DILLIGAFF

I believe I just read what may be the most blisteringly obvious headline I’ve ever read, from CNN:  McConnell predicts no senate GOP support for health care bill. 

In other obvious news:  The Sun will rise in the east and set in the west.   Water is wet .  The Sky is blue.

Seriously for just a second though, is anyone really surprised by that?  Is that a prediction that is newsworthy in any way?  First off, what is he supposed to predict, that his party will abandon it’s political platform and basic philosophy and join the Democrats on this vote?  I KNOW they aren’t going to vote for it.  

My wife knows it, my cats know it, hells donkeys, the Norwegian curling team knows it at this point.  We know he said it, twice.  He probably says it in front of his bathroom mirror a few times a day to make sure he’s got the lines down, if someone asks about it.  He’s been saying it since the words “health care debate” came up in serious discussion.  He is one of the heads of the party of no.

C’mon, there’s gotta be something ELSE newsworthy he said, ya know? 

And frankly all I have to say is : DILLIGAFF

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BTW, I am going to shoot my computer.  Damned thing crashed on me when I was trying to write the piece I wrote above.  Crashed my system completely 3 times… and each time when I was trying to embed the link for the Norwegian curling team.  Guess my ‘puter couldn’t handle those damn pants!

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A hearty congratulations to the Canadian team on their overtime victory vs. the American hockey team.  The Americans played a spirited game, and even though they scored with less than 30 seconds left in regulation to push the game to overtime, once overtime came, they weren’t able to generate the kind of pressure on Roberto Luongo in the 4 on 4 overtime format that they were able to in regulation, and it was really only a mater of time until someone put one behind Ryan Miller, and you knew it was going to be Sidney Crosby.

You can’t call him “Sid the Kid” anymore.  He ain’t a kid.  You can call him ”The Man” from now one.   

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Oh Joy!  Another soon to be potential landmark supreme court case.  Any regular readers of this website know how I feel about the last time these 9 made a major decision.  But maybe I shouldn’t be too concerned, this is a second amendment case.  I actually liked the heller decision, which was the last major second amendment decision they made.  This decision however might be a bit too much, if they expand the second amendment too much and loosen all restrictions on gun ownership. 

Nothing personal gun nuts and NRA enthusiasts, but I don’t want to live in a world where EVERYONE has a hand cannon.  Too many unstable people out there, and I ride the bus with those freakazoids.  I don’t WANT to live in a world that is an armed camp. That would be a bit much. There are many levels to this argument, and I cannot hit them all right now, my apologies for that.  I will hit this subject with more force at a later date.

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That’s it for me.  Later!

Today’s nuggets, via wikiquote:  Forty years ago, when the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advise by an artful man, who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual was to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.  George Mason, 1788

The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose.   James Earl Jones

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This Isn’t About You

This isn’t about you.  Really.  It isn’t about me either.  It isn’t about anyone really.   Just a few viddy’s and a few quick comments about them.  Nothing spectacular today, no great writing.  It’s been a long day, so I’m going to relax. 

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Chile had a major earthquake happen 60 miles offshore.  The quake registering 8.8 on the Richter scale, A gigantic earthquake, but not their largest. Chile has a history of very large, very violent earthquakes, including what the USGS calls the largest earthquake to hit anywhere in the last 200 years, a quake in 1960 that registered 9.5 on the Richter scale. 

I don’t know that this will turn into the disaster that Haiti was, simply because the people there, having large quakes as part of their history, were in some measure prepared for this.  They’ll still need help though. 

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I’ve read Ayn Rand a bit, and like I’ve said before, she was nothing more than a ranting nutjob whose robber baron idealism had seen it’s zenith 30 years before she was born.  A good viddy because Colbert is funny and witty and Pearlstein is a good guy with a valid point.

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That’s it from here.  Later!

Today’s nuggets, via wikiquote:  Virtue refuses facility for her companion … the easy, gentle, and sloping path that guides the footsteps of a good natural disposition is not the path of true virtue. It demands a rough and thorny road.   Michel De Montaigne

I tell this story to illustrate the truth of the statement I heard long ago in the Army: Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of ‘emergency’ is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Medal Worthy?

