The Shaved Ape

Occupy DC arrest

2012-02-01T05:53:00.000-08:00

I was just having some fun watching communist losers get tazed and brought to justice. The YouTube uploader titles himself, predictably, "BoldProgressives":

1. Unwashed hippy illegally "occupies" a Washington, D.C. park.

2. Unwashed hippy walks away from police.

3. Unwashed hippy resists arrest.

4. Unwashed hippy gets tazed.

5. Unwashed hippy gets arrested.

6. Other unwashed hippies scream and cry and, most comical of all, offer legal advice. "That's illegal, too, that's another lawsuit."

Siri no friend to the Scottish?

2012-01-31T05:33:00.000-08:00

A story in the LA Times says the Scottish are having problems being understood by the iPhone's Siri. Don't be too hard on Siri. I can't understand the Scottish either. Come to think of it, I can't understand people from Mississippi. Or Alabama. Or Jo-Jah.

Justice on the highway

2012-01-29T04:24:00.001-08:00

Medieval gibberish

2012-01-28T05:25:00.001-08:00

Don't overbreed your wheels

2012-01-28T04:27:00.001-08:00

Obama SoU 2012

2012-01-27T05:33:00.000-08:00

Grandchildren of 1840s president still alive

2012-01-26T14:32:00.000-08:00

There's a guy out there who can say, "My grandpa was the president." You begin to think of FDR or Truman or JFK, but it's actually President Tyler from the 1840s. John Tyler, the 10th president (1841-1845) had children in his 60s. One of his sons had children in his 70s, and the grandchildren are still alive in 2012. Yahoo News story here.

Great protest footage from Bahrain

2012-01-26T04:11:00.001-08:00

Firebombs vs. police at Liveleak.

Critique of bait cars reveals Liberalism

2012-01-24T15:34:00.001-08:00

An LA Times story talks about the high cost of bait cars and low level of offender. As is typical of news stories, this one begins with a personal story, in this case a person who could only be described as a life-long criminal and drug addict.

Lamb was walking along a North Hollywood street in the middle of the night last November when she spotted an unattended car — engine running, doors wide open — with 30 cartons of cigarettes in a Marlboro box on the passenger seat.This person, named Lamb, took the cigarettes and, naturally, the car was a police bait car. She was arrested and is facing 10 years in prison. Lamb has a rap sheet going back two decades.

The story is questioning the high cost of the bait car program and the relatively low value of the criminals it catches, such as Lamb. It's an interesting question, and I think it should be asked.

That's not the real problem here, though.

It comes too late to spare Elaine Lamb, but the bait car program has been discontinued by new Valley Commander Jorge A. Villegas.Spare Elain Lamb? That's Liberalism right there. Strangely, Liberals feel that criminals are victims. The reality, in contrast to the Liberal worldview, is that for 20 years Ms. Lamb has plagued society, and now society can express its displeasure at her behavior.

Obama's State of the Union

2012-01-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

Tonight Our Little President™ will give another State of the Union address. This one should be very interesting for a couple of reasons. One, it's a campaign speech, so it will mention what he has accomplished and all of the important work still to do. He will try to portray himself as a job creator and tax cutter. He is the opposite, but he will need to change his image or risk losing the election.

The second reason I think the address will be interesting is more nebulous. Last year Our Little President™ made my job drop onto the floor when he gave an overt message to his fellow communists. He said we need a "Sputnik moment," choosing the greatest achievement of the Soviet Union to inspire Americans. Mentioning Sputnik to Americans was more stunning, and galling, than the actual achievement.

If nothing else, Obama will keep banging the drum for the general leftist feeling on success: it's evil. He will talk about money being some sort of natural resource that belongs to all of us and needs to be evenly given out. Basically, he will do what Democrat politicians always do, tell poor people they're poor because rich people are rich, and he'll promise them a bunch of free stuff.

VW understands

2012-01-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

VW makes commercials so good, they're content. They must be very expensive, but I think they're getting something for their money.

Here's one with 48.9 million views:

HuffPo Romney story FAIL

2012-01-19T11:47:00.000-08:00

Read this Huffington Post story about Mitt Romney. Count the number of times the word "narrative" appears. Writers are supposed to catch this sort of thing, so are editors.

Gingrich set on repeat

2012-01-19T06:27:00.001-08:00

I think the media has a short memory, or they're just trying to get web views and understand that the public has a short memory. Gingrich is being written up as "surging". LA Times:

Newt Gingrich is surging and the guy ahead of him, Mitt Romney, as well the guy behind him, Rick Santorum, are rattled.Newt did very well in a debate again, which seems to be the man's specialty, but between his better debate performances he drops. The media helps with this because they push hundreds of negative stories about him every time he "surges" in the polls. We saw it in September, and we're seeing it again now.

Between the debates the Left tells us about his mistress and the Right tells us about his Liberalism. He also got criticized for some mean attack ads against Romney (yawn).

If nothing else, the media can stop changing the dateline on their "surge" stories. It's getting old. The record is skipping. Newt is a great debater -- go to his YouTube channel to see for yourself. The guy has the confidence and nonchalance of somebody who doesn't care if he wins or not and he has the intellectual chops to make the others look like they spent more time on makeup than content preparation. But he is probably the same old Newt (unelectable).

Everyone knows Romney is going to be the nominee. I think the only question will be this: Will Republicans "hold their noses" and vote for Romney? Are they fed up with Obama's Marxist drivel to the point that electing ANYBODY else is more important than electing "the right guy"? Well, the right guy isn't running in this election. Seriously, these guys are the best Conservative leaders in the USA? I have little hope for their future if that's the case.

If Gingrich does pull off the nomination, it will be the biggest story in politics since a Marxist got elected president.

Internet blackout in protest to SOPA

2012-01-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

This will be an interesting little piece of Internet history. Below are the home pages for Google, Wikipedia, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Here is a Yahoo News story with a more complete list of blacked out sites.

Keystone pipeline denied

2012-01-18T15:21:00.000-08:00

Our Little President™ has done it now. He's killed a source of oil we desperately need. He's doing exactly what he promised during the campaign when he said:

"The walls between the countries with the most and the countries with the least must come down."

Killing the pipeline furthers his plan of reducing the US to make the world more fair ("socially responsible"). First world nations only became wealthy by exploiting third world nations, he thinks, so we must spread our wealth around the world.

Higher costs for fossil fuels will keep some of his pet solar panel companies open (the ones not openly perpetrating fraud) and his Chevy Volt selling. Geez, even the labor unions, his fellow-travelers who helped put him in office, want this pipeline.

I can't wait to see the polls after this fiasco. Maybe this is what it will take for the uninformed to realize what they've got.

NPR takes the cake with their communist bullshit. No nice words here, NPR are commies. Their guest this afternoon said, "Only in America could environmentalists and conservatives join forces" to stop an oil pipeline. Huh? What? Obama screws the nation in several different ways at once, and NPR finds a way to blame it on Republicans. Obama killed the oil we're desperate for, and thousands of private sector jobs, according to the NPR guest, because Republicans put a deadline on the decision.

Also, do lefties and environazis not realize how many pipelines we already have? Here's a look at the existing pipelines in the Midwest, with the Keystone overlaid (warning, PDF). Does anybody remember this kind of debate taking place with these other pipelines?

Wikipedia closing for a day

2012-01-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia is closing down Wed, Jan. 18, 2012 to protest PIPA and SOPA. NY Times:

Wikipedia is the latest Web site to decide to shut on Wednesday in protest against the two Congressional bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, often called SOPA, and the Protect IP Act, which is often called PIPA. The bills have attracted fierce opposition from many corners of the technology industry. Opponents say several of the provisions in the legislation, including those that may force search engines and Internet service providers to block access to Web sites that offer or link to copyrighted material, would stifle innovation, enable censorship and tamper with the livelihood of businesses on the Internet.If we're lucky, they'll stay down permanently, because an encyclopedia "anyone can edit" is a bad thing.

War on Drugs is racist?

2012-01-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

Two far-left liberals writing at HuffPo are telling us that if we want heroine and ketamine to remain illegal, we're racist.

The Justice Policy Institute noted that these companies make more money through longer prison sentences, but you don't need a report from a nonprofit group to know that. Just look at their own investor reports. The Corrections Corporation of America, the largest for-profit prison company in the country, lists as a business risk in its 10K to the SEC "any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them." CCA also told investors it would make less money if there were lower minimum sentences and more eligibility for inmates for early release for good behavior.Wow. It seems that everything is a conspiracy against blacks. Here's a suggestion: stop using drugs. People who don't use drugs, don't go to jail on drug charges. Seems simple.

As much as people enjoy blaming others for their own problems, the US has much bigger problems than who is enjoying free room and board and healthcare at taxpayer expense because they chose to smoke and snort and inject their way into prison. The War on Poverty, initiated in the 1960s, has been the biggest failure of the last 60 years. We've thrown billions of dollars at the poor, and somehow, quite mysteriously, poverty levels haven't dropped. According to OWS and their supporters (communists, democrats, anarchists), the poor are getting poorer.

Right after we end the War on Poverty, we can discuss reforming the War on Drugs.

Spanish puzzled by CA high-speed rail

2012-01-15T03:51:00.000-08:00

Spanish railway officials offer opinions on California's corrupt, bloated high-speed rail project, the first link of which will connect Fresno and Bakersfield. That's right, Fresno and Bakersfield. Anyone miss that? Fresno to Bakersfield. UT San Diego:

Only corrupt idiots would begin a high-speed rail line anywhere other than Los Angeles. You know, the place with 20 million people in the greater metro area? California's rail project is a scam and will consume billions of taxpayer dollars, if not trillions. Why don't we elect 2nd graders to run this state? They'd do a much better job.

The only positive news to come out of the rail project happened three days ago. According to the LA Times, the CIC (Chump In Chief) is quitting:

Windows Phone getting rave reviews

2012-01-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

You have to consider where this is coming from -- liberal media, which harbors a deep anti-Microsoft bias. First, an example of the bias. Here's Steven Levy interviewing Amazon's Jeff Bezos in Wired's December 2011 issue:

Steven Levy's anti-MS bias is in-your-face, while Bezos, arguably a true tech guy, knows better. That said, I can work around Levy's bias. I've read several of Levy's books and have been reading him at Wired for a long time. He's a good technology writer. Tech neutrality would make him a great technology writer.

Another example of anti-MS bias might be Lifehacker, a good site for technophiles. Last year they did a piece about what kind of equipment the writers used. Nearly all (actually, all, if I remember correctly), use Apple computers. It's interesting that a technology website that isn't marketed as a place for Apple aficionados would use an operating system that interests only 10% of the world. The other 90% (or 89?) use Windows. Maybe Lifehacker should hire people that will speak to a massive audience, rather than a tiny one. And, it seems that most of their Microsoft stories appear under "For What It's Worth".

I watched the "Girl with the dragon tattoo" series, the Swedish films, and noticed that the good guys used Apple, while the bad guys used Windows. Hmmm.

So it's in the context of clear bias that we read the reviewers of Windows Phone.

NY Times:

Here's something from Wired, not written by Steven Levy:

I've been using Microsoft products for a long time, and rarely complained (except for Win95 crashes and early IE security flaws). The anti-MS bias in the media is telling a false story, and has created false impressions in the minds of the masses. For instance, most people still believe Microsoft stole Windows from Apple. Not so. Jobs stole that idea from Xerox, something which has been well documented. Xerox sued Apple for the "theft", just as Apple sued Microsoft.

