A Potential Landmine in ObamaCare

I was looking over some of the "changes" that would come from passing ObamaCare and this part jumped off of the screen.

Obama's plan wouldn't require employers to provide insurance to their workers, but it would hit them with a stiff fine if even one of their workers gets a federally subsidized coverage. Companies with 50 or fewer workers would be exempt, and those with 25 workers or fewer could get federal assistance.

But the fines could turn into a big headache for many employers, particularly since they may not be able to tell if their workers are getting benefits from the government. For example, a company with 100 employees that fails to provide coverage could face a fine of $140,000 under the plan Obama unveiled Feb. 22. Getting the bill from the IRS would become a dreaded moment for business owners.

That fine will be passed on the customers I can tell you that. Also if I were the owner of a company with 51+ workers I would put an "at-will" employment plan in force where I could fire anyone who bought their own insurance with federally subsidized coverage no questions asked.

The last thing I would want is a $140K fine to hit my bottom line because someone decided to buy their own insurance and did not disclose that fact to HR. I would also ask them to disclose their insurance plan as an interview question so I could avoid anyone who bought their own insurance. That means if you were self-employed and buying your own insurance through the Exchange it might be harder for to find a job if you wanted to work for a bigger company again.

Also this will hit food service and bars right in the chops. Most of them can't afford to cover their workers and will actively avoid anyone who has bought insurance through the Exchange to avoid paying the fine. That means if you want to be a bartender or work at Chili's and you are over 26 (which means you aren't on your parents plan) then you may be forced to go uninsured to keep your job. Plus if your parents bought their insurance through the Exchange you would also trigger the fine as well.

The worst part is that it takes away the choice from a potential worker. Let's say that this person wanted to drop out of the company provided plan in order to get abortion coverage or to get some benefit that is not covered. They will damage their own employer and possibly lose their job if they make that choice. Now that is change you can believe in.

Climate Change Skeptic Takes the Journal Nature to Task

I think this article is outstanding but I especially liked this passage:

The sheer shrillness of the true-believers, such as Nature’s zit-bespattered editors, has woken up the sleeping giant of public opinion, and the giant will not go back to sleep however often Nature maunders on about the fundamental science being agreed among all parties. After 15 years with no statistically significant “global warming” (Nature didn’t tell you that), nine years of a rapid global cooling trend (Nature forgot to mention it), sea level growing at just 1 foot per century (Nature didn’t get around to reporting that), and sea ice showing no global trend in 30 years (Nature somehow missed that one), no one is believing the true-believers any more.

What the Hell is the Slaughter Plan to Pass ObamaCare?

No it does not have to do with "Death Panels" but it just might euthanize any chance of even the 30% of America left supporting ObamaCare to stick with it. Here is the so-called Slaughter Plan:

Having determined that they lack the votes in the House to pass the Senate bills as-is, House Democrats are attempting one of the most breathtakingly unconstitutional power grabs ever witnessed - a maneuver to deem the Senate bill ALREADY PASSED by the House by rule, despite the fact that it clearly has not.

The Dems are just thinking of saying the Senate Bill will declared as "passed" and send it on to the President to sign without voting on it in the House. Then they will use reconciliation to "fix" the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, the Union giveaways, as well as the Taxpayer funded Abortion provisions in the Senate Bill.

I'm not sure how they can just say "the Senate Bill has passed" by Slaughter Fiat or whatever and hope to get away with it. The Dems are looking more and more like a bunch of Kamikaze Pilots drinking their sake tucking their Katana under their arms and running briskly toward their Zeroes at the Battle of Okinawa. I think they are hell bent on going down in flames in a historic fashion come November.

9th Circuit Court Upholds the Use of "Under God" in Pledge

I thought the 9th circuit court of appeals was supposed to be a quasi-communist entity but I guess I was wrong on that count.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected two legal challenges by Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow, who claimed the references to God disrespect his religious beliefs.

"The Pledge is constitutional," Judge Carlos Bea wrote for the majority in the 2-1 ruling. "The Pledge of Allegiance serves to unite our vast nation through the proud recitation of some of the ideals upon which our Republic was founded."

They also upheld the "In God we Trust" on our money:

In a separate 3-0 ruling Thursday, the appeals court upheld the inscription of the national motto "In God We Trust" on coins and currency, saying that the phrase is ceremonial and patriotic, not religious.

I think they are finally coming around to the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation and these sayings are just commemorating that fact. Even though we have changed some of the traditions we are still generally a Christian nation. Atheists might not this but it is still a fact.

Kansas City Closes Half of their Schools

Now this is one drastic cost cutting measure. My money is on this happening to many more districts as we go forward mainly because of this reason:

Covington has stressed that the district's buildings are only half-full as its population has plummeted amid political squabbling and chronically abysmal test scores. The district's enrollment of fewer than 18,000 students is about half of what the schools had a decade ago and just a quarter of its peak in the late 1960s.

Many students have left for publicly funded charter schools, private and parochial schools and the suburbs. The school district also isn't the only one serving students in Kansas City; several smaller ones operate in the city's boundaries.

Parents just took their kids out of these failing schools and made sure that they got a decent education. I can see these alternative schools being very popular as more parents find out that the normal public school in a lower income area will never get any better. Test scores will always be abysmal and they will always get either the dregs of the districts teachers or young teachers who will quickly become disillusioned and move to these alternative schools. I think the charter school might be the end of public education as we know it.

The Rumor Mill Says GameStop Might Be Bought Out

At least that is what might be recently moving the stock higher.

GameStop(GME) is spiking on rumors that it may be acquired.

The video game retailer is climbing 5.6% to $19.31 in afternoon trading as investors mull the probability of it being taken over by a private equity group.

"The company generates strong free cash flow and is not getting respect as a public company," Sterne, Agee & Leach analyst Arvind Bhatia says. Thus, a takeover by a private equity firm, according to Bhatia, would make sense.

It would make sense as it is one of the few big time sellers of used games where the margins are incredibly high. The regular game retail side of it has to compete with many different sources while the used game side is a goldmine.

I know many gamers that trade in their new games as soon as they pass them and then buy any used games that they might like. They then turn in the used games when a new title they like comes out. That cycle is highly profitable for a company like GameStop who is making a profit on both sides of the trade-in.

The best part is that Wal-Mart and Best Buy cannot compete with this model since they don't have a trade in system in place. (If they do then it isn't advertised enough to clue a gamer like me in on it.) In any case I would love to see the rumored take-out price to see what kind of premium the stock might have.

OmamaCare Takeover: Education Edition?

Now this part actually sounds a lot worse than a takeover of health care if you are in the colleges indoctrinate certain students camp of thinking.

Not everyone is convinced. A few days ago, another Secretary of Education—Lamar Alexander—inveighed in WaPo on what the folks at Department of Education “haven’t told us.” Senator Alexander notes that DOE plans to borrow from the Fed at a 2.8 percent interest rate, lend to students at 6.8, and splurge with the difference with a massive new spending program. He reports that the Congressional Budget Office has lowered the estimated savings from kicking out the private lenders from $87 billion to something like $47 billion. Some 2,000 private lenders will be forced out of this business. Services to students driven by industry competition will be eliminated in favor of typical federal bureaucratic “efficiency.” And those “educators, engineers and computer scientists—the backbone of the new economy”? They will be spending years longer and paying lots more to pay back loans that are actually being used to fund Congressmen’s favorite edu-pork programs.