Starting at 3 pm here in New York, there is going to be some MONSTER hockey to watch. 

USA vs. Finland.   Miller vs. Kiprusoff.  It’s gonna be tight out there with these two in net.  Teemu wants some Olympic gold before he retires. He knows this is his last Olympics.  So does Brian Rafalski, at 36 he isn’t likely to have another shot at Olympic gold, regardless of what happens with NHL players next Olympics.  Strong defense and bang-bang offense from both teams should make for some hellaciously entertaining hockey.  A short viddy with some entertaining hockey from 1980.

Brian Rafalski has already stuck a fork in One goaltender this Olympics, dooming former teammate Martin Brodeur to bench duty for the remainder of the Olympics.  I don’t see him doing the same thing to Kipper.  Kipper has been of late a better goalie than Marty, who was on something of a bad streak before the Olympics started. It’ll be tough as hell to get too much past Kipper here.  But we have yet to hear from the kids here.  I don’t remember Patrick Kane’s name too much, and David Backes has more than he has shown out there, thought he is the  #2 scorer on this team.  Dustin Brown, when he is on, can be a dominating player. He hasn’t been on of late.  If America wants to win, they need him to produce. 

But those Fins, they are TOUGH.  With Kimmo Timonen running the power play, and anchoring a strong, spirited defense, and with the play of Niklas Hagman, Teemu and Mikko Koivu, they’ll be able to get a bunch of chances on Offense, more than enough to keep them in this game.

I think this game is gonna be tight.  Real tight.  Finland 3, USA 2 OT.

That prediction notwithstanding, I’m rooting for Team USA here.  U S A   U S A   U S A   U S A  U S A…

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Canada vs. Slovakia. Crosby vs. Demitra.  Canada is possibly the best #6 seed in the history of sports.  Ever.  Slovakia is strong on offense, Jaroslav Halak is on FIRE in net with a 1.97 gaa average in the Olympics, and there is strong defense wherever Zdeno Chara plays.  Roberto Luongo is a great goaltender who should have been number one from moment 1.

Hockey at it’s finest.  Think all star game + actual hitting and defense.  Both teams are filled from one end to the other with NHL professional players, and these guys play against each other enough to know each others tendencies.  The only thing this game will be missing is goons beating each others faces bloody on the ice.  A short viddy with some entertaining hockey from 1972.

Sid the Kid is no kid.  He is a leader, and a scoring machine. From this day, you can call him Sid the Man. He has 6 points so far in this Olympics, one behind team leaders Dany Heatley and Jonathan Toews. I am expecting Sid to light Halak up like a Christmas tree.  I love this Canadian team, they aren’t good, they are great, if there was a giant killer in this Olympics, it would be the Slovaks. But this giant is too big to kill this day.  Canada smells gold, and Crosby will solve Halak.  Bring on the Gold.

Canada 5, Slovakia 4

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The Whole World Is Watching

If you are reading this or any story on this site, let me know you read it by clicking on the title of the article.  Thanks!

Whether they are actually paying attention or not is another matter entirely.  After I looked for a job and ran and did the 100 little things that make up the life of an ordinary man I watched the health care summit.  Or most of it.  I did miss chunks of it.  I went out to run a little after 11 am EDT time and got back about an hour later.  If you want to read about my running, click the “Running Commentary” tab.  I also missed short bits and pieces, but caught a great deal of it.  A short aside about the coverage of it.

When the President had a little summit a month or so ago, with the Congressional Republican caucus, The MSNBC coverage that night complained loudly that FOX news went away from the meeting to speak to other people when the President was talking.  What did MSNBC do today? When Republican Rep. Boustany from Louisiana spoke, they went to a commentator to talk about what was happening.  Annoyed, I turned on C-Span and decided to keep it there.

This is a VERY long Video.  Almost 3 hours in length.  Watch at your peril. 

There was a lot of debate.  If you read the news they’ll tell you little got done.  I’ve seen at least 5 headlines on google that say just that.  I am not so sure that is the case.  The work that got done was not so much congressional, but philosophical.  It showed that on some very crucial points, these two sides really are not all that far apart.  Ideologically, they are on different planets revolving around different stars, but on some very important details, they are close.  Both sides want to save Americans money, though both sides are locked into their ideas of how to get it done.  Surprising how close some are.

