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."

Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Space Dump





US Air Force reveals ‘neighborhood watch' satellite program
Published time: February 23, 2014 14:12


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The United States plans to send into orbit a pair of satellites to monitor spacecraft from other countries, as well as to track space debris, the head of Air Force Space Command said.
The United States plans to send into orbit a pair of satellites to monitor spacecraft from other countries, as well as to track space debris, the head of Air Force Space Command said.
The US Air Force lifted the veil of secrecy on its previously classified Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP), which will operate in conjunction with ground-based radars and telescopes to observe potential threats from foreign space objects, General William Shelton said at the Air Force Association meeting in Orlando on Friday.
The program will also be used for tracking thousands of pieces of space debris to avoid galactic collisions.
Referring to the satellite tracking system as a "neighborhood watch program," Shelton said the program "will bolster our ability to discern when adversaries attempt to avoid detection and to discover capabilities they may have which might be harmful to our critical assets at these higher altitudes."
Currently, the Air Force tracks some 23,000 pieces of orbiting debris larger than 4 inches (10.6 centimeters) at some 23,000 miles (37,000 km) above the Earth's surface.
However, since the United States already has in orbit a satellite better positioned to track orbital debris, military experts say the real purpose for the program is to prevent future attacks on its satellite network by potential rivals.
"I think the (Obama) Administration is being more honest when it says that it declassified this program to try and deter attacks on US satellites," Brian Weeden, technical advisor with the Washington-based Secure World Foundation, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
"The US has a lot of very specialized and important national security satellites in the GEO region and it is very concerned about protecting those satellites ... so by telling other countries that it has some ability to closely monitor objects near GEO and their behavior, the US hopes that will deter other countries from attacking its important satellites," Weeden said.
The satellites will also allow the US military to observe what other countries have in orbit.
"There's nothing wrong with that, but it is exactly the sort of thing the US is worried other countries will do to it," Weeden added.
The pair of satellites are scheduled for launch aboard an unmanned Delta 4 rocket at the end of 2014.
The price tag and technical details of the satellite program were not released.

97 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. At least, Rat gives us nekkid wimmin.

      Delete
    2. I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
      Now you decided to show me the same
      No sweeping exits or off stage lines
      Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind
      Wild horses, couldn't drag me away
      Wild wild horses couldn't drag me away

      I know I've dreamed you a sin and a lie
      I have my freedom but I don't have much time
      Faith has been broken tears must be cried
      Let's do some living after we die

      Delete
  2. Talk show host Bill Maher made an impassioned defense of "news" on his HBO show Friday night, with, of course, a few ad hominem attacks thrown in just for yucks.

    In his show-ending soliloquy, Maher said people no longer exchange news around the water cooler because "as a culture, we don't have enough in common anymore."

    And that's because the Internet, which was supposed to unite the world, has become too adept at serving us personalized content. Do you know what I saw on Yahoo's front page this morning? No, you don't, because mine isn't the same as yours. People get news feed now that just spit back customized stories based on what we've clicked on in the past. So I for example, might see a lot of stories about -- pot, American history and, of course, Christian mingle. Whereas Ted Nugent just gets ads for Prozac and bullets. So yes, welcome to the brave new world of micro-targeting, which, look, is often harmless. No one gets hurt if my computer tells me 'you bought James Taylor's greatest hits, you might also enjoy this pillow and these sleeping pills.'

    After calling Sen. Ted Cruz a "slippery boob" (for some reason), Maher got to his point. Showing a black-and-white picture of people on the subway from "back in the olden days," he said:

    Amazing, isn't it? Everyone's reading a newspaper -- and no one's masturbating. Here's a subway car today. Everyone's playing 'Angry Birds' and no one is getting news or if they are, it's their Facebook news feed, which is now how a third of adults get their news. And this month Facebook unveiled an app called 'Paper,' which Mark Zuckerberg calls 'the best personalized newspaper in the world.' Yeah, I suppose the Washington Post is OK, like when it uncovered Watergate.

    Taking aim (again, for some reason) at Facebook, Maher complained, "Hey, if one of the richest companies in America can get richer by making you a little stupider every time you look at your phone, small price to pay."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And boy, does it make you stupider. 'Paper' tracks the news you're interested in and gives you more of that and less of everything else, never burdening you with contradictory information or telling you anything new. That's what makes it 'news.' But only seeing the stuff that already confirms the opinions you already have isn't news -- it's Fox News. The reason so many Americans, for example, think climate change is a hoax is that their only source for science news is Glenn Beck, Fox and Matt Drudge, the cracker trifecta.

