Screwy Puppy: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

The Joy of Irresponsibility

Oh the latest touchy-feely goodness of Obama. Government enabling stupidity.

Here is the letter of the week from Obama's campaign site:

Letter of the week—April 30th
By Lauren Peterson on April 30, 2012

I am in the final weeks of earning my MBA from the University of Montana. When I went back to school two years ago, I had $30,000 in student loans. At the time, my employer was reimbursing me for my tuition in graduate school—however, another job opportunity came up and I could not pass it up. My new position is with a nonprofit organization and therefore the option of tuition reimbursement is not available (understandably). In order to fund my graduate school tuition, I had to take out an additional $20,000 in student loans.

I am a single mom to a 6-year-old son, and as you probably gathered from the paragraph above, I love my new job. Over the past few months, I was beginning to dread finishing school because I had absolutely no idea how I was going to repay my loans at over $500 a month. These payments would have made things so absolutely tight for us that I didn't know how we were going to live from month to month. I checked into a few things and found out that President Obama had signed an executive order addressing the repayment of student loans. Because of this action, it looks as if my payments are only going to be $175 a month. The substantial savings will make it possible for me to buy a house and for us to live like a normal, middle-class American family!

I cannot stress how much this means to me—and, I know, to the many other young Americans who have been impacted as well. This is such a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and I owe it all to President Obama. The fact that he understands and cares enough to take action is so absolutely commendable that I cannot express it in words.

I just wanted this story to be told, and I hope the difference the President has made in my life and the lives of so many others has a positive impact on his re-election campaign. I can tell you right now that there has never been any doubt as to who I will be voting for in November: Obama-Biden 2012 all the way!

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Tiffany, Montana

Did you see what happened there?

A single mom was worried about how she would pay her student loans. But it states right there in her letter she made this decision to go in debt. Her employer was paying for school. It was going to be paid for!

But no. She wanted to work for a nonprofit organization and was willing to take a $20,000 bath plus interest on it because the non-profit organization could not afford to pay for her education. She was worried about the $500 a month payment. But praise Obama! His executive order makes her payments $175 a month.

If you calculate how long it will take to pay back $20,000 at $500 a month, without interest, it is 3 years 4 months. The same debt at $175 a month, no interest, is 9 years 7 months. I don't know what the interest is on these loans, but it will extend how long it will be to pay back the loans.

She is so happy because it means she can now buy a house.

What a DEBT WHORE!

While she is paying off a loan for the next 10 years she wants another one for a house. By the time her student loans are paid off her son will be 16 or 17.

My gut says that if she stayed with the first employer not only would she have no student loan debt but more upward financial mobility. If a company invests in you, they have the money and desire to keep you.

How good are the financial opportunities at a nonprofit organization?

Once her son is ready for school, do you really think she'll be able to help pay for it under the economic path she chose? But I suppose that's okay. Her son can take out a student loan too.

After all. Working for a nonprofit organization during a recession couldn't possibly be risky, could it?

DEBT WHORES FOR OBAMA!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Immoral Tree Planting

FairWarning.org has a pretty interesting article about Robert, a whistle blower, suing Lamar Advertising Co., a billboard company, about an unjust firing. In turn the billboard company is being investigated for illegally killing trees.

According to the article it looks like the company broke the law. The article is written to make Lamar and other billboard companies look bad. However, if you really pay attention, it is the state that is acting completely and wholly immoral.

Trees, the environment, and other touchy feely green things are touted as more important than companies today. Government wastes our money on this stuff. Remember the recent story of California moving a bush at a cost of over $200,000? Well this billboard issue is not about spending money on nature, but extorting money from companies by leveraging the touchy feely trend.

In brief, this is the problem. Billboard companies are killing trees so that you can see their billboards. Sound evil? Well ask yourself, why are there trees in the way? The state planted them!

So now we have destruction of state property. But as I said, this is a scam. These trees are part of beautification projects for the highway. If you want to have beautification of the highways, why not stop licensing billboards?

This is why.

