The Worst Public TV Guest Ever....

The evening of May 27th, I watched "State of the State" show on WOUB, the local public channel in Athens, Ohio.

One of the guests on the forum type show dealing with multiple aspects of the unemployment problem in Southeastern Ohio was Mark Tatge, some sort of visiting professor at Scripps College of Journalism, Ohio University.

Tom Hodson is the moderator, and the other members of the forum were:

Angie Hawk Maiden: President and CEO of Appalachian Center for Economic Networks;
Perry Varnadoe: Director of the Meigs County Economic Development Office; and
Debbie Phillips (D-Athens) State Representative for the 92nd Ohio House District is also home to Ohio University.

"Mr." Tatge was the most unprepared, impolite and offensive guest I have ever seen on any real public forum/information show. My wife wondered if he thought he was auditioning for a bit on Colbert. I thought that he thought he was on the Bill "Blowhard" O'Reilly set and in some sort of gruesome competition with Ann Coulter.

I am a Libertarian, and I really tried, but I could find absolutely nothing redeeming about his appearance on a show that usually has a thoughtful and well-meaning discourse that seeks practical solutions to problems in our State and in our local area.

With his reckless, unfocused, arrogant "Faux News" style of blathering bloviation, he alienated the other guests on the show, and probably everyone watching as well. The other guests and the moderator were noticably shocked and embarrassed as they tried to politely interact with this pretentious fool.

Mr. Tatge had done no research, spoke in offensive and outlandish generalities throughout, frustrated and discomfited the moderator and belittled the efforts of the other guests by his lack of knowledge and interest in the causes, applicable questions and possible working solutions to the problem of local unemployment. It was a shameful example of ego combined with ignorance by a person who touts himself as an expert and is rumored to teach a class in professionally reporting on financial matters at Ohio University.

Mr. Tatge's one answer to everything (when he wasn't offending literally every single resident of Southeastern Ohio) seemed to be "You people need more help from State Government", which seems a strange proposition for a "Conservative" to espouse. He had the air of someone whose dog ate the homework and who has chosen feigned superiority and attacking in ignorance as his method of defense.

But that is not the worst. The worst is that for anyone watching the show that was still on the political fence, he singlehandedly did his best to make any low tax, small Government, Libertarian leaning political world-view as unsavory and unsympathetic as possible. Mr. Tatge was the onscreen epitome of that generalized view of the Big Business, money-grubbing, unsympathetic, me-first Conservative that the Far Left loves to put out there.

In short, Mr. Tatge is either a stone idiot or he cannot be a real Conservative, but some actor hired by the Far Left to spoof the good intentions of people who want lower taxes and less government, more individual freedom and responsibility.

This may be not giving some enterprising Liberal jokester enough credit, but I'm betting that Mr. Tatge is a stone idiot.

SCOTUS Pick: Obama goes for Demographic over Scholarship....

Noted lefty constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley thinks Sotomayor tends toward the lightweight edge of the scale of the available talent:

“She is not the intellectual powerhouse that many academics had hoped for.”

and,

“Advocates have struggled to cite a single opinion that could be viewed as a brilliant or extraordinary treatment of the law.”

And,

“Looking objectively at the body of opinions by Judge Sotomayor, one is not overwhelmed by their depth. There is nothing in this body of work that would scream out for the elevation of the author to the Court.”

Read the whole article here:

http://jonathanturley.org/2009/05/26/white-house-to-announce-court-pick-at-10-am/#more-11301

I probably wouldn't agree with Turley on anything. Especially individual rights, making law from the bench and US subjugation to International Law. But he seems to be quoted an awful lot by MSNBC, which is the Faux "News" opposite number in the war for the lemming mind -- and by NPR. So....

On the other hand, what the 0-Man has got going for him is the Harriet Miers nomination. That and Clarence Thomas.

But apart from Thomas, the rest of the SCOTUS, when nominated, seems to have been much more qualified than Sotomayor.

Consensus of those who worked with Sotomayor is that she’s intelligent, but an intellectual lightweight and not patient enough to take the time to understand complex issues.

