Too many "apps for that"?
Comment: Humorous but somewhat adult (one minor section)
11.20.2009
Martin Luther: On wine and women
Martin Luther: On wine and women
Excerpt:
Do you suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused? Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women?
Comment: From the Puritan Board
11.19.2009
Some Puritan Advice for the Unemployed
Idle Hands: Some Puritan Advice for the Unemployed
Excerpt:
More than just an annual turkey fest, the Puritans gave America a pedagogy of work and an attitude toward life that upsets the modern notion that a person's occupation equals his value. A man's worth, the Puritans might advise the unemployed Steve Lee, lay in his service to God and to his fellow man, not in titles or financial portfolios. Rather than seeing life as a series of random events, the Puritan's belief in Providence imputed a profound sense of a loving God's purpose for him, a purpose that left very little room for despair.
Comment: Worthwhile from the Wall Street Journal
Buying off Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu
The $100 Million Health Care Vote?
Excerpt:
On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”
The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”
I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.
In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)
Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.
How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.
Comment: Read the entire article for the legalese!
Oops (updated )
Comment: I hate it when that happens. (Note the guy in the stern! (middle photo))
Source: Oops--$500,000 Yacht Gets Dropped
PORT EVERGLADES, Fla. -- Officials are trying to figure out how a cabin cruiser worth half a million dollars was dropped while being unloaded from a freighter.
The yacht was being hoisted off the freighter and into the water at Port Everglades Wednesday afternoon when it suddenly fell, landing on a dock.
Investigators are trying to determine if the incident was caused by operator error or a mechanical malfunction in the crane.
The damage to the 50-foot cabin cruiser is still being determined. There is no word yet on who the yacht belongs to.
Investigators did say that there was no evidence of any criminal intent in the incident. No injuries were reported.
Pics source
Update: The article is not the correct one .... seems this happens more than one would think!
Update:
Snopes "Failure to Launch" (True!)
Riding Down The Marquis (Event Date: March 7 2007 - At Port Jebel Ali) (scroll down for photos)
Read the 2074 page bill in the Senate!
Health bill could get 34-hour reading in Senate
Excerpt:
The 2,074-page Senate health care bill would take 34 hours to read cover to cover -- and that's just what Sen. Tom Coburn wants done on the Senate floor.
The Oklahoma Republican has threatened to invoke parliamentary rules to force the Senate clerk (or more likely, a team of clerks) to read the massive bill before the full Senate begins formal debate on the legislation.
The move is strictly according to Senate rules, which say any senator can demand a bill be read in its entirety before debate begins. While Democrats could, if they wish, repeatedly make motions to end the soliloquy, Republicans on the floor could object, and the reading would continue.
What's even more interesting is that Senate Rule XIV (paragraph 2) states that every bill and joint resolution "shall receive three readings prior to its passage."
Comment: Read it three times!
The constitution and health care reform
Unlawful health reform?
Excerpt:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says Congress can tax — i.e., punish — people who do not buy insurance because the Constitution empowers Congress to tax for "the general welfare." So, could Congress tax persons who do not exercise or eat their spinach?
When asked whether any compulsory insurance purchases are constitutional, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was genuinely astonished: "Are you serious? Are you serious?" In 1803, in Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote, "The powers of the legislature are defined and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the Constitution is written." He was serious.
Comment: "the Constitution ... what's the Constitution?!"
Jesse Jackson at it again!
Jesse Jackson: 'You can't vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man'
Excerpt:
The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday night criticized Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) for voting against the Democrats’ signature healthcare bill.
“We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill,” Jackson said at a reception Wednesday night. “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
Comment: No comment other than the title!
Lewis Millet: from Army deserter to colonel
Col. Lewis Millett, Who Led ‘Bayonet Hill’ Charge, Dies at 88
Excerpt:
During the fighting near Osan, South Korea, Captain Millett’s unit encountered Communist troops atop a spot called Hill 180.
It would be remembered as Bayonet Hill for what the military historian Brig. Gen. S. L. A. Marshall would call “the most complete bayonet charge by American troops since Cold Harbor,” a reference to the carnage at an 1864 Civil War battle in Virginia.
After ordering his men to fix bayonets, Captain Millett charged up the hill in front of them in the face of heavy fire, blasting away with his carbine, throwing grenades and, most spectacularly, wielding his bayonet when he encountered three enemy soldiers in a V-shaped gun position.
