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A good example of parent's point is Wells Fargo. They noticed over a year and a half ago that subprime was getting too risky so in Feb 2007 they closed parts of their subprime lending unit and tightened up lending standards and in July 2007 they announced they were closing their subprime lending unit completely.

They made fewer risky loans than other large banks and some people have said they didn't want or need the bailout money (I can't remember the source for that).

Many other banks did the same. Many small banks did just fine as well, not taking on undue risk. The ones that did took a huge gamble and now they're pointing the finger at the government to try to cover up for their own greed.

ick.

The only real documented fraud going on now is ACORN.

Incorrect. First of all we are talking about is registration fraud, which should be distinguished from vote fraud. When Mickey Mouse shows up to vote then it is vote fraud. Until then the only one getting screwed is ACORN who payed for someone to collect those garbage registrations.

Secondly, ACORN is not the only documented registration fraud going on.

Here's a better example of the insane inconsistency of the immigration goons.

Basically, ICE(immigration/customs) recently raided an Ohio meat-packing plant for employing a large number of illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, proud immigrants(many of them illegal) march downtown every year in protest of immigration law. L.A. is notorious for being an illegals' stronghold, but does ICE crack down there? Hell no, even though they could make a much better example with thousands upon thousands of arrests.

Sorry, http://www.neis.org/press/NASBIERVII.htm does not exist on our site. If you suspect an error on one of our pages, please send email at: webmaster@neis.org

So your source is a non-existent press release published by an activist organization with no credibility? Well, I'm convinced.

Or not. Your figures are bunk.

As for the incidents you reported, yeah, power generation has a lot of dangers.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4207/is_19950213/ai_n10185056

http://www.topix.com/us/osha/2008/08/snowflake-man-is-killed-in-power-plant-accident

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSWNAS1045

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN0244772420071003

None of those accidents were nuclear, but they all resulted in deaths. When you're dealing with megawatts of power, it's important to remember that a megawatt of generated power can just as easily become a megawatt of destructive force.

There are actually quite a few more accidents at nuclear plants than the ones you listed. What's fascinating, though, is that there are so few deaths or injuries. As with other power generating technology, Nuclear has become better understood and safer over time. Fewer and fewer people are dying from regular power generation, and nobody is dying anymore from nuclear generation. That's despite the fact that 19.4% of US Power is Nuclear. As a resident of Illinois with 11 power generating reactors online, I'm proud to say that we have provided nuclear power to the nation for over 30 years and in a very safe manner. A benefit you are no doubt receiving.

I honestly hope they build more of those suckers in my back yard. Because I sure as hell would rather be breathing the clean air offered by nuclear options rather than the toxic, radioactive crap produced by the coal plants used to provide over 50% of the US's power needs.

Sorry, http://www.neis.org/press/NASBIERVII.htm does not exist on our site. If you suspect an error on one of our pages, please send email at: webmaster@neis.org

So your source is a non-existent press release published by an activist organization with no credibility? Well, I'm convinced.

Or not. Your figures are bunk.

As for the incidents you reported, yeah, power generation has a lot of dangers.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4207/is_19950213/ai_n10185056

http://www.topix.com/us/osha/2008/08/snowflake-man-is-killed-in-power-plant-accident

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSWNAS1045

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN0244772420071003

None of those accidents were nuclear, but they all resulted in deaths. When you're dealing with megawatts of power, it's important to remember that a megawatt of generated power can just as easily become a megawatt of destructive force.

There are actually quite a few more accidents at nuclear plants than the ones you listed. What's fascinating, though, is that there are so few deaths or injuries. As with other power generating technology, Nuclear has become better understood and safer over time. Fewer and fewer people are dying from regular power generation, and nobody is dying anymore from nuclear generation. That's despite the fact that 19.4% of US Power is Nuclear. As a resident of Illinois with 11 power generating reactors online, I'm proud to say that we have provided nuclear power to the nation for over 30 years and in a very safe manner. A benefit you are no doubt receiving.

I honestly hope they build more of those suckers in my back yard. Because I sure as hell would rather be breathing the clean air offered by nuclear options rather than the toxic, radioactive crap produced by the coal plants used to provide over 50% of the US's power needs.

That's like saying you should wear a fireman's suit all the time in case the building you're in catches fire. Packing iron is just as extreme. My interpretation of someone carrying a gun is that they want to live unreasonably and be "prepared" when life catches up with them.

