The Onion Preview of the 2010 Season is here!
Gregg Easterbrook has his all Haiku preview up as well
Bloodstar
Liberals and Libertarians on Everything and Nothing
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BloodstarLiberals and Libertarians on Everything and Nothing |
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Gregg Easterbrook has his all Haiku preview up as well
The same groups that pushed for the austerity packages, are the same groups now punishing the countries because the austerity measures are tearing the economy to shreds.
Irish and Portuguese government bonds fell, pushing the yields on 10-year securities to records versus benchmark German bunds, on concern European banks are vulnerable to losses on their holdings of so-called peripheral euro-region debt.
The extra yield investors demand to hold Greek 10-year government bonds rather than benchmark bunds reached the highest level in four months. Pacific Investment Management Co. fund manager Andrew Bosomworth said yesterday the Mediterranean nation faces a “substantial” default risk when its bailout program expires in three years.
This is going to get much worse.
Consider the implications of these polls
Do you think government spending should be increased to help get business out of its present slump?
37% Yes
63% No
In your opinion which will do more to get us out of the depression: increase government spending, or reduce taxes on business?
15% Increase government spending
63% Reduce taxes on business
21% No opinion
When were these polls taken?
Gallup Poll, Mar, 1938
Just something to chew on
(HT: Krugman)
I’m… dubious about this one
“The Sandman,” the Neil Gaiman-written comic book series considered a seminal work in the medium, is in the early stages of being developed into a TV series.
Warner Bros. TV is in the midst of acquiring television rights from sister company DC Entertainment and in talks with several writer-producers about adapting the 1990s comic. At the top of the list is Eric Kripke, creator of the CW’s horror-tinged “Supernatural.”
We’ll see, but I can see things going horribly wrong if they’re not reeeeeally careful. In fact, I can imagine it being made into a Saturday morning cartoon and whoever being responsible being promptly burned at the stake by crazed Gaiman fans.
While I continue working and thinking about the various Senate races, Charlie Cook writes that he feels the likely hood of a Republican takeover of the Senate is growing in possibility:
For much of this year, it seemed a near mathematical impossibility that Republicans could score the 10-seat net gain needed to flip the Senate, which is split between 59 Democrats (including two independents who caucus with Democrats and largely vote with the party) and 41 Republicans. As recently as six weeks ago, I wrote in a CongressDailyAM column that a GOP win was “certainly possible” but “still fairly unlikely.” Although the “fairly unlikely” part is still valid, the possibility of a GOP takeover is growing.
Without going into detail of individual races, I think there are several arguments against a GOP takeover of the Senate. And while it’s always possible that the sentiment could continue to grow and precipitate a GOP Senate, I have some serious doubts.
1) The Enthusiasm gap. Republicans are fired up, Democrats aren’t, and a lot of the polls are picking up on this lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Democrats. However I think the gap can and will be closed significantly by GOTV operations that will help persuade unenthusiastic Democrats to get out there and vote.
1a) A Fear Factor. In addition to GOTV operations, you have a deep seated worry among groups of people that a Republican Party takeover will be a very bad event. As such, people who otherwise wouldn’t bother to vote, may get out and vote against the Republican party.
2) Tea Party Fatigue. Ironically, the very fact that enthusiasm is so high could work against the Republican party. Both by motivating people to stop the Republicans (see 1a) and maintaining that level of enthusiasm for another 2 will be extremely difficult. Mind you, there could be other events that continue to whip the Republican party into a frenzy, but assuming that nothing else significant happens, you could see that enthusiasm wane.
3) Control of the Narrative. Things have been a perfect storm for the Democrats. The economy is still weak, there have been events that motivate the Republican base (Park 51, terror anchor babies) and the Democrats have had problems from their left flank because the hard core Democrats are angry that more hasn’t been done to promote their agenda. If the Democrats can actually take the time to point out what they have been able to accomplish, and wrench control of the narrative and point out that the accomplishments could be in danger if the Republicans gain control of the House and Senate, they’ll be able to work on the enthusiasm gap.
4) Independents… aren’t. The Republican party has had a declining percentage over the last 4 – 6 years, with a number of Tea party activists refusing to identify as Republican and instead declaring themselves to be independent; even though most of them will vote Republican in the election. So, do you count them as independent, Republican? Having a higher percentage of people decide to self identify as Independent, even if they vote Republican leads to all sorts of issues, which leads to…
4a) Pollster fun. This leads to a really tricky problem for pollsters. After all, I believe most likely voter models are based on the idea that turn out for the current election will track relatively close to the turn out of previous elections. This number is then massaged by a likely voter model. If the pollsters aren’t careful, pollsters run the risk of over counting Republican turnout and/or over counting Independent votes for Republicans.