Company pays fees, licensing, and/or permits for billboards
State plants trees in front of billboards
State extorts more money from company because
- Company pays for a tree trimming permit
  and/or
- Company gets fined for killing trees

Even if a company gets a permit to trim trees they may still end up killing them. The image below is an image from the article that shows trees that were neutralized in relation to a billboard. Remember that when sitting in a car your line of sight is lower than when standing. If you were to trim a tree so that you could see the billboard you would have to "top" the trees.

Topping is bad for trees. It can be very unhealthy for the tree. If the state was truly concerned about the trees they would not allow trimming to make billboards visible. Killing the trees is less expensive than "topping" that produces sick and hazardous trees.

The article also mentions that wild trees are killed. That is worse, right? If it is bad then how bad is it that our tax dollars were used to destroy many more trees to make the highway. The billboards companies are just participating in the exact same practice that we funded the state to do.

Due to this illogical and immoral campaign of planting trees in front of billboards by the state, the billboard companies take measure to remove them. Robert, the litigant mentioned at the beginning, had the job of killing trees. He suffered a back injury and insisted that he needed a light duty job and could no longer kill trees. He no longer works at Lamar. Lamar claims that they did not fire Robert. The article does not clarify this any further.

Robert should sue the state, not Lamar. The state's extortion practise put him in the position of filling an "illegal practice" job. Now he has no job since he refuses to do it. His whistle blower status gives him protection. I can only assume Lamar never thought Robert would do this for fear of prosecution for participating in the illegal activities.

In the end I would be willing to bet that Lamar will be fined and the state will get a windfall of cash. I am sure the state will let Lamar continue to operate billboards. The state has too much money to make from permits, fines, and lawsuits.

Terrorism Question?

If the "war on terror" is over,
why hasn't the TSA been disbanded?

Friday, April 27, 2012

A Sober President is Bad?

This week's Kruiser Control from Stephen Kruiser highlighted something completely absurd. Bashir used a commentary piece to say that a POTUS that doesn't drink would be bad.

I looked for the Bashir segment on YouTube and found it. There is no wittiness to it. It is incoherently all over the place. It is just, ... I want a better word than stupid, ... mmm ... incromulent.

The debate is ~~getting~~ ridiculous. We've gone along like this:

Attack : Romney traveled with a dog in a crate on top of his car.
Response : Obama ate a dog.

Attack : Romney's dad was born in a Mormon community that practiced polygamy ( his grandpa didn't practice polygamy ).
Response : Obama's dad, grandpa, and great-grandpa were polygamists.

Attack : Romney doesn't drink and that is bad.
Response : [ what will it be? ]

Obama did have that beer summit to quell racial tensions. Was he totally sober when he rankled racial tensions in the Trayvon incident? Maybe Obama should drink more. It doesn't mean Romney should.

Enjoy the video the best you can.

Seafood Invasion

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California has shut down due to being deluged by jellyfish like creatures called "salp."

Before you roll your eyes thinking that this is a case of "save the salp," this is actually just a safety issue. The salp are clogging the screens meant to keep marine life out of the water intake of cooling units. It's probably a good idea to shut down a nuclear plant if its cooling units are compromised.

The plan to deal with the salp is to just wait it out.

Funny. The story about the nuclear power plant is not written with any panic or concern. But this one was.

Giant cannibal shrimp more than a FOOT long invade waters off Gulf Coast

"Cannibal" and "invade" in the headline. Pretty scary, huh? Do you know what shrimp they are talking about? Tiger shrimp.

Yes. Those nice tasty large shrimp that you get in Asian food are becoming native in the U.S. They are known to eat the native shrimp and federal biologists are worried that they will displace the native species.

The funny thing is that the story mentions that in Florida there was an attempt at a tiger shrimp farm, but it failed. Now, somehow, they are growing in the wild.

Could this become a biological disaster? Maybe. Or will the population of tiger shrimp come to a harmonious balance with their food source? Can we do anything about it? Should we even try?

I don't know, but it doesn't scare me more than jellyfish shutting down a nuclear plant.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Chuck Woolery asked me to post this.

You should too.

But if you want something with a bit more humor...

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Don't Speak Before You Have All Of The Facts

Sounds like I'm about to make a commentary on the Trayvon-Zimmerman conspiracy, right? Wrong! I am going to talk about Cher.