One wonders whether there will be a shock to the court's system, giving up a quiet, very polite Justice who is known for listening, for one who often comes across as rude, pushy and domineering of discussion from the bench, and who's opinions often are viewed as overly simplified, short and dismissive.

In an added note, three out of the five Sotomayor ruled cases that have been accepted on appeal to the SCOTUS have been reversed, and they are working on what may be another right now.

That does not speak well of her ability to get it right -- or at least right enough for the SCOTUS. It also brings up the question of how many of her rulings were probably wrong, but SCOTUS chose not to hear them... and it amounts to a lotta "bad justice" out there.

GM = Government Motors....

Does this mean that I have to pick sides when the UAW goes on strike and the 0-Man calls in his Brownshirt strike-breakers?

Whew… tough call.

Nothing more deserving or entertaining than Union Thugs beating and getting beaten by Government Thugs!

It also means that Chevy will have to change its ad tune from “Like A Rock” to Neil Young’s “Welfare Mothers (Make Better Lovers)".

Much, much better song anyway....

The Halliburton/KBR/Cheney/War/Money Machine....

You know, looking back on it, the incredible, interwoven web of deceit and corruption that was the Halliburton/KBR/Cheney/War/Money Machine, may go down as the costliest bit of political and economic deception (that term does not do credit) ever foisted on America's conscience and wallet.

Remember, the "cost" of the War was not included in the Bush Jr. era budgets, so we really have no way to grasp the size of the scam and how much was siphoned away like so much stolen gas -- but if we really could see it, I bet it could make AIG and Madoff look like one fall purse-snatchers.

Oh, and one more thing: I wonder, did Halliburton/KBR execs get little happy chills all over every time an IED blew up a HumVee, knowing full well that the deaths of our soldiers were providing the smokescreens for their robbery?

Things must be made Right.

How do you not believe in a Righteous and Vengeful God?

Cops Lie...! Surprised?

The very idea of "probable cause" has been eroded so far that it is a joke. LEOs lie all the time. If they are looking to pull someone over, there will definitely be some judgment for probable cause, real or not.

A lot of "solid" arrests for other crimes start with a suspicion -- NOT real probable cause. If any charges go to court, many LEOs don't have a problem lying under oath. It's "part of the job", and also well referenced under the term "testilying".

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123319367364627211.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testilying

Biden and Pelosi....

Joe Plugs don't lie!

He's always reaching out with both versions of the truth, what didn't happen and what he said!

The truth is shorter than Joe and he just has to stoop a little!"

Hey, wadda-ya expect from a proven exaggerator and a thief (plagiarist)?

I have always said that Biden was a dumber version of John Kerry. Remember Kerry's war stories, especially about his hat?

Only in just deserts for his poor judgment does the 0-man deserve every bit of diarrhea that gushes out Joe Plugs' mouth.


As for Pelosi, we get what California deserves.

As usual.

What's new.

"Click It Or Ticket" -- Wave bye-bye to your 4th Amendment....

It is amazing how many people who proclaim their support for the 2nd Amendment tend to not read any further.

Evidently the right of the many to own guns is higher on their list than the right of the many to be safe from unlawful search and seizure. They don't realize that the continual encroachment on their 4th Amendment rights will eventually result in their right of the 2nd vanishing, along with their privacy and any pretense of freedom.

That is evidenced in the well-documented abuses of "probable cause" by our LEO community.

All for our protection, of course.

So here we come to "Click It Or Ticket", the latest waste of taxpayer dollars and supposed revenue generator forced on the states by the Fed: Millions of taxpayer dollars spent to collect (hopefully) even more millions in revenues.

Yessiree folks, it's highway robbery by our "finest" -- and at its finest.

I am going to start with an issue that concerns me: personal liberty. And here is one that may surprise all you ACLU-card-carrying supporters of personal freedom: The Dems are for letting law enforcement pull over citizens JUST because the officer THINKS THEY MAY not be using their seat belt.

Look at states where they have a majority Dem representation, and most of them have given police the right to use just the suspicion of no seat belts as probable cause to pull a driver over.

