Patterico's Pontifications

And I’m not saying that just because bloggers are apparently getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to say similar things.

No sir.

Patterico (9c670f) — 3/10/2013 @ 12:36 am

Was I ever on any Malaysian entity’s payroll? I resent the implication. The answer is no. No, no, no, no, no.

Well, yes. A bit.

Patterico (9c670f) — 3/10/2013 @ 12:43 am

Sorry, my old pal See Dubya was talking about this on Twitter tonight and I had heard nothing about it, or very little anyway. I read up on it a little and found myself amused, and had to post something before I went to bed.

Turn those clocks forward now!

Patterico (9c670f) — 3/10/2013 @ 12:44 am

Huh?

Tom Hunt (b589d2) — 3/10/2013 @ 1:17 am

Google ‘Malaysia trevino domenech armstrong‘.

Scrutineer (0b6bc0) — 3/10/2013 @ 1:45 am

That’s damning with faint praise.

One could take that statement “a hell of a place” as meaning that it’s a bit hellish there.

Given the climate and the preponderance of Muslims, it’s probably a valid statement.

I know I wouldn’t want to live there.

Jcw46 (f33482) — 3/10/2013 @ 4:18 am

If you believe any of these journalists, book your flight to the moon, and enjoy the cheese.

mg (31009b) — 3/10/2013 @ 4:36 am

Ben there several times, did something happen that I wasnt aware of, because its still a nell hole

EPWJ (590d06) — 3/10/2013 @ 5:05 am

Been there done that – its still a hell hole!

can someone, anyone type for me?

EPWJ (590d06) — 3/10/2013 @ 5:07 am

The only good thing I can say about Malaysia is it’s close to Singapore. I’d much rather be in Singapore.

Steve57 (60a887) — 3/10/2013 @ 7:11 am

It’s had some pretty tall building, until Dubai, and apparently some good foozle, as pikachu would say in the open air markets.

narciso (3fec35) — 3/10/2013 @ 8:04 am

That was funny.

SPQR (768505) — 3/10/2013 @ 8:04 am

11. It’s had some pretty tall building, until Dubai, and apparently some good foozle, as pikachu would say in the open air markets.

Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 3/10/2013 @ 8:04 am

If you can enjoy the cuisine “in the open air” in a country that stinks like you’re face down in someone’s ***, go for it.

Like I said, I’ll be in Singapore.

Steve57 (60a887) — 3/10/2013 @ 8:47 am

Well so I’ve been told, and shown, by a friend,

Seriously though, this piece illustrates the problem in a nutshell,

http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Moderate-Muslim-Watch-Notes-From-the-Malaysian-PR-War

narciso (3fec35) — 3/10/2013 @ 8:53 am

It makes one wonder, if one can trust anything these folks write;

http://www.redstate.com/csbadeaux/2011/05/30/anwar-ibrahims-western-public-relations-effort-failing/

narciso (3fec35) — 3/10/2013 @ 8:58 am

Come here big Malaysia mention money.

SarahW (b0e533) — 3/10/2013 @ 9:18 am

Ellie Light is bad enough.

SarahW (b0e533) — 3/10/2013 @ 9:21 am

Greetings:

My favorite bit of recent tid about Malaysia is that the country has been distracted from its normal level of kuffar persecution by an invasion of one of its islands by a pesky bunch of co-religionists from the Philippines.

As Fouad Ajami has written, those are the lands of “I against my brother; my brother and I against our cousin; and my cousin, my brother, and I against the stranger”.

Islam is the millstone. If you plan doesn’t include constraining, undermining, or eradicating Islam, you don’t have a plan. WHat you have is a hope.

11B40 (e9fe30) — 3/10/2013 @ 9:35 am

18. Islam is the millstone. If you plan doesn’t include constraining, undermining, or eradicating Islam, you don’t have a plan. WHat you have is a hope.

Comment by 11B40 (e9fe30) — 3/10/2013 @ 9:35 am

What if the plan is to just let nature run it’s course?

The thing about places like Malaysia is that it didn’t have to be that way. You know why places like Malaysia assault your senses with the stink of diesel, rotting fruits and vegetables and meat, piss and feces?