It's more like wearing a seat belt whilst driving. Most buildings must meet fire codes and they generally have fire extinguishers, alarms and escape routes. Life does not come with an alarm system and escape is not always an option when someone wants to take your life.

It is obvious you have not consumed as much Mountain Dew as I have because we have wildly different ideas of extreme.

See above. Your interpretation is a fallacy and you should do further research.

Insurance holds law enforcement accountable by higher premiums to their municipal government (city/town/county etc). If crime gets out of hand, the municipality is faced with a prohibitively high rate increase, and must either shape up or pack up. State and federal governments share in the responsibility and lend their support as needed. If law enforcement becomes ineffective, the economic pressure sorts things out.

So take money from a municipality and give it some insurance company? Sounds great. Where do they pack up to? Does the town becomes a ghost town? Please provide a citation for this program that seems to be working so well for Canada opposed to the gun ridden streets of the United States.

There are services available to victims of crime, more than just financial support, obviously no replacement for not having been victimized in the first place. But more importantly you should know it's your children that are more likely to be victims of gun-related violence. The age at which murderers are most likely to use a gun is 17. Guess what age group they're shooting at. Are you then going to send your kids to school packing? Of course not. You shouldn't carry a gun either FOR THE EXACT SAME REASONS.

Actually, there is a school district which allows concealed handgun permit holders to carry their firearms on school grounds. There is also legislation being introduced next session to allow concealed carry on college campus If my children decide to obtain their permits when they become of age I will support them 100% and I am encouraging my school district to adopt similar policy.

There are distinct differences between myself and my children. I am an adult. I am capable of making rational decisions under duress and I have a much better dispostion than most children. Therefore, the reasons that my children should not carry a firearm to kindergarten do not apply to me. Also, you have to be 21 to obtain your permit in Texas.

I don't buy it. A reasonable reaction for when someone believes their way of life could lead them into mortal danger is to change their way of life to avoid such a situation. By arming yourself, you knowingly accept the risk and in fact add to it by doing so. Your family comes along for the ride, and are more likely to b

Right now is the time to soothe investor fears caused by their recent tapping of a $1 Billion line of credit..

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE49G7L420081017

Analyst forecast lower revenue for Ebay in coming quarters, DOH.

http://tinyurl.com/5e69mt

The classic site was Voice of Jihad, but that's been more or less dead for a while. Back in August, it was apparently taken over by some McCain supporter. Now it's a misconfigured shared-IP site on Dreamhost.

bin Laden's annual video didn't get much press this year. He's released his 2008 video, and it's 87 minutes long, but it's hard to find. Reuters has a summary..

I suspect that the main reason there's pressure to suppress his videos is that he always has something tellingly negative to say about Bush. This year, bin Laden's sound bite is "And in fact, the subject of the Mujahideen has become an inseparable part of the speech of your leader and the effects and signs are not hidden."

It's worth remembering that the bin Laden family supported Bush's first presidential campaign. In 1978, Bush and Osama bin Laden's brother, Salem bin Laden, founded Arbusto Energy, an oil company based in Texas. Sometimes one wonders if the plan was to get an incompetent into the US presidency, then apply enough pressure to make him overreact. A pre 9-11 bio of bin Laden, "The Man who Declared War on America", has quotes from him indicating that he felt America needed to be corrupted before it could be taken down, and outlined what needed to be done to make that happen. All the family had to do was to get someone in office who thought tax cuts would fix anything, get him to overspend on the wrong war, and wait for the US economy to collapse.

We may yet see a "Mission Accomplished" from bin Laden.

Christians have learned all about timers:

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2719258620070428

They're also quite fond of guns:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E7DC1630F934A15757C0A962958260

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-16035695.html

You're right. My apologies for being US-centric.

How about this or this? Would they work for you?

True, but I also heard they were trying to sell it on eBay (citation)

3Mbit/sec would have been pretty good compared to the networks of five years ago, but I thought this was meant to be a competitor to LTE. At those speeds, on what is presumably an almost completely empty network, they're only reaching the sorts of speeds you can already get on the first gen HSDPA networks.

When commercial LTE networks start getting rolled out they're talking about getting speeds of about 100Mbit/sec http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution, they were even getting speeds of about 170 Mbit/s in some trails not too long ago http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSLI66110920080918.

