HMM: Exclusive: Iran hijacked US drone, says Iranian engineer. If true, the GPS spoofing is a huge issue.
Archive for 2011
December 15, 2011
AWESOME NEWS IF IT PANS OUT: Spending bill blocks light bulb standards. “The shutdown-averting budget bill will block federal light bulb efficiency standards, giving a win to House Republicans fighting the so-called ban on incandescent light bulbs. GOP and Democratic sources tell POLITICO the final omnibus bill includes a rider defunding the Energy Department’s standards for traditional incandescent light bulbs to be 30 percent more energy efficient. DOE’s light bulb rules — authorized under a 2007 energy law authored signed by President George W. Bush — would start going into effect Jan. 1. The rider will prevent DOE from implementing the rules through Sept. 30.”
So if this works, what will I do with my closet full of incandescent bulbs? Er, use ’em, just like I would have anyway. But it’s great if we can scuttle the idiotic bulb-ban.
Plus, an interesting take from a Democratic Congressman: “It’s the power of Michele Bachmann and the presidential campaign.”
UPDATE: More here.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Cindy McNew writes: “While I agree it’s idiotic–it’s more, it’s a first potentially really big in-your-house salvo in the Green religion wars. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic, but a lot of those folks would like to take away your clothes dryer and your trash can, too, and replace them with a clothesline and a compost bin. Low-flow toilets and shower heads are minor annoyances compared to being required to have a houseful of ugly and dangerous florescent bulbs. The repeal can’t come soon enough. Signing that law and “No Child Left Behind” are really the only things I know for sure that I need to be irritated with President Bush for.”
NEW YORK TIMES: Romney Ku Klux Klan Report Backfires on Media.
Don’t just repeat it. Report it.
That’s the lesson this week for MSNBC and for The Washington Post, both of which apologized for repeating a liberal blog’s claim that Mitt Romney had uttered a phrase on the campaign stump that was used in the past by the Ku Klux Klan.
It appears that Mr. Romney did not in fact say the words “keep America American,” as AMERICAblog reported on Tuesday. The blog said that he had done so on two occasions, one last year and one last week, and stated (accurately) that “Keep America American” was a phrase employed by the K.K.K. in the 1920s.
But Mr. Romney had actually said “keep America America” on both occasions, according to online video.
MSNBC apparently did not contact the Romney campaign for comment before it briefly reported on Wednesday morning that “you may not hear Mitt Romney say ‘Keep America American’ anymore, because it was a rallying cry for the K.K.K. group.” The anchor credited AMERICAblog; the graphic on the screen read, “Romney’s KKK Slogan?”
Conservative blogs called out MSNBC for the report, and when executives at MSNBC and NBC News saw that, they were disturbed that the blog’s observation was reported as fact, without any added reporting.
That’s pretty much how they do everything: Without any added reporting.
EUROPE: Debt crisis: Brussels accord on the verge of collapse. “Some of the world’s most powerful investment banks were downgraded by ratings agency Fitch as Germany’s cherished European fiscal compact appeared to be unravelling.”
Related: Chaos?
The New York Times Company today abruptly announced that its 61-year-old chief executive officer, Janet Robinson, will leave at the end of the year, with no permanent successor lined up.
An SEC filing says Ms. Robinson will get $4.5 million plus health insurance for a 12-month retirement and consulting agreement, including “two-year non-competition, non-solicitation and non-disparagement covenants, a three-year cooperation covenant and an indefinite confidentiality covenant.”
The Times itself reported that Ms. Robinson’s pay in 2009 was $4.9 million, so she’ll earn almost as much as a retired consultant as as a full-time CEO.
The handy investment calculator on the Times corporate Web site shows that $10,000 invested in NYT stock the day Ms. Robinson took over as CEO, on December 27, 2004, would be worth $1,855.14 today, a decline of 81.45%. The price of the stock went from $40.59 when she took over to $7.53 today, and though some dividends were paid out early in her tenure as CEO, the dividend has since been suspended.
Consequences for failure are for the little people.
GETTING READY FOR THE LIGHT BULB BAN.
Hey, there’s still a little time to stock up!
UPDATE: Reader Don Bagwell writes: “In all your posts about the incandescent ban, I’ve not seen anything about the emergence of the LED bulb. To my eye that’s a game-changer, provided they do it right (warm light, proper life-span, etc.). Costco had a bunch of ’em. My sense is that’s the next wave. What say you?”
Well, this post sums up my mixed experience with LED bulbs so far. If you pay a lot, they’re okay. If you don’t, they’re no better than CFLs. I think we’re at least two or three years — maybe more like five or ten — away from LED bulbs that are really as good as incandescents.
DRIVE THIS, NOT THAT: Ten Inexpensive Imitator Autos. “The dream is to park a new Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, or Range Rover in the family garage. The reality is that exotic and luxury cars are horrendously expensive. But there are reasonably priced cars that ape the spirit of the higher-priced ones, and come surprisingly close in performance, luxury, or design (but not all three.) These ten imitators provide some serious bang for your buck.”
ANN ALTHOUSE LOOKS AT double standards on Presidential offspring. After all the Trig Palin nastiness, I have no patience with the have you no decency? crowd, since it is obvious that they possess none themselves.
ALEXIS GARCIA: Newt Gingrich and the Tea Party Paradox.
UP TO 50% off on DeWalt power tools.
Also, markdowns on Asus laptops.
The other day I saw an ad for the Asus Zenbook, and thought it might be a poor man’s Macbook Air. But really, not so poor. . . .
STEPHEN GREEN IS drunkblogging tonight’s debate in Iowa.
They’re also live-blogging — perhaps even sober! — over at the Washington Times.
UPDATE: I make no representations regarding Stacy McCain’s condition, but he’s blogging too.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Ann Althouse, too.
HAPPY Bill Of Rights Day.
TURNING ORDINARY WHEELCHAIRS into “electric superchairs.”
BILL WHITTLE: Firewall: A Voter’s Guide To Republicans.
WILL TONIGHT’S DEBATE BE the big one? From the comments: “Well, nobody lost any time going after Newt, and it appears to be taking a toll. The behind-the-scenes professional political operatives seem to be creative without limit, unless it’s about Obama, in which case they are quiet as church mice.”
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: India, China in Economic Warnings: Eurofail Damages World. “Europe may or may not save the euro. But the costs of the euro, and of the frantic efforts being made to sustain it, are making the world a nastier and poorer place.”
Relax, guys. The Euro is safe. I exchanged my last few hundred Euros, which I’d been holding against a possible trip to France in the spring. Expect the Euro to take off any day now.
CAMP LIFE IN the dry valleys of Antarctica.
TIM CAVANAUGH on Solyndra and Crony Capitalism.
THE WHITE HOUSE CAN IGNORE THIS, BUT THEY CAN’T MAKE IT GO AWAY: 73 Congressmen Cosponsor House Resolution Of No Confidence In Eric Holder.
YOU CAN HEAR ME ON THE Ricochet Podcast today, along with James Lileks, Peter Robinson, and Rob Long. Among other things, I discuss the inevitability in conventional-wisdom terms, of a Romney/Gingrich ticket.
AT AMAZON, a holiday sale on Levi’s jeans. For men, women, and children.
Also, up to 60% off on boots.
STEVE CHAPMAN: Vladimir Putin’s Divided Russia.
ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Has Pubic Hair In America Gone Extinct? “Once Carrie was bare down there … well, remember when the Sex And The City girls ate cupcakes? Let’s put it this way: There’s now a cupcake bakery on every other corner in upper Manhattan.”
ED MORRISSEY: GOP Frontrunners Brace for Perry’s Last Stand.