Way cool: Compressed Air Cars

The Compressed Air Engines

The fruit of more than ten years of researches, MDI's mono-energy engines operate on a totally eco-friendly basis using compressed air stored at high pressure.

These engines are used on vehicles designed for urban use, backup generators or industrial tractors. They are particularly tailored for applications where the torque has an importance and when an averagely moderate power is needed.   

Together with the zero pollution engines, some other versions having the same technical basis have also been created by MDI, they are known as the dual-energy engines. In the case of dual-energy engines, an energetic adjuvant (petrol, diesel, oil, alcohol or gas) is burned in an external continuous combustion chamber. These dual-energy engines have more range and the amount of toxic gases released is very low.

• Less than two Liters per hundred Kilometers (at 90 Km/h for MiniFlowAIR)
• Zero  NOx,
• 3 to 4000 times less unburned HC compared to conventional engines.
• 3 times less C02 emissions in comparison to classic engines.

These engines will be fitted on production generators. Regarding the vehicles that will be operated using these engines; there will be no pollution when used in towns as they would be operating on the 'compressed air mode' only. 
On the motorway these engines provide a good range thanks to the combustion of the liquid or gas adjuvant.

Finally based on this new technology, MDI has imagined and developed a « thermodynamic theory » which will give rise to further improvement in the years to come, thus creating a real energetic revolution. 

All MDI engines have an active chamber and are protected worldwide by patents. 
They can be used for a wide range of applications, varying from 4 to 75 hp.
The engines will be used in the following: 

• Urban transporters
• MDI's eco-friendly cars (OneFlowAIR, MiniFlowAIR and CityFlowAIR)
• MDI's urban transporters (MultiFlowAIR)
• Production and backup generators
• Tow tractors and fork-lifts
• Agricultural tractors
• Boat engine
• Light aircraft engine

If OSHA ran wet t-shirt contests

If OSHA ran wet t-shirt contests

ha ha - The Manchurian President

I think he is simply a radical leftist who is rather inept. Clinton puts him to shame. But this is funny:

It's a little early in his administration to draw any broad conclusions, but the evidence is clear: As a younger man, Barack Obama was kidnapped and brainwashed by evil Republican operatives, then sent deep undercover to destroy the Democratic Party and perhaps even the entire liberal worldview.
How else do you explain:
• Obama leaving his signature domestic reform — health care — in the hands of people least likely to come up with a plan palatable to a majority of Americans.
• Within six months of assuming office, the Democrats' left and center wings are at each other's throats.
• A cap and trade bill so horrendously corrupt and mismanaged that its passage in the House marked the first time in years that Republicans out-polled Democrats on the generic congressional ballot.
• A candidate who called Afghanistan "the necessary war," is now on his second major review, just since March, of how to fight it.
• Never meeting once face-to-face with the general in charge of commanding that "necessary war."
• Telling the world Gitmo was evil, then leaving it open for business.
• Sitting on intelligence, until just this Friday, showing that Iran's WMD program is more advanced than feared.
• Selling out Eastern Europe to the Russians. We haven't had a Democrat do that since Roosevelt.
• A foreign policy initiative for Iran which relies on the idea of both China and Russia not selling stuff to somebody with cash to spend?
• Bailing out banks with hundreds of billions of dollars, yet still without removing a single toxic asset.
• Signing a non-stimulating stimulus so massive that Americans are afraid of deficits for the first time since Ross Perot went around screaming about his crazy aunt.
• A Democrat under threat of scaring off the AARP vote? I mean, what the hell?
• Jebus, the Republicans are starting to look good. (Oops — I couldn't find a link for this one.)
• Most anything involving Joe Biden.
The only detail I can't figure out is, why didn't Karl Rove send me the memo on this back in '07?

TEN FOR '10: Empowering Americans

TEN FOR '10: WINNING WASHINGTON BY EMPOWERING AMERICANS If you would like to express your support for this issue, please fill in the signature boxes by clicking the link and press the "Sign the Petition" button.

