Best Buy founder gives U $40M for diabetes research

The University of Minnesota said today it will receive $40 million for diabetes research from the foundation of Best Buy founder Richard Schulze in what appears to be the second-largest gift in the university’s history.

The money, which will be paid over five years, is also thought to be nationally the second-largest diabetes research donation by an individual or foundation.

My youngest daughter is a Type-1 diabetic.

Thank you Mr. Schulze. I will never ever not shop for anything at Best Buy again.

Mr. Oprahma, the worst President in modern history is on line two and would like a word.

A Past President’s Advice to Obama: Act With Haste

Almost three decades later, Jimmy Carter recalls vividly what it was like trying to get Americans to turn down their thermostats and kick the oil habit.

“It was like gnawing on a rock,” the former president says.

…speaking from experience.

Now President-elect Barack Obama is heading to Washington with a set of energy goals as ambitious as Mr. Carter’s back in 1976. He promises to free the country from “the tyranny of foreign oil” and to save “our planet for our children.”

…so they can live to give…60% of their earnings to fill in the hole that you’ve dug for them.

He’s calling for a “spirit of service and sacrifice,” and promoting hybrid cars and wind and solar power.

Guys, guys. It’s the economy, stupids.

By the way, “That One”,  a “spirit of service and sacrifice?”

Huh?

Is that what you call your proposed largest-ever ginormous government economic stimulus program?

Obama would be wise to spend his dwindling political capital on the economy. Four years won’t be long enough to get to what should be ninth or tenth on your “Things to Do If I Become The Messiah” list.

But Mr. Obama must now champion his $150 billion energy plans in the face of a sinking economy and oil prices that have fallen 70% since their record mid-summer high. Forces like these have killed at least four similar presidential efforts in the past. Already, falling energy prices and the credit crisis are laying waste to scores of alternative-energy projects, from huge wind farms in Texas to biodiesel plants in Mr. Carter’s home state of Georgia.

As it should be. Priorities being what they are.

Mr. Carter offers Mr. Obama this advice: Try to inspire Americans to see the virtue in making energy sacrifices, a notoriously tough sell, especially in the face of falling prices. Get energy legislation to Congress quickly, during the presidential honeymoon. And stick with it.

Don’t worry that people are losing jobs, retail is down double digits, the national debt clock in New York City to be pulled down for lack of digits and the auto industry – well never mind about them.

Speaking of sticking it, Mr. Carter…how’d that all work out for you?

“I think he can prevail if he does it early and with a great deal of dedication and enthusiasm — and with tenacity,” Mr. Carter says in an interview.

What out-of-work journalist sought to rejuvenate their career by interviewing Jimmuh?

Mr. Carter says he had a key advantage over Mr. Obama — a national sense that something had to be done: “The energy crisis that I inherited was in many ways much more serious than it is now.”

And yet he also failed. While you’re at it Mr. Former-Crappy-President, any stock tips?

Just two weeks into his presidency, Mr. Carter gave his famous “fireside chat” on energy. Clad in a yellow cardigan that now hangs in his presidential museum

…because no one else wanted it

Please pass the malaise…

Later, in his most politically costly address dubbed by critics the “malaise speech,” Mr. Carter announced a massive program to boost solar power and make synthetic fuel from coal. He vowed the U.S. would never again import more oil than it did in 1977.

…and a two-hour movie would soon fit on a small thin shiny disk. Oh, sorry. That actually did happen.

Mr. Carter concedes that his battles over energy policy cost him political support. “It sapped away a substantial portion of my domestic influence to harp on this unpleasant subject for four solid years,” he says.

Oh, well in that case, Mr. Oprahma should make great haste to  heed this most sage advice of the wise and revered former President.

At 84 years old, Mr. Carter hasn’t lost his fascination for the subject that helped to define his presidency. Eight years ago, he planted 10 acres of paulownia trees on several fields around his house. Native to China, the trees are among the fastest growing in the world. His groves already stand more than 50 feet tall. He sent one of the trees this summer to a lab at the University of Georgia, where it was pulped and turned into ethanol.

…and he sits in a rocker on his porch, donning another yellow cardigan, sipping it.

