WENATCHEE -- A 29-year-old Wenatchee man told police a pterodactyl caused him to drive his car into a light pole about 11:30 p.m. Thursday.
Wenatchee police cited the man with first-degree negligent driving. A breathalyzer test showed "a minimal amount of alcohol," said Wenatchee police Sgt. Cherie Smith.
The only surprises, "minimal amount" and Wenatchee instead of Pullman.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tim Tebow Wins The Heisman Trophy
Florida Sophmore Tim Tebow won the Heisman trophy on Saturday. Al Gore finished a disappointing 3rd.
H RES 635 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 2-Oct-2007 5:06 PM QUESTION: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree, as Amended BILL TITLE: Recognizing the commencement of Ramadan
H RES 847 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 11-Dec-2007 7:02 PM QUESTION: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Agree, as Amended BILL TITLE: Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith. 10 40
Jim McDermott voted no. All 9 no votes came from Democrats.
An Inconvenient Truth, A Movie Review And A Little More
I read in the newspaper the other day that Al Gore took the train from the airport to the hotel where he was staying before picking up his Nobel Prize.
OSLO, Norway (AP) — Former Vice President Al Gore skipped the traditional airport motorcade and took public transportation when he arrived Friday in Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize he shared for his campaign against global warming.
Before his arrival with his wife, Tipper, Gore told his hosts that he would not need the traditional motorcade from the airport, preferring to take the high-speed and environmentally friendly airport train, and then walking to his downtown Oslo hotel. "I use public transport when I can. It isn't always possible," Gore told The Associated Press while walking to his hotel. He said the train was much faster than a limousine, but that it was also a symbol of efforts to reduce pollution in hopes of slowing climate change.
"It is a gesture. It is also one of the changes we are all going to have to be doing anyway," Gore said about the need to change travel habits.
Later that same day I got a call from a relative who was borrowing a copy of An Inconvenient Truth. I asked if I could come over and watch it with her. She said yes and so I did.
Now I promise not to give away the ending where we all drown but here are a couple of observations about what the movie included versus what I expected.
I was expecting more science. More scientists explaining the scientific facts. Al Gore in not a scientist.
In 1965, Gore enrolled at Harvard College, the only university to which he applied. He scored in the lower fifth of the class for two years in a row[11] and, after finding himself bored with his classes in his declared English major, Gore switched majors, found a passion for government, and graduated with honors from Harvard in June 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government.[10] After returning from the military he took religious studies courses at Vanderbilt and then entered the university's law school. He left Vanderbilt without a degree to run for an open seat in Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District in 1976.
There are almost no scientist talking about the science of global warming in this film. Al talks about them, “his good friend Carl Sagen” or “his good friend Roger Revelle” Al Gore has a lot of good friends. Lots more cartoons and animation than I expected. Lot of video of Al growing up or when he was in the Senate. Seemed like a lot of the footage was recycled from his planned run for the 2008 Presidency. Much of it just seemed like a campaign ad. The other part that seemed to come up lots and lots and lots were scenes of Al Gore riding in an airplane or in the back of a limousine. Al Gore burns a lot of fuel. Seemed like an odd choice of footage considering the subject.
So here is what the movie wants us to believe, man made carbon, CO2, is increasing the temperature of the earth. That is it.
Here is the problem with that argument. Increases in carbon does not appear to cause an increase in temperature. But there is another problem, even if increases in carbon could cause an increase in temperature, is man capable of increasing carbon enough to make a difference in the temperature. I will get back to those topics shortly.
First lets discuss if the temperature of the earth is increasing or not. Of course it is! Really? Contrary to what Al Gore says in the movie, 2005 was not the hottest year on record. James Hanson of NASA, a John Kerry Supporter who received a $250,000 Heinz Environment Award from the Heinz Foundation, run by Kerry's wife, in 2001, stated 2005 was the hottest year on record but that was found to be inaccurate by Stephen McIntyre. Did Mr. McIntyre find the error by going over the NASA data and methodologies? Well no, Mr. Hansen did not follow that time honored tradition of peer review by refusing to release the data and source code, which were paid for by United States taxpayers.
McIntyre expressed his hope that the acknowledgment of this error will make it much more difficult for what he asserted was the denial by GISS to allow researchers access to the source code and methodologies GISS uses to construct its U.S. and global temperature anomalies.
So is the earth warming or not? It depends, start watching the following @ 2:40.
So now on to the question of does CO2 cause temperature to rise or not?
The money quote of the film was “When there is more carbon dioxide, it gets warmer“ Al can be seen delivering that line here @ 3:32.
But stop the video @ 3:37 and take a good long look at the graph. There are two lines on the graph, temperature and carbon. Which of the two appears to be leading the other? They both seem to move up and down in a similar manner but isn’t the bottom line, the temperature line appear to move up or down first, just barely but doesn’t that appear to be the case? Remember that those lines represent 650,000 years in time. I made an educated guess as to the length of the graph being about 50 feet based on the number of steps it take Al Gore to walk from one side of the graph to the other. A 50 foot graph that represents 650,000 years would mean that 1 inch of that graph is slightly more than 1000 years.
Now fast forward to 6:35. Temperature leads carbon by about 800 years, or a little less than an inch on Al’s graph. Kind of matches what you see in the chart.
Here is a video showing same thing but with the temperature and carbon lines of Al’s graph overlayed, starting @ 3:21
Now let’s look at carbon as a percentage of all greenhouse gases and man made carbon as a percentage. Surely carbon must be a significant percentage of all greenhouse gases if it is capable of changing the temperature and surely man has made a significant increase in carbon is man made carbon is the cause of the temperature increase. Well not exactly.
There are a number of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide being one of them. Carbon Dioxide makes up 3.6% of all greenhouse gases. Carbon Dioxide is a naturally occurring gas. Sources of carbon dioxide are decaying plants, animals, volcanoes humans and the ocean.
Now here is the important part, humans are the cause of about 1/30th of all carbon dioxide. So if you do the math, human caused carbon dioxide accounts for about 0.117% of all greenhouse gases. Now humans produce other greenhouse gases as well and all human produced greenhouse gases amount to about .28% of all greenhouse gases, but like I said, carbon dioxide is what is being targeted. Nobody talks about methane offsets or your nitrous oxide footprint. So the greenhouse gases that are not human caused carbon dioxide make up 99.883% of all greenhouse gases.
Let me put that into perspective. If all of the greenhouse gases were represented by a mile long string, the length of the string from man made CO2 would be slightly over 6 feet. CO2, 6.18 feet, all other greenhouse gases 5273.82 feet. So what we are suppose to believe is that if we could just cut our CO2 emissions by 20% or 30% of 50%, that will save Mother Earth. If we could get that .117% down to .0585%, that will do it. If you get tired from running a mile, would it help if you stopped 6.18 feet short of a mile?
Another issue I had with the film was the excessive mentions of hurricane Katrina. Al says that we will see bigger storms more often as a result of global warming. But what has happened in the 2+ years since Katrina. Here are the number of storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes from 2005 through 2007 plus the current prediction for 2008. 2005: 28 storms, 15 hurricanes, 7 major hurricanes 2006, 10 storms, 5 hurricanes, 2 major hurricanes 2007 14 storms, 6 hurricanes, 2 major hurricanes 2008 prediction 13 storms, 7 hurricanes, 3 major hurricanes
There is not one year since 2005 where the number of storms is more than half the number of 2005. There is not one year where the number of hurricanes or major hurricanes are even half the number of 2005. How can that be? If global warming is always increasing and global warming is causing these storms, how come they have dropped in half.
OK, so what do I think is the cause of any temperature increase? It’s the sun stupid.
