economic and industrial activity. Whether intentionally or through some oversight, when Mr. Chambas’s communications were intercepted in August 2009, dozens of his complete text messages were copied into one of the reports.
Referred to in the transcripts as “Dr. Chambers,” he seems to have been monitored during an especially humdrum day or two of travel. “Am glad yr day was satisfying,” Mr. Chambas texted one acquaintance. “I spent my whole day travelling... Had to go from Abidjan to Accra to catch a flt to Monrovia... The usual saga of intra afr.”
Later he recommended a book, “A Colonial History of Northern Ghana,” to the same person. “Interesting and informative,” Mr. Chambas texted. The high point of his day was receiving an award in Liberia, but soon he was busy working out logistics for future appointments.
“Where is the conference pl? Didnt get the invt,” he texted another contact. He discussed further details before adding, perhaps wistfully, given his grinding travel schedule: “Have a restful Sunday.”

Katrin Bennhold contributed reporting from London, David E. Sanger from Washington, and Ethan Bronner from New York.

178 comments:

  1. A prominent German MP, Hans-Christian Ströbele, who met Edward Snowden in Moscow in October, told the Guardian it was becoming "increasingly clear that Britain has been more than the US' stooge in this surveillance scandal". He suggested the snooping by GCHQ on German government buildings and embassies was unacceptable.

    "Great Britain is not just any country. It is a country that we are supposed to be in a union with. It's incredible for one member of the European Union to spy on another – it's like members of a family spying on each other. The German government will need to raise this with the British government directly and ask tough questions about the victims, and that is the right word, of this affair."

    The Liberal Democrats have been inching towards calling for an independent commission to investigate the activities of Britain's spy agencies and the party president, Tim Farron, said that "spying on friendly governments like this is not only bad politics, it is bad foreign policy".

    "These nations are our allies and we should work together on issues from terrorism to Iran and climate change," he said. "But we seem to be spying on them in conjunction with the NSA in what seems like an industrial basis."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Britain is a key member of Five Eyes and it is always hard to determine if they were doing the spying on their own or at the request of another member of Five Eyes. They all do their own spying and when internal roadblocks (such as the Constitution) interfere they merely have one of the other members do the spying and provide them with the information.

      .

      Delete
  2. Leaders in Israel have for years been targeted in a surveillance operation waged by the United States’ National Security Agency, or NSA, according to files leaked by Edward Snowden.

    Those documents reportedly also contain information suggesting that heads of international charities, foreign energy companies, United Nations officials and the vice president of the European Commission were targeted as well by either British or American spies.

    The NSA operation set its sights on the email account belonging to the office of an Israeli prime minister.

    Ehud Olmert, the PM of Israel at the time of the January 2009 interception, was spied on by the NSA and British colleagues at the GCHQ, according to the latest reports that rely on intelligence supplied by Snowden.

    But the revelations go further. The NSA has operations in 60 countries including the UN and EU. Frankly,
    that is what they should be doing. That should be the extent of their surveillance, not domestic spying on US citizens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      But the revelations go further. The NSA has operations in 60 countries including the UN and EU. Frankly, that is what they should be doing. That should be the extent of their surveillance, not domestic spying on US citizens.

      Should be.

      :)

      The NSA doesn't give a shit about info on US citizens. They provide raw data to Israel with the admonition "No be good boys. Any information you see on American citizens, well, just ignore it."\

      Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      Another missive by way of Snowden,

      The Obama administration views Israel as one of the top spying threats facing its intelligence services, leaked documents reveal.

      “To further safeguard our classified networks, we continue to strengthen insider threat detection capabilities across the Community,” reads the FY 2013 congressional budget justification for intelligence programs. “In addition, we are investing in target surveillance and offensive CI [counterintelligence] against key targets, such as China, Russia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and Cuba.”


      http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/319513-leaked-documents-reveal-us-sees-israel-as-a-major-spying-threat

      .

      Delete
    3. QuirkFri Dec 20, 08:50:00 PM EST
      They provide raw data to Israel

      ...to what end...

      For once an article casts Israel in a somewhat favorable light, victim, and you have obviously scratched that as a possibility; instead, implyiing some conspiracy between the US and Israel with no stated goal.

      Consider the possibility that on this one the documents might mean what they say: Israel was a target as well.

      Delete
    4. This is the same Obama administration whose incompetence has led to this sorry state of affairs and for whom you otherwise have little respect? If Israel is mentioned the credibility of the administration suddenly rises?

      Delete
    5. Let it be noted that Israel is not part of the Five Eyes syndicate.

      Delete
    6. .

      First, I don't consider being viewed as a victim as being cast in a favorable light. Under certain circumstances, I might view a victim with sympathy, but hardly in this case, when the victim is doing exactly the same thing.

      Consider the possibility?

      Of course I consider the possibility. The information is purported to have come from a secret congressional budget review. To my knowledge, no one in the US or Israel has denied this or even commented on it that it was released by Snowden.

      .

      Delete
    7. .

      If I, on a frequent basis, question the policies of the administration and the Congress, why would I have the slightest compunction throwing verbal brickbats at a foreign government when I object to their policies?

      .

      Delete
    8. allenFri Dec 20, 09:33:00 PM EST
      QuirkFri Dec 20, 08:50:00 PM EST
      They provide raw data to Israel

      ...to what end...


      I may have missed an answer. What is your point?

      Is there some particular target for your brickbats derived from this article? And it is the article I address, the point of the thread. Therein, I find nothing derogatory about Israel. The author places Israel in the same lifeboat as the other victims, e..g. Germany.

      Delete
    9. QuirkFri Dec 20, 09:57:00 PM EST
      .

      If I, on a frequent basis, question the policies of the administration and the Congress, why would I have the slightest compunction throwing verbal brickbats at a foreign government when I object to their policies?

      I would not expect that. However, I find nothing the article itself that points to any wrong doing by Israel. Within the body of the essay, what is your complaint?

      Israel spies on the United States. The United States spies on Israel. If Germany could, she would spy on both. That Israel is the cause of special concern may mean a number of things, including Israel's success in not getting caught by Mr. Snowden and made the laughing stock of the world.