Another media-created myth is that Macs are more secure than Windows. Again, not so. Any technophile -- a real one, not somebody who Tweets on a Mac at the coffee shop -- knows that Mac is less secure, and the reason Windows has more malware is because they command 90% of the market share. Obviously, writers of malware have learned something Lifehacker.com has not.

I'm not blind to reality. The 1990s were a troubling time for Microsoft, even as their profits soared with Windows 95 and Office. The anti-trust litigation was...what it was. Microsoft pushed very hard to dominate, and paid the price for it -- fines were the smallest portion. The bad PR, which remains today, was the real price paid for heavy-handed tactics. But the 1990s are long gone. If you're not visiting Latvian porn sites and not clicking on email links like ctx94akm999.ru, you probably don't see any malware with Windows. I don't.

Many of Microsoft's products were duds, as many of these Windows Phone reviews mention. Yet, Apple has had many duds, as well. Apple's numerous failures are forgiven or ignored. Microsoft doesn't get this soft treatment by the media.

One of Apple's biggest success stories, the iPhone, is already showing signs of fatigue. The growth charts for Android show that the gap is closing rapidly. This is for the same reason Mac couldn't out-do Windows. Android is an open system compared to iOS, and it works quite well, and it's less expensive. Consumers do care about quality, as Apple knows best, but they also care about choice and good pricing, things Apple won't allow.

There was a time, I want to believe, when journalists had an obligation to the truth. Opinions used to be reserved for the opinion pages. This time is long past, it seems.

I've always preferred truth to feeling good and making others feel good. This is why I'm not a liberal, and this is why I prefer Microsoft to Apple. I'm considering switching from Android to Windows Phone. I'll let you know how that goes.

Bend the knee, Web lovers

2012-01-13T15:32:00.001-08:00

Sweden has formally recognized the Church of Kopimism, a new religion that believes file copying is a right. BBC News:

Report: brain wiring changes with Internet addiction

2012-01-13T15:23:00.000-08:00

BBC News is talking about a new MRI study of people "addicted" to the Internet:

Specialised MRI brain scans showed changes in the white matter of the brain - the part that contains nerve fibres - in those classed as being web addicts, compared with non-addicts.This is nonsense. I can easily prove this false just by mentionnds theaead asdauad/asdid a;adsffd? adsufhdaxk k h as.

Media invents a crisis in Nome, Alaska

2012-01-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

The BBC News is joining US media in covering the story of a Russian fuel ship headed for "ice-bound Nome."

I listened to an NPR story about this a couple of days ago. A host interviewed a Nome official, who said the problem is not quite as bad as it's being portrayed, because Nome has three months of fuel reserves. How many media stories mentioned the reserves?

On that note, how many media stories mention the total tonnage of Earth's atmosphere when telling us how many tons of pollutants humans are putting into the atmosphere? None?

The "ice-bound Nome" story is an excellent job of manufacturing a crisis. My hat is off to the media.

Republican mudslinging

2012-01-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

I love political mudslinging. In the midst of all the lies and double dealing, negative ads are the only entertaining aspect of political campaigns.

How to have fun at a dragstrip

2012-01-12T01:27:00.001-08:00

1. Refuse instructions from track officials.

2. Try to run over said officials.

3. Force your way onto the track.

4. Burn your tires to shreds with a supercharged engine.

5. Get physically thrown out of venue.

Review of NFL Game Rewind

2012-01-08T18:37:00.001-08:00

I subscribed to the NFL Game Rewind service for the 2011 regular season, and I recommend it. My favorite aspects of the service:

1. Untethered to cable/satellite TV companies.

2. Everything works as advertised, and works quite well, including HD.

3. Very low price ($39 for 2011 regular season) for every game, every team.

4. Very fast, courteous response to a question I submitted to tech support.

Get this service. Trust me. I rarely recommend any corporation for any reason (in fact, I usually vent frustration at corporations on this blog), but this is the exception. It's the norm, in my experience, to receive bad products and service, so this package really stood out as something nice.

I think anyone who likes NFL football would find this service to be an excellent value, even if you're not a glutton who wants to watch every game of the year.

If you're new to the Internet, or just intimidated, don't be. This is the future. Steaming content is fully mature now -- easy, no hassles, inexpensive. They're using Akamai, a leader in streaming services.

I'm now going to check to see if Formula 1 has a similar service. If not, the NFL needs to franchise their web services setup to other sports, especially off-season ones like F1.

Liberal take on NDAA

2012-01-08T17:58:00.001-08:00

Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on New Year's Eve. As I've said many times in the past, any law created in December, when the news is scarcely monitored by Americans, is usually terrible. Furthermore, bills signed into law on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, or on a Friday night, are the worst of the worst.

NDAA is causing problems for both sides of the political spectrum because it reportedly allows the U.S. military to seize and hold, indefinitely, U.S. citizens inside the U.S. on terrorism grounds. This would be a first.

Libertarians are furious and Righties are concerned. How about the Left? Daily Kos, bolding mine:

there's laying blame and there's fixing the problem. I'm more interested in fixing the problem.

It's no secret the Left is upset about the NDAA. It's really amazing to see how they cling to The One Who Can Do No Wrong when he is obviously doing things wrong. Even more amazing? Daily Kos heaped vitriol on Bush like syrup on a pancake when the USA Patriot Act became law. There was no talk about ignoring blame in favor of "fixing the problem."

Arab Spring realities

2011-12-27T15:58:00.000-08:00

Egypt has decided to stop testing the virginity of female reporters. From LA Times:

“The court orders that the execution of the procedure of virginity tests on girls inside military prisons be stopped,” Judge Ali Fekri, Head of the Cairo Administrative Court, announced Tuesday.We need to get out of the Middle East and the undesirable cultures found there as fast as possible. I think the best way to remove ourselves from that part of the world is to aggressively develop every domestic source of oil and increase oil purchasing from friendly, sane nations, such as Canada, instead of the crazies. Obama, in his classic style of doing everything he can to diminish the U.S. -- just as he said he would during the campaign -- is "delaying" making a decision on the Keystone oil pipeline.

Incidentally, the reason for the delay is obvious: his base doesn't want any more industrialization, and therefore no oil. The majority of Americans know that our society is wholly dependent on oil, and we also need jobs that a major pipeline project would provide. This puts Obama in a tough situation, because if he greenlights the pipeline, he loses his base. Better to wait until after he gets re-elected.

When Obama said, "The walls between the countries with the most and the countries with the least must come down," he was stating his belief that America's high standard of living is unjust. We are living rich only because we have exploited the poor nations of the world. It's the same Marxist philosophy as OWS. Obama is more than a president; in his eyes, he is righting the greatest wrong in the history of the world -- the U.S. Denying the pipeline furthers this goal.

It's interesting, a five-year-old child could tell Obama the obvious correct course of action on the pipeline. We really need oil. We really need to reduce our dependence on Middle East oil. We really need jobs. Therefore...

FedEx and UPS

2011-12-24T13:15:00.001-08:00

Low pay + hard work = bad service. Enjoy your "inexpensive" products.

Fighting for shoes Dec. 2011

2011-12-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

First the Great Unwashed treated us to the annual Black Friday embarrassment. Now it's sneakers. Sneakers. Tramplings, pepper spraying, abandoned children -- there was something for everyone.

Unemployment rate for college grads

2011-12-21T14:08:00.000-08:00

The Democrats and their PR firms -- CNN, NY Times, LA Times, etc. -- are so busy telling us about Obama's beautiful, "progressive" plans for decreasing the unemployment rate (raising taxes), they have hardly mentioned the 4.3% unemployment rate for college grads. International Business Times, Sept. 2011:

Not all grads are created equal, however. A number of degrees have high unemployment, and some have no unemployment. That's right, no unemployed people. From Yahoo News:

Curiously, Gender Studies is not in the top ten, nor in the top 25. Now, why could that be? Here's the Gender Studies description at Indiana University:

Gender Studies is a transdisciplinary department engaging students in the study of gender and the intersection of gender with other substantive categories of analysis and identity, including race, sexuality, class, disability, and nationality. Our curriculum offerings push students beyond commonsense accounts of gender to examine its complex constructions in our different historical epochs, in various cultural arenas, and varying global processes. Gender Studies engages with a wide variety of innovative approaches and methodologies, broad in reach - yet unified through a critical angle of vision. Whew! I was relieved to see that the program is "unified through a critical angle of vision." No doubt it would be far less without that.

San Francisco State University has its own, unique take on "sexuality studies":

The mission of the Department of Sexuality Studies is to " advance multidisciplinary teaching, research, and advocacy in sexuality studies, sexual literacy, well being and social justice." We provide students with knowledge about processes and variations in sexual cultures, sexual identity and gender role formation, and the social, cultural, historical, and ethical foundations of sexuality, intimate relationships, and sexual health. The department has a long commitment to community building and focuses on issues of social justice and sexuality, including the impact of factors of social inequality - such as poverty, racism,marriage equality and homophobia - upon sexual well-being and sexual health across the lifespan.You can actually get a Master of Arts in Sexuality Studies at SFSU.I wonder if Ford Motor Co is looking for job candidates with this degree? Social responsibility would be helpful in assembling the new Fusion model.

Racial studies is another area that didn't make the top 25. Here's UC Santa Barbara's Center for New Racial Studies:

The Center for New Racial Studies (CNRS) at UCSB is a developing "think tank" that focuses on the dynamics of race and racism in the 21st century. We are committed to revitalizing racial studies on our campus and beyond. We are an affiliated group of faculty from the social sciences and humanities who work on racial issues from a wide range of disciplines: we have among us historians, literary critics, musicologists, sociologists, political scientists, and specialists in education. We study race from very different vantage points: global, national, local, and experiential. The "Center" is giddy about Obama's presidency, using words like "reactionary", which is fairly standard fodder in the various communist movements, and takes the opportunity to slam Nixon, Reagan, and Bush:

We view Obama's triumph as both a moment of closure and a great opening. On Nov. 4, 2008 the American people not only chose to end the epoch of reactionary rule that began with the election of Nixon, consolidated under Reagan, and only met its demise under Bush II; they also recognized that the age of "neoliberalism" was at an end. This epoch -- characterized by state-led expropriation and violence against the most vulnerable social groups both at home and across the globe -- has produced a wide-ranging crisis: economic, ecological, sociopolitical, and indeed constitutional.I thought college was a place to learn something useful, not to find out about how Republicans are bad. Maybe we, as a nation, should focus more on working than whining about anything that isn't far-left.

There are only a few jobs a Gender Studies or Racial Studies grad can get (which use the knowledge): university professor teaching same, NPR "analyst", and leftist activist. Here's the list of degrees with the highest unemployment rates. Avoiding anything with "psychology" in the name is a good plan for students.

Extending unemployment benefits

2011-12-21T13:34:00.001-08:00

It's time to reduce unemployment benefits, not increase them, as Pelosi wants. Here's Nancy Pelosi's take on UE bennies, from CNS News:

Extending unemployment benefits will create 600,000 jobs? I can't imagine the IQ of anyone who believes that. Now, contrast Pelosi's version of reality to actual reality, from a NY Times story about Denmark's unemployment benefit changes:

Denmark's new, limited UE benefits go deeper than that, from Globalist:

Even our socialist European friends have figured this out. So why the disconnect with Democratic leadership in this country? Why are Democrats openly lying to the public, and thereby damaging the nation? The answer is right here.

