Is everyone cold enough yet? This is a brutal winter. Keep the conversation warm.
156 Thoughts to “Open Thread…………………………………Thursday, December 16”
Comments are closed.
Open Thread…………………………………Thursday, December 16
Is everyone cold enough yet? This is a brutal winter. Keep the conversation warm.
Comments are closed.
I’m shivering too much to have any kind of conversation.
Snow is on the way. Not much is expected. Maybe it will warm things up. Too early in the year to be this cold for this long.
Larry King has been married 8 times (to 7 women); Rush Limbaugh is on his 4th marriage, Newt Gingrich is on his 3rd as is Rudy Guiliani, and Karl Rove is back on the market and looking for #3; Elizabeth Taylor is possibly getting married for a 9th time, Britney Spears had a 55 hour marriage, and Jesse James and Tiger Woods, while married, were having sex with everything in sight; Dick Morris, David Vitter, and Elliott Spitzer made headlines when they were caught bedding hookers while they were married; and yet the family values crowd says same-sex marriage is going to destroy the institution of marriage.
You scared me. I thought that was a graph of the stock market when I first logged in.
It might have been 2 years ago! Glad it’s not that way now!
Might want to get a little defensive here. I’m not outright short (yet) but have sold almost all long exposure and am sitting in cash. Breadth has been terrible for the last several days and we’re losing leadership (and it’s not being rotated) which is usually a harbinger of a decline. The indices have been masking some pretty bad price action underneath the hood. We may yet have one more push up into the end of the year but we’ll need to gather up some shorts for squeeze fuel.
At least the wind calmed down for now.
I looked out the front window earlier and my Blazer has been “Rudolphed” overnight. It’s now sportin’ antlers and a red nose. And it’s snowing at “ground zero” 🙂
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland confirms what many of us knew all along: people who watch Fox News are more stupid than consumers of news from other sources. The study showed that large numbers of Faux watchers were misinformed on key issues. Here’s a link to a story and within the story is a link to the study at UMd.
http://www.alternet.org/media/149193/study_confirms_that_fox_news_makes_you_stupid
It’s snowing in Sterling… someone mentioned something about a 1986 storm that followed these exact conditions.
could get 8 inches….
(let’s hope stating the extream will cause it not to happen)
It feels like it this week, for sure.
Moe, actually that is a very significant study. The more one watches the less one knows. And of course it is deliberate.
Closing Announcement
Prince William County Public Schools will dismiss one-hour early today, December 16, due to inclement weather. The after-school SACC program and all after-school and evening activities are canceled.
Manassas City Schools are closing early due to snow.
School officials say Osbourn High School will close at 12:30 p.m. Metz Middle School is closing at 1 p.m. and the elementary schools are closing at 1:30 p.m.
Forest Gump said “stupid is as stupid does.” I guess now he’d say “Fox is like a box of stupid … and that’s all I got to say about that.”
Oh why stop now? I was tempted to snag that entire study and paste it here.
The morning show is the worst offender.
Here’s the link to the City of Manassas’s first eNews: http://www.manassascity.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=826
Please note the “Save the Date” for the Gang Prevention Summit on Jan. 17 from 6-8 pm at the Boys & Girls Club, 9501 Dean Park Lane, Manassas.
Please forward this information to anyone you think would be interested.
Northern Va Comm College closes at 3:00pm today.
ufo shot down over nuclear plant!
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/12/16/israel.negev.shootdown/index.html?hpt=Sbin
People are driving like idiots today.
@marin,
Usually my own kind are the worse offenders. People in SUVs get this false sense of omnipotence at the very first snowflake. They not only think they can go anywhere but they also think they can stop on a dime.
Driving is better in an SUV. Stopping is the same for everyone. If ice is involved it is definitely a crap shoot.
No doubt. How’d ya know I was doin’ 40 on Spriggs in my SUV?
Passing by little sports cars that we’re slipping and sliding on 6% inclines. I was amused. 🙂
Anyways, hope all our safe and warm.
I see everything, Marin, at least that is what my kids used to think. I never told them any differently.
Yeah, I got stuck twice… note to self… self, never buy a 2 wheel drive pick-up truck. It’s a waste of money and will likely get you stuck and/or in an accident in 0.1″ of snow.
I would say the same with MSNBC but nobody watches it 😛
I would love to see the actual phrasing of those questions in that survey.
Lets examine some of this:
# 91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
The stimulus did not make jobs as advertised. Many so called jobs that it created were in the “saved” category along with millions spend for a few jobs saved or created. Much of the stimulus, described as emergency spending, is STILL not spent.
# 72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
The CBO has admitted that the information provided by the administration is faulty and that when you take away the accounting gimmicks, HCR WILL add to the deficit.
# 72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
Housing prices still dropping, unemployment still at 9.5% and rising. ACTUAL unemployment is at 15-18%. Businesses not hiring because of uncertainty about government intentions, banks not lending because of same and the fact that they can make safer money in bonds. Obama, himself, talks about a “double dip” recession.
