Obama administration recruiting 'navigators' for health law plans - Washington Times:
"The Obama administration proposed guidelines on Wednesday for “navigators” who will assist people who buy health insurance on virtualmarketplaces under President’s Obama’s health care law.
The marketplaces, or “exchanges,” established by the Affordable Care Act are state-based portals where persons without employer-based insurance can shop among competing private health plans.
Participation in the exchanges is set to begin on Oct. 1.
Insurance coverage from the exchanges will take effect on Jan. 1."
Friday, April 05, 2013
$423,500 Stimulus Program on 'Correct Condom Use' Yields Zero Jobs
$423,500 Stimulus Program on 'Correct Condom Use' Yields Zero Jobs | The Weekly Standard:
"The details of a stimulus grant awarded to Indiana University to study condom use have now been released on a government website.
The study, titled "Barriers to Correct Condom Use," is now completed, according to the website, and the university received $423,500 of stimulus funds to perform the study."
"The details of a stimulus grant awarded to Indiana University to study condom use have now been released on a government website.
The study, titled "Barriers to Correct Condom Use," is now completed, according to the website, and the university received $423,500 of stimulus funds to perform the study."
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Muskegon's Michigan Steel Inc. closes, lays off workers, prepares to liquidate
Muskegon's Michigan Steel Inc. closes, lays off workers, prepares to liquidate | MLive.com:
"That was at the dedication of an expansion at Rothbury Steel, when state assistance provided the company and that led to an increase employment at the plant to 300.
As of the end of last year, Rothbury Steel was operating with about 70 employees, according to Oceana County economic development officials."
"That was at the dedication of an expansion at Rothbury Steel, when state assistance provided the company and that led to an increase employment at the plant to 300.
As of the end of last year, Rothbury Steel was operating with about 70 employees, according to Oceana County economic development officials."
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Gun control: ignorance in search of power |
Gun control: ignorance in search of power |
RealClearPolitics brings us a new intellectual high-water mark in the gun control debate, as Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat, makes it clear that she doesn’t really know what a “magazine” is, or how they work – she just knows she wants power over them: ”I will tell you these are ammunition, they’re bullets, so the people who have those now they’re going to shoot them, so if you ban them in the future, the number of these high capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available.”
Golly, whatever will we do if those cunning criminals – er, excuse me, “persons who choose to operate outside the law,” in accordance with the new Associated Press stylebook – figure out that magazines can be reloaded?
This degree of nitwittery is not uncommon in the gun control debate.
The anti-gun crowd is having a good day if they can avoid referring to ammunition magazine as “clips.” Barack Obama’s phony statistic about “40 percent of all gun purchases taking place without a background check” – which has been debunked by conservatives many times, but is finally getting a fact-check workover from the mainstream press – could most charitably be described as ignorance of how gun sales work.
I suspect Obama himself knows it isn’t true – his advisers certainly do – and he’s just flogging the lie because it sounds useful.
But a lot of his supporters don’t know it’s untrue, because they have minimal personal experience with the purchase and transfer of firearms.
The hysteria around “assault weapons” is an example of using loaded language to exploit a general lack of knowledge about rifles.
Most of the characteristics that land rifles on the “assault weapons” ban list are cosmetic, with little bearing on the weapon’s effectiveness.
Sometimes gun control zealots like to slip in terms like “military weapons,” to conjure images of rocket launchers and squad automatic weapons tucked into gun racks in the pickup trucks of NRA life members, who are one fender-bender away from pumping entire neighborhoods full of lead.
For that matter, the concept of “semi-automatic” guns is deliberately conflated with fully automatic fire.
RealClearPolitics brings us a new intellectual high-water mark in the gun control debate, as Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat, makes it clear that she doesn’t really know what a “magazine” is, or how they work – she just knows she wants power over them: ”I will tell you these are ammunition, they’re bullets, so the people who have those now they’re going to shoot them, so if you ban them in the future, the number of these high capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available.”
Golly, whatever will we do if those cunning criminals – er, excuse me, “persons who choose to operate outside the law,” in accordance with the new Associated Press stylebook – figure out that magazines can be reloaded?
This degree of nitwittery is not uncommon in the gun control debate.