      Delete
    10. .

      Allen, your confusion is understandable. You seem to be thinking my first post above was directly related to the linked article in the second post. It wasn't.. Therefore, I ignored your question

      They provide raw data to Israel

      ...to what end...


      and instead answered the other questions you posed.

      My first post was in response to and expansion on Deuce's post in which he said he has no problem with the US spying on foreign governments but objects to it spying on US citizens. My response was that the NSA doesn't give a shit about US citizens as evidenced by the fact that they provide raw data to Israel that contains info on US citizens and feels it perfectly adequate to simply tell Israel 'Now, we've given you this info but we trust you won't use it.'

      My second post was related to the other part of Deuce's post referring to Israel being spied upon by the US and UK. My post pointed out there was a reason Israel was being spied on and that Israel wasn't the only one. However, it was really intended to point to the fact that given the US view on Israeli spying, if the US really gave a damn about US citizens privacy, why in the world would they be giving Israel raw data on those citizens?

      Since you have once again pressed me for an answer on

      They provide raw data to Israel

      ...to what end...


      my answer is, I haven't a clue. To me, it's pure bullshit.

      Here's the story.

      http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/11/nsa-shares-raw-data-americans-israeli-spy-agency/

      ..


      Delete
  3. “The latest disclosures will add to Washington's embarrassment following the heavy criticism of the NSA when it emerged that it had been tapping the mobile telephone of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel," James Ball and Nick Hopkins wrote for the Guardian.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was just going to suggest what his country needs is Quirk to clean this mess up. He is something of an expert at evading detection by now and is great at infiltrating other groups and keeping an eye on others.

    And I see he is here his very self, speaking of Five Eyes and all other manner of inside stuff.

    In our group we've always called him The All Seeing Transparent Eyeball.

    (he sees not with but through his eyes)

    Another advantage of Quirk at the helm is he has no ideological ax to grind at all........allegiance to the money only, and USA still has plenty of that and what we don't have we can print.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Transparent Eyeball is of course from our Emerson - "I am a transparent eyeball" - though in Emerson's case I believe he may have been thinking of the higher reaches of spiritual discernment, and not boozy broads and vodka.

      Delete
    2. ...possibly his third eye...

      Delete
    3. Perhaps, though I've seen Quirk in such a state he seemed to have only one eye, like a Cyclops.

      He came in one night so soused his left eye looked up at the ceiling and it looked as if it had been kicked out by a horse. His depth perception was very bad and he kept running into the bathroom door.

      Delete
    4. My Parents best friends would recall when some relative popped a Champagne Cork, which proceeded to pop the eye out of the popper's socket.

      Granddad stuck it back in, and the festivities continued.

      Swedes

      Delete
  5. Would the NSA or the Brits act on a request from Google?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      At some point in the future (near future?) you couldn't rule out some form of quid pro quo.

      The MIC doesn't just include companies like Rockwell.

      .

      Delete
  6. The Previous Thread had this Erroneous Headline:

    "The Lawless State of the Union - “The White House” does not have the authority to be “Tweaking laws”"

    ---

    He was not Tweaking,

    He Was Twerking

    ReplyDelete
  7. "“I don’t think this is about the first amendment,” Ferraro said. “I feel it’s more about the America we live in today. That is one where Americans, gay and straight, are able to speak out when people in the public eye make anti-gay and racist remarks.”"

    ---

    It couldn't be about lying fucking facist faggots could it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm old enough to remember when they said their only goal was acceptance.
      Never would they indoctrinate children.
      Much.

      Delete
    2. Soon you will becoming out against NAMBLA, we know your kind around here, Doug-O.

      You are the very definition of prejudice, intolerance and phobia.

      :)

      Delete
    3. Real Men and boys, that's a whole different ball of whacks.

      Delete
    4. .

      Robertson clan to A&E, "You can't fire us. We quit."

      .

      Delete
  8. "It's already melted off the roads, if not the roofs and lawns, nothing to panic over. But Seattle drivers panic if they see one flake."

    I thought Seattle was populated by flakes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rufus IIFri Dec 20, 09:20:00 AM EST
    More affordable healthcare options, for more people?

    Nope, not outraged.

    ----

    In a fair World, he'd have to share what he's smokin.

    Heck, we could re-open The Elephant Bar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      The Elephant Bar with new Cigar Lounge and Grassaria.

      (Note to self: See if that animal park in California still has the elephants.)

      .

      Delete
  10. .

    Allen, I saw this on the previous stream and thought I would answer here.

    AllenFri Dec 20, 03:04:00 PM EST

    Quirk,

    This is the latest public information on the helmet used by F-35 pilots. It appears that Israel is having no problems with its end of production.

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4439983,00.html

    F-35s to carry Israeli developed helmet display

    The US Department of Defense announced it will abort the development of a helmet mounted display system (HDMS) for its F-35 stealth aircraft in favor of the model developed by the Israeli company Elbit and the American Rockwell Collins


    Allen, I would argue with your first sentence. The article you linked to on Ynet appears a little muddled. I’m not sure who the author is (most of the references are in Yiddish) but from what I discerned he seems to do everything there, culture and leisure, sports, business news, and now the military. It kind of looks like his main area is business so it is understandable why he might have left out some things.

    The October 13 date of the article tells me it was one of the many that were written around the same date discussing the Pentagon decision to go with a single source for F-35 helmet. A link for another article on the same subject by defensetech.org is noted below.

    http://defensetech.org/2013/10/10/pentagon-scraps-alternative-f-35-helmet/

    As pointed out in the Ynet article, the helmet in question is a joint project by Elbit (Israel) and Rockwell Collins (US). The final assembly of the helmet will be by RC in the US.

    The F-35 design centers around the helmet so it is a key system element. RC and Elbit have been the suppliers right along. However, what the Ynet article did not mention was that due to continuing development problems with the helmet, the Pentagon decided to reduce risk by running a dual development program. In September 2011, BAE was brought in to develop another helmet, a simpler 2nd generation HUD design while Elbit/RC continued developing their 3rd generation HDMS design.

