In spite of warnings,
nothing much happens until the status quo
becomes more painful than change.
Laurence J. Peter
Obama Math
From CNS:
The federal deficit increased by $146 billion in August, according to a report released today by the Congressional Budget Office. But, at the same time, according to the U.S. Treasury, the federal debt did not increase at all during the month.Funniest Fear-Mongering Line of the Day
I guess I should be happy my mom wasn't into chicken wings... How gullible are some people?
Pregnant women who eat chicken wings have sons 'with small genitals', claim pressure group PETA
Farm Subsidies: An Economically Perverse Policy
Sample taxpayer subsidies (via Men's Health):
Corn: $77.1 billion
Wheat: $32.4 billion
Soybeans: $24.3 billion
Sorghum: $6.1 billion
Dairy: $4.9 billion
Tobacco: $1.1 billion
Oats: $267 million
Apples: $262 million
Potatoes: $665,698
Blueberries: $207,659
Avocados: $6,984
Tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce: $ 0
How Underfunded is Your State's Public Pension Liability?
Overall, the obligations to state/local employees/retirees amounts to nearly $5.5T, which is less than 40% funded, ranging from 20% Illinois to 57% Wisconsin. (In contrast, in a recent corporate survey, about $2.7T is backed up by $2.1T in assets.)
| State Budget Solutions 50 State Pension Table, Moody's Plan List (all figures except Per Capita in thousands) |
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Kudos to Judge Ruling State 75-Day Separation of Newborn Son From Mother Unconstitutional
It has been a while since I last visited The Volokh Conspiracy blog. Four years ago a pregnant Pennsylvania woman, who incidentally had always tested clean during her pregnancy testing, ate salad with a commercial poppy seed dressing at a dinner party she was hosting; she went into labor after dinner. The hospital had a testing screen with a very sensitive/low threshold for opiate detection, and the mother tested positive; the hospital contacted child services. There was no attempt to expand the investigation, including questioning the mother, and her child was not returned to her for 75 days. Just unconscionable; even minimal due diligence would have exposed the truth before taking radical action like abducting a baby boy from his mother.
Santa Obama (Naughty List: Tea Party, GOP; Nice List: Donors)
(Courtesy of Eugene Volokh: my edited version of a Carter Administration ditty)
"You’d better watch out,
You’d better not cry,
You’d better not pout;
I’m telling you why.
Uncle Sam is tapping
Your phone.
He’s bugging your room,
He’s reading your mail,
He’s keeping a file
And running a tail.
Uncle Sam is tapping
Your phone.
He hears you in the bedroom,
Surveills you out of doors,
And if that doesn’t get the goods,
Then he’ll use provocateurs.
So — you mustn’t assume
That you are secure.
On Christmas Eve
He’ll kick in your door.
Uncle Sam is tapping
Your phone."
An Inside Joke to Unix Professionals
Most Unix operating system computers have a super-privileged root account. Quite often administrators are reluctant, for security reasons, to share access to root. However, some professionals like DBA's have occasional need to do things like installs and patches requiring minor-scope root-privileged actions. Sudo is a way to grant tracked/audited root-privileged access so, say, a DBA doesn't have to play 'mother, may I?' with an unavailable Unix system administrator. In the below cartoon, a Unix user whose account has not been granted sudo privileges has been caught trying to access it.
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| Courtesy of XKCD |
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| Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall |
Thelma Houston, "Don't Leave Me This Way"
