In today’s email, I received an appeal to customers from a local restaurant owner. His remarks could apply to any local business anywhere, and that’s why I’m reproducing it for you below.
His letter isn’t just specific to him. and he makes some good points about supporting local merchants. Continue reading
Foreign profits earned by American companies are not taxed by the United States until the profits are ‘brought home’ (i.e., repatriated).
Republicans have floated the idea of a ‘tax holiday’ on repatriated foreign profits so that companies are given an incentive to bring overseas profits home, so they can reputedly be invested, and thus create jobs here in the States.
Not only is this a bad idea in terms of tax policy, but even discussing it is bad tax policy. Allow me to relate an anecdote to explain, but be patient. It will take a little while to get back to my point. Continue reading
Former Utah Governor and former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman has officially announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination for president.
In a time when the Republican litmus test for candidacy admission is how far right you can swing, an apparently relatively moderate Republican doesn’t stand much of a chance for getting the nomination.
Can Huntsman survive this truism? Does he think he can? If not, what other reason could he have for throwing his hat into the mix?
I have a theory: Continue reading
ThinkWingRadio So why are the damn parts for F-15s made in China?! RT @WILLROGERSUSA Key US senators slam China on military parts probe http://t.co/BaIHzMq
ThinkWingRadio I have a great idea! The Russians can make M-16s, the Chinese can build our military computers, the Iranians can build our rockets. BFFs!!
ThinkWingRadio What the hell has happened to our country? We don’t even make our own military equipment?Now China’s “The Arsenal of Democracy”?! Thanx GOP!
ThinkWingRadio What the hell has happened to our country? We don’t even make our own military equipment?Now China’s “The Arsenal of Democracy”?! Thanx GOP!
Rachel Maddow with David Letterman, discussing Keith Olbermann, Anthony Weiner, David Vitter, and the current political environment.
I have a saying: “Good advice is easy to give, but hard to take.” As a total outsider (it’s hard to be more outside The Beltway than I am), I have some advice for you, Anthony Weiner, which you can take or leave, and it’s this: Go back to business as usual in the House.
Continue reading
“Judge not, lest ye be judged.” A common misquote, I’m told, of Matthew 7:1 (“Judge not, that ye be not judged. “). Wise words, either way.
When should someone’s personal peccadillos materially matter to us? When is it actually fair to hold someone to a higher standard than we perhaps hold ourselves? When should it reach the level of ‘a scandal’? When should we care?
Continue reading
In my opinion, some of the great and courageous moments ever seen in House debate.
A total of 3 4 videos [Last video added 10-Aug-2013]:
7m 08s
I hate ‘sampling’ almost as much as I hate plagiarism. I’m not sure which one Jennifer Lopez is guilty of, but it’s one or the other.
Oddly, the first time I heard this tune was in a “Visit Israel” commercial. Apparently, its name is “Lambada”. (Funny. It doesn’t look Jewish.)
According to Wikipedia, “The “Lambada” song was actually an unauthorized translation of the 1981 song “Llorando se fue” (which means: Crying he/she went away), from the Bolivian group Los Kjarkas.”
You can hear that version below.
A Japanese version with a slightly faster beat, more like what I remember, is here:
Here’s an “official” Lambada version from 1989. It’s official in the sense that Kaoma made it an international hit, and Los Kjarkas sued Kaoma for plagiarism and won.
This is the Jennifer Lopez version (“rip-off”?) called “On The Floor”. In my opinion, it’s over-produced and not nearly as appealing as any of the previous versions of this melody.
So call it “Llorando se fue”, call it “Lambada” … Or maybe just call it “stolen”.
Creative bankruptcy: It’s not just for two-bit lounge acts anymore.
In response to my piece called “Flashbulb Memory: A Human-to-Human Moment in Tiananmen Square in Beijing“, I got a comment from Miriam asking me for some suggestions on a trip she planned to China. My response is below.
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I’ve been to China twice, and mostly the people there are wonderful to foreigners. I have some great stories which I may share here over time. That said, there’s a reason why business people in China are historically ranked lower than actors on the social scale. “Honest business” in China is an oxymoron. Continue reading
By Michael R. Honig
“The way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans.” That thought crosses my mind often.
My background is Jewish East Central European. If I was going to visit any continent first, then, you’d think it would be the lands of my ancestors. So if 10 years ago, someone had told me that during my life, I’d visit China before I traveled to Europe, I’d have thought they were nuts.
Or not.
I met my wife on Valentine’s Day 2002, and we married on December 28, 2003. My wife is a Canadian citizen, but she was actually born in Fu Jing City, in Hei Long Jiang Province in the northeastern part of the Peoples Republic of China.
I’ll bet that about now you can see what’s coming … Continue reading
There’s no audio in this clip. Watch the batter in the deep background. Someone must shout a ‘heads up’.
Now watch the action, and think, “OW, that must hurt!”
Longoria was probably a hero. The ball looked like it was curving straight for the reporter, and I don’t think that she was prepared to react in time.
Buy the man a cold one!
(Originally found this clip here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/7AswP5/www.gifbin.com/985298)
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Recently brought to my attention (Oct. 2011):
That Was Random – What a Freaking Awesome Catch. Sign this Girl!!!
I’ve been saying for a while now that Libertarianism is just a prettily re-branded form of Anarchism; the scourge of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One of the Paul family — Ron, this time — again makes my point for me. Continue reading
HOUSTON—Radiation has contaminated the underground pipes, water tanks, and plumbing that provides drinking water for much of central Texas and the famed Texas Hill Country, according to concerned city officials in the region who have tested the pipes with Geiger counters.
According to local officials, the contamination comes from years of exposure to drinking water that already tests over federal legal limits for radioactive radium. Of even more concern, they say, is that any water quality testing is done before the water runs through the contaminated pipes that could be adding even more radiation.
