Sounds like a plan

I'm in

so anyway, via Mike of Cold Fury fame we find The Gunslinger's most excellent "We The People" Three Point Plan. A taste:

"We The People" is a non-partisan group of patriots who are extremely concerned by what is happening to our country before our very eyes.

We certainly blame Øbama and the Democrats. But we acknowledge that without the spineless, and often corrupt cooperation of the Career Republican Politicians, a lot of what has already gone wrong would not have happened.

Øbama may be the worst President in history, but he is standing on the shoulders of the avarice, ambition, greed, selfishness and corruption of many generations of grasping, out-of-touch, power-hungry, dirty-dealing, elitest, self-serving CAREER POLITICIANS of both parties. And what they have created, or allowed to be created under their noses has made possible Øbama's rushing freight train to perdition.

Read the whole thing.

Walter Cronkite, RIP

I'll refrain from using the obvious sub-title

so anyway, Walter Cronkite passed away this evening. He was 92.

For those of us of a certain age, Walter Cronkite was the face of the news during our formative years. Another little piece of our childhood has left and gone away.

more soon

My small contribution to a vid going "viral"

yeah, I gotta post this

so anyway, apparently this vid is pissing off the leftards:



The Truth: sometimes, it hurts.

more soon

Pure Genius

as I'm the last one to post this, h/t to The Blogroll

so anyway, I'm somewhat surprised that YouTube hasn't found a reason to ban this vid yet:



That's some inspired siht, right there. More soon

A SupplySidePolitics Milestone

please excuse me whilst I say "woohoo!"

so anyway, sometime this evening, Supply Side Politics recorded it's 10,000th hit. Thank you very much to all of you who made this possible.

Sarah Palin goes "Galt"

soon to be known as the "Sarah? WTF?" post

so anyway, you could color me completely gobsmacked over the announcement Sarah Palin made this afternoon. In case you missed it, not only is she not going to seek reelection, she's stepping down at the end of the month.

Palin said she will formally step down July 26, and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks. She said she had decided against running for re-election as Alaska's governor, and believed it was best to leave office even though she had two years left to her term.

"Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit that road. They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I'm not going to put Alaskans through that," she said.

Whilst RSM is out chasing down another 200' of det cord and an extra case of RC Cola and Moon Pies for the Camp FUBAR extravaganza, Smitty is holding down the fort over at The Other McCain, and, as you'd expect, has the bestest round-up of reacts going.

Ace has also been opining on 'Cuda's announcement.

My thoughts are muddled at the moment. Upon initially hearing the news, my first thought was that now Governor Palin would be free to raise money, to inject herself in national issues, etc. TheMissus™ and her Mom (both "hopey-changy" types) are sure that there's some scandal that's about to break, forcing Gov. Palin to resign now.

I'm kind of in Ace's camp right now: I cannot see how this bodes well for Governor Palin to make a POTUS run in 2012. Even if Kristol is saying that she's "crazy, like a fox".

Smitty has some sobering thoughts:

Dude, pay attention: if BHO wins a second term, Michelle will be POTUS 2016-2024, a Constitutionally suitable consort to the older Obama daughter will rule from 2024-2032, when we switch back to the Obama dynasty proper. I say that and pray that I am wrong on a variety of levels.

Me too, Smitty. Frightening stuff.

more soon

Note to Self

just don't do it

so anyway, as I mentioned the other day on the soon-to-be-defunct other blog, I've finally gotten around to reading Rand's Atlas Shrugged. As I said over there:

".....so anyway, I finally got my hands on a copy of Atlas Shrugged, and I'm about 160 pages into it. I'm digging it deep.

I've been enjoying the hell out of this read, all the while kicking myself in the ass for waiting so long to actually read it."

It's really good, and I'm only about 10% through it.

Here's my small token of advise: if you're reading Atlas Shrugged (and digging it deep) DO NOT plug the phrase "Who is John Galt" into the search engine of your choice. There's no "spoiler alert" warning.

There was more, but it's gotten late early again. We'll have words again soon.

Picture of the Day

without the actual picture, but it's just a click away.....

so anyway, Iowahawk makes with teh "inspirational" funny.

Good stuff, that.

More soon

Two Observations

pretty good for a Monday.....

so anyway, I took a break from the job search this afternoon and pinged a couple of my "daily reads". Hey, job-hunting is hard work, OK? You gotta take a break every now and then.

