via XKCD
September 26, 2008
Please Do Not Let This Person Become Vice President
I’ve tried to stay out of political commentary simply because that isn’t the nature of this blog, but I can’t stand by and let this person potentially become the second most powerful official in this country.
When interviewed by Katie Couric of CBS News regarding our economy, here’s a snippet of what Palin had to say:
Couric: You’ve said, quote, “John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business.” Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?
Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that’s paramount. That’s more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.
Couric: But he’s been in Congress for 26 years. He’s been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.
Palin: He’s also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he’s been talking about - the need to reform government.
Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you’ve said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?
Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.
Couric: I’m just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.
Palin: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you.
When interviewed by Katie Couric of CBS News regarding foreign policy, here’s a snippet of what Palin had to say:
Katie Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundry that we have with Canada. It’s funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don’t know, you know … reporters.
Couric: Mocked?
Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.
Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.
Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…
Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It’s very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right next to, they are right next to our state.
When directly asked by a reporter what she learned from her meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilli and Ukranian President Viktor Yushchenko, she was quickly shutdown. Is McCain embarassed?
What about her crackdown on gift-giving to state officials? Hmm.
When you really think about it, Matt Damon was right:
It’s like a really bad Disney movie. The hockey mom from Alaska… is the president. She’s facing down Vladmir Putin using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It’s absurd.
Regardless of party affiliation, consider this: Do you want this person to be the 2nd most powerful in this country (and possibly the world)?
I wonder if we’ll survive the legacy of the past 8 years.
Thanks to Angelo for the links.
via CBS News (1, 2)
via Politico.com
via Washingtonpost.com
via College Humor
via The Daily Show
September 24, 2008
The Subprime Mortgage Primer
Anybody looking for a layman’s explanation of what’s going on with our economy? Check out this stick-figure cartoon. Stick figure cartoons always help.
via BoingBoing via Businesspundit.com
June 6, 2008
Horrible Freudian Slip; Fox News Jokes About Killing Obama
While commenting on Hillary’s RFK gaffe, Liz Trotta on Fox News Channel first referred to Barack Obama as “Osama” and then laughed that they should both be killed.
Ouch. Scary. A very sobering reminder of the huge difference in opinions people have on the upcoming election. Sure, Obama won the Democratic ticket, but he still has a long fight ahead of him.
May 29, 2008
MediaDefender Mounted a DoS Attack on Revision3
Just got this link from a close friend who works at Revision3.
I’m frankly appalled at this blatant attack by “old media” on “new media.” I sincerely hope that legal action is taken.
March 23, 2008
GTD ala Tim Allen
We all have standards in various areas, various ways and various forms. You might like your sheets tucked, maybe not. Then you’ve got the cleanliness issues. Dishes on the counter may not be acceptable, but maybe they are. A few clothes scattered on the floor, no good. Maybe a messy pile is your idea of organization and efficiency since you never have to worry about which drawer your underwear is in. Assuming you even wear underwear. And then there is the bathroom. Let me guess, your toilet is always sparkling and fresh. Oh, only when guests are coming over or your parents are in town? The bathroom is one of those places that standards become important. The challenge is that you’re in such a wonderful environment for molds and mildews of all sorts. Look at your shower? Warm, moist, heck you probably have some oatmeal laced body wash in there perfect for hungry little buggers to snack on. The shower pretty much is a petri dish on steroids. I’m ashamed to admit my shower had reached a rather nasty point. It’s never been all that great thanks to a crappy fiberglass basin with a dark stain that looks something like Gorbachev’s notorious birth mark, I’ve never really liked my shower. 6 years ago when I bought the house, it was really nasty. A hearty scrubbing with a variety of bleach based abrasives and scrubbies and it only moved up from disgusting to kinda gross. The shower doors have hard water stains that just won’t come off and some lime deposits that look like they belong in an underground cavern, not my shower. With the initial cleaning behind me, the new grime was at least my grime. Somehow this is much less disgusting than the grime of others even though I’m sure there are only subtle variations in the list of thousands of germs inhabiting each nook and cranny. At least they are my germs.
