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Sick of It!

2010-08-07T13:10:00.002-05:00

On my Facebook page I am seeing quite a bit of people ripping on the First Lady for her trip to Spain. All I can manage is a meh I could care less one way or another. The common theme is with so much unemployment here in the US the First Lady and the President should bypass their ostentatious living and pursuits and save the taxpayer some money. Again I say unto thee meh.

I got quite fed up with hearing the lefties criticize President Bush every time he left Washington DC. They carped about his spending money, they carped about him being on too much "vacation" (yeah, if the President is ever needed they will find him even if he is on "vacation"). You know, the President and his family need that away time too, probably more so than the average schlub working a 9-5er at the mill.

I know, the left has the wheel rolling over them on this, but I elect the President to lead a great and large nation not to commiserate with us in our misery. Remember, Bill Clinton tried that tack, "I feel your pain" but what did it earn him?

Karma Visits Sven Kramer

2010-02-23T22:36:00.002-06:00

Sven Kramer after winning gold the first full day of the Olympics was asked his name & country by an NBC reporter. Sven then asked the reporter "Are you stupid?". Well today, Sven switched lanes at the wrong time and was disqualified from a race he was on track to gold medal in.

So funny!

Reminds of that one reporter who laughed it up when President Bush fell of of the Segway. That same reporter a year or so later fell off a Segway and broke a leg. My delight ends when the reporter falls down, but don't be so secure, smug, or arrogant.

I was working one night and saw the town's police officer with a motorist pulled over. I chuckled it up over the other driver's misfortune. A week later on the other side of town, it was me on the side of the town awaiting a ticket.

Tea Partying It Up

2010-01-20T20:33:00.002-06:00

The Tea Partys are coming of age.

Scowling lefties can call the movement "teabaggers", "angry", whatever. Fact is, the core of the tea party movement is one that unifies a lot of people. While viewing tea party signage there is no doubt a lot of signage espousing the whole range of conservative causes, it is not those causes that are the root of its success.

The original tea party was about taxes and hence spending. This one is similarly rooted in taxation and spending policy. Tea Party leaders need to remember this, keep your rallies focused on limiting government taxation and spending.

Same Excuse Different Side

2010-01-20T20:02:00.002-06:00

Hmmm,

A lot of lefties are trying to rationalize Scott Brown's victory by trying to tell us (actually I suspect it is more for themselves) the voters of Massachusetts voted for Scott Brown rather than the Dem because the Senate was not left enough.

Now, doesn't THAT sound familiar? Starting in 2006, I heard that rationalization being used a whole lot on our side. The typical, line went "Well, the GOP did not deliver on the promises of , so instead of voting for Democrat lite might as well vote for the real thing.

That, is what the left is now saying — we were not rejected for being too left, we were rejected for not being left enough.

Does either make sense?

Brown Beats Coakley!

2010-01-19T20:43:00.002-06:00

Wow,

Deep Blue Massachusetts votes for Scott Brown (R) to replace Teddy Kennedy (D). Reading Twitter is great fun, especially #masen.

Congratulations to Scott Brown on his victory over Martha Coakley.

The Democrats and more specifically President Obama are feeling the first tingle of a slap on their hands. No doubt, the same tingle was being felt in 2006 by the GOP. One fellow (former Obama voter) this evening on the Luntz section of Hannity said I wanted change back to the center not a far left lurch.

I am quite sure the Congressional leaders (both houses) and the President will come out redoubling their grip on the national steering wheel. They believe they need to get their agenda done within the next year or it will be at least another 12 years before they get another opportunity. You bet they will work to ram this stuff down our throats. Scott Brown's win made that harder for them to do.

Comment on Comments

2009-12-18T21:18:00.002-06:00

The free lunch is over. Haloscan is converting their blog comment & trackback service from free to a paid for service. I say "bye-bye"!

In the meantime, comments are closed until I figure out what code I took out to install the Haloscan commentary & trackback system.

MA

Brown County ZZ

2009-12-08T18:46:00.003-06:00

Drive it with caution. I used to drive Brown County ZZ on a regular basis but have not been on it for sometime.

Brown County ZZ is a very picturesque road that winds it way generally in a north — south direction. The road is very curvy and sits very close to the Fox River. Back when I drove the road, if the weather was questionable I would avoid the road taking an alternate route. Usually that was no big deal because it was usually at night so the scenery was not apparent.

Here is why I avoid this road if conditions are questionable.

The Great Snow Dump

2009-12-08T16:23:00.002-06:00

We are at the front end of our first big snow dump of this current winter season. I escorted The Empress home from work (I tailed her) and I talked her through it via our bluetooths and cell phones. She did fine, though I had to push a bit (she was reluctant to drive).

Now were the roads bad? Not so much in Appleton, even though a lot of people claimed otherwise. The roads & conditions demand respect right now. Respect translates into low acceleration (which in my mind includes -- speeding up, slowing down, and turning -- i.e. any change in velocity), lots of distance between the vehicles around you, and anticipating stops and turns.

Being the first significant snowfall of the year there are bound to be a lot of fender benders. We'll see lots of smashed headlight, signal light, and tail light reflectors on the road.

One thing the authorities always say is stay in unless you have to go out, well, that is always a good idea. However, I would be okay with going out in this weather even in the Impala, at least until the snow starts to pile up then I would take the suburban out.

I intend to stay in this evening sitting next to the Empress near our fireplace.