In a financial crisis the prize goes to the last man standing

Microsoft is the first U.S. industrial corporation in ten years to earn a AAA bond rating from S&P and Moody's.

More than 70 percent of S&P ratings for U.S. nonfinancial companies are currently below investment grade and classified as "junk", or speculative-grade bonds. That's up from 32 percent in 1980. Microsoft wins top credit ratings from S&P, Moody's

I know most people here WILL NOT want to hear this - but you had better start understanding this for this countries sake!

Both the House and Senate has SOLD US OUT! They BOTH passed this bailout bill - which IS bad for America! (see Ref: 2) How about all the PORK they "slid" into this thing that they haven't told us about (see Ref: 1)! We can't trust McCain, nor Obama to lead this country - they both have said they will stop the pork - but yet they both voted for a bill with LOTS of pork in it! Heck we can't even trust ANY of our Representatives or Senators! They just bent us over the provebrial barrel. Where are they going to get the money to pay for this thing? China isn't going to lend us anymore money! (See ref:3). Folks this country is BANKRUPT! The sooner we wake up and realize this the sooner we can get this country back together again.

Ref: 1
-------------
Spoonful of pork may help bitter economic pill go down
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/bailout.pork/index.html

"Deduction of state and local sales taxes: The measure allows citizens who do not pay state income taxes to deduct the amount of sales tax they pay over a year from their federal income tax for two additional years. States that benefit include Texas, Nevada, Florida, Washington and Wyoming. The measure would cost taxpayers $3.3 billion."
-- So now they don't pay ANY tax to their state! How will the state survive? Now the states will be dependant on FEDERAL money! Not the way our founding fathers set up this country!

"A refund of excise taxes to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for rum: A $13.50 per gallon excise tax is placed on rum imported into the United States. The measure extends to December 31, 2009, a refund of $13.25 per gallon tax back to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which are both U.S. territories. The refund has been in place since the early '90s. The measure would cost taxpayers $192 million."
-- Great MORE big Tax cuts!

Ref: 2
------------
Revamped economic bailout passes House
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/03/house.bailout/index.html

"Provisions related to film and television productions: In order to keep movie production in the U.S., production companies would be allowed to deduct the cost of producing the films from their taxes. Rep. Diane Watson, D-California, has been one of the program's biggest supporters. The measure would cost taxpayers $478 million over 10 years."
-- Hollywood is TAX FREE! More for BIG Corporations!

$700B bailout passes - President Bush poised to quickly sign historic $700 billion plan into law.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/03/house.bailout/index.html

Ref: 3
-----------
China banks told to halt lending to US banks-SCMP
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSPEK16693720080925

Sorry didn't check for the reply until today.

Yes it is. The refinery didn't blow up, it was just a fire which aren't that rare (the previous one was in 2005) and they take steps to make sure if it does happen the production isn't lost for long.

The only thing I heard was that production was slowed down temporarily due to the ship channel being closed for Gustav. But as far as I know, Cheveron expected the refinery to return to normal production once the channel reopened. I doubled check online and found this http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN0134883420080902.

Apparently a few human remains were found, see http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4919BA20081002

I seriously entertained the idea that the CRA might have something to do with our present crisis, but after doing some research, I don't find it very likely.

See this Reuters story.

The number of CRA loans was too small to seriously upset the financial market, accounting for only a tiny number of the subprime mortgages unwisely made by banks. The worst sin involving the CRA was a decision to allow CRA loans to be securitized into the same bundles other subprime mortgages were put in: that's not too much regulation. It's too little.

I do oppose the CRA in principle. Banning racial and geographic targeting is okay. Requiring banks to make riskier loans than they would otherwise is very, very bad. But either way, it's just too small to have caused the present crisis, and repealing the CRA is certainly not enough to prevent this from happening again.

Correction: She did NOT support the bridge to nowhere.

Yes she did.

I was just trying to be funny. But if you want to debate, here it goes:

I don't blame the Chinese people - China has a rich history and culture - I blame the government. I have been to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

There are thousands if not millions of toys and products that have been recalled from Chinese Manufacturers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/business/02toy.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_export_recalls

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSPEK15755920070813

Do a google on: china lead recall - only 337,000 hits are returned!