“I assaulted an antitank rifle crew,” he told Military History magazine in 2002. “The man at the point was the gunner. I bayoneted him. The next man reached for something, I think it was a machine pistol, but I bayoneted him — got him in the throat.”
The third soldier had a submachine gun.
“I guess the sight of me, red-faced and screaming, made him freeze,” he recalled. “Otherwise he would have killed me. I lunged forward and the bayonet went into his forehead. With the adrenaline flowing you’re strong as a bull. It was like going into a watermelon.”
Captain Millett was wounded by grenade fragments, but his men took the hill. President Harry S. Truman presented him with the Medal of Honor in July 1951. As the citation put it, “His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder.”
Comment: Celebrating an American hero! More info below:
11.18.2009
Pontiac Silverdome sells for .... $583,000
Silverdome sells for ... less than a house
Excerpt:
An unidentified Canadian real estate company was the winning bidder for the Silverdome, snatching it up for a mere fraction of its original value.
A Toronto-based family-owned company bid $583,000 for the under-used stadium on Monday, which is currently owned by the City of Pontiac, Mich., according to auctioneer Williams & Williams.
The company plans to refurbish the Silverdome into a stadium for men's Major League Soccer and women's professional soccer teams, said the auctioneer. While the stadium was the former home of the National Football League's Detroit Lions, it also played host to some of the World Cup games in 1994. Brazil's victory over Italy occurred elsewhere, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Comment: Kathee and I went to Lions / Bears game on Thanksgiving Day in 1979 (I think it was '79. Lions beat the Bears. What a fine venue!
Church w Elder looking for a Pastor
Vacant Pulpit
We are still looking for a new pastor. Does anyone know of a Reformed man looking for a call to a church??
Please PM me!
Thanks!
[NAME WITHHELD]
An Elder, [CHURCH WITHHELD], [LOCATION WITHHELD]
Comment: What's wrong with this picture? (I captured it today off from a Christian forum). An Elder is a Pastor. An Elder should be apt to teach. Proof: 1 Timothy 3 w. 1 Peter 5:1-4
The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
"Falling Soldier" and the nature of Truth
George Will: An image evaporates
Excerpt:
In 1995, the controversy seemed to have been settled in Capa's favor when the fallen soldier supposedly was identified as Federico Borrell Garcia, an anarchist militiaman. But a 2007 Spanish documentary included a written eyewitness account of Borrell dying many miles away, behind a tree. There are no trees in the many pictures Capa took when he took "Falling Soldier."
The coolly analytic professionals at the International Center of Photography in Midtown Manhattan, which has the Capa archives, are commendably dispassionate about the "Falling Soldier" controversy. They also avoid postmodern mush, such as: All photographs are manipulative fabrications because the photographer chooses to point the camera here and not there, and, anyway, "Falling Soldier" is "basically" truthful because it illustrates the "essential truth" about war.
Capa was a man of the left, and "Falling Soldier" helped to alarm the world about fascism rampant. But noble purposes do not validate misrepresentations. Richard Whelan, Capa's biographer, calls it "trivializing" to insist on knowing whether this photo actually shows a soldier mortally wounded. Whelan says that "the picture's greatness actually lies in its symbolic implications, not in its literal accuracy."
Rubbish. The picture's greatness evaporates if its veracity is fictitious. To argue otherwise is to endorse high-minded duplicity — and to trivialize Capa, who saw a surfeit of 20th-century war and neither flinched from its horrors nor retreated into an "I am a camera" detachment. As a warning about well-meaning falsifications of history, "Falling Soldier" matters because Capa probably fabricated reality to serve what he called "concerned photography." But this, too, matters:
There was the integrity of constant bravery in Capa's life, which was a headlong rush toward danger. He arrived on Omaha Beach with the first soldiers early on June 6, 1944, and was only 40 in 1954 when, on the move with French troops in Vietnam, he stepped on a land mine
Resources (Wiki): Robert Capa and Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death, Cerro Muriano, September 5, 1936
Comment: It's like those who claim to be Christian but disbelieve His resurrection. If He rose from the dead, He demonstrated His Messiahship. If he did not ... he is NOT the Christ!
