Here’s part of what Jeff had to say:

I’m giving this site a big thumbs up.

….. Sure, some budgeting software lets you do things like write checks and access your bank account. But I don’t need that; my bank offers online banking. I just need the budgeting tools… so why should I pay extra for all those features I never use?

….. It also works. For me, anyway. I’m a near-chronic web user, so it’s great to have a budgeting tool that sits among my bookmarks. As I’m going through the sites and blogs I regularly read, I can pop in to cymnow and fiddle with the numbers.

….. I used cymnow to help set a budget for the kitchen project, and we’re nearly finished with the work, and everything is paid for without using credit cards. All this in January, a month when we’d normally be recovering from the financial drain of the holidays.

Thanks for the nice words, Jeff. You can check the program out yourself by going to CYMnow.com. As Jeff noted, there’s a “Create a Sample Report” link there that will give you a good idea of what you will be getting into — and what you can get out of it.

From the Stamford Advocate:

Published February 1 2007

Aiming to reignite efforts to reform eminent domain laws, Gov. M. Jodi Rell yesterday released the outline of a bill requiring that cities and towns take additional precautions before seizing private properties for redevelopment.

The plan also would require authorization from two-thirds of a municipal legislative body, and private owners would receive 125 percent of their property’s fair-market value.

I know that what Rell wants is not good enough because of the final few paragraphs of the story:

(State Senator James Shapiro, D-Stamford) said Rell’s proposal “certainly provides more protection” but that his legislation would go even further, banning eminent domain solely for the purpose of economic development.

“While economic development is a public benefit, it’s not the public use envisioned by framers of the Constitution,” Shapiro said. “The Founding Fathers were talking about the roads, hospitals and schools necessary to build a nation. They were not talking about waterfront theme parks.”

Shapiro’s statement shows that what Rell wants would still permit Kelo-like land grabs — just at a higher price. This shows that Rell is missing the point entirely: Unless the government wants the property for a “public use” (e.g., a road, bridge, public utility, mass-transit line, etc.), the Constitution, properly interpreted, says that the owner cannot be forced to sell, and that the government cannot take the property involved.

What Rell characterizes as reasonable eminent domain reform is unacceptable. Considering her previous statements during the post-Kelo ruling marathon negotiations in New London and her proactive role in getting the situation there resolved, this is a bitter disappointment.

When he was governor of California, Jerry Brown earned the moniker “Governor Moonbeam” for his loopy ideas and behavior.

Wiki says this about the origins of the nickname:

Brown often proposed unorthodox ideas, including the establishment of a state space academy and the purchasing of a satellite that would be launched into orbit to provide emergency communications for the state—a proposal similar to one that would indeed be adopted by the state. In 1978, Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko nicknamed Brown “Governor Moonbeam” because of the latter idea. The nickname quickly became associated with his quirky politics, which were considered eccentric by some in California and the rest of the nation. In 1992, almost 15 years later, Royko would disavow the nickname, proclaiming Brown to be “just as serious” as any other politician.

If Royko were still alive, I believe he would be a supporter of a nickname restoration, based on what I’m seeing in a subscription-only editorial in the Wall Street Journal today (bolds are mine):

The U.N.’s latest global warming report is being spun as a wake-up call. But whether or not you agree on the need for urgent action, it ought to be obvious that the absolute last branch of government that should set climate policy is the courts. As usual, California Attorney General Jerry Brown has his own ideas.

At issue is a federal lawsuit filed last September by Mr. Brown’s predecessor, Bill Lockyer, asking for billions of dollars worth of damages to be levied against six automakers — General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Nissan and Chrysler — because their products allegedly create a common-law “nuisance” by contributing to global warming.

At the time most observers, Mr. Brown included, appeared to regard the move as an election-year stunt. But now that he’s in office, Mr. Brown has decided to pursue the case, which he says rests on “sound legal doctrine.” Because “no federal statute speaks directly to the particular problem of global warming,” says California’s recent response to the carmakers’ motion for dismissal, “… federal common law applies.”

Uh-huh. We don’t want to give Governor Brown any ideas, but if making a legal product that might contribute to global warming is an actionable offense, why stop with the automakers? How about the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, which deprives the world of a “carbon sink” (aka a tree) to create its daily product? Or how about cattle ranchers, whose flatulent herds emit massive amounts of methane before they become steaks on your dinner table? Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2.