They made a choice. If they manage to scrape some money together what to they do with it?

Build camps for apostates.

A reading from the book of Steve57, who enjoys living in the land where the toilets work and the girls giggle and smell nice.

Steve57 (60a887) — 3/10/2013 @ 10:01 am

And since my check didn’t arrive, I still think Malaysia is a dump.

SPQR (768505) — 3/10/2013 @ 10:47 am

Patterico: Did I ever mention what a fine, fine country Malaysia is?…

4. Comment by Tom Hunt (b589d2) — 3/10/2013 @ 1:17 am

Huh?

Malaysia’s U.S. Propaganda // Kuala Lumpur paid American conservative journalists to smear an opposition leader.

Wall Street Journal editorial Saturday/Sunday March 9/10, 2013. Updated March 8, 2013, 6:20 p.m. EST

This involves Anwar Ibrahim. As the Wall Street Journal notes, in the United States they make different accusations against him than they do in Malysia. In Malaysia, he has been accused and prosecuted for homosexuality, or maybe it’s even pedophilia.

Trial of Opposition Leader Could Reshape Malaysian Politics By THOMAS FULLER Published: by the New York Times February 1, 2010

He spent nearly two years in detention without trial during the 1970s when he led a conservative Islamic student movement against the government. He served six more years, beginning in 1998, during which he was tried on charges of sodomy and abuse of power in trying to cover up the allegations. While the sodomy conviction was overturned, appeals of the abuse of power charges were ultimately rejected.

In the United States, the Malaysian government paid people to point out – truthfully – that he has played around with anti-semitism and people suspected of being connected to terrorism.

The Wall Street Journal is making some excuses for him – the political environment in Malaysia. But they shouldn’t. He may not be the worst kind of person, precisely because it is so common.

But the political environment is like that for a reason, and he’s part of it.

Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/10/2013 @ 11:04 am

This all apparently came to light when Joshua Treviño also known as Tacitus, a Bush Administration speech writer and co-founder of RedState, registered as a foreign agent this past January, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, saying he had been paid by the Malaysian government from May 2008 until April 2011 to conduct a PR campaign against Anwar Ibrahim.

(He must have had gotten another client as well, after April 2011, for Wikipedia reports:

In August 2012, a controversy arose around statements Treviño had made on Twitter over a year previously, following the Israeli military’s May 31, 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara and later in the context of the planned Freedom Flotilla II. In June 2011 he had written: “Dear IDF: If you end up shooting any Americans on the new Gaza flotilla — well, most Americans are cool with that. Including me.”,[3] critics accused him of incitement to murder[4] and demanded that the British newspaper The Guardian drop him as a columnist.[5] Others such as conservative author Bruce Bawer defended Treviño and The Guardian.[6]

Treviño and The Guardian responded by publishing a response in which Treviño stated that “any reading of my tweet of 25 June 2011 that holds that I applauded, encouraged, or welcomed the death of fellow human beings, is wrong, and out of step with my life and record.”[7] The Guardian later severed its relationship with Treviño, citing his previously undisclosed partnership with Malaysian business interests.[8]

Joshua Treviño paid other writers as well. . The New Ledger, edited by Ben Domenech, called Mr. Anwar a “vile anti-Semite and cowardly woman-abuser.” One posting was entitled, “Muslim Brotherhood’s terrorist money flowing to Anwar Ibrahim.” According to Mr. Treviño’s filing, he paid Mr. Domenech $36,000 for “opinion writing.”

Three contributors of anti-Anwar items to the New Ledger—Rachel Motte, Christopher Badeaux and Brad Jackson—were paid $9,500, $11,000 and $24,700 respectively.

Also paid by Malaysia was “Fact Based Communications” which produced television programs on various countries for CNN, CNBC and the BBC.

And even some other more famous people got money. Rachel Ehrenfeld, who has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, took $30,000, and Claire Berlinski, got $6,750, and Seth Mandel, an editor at Commentary magazine, was paid $5,500. Some of the articles appeared in well-known publications such as National Review and the Washington Times.