    In October 2013, the Pentagon decided to cancel the contract with BAE and go with the original helmet. They indicated the reason was to save money. They had already spent $57 million on the BAE design but by dropping the contract, they could same the remaining $45 million less any cancellation costs. This is offset by the fact that through competition provided by BAE, the costs of the Elbit/RC even at $500,000 per will be a 12% reduction over previous projection.

    We can also speculate that one of the other reasons the Pentagon might want to stay with the Elbit/RC design is to avoid the black eye they would get from going to a 2nd generation helmet and the number of expensive system in the F-35 that would be rendered useless by dropping the 3rd generation HDMS.

    With regard to your comment regarding Elbit/Rc having no more problems, I think you might be reading too much into the Ynet article. As far as I know, the problems I mentioned the other day haven’t been resolved as yet (can’t fly at night [green halo], information lag times, and stutter and flutter in bad weather and high speed turns). I haven’t mentioned some of the other problems with the helmet that are more RC-centric such as weight and balance issues. If you have something newer, I’d be interested in it. The following Atlantic article was published in September and kind of lays out some of the problems with the F-35. The issues with the helmet start on page 3 and roll into page 4.

    http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2013/09/joint-strike-fighter-lockheed-martin

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I TOLD you folks Quirk can figure stuff out.......'stutter and flutter in bad weather and high speed turns'.......I mean jeez......'RC-centric such as weight and balance issues'.......wow.......just turn the whole project over to the boy from Detroit......

      Impressive, Quirk !

      Delete
    2. Didn't you just paste it above?

      Delete
    3. Pentagon Drops Plans for Alternative F-35 Fighter Helmet

      WSJ

      "The government's decision to proceed exclusively with the principal helmet is indicative of their confidence in the helmet's performance and the successful resolution of previously identified technical challenges," said Lorraine Martin, Lockheed's F-35 general manager.

      In Oct '13 there was flurry of coverage, almost all identical and uninformative. Beyond Oct the pickings are slim, mostly reiterations.

      To the questions with the helmet, who knows?

      Delete
  11. .

    Fusion reactions. No environmental issues, no waste to dispose of, no Fukashima reactions, the raw materials are cheap and readily available in abundance, we know how to contain the reaction.

    What is left is coming up with a process where the output of the process is more than the cost. Simple.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-the-fusion-in-our-future/2013/12/20/73c28c2a-68d4-11e3-ae56-22de072140a2_story.html?hpid=z2

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Waste of Time.

      Rufus says just have Obama Pass The Perpetual Motion Mandate.

      Delete
    2. Genius, I tell ya......simplicity itself......

      :)

      How about that stuff from the surface of the moon......H2 or whatever it is.......how about mining that?

      back to beddie here.......relieved.......

      Delete
    3. Pass the Mandate?

      All he has to do is Sign the Mandate.........who needs Congress?.....

      Delete
    4. If it runs off-kilter, An Executive Order will be The Fix.

      Delete
    5. If the lights go out he'll give them a hardship exemption, and they can go back to heating their homes with hydrocarbons.

      ---

      "The White House argued at the Supreme Court that the insurance-purchase mandate was not only constitutional but essential to the law's success, while refusing Republican demands to delay or repeal it. But late on Thursday, with only four days to go before the December enrollment deadline, the Health and Human Services Department decreed that millions of Americans are suddenly exempt.

      Individuals whose health plans were canceled will now automatically qualify for a "hardship exemption" from the mandate. If they can't or don't sign up for a new plan, they don't have to pay the tax."

      Delete
    6. Helium-3. Groovy stuff, if you already have a constellation of fusion power plants. Wake me up when it's the 22nd Century.

      Delete
    7. That's the stuff, Helium -3.

      I'll put in a letter to the Prez, ask for an executive order for fusion plants, and sign it Quirk-O.

      How many in 'a constellation'?

      That sounds like a lot.

      Delete
    8. T finds Vaginas more interesting than men's anuses,

      should we allow her to post here?

      Delete
    9. Reading about the blind guy and his dog that fell onto the subway tracks, I ran into helper horses instead of dogs:

      They claim they're more economical, because they live 30 years whereas a dog retires at 10 years.

      ...little horses a bit more practical than full size.

      Delete
    10. "Scotland is a dark land overrun by homosexuals." - Pat Robertson, TV evangelist (1930 - )

      Delete
  12. Africa's Namibia is now ranked fourth globally in terms of housing-price increases

    The Chapman family early last year embarked on the daunting task of finding a house in one of the world's hottest property markets—not Paris, Shanghai or San Francisco but Windhoek, Namibia.

    Philip and Sunette Chapman, with baby, Mieke, faced stiff competition in the search for their three-bedroom home. Willem de Lange for The Wall Street Journal

    Philip Chapman, a 32-year-old financial manager in Windhoek, said he and his wife, Sunette, looked at 30 potential homes. Everything they viewed was too expensive or too shoddy—or sold within 24 hours. One buyer was asking 2.5 million Namibian dollars, or about $242,000, for a subdivided 30-year-old house with plaster peeling from the walls and a pool that leaked in the backyard.

    A dearth of housing has driven up home prices among middle-class buyers in Windhoek, population 400,000, a desert-fringed capital caught in an economic crosscurrent.

    Dozens of professional families move into the crowded city each month, drawn to jobs spurred by the mining and financial-services industries, and to new shopping malls and other amenities that offer a comfortable lifestyle, according to Jannie Erasmus, a real-estate agent for Andreya Pereira Properties.

    The limited water and sewage service—water is brought in from dams 300 miles from the city—has capped building expansion.

    ReplyDelete
  13. At least 5.2 Million people now have health insurance as a result of Obamacare.

    aca signups

    That doesn't include the 3 Million young people that have been allowed to stay on the parents' health insurance, a lot of the surge from the last couple of days, or the millions of medicare recipients that can afford to purchase medications as a result of the Part D donut hole being cut in half.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With the enrollments pouring in, I kind of expect an announcement, Monday or Tuesday, of another week extension for signing up. That'll make some republican heads 'splode.

      Wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of designer shirts will be the order of the day, I suppose.

      Delete
    2. I demand a Communal Hookah.

      ...that's a Mandate!