Advice on Fifth Third (FITB)
Award Winning Banking Analyst From FBR Capital Markets Picks Financial Sector Investment Winners
Excerpt:
You've got to invest in certain balance sheets that are beaten up. You've got to be careful to stay away from the rich stocks like the Wells Fargos, USBs (USB), BB&Ts (BBT) and focus on those companies that are trading at book or below book, like a Fifth Third (FITB), like a KeyCorp (KEY), which is trading a little bit above book. That's where you want to focus on now, on companies that don't make money. It seems kind of odd to be recommending stocks that don't make money, but they are trading at book or right around book whereas some of these other banks, like Wells Fargo (WFC), are trading close to three times book. We think there is very little upside in owning Wells Fargo at these levels.
Comment: I sold all our Wells Fargo. Still have 1000 shares of FITB that I bought for a buck back in February. (In all of my years of investing, Fifth Third, is the only stock that I have bought that has done so well in such a short amount of time. I wish I would have bought 20,000 shares!)
11.17.2009
Trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Is America at war, or not?
Excerpt:
For if we are at war, why is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed headed for trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York? Why is he entitled to a presumption of innocence and all of the constitutional protections of a U.S. citizen?
Is it possible we have done an injustice to this man by keeping him locked up all these years without trial? For that is what this trial implies – that he may not be guilty.
And if we must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that KSM was complicit in mass murder, by what right do we send Predators and Special Forces to kill his al-Qaida comrades wherever we find them? For none of them has been granted a fair trial.
When the Justice Department sets up a task force to wage war on a crime organization like the Mafia or MS-13, no U.S. official has a right to shoot Mafia or gang members on sight. No one has a right to bomb their homes. No one has a right to regard the possible death of their wives and children in an attack as acceptable collateral damage.
...
What do we do if the case against KSM is thrown out because the government refuses to reveal sources or methods, or if he gets a hung jury, or is acquitted, or has his conviction overturned?
Comment: Worthwhile read. Trying him in a civil court is a giant mistake!
Paris theoretically stricter than hardline Sudan?
Women banned from wearing trousers in Paris
Excerpt:
The rule banning women from dressing like men – namely by wearing trousers - was first introduced in 1800 by Paris' police chief and has survived repeated attempts to repeal it.
The 1800 rule stipulated than any Parisienne wishing to dress like a man "must present herself to Paris' main police station to obtain authorisation".
In 1892 it was slightly relaxed thanks to an amendment which said trousers were permitted "as long as the woman is holding the reins of a horse".
Then in 1909, the decree was further watered down when an extra clause was added to allow women in trousers on condition they were "on a bicycle or holding it by the handlebars".
In 1969, amid a global movement towards gender equality, the Paris council asked the city's police chief to bin the decree. His response was: "It is unwise to change texts which foreseen or unforeseen variations in fashion can return to the fore."
The latest attempt to remove the outmoded rule was in 2003, when a Right-wing MP from President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party wrote to the minister in charge of gender equality. The minister's response was: "Disuse is sometimes more efficient than (state) intervention in adapting the law to changing morays."
As Evelyne Pisier, a law professor whose book Le Droit des Femmes (The Rights of Women) unearthed the curious decree points out, given that trousers are compulsory for Parisian policewoman, they are all breaking the law.
Comment: Humorous!
Health care deform: "bending the curve the wrong way"
China questions costs of U.S. healthcare reform
Excerpt:
... the Chinese are kind of curious about how President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plans would impact America’s huge fiscal deficit. Government officials are using his Asian trip as an opportunity to ask the White House questions. Detailed questions.
Boilerplate assurances that America won’t default on its debt or inflate the shortfall away are apparently not cutting it. Nor should they, when one owns nearly $2 trillion in assets denominated in the currency of a country about to double its national debt over the next decade.
Nothing happening in Washington today should give Beijing any comfort or confidence about what may happen tomorrow. Healthcare reform was originally promoted as a way to “bend the curve” on escalating entitlement costs, the major part of which is financing Medicare and Medicaid. That is looking more and more like an overpromised deliverable.
For instance, a new study from the U.S. government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finds that the healthcare reform bill recently passed in the House of Representatives would increase healthcare spending to 21.3 percent of GDP by 2019 compared with 20.8 percent under current law. That’s bending the curve the wrong way. The study also questions the “long-term viability” of the $500 billion in Medicare cuts meant to help pay for expanded insurance coverage.
Comment: Gotta love it when the communists question the wisdom of our health care reform. Their worry? They have upwards of a $ Trillion in US Treasuries. And they are watching the buck decline!
More job losses?