New York commie returns home from Peru

2011-12-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

The news about Lori Berenson's return to the U.S. shows something most of us know about American academics, from BBC:

The BBC was soft on this Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), calling them "left-wing rebels". According to GlobalSecurity.org, the MRTA is much more than "left-wing rebels":

Traditional Marxist-Leninist revolutionary movement formed in 1983. Objective remains to rid Peru of imperialism and establish Marxist regime. Has suffered from defections and government counterterrorist successes in addition to infighting and loss of leftist support.The MRTA's activities included "Bombings, kidnappings, ambushes, and assassinations. Previously responsible for large number of anti-US attacks."

In a nutshell, the daughter of New York based university professors goes to South America and becomes involved with a communist terror organization. Is this really a surprise? A large number of U.S. academics are communist -- this is known. Poor Ms. Berenson was brainwashed at school and at home, by her commie parents.

What I'd like to know is this: Why is a commie -- who was jailed in Peru for working with a communist terror outfit that conducted "bombings, kidnappings, ambushes, and assassinations" and is "responsible for a large number of anti-US attacks" -- being allowed back into the United States? This is a perfect opportunity to permanently rid ourselves of an undesirable. I hope her experience in Peru's prison system was less than enjoyable.

The New York Times, true to their Marxist leanings, told readers what they wanted them to know, not "all the news that's fit to print". Their two latest stories (here and here) about Berenson carefully avoided to mention the name of the "group" she was associated with (MRTA), and that it was communist. Why, poor Ms. Berenson just wanted to help the poor! Just like Obama...

Banning phones and the NTSB

2011-12-19T18:09:00.001-08:00

Mark Twain once said there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. How true this is!

A lot has been made about the NTSB's recent urging of states to ban all phone use while driving. It was almost certain to be a knee-jerk reaction to the school bus accident that made headlines around the country, not part of any rational analysis, and that turns out to be the case. Wash Examiner emphasis mine.

stated flatly that 3,000 people lost their lives last year due to texting in the driver's seat

only 995 deaths resulted from distraction by cell phones

When 995 people die in a year from distraction by cell phones, it is a non-issue and needs no further discussion. It certainly doesn't require any bans or legislation. After all, 25,000 people die each year in the U.S. from influenza and pneumonia, and 14,000 die from falling down.

Sadly, this type of government witchcraft is nothing new. Remember the old slogan from government safety wonks, "Speed Kills"? Turns out, speed doesn't kill. When states raised freeway speed limits from 55 to 65, the death rate dropped. Also, the numbers for that misguided campaign were fiddled with, just as cellphone distraction numbers are being fiddled with today. Here's how:

The gubment, in the "speed kills" propaganda war, was gathering statistics in a misleading manner. If a driver went through a green light at 1mph over the speed limit, and was broadsided by a driver who ran the red, it was called a "speed related incident". We suffered for many, many years under a 55mph speed limit on freeways, partly because of this numerical gamesmanship.

Most "safety" legislation is a knee-jerk reaction to one specific incident, not as a result of meaningful study. I propose a cooling off period for legislators, requiring a specific time to elapse before a new bill can be submitted. This would stop a lot of the bad laws -- the ones that restrict our freedoms simply because a few people acted irresponsibly or were merely victims of bad luck.

These "safety" laws are not about public safety, especially if they're designed to save just a few hundred people a year. If not public safety, then what? Re-election. Legislators can get some publicity by doing something "for the children" and for "public safety" by authoring knee-jerk legislation.

Ted Nugent right again

2011-12-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

I guess you have to be a retired rock singer to tell the truth in this country. From Washington Times:

The majority of people who are poor in America are poor because they knowingly have made poor decisions. That may be ugly and uncomfortable to the soulless, politically correct masters of denial, but it’s the truth nonetheless.Sounds a lot like someone I know.

And let's not forget Nugent's take on the 2nd Amendment: "We need to stop this braindead celebration of unarmed helplessness."

Kim Jong-Il dead

2011-12-18T22:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Leader Kimmy has passed away, according to "far-fetched gangster logic."

Mugshot

2011-12-18T13:59:00.001-08:00

At what point in this guy's life did this seem like a good idea?

This is why

2011-12-18T12:32:00.000-08:00

Want to know why the Tea Party, and I would say all sensible people, want a balanced budget and smaller government and adherence to the Constitution? This story:

Michael E. McLaughlin, who abruptly resigned as Chelsea housing director last month after his $360,000 salary was revealed, put in only 15 full workdays in Chelsea all year to earn his extraordinary paycheck, according to a Globe review of his work cellphone records.The guy in the story may not be the norm, but neither is he unusual. Everyone who works for government, at any level, knows people like that guy. The colossal waste is not just with individuals, it's systemic.

This is why government should be shrinking, not expanding.

Hands-free phones no better

2011-12-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

The NTSB's new recommendation to ban all cellphone use in cars is based in part on research showing that hands-free technology doesn't reduce the risk. This has been known for a long time. I've been talking about it for ten years. Politicians who have enacted hands-free-only laws are more interested in re-election than public safety.

What I find really troubling in the laws about phone use in cars is that it's not a problem compared to the lack of driving skill. Any fool can pass a driver's test, and it shouldn't be that way. Also, banning 16-year-olds and the over-70 crowd from driving would save a lot of lives.

NFL player dies

2011-12-15T08:39:00.000-08:00

My title is misleading, because it's a future headline. It's only a matter of time before an NFL player is killed by running into the goalpost at the back of the endzone. I thought I'd mention this now, before it happens, because the NFL (and government and companies) rarely takes action to help people before it's needed (see: concussions). They wait until there's a tragedy and then make changes, which proves people care more about negative publicity than helping people.

BBC tries to increase taxes with prostitution

2011-12-15T07:56:00.000-08:00

The BBC has brought bad journalism and socialist activism to the forefront again with a new article on student prostitution in Britain. The premise appears sound -- some students are turning to prostitution to pay for their education. It is anything but sound, as even a quick read of the article shows.

The article quickly becomes comical, as the BBC writers try to take a woman with many options and portray her as a woman with no options, all because the government reduced the free money she is receiving.

I didn't want to rely on my family.

Already the "sex worker" has divulged the reason she's a whore.

The laughs keep coming throughout the piece:

"I began looking for jobs, but the hours were unsociable."Unsociable hours? The BBC makes clear its position -- an uncaring government making evil budget cuts is forcing precious little darlings of British society into prostitution just to attend school. This passes for journalism at the BBC?

The BBC is moving full speed ahead, no reason to stop:

What sort of person has a friend who tries to pimp her out at age 16? I think we're getting to the nut of the real problem now, and it has nothing to do with budget cuts. The coup de grace: the woman explains she "couldn't see any other option" after saying she didn't want to ask her family for help and didn't want to work.

The remainder of the article talks about those terrible government budget cuts. The BBC's goal here is to increase taxation on the people of the UK. It's standard BBC fare.

Jobs and Obama

2011-12-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

America is finally starting to understand why job growth is stagnant, despite a media that covers for Obama. His dream of a socialist utopia is damaging the economy and stunting job growth. Job creators in America are finally becoming vocal about why they are no longer creating jobs. These business leaders have been slow to speak out because the far-left press (85% of the press in the U.S. is liberal) will attack them. NPR will bring in "experts" for monotone discussions on the correctness of all of Obama's policies.

The economy has been growing (slowly) since mid-2009, but jobs have not returned to pre-recession levels. Why? CEOs are telling a story, but one must go beyond the typical far-left monoliths to hear them. CNN, LA Times, NY Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Public Media will not cover this because it makes their socialist leader look bad.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, via Huffington Post, emphasis mine:

"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama

administration needed to be more business-friendly

"regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult

education system, saying it was "crippled by union work rules,"

Jim Skinner, CEO of McDonald's:

Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts:

"And I'm telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he's gone, everybody's going to be sitting on their thumbs."BET founder Robert Johnson:

Governor of North Dakota, and please note that his opinion is the exact opposite of Obama:

Announcement on vehicles owned by U.S. Cranes, LLC of Georgia:

"New company policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone."This crane company may seem like the least significant entry on this growing list, but it is actually the most important because it represents the view of America's small business owners. You have to remember that America is a small business economy. Wal-Mart and other big employers get all the press, but small businesses employ the majority of people in this country. They have been pushed to the edge by an anti-business president, and they're finally starting to speak out.

I miss the Internet

2011-12-13T14:00:00.001-08:00

I miss the "good" internet, back in 1998-2002. That was when I had broadband and websites hadn't become bloated with data from 100 different ad servers and all this flashcrap. The web was very fast for a brief window of time, and I miss it terribly. Every page you visited would spring onto your screen in its entirety in less than a second.

Now, my cursor causes something bad to happen every time it touches anything -- advertising, social media options and ratings, content previews, etc. I'm thinking about ditching the touchpad/cursor altogether and using Tab and Enter instead.

This downward spiral of the user experience is probably a combination of web advertising coming to maturity, and a new generation of people who don't remember the blazing fast experience of the past.

The Old West is gone. Only bloated corporate propaganda remains.

Africa took a wrong turn somewhere

2011-12-12T18:55:00.001-08:00

Captured US drone in Iran

2011-12-10T15:52:00.001-08:00

An alien craft belonging to an advanced civilization crash-landed in a primitive society. Iran will be able to make something like this in 1200 years:

No indictment for McDonald's cashier

2011-12-04T15:13:00.001-08:00

In a rare turn of common sense, a grand jury has declined to indict a McDonald's cashier who thumped criminals with a pipe.

Watch this video:

Here's what a CNN story had to say about it:

My reaction, when I first saw the video some weeks ago: "Good, justice is done."

And now for the politics. Yes, everything is political. Liberals, since the attempted Communist revolution* of the 1960s-1970s, have decayed our society to the point where bad behavior is protected, even championed. C'mon, a cashier thinks he has been handed counterfeit money and questions the customers, and they respond by "hurling obscenities" and slapping his face. He administers a beatdown , and gets indicted for assault.

I'm not one of these people who wants to return to the 1950s. Oppression of minorities was (is) repugnant, and the so-called family values of Conservatives are too often a preachy veneer for poor behavior. No, what I'd like is a return to a well behaved society that values common sense more than "political correctness" (another term for modern Liberalism). I believe it's okay to punch or hit criminals when caught in the act, especially when they strike first. I'm glad to see a grand jury feels the same way.

There are two other facts revealed by the CNN story which need to be mentioned. One, the guy apparently hit the women 10 times in the head, continuing well after they were lying on the ground. Two, the women have been charged. Okay, so the guy went a little too far, but that doesn't change the fact that our society is out of control due to Liberalism and, perhaps, bad parenting.

* The Communist revolution has been mislabeled a "cultural revolution". We know well the motivations of the SDS and other "movements" of the late 1960s and 1970s. The following quotes are from a 2002 documentary film called "The Weather Underground". The quotes are just a small sliver of the available evidence for the Communist motivations of the "cultural revolutionaries".

"We wanted to become communist cadre, completely committed to the revolution."