Joshua Treviño did take the Malaysian government’s side on the sodomy case, too. The Wall Street Journal editorial page writes:

The campaign was more targeted than the Malaysian ruling coalition’s domestic attacks on Mr. Anwar. Mr. Treviño’s site mainly went after the opposition leader for anti-Semitic remarks and his alliance with the Islamist party PAS, and even accused him of links to terrorists through the International Institute of Islamic Thought. Mr. Anwar has made anti-Semitic comments—though that’s in part to fend off domestic accusations that he’s too cozy with Zionists. He also has ties to organizations that have taken Saudi money, but the suggestion that he somehow has “ties to terrorism” is preposterous.

The site also defended an outrageous charge of sodomy brought against Mr. Anwar from 2008-2012, and it criticized the U.S. State Department and The Wall Street Journal for taking Mr. Anwar’s side. These postings were clearly aimed at sowing doubt among other would-be Anwar defenders in the U.S., especially on the right of the U.S. political spectrum.

Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/10/2013 @ 11:24 am

ˆdon’t think Joshua Treviño lobbied Congress. If that is correct that would mean you don’t have to lobby Congress to be registered as a foreign agent. So Chuck Hagel probably should have registered as a foreign agent because some of the things he said aren’t really explainable any other way. Of course, in his case, the money was probably very well laundered.

Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/10/2013 @ 11:27 am

Jeb Bush is proud of the job his bro and daddy did and if he were to run for POTUS in ’16 it will be because he has something to offer.

gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 3/10/2013 @ 11:31 am

Jebby is in for a surprise when the turnout is zero.

mg (31009b) — 3/10/2013 @ 11:52 am

25. This last time they lost a million votes with a good student and tireless worker after the aged surrender monkey four years earlier.

I agree, this guy has nothing to sell but name recognition. Some FL residents say he was a good governor. How well did T-Paw do?

gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 3/10/2013 @ 12:10 pm

For feets (when he shows up)… for helping me see things from a different perspective…

http://youtu.be/nWuy5OzKA6o

Colonel Haiku (0ee79f) — 3/10/2013 @ 12:22 pm

nice song thank you Mr. colonel

happyfeet (8ce051) — 3/10/2013 @ 12:33 pm

Turn those clocks forward now!

Without Sammy’s posts, I’d really be going “huh?!” about the newest blog entry.

However, when it comes to the wonders of daylight saving time, that government edict can be considered as clever as, say, handouts to Solyndra or as worthwhile as top officials’ response to a US consulate in Benghazi. It’s another example of the ingenuity and generosity of the government—-and, BTW, the extension of DST can be laid at the doorstep of “compassionate conservative” George W Bush, who signed the legislation into law.

online.wsj.com, February 2008:

For decades, conventional wisdom has held that daylight-saving time, which begins March 9, reduces energy use. But a unique situation in Indiana provides evidence challenging that view: Springing forward may actually waste energy.

Up until two years ago, only 15 of Indiana’s 92 counties set their clocks an hour ahead in the spring and an hour back in the fall… But many residents came to hate falling in and out of sync with businesses and residents in neighboring states and prevailed upon the Indiana Legislature to put the entire state on daylight-saving time beginning in the spring of 2006.

Indiana’s change of heart gave University of California-Santa Barbara economics professor Matthew Kotchen and Ph.D. student Laura Grant a unique way to see how the time shift affects energy use. Using more than seven million monthly meter readings from Duke Energy Corp., covering nearly all the households in southern Indiana for three years, they were able to compare energy consumption before and after counties began observing daylight-saving time. Readings from counties that had already adopted daylight-saving time provided a control group that helped them to adjust for changes in weather from one year to the next.

Their finding: Having the entire state switch to daylight-saving time each year, rather than stay on standard time, costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills. They conclude that the reduced cost of lighting in afternoons during daylight-saving time is more than offset by the higher air-conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increased heating costs on cool mornings.

A 2007 study by economists Hendrik Wolff and Ryan Kellogg of the temporary extension of daylight-saving in two Australian territories for the 2000 Summer Olympics also suggested the clock change increases energy use.

cbslocal.com: Forgetting about Daylight Saving Time and not shifting your clock might lead to a late arrival at church or a missed tee time, but according to a report in The American Journal of Cardiology, there could be a greater effect.