That part about borrowing from the FED at 2.8% interest rate and lending to students at a 6.8% rate sounds like some kind of scheme to create a stealth source of cash. I can't understand how the Department of Education gets to take out loans from the FED in the first place and then charge a higher rate to students.

Why can't the DOE just charge 2.8% to the students or like 3% and keep that .2% for administrative costs? I thought this was about trying to get more educators, engineers and computer scientists into the economy. You would think these students would rather spend a lower amount of time paying back a below market interest rate rather than an above market rate.

Also the conspiracy theorist in me kind of thinks that the DOE might have the opportunity to deny loans to business majors and pass through loans going to socialist theory majors. Perhaps there will be a secret list of "approved majors" that the government will allow. Then if you take the wrong classes or study something that is "too capitalist" you suddenly find your loan money cut off. I wonder if members of the Young Republicans or the Students for Israel will see their loan money cut off as well?

It all sounds even spookier how they want to graft this thing onto reconciliation for an unrelated health care reform bill as well. It kind of sounds like an end-around that will only come to light years down the road when you read an article about how business schools in America are starting to close.

Under Obama's Watch the Rich are Getting Richer

I guess he is 100% like George Bush now.

The number of Americans who can call themselves millionaires has gone up in the past year, according to a report released Tuesday by Spectrem Group.

The number of U.S. households with a net worth of at least $1 million, not including primary residence, increased 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009, according to the group's press release.

The number is up from 6.7 million in 2008. That follows a 27 percent decline in the millionaire population in 2008.

There is nothing like a recession to make people some money. As long as you weren't 100% long stocks when the market fell apart you would have increased your take considerably. I guess all that talk about "stealing from the rich" doesn't meet reality when it comes to Obama.

Obama's Poll Numbers Hit an All Time Low

Just wait until they ram this ObamaCare thing through Congress. You will see some late second term Bush numbers.

Barack Obama hits the campaign trail again this month in support of a tremendously unpopular ObamaCare bill — and his numbers have started nose-diving again. Rasmussen’s latest daily poll shows Obama now at 43% approval, with 56% disapproving, the lowest figures of his presidency. His “passion index” has once again hit its lowest level at -21, as less than a quarter of registered voters now strongly approve of his performance:

That quarter is obviously liberal America where he can do no wrong. In the vast center and right he will have crippled his presidency to ram through ObamaCare.

Health Care Bounty Hunters?

I guess Boba Fett has just joined the health care debate. They won't be looking for people that haven't bought insurance on pain of disintegration (that is in a future health care bill) but for Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

The bounty hunters in this case would be private auditors armed with sophisticated computer programs to scan Medicare and Medicaid billing data for patterns of bogus claims. The auditors would get to keep part of any funds they recover for the government. The White House said a pilot program run by Medicare in California, New York and Texas recouped $900 million for taxpayers from 2005-2008.

I would love to get my hands on that Medicare and Medicaid billing data itself to make sophisticated investing decisions. I would query the database for the amount of fake hips that are being paid for and what company produces them and their growth rate year to year. You can also see exactly how many times certain medicines are prescribed and in what part of the country as well.

That database would be a treasure trove for any Health Care oriented Hedge Fund. I bet Goldman Sachs' will have a Medicaire fraud database division up and running before the end of the week this thing is signed into law. They will just plug this data into their investing black boxes and roll in yet more cash.

And knowing that the Government will run the program I would be willing to bet you any money that billing information will not have the patients names redacted as well. So if you have some terrible disease then that data is only safe if some faceless shlub working for the Department of Health codes the database correctly.

These are the same people that accidentally added 100s of fake districts to the US and made a mess of how many jobs each of these districts were "saving." It is sad when even "populist" proposals can be subverted so quickly.

Facet Biotech Snapped Up By Abbott: First Winds in a Biotech Consolidation Frenzy?

What is interesting about this merger is the amount of added money that Abbott is putting into the deal.

Abbott said it would acquire Facet for $27 per share in cash for a net transaction value of approximately $450 million, which includes a purchase price of approximately $722 million less Facet's projected cash and marketable securities at closing of approximately $272 million.

I mean the stock closed trading at $16.21 and Abbott came in with a 67% premium to that price in their buyout offer. That is quite a big premium. Abbott is not even getting any Phase 3 drugs in the deal. Facet is mostly made up of Phase 2 and Phase 1 drugs. Abbott paid that premium simply for the pipeline. Imagine how much of a premium they would have paid if the company had some Phase 3 drugs in that pipeline?

I can understand Abbotts reasoning as well. They are looking at extra years of exclusivity that comes with getting a biotech drug approved. I mean many Big Pharma companies are already running into patent expiration for their blockbusters so they need to find new revenue streams. Abbott might be buying up to 10 years of extra exclusivity in this deal.

This might also be the first winds of a coming consolidation storm when it comes to Biotech. I mean many of these biotech companies have been burning their own capital for years to get their drugs to market. All Big Phama needs to do is write a big check and they can reap the fruits of the biotech firms labor for another decade. They just plunk down $272 million and they walk away with 3 or 4 drugs that have 10 years or more of patent protection.

In many ways this has the look and feel of when tech start-ups get snatched up by a Google or whomever. The interesting thing is that I don't remember many tech giants paying that much of a premium for their buyouts though. In fact Ebay only paid a 15% premium to acquire Paypal. I guess this means that biotech as an industry group is woefully undervalued.

Chief Justice Hits Back At Shoddy State of the Union Treatment

I'm glad he can finally speak his mind on the crass way that they were treated at the last State of the Union.

"The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court — according the requirements of protocol — has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling."

Yup, it is as if the President of the United States forgot where he was and attacked them in an idiotic way. I kind of felt the same way as the episode of Boston Legal where James Spader berates the Supreme Court to their faces. He would have been thrown in jail so fast for contempt it would make your head spin.

I mean they are the highest court in the land who can hold the President and Congress accountable and should be shown some kind of decorum from the other two branches. I really think they should not appear at any future State of the Union speeches because they aren't required to by the Constitution. Especially when they have to sit there like lumps and take a beating from the President.

Time To Give This Guy the Victoria Cross

I mean this guy strait-up saved some lives by throwing a grenade off of a roof in Afghanistan. I hope he becomes a celebrity in Britain for this action.

Rifleman James McKie from Recce Platoon, 3rd Battalion The Rifles was under fire from three directions on a roof when the grenade hit his platoon commander and landed at his feet.

"My first thought was I hope this doesn't hurt too much," the New Zealander said. "That, and I've really only got one chance to do this.

"If it fails, either way, doing nothing, I'm going to get the same amount of hurt. So I picked it up and threw it off the roof."

It exploded in mid-air just seconds later, sending shrapnel flying.