Marsha Blackburn and President Obama sounded like they were reading from the same Que cards at one point, and only differed in wording.  Six of one, half a dozen of the other and such statements.  Her contention that Californians(The 39% increase in Health insurance costs for Californians was used as an example by many) should be able to get insurance from companies in Oregon was a mirror image of The Presidents contention that Companies from Oregon should have the opportunity to sell insurance to Californians. Exactly the same thing, and this is something that the Republicans claim Democrats don’t want, and it is clear from today that they do.

There were several instances like that, where the wording was all that was different between the two sides.  There were deep divides in a few spots, though. Particularly interesting was the exchange between two representatives, Republican Paul Ryan and Democrat Xavier Becerra.  They sparred over Paul Ryan’s contention that the CBO was working with and using vague and misleading numbers, with Rep. Becerra saying that it was wrong to point any fingers at the CBO (implying the numbers were fine, and the problem was with Ryan’s contention) While Ryan said he did not mean any such thing (backing up his statement that the numbers the CBO had to work with were vague and in some cases misleading) This went back and forth for several minutes.

There was a large amount of talk from both sides, and  both sides got their points in.  The point Republicans made time and time again is that America wants this bill scrapped and started over, then pointed at polls that say America doesn’t want this, and that it is just too damned expensive and adds too much in the way of bureaucracy.  Democrats kept reminding them that it would save hundreds of billons of dollars, and drive costs down for everyone, and that polls are out there that say that Americans want everything that is in this bill, and have said so in polls.

Harry Reid said there was much talk about Reconciliation being this rarely used thing, and a negative thing at that, a point made only a few minutes prior by Lamar Alexander, and then pointed out that it has been used 22 times, 16 times by Republicans.  That particular talking point was dropped after that. 

Some may read all that and come to the conclusion that little got done. Again, I disagree.  This long winded (and for me, the long winded one, to say that means something) discussion put out, once and for all, the entirety of the debate and talking points of both sides in one place at one time so the people can really look at them with a critical eye and compare them.  THAT is a big thing for this particular debate, something that has been sorely missing from day one.  Rhetoric on one side has rarely been seen along side the rhetoric of the other, like each side has locked itself away from the other.  It’s good to see both sides talking.  T

This is a step in the right direction.

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BTW, I had no idea that I had any significant international audience until I put the international flag counter on my page 36 hours ago.  I thought the bulk of my readers, or viewers were Americans, 90% or more, and most of those from 2 states, New York and California.  I had no idea, none whatsoever that 45 percent of my readers were outside of the United States, or that I have readers in at least 60 nations!  Iam happy that this third generation American, with family living in both Ireland and Poland, has such a diverse audience.  Thank you one and all, Americans and everyone else, for dropping by. Drop me a line and say hello!

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Today’s Nuggets, Via wikiquote:  Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.   Adam Smith

A properly functioning free market system does not spring spontaneously from society’s soil as crabgrass springs from suburban lawns. Rather, it is a complex creation of laws and mores… Capitalism is a government program.    George Will

Toyota + Steve King = LOVE

I have been busy all day.  Busy enough to have missed both The USA – Switzerland hockey game AND Toyota chief Toyoda’s questioning in front of the house oversight committee.   SUCK is a good way to put that.  I’ll be able to catch both on-line, but it’s not like I don’t know how things ended, so there’s not any suspense about how things turned out.   The Americans beat the Swiss 2-0, and Toyoda walked away without a scratch on him.  Actually I don’t know that for certain about Toyoda, but one can speculate.  There is no way in hell Toyoda would say there was anything wrong with the circuitry in his cars, seeing how they have claimed from the get go that it was anything but their electronics.      

      

Forget where I saw it, but I read a story yesterday written by a man who was an auto mechanic for 30 years about the real problem in these cars, and not just Toyotas. It is the drive by wire system.  The basic concept he threw out was that having a computer in control of when brakes are applied on a car or when to slow down or speed up is an inherently bad one.  A computer glitch is always a hairy mess, and we who own the damn things know how hairy a mess they are.  A computer glitch, an even minor malfunction ANYWHERE in the system while you are driving sounds especially dangerous.      

