Alcohol..... it's what makes Bartman interesting

Drinking plays an important and sometimes unexpected role from one day to the next in young couples' romantic relationships, according to a new study by University at Buffalo and University of Missouri researchers.

Really? Who funded this "study"? One night at your local night club could have told you this.

I guess these "researchers" have never heard the tequila ad line........

Tequila..... Helping ugly people get laid since 1790!

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Life in "Progress" City - LA edition

From the city of angels, where there hasn't been a conservative run the city since Gog decorated his first cave with some animal drawings out of mammoth blood.

New stand-alone fast food restaurants have been banned from setting up shop in South Los Angeles, due to rising health concerns by the city council.

How many fast food eateries does one area really need? The Los Angeles City Council thinks South Los Angeles and South East Los Angeles need new choices as these regions face an over-concentration of such restaurants.

"This is not an attempt to control people as to what they can put into their mouths. This is an attempt to diversify their food options," said councilmember Jan Perry.

Riiight..... how is it that the people who are most inclined to preach choice when it comes to baby carvings seem to deny choices for everything else?

Denying your choice for a big fat Carl Jr. burger?

Now that's "progressive"!

The Gore Effect

You really can't make this stuff up..........

As negotiators from nearly 200 countries met in Cancun to strategize ways to keep the planet from getting hotter, the temperature in the seaside Mexican city plunged to a 100-year record low of 54° F. Climate-change skeptics are gleefully calling Cancun's weather the latest example of the "Gore Effect" — a plunge in temperature they say occurs wherever former Vice President Al Gore, now a Nobel Prize-winning environmental activist, makes a speech about the climate. Although Gore is not scheduled to speak in Cancun, "it could be that the Gore Effect has announced his secret arrival," jokes former NASA scientist Roy W. Spencer.

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Life in "Progress" City - New York

From the great city of New York, where there hasn't been a conservative run the city since Thag opened the first "pre owned" wheel lot in town.

The cost of driving in New York City is about to get more costly. That is, if you need medical attention after an accident.

In a time of tight budget times, the city is looking for new ways to recoup costs.

And drivers needing help from the FDNY will be the targets.

Getting hurt in a car accident is painful enough, but if firefighters have to respond, expect more pain — in your wallet.

Starting next summer, the city plans to bill drivers in accidents that require an emergency response.

The so-called “crash tax” works like this: A car fire or accident with injury would cost you $490. A car fire without injury, $415. And any vehicle accident without injury will run you $365.

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Like advice from a divorced marriage counselor

During my first marriage, we went through four marriage counselors. I always thought there was a certain irony that all the people we went to for advice were all divorced.

I guess that would have made sense if they would have imparted the wisdom of their mistakes on us but rarely did these clowns actually own it.

None the less, I'd no more take relationship lessons from an expert at failed relationships than I would take job creation lessons from Jennifer Granholm.............

More than 609,000 jobs disappeared during Gov. Granholm's eight years in office, and Michigan lead the country with the highest unemployment rate for 49 months. Now, she is giving advice to the country … about how to create jobs.

Granholm served as a guest op-ed writer for the national news site POLITICO. Saying the nation needs a "moon shot" jobs strategy to create 3 million new jobs, she used as an example Michigan government's recent bet that the lithium-ion battery industry should be cultivated with special treatment and favors from state government.

Granholm wrote: "If the states are the laboratories of democracy, Washington can take a lesson from what is happening in Michigan."

Politico Opinion Editor Allison Silver explained Granholm's selection in an e-mail: "I do think those facts about Michigan's high unemployment level and major job loss are fairly well known. Most everyone has followed the implosion in the auto industry. That is one reason why the information about this new battery seemed interesting."

But other national experts question whether Granholm is the one to be offering advice on job creation

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What I learned at winter tax camp.

For the past two days, I've been at OSCPA Mega Tax conference in Columbus.

Here's some of the things that I learned.

1) I think I would have rather attended the Ohio Turfgrass convention next door. It looked like a lot more fun.

2) How bad is this 1099 requirement mandated by the healthcare bill? So bad, that even the group who seeks to gain the most out of it (accountants) hate it and are aggressively lobbying against it.

3) Why you must fight to keep bad bills from becoming law? Take the 1099 issue for instance. Everyone..... and I mean EVERYONE knows it's bad law. There's been two votes to remove it and yet there it still stands.

4) When the experts on these issues answer "we don't know yet" on these healthcare provisions, it's pretty scary.

5) How is it that the number one issue discussed at a conference named "Mega Tax Conference" is health care? What does that tell you?