Mara Liasson, Juan Williams, FNC, & NPR

2009-12-07T17:23:00.006-06:00

Mara Liasson makes regular appearances (and so too Juan Williams also from NPR) on the Fox News All Star Segment of Brett Baier's Special Report. I like the regular appearance of both commentators on the segment.

However, this story points out that NPR is very uncomfortable with their stars appearing on FNC and is trying to get Liasson and Williams to cease appearing on FNC. Liasson only appears on The All Stars but the Politico story I link to notes that Juan Williams makes regular appearances on The O'Reilly Factor (a show I rarely watch) and even guest hosts The O'Reilly Factor.

Fortunately, neither is obligated to heel to NPR's wishes on this matter. Even more interesting is NPR notes the Whitehouse war on FNC is influencing their discussions with Williams and Liasson. However, the story notes that the Whitehouse is claiming victory in its war against FNC.

I do not believe NPR, I believe Whitehouse pressure on them spurred this move.

Bravo to Williams and Liasson for giving NPR the raspberry on this!

Old Obama Had a Farm

2009-12-04T22:27:00.002-06:00

With a whack whack here and a whack whack there here a whack there whack everywhere a whack whack -- Old Obama had a farm e-i e-i e-i-OH S#!+ there goes my job.

Actually not mine. However this is probably the worst week in terms of job loss with respect to people close to myself. A former UAE colleague and his department got shut down (and from his reports very unceremoniously let go), my cousin and a colleague (a friend) of hers and their department got shut down too this week. Funny thing is my cousin's colleague survived downsizing when her outfit shut down that location -- however she had to move here to keep her job (however, she does like it here -- cheaper living) six months later WHACK!

It is not Ethanol it is Welfanol

2009-12-04T22:16:00.003-06:00

There is a store no simple market,
between the Tech and the Subway,
and if you go no woman may follow,
Fleet Farm is meant for men alone!

Kidding aside, I have started going to Fleet Farm's gas station. At first, it was for the discount but very quickly I noticed something. Recently a buddy told me he goes to Fleet Farm for his fuel too, noting Fleet Farm's 87 octane fuel is ethanol-free! Now, he is a small engine freak and says even E10 is hard on small engines and their components.

My Suburban was getting roughly 15 mpg when it is rated at about 17 mpg. However, after switching to Fleet Farm gas I am now get close to 18 mpg! That is a 20% improvement for no extra cost. So, on a 25 gallon fill I can range about 450 instead of 375.

Sometime ago I did the numbers on E85 versus E10 and noticed a decrease in mileage that was not offset by the E85 prices. In fact, the cost is higher considering one needs to stop and fuel up more often. If I can get E0 for just as much as E10, guess which one wins? In fact, access to E0 and the 4 cent coupon are affecting my shopping patterns and this program is pulling some of my business from Menards!

I am interested in minimizing my cents per mile -- plain and simple. Any other result is a waste of money. The only possible benefit is ethanol increases the demand for corn which helps out my friends and neighbors. However ethanol, despite heavy governmental subsidies ethanol is too expensive. Even E85 is overpriced (it should be about 25% cheaper than E10) at most stations and only one station in my area approaches a reasonable price. The Kwik Trip off of College Avenue near HWY 41 practices thievery in its E85 prices.

Ethanol has a place in our energy supply but what we currently have is welfanol and I say just say no to welfanol.

The Family Album of the Maquindanao Massacre

2009-12-03T22:51:00.004-06:00

I am on an a Filipino mailing list. The focus of the list is the hometown of The Empress.

I do not pay the list too much attention but from time to time there is an item we look at. I took a look today and found a number of e-mails with the subject: GRABE OI!!!! PHOTOS FROM THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE. I interpret "Grabe OI" roughly as "OMG", it isn't but it signifies serious shock.

Now, I have had my hand in death at least animal death. I've shot and gutted birds and I've caught and cleaned fish. However, I ordered my e-mail client to load images. I then scrolled down.

The first and only image I gazed upon was of a person I had to gaze a bit to put the pieces together. Then it came into focus, I was looking at a head caked in mud. The head was butterflied open and an eyeball was apparent and very much out of place. I did not lose my cookies or anything but I quickly got out of that e-mail, put the laptop down, and walked away.

I am conflicted about looking at the rest and further conflicted about saving them or to let them purge out of the folder they are in when the time comes.

One thing my psychology 101 professor talked about was human cognitive development. She noted infants (can not recall what age) work on out of sight, out of mind. Images such as the one above informs me that out of sight out of mind is not just for infants. To bury that poor wretch does not change facts or the truth it just obscures it, puts it out of mind.

The large speculative finger points at the Ampatuan clan as the perpetrators and they attempted to bury their participation along with the dead in those pits and pin the blame on the MILF whom the Ampatuans helped the central Filipino government fight against.

Here is the Wiki entry on the massacre.

The Tiger Hunt

2009-12-03T22:28:00.002-06:00

Tiger Woods is human after all.

Yes, I am sure I am not the first to make that observation. However, I am not at all interested in his affairs and his marital problems. On the other hand, when the inevitable discussion about his fading (this is a discussion that is not yet started) golf skills starts that is one I will listen to and perhaps participate in.

This fascination we have the personal lives of celebrities is something worth talking about. Celebrities are often set up as larger than life as infallible and when they fail we need to talk about it. To some extent I think some of that talk and focus is due to a crabby mentality that people see Tiger failing at something and harumphing over that.

Another aspect is a desperate attempt to connect ourselves to him. We want to know as much about the celebrities we admire because we would like to become acquainted with them and would like the opportunity to become their friends. Most of us will never become "friends" with Tiger Woods so we do the next best thing, we try to know as much about him as possible. A lot of money is made in publishing and selling fan magazines and this fascination with Tiger's problems should be taken to mean this phenomena is not limited to children or teens.