…if the Senate denies The Big Three bailout.

Ford Bailout Money Unnecessary, Company Says

DEARBORN, Mich. — By shunning government loans, Ford Motor Co.’s top executives say they hope to buff up the automaker’s image and set it apart from its cash-starved Detroit competitors, General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

Why is Cerberus, one of the world’s richest private equity firms, begging for a bailout?

Buried on the business page of The New York Times Saturday were the details of Detroit’s biggest snow job yet–literally as well as figuratively. Turns out that Cerberus CEO John Snow, who spent three-and-a-half lackluster, and some might say lap-doggish, years as President Bush’s second Treasury secretary, is leading a who’s who of crony capitalists in a lobbying campaign for a taxpayer bailout to “salvage Cerberus’ investment in Chrysler.”

That’s right. Not to save the jobs of Chrysler employees or America’s disappearing manufacturing base, mind you, but to prevent “one of the world’s richest and most secretive private investment companies” from having to take a relatively modest financial hit and use some of its own capital to prop up the smallest of the major automakers.

As it turns out, this may end up being a GM-only bailout. Assuming Cerberus shows some integrity, and Ford isn’t willing to sell it’s soul to Congress for a handout, will the Senate be able to save one and not give something to the other two?

UPDATE: Auto Bailout Appears Dead in Senate as G.O.P. Resists

A Navy pilot’s tale of his first landing on the carrier in the dark.

As the last guys finish their dinner, we all look at each other with similar glances. Not a word needs to be said but everyone is thinking the exact same thing. The expressions say it all. It’s time to walk upstairs and play ball.

We’ve been preparing ourselves for this for years now, and it’s what sets a Naval Aviator apart from every other pilot in the world. If you can’t do it, the years of training leading up to this point are no good to you. As one of our paddles said, if you can’t succeed at this you’re useless to us as a Hornet pilot because we fly, and fight, in the dark. We have to go land this thing on the boat … at night.

We’ve all been behind the boat during the day. You do it in the training command in the mighty T-45. It’s nerve-wracking the first few times, but once you get over the initial nerves and start getting the hang of operating around the ship becomes a lot of fun. Day CQ in the Hornet was even better.

We’d all been here before and were looking forward to coming back. Landing on the carrier is what we do as Naval Aviators. It’s one of the most amazing things you can experience, yet it’s one of the smallest clubs in aviation.

It’s something you can do well, but never perfectly. Every single pass is critiqued by the Landing Signal Officers (LSOs), and you’re graded no matter what your rank 0r who you are. Being good around the carrier is what everyone prides themselves on. Now it was our turn. Time to really join the club, and prove that we can do this safely, with the sun down.

(more…)

1.Chili 2.Bracelet 3.Species 4.Pass 5.Evolutionary 6.Equilibrium 7.Require 8.Crime 9.Cavorting 10.How 11.Dissolution 12.Labels 13.My 14.Same 15.President 16.United 17.Rhetoric 18.Authorities

(2-3-2-1-12-7-5-2-2-6-1-1-2-2-3-5-4-8-4)

…so that we can load it up with the most useless projects we can devise…but we’ll call them “Infrastructure,” and taxpayers will look the other way.

From a couple posts ago…

“We understand that we’ve got to provide a blood infusion to the patient right now to make sure that the patient is stabilized. And that means that we can’t worry short term about the deficit. We’ve got to make sure that the economic stimulus plan is large enough to get the economy moving,” he said.

Let’s dissect what Mr. Jimmy just said. We have to make sure to print and/or borrow so much money that the economy will have to get better?

Obama’s words rang out like a dog whistle for liberals everywhere.

And not surprisingly, the term “Infrastructure” gained a new, broader meaning.

On Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors went to Capitol Hill to ask for a handout, or as they put it: “We are reporting that in 427 cities of all sizes in all regions of the country, a total of 11,391 infrastructure projects (emphasis mine-JR) are ‘ready to go.’ These projects represent an infrastructure investment of $73,163,299,303 that would be capable of producing an estimated 847,641 jobs in 2009 and 2010.”

…it turns out $73 Billion is “capable” of producing 847,641 temporary jobs.