First off, Smitty over at The Other McCain has posted a round-up of TheFred's! recent commentaries. Note to Smitty: Hells yes! We want more of TheFred! I whole-heartedly agree with Smitty's assessment:

".....Voting for him in the Republican Primary was a real treat last year. Granted, he was out of the race, but what a refreshing thing, to vote one's conscience!....."

Me too, Smitty. If you people had listened to us, last Fall it would have been TheFred / Palin ticket instead of the Maverick / Palin ticket. But I digress.....

And this, from Darleen Click over at Protein Wisdom:

"Any person, and I mean any person who advocates for “green” energy while rejecting nuclear is a fraud. A lying, misanthropic, baby-hating Luddite."

Amen, Sister. More on the topic of "green energy" later.

As always, read the whole things.

Closing question: would Jesus wear a Rolex on his television show? Discuss.

thatisall. We'll have words soon.

Supply Side Politics: Five Years On, pt 2

somewhat disappointed

so anyway, I had hoped to be over the 10K hits metric by the five year mark, but it's all good

more soon

Supply Side Politics: Five Years On

Thank you for your support

so anyway, Supply Side Politics was launched five years ago; at 4:48 PM on 25JUN04.

My Brother-in-Blog Greg threw down the inaugural post, and we were officially "bloggers". Can you say résumé enhancement? A lot of things have changed since then (file it under "DUH"), Greg is no longer actively blogging; I've been "down-sized" three times since this blog's humble beginnings. Life takes no notice of the lives involved.

It's a different world, now.

I had planned on a grand "Five Year Anniversary" post, but real life has yet again intruded on my blogging time.

Again, thank you all for your support of this blog as it starts its' sixth year.

Michael

Monday 22JUN09

the "clever title" muse is on vacation this week

so anyway, Dan Collins has set up his own shop over at Piece of Work In Progress. Good for you, Dan. You've been blog-rolled here at Supply Side Politics 2.0. Best of luck in your new venture.

Please do go over to Dan's new digs and say "Howdy".

Elsewhere, Cold Fury (actual) has observed a Tidal Shift:

".....So, when it came time to renew my driver's license on June 9, I also gave the Democratic Party the pink slip.

I pushed the DMV clerk the paperwork. She shoved it back and said I didn't have to fill out that form if my address remained the same.

"No, I want to change party affiliation."

"Oh," she said. "Had enough of the president, have we?"

"Up to here. I quit."

Read the whole thing (it's a short piece).

We'll have words again soon.

Today in History

a timely reminder

so anyway, 13JUN09 marks the 43rd anniversary of the SCOTUS decision on Miranda vs. Arizona. In 1966, the Supreme Court handed down the ruling that has become the boiler-plate that we all know and love. It originally sounded like this:

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense."

Later, it was modified to this:

"You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Do you understand?
Anything you do say may be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand?
You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. Do you understand?
If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. Do you understand?
If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney. Do you understand?
Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?"

I'll bet you two quarts of your favorite beer and all the WhiteCastles you can eat that the people responsible for the newer version of Miranda are the kind of people who think a statement like "the Right of the People to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed" needs further explanation.

more soon

Old School vs. New school

the smack-down edition

so anyway, I haven't yet made comment on the whole "Palin / Letterman" fiasco, and I'm not about to start now. I have other priorities, thank you very much.

That said, some of the ancillary fall-out from the debate has been quite amusing. One "Contessa Brewer" of MSLGBT fame "insists that it's no big deal to call a woman "slutty" because, she suddenly claims, she has also been called that, and yet survived the ordeal." As it turns out, the worst she has suffered was being called a "skank" by her former boss, Don Imus:

DON Imus didn’t like being called “a cantankerous old fool” by MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer on PAGE SIX. Brewer, a former news reader on Imus’ show, also said the I-man doesn’t know how to relate to “beautiful women.” “With that fat ass she’s got, she wouldn’t be one of ‘em,” Imus said on the air Friday. “That skank has to spend three hours with makeup in the morning … Who’s she kidding? . . . Plus, she’s dumber than dirt … Oh, my God, what a pig. But I was willing to cut her some slack and not say anything, you know, until - in fact, I didn’t say anything . . . That’s why they have those big double-doors there at MSNBC, you know, so they can get her fat ass in makeup.”