Right now, 26 out of 50 states list seat belt violations as a "primary enforcement", which means that an LEO just has to suspect that you don't have your seat belt on to light you up. Out of those 26 states, 20 have the State Senate controlled by Dems.

This is just another step in the progression from Freedom (with a framework of not harming others), to Nanny State, and on to the goal of a Totalitarian State.

But now, with the "Click It Or Ticket" revenue program, the Feds are helping your local police violate even more of your civil rights than normal.

Do you know how hard it is to determine if someone has their seat belt on when they are passing you at 65mph?

Btw, if you are pulled over for anything else, DON'T take your seat belt off before you are staring him in the eye -- the LEO is trained to accuse you of not wearing your belt, and he has no proof that you were not. And here's a little secret that they don't want you to know: they are counting on you not taking it to court. I have had one say to me "I know you weren't wearing your belt", when I was -- he backed down after I looked him in the eye and said "Yes, I was. I do every time I drive... and, I'll swear to it in court."

Now why, when all supposed "liberal" causes (see ACLU, etc...) state that they protect individual rights, would the Dems be overwhelming in their support of this? It just gives LEOs another tool in their endless list of fake "probable causes".

I drive over 500 miles a week, and never leave my driveway without my belt on. My opposition to this is purely based on Civil Rights. It is another non-Constitutional intervention by the State, and should not be tolerated by citizens.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2009%20...%20seat+belts

Ohio Revised Code 4513.263(D) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no law enforcement officer shall cause an operator of an automobile being operated on any street or highway to stop the automobile for the sole purpose of determining whether a violation of division (B) of this section has been or is being committed or for the sole purpose of issuing a ticket, citation, or summons for a violation of that nature or causing the arrest of or commencing a prosecution of a person for a violation of that nature, and no law enforcement officer shall view the interior or visually inspect any automobile being operated on any street or highway for the sole purpose of determining whether a violation of that nature has been or is being committed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Click_It_or_Ticket&oldid=214238694


Well, we're heading toward the totalitarian extreme really fast. And it'll end up being an extreme that puts any free-thinking person in a camp. For the "good of society", of course.

And the idea of "funding" public services from fines just lends itself to abuse of civil rights. Funny, but you'd think that the ACLU would be in there somewhere, biting and scratching. Uhhhh, nope.

All these little blurrings of Constitutional rights add up. Pretty soon they'll be stopping you on the road at checkpoints. Oh wait, that already happens. Doesn't that word "Checkpoint" have such a wonderful East German flair? Next they'll be taking your homes to build high revenue districts. Oh wait... that's already happening.

And we laugh our little self-conscious laughs and roll our eyes and adopt the PC, coweringly abject, subservient roll-over, show our bellies and hope that they don't think so badly of us that we are labeled anti-public safety child abusers as we say in a tiny, tiny voice "Wait, isn't that un-Constitutional? Oh, I'm sorry, I know... if we aren't "guilty", we have nothing to fear."

Woohoo. All for the "greater good".

Note to self about "Job Security"....

Remember, if your immediate bosses are not capable of understanding or doing your job, or of even assessing the effects of your efforts upon the end results (because they don't understand anyone else's job either), then they cannot accurately measure your worth.

Welcome to my world.

I'm guessing that this might have been the reason there used to be strikes....

Death Of A Nation....

Polarization is not the problem.

The problem is not that the 'pubs are too right wing, or even that they are too anything different from the Dems; it's that our country as a whole has largely become populated with people who expect the Government to be the end and answer for all ills. It is liberals and most moderates who tend to think that way, but also a surprising number of people who style themselves conservative.

The problem won't be solved by 'pubs trying to act like Dems. In fact, the problem has already reached the critical mass of users overbalancing producers and I truly believe our country is beyond saving -- in its current form. It's like watching a giant tree topple... slowly at first, and then faster and faster....

Gas prices at the pump are rising fast. It is the Oil companies and OPEC's aim to have gas at $4+/gal. by October/November. They are doing this by cutting production and storing oil outside the US.

