Category Archives: News

TWENTY INCHES OF SNOW – FIFTY MPH WINDS

Posted on December 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

If I ever become dictator of the United States, my first act will be to require all power to be delivered below the surface. There will be no more ugly telephone poles with wires strung on them and no more power outages from fallen trees. The edict will be “Down with the poles and Up with underground wiring. Signed – Bob B, DIC (Dictator-In-Chief).

When the power goes out, the heat goes out and the water too if you have your own well. The internet goes, of course. We got hit. Power is back and so is Random Thots.org.

Global Freezing Report
Last winter, record low temperatures were recorded throughout Europe. Britain had the longest continuous cold period since 1981 and the coldest winter in 30 years. This winter has hardly begun, but so far it is colder than last, and with more snow to boot. Temperatures worldwide are declining faster than Al Gore’s speaking fees. This year, Atlanta had its first Christmas snow since 1882; Columbia, S.C. had their fist since 1887.

Record lows were recorded in Florida last winter. Stock up on orange juice. It could get expensive.

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INTERNET COMES UNDER SERIOUS ATTACK

Posted on December 20, 2010 | 1 comment

Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will [take] an unprecedented step to expand government’s reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.

Thus begins the lead article from today’s Wall Street Journal. As though that weren’t enough, we find these other recent headlines as well.

New UN committee could hand governments internet control

Who Will Control the Internet?

Venezuela’s Chavez calls for internet controls

The First Amendment, protecting freedom of speech, came into effect on December 15, 1791. Radio did not come until 115 years later, television many years after that. Yet these new media were always considered part of the Fourth Estate, more commonly known as “the press”. The internet is no less than the latest iteration of journalistic media and should be treated as such. It must and it will remain open in the free world. It is too big to fail.

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UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR THE IDLE RICH? DEMOCRATS SAY YES

Posted on December 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

SENATOR TOM COBURN, MD

Sen. Tom Coburn (R KY) sponsored a bill that would make millionaires ineligible to collect unemployment compensation. The provision was estimated to save the government 100 million dollars over a 5 year period; not much money but still worth doing. It would buy lunch.

All 42 Republican senators voted in favor of it. A total of 50 Democrats and two Independents* voted against it. That defeated the bill. A few hundred out-of-work millionaires heaved a sigh of relief and gave thanks for Democrats.

The Daily Caller reports on the story under the headline Senate Democrats reject elimination of unemployment benefits for millionaires. The New York Times bills the story simply as Coburn Takes Aim at the Idled Rich. Bias is more often hidden in what is not said than found in what is said.

Let’s be fair. We doubt Democrats killed the bill out of concern for hard-working millionaires temporarily out of work just trying to make ends meet without having to liquidate any of their bond holdings. The bill sponsored by the Republican senator also called for a 15% reduction in Pentagon Procurements. We don’t think it was that either. Yet another cost saving measure in the bill was a 3 year pay freeze for members of the Senate and the House. Now that could be the reason.

* There really are no Independents. Sanders is a Socialist and Lieberman is a Democrat despite his excommunication by the Party.

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CAMPAIGN 2012 HAS BEGUN

Posted on December 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

Various media organizations already are setting up debates, Palin is travelling to the Mid-East, Romney is speaking in New Hampshire and Gingrich is crossing his fingers hoping for a shot at the job. But it’s the Democrats who are off to the fastest start. Obama has supported the Bush income tax rates, and now is meeting with the nations business leaders, in person, and without asking how they traveled to Washington.

Dana Milbank, a frequent guest on MSNBC’s Matthews and Olbermann shows, writes for the Washington Post. Milbank’s Wednesday Op-Ed column is entitled “The socialist president plays host to capitalism.” He begins

“The titans of American industry were all assembled at the White House complex Wednesday. There was Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google. There was Kenneth Chenault, the chairman of American Express. And there was Barack Obama, the sometimes owner of General Motors, Chrysler, Citibank, Bank of America, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

In his column Dana said the meeting with corporate executives was the socialist President’s chance “to show, in contrast to the perception that many voters had last month, that he is a big fan of the free market and private industry.” We think Dana was serious.