--Mark Rudd, member of Weather Underground

"Toward the end of 1968 I had really decided that I was committed to being a part of what I thought was going to be a really serious and ongoing rebellion, upheaval, that had the potential of not just ending the (Vietnam) war but really overthrowing the capitalist system and put in its place something much more humane."

--Bill Ayers, member of Weather Underground and political adviser and friend to President Obama

California welcome wagon

2011-12-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

All new residents of California should be issued an official welcoming basket containing unique gifts. No need to worry about the cost, because this state wastes money on unnecessary things all the time, such as a high-speed rail link between Bakersfield and Fresno, and $16 million to "study the harvest mouse."

Welcome Wagon, California Style

+ An ornate bong with "Welcome to California!" etching

+ Three pamphlets: 1) The Definitive Guide to Hugging Trees, 2) Prosperity Through Higher Taxation, and 3) How to Make Love to Delta Smelt

+ A Che Guevara T-shirt made by illegal aliens at American Apparel

+ Ballot form with the Democratic candidates conveniently pre-marked

+ Coupon for a tour of South Los Angeles in an armored car

+ Bicycle with a headlight and a built-in sense of entitlement for roads made for cars

+ Parka and a nose ring for visiting San Francisco

+ "Will Work For Food" sign to use at the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Blvd and Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway (formerly Imperial White Male Highway)

+ Smelling salts to be used when shopping for a home

Hard lessons in Afghanistan and Iraq

2011-12-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

A lot of soldiers (and civilians) were killed and injured, a lot of money was spent, and a lot of political division was created -- for what? The dream is to have stable, free democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq, but I doubt we'll ever see this happen:

There's no nice way to say this: the culture in that part of the world is not suitable for freedom and modern government. That a rapist could get a prison term, then pardoned by agreeing to marry the rapist (story from the LA Times) is a good example of why we made a mistake in setting up "democracies" in that part of the world. Widespread corruption is another example.

I think both wars were necessary, but what followed wasn't. Removing the Taliban and Saddam Hussein made the world better, and the U.S. safer, but the overall cost of "rebuilding" is far too high. The theory of fostering democracy was to prevent a reversion to Islamism and tyranny, but if the people are unwilling to live in a civilized manner, what's the point?

We may be asking too much of the Afghanis and Iraqis. When I look at our own history, there were hundreds of years, maybe 1000 years, of small steps leading us to where we are now -- mostly stable, mostly free cultures and governments. In the Middle Ages there were kings in Europe, many of whom were Saddam-like figures. There was terrible religious persecution, such as the Spanish Inquisition. These things were not removed in 21 days (the time it took to capture Baghdad), they evolved very slowly only after a lot of philosophizing and warfare. Could England have changed from the Plantagenets to a modern, parliamentary United Kingdom as a result of futuristic weaponry and building schools?

Next time, we should use our space-based weapons and stealth technology to remove threats, and stop there. Removing the democratic element from the equation will mean we have to repeat the exercise every 10 or 20 years, sure, but isn't this better than what's happening now?

The hyphenated surname

2011-11-25T15:51:00.001-08:00

The NY Times has an interesting story about the children of people with hyphenated surnames. If those children (i.e. Johnson-Smith) marry somebody with a hyphenated surname (i.e. Anderson-Frederickson), you would have a child with four names (Johnson-Smith-Anderson-Frederickson). Quite a problem.

While I enjoyed the article, I think a central issue was ignored. Names shouldn't mean anything, especially in an open society such as ours, but they do mean something. Women with hyphenated last names are mostly known for being uppity and having hairy legs. Effeminate men who value "social responsibility" more than working are attracted to them, and nobody else.

Black Friday is coming

2011-11-23T05:13:00.000-08:00

UPDATE 11/25/11: Well it's Black Friday now, and there's no shortage of stories showing poor people behaving badly. I was stricken by a fit of laughter when I read the LA Times story about the latest Walmart violence. Specifically, they asked, "What is it about Wal-Mart and Black Friday?" I can answer it: poor people are animals. Just look at OWS; their nickname is Occupoop for a reason

How many unwashed poor people will get injured at the nation's Walmarts and Targets this year? Somebody must be doing a pool.

Past embarrassments:

Climate change, wind farms, etc.

2011-11-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

A few good posts from sites I read regularly...

EU Referendum: Wind farms get a royal smackdown:

Such things matter is this class-ridden society, where the Royal Family is still a powerful part of the establishment. Taking the piss out of windmills now has royal approval. Things will never be the same again.Coyote Blog: glaciers, then and now:

Those who want to attribute the recent retreat to CO2 have to explain what drove the glacier to retreat all that way from 1760 to 1960, and why that factor stopped in 1960 at exactly the time Co2 supposedly took over.FactCheck.org: Manufacturing jobs:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz wrongly claimed that the U.S. has begun to add “millions of jobs in manufacturing.” About 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost during President Obama’s time in office, reaching a low of about 11.5 million in December 2009.People's Cube: OWS comedy:

Why did the Occupier cross the road? Because some radicals thought “free love” meant “unsolicited surprise sex”America's favorite commie, Michael Moore, as a member of the 1%, tries to explain why he supports OWS's 99%:

Back on that November day in 1989 when I sold my first film, a good friend of mine said this to me: "They have made a huge mistake giving someone like you a big check. This will make you a very dangerous man. And it proves that old saying right: 'The capitalist will sell you the rope to hang himself with if he thinks he can make a buck off it.'"

OWS out

2011-11-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

Image from Atlas Shrugs

I'm glad to see police have finally swept the country of the ~~communist vermin~~ "mostly peaceful" OWS folks. I'm against OWS, if you couldn't guess, because I don't agree with Democrats and the Communist Party USA that poor people are poor because they have been exploited by the rich. I believe they are poor because they're lazy and uneducated. OWS protesters should go home, take a shower, and get a job.

"There's no romantic ideal involved. Let's recognize these people for what they are. They're not romantic revolutionaries, they're the same thugs and hoodlums that have always plagued the good people." --- President Richard M. Nixon

Yet another Liberal double standard

2011-11-17T00:04:00.000-08:00

When the news broke that the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was a Tea Party enthusiast and was against Obamacare, our Liberal press made sure everyone knew about it. USA Today:

Yet [retired justice Stevens] acknowledged in an interview with USA TODAY that the activities of Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, who as a Tea Party activist has opposed the 2010 health care law involved in a case pending at the court, have stoked some of the criticism from members of Congress and other quarters. "You can't help but wish that they had a lower profile," he said of Thomas and his wife.I want to ask all Liberals in America, Do you know about Elena Kagan, Obama's hand-picked SCOTUS member? No? I'm not surprised.

Here is part of an email Kagan sent to a law school buddy the same day Obamacare passed -- a bill that was passed on a Sunday without anyone having read it; from CNS News:

So, let's review: When the wife of Justice Thomas came out against Obamacare, our nation's "news" organizations pressed the coverage in print, online, and on TV. When Elena Kagan shows her bias in favor of Obamacare, not only is the press silent, news outlets had to sue to get the information.

There are two other interesting tidbits here. One, did Elena Kagan lie during her confirmation hearings before Congress? Second, is she now required to step aside for the upcoming SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare?

This story is being buried by the Lefty press -- 85% of all press in the USA is Liberal. I searched for "Kagan" at the following sites:

USA Today: nothing on this story

NY Times: nothing on this story

LA Times: One sentence at the bottom of this story. On the other hand, they're making hey -- in a headline -- about Scalia and Thomas having dinner with "healthcare law challengers".

Politico: "Search service unavailable"

Protesters greet Obama in Australia

2011-11-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

Remember when Bush traveled the world, and every headline in the Lefty press began, "Protesters greeted Bush...."? When Obama went to Brazil earlier this year, he was greeted by protesters. Same thing now that he's in Australia, but the press is silent. I guess you can't publish the truth if it hurts your guy.

In Canberra protesters are rallying against Obama for the war in Afghanistan and the war on drugs. Canberra Times:

Obama's announcement about installing U.S. Marines in Australia is getting an interesting reception in China:

But one thing is certain - if Australia uses its military bases to help the US harm Chinese interests, then Australia itself will be caught in the crossfire. Australia should at least prevent things from growing out of control.

Americans in space

2011-11-16T19:56:00.000-08:00

I'm not in agreement with the Right about Obama being responsible for ending the U.S. manned space program. This is propaganda, because it was Bush who cancelled the Shuttle program, and the way I read it, there were very good reasons for the cancellation.

After the Columbia disaster, NASA (and Congress) decided that the Shuttle would either have to be changed to make it more survivable in the event of a major problem, or scrap the program and build something new. The costs of redesign were considered prohibitive, especially considering the basic technologies of the Shuttle are 40+ years old, so we're going with something new. This new direction is going to take time, and that's why we're without a system right now. Blaming Obama for this is absurd. Truth, I feel, is still more important than attacking political opponents.

The shuttle was a "do everything" system, and the argument can be made that dual- or multi-use vehicles are not good at any specific task. A dual-purpose motorcycle is a good example. It can go on-road or off-road, but a cycle specifically made for the highway is better on the highway, and a cycle specifically made for off-roading is better off-road. Heavy-lift rockets are simpler for getting in space, and they're safer and less expensive. Once in space, specialized craft for the moon or Mars are better for getting around.

Contrary to popular opinion, the American space program is not dead, including manned missions. Reuters story here:

The spending plan, which was posted on a Congressional website on Tuesday, authorizes $3.8 billion for human space exploration programs, including $1.9 billion for a proposed heavy-lift rocket and $1.2 billion for a deep space capsule to fly astronauts to the moon, asteroids and other destinations in the inner solar system as a follow-on program to the International Space Station.We're going back to the thinking, for the most part, that was prevalent before the Space Shuttle -- heavy-lift rockets to get into space, then other vehicles for other missions, like going to the ISS and the Moon. Some of the criticism about the new-old thinking is that it's not as exciting as a reusable spacecraft. So be it.

Because The Gubment runs the space program, it will always be marked by waste, fraud, and stupidity. Still, it is one area where government gets results. Our closest competitor in space is Russia, and they have had 15 consecutive failures on missions to Mars. Most of ours (all?) have worked well, especially the rovers. We're launching this week a new rover that NASA says is slightly bigger than a Mini Cooper. It will arrive on Mars in eight months.

So, our space program is alive and well, because it's still being funded and NASA is still doing good work.

America against Obamacare

2011-11-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Nobamacare, soon to be. A new Gallup poll shows that 42% of Americans want to keep Obamacare. Reuters story here.

The people don't like Obamacare (judges don't, either), and they don't like a 9.1% unemployment rate. So why is Obama polling above the top Republican contenders? The answer is here.

Gingrich teaches liberal debate moderator

2011-11-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

The last American to balance a budget, sort of, understands the difference between criminals and war combatants. Liberals, sadly, do not understand (recognize?) this difference.

Two fascinating glass bridges

2011-11-14T21:41:00.001-08:00

First is the Grand Canyon Skywalk, in Arizona. Second is the Tianmen Mountain Glass Path, in China.

Drunk man jumps into monkey exhibit

2011-11-14T21:24:00.001-08:00

...with predictable results.

The real problem with the United States

2011-11-13T18:14:00.000-08:00

My opinion is that the country is on the wrong path, and that's probably the common view for Right Wing people. I lean right, but I'm not Conservative or Republican, but I normally vote that way because those people are slightly better than Liberals. The Why? of the wrong path is what fills the political sections of Conservative media. I think I've got it.

