QT Monster's Place

A Most Excellent Multi Media Moment

Yesterday, Saturday, a drive to Orlando-instead of listening to the radio, we listened to 5 Glenn and Helen Podcasts (just scroll down to download each) via my Ipod. These podcasts are really, really good:

Fat Kids and Beer (download here)

Glenn and Helen Interview John McCain (download here)

Interview with Chris Anderson who wrote the book,  The Long Tail : Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (download here)

Interview with Austin Bay and Jim Dunnigan on North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War in General (download here)

Interview with Andy Kessler on the Revolution in Medicine (download here)

And for your Sunday viewing pleasure, don't miss this little video ditty, Al Gore's Penguin Army (HT: MacsMind).

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

More Accurate Than Polls Cause It's Where People Put Their $$

I've added Tradesports to my blog rolls because it offers unbiased and more accurate information than political polls do. No poll was more accurate in the 2004 elections than Tradesports. Tradesports is where people bet money on who will win and/or what will happen and when.

Here's how to navigate this web site for information:

- Go to http://www.tradesports.com/
- In the navigation bar on the left, click on Current Events which expands the choices of topics
- Today the topics are Federal Reserve, UN, White House, Guantanamo, Social Security, Middle East and International Events
- Click on White House
- The White House topic now contains three wagers as to the likelihood that Karl Rove will resign in July 2005 (7%) or August 2005 (11%) or September 2005 (15%)
- In the navigation bar on the left, the Politics catagory now includes wagers on the 2008 US Elections

Great stuff, so forget the stupid, editorial polls you see in your newspapers and on your television. To really know what's going on check out Tradesports.

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

Rush Limbaugh Show DittoPod Index - June 17, 2005

This is a brief description of the topics covered on Rush's program today. The time noted indicates where in the podcast (mp3 file) the topic begins.

Hour 1 - Rush Limbaugh Program

6:30 - Halliburton will be building a new fence at Girmo for about $30M
7:30 - A newspaper writes that Dick Durbin shows passion with his remarks comparing Gitmo to the Nazi death camps, but let Tom DeLay criticize judges and he's not described as having pasison
9:40 - Rush received an email from a 13 year old girl who demands to know who Mr. Snurdly is - or else
11:07 - Dick Durbin defends himself when Sen. McConnell asks if he stands by his Gitmo comparison/Durbin does stand behind his remarks/Rush demands that Durbin produce the FBI memo
15:30 - Fox News reports that the FBI agent made none of the allegations that Durbin refers to, that it's all Durbin's interpretation
16:40 - Rush thinks Durbin should go on a tour of Gitmo, then go to meet the survivors of the Nazi death camps, then visit the 911 attack sites, then visit Walter Reed Hospital, and finally go to Arlington National Cemetary/and Rush offers to pay for the trip
20:50 - Where is Sen. McCain on the Durbin - Gitmo issue/Gitmo prisoners live better than the citizens back in their home countries
22:31 - Rush is stunned that Illinois could produce a politician like Durbin/the VFW is livid/the White House says that his remarks are reprehensible
34:20 - Caller: why does no one ask Durbin how he would run Gitmo
35:36 - Rush is #28 on the list of the top 100 most powerful celebrities

Hour 2 - Rush Limbaugh Program

4:11 - The Wisconsin legislature votes to deny the sale of the morning after pills on college campuses/the pills had been advertised before spring break
5:40 - Four congressmen resolved to ask President Bush for a timetable to start withdrawing from Iraq
12:03 - Caller: why do Americans focus on the comments of Durbin when he (the caller) lost family members in 911/Rush responds that it's because Americans are not allowed to see any pictures of the 911 attacks
14:00 - Caller: democracy and freedom work well in the US, how do we know that it will work in Iraq/Rush answers that there is no guarantee
19:45 - Caller: A Reuters survey finds that the French and Americans trust in each other as a people is down
20:40 - A climate change communique's text has been watered down and will endorse nuclear power
22:26 - A news story states that desertification and dust are global threats
25:58 - A new study finds no evidence that the number of births spikes during a full moon
27:40 - Caller: Points out that the girl abducted in Aruba is not a child/Rush responds that she isn't an adult yet/the story is made to order for 24 hour cable news

