Heroic!

Some congressman just talked down to Bernanke and the government for bailing out Freddie/Fannie. I even think he advocated taking powers away from the Fed. Good for him! Unfortunately, he was ridiculed a little by Dodd. Ah well, that's to be expected. Rome burns as caesar...cracks jokes?

Bastille Day

I was a bit busy yesterday (okay, not really, I forgot to write in this, alright?).
Thank goodness the Neocons hate the French, otherwise they would also celebrate. After all, the jacobins were the prototype of the neoconservatives.

Vive le Roi!

Another "stimulus" package?

Watching the most dangerous man in America, Bernanke, and it sounds like one is coming soon. Printing all that money and bailing out Bear Sterns is what caused gas to become this "high."
What's happening now? Probably another and yet another bailout. The jackals and their priests (the media) are going to tell the jackasses to believe it's the speculators' fault. They will cheer as they get their "free" money.
Unfortunately, the media always reports that pricces are rising. In reality, the dollar is plummeting.

Edit: Forgot to type this. I said that gas would hit $5 per gallon. I was half joking. But now.....

The solution to oil prices is right under your nose

The only problem is that the Fed's cheerleaders are making you look in hiding places rather than down.
On Fox a few minutes ago the panel was talking about, surprise, how to make gas more affordable. Do we attack supply or demand? Do we drill offshore? Do we drill in the shale? So we open our reserves (which is going to be the death of everthing we love. I'll explain in a later post)?
Of course, they never bring up the real problems. The main one is inflation. No one wants to entertain the idea since it's Mad Ben Bernanke's fault and there's almost nothing anyone can do. No, instead of identifying the problem, they want to be gods and be able to do something. They could, but it won't amount to much as long as the Federal Reserve is still around.
The rebate checks we all loved are a big part of the problem. We want things now, but most people didn't see what they couldn't-it fixes things now, but makes it worse in the long run.
There is a secondary problem. Our import from Canada is very impure. It takes a lot to refine it into useable fuel, which costs even more money. So Conservatives and Liberals both want more domestic and "non-terrorist" (read non ay-rab) oil. Where do they get it? Well, here, and Canada. I'm betting the government is going to give oil companies money to drill here. So no matter what, money will be wasted because we can't give those muslims our precious, sacred money.
And yet the blame is falling on speculators and the very Arabs I think we should trade with more.
Neo-Mercantilism, here we come!

Edit: The point of this post was basically "Not much can be done about inflation, so enjoy the ride and hope the government trades with 'our enemies'".

New Blog

For those interested in Catholicism and religion in general, I will post here.

Subsidizing TV

I haven't seen much in the way of the DTV 2009 deal. Basically, everyone is going to be forced to get digital TV. Fret not though! The government will give you up to $80! That's right, it's basically the community paying for people to get their entertainment. People with compatible TVs and and digital cable are paying anyway. People without TV are paying. Sounds fair? Of course not! Here's a gem.

Broadcasters are transitioning to digital to provide important benefits to consumers. Because digital broadcasting is more efficient, broadcasters require less of the airwaves to provide a better television viewing experience. Once the DTV transition is completed, some television channels will be turned over to fire and police departments for emergency communication and others will be auctioned to companies to provide new wireless services.

Is it better? Maybe. The sound can be better and the picture can be clearer. It can also display the wrong colors and get compressed. Yeah, at times it could be like watching youtube. It's also harder to channel surf since theres a bit of buffer time.
More disadvantages from Wikipedia

Similarly, video recorders for analog signals (including both tape-based VCRs and hard-drive-based DVRs) will not be able to select channels, limiting their ability to automatically record programs via a timer or based on downloaded program information.

Also, older handheld televisions, which rely primarily on over-the-air signals and battery operation, will be rendered impractical since the proposed converter boxes are not portable nor powered with batteries.

This one upsets me. Don't mess with my radio.

Portable radios which feature the ability to listen to television audio on VHF channels 2-13 would also lose this ability, while television stations which formerly broadcast on Channel 6 (with analog FM audio on 87.75 MHz) would no longer be heard on standard FM broadcast band radios. These stations would lose the ability for commuters to listen to their broadcasts.

I hope I'm misreading or misunderstanding. I can't play my old games? I'm betting roms won't be legal after this too.

Were any new TVs to contain only an ATSC tuner, this could prevent older devices such as VCRs and video game consoles with only an analog RF output from connecting to the TV. Connection would require an analog to digital converter box, which is the opposite as what is currently being sold. Such a box would also likely introduce additional delay into the video signal. Fortunately, analog inputs suitable for connection to VCRs have remained available on all current digital-capable TV's.

Changes in signal reception from factors such as degrading antenna connections or worsening weather conditions may gradually reduce the quality of analog TV. The nature of digital TV results in a perfect picture initially, until the receiving equipment starts picking up noise or losing signal. Some equipment will show a picture even with significant damage, while other devices may go directly from perfect to no picture at all (and thus not show even a slightly damaged picture).

Yes, forcing everyone to go digital really is good, right? Here's something that really worries me.

Some signals carry encryption and specify use conditions (such as "may not be recorded" or "may not be viewed on displays larger than 1 m in diagonal measure") backed up with the force of law under the WIPO Copyright Treaty and national legislation implementing it, such as the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Long hair is destroying America!

First, I was abducted by aliens. Well, that's my best excuse. Sorry to any lurkers for the lack of updates. Been working on my website though. Yeehaw. Anyway, the show continues.
I'm watching Fox now and the anchor/radio host is picking on some kid (11 I believe) with long hair. It goes past his shoulders. Now, I don't have short hair. It's also not long. Heck, I can't grow long hair without it looking like a total mess. If mine is short, my head looks huge. Absolutely huge. So, my hair helps my head look smaller.
I'm all for people having long hair if they choose (obviously, it's not hurting anyone). The woman said when he goes for a job interview, people might think he's a slacker if it's still long.
I think a fairly close shave looks trashy on a lot of people while long hair could look incredible. Slicked back in a ponytail, combed, whatever. It's not that hard to make long hair look presentable.
Another one of her points was something about the line between boys and girls was being eroded in America or something. God help us all! People aren't wearing that stereotypical 1950's buzz cut or something you might see in the corporate world!
Jesus probably had long hair, and Samson most certainly did. St. Louis IX had long hair. So long for her point.
Finally, she asked what else the mother lets him choose. She said his clothes in the morning. This is pretty good. The only reason children rebel the way they do (in m opinion) is mainly because parents don't want to give thir kids more freedom as they hit puberty. Choosing a hairstyle (and a nice one at that) is a good starting point.