Truth is stranger than...

This article about how the 'Affordable Care Act' will provide not only contraception, but will pay for sterilization was interesting. When you consider the stance of the left's cultural elitism, coupled with the a 'state knows best' mentality, the promotion of the aspects of the ACA that give the poor a method of voluntary sterilization brings to mind another regimes similar programs in the not too distant past. There is coming a time when even the most purposefully ignorant will have to wake up and make a choice, or quietly submit to darker forces then they ever imagined...

Don't Laugh - your paying for it...

So you thing this account about an illegal immigrant pulling down major bucks from social security and food stamps is outrageous? I am thinking it's a pretty common occurrence. I know a family in the rather pricey area of Arlington, VA where the illegal immigrant mother pulls disability, food stamps, free meds and doctor / ER visits, has two kids from an admittedly abusive American baby daddy, and is squatting in a house rent free. Look around you, ask questions, and learn something about your community... the answers night surprise you.

In Real Life - Jurrasic Park...

So I read this about some crazy Russians finding a Mammoth with possibly viable 15000 year old blood. As you might recall, in the movie they had to resort to pulling dinosaur blood from mosquito trapped in amber. Apparently the crazy Russians got buckets on mammoth blood and now feel they have a chance of cloning real Mammoths. Just one question here: are they nuts? Have we not learned anything from the movies? I am thinking it's really a bad idea to set evolution back 15000 years - it might not turn out like they wish... then Russia will have a Mammoth problem... (yeah - I know - fat chance..)

Stuff from the week (just to get it off my chest)...

So here's what caught my eye this week...

Moore's Law seems to continue to be possibly proved true as the development of quantum computers proceeds apace. That whole 1000 years to break commercial DES? Not looking so good anymore...

So I still haven't bought myself a tablet yet... I guess I am just somewhat a dinosaur in that respect. However, this tablet specialized for the closet chef looked appealing. Talk about a specialty item..

So this story about London reclaiming the fat that is clogging up their sewers is probably not a great reflection on the healthy eating habits of their population (fish & chips indeed?). One wonders if there is a relationship between that and their recent 'almost' terrorist attack?

So if you have ever wondered what all the fuss about Portlandia is, or if it is exaggerated, watch the above video & wonder no more...

I will probably never buy this 'lonely guy' car, but is really does seem stupid that States are requiring drivers of these things to wear helmets - I mean really, aren't they suffering enough? This regulatory nonsense is just a bully kicking sand in the face of the 98 pound weakling at the beach...

I guarantee you that this is the way ever Chuck Norris wantabee sees a roundhouse kick working as soon as they learn how to do it - I know I did. The sad fact is it usually takes so long to happen and execute, and is so clear what you are doing, that it is practically useless in a real fight. That this guy pulled it off in a MMA match means to guy on the receiving end was probably just not paying attention or already out on his feet... at least that's my assessment...

I saw the above picture from this site documenting the ship turned forest, and it made me think of this old fort that at some point in the future I am resolved to break into visit..

I know there are rumors about some pro athlete 'coming out' - but really guys - this is a family game and  this not the way to do it...

(DO NOT PLAY THIS VIDEO - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

I am kinda against these for smores construction - in fact for the record, having to watch the above video over and over when my kids were little kinda ruined me to the whole smore thing...

Having just gone through the pain & tourture that is a sleep study and a short period wearing a 24 hour heart monitor, I am all for these 'band aid' type heart monitors replacing the low tech monitors they use today. Another interesting(?) medical development is the new Xbox can reportedly detect your heart beat and blood pressure - not sure if that's a good thing...

My little friends...

So I saw this article about how the State Department forced the removal of plans for a 3D printed gun. What is interesting is not that the plans were pulled, but who pulled them and why. Note, that the plans themselves did not violate any US law, anymore than instructions on the internet for construction of all sorts of nefarious weapons. No, the State Department justified the actions

"because they believe they may violate international arms regulations"

 Specifically, it appears that they ran afoul of is ITAR. Anyone who has been involved in any technical development in the US is quite familiar with ITAR as compliance with that particular regulation requires all sorts of 'governance' based reporting. It is not a surprising development that a lawless administration would use ITAR regulations to shut down an enterprise that is at once embarrassing and in defiance of their control. This is one of the subtle regulations based in international treaties and agreements that is being used to subvert US self rule in lieu of a quasi-global government.