1) Taxpayers' Bill of Rights (TABOR). Limit federal spending growth to the percentage in population growth plus the rate of inflation; provide taxpayers the option of filing a post-card sized return using a low, flat tax rate of 15% 2) End Tax-funded abortions. Stop federal payments to Planned Parenthood and prohibit any taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plan from covering abortion 3) Defend American Borders. Complete America's border-protection initiatives using remaining funds from the so-called stimulus bill 4) King Dollar. Preserve a strong dollar so that Americans' savings aren't wiped out by inflation and the U.S. dollar remains the world's reserve currency 5) Empower American Business. Immediately slash corporate tax rates to 15% and scrap the capital-gains tax altogether 6) Defend America. Strengthen America to defend our homeland and fully fund an operational, layered missile-defense system 7) Statism Exit Plan. De-fund czars; immediately cease bailout payments to failed companies; ban future bailouts 8) End Generational Theft. As few believe America's entitlement programs will be able to pay benefits to future generations, provide younger workers the choice of diverting payroll/Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts 9) Restore America's System of Justice. Introduce penalties for frivolous lawsuits, where those who launch unsuccessful lawsuits are liable for the defendants' legal bills 10) American Energy Independence. All-of-the-Above strategy that embraces alternatives, expands and accelerates exploration and production of oil and natural gas, and jumpstarts dramatic increases in nuclear power

WSJ: Can you hear me now?

Can You Hear Me Now: The Transportation Department today convenes a two-day summit in an effort to tackle the safety challenges posed by distracted driving - especially texting and cell-phone use behind the wheel. In August, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he would support a ban on texting while driving, as 16 states have done, and New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer has proposed legislation that would withhold federal highway funds from states that don't ban texting behind the wheel. One big question hanging over everything: Do bans on texting and handheld cell phone use have any impact, and can they be enforced?

Here's an idea... Many automobile manufacturers have recently produced cars with windshield wipers that stop when the car stops, so as to extend the lifetime of the windshield wiper. Why not produce cars with a device installed that blocks cellphones when a car is moving, and only allow transmissions when the car is stopped? I'm all for freedom, but safety on the highway comes first. In this respect, a moving vehicle in traffic is a privilege, and a cell phone is a hazard.

Buttinsky in chief

Barack Obama wants to extend the length of a school year for government school students. How would that affect our economy?

This dude is such a buttinsky to people's lives.

I wish he'd just go on a permanent vacation, for 3 1/2 years, until Palin takes over.

Meanwhile at the G20, what's going on with that left hand...? Can's say I blame him.

Re: Grizzly bear back on the ES list

Smart: Environmental activism which is geared toward a real threat; for instance the killing of grizzly bears by people in the west. That's a direct link, and a direct response, which is smart policy. What is dumb is for this judge to claim that it has anything to do with global climate or global warming. In fact the temperatures in 2008 were colder, not warmer, than average.

Dumb: Environmental activism which is geared toward a fictitious threat; specifically, that there is a link of man's activities to increased CO2, and that that link is the major link, and that no other factor, including the sun's activities, have to do with global warming, and that that global warming may or may not play a role in the number of polar bears, which by the way are on the increase, or the range of the grizzly bears. The links are so subtle and have so little evidence to support them, that this is dumb policy. 

Now that the judge has included global warming, it leaves open the ruling for appeal, because that cannot be proven. He should have left it alone as being because man is killing the grizzly bears.

Grizzlies, Back on the List    Published: September 27, 2009

Last week, a federal district judge in Montana put the grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone National Park area back on the endangered species list. Judge Donald Molloy said the Interior Department's 2007 rule removing the animal from the list — and the protections of the Endangered Species Act — had not provided adequately for the bears' survival. Although the department may appeal, the wiser course would be to devise a better plan.

The judge agreed that the recovery of the grizzly, whose numbers had climbed from some 200 at their lowest to around 600 at the time of delisting, had been remarkable. But the decision to delist — driven in part by the numbers and in part by the Bush administration's desire to declare a success — had provided only vague plans for maintaining bear populations and no specific responses in case they began to decline. It also relied too heavily on flawed state plans in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.