And China is considered one of the biggest havens for piracy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13617619/

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2006/07/71300

I even "visited" markets in both Taiwan and China where I saw pirated versions of almost every Microsoft and PC software package for sale for a fraction of what they are supposed to retail for. I saw CD's, Movies, everything for sale for a fraction of what the real product costs.

And before you suggest that the products were not pirated, may I add that the manuals with the software were cheesy xeroxed copies. And the CD's and DVD's didn't come in standard cases....

Any place like this would be busted in a few days in the US.

Granted, I haven't been to the mainland, but most of the products probably come from there....

These are facts... The only "people" hurt by denying them are the Chinese people, because as their products get a worse reputation, their economy will suffer.

Recognize also that due to the "firewall" the chinese government has on internet access, that few chinese are probably even aware of the criticism of the Chinese Government or the product recalls or the piracy...

Yeah, the US government kind of sucks. But at least I can read about it and talk about it, without my news or speech being "censured"...

And I can go to a coffee shop, get drunk on Caffine, or go to a bar, and get drunk on beer, and bitch about the US and living here without fear of being thrown in prison because I don't "agree" with my government...

Well crap. I'm out of the Voltron job now... Wonder if the Power Rangers need anyone.

It's just as well, chances are you wouldn't like the diet of powdered milk.

http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USLF18683220080916

http://consumerist.com/5045443/consumerists-4-most-frequently-given-ways-to-kick-ass

The Consumerist's 4 Most Frequently Given Ways To Kick Ass. An Executive Email Carpet Bomb usually works best by sending mail to as many executive accounts as you can get a hold of.

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol=ERTS.O&WTmodLOC=C4-Officers-5

Here is a list of executives from Electronic Arts. It's untested, but if the first.last@ea.com nomenclature holds true, it may be a good place to start for a list of addresses.

I know, I know — America's NSA is "in on it" too (and most will, no doubt, suspect, that their participation is due to the worst intentions). But, at least, they are our spies — subject to our laws, responsible to our lawmakers.

Any increase of control over the Internet by the UN automatically means increase of control by China, Russia, et al. "The world", which, for example, is still unsure, who did 9/11 talks about being "multipolar" — they should be careful, what they wish for...

I wish people would get into the habit of linking to the single page version of the FA.

Oh come off it. If it were a permanent link, then you'd have a point, but that Reuters article will vanish in a few days like all good wirefeeds do. It's not really worth it for Slashdot, or anywhere else, to link to wirefeeds since they're gone quickly. So it matters little if it's the all-in-one or multi-page if it's a wirefeed. For permanent articles, however, I'm with you: all in one is easier to manage and read.

What you need is a major paper who has taken the wirefeed and put their name at the top. That will be around a few months or even years from now.

I wish people would get into the habit of linking to the single page version of the FA.

Actually, it's a fascist political organization masquerading as a criminal racket masquerading as a cult masquerading as a religion hiding behind about 150 front groups. See the talk given by lawyer Graham Berry at a conference in Germany held to investigate them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvMoSsuRVW8

France has announced that Scientology will be tried for fraud and illegally prescribing medicine.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL820153620080908

>Iraq started breaking stride with the other oil producing nations and allowing Euros to be traded instead of US Dollars. Then they got invaded, and that put a stop to that.

That sounds bad for Iran since they did that too some months ago.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUSBLA02024820080430
Iran conducts all crude trade in euro, yen

"Yes it is more stress but also more benefits"

I'm a big fan of authoritative observations. So it is huh?

Just out of idle curiosity, what contries is polygamy legal in?

Besides Swaziland that is:
http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINL148259220080901

Well ass hat the easiest solution to that is double or triple or even , heaven forbid quadruple the minimum wage and they will end up paying far more taxes. Only a true republican would point the finger at poor bastards on minimum wage for not paying enough tax, that is really disgusting.

The rich have perverted the system to ensure those at the bottom get paid bugger all, in fact with out two jobs not sufficient to live ie. buy a house, pay hospital bills and buy food and clothes (pick one as they can't afford all three). Then the rich and greedy complain they pay the most tax when they earn by far the most money all as a result of their corruption of the political system via lobbyist.

As for outlier, http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1249465620080812 and, it is well known that the rich and greedy like to hide their income behind corporations.

you topple a leader, even an evil one, and there are a lot of ramifications. In this case, our leaders felt it was the lesser evil and had to play politics with him for the greater good.

