Introducing ObamaCow

Introducing ObamaCow :: SteynOnline: "For the moment, the ObamaCow regime sounds comparatively simple: a flat flatulence tax across the board and across the barn. Although the EPA's plan is more ambitious than EuroFart's (25 per cent flatulence reductions by 2020, rather than a mere ten per cent), the new regulations will not prove disruptive: If you like your cow, you can keep your cow. You will not be denied coverage if you have a pre-emitting condition. There will be no increases in your cow-pay.

No doubt Michael E Mann has got a graph showing that the flatulence was entirely flat for a millennium until the Koch Brothers lobbied for a massive feed program via the Cowstone Pipeline to benefit their secret baked-bean subsidiary in the Alberta fart sands. No doubt deniers on the take from Big Gas are already spreading disinformation. As I wrote in After America:

Go back to medieval times. The gnarled old peasant is in his hovel, and one day a fellow rides up in the full doublet and hose and says he's come from the palace to collect His Majesty's bovine flatulence tax. It's just three groats per cow, a footling sum of no consequence. Even the medieval simpleton rustic would say, "Aaargh, sire, I dunno. The King's flatulence tax? That don't sound right…""

Speed Reading Returns

Speed Reading Returns - WSJ.com:
"Reading these days is often a few minutes on the phone in the grocery-store line, not an hour curled up with a book on the couch. 
This quick-hit reading is sparking a renewed interest in the art of speed reading.

(How fast do you read? Time yourself and try speed-reading tips in an interactive.)

People read more than ever on mobile devices and usually in 10-minute bursts, according to research by e-reading subscription services. 

To tap into this, there's a revival in traditional speed-reading classes as well as new apps that promise to make reading on a small screen easier.

When Brett Kirby, age 33, reads the news in the morning, he doesn't grab a newspaper or browse a website. 

He picks up his phone and has his articles flashed to him, one word at a time, 650 words a minute.

Democrat Senator Leland Yee Tied to Muslim Terrorists

Democrat Senator Leland Yee Tied to Muslim Terrorists:

"California State Senator Leland Yee, a Democrat, was one of the top opponents to the Second Amendment in the state. In fact, he wrote stiff gun control regulations in an effort to, according to him, ‘make the area more safe’. But, it turns out that Yee was perhaps working to pass legislation to prevent law-abiding citizens from exercise their Second Amendment right to gun ownership in order to help pad his own personal pockets. He was arrested yesterday on charges of corruption charges including campaign fraud and gun running.

But, Lee wasn’t involved in just the illegal transport and exchange of any old guns. The man who said that people shouldn’t need automatic weapons was, according to local San Francisco station KROV, Channel 4, acting as a go between agent between Muslims in the Philippines, allegedly the terrorist group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and individuals in the U.S. to buy shoulder fired automatic weapons and missiles."

Are we ready to admit we have a problem?

Pushing Toward The Final Ware

Paul Craig Roberts: Pushing Toward The Final War | Zero Hedge:
"Does Obama realize that he is leading the US and its puppet states to war with Russia and China, or is Obama being manipulated into this disaster by his neoconservative speech writers and government officials?
World War 1 (and World War 2) was the result of the ambitions and mistakes of a very small number of people.
Only one head of state was actually involved–the President of France.
In The genesis Of The World War, Harry Elmer Barnes shows that World War 1 was the product of 4 or 5 people. 
Three stand out: Raymond Poincare`, President of France, Sergei Sazonov, Russian Foreign Minister, and Alexander Izvolski, Russian Ambassador to France. Poincare` wanted Alsace-Lorraine from Germany, and the Russians wanted Istanbul and the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. They realized that their ambitions required a general European war and worked to produce the desired war."

Best Friends - a kid, a dog and a puddle

Race equity summit to address widening wealth gap between races

Race equity summit to address widening wealth gap between races | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
Saturday’s conference, supported by the NAACP and Fair Housing Center of Metro Detroit, is to feature talks by President Barack Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago, as well as Detroit activists Ron Scott and Grace Lee Boggs.
The conference is part of an ongoing effort by the Race2Equity Project, which is part of the Michigan Roundtable.