Further, Judge Molloy agreed with the environmental groups challenging the delisting that the Interior Department had failed to take into account the effects of climate change on the bears' food supply.

Warmer temperatures have caused an outbreak of mountain pine beetles, which have spread to higher slopes and killed millions of acres of whitebark pine trees, whose nuts are essential to the grizzly bear diet. This, in turn, has led the bears to forage elsewhere, increasing their contact with humans, including hunters. In 2008 alone, nearly 80 grizzlies were known to have died in the Yellowstone ecosystem.

Judge Molloy's ruling makes it clear that saving a species like the grizzly isn't just a matter of counting bears. It is also a matter of saving habitat. And where habitat has been degraded as rapidly as it has for the grizzly, extraordinary measures are required. Setting aside more habitat may be one of them. Whatever the answers, restoring the bears to the endangered species list is the essential first step to saving them — again.

Sarkozy's wife, Bruni, first lady of France

What we missed in Pittsburgh last week...

Obama wants to send you to jail for not paying his Healthcare Tax

You still don't believe that Obama would send you to jail if you don't go along with his plans? Well ... maybe this will convince you. Don't you just love what our government has become? Now you can go to jail for not paying something that Obama swears isn't a tax.

Go Palin!

For her part, Governor Sarah Palin, in her role as Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska Defense Force, the modern day equivalent to the Territorial Guard, signed SB 89 which funded, these pensions until 2010.

For those that don't know, the Alaska Defense Force is a federally recognized state militia, that trains as an auxiliary police force, as well as a military defense force, and is part of Homeland Security's readiness plan, and is under the command of the Governor of Alaska.

Obama: You can keep your doctor

This chart shows you how:

Economics & the G20

G20 signs read: People before Profits.

It's obvious these folks don't understand economics.

If we gave ALL of the profits to the people. The businesses would have to go out of business,

that would mean NO jobs.

Does this sound like a free country?

Not under the Democrats it isn't...

Buy Obamacare or face jail... One year in jail.
The Politico reported:

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.

Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold."

The Politico posted a copy of the note sent to Senator Ensign.

A better photo at the U.N. circus

Now I can see what he's saying. Good thing too, because I turned down the volume.

NEA Tells Artists: Serve the State

The White House has allegedly illegally coordinated a message to the NEA through Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

 Breitbart broke more corruption news by releasing an audio recording and transcript of a controversial conference call that took place in early August between officials at the National Endowment for the Arts, the White House Office of Public Engagement, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and various people in the arts community who had supported President Obama's campaign.

Although no teleprompter can be seen, it is believed that this is indeed President Obama posing for some of the positive agenda item artwork that was to be generated by the NEA as propaganda for Obamacare. The photographer couldn't confirm the purpose of the duck.

Apparently so many law abiding individuals made such a stink about this "inappropriate" NEA call that the White House set up new guidelines to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Developing...

Great opportunity!

Apply today!

Obama speaking before the U.N.

Can't quite read what he's saying...

Is it a lie to say a tax is not a tax?

OBAMA: No, but... but, George, you... you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I... I don't think I'm making it up. Merriam Webster's Dictionary: Tax..."a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes."

OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the... definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to the... dictionary to check on the definition. I mean what...

Follow-Up Not Asked: OK, Mr. President, since you do not agree with the definition provided by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, what exactly is your definition of the word "tax"?

Palin slams Obama's spending

 
Palin slams Obama's spending in debut Asian speech...


Go Palin!

Free Enterprise Nation

A full page ad in today's Wall Street Journal carries a powerful message from Free Enterprise Nation. It is a self-described non-partisan, private-sector advocacy group that lobbies for free markets. Its first task, aside from fundraising, is educating private sector employees about the outrageous excesses of government workers. Salaries, benefits, overall expenditures -- any metric you could name -- are on suicidal trajectories.

The chickens control not only the hen-house, but the whole damn farm as well.

Wages

• One state of California pensioner retired with an annual salary of $500,000 a year.
• An Illinois driver's traning teacher earned $170,000 a year before retiring with an annual pension of $130,000.
• A Department of Energy administrator received a $63K bonus on top of his $172K base bay.