The Ultimate D&D Room

And I do mean Ultimate. Check it out. That is a home-made weapons rack complete with prop weapons from the first D&D movie. That portcullis is the entrance to the closet where all sorts of extra game books and bags of dice are stored.

Obama Goes After Insurance Companies for the 100th Time

This is getting so old.

The president's pitch was part denunciation of insurance companies — "they continue to ration care on the basis of who's sick and who's healthy," he said — and part criticism of his Republican critics. "You had 10 years. What happened? What were you doing?" he taunted members of a party that held the White House for eight years and control of Congress for a dozen.

He is still pounding the insurance companies at the same time he is promoting a bill that will force people to buy their product under threat of jail. The reason why you don't hear anything from Big Insurance is that the Dems will give them 30 million extra customers for life. They are even going to give them a huge billion dollar subsidy in the form of "helping families pay for health care." The whole Dem bill is flawed nonsense.

Also what were the Republicans doing? Um, fighting two wars and cutting my taxes. That was exactly what I wanted them to do. The Dems are going to force everyone in America to buy insurance and run the deficit up by another trillion. Exactly what I don't want them to do. I think Americans just want this whole debate to go away and have the President fired up about creating jobs.

Dems Race to Pass Health Care Reform Before the Tea Party Mobilizes

They have failed at so many deadlines I'm sure they won't get anything done before Easter. However, if they do somehow pass something before then I think these Tea Party demonstrations would be a sight to see.

Conservative activists across the country are planning to sponsor town hall meetings, rallies, debates and visits to district offices to voice their objections to the health care reform bill, starting as early as next week. The big push will come during the two-week congressional recess that starts March 29.

"We're gonna hit 'em when we know they're back in (the) district, and we're gonna hit 'em hard," said Tom Gaitens, a Tampa Tea Party organizer who coordinates with FreedomWorks.

I think I will attend a visit to a district office if they have one in Hawaii. It's time to make the Two Hawaii Dans understand that Americans don't want to buy insurance at the threat of jail time.

National Academy of Sciences Enters the Global Warming Advocacy Game

I guess certain scientists can't just do their work without having to "fight back" against skeptics.

Undaunted by a rash of scandals over the science underpinning climate change, top climate researchers are plotting to respond with what one scientist involved said needs to be “an outlandishly aggressively partisan approach” to gut the credibility of skeptics.

In private e-mails obtained by The Washington Times, climate scientists at the National Academy of Sciences say they are tired of “being treated like political pawns” and need to fight back in kind. Their strategy includes forming a nonprofit group to organize researchers and use their donations to challenge critics by running a back-page ad in the New York Times.

I think the "aggressively partisan approach" is more important then just getting the science right and clearing up the doubt that people toward their science. Their entire field has been given a black eye by all this and they want to form some non-profit to gut their critics.

One of the people in this "partisan approach" to science is Paul Ehrlich who sounds like a kinder, gentler Eugenicist that some environmental whackos just love:

Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb, which also included this interesting advice for governments of the future: that they should put “temporary sterilants” in the water supply and then closely regulate the antidote in order to choose who could reproduce and when. If he’s the leading light of AGW theory, that explains (a) why it’s not science-based at all but rather a screen for statist control, and (b) why it’s collapsing as a science.

Nothing like a call to dope the water supply of Third World and Asian countries (where there is population growth) with sterilants to put you right at the fringe of Red Skull level Eugenics. I wonder if the "racially pure" get to drink special water to avoid this fate? Maybe this Ehrlich was reading some long lost Nazi documents and had an "Ah Ha!" moment.

The Crazies Movie Review

The Crazies movie review posted.

Crazed Truther Tries to Shoot Up Pentagon

I'm glad they didn't tie this nutcase in with the Tea Party. He seems like the kind of insane Truther that liked to bother Bill Maher back in the day.

Bedell pulled a handgun at a Pentagon entrance, shot two police officers and was mortally wounded in an exchange of gunfire, authorities said. The two officers were hospitalized briefly with minor injuries.

A blog connected to Bedell via the social networking site LinkedIn outlines his growing distrust of the federal government. It gives credence to the idea that a criminal enterprise run out of the government could have staged the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The thing I didn't like was that CNN aired excerpts from this crazy persons manifesto this morning. Um, the last thing we want to do is publicize the words and musing of some crazy shooter. The last thing we want to do is make these people into pseudo-celebrities.

Why it is Not Good to Listen to Doctor Doom

Well, I certainly didn't listen to Nouriel Roubini and was able to catch quite a bit of this same rally myself.

And (since the recession wasn’t U-shaped, as Roubini said it would be) the right multiple to put on those earnings wasn’t 10 or 12, but something quite a bit higher. So instead of falling by 20% as Roubini predicted, stock prices have risen by 49% over the subsequent twelve months—one of the greatest one-year rallies in the history of publicly traded equities. Roubini’s clients must have been pleased with his advice.

I have to say that recoveries create the best sort of rallies. The old adage "when there is blood on the streets buy property." Just make sure you had your money out of the market when that blood was being spilled.

I think the only real thing that could derail growth now is a European debt crisis that moves from Greece then to Portugal, Spain, and to Ireland. That is a double dip recession automatically.

I am less worried about Obama's spending his way into the poorhouse now that the Dems are drinking their sake and lining up to crash their Zeros in the Battle for Obamacare. 2010 will see a either a changeover in the Congress or at least an obliteration of any meaningful Democratic spending scheme.

President Paul Ryan? Yeah I called it First

Holy crap, I think the GOP may have found their man to run against Obama in 2012. This guy has some radical plans to fix spending but he sounds like the kind of guy that could beat Obama handily.

What is the Ryan plan , and why is the Obama administration seemingly obsessed with it? Ryan calls his proposal, published in January, the Roadmap for America's Future. It's a remarkably comprehensive, daring manifesto that tackles every part of the budget on a presidential scale, from Social Security to tax policy to health-care reform.

The goal is to eliminate the deficit, and eventually all federal debt, without any crippling tax increases. Under Ryan's plan, for example, federal spending would reach just 24% of GDP in 2035 and then fall, vs. the CBO's projection of 34% and rising from there. Ryan would make the deficit disappear by mid-century.

A plan to reduce federal spending to 25% of GDP sounds like madness but if we can get rid of the deficit by the time I retire then I am all for it. I was figuring that we would have a permanent deficit like Japan. I love his health care reform plan myself.

His prescription for health care is radical: Ryan would eliminate the exclusion allowing companies to lavish on employees tax-free benefits and give the tax breaks to the workers themselves through a rebate of $5,700 a family, or a check for that amount if they don't pay taxes.

If they gave me $5700 check to buy my health insurance I would rejoice. First of all I would study every plan in existence and try to get the exact plan that fits my needs and then bank the rest of the money. The opportunity to put thousands of dollars in my pocket just for doing some homework on what Health Plan fits me best is well worth it.

"The problem with both Medicare and private plans is the third-party-payer system," says Ryan. "Consumers, spending their own money, will drive down prices." Ryan proposes a classic flat-tax solution: Americans could choose between using today's byzantine rules and a simplified, post-card model with two rates, 10% and 25%. Believe it or not, the simplified system would disallow mortgage and other deductions.

