Saturday, January 31, 2009
How do you spell ‘chutzpah’?
C-O-N-G-R-E-S-S.
(It was either that or “how do you spell ‘lying thieving scum-sucking hypocritical asshats who ought to be tarred, feathered, and run out of the country on a rail’?”, but that wouldn’t fit in the Title bar.)
See what I mean?
Second American Revolution before 2025, folks. You heard it here first.
Friday, January 30, 2009
I think I should make it a semi-annual thing
Running this site costs money, as I’m sure you know, and I’ve managed so far from having to ask you for funds.
So far.
The economy is in the tanks now, so I need to ask you a favor.
Go out and spend. This Obama/Pelosi nightmare of a “stimulus” program (that has absolutely nothing in it that would stimulate the economy in the near term, and, correspondingly, has bipartisan opposition) is going to wreck the economy, like plunging a man with heart problems into ice-cold water. You’ll get a lot of instantly frantic motion from the poor guy, but his heart will stop from the insult to the system.
It has been proposed that, for the same amount of money, we could:
* offer a personal income tax holiday until August
* offer a payroll tax holiday (from both employers and employees) until April, 2010
* pay every household in the United States $11,000
* pay every poor person in the US (lowest quintile of income) $22,000
and I can guarantee you that would spur the economy much more, and much more immediately, than any part of that abortion of government spending being sent to the Senate.
Good news, though: there was not a single Republican that voted for it in the House, and if we can keep McCain from being all Maverick-y and do it in the Senate, too, then when our economy starts to stagger to a halt, they won’t be able to blame the Republicans for their decisions.
But we have to do our part, too. So this is where my favor comes in. Spend a few bucks. Take your family out to dinner at a new restaurant. Or a movie. Or pick your favorite charity and kick ‘em down a hundred bucks. Buy yourself a new pair of shoes or a good book or that new MP3 player with the larger memory chip. If every person in American were to pick a day and spend an extra $17 on that day, that’s more than $5 BILLION injected into the economy, literally overnight. Hell, I spent $50 earlier tonight, just buying dinner from the local take-out place. That takes care of the three of us (Me, Da Missus and Nana).
Go do your part.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Too Hot For TV!
How can this possibly be considered too offensive for the Super Bowl?
After several days of negotiations, an NBC representative in Chicago told the group late yesterday that NBC and the NFL are not interested in advertisements involving “political advocacy or issues.”
In one of life’s greatest ironies, you have to have actually been born in order to be “pro-choice"…
Wish me luck!
In a little under 30 minutes, I am scheduled to take the online test to be a contestant on Jeopardy. I took the test once before, driving to the LA studios to do so, and missed by just a single question.
It was 50 questions in 50 different categories, and only 15 seconds to come up with the correct answer and write it down (or, as in tonight’s test, type it in). No need to put the answer in the form of a question, and minor spelling mistakes are forgiven. You needed a 45, and I scored a 44.
This is just to advance to Round 2, though, so no guarantees, even if I pass this time.
Wish me luck! 
UPDATE: I probably failed. 
I blanked on more than four questions, and couldn’t come up with anything helpful for at least two others, even though I knew the answer. (One of those “tip of the tongue” moments.)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sergeant Curt Massey, Culver City Police Department - EOW 01-28-2009
Damn it.
From Kevin Roderick at LA Observed:
The Culver City Police Department is mourning the death of Sgt. Curt Massey in this morning’s wrong-way crash on the Santa Monica Freeway. He was a 17-year veteran and recipient of the department’s Medal of Valor. Massey is survived by his wife and three children, ages 10, 8, and 3 years old. A memorial fund has been set up at the Culver City Employees Federal Credit Union.
Tragic.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
You Have 24 Hours To Save The World… If We Could Hear You
What? Speak up.
Jack Bauer might be able to save the world is less than 24 hours if the entire cast would stop whispering and start talking like normal people. Seriously, that’s really annoying.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Philosophical or Medical
Perhaps even Metaphysical…
What is the purpose of pain? No, not the kind of pain that has a clear cause, such as a paper cut, stubbed toe or broken arm, and that is resolved once the damage is healed. I mean chronic pain. The kind that goes on and on and on. The kind that “painkillers” don’t really “kill”, but just “blunt the edges for a short but variable time”. The kind of intractable pain that makes you want to curse aloud.
