Spokane residents become smugglers for clean dishes

Citizens join the smugglers, just so they can get their dishes clean. Criminals! Watch your rear-view mirror for flashing lights. Now this only affects the Spokane area. In July, 2010, the entire state. The Washington Lake Protection Association is proud that they got HB 2322 (pdf) passed in 2006 to prevent all of us from using effective dish detergents that contain phosphates. Are there effective low-phosphate detergents? Not their problem (pdf).

WALPA is asking that Spokane County residents keep trying different brands until they find one that works and more importantly to share that information with friends and neighbors.

Has anyone found one yet? WALPA hasn't despite their best efforts. See also KOMO TV. Associated Press: Spokane residents smuggle suds over green brands:

SPOKANE, Wash. – The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well. Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution. The ban will be expanded statewide in July 2010, the same time similar laws take effect in several other states. But it's not easy to get sparkling dishes when you go green. Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe's left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap. As a result, there has been a quiet rush of Spokane-area shoppers heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho in search of old-school suds. Real estate agent Patti Marcotte of Spokane stocks up on detergent at a Costco in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and doesn't care who knows it. "Yes, I am a smuggler," she said. "I'm taking my chances because dirty dishes I cannot live with." (In truth, the ban applies to the sale of phosphate detergent — not its use or possession — so Marcotte is not in any legal trouble.) Marcotte said she tried every green brand in her dishwasher and found none would remove grease and pieces of food. Everybody she knows buys dishwasher detergent in Idaho, she said. Supporters of the ban acknowledge it is not very popular. "I'm not hearing a lot of positive feedback," conceded Shannon Brattebo of the Washington Lake Protection Association, a prime mover of the ban. "I think people are driving to Idaho."

One Spokane resident has found a way to get clean dishes: use a lot more hot water. Using more water and heating it? Doesn't that offset the benefits of getting rid of phosphates? "Oh, we didn't intend that," say the innocents who caused the damage.

For his part, Beck has taken to washing his dishes on his machine's pots-and-pans cycle, which takes longer and uses five gallons more water. Beck wonders if that isn't as tough on the environment as phosphates. "How much is this really costing us?" Beck said. "Aren't we transferring the environmental consequences to something else?"

I posted this at Sound Politics, which has over 4,000 unique visitors per day! and there are dozens of comments there.

The 'Global Warming Three' are on thick ice

They are freezing and finding MORE ice, not less. This parades as science, but is politics. They even admit that they only give their data to the climate modeler who gets the results they want. If they were doing science they would want everyone to analyze their data. Telegraph(UK): The 'Global Warming Three' are on thin ice (sic - the ice is thicker) The ony problem with a project to prove that Arctic ice is disappearing is the fact that it is actually getting thicker, says Christopher Booker. What a wonderful parable of our time has been the expedition to the North Pole led by the explorer Pen Hadow. With two companions, he is measuring the thickness of the ice to show how fast it is “declining”. His expedition is one of a series of events designed to “raise awareness of the dangers of climate change” before December’s conference in Copenhagen, where the warmists hope to get a new treaty imposing much more drastic cuts on CO2 emissions. Hadow’s Catlin Arctic Project has top-level backing from the likes of the BBC, the WWF (it could “make a lasting difference to policy-relevant science”) and Prince Charles (“for the sake of our children and grandchildren, I pray that we will heed the results of the Catlin Arctic Survey and I can only commend this remarkably important project”). With perfect timing, the setting out from Britain of the “Global Warming Three” last month was hampered by “an unusually heavy snowfall”. When they were airlifted to the start of their trek by a twin-engine Otter (one hopes a whole forest has been planted to offset its “carbon footprint”), they were startled to find how cold it was. The BBC dutifully reported how, in temperatures of minus 40 degrees, they were “battered by wind, bitten by frost and bruised by falls on the ice”. Thanks to the ice constantly shifting, it was “disheartening”, reported Hadow, to find that “when you’ve slogged for a day”, you can wake up next morning to find you have “drifted back to where you started’’. Last week, down to their last scraps of food, they were only saved in the nick of time by the faithful Otter. They were disconcerted to see one of those polar bears, threatened with extinction by global warming, wandering around, doubtless eyeing them for its dinner. But at least one of the intrepid trio was able to send a birthday message to his mum, via the BBC, and they were able to talk by telephone to “some of the world’s most influential climate change leaders”, including Development Secretary Douglas Alexander in front of 300 people at “a conference on world poverty”. The idea is that the expedition should take regular radar fixes on the ice thickness, to be fed into a computer model in California run by Professor Wieslaw Maslowski, whose team, according to the BBC, “is well known for producing results that show much faster ice-loss than other modelling teams”. The professor predicts that summer ice could be completely gone as early as next year. It took the Watts Up With That? science blog to point out that there is little point in measuring ice thickness unless you do it several years running, and that, anyway, Arctic ice is being constantly monitored by US Army buoys. The latest reading given by a typical sensor shows that since last March the ice has thickened by “at least half a metre”.

10 Surprising and positive facts about American health care

Beware of organizations with agendas when they display statistics about the US health-care system. They bend things around to find a few negative aspects in the corners that they put in the spotlight, but in displaying the dark corners they hide what's in plain sight. We get excellent health care. We pay more, but we get more. We get the new drugs and new methods. Scott W. Atlas, M.D., a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor at the Stanford University Medical Center, covers it. National Center for Policy Analysis Fact No. 1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the U.K. and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher. Fact No. 2: Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States. Fact No. 3: Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries. Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them. Fact No. 4: Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians. Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate and colon cancer:

• Nine of 10 middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to less than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
• Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a pap smear, compared to less than 90 percent of Canadians.
• More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a PSA test, compared to less than 1 in 6 Canadians (16 percent).
• Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with less than 1 in 20 Canadians (5 percent).

Fact No. 5: Lower income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report "excellent" health compared to Canadian seniors (11.7 percent versus 5.8 percent). Conversely, white Canadian young adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower income Americans to describe their health as "fair or poor." Fact No. 6: Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K. Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long - sometimes more than a year - to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements or to get radiation treatment for cancer.[6] All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada.[7] In England, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.[8] Fact No. 7: People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and British adults say their health system needs either "fundamental change" or "complete rebuilding."[9] Fact No. 8: Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the "health care system," more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared to only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).[10] Fact No. 9: Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K. Maligned as a waste by economists and policymakers naïve to actual medical practice, an overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identified computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade. The United States has 34 CT scanners per million Americans, compared to 12 in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has nearly 27 MRI machines per million compared to about 6 per million in Canada and Britain. Fact No. 10: Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations. The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other single developed country.[14] Since the mid-1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to American residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined.[15] In only five of the past 34 years did a scientist living in America not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States. Conclusion: Despite serious challenges, such as escalating costs and the uninsured, the U.S. health care system compares favorably to those in other developed countries. [The original has an table about fact number 10.] Via Prof. M.J. Perry at U Michigan Flint CARPE DIEM: 10 Surprising Facts About American Health Care.

Bush's 'folly' is ending in victory

If President Barack were smart he would figure out how to get some credit for Bush's success in Iraq and get out of Afghanistan tomorrow. But he is doubling the bet in poor Afghanistan and it's doesn't look like a winner, though I hope it will be. Smart? Jeff Jacoby The Boston Globe: MARKETS without bombs. Hummers without guns. Ice cream after dark. Busy streets without fear." So began Terry McCarthy's report from Iraq for ABC's World News Sunday on March 15, one of a series the network aired last week as the war in Iraq reached its sixth anniversary. A nationwide poll of Iraqis reveals that "60 percent expect things to get better next year - almost three times as many as a year and a half ago," McCarthy continued. "Iraqis are slowly discovering they have a future. We flew south to Basra, where 94 percent say their lives are going well. Oil is plentiful here. So is money." In another report two nights later, ABC's correspondent characterized the Iraqi capital as "a city reborn: speed, light, style - this is Baghdad today. Where car bombs have given way to car racing. Where a once-looted museum has been restored and reopened. And where young women who were forced to cover their heads can again wear the clothes that they like."

Connected again

My "ecto" blogging software and Blogger haven't been connecting for about 3 days now. (The problem might involved my host pari.com also.) I have been lazy and not gone around this disconnect to poset directly on Blogger. Here we go.

Administration Seeks Increase in Oversight of Executive Pay and much More

How about if we cause the best and brightest to avoid working in the financial industry - all firms, not just the corporate welfare recipients. That should make things worse, not better. Duh NYTimes.com:

The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said. The outlines of the plan are expected to be unveiled this week in preparation for President Obama’s first foreign summit meeting in early April. Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system.

Pay is the headline grabber for a sweeping power grab.

