United Airlines is bailing out on their pension plans—with the Federal Government picking up the tab using our tax dollars.
“United Airlines, which is operating in bankruptcy protection, received court permission yesterday to terminate its four employee pension plans, setting off the largest pension default in the three decades that the government has guaranteed pensions.
The ruling by Judge Eugene R. Wedoff of Federal Bankruptcy Court came after a lengthy hearing in a crowded Chicago courtroom, near where United is based.
Despite pleas by union lawyers, Judge Wedoff sided with United, which had insisted that it could not emerge from bankruptcy protection with its pension plans in place.
The ruling releases United, a unit of the UAL Corporation, from $3.2 billion in pension obligations over the next five years. The federal agency that guarantees pensions, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, will assume responsibility for the plans, which cover about 134,000 people.”
We should all be mad at Bush and Gore and Clinton and Regan and Carter and Nixon and Ford and every other politician, Democrat and Republican, for allowing our government to get involved in matters like this. They create the playing field, meddle in the process of the free market, then bail out the corporations when everything goes south.
I’m not saying that the retiree’s deserve to suffer and sweep French fries out of the floor at McDonalds under the Golden Arches in their “Golden years,” but we’re talking $3,200,000,000 here. That’s Billion with a “B.”
OUCH!
We should also be angry at the Unions and the mindless employees that are members of same. Don’t they remember an old airline called EASTERN that suffered the same fate in the late 1980’s?
When you actively participate in killing the company that you work for as these union employees are doing, I have a hard time having any sympathy for you.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Raising The Bar On Stupidity
If you read the newspaper and believe all the stories about dangerous or recalled toys out there today, you might also wonder how I managed to live past the age of twelve without the Consumer Product Safety Council there to protect my every move.
“Fisher-Price is recalling about 150,000 defective Grow-to-Pro Pogo Sticks and about 50,000 Lil' Wagster Dragster push toys because they pose an injury risk to children, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The CPSC says Fisher-Price has received 17 reports of injuries from the pogo sticks, including one of teeth being knocked out.”
Pogo Sticks and push toys are wrecking havoc??? Give me a break here, puuuuleaze. I guess that we need to hire every kid a lifetime lawyer to protect them, rather than raising them to employ a little common sense and develop some self defense skills.
We had things like Monkey Bars, BB guns, bow and arrow sets, gas powered model airplanes, and flying model rockets. By modern consumer standards is it not a miracle that I am alive today with ten fingers and ten toes attached? A pogo stick and push toys would have been a welcome safety improvement from the things we did in my neighborhood.
This list doesn’t even include things that I made up myself to play with—legally. Remember those “Junior Chemistry Sets” with real alcohol burning Bunsen burners and jars full of chemicals?
In case the FBI is reading this posting--I did not know that you could make black powder by combining sulfur, potassium nitrate, and charcoal. I also didn’t know that you could take common “sparklers”—you know, those wire things made out of magnesium and phosphorus salts that you lit with a match that would burn happily at 2000 degrees F while toddlers ran around helter skelter waiving them over their heads—crush the material off of the wire, combine it in a small container covered with masking tape, light the homemade fuse, and run like hell as it exploded in a pyrotechnic display certain to burn holes in the back of your T-shirt from thirty feet away. Luckily I didn’t know how to do that.
Or there was the time I produced the flying coke can. I mounted a Cox .049 model airplane engine on the closed end of a common empty Coke can, cut the other end off of the can and folded four sharp aluminum “blades” outward on the modified can, started the motor, and tossed the flying meat cleaver into the air in the midst of three or four of my juvenile onlookers. This thing would roar around our front yard until it ran out of gas or crashed into a tree or the ground or hit one of the aforementioned bystanders.
Hypnotized with Sony Playstations and Gameboys, Kids today just don’t know how to have a truely safe, good time.
Now where are my lawn darts? I wanna go outside and play…
“Fisher-Price is recalling about 150,000 defective Grow-to-Pro Pogo Sticks and about 50,000 Lil' Wagster Dragster push toys because they pose an injury risk to children, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The CPSC says Fisher-Price has received 17 reports of injuries from the pogo sticks, including one of teeth being knocked out.”
Pogo Sticks and push toys are wrecking havoc??? Give me a break here, puuuuleaze. I guess that we need to hire every kid a lifetime lawyer to protect them, rather than raising them to employ a little common sense and develop some self defense skills.
We had things like Monkey Bars, BB guns, bow and arrow sets, gas powered model airplanes, and flying model rockets. By modern consumer standards is it not a miracle that I am alive today with ten fingers and ten toes attached? A pogo stick and push toys would have been a welcome safety improvement from the things we did in my neighborhood.
This list doesn’t even include things that I made up myself to play with—legally. Remember those “Junior Chemistry Sets” with real alcohol burning Bunsen burners and jars full of chemicals?
In case the FBI is reading this posting--I did not know that you could make black powder by combining sulfur, potassium nitrate, and charcoal. I also didn’t know that you could take common “sparklers”—you know, those wire things made out of magnesium and phosphorus salts that you lit with a match that would burn happily at 2000 degrees F while toddlers ran around helter skelter waiving them over their heads—crush the material off of the wire, combine it in a small container covered with masking tape, light the homemade fuse, and run like hell as it exploded in a pyrotechnic display certain to burn holes in the back of your T-shirt from thirty feet away. Luckily I didn’t know how to do that.
Or there was the time I produced the flying coke can. I mounted a Cox .049 model airplane engine on the closed end of a common empty Coke can, cut the other end off of the can and folded four sharp aluminum “blades” outward on the modified can, started the motor, and tossed the flying meat cleaver into the air in the midst of three or four of my juvenile onlookers. This thing would roar around our front yard until it ran out of gas or crashed into a tree or the ground or hit one of the aforementioned bystanders.
Hypnotized with Sony Playstations and Gameboys, Kids today just don’t know how to have a truely safe, good time.
Now where are my lawn darts? I wanna go outside and play…
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Big Tires
My college roommate, Rusty, and I had the opportunity to work together on a number of projects after we got out of college back in the 1980’s and 1990’s before my air pollution control company went belly up.
Rusty worked for various consulting firms, ultimately starting his own successful show in the last few years. I supplied some crazy ductwork and smoke stack systems for customers he was writing specifications for. Did we ever have a good time back then working together.
In the late 1990's one of our customers was the French company Michelin, who was building a tire plant expansion in Lexington, South Carolina. They intended to make tires for heavy construction vehicles. One of their products, as I recall, was supposed to be the biggest tire in the world—16’ in diameter or some such thing.
Thats why this story caught my eye, talking about big tires for big trucks being in high demand now.
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Steve Walker was ready to sell four massive, 200-ton dump trucks, with price tags as high as $3 million, when the orders were canceled.
The buyer, a coal company planning to open a new mine site, was ready to buy. It just couldn't find the 12-foot-high tires to get the trucks rolling.
The mammoth tires, which can cost up to $30,000 apiece, are in short supply worldwide, leaving earth-moving industries, including coal, in a lurch. The shortage results from a rise in equipment orders, an increase in worldwide mining because of increased mineral prices and growth in China and other Asian countries.
Few manufacturers produce the giant tires, and those that do say they are working round-the-clock to improve efficiency and fill orders. At Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., company spokesman Dave Wilkins said every large tire produced through 2006 is already spoken for. Industrywide, demand is expected to outstrip supply until 2007."
