How Strange

This must be what happens when you've upset the Democrat bosses. 60 Minutes never goes after Democrats.

No telling why they decided to go after her now. She's been a 1% grafting crook lawmaker for years and years. If there was a serious Occupy Wall Street movement, corrupt politicians like Nancy Pelosi would be their target.

I know this clip is everywhere. I'm putting it up because if you're like me, you'll want to listen to it again and again.

And We Mean It This Time

found - possibly here

Right Off The Cliff

Why Is This Cargo Container Emitting So Much Radiation?

To find out why the comment is ridiculous, you have to read the story.

Well, no, I suppose you could grade this comment with your eyes closed. But it's a good read anyway. Here, I'll get it started:

Enzo Montagna pulled his Fiat station wagon into Voltri Terminal Europa, a sprawling port on the western edge of Genoa, on Italy’s Ligurian coast, and flashed his ID at the guard at the terminal’s gate. As he did every time he came to the port, Montagna hooked a left and parked in a small lot near the low-slung customs office.

In Italy, all cargo containers carrying scrap metal get checked for radiation, by hand, before they’re allowed off the docks. At Voltri, this job falls to Montagna, a 49-year-old independent consultant certified as an expert in radiation detection by the Italian government. By the time he arrived that morning, longshoremen had gathered eleven 20-foot-long, 8-foot-wide containers from across the terminal, relying on manifests to determine which ones needed to be scanned. The boxes were lined up in two neat rows near the terminal’s entrance.

Montagna, dressed in a polo shirt, jeans, and an orange safety vest, grabbed his radiation monitor — a tan Ludlum Model 3 about the size of a toaster. He plugged in a heavy sensor wand and set the device on the ground 20 yards away from the containers. The Model 3 emits a high-pitched beep every time it detects a radioactive particle; Montagna turned it on, and the meter’s needle swung hard to the right, burying itself past the maximum reading of 500,000 counts per minute. Instead of its usual staccato chirps, the machine was whining continuously and frantically....

President of 11.9% of Us

Barack Obama tells Congress to pass the infrastructure piece of the American
Jobs Act while at the Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington, November 2, 2011.

Infrastructure huh? I had lost track of where I read that almost all of the infrastructure jobs would be union jobs. But I tracked this down, an e-mail that went round awhile back:

President Obama quietly signs Pro-Union Executive Order

February 9, 2009

While everyone is talking about the pork laden stimulus that Obama and many Democrats in Congress are pushing, President Obama very quietly signed a pro union executive order on Friday. It ordered the use of union labor for federal construction projects. This is one of the most blatant payoffs I have ever seen.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has made the following statement.

"President Obama’s executive order will drive up the cost of government at a time when we should be doing everything possible to save taxpayer dollars. Federal contracts should go to the businesses that can offer taxpayers the best value – not just the unions who supported the Democrats’ campaigns last year. Quietly signing executive orders to payback campaign backers undermines Obama’s promise to change Washington. It is a disappointment for Americans hoping for more transparency and less politics as usual in Washington ."

I would have to agree with everything the chairman said. It is nothing less than a payoff to the unions who supported his campaign with both money and troops. And the fact that it was done with no media coverage shows that he once again is trying to slip one by Americans, which is anything but transparent.

Factcheck.org checked this one out:

It’s not often that we receive chain e-mails that actually check out, but this one, while exaggerated, is largely right. On Feb. 6, Obama issued Executive Order 13502 that encourages federal agencies to "consider requiring the use of project labor agreements in connection with large-scale construction projects in order to promote economy and efficiency in Federal procurement." A project labor agreement requires contractors and subcontractors to pay union wages and to recognize collective bargaining agreements. The order "does not require" project labor agreements, but it’s reasonable to say that "encouragement" from the president is likely to carry considerable weight with federal agencies.

As for RNC Chair Michael Steele’s allegation that the order constitutes "payback" for the unions who supported Obama’s campaign, well, we don’t have any way to know Obama’s motives. What Obama says is that the policy will help to make labor costs more predictable and will prevent construction delays by nipping labor disputes in the bud.

Not sure how requiring unions would nip labor disputes in the bud. You don't hear of many non-union labor disputes. Anyway, I'll say it again: It would be nice if we had a president of all the people, not just of all the unionized people.

And anyway, didn't you reward them enough with the first "stimulus" bill?

photo via

Occupy the T-Shirt

"I don't mean to brag, but I'm in the top third of the 99 percent."

I don't disapprove:

New York (CNN) -- A Long Island couple wants to trademark the slogan "Occupy Wall St." with the intent to sell sweatshirts, T-shirts, bumper stickers and hobo bags, among other merchandise.

"I'm no marketing genius, but when you got something that's across 50 states, it's a brand now," said 44-year-old Robert Maresca of West Islip, New York.

Maresca's wife, Diane, filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on October 18 and paid a fee of $975.

The move has some Occupy Wall Street supporters perplexed.

"The goal of OWS is not to become a profitable business," said Tyler Combelic, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman. "Anything that misconstrues it as such, such as trademarking for the sake of profiting, is missing the point of protest."

These are the people who think Michael Moore (net worth $50 mil) is "one of us". But they find fault with Maresca making a few bucks through his own initiative.

If this guy makes a few bucks off the name, more power to him. He's shrewd enough to realize that "Disorganized, Spoiled, Douche Nozzles" won't sell, even if it is more accurate.

BTW - Have you heard the Howard Stern interviews of OWSers? They're pretty funny. Here and here.

Cuteness Is

and a talker-dog from lumberbrudi:

Stimulus for Supporters Only

Something I've been thinking about: In 2010, 11.9% of the workforce were union members. But for some reason, unions make up 40 percent of employees exempted from Obamacare.

I've seen various numbers regarding how much stimulus money went to union workers, and they vary, but there were no estimates even close 11.9%.

So what I'm wondering. Why would any of the nonunion 88.1% support another "stimulus" bill. Was Obama going to be everyone's president, or just the union members president?

One Smiles

And why wouldn't the One be smiling? Everyone Poops is out in paperback and the Politico is Clarence Thomasing Herman Cain.

Good Uncommon Week

My personal economist is on Uncommon Knowledge this week, woo-hoo! Did you know Thomas Sowell was once a Marxist?