So Long, Space Shuttle, and Good Riddance

\"Sounds\nMuch hoopla is being expended over the retirement of Discovery, the last Space Shuttle, with reporters waxing poetic, and senior officials crying over the carcass of the blasted thing, ostensibly because of the heroism and audacity of the world's most expensive commuter conveyance, but in all likelihood over the loss of a gravy train such an end represents.

\n

Here, as an antidote to all the maudlin, weepy statism, are the real facts. The Space Shuttle was a hideous waste of money. Its technology was obsolete before it ever launched. Its cost per payload pound skyrocketed from $120 to $24,000, and the two disasters killed 14 astronauts entirely needlessly. NASA is nothing more than a covert missile development program coupled to a jingoistic propaganda program. Good bye, Socialist Space Antique, and good riddance.

","wysiwyg":{"engine":"code","isSource":false,"mode":"htmlmixed","source":""}}" data-block-type="2" id="block-507cb5d2e4b0ea4e44459764">

Sounds about right Much hoopla is being expended over the retirement of Discovery, the last Space Shuttle, with reporters waxing poetic, and senior officials crying over the carcass of the blasted thing, ostensibly because of the heroism and audacity of the world's most expensive commuter conveyance, but in all likelihood over the loss of a gravy train such an end represents.

Here, as an antidote to all the maudlin, weepy statism, are the real facts. The Space Shuttle was a hideous waste of money. Its technology was obsolete before it ever launched. Its cost per payload pound skyrocketed from $120 to $24,000, and the two disasters killed 14 astronauts entirely needlessly. NASA is nothing more than a covert missile development program coupled to a jingoistic propaganda program. Good bye, Socialist Space Antique, and good riddance.

The (insurgent) Campaign for Liberty (2008)

The term ‘insurgent’ has been used (and misused) a whole lot since about ten minutes after the officially announced ‘end’ of the Iraq War. Lucky for us, the US Army Special Forces Counterinsurgency Field Manual

(the book that ‘Surgin’ General’ Petraeus is said to have ‘written’ on the subject)

contains, along with tips on how to win friends, subvert democracy and destroy due process in an occupied country, a handy field guide to three main types of insurgency.

One of these, in light of the end of Ron Paul’s Republican presidential bid, and the beginning of his new vehicle for change, The Campaign For Liberty, is pretty interesting;

“Foco Insurgency.

A foco (Spanish word meaning focus or focal point) is a single, armed cell that emerges from hidden strongholds in an atmosphere of disintegrating legitimacy. In theory, this cell is the nucleus around which mass popular support rallies. The insurgents build new institutions and establish control on the basis of that support.”

Except for the “armed” part (The Revolution has always been explicitly peaceful and anti-war) and the “establish control” bit, this essentially describes the new strategy – to establish a core group of liberty-loving people and to have them (democratically) infiltrate the current system so that they will be ready to liberate the masses when the corrupt, incompetent Empire falls flat on its face.

“The insurgents build new institutions and establish control on the basis of that support. For a foco insurgency to succeed, government legitimacy must be near total collapse. Timing is critical. The foco must mature at the same time the government loses legitimacy and before any alternative appears. The most famous foco insurgencies were those led by Castro and Che Guevara.”

Bad role models from a philosophical perspective, for sure, but in terms of strategy pretty relevant.

“The distinguishing characteristics of a foco insurgency are The deliberate avoidance of preparatory organizational work. The rationale is based on the premise that most peasants are intimidated by the authorities and will betray any group that cannot defend itself. ”

This part doesn’t apply, because this revolution is peaceful, democratic, and overt, the ‘counter-insurgency’ strategies to this will be completely ineffective. Unfortunately, many other CI strategies are already in place and are well-advanced;

“Restrictions. Rights on the legality of detention or imprisonment of personnel (for example, habeas corpus) may be temporarily suspended. This measure must be taken as a last resort, since it may provide the insurgents with an effective propaganda theme. PRC [Population & Resources Control] measures can also include curfews or blackouts, travel restrictions, and restricted residential areas such as protected villages or resettlement areas. Registration and pass systems and control of … critical supplies such as weapons, food, and fuel are other PRC measures. Checkpoints, searches, roadblocks; surveillance, censorship, and press control…”

You get the picture.