So there you go, your stock tip of the day from yours truly…
Rusty worked for various consulting firms, ultimately starting his own successful show in the last few years. I supplied some crazy ductwork and smoke stack systems for customers he was writing specifications for. Did we ever have a good time back then working together.
In the late 1990's one of our customers was the French company Michelin, who was building a tire plant expansion in Lexington, South Carolina. They intended to make tires for heavy construction vehicles. One of their products, as I recall, was supposed to be the biggest tire in the world—16’ in diameter or some such thing.
Thats why this story caught my eye, talking about big tires for big trucks being in high demand now.
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Steve Walker was ready to sell four massive, 200-ton dump trucks, with price tags as high as $3 million, when the orders were canceled.
The buyer, a coal company planning to open a new mine site, was ready to buy. It just couldn't find the 12-foot-high tires to get the trucks rolling.
The mammoth tires, which can cost up to $30,000 apiece, are in short supply worldwide, leaving earth-moving industries, including coal, in a lurch. The shortage results from a rise in equipment orders, an increase in worldwide mining because of increased mineral prices and growth in China and other Asian countries.
Few manufacturers produce the giant tires, and those that do say they are working round-the-clock to improve efficiency and fill orders. At Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., company spokesman Dave Wilkins said every large tire produced through 2006 is already spoken for. Industrywide, demand is expected to outstrip supply until 2007."
So there you go, your stock tip of the day from yours truly…
Sunrise On St. Simons Island
I peeked out the front door of the condo a little after 6 AM this morning and was greeted by a really nice pink sky with a few clouds in the east—a preface to sunrise.
I know a good sunrise when I see one coming...
I’m always bragging about my Cannon G3 digital camera, so this morning I grabbed it and walked outside to see what images I could capture for "posterity.”
Here’s the result, looking east across the marsh as the sun rises over Sea Island...
Sunrise over Sea Island
Just wanted to let all of you land lubbers know what you are missing...
I know a good sunrise when I see one coming...
I’m always bragging about my Cannon G3 digital camera, so this morning I grabbed it and walked outside to see what images I could capture for "posterity.”
Here’s the result, looking east across the marsh as the sun rises over Sea Island...
Sunrise over Sea Island
Just wanted to let all of you land lubbers know what you are missing...
At Least This Didn't Happen In Alabama or Georgia
In a world full of stereotypes and prejudices, I just couldn’t resist pointing out this story about people getting hurt and killed in Michigan—riding “souped up” golf carts.
ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Two souped-up golf carts collided as they sped down a rural road at night, killing a woman and badly injuring a man, authorities said Monday.
The occupants of the modified carts spent Saturday night riding trails. Shortly after midnight Sunday, one cart was being driven along the shoulder of a road when the driver of the other, Mathew Krimmel, tried to pass, said Ottawa County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Austin.
As Krimmel pulled ahead, the carts collided, causing Krimmel's vehicle to veer out of control and roll over, throwing the driver and two passengers.
Two men in the second cart were not injured.
Teresa Fergison, 42, died later in a hospital. Krimmel, 42, was listed in critical condition Monday. Diane Davis, 35, was treated for cuts and bruises and released.
Modified golf carts are popular for trail riding and can reach speeds of 40 mph or more.
The carts are not street-legal and deputies were investigating why they were being operated on the road about 20 miles west of Grand Rapids.
It was unclear how fast the vehicles were moving. Alcohol appeared to be a factor in the accident, which remains under investigation, Austin said
Well of course alcohol was probably involved…and Yankees poke fun of us southerners for racing riding lawn mowers. Heck, I bet they didn’t have a roll bar and weren’t wearing helmets (or baseball caps turned backwards.)
Remember that NASCAR was invented in the south and is slowly being stolen from us by the rest of the nation’s Johnny-come-lately NASCAR fans.
It’s just a matter of time until the Yankees try to steal lawn mower racing as well.
ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Two souped-up golf carts collided as they sped down a rural road at night, killing a woman and badly injuring a man, authorities said Monday.
The occupants of the modified carts spent Saturday night riding trails. Shortly after midnight Sunday, one cart was being driven along the shoulder of a road when the driver of the other, Mathew Krimmel, tried to pass, said Ottawa County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Austin.
As Krimmel pulled ahead, the carts collided, causing Krimmel's vehicle to veer out of control and roll over, throwing the driver and two passengers.
Two men in the second cart were not injured.
Teresa Fergison, 42, died later in a hospital. Krimmel, 42, was listed in critical condition Monday. Diane Davis, 35, was treated for cuts and bruises and released.
Modified golf carts are popular for trail riding and can reach speeds of 40 mph or more.
The carts are not street-legal and deputies were investigating why they were being operated on the road about 20 miles west of Grand Rapids.
It was unclear how fast the vehicles were moving. Alcohol appeared to be a factor in the accident, which remains under investigation, Austin said
Well of course alcohol was probably involved…and Yankees poke fun of us southerners for racing riding lawn mowers. Heck, I bet they didn’t have a roll bar and weren’t wearing helmets (or baseball caps turned backwards.)
Remember that NASCAR was invented in the south and is slowly being stolen from us by the rest of the nation’s Johnny-come-lately NASCAR fans.
It’s just a matter of time until the Yankees try to steal lawn mower racing as well.
Racism In The NBA?
(say it isn’t so…)
I could really not give a rats ass about the National Basketball Association. In my opinion, their season starts way too early and ends way too late each year. How their fans endure so much boring basketball is beyond me.
I attended a few Atlanta Hawks games twenty odd years ago and the games, played by ten millionaires at a time, would put an insomniac to sleep. Give me the college basketball game any day. Costs half as much and has twice the excitement and action.
In a league populated largely by gigantic, sweaty, foul mouthed, overpaid black men, sportswriter Dan le Batard of the Miami Herald writes this article questioning racism as a factor in Canadian Steve Nash beating out Shaquille O’Neal for MVP of the National Basketball Association.
I did a little checking, and out of the past 24 NBA MVP’s, Bob Pettit, Bob Cousey, Dave Cowans, Bill Walton, Larry Bird, and now Steve Nash are the only white boys on the list.
So what is le Batard crying about any way?
Big deal. White men comprise one out of four MVP’s in a league that in modern times is at least 90% non-caucasion.
If the white guys outnumbered the black guys by this ratio, I bet Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson would be screaming foul and demanding quotas and affirmative action programs.
Hey Shaq…get over it buddy…
I could really not give a rats ass about the National Basketball Association. In my opinion, their season starts way too early and ends way too late each year. How their fans endure so much boring basketball is beyond me.
I attended a few Atlanta Hawks games twenty odd years ago and the games, played by ten millionaires at a time, would put an insomniac to sleep. Give me the college basketball game any day. Costs half as much and has twice the excitement and action.
In a league populated largely by gigantic, sweaty, foul mouthed, overpaid black men, sportswriter Dan le Batard of the Miami Herald writes this article questioning racism as a factor in Canadian Steve Nash beating out Shaquille O’Neal for MVP of the National Basketball Association.
I did a little checking, and out of the past 24 NBA MVP’s, Bob Pettit, Bob Cousey, Dave Cowans, Bill Walton, Larry Bird, and now Steve Nash are the only white boys on the list.
So what is le Batard crying about any way?