That's the previously aforementioned "Old School" (emphasis, mine).

Then Ace provides the "New School" smack-down:

Oh: I should mention -- I mean before today, I can't find much evidence she's been "publicly" branded a slut.

Today, of course, people are making that charge.

Why? Because they're angry.

And also because Contessa Brewer is a cheap, sore-riddled nasty bit of gutterscrunge who'll rent you her mouth for the change in your pocket. A tawdry wallow-trollop oozing with syphilitic fester who raises her filthy skirts at the scent of crack-smoke. A disease-dripping pincushion, the media's vile mattress of last resort, a pathogen in garish vinyl high heels, a loose-toothed croup-breathed nightcrawler reeking of bathtub gin and the genetic stink of human desperation.....

.....Why is it that when Imus calls this bit of fun-muscle, oozing with foul custard and slackened and sloppy from over-use, a "skank," it's "over the line" but when Letterman calls Sarah Palin a "slut" it's just a harmless bit of japing ?

Emphasis is again of my own doing.

"The genetic stink of human desperation" I can't wait to use that line in polite society.

more soon. thatisall.

The jukebox in my head

is cranking out some classics

so anyway, do you ever wake up with a song in your head that you just can't get away from? Now, thanks to the inter-tube web-net thingie you can get that monkey off your back with just a few clicks.

Case in point:



It's been dogging me all weekend. I prefer the "studio" version of the song:



but the live version video is good. There's a long "backstory" on my history with The Lido Shuffle, but it's gotten late early again. Maybe some other time.

We'll have words soon

A response to Stephen "VodkaPundit" Green's Money³ post

In which I pick nits over one small detail

so anyway, Stephen Green has a very good post up over at VodkaPundit titled "Money Money Money" discussing the pending GM bankruptcy. Stephen explores the details of the primary and secondary markets, the differences between bondholders and stockholders, and he covers some economic and market confidence issues. It's educational! Do go read the whole thing. In addition to his command of the subject matter at hand, he's the only blogger that I know of who's not employed in the Stoopid Business™ who reads Autoextremist (which is rather "inside baseball" for the auto industry), yeah, Steve's a "car guy".

He had me nodding in agreement, right up to this:

"If GM goes belly up (which it’s going to do anyway, duh - they’ll file C11 on Monday), millions of jobs will not be lost. Let me repeat: GM could disappear tomorrow, and not much would change. GM barely employs 50,000 people anymore...."

Ahem.

Yes, it's true that barely 50,000 people draw a paycheck directly from General Motors, but as I said back in January:

"...after all, we suppliers make the parts that the automakers merely assemble to make cars..."

Asserting that GM only employs 50,000 people overlooks the "ripple effect" that their bankrupcty will cause (and it's already started).

Case in point: my former employer was (they went Chapter 11 yesterday) a supplier to Chrysler, somewhere around 10% of their business was Chrysler work. Chrysler declares bankruptcy, and two weeks ago the downsizing at my former employer began. (Yes, I was one of the "downsized") In my division alone, 84 out of 122 people were given their walking papers: we're talkin' blood on the floor and growd men crying. And, no, these people aren't going into the UAW (Usually Ain't Workin', AKA: The Gettlefinger Crime Family) "jobs bank" and drawing 85% of their base pay. All we got was two cardboard boxes and thirty minutes to clear out our desks.

Years ago, in my rage piece about michael moore, I made the following observation:

"(in moore's view)...the evil GM Board of Directors had decided to close the Buick City facility of plants in Flint, Michigan and because of their evil and self-serving decision, you could stand on Saginaw Street in downtown Flint and literally watch the merchants go out of business in real time."

The last bit was, unfortunately, true. Dozens of resturants, dry cleaners, hair salons, hardware stores, ect., the list goes on and on, closed within weeks (if not days) of the Buick City shutdown.

Here in the Peoples' Republic of Michigan, for every one directly employed in the Stoopid Business™, there are seven people who's livelyhoods are dependant on the auto industry. If my trusty HP 12C calculator (in all of it's RPN glory) is right, those "barely 50,000" now-out-of-work GM employees ripple into some 350,000 "other" job losses. And that's just here in the Peoples' Republic of Michigan. Granted, Michigan is heavily squewed towards the Stoopid Business™, so naturally the effect is much worse here.

350,000 unemployed in the Rust Belt alone is a substantial downpayment on "millions unemployed" nationwide. A lot would change.