…
The white paper, titled “Implementing the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Radionuclides,” was an internal assessment of the threat posed from radiation in Texas water, and was prompted by new federal regulations the Environmental Protection Agency adopted on Dec. 7, 2000. The Texas report states “over 200,000 Texans drink water from public water systems which are contaminated with relatively high levels of radium and other naturally occurring radioactive material.” <Entire article here>
Well, it’s that time again. Lots of interesting articles have crossed my path, but I can’t post or comment on all of them, so it’s time for another series of what I might call “Potpourri Posts”. Or maybe I should just call them “Post-pourris”?
(Suggestions for titles are invited.)
You can go to the different articles by clicking on the links embedded in their titles.
Ever get so mad at a person or company that you want to boycott their products? Have you ever thought about how hard it is to boycott a billionaire?
You should. Look at the article below, and see if you feel like it’s time to consider extending anti-trust laws to financially over-represented moneyed interests. Continue reading
Rachel Maddow is one of the best “explainers” I’ve ever seen on television, let alone on a news show, and (as I too often remind folks when I make a statement like this) I’m no spring chicken.
After the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March of this year led to radioactive disasters at a half-dozen nuclear power plants, the most lucid, informative and understandable lay explanations of the crisis — the causes, technologies involved, dangers, etc. — were without question done by Rachel Maddow.
She’s also really good at focusing her attention on important stories — or angles on important stories — which might otherwise escape our notice.
Now she has done it again with a unique discussion of Osama bin Laden, and the strategy which was at the root of his style of asymmetrical warfare against the United States. Continue reading
A (relatively) quick snapshot of “Dr. Who” — all of them — from 1963 onward.
If you have been watching BBCAmerica, it’s changed a bit over the years. Like many Americans, Tom Baker’s “Dr. Who” hooked me when it aired on PBS about 30 years ago.
Doctor Who History 1963-2010 from Joe Siegler on Vimeo.
Clipped from Mental_Floss.com: Amazing stuff. Jason English blogs about an Abbottabad neighbor of Osama who tweeted the JSOC raid as it happened, without even realizing it! Continue reading
Originally posted on TOMFOOLERY (otoolefan.wordpress.com). To see the original post and read viewers’ comments, click on the title link below. – Mike
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The following comment was posted on this site a few weeks ago and it’s eloquence speaks for itself. The only thing I would add to this is we saw a similar scenario played out by the GOP right before Christmas. They were all about 9/11 and it’s heroes, until it came time to come to the aid of sick and dying first responders. – OTOOLEFAN
I am a totally disabled veteran, there are actually very few of us who are totally disabled.
Needless to say. I wish the liberals would take the credit they deserve. Liberals do more to support veterans disabled veterans than the right does. The right actually hates disabled vets.
The real issue is that people equate defense spending and supporting the military with supporting veterans. Veterans do not benefit one dime from defense spending.
We rely on the VA, and the pyramid of federal and state aid programs. IT IS THE LIBERALS WHO SUPPORT ME. And not any of the patriotic charities that raise tons of money under the guise of supporting veterans.
I really don’t get involved in politics. But I live in Delaware and Christine O’Donnell and the 9/12 patriots attacked me, so I did get involved. ( Meet Sen Kerry at a Chris Coons Event ).
So liberals, take your credit, there are alot of disabled vets that understand this so please take your props.
Airborne18
“The [magic] question I always ask is: Would you rather have their income and pay their taxes or have the income of someone who doesn’t pay taxes? The discussion is over right there.”
There is a great deal of discussion currently about whether the tax burden in this country is shared fairly.
Are the ‘rich’ and the rich (some deserve air quotes, some don’t) being taxed more than their fair share? Are the middle class, working poor and poor under-taxed? Should we be concerned that some folks make so little income that they are not taxed at all? Continue reading
As oxymoronic as it sounds, I believe this to be true: If big business has a reputation for lying, obfuscating and being generally deceptive, they come by it honestly.
A case in point is the Corn Refiners Association‘s (CRA) recent petition to the FDA to allow them to change food ingredients labels from “high fructose corn syrup” (HFCS) to “corn sugar”. Continue reading
April 19, 2011
Business is humming if you’re in the business of extra-solar planets, exobiology or exoenvironmental studies.
Recently, it was announced that scientists had determined that liquid water and hydrocarbons were present on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. They made this determination using Cassini’s plasma spectrometer, which had found specific ions characteristic of water in motion. (It never ceases to amaze me how scientists can tease information out of data using the most obscure scientific facts.)
That makes at least 4 worlds (Earth, Mars, Enceladus, and Europa) in our solar system where liquid water and other ingredients necessary for life have been found to be present now or in the past, or probably so. Continue reading
[Update, April 2, 2012: Another embarrassing and inexcusable election scandal in Florida. Palm Beach Elections Overturned After Hand-Count Reveals Op-Scans Mistallied Results. As Brad Friedman’s article further suggests, we MUST have a verifiable paper trail for all election tallies have a physical count of ballots by humans before an election is certified. ]
[Update, June 13, 2011: This piece is made even more relevant by the recount discoveries and legal challenges surrounding the Wisconsin Supreme Court elections – Mike]
In 2000, the United States experienced a very close and heavily contested presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Bush won a minority of popular votes, but after legal challenges were exhausted, he had a majority of the Electoral College, giving him the election. Enough serious questions were left forever unanswered to shake Americans’ confidence in the honesty of the election outcome. The result was Continue reading
Dear Representative Weiner,
I keep hearing that you have ambitions to run for Mayor of the City of New York. As a huge fan of yours, I have an urgent request.
DON’T! Continue reading