Big deal. White men comprise one out of four MVP’s in a league that in modern times is at least 90% non-caucasion.
If the white guys outnumbered the black guys by this ratio, I bet Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson would be screaming foul and demanding quotas and affirmative action programs.
Hey Shaq…get over it buddy…
Monday, May 09, 2005
NY Times Gets A Clue
“Times panel proposes steps to build credibility” the headline says. Somehow I’m not feeling encouraged…but I’m willing to listen. I'll give it the old college try...really I will.
So talk to me…
“In order to build readers' confidence, an internal committee at The New York Times has recommended taking a variety of steps, including having senior editors write more regularly about the workings of the paper, tracking errors in a systematic way and responding more assertively to the paper's critics.
The committee also recommended that the paper "increase our coverage of religion in America" and "cover the country in a fuller way," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues. The 16-page report is to be made available today on the Times company's Web site, www.nytco.com.
The committee, which was charged last fall by Bill Keller, the executive editor, with examining how the paper could increase readers' trust, said there was "an immense amount that we can do to improve our journalism."
As examples, the report cited limiting anonymous sources, reducing factual errors and making a clearer distinction between news and opinion. It also said The Times should make the paper's operations and decisions more transparent to readers through methods like making transcripts of interviews available on its Web site.
The report also said The Times should make it easier for readers to send e-mail to reporters and editors. "The Times makes it harder than any other major American newspaper for readers to reach a responsible human being," the report said."
OK, I have to try to respond in a positive manner because I think that they are on to something here...I have a few suggestions to further their goals...
What did they say??? Something about trying to "increase our coverage of religion in America" and "cover the country in a fuller way," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues.
You're damn right when you say that the NY Times could "cover the county in a fuller way."
How about writing about regular Americans that describe themselves as religious as something other than drooling, inbred, snake handling morons incapable of putting five words together in a sentence to describe the sound the tornado made as it ravaged the trailer park.
How about writing about and describing regular, every day citizens that don't live on the slimy, shitty, smelly skanky streets of New York City as something other than ignorant county bumpkins and rubes.
How about not bashing us in the head every day with "diveristy issues" worrying about the plight of multi-racial babies born to absent fathers and crack-head prostitute mothers?
How about not offending our sensibilities with issues like "gay marriage" and intimate descriptions of where "Citizen A" chooses to to place his body parts into the body cavities of "Citizen B."
How about leaving something to the imagination of all of us unenlightened, closed minded, middle Americans rather than spending hundreds of inches of newsprint trying to explain to us the nuanced advantages of accepting "alternative lifestyles" in all of their gory, perverted f**king details.
Oh, sorry Mr. & Mrs. NY Times Editor, but you have a problem doing all that?
Well I guess you can just keep on watching your readership plummet and try to find a real job in the real world like the rest of us have to do.
YOU GOT THAT, MR. & MRS. NY TIMES OWNERS AND EDITORS?
So talk to me…
“In order to build readers' confidence, an internal committee at The New York Times has recommended taking a variety of steps, including having senior editors write more regularly about the workings of the paper, tracking errors in a systematic way and responding more assertively to the paper's critics.
The committee also recommended that the paper "increase our coverage of religion in America" and "cover the country in a fuller way," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues. The 16-page report is to be made available today on the Times company's Web site, www.nytco.com.
The committee, which was charged last fall by Bill Keller, the executive editor, with examining how the paper could increase readers' trust, said there was "an immense amount that we can do to improve our journalism."
As examples, the report cited limiting anonymous sources, reducing factual errors and making a clearer distinction between news and opinion. It also said The Times should make the paper's operations and decisions more transparent to readers through methods like making transcripts of interviews available on its Web site.
The report also said The Times should make it easier for readers to send e-mail to reporters and editors. "The Times makes it harder than any other major American newspaper for readers to reach a responsible human being," the report said."
OK, I have to try to respond in a positive manner because I think that they are on to something here...I have a few suggestions to further their goals...
What did they say??? Something about trying to "increase our coverage of religion in America" and "cover the country in a fuller way," with more reporting from rural areas and of a broader array of cultural and lifestyle issues.
You're damn right when you say that the NY Times could "cover the county in a fuller way."
How about writing about regular Americans that describe themselves as religious as something other than drooling, inbred, snake handling morons incapable of putting five words together in a sentence to describe the sound the tornado made as it ravaged the trailer park.
How about writing about and describing regular, every day citizens that don't live on the slimy, shitty, smelly skanky streets of New York City as something other than ignorant county bumpkins and rubes.
How about not bashing us in the head every day with "diveristy issues" worrying about the plight of multi-racial babies born to absent fathers and crack-head prostitute mothers?
How about not offending our sensibilities with issues like "gay marriage" and intimate descriptions of where "Citizen A" chooses to to place his body parts into the body cavities of "Citizen B."
How about leaving something to the imagination of all of us unenlightened, closed minded, middle Americans rather than spending hundreds of inches of newsprint trying to explain to us the nuanced advantages of accepting "alternative lifestyles" in all of their gory, perverted f**king details.
Oh, sorry Mr. & Mrs. NY Times Editor, but you have a problem doing all that?
Well I guess you can just keep on watching your readership plummet and try to find a real job in the real world like the rest of us have to do.
YOU GOT THAT, MR. & MRS. NY TIMES OWNERS AND EDITORS?
Sunday, May 08, 2005
My Mom's Better Than Your Mom
Just in case you live in a cave I want to let you know...It’s Mother’s Day.
As I said earlier…Call your Mama today.
If it wasn’t for mothers, where would we all be? Moms worry about us—that’s their God given job.
If you’re cold, hungry, sick, tired, broke, lonely, sad, whatever--don’t blame your Mom, because if she had her way, you wouldn’t be where you are, and she probably told you not to go there in the first place.
My mom’s a treasure.
How many mom’s in their early seventies can handle being Queen of the local Red Hat Club, property manager of her seventy acre estate, grounds keeper of same, and grandma to the curtest little grandson in the entire southeastern United States?
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY…MOM!
As I said earlier…Call your Mama today.
If it wasn’t for mothers, where would we all be? Moms worry about us—that’s their God given job.
If you’re cold, hungry, sick, tired, broke, lonely, sad, whatever--don’t blame your Mom, because if she had her way, you wouldn’t be where you are, and she probably told you not to go there in the first place.
My mom’s a treasure.
How many mom’s in their early seventies can handle being Queen of the local Red Hat Club, property manager of her seventy acre estate, grounds keeper of same, and grandma to the curtest little grandson in the entire southeastern United States?
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY…MOM!
There Aught To Be A Law...
(All the laws we needed we got in the 10 Commandments)
Ever heard that saying? “There aught to be a law against blaa blaa blaa.” Of course you have.
It seems simple enough at first glance. There aught to be a law against this… There aught to be a law against that… Popular belief is that laws will save us all from the evils of society and our fellow man (and woman.) If you will take the time to read our Constitution and the Bill of Rights you might find out that our founding fathers had some different ideas about laws.
I agree, and say that we had all the laws we needed a long time ago; we just have a hard time remembering that we did. As a result of our attitudes and all of these new laws, the US prison population rose to over 2.1 million last year. There is one person in jail for every 138 citizens in our country. Most are incarcerated for low level drug offenses.
There was a time when I thought “there aught to be a law” myself.