Hour 3 - Rush Limbaugh Program

6:06 - Democrat House members want an inquiry into why Bush invaded Iraq/this is about the Downing Street Memo
11:30 - Caller: Is Gitmo distracting from Social Security reform/Rush doesn't think so, he thinks that the Democrats really just hate the war
16:43 - Caller: Would it have been better if Saddam had been killed instead of captured
20:00 - Kerry/Kennedy/Durbin remarks have all compared the US military to dictators
21:27 - Caller: Her father would rather have been at Gitmo rather than the concentration camp that he was in
24:00 - Caller: Disagrees with Rush/thinks that Durbin doesn't believe any of what he is saying, that he's only a weather vane
29:15 - Caller: The celebrity list should have ranked Rush as the #1 most powerful

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

DittoPod Index - June 16, 2005

This is a brief description of the topics covered on Rush's program today. The time noted indicates where in the podcast (mp3 file) the topic begins.

Hour 1 - Rush Limbaugh Program

:40 - Dick Durbin, the #2 Democrate in the US Senate stands by what he said on Tuesday/people are outraged
2:35 - Club Gitmo t-shirts are on sale at Rush's web site
3:47 - Rush's legal case: there was a hearing yesterday, the brief that Rush filed is on the web as a pdf file/pages 2 and 4-9 are the most important
5:33 - Dick Durban sound bites: parents of soldiers are livid/no American would associate the conduct of our soldiers with death campa/Durbin refuses to apologize, thinks that Pres. Bush should apologize/major Democrats are not asking Durbin to apologize/when we ran from Somalia, bin Laden  said that he knew the US was weak
12:50 - Senator Sessions: the prisoners are being treated humanely/Rush wants Durbin to resign/Sessions: Durbin lied, we do not run death camps, prisoners get the best medical care/Durbin said this is causing us to lose perspective/Rush points out that an untrue story by Newsweek started all of this/the left do not accept the military justice system
18:56 - The Al Jazeera web site praises Dick Durbin
19:59 - McCain wants trials for detainees/if we are no better than Nazi's why do we care how the prisoners are treated
22:10 - This is how the left wing propaganda machine works
23:11 - 1950 Supreme Court decision: the court recognized that illegal enemy combatants did not have access to our courts/last summer the Supreme Court reversed this/Durbin has betrayed the country
27:07 - Caller invites Durbin to stay at her house and meet with Marines so he can tell them what he thinks
28:50 - Inside Politics sound bites: Donna Brazille; says it is foolish to describe Gitmo as a spa
31:40 - Michael Duffy of Time Magazine on Hard Ball: his email messages mostly say so what? about Gitmo, we need to do more to get intelligence/Duffy says that detainees are good at resisting interrogation

Hour 2 - Rush Limbaugh Program

2:02 - Rush filed a motion yesterday in his court case
4:06 - More Duffy sound bites/if Duffy were honest he'd have reported how good the food at Gitmo
10:11 - Caller: people are outraged by Dick Durbin/she has two sons in the military/Rush says that people like her is why he's devoting time to Durbin's comments/liberals have contempt for soldiers and victory
12:15 - Caller is a Democrat who doesn't like this rhetoric/Rush says Durbin is just trying to score political points
15:50 - Caller: Durbin is echoing what his constituency believes
17:30 - Caller: the 20th hijacker didn't know why he hates America, but after Durbin's remarks the terrorists will now know why they hate America/Rush says that Duffy sounds childlike
19:05 - R. Peters, a military man, wrote a column in the paper: the left doesn't really care about the prisoners and this is not about human rights, it's about slamming the US and residual anger that we won the cold war/Bush's mistake was trying to placate his critics
24:34 - Caller: he is reminded of what Wayne LaPierre said about Clinton - Clinton would tolerate a certain amount of death to get his agenda passed/the left is not stating what is true
27:36 - Caller: liberals patronize the greatest generation/Bush is not a hypocrite, the left is
29:08 - Sound bite of Conyers from Michigan: an inquiry is being started about Gitmo/can't go into a war unless the truth is told/Rush: this is about the Downing Street memo
30:50 - Caller: Dick Durbin has made huge miscalculation/his Democrat friends and supporters agree with what he says
33:45 - McCauliffe criticized Howard Dean/says it was wrong to boycott Fox News/Wesley Clark was just hired by Fox News/Democrats have no plan for Social Security, the war or gas prices
35:50 - Dick Durbin's top contributors who donated more than $14,000: do they think that our soldiers are like Pol Pot