However, there is an irony in this. If a person starts to pry into your affairs what is your reaction? It is to become offended and accuse them of prying and perhaps of being a gossip. The golden rule states do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So, this is my approach on the Tiger Woods affair(s). It is none of my business and while I hope him and his wife can patch things up I am not going to follow the story. In short, I'ld sooner watch The History Channel's UFO Files than ESPN's coverage of the Tiger affair.

Of course, some will point out Tiger's celebrity earns him millions and that he needs to understand with those earnings comes life in a fish bowl.

Maguindanao Massacre - Theory Frame Up

2009-11-26T22:13:00.006-06:00

If you have been following the story you will note people are generating many bits over the story.

Watching some of my Filipino contacts on Twitter I am noticing various theories put forward to explain the massacre. The first is put forth by The Bangsa Moro Blog:

The Mangudadatus, it must be noted, were very close to the Ampatuans and were therefore part of the power clique in Maguindanao.

Source: Bangsa Moro Blog — The MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE The theory being this was a frame up to make the MILF look bad (NO MILF in this case has nothing to do with hot mothers).

Another story out there being pushed by Ruffy Biazon:

About three months ago, August 28, 2009 to be exact...n his statement to the Committee, Vice Governor Piñol revealed that he had warned Malacañang about the potential for the outbreak of hostilities between the MAngudadatus and the Ampatuans in relation to the 2010 elections. It was a warning which was explicit and clear. But in spite of that, it was ignored.

The Way It Is (Congressman Ruffy Biazon) — Malacañang Was Warned About the Maguindanao Massacre Three Months Ago When and where have we heard of such accusations before? However, I will admit in this case things are more actionable at least the Filipino central government could have looked into things a bit more and most likely could have done so without having to be clandestine about it.

Bangsa Moro claims the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus were allies or at least cooperating with each other, whereas Ruffy Biazon says he has reliable claims they were at odds with each other. Ruffy provides a person and documented testimony that nastiness is imminent.

What really destorys Bangsa Moro's case is a cell phone call blows the operation up. That is all it took? The PNP &/or AFP had a backhoe ready, a large contingent of gunmen and did not order the local cell tower operators to shut down? It is not like cell phones are rare in the Philippines (they are in fact NOT rare). Plus, frameups require lots of people keeping their stories straight. It is easy enough to imagine motives — it is not easy to imagine it really succeeding. What is hard to imagine is there is only one cell phone call reported instead of many and text messages.

Hide The Decline

2009-11-26T22:09:00.000-06:00

Check this one out:

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T07:47:00.002-06:00

Hey all -- here is wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Maguindanao Massacre

2009-11-25T20:53:00.009-06:00

Some of you may have heard of the recent massacre in the Philippines. It took place in the province of Maguindanao.

To sum up, an entourage of reporters, low level politicians, women, and children were taking a gubernatorial candidate's candidacy papers to the concerned office to declare himself a candidate for governor of the province. The entourage was stopped and massacred — the suspect and speculation center on the current governor. The reason the candidate sent others to file his papers is because he figured a busload of reporters, women, and children would be immune to such attack. How horrible to be wrong in such a calculation.

As of this writing 57 are reported dead, however my recollection is that near 100 people accompanied the convoy and it seems rather realistic to believe all are dead.

Now, some of you will undoubtedly know or come to know that Maguindanao is in Mindanao and the more knowledgable of you may also be aware that Maguindanao is in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. However, and I can not stress this enough — the massacre is not due to jihadism. The massacre is due to warlordism.

Here is a good discussion the event with at least one person who has in depth experience in the region.

I have read about the massacre in a number of different forums and saw a discussion about it between Chistiane Amanpour and Maria Ressa. The early part of the discussion is the most informative. Maria makes it clear she believes this event is nothing more than political violence. That is exactly what it is..

While occurrences of political violence in my corner of the world are typically "candidate e candidate" there is a closer analogy. Street gangs. The scale of gang-related killings here is not on the scale of the Maguindanao attack, but the most vicious of street (motorcycle clubs, prison gangs, etc) gangs are similarly unconcerned about the murder of those they view as being in their way or a challenge to them. Innocents? Well, that is just too bad for them. If you challenged the likes of El Rukn on their streets and you and those in your presence would be similarly dealt with.

Another angle I have seen talked about is that of rido. While there is much about this event that does not fit that model, can anyone doubt the dynamics of rido will be present? The whole situation is likely to lead to a large number of reprisals which will be returned in kind. Of course, a bigger boss could prevent such reprisals, and this report indicates a bigger boss is definitely going to be stepping in.

Even so, will it amount to more than a few low level operatives ~~being thrown under the bus?~~ being blamed for the entire operation? [editorial note: I had forgotten for a moment how much I detest the stricken cliche!] What would be a just outcome and how likely is it to materialize?

[Update] 2009-12-09:
The sentence reading ...can anyone doubt the dynamics of rido will be present? used to read ...can anyone doubt the dynamics of rido will be absent?. The former sentence conveys the meaning I intended and NOT the later sentence. I apologize for the error.

A New Writing Gig!

2009-11-19T20:59:00.003-06:00

Some months ago The Badger Blog Alliance shut its doors. Since then, I've essentially had only this outlet for writing. As far as venues go it is not that significant.