      Newspapers may be old-fashioned, but here's what we're losing if you never see one; they are trying to tell you what's actually important, not just what's important to you. You may not read the whole paper but you at least see headlines, making you aware that something's going on outside of your micro-targeted world of fashion or music or wiccans or zombies or whatever you're in to.

      What's most odd in the rant is the strange desire to go back in time to newspapers, which decided what was "news" and what wasn't. More odd: The Washington Post, New York Times, ABC News -- you name it -- has always presented just one side of news: Liberal. What Maher is whining about is the emergence of alternative news sources that seek to widen the debate, present other interpretations of supposed "reality."

      Even more odd was the fact that Rachel Maddow, the hyper-liberal "news" host from MSNBC and a guest on the show, giggled like a schoolgirl throughout the rant.

      And for the record, dictgionary.com defines "cracker" as: "Disparaging and Offensive. A poor white person living in some rural parts of the southeastern U.S." Another site, urbandictionary.com, goes further:

      Originally the white slave driver because he would 'crack' the whip, hence the noun cracker.
      Yo homey pick the cotton faster cuz here comes ole Mr. Cracker with his whip!

      But of course, Maher can say whatever he wants with impunity

      Delete
    2. We've all become old fucks.

      Delete
  3. One of the rules is no outing. I thought the naked babe on the horse looked suspiciously like Jenny without her glasses.

    ReplyDelete
  4. By the way, Jenny now has administrative duties in my absence.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Replies
    1. Damn, I'm cursed again.

      It worked.

      Delete
    2. If you play the electronic slots at the CdA Casino after 5 days of radiation treatments you will begin to win big. And keep winning. This may come to an end when I become so radioactive I overwhelm the machines. But maybe not. It might get better.

      Delete
    3. You should try this, Quirk.

      Get yourself some highly enriched from Iran and see how you do.


      Or drink a few gallons of Fukushima sea water.

      Both.

      The payoffs can be great. The possible benefits to us all, truly immense.

      Delete
    4. Did you know the Napoleonic Code has not worked well in Venezuela?

      Perhaps if they had stuck with the N Code and not let the Cubans run the place, all would be well.

      There are something like 50-60 thousands of Cuban running Venezuela. This is true.

      You can scratch your heads about the Napoleonic Code and how it relates to Venezuela yourselves.




      Delete
    5. "Outside the country, few understand that Venezuela is in fact ruled by communist Cuba, which has sent 60,000 personnel to infiltrate every branch of the shambling government, and which literally issues orders to its president because it needs him in power and his oil cash to keep Cuba and its failed economy afloat."

      Read all about the Napoleonic Code and conditions in Venezuela below.

      Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/021914-690544-venezuela-and-ukraine-are-no-velvet-revolutions.htm#ixzz2uBKOxbIx
      Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook

      Delete
    6. .

      Radiation and roulette?

      I kinda doubt it. I suspect you and the cat have been hiding under the bed waiting for Fenrir and the wargs to arrive and only came out this morning when you saw that it wasn't actually the end of the world.

      From yesterday's Detroit Free Press

      Ragnarök: Viking calendar predicts the world will end today

      The ragnar will be röking on Saturday when, according to some, the Viking calendar predicts the end of the world.

      Nordic folklore has it that after three freezing winters, when there have been no summers in between, the world will come to an end.

      The past two summers have been cold and wet, so declaring that Ragnarök (otherwise known as the Twilight of the Gods) is upon us is a subjective call.

      But it's one some folks in York, England, are willing to make. There, the Jorvik Viking Center is holding its annual Viking Festival. And wouldn't you know it, the world's going to end the last day of the festival.



      http://www.freep.com/article/20140222/FEATURES01/302220057/Viking-calendar-predicts-the-world-will-end-today

      You Swedish yokels will believe anything.

      Don't know about winnings but at least I see you have now lost the faux 'Farmer' tag.

      Progress.

      .

      Delete
    7. Gary Shambling runs the place?

      Delete
    8. Dimwit, the Cubans follow the Napoleonic Code, too.
      Just as the Mexicans do.

      When Castro took over, he did not end the way the basic, underlying society worked, he just replaced the US Mafia and their henchmen in Havana, with his wn.

