Top Headline Comments 02-09-09
— Gabriel Malor

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:17 AM | Comments (52)
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Overnight Open Thread. (genghis)
— Open Blog

We Gets Tips, we Posts Tips:

Item #1: Not really a tip, but last night “sickinmass” posted a link to a NYT opinion piece titled Sometimes a President is Just a President. Surprisingly it wasn’t written by Maureen Dowd, but it’s good to see she’s mentoring the junior staff. The article didn’t get the proper mocking it deserved in Saturday night’s overnight thread. Some random pickings:

”The other night I dreamt of Barack Obama. He was taking a shower right when I needed to get into the bathroom to shave my legs, and then he was being yelled at by my husband, Max, for smoking in the house.”

“The other day a friend of mine confided that in the weeks leading up to the election, the Obamas’ apparent joy as a couple had made her just miserable. Their marriage looked so much happier than hers.”

“Many women — not too surprisingly — were dreaming about sex with the president.”

“There was some daydreaming too, much of it a collective fantasy about the still-hot Obama marriage.” “Barack and Michelle Obama look like they have sex. They look like they like having sex,” a Los Angeles woman wrote to me, summing up the comments of many.”

The articleÂ’s a target-rich environment. After youÂ’ve rinsed the taste of regurgitation out of your mouth, itÂ’s time to cleanse the palette with:

Item #2:”Jubal Anderson Early” sent an article from Time about America’s Last Draftee.

”America's generals love to brag about their all-volunteer Army. That's because they tend to overlook Jeffrey Mellinger. He donned his Army uniform for the first time on April 18, 1972, about the time the Nixon Administration was seeking "peace with honor" in Vietnam and The Godfather was opening on the silver screen. Nearly 37 years later, he's still wearing Army green. Mellinger is, by all accounts, the last active-duty draftee serving in the U.S. Army.”

He served 33 months in Iraq and vehicles he was in were destroyed twice in IED attacks (among 27 roadside bomb attacks he faced). ThereÂ’s also a nice STFU delivered to Charlie Rangel, who has suggested bringing back the draft. The article will give you warm fuzzies.

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to xgenghisx@gmail.com. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

Posted by: Open Blog at 09:43 PM | Comments (93)
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"Look, you dumb redneck. I've already told you once." [jdub]
— Open Blog

According to HA, we have a new most-hated person on the internet. In forty-odd minutes, on national broadcast television, San Francisco venture capitalist and superliberal Stephen Fowler managed to verb himself. ABC sent this evil bastard to live with the wife of the mayor of a small Missouri town. Whereupon the limey ex-pat said, oh, things like:

"I think the worst thing that James (his son) could do is to tell me that he wants to move to Missouri. What is wrong with the United States — people in the middle of the country frankly (laughs) are just like you. It’s amazing - uneducated, simple and without a clue about what’s going on in the world. You’re undereducated; over opinionated and you’re overweight. It’s not a good combination Gayla."

“You read that so well. Congratulations. I didn’t know that you could read.” (At the rule change ceremony.)

“Look you dumb redneck, I’ve already told you once.” (In response to Gayla asking him if he would bring the kids gokarting again. Gayla had already asked Stephen this question several times and Stephen had ignored it – at least that’s what we saw on camera.)

"Agenda, that's a big word for you, isn't it?"

Gayla says, “You keep degrading me in front of your kids.” Stephen laughs and says, “That’s easy.” Gayla says, “You think you’re so much better than me”? Stephen says, “I probably earn more in one week than you do in a year.” He walks upstairs and point his finger at Gayla and says “You’re not invited up to the office.”

Stephen Fowler says: I’ve said that you’re underachieving, under educated, over opinionated and overweight.” “Have a nice life. Don’t send any kids after me with a shotgun. Alan asks what Stephen means by his comment and Stephen says, “That’s just a final insult.”

His real wife, who seems like a relatively pleasant person, (a weight-loss "life coach," apparently,) included this in her comments on her blog:

I have asked Stephen to get professional help.

If you're interested, his public apology is right under that post. Is he sincerely contrite? I leave it to you to decide.

Much, much more at the link, including Youtube links. You have to hear the guy's painfully-nasal RP (that's British fancy-talk to you Jesus-humpers) to get the full effect.

Yes, it's wife swap. Yes, it's garbage. But it's worth it. Jackie Passey Paisley and Aleksey Vayner aren't even close to this guy's league. Hell, they don't belong on the same internet.