It will propose that many kinds of derivatives and other exotic financial instruments that contributed to the crisis be traded on exchanges or through clearinghouses so they are more transparent and can be more tightly regulated. And to protect consumers, it will call for federal standards for mortgage lenders beyond what the Federal Reserve adopted last year, as well as more aggressive enforcement of the mortgage rules. The administration has been considering increased oversight of executive pay for some time, but the issue was heightened in recent days as public fury over bonuses spilled into the regulatory effort. The officials said that the administration was still debating the details of its plan, including how broadly it should be applied and how far it could go beyond simple reporting requirements. Depending on the outcome of the discussions, the administration could seek to put the changes into effect through regulations rather than through legislation. One proposal could impose greater requirements on company boards to tie executive compensation more closely to corporate performance and to take other steps to ensure that compensation was aligned with the financial interest of the company. The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money.

Solar power is required but don't put it anywhere

"I will ride in my private jet and vote for policies that make it so you can't afford hot water." Sen. Diane Feinstein joins the call for "green" development while preventing it. "While preventing it?" Yes. Diane Feinstein * favors requiring renewable energy with one exception - she opposes any location you propose. Any location. After all, if prices for essentials double she won't feel it at all. She flies in her private jet. Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

California's Mojave Desert may seem ideally suited for solar energy production, but concern over what several proposed projects might do to the aesthetics of the region and its tortoise population is setting up a potential clash between conservationists and companies seeking to develop renewable energy. Nineteen companies have submitted applications to build solar or wind facilities on a parcel of 500,000 desert acres, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday such development would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public. Feinstein said Friday she intends to push legislation that would turn the land into a national monument, which would allow for existing uses to continue while preventing future development.

She says she is trying to correct an error:

Feinstein said the lands in question were donated or purchased with the intent that they would be protected forever. But the Bureau of Land Management considers the land now open to all types of development, except mining. That policy led the state to consider large swaths of the land for future renewable energy production.

The donors and seller might have intended they be protected. But the US is a nation of laws. The use of that land is a matter of law and clearly the law allows it. Gov. Arnold says he favors placing solar in that desert. It is, after all, a desert:

In a speech last year, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger complained about environmental concerns slowing down the approval of solar plants in California. "If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don't know where the hell we can put it," Schwarzenegger said at Yale University.

Arnold, you got it. There is no place the private-jet liberals will allow the solar, wind, etc., that they require. And now his representative is using her imagination to bow down to Di-Fi and pretend that the solar projects can go ahead. She has to pretend.

But Karen Douglas, chairman of the California Energy Commission, said Feinstein's proposal could be a "win-win" for energy and conservation. The governor's office said Douglas was speaking on the administration's behalf. "The opportunity we see in the Feinstein bill is to jump-start our own efforts to find the best sites for development and to come up with a broader conservation plan that mitigates the impact of the development," Douglas said. Douglas said that if the national monument lines were drawn without consideration of renewable energy then a conflict was likely, but it's early enough in the planning process that she's confident the state will be able to get more solar and wind projects up and running without hurting the environment.

And, again, they are for the idea of solar energy while being against placing at any particular place. See also - Feinstein steers contracts to her husband's firm. She violates the rules she enforces. And - she stepped down but did not admit guilt. * We no longer refer to female elected officials by their titles since the governor of Alaska was dragged through the mud last August.

Discharge Incapable Commanders

Steve Forbes knows the situation and the fundamentals better than I do. And I agree with his findings. They tried and failed. Fire them. Discharge Incapable Commanders - Forbes.com: President Obama should take a cue from his hero, Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War Lincoln never hesitated to fire generals he thought weren't up to the task. Obama should do the same thing with his economic commanders. Clearly Treasury Chief Timothy Geithner has been about as effective in fighting the credit crisis as George McClellan or Joe Hooker were in fighting Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Geithner has been in the midst of this crisis since it erupted in the summer of 2007. You would think he'd have been ready for decisive, bold action as soon as Obama took the oath of office. Instead, he has discouraged markets with his vague generalities. Why hasn't he persuaded the President to do away with the debilitating accounting principle of mark-to-market? Roosevelt suspended it in 1938, but it came back under the auspices of the Bush Administration. With that political pedigree, getting rid of it should be a no-brainer. More substantively, mark-to-market has been demolishing financial balance sheets with book losses. Banks have more cash than ever before, but their regulatory capital (the amount of capital required by regulators for industries like banks and life insurance) is continually being eviscerated by lawsuit-fearful auditors and stupidly aggressive bank regulators. As Brian Wesbury and Robert Stein said on Forbes.com, "The accounting rules force banks to take artificial hits to capital without reference to the actual performance of loans." Another high-ranking officer who should be reprimanded is the new SEC chairman, Mary Schapiro. Why hasn't she assertively sought the reimposition of the uptick rule concerning short-selling? And why hasn't she vigorously enforced the prohibition of naked short-selling? Previously short-sellers had to wait for a stock to go up in price before trying to hammer it. Now the uptick road bump is gone, thanks to the SEC's repeal (based on faulty research) in July 2007. It's no coincidence that since the repeal market volatility has gone berserk. Why is Schapiro reluctant to crack down on naked short-selling? After all, short-sellers, including exchange-traded funds, are supposed to borrow the shares before they sell them. Lincoln fired McClellan for "the slows," the same affliction besetting Bernanke. Another figure who should suffer a Lincoln-like termination is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. This seemingly quiet, unassuming man has made just about every mistake possible in both creating and dealing with the crisis. His latest blunder is astonishing: Contrary to impression, the Fed has been tightening, shrinking its balance sheet by nearly $400 billion since December. In the face of the most severe banking/insurance crisis since the 1930s, the squeeze absolutely defies belief. This would be like a fire department deciding to roll up some of its hoses when a big house is a flaming inferno. Bernanke says he fears future inflation, but that's like those firefighters being afraid to cause water damage to the furniture. Right now we're in a bone-crunching deflation. Bernanke's actions recall those of the Fed during the early years of the Depression, when our central bank wouldn't ease in the face of a catastrophic contraction for fear of igniting a German-style inflation.

President Obama insults the disabled - not just once

Respect life? Obama? The media carried his insult to Special Olympics people, but they conveniently forgot to carry his insult to the parents of disabled babies. Oh, he thought it was funny and if you don't you are uptight. Jim Treacher

"Sarah Palin and I don't talk much, 'cause I don't speak Tardese. 'Doy! Durr! Look at my dumb baby!' [audience member boos] Oh, lighten up."

And there are many more. Vacancy - Needed - one decent person in the White House. BTW: Since my injury last May I am disabled - for 10 months so far. I don't intend to be disabled in three more months, but I am now. Take a shot at me, Distinguished President Obama.

Back and stronger

I got my left hip replaced Monday, three nights in the hospital and returned from Valley Medical Center in Renton today. They gave me excellent care. This surgeon's reputation is so good that the nurses told us they get patients who are orthopedic surgeons. When they need hip replacement they go to Renton to Dr. William Barrett instead of going to their own partners!! Due to a complication from last spring's broken pelvis and its healing I am only 50% weight bearing on the left and using crutches for 4 to 6 weeks. Everyone else goes straight to full weight bearing. I have been on crutches before. No problem. And 50% is a lot easier than no weight (or "toe-touch") like I was before. See Broken Pelvis.

The Obama 3-Step

Obama has denounced than adopted Bush policies on terrorist surveillance and the Iraq War, Gitmo and interrogation. Earmarks. Did anyone notice? Did everyone notice? Is this man acquainted with Truth? That if A is true then (not A) is false? Does not appear to be. It's time for him to double the number of pastors whose names he drops. THE OBAMA 3-STEP - New York Post:

BARACK Obama has perfected a three-step maneuver that could never even be attempted by a politician lacking his rhetorical skill or cool cynicism. First: Denounce your presidential predecessor for a given policy, energizing your party's base and capitalizing on his abiding unpopularity. Second: Pretend to have reversed that policy upon taking office with a symbolic act or high-profile statement. Third: Adopt a version of that same policy, knowing that it's the only way to govern responsibly or believing doing otherwise is too difficult. Repeat as necessary. ... Obama's stipulations in the statement closely tracked those previously made by Bush: Amid the dramatic pose of change, essential continuity. Obama is experiencing the natural transformation of any presidential candidate whose fanciful words meet the realities of power.

United Nations chief calls US a deadbeat

We pay 22% of Ban Ki-moon's budget. So does he thank us? No. He insults us. The Associated Press: UN chief seeks to smooth over deadbeat comment:

After drawing a rebuke from the White House, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tried Thursday to smooth over his characterization of the U.S. as a "deadbeat" for its late payments to the world body. "My point was simply that the United Nations needs the fullest support of its members, and never more so than in these very demanding times," Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters The White House objected to Ban's use of the word "deadbeat" to describe the U.S. during a private meeting Wednesday with lawmakers at the Capitol, a day after he met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Ban's "word choice was unfortunate," given that the U.S. is the largest contributor to the United Nations.