Based on many different indicators from widely varying sources, it has been found that our sun, a variable star, is a major and controlling influence on the extent and rate of long- and short-term climate changes affecting Earth. In a January 17, 2003 article, Science@NASA describes the extent of the fluctuations in solar radiation over time, how they are being measured, the instruments that are being used to measure them, how those instruments are being calibrated and what has been found by using them.
In his report, Solar Activity: A Dominant Factor in Climate Dynamics, Dr. Theodor Landscheidt discusses that the distance of the nucleus of the Sun from the center of the mass of the solar system varies in an eleven-year cycle. The centre of the mass of the solar system is a function of the distribution of the mass of the Sun and the planets, and as that distribution changes as the planets orbit around the Sun, the distance between the nucleus of the Sun and the center of the mass of the solar system is not constant and varies from one cycle to the next. That causes variations in the rotational speed of the Sun. In turn, that causes disturbances in the internal circulation of the Sun.
Those disturbances manifest themselves in the form of sunspots and solar flares. It is primarily the intensity of solar flares and eruptions, not so much the 11-year sunspot cycle, that is of concern. Massive solar flares can be triggered and occur even during or near the minimum of the 11-year sunspot cycle, and it can happen that none or few of the sunspots detected during the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle are associated with very intense increases of solar radiation brought about by massive solar flares or eruptions.
Of course some people have know this for a long time. From the Farmers Almanac
We derive out weather forecasts from a secret formula that was devised by the founder of this Almanac, Robert B. Thomas, in 1792. Thomas believed that weather on Earth was influenced by sunspots, which are magnetic storms on the surface of the Sun.
Over the years, we have refined and enhanced that formula with state-of-the-art technology and modern scientific calculations. We employ three scientific disciplines to make our long-range predictions: solar science, the study of sunspots and other solar activity; climatology, the study of prevailing weather patterns; and meteorology, the study of the atmosphere. We predict weather trends and events by comparing solar patterns and historical weather conditions with current solar activity.
But here is my question, this whole global warming scare, why is it that we are suppose to think the current temperature is the optimal temperature? Who made that decision? Al Gore shows picture after picture of glaciers, years ago covered with snow and ice but now they are not. Who is to say that the “natural state” of those places are snow and ice covered? At one time all of North America was covered in ice. Why is that not considered the norm? The earth is constantly changing, there is no normal as to what the weather should be. For example, close to a thousand years ago, it was known to be warmer than it is now.
The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) or Medieval Climate Optimum was a time of unusually warm climate in the North Atlantic region, lasting from about the tenth century to about the fourteenth century.
It was called the Medieval Climate Optimum. It was not called the Medieval Climate Everyone Drowned From Rising Sea Water Period or the Medieval The Weather Sucks Period. It was Medieval Climate Optimum. Side note, did you know that nurseries pump additional CO2 into greenhouses as plants prefer higher concentrations to what we currently have, about 380 parts per million.
So the next question is, why is there so much talk about global warming? Well, as a famous line from a movie said… “follow the money”.
OK, maybe not the case for everyone but for some on the global warming bandwagon, without global warming, they would be looking for work.
Former vice president to guide investments that help fight global warming
But isn’t Al donating all of his salary to global warming charities? Sure he is, he is donating all of his SALARY to a global warming charity that he controls. He will not pay any tax, at the top tax rate, on that money, that he will still control. Now he is not donating any of the profits he will earn from being a partner.
Gore promised to donate 100 percent of his salary as a Kleiner Perkins partner to the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Palo Alto-based think tank he founded to focus on accelerating policy solutions to the climate crisis. The donation does not include stock options. Typically, a tiny fraction of a venture capitalist's compensation is salary; the vast majority of wealth comes from sale of stock options when the companies the firm invests in are sold to the public.
This is referred to as carried interest earnings and are currently taxed at 15%. It will be interesting to see if Al Gore’s fellow Democrats raise that tax rate to 30% like they have promised or keep it at 15%, now that one of their own will be adversely affected.
Meanwhile, Kleiner Perkins is an outspoken opponent of legislation on Capitol Hill that would tax carried-interest earnings for investment partnerships at the 30% rate for ordinary income instead of the lower capital gains rate of 15%. That puts Gore's new employer at odds with many of his fellow Democrats.
Al Gore has come under fire for making personal gain from his mission to save the planet – after charging £3,300 a minute to deliver a poorly received speech.
One of the arguments against global warming is the conflict of interest inherent in the scientific community. If a government is handing out cash to study something that may be a problem, what is in the best interest of the scientist, to report back there is no problem and no need to study the issue further or is it to report back that an impending catastrophe is just around the corner and we need more funding for more research?
OLYMPIA, Wash. - A faculty member at The Evergreen State College who is a nationally known expert on insects has been rewarded a $649,371, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation, the college announced.
John Longino will lead a study to find new insect species and to explore possible effects of global warming on insect diversity.
"This work is trying to identify the scope of global warming," Longino said from a research station in Costa Rica. "This may give us all a little extra push to do something about it."
Now I realize he needs to finish the research in a hurry as I am sure the private sector is clamoring to line his pockets with mountains of cash to study ants in Costa Rica but shouldn't Professor Longino finish the study before he comes to the conclusion that the result will give us a little extra push to do something about global warming?
Examples abound of grant money going to study the effect of global warming on [insert your area of expertise here]
Researchers Study Effects of Global Warming on Air Quality Pullman, WA – A group of researchers in the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research have received an EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grant to look at the impacts of global climate change on regional air quality in the U.S. The three-year, $900,000 grant builds on previous EPA-funded work, in which researchers looked at air quality 50 years into the future in the Pacific Northwest. From that initial study, they concluded that we can expect to see more days of poor air quality in future years. Several cities in the region can expect to see an increase in the number of days in which they have unhealthy levels of smog and most cities will see higher ozone levels on future summer days.
And one more.
Researchers from the University of Washington directed the Let’s Improve Transportation Challenge as part of a $2.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation and enlisted 135 residents of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties in an experimental project in online participatory democracy. The UW researchers believe the process they developed and the results it produced can be used to restart public discussion about solving the region’s transportation woes. They think the process also can be used to support public evaluation of choices about such issues as regional climate change impacts and Puget Sound habitat restoration.
For more information, watch The Great Global Warming Swindle:
Now lets go back to where I started a long, long time ago, that Al Gore took a train to his hotel room. That same article ends with the following sentence:
On Wednesday, Gore and Pachauri will leave for Germany and then fly to the climate meeting in Bali.
I recently read a quote, I am not sure by who but I would guess it was George Will,
I will treat global warming like an emergency once those who are telling me it is an emergency treat it like an emergency.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
I Got This Spam Email Earlier This Evening
Dear Democrats & Independents,
Please join us for a balanced analysis of the political scene in the USA. Check out the following quotations about us:
“(The Young Turks are) changing the face of radio.” - Senate M. L. Harry Reid “(The Young Turks have) helped pioneer the rapidly developing field of online programming.”- Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times “Maybe (the Democrats) could tune in (to The Young Turks) for some ideas.” - The Detroit News
“Part Howard Stern, Part Howard Dean...The Young Turks offer a host of innovative programs with a political edge.” - Kathy Newman, Pittsburgh City Paper
“The role and impact of new media on the electoral process grows every year. The Young Turks get it. Their live webcast reaches and engages people where they live and work. It has become a part of the national conversation on the air and over the Internet.” - General Wesley Clark
“The Turks, all under 40 and with an infectious zeal for lampooning the right-wing Establishment, are fun to watch and listen to... More than just entertaining.” - Ron Grover, Business Week
“From little-known talkers to big shots in radio and on the Internet. Love Air America or not, The Young Turks will soon be that network’s headliners.” - Paul Bedard,US News & World Report.