# 60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
Ahhhh, climate “change” – NOT man-made global warming. The climate is ALWAYS changing. There is no consensus that AGW is happening. What these people do not believe is the man-made global warming scam as put out by the UN and other sources. The “hockey stick” is false. The measuring stations are in poor locations. And all “adjustments” seem to always favor the “global warming” theory. Always.
# 49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
Well, they know that they will go up next year. Look at the tables, not to mention the HCR taxes. And death taxes.
# 63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
When most think of tax cuts, they think of tax RATE cuts, not targeted tax cuts. Most don’t notice those at all. Of course, we had to pay taxes on those 2009 “stimulus” payments.
# 56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
He’s the one that steered it into its present configuration, in favor of the unions. Bush loaned them money. Obama steered ownership to the unions after a gov’t managed bankruptcy.
# 38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
Soooo, a majority believe that the GOP supported TARP. Most PROBABLY are now asking those same members, “Why?” and “Where’s the investigation, who started the run on the banks and money markets?”
# 63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear
Wonder how many of those believe that it was unclear and how that question was phrased?
Another site: “Voters’ misinformation included beliefs at odds with the conclusions of government agencies, generally regarded as non-partisan, consisting of professional economists and scientists.” That’s because we don’t believe the gov’t anymore. They have been found to lie to us and to the CBO.
I don’t watch Fox except for he occasional Beck and the occasional news. My wife will have CNN on more often. What you have here is a survey that agrees with the propaganda and spin put out by the other media and Congress and uses that as the correct answer. Fox tends to contradict some of that spin, so of course, they are “wrong.”
Some of these positions that the survey puts out covers things that have already been rebutted over and over again, yet, because it does not agree with the narrative, it is ignored. In other words, repeat a lie often enough…..
Btw, they also stated that the same results happened with MSNBC on the things that liberals believe, coming from the gov’t.
WorldPublicOpinion.org is where I get all my propaganda for my two minutes of hate.
Recent events by two of MSNBC’s biggest stars:
Their #1 guy, Keith Olbermann, suspended again. Well, his twitter account was suspended, by Keith Olbermann. Not only did he suspend his own twitter account but even took down his profile pic, not sure why he took his profile pic down but word on the street is that Keith Olbermann can’t stand the smug look on Keith Olbermann’s profile pic.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/keith-olbermann-refuses-to-correct-his-treatment-of-julian-assange-rape-allegations/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mediaite%2FClHj+%28Mediaite%29
Their #2 guy, Eli Manning, LOVES Glenn Beck. Or at least he did:
“I think he was the most talented radio personality of my entire generation”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/16/rachel-maddow-letterman-beck_n_797532.html
“The Congressional Budget Office estimated that by the third quarter of 2010, the stimulus legislation had increased the number of full-time equivalent jobs by between two and five million”
or
CBO concluded that for the third quarter of 2010, ARRA had “increased the number of full time-equivalent jobs by 2.0 to 5.2 million compared to what those amounts would have been otherwise.”
So, in a job market that is still losing jobs, we are supposed to believe that the CBO can tell how many jobs the Stimulus “saved” or created and we’re expected to believe that this Stimulus( and which one was it?) created and/or saved MILLIONS of jobs?
As for ACR improving the deficit and helping Medicare, its been reported elsewhere that the CBO admits that it can only use the data that the Congress sends it. Congress omitted portions of what had to be done to get this passed. The Doctor deal is not mentioned and the Congress also double counted the “savings” that they take from reduced Medicare payments to apply to the new system.
As for the recession, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis has a technical definition of recession that most do not use. Growth in GDP signals the “end” of a recession. For the average American, dealing with continual drops in housing prices, inflation, lack of jobs, increasing jobless claims, and no lending, THAT is the definition of a recession.
That said, the gov’t also says that we don’t have any inflation. Yet prices keep rising….
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/dec10/Misinformation_Dec10_rpt.pdf
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/dec10/Misinformation_Dec10_quaire.pdf
See for yourselves. The first is the report and the second is the findings and methodology.
The premise is that the powers that be do not adjust THEIR info for political gain or have accurate info from their sources.
Well, if it’s on alternet, it’s GOT to be true, right? Anyone with a frontal cortex (that hasn’t been surgically separated by a lobotomy-gone-wrong) can take a look at the study and see it’s a complete joke. They seem to think they KNOW things that are in the future and cannot be proven. “Do you believe the Earth’s climate is changing?” Huh? Didn’t we skip the core issue of whether or not it’s man that is causing the change? This whole thing, each and every question is a joke. Alternet. good God.
Oh, the stimulus didn’t LOSE jobs……it “saved or created” 27 trillion jobs, 275,000 jobs for every grain of sand in the oceans. You libs will believe ANYTHING, won’t you?
There is something so right about you using Gump’s phrasing. Very natural.
@e
I saw that story about the UFO shot down over an Israeli Nuke Plant. I picture some dude on an ultralight getting blown out of the sky by a SAM. He didn’t even see it coming.
A little criticism of Faux and the baggers goes nuts … of course baggers and nuts do go together. I guess Cooch will need to launch an investigation into the UMd researchers.
