patrick.net

clambo says

The point of Benghazi is it was a lie to the public to suit Obama's political needs before an election. Some people take great exception at being lied to.

Benghazi!! Someone needs to explain to me how Pearl Harbor can occur on FDR's watch, the worst terror attack in history can occur on Bush's watch and both are reelected.

Obama, smelling victory, must've decided he didn't want the obvious BUMP in the polls a sympathetic electorate gives the incumbent.

Conversely, Bush the elder had a spectacular "victory" in Iraq, but since it didn't coincide with the election, he was easily trounced.

Yessiree, the GOP makes a lot of sense. Maybe one more committee will finally get to the bottom of this. Obama was just trying to go easy on Romney rather than trouncing him even worse than he thumped McPalin, Romney being the father of ACA and all.

Because you know that, deep down, the electorate was just aching for some good old-fashioned war and terrible economic policies. If only they knew the truth!

Bubbabear says

bubblesitter says

Yeah, that's the sign of a healthy housing market.

How eerily familiar....this same ole song and dance, only this go around we don't have anyone left to pick up all the pieces

"With this mysterious taper dance an all going on"

Call it Crazy says

bubblesitter says

Remember, prices matter most,

Hmmm... I wonder where I've heard that before???

I'm glad you guys are finally getting it.

SoftShell says

temporarily spinning the news of a terrorist attack into news of an unplanned civil disturbance

Actually, the NYT investigation found no evidence that al Qaeda was even involved:

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/benghazi/

The investigation by The Times shows that the reality in Benghazi was different, and murkier, than either of those story lines suggests. Benghazi was not infiltrated by Al Qaeda, but nonetheless contained grave local threats to American interests. The attack does not appear to have been meticulously planned, but neither was it spontaneous or without warning signs.

Again, this has already been investigated thoroughly -- the effort to keep it in the news is a sideshow with the hope that it's repeated by clueless chumps who can't make real arguments.

clambo says

Illegal alien workers do not create any wealth. They simply depress wages and take jobs away from legal workers.

There's plenty of data on this that you're ignoring. What you're saying flies in the face of facts, end of story.

clambo says

In fact, it encouraged more illegal alien workers coming here.

Again, not true. There was a clear cut-off date that meant further workers would get no relief, and in fact lots of the people who didn't qualify have gone back or gotten deported since then. You're again talking about things that are well-settled in fact.

clambo says

Illegal alien workers do not create any wealth. They simply depress wages and
take jobs away from legal workers.

Someone needs to explain the massive fall of California over the last 4 decades in virtually every metric that coincides with the major increase in un-educated, low-skilled immigrant workers. What went wrong? If it can't work in California which is a massive state blessed with tremendous natural resources to buffer against inept Democrat governance, where on earth can it work?

Republicans have to lie, to trick the dumb ass democrats into forcing heritagefoundationcare down our collective throats

socal2 says

Far more Democrats believe that 9/11 was an inside job or that Bush was aware of it too.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/120815791/Fairleigh-Dickinson-poll-on-conspiracy-theories

"Twenty-five percent of registered voters think it’s probably true that President Bush knew about the 9/11 terrorist attacks before they happened, a figure that includes 36 percent of Democrats"

"The most popular of these conspiracy theories is the belief that President Obama is hiding important information about his background and early life, which would include what’s often referred to “birtherism.” Thirty-six percent of Americans think this is probably true, including 64 percent of Republicans and 14 percent of Democrats."

So, no.

You are not entitled to more than what the free market will pay. You should be extremely grateful to your betters that you have any job at all.

High taxes have driven our job creators to Cayman Islands assets. Similarly, high wages drive them to build factories overseas. It is more efficient for the job creators to cheaply staff factories here: this creates wealth for all of us.

The sole obligation of the wealthy is to themselves and their stockholders. If you can't provide better value for money than a Mexican or Pakistani worker, then you're not much of a worker, and it's time to stop spending your money on rims for the El Camino and better belt buckles and get better training, or become an entrepreneur.

The world, the wealthy, and the United States government do not owe you a living. Sink or swim: no more coddling.

We need to take care of the wealthy - give them everything they want. Otherwise they will leave and we will all starve.

jazz music says

That's why it pisses people off so much when you pop their disinformation
bubble. You're trying to tell them that everything they "know" is wrong.