Of course Obama's Robert Gibbs wouldn't dare tell a jerk that he was a jerk. "Unfortunate..." Image via the defunct Cox and Forkum.

I am glad I can have surgery

My hip socket didn't heal nice and round after my accident and surgery last May. See Broken Pelvis. So I am having my left hip replaced. Originally the ball part at the end of the femur had little damage. But walking on it with the non-round socket sure damaged it, so the replacement is total. Thank God this is mature technology. I meet and hear about people everywhere who have had replacements and every story is positive. I am glad the right solution is available for me. When I feel sorry for myself I think about the stories I know like the following from this week in Seattle. I am alive and supporting my family by working. Life is pretty good. (Though I am tired all the time!) UW lecturer dies after bicycle accident | Seattle Times Newspaper:

A cyclist who suffered head injuries after she was struck by a vehicle Wednesday morning in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood died early Friday in Harborview Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman confirmed. The victim was identified as Carol Salomon, 60, a University of Washington faculty lecturer. The woman was taken to Harborview after the accident at North 56th Street and First Avenue Northeast, just before 10:30 a.m. Police said the victim, who was traveling south, was not wearing a helmet.

A helmet might have saved her life and might not. A cyclist can land on his head and break his neck while wearing a helmet. I always wear one; I won't take the chance.

Madoff Jailed After Admitting Epic Scam - Finally

I was incensed that BM was allowed to walk the streets with his smirk while people suffered. He took over $500 million each from two men he was the closest friend to. One of them he just got an additional $250 million out of just weeks before his fall. Madoff Jailed After Admitting Epic Scam - WSJ.com:

Madoff was sent to jail Thursday after confessing to one of the largest frauds in history, telling a courtroom filled with people he cheated that he was "sorry and ashamed" for bilking so many out of their life savings. "As the years went by, I realized that my arrest and this day would inevitably come," said the 70-year-old Mr. Madoff, dressed in a crisp white shirt and charcoal-gray suit. "I am painfully aware that I have deeply hurt many, many people, including the members of my family, my closest friends, business associates and the thousands of clients who gave me their money."

I don't think he is aware how much he hurt people. The list of people who went from wealthy to near poverty is long. His own sister had to sell her house. Just more words from the master liar. And he quit investing the money over 15 years ago - pure ponzi. One highlight of the hearing today:

During the bail discussion, Mr. Madoff's lawyer, Ira Sorkin, explained to the judge that his client's wife, Ruth, paid for a security company to monitor Mr. Madoff at her "own expense." The crowd burst into derisive laughter, since many believe [translation: everyone knows] her money came from the Ponzi scheme.

Chas Freeman: Cover up by the big media

Just another controversy over an Obama appointment to a key post. The nominee withdraws under the hail of criticism. But all the big media outlets hide the story, except the Wall Street Journal and Jake Tapper at ABC. Jennifer Rubin covers it: Commentary; Blog Archive; Why the Cover Up Matters: The mainstream media, with the exception of ABC’s Jake Tapper, utterly ignored the Chas Freeman story. A large number of mainstream outlets simply wouldn’t report on it at all. In doing so they not only missed a significant event — made more significant by Freeman’s self-revelation as a ranting paranoid — but they missed a key insight into the administration’s current travails. Yet, the New York Times editor says they were just too busy with other things. (Even to cover a story about a top intelligence post in which its home senator claims to have played a key role?) One of the better stories placing the issue in context comes from the Wall Street Journal. The reporter first lays out the facts — quoting the bizarre farewell missive, describing Admiral Dennis Blair’s defense earlier in the day, and explaining the subject areas which concerned his critics. And why is this important? The reporter explains:

The abrupt turnabout recalled other missteps early in the Obama administration, which has seen several nominees for top posts withdraw under pressure. Most of the other cases involved tax problems and personal financial issues, while the Freeman case centered on ideology. The White House declined to comment on Mr. Freeman’s withdrawal.

Ah, there might be a pattern — of compounding incidents involving problematic appointees and incompetent vetting processes. Specifically, we see the emergence of ongoing rifts within the national security apparatus of the administration:

Intelligence appointments have proved politically precarious for President Barack Obama, who is looking to improve the relationship between intelligence agencies and Capitol Hill. His initial choice for Central Intelligence Agency director pulled out before he was formally named, under pressure from liberals concerned about the official’s service in the George W. Bush administration. Mr. Obama’s next choice for CIA director, Leon Panetta, ran into initial resistance on Capitol Hill, because Congress wasn’t consulted, but he was ultimately confirmed by the Senate.

You see, the mainstream media did not simply miss a story. They missed a very important one, which provided insight into the administration’s recurring problems. By not providing coverage for this story – or by obfuscating key details as Walter Pincus did — they are misleading the public and conveying a false portrait of the administration. This is simply inexcusable.

Laughing at the Contradictions of Haters of Capitalism in America

In the Soviet Union things were just plain bad... like Russia today. Second-rate people ran a 4th-rate government. They had control of the people, so they cowed them into saying everything was fine when everyone knew it was a mess. So the people turned to humor In the 1970s it was so bad that they were buying US grain to keep their people from starving. The joke that went with it: "The Soviet farmers had a very good year this year. They plant their crops in the Soviet Union and harvest in the United States." Oleg Atbashian at Pajamas Media has been writing six-line things that turn the circle of contradiction.

Six-line dialectical contradictions ala Soviet Union:

Pajamas Media » Laughing at the Contradictions of Socialism in America: Here is one sample that has a bunch of contradictions.

Without capitalism there’d be no Hollywood — yet filmmakers hate capitalism. Filmmakers hate capitalism — yet they sue for unauthorized copying of their movies. They sue for unauthorized copying — yet on screen they teach us to share. On screen they teach us to share — yet they keep their millions to themselves. They keep their millions to themselves — yet they revel in stories of American misery and depravity. They revel in stories of American misery and depravity — yet they blame the resulting anti-American sentiment on conservatism. They blame the anti-American sentiment on conservatism — yet conservatism ensures the continuation of a system that makes Hollywood possible. It reads like a poem — only instead of the rhythm of syllables and rhyming sounds, it’s the rhythm of logic and rhyming meanings. If I could replicate it, I might start a whole new genre of “contradictory six-liners.”

He has lots more.

But I don't have a Kindle

Amazon sure narrowed its bandwidth for me. I was searching for a book by the author of 38 books. My first search at Amazon was fruitless, so I went to Google. It led me to the Kindle version of the right book. But Amazon wouldn't let me out. Jimmy Carter: the liberal left and world chaos - I couldn't link to the print version of the same book. - I couldn't add it to my wish list for later purchase. I could view the wish list, but not add to it. - I couldn't place the book in my shopping cart. It was available for 1-click buying, but not shopping cart. You see, if I put it in my shopping cart I have more chances to change my mind. Actually I don't know if 1-click allows backing out of the purchase; i assume it does, but it's called "1-click" for a reason. I could view my shopping cart, but not add the book I was viewing to it. That's three strikes. And there were Kindle links all over the page; OK the page was for the Kindle version of the book. But I got there by a search and needed the print edition and Amazon hid it from me.

Cause emergency then its the Dems excuse to hide the budget process

Yes. The Olympia Democratics overspend when the tax revenue is pouring in. When the revenue slows they have an emergency. So it "forces them" to hide the budget process. Because "this isn't like any other year." Political Buzz - Lisa Brown: Parts of budget will be revealed when House and Senate negotiators reach agreement, stay tuned | The News Tribune | Tacoma, WA: That's what Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, told reporters at noon Thursday during her weekly news conference. "By the time the budget comes out . . . major pieces of it should already be agreed to," she said. That would be a departure from years past, when an entire $70 billion two-year budget has been dumped on rank-and-file lawmakers, reporters, stateholders and lobbyist, then hurriedly voted on before most of us even understood it. "This isn't like any other year," Brown said.

Even Chris Matthews can now see Obama's broken promises

Even Chris Matthews can see Obama's broken campaign promises - lies? Obama promised to eliminate ear marks - to go through line by line. But the current budget has thousands of them. Can't Obama see them? His journalist buddies are making lame alibis for their god - "this is such small potatoes." But now even Chris Matthews woke up. Sound Politics has the video.