As if there was no one who believed in democracy and human rights perhaps?

As regards the Kurds, during World War I in return for helping the Allies the fight against the Germans and Ottoman Empire the Kurds were promised their own country, homeland, in the Treaty of Sevres. But once the war was over the West reneged on the pledge. The west allowed Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Father of Turkey to reject the treaty and crush Kurdish uprisings. Kurdistan would have constituted a good chunk of Turkey, and parts of Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Armenia. That same treaty also created Iraq, Syria and Kuwait though. Looking at Iraq today, Iraqi Kurdistan is the most stable part of Iraq. The Ba'athists and Saddam weren't any friendlier to the Marsh Arabs. "Numbering some 250,000 people as recently as 1991, the Marsh Arabs today are believed to number fewer than 40,000 in their ancestral homeland." So much for a stable Iraq under Saddam.

Falcon

Yes, the Kremlin is hard at work on another Soviet Union. Oh, and your votes count so long as your voting for the right people. If you don't, they will paint a nice red picasso with your brain matter.

They don't care who you vote for, here. They count the votes the way they like, anyway. Ingushetia voted against the current regime by boycotting the election and spoiling the bulletins (there really wasn't any alternative to pick - all candidates were Putin dick suckers, every single one of them). Even so, the official figure for Ingushetia is 98% voter turnout, 99% for the United Russia and Medvedev. Why waste bullets?

that McCain is still trying to figure out how to generate enthusiasm this late in the game is not a good sign.

Perhaps, although his campaign raised $4 million over the Internet in the 24 hours after the announcement. Their previous single-day fund-raising record was under a million. So at least he seems to have figured it out. :-)

You do understand that none of that matters if we can't export the beef right? You do know that bans on American Beef are only now being lifted in many countries across the world, and that single incident will bring those bans right back, and for a longer time, right? I don't know that I would go around touting the safety of an industry that had to recall 143 million pounds of beef because they were found to be sneaking cattle to sick to stand into the slaughterhouse. Face it, big industry beef is nasty dirty. There seems to be a big e.coli recall every few years, that is polite wording for cow shit mixed into the meat. Is it any wonder that other countries would view US Beef with a few worries about disease? Is there any better way to relieve that worry other than higher levels of testing and stricter quality control? Is the USDA showing any initiative on that? no, no, and no.

Good luck with that. Hate to break it to you, but Obama isn't going to win.

Well *duh*. The fix is in, I'm sure the dud is going to win, even with his painfully awful VP pick. The last two elections have already proven that the American people have a track record of picking the most painfully awful candidate.

Oh yeah, and another thing, Obama and McCain aren't all that different with respect to energy policy. The big difference is McCain doesn't want to impose a windfall tax on the oil companies in order to give "tax cuts" to the lowest earning third of US workers. I put "tax cuts" in quotes because of course, the lowest earning third of US workers are net recipients of Federal money and don't really have a net tax load.

Okay, I'll bite on that one. WaPo's analysis (available here seems to disagree with your assessment of the share of tax burden/tax cuts under their respective tax plans.

Obama's energy plan, though supporting some limited offshore drilling, does not emphasize it. And McCain's proposed suspension of the Federal gas tax would do more to destroy our existing highway infrastructure than help consumers. And a side by side comparison sure looks like Obama's plan is much more ambitious. Also, I don't think that the point of taxing oil company products is to give "tax cuts" to the poorest 1/3rd, but rather to subsidize heating and energy costs for them.

Insightful my ass, the comment was a troll and if I see it metamoderating somebody will not get mod points for a while. The parent post is filled with inflamitory rhetoric and redundant language. I'm neither Democrat nor Republican; I have split my ballot since I first voted in 1972 when I voted for Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon, as I imagine most people with at least average intelligence do. This election I'll probably vote Barr (L) or Baldwin (C).

Just keep explaining how morally superior Democrats are...and how they need to soak those rich who make over $60K...

Nobody, not even Democrats, want to "soak the rich". What peple want is for the rich to pay their fair share. Personally, I don't mind welfare for the poor, but in the US it's the rich (and I'm not talking about people making $60k) that get welfare.

67% of corporations operating in the US pay no taxes at all. The Republicans want to cut taxes for the rich even more!

