Climategate

An interesting article.   Seems a little bit like manufacturing the results one needs.  Tsk, tsk!

The scandal we see and the scandal we don’t.   Why it matters

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/30/crugate_analysis/

Conversion!

When does a Liberal become a Conservative?  When he or she gets mugged.

When does a Conservative become a Liberal?  When he or she loses their job & health insurance.

Cool Panel at LOSCON

I’m looking forward to moderating the panel on the Solar Updraft Tower at LOSCON on the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I have 2 PhDs & a novelist on the panel.  No fuel [well, there is the sun]/no waste, just energy.  Sounds good to me.

Looking for seed money for a 15 billion dollar long term project. 

A good thing it isn’t usury!

I recently was notified by BoA that the charge on unpaid balance was not somewhere about 27 to 29+%.   Isn’t this higher than the Mafia used to charge?  –  All the credit card issuers have jacked up their rates just before the new law takes effect.  –  Hey, the banks need to make money for their stockholders.  All the regular depositors have been laid off and don’t deposit anymore.

If it’s on the shelves, it’s off the streets

I think, more folk might do well to read this article.

If it’s on the shelves, it’s off the streets byPeter Moskos. [Peter Moskos is an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the author of "Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District."]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102303457.html

What is the economic impact?

Illegality drives up the cost of the illegal substance.  –  What would the actual cost, with a 6% markup to provide a  suitableprofit, of the more common “illegal” substance such as MJ, cocaine, & heroine?  — Please note, I’m NOT saying they should be legal, just what would the comparative prices be?

Now how would this effect the crime lords?  If an addict, one would have to register, of course, could buy his or her drug of choice from a legal source at realistic prices, what would happen to the economies of drug producing countries.  [Of course, California would now run a surplus as the value of MJ grown in the state is in the billions of dollars.

It would be interesting to see an economic evaluation of this.  maybe money is being allocated in the wrong areas.

Let them go!

“Limits on exec pay cause worries of brain drain!  Will top bosses at bailed-out companies leave as their compensation is cut?”  –  MSNBC.com

Maybe the answer should be: Good, get rid of them.  All they did was take money and run the companies into the ground.  Maybe some new blood will get the companies moving again.

IMHO too many “executives” are vastly overpaid for the work they do.  I really don’t believe, they are worth the pay.  I remember reading a rumor that JP Morgan, that pillar of support for the common man, feeling that the ratio of 20 to 1 between the top salary and the lowest full time employee’s salary, should be enough.  Today, 200 to 1 or higher is more like it.

However, one must realize, these executives are of such a better class of people than ordinary persons that they should be rewarded for just being better than everyone else.  Just ask them.

Do we really need to be there?

The Japanese want to redefine its relationship with the US.  Sounds good to me.  Actually, I wonder, if we need to really be in the Far East at all.  –  Since all the countries there seem to do is gripe about the Yanks being there, why not leave them to their own devices.  –  Japan is apparently pushing the idea of an East Asian Community [Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere ?], a sort of Asian version of the European Union, with China at its core.  Go for it.  –  Yes, let us pack up our toys and take them home.  –  There is no need for the US to be the world’s policeman.  Let them all go to hell in their own hand basket. 

Too much PC

I am bemused by the total lack of any sort of sense of humor when Target is attached for the “Illegal Alien” costume.  Maybe not completely in the best of taste, but no where near as bad as some of the so-called costumes I’ve seen shown for sale.  — Then again, an illegal alien is just that: ILLEGAL.  Go to jail & deport.  –  Yes, they are seeking to better themselves.  However, so are all those folk in line for legal immigration.  –  Hmm, maybe the US should review its immigration policy.  However, being able to speak English is obligatory.  How else can someone from Korea communicate with someone from Russia?  ETC.

Rushy-Poo

I guess, if you don’t meet the specs of the far left, you can’t own a baseball club.

I’m NOT a ditto-head.  I don’t listen to Rush nor would I go to him for insight.

However, who the hell do they think, they are in saying, I can veto you over your politics none of which are illegal.

If a Jackson or Sharpton were to try and buy a team and were told, their politics made them unsuitable, boy would you hear all the race BS flying.

Let Rush spend his money as he sees fit.