Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Austan Goolsbee Thinks We've Just Hit Some Headwinds, A Bump In The Road--No Worries, Mate
Really, OS can't make this stuff up. Every time Miss Liu asks him a particularly pointed question, he begins to freestyle, heading off the next question by never shutting up. It's a standard Democrat tactic: Talk-talk-talk-talk-talk-change-the-subject-blame-someone-or-something-else-talk-talk-talk-talk...until the listener has forgotten the question, and has long ago stopped listening.
OS invites his readers, if they can bear it, to listen. This is the man giving the President financial advice for the nation.
OS invites his readers, if they can bear it, to listen. This is the man giving the President financial advice for the nation.
And The Serious Lunacy Spreads To Yemen
It's all-out war, and life has fallen apart for all those folks caught in the middle.
Soon, the floods of refugees will head to...where?
OldSouth wishes to take this opportunity to remind his loyal band of readers:
No matter how ticked you are about the gubbermint, spilling blood is a bad idea. All of us, even the most 'civilized' of us, are capable of barbarity. Once that barbarity is unleashed, events go out of control, and it takes decades to pull life back together. The American Revolution was as much a civil war as it was a war against Great Britain, and there are Canadian families that still pass down deeds through their generations to lands lost by force to the American rebels. It took until well into the 1790's to get things back on track. Need we go over what we did to one another in 1861-1865, and how long it took to put things back together after that?
So, for all you fringe types, stocking guns and loading your own for some great day in which you think shedding 'their' blood will set things right, take a deep breath and ask yourselves if you want to see what has happened in so many places, so many times, to happen here.
Soon, the floods of refugees will head to...where?
OldSouth wishes to take this opportunity to remind his loyal band of readers:
No matter how ticked you are about the gubbermint, spilling blood is a bad idea. All of us, even the most 'civilized' of us, are capable of barbarity. Once that barbarity is unleashed, events go out of control, and it takes decades to pull life back together. The American Revolution was as much a civil war as it was a war against Great Britain, and there are Canadian families that still pass down deeds through their generations to lands lost by force to the American rebels. It took until well into the 1790's to get things back on track. Need we go over what we did to one another in 1861-1865, and how long it took to put things back together after that?
So, for all you fringe types, stocking guns and loading your own for some great day in which you think shedding 'their' blood will set things right, take a deep breath and ask yourselves if you want to see what has happened in so many places, so many times, to happen here.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Alameda Police And Fire Department Refuse To Assist A Drowning Man, Claiming It Would 'Violate Policy'
From NPR, of all places...
Residents of Alameda, Calif., an island city just east of San Francisco, are demanding answers after a man drowned at a city beach in full view of police and fire personnel.
Witnesses say an apparently distraught Raymond Zack, 53, paced back and forth along the beach just before noon on Memorial Day. He then waded into the frigid San Francisco Bay.
Zack stood about 50 yards offshore in neck-deep water for about an hour before his head disappeared below the water. Police and firefighters who had responded to a 911 call about the suicide attempt stood onshore watching and making no attempt to rescue or even contact Zack.
Interim Alameda Fire Chief Mike D'Orazi said a 2009 policy forbids firefighters from trying to rescue people in the water.
"Previously we had a very highly trained water-rescue program that we could use for both shore-based and boat-and-surf water rescue," he said. "But unfortunately, over the course of several years based on what I gather on budget issues, they pretty much decertified the program."
A police spokesman said officers didn't help because they feared Zack might become violent.
The Alameda City Council got an earful from incredulous residents at a meeting Tuesday night.
"This just strikes me as not just a problem of funding, but a problem with the culture of what's going on in our city," Adam Gillit said. "That no one would take the time to help this drowning man."
Adding to the outrage was the fact that even after the tide brought Zack's dead body back near the beach, an unidentified passerby had to swim out and pull him ashore.
Alameda Mayor Marie Gilmore said the city will immediately implement a new policy allowing an on-scene commander to decide how to respond to water distress calls.
"This is a really tragic incident. We can't go back and change what happened. We can't defend what happened," she said. "What we can do is move forward and make sure something like this doesn't happen again."
Gilmore also said the city council would restore funds for training in such emergencies. Thus far, 16 firefighters have volunteered.
No one was fired, apparently. In fact, more money will flow in the direction of the same fire department that let this troubled man die.
This is not a logistics failure, this was a massive moral failure, a complete lack of conscience in evidence.
No one will be fired. No one will be demoted, No one will be prosecuted. The police and fire chiefs will just shrug their shoulders and move along, because they can. There is no one to hold them to account, apparently.
Residents of Alameda, Calif., an island city just east of San Francisco, are demanding answers after a man drowned at a city beach in full view of police and fire personnel.