Big court win for property owners; loss for Ron Sims

Ron Sims and King County grabbed two-thirds of the land of every rural land owner. But he lost in the Washington Supreme Court - unanimously. Great news!! Seattle Times Rural property owners who fought a King County law severely restricting how much land they can clear have won a huge victory. The state Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review an appeals-court decision that struck down the law as an improper tax or fee on development. Chief Justice Gerry Alexander signed an order in which he and four other justices unanimously denied the county's petition for review of the Court of Appeals ruling. The clearing restrictions, part of a package that includes the Critical Areas Ordinance, require rural property owners to keep native vegetation on 50 to 65 percent of their land, depending on its size. They were adopted as a way of protecting streams and wildlife, including the threatened chinook salmon. Steve Hammond, president of the Citizens' Alliance for Property Rights, said the order "puts the nail in the coffin" of the most controversial element in the critical-areas package. "I've been saying since 2004, when I was on the [County] Council, this is not the right thing to do," Hammond said of the clearing law. "This is the homeowner having to make a donation to the open-space program. Two-thirds of your property is a pretty significant donation. That's bad. "The only way I know how to get folks who don't live in the affected area to understand it is to say, 'What if I walked into your bathroom and said you have three fixtures: You can keep one and the other two have to go?

Historic schooner Wawona heads for demise

We lost a historic ship. We didn't get it together to preserve her, not that I was involved. Wouldn't it stimulate the eocnomy? Throw us a hundred million or two. Kudos to Kay Bullitt for trying. Seattle Times Newspaper: "I call it, 'death with dignity,' " said Kay Bullitt, 84, the venerable Seattle civic activist who had come to the dock to bid goodbye to the Wawona. In 1963, after reading an article in this paper about the Wawona — then already deteriorating — Bullitt began the effort to save the ship. Since then, 46 years have gone by, with thousands of volunteer hours and numerous fundraising efforts. The ship, in 1970, was the first vessel to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1977, the Wawona was designated an official Seattle landmark. Through all those decades, there was always plenty of enthusiasm from a small core of the Wawona's fans but never enough money. In the mid-1960s, Bullitt said, a dry dock estimate to completely repair the Wawona was $75,000, about $500,000 in today's dollars. By 2005, because of water intrusion that was followed by beetle infestation, a full restoration was estimated at $15 million. And so, said Joe Shickich, president of NW Seaport, the nonprofit that owns the Wawona, the decision was made to demolish her, with portions saved, such as the captain's cabin. The saved portions will be featured in the new Museum of History & Industry going in at South Lake Union Park. "It's a bittersweet day, a melancholic day," said Shickich, who was in another boat, following the Wawona to her end. "She's moving to the next stage." The next stage means that starting Monday, and for at least three weeks, the Wawona will be sawed up at the Lake Union Drydock Company. [...] There were some 200 vessels like the Wawona built in a California shipyard. With the Wawona gone, the only one left is a sister ship, the C.A. Thayer, moored in San Francisco at [San Francisco Maritime Historical Park.] Update: Who killed Wawona? Joe Follansbee at Crosscut says Mayor Nickels is guilty.

Get out your pliers -- UK's universal medical system

The UK's universal medical system is denying care to the point that people have to pull their own teeth! Get out the pliers. BBC NEWS | Health | Millions 'opt for DIY dentistry':

Millions of people in England have resorted to DIY dentistry, a survey by consumer magazine Which? suggests. The poll, of 2,631 adults, found 8% had tried to fix their own dental problems - and a similar number knew somebody who had tried. Of those who admitted trying the DIY approach, one in four had tried to pull out a tooth using pliers. Since a new dental contract was introduced in 2006 there has been growing concern over access to care. But the government said the findings of the survey were unreliable, and said access to NHS dentistry was improving. Ministers have announced an independent review of NHS dentistry in England, which will report back later this year. Which? will be making a submission to this review and is currently carrying out detailed research to build an accurate picture of the state of NHS dentistry. The latest survey found 12% of those who had tried DIY techniques had tried to extract a tooth by using a piece of string tied to a door handle. Some 30% of DIY dentists had tried to whiten their teeth with household cleaning products. Other DIY procedures people admitted to included: • Using household glue to stick down a filling or crown (11%) • Popping an ulcer with a pin (19%) • Trying to mend or alter dentures (8%) • Trying to stick down a loose filling with chewing gum (6%)

Via Adam Smith's blog DIY dentistry There are lots of orginal articles at Liberty Page.

Samuelson - Wrong Turn on Housing

Housing started the down turn and we need housing to revive. Robert Samuelson has a very good proposal. RealClearPolitics - Articles - Wrong Turn on Housing: ... Shouldn't lower prices spur demand? Well, yes. There are many theories as to why they haven't. Perhaps prospective buyers can't get loans. Or people are so gloomy that they're afraid to buy. But the most important explanation is probably deflationary psychology. If yesterday's $250,000 house is now $200,000, it may be $175,000 by June. Waiting is better. Unless this deflationary psychology is broken, it becomes self-fulfilling. The more buyers wait, the more prices fall; and the more prices fall, the more buyers wait. The Obama administration essentially ignores this problem, though it can be addressed. The simplest way is to bribe prospective buyers not to wait. For example: Give them a 10 percent tax credit, up to $15,000, on the purchase price of a new home. Anyone who bought a $150,000 home would get a $15,000 tax break. The credit would expire in a year. Waiting would be costly. Buyers would delay only if they thought home prices would drop as much or more. Precisely this proposal comes from the National Association of Home Builders. Normally, it would be an atrocious idea, because it would reward people who would buy anyway and would be skewed toward wealthier buyers. But now it's worth trying. Somehow, we need to cut bloated inventories (13 months of supply for unsold new homes), curb falling prices and stimulate new construction. The hope is that once buying improves, it would feed on itself. People would join from the sidelines. The NAHB says its plan would create 250,000 jobs and cost $40 billion -- big money but tiny compared with the hundreds of billions lavished on recovery programs. The Senate included the plan in its stimulus, but it was later dropped.

Allah is not God

There might be Christians confused that Allah is the the same as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the Muslims are not confused. He is different. A friend who earned a masters in Arabic told me how different Allah is from God. To the Muslims Allah is better at everything than you are. Everything, including lying. Allah is the master deceiver. And why did the Muslims want to kill Salmon Rushdie for his book Satanic Verses? I read it. It brings out the fact that Allah was one of over 300 gods of the Arabic Peninsula, just one of many. Mohamed chose to elevate Allah. But Allah came out of polytheism - many gods. So they tried to kill the messenger. FOXNews.com - Malaysia Restores 'Allah' Ban for Christians

The Malaysian government will issue a new decree restoring a ban on Christian publications using the word "Allah" to refer to God, officials said Sunday. Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar said a previous Feb. 16 decree that allowed Christian publications to use the word as long as they specified the material was not for Muslims was a mistake, the national Bernama news agency reported. The about-turn came after Islamic groups slammed the government and warned that even conditional use of the word by Christians would anger Muslims, who make up the country's majority.

Again, don't you dare anger the people of "a religion of peace."

Panic among the fewer news workers

The news reporters who were assigned to report that 4.8% unemployment under President Bush was as bad as the Great Depression are massively endangered. No one is paying for their product. Who is sorry for them? They were lazy during the 2008 campaign, just regurgitating Obama's press releases. They didn't earn their keep. They have continue to lie about the economy. President Jimmy Carter - who can respect a president who calls himself Jimmy? - brought 7.0% unemployment and the prime interest rate reached 21%. Carter's misery index was 20.5 = 13.5% inflation and 7.0% unemployment. Do you want a 12% mortgage? How about 13%? President Reagan inherited an economy in worse shape than what Obama receives. - Richard Rahn at Cato Institute www.dcexaminer.com >> Politics:

A recession is like the Spanish flu — the weakest members of the population are always the first to go. And among American industries, there were few weaker at the onset of the current panic than the news business. It’s no wonder then that the reporters still clinging to jobs have been quick to declare catastrophe and credulous about proposals for a titanic reordering of the American economic model. When one’s inbox is peppered with e-mails announcing colleagues’ layoffs and buyouts, reporting on a political or economic story is more than just hammering out some copy. It’s an effort for survival. “This was the year that pretense and pride fell by the wayside and the president reported to the nation that things have skidded wildly off course,” wrote The New York Times’ Peter Baker in a piece about President Barack Obama’s address to Congress last week. Baker, like many reporters, put Obama’s jaw-dropping proposals in the context of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Depression, not the malaise of the 1970s or any of the 17 other economic downturns since American independence. Over at The Associated Press, which officially jumped the shark in June with a story headlined “Everything is seemingly spinning out of control,” Ron Fournier followed suit. “[Obama] sounded like Roosevelt, who, after closing banks briefly in the first days of his presidency, stoked the embers of American optimism. ... Like Roosevelt, Obama asked Americans to unite against pessimism.” While many journalists are optimistic about Obama’s strategy, those reporting on the economy and government seem pessimistic to the point of panic.

If their words had value they wouldn't make one paragraph per sentence.

