More proof of the general stupidity of the American Public.

How is 30 Rock still on the air, but Studio 60 got canceled due to poor ratings?

30 Rock is terrible.

Seriously?

In a move that showcases a number of the problems with the Federal Government, the FCC is fining ABC and affiliates in the Central Time zone $1.4 Million for airing an actress' hiney.

The show in question aired in February of 2003. 5 years ago. And they are just now getting to it. Apparently, there were 'numerous complaints'. If it's the scene I think it was, I certainly don't understand why you would complain.

With 'free markets" like this, who needs socialism?

Jeffrey Tucker on the not really free market everyone seems to blame for everything.

So, the first assumption that we live in a free-market world is simply not true. In fact, it is sheer fantasy. How is it that journalists can continually get away with asserting that the fantasy is true? How can informed writers continue to fob off on us the idea that we live in a laissez-faire world that can only be improved by just a bit of public tinkering?

The reason is that most of our daily experience in life is not with the Department of Labor or Interior or Education or Justice. It is with Home Depot, McDonald's, Kroger, and Pizza Hut. Our lives are spent dealing with the commercial sector mostly, because it is visible and accessible, whereas the depredations of the state are mostly abstract, and its destructive effects mostly unseen. We don't see the inventions left on the shelf, the products not imported due to quotas, the people not working because of minimum wage laws, etc.

Because of this, we are tempted to believe the unbelievable, namely that government serves the function only of a night watchman. And only by believing in such a fantasy can we possibly believe the second assumption, which is that the problems of our society are due the to the market economy, not to the government that has intervened in the market economy.

Consider the housing crisis. The money machine called the Federal Reserve cranks out the credit as a subsidy to the banking business, the bond dealers, and the big-spending politicians who would prefer to borrow than tax. It is this alchemic temple that distorts the reality that credit must be rationed in a way that accords with economic reality.

The Federal Reserve embarked on a wild credit ride in the late 1990s that has dumped some $4 trillion in new money via the credit markets, making expansion of the loan sector both inevitable and unsustainable. At the same time, the federal bureaus that manage and guarantee the bulk of mortgages have ballooned beyond belief. The popularity of subprime mortgages are the tip of a massive but buried debt mountain — all in the name of achieving the "American dream" of home ownership through massive government intervention.

Say what you want to about this system, but it is not the free market at work. Indeed, the very existence of central banking is contrary to the capitalist ideal, in which money would be no different from any other good: produced and supplied by the market in accord with the moral law against theft and fraud. For the government to authorize a counterfeiter-in-chief is a direct attack on the sound money system of a market economy.

Read it all. How can you say you are free in a land where the government tells you how much water you are allowed to flush? Try to come up with something, anything, in your life that isn't regulated. Well, that's not how the free market works, so it isn't working.

Juiced?

Here's a fantastic site, called Steroids and Baseball, that investigates the true impact on baseball of performance enhancing drugs, and also debunks some myths about those evil steroids.

What I find interesting is the data actually shows what I've thought for quite some time: Baseball players have been using PEDs for longer than what's called "The Steroid Era".

I promise there's someone in the Hall Of Fame who used steroids.

Via Hit and Run

Trust me, you don't want this.

A Democratic Congress working with the Bush Administration to fix the economy.

Count on a compromise that increases government in your life, because they all think government is the solution.

To be productive at work, I have to be well rested.

This is awesome.

Not safe for work because of language. If you don't like words you can't say on television, don't click on this.




Edit:

Here is the first one:

I am not alone

I thought I was the only nut out there who did stuff like this.

I cover a large territory as an Operations Manager for a Big Company. My territory includes Central Maryland, Northern Delaware, Philadelphia, all of NJ, and Long Island.

I drive the length of the NJ Turnpike at least once a month.

And in three years, I've stopped for gas in NJ once. Since I have a company car, I have a gas card that requires I put in a PIN number and the milage of the car. You have never experienced frustration until you have to explain that to the (required) full service attendant at a rest stop on the Turnpike.

So I just gas up in Delaware, and gas up in Long Island. If I don't go that far North, I can get back to Delaware on a tank of gas.

So THAT'S how you do it!

The Teflon Leprechan, who ran for Governor partly on a platform to reduce energy costs for the common man, has a solution.

Use less energy.

He'll force you to conserve if he has to. I guess that's one way to reduce those BGE bills.

The Post Apocalyptic Workout

I've internet known Nina (of The Slack and TheSlackDaily) for years. She probably doesn't remember me, but we corresponded regularly via the newsgroup misc.fitness.weights many years ago.

(Remember the Great Doughnut Jihad?)

Anyway, she's got a fantastic new blog/project called The Post Apicalyptic Workout, wherin she prepares for the end of the world, and the zombies who (that?) will inhabit it.

Great stuff, and a great way to orgainize goals.

Favre = The Man.

My worthless football prediction: Green Bay wins the Superbowl.

Dominant today against Seattle, who I thought had a good shot to win, and after spotting Seattle 14 points.

Favre will retire after the bowl win, and all will be right in the universe.

Live free or die?

How does that fit with Clinton and McCain winning in the NH primaries? They would be the two farthest from 'Live free'.

California, at it again

Now this is something. California will require you to have a thermostat with an FM reciever that the goverment can control.

You know it's a matter of years (less than 10) if this gets through in California that it comes to the rest of the country.

Now it's about prices. Won't be long before it's about global warming, and you simply will not have a choice when it comes to the temparature of your home.

This is a little troubling

According to World Net Daily (so take it for what it's worth), a SWAT team intervened in the health care of a child because the father is a 'strict constitutionalist'.

Better bar the door.

NH Republican party does the right thing

They are not partnering with Faux News tomorrow evening for their forum.

The other candidates should take note, step up, and not participate unless Ron Paul is invited.

I'm not holding my breath for that. The last thing John McCain wants is Ron Paul sitting across the table from him.

On a related note, I find it interesting all the Democrats are honest, they all say right up front they want to soak the rich to protect 'the middle class'. The Republicans (save Dr. Paul) lie through their teeth about smaller government, but while in control, grew it faster than the Democrats have since the New Deal.

F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2)

This could possibly be the coolest thing I've ever seen. I'm a huge music fan. Tool is one of my favorite bands, and Lateralus is one of my favorite songs.

This video combines Lateralus with images from the Hubble Telescope, and points out the relationship of items in the song with the Fibonacci Number Sequence.

Lateralus sends chills down my spine when I listen to it. This video did that, and brought tears to my eyes as well. This is art in the new age.

Ride the spiral to the end.



Via Reason.

Happy New Year.

Slow day, today. Had the first pizza of the year.