Apparently ‘Counter-Insurgency’ has become ‘Pre-emptive Counter-Insurgency’.

We have our work cut out for us.

So Long, Kodak

Just looking at consumer photo, digital photography RADICALLY decreased the cost of taking usable pictures. I used to take hundreds of film pictures in a year. The expense was terrific, and you got ten you didnt want for one you did, if even that. Now you can take hundreds of pictures in an afternoon, and you only need to pay to print the ones you want, AND you can send them to friends, include them in documents, reports, etc. Kodak not only failed to cannibalize themselves, they failed to consider the value of this innovation to their CUSTOMERS, and it was only a matter of time before others did.

Ron Paul's Speech After New Hampshire Primary

Ron Paul New Hampshire Speech\nMAGNIFICENT. Last time, New Hampshire was such a bitter defeat, this time, an incredible vindication;

\n

Watch Ron Pauls Speech After New Hampshire Primary - YouTube.

","wysiwyg":{"engine":"code","isSource":false,"mode":"htmlmixed","source":""}}" data-block-type="2" id="block-507cb5d2e4b0ea4e44459757">

Ron Paul New Hampshire Speech MAGNIFICENT. Last time, New Hampshire was such a bitter defeat, this time, an incredible vindication;

Watch Ron Pauls Speech After New Hampshire Primary - YouTube.

What Went Wrong in 2008 On Wall Street

\"...capitalism has been hijacked, and I'm infuriated. For capitalism to work, people who assume risk should reap the rewards of success, but they also must suffer when losses occur.\" ~Leland H. Faust\n In the 2008 implosion, the banks that were bailed out should have been left to go under - their assets stripped and sold, their officers indicted for fraud or driven out into the street, their profits disgorged, they and their children made outcasts, leaving them in the outer darkness,wailing and gnashing their teeth.

\n

This, after all, is the basic moral logic of capitalism - success is rewarded, failure mercilessly punished. And this is EXACTLY what the politicians prevented from happening - all of them, except Ron Paul, who warned about it, and tried to stop it.

","wysiwyg":{"engine":"code","isSource":false,"mode":"htmlmixed","source":""}}" data-block-type="2" id="block-507cb5d1e4b0ea4e44459752">

"...capitalism has been hijacked, and I'm infuriated. For capitalism to work, people who assume risk should reap the rewards of success, but they also must suffer when losses occur." ~Leland H. Faust In the 2008 implosion, the banks that were bailed out should have been left to go under - their assets stripped and sold, their officers indicted for fraud or driven out into the street, their profits disgorged, they and their children made outcasts, leaving them in the outer darkness,wailing and gnashing their teeth.

This, after all, is the basic moral logic of capitalism - success is rewarded, failure mercilessly punished. And this is EXACTLY what the politicians prevented from happening - all of them, except Ron Paul, who warned about it, and tried to stop it.

Winner of the NH Debate - RON PAUL!

He was strong. He was himself. \u00A0As Leaonard Read used to say, he didn't \"leak\". And ABC re-ran his best lines coming out of the breaks! MAGNIFICENT;
\n
\n","wysiwyg":{"engine":"code","isSource":false,"mode":"htmlmixed","source":""}}" data-block-type="2" id="block-507cb5d1e4b0ea4e4445974a">
He was strong. He was himself.  As Leaonard Read used to say, he didn't "leak". And ABC re-ran his best lines coming out of the breaks! MAGNIFICENT;

Proposed List Of Demands For Occupy Wall St Movement!

\"\"\nA guy named Lloyd J. Hart proposes a list of DEMANDS the Occupy Wall St. protestors might make, assuming they succeed at, well, I'm not exactly sure what they are trying to accomplish, though I sympathize with the impulse. The demands are listed here. Iam going to take the bait and critique each demand;

\n

\nDemand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending \"Freetrade\" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.

\n

This is actually two or three demands, as far as I can tell. The first demand, a high, protectionist tarriff, has an easy answer - Mr. Smoot, meet Mr. Hawley ( from the US State Department website); \"U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade declined by some 66% between 1929 and 1934.\" Also a $20 minimum wage, which will have the immediate effect of rendering everyone whose marginal revenue product is less than $20 unemployed and unemployable forever, or at least as long as it takes for the stupidity of said law to become grotesquely apparent.