A wish list that is 11,391 projects strong! What vital infrastructure projects would cash-strapped taxpayers get for their $73 billion? Here’s a sampling:

– Hercules, Calif., wants $2.5 million in hard-earned taxpayer money for a “Waterfront Duck Pond Park,” and another $200,000 for a dog park.

– Euless, Texas, wants $15 million for the Midway Park Family Life Center, which, you’ll be glad to note, includes both a senior center and aquatic facility.

– Natchez, Miss., “needs” a new $9.5 million sports complex “which would allow our city to host major regional and national sports tournaments.”

– Henderson, Nev., is asking for $20 million to help “develop a 60 acre multi-use sports field complex.”

– Brigham City, Utah, wants $15 million for a sports park.

– Arlington, Texas, needs $4 million to expand its tennis center.

It’s a simple fact. Liberals can not be trusted with the nation’s checkbook. In a time of world financial crisis, their solution is to spend more taxpayer money on even more useless pork.

The government does have a role to play: stimulate the economy by creating incentives for growth, incentives that will be permanent, paid for by cutting government down to size. But liberals would entertain that notion. Liberals seek to justify and extend government largess, not reduce it to it’s rightful weight.

Instead of stimulating the economy, Barack Obama and his faithful liberal lunatics in Congress aspire to become the economy.

Barack Obama is denying involvement in the Senate Seat Auction perpetrated by Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois.

…and I believe him. Sort of.

I also believe that Barack knows this sort of thing runs rampant in Chicago. I believe Barack Obama had to know this interchange would ensue despite his lack of direct involvement. This is in no way proof of Obama’s involvement. At best, a thin and dotted line can be drawn based on the Governor’s expectation that Barack Obama would become involved vis a vis his influence, if not financially. From the wiretaps…

The governor discusses with his staff the possibility of getting a high-paying position with an organization called “Change to Win,” connected to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He would take the seat after resigning as governor. A “three-way deal” is discussed. He would choose the person they believe is Mr. Obama’s preferred candidate — “Senate Candidate 1″ — and the President-elect, they said, would find a way to influence someone to give him the Change to Win post.

The governor knows that Mr. Obama wants “Senate Candidate 1″ for the seat but complains “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation.” In another call, the governor asks advisers if they think Mr. Obama can get Warren Buffet and others to put up $10 to $15 million for a foundation he could head.

If this drama were playing out in Arizona with Senator McCain’s Senate Seat, the media would be going ballistic over this fiasco. In Illinois, this is de rigeur, as evidenced by the FBI initiating surveillance in October.

We may be in for a series of controversies with an Obama administration as clearly “That One” has suffered from an association problem his entire political career and he may have other debts to pay.

He learned well. Obama is a product of the most corrupt political system in America. He has heretofore exhibited little reluctance to associate with scum if it serves his greater ambitions. Having realized them, he may well regret what represents a clear pattern of poor decision-making. As Momma always said, be careful who you hang out with.

As it stands, the media honeymoon may be over for their lovechild Barack Obama as this stuff makes for great ratings. As more details emerge, we may find the President-Elect in hot water.

…hopefully not.

As much as the GOP would have savored an opportunity like this during the campaign, the economy needs our government’s full attention, even if they haven’t a clue how to fix it. We don’t need another Clintonistic national distraction.

Since I was a boy I have had a fascination with cars. I made them with my Legos. We’d set four folding chairs in the yard and imagine we were on road trips. My neighborhood buddy and I sketched countless pictures of them. Always set in action, with smoking rear wheels, quarter panels repleat with flames and pipes and vents and the requisite jack job on the back with over sized rear wheels.

…and always decidedly American.

When I was a kid, imports were “Jap Crap.”

It didn’t matter that my Dad’s brand new company car, a then downsized 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme was a gutless piece of crap with a V6 that was as smooth and as powerful as a coffee grinder and paint that came from the factory looking like it had already baked in the sun for a few years.

No one considered the Japanese playas yet.

My first car was a used 1973 Ford Pinto Squire Wagon, with yes, you guessed it, the woody decals and plastic “wood” trim down the flanks. $1,100; borrowed from the bank. What a piece of shit that car was…but it was mine all mine.