He also backs the Reagan-era simplified tax rates as well? If I can fill out a postcard and mail a check when it comes to doing my taxes I would elect this guy in a heartbeat. He also sounds like some kind of throwback to when Congressmen actually worked hard to perfect their craft.

In Washington he pursues an almost ascetic work ethic. He studies budgets and spreadsheets until 11:30 p.m., then crashes on his cot or on a mattress at his sister-in-law's home in Bethesda. He seldom travels to campaign for politicians in other states or to burnish his national image. Instead he grabs the first flight to Wisconsin after the last vote on Thursday or Friday to join his wife and three young children at home.

Now that is the kind of person I want running this country. He loves his family and he works his ass off. That work ethic sounds almost Lincoln-like in many ways. His first campaign slogan can be "Lincoln was the first Republican President and Paul Ryan will be your next one." Hmm maybe a Ryan/Petraeus ticket would be in the offing. "Lincoln and the General: For America's future!"

Plus he is a economics(!) and poli-sci major that went to Miami of Ohio and not some Ivy-league frat boy like Bush or Gore. He is well clear of that East Coast elite milieu that has done so much damage to our economy in recent years. This part sounds nuts as well:

Back in Washington on Monday mornings, and during the week, he leads about a dozen congressmen, including former football player Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), through a workout called P90X, a punishing bipartisan series of pushups, pull-ups, karate, and yoga.

This will give him a prime advantage if he has to get into a best 2 out of 3 falls cage-match with Putin. I like the idea that our President could literally beat the crap out of Ahmadinijoke or Kim Jong Il.

The Congress Just Hates Our Allies: Declares Turkey Genocidal

Um, why can't The Congress keep their damn mouths shut when it comes to bad-mouthing our long time allies.

The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted 23-22 to approve the non-binding resolution, which calls on President Barack Obama to ensure U.S. policy formally refers to the killings as genocide.

The action cleared the way for the measure to be considered by the full House but it was unclear whether it would actually come to a vote there. The Obama administration and Turkey had pressed lawmakers to drop the matter.

The vote triggered an immediate condemnation from Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who recalled Turkey's ambassador to Washington for consultations. Erdogan said he worried the measure would harm Turkish-U.S. ties and efforts by Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia to end a century of hostility.

The idiot Dems just can't let things that happened nearly a 100 years ago stay buried. The Ottoman Empire might have committed genocide of the Armenians but there is no reason to rub Turkey's nose in it.

It is as if the Turks passed a bill stating we committed genocide against Native Americans. They would be right but who are they to comment about it in their Parliament.

All I can think of is that the Congress still thinks that the Ottoman Sultan is still in charge in Istanbul. I bet the next thing they are going to do is bring Mehmed VI in front of a criminal court and try him for crimes against humanity. Wait, he died in 1926.

Maybe that idiot Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman D-CA can round up some 100+ year old Turks and try them instead. What a joke these Dems are.

He should know that this is a sore point with the Turks and there is absolutely nothing to be gained by bringing it up. They are one of our only Muslim allies in the area and all this does is antagonize them. I think Obama needs to come out and condemn this action immediately to prevent further damage. Then we need Congress to get back into the hands of people that do not alienate our allies.

Ousted Studio Heads Sue Activision

I can understand their claim because they are going to get a ton of royalties from Modern Warfare 2 or any other games in that franchise. I can see the company cooking up some phony excuse and getting cheaper talent in there to make any other Modern Warfare games.

Two game studio heads fired by Activision this week are suing the video game publisher, saying it let them go to avoid paying hefty royalties from the popular "Call of Duty."

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, Jason West and Vince Zampella are seeking damages "in excess of $36 million," as well as future royalties.

This should be the talk of the gaming world once it goes to trial.

The Tea Party Wins Again: Rick Perry Wins Handily in Texas

This Tea Party Movement is really gaining some traction.

Perry handily defeated his main primary challenger, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, by a 13-point margin, and his 51 percent share of the vote meant that the two heavy hitters in Texas politics wouldn't have to weather a run-off later this summer.

Even if you are a long time Senator you will still be tarred with the Washington elite. I think every incumbent need to watch themselves or some Tea Party Outsider is going to oust them from power. I think Great Silent Majority of Nixon fame is finally starting to flex their muscles.

UAV Detected: Drones Showing Up More Often on Battlefields

It seems that the era of the piloted recon mission is coming to an end.

Just a few years ago, drones occupied only a fraction of the airspace over Iraq and Afghanistan, much to the chagrin of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who wanted to institutionalize the capability within the Pentagon and the Air Force, in particular. Mr. Gates at one point said it was like “pulling teeth” to get the Air Force to respond to the demand of today’s wars and to field platforms such as drones. Now, planes like the MQ-1 Predator or the MQ-9 Reaper are far more ubiquitous, and the demand for their imagery isn’t going away.

Gates pretty much doesn't like piloted missions in billion dollar aircraft and loves unmanned missions in million dollar drones. I can see where he is going with this because you don't need giant airfields to launch a drone. You just need a forward operating base and a dirt runway. Then you control the thing from Las Vegas. Too bad it is taking away a flesh and blood pilots job.

Infinity Ward Founder Fired by Activision for Insubordination

Now this might be cause to go short the stock depending on what it does to any planned Modern Warfare 3 games or upcoming map packs or add-ons.

Last night reports began to spread across the Internet that something was happening at Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward's offices. G4 then reported on a tip that non-uniformed "bouncers" showed up at Infinity Ward's offices, and refused to answer questions from employees. Soon after, it became clear that cofounder Jason West has left the company, either forcibly or by his own choice.

Wow, talk about a heavy handed move to get rid of one of the co-founders of the company that created some of your biggest hits. If his creative team follows him out the door then there might be some doubt about a Modern Warfare 3 being half-way decent.

If you think about it in terms of a company like Apple. It is as if the IPhone division head was suddenly escorted out of the building by thugs after making nearly a $1 billion on a new release. That can't be good for the stock price going forward.

Part of the Reason Why Industrial Towns Are Shutting Down

This is an interesting article about the town of Ravenswood West Virginia turning into a ghost town because the aluminum plant there is shutting down. I found this part striking:

The plant paid Tim Shumaker his first living wage, and he won the right to keep it two decades ago after his union was locked out for 19 months.

Today, that victory seems hollow. Shumaker, 49, has been laid off. Part of the vast aluminum complex is closed, and the rest is for sale — its orders down, its workforce reduced, its future uncertain. Shumaker stands at the locked plant gate and, after a year without work, worries what's next for him and his community. "The way things are going," he says, "there's not going to be anything here."

That first sentence is exactly why aluminum plants are moving to Brazil or where ever. The union sets the wages too high and contains all sorts of pension problems for the parent company so they shut down the plant and move to a place where cheaper workers live.

Too bad there is no tax incentive to keep this plant in the US instead of moving it. I mean the Red Chinese are throwing cash at their companies so that they can expand. While America is trying to run their companies out of business on behalf of the unions.

Gatorade Bails on Tiger Woods

Well, I think he might have only Nike left by the time he gets back on the green.

