That’s one way to drive down property values

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Gambling on whether you think you’ll ever get cancer when decide to buy the home in the lower priced neighborhood.

Rare cancer victims left to die

Patients with rare cancers are being left to die because of a postcode lottery that decides who gets access to drugs, according to research from a cancer charity.

There are wide variations across England in the number of patients granted access to medicines, a study from the Rarer Cancers Forum found.

The charity used the Freedom of Information Act to gain full information from 62 of England’s 152 primary care trusts (PCTs).

It revealed that 100% of applications from patients were rejected in some areas of the country while in other areas every single one was approved.

A total of 96% of patients living in Mid Essex had their requests approved, while every one in neighbouring South West Essex had theirs rejected.

Overall, one in four exceptional requests for cancer treatment were denied – about 1,314 patients in total.

Yet again, Socialized Medicine kills. I’d rather trust a corporation that myself or my wife can sue for denying me coverage than a faceless government bureaucracy that we can’t.

Posted in Evil walks the earth | Leave a comment

It happened within 15 miles of my current location

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Phil Kadath

But I had to read about it in a Knoxville, TN newspaper’s blog to get wind of it.

Exercise Diablo Bravo 2008

Fed, state agencies target Kitsap for terrorism drill

Terrorists detonated an improvised explosive device alongside a Department of Energy (DOE) convoy transporting U.S. nuclear weapons on or near State Route 3 in Kitsap County around 1 p.m. Monday, July 28.

Phone calls were made and federal, state and local officials quickly descended upon Kitsap County, some in less than 24 hours.

This was the scenario laid out by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which sponsored the week-long exercise, Diablo Bravo 2008.

I hope it went well. No article I can find says whether it did.

Posted in Color me confused | 1 Comment

Too little. Too late.

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Sorry, Nan, but your ass isn’t going to be saved by your change of heart after all those months of your foot dragging.

Pelosi indicates openness to offshore drilling vote

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday night dropped her staunch opposition to a vote on offshore oil drilling in the House.

Republicans, reacting to high gas prices, have demanded a vote on additional oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf, where drilling is currently blocked by a moratorium. Until now, Pelosi (D-Calif.) has resisted the idea as a “hoax.” But in an interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, she indicated that she was open to a vote.

“They have this thing that says drill offshore in the protected areas,” Pelosi said. “We can do that. We can have a vote on that.”

She indicated such a vote would have to be part of a larger package that included other policies, like releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which she said could bring down prices in a matter of days.

“But it has to be part of something that says we want to bring immediate relief to the public and is not just a hoax on them,” Pelosi continued.

She even indicated that she might support a package that includes drilling. She said her decision on whether to support such legislation would depend on how the policies are packaged.

So basically, she is saying that if they give her and the Dems everything they want, and then tack offshore drilling at the bottom of it, then they can have a vote.

Nice.

Judges. The ability to control the vote in Congress. Socialized Medicine. The real reason to hit the voting booths this November.

Posted in Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | 2 Comments

A Little Birdie’s Telling Me

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Alaska

…that the Brady folks, et al., are running scared that either the SF or the Chicago lawsuits will result in incorporation of the Second Amendment into the 14th Amendment’s guarantees, thus making the RKBA applicable to State law. Which, as you all know, was the next step after Heller.

Anyhoo, the Word is they’re so concerned that they’re strongly encouraging both Chicago and the SF Housing Authority to take steps to make the suits moot (by changing or eliminating the offending regulations).

Happily, there’s still one case left that they’re not gonna be able to stop: You heard it here first, folks: it’s a California case that will incorporate the 2A, and will do it in California. Was I right about Cali being the front line?
More as it happens… in the meantime, DONATE if you can.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Lighten Up

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Phil Kadath

After the goings on this weekend, I really needed this

I’ve been using this one for the past couple weeks and figure that it is about time that I should let you all in on it.

Like Uncle Nuge sez: Hold the tongue.

And the tune that originated the idea for this post

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | Leave a comment

Georgia on my mind

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Phil Kadath

I’m reading all across the rightosphere on this and I’m seeing that some folks are having second thoughts about which side to stand with on the Ossetia War. I’m not going to name names, though I truly hope they put a stop to folks cruising through and spoonfeeding them Putin’s new Pravda-ganda, served in easy to digest, strained forms like Gerber baby food.

There are rules to these types of situations, and using those rules, this should answer your question quite handily.