      But mineral rights remained in the State's hands, just as they are in Venezuela and Mexico, perhaps if you knew something, it would help you to improve the quality of the content in your posts.

      The property rights had already been SOCIALIZED under the Napoleonic Code, dummy.
      That is the ROOT of their challenges, not 'Communism', but Napoleonic Socialism.

      You really are an ignorant fool.

      Delete
  6. "Did you know the Napoleonic Code has not worked well in Venezuela?"

    I didn't, but now I do.

    I've become enlightened, but not enriched, only you glow in the dark.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You're just Bob now, does that mean they burned them off?

    ReplyDelete
  8. They aimed, but they did not aim well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Boontling

    Although based on English, Boontling's unusual words are unique to Boonville, California. Scottish Gaelic and Irish, and some Pomoan and Spanish, also contributed words to this jargon.[2]

    Boontling was invented in the late 19th century and had quite a following at the turn of the 20th century. It is now mostly spoken only by aging counter-culturists and native Anderson Valley residents. Because the town of Boonville only has a little over 700 residents, Boontling is an extremely esoteric jargon, and is quickly becoming archaic. It has over a thousand unique words and phrases.
    Origins of Boontling.

    The Anderson Valley, of which Boonville is the largest town, was an isolated farming, ranching, and logging community during the late 19th century. There are several differing versions as to the origin of Boontling.

    Some assert that the jargon was created by the women, children, and young men in the hop fields and sheep shearing sheds as a means of recreation, and that it spread through the community as the children continued using it when they grew up.[3]

    Myrtle R. Rawles explains that Boontling was started by the children of Boonville as a language game which enabled them to speak freely in front of elders without being understood.[4] It is believed that the jargon originated from Ed (Squirrel) Clement and Lank McGimsey, in or about the year 1890.

    A

    Abaloneyite or Abber - a resident of Albion on the seacoast where abalone abounded.
    abe - to butt or crowd in so as to push a person out of line and take his or her place.
    airtight - a sawmill.
    applehead - a young girl; girlfriend or wife.
    ark - to wreck something: an anagram, probably from "wreck".

    B

    back-dated chuck - a person who is ignorant or behind the times
    bahl - good, great
    bahlness - a very attractive woman
    barlow - a knife: taken from the trade name Barlow knife.
    bat - to masturbate.
    batter - a bachelor; a masturbator.
    bearman - a story teller: Allen Cooper, an innkeeper, who was a bear hunter and a story teller.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ontario looking to update the way beer is sold

    Premier Kathleen Wynne pledges to “modernize” beer sales in Ontario but won’t be specific in Reddit chat on the Internet.

    Wynne said Monday in Newmarket that “we have no intentions of allowing the sale of beer in convenience stores.”
    The premier’s office elaborated on what she means by modernization after the Reddit session.
    “Our government believes that the people of Ontario are well served by the current retail system for the sale of alcohol. It balances consumer access with a strong commitment to social responsibility. Ontario’s beer prices are the second lowest in Canada,” spokeswoman Kelly Baker said in an email.

    Craft beers are not prominently displayed in Beer Stores, which are run by foreign-owned brewers Labatt, Molson and Sleeman, and are seeking improved access, especially in outlets with self-serve options.
    “We think we could double our market share very quickly,” said Craft Brewers president John Hay, noting premium craft beers have a 3-per-cent share compared with 6 per cent for craft beers in Quebec and 8 per cent in British Columbia.

    ReplyDelete
  11. By the way, the solution to the "wild horse" problem in Arizona is to shoot them all.

    Just send some good patriotic citizen snipers out that way, hundred $ a dead horse, problem solved.

    The "wild horses" are no more natural to the area than the Canadian wolves are here.

    Idiots brought the Canadian wolves into Idaho, killing all the elk.

    It was the idiot Spanish that couldn't keep their nags properly corralled just a few hundred years ago that led to the "wild horse" problem.

    Interlopers.

    The only good wild horse is a dead wild horse. The only good Canadian wolf in Idaho is a dead Canadian wolf.

    If God had wanted the wild horses in Arizona he wouldn't have relied on the Spanish to put 'em there.

    It's ECOLOGY, STUPID !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same with the Quirk Creatures around Detroit. Escapees from the Mayflower Folk.

      Been raising hell ever since.....

      Delete
    2. There is no wild horse 'problem' in Arizona.