Not any more. Why, you might ask?
Because passing a law, most of the time, doesn’t change the circumstances from which the problem or situation arose in the first place. We are a law passing culture and society today because passing laws gets votes for the “lawmakers” and makes the general public “feel good.” I feel good, don’t you? If you don’t feel good, we’ll just pass a few more laws and take care of what ails you.
For instance, take Jessica’s Law passed by the Florida legislature recently. The new law allows officials to hang them darned old child molesters up on a stake, clip off their gonads, and set them (the child molester and their clipped off gonads) on fire.
Not really…
Actually, the new law requires convicted “sex offenders,” in addition to registering their address with authorities, to wear a “monitoring device” once they are released from jail back into the community—for as long as thirty years.
I’m sorry folks, but this is total BS. This law, just like laws relating to “assault weapons” and “gun control” in general, has a serious defect.
The “Jessica’s Law” requires the willful compliance of the criminal in order to be successful.
Funny thing—real criminals don’t seem to care too much what the law says they ARE NOT supposed to do. Real criminals care even less about what the law says they ARE supposed to do. A pair of wire cutters is all that is between the “sexual predator” and his monitoring device. Unless he was a complete and total idiot, an aspiring sexual predator could cut the band holding his “monitoring device” on his person and run amuck in the community for weeks if not years before the authorities could apprehend his stupid ass living under a bridge or in a fleabag motel.
We don’t need a new law in this instance, we just need to enforce the existing laws we already have on the books and then impose prison sentences that reflect the seriousness of the crime. Right?
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to MOLEST a child.
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to RAPE a child.
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to MURDER a child.
Passing a new law is just so much eye-wash designed to make the deceased person’s family members feel better and allow certain “special interest groups” like MADD and others justify their existence.
In spite of the current trend of removing The Ten Commandments from the lobbies of schools and courthouses, I say that all the laws we need are contained within that age old Biblical document.
Let me paraphrase The Ten Commandments for you here:
1. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.
Don’t worship any God you aren’t prepared to deal with in the end—Mercedes, Diamonds, and excess Cash come to mind.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
Ditto for Commandment #1.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thou God in Vain.
Everyone thinks of swearing profanity, but what about false swearing an oath in court, Mr. Clinton?
4. Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
Looks like God was pro-Union…not to mention the idea of having a day off—union or non-union.
5. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
…least thy Father kickith thy arse and thy Mother starvith thy stomach…
6. Thou shalt not kill.
…a no brainer
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
…lest thy wife or girlfriend placeith thee on a stake beside the child molester and cutteth off thy gonads…
8. Thou shalt not steal.
Again…a no brainer…lest thee have the shitith kickith out of thee by those that ye stealith from…
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
…that depends on what the definition of “is”…is
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s."
…what about coveting thy neighbor’s wife’s ass??
Oh, come on...get your mind out of the gutter...
Back then your neighbors wife could have owned a donkey...
Ever heard that saying? “There aught to be a law against blaa blaa blaa.” Of course you have.
It seems simple enough at first glance. There aught to be a law against this… There aught to be a law against that… Popular belief is that laws will save us all from the evils of society and our fellow man (and woman.) If you will take the time to read our Constitution and the Bill of Rights you might find out that our founding fathers had some different ideas about laws.
I agree, and say that we had all the laws we needed a long time ago; we just have a hard time remembering that we did. As a result of our attitudes and all of these new laws, the US prison population rose to over 2.1 million last year. There is one person in jail for every 138 citizens in our country. Most are incarcerated for low level drug offenses.
There was a time when I thought “there aught to be a law” myself.
Not any more. Why, you might ask?
Because passing a law, most of the time, doesn’t change the circumstances from which the problem or situation arose in the first place. We are a law passing culture and society today because passing laws gets votes for the “lawmakers” and makes the general public “feel good.” I feel good, don’t you? If you don’t feel good, we’ll just pass a few more laws and take care of what ails you.
For instance, take Jessica’s Law passed by the Florida legislature recently. The new law allows officials to hang them darned old child molesters up on a stake, clip off their gonads, and set them (the child molester and their clipped off gonads) on fire.
Not really…
Actually, the new law requires convicted “sex offenders,” in addition to registering their address with authorities, to wear a “monitoring device” once they are released from jail back into the community—for as long as thirty years.
I’m sorry folks, but this is total BS. This law, just like laws relating to “assault weapons” and “gun control” in general, has a serious defect.
The “Jessica’s Law” requires the willful compliance of the criminal in order to be successful.
Funny thing—real criminals don’t seem to care too much what the law says they ARE NOT supposed to do. Real criminals care even less about what the law says they ARE supposed to do. A pair of wire cutters is all that is between the “sexual predator” and his monitoring device. Unless he was a complete and total idiot, an aspiring sexual predator could cut the band holding his “monitoring device” on his person and run amuck in the community for weeks if not years before the authorities could apprehend his stupid ass living under a bridge or in a fleabag motel.
We don’t need a new law in this instance, we just need to enforce the existing laws we already have on the books and then impose prison sentences that reflect the seriousness of the crime. Right?
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to MOLEST a child.
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to RAPE a child.
Before Jessica Lunsford died, it was already against the law to MURDER a child.
Passing a new law is just so much eye-wash designed to make the deceased person’s family members feel better and allow certain “special interest groups” like MADD and others justify their existence.
In spite of the current trend of removing The Ten Commandments from the lobbies of schools and courthouses, I say that all the laws we need are contained within that age old Biblical document.
Let me paraphrase The Ten Commandments for you here:
1. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.
Don’t worship any God you aren’t prepared to deal with in the end—Mercedes, Diamonds, and excess Cash come to mind.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
Ditto for Commandment #1.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thou God in Vain.
Everyone thinks of swearing profanity, but what about false swearing an oath in court, Mr. Clinton?
4. Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
Looks like God was pro-Union…not to mention the idea of having a day off—union or non-union.
5. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.
…least thy Father kickith thy arse and thy Mother starvith thy stomach…
6. Thou shalt not kill.
…a no brainer
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
…lest thy wife or girlfriend placeith thee on a stake beside the child molester and cutteth off thy gonads…
8. Thou shalt not steal.
Again…a no brainer…lest thee have the shitith kickith out of thee by those that ye stealith from…
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
…that depends on what the definition of “is”…is
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s."
…what about coveting thy neighbor’s wife’s ass??
Oh, come on...get your mind out of the gutter...
Back then your neighbors wife could have owned a donkey...
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Here's Hannibal--Part II
Just in case my readers had gotten comfortable with the idea that I was...shall we say..."normal"...
Here's some evidence to the contrary
Here's some evidence to the contrary
Mr. T
As we prepared to move down here to St. Simons from Atlanta last year, we faced only one delimma. What to do with the stray tomcat, we called him Mr. T(abby), that was hanging around our house. About a month before we moved, he showed up with a brand new collar with a new vacinnation tag with the name "Desmond" on it. It broke our hearts and relieved us at the same time.
You see, he had been hanging around our place part time for six months or so, had his own food, and catnip and blanket, but we weren't sure if he actually belonged to anyone. The new tag told us all we needed to know...
Here he is outside hanging out, interrupted from doing a little belly fuzz housekeeping so I could take his picture:
My Favorite Cat...Mr. T
We sure miss that cat.
