“A Guide to Good Citizenship, A Presentation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Propaganda.“¹

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Constitution, Deficit Spending, Economy, Government, Humor, IRS, Propaganda Hide

Tin Whiskers

The European “Reduction of Hazardous Substances” regulations (aka RoHS) might have claimed another victim. A few years ago a billion dollar Swatch watch recall was apparently related to tin whiskers, a known failure mode of RoHS-compliant electronics.¹ Now, according to an industry news report, Toyota might have fallen victim to the same thing.²

We’re sure that some anti-industry environmentalists will be pleased, as this could make RoHS the most expensive piece of electronic industry regulation ever written.

What makes tin whiskers interesting, is that there is really no way to prevent them in lead free electronics, as all industry efforts focus on “mitigating” the effects, not preventing the formation of tin whiskers.³

We find it amazing that legislation that was in part intended to reduce waste is now apparently causing massive amounts of new waste due to accelerated failures, not to mention the indirect costs to the economy.

What strikes us is how similar the inclusion of lead in the RoHS legislation has been to the inclusion of carbon dioxide in the various attempted “Global Warming” laws. We recommend that our readers review the various references to this article and make their own conclusions as to the mindset and motivations of those who rammed through RoHS without regard to its implications. Unfortunately for the electronics industry and us (the consumers), there was no easy way to show that the benefits of lead-free electronics are possibly just as illusory as the benefits of a “carbon neutral” economy.⁴

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Global Warming, Green Economy, Lead Free, RoHS, Tin Whiskers, Toyota Hide

Hold Onto Your Wallet!

In yet another act of “unprecedented transparency”¹, the Democrats have driven a bill through Congress that has now been signed by Obama (D) to raise the Congressional Credit Card limit to a staggering $14.294 TRILLION without the benefit of CSPAN capturing a single second of the closed door discussions.²

The vote in the Senate was taken just in time before the newly baked Senator Brown (R) from Massachusetts were to be sworn in, since he might have forced actual debate on the issue. It was simply safer for Reid (D) to drive the vote while the Massachusetts state officers with (D)’s behind their names were doodling and claiming that it just takes time to create the necessary documentation for Brown (R) to be sworn into office.³ After all, even when the results are not contested, it’s important to dot those t’s and cross those i’s, especially when a guy with an (R) is the topic, and not someone with a (D), isn’t it?⁴

Those in the Senate with (D) behind their names even claimed to wait for Brown (R) for any important vote, such as that on healthcare.

It must be that the (D) people don’t think that agreeing to spend $1.9 TRILLION is not an important vote. Interestingly, if $1.9 TRILLION doesn’t make the cut, but a healthcare plan supposedly costing $1 TRILLION or thereabout does, then is that an indication that the REAL cost of the healthcare legislation is far beyond $1.9 TRILLION? Harry (D), Nancy (D), please explain.

As we reported previously⁵, this bill increases the national debt “limit” by more than it has ever been increased before, both as a percentage of the total, and as an absolute number. Not even during the dark days of World War 2 was such a dramatic increase necessary.

So what’s different? A looming 2010 Congressional election disaster for those with a (D) behind their names has Harry (D) and Nancy (D) running scared, and Obama (D) can’t help but agree. With Brown (R) in the Senate now, Reid (D) might not have been able to push this (D) looneylaw through Senate, or at least not without some semblance of debate.

Yesterday, following up on his transparency pledge, Obama (D) chose to leave those pesky cameras outside yet again, and proceeded to sign this monster into law. All hail the chief, the Congressional Credit Card is safe from those pesky guys with (R) behind their names.

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Budget Deficit, Campaign Promises, Ethics, Healthcare, Integrity, National debt, Obama, pelosi, reid Hide

“Get your copy today. An exercise video that will keep you up on your feet for hours to the voice of your favorite Obama speech! Join Nancy Pelosi as she leads you through thousands of annoying exuberant clapping exercises to the voice of TOTUS Obama.“¹

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Obama, pelosi, Workout Hide

Netherlands
(dark green below sealevel)

As if the IPCC doesn’t have enough egg on its face from basing predictions on manipulated weather data and just lying about the future of glaciers in the Himalayas.

Now it’s becoming ever more obvious that nothing the panel has stated can be relied on. This inevitable conclusion is derived from the IPCC not even getting basic geographical data points right, as it has now surfaced that the IPCC claims that more than half of the Netherlands lies below sea level, when in fact only about 26% does.¹

The Indians have clearly had enough of the IPCC circus, and has effectively quit by creating it’s own climate change monitoring body. Reportedly this was because the country can’t rely on what the UN IPCC produces.² This is particularly embarrassing for the head of the IPCC, Dr R.K Pachauri, who is from India.

