God's on our side

DNC Chairman Don Fowler's comments on the timing of a Hurricane.



It's gonna be great having them in charge. All that compassion for the working man.

Via Assistant Villiage Idiot

Bus Update

A while back I mentioned that you can no longer take an MTA bus to the Raven's home games from a park and ride.

Turns out the regulation is that if you take Federal money for your mass transit, you can't use that mass transit to compete with private companies (like charter buses). I'm sure the intent is to keep the MTA from sending city buses to Atlantic City, and to me, it makes sense.

So while it's a federal regulation, it's in place to keep states from using federal dollars to compete with private companies.

Solution: Stop taking the tax dollars of the citizens of Iowa and giving them to the State of Maryland for bus service.

Just a thought.

Wretched

Honest to goodness, I don't see how anyone can vote for Obama after watching this. Horrid. I'm embarrassed for those involved, really.




Via Hit and Run

I can't wait to be more like the EU

Where they have banned eating cakes and pies at cake and pie baking contests.

Via The Agitator.

Gas Prices and Economic Ignorance

Radley Balko on the candidates and Economic ignorance.

Question.

Where do they find the expert analyst to cover Olympic Badmiton?

Don't worry about the potholes. People eat too much salt!

My tax dollars at work.

Baltimore has launched a citywide effort to educate the public on the dangers of high salt intake, which is associated with high blood pressure, particularly among African-Americans.

In a city that is nearly 65 percent black, the risks of hypertension, which can lead to heart attack, kidney failure and stroke, are especially high. The city Health Department is bringing together researchers and public health advocates starting in September to try to untangle the reasons for high salt consumption and offer recommendations for how city officials and food suppliers can decrease it.

The six-month-long effort was born out of a recent Health Department initiative to reduce health disparities caused by cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in Baltimore.

"The rates are much higher in Baltimore than other areas of the state," said Joshua M. Sharfstein, the city's health commissioner. "There are a lot of lives to be saved by reducing cardiovascular disease. You can connect the dots from high salt intake to excessive death rates in cardiovascular disease."

Of course, it's for your own good:

"We got criticized years ago for encouraging people not to smoke, and many people argued it was a choice," he said. "But we feel that sodium consumption and hypertension are very similar to smoking in that people need to be protected from things that can harm them."

Saunders said members of the task force will consider pushing restaurants and food industries to reduce salt in their products. And if necessary, they will work with the legislature to create sodium guidelines.

The issue is more complex than simply encouraging people to eat healthier, Sharfstein said.

"If every option you have has too much salt in it, you don't have much of a choice," he said. "I'm not saying every restaurant has this problem. But if there are not enough low-salt options, then what kind of choice is it?"

Education and awareness will be essential to the initiative, Sharfstein added.

"A lot of people don't know what's in the food they are eating," he said. "It's hard to hold them responsible if they are not getting the information to make a wise decision."

Apparently, the city thinks Black people are not smart enough to decide what they eat.

Seriously?

A number of groups are protesting a movie that mocks retarded people.

Now, I'm a supporter of the Special Olympics... but one of the things that drew my attention to them was Cartman faking retardation so he could participate. Seriously, that was really funny.



This is funny, too:

This population remains the defenseless butt of jokes all throughout media," said Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver, who has not yet seen the movie. "We think it's time to end."

How about instead of protesting a movie you haven't seen, do something to help someone.

Awesome

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, 2008

I think the runner up should have won:

"Hmm . . ." thought Abigail as she gazed languidly from the veranda past the bright white patio to the cerulean sea beyond, where dolphins played and seagulls sang, where splashing surf sounded like the tintinnabulation of a thousand tiny bells, where great gray whales bellowed and the sunlight sparkled off the myriad of sequins on the flyfish's bow ties, "time to get my meds checked."

Another good one, the Romance winner:

Bill swore the affair had ended, but Louise knew he was lying, after discovering Tupperware containers under the seat of his car, which were not the off-brand containers that she bought to save money, but authentic, burpable, lidded Tupperware; and she knew he would see that woman again, because unlike the flimsy, fake containers that should always be recycled responsibly, real Tupperware must be returned to its rightful owner.

Another one:

The day started out as uneventfully as any other, and continued thus to midday and from there it was nothing at all to ease into an evening of numbing, undiluted monotony that survived unmarred by even the least act of momentary peculiarity-in fact, let's skip that day altogether and start with the day after.

16-15

Yes, I know it's just the preseason, but some thoughts on the Ravens game last night.

Boller looked decent. Compared to Smith and Flacco, he looked great. No doubt now he's starting against Cinci. There was some prognosticating that Flacco would take over the starting spot later in the year - after what I saw last night, I don't see how. He's a full season away from being anything more than the third QB.