The shower had crossed some threshold in my mind. I don’t know why those exist or what we can do to set them lower, but sometimes you’re just done with something and it must be dealt with. Today was the day for the shower. Recent scrubbings just hadn’t been enough. Rust stains from some unknown source had appeared. Soap scum was building up and the floor was exhibiting a new birthmark. Mind you, I’ve tried before to deal with the stains. I even went so far as to try a mild solution of muriatic acid. No real luck. Today was a day for something different. It wasn’t about chemical bonds, scrubbing bubbles, bleach, acid or space soap. Today was about power tools. The application of more force and power could certainly help me in my quest to clean the shower. So with my goal in mind, I threw a couch on the lawn, set the car on blocks next to the couch and prepped for my afternoon of Redneck Cleaning. I’m sure I owe royalties for some Jeff Foxworthy trademark, but there pretty much isn’t a better way to describe my plan of attack. I rolled the gas powered pressure washer around to the back of the house and up onto the porch by the bedroom. Thankfully the bedroom has a sliding door to the porch and provided reasonably direct access for the hose to the gun. I checked the distance to the shower. Just under the 25ft of hose that I had. It would work, I would have my glorious victory over the shower.
So here I am, preparing to drape 25ft of pressure hose across my bed into the master bath to clean a shower. 1800psi of water jetting out, blasting mildew and stains away. It had to work! I fired up the motor, angling the exhaust away from the window so as to minimize the fumes entering the room, hopefully reducing the likelihood that I would be found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. With the motor running, I pushed the door closed around the hose and went to the dreaded shower stall. With the first squeeze of the trigger I knew I had made the right choice. White, brilliant gleaming white, shone from the tub where previously only a dingy surface was visible. Maybe gleaming white is exaggerating, but it was at least a clean-ish off-white. Each pass of the wand across the tub blasted a one inch strip of whiteness in to view. Rust stains, gone. Mildew gone. Soap scum, gone. In a matter of seconds, pressurized water had done what hours of Ajax and scrubbing couldn’t. The floor, the walls, the doors and their tracks. Everything was fair game and subject to blasting and with each pass I felt myself closer to feeling good about the shower again. In total, I think I spent about five minutes gunning down every nook and cranny of the tub and tile. It’s not perfect, the birth mark is still there but I have faced the evils of the shower and I claim victory. Maybe pressurized acid would stand a chance against the birthmark, but I’m fond of my skin and eyes so I think I’ll live with the stain.
Mission Accomplished. I may not have had an aircraft carrier to stand on or banner, but damnit, my shower was clean again. And in less time than any other scrubbing event ever. So laugh at me, call me a pig, but wallow in your jealousy of power cleaning tools in the bathroom. This was man cleaning, I’m talking putting all the colors together in one laundry load, wipe off your fork and put it back in the drawer, use a rake in the bedroom, testosterone fired man cleaning and damn it felt good.
The best part was Julie, thrilled with the clean shower and giving it a stay of execution so I don’t have to buy a new stall and doors. Not yet at least.
So for my local friends, the power washer is available. I highly recommend it. But not for washing children or pets.
February 18, 2008
Homeland Security’s War on Babies
From Boing Boing:
The baby had been flown to Honolulu for emergency heart surgery. He died while detained inside a customs’ room at the Honolulu airport with his mother and a nurse.
January 8, 2008
Would You Pay $22 For a Cup of Coffee?
Sure, spending $22 on a cup of coffee seems justified if you have an $11,000 coffee maker, but I ask you this: How much better can this coffee taste compared to your regularly over-priced coffee at Starbucks?
January 3, 2008
Don’t Be An Idiot Driver
The man accused of killing a 13-year-old boy in a hit-and-run in Taunton told police he was behind the wheel typing a text message on his cellphone when he lost control of the sport utility vehicle and hit what he thought was a mailbox, a prosecutor said today in court.
Craig P. Bigos, 31, told investigators that he did not realize the SUV had struck the boy on the bicycle until he drove back down Poole Street hours later on his way to work at a restaurant, said Bristol County prosecutor Aaron T. Strojny.