However, today I was invited and I accepted to contribute to Philippine Commentary owned by Dean Jorge Bocobo. Dean is obviously a Filipino but has resided in Pewaukee in the past. Dean's blog and perspective in the Philippines is an august one.

I am honored by his invite!

Insurance and Risk - Post I

2009-11-15T23:48:00.000-06:00

I have blogged on the generalities of insurance and risk in the past but a quick search turns up my last comments on pre-existing conditions and how Obama's ideas "do away" with them. However, I want to write a series on risk and how insurance works. It is obvious a lot of people do not get insurance.

The Greenville Lions host an event entitled The Greenville Catfish Races. It is standard outdoor Northeast Wisconsin picinic bands, beers, and food, and yes catfish dinners are on the menu.

I do not know how they made it interesting other than having children participate by standing next to a tank. They had seven long tanks set up, they'ld put a glass plate on one end about 10" from the end and drop a catfish into the 10" portion of the tank, and when the start was sounded adults at each end of the tank would raise the glass plate. The first catfish to cross the line on the other end of the tank would be deemed the winner. Nothing remarkable in any of that.

However, let us say I was keeping book at this event. Furthermore let us say I charged $1.00 per play and offered a $10 prize if your pick won the race. I ask you would you play? Why or why not?

Analogies -- Seth Godin's Comments

2009-11-15T23:14:00.002-06:00

Seth Godin takes a quick look at of analogies

Analogy is a very useful tool. When I was in taking physics in college one of my professors noted that success in English was a better predictor of success in college level physics than success HS math and physics. The reason he stated is that one of the things English courses make you do is to analogize. I do not know if Dr. Lind was exactly right about that notion, but I one thing I did notice was that certain mathematical themes kept recurring and while the actual physical components did not match up, the math did rather well.

For example, if you understand the math behind bouncing a weight attached to a spring you are well equipped to understand how microwave ovens heat your food and drinks. Still, if you are not quick to pick up on the mathematical analogy you would be learning essentially the same math all over again -- essentially having to start the race all over again.

When looking at a new experience try to recall what you have learned. Take a look at similar situations you have encountered in life and attempt draw analogies. They do not have to be perfect just approximate.

Election 2009 Commentary

2009-11-04T17:39:00.002-06:00

The one thing clear from last night's results is President Obama can get people to come out and vote for him but if he is not on the ballot forget it. That is a bad omen for the Democrats next year.

Obama spent a fair amount of time in New Jersey and while he was less conspicuous in Virginia it is not like he was completely absent.

Now, the left is focusing on NY 23 in fact I just saw David Axelrod try to claim NY 23 was a microcosm of the national debate and how it favored the Democrats and the other two were strictly local races and did not reflect on the national debates.

Now, here is why David Axelrod is wrong about NY 23. Hoffman lost the race 49%-45% with Dede Scazzofava taking about 5.5% of the vote. In my earlier post on this I pass on a report by Jim Geraghty that Hoffman was absolutely clueless on issues of direct concern to the NY 23. That is, it is much more arguable that NY 23 was decided on local issues rather than national ones.

Now, last night on FNC on Hannity's show they had a focus group run by Frank Luntz. One man in the room stoutly declared his vote on the Virginia governor's race was only that. However, the rest of the discussion in that "focus group" was IMO unfocused and allowed Luntz and Hannity to say whatever they wanted.

One last thing. A lot of people were indignant about Scazzofava endorsing Owens after she left the race. Why does anyone expect her to do otherwise? The Republican Party cut her off at the insistence of the base activists -- loyalty is a two way street.

Red Storm Rising?

2009-11-03T21:42:00.004-06:00

Or at least, I think it is safe to say the blue tide is now ebbing.

The two important items from last night are:

What impact does this have on President Obama
What impact does the results of NY23 have on the GOP?

Well, to answer item number one, I would respond this has a huge impact. Do you think President Obama was trying to get things passed too quickly before? You have seen nothing, there will be a lot more pressure now that there is a real signaling that President Obama's popularity is due to personal matters rather than policy matters. Does anyone believe if Corzine and Deeds (either or both) won their races the Democrats wouldn't be talking of vindication?

On item 2 and this one is the more contentious of the two questions I raise. Democrats are holding on to this one like a Titanic passenger holding onto a piece of flotsam. Was it a defeat for conservatism and does this mean the blue tide continues to rise? It was not a win there is no doubt about it but I think partisans from both sides are reading too much into Owen's victory there.

Dede Scozzafava is what most people consider very liberal, but she is a resident and presumably knowledgeable of the issues in the district. Hoffman, (according to reports I have seen) is from out of the NY23 district and Jim Geraghty has an interesting post on Hoffman's weaknesses as a candidate. Hoffman was not knowledgeable of the issues of direct concern to the NY23rd district and for what other reason do we elect representatives to congress for? Yeah, I want them to hold right views on taxes, medical care, national defense and so on, but they also need to understand about the things that directly affect their constituent's lives.

I have this notion that NY23 is like my district the WI-08. Most of the district is dominated by the local Republican Parties. If you want to win a local election in WI-08 counties you had better be a member of that county's Republican party. This means, if you hold leftist political views but want to become sheriff you need to join the Republican Party. It works this way in Democratic controlled counties too.

In addition, we see the country club effect too -- someone wants access to the business connections membership in the local dominant party confers. So you even though you may be a doctrinaire Democrat you end up being a power-player in the local Republican party. This sounds a lot like how Dede Scozzafava was tapped to be the candidate in the NY23.

While I would have preferred Hoffman to win, Owens is an improvement over Scozzafava.