• Federal civilian wages average around $80K, while private sector wages average $50K.
• Between 2000 and 2008, wages for federal civilian workers rose 54% versus $28% for private sector workers.
• The U.S. government paid more than a third of a billion dollars in bonuses in fiscal year 2008.

• In 2008, 40% of all workers for the bankrupt city of Vallejo, California, were paid more than $100K annually.
• The state of New York paid $460,000,000 in overtime in 2007.
• A New York "Developmental Aide" worked enough overtime to earn $111K even though her base salary was $39K.

• In Illinois, 420 physical education teachers make over $100K, with the top one earning $163,000.
• Also in Illinois, 332 English teachers earn over $100K, with the highest paid at $164,000.
• And 94 drivers education teachers make over $100K. The highest paid is $170,000.

Benefits

• Comparing combined wages and benefits, federal workers average $120K versus $60K for the private sector.
• This places the value of benefits for federal workers at $40K annually, four times that of the private sector.
• Only 12% of private sector retirees have defined benefit pension plans; and they are not eligible for full Social Security benefits until they are nearly 70.

• Government workers have pension plans that allow them to retire 10-25 years earlier and with far richer payments than Social Security would provide.
• A Fort Worth, Texas police chief recently retired at age 55 with an annual pension of $189K. A successor retired at age 52 with a pension of $114K.
• In San Jose, California, 256 city retirees earn more than $100K, which represents three to five times the Social Security benefit, while retiring in their mid-50s.

• Florida spent over $1.6 billon on health care coverage for state employees.
• Florida taxpayers footed the bill for $1.44 billion of the total.
• Florida worker contributions accounted for less than 10% ($156 million) of the total.

Double-Dipping/Spiking/Pension Abuse

• More than 4,000 Arizona employees "double-dip" (collect full pensions and lump sum payments while working).
• A police commander in Delray Beach, Florida retired at age 42 with a $65K pension and now earns another salary.
• In Florida, more than 9,000 state employees and 200 elected officials are double-dipping.

• Florida spends $300 million annually on salaries and pensions for double-dippers
• A community college president got a lump sum of $893K, earns $442K annually, and has a $15K/month pension.
• A small college president got a lump sum of $585K and earns $286K annually, in addition to his $10K/month pension.

• A Northwest Florida State College president got a lump sum of $553,228 and earns $228,000 annually, in addition to his $8,803/month pension.
• A state attorney who "changed his mind about retirement" collected a lump sum of $519,995, makes an annual salary of $153,139, in addition to a $7,750/month pension.
• A Sheriff collected a lump sum of $311,173, makes an annual salary of $128,000, and receives a monthly pension of $5,699.

• In San Francisco, a recent civil grand jury report noted the prevalence of "spiking," or boosting pension benefits via final work year promotions, a practice that has resulted, in the past decade, in over half of the police and firefighters earning pensions in excess of the wages they earned while actively working
• In Arkansas, at least 144 employees retired and then returned to the same job since 2001.
• In New York, nearly 700 retired teachers and administrators receive pensions over $100K.

Employment

• Between July 2008 and July 2009, the private sector lost 5.2 million jobs while government grew by 238,000 workers.
• Since December 2007, private sector employment has declined 5.74% while government payroll grew nearly 1%.
• From March 2009 to June 2009, the number of government employees rose from 20,904,000 to 21,446,000.

Growing Debt and Unfunded Liabilities

• The total public debt is now at $11.8 trillion
• Interest payments alone on debt came to $452 billion in 2008.
• Next year, America's debt will exceed 60% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

• The unfunded liability for Social Security is $17.5 trillion in 2009.
• The unfunded liability for Medicare is more than $92 trillion in 2009.
• The unfunded liability for state and local pension plans is more than $3.5 trillion if we use the same assumptions as private plans.

These figures are unsustainable

The public sector unions -- like the ACORN-riddled SEIU -- are destroying the budgets of cities, states and the federal government.