      There is one in the United States of America.

      The US is spending tens of millions of dollars to feed animals that were born in captivity, kept in captivity and that will die, in captivity.

      Generations of 'Wild Horses' that have NEVER been outside a paddock or pasture.
      Tens of millions of dollars, wasted

      Why shoot the horses FARMER when they can be sold.
      Butchered and eaten by protien starved people and animals around the world?

      What a man of limited imagination, you are, to suggest that we 'shoot' those horses, and not provide food for those that need it, want it and will pay for it.

      Delete
    3. What a man of limited imagination you are to not be able to read, RAT, and tell when someone has their tongue in their cheek !!

      Shoot them and butcher them, if you like.

      But remember the raptors. They need a good meal themselves once in a while.

      Starting to 'dog' me again, rat?



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

      Delete
    5. Not at all, Farmer Bob. Staying on topic and well within the bounds of debate.

      No anal humor, no comparisons to fictional characters, nothing but a discussion of you posts, which were argumentative, and challenging.. Rather than to ask why the Napoleonic System is the bane of Europe and Latin America, you claimed that the 'Challenge' is Cuba.

      That is so dogmatic, so reactionary and 20th Century that it indicates a lack of imagination, to not see beyond the rallying cry's of the Military Industrial Complex, you're right out of the 1960's.

      Never growing, intellectually, an early indicator of a lack of imagination is evident.

      Why would you even bring it up, are you feeling persecuted, already?

      If for a tranquil mind you seek,
      These things observe with care:
      Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
      And how, and when and where.

      Anonymous

      Delete
  12. ObamaCare vs. the Voters

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/02/23/early_house_race_tests_obamacare_as_election_issue_121683.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. Why not leave the horses alone and let nature takes its course? Leave them alone. The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We cannot leave 'em alone because they have been born and raised, in captivity, not on the range.

      There are over 50,000 of 'em. Penned up. They have NEVER been free.

      The point about the horses being 'free' on the 'Open Range' is ill informed, the range is not open.
      The mineral extraction companies are needing the water, needing access and the horses are in the way,

      The French, they buy horse meat. As do the Japanese.

      We should just walk away from the 50,000 horse in pens and let 'em starve?
      Then there are the 35 to 50,000 that are still on the reservation, but they're not 'free'.

      Just fenced in on a 'bigger' space.

      Delete
    2. "The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native."

      Exactly.

      Shoot the Arizonans as well, give the meat to the poor.

      Delete
    3. Threatening physical violence, Farmer bob?

      Threats of murder or just genocide of four million people!?

      Delete
  14. If someone wants to adopt them, why not? Dogs were wild before they were domesticated. No one is suggesting we shoot dogs and send the meat to Korea or China.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No one wants to adpt them.

      They cannot be given away for $125, because the horse does not legally transfer for over a year.
      The number of people with the skill to 'Break", let alone 'Train' those horses are few and far between.

      It is not an inexpensive hobby, feeding an animal that you do not own.

      There is no retail market for those animals.

      Delete
    2. Never was a retail market for them, never will be, the BLM spends $3,000 in trucking and other expenses to 'Adopt Out' each $125 horse.

      Delete
    3. Why don't they pay Planned Parenthood to deliver birth-control?

      These captive horses are allowed to breed and Multiply?

      Delete
    4. Let's let "They Shoot Horses" remain a bad movie memory.

      Delete
    5. Keeping them penned up like that is Wild Horse Abuse.

      Delete
    6. The Wild Horse Semen League favors Birth Control over Castration.

      Delete
    7. No, doug, keeping them penned up is $50 million dollars, each and every year.

      Guess you think that Government wasting money on horses is better than spending it on people.

      Delete
  15. By the way, the idea that wolves are Canadian is bizarre. Elk, from the West are being reintroduced in the East. What does a political border have to do with it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are a different sub-species, or whatever the term of art is. Much larger than our now vanished locals, locally called the lobos, now mostly run out of here.

      The further north, the colder the climate, the larger the animal form. Only exception, the wily coyote. It's called -

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergmann's_rule

      Thus the Mexican wolf isn't much, nor the ones in, or that used to be in, the southeast.

      Even PETA was against this non sense of introducing what amounts to a new predator species into a new environment.



      Delete
  16. My Cherokee forebears had a lot of respect for the wolf.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But not Canuck Wolves.

