Inside the Asylum

Get a life: tlhap yIn!

They told me that if I voted for McCain we would end up with a government run by powerful lobby groups ... and they were right (or at least they would be if I could vote!)

IN THE devastating slump that has forced two of Detroit's car makers to the brink of bankruptcy, the United Auto Workers union stands to become one of the industry's few winners. According to restructuring plans proposed this week, the union will have more than half the stock in Chrysler and a third of General Motors, giving it enormous influence - along with the US Government - in determining the future of the companies. The automobile union gained its leverage in part from the support of a Democratic President and Congress... In the past 20 years, the union has donated more than $US25.4 million to federal candidates, 99 per cent of it to Democrats, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks campaign contributions. The union ranks No.16 on the group's list of top 100 political donors, known as "heavy hitters".

Here's one for the record books. The Australian Labor government has announced:

ABOUT 135,000 parents and young people will be stripped of welfare payments unless teenagers are in some form of education or training, a change that the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, says will force them to be "earning or learning".

I'll be interested to see when they start applying this to all people, since this is effectively "ageism" which I thought was banned in Australia.

If this doesn't get a few page hits, I don't know what will!

A naked model and others in bikinis pose for photographers during an event for "nude photography week" beside a lake in southwest China's Chongqing municipality, April 24, 2009.

More photos at the link!

It appears that the U.S. counterterrorism community is quietly slipping back into an atmosphere of risk-aversion and malaise — an atmosphere not dissimilar to that described by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission) as a contributing factor to the intelligence failures that led to the 9/11 attacks.

Oh goody!
(Taken from STRATFOR's promotional email entitled "A Chilling Effect on U.S. Counterterrorism.")

I just watched Obama say that he favors small government. He even managed to say it without cracking a grin. I guess the Webster's dictionary can just put a picture of Obama as its definition of "Chutzpah".
[Upate] I found a transcript of it. The relevant part went like this

And -- and -- and that's why I'm always amused when I hear these, you know, criticisms of "Oh, you know, Obama wants to grow government." No. I would love a nice, lean portfolio to deal with, but that's not the hand that's been dealt us.

Only later did I realize what this means. This comment, combined with his earlier criticism of the Tea Party movement

"When you see, you know... you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we are going to stabilize Social Security..." Obama told the crowd, at one point mimicking the waving of a tea bag with his left hand. "But let's not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the Recovery Act, because that is just a fraction of the overall problem that we've got. We are going to have to tighten our belts but we are going to have to do it intelligently..." The shot across the bow at the Tea Party demonstrators follows prior administration efforts to paint those protests as decidedly non-reality based affairs... But the notion that the Recovery Act is "just a fraction of the overall problem" seems like a hard pill to swallow, not least because of its $787 billion price tag. Two weeks ago, the president and his aides announced plans for $100 million cuts in agency budgets as a step forward in fiscal prudence.

What is especially telling about this last story I quoted is that it comes from Huffington Post. When even the ultra-lefties are starting to point out Obama's BS then you know he's in trouble. While I was initially outraged by both these sets of Obaminations, now I actually feel quite comforted. The Tea Party movement is being heard and its impact is being felt. And you know what? You aint seen nothin' yet!

Time for another game of Name the President! Which president

1) Banned cigarette companies from advertising on TV
2) Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18
3) Signed the first nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia

Conscription is slavery, and I don't think that any people or nation has a right to save itself at the price of slavery for anyone, no matter what name it is called... If a country can't save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say: Let the damned thing go down the drain!

in Expanded Universe.

I posted a story about the current solar minimum recently. There was one reason to hope for the best that I didn't mention. The current extended solar minimum was showing signs that it was progressing into Cycle 24 and having left behind Cycle 23. This is determined by the polarity of the sunspots. The 11 year (or more!) cycle is actually the period in which the sun swaps magnetic polarity. In other words, every 11 years or so the sun's north pole becomes the south pole and vice versa. Even though the sun has been very quiet, recent sunspots had been showing the polarity of Cycle 24 seeming to indicate that the sun was at least progressing towards the end of the current minimum. Unfortunately today Spaceweather.com indicates that a new sunspot is struggling to appear, but it has Cycle 23 polarity.