Food stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit aren't subsidizing poor people. In America, the poor work for an almost living. They aren't the recipients of food stamps; their greedy, selfish, heartless employers who won't pay a living wage are. If not for food stamps, these people couldn't afford to work for McDonalds or WalMart. The same goes for the Earned Income credit. If any of your employees are getting food stamps or the tax credit, you are the one on the government's teat, not the poor slob you're exploiting.

and how their obscene profits need to be taxed more

If you're talking about the oil companies, HELL YES!!! Their profits are obscene and they are strangling the American economy. When the oil baron took office in 2000, gasoline cost 1/4 what it does today.

The rich benefit most from government policies, they should pay the most in taxes, both in whole numbers and percentages of income.

When tax breaks are handed out to "help the economy" they should go to the middle class, or even better yet the poor. Wealth doesn't "trickle down", it flows up. Wealth is created on the factory floor, the programmer's cube, the fry cook's grill, not in the boardroom. The poor and middle class create wealth, the rich merely aggregate and control it.

The rich, by definition, don't have to count their pennies. The poor (and lower middle class) live paycheck to paycheck. Give them cash and it will go right into the economy. Give it to the rich and it's going straight into the bank; it will be invested. It wil gain them more money, but that money will NOT help the country.

and how evil those corporations are,

Yes, they are. Union Carbide killed thousands in Bhopal, India. Purina killed my grandfather because they were too cheap to put doors on an elevator. Tyson Chicken burned dozens of Mexicans alive in Georgia because the fire doors were chained shut for fear they would steal chicken parts. I journaled yesterday about a corporation who is killing babies for profit. I'm not talking about fetuses; these are formerly crying, eating, shitting, living infants who were stangled by a poorly designed crib that the corporation deemed too expensive to fix.

Yes, evil. Putting profits before human life is evil.

and how their obscene profits need to be taxed more

Why wasn't that trollish comment modded redundant?

and how much we need union bosses and hip Democrats to make our spending decisions for us

The bosses aren't in the unuon, dufus, they're in management. Where did the phrase "union bosses" come from, anyway? My union makes no decisions for me; I and my fellow employees collectively bargain with my employer, and when the union and management agree on a contract, I and my fellow members vote on it. If we vote "no" the union and management bargain some more.

Quit being so judgemental. How sentient creatures choose to lead their lives has no bearing with how smart they are. As it happens, members of homo sapiens has been able to lead useful productive lives despite not having too much upstairs, so to speak.

Brings to mind visions of people hard at work, in secret underground Danish mines, toiling to harvest bricks for the children of the world.

FYI, Danish mines contain cheese, not Legos. Everyone knows that legos are caught at sea.

Again, I already proposed a metric for desirability and economic well-being: housing prices.

Nobody thought you were serious because, well:

• Markets with the biggest drop since peak.
• 68% drop in 1 year in Santa Ana
• California foreclosures at 15-year peak.
• Median price in Valley dives 19% from last year.

Oh? You want to cherry pick your markets? How about these: Merced, CA down 46% from peak. Vallejo, CA down 29%. Salinas, CA down 34%. Modesto, CA down 39.5%. Stockton, CA down 40%. San Francisco down 15%.

To compare a cherry picked market: New York, average price downtown up 10% from last year. Median price in the Village up 63% from last year. Also, NYC Home Prices Outpace Rest of Country as Avg Prices Continue to Rise.

How about you compare the number of businesses leaving the various states. That might be a good idea. Then again, maybe not.

Single page link.

Greasemonkey script to do that automatically.

Seriously.....

http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2008/07/18/microsoft-eyes-integration-between-opensim-and-windows-live-id/
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2008/06/13/not-just-ibm-microsoft-looking-into-opensim/
http://www.metaversejournal.com/2008/07/20/microsofts-paws-on-opensim/

Seriously.....

http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2008/07/18/microsoft-eyes-integration-between-opensim-and-windows-live-id/
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2008/06/13/not-just-ibm-microsoft-looking-into-opensim/
http://www.metaversejournal.com/2008/07/20/microsofts-paws-on-opensim/

Obama never said anything against nuclear power.

Obama criticizes McCain's nuclear power plan Obama has said that expanding our nuclear power plants 'doesn't make sense for America.'

The difference is that Democrats will get more votes from young people who think that only chumps (and old people like McCain) should have to pay for movies, and who capable of compartmentalizing their "respect" for their favorite musicians separately from their willingness to happily rip them off.

