This study purports to show that "scared" herbivores carb-load and this causes them to decompose in a less environmentally-helpful way, after they die.

No, not kidding.

Observe the scientific technique:

They placed cages in areas of natural vegetation and allowed some grasshoppers to be alone while others were placed in cages with a spider. They glued the mouths of the spiders shut in order to make sure that the grasshoppers experienced pure fear, but were not actually killed by the predators.
Previous research has shown that grasshoppers, which normally consume nitrogen-rich grass, move to a diet of carbohydrate-rich grass to cope with stress.

This replicates that state of nature where grasshoppers and spiders are in contact with each other for extended periods of time, the grasshopper never gets away, and the spider constantly menaces but never catches its prey. Also; 'previous research?' That leads me to believe these researchers never bothered to replicate those results in this experiment.

But, let's give it to them. Let's say that animals that die after hitting the potato chips, decompose very differently from how they do after a salad. We will agree for the sake of getting along, that the relative paucity of nitrogen in these nervous, pasta-bingeing grasshoppers produces a less beneficial effect on soil flora (if they had a *more* beneficial effect, this data would be very inconvenient).

Naturally, the conclusion to be drawn here is that these processes affect the climate! OK, they don't actually say that, but carbon is so often cited as a catalyst for The Villainous Warmening, that the words 'global carbon balance' and 'climate' are virtually interchangeable in articles devoted to the subject.

They found the grass decomposed between 60 per cent and 200 per cent faster in soil containing stress-free grasshoppers compared to the stressed grasshoppers, a result they say is "huge."
--------snip-----------

"This shows that animals could potentially have huge effects on the global carbon balance because they're changing the way microbes respire organic matter."

It shows no such thing (if this article is accurate about the research)! At most, it shows that soil nitrogen speeds up composting. That's about it. We already knew that. There's nothing here that suggests these researchers have reason to extrapolate that herbivore mood affects the carbon balance of the globe.

I mean...just...damn. Please. Please, people. This nonsense has to stop.

Oh, no, but never mind. The evidence for a phony chain of events is being manufactured, so let's go on and jump ahead a few bricks: stressed animals contribute to Global Climate Change. You heard it here first. And you should all stay out of the woods, lest you startle some chipmunks and magically convert them into pollutants. One can only look forward with delight to what the carbon-obsessed EPA will do with further studies like this.

Killer poison ivy, dinosaur flatulence and terrified crickets. They're really grasping for straws.

Posted by: LauraW at 08:58 AM | Comments (116)
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If it were a good bill, it could be described accurately.

The fact that it must be described inaccurately by its champion means it's a bad bill. Or, at the very least, an inferior bill to the one he describes in speeches.

1) The decree doesn’t just apply to illegal immigrants who were “brought to this country by their parents.” It also would give work permits to those who snuck across the border by themselves as teenagers. “Through no fault of their own” is a talking point for DREAM proselytizers, not an actual legal requirement. 2) The same goes for the phrase “and know only this country as home.” That’s a highly imaginative riff on the decree’s actual requirement, which is for 5 years “continuous residence.”

And 5 years continuous residence includes five half-year trips back home.

And if you're doing that, hey, you're welcome to do so. I'd prefer illegal immigrants at least spending some time in their legal country of residence.

But if they're doing that, obviously the US is not the only country they know as home.

Posted by: Ace at 08:33 AM | Comments (131)
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With skidmarks or something, leading to its resting place.

Stefan Hogeborn, one of the divers in the expedition, said he was perplexed by the shape and structure of the circular object, which is about 60 metres in diameter and rises three to four metres from the seabed. ThatÂ’s roughly the size of a jumbo jet.

Adding to the mystery, the object was also reported to have a 400-metre-long trail leading away from it, similar in appearance to skid marks. Another smaller disc-shaped object was found nearby, also with apparent drag lines about the same length.

Hoax? Or near-hoax-- like they can plainly see the structure they're describing is made of rock, and a perfectly natural (if unexpected) feature of the ocean, but are holding back that part of it?

I assume it's not a USO (unidentified submerged object). Well, I mean, it is, but you know what I mean. I assume the identification will not involve the Mermen of Alpha Centauri.

Posted by: Ace at 08:05 AM | Comments (123)
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What she's arguing is that the Budget Control Act passed in 2011 -- the sequester bill passed to avert a shut-down -- counts as a Super Budget, or something.

That wasn't a budget.