What is the purpose of Chronic Pain?
Pain has a specific survival-based message, warning the organism that something threatens its survival, even if it’s nothing but stepping on a thumbtack or putting your hand too close to a flame. But once there is nothing that can be done about the problem, why does pain continue? What purpose is served by screaming a warning at the top of your lungs after the barn has already been burned to the ground?
It serves no purpose, other than to degrade the reserves, provide a constant physical and mental distraction, sap what little energy can be mustered, and prematurely age the sufferer. No real benefit is gained, because there is nothing that can be done about the condition that causes the pain, therefore, the warning is essentially useless.
This is one of the (many) questions I will have for the Prime Source when we finally meet. Any thoughts on the matter?
Saturday, January 24, 2009
If you have been trying to register
And ended up getting deleted instead, it is because I get several applications every day from obvious spammers, and I will delete rather than approve any e-mail domain I do not recognize.
If you wanted to join, and think I may have deleted you by mistake, drop me a line, and I will approve you when you reapply.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
I just KNOW I’m going on the list for this one
Iowahawk has penned a Worthy Tome in honor of the Mighty Obamacles…
Book the Second: Obamacles Meets the Oracle of Doritos
From the land of Kenya beyond Nile, came Obamacles the Elder
To the grad school at Oahu, where Ann of Kansas bore him a son.
It would prove to be a hassle, thus he left his baby’s mama,
who then won favor with Soertoro, who brought them to his far-off island nest.
Young Obamacles was growing, and they shipped him back to Gramma,
And the prep school on Oahu. There he trained and studied boldly,
Drinking beer and smoking weed: Maui Wowie, paca lolo, sensimilla,
blunts and chiva, Thai and chronic, just enough to hone his mellow,
in the back of Kyle’s TransAm, a line or two of coke on weekends.In his mellow young Obamacles beheld a vision in the salty snacks at Safeway;
There the Oracle of Doritos bade him:“Travel the seas to the East, fair Obamacles, for this is where your fortune lies.
But beware, that way bodes peril if thou are not pure of image and smooth of delivery.
Seek first the masters of Occidental College, who will train you in the philosophers of Po-Mo.”Replied young Obamacles,
“Accidental college heh heh heh heh Accidental moxidental taxidental heh heh,”
And Kyle is like,
“Dude you’re totally talking to the Doritos. That is totally bonus.”
Better swallow before you go forth and read the rest. (h/t Mike @ Cold Fury)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
How popular is your name?
I’m kinda weird when it comes to statistics and such nonsense, especially when dealing with the Law of Large Numbers. I think that the population of the United States (slightly over 300 million people) is a valid statistical universe.
Which is why I love things like Census data. They gather the facts, and then report the results, rather than define a hypothesis and look for data to match their predetermined curve.
Anyhoo, I recently downloaded the data on first names used here in the United States, both men and women, and then looked up the statistical occurrences of those names, just to find out the most common first names in the nation.
So where do YOU fall?
I’ve listed the 100 most popular of each gender, and the 200 most popular last names, below the fold (to save space).
I’ve already done the math, and if I ignore the presence of one or more middle names, there are almost 185,000 men out there with my name.
The columns are “Name - % of occurrence - cumulative % - number rank”. Sorry about the slightly irregular spacing, but kerning does that automatically.
Oh, one other thing. Despite the fact that there are almost 88,000 last names listed, the name Obama doesn’t appear. Nor does Barack appear in the male names list. However, Michelle ranks 21st for the ladies (slightly over 1/2 of 1%)…
Time Warner Cable Sucks
Exceptional service.
I’m blogging on my Palm Treo because my Time Warner cable internet has been down for a week, hence my lack of blogging. However, being that Time Warner is a major corporation that cares deeply about their customers, they think they might be able to fix my broken modem sometime next week.
How does this crappy company stay in business with shady practices like this?