Then they're up for a huge disappointment. It doesn't matter which candidate wins, they'll both push for ACTA. Network neutrality won't make it any easier for young people to "happily rip [artists] off".

If they lost their box rental monopoly, they'd simply boost service rates to make up the difference. It would seem the cable companies want to eliminate boxes, anyway. Last week Cablevision won their long battle with the networks over the right to offer DVR functionality from centralized servers. Their motivation: cutting their biggest capital expense...those boxes might work terribly sometimes, but they're not cheap, and charging $7 a month to rent one means they don't recoup the cost of one for over a year.

The '90s are over; Amazon makes a lot of money.

But the cooked rice is almost pure carbohydrate in an easily-digested form that is quickly-available fuel for your muscles and brain.

while this is true in a sense, the "rest of the story" is much more important.

rice is almost always a high glycemic load food due to its high glycemic index and the large amounts people tend to eat per serving.

the carbs from rice quickly break down into blood glucose, but too much blood glucose will kill you (ask a type i diabetic). so your body responds by rapidly producing insulin which is designed to lower blood glucose levels by topping off glucose stores in the muscles and liver (i think that's the right organ) and the rest gets converted into fat. In addition excess insulin in the blood locks down current fat stores so they can't be used to increase blood glucose.

since your brain is a glucose hog, it doesn't take too long for blood glucose levels to drop to a level that makes the brain foggy, grumpy and hungry.

this is the main reason for the post thanksgiving "coma" routine. if you ever wondered why so many calories sapped so much of your energy, now you know why.

i minimized foods like rice, bread, etc. and started eating primarily fruits with a few veggies and my energy not only sored, it is now consistent throughout the day. i feel better in my 40s than i did in my teens. i lost 25 lbs of fat and added 70 lbs to my bench press. I lost my life long allergy problem and i haven't called in sick due to a cold in 13 months - probably close to double my previous best. i used to hate running, now i like it.

the harvard medical doctors over at the joslin diabetes center recommend minimizing rice in order to reduce one's risk of diabetes and heart disease:

http://www.joslin.org/1083_2162.asp

in one study, a diet similar to the one joslin recommends showed an 83% reduction in the incidence of diabetes:

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL2979390020080530

the old mantra that foods like rice are "quick energy" are dangerous in that they are only partially true.

the statement should read something like "rice is quick energy that will ultimately lead to elevated insulin levels, a glucose starved brain, hunger and an increased risk of obesity and chronic disease in people who don't have a genetically blunted insulin response."

do you have a genetically blunted insulin response? looking in the mirror is a good gauge. if you can eat high glycemic load meals and maintain low body fat levels, you are genetically blessed*. most people can't, hence the obesity epidemic and health care cost crisis.

* this blessing typically doesn't last a lifetime, though. as we age, we tend to produce more insulin. this is why people tend to get fat at 40 when they eat less than they did at 18 and were thin.

the mantra "calories in, calories out" is equally misleading. it assumes that one's hormonal response to the foods we eat are negligible. this couldn't be further from the truth.

hormones play a vital role in whether your body stores fat, how you feel, your energy level and your satiety.

to illustrate this point, manuel uribe used to feel hungry and deprived on 30k calories a day. he now eats a diet, which is very similar to the one recommended by joslin diabetes center, and he's only eating about 2k calories a day (a 93% reduction in caloric intake and likely less than you!). he went from 1230 lbs to just over 800 lbs in about 2 years. he feels great, is upbeat and isn't hungry - all because he eats to balance his hormonal responses. his resting heart beat is 55, his blood pressure is normal and his lipid profiles are fantastic - and he can't even walk yet.

you can follow manuel uribe's progress on the discovery channel.

You are completely wrong. Japan has the oldest population in the world. The USA's population is one of the most youthful of the developed countries.

The reason for bureaucracy and red tape is because we the people insist upon it.

And we insist on it because people try (and very often succeed) to game the system. The rules and regulations and red tape are there to try (often unsucessfuly) to keep people from getting what they're not entitled to get.

Nobody wants to see a woman get out of a new Escalade and buy food with food stamps. When you see this happen, you can be pretty sure that it isn't her Escalade; it's her neighbor's, or her friend's, or her dad's, or her pimp's.

Or it's her Escalade but not her Link card; "her" link card and its PIN number was sold to her by a drug user for half its value, and she's probably the Link card owner's drug dealer.