Georgia’s “Rose Revolution”: A Made in America Coup

Go ahead. Click that link and see who is support of the new Soviet nation’s war (which is a misnomer, as the country never, honestly, renounced the old ways, and is therefore, not “new”).

If that doesn’t float your boat, just know that the leftosphere is comparing this situation to the early history of Texas. If I were a Texan, I’d be pissed off about that.

Posted in Evil walks the earth | 1 Comment

RNS Quote of the Day: 08/11/08

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Follow along, won’t you?

We recognize that the right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve American’s continued Second Amendment right to own and use firearms. We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation, but we know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne. We can work together to enact and enforce common-sense laws and improvements, like closing the gun show loophole, improving our background check system and reinstating the assault weapons ban, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals. Acting responsibly and with respect for differing views on this issue, we can both protect the constitutional right to bear arms and keep our communities and our children safe.

The Democratic National Committee platform for 2008

Hit the link to that .pdf file and skip down to page 46 and read it for yourself.

Notice how the first sentence disagrees with every other sentence in the statement.

If this is their (and Obama’s) platform in 2008, imagine how much more Brady-like it will be in 2012.

Found via Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic

Posted in Quote of the Day | 1 Comment

I don’t care if it is a gimmick

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Phil Kadath

They don’t deserve my money. Not a penny.

Federal Taxpayers Bankrolling San Francisco Congestion Tax Push

Each time drivers across the country fill up at a gas station, a small portion of the final sale price is going to fund the planning and implementation of a new tax on motorists in San Francisco, California. Later today the San Francisco County Transportation Authority will hold the latest in a series of “community discussions” to market a federally funded congestion pricing proposal that would electronically track and charge motorists each time they enter the city’s downtown area.

“The potential for additional federal funds for implementation make it an opportune time to investigate the policy’s applicability to San Francisco,” the authority explains on its website.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) drew inspiration for his value pricing plan from London’s outspoken socialist mayor, Ken Livingston, who first introduced the charge in 2003. Although London voters rejected Livingston at the ballot box earlier this year in favor of a candidate who pledged to scale back congestion charging, the Bay Area’s plans are proceeding at full speed. By December the $1 million “San Francisco Mobility, Access and Pricing Study” bankrolled by the Federal Highway Administration will be complete. Taxpayers nationwide are also footing the bill for $159 million in grants currently being used to establish a variable toll system that charges drivers $2 to use Doyle Drive, the southern access to the Golden Gate Bridge.

I want a Gas Tax Holiday from this madness. There is no reason why someone in Alabama (or Washington) should be paying money to RESTRICT driving. that cash is supposed to go towards roads, brides, and the like.

Posted in Too Stupid to Live | 2 Comments

Yet another sad day in automotive history

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Phil Kadath

We never should have let the Euros take over the Cannonball Run

Brabus Smart FourTwo wins latest Cannonball Run

Though the original Cannonball Run, organized in the early seventies by then Car and Driver editors Brock Yates and Steve Smith, is no longer officially run in the United States where it started, a version of the event still takes place in Europe. Amazingly, despite all of the high-power entrants into this year’s race, a smart fortwo managed to take the victory after traveling some 3,000 miles. The machine was already a few years old and had been modified with a revised engine map from BRABUS along with some basic suspension goodies. Other than that, the little two-seater was basically stock. According to its drivers, David Ward and Adrian Hull, from Essex in the U.K., they were able to zoom past many of the faster moving cars due to their relatively good fuel mileage. In fact, over the course of the trip, the duo managed to average around 35 miles per gallon.

Please, somebody, put this event out of its misery.

Posted in Armageddon, Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | 2 Comments

Time to revoke his teaching license

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Phil Kadath

Hey, at least I’m not talking about revoking his breathing license.

Fed up with his students’ complete inability to spell common English correctly, a British academic has suggested it may be time to accept “variant spellings” as legitimate.

Rather than grammarians getting in a huff about “argument” being spelled “arguement” or “opportunity” as “opertunity,” why not accept anything that’s phonetically (fonetickly anyone?) correct as long as it can be understood?

“Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I’ve got a better idea,” Ken Smith, a criminology lecturer at Bucks New University, wrote in the Times Higher Education Supplement.

“University teachers should simply accept as variant spelling those words our students most commonly misspell.”

Or, to act sanely, university teachers could simply fail students who somehow made it to the university level without proper spelling skills. This would send them back to remedial classes where they will gain skills to carry with them through the rest of their lives.

You know, actual “Teaching”.

Posted in Academia and Other Nonsense | 2 Comments