Senate Republicans say “Yes we can!” balance budget without tax hikes

"Yes, we can" balance Washington's budget without tax increases. Senate Republicans say “Yes we can!” balance budget without tax hikes - The Politics Blog - The Olympian - Olympia, Washington: Looks like Republicans really are worried that majority Democrats might try to raise taxes to help cover the budget shortfall of some $8 billion. But they’re still smiling about it. They just had large campaign-style buttons made up with an Obama-esque color scheme — mainly blue with white letters and a swash of red. "Yes we can!" the buttons say, with an asterisk followed by the words, "balance the budget without raising taxes." Senate GOP caucus spokeswoman Rebecca Japhet was handing out the buttons early this afternoon, and members should start popping up with them on lapels. Click here to see the button and a 17-page explanation from Republican Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield and his colleagues about how the budget-balancing feat can be accomplished. The GOP contends state general-fund revenues are still going to be up in the next biennium by about $600 million, despite last week’s revenue forecast that carved $1.6 billion in expected tax receipts for that two-year period alone. It doesn't mention that Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget assumed a $3 billion increase in caseloads for Medicaid, K-12 schools, prisons and other programs. The GOP explainer says gaps can be made up by taking several steps — including adding in savings from a recent belt-tightening measure, known as House Bill 1694 (some estimates are that it reduces state outlays by some $700 million over the next 2 ½ years). The GOP also says to add roughly $3 billion in federal stimulus funds and $700 million from the state’s rainy day fund, making the overall shortfall figure more manageable. And it suggests a pull-back on government expansion of recent years such as moving toward all-day state-funded kindergarten and covering all kids with health insurance; the Republicans also suggest reforms, or cuts, to subsidized health insurance for the working poor, cash grants and health coverage for unemployable adults; bilingual education; anti-smoking programs, learning improvement days and K-12 health-benefit purchasing. All told the GOP says a $1.1 billion cut in spending by June and another $1.5 billion cut for the following two-year cycle will do the trick. ... The Republicans' plans is here (pdf). Via Richard Davis at WashingtonACE.

Senator KKK Byrd: Obama in power grab

The senator from the KKK has caught on. Former Klan leader Robert Byrd says Obama has gone way too far. John Bresnahan - POLITICO.com: Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest-serving Democratic senator, is criticizing President Obama’s appointment of White House “czars” to oversee federal policy, saying these executive positions amount to a power grab by the executive branch. In a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Byrd complained about Obama’s decision to create White House offices on health reform, urban affairs policy, and energy and climate change. Byrd said such positions “can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances.

Obama Less Popular Than Bush After First Month in Office

NewsBusters.org: As Obama-loving media gush and swoon while they report the new President's popularity, an inconvenient truth emerged Tuesday that seems destined to get ignored: after one month in office, George W. Bush was more popular than the current White House occupant. Impossible, you say? Well, before Obama stepped in front of Congress this evening, Gallup published the following:

For the first time since Gallup began tracking Barack Obama's presidential job approval rating on Jan. 21, fewer than 60% of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president. In Feb. 21-23 polling, 59% of Americans give Obama a positive review, while 25% say they disapprove, and 16% have no opinion.

Almost exactly eight years ago, then newly-elected President Bush's numbers were 62 percent approving his performance, 21 percent disapproving, and 17 percent having no opinion (scroll about 3/4 down this Polling Report link).

Ex-Gov. Locke is not Mr. Clean

President Obama needs a Commerce Secretary nominee who is so clean that he will sail through the vetting process. So Gary Locke... Gary Locke? I sometimes ride my bicycle past the Buddhist temple in Redmond where he raised illegal campaign contributions. Oh, is alleged to have. Michelle Malkin has a better memory than I because she was here on the Seattle Times' editorial board and dug in Locke's dirt and published columns on his shady practices. Michelle Malkin :

Now, former Democrat Gov. Gary Locke — a lawyer for international firm Davis, Wright, and Tremaine who specializes in China — is rumored to be the next nominee for the post. The MSM is pulling for him. WaPo writes: “Locke is regarded as a safe choice by senior officials in the Obama administration given his long history in public life, his strait-laced reputation and his bipartisan governing credentials.” Wishful thinking? Willful cluelessness? Probably a bit of both. I covered Gary Locke when I worked at the Seattle Times. I dealt with his campaign and gubernatorial staffs. “Strait-laced” is not the adjective I’d use for my dealings with him and his people. In response to my columns pressing Locke on his close ties to campaign finance crook John Huang, the governor’s office first stonewalled. His standard Democrat smokescreen? Play the race card and play the victim.

She quotes her columns investigating his shady practices at length. For example in the Seattle Times in 1999:

When I asked what the governor had to say about Huang’s guilty plea, Locke’s spokesman, Keith Love, responded tersely: “He has no comment and no interest.” This is a most peculiar stonewall of silence. Though Huang and his wife gave token personal donations to Locke totaling a mere $1,000, Huang is no casual acquaintance of Locke or his out-of-state fund-raising staff. As reported here previously, Huang helped organize May 1996 galas involving Locke at the Mayflower Hotel and Sheraton Carlton in Washington, D.C.; three fund-raisers at restaurants in Los Angeles, and an extravaganza at the Universal City, Calif., Hilton in October 1996 that raised upwards of $30,000.

And the Seattle Times in 1998

Gov. Gary Locke’s 1996 campaign treasure chest is like a box of chocolates left out in the sun: You never know what kind of sticky mess you’re gonna get. News broke over the weekend that the Internal Revenue Service wants to examine Locke’s donor list. That’s in addition to a fresh congressional inquiry and three separate probes by the state Public Disclosure Commission (two prompted by this column). Locke’s loyalists imply that scrutiny of his contributors is racist. The claim is as desperate as it is deceitful...

I sure wish she was still here. Her "replacement" was only a shadow. Cross-posted at Sound Politics.

Watch the Washington budget

Where is the money spent? Fiscal.WA.gov is a new site that has various breakouts of spending. What taxes are we paying? This is much more difficult. Evergreen Freedom Foundation is working on a visibility site. They will put in on line on April 15 - TaxSleuth.com. Put taxes and spending togeter -- Christine Gregoire* has put us in a mess. When times were good she spent more than we had. But now she says it's not her fault. Fool. She is asking us where to cut spending. And she give us the opportunity to ask for tax increases. Christine's How Would You Balance the Budget? The Legislature's session is 105 days long. See 105 Days. * We stopped calling female governors "Governor" when Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska was nominated last August.

Who is fiscally responsible?

I was asked about the Libertarian Party claim that Republicans are as bad on "fiscal responsibility" as Democrats. All - 95% - of us rank-and-file Republicans fought the increasing spending at every point, both under President Clinton and President Bush. It was a major disappointment with President Bush, that he cared little about responsible spending; more on him later. And we couldn't believe that Republicans in Congress like Jerry Lewis and Ted Stevens thought we could keep control of Congress by buying off every congressperson's pet project. Part of this is the disease that infects every elected politician: "Now that I have the power I can help project A and city B and put more money on C and hire my friends' sons and daughters so they will hire mine." It starts with good intentions in most cases, but it tempts every elected official and infects most of them. When making this comparison should you compare who was president or who controlled Congress? All spending must originate in the House of Representatives, then goes to the Senate, then to the president. So maybe Congress should get the credit/blame. Should President Clinton get credit for what the Republicans forced on him in 1995? Clinton so overreached that after 2 years the Republicans took Congress. In 1994 the Republicans nationalized the election by running on the Contract with America. The Contract said that if you elect Republicans we will bring the following proposals for a vote within 100 days. The list included 8 items about running Congress that they enacted on the first day and the 10 "within 100 days" items. The first was "1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)" Clinton, our Senator Patty Murray and all the Dems fought it. They knew it was popular, so they didn't attack it head-on. But they said "you won't like the cuts necessary" and "it can't be done." As they were losing it was fun to watch. Rush put together sound clips of Clinton "a balanced budget in 8 years" "5 years is too short" "in 7 years"... And the budget Clinton proposed at the same time - in January, 1995 - projected $200 billion deficits for its entire horizon - 10 years, I think. So Newt and the Republicans passed the act for the balanced budget and line-item veto. The line-item veto didn't hold up constitutionally (our governor has this). But the Republican Congress passed a balanced budget - I think it was two years later - and for the duration of Clinton's term. When Bush took over a recession had just started which is the right time to do some deficit spending. But he didn't ask for discipline when the economy got cooking again in 2003 or 04. Does Clinton get credit for what he fought against? Or do the Republicans who made it happen? In the measure the LIbertarians use here Clinton gets credit. The LIbertarian Party never elects anyone to an office higher than dog catcher, except one. The only Libertarian in state or national elected office got there by running as a Republican - Congressman Ron Paul. Here in Washington in 2000 they were proud that they "made the difference" in the Senate race. The Libertarian candidate got more than the gap. But libertarians agree with Republicans on much more than with the Dems and they way they vote Gorton would have stayed in. But they took out Senator Slade Gorton, the Republican, and gave us Sen. Maria Cantwell. So they "scored an own goal," they scored for their opponent. That's typical in the history of the Libertarian Party - the history they are proud of. I welcome libertarians to our political process and arena of ideas. Their research done by Cato Institute and the ideas published in Reason Magazine are worthy of the time of any conservative, including me.