Ha ha! The cognitive dissonance is so thick! Conservatives live in a bubble because they have one cable channel and AM freaking radio!? Really?

Liberals dominate virtually the ENTIRE ESTABLISHMENT that shapes our culture from Academia, Media, Hollywood, and Music. So we have a bunch of smugly group-think Libs who only know what they hear on Comedy Central and never stray from their conformity.

This Monopoly allows seemingly smart Liberals to believe in crazy things like:

- Efficacy of Ponzi Schemes for municipal pensions;
- Government can run our healthcare - just like their awesome performance running the VA system;
- Importing more un-educated, low skilled immigrants will be good for the economy, wages and unemployment;
- We are all going to drown unless we de-industrialize our economy ASAP and doom billions of 3rd world people back to famine;

It really takes some "well-synchronized lies" for so many people to believe in so many dumb things.

You are forgetting the most important thing here, which is that Bush is not running for re-election. Hillary is.

socal2 says

Liberals dominate virtually the ENTIRE ESTABLISHMENT that shapes our culture from Academia, Media, Hollywood, and Music.

Again this is using the following definition of liberal.

Liberal: Anyone who is not extreme right wing lunatic.

I see that liberals are still blaming Bush.
Exactly when does Obama take ownership?

It's all Obama's fault!!!

socal2 says

- Importing more un-educated, low skilled immigrants will be good for the economy, wages and unemployment;

Importing low education/low skill, i.e. if we only passed the guest worker program, will result in the overall GDP increasing and wages increasing for high-skilled/high-education workers, but wages decreasing for low-skill/low-education workers. This issue has been studied.

If instead we had comprehensive immigration reform, which includes more provisions for high-skill/high-education workers, a guest worker program, and certain other provisions dealing with existing undocumented immigrants, then our GDP would go even higher and wages would rise across the board. Again, this has been studied.

This link mentions a few different studies:

http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/economic-benefits-immigration-reform

Most of the rest of what you said is straw man stuff.

corntrollio says

If instead we had comprehensive immigration reform, which includes more
provisions for high-skill/high-education workers,

The Bogus High-Tech Worker Shortage: How Guest Workers Lower US Wages
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/the-bogus-high-tech-worker-sho/

LOL
This is why I don't buy GM junk.

zzyzzx says

It's all Obama's fault!!!

I actually agree.

bgamall4 says

You have no phone to God, however, you have said you are not a Zionist, but you debunk every Zionist conspiracy.

But this conspiracy to fake vaccines for little children, this disgusting conspiracy and hoax, you cannot debunk, Bigsby.

Whereas you presumably have a hotline to 'him?' After all, you make constant claims about his intentions.

And I debunk your zionist conspiracies, do I? Oh, my. I believe Sandy Hook actually happened. And the bombing in Boston. You think they were two pieces of made up theatre, the impossibility of which is clear to all but the flakiest of conspiracy nuts (I'm talking about you, Gary, if you were wondering). Not believing your laugh out loud nonsense about those events has nothing whatsoever to do with my views on zionism.

And trying to use this vaccination ruse (because it is that rather than a conspiracy or hoax) as some sort of confirmation of your other views is preposterous. It was the method they used to collect DNA samples. Not then completing the full course of vaccinations once they had collected their samples is hardly evidence of your Sandy Hook and Boston conspiracy theories, is it?

socal2 says

California ranks near the bottom for education (despite our massive taxes).

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/01/california-schools-rank-low---again---in-education-week-report.html

Funny how the same link says that Nevada is in last place, despite having extremely low taxes. Maybe education achievement and tax rates aren't fully related, perhaps?

bgamall4 says

Well, in a bubble payments matter the most. But in the real world, ultimately bubble prices can hurt you even if you can barely afford the payment.

Does anyone want to offer a translation of that?

socal2 says

Lets see.

California has the highest poverty rate in the country.

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21590933-americas-biggest-state-has-americas-biggest-poverty-problem-not-so-golden

Yet we have the 2nd highest tax rate in the country.

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/20/business/la-fi-mo-taxes-states-20140320

California ranks near the bottom for education (despite our massive taxes).