The Army Doc who refused to go to Afghanistan because he said the President isn’t eligible to serve was convicted today in his court-martial and will spend 6 months in the brig before being discharged from the military. He should look at the bright side … he’s now qualified to be a Faux News analyst.
a very interesting read – http://blogs.forbes.com/beltway/2010/12/16/obama-gop-tax-deal-may-be-bipartisan-but-it-isnt-stimulus-and-it-isnt-smart/?partner=yahootix
The soldier was right convicted as President Obama IS the Commander in Chief, whether one believes that there is something squirrelly going on or not. Until otherwise demonstrated, his orders are valid. Its after evidence of ineligibility has been found that questions of authority are valid.
Yep, we baggers go nuts when the baggees try to spin. UMD researchers aren’t lying or anything like that. They just took the government at their word. Of course, it has been demonstrated that academia IS liberal, so that their world view probably does conform to the government propagandized world view. “Saved or created millions of jobs….” Really? If Bush had said something like that, the left would be laughing for years.
And its not the criticism of Fox….its the acceptance of government spin as “fact” that I find objectionable.
That should be “rightly convicted”
Two hour delay for Manassas City School tomorrow.
God Bless Cooch..
“Never before in our history has the federal government ordered Americans to buy a product under the guise of regulating commerce. Imagine if this bill were that in order to protect our communities and homeland security, every American had to buy a gun. Can you imagine the reaction across the country to that?”
Yes, we can.
Lock and load for a long fight, folks. Check out Cuccinelli’s full answer on the video.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20025622-503544.html
Delicious. 🙂
Not only “A” gun, but one from a list of governmently approved guns, with only certain capabilities.
Cargo, could you imagine the uproar mostly from the left for something like that? Not to say that some on the left aren’t pro-gun but the anti’s would have a fit about the government going crazy…..
Government mandated shotgun on a government mandated gunrack on my government motors truck (UAW DUBS Edition) operated with government gas.
the Bush Administration did use the term “create or save jobs” – http://mediamatters.org/research/200906090018
or the tax cut – http://taxes.about.com/od/deductionscredits/a/making_work_pay.htm for those (couples) making less than $190K a year.
Why do Nascar Race Track owners get special tax cuts?? or Caribbean distilleries in US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico?
Comprehensive Tax Code Reform, but alas, I do not see it in the cards, and both the R’s and the D’s will fight over what should be done. Just like the R’s saying that they did not see the spending bill, yet they all have their earmarks in the bill – even if they are going to vote the bill down, if it passes, they will claim victory for the earmark – http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Issues/Budget-Impact/2010/12/16/WP-Republican-senators-say-theyll-vote-against-their-own-earmarks.aspx
if one thought healthcare reform was a mess, wait until they attempt to tackle tax code.
@hello
Hello, Mr. Howler has a real wheel drive pick up. I agree with you. Works great in good weather. Sucks in bad weather.
Not long ago, I was cruising the internet and ran across a video of a Coffee Party event. The first featured speaker was a Black American who calls himself Kwazi Nkrumah and wears an African dashiki. His topic was the epidemic of home foreclosures in this country and how his organization had managed to conduct some effective street demonstrations against Bank of America with regard to that issue. He was followed to the podium by White guy wearing a suit and tie. The White guy seemed to be upset over the open antagonism which has entered our politics. The gist of his talk was that everyone should stop the insults and the namecalling and work toward finding some common ground to resolve the major issues before us. I guess not everybody listened to the White guy.
The voice of experience!
I hear omniporkulus is dead in the Senate. Awwwwww, so sad!
No coffee party folks here. We are all too mean. 😉
So here is my question: if you can’t make people buy things they don’t want, will state employees have to buy retirement? Can they just skip VRS now?
How about Medicare? Social Security? can we just tell the feds we are opting out? I can see that causing some trouble.
the buying the gun analogy is not correct. There are many ways to defend yourself without a gun. IE, I do not need a gun to defend myself.
What the mandate is like is this –
The government mandates that you wear clothes out in public. They say you can buy clothes from any non government retailer that you like. If you cannot afford clothes, they will help you with a subsidy. You cannot be denied clothes because you previously lost your old clothes. But, you decide that you do not want to wear clothes, you can go around naked (nekid), but at some point, it does get cold and wet, and you will need the clothes to stay alive. Or, in a fit of unconsciousness, someone puts clothing on you for your own good. Or, you get in an accident and someone puts a blanket on you. So, you know at some point in your life, with or without your permission, you will have clothes on your back (this is the reality folks, at some point in your life, you will use healthcare services). And you will need them to stay alive. The question is, will you buy them now, when you can afford them, or will you try to get them later when they are more expensive, and others cover the cost of giving them to you.
I hear all the time of people draining the accounts of the elderly, so that medicare or medicaid will pay for nursing home care – this is just a way of getting more out of the system at a cost to ME. And you all know someone in your family tree that has tried to get the system to pay for nursing home care, so that the inheritance stays intact. And some of those tactics are legal, like irrevocable trusts and such, that the more wealthy pay to create.