In short, there’s scarcely any economic activity imaginable that doesn’t somehow affect the balance of greenhouse gases, which is why a “nuisance” complaint against any single industry doesn’t make sense.

Although there would be some satisfaction in hoisting the relentlessly biased and ignorant LA Times on its own petard, the Journal is of course correct that individual industries can’t be singled out for an alleged “nuisance” that others are also supposedly creating. The “proper” venue for economy-killing ideas like this would be the California legislature (it wouldn’t really be “proper” there either, but at least it might be legal).

Captain Ed, who thinks “Attorney General Sunbeam” might be a more appropriate moniker to hang on the new attorney general, was ahead of the curve as usual back in December when he noted Brown’s interest in using his office as a globaloney club.

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UPDATE: All of this is being in the name of what climatologist Timothy Ball at Canada Free Press calls “the greatest deception in the history of science.” Redhawk Review refers to Ball’s truth as “the cold, hard facts.”

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Previous Post:

- Sept. 26, 2006 — The Cali Global Warming Suit: Really an Unreported ‘Request’ for a Court-Ordered BTU Tax

UPDATE, 10:00 AM: A new Bellwether post from Bill Sloat — “Scientists Say It Happened,” with reference to a Fact Sheet in one narrow area of vet treatment.

UPDATE 2, 11:00 AM: Since many of the items below are letters to the editor, it should be noted that many newspapers, in the course of making their decisions as to what letter or two to publish in the limited space available, tend not to use a letter unless it is representative of a batch of others making the same or similar points.

UPDATE 3, 11:55 AM: An e-mailer wishing to remain anonymous writes:

….. Here is what I know having been raised on a military base ….. Vets coming home from Vietnam service were treated very poorly and some were indeed spat upon and cursed at. Emotions can overcome people who feel strongly about something, but such action cannot be condoned.

….. It probably helps that I spent time at West Point and fully understand the terms duty, honor, country ….. I was told stories of spitting happening and have no reason not to believe them. This crusade against these stories is beyond me.

Me too.

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Jerry Lembcke and his acolytes insist that the accounts of Vietnam-era veterans being spat upon must be contemporaneous or they somehow “don’t count,” so I suppose there’s no persuading them.

But for those who are actually entertaining the notion that their belief that the spitting either didn’t or very rarely happened, yours truly took a trip through the library’s ProQuest database and found the following (links are to ProQuest URLs and won’t work unless you have access to the database). This just adds to the “must be lying” lists compiled or referred to in previous posts (here, here, and here).

It should also be noted that toward the end of this series of references (which, by the way, appears to only scratch the surface of readily available testimonials and references), that Lembcke has over the years received many direct responses and challenges from individuals in reaction to columns he has written in various places. Did Lembcke ever attempt to contact these gentlemen to verify or debunk them? Or is he so determined to hang on to his alternate reality that he won’t let the small matter of seemingly endless testimonials impinge upon it?

Some of what I found in searches of the Proquest Database on “Vietnam AND spit” (not in quotes) and “Vietnam AND spat” (not in quotes) follows (click on “more” if you are on the home page):

(more…)

An Instapundit e-mailer, on the exploits of center-right bloggers (e.g., Ardolino, Yon, Roggio, Fumento, Malkin, Dollard) submitting reports from Iraq:

Funny thing, bloggers also seem to find sources that don’t work for the insurgency. I wonder how they manage that?

German estate tax law actually has different confiscation tax rates depending on what is in the estate. And in a strange ruling, it appears that a court says that the practice can continue, but only for two years:

German inheritance law which charges heirs a higher tax for cash, shares and bonds than for property or businesses is unconstitutional, the country’s highest court ruled Wednesday.

The current system can operate only through the end of 2008, and from 2009 a new inheritance law will be necessary, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said.

Maybe the Expatica writer meant that the adjusted estated tax law (correcting for the inequity in tax rates) can continue, but that isn’t clear.

Regardless, 12/31/2008 would thus appear to be a golden opportunity for Angela Merkel to ax the tax completely, but it doesn’t look she will.