It would be one thing if she confined herself to making an argument, that the Budget Control Act is something like a budget. But she attempts to lie about and claim the Budget Control Act simply is a budget. It has "budget" in the title, see?

Adding to that is the fact that she's so bubbly and schoolmarm-ish as she tells a very obvious lie.

It's one thing to lie. It's another thing to appear to enjoy lying.

Posted by: Ace at 07:39 AM | Comments (99)
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Politicians can talk about "smaller, more nimble force" but unless they reduce commitments and the definition of our strategic interests it just means doing the same or more with less.

Behold the soon to be new normal for the US Navy.

The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group is days away from a nine-month deployment — one of the longest CSG cruises in decades.

On Wednesday, the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with Carrier Airwing 8, and destroyers Winston S. Churchill and Jason Dunham will leave Norfolk, Va., and cruiser Hue City and destroyer Farragut will leave Mayport, Fla.

Navy officials said the long deployment is driven by ongoing demands around the globe and a finite number of ships in the fleet. The Ike CSG is expected to complete operations in the 5th and 6th fleets.

The longer deployments were scheduled to take some of the burden off of other ships in the fleet that have been well-used over the last decade, said Rear Adm. Philip Davidson, the director for Global Force Management, Operations and Intelligence at Fleet Forces Command, in an email to Navy Times.

I know Army types will say "boo-hoo nine months is nothing" but it's not the comparisons to other services that count, it's the change in operating tempo compared to previous experience within the Navy.

Nine month deployments mean more stress on crew and ships, wearing both out sooner. The idea of shrinking the Navy is simply idiotic unless or until the world suddenly grows a lot more land and a lot less water.

A hollowed out Navy...Just another way Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:12 AM | Comments (189)
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Happy Tuesday.

ABC News has sources that say Sen. Rubio has not been asked to complete any questionnaires or been asked to turn over any financial documents typically required of potential vice presidential candidates. Conclusion? He's not on the VP short list. There's a bit of hedging since we are, after all, two months out from the convention.

Speaker Boehner and Sen. Lieberman not only managed to save the D.C. voucher program, but expanded it, in response to President Obama's attempt to kill it completely. The continued vitality of the program was important to students and parents. It was also important because it is one of the longest-running school choice programs, which means it has the most robust data showing that school choice has better outcomes than just giving lump sums to the teachers unions. There was some indication that Obama was trying to kill it for that reason alone.

While you were sleeping, the Senate managed to wrangle a possible way forward for the stalled farm bill. Even if the Senate manages to pass it, however, the House would have to get on board.

ICYMI yesterday, the Roger Clemens steroid perjury retrial ended yesterday with a very fast jury verdict of not guilty. Big waste of time, but I hope we've all learned a Very Important Lesson about maybe-lying to Congress, mmkay?

Newark Mayor Cory Booker is still grovelling after getting called on the carpet for derailing the President's attack on private equity.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:50 AM | Comments (414)
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Oh and everybody who emailed me should be unbanned now. It turns out the secondary spam filter was eating people's comments without any warning messages.

Describe The Driver - Part IV

Well this definitely falls under my more-than-3-bumper-stickers = The Crazy rule.

Funny - I'm not really getting the 'Respect' and 'Unity' vibe off of this vehicle despite the stickers. And might I suggest this worthy addition:

And perhaps this less-smug-but-more accurate version of the annoying 'Coexist' sticker:

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:11 PM | Comments (540)
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I'm not saying it, because I'll tell you right now those things give me the heebie jeebies, but the whole damned world is off it's nut right now because some Dem representativelady said it in the Michigan State Congress yesterday.

What the hell. What, the hell.

The Democratic state representative has defended her use of the anatomical term, saying her remarks were 'clearly appropriate' and did not justify her being banned by the Republican House leadership.

Maybe not the whole damned world. Perhaps that's a bit much. It might be something less than the whole damned world.

Despite my discomfort in general with this girl part thing (they are confusing like calculus except calculus has rules and shit) her specific statement, "'And finally, Mr. Speaker,’ she said. ‘I'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no.’" is just silly. A cutesy little shocka line. The controversial part of the bill that was passed was a halfway mark "no abortions after 20 weeks" thing.

It seems silly to me for Republicans to muzzle her in response to her use of the word "vagina" however cutesy stupid her motivation.

Oh shit. I said it.

