Well, it really is Friday, but it feels like another Monday.  New and old projects all jumbled, and further behind on work and projects, like everyone else in the family.  And just in case people WANT to hear about that silly debate last night (59 seconds was too much), I found this great review at Godfather Politics:

Joe Biden: ill-mannered, rude, lying, and condescending
(Godfather Politics)  Joe Biden consistently interrupted and did his best to prevent Paul Ryan from being able to get his point across.  He would sit and laugh with an air of disdain and mockery.  Biden also consistently called everything Ryan said a lie and inaccurate when in fact much of what Biden was saying was inaccurate and lies.

Biden also consistently put words and policies in Ryan’s mouth that he’s been told time and time again that those things are NOT what they have said or propose.  Every time Ryan tried to explain what their policies were, Biden interrupted and tried to again put lies in Ryan’s mouth.

Gee, I didn’t realize that the “messiah’s” First Minion was so talented: all those Amtrak rides back and forth would be such fun?!  He can do all this at once?  Wow.

Theft by government
GOP Senator to USDA: Stop Promoting Food Stamps
(CNSNews.com) As well ask a snake to stop being a snake, or a scorpion a nasty little vicious monster that lurks in your boots and sting you multiple time?  Except that FedGov bureaucrats, nice though many of them are in person, and no matter how dedicated and helpful, are STILL government bureaucrats, and in mass, a good substitute for Heinlein’s stobor: I’ll take snakes and scorpions anytime.  Of course, maybe this senator is thinking of reorganizing and moving SNAP over to DHHS.  The original concept of food stamps was inventive, at least: here we are paying all these farmers either NOT to grow food OR buying a lot of the food they DO produce to increase demand and thus keep prices up, so why not turn around and use that to feed all these poor – not just the AmerInd or military personnel.  But like EVERY other government program, this metamorphosed into the present monster: virtual bread lines.  A monster beloved by grocery stores and convenience stores and local wardheelers across the nation.

Fun, huh?

WORST STATES FOR RETIREMENT OR BEST?
(BANKRATE.COM) Yeah, most of us don’t figure on being able to retire, but these numbers are interesting to say the least.

Louisiana: crime 4,196.5 per 100,000, 11.5 % of retirees live below poverty level, life expectancy 75.4 years.

Georgia: crime 3,043.8, poverty 10.7%, life expectancy 77.1

New Mexico: crime 4,024.3, poverty 12%, life expectancy 78.2

Texas:  crime 4,233.3, poverty 10.7%, life expectancy 78.3

Arkansas: crime 4,064.2, poverty 10.2%, life expectancy 76.1

Tennessee: crime 4,271.2, poverty 9.7%, life expectancy 76.2

South Carolina: crime 4,498.1, poverty 9.8%, life expectancy 76.6

Mississippi: crime 3,254.7, poverty 11.9%, life expectancy 74.8

Alabama: crime 3,894.6, poverty 10.7%, life expectancy 75.2

Kentucky: crime 2,793.9, poverty 11.2%, life expectancy 76.2

Now, aren’t those some fascinating statistics? Notice some obvious things: these are ALL southern states.  In fact, EVERY one of the Southern states EXCEPT Oklahoma, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia.  Of course, Florida IS retirement-central, and its native AmerInd and cracker population overwhelmed by the retirees from the Rust Belt and the Roach Belt (excuse me, Northeast).  Virginia has Northern Virginia “inside the Beltway” or near enough: I suspect that if we were dealing with the REAL Virginia, it would be right up there.  North Carolina and Oklahoma are puzzles to me, but perhaps it is large numbers of military retirees that pulls up the data. (And yes, New Mexico IS a Southern State, as well as a Hispanic state (together with TX, AZ, FL, and CA).)

Why these ten?  Contrast them to the “10 best” (at InvestmentNews.com) They used a different metric: (*Ranking based on seven factors: Income tax, taxation of Social Security, taxation of pensions, property taxes, cost of living, health care insurance, and climate.)

Here is their list (no raw data) (and HONEST, folks, I just picked these two lists as the first up on Google):

10. Nevada

9. Georgia

8. Oklahoma

7. Florida

6. Arkansas

2. (tie) Alabama

2. (tie) Mississippi

2. (tie) Louisiana

2. (tie) Texas

1.  Tennessee

What did I say?  Amazing? Bizarre?  These two lists each share EIGHT states in common:  of course, they chose totally DIFFERENT metrics:  you can’t live as long in those states as you might in, say California or Minnesota, but you’ll pay less and enjoy it more.

Now, contrast it with THIS list: Worst States to Retire 2012.
(TopRetirements.com) The factors for 2012 are: Fiscal health, property taxes, income taxes, cost of living, and climate. … Three new states made our list this year: Vermont, Minnesota, and Maine. That means that 3 states were lucky enough to leave the list: Ohio (low property and income taxes), Nevada (in terrible financial shape but no income tax and low property taxes), California (bad financial shape and high property taxes, but almost no income tax on our prototypical couple, plus a great climate).

1.   (Worst) Connecticut
2.   Illinois
3.   Rhode Island
4.   Vermont
5.   Massachusetts
6.   New Jersey
7.   Minnesota
8.   New York
9.   Maine
10. Wisconsin

What do we make of this?  First, obviously, different people place a different emphasis on what makes a state good or bad.   Secondly, these are obviously averages for the states:  taxes as well as climate can vary quite a bit in a state – like Texas.  Third, it is obvious that government at the state and local level has a VERY big impact on these things, both in taxes and in services.

As for the original list, which slammed the Southern States, it comes as no surprise that Southern States are again portrayed as horrible places full of evil people and evil habits and attitudes, centuries behind the progressive states of the West Coast and the Northeast.  But in things like this, our friends in DC have MUCH to answer for:  much of the squalor of the South is due to its treatment since 1860.  I see no reason why these pieces of data should not be thrown back in the FedGov’s face.

New religions: Envrionism
Should Cities Ban Plastic Bags?
(Wall Street Journal) Consumers would have to use a cotton bag 173 times before they match the energy savings of one plastic bag, assuming 40 percent of bags are reused…

We see this -straightforward science shows that plastic bags are NOT a detriment, but are a net improvement to the environment AND to human health and food safety.  But as usual, the religious fanatics that worship Mother Gaia are perfectly willing to lie to themselves as well as us.