\n

\nDemand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.

\n

Actually, the only effect medical insurance would have in a completely free market for medical care is that people who have uncertainty about the likelihood of future major medical medical expenses purchase inexpensive catastrophic coverage, and the provider of said coverage makes a profit. Otherwise, everyone else enjoys cheap, freely-available healthcare, unburdened by the awful AMA and FDA.

\n

\nDemand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.\n

\n

Extends demand 1A to people who cannot or will not produce a marginal revenue product at all. As if subsidizing unemployment has ever done anything but create more of it.

\n

\nDemand four: Free college education.

\n

Already done. You can get the very best college education imaginable completely free ,well, almost. You have to have a computer and an internet connection to access MIT's entire curriculum for free, on line. Beats the hell out of spending $250,000, and six years at a shitty state school, drinking beer and hooking up, doesn't it?

\n

\nDemand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.

\n

Already well underway. The rise in price of fossil fuels (when you tease out Fed inflation) is moving slowly and steadily upward. Or, at least it would be without massive government subsidies to fossil fuel industries such as pollution permits, tax policy, and direct military intervention. Nuclear power has an even worse government subsidy regime. And as for current alternative energy policies, they only serve to subsidize old tech, are economically dubious at best, or, as in the case of Solyndra, ethanol, and other boondoggles cross the line into criminality and fraud.

\n

\nDemand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.\n

\n

Again, mostly done. the Obama Stimulus spent, what, $750 billion on exactly that. And as you can see, all of our pressing infrastructure needs are completely resolved.

\n

\nDemand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.\n

\n

7a) Give all federal lands back to nature and allow anyone to homestead them. 7b) End the TVA and BPA, here and all other monstrous Federal Dam authorities. 7c) End Price-Anderson, The Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and all state Public Utility Commissions, and make the contractors who built them and the companies that run them fully liable for any damage to persons or property.

\n

\nDemand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.\n

\n

8a) Done, see the 13th amendment. 8b) Tried that, almost passed until women realized what a raw deal it was for them.

\n

\nDemand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.\n

\n

Easy enough. End the Drug War and the Welfare state, or at least put a time threshold on collecting benefits, say 5 years. Then an open border would be welfare-neutral. Small side-effect though - immigrants will work you out of a job, kinda neutralizes Demand 1A.

\n

\nDemand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.\n

\n

Not sure how this helps, when there is no real choice in US elections, but OK, I'll give you that one.

\n

\nDemand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the \"Books.\" World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the \"Books.\" And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.

\n

11a) Forgiveness of sovereign debt - Well, finally a demand we wholeheartedly agree with! I didn't consent to any politician running up a debt, I damn sure don't want me, my children, or my great-great-great-great grandchildren held responsible to pay for Bush's and Obama's wars; 11b)Commercial loans already have a forgivenness provision, it's called BANKRUPTCY; 11c) Ditto for individuals; 11d) I told you you can get a college education for free, why the hell did you take out crushing loans?; 11e) See 11a); 11f) Are you sh!tting me? Letting the BANKS out of their obligations? They have already been bailed out tho the tune of $TRILLIONS. You sound like a corporatist! I assume this was an oversight.

\n

\nDemand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.\n

\n

Tough to do, we do have a thing called the First Amendment.

\n

\nDemand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.\n

\n

DONE. Any worker can sign any paper at any time now. Oh, you mean then that an employer has to recognize said paper as a legal binding obligation on him under penalty of law! Um, that's going to be difficult to do. There are a lot of unemployed people already who will not likely favor this idea once it becomes apparent that this will make unemployment worse.

\n

\nThese demands will create so many jobs it will be completely impossible to fill them without an open borders policy.\n

\n

A complete non-sequitur, but OK, let's see how it pans out.

\n

But come on, people, where is the radicalism? Where are the demands to End the Wars, End the Drug War, and End the Federal Reserve? Too busy grabbing socialist loot I guess.

\n

That's OK - Ron Paul has got you covered.

","wysiwyg":{"engine":"code","isSource":false,"mode":"htmlmixed","source":""}}" data-block-type="2" id="block-507cb5d0e4b0ea4e4445972d">

A guy named Lloyd J. Hart proposes a list of DEMANDS the Occupy Wall St. protestors might make, assuming they succeed at, well, I'm not exactly sure what they are trying to accomplish, though I sympathize with the impulse. The demands are listed here. Iam going to take the bait and critique each demand;

Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.

This is actually two or three demands, as far as I can tell. The first demand, a high, protectionist tarriff, has an easy answer - Mr. Smoot, meet Mr. Hawley ( from the US State Department website); "U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2,341 million in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. Overall, world trade declined by some 66% between 1929 and 1934." Also a $20 minimum wage, which will have the immediate effect of rendering everyone whose marginal revenue product is less than $20 unemployed and unemployable forever, or at least as long as it takes for the stupidity of said law to become grotesquely apparent.

Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.

Actually, the only effect medical insurance would have in a completely free market for medical care is that people who have uncertainty about the likelihood of future major medical medical expenses purchase inexpensive catastrophic coverage, and the provider of said coverage makes a profit. Otherwise, everyone else enjoys cheap, freely-available healthcare, unburdened by the awful AMA and FDA.

Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.

Extends demand 1A to people who cannot or will not produce a marginal revenue product at all. As if subsidizing unemployment has ever done anything but create more of it.

Demand four: Free college education.

Already done. You can get the very best college education imaginable completely free ,well, almost. You have to have a computer and an internet connection to access MIT's entire curriculum for free, on line. Beats the hell out of spending $250,000, and six years at a shitty state school, drinking beer and hooking up, doesn't it?

Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.

Already well underway. The rise in price of fossil fuels (when you tease out Fed inflation) is moving slowly and steadily upward. Or, at least it would be without massive government subsidies to fossil fuel industries such as pollution permits, tax policy, and direct military intervention. Nuclear power has an even worse government subsidy regime. And as for current alternative energy policies, they only serve to subsidize old tech, are economically dubious at best, or, as in the case of Solyndra, ethanol, and other boondoggles cross the line into criminality and fraud.

Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.

Again, mostly done. the Obama Stimulus spent, what, $750 billion on exactly that. And as you can see, all of our pressing infrastructure needs are completely resolved.

Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.

7a) Give all federal lands back to nature and allow anyone to homestead them. 7b) End the TVA and BPA, here and all other monstrous Federal Dam authorities. 7c) End Price-Anderson, The Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and all state Public Utility Commissions, and make the contractors who built them and the companies that run them fully liable for any damage to persons or property.

Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.

8a) Done, see the 13th amendment. 8b) Tried that, almost passed until women realized what a raw deal it was for them.

Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.

Easy enough. End the Drug War and the Welfare state, or at least put a time threshold on collecting benefits, say 5 years. Then an open border would be welfare-neutral. Small side-effect though - immigrants will work you out of a job, kinda neutralizes Demand 1A.

Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.

Not sure how this helps, when there is no real choice in US elections, but OK, I'll give you that one.

Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.

11a) Forgiveness of sovereign debt - Well, finally a demand we wholeheartedly agree with! I didn't consent to any politician running up a debt, I damn sure don't want me, my children, or my great-great-great-great grandchildren held responsible to pay for Bush's and Obama's wars; 11b)Commercial loans already have a forgivenness provision, it's called BANKRUPTCY; 11c) Ditto for individuals; 11d) I told you you can get a college education for free, why the hell did you take out crushing loans?; 11e) See 11a); 11f) Are you sh!tting me? Letting the BANKS out of their obligations? They have already been bailed out tho the tune of $TRILLIONS. You sound like a corporatist! I assume this was an oversight.

Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.

Tough to do, we do have a thing called the First Amendment.

Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.

DONE. Any worker can sign any paper at any time now. Oh, you mean then that an employer has to recognize said paper as a legal binding obligation on him under penalty of law! Um, that's going to be difficult to do. There are a lot of unemployed people already who will not likely favor this idea once it becomes apparent that this will make unemployment worse.

These demands will create so many jobs it will be completely impossible to fill them without an open borders policy.

A complete non-sequitur, but OK, let's see how it pans out.

But come on, people, where is the radicalism? Where are the demands to End the Wars, End the Drug War, and End the Federal Reserve? Too busy grabbing socialist loot I guess.

That's OK - Ron Paul has got you covered.