Now you can see why President Obama is hell-bent on nationalizing one-sixth of the economy with his thinly disguised health care "overhaul".

It helps hasten the destruction of the hated free market system and perhaps capitalism itself.

Visit The Free Enterprise Nation and see how you can help stop this insanity.

Why not competition across state lines?

Axelrod beclowns himself trying to explain Obama's opposition to health insurance portability: AT (Lifson)

Why not competition across state lines? Only market forces will compel lower costs.

And why not insurance portability?

Is it because Obama and the Democrats want nothing less than a complete takeover of healthcare?

Pathetic: Axelrod and Obama won't even allow selling health insurance across state lines

Axelrod nixed selling health insurance across state lines
Thomas Lifson
The Club for Growth highlights an interview of David Axelrod by Wolf Blitzer, in which the CNN correspondent presses Axelrod on why not allow health insurance to be sold across state lines. Axelrod fumbles badly, having just touted the need for competition. Making it up as he goes along, he at one point calls the change "symbolic," which is outright absurd. 



His inability to offer a good reason to oppose a common sense reform that does not cost any tax dollars, and would self-evidently increase competition (something he just praised) is pathetic. Congratulations to Wolf Blitzer for exposing the weakness of the ObamaCare case.

Hat tip: Ed Lasky
Posted at 11:06 AM | Email | Permalink 

ha ha ha

Response to a subscription offer from the New York Times

The New York Times, which has lost $122 million in the past year, just lost a few more bucks paying return postage on a handful of rocks.

Since they've become the mouthpiece for the Democratic Party, the Times might want to screen its mailing list and only send offers to registered Democrats.

The Ents Have Gone To War

The Ents Have Gone To War
James Reynolds
In the Tolkien mythologies, the Ents are a race of human-like trees living deep in a primordial forest. Ancient, towering creatures, Ents move slowly and deliberately, requiring decades of contemplation before coming to a decision on matters great and small.  In the Middle Earth Trilogy, Ents are warned time and again of the danger they face at the hand of man, but it is not until they go to the edge of their forest and witness the destruction of their homeland that Ents rise up and defeat their foes.

For almost a decade Middle America has lived as Ents.  Buffeted by the attacks of September 11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the housing crash of 2008, many of my countrymen had, by last autumn, turned inward, losing focus on the cost of freedom.  Overwhelmed by the rapid pace of political and social change beyond their shores, a large group of Americans -- like the Ents -- just wanted to be left alone.  But change was in the air, and on November 5, 2009 Barack Obama was elected President of the United States on a nebulous promise of "hope and change."

Fast forward to Monday, September 21, 2009: Nancy Pelosi is blubbering about "assassins,"  Jimmy Carter is whining about "color," John Stewart is screaming at the reporters of America as to why two kids scooped them on the ACORN story.  And then along comes Bertha Lewis.

The actions of Barack Obama and his minions over the past eight months have awoken the Ents from slumber.   Ask any American small business owner, all with legal and moral responsibilities to work within their company's budget.  Ask any twenty-year old  about their soon-to-be-mandatory health care plan.  Ask any senior citizen who now wonders if they will be sharing their health care with 12 million illegal aliens who, according to our president in a speech before the National Hispanic Caucus on September 17, 2009, stated that "this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all."

I guess the President didn't lie in his joint session speech; he just didn't tell the truth.

In America, working people hold the political class in contempt for good reason. But we ignore them at our peril.  After years of feeling helpless, Middle America is paying attention to the people in Washington, and we do not like what we see.  For that I thank you, Mr. President.  Because of you, the Ents have gone to war. 

Kool-Aid Express

Theodore Roosevelt: tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about the president; there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants.  He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole.  Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right.  Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile.  To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.  Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else.  But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." -- Theodore Roosevelt

They miss the point, I don't want the Government's Cadillac insurance

If I want Catastrophic health insurance, it cost less than the Cadillac suite of insurance the government wants to take over and provide for everyone.

If there is a mandate, it is a mandate for the Cadillac suite, not the catastrophic insurance.