Lucky for me, girls didn’t seem to care if your car was cool. It was enough that you had one.

(more…)

NYT argues GM engineered its own downfall

Ten years before Chrysler introduced the world to minivans, General Motors had already developed its own version. Toyota sold the Prius at a loss for years before it became popular while GM leased a fleet of electric EV1s for three years before deciding it would never turn a profit. Honda and Toyota both sold small, efficient vehicles for decades even though their sales were relatively small and profits less than stellar. Meanwhile, GM spent billions to establish Saturn to compete with small import cars, only to let the brand go five years with no new products.

At least that’s the way this New York Times story looks at GM’s recent history.

They should know… 

Tribune (Almost) Toast, New York Times Next?

More startling over the past year has been the collapse of the New York Times (NYT). The New York Times Company has a $400 million debt payment due in five months, and management has not yet explained how it plans to meet this. The company is nearly out of cash, its operations are now burning cash, and its attempts to sell assets have, so far, been unsuccessful.

My my. What ever (sniff sniff) would we do without the New York Times?

Unless it’s my pork!

Barack Obama on “Meet the Press:”

“What we need to do is examine: What are the projects where we’re going to get the most bang for the buck? How are we going to make sure taxpayers are protected?

“You know, the days of just pork coming out of Congress as a strategy, those days are over.”

Yeah! All Pork will now emanate from the White House.

“We are not going to simply write a bunch of checks and let them be spent without some very clear criteria as to how this money is going to benefit the overall economy and put people back to work. We’re not going to be making decisions on projects simply based on politics and — and lobbying.”

You know, like I did when I was a Senator.

“It makes no sense for us to shovel more money into the problem if you have not seen an auto industry that is committed to restructuring — restructuring that, frankly, should have been done 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago,” he told reporters.

“It makes no sense for us to shovel more money into the [economy] if you have not seen a [Federal Government] that is committed to restructuring — restructuring that, frankly, should have been done 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago,” he [should have] told reporters.

Despite the nation’s massive debt, Obama said he won’t be focusing on building a balanced budget at the start of his administration.

…or the middle of his administration.

…or the end of his administration.

“We understand that we’ve got to provide a blood infusion to the patient right now to make sure that the patient is stabilized. And that means that we can’t worry short term about the deficit. We’ve got to make sure that the economic stimulus plan is large enough to get the economy moving,” he said.

Let’s dissect what Mr. Jimmy just said. We have to make sure to print and/or borrow so much money that the economy will have to get better?

“But the overall thrust is going to be that 95 percent of working families are going to get a tax cut and the wealthiest Americans … are going to give up a little bit more,” Obama said.

Over 30% of Americans already have a zero federal income tax liability. Ah, there’s the problem, Mr. Oprahma sir.

You can’t do math.

They say you can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps, or in this case, appoints. President-Elect Barack Obama may acknowledge his lack of executive or business experience but will he recruit to reinforce these deficits?

Not as of yet.

Where are the advocates for businesspeople and investors in President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming administration? So far, not one of his cabinet appointments, especially those dealing with the economy, has any significant business experience, and there is little to be seen on the résumés of the likely candidates for as-yet-unfilled positions.

Some might argue that the business background of key members of the Bush administration — from the president himself to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — did no good for the economy.

But going to the other extreme — totally ignoring experience in how the business world works — is unlikely to be good for the country as a whole or for investors. This is particularly true for the senior economic-policy team.

The Obama economic team so far is dominated by academics with no real-life experience, from his choices for Treasury secretary to chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to secretary of commerce.

If the business community was overrepresented in the Bush administration, it looks to be underrepresented in the incoming Obama administration.

As they say, stupid is as stupid does. If Barack Obama is to be judged by his selections thus far, the economy and the business community that represents its only hope for recovery will soon be in the hands of a cadre of theorists and academicians that won’t have a clue about what to do with it.

Worse yet, and I fear more likely, is that Obama’s economic team may actually think they know what to.

Obama’s campaign monologue displayed a remarkable dearth of any understanding of basic economics and a veiled disdain for business and capitalism. Joe the Plumber made headlines for this very fact. Obama’s most recent appeal, to create the largest welfare program in the history of America under the guise of “investment” and “job creation” is a patent example of liberal lunacy and may be the undoing of what is left of America’s economy.