A study that was done in the March edition showed a small rise in heart attack rates the Sunday following the shift to Daylight Saving Time. You lose an hour of sleep and it might not seem like much, but according to the study it can have an impact.

It’s not the only study that has shown this. A 2012 University of Alabama study found that heart attacks increase by 10% on Monday and Tuesday following the shift to Daylight Saving Time. Back in 2008, a Swedish study found your chances having a heart attack increase in the first three weekdays following the switch to Daylight Saving Time.

It has also been shown people are less productive once Daylight Saving Time is implemented. That goes for an extended period of time, but in the short run there are plenty of health issues in addition to increased heart attack risk. For instance, traffic accidents increase 8% on the Monday following the change over to Daylight Saving Time.

^ A great companion to the joys and wonders of Obamacare.

Mark (1713de) — 3/10/2013 @ 1:03 pm

Ronalkd Reagan siugned legislation in the 1980s extending Daily Savings Time and George W Bush did it again twenty years later.

DST used to run from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In 1973 wuth the Arab opil embargo Congress enacted year round daily ssavinmgs time which toiok effect at the end of January. That was too early. So the next year, 1975 they made it Feb 28. That was still too early to start and the next year they went back to the old system. In 1987 (I think) they changed it to starting on the first Sunday in April.

Then in 2007 they changed it to start with the second Sunday in March and they ended it the first Sunday in November so that we would go back to standard time after and not before Halloween.

So now standard time is barely more than one third of the year. They also forced some states to change so now only Arizona and Hawaii have year round standard time.

Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/10/2013 @ 1:41 pm

Too bad about Trevino. I heard him a few times on Hinderaker’s podcast and thought he was pretty sharp but he lost me when he sold out.

BradnSA (acab35) — 3/10/2013 @ 1:51 pm

I am glad Gov Daniels pushed daylight savings time through. Mark’s comment only addresses a portion of DST, it does not address the adverse economic impact of having different times in different portions of state, at different times of the year. It was a mess.

JD (b63a52) — 3/10/2013 @ 2:23 pm

But that’s exactly the best side bonus of making VA DST free.. The misery of DC and DC commuters.

SarahW (b0e533) — 3/10/2013 @ 2:42 pm

i’m daylight savings agnostic I fully support whatever you guys decide

happyfeet (8ce051) — 3/10/2013 @ 2:50 pm

apropos of food stamponomics

According to the household survey, where the BLS asks how many are working in a household, 170,000 new jobs were added in February of this year — despite the addition of an astounding 446,000 part-time jobs. What this means is that some 276,000 full-time jobs were lost in February.

meanwhile, elsewhere, Michelle Obama need to get her party on and shake shake shake that cakey booty

ooh yeah girl that’s it

happyfeet (8ce051) — 3/10/2013 @ 3:34 pm

“Mark’s comment only addresses a portion of DST, it does not address the adverse economic impact of having different times in different portions of state, at different times of the year.”

JD – Since Mark’s comment was not about gay sex I did not pay attention.

/sarc

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/10/2013 @ 3:53 pm

Well played.

SPQR (b12eb9) — 3/10/2013 @ 4:00 pm

including $36,000 to

DAMN!!!

How do *I* get me some of this money!?!?!?

I’ll write blog and opinion pieces advocating sex with a camel, for that kind of money!

SmockPuppet, 10th Dan Snark Master and Gravitationally Distortive Object (98ae1f) — 3/10/2013 @ 4:39 pm

SmockPuppet, but that’s the thing. Anyone can write pieces advocating sex with a camel. Look at Kman.

Its Malaysia that requires skill.

SPQR (b12eb9) — 3/10/2013 @ 4:41 pm

despite the addition of an astounding 446,000 part-time jobs.

Ummm.

Is this an ADDITION, or a SHIFT?

Because we also happen to know there is a TRANSITION, due to looming ObamaCare, towards part-time employment in the food-service industry.

I’m curious if these are getting lumped in as “new” jobs into these statistics. Due to past experience, I would not put it past them.

SmockPuppet, 10th Dan Snark Master and Gravitationally Distortive Object (98ae1f) — 3/10/2013 @ 4:42 pm

Back in 2008, a Swedish study found your chances having a heart attack increase in the first three weekdays following the switch to Daylight Saving Time.