Has anyone else had miserable experiences with Time Warner?
UPDATE: Time Warner came and fixed my internet. The tech they sent was very knowledgeable and even wore those little slip-on Tyvek booties in my house when he came in (it was pouring rain here). He told me my internet connection went down because the techies that installed it (on November 21st) crossed the lines (Ghostbusters, anyone?) and it jacked up the connection for everyone around me. Now I’m back like a hippie at a peace rally.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Interesting Inauguration Trivia
President-Elect (still) Obama’s Inauguration is the most expensive in history. This wouldn’t normally be a problem if the cost was just a bit more, like the cost of living increases from four years ago (which, at $45 million, was the previous record holder) to a few million more. Say, $50 million. But Obama’s bill could top $150 milllion - an increase from four years ago of almost 250%.
There are more military in and around Washington, DC, providing security for today’s festivities, than are in the whole nation of Afghanistan, where we have a shooting war going on.
Aren’t you proud that you got to sacrifice for The One?
Monday, January 19, 2009
The National O-gasm
Is there ANYONE out there in the media who isn’t practically creaming their jeans over the Inauguration tomorrow?
I think that “giddy” is le mot juste.
Meanwhile, I’m stockpiling popcorn.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A few things….
First off, I want to go ahead and put a bit of a post-mortem on the Bush Presidency.
I know a lot of people that share my political bent have a few choice opinions about the man and his presidency. He spent too much and he tended to fail at explaining to the American public what was going on and why he was doing things, among other things. Well, yeah. No crap.
But, to put it quite simply, he was a peace-time president that was thrust into a war that we were not prepared for. He was a man that had an ability to make a decision and stick with it for his own reasons, be they accepted, popular, or not. He had a clarity of motive that many found disturbing in ths current political climate. And, in my opinion, he had the correct mindset to fight Islamofascism, if not the correct type of support.
This was a guy that wasn’t only opposed by the Congress (the Democrats, to be specific), but by the State Department, the media, and the bureaucrats that ran/run the United Nations. He was mocked and insulted by leftists and libertarians alike. He was burned in effigy by other Americans, and that behavior was implicitly supported by the fawning media. And all the while, he never said anything that could be construed as demeaning or insulting to those people on the left that openly wished for his assassination or disabling.
This was a guy that did his best to raise himself above that and make decisions that he truly thought were best for America and for the protection of the Constitution. He never seeked popularity. Proof? He fired Rumsfeld and started a battle for Fallujah AFTER major elections, rather than allow those actions to affect the decisions of the voters.
And, he was honest as he could be with the information he had. He did everything the hostile Democrats in Congress asked him to, and then was still pilloried by those same people for committing himself to those acts. He was beaten down and character-assassinated by people that he was sworn to protect. And he deserves better treatment than he has gotten.....no doubt.
So, there you have it. A guy with moral clarity ran into the buzzsaw of moral equivalency that dominates the moderates and leftists, and though in the end he won (the Surge, the court win recently on the warrentless wiretapping, gay marriage, and NCLB), his very strengths casued the media and Left to hate him...not dislike, not oppose, but sheer, unadulterated hate.
Now, these people have exactly the person they want in the office.....a primping, self-aggrandizing, malleable whelp that ‘speaks well’ and can use large words. IN their eyes, he’s JFK with the added bonus of being a minority, a walking trophy to their self-definition of open-mindedness. He’s coming in to ‘change everything’ by being like Bill Clinton. He is their idol, plated in gold and carrying the leftist and activist past that makes them weak with giddiness. It isn’t that he’s who he is, it’s that THEY WON OVER BUSH.....finally! Now, the traditional way of their forefathers...the love of God and country, the respect for the institutions...can be replaced with someone that is more agnostic about the beauty and miracle that is America. That agnosticism is what they crave...to them, that is intelligence. That is openmindedness. One cannot support America unless they acknowledge it’s failure, they believe.
I have choice words for them.....the Andy Sullivans and the David Broders and the Kos Kidz.....but it’s water under the bridge. We know what they are, and what they want. Though they can’t look at a Great Britain or a Belgium and see the dangers if we go that route, we can.