Why am I talking about Cher instead of politics? Because it is a good example of "rush to judgment" by the press and political figures without having to be controversial. It shows how the press and political figures have political diarrhea of the mouth. It shows lack of vetting of a story.

The issue is that "the Key to the City" of Adelaide, Australia went up for auction on Ebay on April 18th at 14:00:51 PDT. Cher received the key in 1990 and has had it for 22 years.

On April 21st we get the story[1][2] about this auction and that Australians are angered by this.

The press gave us a quote from Stephen Yarwood, the mayor of Adelaide :

It must be very embarrassing for her if she is selling it because she needs the money.

We also got a quote from the former mayor that gave her the key, Steve Condous :

I'm disappointed. I would have thought that getting the key to a city like Adelaide would have had some value to her, but obviously it doesn't because she wouldn't have got rid of it.

Story does not have any comments from Cher, Cher's consignor that runs the auction, or mentions that neither could be reached for comment. That's funny because the Ebay auction page has a questions section. There are no question before April 22nd in that section.

After this story breaks the auction page is updated. This is added to the auction's description:

On Apr-21-12 at 16:19:58 PDT, seller added the following information:

Cher has a Charitable Foundation.

Proceeds of items sold go towards charitable endeavors.

The next day we get another update on the description:

On Apr-22-12 at 11:43:00 PDT, seller added the following information:

I have many questions as to why Cher is auctioning this item... in answer to this question:

Cher receives many awards and gifts from all over the world. And she is always humbled and touched by these gracious gestures. At certain times she goes through her huge collection and decides to share many of these special treasures with her fans, with all the proceeds going to Cher’s Charitable Foundation. Please know that the proceeds for this auction and everything on Authentic_Cher are helping people all over the world through Cher’s charitable and humanitarian endeavors. I think the city of Adelaide should be proud of what this plaque & key are doing for those in need or suffering. Cher is incredible, kind and generous and in no way meant to slight the people of Adelaide. Thank you for your understanding. Sincerest regards, Linda, Authentic_Cher

In the questions section for the auction, in response to one of the questions we find out this is not the first key to go up for auction, but the first to stir up controversy.

Next, on April 23rd, Cher tweets about the auction:

Im upset 2& trying 2get2 bottom! I Think my office fkd up?RT @bettyann329 key 2 Adelaide on Ebay upsetting the peeps in Aussie esp the Mayor

The Huffington Post has an update on April 24th in which they mention that the money goes to charity. In turn we have an updated quote from Condous on this fact :

It's our key, so I believe the money should come back here.

Can you see what has happened? Everyone is on the defensive or offensive front. Can you see the orchestration by the press?

I can not say a bad thing about Cher or the mayors. I see no evidence that the press tried to talk to Cher or her consignor. They only mention her tweet. I also can't help but feel that the quotes from the mayors are cherry picked. I wonder if there is a more full interview, or if they were commenting on a "fact" thrown to them by the press.

This is not a controversy. The key was given to her. It is hers and no one else's. She held on to it for over 20 years. She could toss it in the trash and no one would be any the wiser. Instead she is using it to raise money for charity. The item went for $95,900. Good for her.

The press just loves to tear people down for the hell of it. They are lazy sick bastards that can't seem to do their job correctly anymore.

Cher has done no wrong.

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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Obama-hole

Not Safe For Work!

Jon Lovitz just goes off on a rant about Obama and the government. It is a great rant, but there is a lot of cursing. I want to highlight some of the really neat things he said, but what a waste. The Daily Caller did that anyways, but didn't highlight the more brilliant musings. They just noted what might sound controversial.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Hero Pot Shots

Oh the conceit. The round up video for what the president did this past week uses this image as the thumbnail.

It's like he's begging us to make fun of how smug he is. And do you know what the file name for the image is?

042012_www_v10_e2_hero.jpg

Hero. Really?

Okay. That is a pot shot. The president does not make the video, update the website, or name the files. That is the staff's responsibility. This is really a non-issue.

What has been happening recently in politics is insanely stupid. Everyone has been making a big deal about little things. What has been happening on twitter has become of news interest. Twitter! Really?