Why Obama's Stimulus Plan Is Disappointing

Robert Samuelson is smart, thorough and nonpartisan. If he says Obama's stimulus fails by Obama's own measures everyone should listen. Newsweek Voices - Robert J. Samuelson | Newsweek.com: Obama's package is too focused on political goals and projects. The effect is to weaken the program's basic purpose--to jolt the economy. Judged by his own standards, President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus program, which he signed into law last week, is deeply disappointing. For weeks, Obama has described the economy in grim terms. "This is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill recession," he said at his Feb. 9 press conference. It's "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression." Given these dire warnings, you'd expect the stimulus package to focus exclusively on reviving the economy. It doesn't, and for that, Obama bears much of the blame. The case for a huge stimulus, which I support, is that it's insurance against the possibility of a devastating downward economic spiral. Spending and confidence are tumbling worldwide. In the fourth quarter of 2008, the U.S. economy contracted at a nearly 4 percent annual rate. In Japan, the economy fell at a nearly 13 percent rate; in Europe, the rate was about 6 percent. These are gruesome declines. If the economic outlook is as bleak as Obama says (and it may be), there's no reason to dilute the upfront power of the stimulus. But that's what Obama's done. His political choices compromise the program's economic effectiveness. Let's start with the numbers. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that about $200 billion will be spent in 2011 or later—well beyond when it will do the most good. For starters, there's $8 billion for high-speed rail. "Everyone is saying this is [for] high-speed rail between Los Angeles and Las Vegas—I don't know," says Ray Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association. Whatever project or projects are chosen, the decision process, design and construction will occupy many years. It's not quick stimulus. Then there's $20.8 billion for improved health-information technology—more electronic records and the like. Probably most people regard this as desirable, but here, too, changes occur slowly. The CBO expects only 3 percent of the money ($595 million) to be spent in fiscal 2009 and 2010. The peak year of projected spending is 2014 at $14.2 billion. Or consider the $5.8 billion in outlays for water-treatment plants. The CBO reckons that only 27 percent will be spent in 2009 and 2010. Big projects take time. The reason they're included in the stimulus is that Obama and Democratic congressional leaders decided to use the legislation as a way of advancing many political priorities instead of just spurring the economy. At his press conference, Obama argued (inaccurately) that the two goals don't conflict. Consider, he lectured, the retrofitting of federal buildings to make them more energy-efficient. "We're creating jobs immediately," he said. Yes—but not many...

Rick Santelli - Chicago Tea Party

We are being punished for living within our means. Those who did not are rewarded. Rick Santelli says let's be heard. Video - CNBC.com: CNBC's Rick Santelli and the traders on the floor of the CBOE express outrage over the notion they may have to pay their neighbor's mortgage, particularly if they bought far more house than they could actually afford, with Jason Roney, Sharmac Capital.

Peanut allergy cured in trial

Schools can get out of their strangling fear for the very few children allergic to peanuts. Get them the cure! Health News, Health & Wellbeing - The Independent: Allergy to peanuts may be curable following positive results from the world's first successful desensitisation programme for peanut allergy, scientists say today. Children who risked suffering anaphylactic shock, a potentially fatal reaction, if they encountered a single peanut have been protected so that they are able to eat without fear. The finding will bring hope to thousands of families whose lives have been blighted by the allergy, one of the fastest growing in Britain. It is estimated one in 50 young people are affected by peanut allergy and cases have more than doubled in four years. The desensitisation programme at Addenbrooke's Hospital involved 22 children aged seven to 17, who were given tiny 5mg starting doses of peanut flour. Gradually over six months the daily dose was built up to 800mgs a day, equivalent to five peanuts. Twelve children have reached the highest dose level and can tolerate twice as much, equivalent to 10 peanuts, without suffering side effects. For the first time their families know they can lead a normal life and be safe.

India to launch cow urine as soft drink

India wants to rid itself of foreign influences. Times (UK) Online : Does your Pepsi lack pep? Is your Coke not the real thing? India's Hindu nationalist movement apparently has the answer: a new soft drink made from cow urine. The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it. Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called "gau jal", or "cow water" – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched "very soon, maybe by the end of this year". "Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too," he told The Times from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges. "Its USP will be that it's going to be very healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins."

Mugabe's birthday present: Starvation for the people of Zimbabwe

Give the tyrant what he wants. Close the farms that are producing food. Starve the people of Zimbabwe in "honor" of Mugabe. Smh.com.au:

A SECRET plan has been hatched by President Robert Mugabe's most loyal supporters to evict the last of Zimbabwe's white farmers from their land before his 85th birthday. He is already planning to celebrate the occasion with vast quantities of champagne and caviar, even though half his country faces starvation. But just in case the Bollinger does not provide enough fizz, his acolytes are preparing an extra surprise: a fresh onslaught against Zimbabwe's last white farmers. Police, prosecutors and magistrates loyal to Mr Mugabe are understood to be co-ordinating mass summonses against the few hundred remaining white owners in an effort to bring them to court and serve eviction notices. The deadline for the action is next Saturday, the day before Mr Mugabe's birthday and a week before his planned official birthday bash, which has already provoked criticism for its extravagance. ... While no official reason has been given for the eviction campaign, insiders say it is timed to hand Mr Mugabe a potent propaganda gift for his birthday celebrations, which normally feature grandstanding anti-colonial speeches. Last Tuesday, in contravention of justice laws, groups of law enforcement officials held a secret eviction strategy meeting in Mutare, 260 kilometres east of the capital, Harare.

The vacated farms go mostly to Mugabe's buddies for weekend retreats and are otherwise idle. Some go to veterans of his war against his own people. But how many of them know how to manage a productive farm?

Reopening welfare without strings was snuck past us

We put an end to welfare - at least the largest program of it - in 1996. President Clinton signed it - after vetoing it twice. Kausfiles : The Welfare Issue is Alive, Alive!: Now that the bill has safely passed, even the liberal MSM may feel the obligation to mention them in public. Maybe even in actual print. Reporters have to cover something. More on pork? Welfare seems fresher. 5) In any case, the rump Congressional GOP and talk radio conservatives can force their hand. Why should opponents of the welfare-expanding provisions stop harping on them? Has Obama been asked about his welfare un-reform at a press conference yet? I don't think so. He will have more press conferences. It won't be an easy question to answer. (Reporters could also ask his HHS secretary ... Oh wait. Never mind.) Welfare is a liberal sore spot that, if Republicans play it right, could become a bleeding open wound for the administration. Voters probably thought they'd settled the dole-vs.-work issue back in 1996. Obama will be fulfilling the crude GOP stereotype of his party if he even waffles on reopening it.

A scary ad

They know where I live. Yes. That is our neighborhood. The arrow isn't pointing to our house, but still. I know, MapQuest, Google Maps and all have been able to produce the map for any address for 10 years now and an aerial photo for almost as long. Oh... I had better check what Google Street Level is showing.! But to see it in a photo on the outside of a mailing to me. Makes me think. Why did Blogger rotate it? Investigating.

The Boron Moron confesses

The "boron moron," Kenneth Change, confesses. Conan O'Brien of all people picked it up. He did a first-class job with large color graphics. TierneyLab Blog - NYTimes.com:

So far in 2009, 100 percent of the corrections generated by my articles have showed up on late-night television. (Okay, I’m one-for-one, but I can aim for Letterman or Colbert next.) In last week’s Science Times, I wrote about a new superhard form of boron. The researcher, Artem Oganov of Stony Brook University, told me that boron, #5 on the periodic table, is a confounding sort of element where even the slightest impurities can change its structure. Of the 16 different forms that have been reported, only three were likely to be true crystal structures of pure boron, he said. Unfortunately, he wasn’t counting his own discovery, the superhard boron, and I goofed it up.

Politicizing the Census caused Senator Gregg to quit

Republican Senator Judd Gregg was appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Obama. But the leftists complained that he would be in charge of the 2010 census. I thought the census was just getting the count correct. But there certainly is more to it, because Obama yielded and put it directly under the White House and out of Commerce's control. What would you do if you were told you weren't trusted to do your job - before you even started. So Judd did the honorable thing and quit. WSJ.com: (I think this doesn't require a subscription. I have one and it's worth it.)