I'll have more on this topic soon.

We have new C.A.F.E. standards

Thank you, TelePrompter Jesus

so anyway, this week has seen The President signing into Law a new C.A.F.E. standard of a corporate average of 35.5 mpg by 2016. That great and all, except for one small nagging over-looked fact: a lot more people will die because of the new standard.

Steve Milloy recognizes the cold, hard light of the real world:

Obama’s standards will require automakers to meet a 35 miles-per-gallon standard by 2016 — four years earlier than the same standard imposed by the Energy Security and Independence Act of 2007.

As discussed in my new book Green Hell, the only way for carmakers to meet these standard is to make smaller, lighter and deadlier cars.

The National Academy of Sciences has linked mileage standards with about 2,000 deaths per year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that every 100-pound reduction in the weight of small cars increases annual traffic fatalities by as much as 715.

(h/t to Gabe at Ace of Spades HQ for the linkage.)

Right on, Steve. I opined on the subject back in January of this year:

Increasing the C.A.F.E. standards has two immediate impacts: first, more people will die in car crashes. The quickest, cheapest way to improve fuel economy is to reduce vehicle weight; the lighter the vehicle, the less likely it (and it's occupants) survives the crash. Period. Full Stop. Second, higher C.A.F.E. standards points to "downsizing" for the automakers and their suppliers.

(As I just got "downsized" from the Stoopid Business™ on 13MAY09, you can take all of this with a grain of salt.)

You ask, just what sort of car will you'll be driving by 2016? I offer up a couple of examples. First off, Ragin' Dave of Four Right Wing Wackos fame:

If the most corrupt, incompetent Congress EVAH would mandate more changes to the automotive industry, thus helping complete the destruction of said industry.

Oh, wait. That's taken care of.

Some soccer moms will have to give up hulking SUVs. Carpenters will still haul materials around in pickup trucks, but they will cost more. Nearly everybody else will drive smaller cars, and more of them will run on electricity.

The higher mileage and emissions standards set by the Obama administration on Tuesday, which begin to take effect in 2012 and are to be achieved by 2016, will transform the American car and truck fleet.

These worthless, stupid, ball-gargling ass-cannons have just written the death warrant for US Auto companies. Hell, they've just damaged the auto industry period. Remember what I wrote about the Chevy Aveo a few months back? Imagine every new car being sold is JUST LIKE THAT PIECE OF SHIT.

Dave's comments on the Chevy Aveo are not to be missed.

Also not to be missed are Jeremy Clarkson's comments on the new Honda Insight:

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days.

So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place.

So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.

It gets a whole lot funnier from there, do go read the whole thing.

thatisall

It's FMJ Saturday

"Full Metal Jacket" to the uninitiated

so anyway, in keeping with The Other McCain's Rule 2, I link back to everyone who has linked SupplySidePolitics 2.0 in the past week:

(crickets chirping)

OK, so I haven't blogged enough this week to merit linkage, I've been otherwise detained. Did I mention I lost my job this week? It's been a stellar week here at Casa de Miguel.

more soon

I lost my job today

we should organize a search party....

so anyway, the cold stainless steel hook of unemployment has once again snatched me good. Tell me again why didn't I study marine biology or go to Culinary Arts school?

If you're seeking coherence, you are invited to look elsewhere.

It was a brutally ugly day, even by Stoopid Business™ standards. Eighty-four (84) people out of one hundred twenty two (122) are out of work tonight. And that's just my division. As I was being walked through HR during the exit process, I saw several foot-tall stacks of the "termination packages".

I resisted the urge to ask TheMissus™ "So, how's that Obama vote working out for you?".

TheMissus™, of course, did not resist the urge to bash GWB, this being all his fault, don't you know. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink and all that rot.