The Singularity Is Further Than It Appears

The Singularity Is Further Than It Appears:
"I've bolded that last quote because it's key.
Vinge envisions a situation where the first smarter-than-human intelligence can make an even smarter entity in less time than it took to create itself. 
And that this keeps continuing, at each stage, with each iteration growing shorter, until we're down to AIs that are so hyper-intelligent that they make even smarter versions of themselves in less than a second, or less than a millisecond, or less than a microsecond, or whatever tiny fraction of time you want.

This is the so-called 'hard takeoff' scenario, also called the FOOM model by some in the singularity world. It's the scenario where in a blink of an AI, a 'godlike' intelligence bootstraps into being, either by upgrading itself or by being created by successive generations of ancestor AIs."

WeMOG-Monday 1:30

"OUT LIKE A LAMB BIKE RIDE"

Monday, March 31

1:30

Bike The Back Roads of The North Muskegon Area

Meet at the home of Richard Vargo, 735 Mills Ave, North Muskegon, by 1:30.

(Take Ruddiman to Linderman, turn right, then one block to Mills, turn left.)

We will bike the quiet back roads, Ruddiman to Bear Lake Road, then out into the country returning by Peterson and Memorial Drive.  The route is flat, roads are dry, and traffic is light to none. The ride will be about 15 miles in length, with frequent breaks as needed on this our 2014 maiden cycling voyage.

Weather man is calling for 61 and sunny.

Coffee, libations, and goodies at Richard's, 735 Mills, following the ride.

    

Contact Sharon Clark with questions:

wemogsharon@gmail.com

231-670-3634

Lessons From the Little Ice Age

Lessons From the Little Ice Age - NYTimes.com:
"There are two ways to consider the impact of climate change. 

We can predict the future based on current trends or we can study a well-documented episode of the past."

You’ll Never Guess Who Obama is Discriminating Against Using Immigration Laws

You’ll Never Guess Who Obama is Discriminating Against Using Immigration Laws:

"In a shocking development, the Obama Regime is now enforcing border security.  They are checking to make sure people who are coming to this country plan to leave when their trips are over and their visas expire.
This is not a joke, nor is it satire, though it could be called a farce.
Who is the Obama Regime enforcing border security on?
Israelis. "

California to open facilities for ONLY illegal aliens’ driver’s licenses

California to open facilities for ONLY illegal aliens’ driver’s licenses - Tea Party:
As part of the driver’s license application process, immigrants will have to acknowledge that they are undocumented.
But AB 60 protects applicants from criminal prosecution.
The measure will provide an avenue for the state’s three to four million undocumented immigrants to obtain licenses, which advocates have said are necessary in order for the immigrants to get to and from work. 
The law is expected to allow up to 1.4 million undocumented immigrants to obtain licenses.
To accommodate that expected influx of new drivers, the state’s DMV is setting up five facilities throughout California. 
The facilities will be opened in the areas of San Jose, the South Central Coast, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego, DMV spokewoman Jessica Gonzalez told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“This is the stepping-stone to state level amnesty,” Jon Feere, legal policy analyst at the Center of Immigration Studies, told TheDCNF.
Feere noted that former governor Gray Davis was recalled in 2003 after signing into law a bill similar to AB 60.
“California is the state that gave us Ronald Reagan.
Now it gives us illegal alien lawyers with law licenses and illegal alien drivers with driver’s licenses,” Feere said.

Putin’s Intentions Aren’t What Matter

Putin’s Intentions Aren’t What Matter | National Review Online:
"What matters is the intent. And we don’t have a sense of that.”
That is what one of Washington’s legion of anonymous “senior government officials” told the Wall Street Journal about the Russian military forces now massing on Ukraine’s border — complemented, of course, by the tens of thousand more Russian troops stationed in what, until just a few days ago, used to be . . . Ukraine.
Clearly, our Beltway gurus have refined a bit of ancient wisdom: 
If you cannot remain silent and proceed to remove all doubt that you are a fool, at least remain anonymous."

History for March 30

History for March 30 - On-This-Day.com:

Root Canal Awareness Week begins (Mar 30-Apr 5). 8th annual.

Birth anniversaries of artists Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) and Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90).

Birth anniversary of Irish playwright Sean O’Casey (1880-1964).

Happy Birthday! John Astin, Eric Clapton, Celine Dion

1533 - Henry VIII divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. 


1842 - Dr. Crawford W. Long performed the first operation while his patient was anesthetized by ether. 


1858 - Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia patented the pencil. 


1867 - The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars. 