Witnesses say an apparently distraught Raymond Zack, 53, paced back and forth along the beach just before noon on Memorial Day. He then waded into the frigid San Francisco Bay.
Zack stood about 50 yards offshore in neck-deep water for about an hour before his head disappeared below the water. Police and firefighters who had responded to a 911 call about the suicide attempt stood onshore watching and making no attempt to rescue or even contact Zack.
Interim Alameda Fire Chief Mike D'Orazi said a 2009 policy forbids firefighters from trying to rescue people in the water.
"Previously we had a very highly trained water-rescue program that we could use for both shore-based and boat-and-surf water rescue," he said. "But unfortunately, over the course of several years based on what I gather on budget issues, they pretty much decertified the program."
A police spokesman said officers didn't help because they feared Zack might become violent.
The Alameda City Council got an earful from incredulous residents at a meeting Tuesday night.
"This just strikes me as not just a problem of funding, but a problem with the culture of what's going on in our city," Adam Gillit said. "That no one would take the time to help this drowning man."
Adding to the outrage was the fact that even after the tide brought Zack's dead body back near the beach, an unidentified passerby had to swim out and pull him ashore.
Alameda Mayor Marie Gilmore said the city will immediately implement a new policy allowing an on-scene commander to decide how to respond to water distress calls.
"This is a really tragic incident. We can't go back and change what happened. We can't defend what happened," she said. "What we can do is move forward and make sure something like this doesn't happen again."
Gilmore also said the city council would restore funds for training in such emergencies. Thus far, 16 firefighters have volunteered.
No one was fired, apparently. In fact, more money will flow in the direction of the same fire department that let this troubled man die.
This is not a logistics failure, this was a massive moral failure, a complete lack of conscience in evidence.
No one will be fired. No one will be demoted, No one will be prosecuted. The police and fire chiefs will just shrug their shoulders and move along, because they can. There is no one to hold them to account, apparently.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Still Waiting For That Adult Conversation: The Debt Ceiling Vote
OK, OK, OK--it was a bit of Washington theater, staged like only the House of Representatives knows how.
Still, 318-97 is a pretty lopsided vote, as the House Republicans trudge to the White House tomorrow to be treated to TheFullObamaMonty. The condescension oozes out of every pore of every Obama staffer, with that 'Tut-tut, little children' attitude they do so well.
We'll see what happens. In the meantime, Michelle Malkin points out that Obama has put his foot to the floor, pedal to the metal, in signing up just as much of the populace as he can to the Food Stamp program. We're at 14% of the population and counting...
This will not end well, ya'll. It can't. When the axe falls upon the entitlements, that means some proportion of the at 14% will consider its personal ox to have been severely gored. Think Greece, think Spain...remember Watts in 1968, Detroit in 1968...
This could get very ugly, and OS suspects that may be the White House's intended outcome.
Still, 318-97 is a pretty lopsided vote, as the House Republicans trudge to the White House tomorrow to be treated to TheFullObamaMonty. The condescension oozes out of every pore of every Obama staffer, with that 'Tut-tut, little children' attitude they do so well.
We'll see what happens. In the meantime, Michelle Malkin points out that Obama has put his foot to the floor, pedal to the metal, in signing up just as much of the populace as he can to the Food Stamp program. We're at 14% of the population and counting...
This will not end well, ya'll. It can't. When the axe falls upon the entitlements, that means some proportion of the at 14% will consider its personal ox to have been severely gored. Think Greece, think Spain...remember Watts in 1968, Detroit in 1968...
This could get very ugly, and OS suspects that may be the White House's intended outcome.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
SEIU Goes To College...Well..Attempts To Unionize Campus Operations
Ah, it's spring. Graduation has come and gone, academia is settling in for another bucolic summer, and students are staging sit-ins against the campus cafeteria. All we lack to make it a TotallySixties sort of event is the smell of the teargas, photos of nice carpets smeared in pig's blood and excrement, and Mom-n-Dad bailing Junior out of jail. (He's not a bad boy, just misunderstood, you know...)
A string of protests across the country against one of the predominant food services providers at colleges and universities has resulted in 50 arrests – so far. The arrests are part of what activists promise will be stepped-up focus on the company Sodexo.
Last week students at Ohio State University rallied on campus before moving into President Gordon Gee’s office, where seven were arrested after they refused to stop chanting (two non-students were arrested as well). They wanted the university to cut its contract with Sodexo, the company that hires and manages 124 of Ohio State’s 1,800 concessions employees at its stadium and events center.
Of course, driving this new round of youthful high spirits are our Marxist friends at SEIU.
OldSouth is just shocked, gobsmacked...