      Non-Farmer Bob has raised my skepticism about that Wolf Promo Trailer of yours.

      Delete
    2. How could a Carpet Bagging Canukian Wolf bring back the "Balance of Nature?"

      The Feds aren't patriotic enough to bring in some All American Natives?

      Delete
    3. Those Canadian wolves will be fully documented, unlike the 12 million Mexicans, living in he USA.

      Lines on a map, they don't stop people or wolves.

      Especially when the Federals want 'em here.

      Delete
  17. Back on Track with the Space Dump, that's the kid's Job M - F.

    Space Junk Monitor/IT Cop.

    ReplyDelete
  18. 80 Degrees, in Kihei, Quirk.

    82 in Sunny Lahina, the Whalers' favorite.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You live in paradise yet you ate a miserable piece of shit- what's up with that?

      Delete
    2. Oops, now I understand - you ate it so therefore you art miserable!

      Delete
    3. Potato Body Ash is a good example of Bergmann's Rule.

      He's a Canadian hominid (we think).

      Look at that large fat-ass.

      Would anyone here want HIM introduced into YOUR environment?

      I think not.

      Delete
  19. Thomas Tomoitsu Abe, 98
    Margaret Lorraine DeCoite, 77
    Christine Hoerl, 90
    George K. Kamimura, 78
    Agustina Patoc Martin, 96

    Life just ain't fair.

    ReplyDelete
  20. .




    DougSun Feb 23, 08:44:00 PM EST

    But not Canuck Wolves.

    Non-Farmer Bob has raised my skepticism about that Wolf Promo Trailer of yours.


    :)


    Why doesn't this surprise me?

    .

    ReplyDelete
  21. There's also Quirk's Rule.

    "In any given population of hominids, the lower the average IQ, the more numerous the the fraudulent exploiters found among them."

    This rule has been confirmed by numerous studies focusing on eastern USA metropolitan area populations.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Did I ever tell you about the time Quirk and I fought The Fox at the Battle of Sidi bou Zid?

    We were under US Major General Lloyd Fredendall, who had never seen Sidi bou Zid, the patch of North African desert where his forces were about to clash with those of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel on February 14, 1943.

    We held the line at Casserine as long as possible, then Quirk retreated to a brothel in Tunis, and I thought too we had done all we could, and came along behind.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought it all took place in a Fox Theater.

      Delete
    2. You're thinking of the name of the bordello in Tunis, The Fox's Theater.

      They thought jerry was going to win at the time, and were sucking up. Quirk even complimented them on their ability to suck up.

      Delete
  23. The most beautiful creature you've never seen?

    http://deepseanews.com/2014/02/the-most-beautiful-animal-youve-never-seen/

    Naw, not even close.

    Article includes the secret of the Sea Sapphire's shine, which doesn't even rate compared to the glow of Jenny's shades.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Leave my chick alone, you cur.

      .

      Delete
    2. I knew right off you had a thing for Jenny, and she for you.

      And I will certainly stand aside.

      Jenny doesn't like me, and said I should jump off the highest building ever.

      Good Luck !!

      Delete
    3. Remember, you're dealing with a woman whose mantra is "We're all doomed, and deserve to be doomed."

      A great foundational attitude for a wonderful, lasting relationship,

      Delete
    4. .

      Heck, that was awful easy. I was just getting started.

      Oh well, on to the wolves.

      .

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought it was funny at the time though I can't remember what it was now, something about Wolf Banes.

      He's the big feller from the Wolf family, brother to Shep 'Dog' Banes and Elke Banes, the hotsie daughter, the one with the magazine cover contract.

      Delete
    2. .

      Wolf Bane: Outfitters and Guides and the Lies That They Lay in Order to Make a Buck

      sub-title: How the Uneducated and Woebegone Cling to Fairy Tales from Their Past And Snake Oil in the Present


      Wolves and wargs and dwarfs and trolls and things that go bump in the night
      These are the things that give the dull and the slow and villagers in Ideeeho a fright
      So they gather their children and gather their cats and bar the doors to their huts
      They stoke their fires and hide under the bed and cower like whimpering mutts

      For the snow is crisp and the snow is deep, the wolf bane blooms and the moon is bright
      Were-rabbits and golems creep about searching for souls but the hicks pay no heed for mighty Fenrir comes out at night
      The Idaho hayseeds clutch their pitchforks and pikes and spread their poisons in hopes they too can be saved
      For the guides and outfitters and the pricks and the pols predict the threat from the wolves is horrendously grave

      For soon they will no longer be free to lay bait and to hunt in pajamas from the comfort of porches
      Instead they must trek up the hill in their gear looking for spoor, wading through muck, and sometimes requiring torches
      For the elk will have all gone higher up in the hills along with the coyotes and deer all to remote and faraway glens
      But truth be told, as these fat assed hicks lay clutching their chests for the pain in their hearts, it will truly have been the faraway wolf that did it to them in the end.


