I've just been cured of eating yogurt.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/04/15/the-incredible-disgusting-tsa-groping-conspiracy/

And no, I don't know how to make it a pretty link, but it looks like more and more people are fed up with the TSA.

This was inevitable: Government Motors shields itself from liability in the ignition-switch debacle. Industries are going to be lining up to be nationalized so they can do the same.

She could sell the yogurt and brand it with a name like "Degenerance" or "Perversion."

I'm glad you got a kick out of it, mpetrie98. I just saw that article and thought, "EWWWWWW!" I'm not easily grossed out, but the yogurt thing definitely did it.

So, of course, I had to bring it right here.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/opinions/williams-ceci-women-in-science/index.html

"The prevailing wisdom is that sexist hiring in academic science roadblocks women's careers before they even start. "

"But the facts tell a different story. National hiring audits, some dating back to the 1980s, reveal that female scientists have had a significantly higher chance of being interviewed and hired than men. Although women were less likely to apply for jobs, if they did apply, their chances of getting the job were usually better."

Joe j, only sexists and misogynists use facts

I've just been cured of eating yogurt. ~ Posted by: Patrick at April 16, 2015 12:50 AM

I almost reached that point when Jamie Lee Curtis starting telling me about a yogurt that made her go to the bathroom.

Yogurt

Punchline around 2:20

From a Wikipedia article on John Harvey Kellogg:

Kellogg made sure that the bowel of each and every patient was plied with water, from above and below. His favorite device was an enema machine that could rapidly instill several gallons of water in a series of enemas. Every water enema was followed by a pint of yogurt — half was eaten, the other half was administered by enema, “thus planting the protective germs where they are most needed and may render most effective service." The yogurt served to replace the intestinal flora of the bowel, creating what Kellogg claimed was a squeaky-clean intestine.

Speaking of painful enemas, here's the skinny on what Brownback has done to Kansas with the help of Reagan's trickle-down-economics guru.

Flyover Country Follies

George H. W. Bush rightly described Reagan's economic policies as "voodoo economics." Pope Francis also had the right idea that trickle down economic policies depend upon the innate goodness of those at the top. Which is insane, frankly. They do not get tax cuts and think, "Great. I'll use this money to create new jobs."

Instead, they think, "Good. More money for me."

Supply. Side. Economics. Does. Not. Work.

They do not get tax cuts and think, "Great. I'll use this money to create new jobs."

The thought behind trickle down econoics is not that they'd "create" jobs, but that the would by more shit.

And people would make that shit, and those people would spend their extra dough buying even more shit, and so on and so forth.

Problem is for people in a certain tax bracket no matter how much "extra" money they get they've more than likely already bought all the shit their wanted to.

Other problem is the inverse, IE taxing the rich MORE has lead to job losses. The yacht industry, high end american luxury cars; taxes on those were raised to the point it was just as easy to buy foreign and park them out of state or in the islands, and all those blue collar workers lost their jobs.

We need a flat, reasonable tax system with no loopholes, no deductions, no credits or incentives.

The thought behind trickle down econoics is not that they'd "create" jobs, but that the would by more shit. ~ Posted by: lujlp at April 16, 2015 4:06 PM

Supply-side economics (incorrectly derided as "trickle down economics") is concerned not just with tax rates.

"Supply-side economics is a school of macroeconomic thought that argues that overall economic well-being is maximized by lowering the barriers to producing goods and services (the "Supply Side" of the economy). By lowering such barriers, consumers are thought to benefit from a greater supply of goods and services at lower prices. Typical supply-side policy would advocate generally lower income tax and capital gains tax rates (to increase the supply of labor and capital), smaller government and a lower regulatory burden on enterprises (to lower costs). Although tax policy is often mentioned in relation to supply-side economics, supply-side economists are concerned with all impediments to the supply of goods and services and not just taxation." ~ summation in Wikipedia

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Arthur Laffer demonstrated with his "Laffer Curve" that there is a point at which tax rates are counter-productive. That is, they are so high that they discourage economic activity and actually reduce the amount the government collects.

Why would an average citizen invest his money when taxes will eat most of the return and putting it in a CD at a low interest rate, or even under a mattress, would actually provide a better net return?

Government practice in times of reduced tax revenue is usually to raise taxes. Laffer argued the proper response could be to cut marginal tax rates.

The thought behind the Laffer Curve theory of economics is that if the government cuts the marginal tax rates, the additional money left in market would stimulate more economic activity (investment, spending, venture capitalism, etc.).

That would increase the supply of money available in the economy, spurring consumer spending, private investment, as well as spending by businesses on research into new products or expansion of existing facilities to meet increased demand.

This expansion of economic activity would result in the government getting more money at the optimal overall tax rate than it would with higher taxes.

Laffer has pointed to JFK's marginal tax cuts and resulting increased in government revenue, the Kemp-Roth tax cuts in the '80s with the resulting record-setting pace and period of economic growth, and tax cuts in the '20s that led to the Roaring '20s as examples of the Laffer Curve at work.

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Brownback's problem is multi-fold:

• he cut beyond the marginal rates and reduced the state's overall tax rate below the optimal rate (remember, the Laffer Curve shows government revenue rising with higher tax rates on the first part of the curve)
  
• the courts overruled his concurrent spending cuts (the courts!?)
  
• he failed to make alternative plans to smooth the transition for decreases in social welfare spending so his cuts were portrayed by his enemies as cruel
  
• He made the cuts during an economic downturn in which businesses are contracting, not expanding
  
• lower taxes in Kansas still cannot overcome a US corporate tax rate that is over 25% and NAFTA means businesses can invest in lower-cost production markets with open access to the US consumer market
  
• high levels of environmental and employment regulation means businesses must consider these factors in deciding where to invest
  
• the increased mobility of capital means a business can locate a job-creating facility in another country and still have access to the US investment money

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"But unfortunately for Brownback, the courts say the current level of school funding is too low. In March, the state Supreme Court ruled that the government was violating the state's constitutional guarantee of an adequate education. The court said the government had failed to allocate enough money for its students, and the justices tossed the decision back to a lower panel to determine what exactly would constitute a sufficient level of spending." ~ Mother Jones

Why are the courts deciding what Kansas should spend on anything?

Whether it's an "adequate" amount or not, it's the legislature's decision on how much to spend and what to spend it on. That's why Kansas has a legislature.

And what the hell is the promise of an "adequate" education doing in the state's constitution?

We need a flat, reasonable tax system with no loopholes, no deductions, no credits or incentives. ~ Posted by: lujlp at April 16, 2015 4:06 PM

Wouldn't that be nice. Won't ever happen.

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The current US tax code is 74,000 pages long.

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"Nobody understands the U.S. Tax Code, a huge, complex, mutant organism kept in a heavily guarded basement section of the Internal Revenue Service building. "Don't go in there!" the guards warn people. "The Tax Code is in there!" At night they throw meat to it." ~ Dave Barry

Disclaimer: I have friends in Kansas who own a small business. Last year they were shocked to find they didn't have to pay income tax thanks to Brownback.

They didn't hire anyone new. They didn't invest the savings in expanding their business. There's no need. Their business is sized right for their community.

This year they were not surprised to discover that, after last year's billion-dollar shortfall, this year school is closing weeks early because Kansas can't afford to keep the schools open.

The sad part is the Koch brothers may have to buy foreign-built yachts ...