The Problem

Poor people want free stuff, so they vote for the party/ideology that gives them the most. They don't want to work hard, and they don't want to have full responsibility for themselves. Winston Churchill watched the UK switch from a country of self-sufficient, strong people to a country of needy people, and it cost him re-election after WWII. The same transition is occurring in the U.S. right now.

Democrats have made the poor their constituency, and as long as Democrats keep handing out free stuff and telling them publicly, "It's not your fault," the poor will continue voting for them. So who is responsible for the plight of the poor? Democrats tell the poor it's the fault of the rich, which is now defined by the Left as anyone earning more than about $100,000 per year. It's a smart strategy, because the poor greatly outnumber the "rich".

An entire movement, begun in the 1960s or possibly earlier, has arisen, a very broad movement that stays on message: tell the poor that the only reason they are poor is because the "rich" are exploiting them. OWS is an example, but it's much more ubiquitous than that. Hollywood is onboard. K-12 teachers are involved, for the most part. The majority of our colleges and universities are following the plan, and they are particularly notorious. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson -- and other black figures -- are pushing these message in the minority communities.

The press, especially the New York Times and public media such as NPR, are wholly dedicated to the cause of keeping the poor focused on blaming the Right Wing and all "wealthy" people for their own station in life. The message, which is sometimes subtle and sometimes wielded like a blunt object, is that voting Democrat will "right" this great "wrong." You begin to see the scope of the problem when you consider that all evidence points to 85% of US media being Democrat and/or Liberal. You almost have to admire them because they have a plan, and they're working every possible angle to see it through, and they are very patient.

An acquaintance of mine, a Brazilian immigrant to the Los Angeles area, told me he listens to Roger Hedgecock, a nationally syndicated Right Wing talk show host. I was surprised by this at first. The Brazilian said Hedgecock is smart an entertaining, "but he's racist." I asked Why, and he said that he hates immigrants. The press is doing its job well, I thought, because they have removed the line between "immigrant" and "illegal immigrant". No Right Wing person, except for the tiny minority of fringe radicals who have no voice in America or within the legitimate Right, hates immigrants. They see the millions of illegals entering the country every year as a negative thing, nothing more, nothing less. Yet the press is training the public and immigrants that it's purely racist in nature.

And that brings us to another deep well of votes for Democrats -- the Mexican influx. The border, a sliver more secure than it was 15 years ago, is still mostly wide open. Several million people enter the US from the southern border every year, and while these illegals can't legally vote, the great majority of their children -- automatic citizens because of the federal "anchor baby" policy -- will vote for the party that is fighting very hard to keep the border open -- Democrats.

Many of the illegals, not just their legal children, actually do vote, as we find out each election, because Democrats have fought tenaciously to prevent voter ID reforms at polling places. It's a simple plan, really -- a voterID scheme would result in fewer votes for Democrats.

This source of Mexican votes, nearly unlimited in future years as the illegals continue to enter the country in large numbers and with a birth rate far in excess of the indigenous population of the US (plus an anchor baby policy that provides tremendous incentive to immediately begin procreating), is the reason Democrats try to stop every attempt at reform. It's a matter of votes, and this is why the Obama administration immediately sues any state that tries to stop the huge in-flow of illegals. The cries of "racism" are a smokescreen for the real issue: votes, re-election, and political power.

Interestingly, most Mexicans -- though not all -- living in the U.S. have subscribed to the idea that all people who want to stop illegal immigration are racist. It's interesting because Mexico's own immigration laws are very draconian. Unlike in the U.S., when an illegal is apprehended in Mexico, a prison term results, not deportation. Whenever a Right Wing politician talks about sending the U.S. military to patrol the southern border, Mexican government officials, and Democrats, and Mexican immigrants in the U.S., say it's racist. The Mexican military patrols the southern Mexican border.

This demonstrates the effectiveness of the broad plan to keep the poor focused on blaming others for their problems. Mexican immigrants are willing to say that Right Wing immigration policies are racist, even when their own people -- friends and family back home -- must also be racists, using this strange logic. It's the right policy for me, this logic says, but if you use it, you're a racist.

Two interesting things apply to the immigration issue. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected as governor of California, he quickly made a public speech about the need to secure the border between California and Mexico. The next day he retracted the comments. Why? Did the Republican party instruct him to change his view? This makes sense if Republicans want to capture a slice of the fastest growing section of the population -- Hispanics.

The second interesting thing is Harry Reid's flip-flop on immigration. Today as a Democrat and Senate Majority Leader, Reid favors an open border policy, as most Democrats do. This was not always so. Go here to see Harry Reid saying the anchor baby policy is terrible. Why the change? The same reasons Schwarzenneger flip-flopped. Getting votes and keeping the party strong is more important than doing what's right for America.

The Solution

I don't have a solution. How do we get poor people back on track? By "on track" I mean getting them to understand that they are responsible for their own quality of life and government is only here to provide a basic platform for them to build their own wealth. If they want to make more money and drive a better car and live in a bigger house in a better neighborhood, they have to follow the same basic formula that the rest of us must follow -- get a good education, including a college degree in an area that pays well ("peace studies" doesn't qualify), and work very hard both at school and on their career. They need to stop blaming others for their plight, and start working hard to better themselves.

As I said at the beginning of this stream-of-consciousness rant, there is a problem. I believe I have identified the problem, but I have no idea how to solve it.

San Jose Mercury News in the 1990s

2011-11-13T05:36:00.000-08:00

A story at the Columbia Journalism Review covers the digital rise of the San Jose Mercury News -- the paper widely reported as the first to make all of its content available on the Web. It's a look, if not an answer, to the question that has been asked continually for ten years, "What the hell happened to newspapers?" Blaming the demise -- or steep decline -- of newspapers on the Web might be the right answer, but it's too simplistic. The CJR story goes beyond the simplistic answer.

A general theory, one that seems to be at the gist of this CJR piece, is that newspaper executives missed the boat by only belatedly trying to duplicate old-style efforts in a new medium, instead of understanding and quickly mastering revenue generation in the new Information Age. This is intriguing, but I'm not sure it would have saved the papers (or kept them at traditional profit levels).

A lot of interesting parallels have been discussed (online, in newspapers, ironically), such as Hollywood first feeling threatened by VCRs, then accepting them, and then making fortunes off of movie sales on tape. People like Shawn Fanning and Steve Jobs, and billions of music fans around the world, saw the same problems with the music industry. The world changed, these people said (correctly), and the recording industry failed to grasp it.

Jobs said very publicly that DRM was unnecessary, and that the industry is harming itself by not moving forward, and into, the digital world. Something amazing happened after Jobs and others finally convinced a stodgy old industry to embrace a new reality:

Apple iTunes, including iBook store and AppStore, is expected to grow at a rate of about 39 percent over the next 3 years and may contribute about $13 billion in revenues in fiscal 2013, according to an analyst at Global Equities Research.Newspapers were just as slow to adapt, and they're still struggling. Here's an excerpt from the CJR story, which is very good:

In the fall of 1994, Mosaic Communications, a startup in nearby Mountain View, had introduced software that could shift users away from the narrow confines of their online providers and begin navigating their way through a source of information and communication that had previously been accessible only to a handful of university-based technologists: the World Wide Web. They named the browser Netscape. When Barry Parr showed Kathy Yates how it worked, her doubts about the potential of the digital world evaporated. No longer would Mercury Center be limited by its partnership with AOL. Instead, the Merc could become a portal to a world with seemingly limitless possibilities.What I liked best about the story is that it shows what it was like to work for a very profitable (in the 1990s) business that was about to be upended by the Internet. Some people inside the Mercury News saw the change coming, and some didn't. Among those who saw it coming, there were disagreements.

One aspect of the newspaper problem is that people, like reporters, complain that giving the product away for free is at the heart of the problem. This may be true, but it's hard to be sure. On the one hand, why would I pay for a newspaper when I can get one free? And, why would I try to sell my car in a newspaper's classified section, when I can do it free on Craigslist? Why would I look for new employees in a newspaper, when I can use online services?

In a way, I think newspapers were stuck. Several went all in -- everything free online. These were popular, of course, and the ones that hadn't gone online in the 1990s or were trying to charge customers, were far less popular (with some exceptions, like WSJ). They felt they had to do as everyone else was doing.

This free-for-all attitude has a parallel with public funding of sports stadiums. One city, at some point in the past -- and I'd like to know which one screwed this up for everybody -- was convinced by the owner of a sports team that putting public money into a new stadium was a good idea. Other cities followed, and now it's the standard. Today teams openly bully cities. "Build a stadium or we'll go to a city that is willing." Can you imagine if the precedent had never been set? Teams would have no leverage to leave, and they'd still be playing, and we'd still be watching, and the money would still be rolling in for everyone involved -- and city budgets would be closer to being balanced.

Maybe newspapers should bully cities into massive subsidies. Can papers threaten to leave town?

The world has turned upside down

2011-11-13T02:43:00.001-08:00

The LA times has published a negative story (potentially to Obama) about a no-bid contract won by a long-time Democratic donor. Truly amazing, considering this is one of the many media outlets that consider a the story about a woman accusing a Republican candidate of harassment 14 years earlier to be more important than the Solyndra and Fast-and-Furious scandals combined.

Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.

Headlines from China

2011-11-13T02:24:00.001-08:00

Here are the most popular headlines right now at the China People's Daily, the official paper of the Communist Party:

1. India's border troop surge aimed at rising China?

2. US unlikely to contain China's rise

3. Anxious US looks toward Asia

4. Lipton Tea found with toxic content

5. China's dilemma over Iran goes deeper

6. US launches dumping probe into China solar panel

7. U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington pulls in HK waters

8. 'RMB undervaluation' claims defy economic logic

9. It's winter! Take a look at Jiuzhaigou Valley

10. Obama to target yuan again

This is a belligerent country. It is a military dictatorship, though it may be more calm (and successful) than others of this type.

Police v. Police

2011-11-10T03:17:00.001-08:00

Internet sales tax coming

2011-11-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

It's comical to read the LA Times headline: Senators think they have solved the Internet sales tax problem. It's a "problem" that politicians can't seize more of your money (and then misspend it). For years politicians have tackled the "problem", mostly Democrats. They've been coveting this source of money since the Web first took off in the mid 1990s. Now, the Marketplace Fairness Act is coming.

"I think we've finally found that sweet spot," Durbin said.Sweet because it has bipartisan support (might pass), but more importantly the bill will satiate the greedy appetites of tax-and-spend politicians.

An eBay rep quoted in the story has it correct: "It does not make sense to expand Internet sales tax burdens on small businesses at a time when we want entrepreneurs to create jobs and economic activity.” Democrats have never cared about job creation, and Republicans are only slightly better. Taking our money in large quantities has always been the main goal of our elected "leaders".

Horse dies during competition

2011-11-09T05:38:00.001-08:00

This is dramatic...

Majors with lowest unemployment

2011-11-09T05:23:00.000-08:00

In a real shocker, "gender studies" and "peace studies" didn't make the top ten list. Here are the top five:

1. Actuarial Science—0 percent

2. Astronomy and Astrophysics—0 percent

3. Educational Administration and Supervision—0 percent

4. Geological and Geophysical Engineering—0 percent

5. Pharmacology—0 percent

Yahoo News has the complete top ten.