      .

      Delete
    3. I knew Wolf Man Jack.

      Wolf Man Jack was a close personal friend of mine.

      You, Quirk, are no Wolf Man Jack.

      You ain't even Jack.

      Delete
  25. By the way, Quirk, your depiction of the toilet seat on the swing was a total misrepresentation of the way things are actually done out here.

    Rather, the ordinary swing seat is removed, to be replaced by a wooden toilet seat only, the kind from Wal-Mart, the cheap ones.

    A LATRINE is dug length wise underneath the swing.

    A TARGET is placed in the middle of the LATRINE.

    OLLIE uses a tape measure to see who comes closest to the target to win the contest.

    This is the new Swedish Winter Shits, under consideration now for Olympic inclusion.

    There is also a variation called SWS #1, which involves trying to melt a small snowman with warm piss while swinging over.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Threats of murder and genocide, Farmer Bob?

      You should be ashamed of yourself!

      BobSun Feb 23, 10:56:00 PM EST

      "The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native."

      Exactly.

      Shoot the Arizonans as well, give the meat to the poor.


      You're not back an entire day, and you are making threats of violence and mayhem.

      Bad Form, Farmer Bob, Bad Form!

      Delete
    2. Quit following me around, give your land back to the Native Americans, and return to Europe.

      Learn to read a tongue in cheek reply to Deuce for what it is.

      Quit harassing me.

      Bullying is not allowed here.

      See Rules.

      Jenny is Deuce's new enforcer. There's a new Sheriff in town.

      Delete
    3. .

      It was late when I wrote it and I did it fast. I'll try to clean it up a bit.

      .

      Wolf Bane (Le Chant du Boobi): Outfitters and Guides and the Lies That They Lay in Order to Make a Buck

      sub-title: How the Uneducated and Woebegone Cling to Fairy Tales from Their Past And Snake Oil in the Present


      Wolves and wargs and dwarfs and trolls and things that go bump in the night
      These are the things that scare the dull and the slow and give Ideeho villagers a fright

      So they gather their children and gather their cats and bar the doors to their huts
      They stoke their fires and hide under the bed and cower like whimpering mutts

      For the snow is crisp and the snow is deep, the wolf bane blooms and the moon is bright
      Were-rabbits creep forth but the hicks pay no heed for Fenrir comes out at night

      The Idaho hayseeds clutch their pitchforks and pikes and spread their poisons as they pray to be saved
      For the guides and outfitters and the pricks and the pols predict the threat from the wolves remains grave

      For soon they’ll no longer be free to lay bait and hunt in pajamas from the comfort of porches
      Instead out-of-shape yokels must trek up the hill, struggling with gear, looking for spoor, wading through muck, and sometimes carrying torches

      For the elk will have all gone higher up in the hills searching for safety in faraway glens
      And fat-assed hicks will be found by the trail clutching their chests as their hearts finally fail and swearing by god that the truth in the end is that it was that faraway wolf that atlast did them in.

      .

      Delete
  26. George Washington: Boozehound

    Prodigious alcohol consumption by Washington and his fellow founding fathers has been whitewashed from American history.
    Stanton Peele | February 22, 2014

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    Washington's farewellAlonzo Chappel/Public DomainReason TV's Meredith Bragg informed us of George Washington’s whiskey production. He didn’t tell us, however, about Washington’s alcohol consumption, which was, at times, prodigious. That consumption by Washington and his fellow founding fathers has been whitewashed—sometimes literally—from American history by the intervening Temperance movement, whose effects still drive us. For instance, the classic picture of Washington taking his farewell from his troops at Fraunces Tavern in New York—which, of course, involved a toast—was painted with a serving flask clearly visible. This container was painted out of these same pictures later, in the nineteenth century, reminiscent of Soviet photos with purged former leaders excised.

