Whatever Works

Looks like my Congresscritter has had a little ‘work’ done

Moe — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:45:42 +0000

Vern used to look like this.

Then the chin went away and he looked like this.

Now his eyebrows seem to have been repositioned. Some people just don’t know when to stop.

Fire with fire, goose / gander, what goes around . . .

Moe — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:41:56 +0000

I love this woman. All hail Janet!

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

Evangelicals aren’t the only ones who are down with Israel at war

Moe — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:14:30 +0000

When you have $22 billion, giving ten million to a guy to publicly advocate for the cause of your lifetime is cheap, especially if he salutes and does it. Sheldon Adelson got his money’s worth with Newt.

In December, Gingrich proclaimed the Palestinians “an invented people.” Israel’s Haaretz daily reported later that month that Adelson approved of the remarks. And Gingrich has said that one of the first executive orders he would sign if elected president would move the American Embassy to Jerusalem.

That embassy pledge isn’t new in American politics. But Gingrich also said that Isreal’s official capital, Jerusalem, must be defended as such. I’m not certain what that means, but I’ll guess that it’s a call to reject sharing the city, a negotiating point in all peace talks. He simply dismisses the fact that Jerusalem is central and foundational and sacred to all three Abrahmic relligions. (Fine from a private citizen, but reckless from a public politician running for Presdient.)

Adelson is an ardent Zionist who advocates for the U.S. to adopt the most hard line policies on Israel, stuff even Netanyahu rejects - the kinds of positions opposed by large numbers of Israelis, perhaps even a majority. Positions that ignore danger, shut down negotiatios and invite war.

At least, he doesn’t pretend. He puts his money where his mouthpiece is. And there’s plenty more where that ten million came from.

Still believe in The Heritage Foundation?

Moe — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:49:23 +0000

Will the apologists for our emerging American oligarchy try to talk their way around even this?

According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, the United States has an economic freedom score of 76.3, which makes the United States rank tenth out of one hundred seventy-nine ranked countries. Hong Kong ranks first, with an economic freedom score of 89.9.

For those who don’t know, here‘s who they are:

Heritage’s stated mission is to “formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense”.

They think we’re not doing so well. And in case you didn’t know, here’s who they are:

Heritage is primarily funded through donations from private individuals and charitable foundations. Businessman Joseph Coors contributed the first $250,000 to start The Heritage Foundation in 1973. Other significant contributors have included the conservative Olin, Scaife, DeVos and Bradley foundations.

In 2007, Heritage reported an operating revenue of $75.0 million dollars. As of February 2011, Heritage reported 710,000 supporters.^[28] Heritage Foundation is also a part of the Koch Foundation Associate Program.^[29]

Those are family foundations, very very conservative family foundations that provided much of the funding for the anti-Clinton crusade of the 90′s: the eternal Paula Jones lawsuit, the fake Whitewater ‘scandal’ – even personal financial support for the public accusers around the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

They are also drivers of a new American oligarchy. Putin would love them.

For non-bloggers: A look behind the curtain

Moe — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:51:41 +0000

Lessons in spam: How [not] to Sound Like A Person:

I had been questioning occasion you ever considered altering customized for specific cultures of the website? Its really correctly created; I adore what youve obtained to say. But possibly it is possible to small a lot more when it comes to content so males could interact with it greater. Youve obtained a terrible total lots of text for only finding a single or two images. Maybe you’ll manage to area it out greater?

We all get robo-spam, those announcements of the latest ‘enhancement’ drugs or miracle weight loss systems. For every one that gets through, 100 others are probably kept out of your inbox by a blocker.

Same with blogs – Aksimet on WordPress does a fine job for
Whatever Works. (It’s blocked almost 14,000 spam comments from making it through, but does hold them for review, just in case.)

Robo spammers (see above) have been working at creating auto generated and specific ‘comments’ based on the content of a post. Sometimes they’re even successful, but not often. Sheer awfulness still reigns supreme. It’s a Beta world so far.

But that could change. I notice lately that the language is a bit sharper, the comment itself more relevant, almost believable.

The goal for now is commercial, to encourage a blogger to click through. Which means of course that the goal is to deceive.

I do wonder about future implications for us all when deception is run by software, is automated, targeted and widespread.

Laughing out loud: Maru is back in tip top form

Moe — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:30:31 +0000

Watch it – you know you want to! Maru is one determined cat, who lives in so clean and uncluttered a house that it makes me wonder if he is really a visitor from the future - where they’ve somehow conquered dust and dirt and grease?

I’m m-e-e-l-l-t-i-i-n-n-g . . .

Moe — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:20:00 +0000

Imagine the pudgy face of the serial-adulterer and debater-in- chief in place of Margaret Hamilton’s iconic visage here.

Polls not looking good for Mr. “I will be the candidate”.

. . . after several days in which Romney has hammered Gingrich over his consulting work for mortgage giant Freddie Mac, the former Massachusetts governor leads the former House speaker, 40 percent to 32 percent.

The Friday night oldie that gets posted on Friday instead of Thursday

Moe — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:19:40 +0000

The one, the only, Patsy Cline. (Listening, I sorta picture Newt doing this about 11pm last night. The ‘you’ he’s searching for, of course, would be himself.)