You can’t creat jobs by taking more money from taxpayers.

Obama will apparently not be governing as close to the center as the media had been reporting, as recently as this past week.

A liberal only has one lever to pull and Obama plans on pulling it with all his might.

Infect everyone else.

The unions are largely to blame for a crisis that it appears will cost taxpayers between $15 and $25 Billion but not for the reason you think.

Even if a deal for a $15-billion to $17-billion preliminary bailout comes together this weekend to keep carmakers afloat into 2009, they will continue to be dogged by their most significant competitive disadvantage: a high-priced, unionized workforce.

And yet there is nothing inherently unsustainable about employing a high-priced, unionized workforce. The crisis of Detroit’s wage bill is entirely relative. Specifically, their labor costs far exceed the low-cost, nonunion American workforce at the U.S.-based, foreign-owned plants of competitors Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Subaru.

If the UAW really is to blame at all, then, it is because of the union’s utter failure to unionize any of the transplants. What has the UAW been doing all these years? Isn’t it the responsibility of any good union to protect union employers from competitive labor disadvantages by organizing wall to wall, throughout the industry? How could it have left these transplants unorganized? As is now clear, when the UAW exposed the Big Three to insurmountable competitive disadvantages, it cut its own throat.

The UAW is to blame for the Big Three Crisis. Not because they sucked the Big Three dry. Because they didn’t suck everyone dry.

Foreign automotive manufacturing transplants here in America produce some of the highest quality cars in the world, subject to the same safety and emissions regulations as the Big Three, and historically with some of the most satisfied workers in the industry. Honda has and Toyota will soon export product from here.

They’ve proven it can be done profitably; in America with Americans, and without the UAW.

What is being posited here is not a foreign concept (no pun intended). Force successful automakers to drag the dead weight of the failed strategies of the Big Three.

Mr. Obama calls it “spreading the wealth.”

I call it Socialism.

I’m not sure now who has the bigger ego. Oprah Winfrey or Barack Oprahma?

BEVERLY HILLS (AP) — Although Oprah Winfrey worked hard on Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign, she never considered going to work for the president-elect’s administration, the talk show host said Friday.

“I have a few full-time jobs already and a few full-time commitments, you know — contractual commitments that say I have to be where I am,” Winfrey told AP Television. “So, it never ever occurred to me, not even occurred to me.”

Winfrey said she would stay put, even if the president-elect came calling.

And he hasn’t.

The article didn’t once mention that Obama in fact had her in mind or that there was even speculation. There’s a lot of real news out there boys. Why don’t you get out there and get it.

…Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home?

Barack Obama is already deflecting…this is going to be a long four years for everyone if our fears of his emptysuitedness manifest themselves.

All Americans should hope that Obama grows some, and fast. What America needs now is not the rhetoric and campaign promises that landed Obama in the White House on the backs of millions of people that think he is going to save them from their rightful obligations.

Otherwise, the office of President will be of no more value to America than the mock, ego-driven farce that is the “Office of the President-Elect.”

Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama’s refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country. Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin.

He’s going to have to be more assertive than he’s been,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday.

Frank, who has been dealing with both the bailout of the financial industry and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs to play a more significant role on economic issues.

Could there be someone less qualified than Beans ‘n Frank to deal with this crisis? Yes. Barack Obama. At least Barney Frank knows how it happened on account of his personal culpability and corruption. Not only was he at ground zero, he lit the fuse.

Obama did stress that a significant component of the fund should be used to reduce the number of foreclosures. But he did not specify a particular remedy.

Not so fast, Mr. Jimmy. You might want to consider the effect of that on your soon-to-be-plummeting approval rating.

Many Americans are outraged that their money is being spent to rescue irresponsible mortgage borrowers. Still, that probably won’t stop government officials.

There are a lot of hard-working, responsible people out there, many of whom voted for you Mr. Oprah, who are dead set against bailing out those that took imprudent risk at the expense of those that saved and lived below their means.

Insert leadership here.