Any business operating off of their P&L statement to get money has to be watching A&R very closely. They still have to keep inventory low and take absolutely no hits such as a big customer going under. It still will do no good. Any company not making products that people actually need, or companies that depend on "marketing" to drive demand are goners. Like most biz that operates on "buzz", they think they can create demand without products people need, but they are done. Cooked. They just don't know it yet.

I expect unemployment will pass 12-15% by the 2nd quarter of 2010, there will be across-the-board credit defaults, by both individuals and companies, and then it will become evident that we are in a full-blown depression.

And we will find out that the Government cannot save our economy or our souls -- if we still have either.

Here's exerpts from a great post by Old Hop:

... "Citing Murray Boochkin, Riggenbach shows how the conventional political appellations of “left” and “right” are turned on their heads:[A] brief look at the history of the relevant political terms – Left and Right, liberal and conservative – will persuade us that libertarianism has absolutely nothing in common with anything on the Right. For it is as the anarchist Murray Bookchin said back in 1978: “People who resist authority, who defend the rights of the individual, who try in a period of increasing totalitarianism and centralization to reclaim these rights – this is the true left in the United States. Whether they are anarcho-communists, anarcho-syndicalists, or libertarians who believe in free enterprise, I regard theirs as the real legacy of the left […].”

... And what about the socialists, the Maoists and Trotskyites, and the liberals of the Democratic party? Bookchin was asked. What about the people most Americans regarded as “the Left”? Those people, Bookchin replied, were “going toward authoritarianism, toward totalitarianism.” They were “becoming the real right in the United States.”

... In other words, one who believes in unhindered free markets and individual rights is really on the left side of the political spectrum. Those who favor government intervention in social and economic matters (thus considering themselves flaming liberals) turn out to be supporters of conservatism – unwittingly preserving the statist status quo that under different guises has dominated public affairs in this country for decades.

The GOP is the conservative party in American politics, the party that since Lincoln (and Henry Clay and Alexander Hamilton before him) has stood for mercantilism, welfare statism, and war. Libertarians are not conservatives; they are not on the Right. They are on the Left, the last remnant of the original liberals.

... And lest we forget that Barack Obama’s #1 campaign contributor was Goldman Sachs:

Though some true liberals remain in the Democratic Party of today, almost all of them have made the error of pursuing liberal goals by conservative means. And the majority in the party has been New Deal liberal – false liberal, conservative in liberal’s clothing – since the 1930s. In effect, the United States is now governed by one or the other of two conservative parties.

Specter lies, and fools are surprised....

UPDATE: "Arlen Specter" may now be the definition of idiot.

After he told everyone he would retain his "seniority", it seems the only "seniority" A.S. (as he is now known by da 'pubs) will retain is his ever-more-frequent "senior moments".


You know, why are we continually and repeatedly surprised when a politician lies?

Why do we get all offended but never seem to get even?

Just vote the liar out. Even if he has “The One’s” support. Or better yet, just burn the whole damn thing down. That option gets my vote!

“Politicians lie, fools ‘re surprised”; they take us for fools, time-and-again, and we never disappoint ‘em.

If you think taxes and government intrusion in our lives are bad now, just wait until one party has more than a 60/40 split advantage.

It's and oldie but goodie, but I wish we could connect shock collars to lie detectors and put them put them on Politicians.

I wish there was a mechanism in place to expedite impeachment....

The REAL Culture War is over Capitalism....

For the rest of this article:

The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism

Tea parties, 'ethical populism,' and the moral case against redistribution.
By Arthur C. Brooks

There is a major cultural schism developing in America. But it's not over abortion, same-sex marriage or home schooling, as important as these issues are. The new divide centers on free enterprise -- the principle at the core of American culture.

Despite President Barack Obama's early personal popularity, we can see the beginnings of this schism in the "tea parties" that have sprung up around the country. In these grass-roots protests, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans have joined together to make public their opposition to government deficits, unaccountable bureaucratic power, and a sense that the government is too willing to prop up those who engaged in corporate malfeasance and mortgage fraud.

