The Bull**** flag. Disregard what attempts the media are making right now to spin the Madoff case as a Republican scandal. The fact is that Madoff operated his alleged Ponzi scheme while Clinton was President – not just while Bush was in office. Furthermore, the first recorded complaint against Madoff to the SEC was made two years before Clinton appointed SEC chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. left office. No investigative action was taken by Levitt – despite his attempt today on NPR (no link, but I heard the report) to cast all the blame on later SEC appointees.
This reeks of the same spin the media put on the Enron collapse. You remember Enron, right? The fun guys who pulled their scam off during the Clinton administration and got caught during the Bush administration.
The roots of this scandal run a lot deeper than just the past two terms of the current President.
H/T commenter Mwalimu Daudi
Scenario one: Some archaeologists open a tomb they believed was sealed some 400 years ago and find a 100 year old watch-ring inside. Conclusion: the archaeologists were wrong and the tomb was opened 100 years ago.
Scenario two. Archaeologists open 400 year old tomb they believe has never been opened in 400 years, find 100 year old watch-ring inside and declare it a great mystery since the tomb had never been opened before.
Let’s run with the great mystery, shall we?
Archeologists are stumped after finding a 100-year-old Swiss watch in an ancient tomb that was sealed more than 400 years ago.
They believed they were the first to visit the Ming dynasty grave in Shangsi, southern China, since its occupant’s funeral.
But inside they uncovered a miniature watch in the shape of a ring marked ‘Swiss’ that is thought to be just a century old.
Some mystery. Either the tombs seals were not intact or someone found another way in. Either way, the watch-ring was lost. Or this is a manifestation of space aliens, time travel or both. Or, as we here at the Crabitat favor: the Ming dynasty was so good at producing counterfeit Western goods that they managed to make an almost exact copy of a watch that hadn’t even been invented yet before the nation that it came from had even been created!
Damn, they were good!
….For the guy who has everything? How about a 1/4 scale model radio-controlled tank powerful enough to pull a car?
It’s the ultimate boys’ toy for Christmas – a giant radio-controlled tank that’s so powerful it can actually pull a car.
The 6ft long monster is a 1/4 scale model of a King Tiger, the German weapon which wreaked havoc among allied tanks during World War Two.
Weighing a whopping 250kg, the camouflaged tank has a fully working turret and a 2ft long gun with a realistic recoil action.
And speakers are fitted inside to simulate the tank’s distinctive rumbling noise.
The tank is powered by two, 500 watt 24 volt motors which are so powerful that it can pull a car on a level surface.
They’re a bit off on scale somehow. The photos accompanying the story say the model is some 6 feet long. The real tank was over 33 feet long. But still, it’s a big toy. Of course, if you’re looking for a real tank and not a model, those are available from other vendors.
We here at the Crabitat would be ever so much more interested in this if the gun worked, but we suppose that would run afoul of several dozen laws.
Incidentally, the King Tiger struck terror in the hearts of Allied tankers because they had virtually no way to stop them. Sherman tank main guns could not penetrate the armor of a King Tiger at point blank range. Fortunately, the King Tiger was a fuel hog and had lots of mechanical problems. So many were simply abandoned when they ran out of fuel or broke down.
Crime, Economy | Gaius December 17, 2008 | 
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