Before walking into the meeting with corporate America, Obama held a press conference. This time Dana reports

In the space of just four minutes, included seven mentions of jobs, six of growth or growing, and two of hiring. “Spurring economic growth is what I’ll talk about later this morning when I meet with some of America’s top business leaders,” the president said. (READ: I am a capitalist!) “That includes Jim McNerney of Boeing, who also heads up my Export Council, and several members of my Economic Recovery Advisory Board.” (READ: Some of my best friends are capitalists!)

We think Milbank was not serious. Serious or not, the campaign has begun. Lets us remember the time John McCain put Obama on the spot for reneging on a key campaign promise to make all the hearings open for viewing on CSPAN. The President looked McCain in the eye and laughed as he said “The Campaign is over, John.”

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PELOSI CONGRESS SETS NEW RECORD

Posted on December 15, 2010 | 2 comments

Worst Congress Ever

Gallop poll

Approval rating – 13%   The lowest on historical record

Disapproval rating – 83%   The lowest in over 30 years

Please note, that doesn’t leave much room in between for the wishie-washies. Congress really lost the Democrats in the last two months. Approval by Democratic voters plunged 58%, from 38 to 16 since Oct 10th. There was almost no change among Republicans. Obama remains above the fray. His approval rating has been staying in the 44-46% range. One can only speculate why.

So let us speculate. Left wing Democratic voters are unhappy because the likes of Cap and Trade, Card Check and  the DREAM Act did not get passed. Right wing Democrats, if one can say that, are holding Congress responsible for the election results. Centrist Democrats, if there still are any, are unhappy for both reasons.

That still doesn’t answer the question why Obama’s approval rating is little affected. It’s a puzzling question. Let’s speculate again. Blacks remain solidly in support of the President. They have no such loyalty to Congress. That accounts for about 12%. The Jewish community has always been fiercely loyal to the Democratic party. They are beginning to crack but the seepage is still just a trickle. Finally, once you achieve Messiah status, you acquire a true believer following. Men fail, but God can do no wrong. Congress, as we know, is comprised of mere mortals. Very mere indeed.

UPDATE: In short, Obama’s approval remains stable while Congress’s approval plunges because Obama has the loyalty of blacks, Jews and true believers and Congress does not.

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OBAMA LOSES ONE IN COURT

Posted on December 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

Many parallels have drawn between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Barack H. Obama. Now there is another one. Both had key provisions of their transformative programs struck down by the courts. FDR’s National Recovery Act (NRA) was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Now the core of Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, has been declared unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court.

Of course, a District Court is not the final word and only one provision of the PPACA (Obamacare) is affected. But remember what Obama said when he spoke to labor union members, “single payer is the goal.” The District Court has struck at the heart and shattered Obama’s dream. If it goes to the Supreme Court of the land, the President can count on the ladies to lean his way. The ladies, of course are Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan. (A somewhat motley group, no?)

If Obama gets his way with the ladies and SOTUS reverses TUSDC (The U.S. District Court) there is still 2013. If the courts do not provide relief from Obamacare the legislature can change the law.

Just in the last few days, Obama has lost one to the Democrats, one to the courts and one to Bill Clinton. When we say the “Dude is Done”, the dude is done.

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1984 IS ALMOST HERE

Posted on December 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

George Orwell wrote the novel “1984” in 1949. This was before the internet, data mining, and GPS. It was both science and social fiction at the time. Sixty years later it is more science and less fiction. If you haven’t read it, you should.

Wikipedia describes the book as a dystopian novel about an oligarchical, collectivist society in a world of pervasive government surveillance and incessant public mind control. In “1984” the individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part, collectivist philosophy which allows the Big Brother Party, to manipulate and control humanity.