Me, personally? I'd have put a bucket on my head and run around in circles until I hit a wall. I do not want to hear about vag. I'd rather play a round of golf than listen to lawmakers talk about vaginas, and you know how I feel about golf.

But I don't like shutting down speech. And seeing lawmakers get the vapors over a word.

I would have preferred "punani" but that's just a personal thing with me.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:26 PM | Comments (120)
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Did Elena Kagan (or someone else) give them a heads up or not?

Hard to know, because it seems that either way, the Obama Administration would prepare for the law to be struck down, in whole or in part.

I think all we can say (or guess) is that Kagan didn't give them a heads up that it will be upheld in the entirety, or else they wouldn't have to keep talking about their back-up plan.

The White House says President Barack Obama is confident the whole law will be upheld when the court issues its ruling in the next week or two, but officials will be ready for any outcome.

"We do believe it's constitutional, and we ... hope and expect that's the decision the court will render," senior adviser David Plouffe said Sunday on ABC. "We obviously will be prepared for whatever decision the court renders." Administration officials have not wanted to discuss contingency plans to avoid creating the impression that the president is preparing for a high court rebuke.

Nevertheless, the Obama administration will move ahead to implement major elements of the law if the individual coverage requirement is struck down, two senior Democrats told The Associated Press. One is a leading Democrat familiar with the administration's thinking, the other a high-level Capitol Hill staffer. The two Democrats spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid appearing to be out of step with the administration's public stance.

If the Supreme Court strikes down just the mandate, they leave the system in even worst peril than they came to it -- now all insurers will be required to cover all enrollees, even those who apply for insurance on the day they get a bad prognosis, with no method (such as the mandate) insulating them from that system-gaming.

This is a case where the Supreme Court will be called into a role it is ill-equipped to serve (and forbidden, by the Constitution): Super Legislators, creating an entirely new law out of bits and pieces of what remains, picking and choosing what they think should stay or think should go.

They can't do that. They would be drafting the new law for a year, and they simply do not have the power of legislating. They also don't have the ability to craft such a project.

They must strike it down in whole and simply let the process begin anew, where it's supposed to begin, and end: In the Congress.

Short of that, they can impose a 90 day or 150 day clock: If a new law addressing these problems is not proposed by Congress and enacted into law (by the President), then the whole law must fall.

They cannot leave incoherent scraps of a dead law on the books, with Congress and the President gridlocked about the way to change it.

Ginsburg's Recent Comments:

Ginsburg noted that one ACA-related question the court must decide is whether the whole law must fall if the individual mandate is unconstitutional — “or may the mandate be chopped, like a head of broccoli, from the rest of it?”

The court wouldn't have to reach that question (and would not reach it) if the threshold question -- is the mandate constitutional? -- were answered in the affirmative.

But that could just be a big head fake.

But then, why head fake? It's her job to not speak of the Court's ruling until it's announced; it's not her job to affirmatively fool people.

She's not George R. R. Martin. She's not supposed to be going for surprise twists.

Posted by: Ace at 04:01 PM | Comments (194)
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Greece owes 161 billion (billion with a b) Euros to other Eurozone governments (mostly Germany), and 50 billion (still with a b) to the European Central Bank.

They cannot possibly repay it. Not only can't they -- it's pretty clear they don't want to. They ran up a titanic bill on someone else's credit card, and are simply not going to be paying that. Ever.

There's an old saying: If you owe a bank a million dollars, it's your problem.

But if you owe a bank a billion dollars, it's the bank's problem.

I'm not sure what the election matters in the scheme of things -- stay or go, Greece is either simply going to repudiate its debt or Germany is going to have to cover the bill (a massive wealth transfer from Germany, and other more responsible nations, to Greece).

And it gets worse. Because even while taking a 70 billion write down, the Germans would then have to extend new credit to the Greeks, and hope they'd pay that back.

Which they won't. Duh.

And the Germans don't want to do that, for obvious reasons.

All this election stuff. The election doesn't change the basic fact. Whoever is in power, Greece cannot pay, and will not pay. And Spain cannot pay, either.

And the Germans do not want to send more of their wealth to foreigners. And Eurozone or not, they are foreigners. They already moved a substantial portion of the West German wealth to rescue East Germany (during reunionification).

I do not see any way out of this. The EuroZone project is doomed, and no one seems willing to confront this basic fact. And further, I don't even see how it helps all that much to confront it, except that Germany gets to keep its money.

Posted by: Ace at 03:32 PM | Comments (154)
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