“We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship,” a Gatorade spokeswoman said. “We wish him all the best.”

I think Nike has too much invested in their golf line to cut Tiger loose yet. In any case this is a fall from grace that is almost unprecedented.

Wall Street's New Sport: Curling?

Well, I certainly enjoy curling but who would have thought that major Wall Street types would be enjoying it as well.

People at Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and even the Treasury Department have gone a bit curling crazy. Terms like “kizzle kazzle” — a curling stone that is wobbled to compensate for slush on the ice — have suddenly entered the Wall Street lexicon. CNBC’s ratings have gotten a boost, too.

CNBC is the background noise at many trading houses and curling is just the sort of game that appeals to precision minded investors. The "chess on ice" aspect should also appeal to those strategists out there. The funny part is that if they put curling on USA or MSNBC then this would not have even been an issue. Now I wonder if we will end up seeing "Goldman Sachs presents the US Curling National Championships" anytime soon?

CNN Poll Shows that People are Dead Set Against the Dem Health Insurance Bill

I think Obama needs to embrace "Plan B" and a more scaled down bill if he wants to hold onto control of Congress at the end of this year. These polls show that people just don't want the Democrat Bill.

On the other hand, asked what Congress should do on health care -- pass the current bill, start work on an entirely new bill, or stop working on the issue altogether -- a huge majority opposes the Democratic proposal now on the table. Just 25 percent of those surveyed want to see the bill passed. Forty-eight percent want Congress to start over, and 25 percent want lawmakers to stop working on health care altogether. Put those last two together, and an overwhelming majority of 73 percent do not want Congress to pass the current bill.

This is based on a CNN poll as well so you know the real numbers might be even higher. People don't see the rush in getting this done by March or whatever arbitrary date they have set for themselves. No good can come of trying to use the "nuclear option" to pass something that only 25% of the people support.

Iron-Assed 7 1/2 Hours of Health-Care Summit Creates No Change

Well, at least you can give them credit for sitting for 7 1/2 hours in what seemed to be terrible hard backed chairs. Too bad they didn't do this last August right before the Tea Party stuff maybe the people would be behind this posturing.

The top two Democrats on Capitol Hill said they would press forward on health overhaul legislation with or without bipartisan support, which would mean using a legislative process known as reconciliation. "We need to have the courage to get this job done, and we will," Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said after the meeting. She said she was hopeful that Republicans and Democrats would work together, but added she was "not overly optimistic."

At least they put in the leg-work required to sell this Kabuki Theater to the American People. Now the Dems are simply going to cram it right down our throats. I guess they made the calculation the health care takeover is worth losing their jobs over. Oh well the new GOP controlled Congress will just wait 2 years before they overturn whatever the Dems pass.

The Dork From Office Might be Captain America?

I guess it's going to be a comedy or some Daredevil BS type of movie.

Those known to be on the list with Krasinski include Michael Cassidy (who appeared in "Smallvile" and who tested for the Superman movie when McG was going to direct it), Patrick Flueger (one of the stars of " The 4400 " who most recently appeared in the Tobey Maguire movie " Brothers "), Scott Porter (TV's " Friday Night Lights "), Wilson Bethel (" Generation Kill ") and Mike Vogel (" Cloverfield ").

It seems they don't want any sort of big name actor doing the movie. I mean that John Krasinski guy fits the body type but all I have seen him do is dorky comedy roles like in Leatherheads. Maybe they will get a decent actor to play the Red Skull.

First Appearance of Batman Fetches a Million

It seems that the comics secondary market might be getting a little upsurge.

The Dallas-based auction house said the rare copy of Detective Comics No. 27 sold for a total of $1,075,500, which includes the buyer's premium, to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous. The consigner wanted to remain anonymous as well.

"It pretty much blew away all of our expectations and now it's the highest price ever raised for a comic book," said Barry Sandoval, director of operations of Heritage's comics division.

Remember, like artwork a rare comic is more precious than gold because they can't be reproduced. You can always mine more gold or recycle existing gold. You can't get more Detective Comics #27s printed in 1939. As we go forward we might see these expensive books go even higher as a hedge against inflation and a diversification tool.

Shutter Island Review Posted

Check out My Shutter Island Review

Nintendo Launches Large Screen DS called the DSi XL

Well, it looks like I might purchase the first Nintendo hand-held since the Gameboy.

Todd Greenwald of Signal Hill Capital said the new DS device may suffer from comparisons to the iPhone, which can be had for $10 more and offers many games for 99 cents or less.

"I think that makes the DS a tough sell at $189, with games going for $30-35," he said in an e-mail interview.

The DSi XL will launch at stores on March 28, at a price of $189. That's about $20 more than the price for the current DSi. The DSi XL has two screens -- one touch-sensitive -- that are about 93% larger than the screens on the previous version.

I have to disagree with Todd Greenwald though because the iPhone is not really a gaming device in the same category as the DSi. Most of the people buying this new DSi XL will be parents purchasing them for their kids. I don't see many parents buying their kids an iPhone for gaming or even general use.

Also most of the iPhone games are cheap for a reason because they aren't much more then a quicky diversion. The DSi games are are much more robust and usually worth the $30 price tags. Also even though they might be popular to some I have never heard of a "must-have" iPhone game that justifies the monthly data fee and the AT&T plan. Here is the Japanese box for the DSi CL. Hopefully they come in better colors than this one.

5 Ways to Be Happy

This is a very interesting article on what makes people happy according to a study. Here are the 5 things:

1. Be grateful - Some study participants were asked to write letters of gratitude to people who had helped them in some way. The study found that these people reported a lasting increase in happiness - over weeks and even months - after implementing the habit. What's even more surprising: Sending the letter is not necessary. Even when people wrote letters but never delivered them to the addressee, they still reported feeling better afterwards.

2. Be optimistic - Another practice that seems to help is optimistic thinking. Study participants were asked to visualize an ideal future - for example, living with a loving and supportive partner, or finding a job that was fulfilling - and describe the image in a journal entry. After doing this for a few weeks, these people too reported increased feelings of well-being.

3. Count your blessings - People who practice writing down three good things that have happened to them every week show significant boosts in happiness, studies have found. It seems the act of focusing on the positive helps people remember reasons to be glad.

4. Use your strengths - Another study asked people to identify their greatest strengths, and then to try to use these strengths in new ways. For example, someone who says they have a good sense of humor could try telling jokes to lighten up business meetings or cheer up sad friends. This habit, too, seems to heighten happiness.

5. Commit acts of kindness - It turns out helping others also helps ourselves. People who donate time or money to charity, or who altruistically assist people in need, report improvements in their own happiness.
Lyubomirsky has also created an iPhone application, called Live Happy, to help people boost their well-being.

What the Dems Need to do in Order to Hold onto Congress

I think every Dem needs to print out this article from a pollster for Clinton named
Douglas E. Schoen if they want to keep their jobs in November. This part alone will probably keep many of them in power:

These policies include a broad-based payroll tax holiday, building from the one Sens. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) have embraced, an extension of the Bush tax cuts, educational initiatives to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs, and tax policies that provide clear incentives to small businesses to get started and to hire new employees. Of late, President Obama has paid lip-service to the concept of creating private-sector jobs, but there is much more he can and should do to become the "jobs president" rather than the "health-care president."