The anti-gun crowd is having a good day if they can avoid referring to ammunition magazine as “clips.” Barack Obama’s phony statistic about “40 percent of all gun purchases taking place without a background check” – which has been debunked by conservatives many times, but is finally getting a fact-check workover from the mainstream press – could most charitably be described as ignorance of how gun sales work.
I suspect Obama himself knows it isn’t true – his advisers certainly do – and he’s just flogging the lie because it sounds useful.
But a lot of his supporters don’t know it’s untrue, because they have minimal personal experience with the purchase and transfer of firearms.
The hysteria around “assault weapons” is an example of using loaded language to exploit a general lack of knowledge about rifles.
Most of the characteristics that land rifles on the “assault weapons” ban list are cosmetic, with little bearing on the weapon’s effectiveness.
Sometimes gun control zealots like to slip in terms like “military weapons,” to conjure images of rocket launchers and squad automatic weapons tucked into gun racks in the pickup trucks of NRA life members, who are one fender-bender away from pumping entire neighborhoods full of lead.
For that matter, the concept of “semi-automatic” guns is deliberately conflated with fully automatic fire.
Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit
Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit - The Washington Post:
"Officials are also encouraging lenders to use more subjective judgment in determining whether to offer a loan and are seeking to make it easier for people who owe more than their properties are worth to refinance at today’s low interest rates, among other steps.
“If that were to come to pass, that would open the floodgates to highly excessive risk and would send us right back on the same path we were just trying to recover from,” said Ed Pinto, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former top executive at mortgage giant Fannie Mae."
"Officials are also encouraging lenders to use more subjective judgment in determining whether to offer a loan and are seeking to make it easier for people who owe more than their properties are worth to refinance at today’s low interest rates, among other steps.
“If that were to come to pass, that would open the floodgates to highly excessive risk and would send us right back on the same path we were just trying to recover from,” said Ed Pinto, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former top executive at mortgage giant Fannie Mae."
Legendary Air Canada ‘Gimli Glider’ 767 jet up for bids at Toronto auction event
Legendary Air Canada ‘Gimli Glider’ 767 jet up for bids at Toronto auction event:
"It is not often that aircraft and automobiles share the same strip of concrete but on July 23, 1983, this brand new, state-of-the-art 767 passenger jet appeared out of the sky after running out of fuel at 41,000 feet over the western prairies."
Incredible story!
"It is not often that aircraft and automobiles share the same strip of concrete but on July 23, 1983, this brand new, state-of-the-art 767 passenger jet appeared out of the sky after running out of fuel at 41,000 feet over the western prairies."
Incredible story!
Poet Maya Angelou Blasts Gun at Home Intruder |
Poet Maya Angelou Blasts Gun at Home Intruder |:
"I was in my house in North Carolina.
It was fall.
I heard someone walking on the leaves.
And somebody actually turned the knob.
So I said, “Stand four feet back because I’m going to shoot now!”
Boom! Boom!
The police came by and said, “Ms. Angelou, the shots came from inside the house.”
I said, “Well, I don’t know how that happened"
"I was in my house in North Carolina.
It was fall.
I heard someone walking on the leaves.
And somebody actually turned the knob.
So I said, “Stand four feet back because I’m going to shoot now!”
Boom! Boom!
The police came by and said, “Ms. Angelou, the shots came from inside the house.”
I said, “Well, I don’t know how that happened"
USA Today | Sports | COLLEGE | Salaries
USA Today | Sports | COLLEGE | Salaries:
"4 Michigan State Big Ten Tom Izzo"
"4 Michigan State Big Ten Tom Izzo"
Wisconsin's Labor Lost
Political Diary: Wisconsin's Labor Lost - WSJ.com:
"Remember Big Labor's throw-down last year over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's public-sector union reforms?
The fight ended with a squeak yesterday as conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Patience Roggensack handily defeated union-backed candidate and Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone, with some 57% of the vote.
The vote means conservatives retain 4-3 control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The next two justices up for reelection on the court will be from its liberal wing, which means that after yesterday's win conservatives are likely to maintain or extend their majority for years to come.
That's a blow to unions......."
"Remember Big Labor's throw-down last year over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's public-sector union reforms?