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Climate Change, Ethics, Glaciers, Himalaya, Hoax, India, Integrity, IPCC, Netherlands Hide

Reuters logo (with their image clarification standards applied)

Reuters seems to be extending beyond its historical role of adjusting images to suit the story.¹ Now the story itself, if not appropriate, will be withdrawn.

This happened to a somewhat embarrassing article for Obama, which showed some of the ways in which taxes for the middle class are increasing despite his protestations and promises to the contrary. Reuters replaced the story with a short notice that “The story Backdoor taxes to hit middle class has been withdrawn. A replacement story will run later in the week.“²

For the benefit of our readers we were able to store a copy for future generations to enjoy. Since the original story was redacted in its entirety, it is only appropriate that we quote it in its entirety: (more…)

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Don't Read My Lips, Ethics, Integrity, Obama, Obama Lies, Taxes Hide

Spending your way to debt bondage

In the sea of self-righteous proclamations by Democrats in Congress to wait for the new Republican Senator from Massachusetts before engaging in further healthcare debate, the same induhviduals have carefully neglected to discuss the real elephant in the room. Namely the national debt.

The reason is now obvious. Harry Reid and company clearly wanted to pass the biggest increase in the national debt ever, and saying that they would wait for Brown on such a key issue would have made them liars.

So there it goes, a $1.9 TRILLION dollar addition to the national debt, care of the Democrat Senate.¹ The vote was on party lines, 60-40, and would have failed had Reid waited another few days.

To put this number in perspective, it represents about 53% of the 2010 federal budget, as submitted by the biggest spender ever to occupy the White House. It also increases the national debt by a whopping 15%, the biggest percentage ever, in addition to by far the biggest absolute value ever. And it increases the direct national debt to $45,000 for every American man, woman and child.

This vote by the Democrat controlled Senate shows that Democrats with Harry Reid at the helm take issue with Brown, who might have taken away their credit card and impacted their freespending habits. Should the Democrat controlled House concur that the credit card limit should be raised by this whopper, the Democrats lead by Reid, Pelosi and Obama will be free to spend their way into the worst possible future for the American people. Namely debt bondage.²

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Budget Deficit, Campaign Promises, Economy, Ethics, Government takeover, Healthcare, Integrity, National debt, Obama, pelosi, reid, Social Security, Unemployment Hide

Obama's Fall Gal?

Analyzing the stunning victory for the Republicans in Massachusetts, one of the most liberal states in the Union, one comes away with various theories on what might have been playing out behind the scenes. Here’s one of those theories for your enjoyment.
(more…)

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

2010 Elections, Climate Change, Coakley, Economy, Healthcare, Massachusetts, Obama, Taxes, Unemployment Hide

It seems that the IPCC has more egg on its face for the “scientific” conclusions that it claims to present in the name of all “scientists” in the world.

This one is about the IPCC statement as to a 90% probability that the Himalayan glaciers will be reduced by 80% or entirely gone by the year 2035.¹

Now it turns out that the IPCC was basing its “scientific conclusion” on no research what so ever. Instead, the IPCC quoted an opinion piece, that itself quoted another opinion piece, finally tracking back to an interview about a decade ago.

More details can be obtained from a very good article describing how incredibly bad and inaccurate these IPCC conclusions are.²

If IPCC maintains the same standards in the future, we can expect the next report to include a weather prediction by the chairman’s wife’s third aunt’s best friend, published as a scientific consensus with a 90% probability.

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Climate Change, Ethics, Glaciers, Himalaya, Hoax, Integrity, IPCC Hide

Islam Is... no query suggestions shown

Christianity Is... many query suggestions shown

One has to wonder who still buys the tagline from Google to not be evil?

It’s not too long ago that Google participated in censorship of the Internet for the Chinese government¹, so that the Communist leadership would accept Google. It seems that the Chinese keep Google on a relatively short leash, reminding them sometimes who’s the boss.²

Now it seems that an entire religion has hijacked Google, or Google is kowtowing to one. If one were to type “Christianity is“, “Scientology is“, “Judaism is” and many other terms followed by “is” into the Google search field, many query suggestions will be shown before the user hits the enter key, some offensive³, but reflective of common queries and search results.

However, if the typed term happens to be “islam is“, there will be absolutely no query suggestions presented. This is not normal behavior, as Google specifically states that the query suggestions are a typical feature unless disabled.⁴

This inconsistency was first publicized on Fox News’ website.⁵ According to the article Google explained the unusual behavior to be a very unique bug, but the same article continues to state that no clarification was provided by the company.

Everyone can draw their own conclusions, as not much more needs to be said.

Don’t be evil? Yeah, right.

© 2010, Pontificus. All rights reserved.

Censorship, Ethics, Google, Integrity, Islamic Extremism Hide