Dim-Bulb Dems Doom Edison's Baby

From the American Thinker - by Ed Lasky - Light bulbs sprang from the brilliant mind of Thomas Edison (photo left) -- a true American hero, right up there with Benjamin Franklin. But his legacy is coming to an end. General Electric, the company that he founded, is closing America's last factory for making incandescent light bulbs, victim of liberal environmental politics and zealotry. Sadly, not only will the workers be losing their jobs -- devastating another small town (Winchester, Virginia) -- but the boon created by their replacements, compact fluorescents (CFLs), will not be realized in America, where they were first dreamed up and created, but will instead be enriching China. Read more

Dim-Bulb Dems Doom Edison's Baby

My Guns Are Pretty (And Safer Than Your Tattoos)

From Townhall.com by Mike Adams - There’s nothing more annoying than getting a complaint about my gun collection from a feminist with a tattoo on her lower back. I don’t let anyone irresponsible get near my guns so that no one gets killed. When the feminist lets irresponsible men near her tattoos there’s a better chance that someone’s getting aborted. All kidding aside (was I kidding?), in recent months I have been hearing more and more complaints about my gun collection from people who read my columns – this despite the fact that the columns make them angry. (I’m glad these folks don’t own guns!) Some of those complaints have come to me directly. Read more

My Guns Are Pretty (And Safer Than Your Tattoos)

The offshore windmill innovation gap

From Salon.com - by Andrew Leonard - You could not ask for a more drastic demonstration of the contrast between how the United States and China are rolling out renewable energy technologies than the current state of offshore windmill deployment in the two countries. The U.S. does not have a single offshore windmill currently in operation. The most notorious proposed project in the U.S., the 130-turbine Cape Wind offshore farm planned for Nantucket Sound, has been mired in litigation and politics for almost 10 years. Just this week the Massachusetts Department of Public Works opened hearings investigating whether the terms of the Cape Wind contract would be in the public ratepayer's interest. The hearings will drag on for at least two months, and whatever decision is made will likely be litigated by whichever side loses. China is a different story altogether. The 102-megawatt Donghai Bridge Wind Farm began operating near Shanghai this July. Four more farms nearby, reports ClimateWire, are under negotiation. Read more

The offshore windmill innovation gap

Obama Concedes Current Economy a Liability for Dems

President Obama Working on His Putting Stroke

From the Washington Times - WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama is conceding that if the midterm election turns out to be mostly a referendum on the sluggish economy, Democrats are "not going to do well." In an interview with ABC News aired Thursday, Mr. Obama said the party should be able to maintain control of the House and Senate if the electorate takes a look at what Democrats and Republicans stand for. But he said Democrats won't do well if it amounts to a referendum on "the economy as it currently is." Mr. Obama said he believes "everybody feels like this economy needs to do better than it's been doing." Read more here:

Obama Concedes Current Economy a Liability for Dems

There’s Gambling In This Gin Joint? - SHOCKING!

A NEW study just released by the Centres for Medicaid and Medicare Services, a government agency, suggests that the sweeping set of health reforms passed by Congress in March will not do much to cut costs over the next decade. In February, before passage of the reforms, those same boffins estimated that health costs would rise an average of 6.1% per year over the next decade. The new study, which takes the new laws into account, says the increase will be about 6.3% per year over that period. This news has already sent pundits and politicians into a frenzy. Conservatives are gleefully proclaiming this study as validation for their view that ObamaCare was always going to add a mountain of red tape and subsidies that will make the health system more expensive. They point to a separate study released this week suggesting that health insurers are planning to raise premiums 1% to 9%, in response to the new regulations imposed by the reforms, as proof that this effort will only hurt the ordinary man. Read more here:

There’s Gambling In This Gin Joint? - SHOCKING!

Greek Finance Minister Pitching Bonds

Greek government bonds are no longer “something to fear” and the country is on track to meet its budget goals for this year, said Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou. “We feel confident that given where we are at the moment there won’t be any problem in hitting the target” for cutting the deficit, Papaconstantinou said in an interview in Athens yesterday. That will help secure Greece’s return to markets next year and convince investors that its bonds “are now becoming an opportunity rather than something to fear,” he said. Read more here:

Greek Finance Minister Pitching Bonds

Startling News For Michael Moore

Michael Moore

Fidel Castro’s comment to a visiting U.S. journalist that Cuba’s economic system doesn’t work is the strongest signal yet that the communist island is looking to private enterprise and foreign investment to bolster growth. “The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore,” Castro told journalist Jeffrey Goldberg after being asked if he believed it was something still worth exporting, according to a post yesterday on The Atlantic magazine’s website. Castro didn’t elaborate on his comment, Goldberg said. Since re-entering the public sphere in July following an illness that almost killed him, statements by the 84-year-old former president have focused on international affairs.

Fidel Castro

 His silence on domestic issues signals he is willing to allow his brother Raul to reduce state control of the economy, said Tomas Bilbao, executive director of the Washington-based Cuba Study Group, which promotes free-market reforms of the Cuban economy.
“These are pragmatic admissions from an idealist,” Bilbao said. “Ever since he came back he has stayed away from talking about domestic issues which in itself is the best thing he can do to support his brother’s running of the country.” Read more here:

Startling News For Michael Moore

Trade Deficit and Jobless Claims Fall

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed more than forecast in July and filings for jobless benefits plunged last week, tempering concern the world’s largest economy is slipping back into a recession. The trade gap shrank 14 percent, the most since February 2009, to $42.8 billion, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The deficit was less than the lowest forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. New applications for unemployment insurance fell by 27,000 to 451,000, the lowest since July 9, according to the Labor Department. Stocks climbed and Treasury securities fell as the reports underscored the Federal Reserve’s view that while the economy has cooled, it will avoid contraction. U.S. exports rose to a two-year high, a source of strength for manufacturing, which has been a mainstay for the recovery. Read more here:

Trade Deficit and Jobless Claims Fall

What Did Rubin and Prince Know?

Robert Rubin

Charles O. “Chuck” Prince and former Clinton Administration Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin were among Citigroup Inc. officials who knew 2007 losses were mounting on mortgage assets that U.S. regulators have faulted the bank for not disclosing, a court filing shows. Prince, the bank’s chief executive officer at the time, and Rubin, who was then chairman, knew the highest-rated segments of subprime mortgage-backed securities were the source of about $200 million in new losses in October 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday in a filing at federal court in Washington. In July, the agency accused the bank and two other executives of failing to disclose $40 billion in subprime assets before losses surged. It didn’t target Prince and Rubin. Read more here:

What Did Rubin and Prince Know?

Sign of the Times: NFL Blackouts More Common

National Football League fans in Florida’s Tampa Bay area won’t see their hometown Buccaneers on local television as the season hits full stride this weekend. The Buccaneers, coming off a 3-13 season, weren’t able to sell all the tickets for their Sept. 12 home opener against the Cleveland Browns, the team said in a statement. Under the NFL’s blackout rules, if a home team doesn’t sell out tickets 72 hours before kickoff, the game can’t be aired in the local market. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said it didn’t appear that any other teams were in danger of having a local TV blackout during the league’s opening weekend. Read more here:

Sign of the Times: NFL Blackouts More Common