"we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore" - Obama

Fine, then have different flavors of health insurance. Also provide a catastrophic variety with huge deductibles that doesn't cost as much as the government's Cadillac plan.

7 flaws in the new government healtcare plan

The Heritage Foundation has done some excellent research and come up with a list of Seven Fatal Flaws in this Baucus healthcare bill, many of which would ultimately lead to tax increases.

• Middle Class Tax Hike: The Baucus bill would impose a new sales tax on drugs and medical devices and a new federal excise tax on insurance plans that exceed $8,000 for an individual and $21,000 for a family. These taxes will ultimately be passed down to the consumer, putting many middle class families on the receiving end of a tax hike.
• An Individual Mandate: In 2013, almost everyone would be required to purchase health insurance that complies with new federal standards. Those making more than three times the poverty level would face a tax penalty of $950 (maxing out at $3,800 per family) and $750 (maxing out at $1,500 per family) for those below 300 percent poverty. This penalty could apply to individuals with incomes as low as $10,831 a year.
• No Privacy: In order to enforce the tax penalty provisions, the government would be forced to collect detailed health insurance information on Americans, reducing patient privacy and adding significant administrative costs to employers and insurers.
• A Pay-or-Play Employer Mandate: Employers with more than 50 employees that don't offer health coverage would have to pay a penalty for each employee who qualifies for new federal subsidizes under the bill. Inevitably, low-income workers will be hurt the most as employers would simply downsize or cut wages.
• A Thinly Disguised Public Option: The Baucus bill invites indefinite federal control of a "co-op" by providing an unnecessary $6 billion in federal funding for startup loans and grants and it gives broad latitude to the HHS Secretary to regulate co-ops and promote them. The co-op created in this bill is literally an acronym for a new government-run health plan.
• Medicaid Expansion: Under the Baucus bill, millions of Americans would end up on Medicaid. The current Medicaid program is unsustainable and poorly serves the needy and indigent now. Taxpayers will pick up the new costs of Medicaid, and states will have little flexibility for real reform.
• Medicare: The Baucus bill establishes value-based purchasing, requiring compliance with government guidelines on the delivery of medical services. Hospitals and physicians who don't comply would get lower Medicare payments. This approach could bias or compromise doctors' decisions and contradict U.S. law on the federal interference in the practice of medicine.

Where is the incentive to work harder?

To Mr. Boortz's quote I would add, where is the incentive to work? When Obama takes money from business, large and small, he is reducing the incentive for businesses to hire more people. When he takes money from individuals, he is reducing the incentive for them to work harder to advance themselves. When business and individuals advance themselves, society as a whole advances, and everyone, including the lowest income brackets, makes out. More jobs are created, and the economy thrives. When I challenge the premise of Obama's statement, I do so by asking: How do we balance a perceived need to 'look after one another' with our need to maintain incentive to work harder? Free markets with limited government works well to harbor incentive. Big government destroys incentive. Just look to the Soviet Union and their satellite nations before they switched to capitalism. Lack of incentive makes everyone poor, except the leaders and politicians.

"You need to correct your premise, Mr. President. You don't balance freedom against our need to look after one another. Freedom is paramount. When people use their freedom to make the wrong choices and end up in need, they must rely on the private charitable efforts of individuals, service organizations, churches, synagogues and mosques. Once you have a government that is powerful enough to seize property from one individual solely for the purpose of transferring it to another .. freedom is in grave jeopardy." -- Neal Boortz in response to Obama's statement:

How do we balance our freedom with our need to "look after one another"?

Mandatory Insurance Is Unconstitutional: WSJ

Mandatory Insurance Is Unconstitutional: WSJ

Survey: 87% of businesses would cut employee benefits if the Democrats pass their healthcare bill

According to a recent survey, 87% of businesses would cut employee benefits if the Democrats pass their healthcare bill (assuming that it will increase their costs).

A Towers Perrin Survey came across the Business Wire on Reuters this morning stating that a majority of employers surveyed will reduce benefits resulting from the proposed Democrat Health Care Reform bill that is working its way through Congress if it increases costs.