What America needs is a President that tells America the truth. Government can no longer cover your six if you make bad decisions. It can’t and it won’t. It’s the only intelligent thing Jesse Ventura ever said.

Based on some of BHO’s cabinet choices, I am guardedly optimistic that he in fact is weighing his options and that he truly wants to do what is best for America, within the limiting realm of his ideology; but the forces of opposition, Frank, Reid, Pelosi et al, are very strong.

And soon, may not even be on his team (which may be a good thing).

“That One” spent two years telling us “Yes We Can.” Now it’s time to tell us “No We Can’t.”

The French are so lame. Their stimulus package couldn’t even pay the postage on ours!

PARIS — France will spend $33 billion over the next two years to soften the blow of the global downturn and limit the effects of increasing unemployment, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday.

You call that at Stimulus Package?! $33 Billion! Is that the best you can do?! Ours is like $700 Billion! Ha! Losers!

Sarah Palin refuses to bounce on Oprah’s couch? Does she not know that the world revolves around her and “That One?”

“I said I would be happy to talk to Sarah Palin when the election was over… I went and tried to talk to Sarah Palin and instead she talked to Greta [Van Susteren]. She talked to Matt [Lauer]. She talked to Larry [King]. But she didn’t talk to me.”

Does that make Palin a racist?

President Elect Obama has hit a small speed bump with his selection of HRC as the constitution apparently contains a little-known circuit breaker to prevent a move from her seat in the Senate to the President’s Cabinet.

What’s a little matter like the Constitution among friends? That’s a question a few legal eagles are asking as they note that Hillary Clinton can’t become Secretary of State thanks to something called the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

The Emollients Clause of the Constitution refers to an appointed or elected official’s “prudent and regular practice to apply moisture-retention and softening compounds to the exposed areas of the epidermis.” You see in olden times, congressional leaders and cabinet members had to travel days, often weeks to traverse long distances across our burgeoning nation to serve in its Capitol.

Exposure to the elements, and the resultant chafing, rash and dryness could cause great discomfort and would often hinder or even prevent the discharge of one’s duty to our young nation.

The Emollients Clause was enacted to require the use of (then rudimentary) skin care creams and lotions to protect against these hazards so as to assure consistent attendance in Congress in order to expedite and secure the work of the legislative and executive branches of our republic.

Emollients leave your skin feeling soft by depositing moisture into your skin. These tend to be a bit greasy but definitely have a great benefit for your skin. Another common emollient is mineral oil.

In the modern age, The Emollients Clause suffers diminished relevance as modern transportation methods in closed vehicles and aircraft have greatly reduced travel time and exposure to the elements.

Furthermore, skin care regimens have become universally affordable and have enjoyed widespread adoption in most states, especially the northern tier and Alaska.

Nonetheless, the law, while ostensibly outdated, is still on the books. Clearly, Ms. Rodham Clinton must demonstrate compliance or risk confirmation of her appointment.

But is it too late?

A close examination of Hillary’s facial skin shows the unmistakable effects of early aging, frowning, bitching, dryness and wrinkling. All are the hallmarks of poor skin care and the failure to moisturize.

Hillary knows this. Bill surely knows this. Now Obama, and soon Congress will know this and they will be forced to take corrective action – they must deny the confirmation of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State.

Hillary is not above the law. She must be ordered to moisturize and she must begin today.

As long as we are “lowering” expectations for his disciples, here’s another Hopey-Changey campaign promise that needs to be broken.

Let’s be clear on how wealth and jobs are created because a politician that says “we (the government) will create jobs” is either unaware of how capitalism works, or is (once again) just plain lying to the American people in the interest of political gain. In the case of [the man formerly known as Obammy], I’d say it’s a little of both. “Jobs” are not “created” by the government.

Make no mistake, the government has many legitimate functions. Those functions are funded and employees are hired to implement and administer them. Those particular jobs however, are not yielding net economic benefit and as such should not be taken into account as it relates to economic benefit. Creating even more of them for their own sake is simple liberal lunacy.

The dollars to fund whatever program for whom these employees would work have to come from somewhere, and there is always an opportunity cost, short term and long term, for those dollars, usually borne in “real” jobs lost somewhere else.