The fight ended with a squeak yesterday as conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Patience Roggensack handily defeated union-backed candidate and Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone, with some 57% of the vote.
The vote means conservatives retain 4-3 control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The next two justices up for reelection on the court will be from its liberal wing, which means that after yesterday's win conservatives are likely to maintain or extend their majority for years to come.
That's a blow to unions......."
Fractional Reserve Speed Dating
Captain Capitalism: Fractional Reserve Speed Dating
Naturally, you would think money is the only commodity that can lend itself (pun FULLY intended) well to a fractional reserve system, but in my trials and tribulations in life as a SAEG (tm) I have come upon another commodity where fractional reserving is done, and it isn't in banking.
It's in speed dating.
Many years ago I gave speed dating one shot. I walked into the joint, dropped my $35 down along with 7 other men and for that $35 we got to meet 8 other women for 5 minutes a piece. The one date that I did manage to score out of this escapade brought her gay male friend to chaperone, which prompted me to dance with pretty much every other girl on the floor but her.
Naturally, you would think money is the only commodity that can lend itself (pun FULLY intended) well to a fractional reserve system, but in my trials and tribulations in life as a SAEG (tm) I have come upon another commodity where fractional reserving is done, and it isn't in banking.
It's in speed dating.
Many years ago I gave speed dating one shot. I walked into the joint, dropped my $35 down along with 7 other men and for that $35 we got to meet 8 other women for 5 minutes a piece. The one date that I did manage to score out of this escapade brought her gay male friend to chaperone, which prompted me to dance with pretty much every other girl on the floor but her.
Gay-chaperoned dates aside, the point was there was an equal number of men to women. 8 to 8. For if there was a shortage on either end you would have too many of one gender chasing too few of the other.
But something interesting occurred after the speed dating event was over. As some people headed to the bar, I decided to approach one of the girls I was interested in and chat her up a bit. Using a simple approach I said,
"You ever done this before?"
She said,
"Yes, but technically not tonight."
Curious, I said,
"Why technically not tonight?"
And her response was one for the Economics of Dating history books.
"Well, the guy who runs this speed dating thing always has too many men and not enough women. So he calls us when he has extra guys and we just fill in and act like we're interested. If women don't show up, he can't sell as many tickets so he buys us drinks as compensation."
Kind of curious about the math, not to mention I just wanted to see how screwed over me and the other 7 men were, I asked,
"So how many women were plants?"
She said,
"4."
I was more or less speechless, but the cynical side of me let out a cynical "Heh, what will they think of next?" Seeing she herself was a plant, I just walked away, went to my car and left.
Naturally I was somewhat upset at this little bit of trickery. What was sold as a way for 8 men to meet 8 women was in reality 8 men to meet 4 women. In short a fraction of the women that were truly available. But by cheating the system of sorts, the host of the speed dating was able to "create" women just like banks "create" money and profit from this newly created asset. He just had to pay them interest in the form of free cocktails (and no doubt the ego tinglies of leading poor saps on).
But something interesting occurred after the speed dating event was over. As some people headed to the bar, I decided to approach one of the girls I was interested in and chat her up a bit. Using a simple approach I said,
"You ever done this before?"
She said,
"Yes, but technically not tonight."
Curious, I said,
"Why technically not tonight?"
And her response was one for the Economics of Dating history books.
"Well, the guy who runs this speed dating thing always has too many men and not enough women. So he calls us when he has extra guys and we just fill in and act like we're interested. If women don't show up, he can't sell as many tickets so he buys us drinks as compensation."
Kind of curious about the math, not to mention I just wanted to see how screwed over me and the other 7 men were, I asked,
"So how many women were plants?"
She said,
"4."
I was more or less speechless, but the cynical side of me let out a cynical "Heh, what will they think of next?" Seeing she herself was a plant, I just walked away, went to my car and left.
Naturally I was somewhat upset at this little bit of trickery. What was sold as a way for 8 men to meet 8 women was in reality 8 men to meet 4 women. In short a fraction of the women that were truly available. But by cheating the system of sorts, the host of the speed dating was able to "create" women just like banks "create" money and profit from this newly created asset. He just had to pay them interest in the form of free cocktails (and no doubt the ego tinglies of leading poor saps on).
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