There are so many indications of the fall of California you could go on forever. California is at the top or near the top of so many negative statistics based on capita. It leads in things like hate crime, neighborhood and school racial segregation, income inequality, worst high school graduation rates, unemployment, etc etc.

And to think this used to be Sunny, Fun, and Rich California. When I was a kid and used to travel, people used to say "Wow, you're from California? You're so lucky". Now they look at you with disdain if you say the same thing. Hmmmm what has changed in the last 25-30 years?

corntrollio says

Funny how the same link says that Nevada is in last place, despite having
extremely low taxes. Maybe education achievement and tax rates aren't fully
related, perhaps?

America spends more per pupil than any other OECD country, yet our education results suck.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-education-spending-tops-global-list-study-shows/

America has shitty bureacracies running our government (thanks to public sector unions). We spend more on everything to get crap results.

Why is it wrong to demand better performance from our elected government as opposed to simply giving them more money to piss away via higher taxes?

IRT - California and Nevada, both have very high Hispanic populations. It is pretty hard to do well in school if English is not your native language.

socal2 says

The Bogus High-Tech Worker Shortage: How Guest Workers Lower US Wages

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/the-bogus-high-tech-worker-sho/

Different terminology and different programs. It sounds like you haven't read any of the blueprints for comprehensive immigration reform, and also you probably haven't read the link you sent and are just going on the headline.

Call it Crazy says

Hmmmm.... only 4 out of 23 on the areas that REALLY mean something to buyers...

http://autos.jdpower.com/ratings/performance.htm

Sort of an irrelevant stat for vehicle dependability. For example, one of the "winning" cars is the Range Rover, which always comes up worst in quality rankings because they are so damn unreliable. If you're talking about flash, sure.

I'd note that it's impressive that GM brings 4 cars to that table, but no one ever cites the APEAL study as an arbiter of anything, normally. Certainly, you won't care about it when your Range Rover has been in the shop for 6 of the last 8 weeks. I had never even heard of this study before, and I read way too much about cars for my own good.

Some observatiions from outside the dem/rep nonsense

I hear democrats mention benghazi more often than repubs

Will this end up being like ppaca, where the repubs trick the dems into doing their bidding, for them?

You think what with all of the problems the country currently faces, that, if dems were in fact what they claim to be, our solution to the republican problem, than they'd ignore the nonsense, and direct the national conversation towards some real solutions. Instead, we get

- Fox News blah blah blah
- stupid republicans and their fake benghazi scandal
- sarah palin

Yet not a lick of substance. Its why I maintain that, as bad as the GOP is, the dems are possibly even worse

Call it Crazy says

Bigsby says

bgamall4 says

Well, in a bubble payments matter the most. But in the real world, ultimately bubble prices can hurt you even if you can barely afford the payment.

Does anyone want to offer a translation of that?

He's YOUR buddy, you should know it by now!!!

LOL. Bigs, you fed him. He's all yours now. :)

Call it Crazy says

Those are major areas. If only 4 make the list out of 23 groups within 90 days (when you should be the happiest with your new car), that's pretty telling....

4 win the category (i.e. sub-compact and sub-compact SUV, compact, and light duty truck). It's entirely possible that other GM cars are in the top 3 in the other 19 (looks like at least 3 other GM cars are in the top 3). Again, this is completely irrelevant to anything -- no one gives a flying fuck about this study in the grand scheme of things if you know anything about cars. The Porsche Cayenne winning its category is largely irrelevant as to sales or dependability -- overall it's not a very high volume seller, and very few of those cars are high volume.

The initial claim was that they are junk, and the IQS and VDS show that GM cars are not. Most people looking for reliable transport aren't necessarily looking for flash.

I know plenty of republicans. The democrats just blabber on about benghazi, sarah palin, and fox news much more than their repuke counter parts.

Its like they have you right where they want you. As if you're being played like a pawn. I mean, look at your self. Fox news this, benghazi that. No discussion allowed on ppaca (other than to call those of us rightfully critical, as a bunch of right wing loon racists).

Now is the dems opportunity. Everyone knows the repubs suck. So if the dems are to be the solution to the repub problem, they're gonna have to utilize their window. But I don't want to keep you from important benghazi stuff, get back at it. Fox news and right wing loon radio,,,,ah looks like they've played you like a pawn. Again

Call it Crazy says

The OP was about the record level of GM RECALLS, many include SAFETY issues

Many of the recalls have nothing to do with safety per se or do not make the cars unsafe right away.

