Monday, December 12, 2011

Top 11 Big Government Busts Of 2011: #10

Top 11 Big Government Busts Of 2011: #10 NetRight Daily
Here is a look at jobs that could have been but were blocked.
Here’s the tale of the Keystone XL pipeline.
See how this made our Top 11 Big Government Busts of 2011.

Canada withdrawing from Kyoto

Canada withdrawing from Kyoto, says official - Yahoo! News

Will Pension Plans Run Out of Money?

Will Pension Plans Run Out of Money?
That's because of an innocuous and easily overlooked column called the Run-Out Date.
That is the calendar year when the pension trust fund would be projected to literally run out of money under the proposed governmental accounting standards methodology for evaluating the funding condition of public pension plans.
GASB kibitzers call it the "depletion date."

Now do I have your attention?
Running out of money -- completely -- is a pretty big deal where I come from.
That's the pension equivalent of the collapse of a Ponzi scheme.
This is far worse than Social Security which can at least pay 75 cents on the dollar to the next generation under its current design.

The real unemployment rate is 11 percent

Wonkbook: The real unemployment rate is 11 percent - The Washington Post
Let's say you've been looking fruitlessly for five months and realize you've exhausted every job listing in your area.
Discouraged, you stop looking, at least for the moment.
According to the government, you're no longer unemployed.
Congratulations?

Tebow Works in Mysterious Ways

RealClearSports - Tebow Works in Mysterious Ways

PEOPLE ARE AWESOME (DON'S VERSION)



WOW!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

The Discouraging Unemployment Picture

The Discouraging Unemployment Picture America's North Shore Journal
Fewer people are working and more people have dropped out of the labor force.

U.S. Proposes Unmanned Border Entry With Mexico

U.S. Proposes Unmanned Border Entry With Mexico Fox News
By the spring, kiosks could open up in Big Bend National Park allowing people from the tiny Mexican town of Boquillas del Carmen to scan their identity documents and talk to a customs officer in another location, at least 100 miles away.

EyeOnMuskegon-Race in Muskegon part2

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE:

Instapundit » Blog Archive » HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Khan Academy: The Videos Are The Public Face, But The Real Action …
One root of the problem is the fact that the college degree is issued by the same institution that is in charge of setting, and enforcing, the standards of that credential, says Khan, who holds four degrees himself.
This is tantamount to investment banks rating their own securities

Don't pretend we know what causes climate change

Don't pretend we know what causes climate change World News Toronto Sun
So ask the warmers with their spuriously precise predictions of a "greenhouse effect" involving floods, famines, hurricanes a'blowin and a bad moon rising:
Can you plug in known year 1000 data and have your computer model produce a Medieval War Period then let New Yorkers walk across the ice from Manhatten to Staten Island in 1780 and drop snow on Dickens' London Christmases?
If not, why should anyone believe you can plug in year 2000 data and predict 2215 or 2875?

Saturday, December 10, 2011

EyeOnMuskegon NEW time starting this Sunday!

EyeOnMuskegon: EyeOnMuskegon NEW time starting this Sunday!
Whoooo nellie!
The people have spoken!
You wanted more insight into how our wonderful county, cities, townships, school boards and the rest are running amuck?
Well, you got it!

We're getting an additional half hour of EyeOnMuskegon.
Starting this Sunday, Dec. 11, EyeOnMuskegon will run from 8:30-10:00am giving us a full hour and a half of community conversation.So set your alarm folks, 8:30 every Sunday morning is BLAST OFF time for EyeOnMuskegon!

Friday, December 09, 2011

Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals?

Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals? PBS NewsHour Dec. 9, 2011 PBS
One of the biggest correlates with happiness in our surveys was the belief of a meritocracy, which is the belief that anybody who works hard can make it.
That was the biggest predictor of happiness.
That was also one of the biggest predictors of political ideology.
So, the conservatives were much higher on these meritocratic beliefs than liberals were.

Iowa caucuses - GOP winners

Iowa caucuses - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Republican Winners
2008 - Mike Huckabee (34%), Mitt Romney (25%), Fred Thompson (13%), John McCain (13%), Ron Paul (10%), Rudy Giuliani (4%), and Duncan Hunter (1%)
2004 - George W. Bush (unopposed)
2000 - George W. Bush (41%)[citation needed], Steve Forbes (30%)[citation needed], Alan Keyes (14%), Gary Bauer (9%), John McCain (5%), and Orrin Hatch (1%)
1996 - Bob Dole (26%), Pat Buchanan (23%), Lamar Alexander (18%), Steve Forbes (10%), Phil Gramm (9%), Alan Keyes (7%), Richard Lugar (4%), and Morry Taylor (1%)
1992 - George H. W. Bush (unopposed)
1988 - Bob Dole (37%), Pat Robertson (25%), George H. W. Bush (19%), Jack Kemp (11%), and Pierre DuPont (7%)
1984 - Ronald Reagan (unopposed)
1980 - George H. W. Bush (32%), Ronald Reagan (30%), Howard Baker (15%), John Connally (9%), Phil Crane (7%), John B. Anderson (4%), and Bob Dole (2%)
1976 - Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan

Red=winner who went on to win GOP nomination (unopposed not included)

Amazing Video of Dare Devil Pilot Pulling off an Epic Landing on a Ship

LiveLeak.com - Amazing Video of Dare Devil Pilot Pulling off an Epic Landing on a Ship
Harrowing footage of test pilots landing a Lynx Mark 90B helicopter on a pitching and weaving Knud Rasmussen class Patrol Ship.

DAL: A Day at Love Field

2011: The Year in Photos

2011: The Year in Photos, Part 1 of 3 - Alan Taylor - In Focus - The Atlantic

Just As We Suspected, The Fast And Furious Program Was A Gun-Control Plot After All

Just As We Suspected, The Fast And Furious Program Was A Gun-Control Plot After All - Investors.com
Scandal:
Newly obtained documents show that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives discussed using its covert operation Fast and Furious to argue for new rules about gun sales.
We told you so.
As we observed in June, the way Fast and Furious — the government's gun-running operation that resulted in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry — was conducted made no sense unless its intent was to facilitate violence with U.S. weapons in the interests of pursuing the administration's gun-control agenda.
Now documents obtained by CBS News confirm that our first suspicions were correct.

Taxes and disinvestment: Illinoyed

Taxes and disinvestment: Illinoyed The Economist
Businesses are threatening to leave

TaxProf Blog: University of Texas Law School Dean Resigns Immediately in Wake of Faculty Division Over Compensation

TaxProf Blog: University of Texas Law School Dean Resigns Immediately in Wake of Faculty Division Over Compensation
I'll just note one bit that struck me as especially telling: the revelation that one faculty member negotiated an arrangement with the Law School according to which she would be notified each year of who on the faculty earned more than she did.
That gem captures rather well what this turmoil is really all about.