Bud Light Collateral Advertising

2009-11-03T13:08:00.002-06:00

How many of you have seen the advertisements for the goofy Bud-Light collateral? You know, the grooler -- the combination cooler & grill?

Last night, at a farewell party one of the people explained to us what all that goofy gear really is about. It seems like goofy stuff is being pitched but of course by now (if not before or earlier) you know the real product being pitched is the beer.

However, you do notice those advertisements do not mention beer, right? Well, the NCAA has a policy of not accepting advertisements for alcohol products or at least more and more colleges have this policy. The Bud Light collateral advertisements are just taking an advantage of a loophole and the brand awareness. The product being pitched is not beer so therefore colleges can take the money.

I have yet to see any of that gear on the streets but I am sure sooner or later it will start to show up here and there and in the thrift shops and at rummage sales.

The Latest Wave of 419 Scams

2009-10-30T11:44:00.002-05:00

Involve around a job offer.

Typically the pitch involves:

We are an international company

Would you like a lucrative and prestigious jobs

We need you to process payments

I never read them all the way through too closely but the scam sounds like you are to take payments, deposit them into you bank account, and then the "company" receives payment via your account. Of course "leaving" some for you.

However, anyone with half a brain cell understands if one does receive "payments" they will be "dud cheques" and the Nigerians on the other end will clean out your account for all it is worth.

I do not know if that would really be a 419 scam but it is pretty close and in any case it is still obviously fraudulent.

Jerry Bader - The Mess He is In

2009-10-29T10:31:00.001-05:00

I listen to a local talk show hosted by Jerry Bader on AM 1360. Recently he made a report on air and on his blog about a former Democratic candidate for governor of Wisconsin. I will not get into the details (you can see them by googling or following the link above). In any event he retracted his report and is now suspended for two weeks and WTAQ and its management is mulling Jerry's future with WTAQ.

The report was not widely discussed on the WI Blogs but James Wigderson made this initial post on the story. He is not so much passing it as fact but does note it had better be fact. However, the most interesting commentary is in in this post after Bader retracted the story:

Also interesting would have been a discussion of why the news organizations waited. They were not saints. WTMJ’s John Jagler wrote on Twitter, “the Barbara Lawton rumors have the entire media world freaking out. Who will be the first major news outlet to break it?”

When I tweeted back to him the link to Bader’s podcast, Jagler responded, “that’s not big enough”.

Not that WTAQ and Bader weren’t credible, or that Jagler didn’t believe what Bader said, or that they were trying to verify the story. Just that Jagler was hoping someone bigger would go with the story, prompting my sarcastic reply, “Really? That’s the excuse? (At this point I’ll refrain from making a joke about the shrinking of Journal Communications.)”

Source:Why blame the blogs? — Wigderson Pub & Library That is, the news people at WTMJ wanted to run with the story but were afraid to they wanted to run with a herd.

Fear of bad consequences is an important human emotion it prevents people from receiving bad consequences.

I heard the original reports from Jerry on air and wondered what was really to be gained from public knowledge of the story? Lawton was out of the race and from what we all pretty much know I think it can be assumed at the very least there was tremendous pressure from Democratic bigs on her to withdraw from the race.

I like Jerry and if WTAQ sends him packing, I will simply stop listening to WTAQ, I don't even need WTAQ for the 11am - 2pm talk show host, because if I am feeling like Rush I usually pull Rush up via internet stream.

The Unemployment Numbers

2009-10-15T21:12:00.002-05:00

Reports state new unemployment filings continue to decline.

I expect to hear two diametrically opposed themes when the analyst and opinion makers get a hold of this story. One is Obama's stimulus is working. The other is Obama's stimulus is not working and the state controlled media is trying to spin what are awful stories into good stories.

I call BS on both.

Any trend before it can go in the reverse direction first has to slow down, stop, and then trend in the opposite direction. That is to say, before our economy can start adding jobs it must first lose jobs more slowly. In addition, we all have heard the arguments that unemployment is an awkward statistic. A person may fall out of the ranks of the unemployed because they have stopped looking, because their unemployment compensation is expired, or they have taken a new job. When a person gets a job, they just stop filing they don't give explicit alert to the change in their status. Pols, analysts, and economists then argue about the person's true status rather than knowing what it is.

Now, does Obama's stimulus have any hand in this reducing trend? Little if any, I see a crisis brought on by a bubble dynamic and it will take more than a sugar buzz to get us out of this situation.

Rushing the Rams -- Keith Olbermann for the Defense?

2009-10-15T20:59:00.002-05:00

I heard this on the radio this morning and noted in another forum today. However, I got to thinking about this, as I heard very little about this today. However, I did a quick Google and sure enough Keith tagged the opponents of the Rush NFL deal as his third worst person of the day. From the report I link to, there is a bit of scoffing at how Rush is pouring good money down a hole but Olbermann is quoted as saying (and this quote IS attributed to a day & time and the link includes video):

"There are now going to be character tests for sports owners?" Olbermann said. "There will only be three of them left. Unless they beat the Vikings Sunday, as of next Thursday it will have been a full year since the Rams won a game. My God, if Limbaugh wants to buy them, far be it for me to tell them he's flushing his money down a rat hole."

Source: NewsBusters — Olbermann to Left-Wingers Opposed to Limbaugh’s Rams Purchase: Stand Down

As you can well imagine, I regard Keith Olbermann little, but I really salute him in this even if it is because he may be contemplating a similar purchase and does not want any bids of his own getting spiked because of his outspoken views.