Random Thots found the following headlines all published in the same day:

CNN Reporter Put On Watch List After Criticizing TSA
http://www.prisonplanet.com/cnn-reporter-put-on-watch-list-after-criticizing-tsa.html
Wave goodbye to Internet freedom

FCC crosses the Rubicon into online regulation
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/2/wave-goodbye-to-internet-freedom/

Government reports violations of limits on spying aimed at U.S. citizens
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120206052_pf.html

Feds Warrantlessly Tracking Americans’ Credit Cards in Real Time
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/realtime/

No headlines surfaced that day relative to GPS, but we know that many cars have tracking transmitters openly placed for fleet control and clandestinely placed for marketing and research purposes. Credit card transactions are recorded enabling the tracking of our whereabouts when out of the car. The possibilities with cellphones are limited only by our imagination. The tools are all in place for Big Brother to employ when the time is ripe.

Wikileaks, interestingly enough, is actually a reversal of Orwell’s theme. Orwell had the Memory Hole down which truth was thrown so that only government claims would remain standing as truth. Government ‘truth’ was called Newspeak. Assange with his Wikileaks is revealing what might be called Realspeak and throwing government Diplomaspeak down the Memory Hole.

The problem from America’s point of view is Assange is only exposing only one country and that happens to be us. If the same degree of revelation were made for every nation we would come out looking pretty good. Just imagine what Russian secret memos would reveal!

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THE OBAMA TAX CUTS

Posted on December 10, 2010 | 1 comment

Obama tax cuts? …Yessir, Obama tax cuts. …Really? …Yup. He says cutting tax rates could raise tax revenues and help reduce the national debt. …You’re kidding, aren’t you? No Democrat ever said that. …Obama did. It’s in the New York Times. It has to be true.

WASHINGTON — President Obama is considering whether to push early next year for an overhaul of the income tax code to lower rates and raise revenues in what would be his first major effort to begin addressing the long-term growth of the national debt.

One has to wonder what this heresy is all about. Triangulation is one thing, total about face is quite another. It’s in the Democratic Bible  “Thou shall raise taxes lest the abomination of debt fall upon thee.” Perhaps the President’s fingers were crossed when he said it.

Of course, at this point it is not even a proposal, it’s just a proposal of a proposal. A flag, as they say, run up the pole to see if anyone salutes. But it’s a historical moment nonetheless.

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WOW! WHAT A WACKY WICKI DAY!

Posted on December 9, 2010 | 1 comment

Revenge of Wikileak Fans

Master Card and VISA disabled, PAY PAL and Amazon under attack. Palin and the Swedish government’s websites disabled. All of this was accomplished today by a cyber army of hackers in support of Assange and his Wikileaks.

In Berkeley California, the City Council prepared a resolution for a Tuesday vote to honor the soldier who is believed to have supplied Assange with access to the data being released. Only in Berkeley!

In Moscow the Kremlin urges the nomination of Julian Assange for the Nobel Peace Prize. It seems it is not only in Berkeley after all.

Automatic “doomsday release” is impossible to stop, claims its founder. The information will flow faster than the encryption code could possibly be broken.

Lines are in the process of being drawn. The hard Left is coming out in support of Assange. The Wikileak releases are enormously embarrassing to the United States. But the supporters are not focusing their attacks on the Right, other than Sarah Palin. Sweden and Amazon cannot be called Right Wing targets. Sen. Lieberman has come out with a strong condemnation few other Democrats (we know, Lieberman is technically not a Democrat) have expressed strong opinions.

And where is Obama? Much of the Press is saying he seems not to be taking the issue very seriously. But then, he has never been very concerned about embarrassing America, has he?

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BARACK BOMBS AGAIN, THIS TIME HE LOSES ONE TO DEMOCRATS

Posted on December 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

Bush vindicated on Gitmo policy

The current Democratic Congress has refused to provide funding for the transfer of detainees and closing of the prison. Just as we said in Obama’s Press Conference II, Democratic politicians are not as dumb as they sound. With one out of four released detainees returning to terrorism, the risk of an event that would bounce back on Democrats was just too great.

No funding means no closing. It also means none of the detainees will be brought into the States.

To read more, go to the Washington Times.

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