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Billboard on Morena Boulevard Predicts May 21 Will Be Judgment Day
My friends, this is great news! I just double-checked how this Christianity deal works. We have until about 5:30 pm on the 21st to party like it's the end...well, you know what I mean. Then, about half an hour before the trumpets announce the rapture, I'm turning my life over to Jesus, coming to the Lord, believing in him with all my heart and soul, earning his eternal forgiveness and salvation. Again, I double-checked the rules. He HAS TO FORGIVE me. No choice. Gotta take me. Cool, huh? I can sin all I like, and at the last minute I still get into heaven. (Too bad if there's some really godly person who just before the deadline has an unclean thought, cause they're totally screwed.) So, until then, I'll be enjoying myself ...and for all you regular Reader commentators, since most of you unrepentant sinners will be left behind, will one of you make sure to water the lawn after I'm raptured up to heaven? Thanks! Rev. Fred Williams Doctor of Divinity— May 4, 2011 5:17 a.m.
The Federal Reserve's Money Orgy
Hey Don, look what Taibbi had to say about Hayek this week: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibbl… "By the way, I have read The Road to Serfdom, and to me it’s right up there with The Fountainhead, Cherneshevsky’s What is To Be Done?, and Beck favorite The 5000-Year Leap on the all-time list of pretentious, badly-written Bibles of political quackery." (I've not got a dog in this fight, personally, just found the rap video quite enjoyable...I'm interested nowadays on how epistemological biases influence economic decisions, evolutionary/bahavioral economics -- theorists like Hayek and Keynes are becoming irrelevant with the last decade's advances in cognitive science, just as much as the last decade's economic modeling failures.)— May 4, 2011 5:02 a.m.
SDG&E Smart Meters – cause of heart trouble?
Coral, you got the picture. It's the government mandating that everyone must have a trojan horse installed. Feel safer and more secure yet? Seriously, for those who are fighting this on health grounds, please take a hard look at the technical and legal ramifications...you've got a better chance of prevailing.— April 30, 2011 11:55 p.m.
SDG&E Smart Meters – cause of heart trouble?
I don't know the merits of the biological affects described here, though I'm skeptical... What I'm more concerned about is Fourth Amendment violations that can result from misuse of these meters. Measuring information about energy usage, and then beaming that several times a day to a central data-collection and analysis system, means that whoever controls that system knows some interesting details about the residents. Who controls that information? Who "owns" that information? Can it be re-sold? Can it be used by police without a warrant or probably cause to go on investigative fishing expeditions...say for indoor marijuana growers? As long as the conversation is focused on the alleged health affects, most people are going to dismiss this as unimportant. I think the smart meter people are quite happy that this is the only opposition they seem to be facing.— April 30, 2011 6:57 a.m.
The Federal Reserve's Money Orgy
-- Favorite lines in the video -- Capitalism's about profit and loss You bail out the losers there's no end to the cost The lesson I've learned is how little we know The world is complex, not some circular flow The economy's not a class you can master in college To think otherwise is the pretense of knowledge— April 30, 2011 5:28 a.m.
The Federal Reserve's Money Orgy
Don, for a bit of relief from what is a steady drone of depressing financial news, take a few minutes to watch the latest "rap" video from Econ Stories TV. http://econstories.tv./ Yes, it's Keynes v. Hajek, Round 2...more economic theory in eight minutes than is taught in college today. Best, Fred— April 30, 2011 5:17 a.m.
Case-Shiller Home Data Dismal -- Even in San Diego
Hypothetically, Don, how would I make a bet (oh, right, "invest") that the prices go down to 2002 levels and lower (adjusted for inflation) based on the theory that since wages haven't increased since even before then, housing prices must return to the historic relationship with income. Further, since markets tend to over-shoot up and down, it's reasonable to expect prices to fall far below that historic relationship before the market recovers. So, say I had a thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket...how would I bet (oh yeah, it's "investing") on this analysis. Best, Fred— April 26, 2011 8:12 a.m.
Major League Baseball Will Run Dodgers
Don, you wrote: "Fortunately for San Diego, one-time Padres majority owner John Moores's divorce may have been messy, but was kept relatively quiet...." I don't agree. San Diego would be far better informed today if we had all been privy to the details of John Moores finances. We would have all seen the proof that his "wealth" was stolen from us. Unfortunately, it was all kept hush-hush. Everyone got paid off, it seems, except the taxpayers whose representatives John Moores bribed to enrich himself. Had we seen this information, perhaps the pitchforks and torches would be out now, and everyone in town would be demanding that John Moores be prosecuted criminally, and sued civilly, so we might have a chance of getting that money back. As it is, the whole mess seems destined to be forgotten, and only the unions (who connived with Moores in the ripoff) will be "punished" for the ballpork district scam. The most culpable, like Jack McGrory and the CCDC crew, have been most rewarded. So it's sad that San Diego didn't find out what was behind the Moores divorce settlement. We've missed an opportunity to educate the public on how the wealthy and powerful use the props of philanthropy and sports franchises to steal from us all.— April 20, 2011 8:37 p.m.
San Diego Redevelopment: They Prey, We Pray
Some say "if the money isn't captured by CCDC, it's lost to Sacramento". In fact, the money would go directly to local San Diego schools. In the case of CCDC's demise, the money would go directly SDUSD and the County Board of Education. As it stands now, CCDC TAKES money from the local schools, and then Sacramento is legally obligated to make up the shortfall. Low income housing is what CCDC claims to have provided over the years. They'll get together with the Housing Commission (whose board is made of political hacks) and announce they've built thousands of units. Look into the details, however, and you'll find that they're double counting, mislabelling "affordable", ignoring how many of the really desirable units were picked up by staffers and their friends or family...and on, and on. CCDC and the developers will claim that it's only through their near-divine intervention that we have Horton Plaza, Gaslamp, the "thriving" ballpark district...ad nauseum. Don Bauder has documented how Horton Plaza is a money loser. Gaslamp is basically bars, restaurants,and nightclubs...great fun, but not something to call an economic engine. The ballpark is costing taxpayers $25M annually. Those "luxury" condos built with CCDC money are still too expensive for any sane person to buy, so they sit empty. It's a shell game. Fraud. Immoral, unethical, illegal, and still unprosecuted or unpunished. If the legal community refuses to take action, it's time for the religious community to jump in and condemn what is so obviously an abomination in San Diego.— April 13, 2011 10:29 p.m.
How Washington Post Licks Boots of Federal Government
In computer science, feedback loops lead to systems collapse. Government funds media, which says what the government wants, which give more funds... -- or worse Media produces stories, which prompts government reaction, which produces government money, which is subject of triumphant media stories...and so on. I think the latter has happened in this case, and wouldn't think it difficult to put together a trail of stories over the last decade extolling private educational institutions like Kaplan in the media entities controlled by the conglomerate. So in the IT world this would have guys working around the clock to fix it. In American political discourse, this is met with a collective yawn.— April 13, 2011 12:40 p.m.