I've been down this road before: I've been dealt the "reduction in force" card now four times in the past twelve years. Let's see how it all played out:

1997: Clinton as POTUS / Company re-org: ThenGirlFriend™: "you hated that job anyway, there's plenty of opportunity....." (there really wasn't "plenty of opportunity"; I took a job at a 10% pay cut)

2004: Bush as POTUS / company downsizing: TheMissus™: "jebeezus, what are we going to do? It's all that fother mucker's Bush's fault......" (yet I was only out of work for six weeks, and then resumed working at a pay rate that was 30% larger than in 1997)

2005: again, Bush as POTUS / company downsizing: TheMissus™: "IF YOU EVER VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN AGAIN, I'M TAKING THE KIDS AND LEAVING YOU. DOG GAMN THAT GEORGE W. BUSH, BECUASE OF HIM, YOU'VE LOST TWO JOBS!!!!eleventy!!!!" (I was back at work within two weeks, only 6% off the 2004 pace)

2009: (today) Obama as POTUS / company downsizing: TheMissus™: "you know, it's gonna be all right...Obama's got the plan and is actually going to help people UNLIKE THAT FOTHER MUCKER BUSH, WHO ONLY WANTED THE OIL!!!!!!!eleventy!!!!!!!!eleventy!!! Barack is actually putting people to work, and in "green" jobs; he has people out there, employed, building bridges, fixing roads, picking up garbage......you should really look in to jobs in the solar industry....did you see it? A unicorn just jumped over the backyard fence. It was beautiful. Where did this all these Skittles™ come from? A unicorn! In our own back yard! Thank you, Barack!" (TBD)

I'll say it again: And you people wonder why I drink.

To paraphrase Animal House: "My advice to you, Flounder, is to avoid 'mixed marriages' and to start drinking heavily".

Stock tip: shares of Val-U-Rite Vodka Industries are gonna go way up. Trust me......Now that I'm not an active participant in the Stoopid (Automotive) Business™, maybe I can finally start to 'splain to yous people what it's actually all about.....

more soon

The Week In Review

regular blogging will resume soon

so anyway, yet another week has sped by, and I'm left with a yard's worth of links and very little time to address them properly. As soon as I can figure out the whole "life / blog balance" dealio, I'll let you know.

As I'm sure you're aware, R.S.McCain declared this week National Offend A Feminist Week, and in the spirit of the occasion offers up a wide ranging post on How to Argue with A Woman. He's all over the map and spot on with this one; this line stuck with me:

Just because you don't know what I'm doing, don't jump to the conclusion that I don't know what I'm doing.

Well played, Sir! Read the whole thing.

Over on the OUTLAW fields, Protein Wisdom (actual) opines on the pending SCOTUS vacancy in his post "Obama wants a social engineer for high court":

".....Perhaps you’ve heard me mention this before, but it matters when some literary theorist or lawyer argues that context, rather than intent, grounds meaning. Context is ever shifting — giving interpreters license to argue that meaning, too, shifts with context, and that it is therefore their job to determine meaning rather than to interpret what was intended and apply that interpretation as a matter of law.

I’ve described that kind of “interpretation” as a rewriting of the original text by the interpreter, who then replaces the original text with his or her new text. And these new texts, under the guise of interpretation, pretend to attach themselves to the law as written, even as they often times are merely deconstructing the law’s original intent in terms of reach and use, if not extending it to the point where it becomes unrecognizable.

Such a maneuver enables “interpreters” to take control of that which is not theirs....."

Jeff is glossing a Washington Examiner piece by Chris Stirewalt:

When legal scholars talk about a pragmatic justice, they’re talking about someone who isn’t bound by the law as written. In rendering a decision, he or she considers the context of the case and outside factors, like the greater social good.

Goldstein's emphasis, I concur.

I do not concur with Jeff's lament "Hell, we hardly even get links anymore." I realize that for a blog of his size, SupplySidePolitics 2.0 is well below the radar (OK, he'd need an electron microscope to find me), but I link him often. When I'm actively blogging. Which has been a bit thin, of late. I'm working on it.

Moving on, we come back to R.S.McCain on Joe the Plumber:

The elite recoil in horror whenever some Ordinary American type (e.g., Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck) gets anywhere near the levers of power. What the elite are trying to do to Joe Wurzelbacher, they have done to many others: Joe McCarthy, Barry Goldwater, Pat Buchanan, to name just a few.

What they're trying to do is to imply that Wurzelbacher's beliefs are dangerous, that he is ignorant and guilty of a "hatred" that endangers his fellow citizens. Nonsense. There are tens of millions of decent, law-abiding Americans who believe exactly like Joe the Plumber believes, and none of them has ever harmed anyone.

I'm Joe the Plumber.

On the scary side of the news, I'm sure you've all seen this running 24/7 on CNN, Fox, MSLGBT, and all the other breathless "news" outlets:

“Apparently, his intent was to rape and murder us all…”

What? You haven't seen this story? Curious....