The worst is yet to come: Unemployed Americans should hunker down for more job losses
Excerpt:
Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening. While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2% and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5%.
While losing 200,000 jobs per month is better than the 700,000 jobs lost in January, current job losses still average more than the per month rate of 150,000 during the last recession.
Also, remember: The last recession ended in November 2001, but job losses continued for more than a year and half until June of 2003; ditto for the 1990-91 recession.
So we can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. In other words, if you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down. All the economic numbers suggest this will take a while.
Comment: Hiring always lags bottoming out of recession.
11.16.2009
Bernanke's "delicate dance"
Fed Will Keep Eye on Sliding Dollar
Excerpt:
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday said the central bank will keep a close eye on the sliding U.S. dollar even as he pledged anew to keep interest rates at record-lows to nurture the economic recovery.
In remarks to the Economic Club of New York, Bernanke engaged in a delicate dance.
He made clear Fed policymakers will keep rates at super-low levels. Yet through his words, Bernanke is also trying to bolster confidence in the dollar without actually raising rates, a move that could short-circuit the fragile recovery.
Economists say a free-fall in the value of the dollar is remote but can't be entirely dismissed.
Although low interest rates can put additional downward pressure on the dollar, they are needed to encourage American consumers and businesses to spend more and fuel the economic turnaround.
Comment: If he holds interest rates low to stimulate the economy, the dollar will continue to drop (or at least be suppressed). Raise interest rates (savers would rejoice!) would prop the dollar but hurt the recovery.
11.15.2009
"Weird Al" Yankovic explains Auto-Tune
Wiki: "Weird Al" Yankovic, Auto-Tune
Comment: Surprised preachers don't use it!
11.13.2009
Raising the debt ceiling (again)
U.S. Treasury Confident Congress Will Increase Debt Ceiling
Excerpt:
The Obama administration is confident Congress will raise the country’s debt limit by year end to avert a showdown similar to the one that shuttered parts of the government in 1995, administration officials said.
The White House wants an increase of at least $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, according to a person familiar with the deliberations between lawmakers and the administration. Record budget deficits are pushing the national debt closer to the $12.1 trillion statutory limit.
Comment: Kinda like owing Bank of America $ 14,000 and asking them to raise your credit limit to $ 15,000.
Bernie's IT guys and "House 17"
Two former employees for Bernard Madoff programmed an old IBM computer to generate false records that concealed the money manager's massive Ponzi scheme and were given hush money when they threatened to stop lying, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Madoff gave orders to pay the pair "whatever they wanted to keep them happy," a criminal complaint said.
The computer programmers, Jerome O'Hara, of Malverne, N.Y., and George Perez, of East Brunswick, N.J., were arrested Friday at their homes. They were to appear in a Manhattan court to face conspiracy, falsifying records and other charges.
"Without the help of O'Hara and Perez, the Madoff fraud would not have been possible," George S. Canellos, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's New York Regional Office, said in a statement.
Their attorneys did not immediately return calls for comment.
Prosecutors alleged that O'Hara and Perez were hired by Madoff's firm in the early 1990s to develop and maintain programs using a computer known as "House 17." The programs allowed Madoff to generate account statements for thousands of clients "that purported to confirm the purchases of securities that, in fact, had not been purchased," the complaint said.
Madoff and his chief financial officer, Frank DiPascali, directed the defendants to use their computer skills to produce other false documents designed to deceive the SEC. The agency brought similar charges against the men on Friday in a parallel civil complaint.
In what the SEC called "a crisis of conscience" in 2006, O'Hara and Perez deleted 218 of the 225 special programs from the House 17 computer, and withdrew thousands of dollars from their own accounts with the firm, authorities said.
Comment: You know that IT guys had to be behind perpetuating the fraud. Jail time needed for those guys. By the way ... where was the audit department? Risk management? Etc.
Sarah Palin: "Going Whiner"!
Palin: McCain aides kept me ‘bottled up’
Excerpt:
The rumors are true, according to Sarah Palin. The McCain-Palin campaign was not a happy family.
In Palin's "Going Rogue," Palin confirms reports of tension between her aides and those of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain. The vice presidential candidate confirms that she had wanted to speak on election night, but was denied the chance and says she was kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign.
Palin also writes harshly of CBS anchor Katie Couric, whom she describes as "badgering" and biased.
Comment: Sarah was a disasterous pick for VP. She is NOT the future of the Repubican party.
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