Rushing Rush

2009-10-14T20:02:00.001-05:00

With that old play known as fake, but accurate and it works this time. Apparently, Rush is no longer part of the buyers group. This is interesting.

A few observations.

Many opposed noted how sports and athletics is a unifying thing and the last thing it needs is a divisive figure. Well, friends, it takes to two or more to be divisive. So, divisiveness as usual is defined as not agreeing with the left or perhaps at being an effective spokesmen against the left.

I find it quite interesting the left is peddling all of these horrible quotes. However, they can not provide any specifics. They talk and parrot two main lines (which I will not repeat) but can not provide any sourcing for those quotes. In fact, at least one quote appears to be originally attributed to Rush by some blogger. The left is now retreated to their fallback position of fake, but accurate.

As a long time listener of Rush (I don't listen to Rush all the time but often enough) I agree with the fake but strenuously disagree with accurate. Most of those in this fight against Rush do not listen to Rush and base their opinions on what is relayed to them by the mainstream mastodons.

The NFL is full of thugs and the commissioner reinstated Michael Vick (I supported Vick's reinstatement) which I remember seeing a lot of people in my social network disapprove of.

Fighting dogs we are okay with, fighting leftists we are not.

Jack Voight for Outagamie County Executive

2009-10-12T20:36:00.002-05:00

Hey now.

Back in June of '09 I noted how Jack Voight is planning to run for Outagamie County Executive. Well, this previous Saturday I received a mailing from his campaign and note this his campaign website at: http://www.jackvoight.org. Check it out!

Go Jack Go!

King Dollar is Not Well

2009-10-09T19:07:00.002-05:00

There has been a lot of talk on the condition of the dollar. The dollar is declining in relative value to other stores of wealth. Gold is at record highs and Larry Kudlow notes with respect to gold S&P 500 has declined (S&P up 18% Gold up 21%).

Now, administrations often choose to pursue a strong dollar or a weak dollar policy. Weak dollar is good for exporters (US goods are more competitively priced) and strong dollars are good for those of us who consume foreign produced goods (spell it o-i-l). Within a given range we are looking at trading off one desirable end for another desirable end.

However, once the currency gets out of whack with others then bad things begin to happen. Last summer (summer of 2008) I paid close attention to the dollar as its state was frequently cited as one factor in the high price of gasoline. Yeah, at one time the US $ was on par or slighly weaker than the Canadian dollar (which in my previous trip north was trading at about 67 US cents to one Loonie). Then the full effects of the housing bubble burst took hold and the dollar strengthened up. Well since then we had an election , a new president, and a hard and determined push to greatly increase government spending. In addition, talk of replacing the dollar as the currency oil is traded in & are adding up to one thing people and nations are beginning to fear the serious devaluation of the dollar. To be sure, every time the dollar was low, OPEC always made noise about demanding something other than dollars but other nations are starting to join in this chorus.

The Prize

2009-10-09T15:11:00.003-05:00

President Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

There is not a whole lot to criticize President Obama about on this. I have seen reports the Whitehouse initially thought they were being punked. However, there are some neat comments out there poking fun at the Obamamania — that he will win the Cy Young award, he will win the Heisman Trophy, that he will win every 2012 Olympic gold medal, and so on.

However, when the laughing is done and it comes time to think about this, it is obvious this award is not serious. It did not just become "unserious" but this prize became unserious when Yasser Arafat won it (Jimmy Carter did IMO earn the award by brokering a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt which is an accomplishment despite the fact the treaty does not mean all that much either). Yasser Arafat won this prize and is an insult to genuine peace advocates who have received the prize and he is not the only such person on the list.

Repeating History

2009-10-03T22:22:00.003-05:00

One of the cliches we all recognize as cliche by the time we are about 16 years old is those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. I got to thinking of that one, in light of a session I had of hunting down old blues music &$151; especially those tunes covered by the Grateful Dead. There are three songs covered by the Grateful Dead (however, one dropped out of their repertoire perhaps in the late '60s or early '70s, but one other definitely not, and the other was altered significantly enough to be distinct -- but is definitely based on Canon's work).

The original artist (AFAIK) is Gus Cannon a black banjo player from the early 20th century and he played a bluegrassey sort of blues music. The three songs are Viola Lee Blues, Big Railroad Blues, and the New Minglewood Blues. When searchlight for YouTube Grateful Dead renditions of Viola Lee Blues (there appears to be only one and that from the Monterrey Pop Festival) I came across the Gus Cannon pieces (see Wikipedia on Gus Cannon. The Grateful Dead renditions are nothing less than history in repetition.

However, there are a lot more examples of history repeating itself that result in a positive outcome. One example is (and I have the details foggy) a British commander in Palestine during WWI was maneuvering to fight an enemy force. He recalled a Biblical story of Joshua fighting a battle in the same area and how Joshua used a relatively unknown mountain pass to maneuver behind and win the battle. Sure enough, the pass was there, and the British commander repeated history.

Learn history not to learn how to avoid repeating it, learn history to learn when to repeat it.

Update: The WWI battle I describe relates to the Michmash Pass and the Biblical account of the original maneuver is documented in 1st Samuel Chapters 13 & 14.

Her Name is Rio and She Dances on the Sand!

2009-10-03T18:48:00.002-05:00

Yes, my take on the failed Chicago Olympic bid.

What is the big deal one way or another here? I too was shocked, after all that almost trite notion that the president doesn't go to something like that unless it is in the bag is something I too generally believe in.

First, I wanted the Olympics to come to Chicago. We live about four hours away and it would not have inconvenienced us and probably would have led to increased tourism in the area (i.e. people staying in the hotels to go to Chicago & its surrounding environs for the games) which is always a good thing. Two, so what if the President got involved with it? I'ld rather have him doing that than making a mash of important things.