I’ve grown wary of “studies” that make claims like this, since they are soft in the first place and have some built-in presumptions about cause-and-effect.

Seems to me this ought to also appear in those people who happen to regularly work in different time zones, perhaps six weeks in this time zone, six in that… switching between locations regularly enough to make the transitions routine.

SmockPuppet, 10th Dan Snark Master and Gravitationally Distortive Object (98ae1f) — 3/10/2013 @ 4:48 pm

So Jebbie managed today to be on 6 channels with national news analysis blather(including Univision) about his book.

Meanwhile Boehner is boasting he has the votes to pass gun legislation and avoid shutdown without Repugnant support.

Face it GOP you are dead, compacted and recycled.

gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 3/10/2013 @ 4:57 pm

The Fed’s gifts to EU banks now stands at $1 Trillion following $100 Billion in last week. These are not loans, of which Fed has made and banks worldwide paid off $16 Trillion at end of last year.

gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 3/10/2013 @ 5:12 pm

LAUGH OF THE DAY……

Winner in the CHUCKLE Category:

Karzai cancels joint presser with Hagel, accusing the U.S. of “working with the Taliban”.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/10/karzai-hagel-press-conference-canceled-over-security-threat-us-officials-say/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29

Winner in ROTFLMAO Category:

Susan Rice thought to be next National Security Advisor.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/10/ambassador-rice-top-contender-to-become-next-wh-national-security-adviser/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29

That says everything about the seriousness of this administration about virtually any aspect of governance.
We ARE a Banana Republic, we just don’t have a snappy name yet, nor the “Busby Berkeley” uniforms to go with it.

askeptic (2bb434) — 3/10/2013 @ 5:45 pm

‘Talk to the hand’ Hamid,

narciso (3fec35) — 3/10/2013 @ 5:54 pm

he looks like an organ grinder’s monkey with his silly hat

so cute

happyfeet (8ce051) — 3/10/2013 @ 5:57 pm

31. Comment by BradnSA (acab35) — 3/10/2013 @ 1:51 pm

Too bad about Trevino. I heard him a few times on Hinderaker’s podcast and thought he was pretty sharp but he lost me when he sold out

What told you that he sold out? (what tipped you off?)

I assume this happned before the official disclosure.

Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/12/2013 @ 11:50 am

What – was Virginia a state that didn’t have Daylight Savings Time in the entire state?

And now it doesn’t have it at all?

That doesn’t seem to be the case:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/clockchange.html?n=212

What other styores do I know>

I think Hugo Chavez changed the

Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/12/2013 @ 11:55 am

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1572014/Hugo-Chavez-invents-new-half-hour-time-zone.html

By Jeremy McDermott, Latin America Correspondent
3:13PM GMT 09 Dec 2007

Venezuela has created its own, unique time zone on the orders of President Hugo Chavez, setting clocks back half an hour and putting the oil-rich nation out of step with its neighbours.

I’d kind of forgotten that, because my Nikon camera has Caracas and New York in the same time zone.

Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/12/2013 @ 11:58 am

It’s kind of like the dictator, in ‘Bananas’

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/21/joshua-trevio-gop-consult_n_293938.html

narciso (3fec35) — 3/12/2013 @ 11:59 am

In Russia:

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/02/07/putin_and_medvedev_squabble_over_what_time_it_is

It seems like Medvedev, before he left office, abolished some time zonmes as well as Daylight Savings Time. Or rather, he abolished Standard Time.

In Medvedev’s case, an analyst quoted by Bloomberg says the keeping the time change in place is could be “psychologically crucial” for him as its one of the few tangible legacies of his presidency.

Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/12/2013 @ 12:01 pm

As for China – the whole country is on Beijing time. No time zones.

Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/12/2013 @ 12:02 pm

Narciso: that might not be the link you intended. It’s about Trevino.

Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/12/2013 @ 12:04 pm

Yes, I was referring to the previous comment, but there was a hint,

narciso (3fec35) — 3/12/2013 @ 12:11 pm

3/10/2013

Apropos of Nothing

54 Responses to “Apropos of Nothing”

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