Keep the Bush tax cuts or even broaden them and call them the Obama Tax Cuts and then doing these other things would be a real "jobs bill." Mark my words if Obama gets on the side of small businessmen and actually backs reasons for them to create new jobs he will win a second term in a land-slide. That payroll tax holiday alone if structured correctly would create millions of jobs.

However, if the "jobs bill" turns out to be an extention of unemployment insurance, and a bunch of infrastructure spending in 2012 then just about any Republican other then Sarah Palin would beat him handily. He can't afford to have unemployement as high as it is for 2 more years.

A Way to Make Money from Your Car Using V2G Tech?

V2G means vehicle to grid and a proof-of-concept car has just been introduced.

When V2G becomes more widespread, the power could be drawn from millions of vehicles plugged into sockets in home garages or from commercial fleets, such as the US Postal Service's vans, for a much smaller footprint than that of the power plants.

Grid management companies like PJM Interconnection currently pay around 30 dollars an hour when taking power from a car.

The idea that you can plug your car in for like 12 hours and earn $360 a day sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I wonder how much companies like PJM Interconnection is selling that power back to the power companies for?

Also it would be interesting to generate power and store it by just having the wheels of the car move as well. Then you can sell even more power to these companies. In any case being paid to plug in your car is the exact incentive that will make electric cars take off in the US.

Obama Might Doom his Party With Health Care Throat Ram

I can't believe how this guy does everything he can to damage his party.

The White House signaled Thursday that an aggressive, all-Democratic strategy for overhauling the nation's health care system remains a serious option, even as President Barack Obama invites Republicans to next week's televised summit to seek possible compromises.

The administration's stance could set the stage for a political showdown, with Democrats struggling to enact the president's top domestic priority and Republicans trying to block what many conservatives see as government overreach.

So this invite the Republicans health care summit is just for show? Are Dem committed to destroying any chance of holding on to the Congress? Reconciliation will be painted as a plan to sneak something through that the American people have been against for months now. There is no way that they can spin it in any other way. They will be painted as giving Americans something they do not want and then being forced to "cheat" to do it. Expect a landslide in Midterm elections that will make 1994 seem tame.

Which Book Inspired the Death of 60 Million People?

I thought it would be Main Kampf or the Mao's Little Red Book but it turns out to be Silent Spring written by Rachel Carson.

The resulting explosion of mosquito-borne malaria in Africa has claimed over sixty million lives. This was not a gradual process – a surge of infection and death happened almost immediately. The use of DDT reduces the spread of mosquito-borne malaria by fifty to eighty percent, so its discontinuation quickly produced an explosion of crippling and fatal illness. The same environmental movement which has been falsifying data, suppressing dissent, and reading tea leaves to support the global-warming fraud has studiously ignored this blood-drenched “hockey stick” for decades.

This was another case of junk science that caused alarmists to ban something that kept millions of people from dying due to malaria. I find it strange that environmentalists care so much about whether you separate your plastics from your other garbage and don't care about trying to stop people from dying in Africa. It is almost as if they actually want "unsustainable" people to die off in such numbers.

12 New Gadgets Found at the International Toy Fair

Most of them look pretty dorky except for this one:

Dunecraft just introduced the Hydro-Dome, allowing kids and adults alike to grow and clone plants in a hydroponic garden. This pint-sized dome was designed after real-life bubbler systems to create the optimal growing environment.

Now this would be something cool to have growing on your kitchen table.

Obama Defends Failed Stimulus to the End

I think he should just give up defending this failed bill since no-one other then him believes it was anything but a giant waste of money.

Obama even delighted in recounting a section of his State of the Union address last month in which he talked of the tax cuts from the stimulus plan and watched Republican lawmakers fail to applaud the idea.

"They were all kind of squirming in their seats ... It was interesting to watch," Obama said.

Yeah, I wouldn't rush to my feet to just clap about an extra $13 in your paycheck either. I still think they should have just took that $787 billion and divided it evenly among every tax payer in the form of a check for $2000. Then used the left over and given it to the states or something.

Imagine all of the debt that could have been paid off with that money alone. A family with a few kids could get rid of all of their credit card debt in one fell swoop. Even if people saved the money (which I would have done) it would have been a pretty easy way to create some cushion for many people. Some people would have blown it on a TV or something but that is still "stimulus."

Captain America Slanders the Tea Party Movement

Well, that will pretty much do it for Marvel Comics from here on in. They can't keep their liberal ideas out of the comics then DC will gladly all of my future comics money. This charge that all Tea Party protesters are racist is simply beyond the pale:

Issue 602 of the comic features Captain America investigating a right-wing anti-government militia group called "the Watchdogs". Hoping to infiltrate the group, Captain America and his African-American sidekick The Falcon observe an anti-tax protest from a rooftop. The protestors depicted are all white and carry signs adorned with slogans almost identical to those seen today in Tea Party rallies like "tea bag libs before they tea bag you" and "stop the socialists."

The Falcon mentions that the gathering appears to be "some kind of anti-tax protest" and notes that "this whole 'hate the government' vibe isn't limited to the Watchdogs." He then tells Captain America that he doesn't think their plan will work because "I don't exactly see a black man from Harlem fitting in with a bunch of angry white folks." Captain America then explains that his plan entails sending The Falcon in among the group posing as an IRS agent under the thinking that a black government official will most certainly spark their anger.

Until they fire Joe Quesada the Marvel Comics editor-in-chief I have bought my last Marvel book. His sad-assed mea culpa is a joke:

Quesada then went on to say that Marvel would "apologize for and own up to" a series of "stupid mistakes" that led to them "accidentally identifying" one of the members of the protest group "as being a part of the Tea Party instead of a generic protest group." He explained that they were on deadline to get the issue to the printer for publication, and in the course of sending it off it was noticed that the signs in the scene contained no words or phrases. He said the editor then asked the letterer to "fudge in some quick signs" and that in the "rush to get the book out of the door," the letterer "looked on the net and started pulling slogans" from signs captured in photographs at Tea Party protests in order to make them appear "believable."

They were rushing so they "fudged some quick signs" that accidentally slandered the Tea Party movement as a bunch of racists. They could have written just about anything they wanted on those signs but chose to put Tea Party slogans on it.

It then had to have been checked by Quesada before it was passed to the printer so he can't say it was the letterers fault. Instead of a quick call to change that sign to something else and then 5 minutes with PhotoShop Quesada passed it through. His far-left liberal views get old fast and there really isn't a reason to read a Marvel book until he is out on his ass.

Obama Changes his Tone About Wall Street

Hmm, maybe the idea of turning his back on all that campaign money from hedge funds and banks is finally starting to change his thinking.

The president, speaking in an interview, said in response to a question that while $17 million is “an extraordinary amount of money” for Main Street, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”

“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview yesterday in the Oval Office with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.”