However, as we all know the Olympics went to Rio de Jenerio. No big deal, but from what I understand Michelle's and Obama's speeches were all about themselves and what the Olympics could do for Chicago and that is the wrong way to make a sale.

One other thing people are carping on is the waste of fuel and expenses to ferry Michelle & Obama back & forth. To this I say so what?

Guess Chicago didn't buy the IOC enough booze, hookers, and trinkets.

Job Hunt Frustrations

2009-09-24T18:57:00.002-05:00

I got a call yesterday from local company X — in regards to a position I had put in for early last July. Yeeee-haw! The HR Droid was hot to get me talking with hiring manager the earlier the better, so despite things on today's schedule I assented to a phone interview at 1:00 pm this afternoon.

Early in the morning, I did some research on the company, drafted a list of questions I had, and went over some of the typical interview questions and formulated responses to those questions. Then I reviewed my job boards and put in for another position I saw listed. While prepping for the interview, the firm working to fill the position I applied to this morning called. She specifically said the client expects me to put any job hunt on hold while working this gig (till end of the year) and commit to it. I then informed the recruiter I was phone interviewing with Company X, so she proposed to call me in the middle of next week.

So, that all done, I went outside and dug a large deep hole for the maple tree that needed planting and that finished up at about lunch time t-minus 1-hour to the interview. I made a couple of BLTs with a fresh picked & ripe tomato and cleaned up. T-minus 15 minutes, so I gathered up extra pens, got my reading glasses handy, pulled out my question list, and readied my portfolio for the call. 1:00 comes, no call understandable since they are just returning from lunch. 1:15 comes, well maybe an urgent situation came up and they are running late. 1:30 comes, now I'm getting POed. 1:45 comes I finally calm down enough to quit pacing and sit on the couch. 1:50 comes I am dozing off. 1:55 comes, and so does my Father to help with the maple planting.

I waited until about 2:15 put on my work boots and gathered up what we needed to plant the maple tree.

Company X you just took a hit in my eyes. I can be forgiving but the promised e-mails never turned up and you missed the first call. I'll suck it up and see what happens next but I hope this is not a pattern.

LOL, Company Y which I interviewed at last spring is looking to hire a person to implement a billing system. I'm not putting in for that, the person looking to hire is going to fritter the first interview by telling the applicant how cool he is and how the rest of the people in the company view him as the anti-Christ and how his kid is tweeting, and txting from the Indian quad-chair.

Mandating Health Care & Pre-Existing Conditions

2009-09-20T21:04:00.003-05:00

One commone argument the left brings up in the health care debate is how insurance companies refuse to cover pre-existing conditions. For insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions would be like asking your bookmaker to take a bet the Packers in today's game (the Packers lost in a game that appeared much closer than it really was) during the final drive of the game. The bookie is not going to do it. For insurance to work both parties must exchange risk, and if you buy an insurance policy after you know you have a given medical condition you are not risking anything.

However, refusing to cover those with pre-existing conditions makes for tear laden news stories. So, President Brk and his congressional allies tell us they, mean to end the scourge of non-coverage of pre-existing conditions. How will they do that? Does the government plan to coerce the insurance companies into covering all pre-existing medical conditions? Oh-no, not at all. They will eliminate pre-existing conditions by coercing YOU to always carry a health insurance policy. You see, if the government coerces you into always being covered by a health insurance policy then you will never have a pre-existing medical condition. If you don't have your own policy than the IRS will make sure you do.

Now, there is no dobut it is wise having a health policy always. I've had two periods when I had to come up with my own coverage. The first was after I was no longer a dependent on my parents. I bought my own policy with a high deductible. Next, was when I was in the UAE I bought a health policy to cover any treatment beyond lancing a boil as I did not trust that nationalized health system. The next time was post-UAE and pre-employment, again the policy was purchased with my own dollars and carried a high deductible. I don't need a policy to cover a bad case of gas but for major treatment needs.

So remember, no more denial for pre-existing conditions means having the IRS as your insurance dealer.

Missing DNA -- No CYA Just Get the DNA

2009-09-19T22:58:00.005-05:00

I heard a radio report on the missing DNA problem.

They are talking about knocking on up to 12,000 doors and demanding samples. I am thinking that that is going to cost a lot of dollars. All such folks who are in custody somewhere or fall back into custody — get their DNA, but don't go traipsing all over the nation to collect the samples.

Another thing we should not do. A fellow quoted in that radio report noted they are hard at work not pointing fingers & working to fix the problems. Here here! If we try to get some heads to display on pikes there will be a lot of effort spent in CYA rather than in learning what happened and developing fixes.

In fact, isn't it ironic, how the more we demand accountability the murkier things get? People end up filling out more forms, providing more explanations, hiring more lawyers, creating more fine print, and we drown in information overload. We have so many facts and figures available to us we become unable to sort it all out and make sense of it.

Of course, I don't expect a lot of people will take this admonition anymore seriously than pointing out to Claude Rain he was just gambling in the back of Rick's as he is closing Rick's down for gambling.

I think the Vatican should make Claude Rains the patron saint of politics.

Update 10/23/2009 This will be my last reference to Claude Rains in my writing. If I do it again please, beat me up for it!

Missing DNA

2009-09-19T22:13:00.002-05:00

The story is not exactly new, but I am starting to look into the case of the missing DNA.