1870 - The 15th amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, was passed by the U.S. Congress. 


1909 - The Queensboro bridge in New York opened linking Manhattan and Queens. It was the first double decker bridge. 


1940 - The Japanese set up a puppet government called Manchuko in Nanking, China. 


1941 - The German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel began its first offensive against British forces in Libya. 


1950 - The invention of the phototransistor was announced. 


1964 - "Jeopardy" debuted on NBC-TV. 


1981 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded in Washington, DC, by John W. Hinckley Jr. Two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady were also wounded.

North Korea: The winner for every Earth Hour since 2003; Odds favor them to be the winner again this year

North Korea: The winner for every Earth Hour since 2003; Odds favor them to be the winner again this year | AEIdeas:

Dana Loesch Eviscerates Harry Reid in Hilarious Tutorial Teaching You How to ‘Internet’

Dana Loesch Eviscerates Harry Reid in Hilarious Tutorial Teaching You How to ‘Internet’ | TheBlaze.com:

"Adopting an infomercial-style voice, Loesch continued, approaching an old-fashioned desktop computer: “I thought I would give you a quick tutorial on how to ‘Internet’ if you’re having trouble ‘Interneting’ and getting the Obamacare because – computer.”

She demonstrated: “This keyboard allows you to type ignorant stuff on my Facebook wall, like, ‘Dana, you suck!’ and demonstrate your lack of understanding between ‘you’re’ – you are – and ‘your’ – possessive.”"

White House regulate cow flatulence climate agenda

White House regulate cow flatulence climate agenda | The Daily Caller:
"As part of its plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the Obama administration is targeting the dairy industry to reduce methane emissions in their operations.
This comes despite falling methane emission levels across the economy since 1990.
The White House has proposed cutting methane emissions from the dairy industry by 25 percent by 2020. Although U.S. agriculture only accounts for about 9 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, it makes up a sizeable portion of methane emissions — which is a very potent greenhouse gas."

After seven years, exactly one person gets off the gov’t no-fly list

After seven years, exactly one person gets off the gov’t no-fly list | Ars Technica:
"A hearing in federal court Tuesday has apparently marked the conclusion of a drawn-out, costly, and, to use the judge’s own term, “Kafkaesque” legal battle over the government no-fly list.
Malaysian college professor Rahinah Ibrahim sued the government back in 2006, after Dr. Ibrahim’s name mistakenly ended up on a federal government no-fly list.
Last month, US District Judge William Alsup ruled that Ibrahim must be removed from the government's various watchlists.
At Tuesday's hearing, a Department of Justice lawyer said that the government did not intend to appeal the ruling. "

Untruthful and Untrustworthy Government

Untruthful and Untrustworthy Government | National Review Online
The massaging of critical data undermines our society.
By Victor Davis Hanson

Transparency and truth are the fuels that run sophisticated civilizations.
Without them, the state grinds to a halt.
Lack of trust — not barbarians on the frontier, global warming or cooling, or even epidemics — doomed civilizations of the past, from imperial Rome to the former Soviet Union.

....What distinguishes democracies from tinhorn dictatorships and totalitarian monstrosities are our permanent meritocratic government bureaus that remain nonpartisan and honestly report the truth.
The Benghazi, Associated Press, and National Security Agency scandals are scary, but not as disturbing as growing doubts about the honesty of permanent government itself.
It is no longer crackpot to doubt the once impeccable and nonpartisan IRS. 
When it assured the public that it was not making decisions about tax-exempt status based on politics, it lied. One of its top commissioners, Lois Lerner, resigned and invoked the Fifth Amendment.

....It was reported in November that the Census Bureau may have fabricated survey results during the 2012 presidential campaign, sending false data to the Labor Department that could have altered official employment statistics.

In the 1990s, the method of assessing the official unemployment rate was massaged to make it seem lower than it actually was. 
Rules were changed to ignore millions who had been out of work longer than 52 weeks.
They were suddenly classified as permanent dropouts and not part of the idled workforce.

Does the government release an accurate report on quarterly Gross Domestic Product growth — another vital barometer of how the economy is doing?
Maybe not.
 Last year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis for the first time factored research and development costs of businesses into statistics on investment growth.
Suddenly, a cost became proof of business output and thus was added into the business-investment contribution to GDP.
That new accounting gimmick may have added hundreds of billions of dollars into the equation of figuring GDP growth last year alone.
Not surprisingly, the government reported unexpectedly high 2.8 percent GDP growth after the changes.