Hour 3 - Rush Limbaugh Program

:05 - Deep Throat's family got a $1M book (or movie) deal/Woodward and Bernstein wouldn't give them any money
5:07 - Hillary Clinton won the first Democrat straw poll
7:20 - The US House voted yes and defied Bush, they amended the Patriot Act
9:50 - Dick Durbin sound bites: We should achieve work to become independent from foreign sources of energy/people who drive Hummers should have to join the Army/Rush says he should advocate higher gas prices
13:56 - Caller who is a soldier: he is pleased that the American people support what the soldiers are doing/Rush tells hiim that Americans are proud of their efforts
15:50 - Caller: he's following a Hummer with a Kerry/Edwards sticker/if Senator Lott can be censured, then Durbin should be censured
20:24 - Caller: his son and family live on Gitmo/he has to send them care packages/that family doesn't eat as well as the terrorists there
25:00 - Caller: Durbin is trying to have it both ways/hybrids get good gas mileage so the government gets less money from gas tax receipts
26:20 - American public's opinion about the Supreme Court has eroded in recent years
27:22 - Press report: Carbon dioxide from fossil fuels will be absorbed by the oceans but it will take thousands of years
29:59 - Durbin proposes to reduce dependency on foreign oil by 40%/if we could do the Manhattan project then we can do this
31:00 - Where was Durbin during the Waco invasion
32:30 - Former CEO of Lockheed Martin proposes that the price of fame be increased so that only the first $1M is deductable
34:40 - 3 unions leave the AFL/CIO

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

DittoPod Index - June 15, 2005

This is a brief description of the topics covered on Rush's program today. The time noted indicates where in the podcast (mp3 file) the topic begins.

Hour 1 - Rush Limbaugh Program

:45 - At a fundraising event last night President Bush finally took the gloves off/Rush gets tired of carrying the water for this administration/MSM most interested in the porn star who attended the event
2:43 - Rush's web site has a Gitmo brochure that includes a picture of a guy on a sailboat/the guy is Senator Kennedy/liberals in Congress make the US appear weak/McCain says that our country's reputation is suffering because of treatment of Gitmo detainees
7:35 - Rich Galen's blog thinks that if Sen. Biden insists on closing Gitmo, we should move the terrorists there to a prison in Delaware/prisoners at a prison in Delaware are not treated real well
10:06 - McCain said on TV that the judicial process should be moved forward/Thomas Friedman in the NY Times got the close Gitmo idea started
13:06 - Friedman in the NY Times today calls for doubling the number of troops in Iraq
16:03 - Caller comments on Sen. Sessions comments that the whole tone of the Gitmo hearings is ridiculous, that it gives aid and comfort to the enemy
20:00 - Bush rips Democrats as nothing but obstructionists/media today has not covered the event/Bush contined with the message and tone the next morning
24:08 - Energy bill is held up by Democrats not wanting to drill for oil in Anwar
27:50 - NY Times did cover the President's speech
28:18 - Ohio primary yesterday: son of Sen. DeWine lost, finished fourth/people of Ohio are fed up with judicial activism and voted against DeWine's son
29:54 - Caller says Rush being unfair to Friedman because he's defended the war in Iraq/Rush says Friedman has been uneven about the war/Rush has noticed a pattern/Rush thinks there's collaboration between politicians and journalists - from both parties
34:15 - Caller says that loss of DeWine's son makes it clear that a McCain candidacy is dead in the water

Hour 2 - Rush Limbaugh Program

:25 - Rush researched Friedman's record on Iraq/in May 2004 he wrote a column saying that the Bush cares more about winning reelection than doing well in Iraq
3:05 - Republicans thinking about raising retirement age to 69/increase in age would be over 20 or more years
5:57 - Gov. Schwarzeneger's speaking out against high property taxes/lawmakers are surrendering to the governor on major issues
10:28 - Caller reminds people that Kerry and others protested Nixon in the 70's when he tried to send more troops to Viet Name/Rush says Kerry et. al. are being consistent because the goal is to remove the President from office/the more troops in Iraq, the more troops at risk
14:24 - Caller says that the President is preaching to the choir, that he needs to get out of the oval office and tell the people
15:49 - LA Times piece asks who should apologize for the filibuster that was employed to stop anti-lynching legislation/the filibuster remains indefensible
20:54 - 1968: Senator Byrd condemning Martin Luther King/Democrats lead the filibuster to stop anti-lynching legislation
22:17 - Caller says that military doesn't have the resources to double the troop numbers/will give Democrats the chance to call for a draft
24:03 - Caller says that a hostage was rescued in Iraq
25:40 - American Muslims of Puget Sound discussed with FBI agents as to how to relate to Muslims/gave them list of what to avoid when with Muslims
28:42 - Reporter called Byrd's spokesman if Byrd had participated in any lynchings/spokesman said he wasn't sure
30:15 - Caller wants to see McCain compare Gitmo to the Hanoi Hilton
34:17 - Sen. Leahy soundbite ridiculing Sen. Duncan's focusing on excellent food served at Gitmo
35:40 - Frist says he'll force a vote on Bolton this week