If you don't check this guy out, you're missing out. Seriously. Please go and watch. Have a pillow or something close by, because you're going to want to hit something. Enjoy your two-minute hate, flyover nation. Some starter material below the jump.

Update: Not sure how I missed this, but apparently the one person defending the Fowlers is a psychic named Hollis Polk. Apparently, they're terribly close. I particularly enjoyed noting that her aggrieved defense of her friends appears two posts up from one entitled "Yes, consciousness affects water: Entagled minds -- crystal replication study." I swear, you can't make these people up. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:57 PM | Comments (113)
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Bring Out Your Dead! [Vinnie]
— Open Blog

Move along, nothing to see here.

TRENTON, N.J. — The frozen remains of two mice injected with the organism that causes plague have not been accounted for seven weeks after being discovered missing at a University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey facility in Newark, the university said Friday.

The FBI investigated and determined there was no risk to public health or any indication of the terrorist link.

It wasn't the first time plague-infected mice have disappeared from the New Jersey facility. Four years ago, in September 2005, three live mice infected with bubonic plague bacteria disappeared from various cages. Officials later said they believed the rodents had died.

I, for one, and comforted by the tight security being employed by this research facility as regards to deadly infectious diseases. And there's nothing more I like to see than that the officials "believed the rodents had died." Especially in New Jersey, a state which, if you missed it, has a rather decent sized Islamist population. And one more nitpick:

Perlin said the institute has begun taking inventory of all logged hazardous waste bags before sterilization following the incident.

Gee, thanks there fellers. Your new attention to detail cloaks me in the warm and fuzzy glow of blissful security.

H/T Davidray.

Title reference below the fold. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 01:48 PM | Comments (255)
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Exclusive Interview w/ Gen. Odierno
— Uncle Jimbo

This exclusive interview w/ the top Commander in Iraq Gen. Ray Odierno was filmed by JD Johannes in Odierno's office in Baghdad on a trip our new media company sent him on the tail end of last year. The Washington Post's Tom Ricks has a feature piece in today's paper on Odierno that has a lot of good info.

Pt. 1 will follow tomorrow (don't ask why)

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 12:46 PM | Comments (21)
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Obama violating Constitution w/ census heist
— Uncle Jimbo

There is a very interesting piece up at the excellent Samizdata blog about whether Obama's move of the Census to his personal control is unconstitutional. It really seems to be.

In Article I, Section 2 the US Constitution orders that "The
actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first
Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every
subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law
direct."

The Congress, by law directed that:

"The Secretary [of Commerce]
shall perform the functions and duties imposed upon him by this title,
may issue such rules and regulations as he deems necessary to carry out
such functions and duties, and may delegate the performance of such
functions and duties and the authority to issue such rules and
regulations to such officers and employees of the Department of
Commerce as he may designate."

As I read it, the Director of the Census must, by law, be within the Department of Commerce
and under the direction of the (Senate approved) Secretary of Commerce
who then reports to the president. Am I missing something?

I don't see a whole lot of wiggle room in this and I think some lawyer type weasels ought to start pushing back at the Obama for this flagrant power grab. Do we really want ACORN, or some Chicago connected group, conducting the Census. Jonah G at NRO wonders how this would play if W had done it.

I know it was discussed here earlier, but I have  question: What would the lefty blogosphere would say about Bush moving the census into
the White House's domestic policy shop (AKA Karl Rove's office)? In
particular, what if they did it at the behest of members of Bush's
coalition?

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 12:31 PM | Comments (129)
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Could Blogging Have Averted the Madoff Ponzi Scheme?
— Gabriel Malor

An author on the NYSE's blog (who knew?) suggests that Harry Markopolos, the guy who figured out Madoff's investment scheme and tried to warn investors and the SEC would have had a lot more success if he had started a blog.

Markopolos started warning the SEC about Madoff in May 1999. Ultimately, he compiled and sent a memo listing 29 red flags raised by the Ponzi scheme.

Certainly, any failure to convince others was not due to lack of effort. Perhaps Mr. Markopolos lacked only an effective medium to communicate his warning. Here's a thought experiment: What would have happened if Mr. Markopolos had blogged his analysis? That is, what if he had posted the entire piece on a blog, under his name or a pseudonym?

We'll never know the answer, but here's what I think might have followed:

• The post would have quickly spread far and wide among traders and investors. It's a small Street, as the saying goes, and an analysis raising questions about the investment results of a prominent name such as Madoff would have sent e-mails flying.