I guess you have to actually do something -- be a producer -- to earn money.

Another CEO explains the problem

2011-11-07T03:55:00.000-08:00

Jim Skinner, CEO of McDonald's, says reducing taxes and cutting government spending are the keys to getting the economy moving again. Actually, the economy has been growing since mid-2009. Lack of hiring is the main problem now, and it's because businesses are waiting for a president who understands what needs to be done (or one that is less interested in creating a socialist utopia than creating private sector jobs). Obama is doing the opposite -- he's raising taxes and increasing debt.

When the governor of North Dakota, a state that is adding a lot of jobs, was asked what's necessary for job creation, he didn't hesitate: low taxes and a friendly regulatory climate. Obama is doing the exact opposite.

Maybe Obama should just hire a jobs czar to help out. Oh, wait, he already did that. He hired Van Jones, an admitted communist. That didn't work so well, did it?

Telegraph story with Skinner here.

Eagle hits parachute

2011-11-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

Eagle and man survive, barely.

Prius owner on a roll

2011-11-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

The owner of the Prius is a "big" consumer, herself.

NFL mid-season

2011-11-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

AFC East

Bills -- I can't figure this team out. I don't know how good they are. Predictions: second in the division, just in front of the Jets, and behind the Patriots. Bills might squeeze into the playoffs via Wildcard.

Patriots -- Playoff team, doubtful for SB appearance. Very good team, but not great.

Jets -- Similar to Jets of last few seasons -- playing above their ability. Heart goes a long way, but always seems to fall short of SB.

Dolphins -- They played well in the last game of the first half of the season, despite a loss. Reggie Bush admitted before the game that the team was bad ("stinks" I believe he said) and that he was bad too -- then he came out and played much better. Dolphins will get 2-3 wins in the second half of the season. If you even whisper the name "Marino", all of Southern Florida will weep.

AFC North

Steelers -- Looking good, as usual, but I'm not feeling SBish on them. They were very impressive against a good Pats team, and if they improve just a little, SB would not shock. Tough division this year; any team except Browns can make playoffs. And, is there still a steel industry in this country? Should we rename them the Pittsburgh Solar Panels?

Bengals -- One of a number of teams I can't figure out. Good sometimes, but not often enough. At 5-2 they have a chance, and that's all Cincy fans ever wanted (because that might be all that's needed to make a run into the playoffs).

Ravens -- Look far better during gameplay than their 5-2 record shows. If they can shore up some problems, they'll equal the Steelers. Ravens v. Steelers this weekend should be one of the better games.

Browns -- Yet another team that's hard to understand. Capable of winning, and would stand out in a weaker division, but with three strong teams ahead of them, better luck next year.

AFC South

Texans -- Same problems as last few seasons. Monstrous talent that crushes opponents with ease, but a different kind of team arrives too often for them to be a serious SB contender. Playoffs probable.

Titans -- Hasselbeck is an interesting study. How many rings would he have if he had played with good teams? He and Phillip Rivers can compare notes after they retire. He's carrying the Titans, and it's good to see he can still get the job done. But it won't be enough. Here's the real shame, though: if they make the playoffs, the feel-good nature of the achievement will be overshadowed by the improvement of the Lions.

Jaguars -- Low-end team that doesn't have enough talent to make the playoffs. It's unfortunate, but there are teams that have to fill this role.

Colts -- Disgrace. Shameful. Hard to watch. The players believe they can't win without Peyton Manning. The team should be renamed "Mannings". The coach needs to bench all players except Painter, who must be secretly fuming that the team is wrecking his chance to show what he's got. Second string players should be playing -- all of them, and if they refuse to play ball, then the practice squad should be brought in. People who refuse to play shouldn't be allowed to.

AFC West

Chiefs -- Overachieving, but not by much. This is another team that has a legitimate chance for the playoffs, but not SB. No longer fear the Chargers, which is Step 1 in becoming a regular in the playoffs.

Raiders -- Similar team to the Texans -- great talent playing phenomenal games, but a different team steps onto the field often enough that the Raiders probably won't make the playoffs. I'd be surprised, but not shocked, if they make it.

Chargers -- For six years this team has been "the best of the rest", right after the Mannings (Colts) and the Patriots and perhaps Steelers. Looking in the mirror, the Chargers will have to realize two things: 1) since LT stopped performing due to injuries a few years ago, the team has slid straight down hill, slowly but surely, and 2) Ryan Mathews, LT's replacement, is made of glass -- the guy gets injured every other game. It may not be his fault, but he's not working out so far. Probable for the playoffs, very unlikely to get near SB.

Broncos -- Denver has a big problem, and it involves the ownership, the coaching, and the fans. Anything short of the Elway years is unacceptable. This is good and bad. Good, because high expectations are a requirement for great seasons. Bad, because anyone who doesn't perform on an Elway level after five games gets benched or fired. This constant state of flux means they can never get comfortable. Tebow -- awful quarterback right now. What he will develop into later is anyone's guess. He looks like a bull moose rubbing his antlers on an oak tree when he throws, and my kid sister throws a better spiral.

NFC East

Giants -- not as good as their record reflects. Same guy is quarterback as the last few years, right? They can prove me wrong, and I'd like nothing more, but I wouldn't pick them for SB. Playoffs likely, but not too far in.

Eagles -- Another team in the same situation as Texans and Raiders -- which Eagles team will show up? Wildcard likely.

Cowboys -- Nice stadium. Exactly as their 4-3 record shows. Not enough superstar players to make SB. Romo is a good quarterback, but at some point the folks down in Dallas will have to realize he's not The One. Forget about Jr, dynasties in Dallas are built around a great quarterback, like Staubach or Aikmen, paired with a great runner, like Dorsett or Smith. None of that magic is happening right now, nor is it on the horizon. Can the stadium play quarterback?

Redskins -- Saving a buck makes for interesting seasons, but not playoffs and certainly not SB. They have caught the same disease the Vikings have -- let's save a ton of money on a quarterback and them make ruthless demands on a team that really doesn't have much of a chance. It's kind of sad, really, until you realize that some teams are simply going to go through the motions and don't have the will to get the best people.

NFC North

Packers -- Not much bad to say about this team. Rodgers! And there's the potential problem. What is this team without him? Far, far less. Run game is weak. SB appearance likely, but all their eggs are in the Rodgers basket.

Lions -- Not nearly as good as people are saying. Everyone enjoys seeing them improve, which they certainly have, but heart and emotion can't get a team to SB. Not in a million years. Wildcard more than possible.

Bears -- Still another team in the Texans/Raiders/Eagles situation -- which team will play? Divisional competition too tough for them to get into the playoffs.

Vikings -- You mean another old, unwanted quarterback didn't get the job done? I feel bad for McNabb, because I've always liked him. Ponder will be interesting to watch; looks good so far. Adrian Peterson, who may be the best running back of all time, is being Barry Sandered. What a waste. There's a joke going around: What do the Vikings and a stolen car have in common? Neither one has a title.

NFC South

Saints -- Same as every year since the Super Bowl win -- good enough to get close, but won't get a ring the way they're playing now. Brees is still Brees, or is he? I think some post-Katrina heart fueled their SB victory, and that's done. I think only Spike Lee remembers Katrina now.

Buccaneers -- trying very hard, and improving. Nothing extraordinary happening now, and not likely to for the second half of the season. Fans deserve a playoff appearance, but likely won't get it.

Falcons -- Not quite good enough. Wildcard probable.

Panthers -- Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Tim Tebow -- which is which again? Popular, check -- and that's it. Newton has a lot of yards, but wouldn't it be better to have 10 yards this season and be 6-2, instead of languishing at 2-6? The future looks bright, but the present is dull.

NFC West

49ers -- I keep waiting for the crash. I keep thinking this team is floating on a Josh McDaniels cloud, and I'm wondering if they're going to fall as hard as the Broncos did after all that enthusiasm wore off and the real work of playing football stared them in the face. I'd like to be very wrong about this. They have to prove it, though.

Seahawks -- Not a good team, but since I read the book Idea Man by Paul Allen I've been rooting for them. Great book, great man, weak team. Go Seahawks! Tavaris Jackson deserved a second chance as a starter, but he won't deserve a third, if it comes to that.

Rams -- Their one victory almost makes this season worthwhile, but not quite. If they can continue to play like they did against the Saints, their one victory, then we'll have something to watch.

Cardinals -- I predicted a good season for the Cards, and boy was I wrong. I may have been the only person impressed with Kolb's performance at the Eagles. Everything has gone awry for these guys, and I don't see how it can change in the second half of the season. I'd really like this team to perform, if only because the fans should have something to cheer for.

Superbowl prediction

Packers for the NFC. For the AFC, have to go with the Steelers for lack of a better choice. Bills would be a lot more fun! Packers beat whoever shows up to play.

Welcome to Siri

2011-11-04T04:36:00.000-07:00

Compaq commercial from 1980s with John Cleese

2011-11-04T04:32:00.000-07:00

Cain trumps Solyndra in lefty press

2011-11-04T00:53:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but the press is still making Cain's alleged indiscretions a front page story. Solyndra is barely covered, which is a much bigger, much more important story. Gunwalker is ten times the story, also. Incredible.

John Stossel on graphic design

2011-11-03T00:53:00.001-07:00

Obama and his teleprompter

2011-11-02T22:26:00.001-07:00

Steve Jobs quote about Bill Gates

2011-11-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

In a review of a the new Jobs biography, Bill Gates is slammed:

"Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology," Jobs said of Gates. "He just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas."Jobs not only lies directly, he lies by omission.

Let's review: Steve Jobs and a team of Apple engineers stole the idea for the GUI and mouse in the early 1980s. The victim was Xerox, the computer was the Alto. One of Steve Jobs' favorite quotes: "Good artists copy, great artists steal." The first mouse was built and demonstrated in 1969, well before even the Xerox personal computer. The debut of Apple's mouse? 1984.

Most people are aware that Apple sued Microsoft for "stealing" the idea of the GUI and mouse. Are these same people aware that Xerox sued Apple for the same thing? Selective memories are running rampant these days.

As for Gates never inventing anything, how about BASIC for the MITS Altair? I wonder how many people who drink Jobs' Koolaid know what the first language for the first commercially viable microcomputer did for the computer revolution?

Does anybody know what the two best-selling programs for the first Macontish were, and the later iterations in the late 1980s? Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Excel won numerous awards from computer magazines. Words like "masterpiece" were thrown around. I "guess" Steve Jobs forgot about that.

That first Mac, the one made famous by the Orwellian Superbowl commercial in 1984, was both fraud and failure. Here's the fraud: The engineers on the Mac team pleaded with Jobs to give the machine more power. In fact, they were asking for merely enough to make it function. Jobs refused to give the machine a hard disk and more than 128k RAM. The little machine crashed when Jobs tried to run his introduction demonstration -- the famous one. Before the live event, Jobs had the machine specially modified with more RAM. This was not made public at the time.

His demonstration, second video below, was like sneaking a Ferrari engine into a Ford Focus, then showing a commercial with the modified Focus, letting the public think that's what they would be buying.

The 1984 Super Bowl commercial for Macintosh, directed by Ridley Scott:

Below is the famous Macintosh introduction, with a modified machine that consumers would not be able to buy. Few, if any of the cool things Jobs is doing, could be done with the production Mac.