Hour 3 - Rush Limbaugh Program

1:45 - Democrats want to see more documents re the Bolton nomination/Rush thinks that the gang of 14 deal has emboldened the Democrats to keep the filibuster alive
4:18 - Environmentalists have gotten cave bugs more protections than people in Texas/movement is economically foolish
11:48 - Drive by caller suggests that if kids in NY are hot, we should send them to air conditioned Gitmo
14:24 - Caller wonders why NY didn't let kids out of school earlier in the year when it's cooler/reason is that kids have to attend school a certain number of school in order to qualify for federal money
17:40 - Caller says Club Gitmo is lacking entertainment/people at Club Gitmo don't like fun
19:00 - Caller reports that his Senator compared Gitmo treatment to Pol Pot, etc.
22:50 - A principal asked teachers to reconsider grades of 98 high school students to see if they could get D's instead of failing grades
24:40 - From the American Thinker blog: Rush reads Durbin's statements on the floor of the Senate yesterday/compares treatment of Gitmo prisoners to way Nazi's, Soviets and Pol Pot regimes treated their victims
31:33 - Caller outraged by Durbin's comments and called his office and told him he was a traitor
33:22 - Caller says that there's already entertainment at Gitmo: puppet shows and women

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

DittoPod Index - June 10, 2005

This is a brief description of the topics covered on Rush's program today. The time noted indicates where in the podcast (mp3 file) the topic begins.

This Week's Rush Limbaugh Morning Updates
Rush was not on the air today, so today's podcast consists of this week's Morning Updates

0:00 - New Jersey is putting on trial 6 animal rights activists
1:38 - New Jersey grandmother running a call girl service
3:13 - Terrorists might target school lunches, but kids throw much of their lunches away
4:50 - Democrat mildly criticizing Howard Dean
6:25 - Senate to pass law outlawing lynching that had been blocked previously by filibustering

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

Social Security Reform - Much More Significant Politically than Judge Picks

Patrick Ruffini analyses the Social Security situation:

Social Security is and has for a number of years been the Big Kahuna of the domestic policy debate, and its prominence speaks to President Bush's refusal to get bogged down in flash-in-the-pan minutae that will be forgotten thirty years hence. Strategically, it makes little sense to focus our fire elsewhere since no other issue has the potential for bringing about lasting generational change. It turns a staple of the New Deal into a bulwark of enterprise Republicanism. Just how significant are we talking here? Think Souter and Stevens resigning tomorrow, and being replaced by Luttig and McConnell. By comparison, any Supreme Court fight this summer will be about defending our home turf, not moving the ball downfield.

RELATED: Social Security Calculator, Fix Social Security in Two Easy Steps, There Just Won't Be Enough People to Tax

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

Social Security Calculator

Patrick Ruffini posts a really neat Social Security Calculator that exposes Big Media's Big Lie about the Bush Social Security benefit "cuts" increases. The Heritage Foundation created the calculator and Ruffini provided the interface:

For details re Bush's Benefit Increase, see this.

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

Fix Social Security in Two Easy Steps

Tom Joseph at The American Thinker blog thinks Social Security can be fixed in 2 easy steps - just switch all the members of Congress and all the government employees to the Social Security program. (Dirty little secret: our Congress people and government employees have their own "special" retirement programs.)

vadkins
QT Monster Blog Home

There Just Won't Be Enough People to Tax

Will Collier over at Vodkapundit states the obvious in stark, understandable terms where Social Security reform is concerned.

UPDATE:  Beldar says that this post by Will Collier  does the best job at answering his question (written after the SOTU),

"if there's a compelling reason to believe that personalization/privatization will address and solve the [Social Security] solvency concerns, I haven't heard it explained yet in words that can penetrate my liberal-arts-major consciousness."

vadkins