Is inflation really as low as the government insists? 
In recent times the government has not just counted the increase in the prices of goods, but also factored into its calculus theories about changing consumer-buying habits when prices increase.
The changes have resulted in officially lowered inflation rates.

No one knows how many Americans have now bought and paid for Affordable Care Act health-insurance policies.
There is no accurate information about how many young people have enrolled — critical to the success of Obamacare.
Nor do Americans know how many enrollees were previously uninsured.
Nor does the public know how many enrollees simply switched insurance from Medicaid to the Affordable Care Act.
There is no information about how many actually have paid their premiums.

No one knows how many foreign citizens who entered the U.S. illegally were apprehended inside the United States and returned to their country of origin last year — a figure vital for any compromise on passing comprehensive immigration reform.

The Obama administration claims near-record numbers of deportations.
In fact, once again a government agency – in this case the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — has mysteriously changed the way it compiles statistics.
The ICE now counts as deportations those foreign nationals whom the Border Patrol immediately stops or turns away at the border. Such detentions were not previously counted as deportations.
The result is that bureaucrats can report near-record numbers of deportations, while privately assuring the administration that immigration enforcement has been greatly relaxed.


There is a pattern here. 
Changes in data collection seem to have a predictable result: Inflation and unemployment rates become lower.
Economic growth becomes greater.
The IRS focuses on government skeptics.
The Affordable Care Act is not in trouble.
Illegal immigration is not such a problem.

If the people increasingly believe that bureaucrats try to alter reality to reflect preconceived ideologies or the goals of the particular regime in power, then America as we know it is finished.

Ted Cruz’ ‘Stand on Principle’ is One of the Most Passionate Appeals to Liberty You’ll Ever See

Ted Cruz’ ‘Stand on Principle’ is One of the Most Passionate Appeals to Liberty You’ll Ever See:
Senator Ted Cruz’ fiery video “Stand on Principle” is one of the most passionate displays of sincere respect for Constitutional principles to hit Washington in a very long time."

Classified X-37B space plane breaks space longevity record

Classified X-37B space plane breaks space longevity record - Computerworld:
"A little-known  space plane quietly broke its own space endurance record this week as its current unmanned mission surpassed 469 days in space.
Much of the information about the X-37B and its mission is classified, but the little that is public points to it being a development vehicle for new Air Force space capabilities while serving a secondary role for the U.S. military and intelligence community as a testbed for new space-based surveillance technologies.
The current mission, dubbed USA-240, is the third for the X-37B and began on Dec. 11, 2012, atop an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral.
The spacecraft is taken into orbit on a rocket but lands like the space shuttle by gliding down to Earth."

Residents in This Longtime Liberal City Are Making the Case for the Second Amendment — Criminals Are Leaving Them No Choice

Residents in This Longtime Liberal City Are Making the Case for the Second Amendment — Criminals Are Leaving Them No Choice | TheBlaze.com:

"In what could be a future case study on firearms, fatal self-defense shootings are on the rise in Detroit. Instead of victims, criminals are increasingly facing armed citizens determined to defend themselves and their homes.

On Tuesday, a Detroit man reportedly shot and killed two men he said tried to break into his home. Assuming the shooting is ruled self-defense, that means there have been 10 fatal self-defense shootings in Detroit in 2014 so far.

“Detroit has traditionally had a large percentage of the nation’s justifiable homicides by citizens. In 2012, the last year for which national figures are available, there were 25 justifiable homicides in Detroit, which made up 8 percent of the 310 seen nationwide,” the Detroit News reports. “Last year, there were 15 justifiable homicides in the city.”"

Connecticut passes nation's highest minimum wage

Connecticut passes nation's highest minimum wage | The Daily Caller:

"Connecticut raised its minimum wage $10.10 an hour from the previous $ 8.70 an hour over the next three years, surpassing Washington as the highest in the country, reports Reuters."

Walmart's Truck Of The Future

Walmart's Truck Of The Future - Business Insider:
"Walmart, whose fleet includes 6,500 trucks, 55,000 trailers and employs 7,000 drivers, announced in 2005 that it intended to double fleet efficiency by 2015.
According to the company, fleet efficiency has increased by 84% since that announcement."