Of course, ultimately, with the economy still struggling, it’s going to be difficult for the Party in office to win, no matter who was responsible for the tanking of the economy in the first place. If you’re in charge and things are bad, you get blamed. Is that enough to push the House and Senate to Republican control? It depends on how long the memories of people are, and if they’re willing to give Obama, and the Democrats, more time.
I disagree with most of her policies, particularly when it comes to immigration, but I almost feel sorry for Jan Brewer after this train wreck of a opening to her debate
I don’t know what effect something like this will have on independent voters, but I can imagine that there are a lot of them considering again just who they’re voting for.
But, no. Evidently, I was wrong.
So he’s started a project called Gilpin Family Whisky, which turns the sugar-rich urine of elderly diabetics into a high-end single malt whisky, suitable for export.
The source material is acquired from elderly volunteers, including Gilpin’s own grandmother, Patricia. The urine is purified in the same way as mains water is purified, with the sugar molecules removed and added to the mash stock to accelerate the whisky’s fermentation process. Traditionally, that sugar would be made from the starches in the mash.
Sometimes, really you don’t have to add anything else. 
Of course the Obama administration would release this. After all, it just points out the hypocrisy of the states when it comes to money.
More than half a dozen states suing to overturn President Barack Obama’s health care law are also claiming its subsidies for covering retired state government employees, according to a list released Tuesday by the administration.
Mind you, the people who are agitating for the lawsuits are going to totally ignore this and when confronted will consider it just a way to game the system. It’s still unconstitutional in their mind, but since they can use it to get money from it, even if they think it’s illegal, why not grab a few bucks and stick it to the Feds.
Let’s see how you stack up against the Air Force and their new fitness chart and expectations.
If you’re on the Atlantic Coast, you might want to keep an eye on Earl, it’s now a major hurricane and the track trend has pushed closer and closer to the US coast. I don’t think Florida is at risk, but from the Carolina’s and points north need to be very aware that a really powerful storm will be nearby in less than 72 hours.
This must just be a coincidence, right?
Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman this morning said she is confident of timely, clean elections in November, even as a fire that destroyed the county’s entire inventory of 10,000 electronic voting machines still burned.
Kaufman urged voters to cast their ballots early to help the county cope with a possible shortage of equipment on election day.
“Because I don’t expect to have 10,000 pieces to work with, no matter what we do, I’m sure that we’re going to be putting on a full court press urging people to vote early,” Kaufman said.
I mean, surely this was an accident?
Houston Fire Department spokesman Patrick Trahan said arson investigators were at the scene of the fire, but no cause has been determined.
Harris County? why is that familiar? Oh wait, maybe because it’s the home seat for the Democrat Bill White, who is running for Governor against Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R). And is, remarkably enough, running very close to Perry. Just how big is Harris County? As of 2000 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 3,400,578 (though a 2009 estimate placed the population at 4,070,989), making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States.
Here’s hoping it was accidental, otherwise this could get very very interesting.
Whatever you want to call this, this is pretty screwed up
Imagine you come home from work one day to a notice on your front door that you have 45 days to demolish your house, or the city will do it for you. Oh, and you’re paying for it.
This is happening right now in Montgomery, Ala., and here is how it works: The city decides it doesn’t like your property for one reason or another, so it declares it a “public nuisance.” It mails you a notice that you have 45 days to demolish your property, at your expense, or the city will do it for you (and, of course, bill you).
Of course the whole idea is to get around the laws passed to prevent eminent domain in Alabama, so now the Government declares a property to be a nuisance or a blight and then takes control of the property. Of course, unlike eminent domain, the government doesn’t have to pay you, and in fact can bill you for the cost of leveling your property. Then they can sell it to the businesses that want to build on the property. It’s a creative use of the laws, it’s totally evil also.
We’ll see how long it lasts, after all, it’s primarily being used against really poor black people. So chances are most people aren’t even going to care.
mmmmmm Milla! New Resident Evil in just 15 days
The Stranglehold tightens just a little more on the already shattered reform movement:
Iranian media have been prohibited from mentioning opposition leaders, including former President Mohammad Khatami, under a purported media directive that would further strengthen the government’s grip over the remaining news outlets.
It’s ironic, but the Iranian revolution has evolved into a secular dictatorship with just enough theocratic underpinnings to keep the zealots from getting pissed off. In a way, it’s both comforting and disheartening, as that means Iran is probably more of a rational actor than people think, but it’s also disheartening because it means they’ll be much more effective and ruthless in maintaining control. I think Iran is going the Burma Route.