Of course it turns out it was insanely stupid to comment on Romney putting his dog in a crate on the hood of his car. Was it cruel? Hard to say. Maybe the dog enjoyed it. Does anyone know? Dogs seem to love sticking their head out of the window.

Then of course there was a lash back when it was pointed out that Obama ate a dog.

Are we seriously going to keep doing this? Are we going to continually keep being petty?

Probably.

The White House continually tries to make the president look better by trying to make Romney look bad. Unfortunately they are doing it with petty issues before looking at whether or not it could backfire. Maybe that is part of the strategy.

The lash back has been louder than the initial attack. Could this paint the Republicans as petty since their petty commentary is louder? Are the Republicans falling into a trap? The tweeting of this stupid stuff is making the news, and it is not news.

For all of the problems we are facing, is this election going to become a bad sitcom? Is the position of one of the most powerful people going to be decided on bad jokes on twitter?

Probably.

Look at how the press covered the election the last time. They had tingles running up their legs. They made news stories of the expense of a wardrobe. They focused more on the qualifications of a vice presidential candidate than the qualifications of the presidential candidate and the American public ate it up.

The American public is stupid and they get to vote.

Remember, this November. Vote early and vote often. Don't let the American public choose the president again.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

It's Earth Day

So What!

♁

Saturday, April 21, 2012

100 Redirects & 100 Domains

You have arrived safely to your destination.

There isn't much in politics today that excites me, so I thought I would do something stupid. 100 redirects through 100 top level domains.

This is how you got here:

Friday, April 20, 2012

Delingpole or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Global Warming

Liberty Pen has an awesome interview with James Delingpole, author of Watermelons: The Green Movement's True Colors

... you might be a racist.

If someone breaks your nose and pounds your head on the cement till it bleeds and you believe you have the right to protect yourself ... you might be a racist.

If you worry about someone walking around in the dark in an area that has been recently burglarized in the past few weeks ... you might be a racist.

If you can identify someones race to 911 ... you might be a racist.

If your name sounds Anglo Saxon ... you might be a racist.

If you care about safety in your neighborhood ... you might be a racist.

If you believe in honest news reporting ... you might be a racist.

If you don't vote Democrat ... you might be a racist.

SR@

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Trying To Look Bad?

Is the Department of Education trying to make themselves look bad? Why do they have a blog headline aligning themselves with a racist? What if I told you that they turned to David Duke for help in fixing the education system? Well it isn't Duke. But this is the headline for their blog entry:

Duncan Enlists Sharpton’s Civil Rights Network in Education Reform

Why did they phrase it like that?

This posting is from a "Guest Blogger." I am assuming the post was written by Kimberly Watkins-Foote, Director of African American Communications and Outreach. She is mentioned as a tag line at the bottom, but official credit is given to "Guest Blogger." Are guest bloggers' posts vetted? Because this post is a bit, ... charged.

What happened is that Secretary Arne Duncan spoke at the National Action Network’s 14th Annual Convention. It is Al Sharpton's organization. Why didn't they use the organization name? It could go by unnoticed by some people. I wouldn't have noticed.

NAN is not working with the Department of Education officially or monetarily from what I can tell through this blog post. Unfortunately what Duncan does is he twists education into a civil rights movement concept. I have not yet been able to find a video of the speech or a transcript, but what is presented is reframing education in a civil rights vein.

The study about disciplinary actions, teacher experience and pay, and available classes and how minorities get the worst of it is cited, again. I've already told you what I think the problem is : teachers, the teacher's union, and government. The holy trinity that can do no wrong.

Duncan goes on to state that due to the treatment of minorities in school that it becomes the "school-to-prison pipeline." The historic desegregation of schools was definitely a good thing, but what is happening now is the incompetency of government and not a civil rights catastrophe. Doesn't Duncan know that the problem he is complaining about was created by the same organization he wants to fix it?

NOTE: If you find a video of the speech or a transcript, please post a link to it in the comments. I would like to have full context of the speech, not presented snippets out of context. "Out of context" can get you into trouble.

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Is She Single Yet?

Ask uninformed twitter users what to do with your life.

What could go wrong?

Yeah. I retweeted.

UPDATE: She deleted that tweet.