      Delete
    3. New A and E program:

      Man Dates of Manhatten.

      Delete
    4. Obamacare = Medicaid = Losercare

      Delete
    5. Says the guy with Government Insurance.

      Delete
    6. NEWS! - BREAKING!!!

      Medicare mooch opposes Obamacare!!

      Film at 11:00

      Delete
    7. Yeah, we only paid Social Security Taxes for Sixty Years!

      ...Invested instead of squandered on Welfare, we could be Self Insured.

      And Medical Care never would have skyrocketed like it did after the Govt Got involved.

      Delete
    8. Point your lazy assed Socialist Finger in the mirror.
      ...don't project it on us!

      Delete
    9. Did you pay Social Security Taxes the last 20 years when you laid on your ass?

      ...my wife's first check came in after she died.

      Delete
    10. I started paying Social Security Taxes 58 years ago.

      Delete
    11. I'm Still paying Social Security/Medicare Taxes.

      Delete
    12. .

      How much were the late fees?

      .

      Delete
  14. Just a thought on healthcare:

    We all know that life becomes more precious the longer we live it. I am fairly certain that Warren Buffett would pay $10B per extra year at this time of his life.

    Since job creation is becoming more difficult, what would be wrong if 25% of us worked in the healthcare industry if the net result was that we were all healthier and lived longer? Suppose that extended to 30% and there was an incremental improvement in health and longevity?

    Is that less worthy than building automobiles or sewing jackets?

    How do you finance that? With creativity, it is possible. It is also desirable as it can increase consumption in services and increase incomes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have a link, but part of the improving GDP numbers is Healthcare.

      You're on the right track, Deuce. This ain't the 20th Century. Old thinking needs to change (pdq, too.)

      Delete
    2. ...and most care is delivered by humans.

      Although some surgery now has a human running a surgical robot.

      Hard to imagine a Robot Nurse.

      Delete
    3. Won't stop the Japanese from trying, of course.

      Delete
  15. Why not minimize income taxes for young families with children and shift more of the burden to elderly wealthy?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gets you negative points on the Socialist O Meter.

      Delete
    2. We do, somewhat, with the "child tax credit," and the EIC (earned income tax credit,) but it's hard to go very far, inasmuch as it's the old farts that vote (and, already have a bit of political power.)

      That's part of what the Affordable Care Act is all about. The "main" beneficiaries tend to be young, and poor -

      although, those older Americans with pre-existing conditions aren't far behind in the "winner sweepstakes."

      Delete
    3. "married couples and parents – including millions of middle-income families – will be targeted for even higher tax increases than other Americans starting next year.

      According to JCT, among the most significant family-related tax increases that will take effect on January 1, 2011 are:
      The child tax credit will be cut in half, from $1,000 to $500 per child, costing 31 million families an average of $1,033 in higher taxes next year.
      The marriage penalty in the standard deduction and the 15% bracket will be reinstated, costing 35 million married couples an average of $595 in higher taxes in 2011.
      The 10% bracket will be eliminated, raising the lowest tax rate to 15%, costing 88 million taxpayers an average of $503 in higher taxes next year.
      Here are some further details about these looming family-related tax increases:"

      Delete
    4. "The $1,000 Child Tax Credit, which was created by the Bush tax cuts, was set to expire at the end of 2012. However, the fiscal cliff deal signed on January 3, 2013 extended the current Child Tax Credit for the next five years.

      Read more: http://www.rapidtax.com/blog/2013-child-tax-credit/#ixzz2o7A0Wi2J"

      Delete
    5. "The Child Tax Credit phases out beyond certain levels of income:

      $55,000 for married couples filing separately

      $75,000 for single, head of household, and qualifying widow(er)

      $110,000 for married filing jointly

      The credit is reduced by $50 for every $1,000 of income beyond these thresholds. Note that they are not indexed for inflation."

      Delete
    6. And, 4 of the 10 largest American Corporations Will Continue to Pay Zero Income Taxes This Year.

      Delete
    7. GE and Obamadems, a match made in heaven.

      Crony Capitalism at it's finest.

      Delete
    8. Silicon Valley knows which side of their buttcheeks are buttered on too, of course.

      ...and donate accordingly.

      Delete
  16. Here is something to contemplate:

    1 faraday =
    96 485.3365 coulombs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another one:

      Calculate the Multiplier Factor of a Medical Savings Account paid into for 58 years.

      Hypothetical, of course.

      Somebody Else had other uses for that money.

      Guess who.

      Delete
  17. An IRS delay puts the start of tax season between January 28th and February 4th
    The IRS recently announced a 1-2 week delay in opening the 2014 tax season. They need the extra time “to allow adequate time to program and test tax processing systems following the 16-day government closure.”
    That’s right, blame your Congressman. After delaying the start of the 2013 tax season with its fiscal cliff shenanigans, it seems Congress wasn’t content to screw up just one tax season.
    According to the IRS:
    The government closure came during the peak period for preparing IRS systems for the 2014 filing season. Programming, testing, and deployment of more than 50 IRS systems is needed to handle processing of nearly 150 million tax returns. Updating these core systems is a complex, year-round process with the majority of the work beginning in the fall of each year.

    http://www.rapidtax.com/blog/e-file-begin-2014/#ixzz2o7C7tVUO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They got paid, of course, they just did not have to show up for work.

      ...or leave the Grand Canyon, and etc open to American Taxpayers and their offspring.

      Delete
    2. WSJ:

      The White House argued at the Supreme Court that the insurance-purchase mandate was not only constitutional but essential to the law's success, while refusing Republican demands to delay or repeal it. But late on Thursday, with only four days to go before the December enrollment deadline, the Health and Human Services Department decreed that millions of Americans are suddenly exempt. Individuals whose health plans were canceled will now automatically qualify for a "hardship exemption" from the mandate. If they can't or don't sign up for a new plan, they don't have to pay the tax. They can also get a special category of ObamaCare insurance designed for people under age 30.

      Delete
  18. I want to know why the tax burden is always shifting over to me. Why can't I have just a few good years?

    Why am I the privileged guy that gets to pay the 3.8% ObamaCare developers tax?