You see, he had been hanging around our place part time for six months or so, had his own food, and catnip and blanket, but we weren't sure if he actually belonged to anyone. The new tag told us all we needed to know...
Here he is outside hanging out, interrupted from doing a little belly fuzz housekeeping so I could take his picture:
My Favorite Cat...Mr. T
We sure miss that cat.
Beaver Photos
Being the rocket scientist that I am, I finally figured out how to install photos in the blog. I had done it once before and forgot how.
Here is my dad with the brand spanking new (3 months old) de Havilland Beaver in December 1957. The big round thing sticking out of the door is a CAMERA, a very large camera that my dad was testing for low altitude recon. Top secret stuff in its day...
Dad with the Beaver in 1957
And here she is in flight over south Alabama with dad at the controls. The tail number has changed from the Army designation 64419 to the civilian designation N67688, but the paperwork path is well documented.
64419 with Virgil Jr. at the controls
Here is the current owner, Gary "Butch" King, showing off a big king salmon in front her at his Alaska Wildman Lodge today:
N67688 today
Not bad for a 48 year old airplane...So how amazing is the internet anyway?
Here is my dad with the brand spanking new (3 months old) de Havilland Beaver in December 1957. The big round thing sticking out of the door is a CAMERA, a very large camera that my dad was testing for low altitude recon. Top secret stuff in its day...
Dad with the Beaver in 1957
And here she is in flight over south Alabama with dad at the controls. The tail number has changed from the Army designation 64419 to the civilian designation N67688, but the paperwork path is well documented.
64419 with Virgil Jr. at the controls
Here is the current owner, Gary "Butch" King, showing off a big king salmon in front her at his Alaska Wildman Lodge today:
N67688 today
Not bad for a 48 year old airplane...So how amazing is the internet anyway?
Friday, May 06, 2005
A Developing Trend
In spite of the media hype, yet another pro-war, Bush loving, islamo-fascist hating, hard headed foreign leader has been re-elected.
Let's hear it for Tony Blair's third term as British prime minister.
The liberal media and the intellectual left is yet again in a deep state of depression.
First Australia's John Howard survived John Kerry's loudmouthed sister's meddling and the eminent upheaval predicted by the media. It was a thin margin of victory...
Then George 43 got re-elected in spite of Dan Rather and the TAG scandal. No mandate here...
Now this thing with Tony Blair...how stupid can the world's citizens possibly be? Why won't they listen to reason??
Because I'm not as dumb as I look and act sometimes, and fortunately the world contains a number of people with similar attributes.
Thank goodness...
Let's hear it for Tony Blair's third term as British prime minister.
The liberal media and the intellectual left is yet again in a deep state of depression.
First Australia's John Howard survived John Kerry's loudmouthed sister's meddling and the eminent upheaval predicted by the media. It was a thin margin of victory...
Then George 43 got re-elected in spite of Dan Rather and the TAG scandal. No mandate here...
Now this thing with Tony Blair...how stupid can the world's citizens possibly be? Why won't they listen to reason??
Because I'm not as dumb as I look and act sometimes, and fortunately the world contains a number of people with similar attributes.
Thank goodness...
Thursday, May 05, 2005
An Amazing Day On The Internet--Part II
Just when I thought that my day couldn’t get much better, it did. My girl Pat called me after lunch and told me that I had successfully gotten the FAA to place our local airport, Brunswick Glynn County Regional (BQK), listed on the Air Traffic Control System Command Center Web Site.
Now before you say anything--yes, I admit that I have too much time on my hands and too little to worry about sometimes—but this is a big deal if you travel as often as we do here in our household. Pat jumps on an airplane to fly to Chicago almost once a week. Looking at the ATCSCC site gives you at least an idea of what kind of delays to expect when you are packing your luggage. It has saved us both some time in the past in spite of the omission of BQK.
I contacted the FAA over a year ago about the omission of our airport from their site. After all, they had two smaller airports in south Georgia—Valdosta and Albany—listed with their own green buttons on the map.
When they refused to respond or otherwise ignored my multiple requests for information, I called in the big guns. Our state senator, Saxby Chambliss, had his people get involved at my request in February and today I got a letter from his office and a copy of a letter from the FAA dated April 12th saying that they were taking care of things.
As Pat had already noted, they included us this week because it wasn’t on the site Tuesday morning when she left town.
I’m expecting her to return home this evening about midnight (flight delays due to weather) so I have to go get a late dinner ready and we'll quietly celebrate our victory.
Who says “you can’t fight city hall…”
Now before you say anything--yes, I admit that I have too much time on my hands and too little to worry about sometimes—but this is a big deal if you travel as often as we do here in our household. Pat jumps on an airplane to fly to Chicago almost once a week. Looking at the ATCSCC site gives you at least an idea of what kind of delays to expect when you are packing your luggage. It has saved us both some time in the past in spite of the omission of BQK.
I contacted the FAA over a year ago about the omission of our airport from their site. After all, they had two smaller airports in south Georgia—Valdosta and Albany—listed with their own green buttons on the map.
When they refused to respond or otherwise ignored my multiple requests for information, I called in the big guns. Our state senator, Saxby Chambliss, had his people get involved at my request in February and today I got a letter from his office and a copy of a letter from the FAA dated April 12th saying that they were taking care of things.
As Pat had already noted, they included us this week because it wasn’t on the site Tuesday morning when she left town.
I’m expecting her to return home this evening about midnight (flight delays due to weather) so I have to go get a late dinner ready and we'll quietly celebrate our victory.
Who says “you can’t fight city hall…”
An Amazing Day On The Internet
I started this morning dreading May 5th because, as I had posted earlier, today is the ninth anniversary of my family’s loss of my father.
By 10:15 AM, everything had changed. You see, last year I started an unusual search—a search for an old army airplane that my father had flown nearly fifty years ago. I had pictures of my father standing beside and flying the 3 month old de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver in December 1957, nearly two years before I was born.
I had earlier tripped over the Beaver Trails Web site, run by Mr. Neil Aird, which helped start my inquiry. Neil’s site tracks the disposition of the old US Army Beavers beginning in the late 1960’s into private use as bush aircraft in Canada and Alaska. Today the Beaver is perhaps the most sought after airplane capable of hauling people and supplies into remote areas near the artic circle, thus I was optimistic that I might find one of my father’s favorite airplanes still in operation today.
Currently registered as N67688, I tracked the old Beaver through the FAA database and found that it was registered to the Cinder River Lodge in Alaska. Luckily, the Cinder River Lodge’s sister lodge, Wild Man Lodge had a web site and guess what?
They still own the airplane. It’s shown on their web site here (the blue and white airplane.)
The owner, Butch “Wild Man” King sent me an E-mail this morning with six pictures attached showing that N67688 is still alive and well, living on the Alaskan peninsula. Butch’s father bought it in 1975, crash landed it on a mountain in 1988, and Butch took the damaged airplane apart and hauled it out of the wilderness in pieces and totally restored it in 1990 and still flies it several days each week.
I’m planning a trip to Alaska for her (the airplane’s) fiftieth birthday. In the mean time I hope to get some “tail-dragger” flying time here at the St. Simons airport because, come hell or high water, my butt will be in a seat in that airplane where my father sat before I draw my last breath.
Wish me luck…
By 10:15 AM, everything had changed. You see, last year I started an unusual search—a search for an old army airplane that my father had flown nearly fifty years ago. I had pictures of my father standing beside and flying the 3 month old de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver in December 1957, nearly two years before I was born.
