Google Should Be Commended for It’s Stand on China: Censoring the Chinese People Was a Stain on Its Reputation

China and Google have been waging a war of words for quite some time over China’s insistence that Google censor Chinese search results.  China’s government can’t take the chance that its citizens will begin to freely exchange ideas, like in a free society, as the Chinese people might criticize their own government (GASP!).

Google’s big enough that they don’t need the Chinese market.

Google’s stock might be dropping over this debate, but their stock has gone up with a lot of people.  And I’m sure that Google will return to the Chinese market when their government either changes their policy, or the Chinese government itself changes.

The Chinese people ought to be able to tell their own government what to go do with itself, without fear of the police arresting them and sending them off to forced labor “re-education” camps.

Democrats Will Pay Dearly for Tonight’s Health Care Vote: Next Congress WILL Repeal This Unconstitutional Bill or We’ll Fire Them Too

The Democrats will pay a heavy price in November for their defying the majority of the American people in their vote to bankrupt our country within the next four years with their health care plan.

And the next Congress WILL repeal this bill, or we’ll fire THEM too!

Thirty-seven states have vowed to sue the government to force the federal government to follow the Constitution, with regards to powers not expressly delegated to the federal government are reserved for the states.

Bart Stupak is a darn fool.  Does he really thing that pro-choice Obama will restrict abortion language in the bill, now that he has what he wants?   How many unborn will be murdered by this bill?

We’re Going to Choke Out the Economy With Programs We Can’t Pay For: The Time for Draconian Cuts is Fast Approaching

The best outcome for the upcoming vote on the health care bill is that the bill is rejected.  It’ll pare down the forecasted debt that Obama and his Congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle are forcing on us.

They can do the health bill a lot better and cheaper than the 2,300+ page health care proposal that added four hundred pages in recent weeks, since its unveiling.  And the measures contained therein are as UNCONSTITUTIONAL as the day they were first revealed.

They should be making cuts now, starting with the health care bill.  That’ll save a huge chunk of change and will enable the government to cut at least $1 trillion out.  That’s a healthy start.

At the very least, Congress and the White House should return us to surpluses before they even BEGIN to think about such a costly endeavor that may well bankrupt our country.  This talk of today’s debt of $12 trillion, with an additional $9 trillion by the end of Obama’s second term is UNACCEPTABLE.

Why not make cuts now while there is still a choice as to which programs to cut, instead of the crash cuts that will have to be made within four years at current spending levels?

KILL THE HEALTH CARE BILL!

Toyota “Mystified” By Runaway Prius in California: I Have a Solution Then

Toyota officials are said to be “mystified” by a runaway Toyota Prius out in California that made headlines after the driver called 911 for help as his car accelerated past 90mph.

Mystified, eh?

Here’s what they need to do next, then.

Recall ALL Priuses, discontinue the entire line, and give owners cash to go buy a safer car of their choice from any manufacturer. Toyota has NO business manufacturing a dangerous vehicle that they are incapable of fixing. And they should pull all fly-by-wire electronics in the engine and transmission and replace them with industry-standard mechanical devices in all other Toyota lines, too.

Their "fix" with their floor mats and gas pedals are clearly NOT the problem.

Toyota’s incompetence in fixing this problem with their product has gotten so ridiculous that it’s unbelievable. I’m glad I’m not driving a Toyota.

“Lost Boy” Corey Haim Dies at Age 38: Actor Struggled With Drugs and Alcohol for Years

“Lost Boys” fans awoke to the news that actor Corey Haim passed away early this morning at age 38.  Police suspect an accidental overdose and are waiting for autopsy results to confirm what killed Corey.

He had flu-like symptoms for the last few days, and was living with his mom, who is struggling with cancer.   He got out of bed, felt very weak and collapsed to his knees.  His mom called 911 and paramedics rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead a  while later.

His fans had been hoping that he had put his demons behind him; in fact, he was looking great the last few weeks, according to news reports.   Sympathies to his mom and his family, his longtime friend Corey Feldman and his family, and all who knew him.

May he rest in peace.