... the president's budget office reveals average deficits of 4.7% in the five years after this recession is over. The Congressional Budget Office predicts $9.3 trillion in new debt over the coming decade.

... On behalf of corporate welfare, political largess and powerful special interests, government spending will grow continuously in the coming years as a percentage of the economy -- as will tax collections.

... The protesters are homeowners who didn't walk away from their mortgages, small business owners who don't want corporate welfare and bankers who kept their heads during the frenzy and don't need bailouts. They were the people who were doing the important things right -- and who are now watching elected politicians reward those who did the important things wrong.

Voices in the media, academia, and the government will dismiss this ethical populism as a fringe movement -- maybe even dangerous extremism....

... Asked in a Rasmussen poll conducted this month to choose the better system between capitalism and socialism, 13% of respondents over 40 chose socialism. For those under 30, this percentage rose to 33%. (Republicans were 11 times more likely to prefer capitalism than socialism; Democrats were almost evenly split between the two systems.)

The government has been abetting this trend for years by exempting an increasing number of Americans from federal taxation. ... last year that the percentage of American adults who have no federal income-tax liability will rise to 49% from 40% under Mr. Obama's tax plan. Another 11% will pay less than 5% of their income in federal income taxes and less than $1,000 in total.

... Social Democrats are working to create a society where the majority are net recipients of the "sharing economy." They are fighting a culture war of attrition with economic tools. Defenders of capitalism risk getting caught flat-footed with increasingly antiquated arguments that free enterprise is a Main Street pocketbook issue. Progressives are working relentlessly to see that it is not.

Advocates of free enterprise must learn from the growing grass-roots protests, and make the moral case for freedom and entrepreneurship. They have to declare that it is a moral issue to confiscate more income from the minority simply because the government can. It's also a moral issue to lower the rewards for entrepreneurial success, and to spend what we don't have without regard for our children's future.

Enterprise defenders also have to define "fairness" as protecting merit and freedom.... ... Millions of ordinary citizens believe it is unfair for the government to be predatory -- even if the prey are wealthy....

... The last several years have brought malaise, in which the "conservative" politicians in power paid little more than lip service to free enterprise. Today, as in the late 1970s, we have an administration, Congress and media-academic complex openly working to change American culture in ways that most mainstream Americans will not like....

SCOTUS in Rare Pro-4th Amendment Mode....

SCOTUS Decision slaps down The Man, for once.

At least a little.

From Grits For Breakfast:

Here's some good news for liberty-loving drivers:

The US Supreme Court today issued a rare pro-4th Amendment decision to restrict vehicle searches incident to arrest. In a 5-4 ruling, the high court held in Arizona v. Gant that "Police may search the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only if it is reasonable to believe that the arrestee might access the vehicle at the time of the search or that the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest."

The majority lamented that "Countless individuals guilty of nothing more serious than a traffic violation have had their constitutional right to the security of their private effects violated as a result."

In a concurring opinion, Justice Scalia wrote that:

Law enforcement officers face a risk of being shot when-ever they pull a car over. But that risk is at its height at the time of the initial confrontation; and it is not at all reduced by allowing a search of the stopped vehicle after the driver has been arrested and placed in the squad car.

Bottom line, said the court: "Police may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest. When these justifications are absent, a search of an arrestee’s vehicle will be unreasonable unless police obtain a warrant or show that another exception to the warrant requirement applies."

Though Gant is a relatively narrow ruling, one hopes it portends a renewed commitment to basic Fourth Amendment protections which have been battered and abused by the Court recent years.

Addtional info here: The Volokh Conspiracy.

Tax Protests, Sinking Ships and Reality....

Excerpt from Forbes article here and below:

Here is me spouting off now:

I'm tired of hearing about "Sacrifice For The Greater Good". And I'm 'specially tired of hearing it from fatcat politicos who are running the biggest con-game in the world - the Guvmint.

Usually anytime anyone says "sacrifice for the Greater Good" it is a sign to run the other way as fast as possible. Nine times outta ten they are talking about taking from you and giving to sumbuddy else.