Elizabeth Warren, and that "Social Contract"

Sheldon Richman points out in The Freeman today that Elizabeth Warren, late of presidential advising, and snubbed for a prime sinecure is running for Senate from Massachussetts. Her ads mar all my Facebook pages, and as Sheldon points out, her entire schtick is that rich corporations benefitted from taxpayer largesse, so they should pay more, a lot more. Left out of this equation are the other 100 - 200 million taxpayers, and what THEY would rather have done with the money. But that's life in the Left Lane, isn't it? Full of sleight-of-hand and rhetorical tricks.\nI commute in southern New Jersey on either I-295 (taxpayer-paid) or the New Jersey Turnpike (user-fee paid with some taxpayer subsidy) \u2013 they run roughly parallel along this stretch, so they \u201Ccompete\u201D for users. Because the NJTPK is tolled, while I-295 is not, you would think that a business using this route, say Bolt Bus or one of the Chinatown buses would use I-295 exclusively. In fact, while there is some of both, most of them appear to prefer the Turnpike. Why is that so? After all, they are already paying corporate tax, payroll tax, fuel tax, and apportioned highway taxes, but on TOP of that, to use the Turnpike, they ALSO have to pay a (presumably significant) TOLL. Why, exactly, IS that?

","wysiwyg":{"engine":"code","isSource":false,"mode":"htmlmixed","source":""}}" data-block-type="2" id="block-507cb5cfe4b0ea4e44459717">

Sheldon Richman points out in The Freeman today that Elizabeth Warren, late of presidential advising, and snubbed for a prime sinecure is running for Senate from Massachussetts. Her ads mar all my Facebook pages, and as Sheldon points out, her entire schtick is that rich corporations benefitted from taxpayer largesse, so they should pay more, a lot more. Left out of this equation are the other 100 - 200 million taxpayers, and what THEY would rather have done with the money. But that's life in the Left Lane, isn't it? Full of sleight-of-hand and rhetorical tricks. I commute in southern New Jersey on either I-295 (taxpayer-paid) or the New Jersey Turnpike (user-fee paid with some taxpayer subsidy) – they run roughly parallel along this stretch, so they “compete” for users. Because the NJTPK is tolled, while I-295 is not, you would think that a business using this route, say Bolt Bus or one of the Chinatown buses would use I-295 exclusively. In fact, while there is some of both, most of them appear to prefer the Turnpike. Why is that so? After all, they are already paying corporate tax, payroll tax, fuel tax, and apportioned highway taxes, but on TOP of that, to use the Turnpike, they ALSO have to pay a (presumably significant) TOLL. Why, exactly, IS that?

Ron Paul: The Only One We Can Trust - YouTube

Forbes: Is Thorium the Biggest Energy Breakthrough Since Fire?

Is it, really? Then let them try it, with no subsidies.

No monopoly distribution model.

No State PUC, NRC, or Department of Energy protection from competition.

No Price-Anderson Indemnification.

No carbon taxes.

No disposal subsidy.

No lawsuit protection or "tort reform".

No EPA pollution "permits".

No favorable tax treatment.

Build it on the market, or not at all.

Is Thorium the Biggest Energy Breakthrough Since Fire? Possibly. - Forbes.

When I Was Seven...

\u2026I would have traded my left eye for a bike this cool;\n\"\"

\n

LOOK at the friggin\u2019 MAG WHEELS, for one thing. HOLY SH!T!

\n

But if you go by the idiots that post reviews of stuff online, it\u2019s a cheap piece of crap;

\n

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20250806100208AAUILrE

\n

Is a 20\" Mongoose Rebel Freestyle Bike a good bmx bike?

\n

\u201CI was just wondering is this was a good bike because i have this bike and I want to start bmx. So yeah. And what are good brakes for this bike?\nPlease answer. Thanks \u201C

\n

\"Chipilinby Chipilin the pug

\n

Member since:

\n

July 09, 2025

\n

Total points:

\n

856 (Level 2)

\n

Best Answer -\u00A0Chosen\u00A0by Voters

\n

\u201Cnoo not good they suck if its from\u00A0walmart or any other dept store so no it sucks its to heavy. a goodBMX bike costs like 900 and up get a haro only buy the bike at\u00A0bike shops no where else\u201D

\n

\n

Apparently, according to these geniuses, you have to spend $300 - $800 (and definitely NOT $130 at Wal*Mart) to get an acceptable bike for a SEVEN YEAR OLD.