These people, the same ones that shuddered that Bush would have an inauguration that cost $40 million, won’t bat an eye at one that will cost three times that. See, it’s DIFFERENT, because it’s their guy now. Their polite black man that doesn’t tell them that they are racist, but just the people that vote conservative. How quickly they forget the primaries, huh?
But.....
But....he becomes POTUS, and the Commander-in-Chief, and the office must be respected. I will not lower myself to speak of the POTUS as the other side did about Bush. I will not sink to that level. I will continue to note and document those things that he may do or say that I do not agree with, but it will be respectful and mindful of the office and the responsibility he will have. Maybe it will change him. Maybe it won’t.
We’ll see. But, to be honest, I won’t watch the Inauguration. I’ve heard this speech before, during the campaign. After the buzz wears down, and the proof comes out from the pudding. I have no personal victory in this...this wasn’t me winning the election. So many people have decided to internalize this, as if they were the ones that will be taking the oath. I didn’t watch Bush swear in, and I won’t watch Obama.
I have work constructive things to do.
Comment freely.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Being a Gentleman, Continuing
Thrill just added a new comment in my last entry, and that prompted me to (finally) put pen to paper (alright, alright, “fingertip to keyboard") and move along.
He says to “dress like a gentleman”, and that is okay, as far as it goes, but that is a little vague, because there are far too many situations where different styles of dress are appropriate.
The general rule would be “dress one step better than would normally be expected in the situation you are about to encounter”.
There are all kinds of dress “standards”: ranging from tux-and-tails at Ambassadorial balls down to beach casual. Just try to dress a little better than those around you but not too much better or you will look ridiculous. (Imagine wearing a jacket and dress shoes at the beach, like Richard Nixon did. He was ridiculed, and rightly so.) Conversely, there are no occasions at which dressing less formally than those around you is considered acceptable, unless you are an eccentric billionaire.
No spitting, and no chewing of gum, tobacco, snuff or toothpicks. If you must smoke, be sure to ask others around you if they mind. If you are the only one NOT smoking, or if you are in a location where smoking is normally accepted or specifically permitted, you need not ask. If any of them demur, so should you. Mints are okay, but not candy.
Be protective of others around you by being aware of others around you. If you happen to bump into someone, you should immediately apologize, even if you secretly know that it was their fault. Assist them if needed, but refuse their help in return.
If you are on a public form of transportation, such as a bus or train, and it is crowded, you should offer your seat to:
- anyone older than you
- any woman traveling with one or more small children
- any woman carrying more than one parcel
- any pregnant woman
- anyone using crutches or a cane
When walking with a lady, you need to be very protective of her safety, even if you are not romantically interested. You are a Gentleman, she is a Lady, and that’s all the reason you need. Open doors for her when entering or leaving a building. If you are in a building with a double set of doors - kind of like an airlock or weather buffer - you should open the first set of doors, wait for her to pass, then quickly move past her to pass through the second set of doors first, and hold the door waiting for her to come through. If the doors happen to be close enough together to reach both, you should hold both at the same time if you are not carrying other parcels. Open her car doors for her.
When walking down a sidewalk, you should be between her and the traffic. When moving through a crowded room, precede her slightly, so as to clear the necessary space for her to follow behind. When going up a flight of stairs, you should trail her by 2-3 risers, in case she stumbles. When going down, you should be below her and a bit to the side, so that you can see her in your peripheral vision (again, in case she stumbles). When sitting in an auditorium (such as a movie or performance hall), you should offer the choice of chairs to her if you are in seats away from the aisle. If you have seats that are on the aisle, you should take the aisle seat - not for your comfort, but to be able to respond more quickly should the need arise. When exiting an aircraft seat, step into the aisle and slightly back so as to give her the room to step into the aisle ahead of you. Help get her luggage down from the overhead compartments.
Substitute the word “child” for all of the above.
Our society was founded on the basic principle of “women and children first”. Liberals may have stolen that as a mantra for their warped social plans ("Women are oppressed! Do It For The Children!"), but it is still the basic tenet. Act that way.
Open for commentary…