Now I won’t say it was or wasn’t an electronic malfunction that killed and/or hurt, and/or scared the crap out of all the Toyota drivers and all the others who were killed or injured from whatever malfunctioned in those cars.  But rather than just say “it was just a carpet” or ” it was a weak pedal” or whatever, it seems easier to me to just fix the entire issue.  If Toyoda DOESN’T address the problem electronics/computer properly, which they clearly aren’t, you can be certain that it will cut market share.  THAT is the one good thing that can come of it.  If you fail to fix things to OUR standards, regardless of what you think the problem is, people will simply buy something else they think is safe.  Toyota is, through simply not addressing this issue, getting a reputation for not fixing the issues in their vehicles, and as a result, for being unsafe.      

I say buy American, but that’s just me.  Toyota is by and large non-union in this nation, and as a consequence doesn’t pay its people as much as their American counterparts get paid to build cars.  THIS is why those who make cars should get more money.  You get paid more, you do a better job.  Toyota is cheap with its employees and this is what happens.  Sad but true. Incomplete argument? Sure it is, this argument doesn’t take into account issues that Toyotas have had in other nations, including Japan.  I, though am confining my argument to American built toys.       

There have been issues with these cars for years, all over the planet.  Time has caught up with them, that’s all.      

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Idiot

 

This is an election year in America, every seat in the House of Representatives is up, as are 34 seats in the Senate.  A  large number of these seats are fairly well guaranteed to stay with the current seat-holder despite the air of unhappiness in this nation over its elected officials.  There are seats though, that despite being more or less locked up, that one can hope will change in November.  I want to see Steve King from Iowa lose.  He has annoyed me for years.  I remember him being the first guy to play the race card against then Senator Barack Obama, the first to imply he was a Muslim in public. That is only one instance though.   He has come across my radar a few times.      

In this latest incident he has actually expressed empathy with the terrorist who crashed his plane into the IRS headquarters in Austin, Texas. It is amazing to me that someone can feel empathy for a terrorist.  I hate paying taxes, I don’t know anyone who likes paying them, but to take the extra steps it takes to go from hating taxes to hating fellow countrymen enough to kill them over taxes is ridiculous. To empathize with someone who would do what this joker did is at least equally ridiculous.  I have watched the video in question.  Here’s your chance to:      

      

He completely glosses over the fact that this guy attacked Americans on American soil.  Completely.  Rather than, I dunno, say something about how fcuked up it is to want to crash a plane into anything, or maybe about how violence against Americans is never right, he says:
          

“I think if we had abolished the IRS back when I first advocated it he wouldn’t have had a target for his airplane”      

Is this putz serious?  That is some insanely twisted logic.  Abolish the IRS and idiots with grudges won’t have anyone to aim at?  So we are blaming the TARGET of terrorism for being attacked?  The IRS is to blame for making itself a target? By simply existing???  Does he feel the same way about the Pentagon?  The World Trade Center?  The U.S.S.Cole?  The Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam?  All of these were targets of terrorist attacks.  Does he think we had it coming, or is he simply justifying attacks that jibe with his political biases?  Is he only against terrorists when they attack people he dislikes?      

Vote this man out of office, Iowa.  You can do better than this.  Show that you love America, DON’T VOTE FOR STEVE KING.      

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That’s it for me, except for the nuggets. Thanks for reading!      

Today’s nuggets, via wikiquote:  “I Define a “terrorist” as a non-state actor who attacks civilian targets in order to strike terror into the hearts of the enemy community.. A “state terrorist” is a state doing the same thing.  Michael Mann      

The object of government is the welfare of the people. The material progress and prosperity of a nation are desirable chiefly so far as they lead to the moral and material welfare of all good citizens.   Theodore Roosevelt  

Mistake fixed at 1:08am 2/25/10.  Last word of 4th paragraph in Steve King piece changed from “likes” to “dislikes”  My apologies for the obvious stupid mistake.