6) If you are a PA resident, you can get up to $525 a week in unemployment benefits. Do the math and then ask yourself how aggressive you'd be in getting a job when not working pays $13.13 an hour?

7) That John Kasich is already staffing his appointments with a bunch of Bob Taft leftover douche bags. That doesn't bode well for Ohio.

8) That tax law used to be changed after thoughtful deliberations and now the "professionals" we vote for just continue to "wing it".

9) Ohio's minimum wage increases to $7.40 an hour effective 1/1/11. That should really boost the jobs picture here.

10) Here's a table showing the Ohio general revenue fund growth since 1968. You'll see that the state budget more doubled between the years 1968 and 1973. Why? The state introduced an income tax in 1971. From that point on it's been happy days for everyone in state government.

11) Politicians believe that everything in the budget is a necessity and therefore is off limits to cuts. If that's the case, how did the state possibly make it from the years 1803 to 1970 without most of this crap?

It's still the spending stupid!

The difference between adolescence and adulthood

One of the qualities of your average liberal is the "I don't care" attitude you'll find in a child.

Consider, the liberal take on these issues.

We can't move prisoners from Guantanamo because it creates a national security risk. the liberal response? "I don't care!"

Passing health care will be an American job killer. "I don't care!"

And now we have a liberal base who's response to a tax increase that could cause a double dip recession is more "I don't care!"

Unfortunately, we now have a president who campaigned on this "I don't care" liberal tripe but now he's actually got a job that requires he be an adult. No more showing up "present" on this one.

Bad news for him is that all the fans from his former cub scout troop can continue to be babies and it will be up to conservatives to save them (and more importantly the country) from themselves.

Life in "Progress" Country - England

From the mother country where there hasn't been a conservative run the place since Gog bagged the first mastodon of hunting season............

Great Moments in Unintended Consequences

UN Climate Kooks: Cripple US economy & ban H2O!

Jimmy's 1993 ESPY Speech

It's hard to believe that this speech is 17 years old. Still worth every second.

Food stamp challenge

After posting the previous questions about charity, I ran into this article on the food stamp challenge.....

Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak had second thoughts yesterday about buying a cup of coffee, because it would have eaten up one-third of her daily food allowance.

Through the end of this week, Rudiak said she will be spending under $7 a day on food, the same allotment a food stamp recipient receives, to highlight cuts in the federal program.

"I'm always up for a challenge, and surviving on (under $7) a day is certainly a challenge," Rudiak said.

Rudiak of Carrick is participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Challenge, a nationwide poverty simulation exercise sponsored locally by Just Harvest, a South Side-based anti-hunger organization.

Nationally, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department, nearly 40 million people are enrolled in the food stamp program. In Allegheny County, according to Just Harvest communication coordinator Adam MacGregor, more than 150,000 people and families in receive food stamp benefits.

I planned to try this challenge but then it dawned on me that I've already participated in this in the past. We just called it college.

See, me and my roommates subsisted on Ramen noodles, spaghetti, grilled cheese, pancake mix, boxes of macaroni and cheese, spam, day old dunkin' sticks from the local thrift bakery and for a good time ............$1.50 pitchers of some rank ass draft beer.

The thought of opening one of those Kraft cheese food slices still makes my stomach turn a little.

One year, one of my roommates got a turkey for Thanksgiving and we had that thing in our freezer for two months before one of us had a girlfriend who knew how to fix one. It was big time feasting.

The fact is, we were all willing to live that way because we all knew that was a temporary way of life........not meant for perpetuity.

The next time I do some grocery shopping, I'll do a quick price check on all those awesome culinary delights to help out this babe.

I'm sure everyone who's read this blog has some sort of cheap food story to share for Ms. Rudiak, feel free to let her know in my comment section. It looks like she needs some hints to live on $7.00 a day.

I'm feeling scrooge like this December

Yesterday, my assistant and I had a conversation about charity. She and one of my clients have been fairly involved in a charity where they donate clothing and educational items to Appalachia.

I've contributed to this charity in the past but, in all honesty, I've really started to wonder why we continue to support people who live in a place where the economy is so depressed and has been for generations. Instead of giving these people the ability to subsist in such a poor area, shouldn't we be helping them by giving them moving vans and rent to places where job and educational opportunities actually exist?

But Gordon, you're asking people to uproot their families and abandon their culture.

Yes, I am.

Why shouldn't they? In the Lovely Mrs. Gekko's family, there are ten kids who were born and raised in Warren/Youngstown, Ohio; not exactly the hot bed of economic activity. Today only one kid still lives in the area; five have moved to the Cincinnati area, two to Chicago, one to Seattle, one to West Virginia.