    Will my property taxes, much of which goes to the hospital, go down because of ObamaCare?

    I don't count on it.

    I'd be rich if I weren't damn near taxed into poverty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You wouldn't have a pot to piss in if the government hadn't given your family the land (and, then paid them not to farm it.)

      Check out the "Duck Dynasty" assholes - These pricks are as fake as the day is long.

      Yuppies playing Redneck

      Delete
    2. Why am I forced to pay the City Engineer's fee to check on my engineer's work? And he is the better engineer. I already pay the City Engineer's salary through my taxes. Why am I forced to 'donate' land for a City Park when the Parks guy says they have more than they can possibly use now? Why do I have to pay for the trees planted on the City right-of-way? I am getting screwed, and I know how I am getting screwed. You can only pass so much of this on to the buyer, the professors can only so much. And I am paying their salaries, too.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_MGWio-vc

      "I am a poor boy too" pa rump pa pum pum

      Wow - great song, great video

      Merry Christmas !!

      I fell like Santa. though the gift bag is nearly empty before I even get to the chimney......

      Delete
    3. What up with Kwanza? What happened to it this year?

      Delete
    4. How did you get those font tags in your reply to Allen about font tags being Verbotten in Bloggerland?

      I copied and pasted them, and got rejected.

      Delete
    5. Kwanza, Google Christmas, Merry Xmas, to All!

      Delete
    6. Through City policy and County zoning the professors have created an extremely effective, though camouflaged, apartheid society here in my old hometown.

      They talk a great multi-cultural game but when it comes to actually playing it there is another set of rules. The ante up is very high and they don't exactly like rubbing up against the unwashed.

      Delete
    7. "Why am I forced to pay the City Engineer's fee to check on my engineer's work? And he is the better engineer. I already pay the City Engineer's salary through my taxes."

      You should hear Adam Carolla rant about his contracting days.

      He would pay his engineer, then some Mexican Govt Troll would show up in his Pickup, ask for names and permits, sit and watch for an hour in his truck, and then Adam would pay Los Angeles a days pay for the engineer.

      Delete
    8. Rufus considers us the unwashed:

      Those who believe free money from DC is not really free.

      Delete
    9. Now now Rufus, the government did not give us the land I am developing. We bought it in the thirties.

      And have farmed it continuously since.

      The homestead has been owned by the same blood for nearly 120 years, and now qualifies as a Centennial Farm.

      You are squatting on land you stole from the Sioux, you old coot.

      Merry Christmas, Rufus.

      Delete
    10. Just like rat is squatting on land stolen from the injuns there.

      Miss T is sitting on land stolen from Chief Seattle.

      Doug on land stolen from the Hawaiians.

      Quirk from the .........Deuce from the.......right down the line......

      Delete
    11. If there was a Merry Christmas tag, Google would reject it.

      Hateful, don'tcha know.

      Delete
    12. Hawaiians stole the lands from Aina.

      Delete
    13. The result, up to now, at least, could not have turned out better for our son.

      HawaiianJapanese, Filopino, Portugese, Black, many others and Haole friends

      If only the DC Multiculturalists could live it rather than Mandate it.

      ...then they would understand.

      Same for Manufacturing, Farming, Retailing, and etc.

      Real Life, IOW.

      Delete
    14. Well there you go then, though I'm not certain who Aina is - she related to Pele? (not the soccer player)

      Delete
    15. Rufus believes the knowledge the Best and Brightest receive comes from the Faculty Lounges of the Ivy League.

      Zero Real World Experience.

      Delete
    16. Look at Sebilius:

      Is she sexual?

      Is she Female?

      Is she human?

      Delete
    17. Pele is part of the Aina.

      Delete
    18. If he gets it, he to will be part of The Aina.

      Like Me.

      Delete
    19. The Soccer Dude, that is.

      Delete
    20. And it was the Rufus Folk, Asiatic killers who crossed the Land Bridge, who stole the whole continent from the Solutreans, my people, who was here first.

      Rufus Folk are johnny come lately.

      I done informed Rufus of this earlier, but he done conveniently fergetted.

      Delete
    21. Obama forgot about if you like your plan, you can keep your plan.

      Delete
    22. And if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

      Delete
  19. Quirk - Sat Dec 21, 03:44:00 AM EST

    Fusion reactions. No environmental issues, no waste to dispose of, no Fukashima reactions, the raw materials are cheap and readily available in abundance, we know how to contain the reaction.

    What is left is coming up with a process where the output of the process is more than the cost. Simple.


    We have that , already. In common English it is referred to as 'The Sun'.

    You may know it as that giant fusion reactor in the sky.



    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When the sun comes out in Seattle we go, "Look, a bright yellow shiny thing!"

      Delete
    2. Rufus is all for Solar Power.

      ...unless he himself has to pay a dime for it.

      I paid 50 grand, but I don't talk a good alcohol fueled game like he can.

      Delete
    3. Damn!

      You still did not answer my font tag question, T!

      Delete
    4. Doug: How did you get those font tags in your reply to Allen about font tags being Verbotten in Bloggerland?

      I copied and pasted them, and got rejected.


      Well, the funny thing is, if I try to show you, they will just post as tags. But I will do them with spaces between the individual characters, if you remember to remove the spaces.

      & l t ;
      & g t ;

      yields:

      <
      >


      Delete
    5. I'll try to figure that out after I get some sleep.

      ...if I ever do.

      Delete
    6. For some reason, I hate "& l t ;" and the non breaking space, which I regularly delete just to make myself feel better.

      A rare and precious commodity, these days.

      Delete
    7. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    8. <font color="yellow"> yellow text < /font >

      Delete
  20. Borderland Beat Reporter ValorxTruthSat Dec 21, 10:35:00 AM EST

    Self-Defense Movement Readies for the Taking of Nueva Italia


    With 11 days left to end the year, the self-defense movement in the state of Michoacán has consolidated their presence with the uprising in La Huacana and now they’re heading for Nueva Italia and other municipalities who want to rise up against organized crime.

    “The people want to rise up in arms against organized crime… we will support all of the municipalities who want to rise up”, said the community leader José Manuel Mireles.