Toyota Problem Runs Deeper Than the Floor Mat and Gas Pedal: It’s the Fly-by-Wire Electronics in the Engine and Transmission

I’ve been reading about the runaway Toyota Prius in California, and reading some of the comments from readers who say that all a driver has to do is stick the vehicle into neutral and allow the engine to race until you slow down. With respect, they have no idea what they’re talking about.

In Toyota vehicles, you are not able to shift when you’re going like a bat out of hell. The shifter won’t move until you’re below a certain amount of RPMs and speed. If the engine is racing and the vehicle is accelerating, there’s way too much torque, and the safeties won’t allow a shift. On my stick-shift Toyota pickup that I no longer own, you could shift into neutral, but you couldn’t shift back INTO gear if you were going too fast.

In essence, Toyota drivers who are in this Prius situation are locked into one of several outcomes: a high speed crash, the accelerator disengages and they’re able to brake safely, or they bail out at 90mph and die.

In the case of the Toyota Prius in California that’s in the news, the driver made another option: call 911, and get help. The cop pulled alongside and told him to engage the parking brake as well. They were able to slow the car down, until the driver could override the safeties and shut the engine off, which isn’t possible when the car is accelerating. The police officer pulled out in front and provided his cruiser’s braking power to bring the Toyota to a halt.

This is no floor mat issue, or brake pedal issue. It’s in the electronics, which are being shorted out. I think that defective chips are the cause of this acceleration issue with Toyota.

A few weeks ago I jump-started a 2008 Toyota Tundra. The driver said that it was easy to jump-start the Tundra as it had no spark plugs. What the Sam Hill….I asked him to show me and it was an electronic chip that’s wired into an on-board computer that regulates all the functions that the spark plug is responsible for. It was the most high-tech vehicle engine that I’ve ever seen.

The transmission is also controlled by computer. The electronics is the issue, and that’s where the problem lies, in my non-expert opinion. If they can't find a physical problem, it's an electronic problem. What else could it be?

I’m waiting for someone to blast a runaway Toyota with an EMP gun. Here’s an interesting article from 2004 on the topic of using electromagnetic pulses to stop cars.

German Arrogance Against Greece is Astounding: They Tell Greece to Sell Some Islands to Pay Off Their Debt, to Wake Up Earlier and That Germany Will Not “Contribute One Cent” to Help Greece

The Germans have been lording over Greece in a way that is incredibly short-sighted and arrogant, in response to the economic troubles that Greece and the Euro have been encountering lately.

Germany needs to put up or shut up.

The rhetoric coming from German media outlets has been very negative toward Greece, which sparked retaliatory comments from Greece about the Nazi German occupation of Greece during World War II, and the subsequent looting of the Greek treasury by the Nazis, which has never been returned to Greece.

It’s been a real nasty verbal battle, which will only be made worse if the Greek economy collapses under its debt load.

And I thought the French were arrogant.  The Germans are acting downright ugly!

Recent Slew of Natural Disasters Show Us Why We Need to Keep Our Nation’s Finances in Order: Are We Prepared to Rebuild From a Massive Natural Disaster With a Massive Foreign Debt in the Trillions Already?

The recent spat of earthquake disasters in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Virgin Islands, Haiti, Japan, China, Iran and elsewhere show that earthquakes can occur at any place, at any time, with little or no warning.

When New Orleans was flooded by Hurricane Katrina, it was the greatest disaster to hit an American city, up to that point.  But it was only one city.

What happens if California gets hit by a 9.5 earthquake from the San Andreas fault line?

Or what happens if the New Madrid fault line suddenly goes off, and there’s a swath of primary destruction stretching across four states (Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas) and then major aftershocks from the Gulf of Mexico up to southern Michigan and southern Wisconsin, and over to eastern Iowa and Nebraska, and as far east as North Carolina and Georgia? 

We don’t know when a disaster will strike, so we should be prepared at all times.  And that means being prepared with disaster relief preparation, and having a balanced budget with low debt, in the event that we do need to borrow trillions to rebuild.  We won’t be in any condition to do so if we already owe other nations $22 trillion, as is projected.   Or if we keep paying for other nations to recover from their own natural disasters.

We need the federal government to reign in spending, and get us in better shape to weather natural disasters, which are inevitable.

The above link to the New Madrid fault line goes to a 27 minute video, which is excellent and was produced by the U.S. Geological Survey.