It all comes down to the fact that almost no one on Main Street can effectively do Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein job. Just like these same people cannot hope to do A-Rods job. So these CEOs are paid in a way that is commensurate with their skills. If they weren't running their companies there is pretty good chance that they could set up their own Hedge Funds and make millions that way instead.

The whole idea that Dimon and Blankfein caused this mess is absurd. It was the unregulated multi-trillion dollar derivatives market that was most of the problem. You add to this the ratings agencies that were running up profits by giving liar loans an A+ rating and things get even worse. The people at fault were Democrat and Republican, Wall Street players, the home builders and that idiot on Main Street that signed that liar loan in the first place. So it is good to see Obama backing off the bankers at least a little bit.

The Air Force in Afghanistan

This is a pretty interesting up close look at flying logistics in Afghanistan is like.

Without the U.S. Air Force, we would need thousands more troops here just to run convoys, and bringing in those troops would require more convoys to supply their needs. It’s okay to use contractors to bring supplies in from Pakistan or from the north, but driving up into those mountains and other remote locations would be suicidal.

Amnesty International is Pro Taliban?

It seems that way according to a letter sent to their headquarters by one of their members:

Gita Sahgal, head of the gender unit at Amnesty’s international secretariat, believes that collaborating with Moazzam Begg, a former British inmate at Guantanamo Bay, “fundamentally damages” the organisation’s reputation.

In an email sent to Amnesty’s top bosses, she suggests the charity has mistakenly allied itself with Begg and his “jihadi” group, Cageprisoners, out of fear of being branded racist and Islamophobic.

Sahgal describes Begg as “Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban”. He has championed the rights of jailed Al-Qaeda members and hate preachers, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the alleged spiritual mentor of the Christmas Day Detroit plane bomber.

I wonder if Amnesty International is also against the brutality toward women by the Taliban? I mean it doesn't take much to see how badly treated women when they were in power. I guess a Jihadi scumbag rotting in Guantanamo is more worthy of their attention then some 12 year girl in the Taliban held parts of Afghanistan.

Obama's Major Failing: The Chicago Way

Ah even the Los Angeles Times is starting to turn on Obama by saying his problem is too much of the Chicago way.

Warning that Obama needs to take action quickly, Clemons adds that needed advice from a broader range of advisers "is getting twisted either in the rough-and-tumble of a a team of rivals operation that is not working, or is being distorted by the Chicago political gang's tactical advice that is seducing Obama towards a course that has not only violated deals he made with those who voted him into office but which is failing to hit any of the major strategic targets by which the administration will be historically measured."

Yup, he is getting the worst of all worlds. First he isn't getting any advice from people that might actually help him achieve goals and they are missing targets one after another. I found this part especially telling:

For instance, remember how much we heard all last year about the need for healthcare legislation before early August, before October, before Thanksgiving, before Christmas, before the State of the Union? And how spanked the White House was by the Massachusetts Senate upset that Obama said his laser-vision for 2010 was on jobs and the economy?

So, what did he announce during a Super Bowl interview? More healthcare meetings, designed to politically box Republicans into the No-Nothing corner.

Then they try to paper over all the graft and special closed door deals in the Health Care bills which is just par-for-the-course for Chicago. I think Obama needs to realize that the majority of Americans hate Chicago style politics and will rather throw the bums out in 2010 rather then continue to endure it.

If Obama actually wants to win a second term he needs to eject all of the Chicago people from the cabinet and start listening to other voices that will work with him to actually achieve goals. He also needs to be less arrogant and condescending if that is possible.

Baidu Hammers Earnings

I guess Baidu is well on the way to being the Google of China even though Google has admitted that they are going to stay in China.

Sales rose 39.8% to $184.7 million, 2.6% over views, as customers adopted Baidu's new "Phoenix Nest," advertising platform.

"This year ended on a positive note as Phoenix Nest's better-than-anticipated performance helped us to exceed expectations for the fourth quarter," said Baidu CEO Robin Li, in a statement released after the market closed.

For its first quarter Baidu said it expects sales of between $176 million and $181 million. Analysts expected $170.23 million.

I like that revenue estimate increase as well. What was really interesting was how various Chinese interviewed about Google said that they wouldn't miss it or barely use it. It would be interesting to see the market share break down going forward.

The Battle of Marja Begins

Hmm, this could be an actual turning point in the Afghan war much like Fallujah was in the Iraq war.

But U.S. and Afghan officials know that die-hard Taliban forces have been burying hundreds of improvised explosive devices around the town in recent weeks. "It's giving time and space to those who want to fight to dig in," says Ali Jalali, who served as Afghanistan's first post-Taliban Interior Minister and now works with the Pentagon's National Defense University in Washington. "It could be very bloody, and that could affect public opinion in Europe and the U.S."

I hope they have the escape routes hemmed in because city fighting is the worst kind of fighting. Luckily unlike Stalingrad or Huế the Taliban do not have armies in reserve to envelope any attacking Americans.

Iran Moves Closer to the Getting the Bomb

Still the world fools around and sits on its hands.

Iran pressed ahead Monday with plans that will increase its ability to make nuclear weapons as it formally informed the U.N. nuclear agency of its intention to enrich uranium to higher levels.

Alarmed world powers questioned the rationale behind the move and warned the country it could face more U.N. sanctions if it made good on its intentions.

I'm seeing a hot war between them and Israel before the end of the year if they keep pushing forward on this. Too bad the Green Revolution hasn't swept these madmen from power yet.

Card Check Might Get Shoved into "Jobs" Bill

I wonder if the Dems are going to see middle of the night voting and other rush tactics to get the jobs bill through without anyone reading it?

On labor law, Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO’s legislative director, said the union would try to enlist moderate Republicans but acknowledged the difficulty of achieving a bipartisan bill. He said the federation might consider “other tactics,” meaning the card-check legislation or key parts of it could be placed into a larger jobs bill this year.

Yup, the AFL-CIO will put their industry killing bill right in with the "jobs bill" and dare the GOP to go against "finding jobs for out of work Americans." Thank God for the bloggers because they will have to be the ones to catch this fast one in any "jobs bill" going forward.

How Anti-Banker Rhetoric Hurts Small Business

This is the result of all that talk about "Fat cat bankers" that Obama always throws around.

The source told me that the reason the program has not been officially utilized was twofold.

One, almost every potential participant declined to cooperate because they didn't want the stigma of using TARP funds given the tremendous public anger towards Wall Street and resentment about the $700 billion bailout.

Yup, they didn't want to perticipate in a TARP program to help small businesses because they didn't want the stigma (and the strings) attached to the money. This is what happens when you talk about "bank taxes" and other crap when small businesses need loans. What is also bad is that Obama wants banks to "pay back every penny" through his asinine tax even though they have already paid pack all the money with interest.

Some of these small businesses are afraid that they will end up paying a "TARP money utilization tax." I mean some small businessmen who make over $250,000 might still be hit with a tax to pay for some other guys insurance. Mark my words, this uncertainty is going to strangle the recovery for years.

The Answer to Bipartisan Health Care Summit

It seems that the GOP can start to throw their weight around again. Gridlock is what makes Washington do its own thing while Americans can go about their business1.