    Speaking to Noticias MVS, the leader confirmed that the people of La Huacana rose up in arms after the army found several bodies in the territory, which is considered to be “the door to hell”, since it has access to Apatzingán.

    Read more »

    http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2013/12/self-defense-movement-readies-for.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All the cool rich decadent of the USA fueling their habits and the coffers of the criminals.

      Delete
  21. Forbes asks the question: What Porn Stars Do When The Porn Industry Shuts Down

    ...possibly the same thing they do when its no shut down...practice makes perfect...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They do pursue in their off time.

      One wonders how the experience of unpaid sex differs from the paid stuff.

      Delete

  22. Israel opened the gates to two dams. Now Gaza is sinking



    Richard Forer writes:

    In November 2012, I was a member of an InterFaith Peace Builders delegation to the Gaza Strip, where I witnessed the hardships, including food deprivation, Gazans live with. Most are a direct consequence of Israel’s long-term blockade that limits supplies of building material, fuel and food and enervates agricultural and fishing yields.

    In 2006, Dov Weisglas, the chief adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.” At the time, many thought Weisglas was speaking in hyperbole. In 2012, however, as a result of a successful legal challenge by the Israeli human rights group Gisha, Weisglas’s comment was revealed to be not hyperbole but policy. Cold-bloodedly, Israeli health officials had calculated the per capita number of calories required for a subsistence diet and then interpolated that figure into truckloads of food. The final figure did not even attempt to take into account food spoilage due to long delays at border crossings.

    The inhumanity of this policy is magnified by the fact that more than half of Gaza’s population is children, under age 16. Malnutrition, anaemia and stunted growth are common.

    http://www.redressonline.com/2013/12/israel-opened-the-gates-to-two-dams-now-gaza-is-sinking/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "The inhumanity of this policy is magnified by the fact that more than half of Gaza’s population is children, under age 16. Malnutrition, anaemia and stunted growth are common."

      So is the indoctrination of hatred for The Other, sadly.

      Delete

    2. Those children will not die of hunger, but they will remember their foreign, colonial oppressors.

      The Zionists have sowed the seeds of their own destruction.

      Soon they will reap the whirlwind.

      John of Patmos wrote that the synagogues would be full of false Jews, before the final days.

      He was right about the false Jews filling the synagogues of Israel,
      leaving one to wonder if he was right about the rest ...

      Delete
    3. ...haven't heard too much from Baby Belt Bombers lately, tho.

      Must be the fence, or something.

      Delete
    4. A False Jew is a good Democrat.

      That's why Rufus loves Chuck.

      Delete
    5. Abner MikvanerSat Dec 21, 10:48:00 AM EST
      Those children will not die of hunger, but they will remember their foreign, colonial oppressors.
      The Zionists have sowed the seeds of their own destruction.
      Soon they will reap the whirlwind.
      John of Patmos wrote that the synagogues would be full of false Jews, before the final days.
      He was right about the false Jews filling the synagogues of Israel,
      leaving one to wonder if he was right about the rest ...




      And today? Zion blooms... Zion grows strong.... And Zion lives....

      It's is the seed of the jackass, Ishmael that is self destroying as we watch....

      120,000 dead in Syria, 4.5 million homeless...

      In Gaza? Hamas murders it's own on a daily basis and reroutes building supplies sent to build homes into tunnels for worthless attempts at kidnapping and murder...

      In Egypt? The world's largest arab nation? Now bulldozing the tunnels of gaza cutting of the arabs of the strip due to their murderous rampages in the Sinai. Crushing poor tunnel diggers in the tunnels or flooding them with raw sewage... Meanwhile the moslem brotherhood and al queda are attacking arabs every day!

      In sudan? yemen? Lebanon? libya? Arab hacking arabs to death on a daily basis to numerous to mention....

      In Pakistan? Indonesia? India? China? Russia? Moslems are murdering each other too!

      In England, Boston and France? the jihad against themselves continue...

      Iraq? Iran? HA HA HA HA

      Afpak? death and destruction against their own...

      the sword of allah cuts the throat of the moslem more times than others all the time...


      But the good news? the Moslems of Israel live free and safe, and prosper..

      Yeah Israel. ZIon, the freest / safest place for Moslems in the middle east..

      Delete
    6. ‘THE FLOODGATES OF BULLCRAP’: PALESTINIANS BLAME ISRAEL FOR FLOODING GAZA…BY OPENING DAMS THAT DON’T REALLY EXIST


      Not only did Israel not cause the flooding, Israel sent aid to the Palestinians.

      “Israel responded to a special appeal conveyed through the UN, transferring four high-power pumps to the Gaza Strip intended to help residents remove water from flooded areas,” he said.

      Delete
    7. Zechariah 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

      Delete


    8. "The so-called “Palestinian autonomous areas” are Bantustans.
      These are restricted entities within the power structure of the Israeli Apartheid system."
      - N. Mandela

      The Palestinians are in their "Ghettos", on their "Reserves"

      Palestinian lackeys rule over the fractured and factionalized Palestinians, $100 million a month the Israeli pay their house boy Arabs in baksheesh.

      Just as the Germans used Ashkenazi guards in the Warsaw Ghetto.

      The first commander of the Warsaw ghetto was Józef Szeryński, a Polish-Jewish police colonel.

      Warsaw Ghetto archivist Emanuel Ringelblum has described the cruelty of the ghetto police as ...
      "at times greater than that of the Germans, the Ukrainians and the Latvians."



      bob

      Delete

    9. Three key features characterize Israeli apartheid:

      • Four million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories lack the right to vote for the government that controls their lives through a military occupation.

      In addition to controlling the borders, air space, water, tax revenues, and other vital matters pertaining to the Occupied Territories,
      Israel alone issues the identity cards that determine the ability of Palestinians to work and their freedom of movement.


      • About 1.2 million Palestinian Israelis, who make up 20 percent, or one-fifth, of Israel’s population, have second-class citizenship within Israel, ...
      ... which defines itself as a Jewish state rather than a state for all its citizens.

      More than 20 provisions of Israel’s principal laws discriminate, either directly or indirectly, against non-Jews, according to Adalah: The Legal Center for Minority Rights in Israel.