I had earlier tripped over the Beaver Trails Web site, run by Mr. Neil Aird, which helped start my inquiry. Neil’s site tracks the disposition of the old US Army Beavers beginning in the late 1960’s into private use as bush aircraft in Canada and Alaska. Today the Beaver is perhaps the most sought after airplane capable of hauling people and supplies into remote areas near the artic circle, thus I was optimistic that I might find one of my father’s favorite airplanes still in operation today.
Currently registered as N67688, I tracked the old Beaver through the FAA database and found that it was registered to the Cinder River Lodge in Alaska. Luckily, the Cinder River Lodge’s sister lodge, Wild Man Lodge had a web site and guess what?
They still own the airplane. It’s shown on their web site here (the blue and white airplane.)
The owner, Butch “Wild Man” King sent me an E-mail this morning with six pictures attached showing that N67688 is still alive and well, living on the Alaskan peninsula. Butch’s father bought it in 1975, crash landed it on a mountain in 1988, and Butch took the damaged airplane apart and hauled it out of the wilderness in pieces and totally restored it in 1990 and still flies it several days each week.
I’m planning a trip to Alaska for her (the airplane’s) fiftieth birthday. In the mean time I hope to get some “tail-dragger” flying time here at the St. Simons airport because, come hell or high water, my butt will be in a seat in that airplane where my father sat before I draw my last breath.
Wish me luck…
Waging War Of Insanity On Wages
I don’t know why I bother reading the NY Times, other than every time I click my mouse and dive into their liberal, leftist drivel spewing pages I find something to write about here in my blog.
For instance, take a look at this story about the organized assault by “community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions” designed to increase wages at Wal-Mart.
“BENTONVILLE, Ark. - With most of Wal-Mart's workers earning less than $19,000 a year, a number of community groups and lawmakers have recently teamed up with labor unions in mounting an intensive campaign aimed at prodding Wal-Mart into paying its 1.3 million employees higher wages.
A new group of Wal-Mart critics ran a full-page advertisement on April 20 contending that the company's low pay had forced tens of thousands of its workers to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. On April 26, as part of a campaign called "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart," five members of Congress joined women's advocates and labor leaders to assail the company for not paying its female employees more.
And in a book to be published this fall, a group of scholars will argue that Wal-Mart Stores, having replaced General Motors as the nation's largest company, has an obligation to treat its employees better.”
Allow me to assist you in dissecting this situation in my normally calloused, insensitive, yet imminently accurate manner.
First I have to ask this little question: WHO THE HECK OWNS WAL-MART—“Community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions”, or the company’s stockholders?
How many of these “community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions” have the physical and financial means to start a company providing 1.3 million jobs—jobs that manage to even pay minimum wage? Can you say ZERO?
And how about this gem—“the company's low pay had forced tens of thousands of its workers to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, costing taxpayers billions of dollars.”
So are we to believe that Wal-Mart managers in the store employment offices are forcing Americans to be employed and accept horribly low wages at gunpoint? I’d like to point out that if these people didn’t have these so-called “underpaid crappy” jobs forcing them to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, they could be out enjoying the good life living in public housing or residing in homeless shelters.
OH THE HUMANITY!
Finally, who says that “as the nation's largest company, (Wal-Mart) has an obligation to treat its employees better.”
I’ve got some news for the “community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions”—there is no such “obligation” in our society or in published law. In fact, the Federal Government has become the nation’s largest company (employer) and is already doing a damn fine job of overpaying a lot of its employees.
Finally, the article lets the cat out of the bag as to the real reason that the “community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions” have their boxers in a wad in the first place:
“Labor groups and their allies are focusing on Wal-Mart because they say that the campaign will not just benefit its workers but also reduce the existing pressure on unionized competitors to reduce their own wages and benefits.
"Wal-Mart should pay people at a minimum enough to go above the U.S. poverty line," said Andrew Grossman, executive director of Wal-Mart Watch, the coalition of community, environmental and labor groups running the series of ads criticizing Wal-Mart. "A company this big and this wealthy has the ability to pay higher wages."”
So the real problem here is that the labor unions are feeling the pressure of not being able to unionize Wal-mart and they can't justify their influence on wages elsewhere in the market.
Yes the Wal-Mart is big--$206.2 billion worth. But there are a little over 4.2 billion shares of stock outstanding. That means if you are a little investor like me and only own one share of stock, Wal-Mart is only worth $49.10.
I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to give my employees a raise.
CAN YOU?
For instance, take a look at this story about the organized assault by “community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions” designed to increase wages at Wal-Mart.
“BENTONVILLE, Ark. - With most of Wal-Mart's workers earning less than $19,000 a year, a number of community groups and lawmakers have recently teamed up with labor unions in mounting an intensive campaign aimed at prodding Wal-Mart into paying its 1.3 million employees higher wages.
A new group of Wal-Mart critics ran a full-page advertisement on April 20 contending that the company's low pay had forced tens of thousands of its workers to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, costing taxpayers billions of dollars. On April 26, as part of a campaign called "Love Mom, Not Wal-Mart," five members of Congress joined women's advocates and labor leaders to assail the company for not paying its female employees more.
And in a book to be published this fall, a group of scholars will argue that Wal-Mart Stores, having replaced General Motors as the nation's largest company, has an obligation to treat its employees better.”
Allow me to assist you in dissecting this situation in my normally calloused, insensitive, yet imminently accurate manner.
First I have to ask this little question: WHO THE HECK OWNS WAL-MART—“Community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions”, or the company’s stockholders?
How many of these “community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions” have the physical and financial means to start a company providing 1.3 million jobs—jobs that manage to even pay minimum wage? Can you say ZERO?
And how about this gem—“the company's low pay had forced tens of thousands of its workers to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, costing taxpayers billions of dollars.”
So are we to believe that Wal-Mart managers in the store employment offices are forcing Americans to be employed and accept horribly low wages at gunpoint? I’d like to point out that if these people didn’t have these so-called “underpaid crappy” jobs forcing them to resort to food stamps and Medicaid, they could be out enjoying the good life living in public housing or residing in homeless shelters.
OH THE HUMANITY!
Finally, who says that “as the nation's largest company, (Wal-Mart) has an obligation to treat its employees better.”
I’ve got some news for the “community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions”—there is no such “obligation” in our society or in published law. In fact, the Federal Government has become the nation’s largest company (employer) and is already doing a damn fine job of overpaying a lot of its employees.
Finally, the article lets the cat out of the bag as to the real reason that the “community groups, lawmaker weasels, and labor unions” have their boxers in a wad in the first place:
“Labor groups and their allies are focusing on Wal-Mart because they say that the campaign will not just benefit its workers but also reduce the existing pressure on unionized competitors to reduce their own wages and benefits.
"Wal-Mart should pay people at a minimum enough to go above the U.S. poverty line," said Andrew Grossman, executive director of Wal-Mart Watch, the coalition of community, environmental and labor groups running the series of ads criticizing Wal-Mart. "A company this big and this wealthy has the ability to pay higher wages."”
So the real problem here is that the labor unions are feeling the pressure of not being able to unionize Wal-mart and they can't justify their influence on wages elsewhere in the market.