So the university administration has to calculate:
Lessee--The White House and SEIU are, shall we say, on good terms. Himself is their homeboy, actually. We've got people threatening property and bodily harm if we don't cave. But if we do cave, those goons will be all over our ass, and anyone we may let a service contract to--they'll unionize the whole place! We don't have the money for that operational model. The donors will turn tail, and no family wants to to send a student to a place that might go on strike during the next four years.
(Nice little campus you got here at Ohio State/Emory/U of Washington, etc...It'd be a shame if someone were to come here and BURN IT DOWN! Don't-chew think so boys? Yeah, boss, it'd be a cryin' shame...)
A string of protests across the country against one of the predominant food services providers at colleges and universities has resulted in 50 arrests – so far. The arrests are part of what activists promise will be stepped-up focus on the company Sodexo.
Last week students at Ohio State University rallied on campus before moving into President Gordon Gee’s office, where seven were arrested after they refused to stop chanting (two non-students were arrested as well). They wanted the university to cut its contract with Sodexo, the company that hires and manages 124 of Ohio State’s 1,800 concessions employees at its stadium and events center.
Of course, driving this new round of youthful high spirits are our Marxist friends at SEIU.
OldSouth is just shocked, gobsmacked...
So the university administration has to calculate:
Lessee--The White House and SEIU are, shall we say, on good terms. Himself is their homeboy, actually. We've got people threatening property and bodily harm if we don't cave. But if we do cave, those goons will be all over our ass, and anyone we may let a service contract to--they'll unionize the whole place! We don't have the money for that operational model. The donors will turn tail, and no family wants to to send a student to a place that might go on strike during the next four years.
(Nice little campus you got here at Ohio State/Emory/U of Washington, etc...It'd be a shame if someone were to come here and BURN IT DOWN! Don't-chew think so boys? Yeah, boss, it'd be a cryin' shame...)
Stanley Druckenmiller Interview With WSJ: Quote Of The Week
From WSJ, May 14, 2011
'A financial crisis is surely going to happen as big or bigger than the one we had in 2008 if we continue to behave the way we're behaving," says Stanley Druckenmiller, the legendary investor and onetime fund manager for George Soros. Is this another warning from Wall Street that Congress must immediately raise the federal debt limit to prevent the end of civilization?
No—Mr. Druckenmiller has heard enough of such "clamor and hyperbole." The grave danger he sees is that politicians might give the government authority to borrow beyond the current limit of $14.3 trillion without any conditions to control spending.
We may do well to listen to the man. He knows how the math works, and it's not working in our favor.
He's sanguine about a technical default by the US government, since it may serve a bit of reality onto everyone's plate.
And his Quote of the Week?
"People aren't going to wonder whether 20 years ago we delayed an interest payment for six days. They're going to wonder whether we got our house in order."
Amen, Brother Druckenmiller, amen.
'A financial crisis is surely going to happen as big or bigger than the one we had in 2008 if we continue to behave the way we're behaving," says Stanley Druckenmiller, the legendary investor and onetime fund manager for George Soros. Is this another warning from Wall Street that Congress must immediately raise the federal debt limit to prevent the end of civilization?
No—Mr. Druckenmiller has heard enough of such "clamor and hyperbole." The grave danger he sees is that politicians might give the government authority to borrow beyond the current limit of $14.3 trillion without any conditions to control spending.
We may do well to listen to the man. He knows how the math works, and it's not working in our favor.
He's sanguine about a technical default by the US government, since it may serve a bit of reality onto everyone's plate.
And his Quote of the Week?
"People aren't going to wonder whether 20 years ago we delayed an interest payment for six days. They're going to wonder whether we got our house in order."
Amen, Brother Druckenmiller, amen.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Greece To Sell Assets, Surrender Sovereignity: Financial Times
Really, it's just like a bankruptcy, is it not?
European leaders are negotiating a deal that would lead to unprecedented outside intervention in the Greek economy, including international involvement in tax collection and privatisation of state assets, in exchange for new bail-out loans for Athens.
People involved in the talks said the package would also include incentives for private holders of Greek debt voluntarily to extend Athens’ repayment schedule, as well as another round of austerity measures.
Officials hope that as much as half of the €60bn-€70bn ($86bn-$100bn) in new financing needed by Athens until the end of 2013 could be accounted for without new loans. Under a plan advocated by some, much of that would be covered by the sale of state assets and the change in repayment terms for private debtholders.
The creditor takes a haircut, the debtor sells everything that isn't completely nailed down, and the court runs the debtor's life until the debts are all discharged.
It's a bankruptcy, pure and simple.
But, we dare not use that word, now do we?
This is what awaits us, sooner or later, in the US, if we don't develop the will to turn ourselves into a productive economy whose government exercises restraint in spending, legislating, and regulating. Only it's China toting the note. Do we wish to surrender large parts of our country and economy to the Chinese?
Really?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Southern Europe...