      Millions of Palestinians remain refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere, unable to return to their former homes ...
      ... and land in present-day Israel.

      Even though the right of return for refugees is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.




      bob

      Delete
    10. Got to love the anti-Semitic propaganda that rat cuts and pastes.

      Proves that Deuce is tolerant of it. If fact, by not deleted it he shows he supports it.

      The good news? Israel is doing great.

      And those "2nd Class" citizens of Israel? Are thrilled to hold an ISRAELI passport.

      The interesting thing? They are free to leave israel at any time and move into the other 899/900th of the arab controlled middle east...

      and they don't...

      LOL

      Delete
    11. The inhumanity of this policy is magnified by the fact that more than half of Gaza’s population is children, under age 16. Malnutrition, anaemia and stunted growth are common.


      Sounds like a whole lot of palestinian fucking and humping 16 years ago....

      They sure can breed can't they....

      Delete

    12. Hey!

      rat, where'd your little picture go?


      bob

      Delete
    13. I am now "anonymous"

      I am part of the collective.

      I am a nothing...

      Delete

    14. Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs, is regarded in Chicano folklore as an area that includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.

      Spencer believes the aim is to create a sovereign state, “Republica del Norte,”
      the Republic of the North, that would combine
      the American Southwest with the northern Mexican states and eventually merge with Mexico.

      ‘America’s Palestinians’


      On its website, a group called “La Voz de Aztlan,” the Voice of Aztlan,
      identifies Mexicans in the U.S. as “America’s Palestinians.”

      Many Mexicans see themselves as part of a transnational ethnic group known as “La Raza"


      http://www.wnd.com/2002/01/12250/#ogRMkvzvvwPqeQBk.99

      Delete
    15. “Both La Raza and the Palestinians have been displaced by invaders that have utilized military means to conquer and occupy our territories."

      But the threat of secession is not merely from groups that might be considered on the fringe, Spencer insists, noting the declarations of Mexican leaders, up to the highest office.

      Former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo said in a 1997 speech in Chicago to the “National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group, that he

      “proudly affirmed that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders and that Mexican migrants are an important – a very important – part of this.”


      http://www.wnd.com/2002/01/12250/#ogRMkvzvvwPqeQBk.99

      Mexican, whether you want to be, or not ...
      Poor souls, cannot even allowed denounce their nationality,
      because it has been declared a 'race', now that is cultural and societal fascism at work ...


      ;-)

      Delete
    16. I will laugh when the drag your occupying ass out of your settlement hang you high with a noose...

      squatting land thief....

      squatting on 350 acres of prime bottom lands... stolen from the natives...

      Delete
  23. A computer simulation of the 10 dimensional universe posited by string theory in conjunction with the universe as a hologram theory has the contours, eerily, of a human brain. Spinoza must be spinning in his grave. It was he who mustered the courage to first posit that god and the universe are identities based upon a physics rather than strictly metaphysical conjecture. Although I do not believe this to be the case, it was not heresy to arrive at this conclusion given the information available to Spinoza. The worst that can be said of Spinoza is that he was impolitic in a time when such recklessness could prove fatal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And a dropped bit in the Viking data led Richard Hoagland to see a "face" on Mars. Second orbiter just shows a Nevada-style mesa. Never mind!

      Delete

    2. Heck, I drove four hours to look at a piece of toast that had the image of Jesus appear on it when it popped from my Aunt's toaster.

      It was an Idaho Icon, saw it with my own third eye!


      bob


      It was a miracle!

      Delete
    3. It's rather hard to explain, but it's bound up in the way the entropy of a black hole goes up with the surface area of its event horizon, rather than it's volume. Hawking lost a bet over this.

      Delete
    4. Moreover, the event horizon captures and holds the information contained on matter just outside the event horizon.

      If you start with a hologram of any size and bisect it, each half will contain the entire hologram, reduced in size. Quarter the hologram and each quarter will contain the information of the whole. This is the case no matter how small the piece of the hologram. This would mean for a holographic universe that the tiniest part would contain all the information of the whole.
      Because the holograph is a three dimensional reproduction captured on a two dimensional surface, the hologram remains three dimensional when viewed from any angle, i.e. top down, bottom up, back, side etc. As Blake wrote, “A world inscribed on a grain of sand.”

      Delete
  24. .

    Duck Dynasty Continued

    First, Bob Hope, touring the world in the year or so after the passage of the 1975 Consenting Adult Sex Bill:

    “I’ve just flown in from California, where they’ve made homosexuality legal. I thought I’d get out before they make it compulsory.”


    From Mark Steyn

    The Age of Intolerance

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/366896/age-intolerance-mark-steyn

    Pansified?

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. “If people try to judge you or shame you for doing safe,
      consensual things that make you happy,
      I can guarantee you they're bad people.”

      Delete
  25. .

    More ACA anomalies.

    Experts consider health insurance unaffordable once it exceeds 10 percent of annual income. By that measure, a 50-year-old making $50,000 a year, or just above the qualifying limit for assistance, would find the cheapest available plan to be unaffordable in more than 170 counties around the country, ranging from Anchorage to Jackson, Miss.

    A 60-year-old living in Polk County, in northwestern Wisconsin, and earning $50,000 a year, for example, would have to spend more than 19 percent of his income, or $9,801 annually, to buy one of the cheapest plans available there. A person earning $45,000 would qualify for subsidies and would pay about 5 percent of his income, or $2,228, for an inexpensive plan.


    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/21/business/new-health-law-frustrates-many-in-middle-class.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1387645953-glXsmvcsie+G53Ztz96StQ

    Luckily, there is an honor system for reporting income. Not that anyone would falsify their info of course.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If the cost of insurance goes over 8%, I think it is, you can opt out (or, if you wish, go for catastrophic type coverage.)

      Delete
    2. That said, 60 yrs. old, and $50,000.00/yr. is definitely the "ugly spot."

      Delete
    3. .

      Catastrophic coverage?

      :)

      I'm sure that will be comforting to the person who had coverage that was cancelled and can now only afford catastrophic coverage.

      .