Yes the Wal-Mart is big--$206.2 billion worth. But there are a little over 4.2 billion shares of stock outstanding. That means if you are a little investor like me and only own one share of stock, Wal-Mart is only worth $49.10.
I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to give my employees a raise.
CAN YOU?
Nine Years Ago
There are two milestones this week in my life relating to my parents. The obvious one is that of Mother’s Day—a day that everyone should recognize, particularly if your mother is still alive. As the southern humorist Lewis Grizzard used to say: “Every son should call his mother—I wish I could…” Lewis said this because his mother had died years earlier. Lewis, like most men, was a self described mama’s boy. So am I…
The other milestone is that today is the ninth anniversary of my father’s sudden death in 1996. I found out the news by talking to my mother on my cell phone while floating on my boat in a cove in the middle of a lake in South Carolina. My friends Rusty and Sharon and I were embarking upon celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a day of water skiing and otherwise useless behavior as most Americans are prone to doing when you have no worries in life. I haven’t celebrated Cinco de Mayo ever since that year.
How things can change in a heartbeat. I had to store the boat, return to Atlanta to pick up clothes and secure my cats, and eleven hours after the fact I was standing in my parent’s home in south Alabama. Our preacher and some other friends had stayed up with my mother to await my arrival. That was the longest seven-hour car trip I ever made in my life.
It’s hard to believe that it has been nine years and a lot of things have changed. Some I am proud of, and several I’m glad my father never knew.
I wish that he could have seen me act on stage and that could have had the chance to read some of my writing. But then again, maybe he has…
The other milestone is that today is the ninth anniversary of my father’s sudden death in 1996. I found out the news by talking to my mother on my cell phone while floating on my boat in a cove in the middle of a lake in South Carolina. My friends Rusty and Sharon and I were embarking upon celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a day of water skiing and otherwise useless behavior as most Americans are prone to doing when you have no worries in life. I haven’t celebrated Cinco de Mayo ever since that year.
How things can change in a heartbeat. I had to store the boat, return to Atlanta to pick up clothes and secure my cats, and eleven hours after the fact I was standing in my parent’s home in south Alabama. Our preacher and some other friends had stayed up with my mother to await my arrival. That was the longest seven-hour car trip I ever made in my life.
It’s hard to believe that it has been nine years and a lot of things have changed. Some I am proud of, and several I’m glad my father never knew.
I wish that he could have seen me act on stage and that could have had the chance to read some of my writing. But then again, maybe he has…
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
LA Times Taking Their Medicine
You have no idea how happy I am when I see stories like this one about the decline in daily circulation at the LA Times.
"LOS ANGELES, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- For the six months ended March 31, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday-Saturday average daily circulation of 907,997, a decline of 6.5 percent compared with the prior year, and Sunday circulation of 1,253,849, a decline of 7.9 percent from the prior year, according to figures filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations, subject to audit."
I am elated that the readers of the crap that the major newspapers are trying to pass off as real news stories are finally recognizing it for what it is.
NEW YORK -- Circulation fell 1.9 percent at major U.S. newspapers in the six-month period ending in March, an industry group reported Monday, marking one of the worst declines in recent years.
Newspaper circulation has been on a general decline since 1984, and has suffered especially in the last several years as other forms of media compete for the attention of readers, including cable television and the Internet.
The Newspaper Association of America, a Vienna, Va.-based industry group, reported that average daily paid circulation declined 1.9 percent in the most recent reporting period for the 814 newspapers reporting comparable data to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
I wonder if the writers and editors will change their biased ways?
Probably not...
"LOS ANGELES, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- For the six months ended March 31, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday-Saturday average daily circulation of 907,997, a decline of 6.5 percent compared with the prior year, and Sunday circulation of 1,253,849, a decline of 7.9 percent from the prior year, according to figures filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations, subject to audit."
I am elated that the readers of the crap that the major newspapers are trying to pass off as real news stories are finally recognizing it for what it is.
NEW YORK -- Circulation fell 1.9 percent at major U.S. newspapers in the six-month period ending in March, an industry group reported Monday, marking one of the worst declines in recent years.
Newspaper circulation has been on a general decline since 1984, and has suffered especially in the last several years as other forms of media compete for the attention of readers, including cable television and the Internet.
The Newspaper Association of America, a Vienna, Va.-based industry group, reported that average daily paid circulation declined 1.9 percent in the most recent reporting period for the 814 newspapers reporting comparable data to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
I wonder if the writers and editors will change their biased ways?
Probably not...
More Academic Insanity
Over the past few years, I’ve thought a good deal about going back to college to pursue a Masters Degree in one of several areas of study that interest me. I’ve already had two college careers—one that began when I was only seventeen years old that resulted in less than spectacular grades, and a second effort ending when I was thirty, that placed me finishing number two in my class.
My academic performance could allow admission into practically any university of my choosing, as long as I can come up with the tuition—sometimes amounting to upwards of $50,000 per year. In return for such a large outlay, institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Columbia offer access to the world’s preeminent lecturers and educators. Earning top grades in these programs, in theory, opens the door to career opportunities not available anywhere else.
The only problem is that these famous institutions of higher learning are populated primarily by faculties of self identified leftist liberals. Some are outright communists and socialists. Ideology aside, the political climate on these campuses is such that conservative students like me risk being harassed by “speech codes” and discriminated against in grading policy because of their political believes. The more outspoken you are, the worse the problem becomes.
Imagine the loss of value that would result from receiving lower or even failing grades from your professors after paying $100,000 for the classroom experience. To make this financial cost and time expenditure justifiable, would you not expect to receive fair grades in return for your efforts?
Thus my continued absence from the Ivy covered storied halls of academia today. If only there weren’t more professors like Dr. Mike Adams.
Having said all of that, there is a showdown taking place in the US Supreme Court in the coming weeks over access to college campuses by military recruiters. That’s right, a number of colleges, particularly their law schools, are outright refusing or limiting access to their graduating students by representatives of the branches of the US military. Many of these same campuses have also eliminated their ROTC programs in the past twenty years.
And what is their problem with the military?
DISCRIMINATION.
Not racial discrimination, but discrimination against gays and lesbians.
In 1996 the federal government retaliated by passing The Solomon Amendment which denied federal funding to colleges and universities that refuse to allow recruiters to visit or otherwise prevent the formation of ROTC programs on their campuses. Of course the colleges screamed bloody murder and have gone to court to overturn the law.
"In September 2003, FAIR, along with other law teachers and students, sued to block enforcement of the amendment but lost in federal district court in New Jersey.
Last year, however, the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit granted FAIR an injunction against enforcement of the Solomon Amendment, saying it "requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives, and no compelling governmental interest has been shown to deny this freedom."
That is the judgment the Bush administration seeks to reverse at the Supreme Court.
"Effective recruitment is essential to sustain an all-volunteer military, particularly in a time of war," Acting Solicitor General Paul D. Clement told the court in a brief. "The Solomon Amendment reflects Congress's judgment that a crucial component of an effective military recruitment program is equal access to college and university campuses.""
Can you believe that crap like this actually happens? These communists and leftist that call themselves "professors" are so afraid of the US military that they don't even want to allow them on campus. They apparently hate the very government that defends their rights to be STUPID and allows them a forum in which spew their HATRED for our country. If they are doing such a good job of indoctrination, wouldn't it seem that they would allow the military to visit and let their students make up their own minds about a potential military career?