In fact, recalls are the right thing to do because it indicates the manufacturer is doing something about it. There are many other companies that aren't nearly above board and will refuse to do recalls or only do them silently at the next service interval.

In addition, your ideological bent about "Government Motors" is largely irrelevant to the recalls. Let's look at the Zerohedge article you sent:

In a continuing effort to quickly address emerging safety issues, General Motors announced today it is recalling about 2.42 million vehicles in four separate U.S. recalls. The recalls are for:

1,339,355 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia full-size crossovers from the 2009-2014 model years and Saturn Outlooks from 2009-2010 because front safety lap belt cables can fatigue and separate over time. In a crash, a separated cable could increase the risk of injury to front seat passengers.
1,075,102 of the previous generation 4-speed automatic transmission Chevrolet Malibu and from the 2004-2008 model years and Pontiac G6 from the 2005-2008 model years because of a shift cable that could wear out over time, resulting in mismatches of the gear position indicated by the shift lever.
1,402 Cadillac Escalades and Escalade ESVs from the 2015 model year because an insufficiently heated plastic weld that attaches the passenger side air bag to the instrument panel assembly could result in a partial deployment of the air bag in the event of a crash.
58 Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD full-size pickups from the 2015 model year because retention clips attaching the generator fuse block to the vehicle body can become loose and lead to a potential fire.

Out of the more than 2 million cars recalled, only 1460 were designed and built during the "Government Motors" era. The others were designed prior to the US government buying a big stake. That's 0.06%, for those keeping score. Cars have a very long design timelime, and platforms can be in use for a long time (e.g. previous generation W-body Impala, and if you're talking about Ford, Panther).

Bigs, we lost him, man. He's gone.

lakermania says

And to think this used to be Sunny, Fun, and Rich California. When I was a kid and used to travel, people used to say "Wow, you're from California? You're so lucky". Now they look at you with disdain if you say the same thing. Hmmmm what has changed in the last 25-30 years?

The Reagan revolution, aka supply side economics. Part of the philosophy was to move spending from federal to state level.

Then there's prop Prop 13 (the effects kicking in).

Just to name two of the biggest changes.

Before we get lost in all the piles of the dem on dem constructive criticism, where we discussed and critiqued dem pols, let's remind ourselves that out of the 317 Americans that make up the citizenry, only 60 Million people voted for the repub in the most recent prez election

That's 19% of the population

Good to keep in mind, when dreaming up different ways to empower the usfedgov. That if you give the gov enough power, it only takes 19% of the population to ruin everything to the point where all we can do is develop exit strategy

marcus says

Then there's prop Prop 13 (the effects kicking in).

Shudder. Just imagine how much worse California government's services, budgets and liabilities would be today if they pegged more of their tax receipts to California's volatile property values during the bubble years? Talk about Armageddon! The fuckers would be closing libraries, schools, parks, power during the crash until we agreed to pay up with unpayable bonds or higher taxes to fund them.

Thank God for prop 13, it is just about the only throttle on the totally incompetent libs running California who are intent on marching the entire State to bankruptcy.

CL says

True dat. The standard GOP trick is to accuse the Democrat of everything under the sun until there is an air about them that stinks.

Uh-huh,

Kind of like how Democrats will find some obscure Republican or primary challenger (Atkin) say something foolish about abortion or witches, or take something way out of context (47%) and make every Republican nation-wide own and apologize for it the entire campaign.

If the Democrats didn't run on girly social issues (Fluke, slut, gays, abortion, contraception) and didn't have the massive power of the media and culture to frame and brand Republicans as people who should "rot in hell" - I don't know how you guys could ever win more than 30% of the vote, ever.

Sometimes I think our CIA is ran by a group of psychopath's. The things they do, and evils they plan are the kinds of things no normal human being would even want to consider.

bgamall4 says

Bigsby says

And trying to use this vaccination ruse (because it is that rather than a conspiracy or hoax)

That is where your logic is flawed. It was a conspiracy to collect DNA without giving the required immunizations to protect the children. I know you are a hard hearted bastard, Bigsby, but children?