This is especially important today as "consumers" are continually bombarded with the message that it's for the "Greater Good" to "consume" instead of saving.

It's not.

The way to take care of "the Greater Good" of your society is to take care of your community first; and the way to take care of your community is to take care of your neighborhood first; and the way to take care of your neighborhood is to take care of your family first.

If people were to save instead of consume, we wouldn't need so many government services and tax rate hikes. But we (Yep, it's us, not the Government.) are spending billions of a bad paper IOU to the future on businesses that are providing products and services no one needs.

And jobs: If the reality is that if we are being told that the best reason a particular company is in business is to provide jobs... then that's why you should let the free market the **** alone. Comparatively good money after bad dragging us all down. Our default on that great big IOU and the accompanying crash will come soon enough.

Take care of you and yours, and the "Greater Good", for what it's worth, ususally takes care of itself.

... And in these days
When darkness falls early
And people rush home
To the ones they love
You better take a fool's advice
And take care of your own
One day they're here;
Next day they're gone...

(Don Henley – New York Minute)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...Some analysts have made the case that Americans are not overtaxed (at the federal level) and that therefore the protests were not justified. But this misses the point. Government spending is exploding, with the Congressional Budget Office projecting $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years. People know that this spending represents future taxes.

Here is an interesting set of facts. If the government increased the top tax rate from the current rate of 35% to 100% (yes, that's right 100%), it would only collect an extra $400 billion this year. In other words, confiscating all the income that is currently taxed at 35% would not raise enough revenue to cover any of the annual deficits projected in the next 10 years. There is no way that tax hikes on the rich alone can pay for proposed spending in the current budget. In addition, state and local taxes are going up, with at least 10 states planning on hiking taxes. And promised future spending on Social Security and health care must also be paid for. Under the Obama administration's budget, federal government spending in the next 10 years will average 24% of GDP, almost triple what it was back in the 1930s. As a result, when we add together today's taxes and expected future taxes, Americans will face a bigger tax burden than at any time in history.

Meanwhile, the government is taking over private-sector companies, printing massive amounts of new money and interfering in the free market. And it doesn't help that this has happened while many government officials are running into trouble over not paying their own taxes, which undermines the Obama administration's call for the average taxpayer to sacrifice for the greater good...."

The Most Dangerous Man in the US....

Here's my nomination. He's also the 0-Man's nomination for the Legal Adviser of the Department of State -- Read up on him.

Harold Koh.

Wave goodbye to the last vestiges of US sovereignty.

Obama and claims about US guns in Mexico....

The 0-Man says 90% of the weapons used in crimes in Mexico come from the US.

The reality is that 90% of the *weapons they can trace* come from the US, but they can't trace the origin of very many of the weapons, especially all of those AK-47 knockoffs that come through the southern Mexican borders and that are used by all the seriously violent druggies and their Lords.

And, it is commonly thought that Mexican officials only turn over to the ATF for tracing those weapons already thought to have come from the US and used in a "violent" crime.

Using math that is beyond me, the figure seems to be somewhere between 17% (Right-wing Faux News) and 25% (Left-wing Politifact). Who you believe depends on your political leanings and the drum yer beating, but the reality is that far fewer guns are traced to the US than the 0-Man would have you think.

Now, why would he want you to think that?

The problem is that most of the automatic weapons they find in Mexico have markings that clearly show they come from places like Guatamala and China. And the gun and pawn shops don't sell these guns. And that's where the traceability comes in -- not every gun recovered in Mexico is submitted to the ATF for tracing; only those with US markings.

So the 0-Man is using this false statistic as very thinly veiled anti-legal gun propaganda here in the US.


Isn't it about time the Mexican government built a wall along the border to prevent the flow of illegal weapons into their country?

Homeland Security and you and me....

And there will first be a listing of “extremist” organizations (Hey, look, they’ve already been all lumped together in the public’s little mind.) - in a "Risk Report", if you will.

And then - amazingly enough - because times are tough and as it is "in the best interest of The Republic", few people will be surprised or even offended when anyone in “the opposition” is labeled extremist.