Nowhere is it mentioned that these “green-collar jobs” would be terribly costly, and that the planned “investments” are really just subsidies. And, as we know, things that require subsidies aren’t competitive in the market, and thus aren’t profitable.

Spending money on projects where costs exceed benefits simply to “create jobs” is a bad idea. Taking capital from productive uses and redeploying it to politically popular but nonproductive uses lowers productivity by paying those with “green jobs” more than their output is worth. It’s not welfare, it’s “greenfare.”

The “Green” movement is big business, from Hybrid cars to new forms and uses of battery and lighting technology to specialized architectural disciplines. If Obama’s ideas are superterrific, why aren’t entrepreneurs lining up first?

Claims that such “investments” will create five million jobs are false. It’s likely more jobs will be killed than created due to higher costs and increased inefficiency of the U.S. economy. A recent report from the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation found that limiting CO2 emissions under recent proposed legislation would destroy 900,000 net jobs.

Until Barack Obama starts getting behind proven strategies like tax and (especially) spending cuts to stimulate our economy, stagnation, job loss and a volatile stock market will rule; the cycle will continue to repeat itself. Government largess got us here; it won’t get us out of here.

Wrong again Mr. Jimmy. Best consult with your National Suckurity team before you follow through on that particularly obtuse ambition.

The Air Force’s airborne laser program passes yet another test, proving “unproven” missile defense once again. The question is not whether we can get it to work, but whether we can afford not to.

Americans should be very afraid of Obama because the bad guys are not. The greatest threat: a rogue nation with new found nuclear weapons capability and the ability to launch said lode ballistic. EMP over NYC. Our best new hope of defending against said threat: the technology that Major B.O. wants to cancel.

Missile Defense Takes Off

This week, Boeing and the Missile Defense Agency announced another successful test — the first ground test of the entire weapon system integrated aboard the aircraft, including the firing of a high-energy laser through the ABL beam control/fire control system. Earlier tests had unit-tested other components of the system, particularly the ability to find, track and target missiles in flight.

A campaign promise that actually should be broken. This is not the time for a wuss in the White House.

…thy name is also Oprah.

Oprah filming in DC for inauguration week

“There are not even words to talk about what this night means,” Oprah told Access Hollywood that night. “Everybody keeps using the word historic — there’s never been a night like this on the planet earth… Nothing can compare to this.”

The morning Caveman discovered fire?

How about the day World War II ended?

The night Jesus was born?

Hybrid automobiles are ugly. The Honda insight, which will presumably be successful, is no exception.

Uhhh-gly.

The Honda insight is a mirror image of the Toyota Prius and equally hard on the eyes.

By design.

People don’t buy Hybrids for the energy savings; at least those that can do math. Relative to comparably-sized cars, you can’t drive a Hybrid enough miles to make up the difference in cost or to mitigate the environmental impact of manufacture and disposal.

Anyone want Nickel Metal Hydride in their back yard?

People buy Hybrids because they want to make a statement. They want a pat on the back and a place to put their Franken sticker.

Honda acknowledged poor sales of the previous generation Honda Accord Hybrid and ceased its production: they had not adequately “differentiated” the Hybrid variant. Read: not ugly enough.

Even the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid was accompanied by a memo to dealerships assuring them that the unsightly “Hybrid” monikers and badges could be removed without cosmetic damage for well-heeled but less conspicuous tree-huggers.

Being “Green” – or at least looking “Green” is big business and consumers willingly pony up, even when the costs are too high and the benefit negligible.

Hmmm.

Senate Seat, that is.

The Occupier of the Office of The President-Elect Barry Oprah reveals his National Suckurity Team, which of course includes Mrs. Bill Clinton, a fervent rival who roundly criticized The President-Defect during the primaries, but now: BFF!

Mr. Obama essentially said Americans should not take too seriously some of the things said during “the heat of a campaign.”

Really, Mr. Oprah, sir? It will be quite interesting to see just exactly how far you get with that ticket once you step into the Oval Office and find out how utterly unprepared you are for the job (and that it’s a smoke-free workplace), and start doing the math on all the promises you made to win the White House for the people who’d been waiting for you to be the people for whom they were waiting.

