Friday, January 28, 2011

If we lay off cops we get less service, right?

In an era where cops and firemen are threatened by politicians in order to guilt us into paying higher taxes and first responders are actually getting laid off, we are led to expect lower levels of service.
The belief is that small crimes will be ignored in order to spend resources on more important work.
So why are New Jersey cops on the docks in Bayonne spending time and money on a crime that is very small potatoes and apparently solved?
Your guess is as good as mine.

How many did we miss?

A radical Muslim cleric was caught in the trunk of a Mexican vehicle attempting to enter the US.
43 year old Said Jaziri has called for the death of a Danish cartoonist for mocking the prophet Mohamed and claims that Homosexuality is a disease.
He was deported from Canada in 2007 and claimed that he was mistreated on the way back to Tunisia.
It is a little confusing that the article claims he was in a car, but also states he walked across the border.
More confusing is why he would want to come to California if he is a Homophobe.
Maybe he was coming out of the closet.

So, how many Muslim Clerics made it across already?

Friday, January 21, 2011

That Sinking Feeling in Dubai

I'm sure there is a great explanation for why we find it amusing when something bad happens to people that have a lot more money than we do.
And it is even more amusing when you add the fact that they should have seen it coming.
Dubai has been building a lot of luxury "Islands" and selling them for millions to well heeled people all over the world.
One of their gimmicks was forming them into shapes of countries.
The problem from the start is that they are mainly made of sand.
I wondered from the start what they would do about settling and erosion.
I guess the answer is: "Not Enough".

SF Lunatics have control of the asylum

San Francisco is trying to deal with a $360M budget deficit for the coming year, or maybe not "trying" after all.
Handing out $170M in cost of living bonuses doesn't seem a very effective way to fight a budget imbalance.
This fiasco follows the November 2010 defeat of a measure that would have made union employees pay more into their retirement.

The unfunded liability for retirements has tripled from last year to $1.6 Billion.
I wonder how much worse it has to get for the taxpayers in that city to wake up?

Thursday, January 20, 2011

People Eating Tasty Animals

Arizona has been in the news a lot over the six months for good and bad alike.
Now there is a story that will make people on both sides of the "animal rights" issue take notice.
Boca Tacos y Tequila serves tacos made from exotic animal meat on "Exotic Taco Wednesdays" and now they have added African Lion meat to the list which includes python; alligator; elk; kangaroo and rattlesnake. Frog legs, turtle, duck and Rocky Mountain oysters have also made appearances.
Alligator seems to be the favorite amongst return customers, followed by Rattlesnake.


I wish there was a Boca near me.
Just being able to smile and bite into a little Lion meat while grinning at the PETA protesters would make my day.

China is being assimilated

American companies face increasing pressure to reduce or eliminate pollution.
This has been one of the drivers for offshoring jobs to countries that are more interested in commerce than environmental extremism.
However, as Apple has learned, there is a growing activist movement in China and they have set their sights on companies like Apple which rates last in a list of 29 companies that are not meeting their expectations.
HP, BT, Alcatel-Lucent, Vodafone, Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp and Hitachi have been listed as responsive and improving when it comes to managing their partners in China.


Gee, isn't Apple the darling of the American Left-Wingnuts?
I see this as a positive sign.
China will be dragged down to our level by their homegrown activists forcing over regulation on their tech sector.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Fat Brit to sue NHS for "allowing" him to get there

A British man who recently (finally) received an operation to reduce his ability to absorb food, is threatening to sue the National Health Service (NHS) for "allowing" him to get so fat.
At his peak weight Paul Mason was consuming ten times the average caloric intake of an adult male.
I don't imagine there were any representatives of NHS forcing this food down his gullet or even bringing it to him, but they are apparently at fault by his reckoning.
I do have to agree with Mr. Mason that NHS should have approved the operation much sooner and that they should have had enough sense to send him to an eating disorder specialist instead of a dietitian when he first sought help but they failed to do even that until his weight more than doubled to 64 stone (896lbs).
NHS showed by not acting much sooner why we should NEVER accept government run healthcare and Mr. Mason shows one more reason why: It is too easy when someone else is supposedly "responsible" to just do whatever you want and blame them for not stopping you.

Illinois Democrats want people to leave

I can only assume that Illinois Democrats want more people to vacate the state.
Why would I believe that?
They are proposing to increase personal income taxes by 75%, cigarette taxes by more than 100%, and eliminate the homeowner tax deduction in favor of a rebate check.
So, why not allow a tax deduction for property taxes instead of a rebate check?
Either way, the state holds your money until you file.
I can only guess that the check will be for a fixed amount that shorts those with more expensive properties and everyone can have their rebate amount reduced or canceled with greater ease and speed.
Now, to be fair, the personal tax rate in Illinois is only 3% and the new "temporary" tax rate will be 5..25% where the (temporary) rate in the People's Republik of Kalifornia is 9.5% (max) and likely to stay there or go higher if Governor Ichabod Brown has his way.
Be that as it may, increasing taxes by the percentages they propose will enrage the people (especially the greedy, selfish Democrats that want everyone but them to pay more).
Many are likely to follow those before them that voted with their feet and went elsewhere.
As many in Illinois say: "Good luck having those rates go down on the future!"