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The Institute for Supply Management reported last Thursday that manufacturing, which makes up about 14% of the economy, slipped back into contraction mode in January, recording a reading of 49.3 (50 or above would signify contraction). The overview says: “New Orders Growing; Production, Employment and Inventories Contracting; Deliveries Slowing.” As long as new orders continue to grow, the index should get back into expansion mode soon.

Monday’s “Non-Manufacturing report from ISM on the remaining 86% of the economy was a barn-burner — The index rose from 56.7 to 59.0, blasting past expectations of 57.0.

The weighted average of the two indices (14% of the former and 86% of the latter; this is a BizzyBlog calc ISM doesn’t do) is 57.6. The economy continues to move along just fine, thank you.

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Second-hand smoking BS — The supposed science behind claims that second-hand smoke kills 50,000 people a year or that there is no safe level of second-hand smoke ….. is a smokescreen (HT Wizblog)
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So Nancy Pelosi wants, in essence, “carte blanche for (a military) aircraft any time.” No surprise there — her party seems to expect carte blanche from taxpayers.
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Okay, here’s a reason to root for (of course not caused by humans) global warming — Pipes won’t burst as often.

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File this under “How Convenient“:

Apple: iTunes users should wait on Vista

It would appear to be the latter, at least in North Carolina (HT Cnet via Techdirt):

Google tried to silence lawmakers and pushed — at times with a heavy hand — to influence legislation designed to bring the company to Caldwell County.

The company demanded that legislators never speak its name, and had them scolded when word of its interest in North Carolina leaked out, according to records made public this week.

As work proceeded on the bill to remove much of its tax burden, Google threatened to end negotiations because legislative staff didn’t write exactly what it wanted. State Commerce Secretary Jim Fain was asked to “prevail upon” the bill writer.

Indeed, the first set of state documents released from the 13-month negotiations reveal a company obsessed with secrecy and not above bullying, tactics that helped get it tax breaks that could top $100 million over three decades.

“I sort of had to work in the dark,” said Sen. Jim Jacumin, a Republican who represents Caldwell County. “That bothered me. They need to respect the laws of the land, even if they’re business.”

….. And again and again, the need for privacy came up. Executives didn’t want anybody even to mention the company’s name for fear that competitors could learn of its plans. Most involved with the negotiations were required to sign nondisclosure agreements.

Commerce Department officials refused to sign the agreements but officials in Caldwell County did, as did some legislators.

That posed challenges for elected officials, charged with conducting the public’s business in the open. As the tax measure wended its way through the legislature, some lawmakers began linking it to Google. That prompted a strong rebuke from (Google Executive Rhett) Weiss.

“We respect the legislature needs to conduct its business, to deliberate on bills,” Weiss wrote in a June 7 e-mail to Hobart. But legislators must understand that the project likely will be canceled if anyone “mentions the company’s interest in the bill, North Carolina, or the project itself.”

Negotiators went into full panic mode after The Charlotte Observer on July 21 outed the negotiations. Google representatives blamed the legislature for leaking the information, and there was much consternation at headquarters.

This secretive behavior should raise alarm bells in the investment community, which would appear to be in need of reminding Google that it’s a public company.

It’s also pretty clear that this story is getting more muted coverage than you might expect; I believe that it’s because, as far as the formerly Mainstream Media is concerned, Google still has its high-tech halo in place — despite cooperation with Chinese tyrants in censoring Internet content. Just imagine how much grief an oil company would get if it conducted negotiations over a new refinery in such a manner.

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UPDATE, Feb. 11: More fallout (HT Instapundit; bolds are mine) –

Google strong-armed the public partners with which it worked on the incentive package, in ways that would be unseemly even for a company that doesn’t publish a lengthy Code of Conduct that says things like, “Being a Googler means holding yourself to the highest possible standard of ethical business conduct. … When it comes to ethical conduct, we believe in erring on the side of caution.”

Except, apparently, when an annualized amount equal to two-tenths of 1 percent of its profits for the trailing 12 months is on the line.