The first Mac, the "computer for the rest of us," shipped with no hard disk and only 128k of memory. Floppy disks of that era would store less than 10 pages worth of writing. It crashed all the time because it had no kernel -- protected memory spaces. No multi-tasking.

Early publicity produced a lot of early sales, but 1984 finished in the toilet -- because the machine didn't perform, specifically because Jobs got his way, overriding the wishes of the engineers.

After Jobs got fired, Apple released a new version of the Mac with a hard disk and more memory. Sales took off, and the rest is history.

OWS supporter list

2011-11-02T19:42:00.001-07:00

The list of people and organizations who officially support Occupy Wall Street is disturbing. The full list is at Pajamas Media; I learned of it from Roger Hedgecock.

Communist Party USA

American Nazi Party

Ayatollah Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran

Barack Obama

Gov't of North Korea

Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam

Revolutionary Communist Party

David Duke

Joe Biden

Hugo Chavez

Etc.

Anonymous v. Zetas cartel

2011-11-02T19:06:00.001-07:00

It's a changing world. Hacker collective Anonymous has threatened the Zetas drug cartel in Mexico. This could be interesting. "We do not forgive. We do not forget. Wait and see." NY times has an interesting story about the challenge.

Jim Webb, conservative or liberal?

2011-11-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Jim Webb is leaving the Senate, and his parting words sound more Conservative or Libertarian than Liberal, from Politico:

Obama attends 3rd G20 meeting of 2011

2011-11-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

The meeting is in Southern France this time, where thousands of French police are on hand to stop protesters. Greece looms large on the agenda, which is almost comical because Greece agreed to an EU debt plan but then angered EU leaders by announcing a public referendum.

From AP:

The United States has an important role to play in helping guide Europe through its financial crisis, but it is ultimately Europe's problem to solve, the White House said Wednesday as President Barack Obama headed for an economic summit in France.We do not have "an important role to play in helping guide Europe through its financial crisis." Obama is trying to do in the U.S. exactly what Greece has done -- fully 2/3 of Greeks work for the government, with fantastic benefits (handouts from taxpayers). Here, jobs have been shed for four years straight with one glaring exception, the federal government.

Another reason we don't have "an important role to play" is because of what happened at the other two G20 meetings this year. Obama tried to lecture the other 19 leaders that they should be spending more. Austerity is the wrong policy, he was saying. They all but laughed at an Obama who is isolated in the world for his policy of overspending. Even European socialists have come to understand that massive deficit spending at a time when revenues are low is a terrible position.

(Obama press secretary Carney) said that the U.S. has unique insight on the European financial crisis because of its experience dealing with its own financial crisis, as well as its position as the world's largest economy. But Carney made clear that the U.S. has no plans to offer financial support to Europe as cash-rich China may do.We would be more "cash-rich" than China if we had been operating at a 10% budget surplus, as we should have been all along.

It's amazing to me that our country even has a seat at the G20 table. A country that is bankrupt in all but formal filing -- with nearly $15 trillion in debt and overspending by $1.3 trillion per year -- is in no position to counsel others on controlling debt.

Our "leaders" have failed us miserably over the last 40 years, Republican and Democrat, and I think the G20 are just humoring us to keep up appearances.

I think it's time to stop patting ourselves on the back and referring to our country as "the richest country in the world." With our debt and spending policies, and reduced credit rating, we are bankrupt. This is why I won't vote for any of the Republican candidates parading around the country. I've said before (here) that I can only support a candidate who wants a balanced budget amendment to the federal constitution, and makes it his/her central theme, and convinces me he's not lying. Instead, I'm hearing about tax plans that don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of passing the legislature, even if Republicans control all of it.

I just wish more people felt as I do, because I don't see any other way out of the path we're on.

Cain 'unqualified'?

2011-11-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

Tom Mann at Brookings doesn't think Cain is the right man for president:

But Cain is so patently unqualified for the presidency that his campaign is likely to collapse at some point and not as a consequence of the harassment charges.I disagree. Plus, Cain's qualifications are 10x the current president.

Herman Cain fights socialized healthcare -- in 1994

2011-11-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Herman Cain debates President Clinton in 1994. This is what it looks like when a holder of a degree in mathematics and a master's in computer science debates a socialist president. Read the scrolling text, too, in addition to the debate -- it's interesting. Cain's numbers were published in the Wall Street Journal after the debate.

I'm not sure Cain is right for America. In any case, he's an impressive guy. Until I started really paying attention to Cain, and reviewing his biography, I thought Gingrich was the smartest of the Republican bunch. Now, I'm not so sure.

And thanks to YouTuber onevike for posting the video.

Calif high-speed rail debacle

2011-11-02T03:01:00.001-07:00

If the government is going to do something, you can count on it being done wrong in every conceivable way. This time it's the California high-speed rail system.

Then, emphasis mine, from AP:

2008 was $43 billion

Now:

could cost nearly $100 billion

Future: Several hundred billion dollars, guaranteed. My estimate is probably very low. Hell, we've gone from $43 billion to $100 billion as easily as spitting on the sidewalk.

Waste, fraud, and stupidity are the hallmarks of every government project. This is why I laughed when supporters of Obamacare showed colossal naivete in claiming that the bill, passed in the middle of the night without a single lawmaker reading it, would not cost taxpayers anything. The NY Times called Obamacare "budget neutral." Watch closely; this will be anything but "budget neutral". Waste, fraud, stupidity.

Left Wing press attacks Herman Cain

2011-11-01T00:21:00.001-07:00

It was only a matter of time... The far-left press in this country has launched an assault on a conservative candidate, this time Herman Cain. Or should I call him Uncle Tom, as some people on the Left are calling him? It's funny, NPR refers to him as a "former pizza manager" instead of a mathematics major who, as CEO, turned around a large corporation. There's just no end to Liberal media bias. When will the Right start fighting the Left on a level playing field (that is, dirty)?

This time, unnamed sources are claiming that unnamed women filed sexual harassment charges against Cain a long time ago. Herman Cain is being Anita Hilled.

Obama's friends in the media will be doing a lot more of this as we get closer to the election.

Tree falls, hand-wringing ensues

2011-10-29T04:23:00.001-07:00

This is a story that could only take place in Communist California. I knew there was a problem the moment I laid eyes on the LA Times headline about a fallen sequoia. The opening graphs confirmed my suspicions:

Oh, brother. The writer, Bettina Boxall, had her lips wrapped around a bong while typing out that strange drivel. You know, the high winds we had in Laguna Beach last January knocked down a pygmy palm in my back yard. Can I get an emotional Los Angeles Times story, too? I didn't even have a ceremony. I feel terrible now. Maybe it doesn't matter, because my little palm didn't stand "unperturbed, through the Great War and the one that followed."

Here's the transition from Act I to Act II:

Now, the U.S. Forest Service must decide what to do.The writer's suggestions pretty much say it all:

Slice a big hole in the 300-foot-long roadblock? Go around it? Over it? Under it?Wow, we'll have to close the Apple stores. You'd think the president got shot. Or the International Space Station fell out of orbit, burned through the atmosphere, and landed on the Queen of England, God bless her soul.

Ladies and gentlemen, listen closely. I will speak (write) very softly now... IT'S A FUCKING TREE! IT'S A FUCKING TREE! Take a chain saw to it and haul it away, for the love of God, man! WTF?

Okay, that would never satisfy the hippies of California. Though I can't comprehend the mindset of California Nutjobs (I don't even own a bong), I will try to offer solutions to the problem. Here's a list of options for the dearly departed tree:

1. Carve it into a giant statue of Karl Marx and put it in front of the Politburo in Sacramento.

2. Make a chair. Wood is a good material for making furniture. A sequoia would probably make a thousand sturdy chairs.

3. Set it on fire. Humans have been warming hands over wood fires for, oh I dunno, 80,000 years? I wonder if prehistoric cavemen would wring their hands when they found a fallen tree in the woods? Lacking an LA Times, did they stand around the deadfall and grunt while scratching their lice-filled heads? Were there legal implications to consider?

4. Carve it into the world's largest dugout canoe. Canada can use it for a battle ship.

5. Chain Daryl Hannah to it. She and her odd, tree-hugging friends are in mourning right now. Maybe the enviro-loonies should chop down 5,000 pines -- because the death of a pine doesn't evoke any melodrama, for some reason -- and make a gigantic coffin. Then the poor thing can lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. President Obama can posthumously bestow a Medal of Honor on the tree before it's lowered into ground marked by a non-denominational grave marker.

6. Grind it into 50 tons of sawdust and ship it to the Horn of Africa. They're starving over there. Tell them it's American flour and they can make pancakes with it. That would go nicely with the insects.

Libs want us dependent on Middle East oil

2011-10-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

AP headline: Post-spill, GOP still pushes 'Drill, baby, drill'

Considering modern civilization is dependent on oil, we should be drilling everywhere for oil. It's important for national security, too, because getting out of the Middle East would encourage the Dark Age folks to bang heads with each other, instead of us.

Liberals think maintaining our dependence on the Middle East is a good thing, and that's really odd.

Romney has said that the spill provided Obama "political cover" for policies to limit drilling, such as the six-month moratorium on new deepwater exploration put in place after the spill. Perry has called the spill "just an act of God" that could not have been prevented. Investigations by the federal government and the companies involved have blamed a series of faulty decisions for the blowout that killed 11 and sent more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.Flipflopper Romney is right. The Left wants to limit, or even end, drilling for oil despite the obvious benefits of developing our own sources of energy. Using the occasional oil spill as a club to blunt the forward march of human civilization reveals the true colors of leftists. They want us to revert to a life of hunting and gathering. After all, if we each have a small plot of land for growing corn and squash, and snare rabbits for dinner, then we will all be equal. No evil rich people. No Wall Street.

Instead of shrill cries to end oil drilling after every oil spill, we should do what seems obvious: clean up the spill thoroughly, learn as much as we can about what went wrong and incorporate changes to the oil industry, and continue drilling.

Which Liberal has quit drinking coffee after spilling a cup of joe?

PETA weirdos: Killer whales are 'slaves'

2011-10-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

PETA whackjobs are suing Sea World for keeping killer whales as slaves. Yeah. AP:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is accusing the SeaWorld parks of keeping five star-performer whales in conditions that violate the 13th Amendment ban on slavery. SeaWorld depicted the suit as baseless.There is precedent for this kind of thing. Several years ago there was a group in Britain claiming monkeys have human rights and should be represented by their own lawyers. And the PETA nuts have supporters in surprising places. Here's a quote from Bill Maher:

"To those people who say, `My father is alive because of animal experimentation,' I say `Yeah, well, good for you. This dog died so your father could live.' Sorry, but I am just not behind that kind of trade off."

Calif Libs baying for tax increases again

2011-10-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

Remember the "good old days" when people played plastic records with a diamond stylus dragging along the grooves? Remember how they'd skip? That skipping is just like California lefties and their insatiable appetite for higher taxes. This time it's a far-left writer for the LA Times -- doesn't make the guy unique -- who wants higher gas taxes to "pay for much-needed projects." From the story:

A massive public works program is essential to stimulate the stagnant economy, create tens of thousands of jobs and — over the long haul — restore California to greatness after decades of sweeping its decaying infrastructure under the political rug.The writer, George Skelton, represents the far-left viewpoint: increase taxes to provide jobs. I have a better idea: reduce taxes on small businesses and provide other benefits to them. This is where more than half of the jobs are, so let's provide incentives for hiring, which should also include a more friendly regulatory climate. Once we get business to hire again, the tax base will increase, which will give the state government more money to spend on transportation projects.

