Broken: Chrysler to default on $3.7B TARP loan

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Tuesday December 15, 2009 · 3:01 PM PST

2009/12/15 · 15:01

[Updated: Several commenters pointed out that Chrysler hasn't defaulted yet, so the title was mis-leading.]

This probably won't be the last time I say something like this. If I'd wanted to give Chrysler my money, I would have bought one of their cars.

Chrysler has been skirting bankruptcy for 30 years. From the Iacocca loans in the 70s through the ill-fated Daimler Chrysler merger, they've struggled (badly) to build a car people wanted to buy at a price they could make a profit on. They basically invented the mini-van, one of the biggest segments of the US auto market, and still weren't able to stay afloat.

But that didn't stop the Treasury from giving them a great big bundle of TARP money.

Money we'll never see again.

VA Classical Liberal

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Wednesday December 09, 2009 · 8:26 PM PST

2009/12/09 · 20:26

[I read AS to review it here and here. Half way through, I knocked out a quick drinking game diary based on the book. I've now finished it and written two unhealthfully long diaries about it. To celebrate the end of my Rand obsession, here are the updated rules with better formatting and the Galt's Speech Lightning Round.]

There are certain habits in Rand’s writing; repeated phrases, archetypical characters and recurring situations. Habits which beg to be immortalized in their very own drinking game.

A game I call Atlas Chugged.

VA Classical Liberal

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Tuesday December 08, 2009 · 4:30 PM PST

2009/12/08 · 16:30

Tired of staring blankly when wingnuts talked about "Going Galt", I finally read Atlas Shrugged. Sunday I posted Part 1 of this review. It discussed how Rand and AS become the public face of libertariansism in the 50s/60s and her misrepresentation of libertarian philosophy.

Today we get to the fun stuff: Her epically bad writing.

VA Classical Liberal

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Sunday December 06, 2009 · 5:19 PM PST

2009/12/06 · 17:19

I think I was the only libertarian in the world who had never read Atlas Shrugged.

I knew about the book, its reputation and its controversial author, of course. Through the same cultural osmosis that tells me more than I care to know about Jon and Kate, I knew the basic plot and philosophy and its status as the gateway drug to libertarianism.

But I’d never read it myself. So when the teabaggers, Limbots and Beckholes started talking about “Going Galt”, I decided to pop my Rand cherry and see what all the donner und blitzen is about. Is it really as bad as everyone says? Why do people love/hate it so passionately? Why do so many people say it “changed my life”?

VA Classical Liberal

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Wednesday December 02, 2009 · 2:27 PM PST

2009/12/02 · 14:27

Nothing like a mis-leading-to-the-point-of-dishonest headline on a controversial issue to brighten my day.

MSNBC just posted this gem: Earth could plunge into sudden ice age

Between Hack-gate and the myth that in the '70s climate scientists were predicting a new Ice Age, you can bet the Climate Change deniers will jump on this.

VA Classical Liberal

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Saturday November 21, 2009 · 12:59 PM PST

2009/11/21 · 12:59

I’m reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time. With all the tea-baggers and Beck fans talking about "going Galt", I thought I should know what it actually says. I intend to write a longer diary about it when I finish. It’s an interesting book, both better and worse than I thought it would be.

But halfway through, I’ve already picked up on certain habits in Rand’s writing; repeated phrases, archetypical characters and recurring situations. Habits which beg to be immortalized in their very own drinking game.

A game I call Atlas Chugged.

VA Classical Liberal

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Wednesday October 28, 2009 · 5:55 PM PDT

2009/10/28 · 17:55

Having already used the awesome power of math to shoot down Balloon Boy, tonight, I'll take a crack at the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

You've already seen his secret message to Assemblyman Tom Ammiano. Ahnold's office claims the big "fuck you" formed by the first column of letters in his veto message was "a strange coincidence." and that "When you do so many vetoes, that’s bound to happen."

The question before us: is something like this "bound to happen"? How likely is it that those 7 letters and that one space would appear in that particular arrangement just by chance?

VA Classical Liberal

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Friday October 16, 2009 · 6:23 AM PDT

2009/10/16 · 06:23

I wish I had posted this last night. If I had, I could have proven, once and for all, that I have a fantastic mental power which allows me to predict the future. But I was lazy, so "skeptics" will continue to doubt me.

Last night I knew, as a stone solid fact, that Falcon Heene was not in that balloon. Despite being 1,500 miles away and only seeing it on the TV, I used my fantastic mental power to determine that the boy was safe. This is a power which is latent in all humans and which I can help you develop, for a small fee.

This power is basic math.

VA Classical Liberal

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Wednesday October 14, 2009 · 10:51 AM PDT

2009/10/14 · 10:51

WBZ in Boston is reporting that some one has carved "I Swastika Obama" into a the 18th green at the Lakeville Country Club in Lakeville MA.

Click here for story and video

The Secret Service is investigating.

VA Classical Liberal

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Friday August 28, 2009 · 4:40 PM PDT

2009/08/28 · 16:40

Last Monday morning, we ran bonddad off dKos for the unforgivable crime of economic optimism. Later that morning, the usually readable Jerome a Paris tried to lighten the mood with a snark-filled diary entitled "A diary full of economic good news!"

But Jerome's snark failed because most of the economic news he called out actually is good news and not snark-worthy at all.

VA Classical Liberal

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Sunday August 23, 2009 · 5:41 AM PDT

2009/08/23 · 05:41

History repeats itself.

After leading the prosecution against 7 Gitmo prisoners, Reserve Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld is speaking out.

"Silence in the face of evil is collaboration with evil."

and

"Our fighting men and women who've been putting themselves in harms - They're not fighting for rigged, kangaroo trials."

Read the story here.

VA Classical Liberal

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Monday July 27, 2009 · 5:26 AM PDT

2009/07/27 · 05:26

My daughter can ride a bike.

I couldn’t have said that last week. This week I can.

I've tried for years to teach her to ride a two-wheeler, training wheels, low seats, push bikes and scooters. I don't know how many miles I've run along behind her holding the back of her seat.

None of it worked. But Lose The Training Wheels did.

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Broken: Chrysler to default on $3.7B TARP loan

Atlas Chugged: The Ayn Rand Drinking Game

A Libertarian Reads "Atlas Shrugged" - Part 2

A Libertarian Reads “Atlas Shrugged” - Part 1

Throw an alarmist log on the Climate fire.

Atlas Chugged – The Ayn Rand Drinking Game

The Governator vs. Multiplication

"Balloon Boy" vs. Multiplication

"I Swastika Obama" carved in golf course

Economic good news that really is good news.

Another Gitmo Prosecutor Quits

Handicapped kids riding bikes.