Glorified warehouse

At first, the tax incentives offered to the cash-gushing Internet firm by the state of North Carolina and the down-at-the-heels county — at least $165 million over 30 years, or about $800,000 for each of the 200 jobs that are expected to be created — drew only knowing snickers from the digerati. A data center is basically a climate-controlled warehouse full of computers, with a seemingly limited capacity to create excellent jobs or kick-start further business growth around it. …..

‘Arrogance’

But it turns out that there was a lot more to the story. Google leaned hard on North Carolina lawmakers and officials, not just to get the fattest deal possible but to choke off the flow of information along the way.

According to documents obtained by The News & Observer of Raleigh, the company went beyond reasonable expectations of confidentiality to demand absolute secrecy while negotiations were under way, even asking participants to sign nondisclosure agreements; some legislators and local officials did so, but Department of Commerce officials did not. Google executive Rhett Weiss badgered Commerce Secretary Jim Fain about the state’s adherence to process, complaining, for example, when lawmakers wanted an estimate of the cost to North Carolina in lost tax revenue, and threatening to kill the whole thing if Google didn’t get its way.

Businesses need some measure of confidentiality when putting together this kind of transaction. Fair enough. But this is the people’s business, and Google’s high-handedness is an affront to the people of this state.

And then there’s that whole “Don’t be evil” thing. Google spokesman Barry Schnitt told me that the company’s negotiations with the state were “very standard.” If that’s the case, and this is standard operating procedure for the company, then something has gone wrong in Silicon Valley.

In the BBC last Thursday (bold is mine):

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Mexico City in a protest against the rising price of tortillas.

The price of the flat corn bread, the main source of calories for many poor Mexicans, recently rose by over 400%.

President Felipe Calderon has said the government will clamp down on hoarding and speculation to ease the problem.

But some blame the rise on demand for corn to make environmentally-friendly biofuels in the United States.

Hmm.

It’s about time, and hopefully the start of a trend:

DELRAY BEACH, Fla.–Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans on Thursday to abandon the touch-screen voting machines that many of Florida’s counties installed after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The state will instead adopt a system of casting paper ballots counted by scanning machines in time for the 2008 presidential election.

Voting experts said Florida’s move, coupled with new federal voting legislation expected to pass this year, could be the death knell for the paperless electronic touch-screen machines. If as expected the Florida Legislature approves the $32.5 million cost of the change, it would be the nation’s biggest repudiation yet of touch-screen voting …..

From AP via MSNBC:

Crash victim says dog saved her life
German shepherd came to her assistance after wreck
Updated: 10:51 p.m. ET Feb 2, 2007

THOMASVILLE, Ga. - A south Georgia woman bloodied in a car wreck says she owes her life to a German shepherd who — thankfully — just wouldn’t stay in his yard.

Shannon Lorio says that after her car careened down an embankment, the wayward dog found her bruised and battered on the vehicle’s trunk, pulled her by her shirt collar, dragged her about 50 yards through briars to a highway and let her lean against him so she could flag a passing motorist.

His new name: Hero.

“That dog is always going to have a special place in my heart,” Lorio said Friday. “He’s my hero.”

Hero’s previous owners have signed him over to the Thomasville-Thomas County Humane Society since the Jan. 26 accident because he kept wandering off.

He won’t be in the shelter long: Not only have at least 50 people offered to adopt him, a dog trainer has agreed to see if he has the right stuff for search and rescue work.

Lorio’s car tumbled backward down an embankment in a remote, heavily wooded area. She said she lost control on a curve and was thrown onto the trunk.

“I was bleeding from my face and my nose,” she said. “All of a sudden, I felt a presence — a really huge presence. He was straddling me. I have watched too many horror movies about werewolves and vampires. I thought he was going to eat me.”

Instead, the dog licked her face, she said.

The 2-year-old dog, weighing 70 pounds, dragged the 136-pound Lorio to the highway, then stood by to help her summon help before she collapsed, she said.

Lorio, 36, of Pavo, said she can’t adopt Hero because she already has six dogs, but she’s showered him with gifts including a huge bone and a stuffed animal.

“If he ever needs anything, I’ll be there,” she said.

Dog trainer Heidy Drawdy, of Thomasville, will take Hero next week to see if he’s cut out to be a search and rescue dog.

First item on the agenda for the wandering canine: obedience training.