Even better, let's get the far-left government to tighten its belt, to include reducing union pay and benefits. In other words, let's get government to stop wasting the money it has now before we think about giving it more. Why, exactly, would anyone want to give a government more money, when that government has a long track record of fiscal mismanagement?

Besides, raising gas taxes when prices are nearly $4 per gallon is obscene on its face. I'm telling you, it's a real challenge living in a communist country like California

Marxists 'Occupy Wall Street'

2011-10-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has done a comical story about the differences between Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party. The Times says the difference is "where they place the blame." I have a different view.

For starters, Tea Party organizers across the U.S. had to get permits to stage protests and rallies. Occupy Wall Street doesn't need them, inexplicably.

Tea Party protesters look like ordinary folks, wearing ordinary clothes, just like you and me:

Occupy Wall Street consists of unwashed hippies -- complete with piercings and tattoos and dreadlocks -- chanting Marxist slogans and spewing anti-Semitic and anti-American hatred. In the video below, Occupy Wall Street protesters in Oregon sing a charming little song called Fuck the USA. Enjoy:

Also, Tea Party rallies don't result in arrests. On the other side, any review of dozens of raw video online shows that the "Occupy" Marxists claiming police brutality are lying. Each video of an arrest shows a calm police officer telling protesters to stay behind barricades, and when protesters rush the barricade and try to break through, they're arrested.

It's difficult for me to accept that the average man on the street really believes there are meaningful parallels between the Tea Party and Marxists Occupy Wall Street. True, anyone consuming news via news sites or watching CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC is led to believe that peaceful, patriotic Americans attending the Occupy Wall Street protests are ordinary citizens. But this is the Age of Online Video! The evidence is one click away.

Renegades of the Empire

2011-10-17T23:19:00.001-07:00

I'm half way through the book Renegades of the Empire. This book should be bad, so bad that I should have put it down right away. If somebody had held the book up and said to me, "Hey, try this book about the history of DirectX," I would have laughed.

Yet, the book is fantastic. The story, characters, and writing are all terrific. I highly recommend it.

The main character in this true story, Alex St. John, was a loose cannon:

Rather than a polished salesman, such as Brad Chase, Microsoft's slick marketing vice president, St. John "looked like a bomb going off."Here's the book at Amazon.

Lefty media creating 'diversity' factor in Occupy protests

2011-10-17T23:09:00.001-07:00

Beginning two days after the Occupy Wallstreet protests began, I heard NBC and then NPR talk about the "increasing diversity" seen at the protests. I've watched at least 50 videos of the protests at YouTube, and I see an almost entirely white crowd. I've even watched the numerous nasty, anti-semitic videos. It's interesting that lefty media claims the Tea Party is racist, when Tea Party darling Herman Cain is anything but white, but when really sickening racism is being spewed by the Occupy folks, the media completely ignores it. Hmmmm.

So, when I heard the far-left media begin to talk about "increasing diversity", and noticed that the claim was counter to what was really happening, I had to wonder, Why? With an acknowledged absence of a smoking gun, I think the answer is obvious: it's a setup to play the race card. If the media can show there are minorities present, then they can yell "Racist!" at people who speak against the protests. You've got to hand it to the communists (or socialists or liberals or progressives or whatever they want to be called), they're always planning ahead.

Bill Gates: 'Don't interrupt me'

2011-10-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a great video from 1995, put together by the creators of DirectX. The vid incorporates Bill Gates and the classic Doom video game.

Rumsfeld on Al Jazeera

2011-10-06T23:08:00.001-07:00

Watch Donald Rumsfeld's combative interview with Al Jazeera.

Steve Jobs dead

2011-10-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

My first brush with a microcomputer was in the 1970s, in elementary school. I vaguely remember walking up to the machine, the only one in a fairly large school, and thinking, "So this is what everyone is talking about." It was an Apple II, and 30 kids or so would gather around it, once a week, to play Oregon Trail. It was fun.

I've never been a fan of Apple, and I have some very, very good reasons for that. I've never owned an Apple product, and have no plans to in the future. I got my first computer in 1981, and it wasn't an Apple. The Mac? It broke no new ground at all, as all tech people know. Do your homework: Engelbart's Augmentation System; Xerox PARC, etc. Steve Jobs used to quote Picasso in an admission of not being first: "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

Still, there were perhaps 500 people, from the 1940s to the early 1980s, that are largely responsible for.... this. All of it. ALL THIS. I am old enough to remember what life was like before personal computers, and boy did it suck. Life is so much better now. I always felt lucky not just to have lived to see the Information Age, but to have lived through the transition. It has been an amazing ride. Steve Jobs was one of those 500 people, and now he's gone, and that is truly sad.

It took centuries for the printing press to have a massive, worldwide impact. It took only a couple of decades for the personal computer to have an even bigger impact. Steve Jobs played a big role in the speed of change.

Here's one of the most touching things I've read about the passing of Steve Jobs, especially the tribute to the first Mac:

It's from Bill Gates.

Reference material

Best article you will read about Steve Jobs, with a good video tribute. It's by Stephen Levy, author of many great books about the computer revolution, and he's also a senior writer at Wired. I'm half way through Levy's book "Insanely Great", the story of the first MacIntosh -- and the timing is kind of eerie, considering my first book about Apple coincides with the death of Jobs.

Excellent documentary, from PBS, which includes great archival video footage of Jobs (and others): Triumph of the Nerds.

Video of Steve Jobs introducing the original Mac.

The famous 1984 Super Bowl commercial for Mac.

UK and the EU mistake

2011-10-02T02:34:00.000-07:00

A Telegraph reporter named Oborne told it like it is, with great video: Peter Oborne vs Sir Richard Lambert and 'the idiot in Brussels'.

I really think the UK politicians who convinced the populace to join the EU were fools -- and the people were fools for going along with the scheme. Fortunately for them, the Euro was rejected. When a strong economy (and culture) joins with weaker ones, the outcome is inevitable. Let's face it, when a rich man surrounds himself with poor friends, who is always paying for dinner?

The country is still great in culture and character, but there's no questioning that the UK is no longer a world leader. It's sad to watch a great country get weaker and more dependent on the other nations of Europe.

And if the people of Germany aren't regretting their EU membership by now, they soon will be.

AT&T and T-Mobile anti-trust problems

2011-09-01T04:03:00.001-07:00

Does nobody remember that AT&T was previously broken up? AT&T has spent the last 15 or 20 years gobbling up phone companies, which will lead us right back to where we were in the early 1980s. Does nobody remember what AT&T did when they had a monopoly? They SCREWED all of us with unbelievably high prices. Human beings are incapable of learning.

AT&T is a garbage company. They SCREWED me and the only way I could get them to leave me alone was to file written complaints to the Maryland and California attorneys general. So, I'm glad it looks like their plans for ~~world domination~~ purchasing T-Mobile are in doubt.

IF AT&T WERE THE ONLY COMPANY ON EARTH PRODUCING FOOD, I WOULD EAT DIRT.

Goodbye Walmart

2011-08-21T03:30:00.000-07:00

I've just made my last trip to Walmart, and good riddance. The LA Times has a story online right now about HP Touchpads selling for $100 at various retailers. I made the mistake of going to Walmart for mine.

Walmart Fuckup 1: Sold out online.

Walmart Fuckup 2: No answer at the nearest Walmart store (number obtained from store locator feature at Walmart.com). No answer, no voicemail system, no automated anything -- just ringing forever. I double checked the number, and tried it three times. It's a 24-hour store. A ringing phone is money for a retail store, no?

Walmart Fuckup 3: "Touch...?" asked the salesman in the electronics section. I had already checked the touchpad section and saw a pricetag and label for the HP Touchpad, but no items on the shelf.

Walmart Fuckup 4: Salesman led me to the section with the mouse pads. He understood "pad" and nothing else. "We don't have any," he said, after scanning the wrong section. I asked, "Do you want me to show you where the tablets are?" Sure.

Walmart Fuckup 5: Salesman looks at the touchpads behind the glass and shrugs. I showed him the empty spot on the shelf and pointed out the label and price for the HP Touchpad. He sees the emptiness and shrugs. "We're out."

Walmart Fuckup 6: Dude, I say, now out of patience. "You don't even know what a touchpad is. You don't know where they are. Are you sure you don't have any behind these boxes, or behind the counter, or maybe in the back in the warehouse area?" No, he says. He obviously knows nothing, but now -- suddenly -- he is certain they don't have any. I look him squarely in the eye and say, "That's not good enough."

He goes to the counter and retrieves a hand-held laser scanner and brings it to the HP Touchpad section. After scanning the barcode on the label, he shows me the screen, which says, "0".

Walmart Fuckup 7: "See," he says. "I stock these. If we had any I would have put them out here. We don't have any in the back."

I can't let that go. I haven't seen a performance like his in a long, long time. "Really? Really??? You stock these, but you don't know what they are, or where they are? Goodbye."

WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?

I don't need to patronize Walmart again. I don't need to save 45 cents on a bottle of tums bad enough to deal with mouthbreathers, and I certainly don't need to buy a $100 HP Touchpad at Walmart when the same item is being offered at the same price at five other retailers.

Issa not laying down to NY Times smear

2011-08-21T01:50:00.001-07:00

The New York Times, in keeping with their tradition, has openly attacked somebody who is not Communist or Socialist, using reporting of questionable merit. We will see much more of this as we get closer to the next election.

Rather than get into it, just read this news story out of San Diego. Issa isn't letting the commies at the Times get away with it. Good for him.

Scientific American shows its true colors

2011-08-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

Scientific American is quick to debunk some anti-global warming claims made on Fox News. This is interesting, because I don't remember the magazine immediately rushing to debunk CNN when Miles Obrien said we're looking at a Day After Tomorrow (movie) scenario in "about fifteen years." Nor do I recall the magazine standing up to the IPCC's claim that Indian and Nepalese glaciers would be gone by 2025 -- a claim that was ridiculed globally as nonsense. The IPCC retracted the ludicrous claim when the Indian premier objected.

Among the statements made in the new Scientific American article:

According to the International Energy Agency, global CO2 emissions have reached a record of 30.6 billion tons during the year 2010.I wonder why they failed to mention how many tons the atmosphere is, in total? Hmmmm. Could it be that the public will lose interest when they learn that a single grain of sand flung into the Sahara Desert won't cause problems?

I also wonder what our country would be like if 85% of the nation's press wasn't socialist.

2012 Presidential Election Timeline

2011-08-15T01:11:00.000-07:00

8/13/11 Michelle Bachmann (MN) wins the Iowa straw poll, Ron Paul (TX) 2nd

From FoxNews:

8/13/11 Texas Governor Rick Perry officially enters GOP nomination race

From New York Times:

8/14/11: Tim Pawlenty (MN) withdrew from contention after finishing third in the Iowa Straw Poll

From Politico:

“We needed to get some lift to continue on and have a pathway forward and that didn’t happen, so I’m announcing on your show that I’m ending my campaign for president,” the former governor said on “This Week.”
8/14/11: Obama approval rating lowest on record at 39%, while 54% disapprove. Gallup poll results at Fox News.