• Those who had money invested with Mr. Madoff -- or who were thinking of investing -- would have done the same math that Mr. Markopolos had done, undoubtedly reaching the same conclusion. The resulting rush to pull money out and the avoidance of adding new money would have meant a faster end to the alleged Ponzi scheme.

Would it have made a difference? Maybe. Blogging wasn't around in 1999, when Markopolos started investigating. But by 2005 converting his memo to blog posts might have made a bigger splash than sending it to the SEC. Markopolos relied on the SEC to make that information available to investors. Whoops.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:27 PM | Comments (16)
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Italy's Constitutional Crisis
— Gabriel Malor

Italy is facing its own version of the Terri Shiavo controversy. Eluana Englaro was left in a vegetative state after a car crash in 1992. Her father has been trying to remove her feeding tubes for the past ten years, because, according to him, that was her instruction should something like this happen.

After denials in the lower courts, Italy's top court, the Court of Cassation, acknowledged the father's right to disconnect the feeding tubes in November. Since then, Eluana has been transfered to a private hospital in preparation. On Friday, her caregivers began to reduce her feeding.

That's what led to the constitutional crisis:

But in an extraordinary turn of events, the country's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, after consultation with the Vatican, has issued an emergency decree stating that food and water cannot be suspended for any patient depending upon them, reversing the earlier court ruling. On issuing the emergency decree, Berlusconi declared: "This is murder. I would be failing to rescue her. I'm not a Pontius Pilate."

Justifying his campaign to save Englaro's life, the prime minister added that, physically at least, she was "in the condition to have babies", a remark described by La Stampa newspaper as "shocking". Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's president, has refused to sign the decree, but if it is ratified by the Italian parliament doctors may be obliged to resume the feeding of Eluana early this week.

Unlike the Schiavo case, there doesn't appear to be a disagreement about Eluana's wishes. The only issue is whether it is lawful to deprive someone in a vegetative state of food and water. It is legal in Italy for an individual to refuse treatment. The controversy arose because it is Eluana's father, her guardian, who wants to refuse continued treatment.

More: Agence France-Presse has a better write-up than the first one I linked.

Here in the United States it is legal for an individual to refuse life-prolonging treatment, including food and water. Generally, an individual's guardian is presumed to speak for the ward. Schiavo's case was made more difficult because her family alleged that her guardian-husband had a conflict of interest which led him to inaccurately express her wishes.

The lesson of the Schiavo case is to make your wishes clear and complete to more than one person and preferably in writing, so that if something happens to you there is no doubt about what you would have wanted.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:35 AM | Comments (35)
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Undercover at Wal-Mart
— Gabriel Malor

I am an unabashed lover of Wal-Mart, especially the Supercenters. A place I can buy a tube of toothpaste without having to get a mortgage first? I'm there.

So was Charles Platt, a writer doing an undercover stint at a Supercenter in Arizona:

A week later, I found myself in an elite group of 10 successful applicants convening for two (paid) days of training in the same claustrophobic, windowless room. As we introduced ourselves, I discovered that more than half had already worked at other Wal-Marts. Having relocated to this area, they were eager for more of the same.

Why? Gradually the answer became clear. Imagine that you are young and relatively unskilled, lacking academic qualifications. Which would you prefer: standing behind the register at a local gas station, or doing the same thing in the most aggressively successful retailer in the world, where ruthless expansion is a way of life, creating a constant demand for people to fill low-level managerial positions? A future at Wal-Mart may sound a less-than-stellar prospect, but it's a whole lot better than no future at all.

In addition, despite its huge size, the corporation turned out to have an eerie resemblance to a Silicon Valley startup. There was the same gung-ho spirit, same lack of dogma, same lax dress code, same informality - and same interest in owning a piece of the company. All of my coworkers accepted the offer to buy Wal-Mart stock by setting aside $2 of every paycheck.

As the man says, read the whole thing. Not that much of it will be new for AOSHQ readers, but there is quite a bit about basic economics. Though it isn't mentioned, the spectre of EFCA hangs over the whole thing.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:16 AM | Comments (115)
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Ten Years of Bad Science
— Gabriel Malor

Another notch in Lancet's bedpost, too:

THE doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found.

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patientsÂ’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.

Wakefield has been bending the ear of the Congress for ten years now and scaring the bejebus out of parents. To their credit, the CDC and the UK's Department of Health insisted that his research was faulty from the very beginning.

Update: Whenever you talk about vaccine scares you get people going on about thimerosal. Just FYI: the MMR jab never contained thimerosal. Never. Ever.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:07 AM | Comments (106)
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