The Young Turks 6363 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 301 - Los Angeles, CA 90048 US
Wrong person to send that to. Because of places I have worked, jobs I have done and degrees I have earned, I do not simply delete and ignore this kind of thing. I did a search and came up with a phone number and made a call. I was told the "Young Turks" are at that number between 2 and 6 am Pacific time. Luckily for me, I am typically up and at 'em before 6 am Pacific time. So some poor bastard will be on the receiving end of a nasty phone call in the morning.
Former KVI afternoon host Bryan Suits appears to have landed a new gig; KFI 640 AM in Los Angeles. He'll be guest hosting tonight and tomorrow from 7 to 10 p.m.
As I emailed both KVI and KTTH, "I personally think he would fit better in his old 6-9 pm time slot". Funny how the most listened to talk station in the country can figure this out
In the Spring 2006 quarter Arbitron rating, KFI was the most listened to radio station in Los Angeles, averaging approximately 1.5 million listeners during any given weekday. In the Los Angeles market, this is extremely rare for an AM station, and more rare for an English-language station. The station is now the most listened to AM radio station as well as the most listened to news/talk radio station in the country, beating out WABC in New York City
but stations Seattle can not. Of course maybe that is why it is the biggest station in the country.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Good Day
I am writing down this date, 12/5/2007. A good day. Work kind of stunk, the computer repair guy did not show, our main sales rep backed out of our planned meeting AGAIN, lots of long difficult phone calls but besides that, a really good day.
Had kind of a personal breakthrough, nothing massively significant but I followed through on something I may not have in the past. Later in the day I got a call from my son's principal... usually not a good thing but this time it was. He wanted to let me know about what a good day he had. So I immediately call him and let him know how proud I was and told him Friday night we would go do something fun, whatever he wanted to do. I was thinking he may want to go bowling or see a movie or some other 8 year old activity. Nope... Dad, can we go bungee jumping?
Gun Free Zones Strike Again
Chalk up another victory for gun free zones in their effort to keep law abiding citizens from protecting themselves against those who want to kill as many people as possible before the police can respond.
Some dispute about Westroads being posted "no guns." No dispute, there is a big sign inside every mall entrance that says "MALL RULES" and item 3-4 is "no weapons" which is enough under state law to qualify. I have seen the sign. I will stop in and take a pic whenever the mall reopens.
Well it sure sounds like it was not totally gun free, OK, maybe for the law abiding citizens it was. Somehow this person who was intent on committing mass murder must not have been aware he was in a gun free zone when he killed 8 people. Surely he would not have broken a gun law before committing mass murder by bringing a gun into a gun free zone. Why would a person who wanted to kill as many people as possible go to a place where it is posted nobody else will be able to shoot back?
We need to be honest and start calling these places Self Defense Free Zones.
Our prayers are with the victims and their families and all future victims of gun free zones. Someday, hopefully soon, the public will wake up to the absurdity of gun free zones. The only question is how many more will die in the meantime.
Monday, December 03, 2007
"Ex" Aid To Maria Cantwell Arrested For Attempting To Have Sex With A Minor
A former aide to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was in federal custody after being arrested on a charge of attempting to sexually exploit a minor.
James Michael McHaney was fired Friday from his job as a scheduler for Cantwell, hours after he was arrested by FBI agents. The FBI said in court papers that McHaney is accused of trying to set up a meeting with a witness posing online as a teenage boy.
So he was not an "ex" aide and he was not a "former" aide when this happened. He was literally on his lunch break.
According to court papers, McHaney, known as Mike, tried to arrange a lunchtime meeting with an unidentified person posing as a 13-year-old boy.
There are so many things wrong with this story, I do not know where to start.
Let's start with an adult male wanting to have sex with a 13 year old boy. If there is such a thing as a just and merciful God, this creep will spend the rest of his life being raped and sexually abused by exceptionally large felons courtesy of the United States penal system... AFTER he is convicted.
So I have to ask, why was he fired? First off, since when is being arrested for attempting to have sex with an underage boy a firing offense for a Democratic Senate staffer? Seriously. More importantly, when did this guy get exempt from the presumption of innocents?
Sounds like I need to make my weekly phone call to my Senator, Maria Cantwell, a little earlier than originally planned and ask some really uncomfortable questions.
hijabi seeking maculine practicing Muslim 40-57 - 42
American caucasian religious hijabi seeking Muslim man - single, divorced, or widowed; no polygyny. Not interested in sponsoring anyone; you must already be a permanent resident or citizen. Sorry, no incarcerated brothers or felons.
My New Most Favorite Bush Administration Employee
Is White House Press Secretery, Dana Perino.
Here she is explaining to the enemy who the good guys are.
Two consecutive years of volatile weather — last November and this October were the warmest on record for the New York City area, a retail mecca — have proved disastrous for companies that rely on predictable temperatures to sell cold-weather clothing like sweaters and coats.
So the $200 billion American apparel industry is making sweeping changes in how it makes and sells clothing. The industry, filled with esoteric job titles like visual merchandiser and fabric assistant, has even started recruiting for a more familiar role: weather forecaster. ... A host on HSN, formerly known as the Home Shopping Network, promoted a lightweight women's poncho as ideal for this winter, "especially in the midst of global warming, when none of us are wearing heavy coats anymore."
Nobody is wearing a heavy coat anymore because of that significant change in the temperature.
The reality, of course, is a bit more complicated. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its latest report, average temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere rose roughly 1.5 degrees from 1979 to 2005 — a shift that has not yet eliminated the need for heavy coats.
In unrelated news, the current temperature in New York City, 35 degrees.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Hillary's Hostage Crisis, The Blogs React
The following post contains comments from other blogs. Many of the comments are not family friendly. Many of the links in this post will go to blogs that contain adult language. Click away at your own risk.
While the hostage crisis in New Hampshire was underway, it was interesting to see the reaction on some of the right and left blogs. For example, on the conservative side, Ace Of Spades, the recent winner of the Web Blogs Best Conservative blog, and widely considered the most R rated of the conservative blogs, typical reaction was:
Thoughts and prayers go out. Hope this ends quickly and safely.
He's asking to speak to Hillary. Hopefully it's just some random nut that they can take down before he hurts anyone.
Damn, best wishes to the people being held hostage. Good luck to the NH State Police in getting this wrapped up safely and quickly.
When there was a comment such as
Ok, since I'm an inconsiderate bastard, I'll put this out there. How about a pool on whether this guy is on the extreme right or extreme left. I'm betting the left; an anti-war fucktard with no sense of irony.
There was a quick reply such as:
Not now, okay? The why and who doesn't matter right now except as it helps the cops deal with this. Any violence in the political system threatens us all. We can figure all the rest out later, right now the only important thing is the safety of these two people.
Now compare that to what was posted at liberal blogs, and remember, it is a Democratic candidate's office where this is happening, not a Republican. Over at Think Progress, the first 9 comments:
US withdraws UN text backing Mideast peace process: diplomat
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United States on Friday withdrew a resolution it had presented to the UN Security Council endorsing the Annapolis conference relaunch of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, said a diplomat close to the Security Council.
Thats that peace deal dead then Comment by Bush Cover Ups — November 30, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
Watch Fock Snooze try to pawn this off as an Obama backer, or more likely, a Hillary “Oh, I’m a victim” stunt Comment by RUCerious — November 30, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
Or will Faux claim it is blowback from retired gay Generals? Comment by robbez_92107 — November 30, 2007 @ 2:00 pm
It must be the Liberal Media’s doing.