ACORN Nut doesn't fall far from the tree

Chairman Zero training his fellow ACORNistas.

CBS: Obama Admin: Cap And Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year

Obama Admin: Cap And Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year

Posted by Declan McCullagh

(AP)

The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent. 

A previously unreleased analysis prepared by the U.S. Department of Treasury says the total in new taxes would be between $100 billion to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the administration's estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year. 

A second memorandum, which was prepared for Obama's transition team after the November election, says this about climate change policies: "Economic costs will likely be on the order of 1 percent of GDP, making them equal in scale to all existing environmental regulation." 

The documents (PDF) were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute and released on Tuesday. 

If the Democrats get their government healthcare, 45% of doctors say they would consider quitting.

If the Democrats get their government healthcare, 45% of doctors say they would consider quitting.

Read it twice!

Tea Party D.C. 9/12/2009 photo

Photographer Michael A. Beck. This is a photo of the 9/12 Rally taken in extreme High Resolution from atop the Capitol Building. Mr. Beck was personally escorted to this vantage point by a congressman who will remain anonymous. This panoramic view offers the viewer documentation of the epic scale of this peaceful demonstration of democracy in action.

Click the link for a higher res version.  Note the 'Don't Tread on Me' snake banners, not a likely sight at anything BUT this rally. Also, it seems to me that indeed the flags are at full height.

"It is a lie, plain and simple."

"It is a lie, plain and simple." -- Obama, calling politicians like Palin a liar (concerning HR3200)

"You lie." -- Joe Wilson, a few minutes later; aimed at Obama's statement that illegal aliens would not be covered by HR3200.

Perhaps they all should read this: My First Lie, And How I Got Out Of It - Mark Twain

Mark Twain on Congress:

Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can. - What Is Man? ...the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes. - Letter fragment, 1891 Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. - Mark Twain, a Biography Congressman is the trivialist distinction for a full grown man. - Notebook #14, 11/1877 - 7/1878 All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity. - Mark Twain's Autobiography; also in Mark Twain in Eruption

Illustration from AMERICAN EXAMINER, 1910 from the Dave Thomson collection

The lightning there is peculiar; it is so convincing, that when it strikes a thing it doesn't leave enough of that thing behind for you to tell whether--Well, you'd think it was something valuable, and a Congressman had been there.
- Mark Twain's Speeches, "The Weather"

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
- Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar

It is the foreign element that commits our crimes. There is no native criminal class except Congress.
- More Maxims of Mark, Johnson, 1927

Whiskey is carried into committee rooms in demijohns and carried out in demagogues.
- Notebook, 1868

...I never can think of Judas Iscariot without losing my temper. To my mind Judas Iscariot was nothing but a low, mean, premature, Congressman.
- "Foster's Case", New York Tribune, 3/10/1873 

Mark Twain on Lies

Note that venerable proverb: Children and fools always speak the truth. The deduction is plain: adults and wise persons never speak it.
- "On the Decay of the Art of Lying" 

Illustration courtesy of Dave Thomson

The old saw says--"let a sleeping dog lie." Experience knows better; experience says, If you want to convince do it yourself. - Written in Clara Clemens's copy of The Gilded Age "Let a sleeping dog lie." It is a poor old maxim, & nothing in it: anybody can do it, you don't have to employ a dog. - Written in copy of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Margery Clinton, August 18, 1908 You cain't pray a lie. - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  The most outrageous lies that can be invented will find believers if a man only tells them with all his might. - Letter to San Francisco Alta California, dated May 17, 1867; published June 16, 1867 [Lying] Man's most universal weakness. - quoted in Mark Twain and I, by Opie Read Carlyle said "a lie cannot live." It shows that he did not know how to tell them. - Mark Twain's Autobiography; Mark Twain in Eruption

In all lies there is wheat among the chaff... - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Lie--an abomination before the Lord and an ever present help in time of trouble. - 3/30/1901 The lie, as a virtue, a principle, is eternal; the lie, as a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need, the fourth Grace, the tenth Muse, man's best and surest friend is immortal. - "On the Decay of the Art of Lying" One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives. - Pudd'nhead Wilson I would rather tell seven lies than make one explanation. - Letter to John Bellows, 11 April 1883

1913 Cream of Wheat ad featuring Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and  Aunt Polly by artist Leslie Thresher

'Tis immoral to lie except for practice. - Maxim written in copy of Editorial Wild Oats donated in 1905 for the Bryn Mawr book sale. Reported in Washington Times, December 16, 1905, p. 3. Never tell a lie--P.S. - Except to keep in practice. - quoted in "Mark Twain's Autograph," Atlanta Constitution, 9 September 1906, p. E3.

Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." (... And Astrophotographs!)
- Autobiography of Mark Twain 
for more info on the background of this quote, see Stephen Goranson's post to the Mark Twain Forum July 31, 2002

There are 869 different forms of lying, but only one of them has been squarely forbidden. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
- Following the Equator; Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar

I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won't.
- quoted in Mark Twain, Henderson 

The highest perfection of politeness is only a beautiful edifice, built, from the base to the dome, of graceful and gilded forms of charitable and unselfish lying.
- "On the Decay of the Art of Lying"

The young ought to be temperate in the use of this great art until practice and experience shall give them that confidence, elegance, and precision which alone can make the accomplishment graceful and profitable. Patience, diligence, painstaking attention to detail -- these are the requirements; these, in time, will make the student perfect; upon these, and upon these only, may he rely as the sure foundation for future eminence. Think what tedious years of study, thought, practice, experience, went to the equipment of that peerless old master who was able to impose upon the whole world the lofty and sounding maxim that "Truth is mighty and will prevail"-- the most majestic compound fracture of fact which any of woman born has yet achieved. For the history of our race, and each individual's experience, are sewn thick with evidences that a truth is not hard to kill, and that a lie well told is immortal.
- "Advice to Youth," 15 April 1882

The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance. How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!
- Mark Twain in Eruption

I realize that in a sudden emergency I am but a poor clumsy liar, whereas a fine alert and capable emergency-liar is the only sort that is worth anything in a sick-chamber.
- Mark Twain's Autobiography

It is true I have a passion for lying to rich people, but I do not lie to men who get their bread by thankless hard work.
- Letter to W. D. Howells, 10/28/1889

Almost all lies are acts, and speech has no part in them.
- "My First Lie and How I Got Out of It"

There is a prejudice against the spoken lie, but none against any other, and by examination and mathematical computation I find that the proportion of the spoken lie to the other varieties is 1 to 22,894. Therefore the spoken lie is of no consequence, and it is not worth while to go around fussing about it and trying to make believe that it is an important matter. The silent colossal National Lie that is the support and confederate of all the tyrannies and shams and inequalities and unfairnesses that afflict the peoples - that is the one to throw bricks and sermons at.
- "My First Lie and How I Got Out of It"

Let others lie, wantonly, gratuitously, if they will, but let you & me make it the rule of our life to lie for revenue only.
- manuscript page dated January 15, 1910 from the Ethel Sloan collection

A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
- This quote has been attributed to Mark Twain, but it has never been verified as originating with Twain. This quote may have originated with Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) who attributed it to an old proverb in a sermon delivered on Sunday morning, April 1, 1855. Spurgeon was a celebrated English fundamentalist Baptist preacher. His words were: "A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on."

An accurate history from Front Page Mag: Mussolini the socialist

The pragmatist
Although Mussolini never ceased preaching socialism in some form, his actions when in power were like those of most politicians: Many unrealistic promises were broken and policies were adopted that in fact hurt the workers (such as wage cuts). The important point, however, is that the policies he in fact adopted once in power were not adopted for mere ideological reasons but because they were the policies that he thought would work best for Italy and, thus, ultimately for all Italians. As "Conservative" political parties tend to think in this way also (Gilmour, 1978), it is presumably in part this that causes Mussolini to be referred to as a Rightist. His appeal to Italians, however was as a socialist and a nationalist.

more here

and here:

Front Page Magazine: "Left-wing Fascism: An Intellectual Disorder"