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    Stanton Peele|2.01.14
    Pot Prohibitionists Can't Handle the Truth
    Jacob Sullum|1.30.14
    MORE ARTICLES BY Stanton Peele
    Why We Have Drug Scares
    2.17.14 7:00 am
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    2.04.14 10:00 am
    Government Says You Can’t Overcome Addiction, Contrary to What Government Research Shows
    2.01.14 12:00 pm
    GEORGE WASHINGTON
    ALCOHOL
    PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY
    HISTORY
    It is impossible for Americans to accept the extent to which the Colonial period—including our most sacred political events—was suffused with alcohol. Protestant churches had wine with communion, the standard beverage at meals was beer or cider, and alcohol was served even at political gatherings. Alcohol was consumed at meetings of the Virginian and other state legislatures and, most of all, at the Constitutional Convention.

    Indeed, we still have available the list of beverages served at a 1787 farewell party in Philadelphia for George Washington just days before the framers signed off on the Constitution. According to the bill preserved from the evening, the 55 attendees drank 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, eight of whiskey, 22 of porter, eight of hard cider, 12 of beer, and seven bowls of alcoholic punch.

    http://reason.com/archives/2014/02/22/george-washington-boozehound


    Those were the days, my friends, those were the days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quit following me around.

      Delete
    2. Stop the death threats and retract the one you made

      Then APOLOGIZE!


      BobSun Feb 23, 10:56:00 PM EST

      "The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native."

      Exactly.

      Shoot the Arizonans as well, give the meat to the poor.

      Delete
  27. Governors:

    Time to move on; Obamacare is a Done Deal.

    Unrepealable

    ReplyDelete
  28. Rufus Pinocchios

    Four Pinocchios to Obama on Medicaid-expansion claims
    POSTED AT 8:41 AM ON FEBRUARY 24, 2014 BY ED MORRISSEY


    It’s not the first time that the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler has dropped a bunch of Pinocchios on claims from Democrats on Medicaid expansion, and it looks like it won’t be the last, either. Kessler even gave himself three Pinocchios a month ago for initially buying the White House spin on the Medicaid numbers. Today, he gives Barack Obama the maximum four Pinocchios for claiming that ObamaCare has resulted in seven million enrollments in the federal program for low-income Americans:

    “We’ve got close to 7 million Americans who have access to health care for the first time because of Medicaid expansion.”

    – President Obama, remarks during dinner with the Democratic Governors Association, Feb. 20, 2014

    The Fact Checker has written several times about the fuzziness of the Medicaid numbers issued by the Obama administration. But it is like playing whack-a-mole. Every time we rap someone for getting it wrong, the same problem pops up someplace else.
    The problem is, as it has been, Democrats using the total number of Medicaid enrollments over the last few months, which comes to slightly over seven million. That includes, however, enrollments in states that refused to participate in the Medicaid expansion of ObamaCare, which account for 2.3 million of those enrollments. That takes the number to 4.8 million — but as Kessler has repeatedly explained since giving himself three Pinocchios on the point, that still includes people who would have been eligible without the Medicaid expansion.

    How many does that leave? That depends on who you ask, because believe it or not, HHS never bothered to ask enrollees. Politico reports today that ObamaCare numbers on the previously uninsured moving to both Medicaid and private insurance are unreliable because HHS didn’t bother to provide questions that would have provided that data:

    When you go to all this trouble to cover the uninsured, is it really that unreasonable to ask how many uninsured people Obamacare has covered so far?

    The answer, apparently, is: Yes. It’s unreasonable.

    The truth is, nobody has a good, real-time fix on how successful the Affordable Care Act has been in reducing the ranks of the uninsured. The Obama administration hasn’t been able to say how many of the 3.3 million people who have signed up for private health insurance coverage, or of the 6.3 million who have been determined eligible for Medicaid, were actually uninsured before — and health care experts aren’t sure yet, either.

    There have been a couple of surveys, and at least one state — New York — has been keeping track of how many people were uninsured when they applied for coverage. But their answers are so wildly different that all we can say is, it’s either a tiny minority that were uninsured, or it’s most of them.
    Two different groups have estimated the extent to which ObamaCare has expanded Medicaid to the uninsured. One is Acela, which estimates the figure at between 1.1 million and 1.8 million. Kessler also quotes Charles Gaba, who puts the number at 2.6 million. Both are far below Barack Obama’s claims, and also far below what the administration expected to see by this stage. The most motivated of all the uninsured should have been those eligible for Medicaid, and yet we haven’t seen a rush to enroll — and those who are motivated to do so probably already have. That means there won’t be a big spike coming in the next couple of months.