And you know who he reminds me of? Kyle Boller. They need to groom this guy - he has the physical tools, but if they throw him in too early, he will fail, and they will have the same scenario they have now.

Defense looked outstanding. I'm very encouraged by the depth of the team, as well as the attitude. They look like winners. Likewise, depth at running back looks solid.

Offensive playcalling was very encouraging. Yes, I know it's preseason and all, but they were willing to mix it up a little bit. (It is also important to note the score should have been 19-15, but they went for it on 4th and a yard inside the 10, where clearly in a game that counts they kick a field goal to go up by 4.)

I'm not going to predict a playoff run based what was essentially a practice, but they did look good, and if nothing else, they should be fun to watch.

MTA buses to Ravens' games, and the Federal Government

Apparently, new federal regulations prohibit the MTA from offering bus service from park and ride locations to the stadium.

Where is that in the Constitution.

More evidence of the expanding reach of the federal government into your life. These little things add up.

Frustration

I would like to use my DVR to record the Olympics. Not ALL of the Olympics, just specific sports that will be on while I am not sitting in front of my television. I understand NBC wants to force me in front of my television so I don't skip the commercials, but that's not how things work any more.

Unfortunately, I can't find out what time certain sports are on television, I can only find out what day, and at what time of day. For example: The superheavyweight weightlifting final is on MSNBC sometime between 5am and 5pm on Tuesday the 19th.

I'm not recording 12 hours of stuff I don't want to see.

Obamaenergy

Barak Obama has a plan. We don't know exactly what it is, but this is what it will do:

Provide short‐term relief to American families facing pain at the pump.

I think this is his plan to give everyone (well, exept the rich, probably), a $1000 tax rebate (like the one W gave everyone that Obama thought was a bad idea), "paid for" by a windfall profits tax on oil companies. So he's going to increase demand, and limit supply. That'll work great.

Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.

Really? That's $750 per person. I'd rather keep that money for the gas price increase he's causing. What will catalyze private efforts to build 'clean' energy is demand for it. Given $10/gallon gas in Europe hasn't motivated Euopeans to find a way to get around without gasoline, I doubt Obama can spur demand by taking more of your money. Plus, we don't exactly know what he's going to do with your money, do we.

Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.

By proper tire inflation and tuneups I suppose. Does he understand Physics or Economics? Really?

Put 1 million Plug‐In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.

Where, exactly, does the government get the power to force someone to produce a good? And what does "work to make sure" even mean?

Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.

Renewable, like nuclear? Or maybe some windmills? Perhaps Mr. Obama should look in to how much forested land would have to be cleared to build all those (remarkably inefficient) windmills.

Implement an economy‐wide cap‐and‐trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Cap and trade is a shell game that works out to be a tax. I promise taxes won't reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and I promise if they did, you would not like a world where emissions were 80% lower than today. Unless you like abject poverty, starvation, being really, really cold in the winter, and really hot in the summer.

From a Liberty standpoint, McCain is no better, but he appears to have something resembling an understanding of, well, reality. Sort of.

Fat Chance

Don Boudreaux wants culturally appropriate healthcare.

Strange bedfellows

Barney Frank and I won't exactly agree on most issues, but I have to give him credit where it's due.

The U.S. should stop arresting responsible marijuana users, Rep. Barney Frank said Wednesday, announcing a proposal to end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams, almost a quarter-pound, of the substance.


Current laws targeting marijuana users place undue burdens on law enforcement resources, punish ill Americans whose doctors have prescribed the substance and unfairly affect African-Americans, said Frank, flanked by legislators and representatives from advocacy groups.

"The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government's business," Frank said on Capitol Hill. "I don't think it is the government's business to tell you how to spend your leisure time."

Now if he would just realise how this position is inconsistent with so many of his other positions... and stick with this one.

Unfortunately, this has about as much chance of passing as Bob Barr winning the Presidency, but we can still appreciate taking the shot.

Um, wow

Climate skepdic posts about a remarkable example of alarmists' poor science.

The problem we have, is most people in this country have no idea just how bad it really is, because they don't have a basic understanding of physics. I just hope more people get educated via posts like this.

Friday night dinner and a movie

Went to Tsunami last night with neighbors D and R (D having just returned from a long out of state trip).

I had the Metropolitan Roll, Petite Filet, and Creme Brulee. All very good, but not spectacular. The environment was very cool, very casual, a fun place to grab a bite. We'll certainly return.

Then went to the Little Italy Friday night movie, Hairspray (the remake). Travolta really steals the show (gotta negotiate the pleats, hon). Not high art, but a nice way to spend a couple of hours having a couple of glasses of wine on a nice night.

Been busy otherwise (work, mostly). Blogging lately has taken a back seat, but I'll continue to make an effort to update.