You are the one using this to try and prop up your moronic conspiracy theories. You are the one who baselessly accuses hundreds of parents/family/friends of lying about the deaths of their family members/friends, all to boost your meager sense of self-worth. And apparently, I am the hard hearted bastard. Go figure.

And do you notice how this DNA gathering has become public knowledge. Do you notice how few people were involved in it? How few people knew about it as it was taking place? And yet what happened has still become known. And despite all this, you still think the thousands of people caught up in Sandy Hook and Boston are all actors, and that to this day, every man, woman, and child and all the people who know them are still keeping quiet about it. You need to take a long, hard look at yourself.

Bellingham Bill says

Now the GOP's got millions of racists and southern baptists (and crypto-baptist evangelical organizations) locked up.

Ha! I forgot about the raaacist charge.

The libs got nothing but screechy rhetoric trying to scare the girls cause they got nothing to run on or brag about. I expect to hear this all they way until 2016:

"Republicans are a "vile cult" that are a bunch of "racists" who "H8 science" want women to birth "rape babies" throw gays in jail and "lied about WMDs" so we could kill Muslims, and should generally just"rot in hell"."

bgamall4 says

The point is, Fort Wayne is right. They do things like setting up a vaccine program, dispense with the 2 vaccines necessary for it to work, just to spy. They do things that most people would not contemplate because of the scope of their evil. The "parents" in the Sandy Hook Hoax were CIA without conscience and without a moral bone in their bodies.

Don't be ridiculous. Intelligence agencies around the world do far worse on a day-to-day basis. The CIA isn't some special case.

And just look at what you are doing. You couldn't help yourself, could you? Once again inserting Sandy Hook into the discussion. And now apparently the parents aren't actors, they are CIA. Get a fucking grip. They lost their children you fucking imbecile. You know nothing about them. Nothing. And yet you accuse them of being CIA and being 'without a moral bone in their bodies.' You really are a despicable excuse for a human being.

bgamall4 says

Like that makes it OK for the CIA to endanger children? What kind of a degenerate putz are you Bigsby?

Where did I say it was OK? And what kind of 'degenerate putz' baselessly accuses parents of murdered children of being CIA agents?

bgamall4 says

Sandy Hook video shows the degeneracy of Robbie Parker.

No, it doesn't. It shows that you are a conspiracy loon.

bgamall4 says

YOu defend fraud and evil Bigsby. It is obvious that a hoax happened with the vaccines and a hoax happened with Sandy Hook. Too many hoaxes imbecile. You truly are a wasteland of human stupidity, Bigsby.

No, I don't.

You, on the other hand, latch on to monstrous conspiracy theories to try and bolster your sense of self-worth.

The vaccination programme has become common knowledge. Why not discuss the implications of that action? But oh, no, you don't actually give a toss about it. You are simply using it so you can continue to prattle on about your idiotic Sandy Hook conspiracy theory, attempting to draw some sort of parallel between the two that simply doesn't exist. The people involved in collecting the DNA samples should have completed the vaccination programme. What was obviously wrong with it, and that has had severe consequences, is not that they attempted to collect DNA but that they callously failed to complete the necessary vaccination regime.

Discuss that. You don't because you don't care. You simply want to use it so that you can post up for the millionth time that stupid fucking video.

And WTF do you mean 'too many hoaxes'? That's because you see a bloody hoax everywhere you look. Zionist conspiracy hoaxes at that.

WOW! The UNtrustworthy are certainly in control of what information is apparent to the people!

Say hey! This was in the Wall Street Journal on March 30, 1999. Note "... how much it will buy."

Holy cow/interesting/compelling ...!

And where is it up to date??? Right here ... see the first chart shown in this thread.
Recent Dow day is Tuesday, May 20, 2014 __ Level is 103.2

WOW! It is hideous that this is hidden! Is there any such "Homes, Inflation Adjusted"? Yes! This was in the New York Times on August 27, 2006:

And up to date (by me) is here:
http://patrick.net/?p=1219038&c=999083#comment-999083

WOW! The UNtrustworthy are certainly in control of what information is apparent to the people!

And "ThePublic Be Suckered"
http://patrick.net/?p=1230886