\n

SIGH.

","wysiwyg":{"engine":"code","isSource":false,"mode":"htmlmixed","source":""}}" data-block-type="2" id="block-507cb5cee4b0ea4e44459707">

…I would have traded my left eye for a bike this cool;

LOOK at the friggin’ MAG WHEELS, for one thing. HOLY SH!T!

But if you go by the idiots that post reviews of stuff online, it’s a cheap piece of crap;

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20250806100208AAUILrE

Is a 20" Mongoose Rebel Freestyle Bike a good bmx bike?

“I was just wondering is this was a good bike because i have this bike and I want to start bmx. So yeah. And what are good brakes for this bike? Please answer. Thanks “

Chipilin the pugby Chipilin the pug

Member since:

July 09, 2025

Total points:

856 (Level 2)

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

“noo not good they suck if its from walmart or any other dept store so no it sucks its to heavy. a goodBMX bike costs like 900 and up get a haro only buy the bike at bike shops no where else”

Apparently, according to these geniuses, you have to spend $300 - $800 (and definitely NOT $130 at Wal*Mart) to get an acceptable bike for a SEVEN YEAR OLD.

SIGH.

You Think YOUR Job is Tough? Try This!

Foundry workers in West Bengal, India

I would love to study the safety culture of this plant - if it is even half as safe as the manager claims it is, we could learn a tremendous amount about what it takes to run a truly safe operation;

New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India - New York Times;

“We can’t maintain the luxury of Europe and the United States, with all the boots and all that,” said Sunil Modi, director of Shakti Industries. He said, however, that the foundry never had accidents. He was concerned about the attention, afraid that contracts would be pulled and jobs lost...

India’s 1948 Factory Safety Act addresses cleanliness, ventilation, waste treatment, overtime pay and fresh drinking water, but the only protective gear it specifies is safety goggles.

Mr. Modi said that his factory followed basic safety regulations and that workers should not be barefoot. “It must have been a very hot day” when the photos were taken, he said...

...At the Shakti Industries foundry, “there are no accidents, never ever. Period,” Mr. Modi said. “By God’s will, it’s all fine.”

via New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India - New York Times.

CNN’s Sanjay Gupta Thinks Battlefield Medicine Is Just Super

I happened to catch a bit of this on XM the other morning, and I was SHOCKED by the, er, ENTHUSIASM Gupta and his co-host showed toward the idea that getting to work on war-pulverized bodies was a good thing; CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, MD highlights Battlefield Breakthroughs - National Military Community | Examiner.com.

Peter Schiff powns The Ben Bernank

"...by claiming that the dollars exchange rate has no effect on domestic prices, Mr. Bernanke demonstrates that he probably lacks the competence to be a bank teller, let alone Chairman of the Federal Reserve. A weaker dollar means Americans have to pay more for imported goods. But it also means domestic producers have to pay more for raw materials and imported components, which raises domestic production costs as well. It also means that more domestically produced goods are exported, reducing the supply and raising the price of what is left for Americans to consume. This is Econ 101." via It Aint Money If I Cant Print It! by Peter Schiff.

Coal -> Natural Gas -> Electricity = Pure Green Insanity

[caption id="attachment_1262" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Actual Photo of Coal-To-Gas-To-Electricity Technology"]Actual Photo of Coal-To-Gas-To-Electricity Technology[/caption] "Gov. Pat Quinn will sign controversial "clean coal" legislation Wednesday that paves the way for a new plant in Chicago that converts coal to natural gas, the Tribune has learned"

When is the approval coming for the plant that produces electricity by burning piles of thousand-dollar-bills? OH WAIT - ITS THE SAME PLANT

It would be hilarious, except that real people need the tax money more.