From my paper this morning

Moe — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:24:24 +0000

Republican candidates proclaim Obama’ an economic failure, mistaking slow growth for no growth or contraction. Or they’re just lying. Here are seven headlines from the front page of the Business section of my paper this morning:

Spending more, laying off fewer
Hiring and investment show companies plan to grow (National story). [boxed quote accompanying that story: "With big ticket spending rising and the labor market firming, the economy is a lot better than some central bankers think."]
Delayed a year, recovery is inevitable says Florida economist (Local story)
Lakewood Ranch makes sales list: ranked number 9 on national list with 301 new home sales in 2011 (Local story)
Survey of architects shows growth likely (Local story)
Another call center is moving to Bay area (Local story)
Caterpillar profit climbs 60 percent (National story)

Aren’t the candidates here in Florida? Maybe they should read the papers.

Newt’s gonna lose it after all

Moe — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:58:58 +0000

Andrew Sullivan surfed the interwebs tonight so we didn’t have to and gathered this damning round-up of conservative post-debate commentary. Not seeing anything but good news for Romney here:

Rod Dreher thought Romney wiped the floor with Gingrich:

Romney won this debate, and probably Florida, and so the nomination. Newt collapsed, as bullies and blowhards often do when somebody fights back. Santorum auditioned for Romney’s VP, and greatly enhanced his chances. Ron Paul shines on, that crazy diamond [great line].

Will Wilkinson seconds him:

Romney started strong, completely obliterating Newt on immigration and questions about his finances, and then stayed strong. Santorum again turned in an admirably dogged performance, but so what? Romney won the debate and the nomination.

Larison likewise expects a Romney win in Florida:

Romney held off Gingrich, and Gingrich was flailing most of the night. Unless something strange happens in the next few days, Romney should hold his lead in Florida. Santorum may have gained a little, but nowhere near enough to challenge for second place. Paul did a decent job tonight, but Florida is not a good state for him and he’s already looking to the caucus events in February.

There’s much, much more at the link. All of it worth a read if you’re interested in the Florida vote on ~~Monday~~ Tuesday.

Or just read the rest here after the jump.

Jonah Goldberg gives Gingrich low marks:

I would have bet before the debate that Newt was going to re-energize the race tonight and win the Florida primary. Now, I kind of doubt it.

W. James Antle III agrees:

Gingrich seemed tired, unprepared, and off his game tonight — bad timing for the former House speaker. Romney had some clunkers — he got caught redhanded on the anti-Newt attack ad, the line about not making his own investments could come back to haunt him, and he denied being politically involved during a time period that included a Senate campaign — but he had the better showing overall. I’m seeing many people argue that Gingrich has sharpened Romney as a candidate.

PM Carpenter was amazed by the fight in Romney:

I’m as stunned by Romney’s vitality and aggressiveness as Gingrich is. I thought Romney would coast tonight as best he could, given his upward movement — i.e., Gingrich’s downward movement — in Florida polls. But Romney clearly believes he is now fighting for his political life, and that Florida might be his firewall after all.

E.D. Kain’s verdict:

Fundamentally, Romney was much better than we’ve seen him in some time. He started out a little sketchy, but rallied early on and got plenty of kidney punches in at Newt. Both Ron Paul and Rick Santorum sounded more sincere than either Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney. Of course I find most of the things Santorum actually says fairly repulsive, while I find Ron Paul to be a continued breath of fresh air and sanity. Yes, I find most of what Paul says thousands of times saner than what his GOP rivals say. And Paul says a lot of crazy things.

Kain notes that InTrade is betting overwhelmingly on a Romney win in Florida. Dave Weigel ponders Santorum’s attack on Romneycare:

Santorum is completely right that Romney can’t oppose the idea of a health care mandate (a conservative idea until 2009, etc, etc) in a debate with Barack Obama. I’m just not sure of the calculus here: Which votes does Romney lose in a general election because he’s critical of the national health care law but not defends state mandates?

Fallows focuses on the same exchange:

I am not a Republican strategist, but if I were, I would wonder about the problem of the “strongest” candidate making a flat-out ridiculous and disprovable claim about the issue his party says is the most objectionable part of the current president’s program.

Matt Welch liked the audience reaction:

Debates are so much better with a raucous audience. The spectacle of an establishment media dinosaur like Blitzer trying to keep the conversation on trivialities, and getting booed by a bunch of voters, give me hope for this country.

Henry Olsen felt Romney did well, aside from one mistake:

One bad point for Mitt: He didn’t know it was his own radio ad that attacked Gingrich for allegedly calling Spanish the language of the ghetto. Newt picked up on this at one point, and if a man whose primary rationale for running is his ability to run his company, the fact he seemed not to know what his company was doing might undermine his credibility.

Jennifer Rubin celebrates Gingrich’s collapse:

I’d be surprised if the Romney camp had a hand in every statement and article that criticized [Gingrich] over the last week or so. (They aren’t that good.) Conservatives have had enough of him, and have come forward out of fear he might actually get the nomination. After tonight they have less to fear. Not only did Romney have the best debate of the primary season, but Santorum’s strong showing should bleed votes away from Gingrich as well.

And Andrew Sprung, like most of the blogosphere, thinks Newt is finished:

The ready-made attack ads for Democrats may be over; they will have to make their own case against Romney.

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