Patriots Switched to Coffee, Loyalists Stayed with Tea

"The Boston Tea Party is usually mentioned as nothing more than a humorous anecdote but its significance was profound and affected American cultural mores as deeply as the impetus it gave to revolutionary fervor in New England and later throughout the thirteen colonies. Anti-tea literature and boycotts swept the colonies and provided an emotional catharsis which every would-be patriot could share in by switching from tea to coffee."

-- Norman Berdichevsky here

Why Obama Revealed His Certificate of Live Birth This Week

Because he wanted to divert attention from a different, unavoidable, embarrassing revelation.

What revelation is that?

The revelation disclosed here as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request.

Namely, that the narrative Obama has been telling about the first two years of his life is a lie. His mother and father never lived together with Barack Jr. as a family. She went to Washington State. Obama Sr. stayed in Hawaii and left for Harvard before the future president turned one, not when he was two. The marriage itself might be in question.

Everyone is consumed by the release of the Certificate of Live Birth, but not with the truth behind it.

Obama is skillfully playing this out, no doubt on the advice of counsel, to divert, dissemble and distract.

See the discussion here.  

Over a Million Apply for 50 Thousand Burger Flipping Jobs

Some recovery.

Stories here and here.

I'm sure the president is going to think long and hard about the hapless 950,000 or so, between sips at the Wednesday night parties, and between shots on the fairway on the next weekend golf outing.

It's hard work being president. Just ask George Bush. 

Iitate Japan Radiation Down to 3.29 MicroSieverts Per Hour

As reported here.

Today's Map of Fukushima Prefecture Radiation Monitoring Posts

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant Radiation Conditions

As of 0900 on April 29, Japan time:

438 microSv/h at the south side of the office building;

49 microSv/h at the Main gate;

19 microSv/h at the West gate.

More here.

Concrete Pump with 58 Meter Boom Replenishes Water at Fukushima Unit 4 Pool

Presumably one like this:

Another news report here said a 70 meter version was being dispatched.

The Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 used fuel pool has needed nearly 1300 cubic meters of water over 13 days from April 13-25, according to this update. That number is consistent with, but about 200 cubic meters lower than, the predicted boil-off rate for the period in question:

Unit 4 pond contains a total 1331 used assemblies (783 plus full fuel load of 548), giving it a heat load of about 3 MW thermal, according to France's IRSN, which in that case could lead to 115 cubic metres of water boiling off per day, or about one tenth of its volume. ...

The pond at unit 4 is the main focus of concern now. It needs continual top-up with water, but at the same time there is concern about the structural strength of the building, which has been weakened either by the earthquake or the hydrogen explosion. Some 195 m3 was added to the pond on 13 April, about 20% of its capacity, and another 140 m3 on 15 and also on 17 April, by concrete pump. Another 100 m3 went in on 20 April, then 200 m3 on 22nd, 140 m3 on 23rd, 165 m3 on 24th and 210 m3 on 25th. Temperature has been up to 90°C and water level 5 metres down. It is not clear whether the main water loss is from leakage or boiling. However, Tepco reports that analysis of radionuclides in water from the used fuel pool of unit 4 suggests that some of the fuel assemblies there may have been damaged, but the majority are intact.

I'm Flooring It and I'm Only Going 1.8

Thanks for the inspiration:

1.8 percent GDP growth in the face of massive stimulus is the equivalent of your car sputtering down the highway at 45 miles per hour while you have the gas pedal floored.

Read more from Henry Blodget here.

After Two Years, Bear David Rosenberg Finally Throws in the Towel

“This is not about throwing in the towel; it is an acknowledgement of what the market internals are flashing at the current time from a purely tactical and technical standpoint.”

“The (US dollar) is on a one-way ticket south and so far has been orderly—will that be sustained is anyone’s guess."

“For now it is being viewed as fodder for the global liquidity and risk-on trades.”

"[The tech rally] is a clear sign that the big boys are putting money to work."

“Market internals are too strong to ignore right now—NYSE advancers beat decliners by a 3-to-1 ratio (Tuesday); the Dow transports soared 1.9 percent; and the small caps beat their major benchmarks."

“My overall macro concerns have not gone away, but these market facts on the ground are tough to ignore.”

-- David Rosenberg, quoted here

Q1 2011 Advance Estimate of GDP Slows to 1.8 Percent

From 3.1 percent in Q4 2010. Yikes.

So reports the BEA here.

In 2009 we were down 2.6 percent, in 2010 up 2.9 percent on the federal intravenous drip.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Rush Limbaugh Can't Think Before 1913

"Look, in a classic sense, Trump's not a conservative, folks.  You don't promise to raise tariffs on the ChiComs 25%.  That's not conservative.  (interruption) People understand this, Snerdley.  You remember when George W. Bush threatened to raise tariffs on imported steel, there was an outcry.  No, you don't raise taxes, period.  That's not the way to deal with it.  That's protectionism.  Smoot-Hawley.  It's a death wish.  This is why I'm always worried about populism.  Populism is not conservatism."

-- Rush Limbaugh, 27 April 2011 (here)

"Tariffs were the largest source of federal revenue from the 1790s to the eve of World War I, until it was surpassed by income taxes."

-- "Tariffs in United States History" (here)

"The magnitude of the tariff shock in the Smoot-Hawley legislation . . . was simply not large enough to trigger the kind of economic contraction experienced after 1930."

-- Douglas A. Irwin (quoted here)

The baneful influence of doctrinaire libertarianism on conservatism continues . . . in the voice of Rush Limbaugh.

America's Biggest Pair of Boobs

the left one is bigger

the right one just thinks it is

             



               Notice the wide

               cleavage→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→

May We See The Certificate Of Live Birth Number Now On The Certification?

Ask Snopes.

A Certificate of Live Birth has been released by The White House. Shouldn't the Certification above reference this by its number? Did it match? Let's see it. Let's authenticate it.

61-10641? 

The White House Joins The Proofers

Here.

Government Aid Swells to 18.3 Percent of Income in 2010

Dennis Cauchon reports for USA Today, here:

A record 18.3% of the nation's total personal income was a payment from the government for Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, unemployment benefits and other programs in 2010.

Wages accounted for the lowest share of income — 51.0% — since the government began keeping track in 1929. ...

From 1980 to 2000, government aid was roughly constant at 12.5%.

33 Percent of Voters Have Ties to Tea Party

As of early April, per Rasmussen, here, which also says that percentage hasn't moved since December.

Barack The Builder Thief: Yes We Can

h/t Blog Dude

Still Waitin' For That Job

Hey! Where Are All the Anti-War Protestors, Huh?!

John Stossel would like to know (here).

Well . . . yeah!

Forget Ritholtz, Here's The Real Dollar Collapse

Ritholtz' so-called big picture since 2001:

Since 1913, the real big picture: