REPUBLICAN SPENDING BILL FAILS IN REPUBLICAN HOUSE: “The House stunned Republican leaders Wednesday by rejecting a temporary spending bill that would have funded the government through Nov. 18. The vote failed, 195-230, after Democrats pulled their support for the bill and Republican leaders were forced to scramble for enough votes entirely within their own ranks. Four dozen conservatives voted against the bill because it left spending levels for 2012 higher than the cap set in the House GOP budget. The defeat hands leverage to congressional Democrats in a dispute over federal disaster funding. Democratic leaders objected to a GOP provision cutting funding from a Department of Energy manufacturing loan program to offset additional money for disaster relief.” Was that the Solyndra loan program? Because making Democrats vote in favor of that would seem pretty smart . . . .
Archive for 2011
September 21, 2011
EXPLORING the ruins of dead social networks.
WISCONSIN’S LONG, STRANGE TRIP. I predict a similar crackup nationally if Republicans win in 2012 and implement the necessary changes.
YOUWALKAWAY.COM — Strategic default as the New American Dream. “So, we have dramatically bad unemployment in the youngest age demographic, middle-age demographics have seen net worth crushed in the last few years and are lucky to have a job, and now the elder demographic is increasingly opting for strategic default. All-in-all, not such a rosy picture.”
Beware the coming Middle Class Anarchy that is the fruit of a ruling class that demonstrates its own contempt for the rule of law. People don’t like to feel like suckers. Related thoughts here.
TALK ABOUT YOUR JOB-KILLING REGULATORY POLICIES: CEO Tells Congress He Was Fined For Hiring Too Many People. “I incurred more than $500,000 in legal bills to mitigate a more severe regulatory outcome as a result of hiring too many workers. I have also been prohibited from opening up additional offices. I had a major expansion plan that would have resulted in my creating hundreds of additional jobs. Regulations have forced me to put those jobs on hold.”
THAT’S NOT COOL: OnStar Tracks Your Car Even When You Cancel Service. And they sell the speed and location data they generate. “Collecting location and speed data via GPS might also create a treasure trove of data that could be used in criminal and civil cases. One could also imagine an eager police chief acquiring the data to issue speeding tickets en masse.”
Like I said, that’s not cool.
DISASTER PREP: This Dental Emergency Kit looks like it would be a good thing to have around.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): U.S. Planning Major Expansion At Detainee Facility In Afghanistan.
LOWER-EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: “The US school system is really just the biggest babysitting institution in the world.”
RECOVERY BUMMER (CONT’D): “Very Unusual” Fed Action Fails To Boost Animal Spirits: Dow Drops 285.
SUSANNAH BRESLIN: 10 Things I’ve Learned About Work.
AT AMAZON, it’s the Grocery & Gourmet Food Outlet Sale.
BOB ZUBRIN IS not a fan of the new patent law.
I THOUGHT THE SCIENCE ON THAT WAS SETTLED: “It turns out that a long-used rule of weight loss — reduce 3,500 calories (or burn an extra 3,500) to lose one pound of body fat — is incorrect and can ultimately doom determined dieters.” Bah. This is probably just propaganda from the denialists at Big Fat.
THE HIDDEN POWER OF YOGURT? How “Probiotic” Microbes Control Your Mind. “A new study shows that not only can an injection of bacteria affect the brain chemistry of mice and lessen their anxiety, but it also shows the nerve pathway that these bacteria might be using to do their work.”
I GUESS GOOGLE DOESN’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANTITRUST, since they’re so chummy with the Administration.
THE WORST CAR COMMERCIAL OF ALL TIME?
ROGER SIMON: Should We Kidnap Ahmadinejad? “For years, I have read rumors that a young Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was among the kidnappers of the Americans at our Tehran embassy in 1980, back in the halcyon days of the Islamic revolution when Khomeini’s eager devotees scraped makeup from women’s faces with razor blades. (Oh, wait a minute. I guess they’re still doing it.)” Turnabout is fair play.
EXERCISE LEADS TO more mitochondria in brain cells. “What I would like to know: Would a before-and-after exercise regimen test of willpower (see Roy Baumeister and John Tierney’s excellent book Willpower for a survey of the current state of scientific research on the subject) show that exercise increases one’s ability to sustain resistance to temptation and sustain other acts of will?”
A RALLY TO SUPPORT Gibson Guitars.
MORE DETAILS ON THE Honda Fit Electric Vehicle.
AS WE TALK ABOUT NASA’S CRASHING SATELLITE, it’s worth plugging that paper on space debris that Rob Merges and I wrote for the Environmental Law Reporter last year.
MICHAEL YON: Every Step Is Your Last.