It must be! Comment by kindness — November 30, 2007 @ 2:02 pm
Is his name Jake or Dayrll?
Ah, so this is how the RiechWingers are gonna react to Hillary running for Pres, can’t say I didn’t see this one coming. They are desperate pyschos that think guns and aggression are the answer to their plight.
Bush/Cheney Hague Trials ‘09
Buck Fush Comment by Buckie Boy — November 30, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
One would expect this from bloggers with names like Age of Rifles, or some other dumbshit handle… Comment by RUCerious — November 30, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
Here are the odds that this domestic terrorist is a frequent visitor of:
Foxnews.com: Even Freeperville: 5 to 1 Stalkin Malkin: 2 to 1 Redstate: 8 to 1 Newsbusters: 3 to 1 Drudge: Even O’Reilly.com: 2 to 1 Comment by Dr. Matt — November 30, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
Ten to one this is a redneck hilbilly…Yes, they have them even up in NH… Comment by RUCerious — November 30, 2007 @ 2:10 pm
It’s Clinton’s fault. No, the other one. Comment by Badmoodman — November 30, 2007 @ 2:11 pm
Over at Democratic Underground, 4 of the first 6 posts were deleted because they were inappropriate even for DU. I can not imagine what it takes to have a comment deleted on that board.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
YouTube Debate
Here was my favorite question, from "independent" Mark Strauss.
Wait... that wasn't the question... although that was "independent" Mark Strauss who claimed he really wants to vote for Ron Paul.
Is Oprah A Racist? Clearly not in the kill whitey "Racist" sense but clearly she is in that she treats people differently based on race. As Bryan Suits recently stated, how is it she has never endorsed anyone in all of these years and now she is endorsing Barack Obama? It does not take a rocket scientist to see that if Baracks name was Jose Lopez or Paddy O'[fill in the blank], there is exactly a zero percent chance she would be endorsing someone with such a thin resume.
But to be honest, I really do not care if she is a "little r" racist or not. Let the market figure it out and deal with it and right now, the market appears to be putting a premium on treating people differently depending on race.
All that being said, my one beef with Oprah is that her and all the other "watch me and you will have a better life" pushers is they need to be honest with the audience. If they wanted them to have a better life, each and every show would be the exact same. A full hour of them starring into the camera and screaming "get off your fat ass, turn off the damn TV and do something".
I still stand by that what I wrote but it looks like she may be a big R racist after all. Here is audio of Oprah and her friend Gayle making fun of "whitey". I seem to remember Don Imus getting in trouble for a whole lot less.
Buy A Dell, Save The Planet
Now when you go to purchase a Dell computer, one of the available options is to pay to have a tree planted, or pay to offset your monitor's carbon emissions.
Make me not want to buy a Dell computer.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Hole In One
Not by me... by my 70 year old father. His first one. We were playing with his younger brother and his wife. Dad could not have picked a better four some. We have a little wager on par 3s. The person who is closest to the hole has a shot of winning $1 from the other players if they make par or better but you have to hit the green. On the previous hole, Dad missed a very short 2nd putt to not collect on the wager. Any hole where the wager is not collected carries over to the next par 3. We arrive at the 12th hole, 168 yards to the middle, pin in the back with 2 carry overs, $3 per person up for grabs. Dad is first to hit and states he just wants to get it on the green. Hits a 7 wood that lands on the front half of the green and starts to roll. About this time, Dad picks up his tee and starts walking away from the tee box not paying attention to the shot. I mention that it looks like it might end up close. It then disappears and my Uncle screams "it went in". I then state well I guess I need to get mine close for a shot at the money.
I think I was more excited by it than he was. Maybe because unlike him, I actually watched it go in.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Eat Up America, There Is Plenty Of Food To Go Around
I was talking with a relative earlier in the week. He had just got back from his church where they were putting together Thanksgiving dinners for the poor. The goal was to feed 60 families. They had enough for 200. The church had to call area schools and other social organizations to find families who needed food. I was told the only problem with feeding the hungry is getting the food to the people. Volunteers to take the food to the people are what is in short supply. So I asked what is keeping the poor from going to the food? After some silence, I was told, nothing... anyone in America who does not have enough to eat simply is not making an effort.
Not two days later, I was reading Newsweek and as always I turned to the back to see if this was George Will's week or if I was going to be disappointed in seeing Anna Quindlen. Sure enough, it is Anna "Bash Bush" Quindlen's week. I was planning on doing what I usually do with her column, not waste my time, but noticed it was about hunger in America. Specifically how worse off the poor are doing today:
The poor could be forgiven for feeling somewhat poorer nowadays. The share of the nation's income going to the top 1 percent of its citizens is at its highest level since 1928, just before the big boom went bust. But poverty is not a subject that's been discussed much by the current administration, who were wild to bring freedom to the Iraqis but not bread to the South Bronx. "Hunger is hard for us as a nation to admit," says Clyde Kuemmerle, who oversees the volunteers at Holy Apostles. "That makes it hard to talk about and impossible to run on."
There were a number of shots at the "current administration" and the "feds" which is to be expected from her. So I decided to take a look around on the internet and I came across this article that talks about lack of hunger in America.
This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its annual report on household food security in the United States. According to USDA, some 12.5 million households, or roughly 11 percent of all households, experienced "household food insecurity" at some point in 2006 and some 35 million people lived in households with some form of food insecurity.[1] Most of these households were low income. The report showed little change in food security levels in the U.S. over the last decade.
According to the USDA, "food insecurity" is usually a recurring and episodic problem rather than a chronic condition.[2] In 2006, around two-thirds of food insecure households experienced "low food security," meaning that these households managed to avoid any disruption or reduction in food intake throughout the year but were forced by financial pressures to reduce "variety in their diets" or rely on a "few basic foods" at various times in the year.[3] According to the USDA, the remaining one-third of food insecure households (around 4 percent of all households) experienced "very low food security," meaning that at least once in the year their actual intake of food was reduced due to a lack of funds for food purchase.[4] At the extreme, about 1.4 percent of all adults in the U.S. went an entire day without eating at least once during 2006 due to lack of funds for food.
What is rarely discussed is that the government's own data show that the overwhelming majority of food insecure adults are, like most adult Americans, overweight or obese. Among adult males experiencing food insecurity, fully 70 percent are overweight or obese.[9] Nearly three-quarters of adult women experiencing food insecurity are either overweight or obese, and nearly half (45 percent) are obese. Virtually no food insecure adults are underweight. Contrary to the claims of poverty advocates, the major dietary problem facing poor Americans is too much, not too little, food. Public policies should be directed toward encouraging the poor to avoid chronic over-consumption, exercise more, and reduce intake of foods rich in fat and added sugar.
If you do not believe me, listen to Chris Rock, start @ 7:20. Just remember it is Chris Rock, this is your official content warning.
Happy Thanksgiving, do not eat to much.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Supreme Court Will Hear D.C. Guns Case
I have been waiting for this showdown for a long time...
The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether the District of Columbia can ban handguns, a case that could produce the most in-depth examination of the constitutional right to "keep and bear arms" in nearly 70 years
The District is making several arguments in defense of the restriction, including claiming that the Second Amendment involves militia service. It also said the ban is constitutional because it limits the choice of firearms, but does not prohibit residents from owning any guns at all. Rifles and shotguns are legal, if kept under lock or disassembled
Washington D.C. ranked number 1 in violent crimes and murder per 100,000 residents for the years 2004 and 2005. For violent crime, D.C. had 1459 crimes per 100,000 residents almost double 2nd place South Carolina which had 761, 3rd place Tennessee had 753, Florida 708, Maryland 703. For murder, D.C. had 35 per 100,000, 3.5 times 2nd place, Maryland and Louisiana each had 10, Nevada and Alabama had 8.