    Kessler wonders how the President could be so ignorant of the weakness of this data:

    In any case, no matter how you slice it, it does not add up to 7 million. It is dismaying that given all of the attention to this issue, the president apparently does not realize that the administration’s data are woefully inadequate for boastful assertions of this type.
    I’d say it has less to do with ignorance than apathy. He doesn’t care whether the numbers are accurate or worthwhile — he just wants the talking point.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Apathy?

      Naw, a more apt word is dishonesty. It's what pols do.

      .

      Delete
  29. People don't just "churn" into Medicaid; they churn "Out" of Medicaid every year, also.

    Charles Gaba puts the Medicaid enrollments at somewhere between 2.6 Million, to the last update, to 4.8 Million (all figures including Only "Expansion" States.)

    It's not really important; it'll all come out in the final accounting. In the end, the simplest solution will be to just go to the Gallup Poll, and see how the "percentage of insured" has changed.

    aca signups

    ReplyDelete
  30. .

    It's a waste of time looking at the ACA bullshit on a daily basis. We will see where we are this coming October and frankly that will be the time when politically it matters most.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The idiot put up a post calling the President apathetic toward the truth, and you say, no, he's just "dishonest."

      Then, I post some a factual correction, and you say "it's a waste of time looking at the ACA bullshit on a daily basis."

      Was it a "waste of time" BEFORE I made the correction?

      Delete



    2. Submitted by Charles Gaba on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 9:19am.





      "Woodworkers", in ACA Medicaid parlance, refers to people who were already eligible for Medicaid coverage prior to the ACA expansion (in states which have done so), but who didn't actually enroll in Medicaid until after October 1st for a variety of reasons, ranging from not being aware that they qualified, to finding the enrollment process too difficult, to not even knowing what Medicaid was before the ACA exchanges launched.

      In other words, these are people who already qualified, but were "brought out of the woodwork" to sign up since the exchanges launched in October.

      I've been struggling with the question of whether to include "woodworkers" in the Medicaid/CHIP tally or not since I first learned of the distinction between them and the far stricter definition of who should "count" (ie, limiting it to "people who only legally qualify for Medicaid/CHIP due to expansion provisions within the ACA".

      There's really two questions here--a philosophical one (should they be included) and a data-driven one (if you do include them, how many people fall into this category?).

      The first question depends on your perspective. The launch of Medicaid expansion (in the 24 states, plus DC, which have done so...I'm not including Michigan since our expansion doesn't kick in until April 1st anyway), along with the launch of the exchanges, has included a massive public education/outreach/PR campaign alongside it, to explain to people what Medicaid is, how they can apply for it and how to tell whether they qualify or not. In addition, the law has also massively streamlined the enrollment process in . . . . . . . .

      Should "Woodworkers" be counted?

      Delete
    3. .

      I said the president is dishonest.

      Should I have said he was a liar?

      Should I have said he is a habitual liar?

      Should I have said he lies whenever he opens his mouth?

      .

      Delete
    4. You "should" say whatever you want to say. But, why wait till I put up a dissenting opinion to opine that it's really not worth discussing?

      Delete
    5. .

      In the first, instance with regard to 'dishonest', I was responding to Bob's post.

      In the second, I was responding to the general question of looking at this shit on a day to day based on what you read in the newspapers all of which is skewed one way or the other by whoever writes it.

      If you don't recognize that truth you are truly off in lalaland drinking the Koolaid.

      'Before' or 'After' your correction? I didn't read either. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even aware you had issued a correction. Just now, I took a quick scan back a few posts and still did not see that you had issued any.

      Go have a drink and then google some more ACA news.

      I'm just sitting here on the edge of my seat just dying to see it.

      .

      .

      Delete
    6. And, YOU quit skipping that remedial reading class.

      Bob's blurb stated that Charles Gaba puts the Medicaid additions at 2.6 Million. I corrected that, and gave the link to prove it.

      Delete
  31. As I said the other day, about the only interesting thing I see going on, right now, is how Rasmussen's "Likely Voters" are finding Obama 13 Percent more favorable than are Gallup's "Adults."

    ReplyDelete