      Delete

    4. The Japanese provide their soldiers with 'comfort women'.

      Though it is doubtful that the women foud much comfort in the process.

      Does the government have a duty to provide 'comfort' to its stakeholders?


      bob

      Delete
    5. Well, a 60 yr. old can buy a bronze plan for $475.00/mo (11.41% of income.)

      Very few 60 yr. olds that had a plan that paid much of anything would have been paying much less than that. And, at least, if that 60 yr. old gets sick his company won't be able to cancel him.

      Delete
    6. How are the sign ups going? Thought I read Monday was the deadline, but maybe it was extended.

      Last I read the sign ups were way way behind schedule.

      Delete
    7. The CBO predicted approx. 7 million enrollments by Mar 31st, but with the website being essentially "down" for the first two months, that's looking unlikely.

      However, enrollments Are Surging, right now. California, alone, is doing over 20,000/day.

      Midnight of the 23rd. is the deadline for enrolling for coverage starting Jan. 1st., but as I said above, I halfway expect that to be extended, also.

      Delete
    8. Tucker MaxSat Dec 21, 12:40:00 PM EST

      “If people try to judge you or shame you for doing safe,
      consensual things that make you happy,
      I can guarantee you they're bad people.”


      Hardly. Had male homosexualists (Gore Vidal's word - a noun rather an adjective) used condoms, millions of deaths could have been prevented. Everyone knew that, but everyone was terrified of appearing politically incorrect.

      Delete
  26. The Chinese are shocked and offended. All that smog most be taking a toll.

    Chinese military reacts angrily to Japan swelling defence force

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. The last time those pesky Japanese had a swelling of their 'defense forces' 250,000 Chines died in the Rape of Nanking, alone.

      Little wonder the progeny of the victims of genocide are concerned, especially when their former executioners are on the verge of another round of militarism.

      Some would claim the Chinese have a right, even an obligation to bomb the Japanese,
      to force them, through the use of military force,
      from the path of militarism that the Japanese have embarked upon, in the 21st century.


      bob

      Delete
    2. Japan has to import All of its oil. Japanese children are taught from the early grades that WWII was caused by the U.S. embargo on oil imports, and Japan's need to break the embargo.

      Now, there seems to be some oil in the nearby Ocean. Japan is not about to let China take it all.

      Delete
    3. The tables have considerably turned. The Chink can now utterly destroy the Nip in less than two hours.

      Delete
    4. Maybe, if their missiles can get past the American-made missile defense systems. And, if their planes can outfight the American F-15's. And, if their ships can sink the American produced submarines. And, and, and . . . . . . . . .

      Delete

    5. No society has a greater acceptance of,
      nor as much admiration for suicide in the service of the state, than do the Japanese.

      Evidenced across the Pacific during the decade of the 1940's.
      The Japanese are said to be a 'screwdriver turn' away from constructing a nuclear weapon.

      Be afraid, be very afraid!


      bob

      Delete
    6. AnonymousSat Dec 21, 02:46:00 PM EST
      "Little wonder the progeny of the victims of genocide are concerned, especially when their former executioners are on the verge of another round of militarism"

      The Japanese were minding their knitting when the Chinese decided to get bellicose. Before China finds itself surrounded, it might cut the bullying.

      Delete

  27. Daughters of India violated and abused

    In the ancient land of India where female deities are deeply revered, Kali and Lakshmi, Sarasvati and Parvati are held high upon the alter of Hinduism. Each day thousands of Hindus ritually bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges, in the hope of being cleansed within and without by the Goddess Ganga.


    But in today’s India women and girls –
    in forests, cities, villages, towns, buses and trains, in the street, and at the office, school and home
    – are being violated, abused, raped and trafficked into prostitution and domestic slavery.

    Such is life for far too many women in the hollow titled “largest democracy in the world”.
    The “new India” sits at the head table rubbing nuclear shoulders beyond treaties of control,
    while denigrating and abusing women throughout the land.

    Even the womb offers no sanctuary to the daughter of Kali,
    with 12 million female foetuses aborted in the last 30 years.

    The list of abuse suffered is familiar and appalling:
    trafficking, prostitution, “arranged (meaning coerced) and child marriages –
    illegal under federal and international law, but widespread,
    with almost half of girls forced to marry by the age of 18 and 20 per cent by the age of 15.

    Young girls are sold as chattels, brides are burned alive in dowry disputes and teenagers are exploited as domestic workers, which equates to little more than modern-day slavery.

    Completing the catalogue is widespread domestic violence, molestation in public (of Indians and visitors), verbal intimidation and rape, which the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) says is
    “the fastest growing crime in India”
    and takes place every day, in all manner of situations and affecting all sections of society, young and old.

    Those sitting comfortably in authority dismiss sexual assault and rape incidents,
    90 per cent of which are perpetrated by someone known to the woman,
    and cite the victim’s dress and demeanour as provocation for the assault.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Log Cabin Republicans has suggested mediating the Duck Dynasty dispute with a “Moonshine Summit”:

      “Let’s put an end to all of the fussing and feuding and talk about this like adults,” Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Gregory T. Angelo stated. “Phil, you have your views and we have ours, but I think you’d be surprised how much we all have in common, and there’s no better gay folk out there to make that case than Log Cabin Republicans. We’re conservative, we’re guided by our faith, and we believe in freedom of speech. Most important, we are all children of God; that’s the most important thing we have in common. So in the spirit of the season, let’s get together — your family and ours — raise a glass, and work this out.”

      Delete
    2. Anyway, A&E looked at the ratings lost by the dozen members of GLAAD who stopped watching the show with ratings gained from all the millions of new viewers thanks to the free publicity GLAAD gave to it, and Phil Robertson has been reinstated. It's almost like A&E manufactured this controversy in collusion with Phil R. to bump up the ratings. Naw. That'd never happen.

      Delete
  28. Declare the good news to all, being this: On this night in a lonely mud hut in Kenya, Allah delivered unto us a child to rebuke the waves and the false dogma that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. And his name shall be BARACK, and he shall be Allah’s gift to the Faithful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And three kings came, bearing gifts: an AK, a sucicide vest, ahd a Quran. And he shall be called the Prince of Pieces.

      Delete