More from the article...
Washington banned handguns in 1976, saying it was designed to reduce violent crime in the nation's capital.
The City Council that adopted the ban said it was justified because "handguns have no legitimate use in the purely urban environment of the District of Columbia."
Well how about this..."being necessary to the security of a free State"
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
The dependent clause at the beginning serves as a justification for the main clause, but does not limit it. It is a dependent clause. Also, the main clause says "the right of the people.......shall not be infringed". It doesn't say "the right of those people who join a militia.....shall not be infringed. It means "the people". All of them. Why would we expect "the people" in the 2nd amendment to be defined differently than "the people" who have the right to speak their mind, print a newspaper, or peaceably assemble as in the 1st amendment, or for that matter "the people" who elect senators in the 17th amendment.
No. 6. Seattle, Wash. Population: 3,225,464 Median home price: $380,200 Number of public courses: 62 Median green fee: $45
THE GOLF: Fun fact: Seattle's iconic, 605-foot-high Space Needle was designed to look like a tee. OK, we made that up, but given the area's golf goods, it could be true. Two greats are Washington National and the Coal Creek course at the Golf Club at Newcastle. The recent debut of the tough-but-fun Chambers Bay, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design near the Puget Sound, helps make the home of Starbucks good to the last (penalty) drop.
The 3 courses they mention, Washington National, is in Auburn, Coal Creek, Newcastle/Bellevue, Chambers Bay, Tacoma. I guess it is "Seattle Area".
So what could possibly be the criteria for coming up with this list? Surely not weather, affordability or nice courses....
1. Weather: How much sun, rain, snow, etc.
2. Affordability: Median green fees of public courses, in relation to the median household income
3. Quality of courses: The best courses in the best overall condition
4. Accessibility: The number of golfers in relation to quality public courses
5. Number of courses designed by esteemed architects
6. Availability: Public facilities as a percent of total facilities (the higher the better)
7. Crowdedness: The number of rounds in relation to the number of public courses and weather
Just guessing they have never played Jefferson on a Saturday morning in October.
This is too important not to post the entire thing. I am willing to bet the number of people who are aware of this is approximately... zero... give or take zero.
Facts, just the facts ... they are always disturbing, but most of our media sources never let facts stand in the way of ideology... It is clear that a left-leaning press can make anything sound bad and we all become victims ... its just life in America, the freest and safest country in the world and not, as some would have us believe, a nation headed down the road to fascism ... accept it.
Military Death Numbers Below some very interesting data reference deaths in the military which you will not read in your local newspaper nor will it appear on any news broadcast - radio or TV. This may help you enlighten folks around you regarding the brave and courageous young people serving in our military. Deaths in the Military 1980 ....... 2,392 1981 .......... 2,380 1982 .......... 2,318 1983 .......... 2,465 1984 .......... 1,999 1985 .......... 2,252 1986 .......... 1,984 1987 .......... 1,983 1988 .......... 1,819 1989 .......... 1,636 1990 .......... 1,508 1991 .......... 1,787 1992 .......... 1,293 1993 .......... 1,213 1994 .......... 1,075 1995 .......... 1,040 1996 .......... 974 1997 .......... 817 1998 .......... 826 1999 .......... 795 2000 .......... 774 2001 .......... 890 2002 .......... 1,007 2003 ....... ...1,410 [534*] 2004 .......... 1,887 [900*] 2005.......... [919*] 2006.......... [920*] Figures so noted with an asterisk (*) indicates deaths as a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. You may initially feel confused when you look at these figures - especially when you see that in 1980, during the term of President Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities. What this clearly indicates is that our media and our liberal politicians pick and choose and tend to present only those facts that support their agenda driven reporting. Another fact our left media and politicians like to slant is that these brave men and women losing their lives are minorities. Wrong again - The latest census shows the following: European descent (white)..... 69.12% Hispanic................................ 12.5% African American................... 12.3% Asian..................................... 3.7% Native American.................... 1.0% Other..................................... 2.6% The fatalities over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom are: European descent (white)..... 74.31% Hispanic................................ 10.74% African American.................. 9.67% Asian..................................... 1.81% Native American.................... 1.09% Other..................................... 2.33% These statistics are published by DOD and may be viewed here.
Monday, November 19, 2007
The Clinton's Secrecy Problem
I have read a lot recently about the Clinton's secrecy problem. Newsweek had an article about it back in October
An archivist explained to Smith that the release of materials was tightly controlled by the former president's longtime confidant Bruce Lindsey. Could she look at memos detailing the advice Hillary gave Bill during debates over welfare reform? Smith asked. No, the archivist said, those memos were "closed" to the public because they dealt with "policy" matters. What about any records that show what advice Bill gave his wife about her 2000 U.S. Senate campaign? Those, too, were closed, the archivist said, because they dealt with "political" matters. "He essentially told me I had no chance of getting anything," says Smith, whose book, "For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton, the White House Years," hits the bookstores this week.
You’ve said this administration’s secrecy “on matters large and small is very disturbing.” In particular, you and other Democrats have criticized Dick Cheney’s refusal to be more open about his energy task force. Were you disturbed by your health care task force’s similar secrecy? How about your refusal to turn over subpoenaed documents for two years? Why do you tacitly support your husband’s refusal to release your White House correspondence from the National Archives? You’ve said the documents are being released on the Archives’ timetable, but your husband appointed his longtime henchman, Bruce Lindsey, to manage the release of such records. Why isn’t that disturbing?
It came up in a recent debate:
It is an issue that could cause the Clinton's a lot of trouble. Why would they allow an issue like this to be such a problem? Maybe it is because there is something to hide.
Seattle Catholic Archdiocese, One Tree Per Church
I heard today that the official word from the Archdiocese is one tree per church, that is all. Is this anything, probably not, just thought it was odd.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
John Kerry Is Going To Refute The Swift Boat Allegations
Three years after the elections, John Kerry has a chance to expose the lies of the Swift Vets For Truth.
Renewing a debate that raged through much of the 2004 presidential race, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on Friday accepted Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens' offer to pay $1 million to anyone who can disprove allegations by veterans who disparaged Kerry's Vietnam War record.
In his letter to Pickens, Kerry suggested they hash the truth out in a public forum in either Dallas or Massachusetts. The four-term senator said he would have Pickens pay the $1 million to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.
Friday afternoon, Pickens issued his own letter, saying he was "open" to Kerry's response but wanted more: for Kerry to provide his Vietnam journal, his military records and copies of movies and tapes made during his service.
Pickens also upped the ante: He challenged Kerry to risk his own $1 million, to be paid to the Medal of Honor Foundation, if Kerry "cannot prove anything in the Swift Boat ads to be untrue."
Kerry had left on an overseas trip by the time the counterproposal was delivered. "It appears that Mr. Pickens is backing off his original challenge," Kerry aide David Wade said. "Sen. Kerry took Mr. Pickens as a man of his word who, when he talks the talk, is willing to walk the walk."
Sounds like John may not be as confident in his chances now that he has been asked to put some cash money on the table.
Why would he wait three years? Probably the same reason he still has not released his medical records like he promised.
And in Seattle, two anti-war marches on Friday could delay afternoon traffic and part of the evening commute, city officials warned. ... ... As many as 3,000 people are expected to participate, according to a city announcement, which said anyone traveling into or out of the downtown core area "should plan on delays in their commute as the peak afternoon traffic will be impacted."