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — A group of college students said they are lucky to be alive and they’re thanking the quick-thinking of one of their own. Police said a fellow student shot and killed one of two masked me who burst into an apartment.....

..... said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.

“They just came in and separated the men from the women and said, ‘Give me your wallets and cell phones,’” said George Williams of the College Park Police Department.....

.....That’s when one student grabbed a gun out of a backpack and shot at the invader who was watching the men. The gunman ran out of the apartment.

The student then ran to the room where the second gunman, identified by police as 23-year-old Calvin Lavant, was holding the women.

“Apparently the guy was getting ready to rape his girlfriend. So he told the girls to get down and he started shooting. The guy jumped out of the window”

There's a happy ending buried in the opening 'graph: "shot and killed". doG, I do so miss Kim du Toit on days like this.....although it's not mentioned in the linked story, the second, undead perp was apprehended shorty thereafter.

A brief pause, whilst I do the Happy Dance™.

On the lighter side; Ace snarks about Dijon-gate:

I'm pretty sure Dijon mustard has made it to the Heartland by now and ordering it is not necessarily considered a homosexual act.

And in closing, probably the most erotic thing that James Lileks has ever written:

Look at the way the base of shaft undulates to echo the form of the shell.

It just struck me as weird; although taken in context, it makes perfect sense. Still waitin' for the next "Diner". Just sayin', that's all.....I understand the concept of "free ice cream"

Oh! It just struck me that I've made no effort to offend a feminist in this post. Please let me give it a go: I could trot out Rush's old "So, you're a feminist....isn't that cute?" line, but I'd rather offer up my favorite male chauvinist pig joke:

Q: Do you know why men back in to parking spaces?

A: Because they can.

more soon

A Week of Blogging

lost due to real life kicking my ass

so anyway, it's been another stellar week in The Stoopid Business™, capped off with yet another "Black Friday" at the aforementioned Stoopid Business™ job. As I've mentioned before we're talkin' blood on the floor and growd men crying. I don't have a body count to share with you tonight, suffice it to say it was massive.

Real life has grossly interfered with my ability to blog properly for the past several weeks. It really sucks being a growd up.

anyhoo, here's a small taste of what I would have blogged over the past week:

As I'm driving in to my thankless Stoopid Business™ job on Monday, I listen to a report on the Swine Flu and I keep hearing (in my brain) "never let a crisis go to waste". I'm not alone: "Vintage" has similar thoughts over at doubleplusundead.

On Tuesday, I neglected to blog the fact that Mr. & Mrs. Other McCain celebrated their Twentieth Anniversary. Belated congratulations to The Other McCains.

[Note to self: Dude! "Blog it whilst it's fresh" is one thing, but missing an anniversary is just not right ]

Wednesday found me not blogging RSM's

All great rock music was recorded by the time John Bonham died, which I completely agree with. I've been using 1978 as my cut off year for great rock music, but Robert has a point. 25SEP80 is the cut-off date, henceforth. Some other time I'll tell you of how I came to be such a huge Led Zep fan, and my nine month long study of Stairway To Heaven. It's a long-ish story.

I also missed linking S.Weasel's most excellent post on Arlen Sphincter.

Then on Thursday I missed the chance to blog on RSM's post on this "Swine Flu" that all the kids are talking about:

"Obama's lackeys in the media know exactly what they're doing. Turning an ordinary virus into a Code Orange national-security threat is political gold for Obama."

Exactly.

Friday, as I mentioned, was a dark day. Just under 500 people lost their jobs. The only note I recorded on Friday was this:

"I cant find my shoes, my wallet, or my keys, but i know where your sister is."

I did manage to lift the pic of the little girl french-kissing the pig (from Clever S.Logan via RSM) and have used it as the background on my freakin' ginormous monitor at the office since. I'm starting to get complaints....I should probably shift to one of the Scare Force One pics, just to piss off the leftards around the office. 'Cause that's what I do.....

more soon

Death by C.A.F.E. standard

and then some

so anyway, I'm plowing around the 'sphere the other day and I find "The Danger of Small Cars" from John Lott:

"Why aren't people's safety and lives as important as saving some gas? Why can't we let consumers make these decisions on the trade-offs that they are willing to make?"