A sunspot is struggling to emerge at the circled location. The magnetic polarity of the proto-sunspot identifies it as a member of old Solar Cycle 23. Credit: SOHO/MDI

Interestingly enough, it's not only the sun that has been playing funny games with polarity reversal.

Our planet's magnetic field reverses about once every 200,000 years on average. However, the time between reversals is highly variable. The last time Earth's magnetic field flipped was 780,000 years ago, according to the geologic record of Earth's polarity.

This has led various conspiracy theory nuts to conclude the world is about to end. It tends to get mixed in with the whole Mayan Calendar 2012 thing.

In 2012 the next polar reversal will take place on earth... Scientifically this can only be explained by the fact that the earth will start rotating in the opposite direction, together with a huge disaster of unknown proportions. In my books I reveal the immense cataclysm that is going to torment the earth in the near future.

Of course, if he were right, then the sun would have to start rotating in the opposite direction every 11 years. Fortunately, it's probable that we aren't about to experience a change any time soon.

The Songun idea is the revolutionary one indicating a scientific way of enabling the people to concentrate efforts on military affairs and to increase the revolutionary armed forces in accordance with such practical requirements of the present era and the revolutionary development and to victoriously forge ahead with the struggle of the popular masses for independence in the fierce confrontation with the imperialists.

Courtesy of the North Korean News Agency. I know I quoted them recently, but they produce such priceless gems that I really love those guys. What wordsmiths! Here's another.

President Kim Il Sung... Looking round the materials on those revolutionary activities with deep emotion, he said that the land of Kangwon Province has turned into a land of bliss for people under the wise leadership of the President and his meticulous care, underscoring the need to repay the great benevolence of the President with loyalty.

It makes me feel like I really can jump into that time-machine I always dreamed about, even if I can only go back to the 1950s.

In an about-face from his previous stance on the matter, Ahmadinejad said that there would be preconditions for any negotiations between his country and the United States.

I also offer a prediction. Here is how Ahmadinejad's "new" stance on Israeli-Palestinian negotions is being reported

The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, says it will be "fine with us" if the Palestinians reach a two-state peace deal with Israel.

The prediction? There will be a clarification or new statement from Ahmadinejad that will make it crystal clear that he didn't really mean it as it is being reported. We saw it already with Fidel Castro's clarification on what Obama said concerning Raul Castro's comments on negotiations with USA. If Aljazeera ever runs a similar story, I may be more willing to concede that Ahmadinejad really believes these words, but as of right now, there's nothing of the sort to be seen on their website. Aljazeera's most recent story to mention the Iranian president is on the rise of right-wing extremism in Europe, and it concludes with this observation:

And when world leaders, such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, cast doubt on the Holocaust, as he did in Geneva this week, it suddenly becomes a whole lot easier for the far right to follow in his wake.

[Update] Perhaps this explains Ahmadinejad's new softly softly approach

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told Congress recently “Our current estimate is that the minimum time at which Iran could technically produce the amount of highly enriched uranium for a single weapon is 2010 to 2015.”

[Further update] Compare this AP story from Iranian journalist Nasser Karimi, filed in Tehran.

Washington has not sent Iran sufficient signals on whether the U.S. wants warmer relations and President Barack Obama's support for Israel during its offensive in Gaza was "a major mistake," Iran's president said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

The "fine with us" comment and any mention of a two state solution is absent from the story.

With the caveat that I (A) am not an American citizen and it's not my constitution, and (B) don't necessarily agree with each and every clause contained, I nevertheless found this quite amusing.

New Preamble to the Constitution "We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetter's. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights."
ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth.. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.
ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended.. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.
ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful; do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.
ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.
ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.
ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair..
ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.
ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful. (AMEN!)
ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.
ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from! (Lastly....)
ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!