European leaders are negotiating a deal that would lead to unprecedented outside intervention in the Greek economy, including international involvement in tax collection and privatisation of state assets, in exchange for new bail-out loans for Athens.
People involved in the talks said the package would also include incentives for private holders of Greek debt voluntarily to extend Athens’ repayment schedule, as well as another round of austerity measures.
Officials hope that as much as half of the €60bn-€70bn ($86bn-$100bn) in new financing needed by Athens until the end of 2013 could be accounted for without new loans. Under a plan advocated by some, much of that would be covered by the sale of state assets and the change in repayment terms for private debtholders.
The creditor takes a haircut, the debtor sells everything that isn't completely nailed down, and the court runs the debtor's life until the debts are all discharged.
It's a bankruptcy, pure and simple.
But, we dare not use that word, now do we?
This is what awaits us, sooner or later, in the US, if we don't develop the will to turn ourselves into a productive economy whose government exercises restraint in spending, legislating, and regulating. Only it's China toting the note. Do we wish to surrender large parts of our country and economy to the Chinese?
Really?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Southern Europe...
Friday, May 27, 2011
Words Fail To Describe DSK, Himself And MizzMichelle, But Put Them All Together And Give It A Go
Captions Invited. Keep it clean, if you can.
OS thought of a few, but thought better of publishing them.
HT Jesse.
Lt. Jack Volz, KIA IN 1943, Finally Laid To Rest In Louisville This Weekend
For those who scratch their heads, and wonder what America is about, and what makes America tick, OldSouth shares this story from the Louisville Courier-Journal:
Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Jack E. Volz, a World War II aviator declared dead a year and a day after his B-24 Liberator went missing in the South Pacific in 1943, will be laid to rest with full military honors Saturday at Cave Hill Cemetery.
Volz’s remains will arrive from Hawaii just before noon Thursday at Louisville International Airport, where a military honor squad will escort him to a hearse that will make the trip to Ratterman’s Funeral Home in St. Matthews.
“It’s such a special miracle,” said niece Marilyn Simonds, 63.
Volz, 21, and his crew and plane vanished on Oct. 27, 1943. Sixty years later, in 2003, someone who had passed by the wreckage in Papua, New Guinea and picked up Volz’s identification card turned it over to a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team, which located the crash site in 2005.
In early 2007, after the Army obtained DNA samples from family members, the crash site was excavated and the remains were taken to Hawaii.
After the matches were confirmed, the Army sat with the family, presenting some three hundred pages of evidence that these remains were indeed those of Lt. Volz, and arranged for the funeral at one of the great historic cemeteries of the country. A portion of his remains will also be interred with the remains of his crew in Arlington Cemetery in August.
Lt. Volz was one of millions of young lives cut short by the utter madness of collectivist, utopian and nation-as-religion monsters of the twentieth century. But in America, the sacrifice he made to help set things right is not forgotten. Here is an opportunity, in some small way, to redeem this tragedy, and to remind ourselves and the world who we all are when we are at our best.
Here's hoping, and encouraging, that many will take the time to pay their respects at the funeral home and cemetery tomorrow, to give the young man a fitting welcome home.
The funeral home is here.
Cave Hill Cemetery is here.
Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Jack E. Volz, a World War II aviator declared dead a year and a day after his B-24 Liberator went missing in the South Pacific in 1943, will be laid to rest with full military honors Saturday at Cave Hill Cemetery.
Volz’s remains will arrive from Hawaii just before noon Thursday at Louisville International Airport, where a military honor squad will escort him to a hearse that will make the trip to Ratterman’s Funeral Home in St. Matthews.
“It’s such a special miracle,” said niece Marilyn Simonds, 63.
Volz, 21, and his crew and plane vanished on Oct. 27, 1943. Sixty years later, in 2003, someone who had passed by the wreckage in Papua, New Guinea and picked up Volz’s identification card turned it over to a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team, which located the crash site in 2005.
In early 2007, after the Army obtained DNA samples from family members, the crash site was excavated and the remains were taken to Hawaii.
After the matches were confirmed, the Army sat with the family, presenting some three hundred pages of evidence that these remains were indeed those of Lt. Volz, and arranged for the funeral at one of the great historic cemeteries of the country. A portion of his remains will also be interred with the remains of his crew in Arlington Cemetery in August.
Lt. Volz was one of millions of young lives cut short by the utter madness of collectivist, utopian and nation-as-religion monsters of the twentieth century. But in America, the sacrifice he made to help set things right is not forgotten. Here is an opportunity, in some small way, to redeem this tragedy, and to remind ourselves and the world who we all are when we are at our best.
Here's hoping, and encouraging, that many will take the time to pay their respects at the funeral home and cemetery tomorrow, to give the young man a fitting welcome home.
The funeral home is here.
Cave Hill Cemetery is here.
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