The first quote in his post is from noted Chavez useful idiot Danny Glover: "When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I’m sayin’?"
That's right: Gaia is mad at the United States, and to show how angry she is, she chose to take out her anger on a piss-poor country that can do nothing whatsoever about US climate policy. Alternately, this just demonstrates how much effect man-made carbon dioxide has on plate tectonics and shows why we must curb our carbon emissions now.
Danny Glover is a screeching moron.
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Boortz on the union exception to Obama's tax on "Cadillac health plans".
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Some are saying the US is sure to default on its debts soon. This way lies hyperinflation.
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2009 retail sales fell 6.2%, which is the worst performance in the government records going back to 1992.
Any surprises there? Just one: that an article from MSNBC would start thus:
Retail sales unexpectedly fell in December, leaving 2009 with the biggest yearly drop on record and highlighting the formidable hurdles facing the U.S. economy as it struggles to recover from the deepest recession in seven decades.What is not surprising, however, is that there is absolutely no mention whatsoever of who is occupying the White House.
And check this out:
In the jobs report, the Labor Department said new claims for unemployment insurance rose by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 444,000. Wall Street economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected an increase of only 3,000.So suddenly we're talking about "unadjusted" numbers?
The rise was partly a result of large seasonal layoffs in the retail, manufacturing and construction industries, a Labor Department analyst said. The second week of January usually sees the largest increase in claims, unadjusted for seasonal trends, during the year, the analyst said.
The November jobs report was hailed as wonderful news, and no mention was made whatsoever of the status of seasonal hires in that report. So is the Labor Department gaming the numbers? Did they count the seasonal jobs as "new jobs", or was there an adjustment for that?
Where did all those seasonal jobs which were lost in January come from?
And while we're at it:
Consumer spending is considered critical to any sustained economic revival because consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of total economic activity.I seem to recall reading an article somewhere where someone was trying to tell us that consumer spending was not all that important. Context? Consumer spending was low and Obama's numbers were failing--and so we were told that consumer spending really wasn't all that important. Now that retailers turned in "better than expected" performance (which I predicted here in October of last year) suddenly consumer spending is important again!
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The pro-AGW kool aid-drinkers over at Ars Technica are asking why the media is comfortable lying about science? They ask in the context of this article predicting a "mini ice age".
Here's the lede for the post on AT:
When the news industry catches its own making up the content of a news story—especially involving politicians—the result is typically scandal, firings, and some public soul-searching. Why isn't the same true when it comes to science?But when the news industry catches its own "making up the content of a news story" its reaction is not "scandal, firings, and some public soul-searching".
How much of Jayson Blair's idiocy resulted in "scandal, firings, and some public soul-searching"? It sure didn't hurt the New York Times any. The post at AT specifically mentions Dan Rather and the forged Texas Air National Guard paper, but what happened to Dan Rather and CBS news? Was Dan Rather fired for it?
If you want to see an example of "lying about science" have a look at Ars Technica's own damn site for posts on how ClimateGate is much ado about nothing.
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Pete Zaitcev on da Google. I think Google is a massively hypocritical organization; their corporate motto is "do no evil" yet they--until just recently--bend over backwards to appease bloodthirsty dictatorial regimes such as the ChiComs.
"What else do you think they censor, even now? Tried to enter 'Obama' or 'Mormons' or 'Net Neutrality' into Google lately?" Asks Pete.
Indeed.
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Last night, for the first time in months, I seriously played Gunbunnysmit on WoW. I haven't done any for-XP play of Gunbunny since she hit 55th level and I was able to make my Death Knight (Scythandra).
After nine months at 55th level, Gunbunny finally hit 56th level. Then 57th; and I had to go to bed because I was falling asleep. Included in this activity was participating in a pickup group that went into Scholomance and Stratholme. I really cleaned up on XP, though once again I failed to get the not-at-all-coveted "Leeeeeeeeroy!" achievement (which adds the surname "Jenkins" to your character's name).
(No, it has never made any sense to me.)
Anyway, the other thing I did was to get Gunbunnysmit a new pet, just for giggles: I went to the Hinterlands, tamed a wolf, and named it "Menchi".
(Too much Excel Saga.)