Dr.Lott cites a Wall Street Journal article:

"Critics of a shift to smaller cars have a powerful ally in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The IIHS, the insurance industry's auto-safety research arm, has long argued against small cars on safety grounds. Earlier this month, the IIHS upped the ante with a video of crash tests it conducted pitting midsize cars against three new minicars.

The Institute's images of a Smart for two getting crushed and thrown spinning into the air after a head-on collision with a midsize Mercedes C-Class sedan dramatize every driver's worst fear -- that no matter how careful you are, someday a car will veer into your lane. That's the moment when you want your car to save your life, and never mind the mileage. . . . ."

I opined on the subject back near the end of January of this year:

"Being employed in The Stoopid Business™, I have a concerned interest in the government telling automakers and subsequently the automaker's suppliers (after all, we suppliers make the parts that the automakers merely assemble to make cars) how to do our jobs. Couple that with the recent news regarding environmental regulations and new C.A.F.E. standards; yeah, you could say that I'm uncomfortable with more government involvement.....

.....Increasing the C.A.F.E. standards has two immediate impacts: first, more people will die in car crashes. The quickest, cheapest way to improve fuel economy is to reduce vehicle weight; the lighter the vehicle, the less likely it (and it's occupants) survives the crash. Period. Full Stop."

The second "immediate impact" not mentioned above is that ".....higher C.A.F.E. standards points to "downsizing" for the automakers and their suppliers." Guess where my personal interest lies.....

Re-reading the WSJ piece, I find this little nugget towards the end:

"The government should also require large pickup trucks to be substantially more efficient, which would also likely make them more expensive, Mr. Wenzel says. People who could prove they need a truck for work could get a tax break to offset the added cost, but not people who want to use a truck as a personal commuter vehicle, he says.

"If people want to use trucks as cars," he says, they should be considered "a luxury item.""

The aforementioned Mr.Wenzel is a "researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley national laboratory who analyzes vehicle crash data" and he is also a wanker:

"Wenzel.....says better fuel economy and safety can be compatible, provided car makers make smart use of technology and policy makers take steps to reduce the disparity in the size of vehicles on the road."

I bet they didn't "keep score"during Mr.Wenzel's involvment in the youth soccer league.....that just wouldn't be fair

"SUVs may give their occupants more protection in a collision with a lighter vehicle, he says. But in effect, the SUV owners are transferring risk from themselves to others."

Damn right, skippy. The Flagship of the Fleet here at Casa de Miguel is a freakin' gimormous Ford Expedition NBX (yeah, I had to look it up, too) for exactly that reason, in all it's 5.8 liter, 12 MPG (when TheMissus™ is driving; I get closer to 14 MPG) glory. It's safer because it's bigger. The Genetical Twinlets and The Boy know no other means of conveyance on purpose.

Fifty-seven hundred pounds of rolling American Ford Expedition steel: You say Prius, I say speed-bump. At the end of the day (as Our President is fond of saying) "I won".

The WSJ piece also links to a cool video of real cars crashing against one another. Do go look, if you're so inclined

OK, I tried, but I couldn't work a link to The Other McCain into this post. Maybe next time.....

thatisall

There's no "I" in "Team"

there's no "O" either, but that's another story for another time

so anyway, The Other McCain has a post up titled "Team Spirit, Leadership and Success" that is a must-read. A snippet:

Whether it is war or politics, business or sports, accomplishing great things requires teamwork, which begins with the committed belief that victory for the team is more important than who carries the ball into the end zone. Once the victory is gained, even the second-string left tackle will be able to boast that he was part of the championship team.

R.S.McCain is spot on, as per his usual. He includes on of my favorite quotes from Ronald Wilson Reagan:

"You can accomplish much if you don't care who gets the credit."

I'll add another quote (shamelessly stolen from my electro-magnetic brother Thayrone) that I have taken to using in daily life:

"It's all about adding value to the lives of others"

R.Stacy McCain continues:

The saying "personnel is policy" became a byword in the Reagan administration, and if you've got the wrong personnel on your team, you're doomed. More than once, Ronald Reagan had to act decisively to try to unify his team and sometimes he didn't get it right. Sometimes the wrong man got promoted and the wrong man got fired, and Reagan would have to go back and fix the personnel mistake he'd made.....

.....Few men in history will be recognized as Reagan's equals, and fewer still his superiors, but the fact is that he gets credit for what was really a team victory. Reagan's achievements were actually accomplished by a vast army of fellow conservatives, most of whose names are scarcely even mentioned in the footnotes of the history books about Reagan.