A crowd of roughly 400 anti-war demonstrators — most of them high school and college students — marched through downtown Seattle today, carrying signs and chanting slogans such as "This is what democracy looks like!" ... ... No one was arrested and the young people continued their march to Judkins Park, their numbers shrinking to about 200 by the time the demonstration wrapped up about 3:30 p.m.
According to the NY Times blog, some are not too impressed with Mr. Armitrage's "apology".
But Mr. Armitage’s words didn’t go nearly far enough, according to Firedoglake.com, the blog that The New York Times once profiled for its “a fanatical devotion to the intricacies of the Libby case.”
“Armitage’s response was unusual for people in the Bush Administration in that he owned up to some culpability,” the blog said. “But was it a full acceptance of responsibility?” Their answer, which highlights the comments of several readers of the blog, casts doubt on that Mr. Armitage could have so easily misused a classified memorandum
NEW FLASH for the NY Times... according to the same Richard Armitrage, it was Joe Wilson who was leaking Valerie Plame's name. He told Bob Woodward that exact thing.
Woodward: Well it was Joe Wilson who was sent by the agency, isn’t it? Armitage: His wife works for the agency. Woodward: Why doesn’t that come out? Why does that have to be a big secret? Armitage: (over) Everybody knows it. Woodward: Everyone knows? Armitage: Yeah. And they know ’cause Joe Wilson’s been calling everybody. He’s pissed off ’cause he was designated as a low level guy went out to look at it. So he’s all pissed off.
I have posted this fact in the NY Times blog's "moderated" comments more than once but for some reason, it is as if they do not want to know this fact.
What are the odds?
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Bryan Suits Is Out at KVI
I got a confirming email this morning.
Classy move there KVI, you idiots. Letting a member of the Washington Army National Guard 1st Battalion 161 Infantry who served in Operation Desert Storm, Bosnia, and the Iraq war go right before Veterans Day.
Feel free to let KVI / Fischer Radio know how you feel.
Appears to no longer be on KVI. I use to listen to KVI all day long. There is no longer a reason for me to listen to KVI. I understand it was not everyone's cup of tea but I honestly did enjoy the show.
Maybe now the month of Craptober is officially over.
A new exit poll indicates that global-warming concerns turned about 6 percent of the voters against Proposition 1, the regional roads and transit measure that failed Tuesday night.
The survey was done by Washington, D.C.-based RT Strategies for the Sierra Club, which mounted a campaign against the $38 billion, 20-year plan even though it included 50 miles of new light-rail tracks.
Club backers objected to 186 miles of new road lanes; they distributed polar-bear pictures and wore polar-bear hats to advertise a link between roads and global warming.
The poll of 5,000 voters found that 52 percent would choose yes if a plan offered transit only. Of that group, 29 percent voted against Proposition 1, and among those people, 39 percent cited global warming as the main problem — hence, an overall 6 percent bloc, Riehle said
It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an allusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the “research” to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Hillary! Wants To Be President "Again"
Watch the video starting at T -4:03.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Send A Vet A Christmas Card
When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following:
A Recovering American soldier c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center 6900 Georgia Avenue,NW Washington , D.C. 20307-5001
Someone is playing politics and being dishonest with veteran benefits.
Despite Republican grumbling, House and Senate negotiators on Thursday agreed to tack a $65 billion bill funding the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction onto a $151 billion bill for the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education departments. The Veterans Affairs measure is about $4 billion more than Bush’s budget request, and the Labor-HHS-Education bill would add $10 billion to the president’s proposal.
“Where does this process take us except to delay getting vital needed funds to our veterans?” said Rep. Roger Wicker (Miss.), ranking Republican on the corresponding House subcommittee.
Bush and congressional Republicans are protesting Democratic efforts to tie the two measures together, arguing that the majority is holding veterans’ money hostage for an incremental increase in domestic policy programs.
Bush has threatened to veto the Labor-HHS measure, but not the spending bill for veterans and military construction.
So let's review. Democrats want to tie the veteran bill to a Labor, HHS and Education bill that they know President Bush will veto. So who is to blame here?
“It will be up to Republicans in the Senate whether they want to turn [their] back on our veterans right before Veterans Day,” said Patty Murray of Washington, a member of Senate Democratic leadership who sits on the Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs subcommittee.
Now there is a big surprise, Senator Patty "Not A Rocket Scientist" Murray claims it is the Republicans that want to turn their backs on veterans. Is she a liar or just plain stupid. Sadly, it seems she is both.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
November 1, 2007
October 2007 is officially over. That was the worst month of my entire life. If you took the 31 worst days of my 44 years of existence, outside of October 2007, and combined them into one month, let's call it Craptober, it would not have been as bad as October 2007. Nobody I know died, nobody, including myself had health problems, business was actually very good. The two big ongoing negative issues I have allowed to fester for years finally came to a head. The lesson that was learned, when something is important and needs to be dealt with, deal with it yourself. Do not leave it to others, do not expect others to do what is right even if it seems to be something in their area of expertise. Do not compromise on important matters.
A client happened to send this to me today:
that was me on a good day last month. Nothing like hitting proverbial bottom to straighten out your priorities.
Hopefully, one day, I will look back and see today as the moment things finally started heading in the right direction. I am sure there will be plenty of bumps in the road ahead but at least I am finally moving forward.
So in honor of this new beginning, let's play song one, my favorite song, off of my favorite REM album, Life's Rich Pageant. Ladies and gentlemen, Begin The Begin.
Mayor Greg Nickels WANTS To Be Green.
From the Seattle Times.... so you know it might be true. Mayor Greg Nickels wants to be green, he really does. He just does not want to be inconvenianced by taking the bus or riding a bike or replacing all of his light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs or doing video conferences instead of flying to conferences or taking a less than hot shower or spending tax payer money on phoney carbon credits... wait... he is willing to do that one. Some lowlights:
On the job, the mayor's travel by car and plane produced 32.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006, based on information the city provided. Of that, 20 tons were from 10 round-trip flights he took, mostly to attend conferences.
In mid-2006, the city switched the mayor's official vehicle from a Cadillac to a Toyota sport-utility hybrid. The Mayor's Office also said the city purchased carbon offsets, which pay for other agencies to pollute less, for all plane trips city employees took in 2006.
"Obviously as mayor of the city, he has to travel," said Nickels' spokesman Marty McOmber. "You wouldn't expect the governor to stay in Olympia all the time." ... We used to use the bus" he said. "One day we will again." ... He is not a bicyclist, but if he did bike to work, he says, a security detail would have to ride alongside him in a car. ... They have replaced some of their light bulbs with compact-fluorescent. ... Other practices are harder to change, he said. They turned the water heater down, but the shower was sometimes too cold. They turned it back up. ... We're still struggling" with plastic grocery bags, he said. Nickels says he takes the bags to a preschool that reuses them. While many environmentalists would shun disposable dinnerware, he also had a stack of paper plates and napkins on the counter during a press tour.
Do as I say, not as I do.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Fiscally Conservative
I have been listening to a book on tape, The Millionaire Next Door, which stresses being fiscally conservative in your personal life. As a result, I am a bit annoyed at an advertisement on the radio show I listen to on my way in to the office in the morning. The Sytman and Boze show on KTTH has been running an ad for Best Mortgage which basically says with a new mortgage, it can be difficult to make ends meet. So Best Mortgage has a plan where you have reduced payments for the first however many months or years.
This comes off to me as them saying let us help you get into a mortgage that you really can not afford and have no business getting into. It is these types of situations that have caused the recent mortgage lending crunch and if I hear one day that Best mortgage is going under due to bad loans, I am not going to shed a tear.