And then there will be laws enacted to make it impossible for there to be any physical opposition.

And then there will be a banning.

And then comes the round-up.


Knock-knock. Anybody been here before?

Privacy Expectations of Bloggers: “Outing" a Blogger’s Identity....

A Blogger from Alaska named "The Mudflats Muckraker" has been embroiled in a little "Identity Outing" incident. The Blogging community, part of it at least, is up-in-arms.

One of my pet peeves is when a private citizen claims to "know" things that "others" may not have access to, intimating the access is special and privileged, and yet expects those "others" to refrain from inquiring as to their qualifications; especially if the information these people claim to have access to and are propagating is false, misleading and libelous.

There IS a Constitutional right to anonymity; but it's a little fuzzy when the anonymous party is spreading lies. There is also no law that says you can't out someone on the net, unless you obtain the information regarding their identity by illegal means. If you already know who "Joe" is, you can shout it from the virtual roof-top. And evidently there is no law against "guessing" bloggers identities.

I think there is a larger question here. The Internet is full of "experts" who really aren't. And those "experts" are often crossing the line of "opinion" and approaching the line of "libel". Some are running right up to that libel line and stopping, others are continually sticking their toes of ignorance over that line.

Bloggers are not journalists protecting a “source” and needing a "shield law". Blogging is not “reporting”; no matter how many Bloggers pretend they are reporters.

(Is "muckraking" reporting? I'm not sure. Look at the scumbag National Enquirer -- they have broken quite a few big political stories -- see the John Edwards' love-child fiasco.)

When a Blogger - and many do - crosses the line from opinion to stating supposed fact based on claims of privileged information, the reality is that the Blogger has lost any expectation of keeping their identity secret.

IMNSHO, if you claim special access, privilege and expertise not available to the general public, expect to get outed. If you go after somebody -- this is teh internetz, remember -- especially if you claim insider information, you should expect them to fire back. Don't get all uptight and offended when they call you out. Expect it.

If you cross the line from Opining to Muckraking (especially if your screen name is "Muckraker") or Reporting, don't count on your target to sit still and do nothing.


PS - I posted the same questions on the "Muckraker" blog and was banned almost immediately; going to show us that double-standards are quadrupled at least half the time, AND that the supposed offended party (or her surrogate) is just as guilty as the person who "outed" her.

If "There are no wrong questions, just wrong answers", Muckraker, and despite the screen name, and playing both the game and the innocent victim, gave the wrong answer.

And now the Government is Everything and Nothing....

Fiat and Chrysler: there are two companies with “sterling” reputations for product quality.

You know FIAT stands for "Fix It Again Tony".

Here's the way it's gonna go:

The collapse of a couple of overweight, out-of-shape and dated union machines is the least of our worries.

Continued and increased government involvement in every facet of our lives will erode what is left of the American "entrepreneurial spirit", and we will find our nation becoming even more of a consumer entity as more production moves overseas.

As the deficit is quadrupled over the next few (couple?) years, eventually social programs will collapse and our realization of our misplaced faith in the big business of government (which exists largely to self-perpetuate) will come too late.

I hear all the time from my "liberal" friends: "We deserve that money and those programs. After all, as workers we paid into them."

Guess what, that fact that you pay taxes for a service doesn't mean you are going to get that service back. Look at the record of government promises.

Those of us who use government “services” like Unemployment Compensation, State Retirement Plans, Medicare and Social Security will lose those teats and probably in that order. As government takes over more and more of the economy, you will see the standard of living rapidly fall. The dream of global equality will be achieved.

Good luck.

Either unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your world-view, luck has nothing to do with it.

Insanity reigns. Digging the deficit hole....

From The USA Today's Editorial: Huge Deficits Unsustainable.

"President Obama cannot keep from mentioning (every chance he gets) that he “inherited a trillion dollar deficit” – and then has the audacity to propose increasing the deficit four times over.

Now, that’s insane!"

I may be wrong about Comm-1:

If the practical understanding and use of language is limited to texting, then I am wrong about the state of public education, we don't need no stinkin' reassessment, and we have reached our zenith.