For instance, just think about the men whose contributions not only funded Reagan's campaigns but also funded the many non-profit groups that have helped advance the cause that Reagan led.

I think the Cliff Notes version of Robert's point is this: stop the in-fighting and work for the Team; and, you may not ever be a rock star, but get off your ass and do something to advance the cause. Which I can live with. Remember, it's all about adding value to the lives of others.

Do go read The Other McCain, his blog-fu is strong.

There was something else, but it's gotten late early again and I must go.

more soon

Robert: please advise if I've missed the point or violated the concept of "fair use"

Have a fire extinguisher close by

this will set your wig on fire so anyway, from American Thinker (via Ace) a primer on the Cloward / Pivin Strategy: Obama adheres to the Saul Alinksy Rules for Radicals method of politics, which teaches the dark art of destroying political adversaries. However, that text reveals only one front in the radical left's war against America. The Cloward/Piven Strategy is another method employed by the radical Left to create and manage crisis. This strategy explains Rahm Emanuel's ominous statement, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." The Cloward/Piven Strategy is named after Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. Their goal is to overthrow capitalism by overwhelming the government bureaucracy with entitlement demands. The created crisis provides the impetus to bring about radical political change. Scary siht, that. The writing is on the wall, large. (Posted from the not-so-way-back machine, written 07FEB09. Why I didn't post it at the time remains a mystery) more soon

The Limbaugh Challenge

all the cool kids are talkin'bout it

so anyway, I first saw this over at Cold Fury, now it looks like all the VRWC bloggers are weighing in on "The Limbaugh Challenge".

It seems that one Andrew Klaven of The Los Angeles Times fame has "served" the libtards thusly:

"If you are reading this newspaper, the likelihood is that you agree with the Obama administration's recent attacks on conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh. That's the likelihood; here's the certainty: You've never listened to Rush Limbaugh.

Oh no, you haven't. Whenever I interrupt a liberal's anti-Limbaugh rant to point out that the ranter has never actually listened to the man, he always says the same thing: "I've heard him!".....

......By lifting some typically Rushian piece of outrageous hilarity completely out of context, the distortion gang knows full well it can get you to widen your eyes and open your mouth in the universal sign of Liberal Outrage. Your scrawny chest swelling with a warm sense of completely unearned righteousness, you will turn to your second spouse and say, "I'm not a liberal, I'm a moderate, and I'm tolerant of a wide range of differing views -- but this goes too far!"

There is more untruthfulness in that statement than in a speech by President Obama. Even the commas are self-deceiving. You're not a moderate or you wouldn't be reading this newspaper. You're not tolerant of a wide range of views; you are tolerant of a narrow spectrum of variations on your views. And, whatever you claim, you still haven't listened to Rush Limbaugh......

.....Let me guess at your answer. You don't need to listen to him. You've heard enough to know he's a) racist, b) hateful, c) stupid, d) merely an outrageous entertainer not to be taken seriously or e) all of the above.

Now let me tell you the real answer: You're a lowdown, yellow-bellied, lily-livered intellectual coward. You're terrified of finding out he makes more sense than you do....."

Spot on, Sir. Read the whole thing.

Like Klaven, I listen to Rush every chance I get. But, as I work for a living at my thankless Stoopid Business™ job, my opportunities to listen in are few and far between.

The critisims of Rush Limbaugh haven't changed much in the twenty-plus years he's been on the air. The critics have expanded from attacking Rush's audience (we're all just "mind-numbed robots") to attacking the man himself. And not just any old attack, no, it's an attack from our President, turning the full force and fury of the bully pulpit on a private citizen who just happens to be in the public eye.

Jebezus Christo, it's like Rush is Rick Wagoner, or some siht.

Limbaugh's audience doesn't listen to him to be told how to think; we already know how to think, thank you very much. Rush's popularity stems from him espousing a conservative viewpoint that was seldom heard on the airwaves prior to his debut on the scene. We don't listen to Rush to know what to think; we listen to Rush because he endorses what we think.

It's all about causal relationships, kids. We listen because 'he's saying what we think', not 'we think what he's saying'.

I had a "global warming" metaphore to tie all this up in a nice, tight bundle, but it's left me. There's always tomorrow.....

more soon