Some examples I think you’ll have an unfunny challenge with:

1. Give a tax break to 95% of Americans (better hurry up, you don’t want to piss off 95% of Americans – especially those clinging to their guns)
2. “If you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime. Not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing.” (“Read My Lips?” I wonder how he will be paying for the expanded child and dependent care tax credit, the expanded earned income tax credit, the universal mortgage credit, the $1,000 emergency energy rebate to families, weatherizing 1 million homes annually, and lowering health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year?)
3. Dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes (a lot of people that voted for Obama think tax returns are actually grant applications; why bother with filing? Let’s just give them all government debit cards)
4. Match 50% of retirement savings up to $1,000 for families earning less than $75,000 (because saving for your retirement shouldn’t be so hard, or even your own responsibility – behold, the C.R.A. of the retirement industry)
5. Give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create in the U.S. (unless they make more than $250,000 $150,000 $100,000 $75,000)
6. Make employers offer seven paid sick days per year (Mr. Carter sir, can we just combine #5 and #6? Why don’t you just give the $3000 directly to the sickly so we don’t have to hire him; and why stop at seven? Seems so arbitrary. Besides, work is hard. People should have the right to work, or not work)
7. Sign into law an employee free choice act — aka card check — to make it easier for unions to organize (that way once the Unions are done destroying the airline and automotive industries they can move on to retail, hospitality, and health care)
8. Cut spending on unproven missile defense systems (Let’s wait until a missile destroys New York City)
9. Demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers (best wait until your second term for that one – let ’em all vote for you one more time first)
10. Go through the budget, line by line, ending programs we don’t need (like the military?) and making the ones we do need (like the pork in Illinois, only bigger and better, Senator?) work better and cost less

Just put the budget up on a teleprompter. He won’t Change anything, but at least some of us will feel better about it.

We text, email, phone and make purchases in an ever inter-connected world. As our point of accessing the internet has shifted from stationary PC’s to smaller and more mobile devices, The Matrix is matching what we are looking for with where we are at the time and rending the data in the new world of Collective Intelligence, the term now emerging to describe the data trail we all leave behind, knowingly, willingly, or not.

Propelled by new technologies and the Internet’s steady incursion into every nook and cranny of life, collective intelligence offers powerful capabilities, from improving the efficiency of advertising to giving community groups new ways to organize.

…and the result? A plebe in the White House, but I digress.

Wireless and internet technologies afford consumers and businesses unprecedented freedom and productivity in the age of the Matrix. What are the consequences? Is it a fair trade?

But even its practitioners acknowledge that, if misused, collective intelligence tools could create an Orwellian future on a level Big Brother could only dream of.

Collective intelligence could make it possible for insurance companies, for example, to use behavioral data to covertly identify people suffering from a particular disease and deny them insurance coverage. Similarly, the government or law enforcement agencies could identify members of a protest group by tracking social networks revealed by the new technology. “There are so many uses for this technology — from marketing to war fighting — that I can’t imagine it not pervading our lives in just the next few years,” says Steve Steinberg, a computer scientist who works for an investment firm in New York.

Alas, I know of few that would give up their Blackberry, the aforementioned President-Elect counted among them.

In the balance, the benefits will hopefully outweigh the perils. Some will be more obvious than others.

Assisting policymakers…

a few weeks ago, Google deployed an early-warning service for spotting flu trends, based on search queries for flu-related symptoms.

Day traders…

It could see, for example, that people who worked in the city’s financial district would tend to go to work early when the market was booming, but later when it was down.

It also noticed that middle-income people — as determined by ZIP code data — tended to order cabs more often just before market downturns.

…and bar hoppers.

The consumer application, Citysense, identifies entertainment hot spots in a city. It connects information from Yelp and Google about nightclubs and music clubs with data generated by tracking locations of anonymous cellphone users.

Moving forward into the past?

“For most of human history, people have lived in small tribes where everything they did was known by everyone they knew,” Dr. Malone said. “In some sense we’re becoming a global village. Privacy may turn out to have become an anomaly.”

Like it or not, with the advent of an ever-growing array of sensory technologies, it will become difficult if not impossible to avoid the grasp of The Matrix.