Just as important, scrapping the House and Senate health care bills would help end the uncertainty they are creating for workers and businesses and thus strengthen our shared commitment to focusing on creating jobs. Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today that the President is “absolutely not” resetting the legislative process for health care.

If they start over and craft an actual bipartisan bill that puts some GOP parts in like capping lawsuits while keeping in Dem things like a National Health Care exchange would be a good step forward. If it is more Obama "bipartisanship" that amounts to I'll listen to your ideas and then do my own thing then forget it.

First Conan vs. Leno now Racism in the Lunchroom: NBC Can't Buy a Clue

I would hate to be an NBC exec right about now.

So who at NBC thought it would be a good idea for the special today to be, among other things, fried chicken, “in honor of Black History Month”?

Because, spoiler alert – it wasn’t a good idea at all. And now NBCU employee Questlove is bringing it to the attention of his 1 million plus Twitter followers.

Questlove, the band leader and drummer for The Roots (the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) tweeted this picture from the NBC Commissary at 30 Rock, with the comment: “Hmm HR?”

I think the next thing NBC is going to do is make Brian Williams to do his newscast in blackface to "make things more ethnic." I guess the obligatory apology form letter has been sent to black leaders who won't raise an uproar since it was NBC and not Fox News.

What the Glaciers Aren't Melting? Time to Sell that Beachfront Land in Idaho

This is exactly why this whole Global Warming thing is such a joke.

But so what? His musings were wafted upwards through the New Scientist to the World Wildlife Fund to the IPCC to a global fait accompli: the glaciers are disappearing. Everyone knows that. You’re not a denier, are you? India’s environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, says there was not “an iota of scientific evidence” to support the 2035 claim. Yet that proved no obstacle to its progress through the alarmist establishment. Dr. Murari Lal, the “scientist” who included the 2035 glacier apocalypse in the IPCC report, told Britain’s Mail on Sunday that he knew it wasn’t based on “peer-reviewed science” but “we thought we should put it in”—for political reasons.

So some speculation by a glacier scientist (man that sounds like a boring job) went from an article in New Scientist to a WWF report to the IPCC report and was taken as an undeniable fact? No one checked anything on the way up the chain? I think they need to tear everything down and build the science anew like when drug research fails. Then they can get it right without trying to see who lied or who was speculating and when.

Obama about to Throw in the Towel on Health Care

Now everyone understands why it was such a hurry to get this done. There was a deadline by August, then it passed to the Holiday Recess, then it passed to the State of the Union. Now it just passed on it seems.

"And it may be that ... if Congress decides we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not," the president said. "And that's how democracy works. There will be elections coming up, and they'll be able to make a determination and register their concerns."

I think taking his eye off of jobs and the economy and spending all your political capital foolishly on something that 70% of Americans don't care about may just put Obama into the bottom 1/3 of Presidents so far. I hope the President understands that if you really want something and will take the hit for not getting it don't outsource it to Pelosi and Reid.

An Apology Considered too "populist" by IPCC head

This has to be the lamest excuse for not admitting to egregious falsehoods in their 2007 climate report.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said it would be hypocritical to apologise for the false claim that ­Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035, because he was not personally responsible for that part of the report. "You can't expect me to be personally responsible for every word in a 3,000 page report," he said.

The IPCC issued a statement that expressed regret for the mistake, but Pachauri said a personal apology would be a "populist" step.

"I don't do too many populist things, that's why I'm so unpopular with a certain section of society," he said.

Um, assclown Pachauri the "certain section of society" that you sneer at are going to bear the burden of all the new "carbon taxes" that go from the First World to pay for for the Hind Attack Helicopters of 3rd World dictators.

Also a "populist" step would be to apologize like a man when your agency screws up and includes lies in the most important report they have ever published. He needs to step down right now before he gets a no-confidence vote and has to join the populist scumbags again.

Obama Talks Crap About Vegas

You would think that Obama being from Hawaii would soften his anti-Vegas rhetoric but I guess he just can't help himself.

"You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage," Obama said. "You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices."

The comments quickly sparked a flurry of reaction from federal, state and local lawmakers in the Silver State, which had an unemployment rate of 13 percent in December.

I guess he wants the Vegas unemployed rate to reach the same heights as Detroit or something. I'm sure he knows that people "blowing money in Vegas" is what keeps that town in business.

It is true that Americans need to prioritize their money but who is Obama to tell them what to spend that money on? As long as their decision doesn't hurt the economy as a whole (like taking out a liar loan on a house they can't afford then walking away from the mortgage) then who cares if they shoot dice with their kids college money.

I love this Mayor of Vegas, Oscar Goodman's, skewer as well:

"He has to step up right away and say, you know, he wasn't thinking," Goodman said. "Sometimes when he's not using his monitors and reading what he says, he doesn't think. And this is one of those times he didn't think, and he should straighten out the record because he's been here, he knows Las Vegas is a great place."

Why are we Pissing off Our Banker (Red Chinese) By Selling Arms to Taiwan?

When I read this article I thought it was dated during the Bush years or something but it does say that it was Obama that approved these arms sales to Taiwan.

In the meeting with U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said the arms package for Taiwan "constitutes a gross intervention into China's internal affairs," according to a foreign-ministry statement. China is "extremely indignant," it said.

Beijing previously suspended military exchanges with the U.S. after George W. Bush authorized a separate weapons package for Taiwan in October 2008. But military ties were re-established last year and had been gradually mending before the Obama administration announced the latest arms sale Friday.

I thought Obama was supposed to be the great intentional healer but instead he pisses off the Red Chinese by selling arms to their so-called "break-away province?" I guess this is some Chicago style politics as revenge for China making Obama look like a doof at the Copenhagen Climate Klatch last year.

Burger King "Super-Fan" Demographics Change with Recession

It seems that going after "super-fans" ie 18 - 34 year old males might not be a good idea during a recession.

For five years, Burger King Holdings Inc. was on a roll, successfully courting its "super fans" -- 18- to 34-year-olds who account for half of all visits to Burger King restaurants.

Thanks to high unemployment and healthier eating habits, those super fans haven't been so super lately. Burger King has felt the impact more acutely than its main rival, McDonald's Corp., whose sales are growing.

Couple this with the fact that much of the "super-fan" demographic is now unemployed at a record rate and you have the recipe for an earnings decline. I guess eating Ramen that is $1.23 per serving might be a better deal then even a $5 value meal.

IPCC Climate Change Document Uses World Wildlife Fund Report as Evidence

Why is the head of the IPCC still in his job? This mess up is like having Goldman Sachs publishing the GDP data for the US.

A STARTLING report by the United Nations climate watchdog that global warming might wipe out 40% of the Amazon rainforest was based on an unsubstantiated claim by green campaigners who had little scientific expertise.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in its 2007 benchmark report that even a slight change in rainfall could see swathes of the rainforest rapidly replaced by savanna grassland.

Actually Goldman has economists on staff so maybe that is an unfair comparison. Maybe this latest Climate Change screw-up is more like having TMZ publishing the GDP report. If these guys have any credibility left it just got siphoned away. The idea of an environmental pressure group writing part of your Climate Change report is beyond the pale.