(PHOTO: NASA Global Warming Propaganda Pages)

Robert Higgs Has Had It With The 'Social Contract'

"I most emphatically do not hate America. I was not born in some foreign despotism, but in a domestic one known as Oklahoma, which I understand to be the very heart and soul of this country so far as culture and refinement are concerned. Moreover, for what it is worth, some of my ancestors had been living in North America for centuries before a handful of ragged, starving white men washed ashore on this continent, planted their flag, and claimed all the land they could see and a great deal they could not see on behalf of some sorry-ass European monarch. What chutzpah! I yield to no one in my affection for the Statue of Liberty, the Rocky Mountains, and the amber waves of grain, not to mention the celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras County. So when I am invited to get out of the country, I feel like someone living in a town taken over by the James Gang who has been told that if he doesn’t like being robbed and bullied by uninvited thugs, he should move to another town. To me, it seems much more fitting that the criminals get out." via Consent of the Governed? | The Beacon.

Uh Oh – Italy Is Coming Apart Like a 20-Dollar Suit

[caption id="attachment_1250" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Standing Around While Rome Burns"]Standing Around While Rome Burns[/caption] Last October I spent a week in Rome. The tax police (Guardia di Finanza) were EVERYWHERE, and NO ONE was paying any tax...and the Communists were decrying government "austerity" measures;

[caption id="attachment_1252" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Italy Is Not Greece"]Italy Is Not Greece[/caption]

If it does turn out that Italy needs a bailout, it is going to change the entire game in Europe.

What is going on in Italy right now is potentially far more serious than what has been going on in Greece. Italy is the fourth largest economy in the European Union. If Italy requires a bailout, the rest of Europe might not be able to handle it.

An anonymous European Central Bank source told one German newspaper the following on Sunday....

"The existing rescue fund in Europe is not sufficient to provide a credible defensive wall for Italy"

The source also added that the current bailout fund "was never designed for that".

Uh Oh – Italy Is Coming Apart Like a 20-Dollar Suit.

Taxing "Those Rich People"

Whenever I hear a proposal to \"tax the rich\", they are talking about a couple making over $250,000 in EARNED (salary) income (or 'S' corporation business). I point out that in a high-cost area like New York City or Los Angeles, this would include a hypothetical couple consisting of a cop and a nurse, making a good bit of overtime, which is already drained away by high living expenses and local taxation. Peter Schiff explains why these \"rich\" are already being taxed at historically high levels;\n\"Today a married couple with a combined income of $250,000 (assuming each spouse earns 125,000) will pay about 40% of their combined incomes in Social Security, Medicare, and federal taxes, if they take the standard deduction. (I have included as part of their incomes and taxes the Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on their behalf by their employers \u2013 which in reality are borne by the employee anyway. I then added that figure to their incomes, and divided the total tax paid by that higher income.\u00A0 I did not factor in this year\u2019s one time 2% payroll tax holiday.)

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Compare that to a household in 1950 that earned $25,000 per year (the approximate equivalent to $250,000 today). Assuming all the income was earned by the husband, which was the norm at the time, the total tax take using the standard deduction and including both the employee and employer social security taxes, would have been just below 22%. In other words, despite claims that taxes are at their lowest levels in 50 years, today\u2019s high earning couple pays over 80% more in federal taxes than their 1950 counterpart!\"

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via Don\u2019t be Fooled by Political Posturing | Euro Pacific Capital.

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Whenever I hear a proposal to "tax the rich", they are talking about a couple making over $250,000 in EARNED (salary) income (or 'S' corporation business). I point out that in a high-cost area like New York City or Los Angeles, this would include a hypothetical couple consisting of a cop and a nurse, making a good bit of overtime, which is already drained away by high living expenses and local taxation. Peter Schiff explains why these "rich" are already being taxed at historically high levels; "Today a married couple with a combined income of $250,000 (assuming each spouse earns 125,000) will pay about 40% of their combined incomes in Social Security, Medicare, and federal taxes, if they take the standard deduction. (I have included as part of their incomes and taxes the Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on their behalf by their employers – which in reality are borne by the employee anyway. I then added that figure to their incomes, and divided the total tax paid by that higher income.  I did not factor in this year’s one time 2% payroll tax holiday.)

Compare that to a household in 1950 that earned $25,000 per year (the approximate equivalent to $250,000 today). Assuming all the income was earned by the husband, which was the norm at the time, the total tax take using the standard deduction and including both the employee and employer social security taxes, would have been just below 22%. In other words, despite claims that taxes are at their lowest levels in 50 years, today’s high earning couple pays over 80% more in federal taxes than their 1950 counterpart!"

via Don’t be Fooled by Political Posturing | Euro Pacific Capital.