I just wish I was not hearing this ad on KTTH, it would seem more appropriate on Air America.
For the record, Dan Sytman and David Boze do ads for Catlin Capital.
I have no connections to Israel, Jews, Palestine, Arabs, Muslims, etc. outside of knowing a few Muslims and a few Jews. I should be neutral in the debate... but I am not and watching that video is a good example of why I am not. How do you describe some of that behavior? Bizarre and disgusting are about the only words I can come up with. Watch it yourself to see what I mean.
Side note: I like to know the source of the information, in this case Haaretz.com, to get a feel for what kind of editorial slant I should expect.
Haaretz embraces a moderate liberal stance, but the op-ed pages of the paper are open to a wide variety of political opinions. [6] According to the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, articles from Haaretz and its staff writers are often quoted by anti-Israel commentators.[7] The left-wing magazine The Nation described Haaretz as "Israel's Liberal Beacon" due to its editorial board's opposition to the occupation of the West Bank, the security barrier around Gaza, discrimination against Israel's Arab citizenry, and the Second Lebanon War. [8]
Sounds to me like that video was suppose to give a sympathetic view of the Palestinians. Would hate to see an unsympathetic view.
Sharks In Iraq
The latest bad news from Iraq, Sharks... with lasers... ok, maybe not lasers.
How could this have happened? Global warming? No. Allah is not happy? No. Wait for it...
Iraqi fisherman nets shark 160 miles from sea A two-meter shark has been caught in a river in southern Iraq more than 160 miles from the sea. ... ... Locals blamed the U.S. military for the shark's presence. Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a "75 percent chance" Americans had put the shark in the water. "This is very frightening for us. Our children always swim in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I believe that America is behind this matter," said fisherman Hatim Karim.
Clearly the Democratic nomination is hers to lose. She appears to be playing it safe to avoid major gaffes and is dishonestly, in my opinion, trying to portray herself as more of a centrist than she really is.
On the other hand, Hillary has massive unacceptable numbers. Somewhere close to 50% of the voters claim they would never vote for her. If she is the nominee, you can be assured the vast right wing machine will create a tsunami of turnout. I often hear from conservatives that our only chance in 2008 is if Hillary is the Democratic nominee.
Her V.P. choice will be interesting. Looking strictly at the numbers, the obvious choice is Obama. Can a ticket win without a white male? I am not sure, I doubt we will find out. There has never been a ticket that has won without two white males. I think there will be great pressure on the Democratic nominee, be it Hillary or Obama to put a white male in the #2 spot. Can not wait for the outcries from the "disenfranchised" liberal female or liberal minority victim groups.
In my opinion, there will be a lot of people, especially in the South and Midwest, who traditionally vote Democrat that will look at the ticket, in the privacy of the voting booth, and have a really hard time pulling that lever.
It should be interesting.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Personal Improvement Time
I need to work on my "approachability".
I was walking from my office to the post office the other afternoon, about 5 blocks total, and I came to an intersection, waiting for the light to change when I noticed someone on the other corner with a clipboard gathering signatures and donations. From his lack of basic hygiene, he appeared to be an environmentalist. So I decide to take the scenic route to the post office and give this young man the opportunity to attempt to get my signature and maybe I can explain to him the reality that capitalistic societies are always, always better for the environment than socialist or communist countries. Think East Germany, North Korea etc.
So the light changes, I walk right past him... slowly. He is talking to nobody and he lets me go right past him. Not even an attempt to solicit me for a signature much less a donation. I was really, really disappointed. It reminded me of the time there was a Lyndon Larouche table setup outside the door of the post office and I walked right past that and there was no attempt to suck the brains out of my head.
So I walk a few blocks and what do I see... it is Christmas morning in the third week of October, the Larouchies have been given a day pass from the compound for recruiting purposes. My heart leapt with joy at the thought of the minutes worth of entertainment I was about to experience. They had the Impeach Cheney sign out just waiting to discuss all sorts of important world conspiracy issues. So I walk right past them... slowly... nothing.. not even a glance.
So I go into the post office and stand in line thinking maybe he is just not real big on the recruiting part of the job description. So I send a priority package, get a roll of stamps and walk out the door, not 5 feet from the table and there he is, in full on recruit mode talking to what would outwardly appear to be a normal adult male. Ok, normal adult male... for Seattle.
I have vowed that if this happens again, I will ask why it is I am not worthy of recruitment into the cult. To be continued.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Diversity, Seattle Style
The following is a complete list of every endorsement listed in the competitive races for Seattle City Council seats: Position 1:
The Seattle Times The Seattle PI Washington Conservation Voters King County Labor Council King County Democrats Allied Arts National Women’s Political Caucus Seattle Firefighters’ Union Cascade Bicycle Club
The Stranger Seattle Rainforest Action
Position 3:
Cascade Bicycle Club Alki Foundation King County Democrats Seattle Police Management Association Joint Council of Teamsters No. 28 Seattle Times and P.I.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer The Seattle Times The Stranger National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington King County and 34th, 36th & 46th District Democrats
Position 7
Sierra Club Washington Conservation Voters Cascade Bicycle Club our city’s police and firefighters.
King County Democrats King County Labor Council Seattle Police Management Association The Alki Foundation 11th, 37th, 46th District Democrats
Position 9
The Seattle PI The Seattle Times Victory Fund The National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington/King County Chapter Seattle Firefighters, Local 27 Seattle Police Management Association Washington Conservation Voters Cascade Bicycle Club Friends of Seattle Allied Arts King County Democrats King County Young Democrats 46th District Democrats 37th District Democrats 34th District Democrats 36th District Democrats 11th District Democrats 43rd District Democrats ‘Mo Magazine Seattle Gay News UA Local 32 - Plumbers and Pipefitters UFCW Local 21 IFPTE Local 17 ATU Local 587 Unite HERE Local 8 IBEW Local 46 IBEW Local 77 Teamsters Local 28 SEIU 775 SEIU 925 Laborers Local 1239 - Public Service & Industrial Employees Seattle/King County Association of Realtors Affordable Housing Council Filipino Political Action Group of Washington
Citizens’Alliance for Property Rights Citizens for an Elevated Solution
Here are the endoresments for the Seattle School District Board seats: Poition 1
ML King County Labor Council 11th and 37th District Democrats Green Party of Seattle IUOE Local 609 Joint Council of Teamsters #28.
34th, 36th, and 37th District Democrats Seattle Education Association Alki Foundation
Poition 2
Seattle Education Association Alki Foundation 46th District Democrats
Women’s Political Caucus 11th , 36th and 37th District Democrats IUOE Local 609 Teamsters Local 174
Position 3
Seattle Education Association The Alki Foundation 46th & 37th District Democrats Joint Council of Teamsters No. 28 Women’s Political Caucus
Position 6
34th District Democrats Alki Foundation
11th, 34th, and 37th District Democrats Women’s Political Caucus the Teamsters Labor Council 28 Operating Engineers Local 609.
We should probably make sure all citizens of Seattle are properly represented in the candidates endorsements. A real diversity of groups...
King County Democrats, Cascade Bicycle Club, King County Democrats, King County and 34th, 36th & 46th District Democrats, Cascade Bicycle Club, King County Democrats, King County Young Democrats, 46th District Democrats, 37th District Democrats, 34th District Democrats, 36th District Democrats, 11th District Democrats, 43rd District Democrats, 11th and 37th District Democrats, Green Party of Seattle, 34th, 36th, and 37th District Democrats, 46th District Democrats, 11th , 36th and 37th District Democrats, 46th & 37th District Democrats, 34th District Democrats, 11th, 34th, and 37th District Democrats
That should cover everyone. Who else could possibly be included in such an exhaustive list? Nobody I could think of.