Another chilling aspect is the same 'guilty until proven innocent' approach by the ITAR regulators that is used by the IRS. As noted in the Forbes article, the 'take down' letter stated:

"Until the Department provides Defense Distributed with final [commodity jurisdiction] determinations, Defense Distributed should treat the above technical data as ITAR-controlled"

In other words, "we'll let you know when you can exercise your constitutional rights".

A sobering aspect to this is the question of will it spur Congress to deal with the elephant in the room that is ITAR and do the right thing to unravel it's power. I think with all the other shiny scandal objects floating around that will just not happen. The answer is in what has happened since this story broke. Not a resolution, a committee meeting, or congressional inquiry. No one there wants to do the hard work to unravel this nut and stop the international infringement on Americans basic rights.

Saturday Link Fest

Now that I (sort of) have myself together and have been collecting stuff all week, it's Saturday, it's raining, so it's time for another link fest. So here it goes...

So unless you have been completely like in a coma this week, this story about the IRS targeting tea party groups made quite a splash. When I first saw it, I thought that it would result in the same stonewalling, lies, and nothingness that the Benghazi scandal resulting in. So far, they are right on schedule for this to fade away by the end of the month. Why? Because literally, this administration has gotten away with murder, and the weak kneed Congress just doesn't have the balls to impeach him or prosecute his misconduct. It really is that simple - this is how tyrants are made.

No link here - I was just flipping through the channels and stopped to watch Blazing Saddles. If you haven't gone back & watched it, it is an experience. I would caution you to remove small children from the room though. The real experience is when the dialog gets going with the 'N' word, you will look around guiltily while laughing. This is where political correctness has taken us...

Update: Just to clarify, I am not saying using the 'N' word is 'ok' or anything like that. What I am saying is that that 'Blazing Saddles' (or B.S - hey - that's funny too!) poked fun at all those racial stereotypes in a way that everyone could laugh at. If this movie was made today, every actor in it would be shunned as soon the 'N' word came out of Slim Pickens mouth. That is the 'political correctness gone wrong' I was referring to.

I guess technically it should be called 'Fantasy Islands', but with 1/3 of the population being fed by the US taxpayer, Puerto Rico isn't really cute or funny anymore...

This was just funny - watch it all the way through...

So Amazon is going to try market their own version of the bitcoin (and is starting it out by giving away free money). While this looks like a gimmick, Amazon is about the only online retailer that has a prayer of pulling this off. The more interesting question is why? From a monetary viewpoint it makes a lot of sense. It is similar to the way banks make money off of loaded debit cards - they get to use the 'real' money while you decide what to buy. I am thinking I don't like the idea of privately issued money thing - but I need to give it some thought as to why...

HAHAHA! So the Vikings are going to build a 'transparent' roof now? That's the right solution!

Star Wars and Dr. Who dress ups brawling? This is the kind of thing that gives geeks a bad name. I do have to say that the woosie Dr. Who pretenders probably had it coming....

So a guy uses a drone to look in his neighbors windows and that's alright? This is of course inevitable as the cost of drones drops. Fun times...

Rogue's Gallery - People of the Benghazi Cover Up E-Mails

So often it is difficult to follow a trail of e-mail without having face / role to put with the name. Here is what I came up with for all the players in that boondoggle after reading through all 100 pages of the e-mail dump and doing Google searches:

Jake Sullivan
VP Biden's National Security Advisor

Tommy Vietor
White House press office, National Security Council spokesman

Ben Rhodes
Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting

Victoria Nuland

State Department spokesperson

Matthew G. Olsen

Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)

Lisa Monaco

Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism 

Nicholas Rasmussen
National Counterterrorism Center's (NCTC) Principal Deputy Director

John C. Inglis

Deputy Director of the National Security Agency

Michael Morrell (probably aka MICHAEJM)
Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Robert Cardillo

first Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration

[No picture available]

Dean Boyd

Spokesman, National Security Division at U.S. Department of Justice

[No picture available]

Alan Pino

no role available

[No picture available]

Mark Guilino

no role available

The Bengazi 'rewrite' e-mails can be found here

My opinion - there was one group at the CIA involved in this mess that attempted an honest 'rewrite' of the talking points - and were summarily ignored by the rest... the rest of them were 'involved'. Almost all of the PA and press spokesman talked about consulting with their higher ups - which makes them all complicit.