The Census Bureau, which is part of Commerce, is one of the most rigorously nonpartisan operations in government and for years has fought off pressure from left-wing minority factions to adjust its count upward on their behalf. Successions of bureau directors have resisted this pressure. The Obama White House, however, indicated that it might be willing to involve itself more directly in the Census Bureau, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claiming "historical precedent" for a closer association. This put Mr. Gregg in an impossible situation. It is bad enough that one of the Senate's famous straight arrows had his integrity questioned. Equally impossible, the White House's expressed willingness to bring the Census director under the informal sway of, say, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel effectively undermined the authority Mr. Gregg would have needed to run his department.

Rick Moran at PajamasMedia says Judd didn't like what he saw on the inside:

For commerce secretary nominee Judd Gregg, it was the overwhelming nature of the stimulus bill that apparently opened his eyes to the fundamental incompatibility inherent in a relationship between a moderately conservative Republican and a president who is proposing the largest increase in federal spending ever. And lurking in the background was the issue of the White House power grab of the census — a looming battle royale that will see Republicans fighting tooth and nail to prevent the Obama White House from trying to “game” the census and increase representation for Democrats on the Hill.

And there is no sign Senator Judd cheated on his income taxes like Treasury Secretary Geithner. Cross posted at Sound Politics.

Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday

Honoring great President Abraham Lincoln. One of President Lincoln's finest speeches was given at Cooper Institute, now Cooper Union, a university, in 1859. He took months to research the question of the intent of the writers and signers of the US Constitution with regards to slavery. In this portion at the beginning he goes through historical evidence that most of the 39 signers thought the US could prevent slavery in the Northwest territories. He is taking on Steven Douglas and the Democrats. Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union Address: "What was the understanding those fathers had of the question mentioned?" What is the frame of government under which we live? The answer must be: "The Constitution of the United States." That Constitution consists of the original, framed in 1787, (and under which the present government first went into operation,) and twelve subsequently framed amendments, the first ten of which were framed in 1789. Who were our fathers that framed the Constitution? I suppose the "thirty-nine" who signed the original instrument may be fairly called our fathers who framed that part of the present Government. It is almost exactly true to say they framed it, and it is altogether true to say they fairly represented the opinion and sentiment of the whole nation at that time. Their names, being familiar to nearly all, and accessible to quite all, need not now be repeated. I take these "thirty-nine," for the present, as being "our fathers who framed the Government under which we live." What is the question which, according to the text, those fathers understood "just as well, and even better than we do now?" It is this: Does the proper division of local from federal authority, or anything in the Constitution, forbid our Federal Government to control as to slavery in our Federal Territories? Upon this, Senator Douglas holds the affirmative, and Republicans the negative. This affirmation and denial form an issue; and this issue - this question - is precisely what the text declares our fathers understood "better than we." Let us now inquire whether the "thirty-nine," or any of them, ever acted upon this question; and if they did, how they acted upon it - how they expressed that better understanding?

Limit CEO pay to ARod's level

Companies are receiving huge amounts of money from the US government - from us - for "bailout." In the interest of responsible use of taxpayers' money the politicians are starting the process of limited the pay of the CEOs. But for borderline socialists like Barney Frank it's not enough to limit the pay of those in companies receiving bailout money. They want to limit the pay of ALL CEOs. And, next, all employees of evil capitalists companies. The evil ones are the one that don't shower money on Barney Frank. Let's Limit the CEOs to the pay of the highest-paid baseball player. Why should the leader of a company of 120,000 people be paid less than Alex Rodriguez? He requires $20 million per year to live on (and buy steroids) and gets 4 months off every year.

Don't panic and cause damage, Senator Patty

A letter I sent via email this morning: Senator Murray, Slow down and do it right. Don't be scared into hasty action by the prophets of doom. [I meant The Prophet of Doom himself, but toned it down.] Distinguished economist Robert Barro of Harvard says Nancy Pelosi's and the Senate's bills are monumentally bad. They won't help, but they will hurt our economy.

This is probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s. I don't know what to say. I mean it's wasting a tremendous amount of money. It has some simplistic theory that I don't think will work, so I don't think the expenditure stuff is going to have the intended effect. I don't think it will expand the economy. And the tax cutting isn't really geared toward incentives. It's not really geared to lowering tax rates; it's more along the lines of throwing money at people. On both sides I think it's garbage.

Conor Clarke at The Atlantic - The interview has a lot more gems - I have to keep it short for the honorable senator. Read it. Tax cuts take effect quickly. And permanent tax cuts allow long-term planning and hiring by businesses that are afraid to hire now. They change the incentives - as Prof. Barro says is needed. Truly, Ron Hebron

Iran sets the preconditions for talks with Obama

Obama said he would talk to Iran without preconditions. Then he tried to explain it away with another term for the necessary preliminary talks. But it's two-way. I can't say his spoke foolishly, but... what can I say? American Thinker Blog: Iran to Obama: You are not groveling enough:

So far, President Obama's outreach plan to talk with the Iranians has hit all sorts of snags. The Iranians themselves have been most uncooperative since they keep changing the "conditions" on when they'll deign to talk to us. One thing is certain; If Obama is going to have anyone sit down with the Iranians, we are going to have to grovel before the mighty Persians and apologize for all the mean things we've supposedly done to them over the years:

And it is Iran's "moderate" who is nailing us. Read it.

How the Czechs are fighting the marshmallow EU tyrant

Our pet peeve - the liberal we like to talk to and listen to. He hates our faith and fights us on it. But read Hitchens and see why we listen to him when he talks sense, which is most of the time PETER HITCHENS: via Mail Online: Compare the pasts of the two men, especially in the fateful year of 1968, the beginning of the modern era. In that year, Klaus was experiencing the towering hope of the Prague Spring - a brief dash for freedom - and the miserable disappointment and fear that followed its merciless repression by genuine, iron-bound killer tyrants. Cohn-Bendit was a rather mature student, leading the playtime revolutionaries of Paris in calls for easier access to the girls' dormitories. These 'revolutionaries' never risked anything serious in their lives or had a clue about what it meant to live in a secret police state, for all their cries of 'repression'. Cohn-Bendit, once called 'Danny the Red', has remained in the forefront of radical chic. He is now as Green as he used to be Red, an intolerant zealot of the man-made climate-change lobby, a supporter of liberal wars and a keen Europhile. Flanked by an Irish Euro-MP (embarrassed by his countrymen's rejection of Lisbon), Cohn-Bendit spoke to Klaus as if the President of the Czech Republic were a disobedient subordinate. He also rudely thrust an EU flag across the President's desk. But this bumptious pipsqueak got more than he bargained for. Having first lectured the President on how he was wrong about global warming (Klaus is a courageous sceptic about this, too) he started telling him what his presidential duties were, that he would have to sign the Lisbon Treaty if the Czech Parliament approved it (which is incorrect). Then, amazingly, he told the Head of State: 'I don't care about your opinions on it [the Treaty].' Czechs are sensitive about being ordered around by politicians from other countries. They remember how Hitler screamed so wildly at poor President Emil Hacha in 1939 that the aged professor collapsed and had to be revived by injections. They remember Josef Stalin telling them they couldn't have American Marshall Aid, and Leonid Brezhnev telling them to strangle the Prague Spring. Klaus struck back hard. 'This is incredible,' he retorted. He directly compared Cohn-Bendit's dictatorial lecture to the past behaviour of the Kremlin. 'I did not think anything like this was possible. I have not experienced anything like this for the past 19 years [since the Soviets left]. I thought it was a matter of the past, that we live in a democracy.' Then he added these inflammatory words, which the EU would much rather nobody had uttered: 'But it is post-democracy, really, that rules the EU.' And post-democracy is not democracy - Czechs are especially good at spotting the difference between the real thing and counterfeits, having been told under communism that they lived in a 'democracy' when they most certainly didn't.

Chocolate bars to be made smaller in Government anti-obesity drive

Update: This is about the UK - Great Britain, not the US. I removed a reference to US politics. - RH This is not Scrappleface. You aren't strong enough so they will treat you like a child and not allow what you want to buy to be sold. Daily Mail (UK) Online:

The Government is set to order manufacturers to shrink the size of chocolate bars and fizzy drinks. Health Secretary Alan Johnson will tell firms such as Mars, Coca-Cola, Britvic and Nestlé that smaller versions of their products should be available in all garages and corner shops to help stop people piling on weight. Speaking to the Business4Life coalition of companies, Mr Johnson will ask them to create healthy new snacks that will appeal to children and cut down portion sizes. He will also say small packs of dried fruit, nuts and fresh fruit should be widely available at places where people buy on impulse and warn that sugar levels must be cut in all products.