THIS is why we have bureaucracy and red tape.

It's even worse when you have rich people and corporations in the mix; they're far better at gaming the system than poor or middle class people.

Sorry if there any errors, or omissions, I am trying to be accurate. A lot has happend in a little over a week.

The following takes place between July 29th and August 7th:

August 07, 2008:
Judge rejects student visa injunction sought by H-1B opponents
Tech workers don't have standing to fight Bush administration visa move
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9111963

August 07, 2008:
Jobless claims surge to highest level in 6 years
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/07/news/economy/jobless_benefits.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

August 06, 2008:
Bureau of Labor Statistics reports big drop in tech jobs
Almost 50,000 IT positions lost in last 12 months
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/07/news/economy/jobless_benefits.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

Aug 06,2008:
Yet another visa, this one allows 5000 Koreans to work in the USA each year
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808060014.html

August 06, 2008:
Apple sued over treatment of it's tech workers
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/06/apple-gets-sued-indentured

August 05, 2008:
Bogus diploma ring busted
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/education/chi-diploma-mill-04-aug04,0,2164133.story

August 03, 2008:
July marks seventh consecutive month of job loses
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/46146.html

August 02, 2008:
Sun to cut between 1000 to 2500 jobs
http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/08/01/sun-us-tech-market-wont-shine-soon/

August 01, 2008:
Gartner's grim IT hiring outlook
http://blogs.zdnet.com/careers/?p=140

August 01, 2008:
Feds charges man for H1-B fraud
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_visa01.47edb3e.html#

Jul 31, 2008:
More than 3.7 million Americans had full-time jobs chopped to part time
the largest figure since the government began tracking such data more than half a century ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/business/economy/31jobs.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

July 31, 2008:
Layoffs set for 22,000 California state workers
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10046324

July 30, 2008:
WTO Doha talks collapse
India's backdoor attempt to allow more H-1Bs into the USA failed, for now
http://www.economicpopulist.org/?q=content/why-you-should-be-thrilled-wto-doha-talks-collapsed

July 30, 2008:
NY gov slashes spending; state said in "recession"
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN3032764920080730?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

July 30, 2008:
China trade has cost 2.3 million U.S. jobs
http://www.reuters.com/article/politic

Sorry if there any errors, or omissions, I am trying to be accurate. A lot has happend in a little over a week.

The following takes place between July 29th and August 7th:

August 07, 2008:
Judge rejects student visa injunction sought by H-1B opponents
Tech workers don't have standing to fight Bush administration visa move
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9111963

August 07, 2008:
Jobless claims surge to highest level in 6 years
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/07/news/economy/jobless_benefits.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

August 06, 2008:
Bureau of Labor Statistics reports big drop in tech jobs
Almost 50,000 IT positions lost in last 12 months
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/07/news/economy/jobless_benefits.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

Aug 06,2008:
Yet another visa, this one allows 5000 Koreans to work in the USA each year
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808060014.html

August 06, 2008:
Apple sued over treatment of it's tech workers
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/06/apple-gets-sued-indentured

August 05, 2008:
Bogus diploma ring busted
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/education/chi-diploma-mill-04-aug04,0,2164133.story

August 03, 2008:
July marks seventh consecutive month of job loses
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/46146.html

August 02, 2008:
Sun to cut between 1000 to 2500 jobs
http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/08/01/sun-us-tech-market-wont-shine-soon/

August 01, 2008:
Gartner's grim IT hiring outlook
http://blogs.zdnet.com/careers/?p=140

August 01, 2008:
Feds charges man for H1-B fraud
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_visa01.47edb3e.html#

Jul 31, 2008:
More than 3.7 million Americans had full-time jobs chopped to part time
the largest figure since the government began tracking such data more than half a century ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/business/economy/31jobs.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

July 31, 2008:
Layoffs set for 22,000 California state workers
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10046324

July 30, 2008:
WTO Doha talks collapse
India's backdoor attempt to allow more H-1Bs into the USA failed, for now
http://www.economicpopulist.org/?q=content/why-you-should-be-thrilled-wto-doha-talks-collapsed

July 30, 2008:
NY gov slashes spending; state said in "recession"
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN3032764920080730?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

July 30, 2008:
China trade has cost 2.3 million U.S. jobs
http://www.reuters.com/article/politic