SCHOOL 1967 VS 2007
This was sent to me by a public school district employee. I would be laughing more and shaking my head less if I did not have first hand experiance on so many of these.
Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1967 - Vice principal comes over to look at Jack's shotgun. He goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, and FBI is called. Jack is hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1967 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail; nobody is arrested; nobody is expelled.
2007 - Police called. SWAT team arrives. Johnny and Mark are arrested and charged with assault. Both are expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1967 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the principal. He returns to class, sits still, and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is diagnosed with ADD and given huge doses of ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a learning disability.
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1967 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is placed in foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself, and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.
Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1967 - Mark shares aspirin with principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called. Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. Car is searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1967 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given a diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1967 - Ants die.
2007 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Homeland Security, and FBI called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates parents; siblings are removed from home; computers confiscated. Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Heather. Heather hugs him to comfort him.
1967 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Heather is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in state prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.
According to Richard Armitage, Bob Novak's original source that Valerie Plame was CIA, Ms. Plame was originally outed by... wait for it... Joe Wilson. A trascript of a converation between Richard Armitage and Bob Woodward:
Woodward: Well it was Joe Wilson who was sent by the agency, isn’t it? Armitage: His wife works for the agency. Woodward: Why doesn’t that come out? Why does that have to be a big secret? Armitage: (over) Everybody knows it. Woodward: Everyone knows? Armitage: Yeah. And they know ’cause Joe Wilson’s been calling everybody. He’s pissed off ’cause he was designated as a low level guy went out to look at it. So he’s all pissed off. Woodward: But why would they send him? Armitage: Because his wife’s an analyst at the agency. Woodward: It’s still weird. Armitage: He – he’s perfect. She – she, this is what she does. She’s a WMD analyst out there. Woodward: Oh, she is. Armitage: (over) Yeah. Woodward: Oh, I see. I didn’t think… Armitage: (over) "I know who’ll look at it." Yeah, see? Woodward: Oh. She’s the chief WMD…? Armitage: No. She’s not the… Woodward: But high enough up that she could say, "oh, yeah, hubby will go." Armitage: Yeah. She knows [garbled]. Woodward: Was she out there with him, when he was…? Armitage: (over) No, not to my knowledge. I don’t know if she was out there. But his wife’s in the agency as a WMD analyst. How about that?
Funny, never heard anything about this on 60 minutes last Sunday.
Education Does Not Equal Intelligence
An earlier post about what a moron Dennis Kucinich and his crowd is, over @ Ace's got me thinking about education and stupidity. You can be educated and still be a total moron.
Exhibit 1: There is a female in the Yelm Washington area named JZ Knight. She claims to well... here is what it says on Wikipedia, so you know it must be true:
Ramtha is an entity that JZ Knight, an American self-described spiritual medium, claims to channel. According to Knight, Ramtha was a Lemurian warrior who fought the Atlantians over 35,000 years ago.[1] Ramtha is said to have led an army of over 2.5 million across the continents, conquering two thirds of the known world, which was going through cataclysmic geological changes. According to Knight, Ramtha led the army for ten years until he was betrayed and almost killed.
Knight further claims that Ramtha spent the next seven years in isolation recovering and observing nature, among other things. He later mastered many skills, including foresight and out-of-body experiences, until he led his army to the Indus River while in his late seventies. Ramtha taught them everything he knew for 120 days, until he ascended before them. He made a promise to his army that he would come back to teach them again, and so he appeared to JZ Knight in 1977 to re-educate the "forgotten gods", those who had forgotten themselves and their divinity.
JZ Knight is a total fraud, con artist and scammer. Anyone with an IQ above room temperature should know this. How do I know this? Because I have never taken LSD. Also, again from Wikipedia:
When Knight claims she is channelling Ramtha, she speaks only English, although in an accented and sometimes simplistic way and has expressed confusion about modern items ("What is a carrot?") while also professing intimate knowledge of worldly affairs and conspiracies.
So Ramtha conquered 2/3rds of the world, has intimate knowledge of worldly affairs, just is not up to date with modern items such as common vegetables.
But that is not the point of the post. The point is I remember when I first heard of Ramtha. I was in college working on the weekend sitting in an oil delivery truck waiting for an Amtrak train to arrive so I could fill it with diesel fuel. I was listening to a talk radio show and Jennifer James, Ph.D. is talking about Ramtha. I must have sat there for 20 minutes wondering what in the F' is this about? Could not figure it out. Jennifer James, the Seattle face of psychology in the 1980s was talking to someone about a 35,000 year old warrior from Atlantis. What a moron. That moment really stuck with me. From then on I looked at college professors, doctors and lawyers in a new light. They may be educated, that does not mean they are smart.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Required Reading
The book, The Millionaire Next Door, should be required reading by every high school senior, every senior in college and everyone about to get married or have a kid.
I am not going to say anything else except they do take one shot at William Jefferson Clinton. It made me chuckle.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Losing The War In Iraq But Protecting The Rights Of Iraqi Terrorists
Hyperactive Justice Department attorneys last spring got involved in a debate on the need to wiretap al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq - likely wasting critical time in the search for three kidnapped G.I.s, including Army Spec. Alex Jimenez of Queens.
Regarding Spec. Jimenez, Hurt reported that an overly legalistic interpretation of current FISA rules helped delay the tracking and possible rescue of the young soldier and his two comrades after they were kidnapped by al Qaeda in May.
The phone calls being traced originated and ended in Iraq.
However, DOJ lawyers argued that because the cellphone calls would be made through U.S. wire hubs - where the taps would be applied - special approval from the attorney general was needed.
All told, nearly 10 hours were wasted in the critical early days of a manhunt for the three Americans as lawyers argued over the legal grounds for wiretapping terrorist thugs.
I have never seen a better way to make money, lots and lots of money. Send some politicians a couple of grand, get back contracts worth millions in which you will make hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is that simple.
Year after year, the Washington lawmakers did favors for the tiny company, inserting four "earmarks" into different bills to force the Navy and Coast Guard to buy boats they didn't ask for — $17.65 million in all. None of the boats was used as Congress intended.
The congressional trio say they were helping Guardian Marine because it had a great product. But each has also received generous campaign donations from the company's three executives, its sole employees: $14,277 to Baird, $15,000 to Murray, and $16,750 to Dicks.
Also high on the amazing list is how brazen they are about doing what they know is not in the best interest of the taxpayers. After multiple $4.5 boats are bought and determined to be of no use, the donations come in again and another boat nobody needs is order by congress.
Less amazing is the dishonesty of it all.
Murray said she might not have pursued the earmark "if we had been able to look forward and know that Sept. 11 was going to happen."
But of course we are dealing with Patty Murray here:
But the bill actually passed three months after Sept. 11. Before the final vote, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., attacked Murray's earmark.
It is not just Patty Murray who is clueless:
Baird stands behind the earmarks. "We didn't just say, 'Oh, a company in our district wants an earmark — let's get it for them.' We looked at the mission, we looked at the history of the boat, and we looked at the alternatives out there," he said. "And I think that's pretty good work, frankly."
So explain that history of the boat to me Congressman Baird.
So is this illegality, dishonesty or stupidity? There really is no other choice.
Here is a list of the biggest offenders, lead by the most ethical of the we need to lose in Iraq right away crowd... wait for it... John "Abscam" Murtha.
The only way to stop this, send people, including sitting Senators and Congress members to jail. Since... well... and this is a minor point... it is illegal. If we are not willing to do that, do not expect this practice of illegally shifting taxpayer money to companies in exchange for campaign contributions to ever stop.