I say that we should load the whole bunch up on a boat and ship them to Cuba.
My academic performance could allow admission into practically any university of my choosing, as long as I can come up with the tuition—sometimes amounting to upwards of $50,000 per year. In return for such a large outlay, institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Columbia offer access to the world’s preeminent lecturers and educators. Earning top grades in these programs, in theory, opens the door to career opportunities not available anywhere else.
The only problem is that these famous institutions of higher learning are populated primarily by faculties of self identified leftist liberals. Some are outright communists and socialists. Ideology aside, the political climate on these campuses is such that conservative students like me risk being harassed by “speech codes” and discriminated against in grading policy because of their political believes. The more outspoken you are, the worse the problem becomes.
Imagine the loss of value that would result from receiving lower or even failing grades from your professors after paying $100,000 for the classroom experience. To make this financial cost and time expenditure justifiable, would you not expect to receive fair grades in return for your efforts?
Thus my continued absence from the Ivy covered storied halls of academia today. If only there weren’t more professors like Dr. Mike Adams.
Having said all of that, there is a showdown taking place in the US Supreme Court in the coming weeks over access to college campuses by military recruiters. That’s right, a number of colleges, particularly their law schools, are outright refusing or limiting access to their graduating students by representatives of the branches of the US military. Many of these same campuses have also eliminated their ROTC programs in the past twenty years.
And what is their problem with the military?
DISCRIMINATION.
Not racial discrimination, but discrimination against gays and lesbians.
In 1996 the federal government retaliated by passing The Solomon Amendment which denied federal funding to colleges and universities that refuse to allow recruiters to visit or otherwise prevent the formation of ROTC programs on their campuses. Of course the colleges screamed bloody murder and have gone to court to overturn the law.
"In September 2003, FAIR, along with other law teachers and students, sued to block enforcement of the amendment but lost in federal district court in New Jersey.
Last year, however, the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit granted FAIR an injunction against enforcement of the Solomon Amendment, saying it "requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives, and no compelling governmental interest has been shown to deny this freedom."
That is the judgment the Bush administration seeks to reverse at the Supreme Court.
"Effective recruitment is essential to sustain an all-volunteer military, particularly in a time of war," Acting Solicitor General Paul D. Clement told the court in a brief. "The Solomon Amendment reflects Congress's judgment that a crucial component of an effective military recruitment program is equal access to college and university campuses.""
Can you believe that crap like this actually happens? These communists and leftist that call themselves "professors" are so afraid of the US military that they don't even want to allow them on campus. They apparently hate the very government that defends their rights to be STUPID and allows them a forum in which spew their HATRED for our country. If they are doing such a good job of indoctrination, wouldn't it seem that they would allow the military to visit and let their students make up their own minds about a potential military career?
I say that we should load the whole bunch up on a boat and ship them to Cuba.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Biting The hand That Feeds You
Isn't it amazing what the passage of 60 or so years will do to the collective memory of the world's population--particularly the memory cells of the ungrateful, vocal assholes that reside in France, Germany, and most recently--ITALY.
People like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin wanted to take over Europe during WWII, leaving a small corner of the world in Asia to the Russians and Japanese for the time being.
Instead of the UN and USA fighting and abandoning the Korean war in the late 40's and early 50's, the above parties would probably have fought it out among themselves at that time had Winston Churchill not persuaded the US to fire up our evil capitalistic right wing military machine and open a military/industrial strength can of whoop-ass and place it in the middle of the foreheads of the little communists, socialists and fascists leaders and their henchmen.
Today, basking in the glow of three generations of freedom and prosperity purchased by the taxpayers and solders of the USA, the Europeans love to publicly crap all over us anytime they possibly can. Our domestic leftists and Democrats love to cheer them on because they, like the Europeans, are suffering from a severe case of cranial-rectal inversion (heads up their butts.)
The investigation of the shooting of the speeding Datsun sedan (OK maybe it was a Ford Pinto) containing the Italian equivalent of Austin Powers--Nicola "yeah baby" Calpari--and Dorothy of The Wizard of Iraq--Guliani Sgrena--by the US forces this winter has ended in a tie.
The Italians say we killed their countryman and wounded the socialist bitch "news reporter" on purpose or at least without adequate warning/ We say that the James Bond wannabes drove headlong into a military roadblock at 60 MPH without notifying US authorities that they were out for a senic drive.
Now the Italians have "accidentally" released the PDF files of detailed copies of the official report that also "accidentally" happens to contain the names of the solders that did the shooting and outlines the standard operating procedures of the US military regarding checkpoint security and the movement of personnel in Iraq.
Blog diva Michelle Milking has the details and put the burr under my saddle tonight on this story. Please excuse my profanity, but I think that profanity is warranted in this instance.
We can't stop this kind of thing from happening--especially with dang foreigners. What we can do, as Americans, is vote with our wallets.
I haven't drunk a single bottle of French wine in several years. I'm adding Chianti and Asti Spumanti to my list of embargoed products in my household and on my menu dining out. (After all, the Australians can take their slack in the wine department any way...)
Everybody--repeat after me--ITALY SUCKS, ITALY SUCKS, ITALY SUCKS, ITALY TOALLY SUCKS.
People like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin wanted to take over Europe during WWII, leaving a small corner of the world in Asia to the Russians and Japanese for the time being.
Instead of the UN and USA fighting and abandoning the Korean war in the late 40's and early 50's, the above parties would probably have fought it out among themselves at that time had Winston Churchill not persuaded the US to fire up our evil capitalistic right wing military machine and open a military/industrial strength can of whoop-ass and place it in the middle of the foreheads of the little communists, socialists and fascists leaders and their henchmen.
Today, basking in the glow of three generations of freedom and prosperity purchased by the taxpayers and solders of the USA, the Europeans love to publicly crap all over us anytime they possibly can. Our domestic leftists and Democrats love to cheer them on because they, like the Europeans, are suffering from a severe case of cranial-rectal inversion (heads up their butts.)
The investigation of the shooting of the speeding Datsun sedan (OK maybe it was a Ford Pinto) containing the Italian equivalent of Austin Powers--Nicola "yeah baby" Calpari--and Dorothy of The Wizard of Iraq--Guliani Sgrena--by the US forces this winter has ended in a tie.
The Italians say we killed their countryman and wounded the socialist bitch "news reporter" on purpose or at least without adequate warning/ We say that the James Bond wannabes drove headlong into a military roadblock at 60 MPH without notifying US authorities that they were out for a senic drive.
Now the Italians have "accidentally" released the PDF files of detailed copies of the official report that also "accidentally" happens to contain the names of the solders that did the shooting and outlines the standard operating procedures of the US military regarding checkpoint security and the movement of personnel in Iraq.
Blog diva Michelle Milking has the details and put the burr under my saddle tonight on this story. Please excuse my profanity, but I think that profanity is warranted in this instance.
We can't stop this kind of thing from happening--especially with dang foreigners. What we can do, as Americans, is vote with our wallets.
I haven't drunk a single bottle of French wine in several years. I'm adding Chianti and Asti Spumanti to my list of embargoed products in my household and on my menu dining out. (After all, the Australians can take their slack in the wine department any way...)
Everybody--repeat after me--ITALY SUCKS, ITALY SUCKS, ITALY SUCKS, ITALY TOALLY SUCKS.