Written by "Mad Mom"

Oh Vitamin D, how many are your wonders ... (mostly via vitamindcouncil.org with a few extras from other sources at the end)

Link Between Autism and Low Levels of Vitamin D
Vitamin D hope in prostate cancer
Absolutely essential for the proper function of the bones and central nervous system.
Vitamin D plays a critical role in enabling the immune system to successfully defeat viruses of all kinds.
Low levels linked to several indicators of allergy and asthma severity.
Vitamin D is well known to be an integral part of normal bone health and growth.
There is new information about problems that teenagers can suffer later in life if they don't get enough vitamin D now.
Compared to the 25% of teens with the highest levels of vitamin D in their blood, the 25% of teens with the lowest vitamin D levels had: *Fourfold greater risk of metabolic syndrome, a combination of risk factors for diabetes *2.54 times greater risk of high blood sugar *2.36 times greater risk of high blood pressure
It may also be partly responsible for the worse health of African-Americans: "We know the more skin pigment you have, the less efficient is your ability to make vitamin D in your skin. That's why most African-Americans in the United States are vitamin D deficient."

The UN says we have nothing to worry about.

The international community is better prepared than ever to deal with the threatened spread of a new swine flu virus, a top UN health chief has said.

Unless of course they mean "better" in the sense of "better than absolutely unprepared, but still hopelessly unready." Or maybe Mr Creosote's "how do you feel today sir?" "Better." "Better?" "Better get a bucket, I'm going to throw up."

This just in from the North Korean News Agency:

Shortly ago, the commander of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces present in south Korea flew aboard a fighter of the south Korean air force while a brasshat of the puppet military who is deputy commander of the south Korea-U.S. "combined forces command" made a similar flight aboard a fighter of the U.S. air force for the purpose of examining the "posture of air operation and capability carrying out a combined operation... it was aimed to... round off the preparations for a war of aggression against the DPRK they have pushed forward so far... If the DPRK remains a passive onlooker to the moves of war against it pursued by the U.S. and the Lee Myung Bak group under the pretext of "alliance," it will be as clear as noonday that the whole land of Korea will turn into a theatre of a nuclear war and all Koreans in the north and the south will have to suffer a nuclear holocaust.

I would say that this is frightening stuff, except for the fact that the North Koreans say this kind of thing all the time.

UN torture envoy: US must prosecute Bush lawyers. Manfred Nowak, who serves as a U.N. special rapporteur in Geneva, said Washington is obligated under the U.N. Convention against Torture to prosecute U.S. Justice Department officials who wrote memos that defined torture in the narrowest way in order to justify and legitimize it, and who assured CIA officials that their use of questionable tactics was legal.

As I always ask: what do we know about the person behind this? Well, Manfred Nowak is the same UN official who had this to say in September 2006

He told journalists at a briefing in Geneva that he had yet to visit Iraq, but he was able to base his information on autopsies and interviews with Iraqis in neighbouring Jordan. "What most people tell you is that the situation as far as torture is concerned now in Iraq is totally out of hand," the Austrian law professor said. "The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein," he added.

This is also the same Manfred Novak behind a report condemning Guantanamo despite refusing a US invitation to visit the prison. His definition of the "torture" inflicted on prisoners at the prison included the fact that hunger-strikers were force fed.

Novak described his intellectual inspiration

"[A]s is well known," Nowak observed, the Commission had qualified the five "deep interrogation techniques" employed by the British security forces [in Northern Ireland] as torture. I can still well remember Ermacora's dismay when the [European] Court [of Human Rights], on the urging of the British judge, corrected the opinion of the Commission and found the British forces responsible for "merely" inhumane treatment. More than 30 years later, I am now, in my role as U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, charged with the qualification of similar interrogation methods employed by the USA in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and other camps. I think, in this difficult question, I will permit myself to be inspired by the legal opinion of my former teacher rather than by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights."

Every law that was ever written opened up a new way to graft.

from Red Planet

The senior politician, an avid reader, encouraged citizens to read more ... on World Reading Day, which fell on Thursday. He made the remarks when visiting a branch of the Commercial Press and the National Library in the capital on Thursday. There's no hope for individuals and the nation if citizens do not read, he said. He said he would love to see every passenger holding a book on hand when riding subways. "I always believe that knowledge gives people not only strength, but also security and happiness," he said. He also urged efforts to publish more classical works.

At last a politician who wants a smarter population ... a smarter Chinese population that is: it was Premier Wen Jiabao of China.