Senate Republicans offer a real stimulus package

Despite what our local pundits say the Republicans in Congress are offering reasonable alternatives to Nancy Pelosi's Pork-zilla. U.S. Senate Republicans push alternative stimulus plans "The American people are beginning to figure out what this package is, that it's not a stimulus package -- it's a spending package," said Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election. Senators worked throughout the day to find a bipartisan deal. McCain and four other Republicans unveiled their ideas priced at $445 billion, half the cost of Democratic version which started the day at $885 billion. It centred on cutting in half a 6.2 percent payroll tax on employees, cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent and lowering the bottom two income tax brackets to 10 percent and 5 percent, all for one year. McCain and Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John Thune of South Dakota, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mel Martinez of Florida also proposed $11 billion to help prevent home foreclosures and $65 billion in state grants to build and repair bridges and roads. Via Time.

UN backtracks on claim that Israel targeted school

It took a while - a month. Israel didn't hit the UN school. Haretz The United Nations has reversed its stance on one of the most contentious and bloody incidents of the recent Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza, saying that an IDF mortar strike that killed 43 people on January 6 did not hit one of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency schools after all. It seems that the UN has been under pressure to put the record straight after doubts arose that the school had actually been targeted. Maxwell Gaylord, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Jerusalem, said Monday that the IDF mortar shells fell in the street near the compound, and not on the compound itself. Gaylord said that the UN "would like to clarify that the shelling and all of the fatalities took place outside and not inside the school."

Avoiding a lost decade like Japan

We can see what to avoid as we try to stimulate our economy. Well, we want to, but Nancy Pelosi just wants to pay off her big Democratic supporters with pork and more pork. But in trying to stimulate it is too easy to get it wrong. Japan did in a big way. It was so bad that the 1990s is called Japan's "lost decade." Gerald Seib - Avoiding Japan's Stimulus Miscues - WSJ.com:

Here's the critique in a nutshell: Japan in the early 1990s, like the U.S. today, saw a real-estate bubble burst, spawning a banking and credit crisis that drove the whole economy down, hard. The Japanese then tried stimulating the economy with giant doses of government spending, which didn't pep things up -- but did bring on deficits that required tax increases later, dragging out Japan's problems for years. ... Rep. Ryan argues that the Japanese, arriving at the crossroads the U.S. sees today, "went into heavy deficit spending on infrastructure and they continued to languish....They cranked up their debt through Keynesian spending, and it didn't work." His fear is that the U.S., by spending heavily on stimulus now, will, like the Japanese, make economically chilling tax increases inevitable down the line to balance the books. "I worry we could be inviting a lost decade in America with wrong-headed fiscal policy," he says. A new study by Republicans on the House Budget Committee, where Rep. Ryan is the top GOP member, argues that Japan's policy mistakes led to "a protracted period of stagnation."

Japan's big spending "stimulus" was too slow to stimulate and having to pay for it lengthened the torpor. The slow speed war partly the kind of projects they tried. Big construction has a long lead time, so its fiscal stimulus comes 2 to 5 years later. The parallel is not perfect. Japan raised taxes. That's not likely to happen. Although the Democrats always have a reason to raise taxes. And Japan had a tight money policy; we are doing the opposite. And we have to make sure we avoid the "bow wave" effect that we see in Washington every biennium. The Legislature has some extra money, so they start a new program in the second of the two years and it doesn't cost that much for the first year. But it is permanent and inevitably grows. So the "cheap" new program soon becomes a drag. Japan was successful on this. We need to be careful. So we have to stop the pork projects and get the speedy ones. Tax cuts are fast! Broad tax cuts will have a huge effect. Let's be careful and fast!

A (cheap) pen for us lefties

Being left handed I have fought smearing of my writing since age 5, whether pencil or pen. Indeed, I seldom use pencil because it always smears. But a pen with quick-drying, permanent ink fills the bill. First, it dries quickly enough, because the main problem is smearing what you wrote seconds ago. Second, it stays dry. My third requirement is price. I have enough frights with misplacing my cell phone and iPod. I don't want to be frantically searching for my $40 pen. So they must cost less than $3 apiece. I have been on this quest for over 20 years. During the 1980s one of the big Japanese manufacturers had a line of pigment pens that filled the bill. But they disappeared without a replacement. At least not a cheap enough one. Uni-Ball has come through. I discovered the Uni-Ball Jetstream about a year ago. Here is the Jetstream Stick Roller ball pen, which sells for $2.39 online and a similar price at RiteAid stores here. It also comes in a click version.

Taxes for you, but not for Obama's Health Czar Tom Daschle

Former Senator Tom Daschle forgot to pay income tax on $225,000 in services received in the form of a personal car and driver. Obama's chosen health-care czar is above paying taxes. Taxes for you, but not for him. In the Congress and Senate he always voted for tax increases and against tax cuts. And he was hard on tax cheats. CNS News.

“Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter,” Daschle said in 1998, according to the Congressional Record.

But for him it's different. Driving Tom Daschle - WSJ.com:

As a legal tax matter, this isn't even a close call. Mr. Daschle says he used the car service about 80% for personal use, and 20% for business. But his spokeswoman says it only dawned on the Senator last June that this might be taxable income. Mr. Daschle's excuse? According to a Journal report Friday, "he told committee staff he had grown used to having a car and driver as majority leader and did not think to report the perk on his taxes, according to staff members." How's that for a Leona Helmsley moment: Doesn't everyone have a car and chauffeur, dear?

New Treasury Secetary Geithner didn't forget to pay. Every year he applied to his employer the IMF for pay to offset the Social Security taxes he had to pay. Each year he signed that he knew it was up to him to pay. He didn't forget. He cheated. And when audited he paid for the years audited - 2003 and 04, I think - but he didn't go back to pay 2001, etc. Because, again, he hadn't forgotten. He was cheating.

The Mac - 25 years of leadership

The Mac was introduced at the Super Bowl in 1984. I was a fan from the first day, since I am a very graphic person. I had one on my desk at work in 1986 and bought an SE-30 for home use in 1989 and have owned one or more ever since. Seattle Times Newspaper:

The Apple Macintosh, born at the hands of renegade engineers in the early 1980s, changed the relationship between human and keyboard. The Mac, which turned 25 last week, has consistently been an industry pioneer of new technology, including the graphical user interface, speech, Wi-Fi and video. "Apple redefined the computer beyond crunching ones and zeros. It made a technology lifestyle a reality," said Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. More than two decades after Mac engineers toiled away in buildings flying pirate flags under the direction of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the Macintosh now sits at the center of Apple's digital universe. The company's ability to match hardware with software, such as its popular iLife photo and video programs, is unparalleled in the industry.

We show tolerance to 'gays' and get tyranny in return

The "gays" have made even very liberal Peter Hitchens turn against them. They started by asking for tolerance, then demanding it. Now they insist on acceptance. Full acceptance, no negative words. PETER HITCHENS - Daily Mail - UK If I never again had to read or write a word about homosexuals, I would be very happy. I really don't want to know what other people do in their bedrooms. But these days they really, really want us all to know. And, more important, they insist that we approve. No longer are we allowed to keep our thoughts to ourselves, while being polite and kind. We are forced to say that we think homosexuality is a good thing, that homosexual couples are equal in all ways to heterosexual married couples. Most emphatically, we are compelled to agree that homosexual couples are just as good at bringing up children as the children's own grandparents. Better, in fact. Many people who believe nothing of the kind now know that their careers in politics, the media, the Armed Services, the police or schools will be ruined if they ever let their true opinions show. I am sure that many of them regularly lie about their views, to avoid such trouble. We cringe to the new Thought Police, like the subjects of some insane, sex-obsessed Stalinist state, compelled to wave our little rainbow flags as the 'Gay Pride' parade passes by. And that's another thing. We can't even call homosexuals 'homosexuals' any more. This neutral word is not considered enthusiastic enough. We have to say 'gay'. Which is exactly why I don't, apart from in inverted commas. You think I exaggerate the power and fury of these forces? The totalitarian rage on this subject is quite astonishing. I have had several brushes with it, and been called rude names by its militants. Well, I can live with that. It's my job. But what about a powerless pair of grandparents in Edinburgh, their grandchildren's lives shipwrecked by the multiple horrors of our 'liberated' society? First, their daughter ends up as a drug abuser, like so many others in a country which permits the endless promotion of drug use by rock stars and refuses to punish the possession of narcotics, the only measure that would work. Then, when they seek to look after her children, they are first insultingly informed that they are too old, and that their minor illnesses disqualify them from the task. Heaven help any employer who dared 'discriminate' in this fashion. But the new Thought Police are oddly exempt from their own rules. Next, the grandparents are informed that the children are to be put into the care of a homosexual couple. And - this is the crucial moment - they are warned in the most terrifying terms that if they object to this arrangement they will never see their grandchildren again. Leave aside the rest of it. It is this demand, that they mouth approval of the new regime like the defendants at some show trial, which is the bit that ought to make your flesh creep. This is the action of a tyranny in operation, especially the use of children to blackmail their parents and grandparents. People who can do this can do anything. Isn't it amazing to reflect that this campaign began in the name of tolerance?