In my family, our five kids live in Cincinnati, Charlotte, Reno and two still live in the Lancaster area.

In most of these cases, we left our homes not because we we're dying to leave our birth places but because that's where the job and/or education opportunities took us.

It really came home to roost when one of our family members lost their job recently. The Lovely Mrs. Gekko asked me if we should help out in some way and my quote was "Of course we should. We're conservatives. That's what we do".

Fortunately, this family member has since found another job but it might mean a relocation.

But I can't help but wonder, why don't we all kick in and give this family enough money so they can maintain their lifestyle in the area in which they live? Why should they be forced to relocate if they love the area where they currently reside?

What if someone is unemployed in Chicago but there's a job in Alabama waiting for them, should they be forced to take it or should we all pony up and subsidize their current lifestyle so they don't have to move?

Of course, it sounds ridiculous on it's face. But isn't that what we're doing to the poor in this country? Isn't that what we're doing to the people in Appalachia? What about the poor in our ghettos?

On Thanksgiving, there were probably well over 50,000 meals delivered from various charities to the poor in this area. My church donated over 6000 meals for our outreach. That's in addition to all the other charities and/or government programs being delivered to the poor in this area.

In our Over the Rhine area, there are currently over 100 different organizations to help the poor in an area that probably doesn't have but 20,000 residents at most.

Are we not perpetuating poverty by supporting it? What's the motivation for people to get up and struggle and aspire for more when the basics are being handled?

I am a God fearing man so I know my generosity is about my growth and not on the people who receive it. None the less, as I see people bitching about continued unemployment benefits after 99 weeks, I can't help but wonder if our charitable nature isn't counter productive.

Jews - is there anything they can't do?

An Egyptian official believes that Israel's intelligence agency might be behind the fatal shark attack of a German tourist in Sinai over the weekend, the Jerusalem Post reports.

"What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark (in the sea) to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question, but it needs time to confirm," South Sinai Gov. Muhammad Abdel Fadil Shousha told egynews.net.

You know, I'm thinking that if the Mossad can communicate with sharks, why don't we just let them rule the world. It would make life a lot easier.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/07/egyptian-official-believes-israel-deadly-shark-attack/#ixzz17Rvokcph

The economy brings back rabbit ears

If it wasn't for our DVR, I'd be begging the Lovely Mrs. Gekko to ditch our satellite dish. Mainly because we spend over $100/month for the opportunity to watch Independence Day for the 1,998th time.

For those channels not showing a Bourne Identity, an Oceans 11, 12, 18, etc. they show us home shopping channels.

To make matters worse, we don't even get the THIS network where I can watch old reruns of Mr. Ed, Highway Patrol or Sea Hunt I have to go into a spare bedroom for those treats.

In fact with a pair of rabbit ears, I can get 36 non-shopping channels on that old set.

Applying that old cost/benefit principle, it's probably not a coincidence that cable subscribers are shrinking.........

Julie and Anthony Bayerl of St. Paul, Minn., love watching prime-time shows on the sleek 50-inch television in their bedroom. They also love that they pay nothing for the programming.

The only thing they do not love is how a low-flying plane, heavy rain or just a little too much movement in the room can wipe out the picture.

“If someone is changing in there, it messes up your reception,” said Ms. Bayerl, a legislative assistant. “We try to stay very still when we watch television.”

The Bayerls are using an old technology that some people are giving a second chance. They pull free TV signals out of the air with the modern equivalent of the classic rabbit-ear antenna.

Some viewers who have decided that they are no longer willing or able to pay for cable or satellite service, including younger ones, are buying antennas and tuning in to a surprising number of free broadcast channels. These often become part of a video diet that includes the fast-growing menu of options available online.

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Life in "Progress" State - California edition

From the golden state, where there hasn't been a conservative run the state since Ogg won the last Pterodactyl shoot...............

This year's Republican sweep, says the conventional wisdom, stopped at the Sierras in large part because California—the “left-out coast”—is a liberal outlier from the rest of the country. In this telling, the Golden State is a broken relic, a basket-case which has lost its status as the vanguard of American politics. While America embraced the angry politics of the Tea Party, the story goes, California reelected Jerry Brown, a nostalgic throwback to the 1970s.

In fact, the exact opposite may be occurring: California, and indeed much of the West, is far ahead of the country, as it often has been—demographically, economically, politically, socially—and it points to a future in which the whole nation will look much like California does now: multi-ethnic, increasingly tolerant of gays and other minorities, more global in outlook, and more environmentally conscious.

The author conveniently forgets out of control spending, a crumbling infrastructure, businesses fleeing the state.

If that's the future, put me on a time machine to the Mr. Ed era.......

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The Masculist Movement

It's always been my belief that the feminist movement has always been a misnomer. The appropriate name should be the masculist movement since the aims has always seemed to turn women into men.

If you had any doubt, read this..........

This holiday season, Feministing.com, an “online community for feminists,” is encouraging women to opt out of eyebrow waxing appointments in favor of looking like “Frida,” the girlfriend of Marxist Diego Rivera.

In response to “Movember,” a charity effort to raise awareness and money for prostate and testicular cancer during the month of November by having men grow moustaches, Feministing.com is calling for women to grow unibrows during December, which they are trying to dub “Decembrow.”

“While women in the U.S. generally rock two groomed brows, I say let’s be inspired by Movember and take this opportunity to let our facial hair grow…for a cause,” the Feministing.com website says.

But hey, why stop there? Let's have women watch lot's of ESPN, drink lot's of beer & use foul language. That'll make for a real attractive woman.



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/12/06/feminist-website-encourages-women-to-make-december-decembrow-for-cause-of-their-choice/#ixzz17M5JtAsy

The Spinal Tap presidency

Glenn Reynolds on how the Obamunists look an awful lot like Spinal Tap..........

President Obama's term so far has been compared to many fictional and non-fictional characters: Chauncey Gardener of "Being There" is frequently invoked, along with the self-invented charmer Don Draper from "Mad Men," and of course there are the usual tiresome comparisons with Hitler that most presidents face these days.

But I have a different character in mind. The more I watch this administration at work, the more I think we're seeing the first Nigel Tufnel presidency.

Nigel Tufnel, many will remember, was the fictitious heavy metal guitarist in the fictional "rockumentary" "This Is Spinal Tap." In a classic scene, he displays his guitar collection and his special amplifier that -- unlike all other amplifiers in existence -- has knobs that go all the way up to 11, instead of just 10.

And that's what Obama has done: In his first two years as president, he's taken us to 11 in so many ways.

People have been having a lot of fun with the metaphor so let me offer this one.

Consider how the Obama administration resembles the Stonehenge scene where the band decides to create this incredible Stonehenge stage set but when the rubber hits the road they forget that the drawings are to scale. Essentially turning lots of money into small impact.

But hey, it's just funny to have a reason to put these clips on......



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Stuff liberals run - Medicaid

Ethel Johnson couldn't get her prescription for pain medication filled fast enough. The 60-year-old Buffalo woman was hurting — but investigators say that wasn't the reason for the rush.

According to secretly recorded telephone conversations, the sooner Johnson could pick up her pills, the more quickly she could sell them to her dealer. Her pain pills were destined for the street.

Johnson is among 33 people charged so far in a large-scale investigation that has opened a window into an emerging class of suppliers in the illicit drug trade: medical patients, including many who rely on the publicly funded Medicaid program to pay for their appointments and prescriptions. She has pleaded not guilty.

For the first time, the Buffalo investigators devoted the kinds of resources normally aimed at street drugs like heroin or crack — wiretaps, buys, surveillance and cross-agency cooperation to trace the drugs from pharmacy to street. Even they were taken aback by the burgeoning market for the kinds of pills found in medicine cabinets in typical American homes.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/05/ny-bust-medicaid-patients-rx-drugs-dealers/#ixzz17L2QFuFI

Mancession

The collapse in the labor force participation rate has been one of the key stories of the great recession. The participation rate is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.

The labor force participation rate has fallen from 66.2% in May 2008 to just 64.5% in November 2010.

A few weeks ago I looked at Labor Force Participation Rate: What will happen?. I looked at the aging of the population and concluded that the participation rate will probably increase to around 66% over the next 5 years before declining again - and that will keep upward pressure on the unemployment rate.

However one of the key trends has been the decline in the participation rate of men - and that is continuing.

I think there are other reasons for this trend.

1) As a result of child support delinquencies, many men are dropping out of the work force in order to avoid payment.There's usually more than one woman willing to take these d-bags in. Just look at any nurse or school teacher.

2) Frankly, as a result of the woman's movement where women are allowed to "have it all", they get to. And that includes a man who doesn't want to work or work "under the table".

3) Because of the earned income credit, it's actually against a woman's economic interest to marry. As a result, they're willing to tolerate a man who uses and deals drugs or does some other low end labor.

I continually say that the woman's movement and pressure to hire women has resulted in a large segment of our population to just kick their heals back and say "you go girl". Congratulations, you've succeeded.

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