WTMJ provides a report of the case, which by the reports have some 12,000 records with missing DNA. The recent arrest of a serial killer who was a convicted felon spurred the discovery.

Now, the reports I am also reading indicate Ellis (the serial murderer) appears to have convinced another felon to provide the DNA. So in this case, the DNA is not missing but inaccurate. I am quite skeptical there are 12,000 instances where one felon obtained DNA from another prisoner and submitted it as his/her own; if so, this shows the DOC is more trusting of felons than employers are of employees and it is easier to cheat the felon DNA database than of a pre-employment drug screening — and I find that scandalous.

This Yahoo story provides some more details:

The database has between 120,000 and 130,000 profiles, Hamblin said. Some of the missing ones may be from people convicted of felonies but sentenced to probation, meaning they never reported to prison to have a sample taken, he added.
...
Authorities have said they might have focused on Ellis sooner if his DNA were in the state database, as it should have been if a sample were taken when he served an earlier prison term. Ellis pleaded no contest in 1998 to second-degree reckless injury.

The state crime lab did receive a sample in 2001 that had Ellis' name on it, Van Hollen said. When it was put in the database, the system matched it to a previous sample under a different inmate's name, so it registered as a duplicate and no profile was entered for Ellis, he said.

Source: Yahoo News — Audit: Wisc. database missing DNA of 12K felons Now, one of the thoughts entering my mind was that of a problem with the storage & retrieval system (aka the computers)? That does not appear to be the case, as this and other articles are pointing at poor procedures or lack of follow up. However, computer bugs are more than capable of losing those records.

I do not know about DNA record storage, but it is an established fact a person has unique DNA (however, there are exceedingly rare cases where DNA tests can not distinguish between two individuals) and that leads me to be believe duplicate DNA records for two supposed different individuals should lead to immediate action in order to reconcile the DNA samples and to initiate corrective action.

Now, the fact that Ellis was able to get another felon to pass off another felon's DNA as his own indicates to me the procedures used to collect the samples are faulty too. I did a little googling on this matter and did not find out too much but that the state of Missouri accepts "blood or scientifically acceptable biological sample" I detect a euphemism and my guess is sample collection kits include a copy of the latest Penthouse Magazine. So, I suppose, Felon X could ask/coerce/convince/whatever Felon Y to provide a sample of "genetic material" but that should be caught by using the same sort of techniques used in pre-employment drug screening, no?

The last area of focus is that of felons who are sentenced to probation only. Those individuals, I would think, should be remanded to the nearest jail capable of handling them until their sample is collected and verified.

The New Windows Ad

2009-09-14T22:24:00.003-05:00

Have you seen it?

Windows attempts to confuse people by hitching the hardware (the PC) to its operating system (Windows and in this case Windows 7). In this case, I guess it makes sense but the Apple commercials doing the same are not so sensible. In fact, Apple's operating system is a close relative to the one I prefer to use and I use to run our PC class hardware.

Now to my main gripe about the commercial.

Yeah, I know the little girl is cute and so are the pictures but I say WTF is that? I guess MS is trying targeting a very specific segment of the market with that advertisement (grandmothers?). Also, they could put up the slide captions in latin as I have this notion people are not reading them (a vast majority of those I suspect who form the target market probably wouldn't understand the captions anyway).

Someone Gave a Speech Tonight?

2009-09-09T22:55:00.002-05:00

So my tweeps & Facebookies are hinting at. Really, what did he say? Hehehe, Yeah I know Preisdent Brk gave a speech this evening and there was 0 chance he was going to say anything other than my way — I want you all to be wards of the state.

What I did do was work on cutting up three cords of oak this evening. What a pleasure that was, we had a pretty good setup. My source had the logs on his property and it was a big pile the pieces were 8' long each and anywhere from 2' to perhaps 3" in diameter. He had a machine that he could pick up the logs with and swing them over to us. We would then cut the pieces outside the claw and the last piece would get dumped and I would cut that up. I attempted to cut but the chain on my saw was not as sharp as it was a week (or so) ago. So, I would cut the leftovers so my cousin could concentrate on the full sized logs. I'ld get caught up and then help with stacking.

The wood is mixed, some pieces had green leaves on them and some were cracking already. I am guessing most of the wood will not be ready until next fall -- however, then I will have a good supply chain built up. I'll have to go and get some more wood that I know is ready for burning (and I know where there is some oak for that purpose).

Oak has a realy spicy smell to it when it is cut up and the smell of Romano cheese is also hinted at. So different from maple which is a sweet smell (think maple syrup). I love woodmaking. I'll split some with my 6 pounder and some will be split using a power splitter -- 2' x 16" oak is not going to split very readily.

Mercury Marine 2,800

2009-09-08T15:11:00.004-05:00

One thing I see a lot of people forgetting when discussing the Mercury Marine Situation is the fact Mercury Marine was primarily looking to consolidate two plants spread out by pretty much the width of our nation.

These jobs are going to leave anyways in two years. These guys are going to get knocked back to $15 while top executives will suffer nothing.

Source: Boots & Sabers Comment #5 by Keith Schmitz re: Yes!
What Keith is obviously forgetting is that another result of this vote is Brunswick will move MerCruiser manufacturing from Stillwater OK to Fond du Lac. Does it make at all sense for Brunswick to move MerCruiser to Fond du Lac and then (perhaps) before the move is complete shut down Fond du Lac and move it all again? No, it does not.

Mercury Marine is making a serious commitment to Fond du Lac and Wisconsin with this move, and from all appearances this is what Mercury Marine's management wanted.

Yeah, no doubt the concessions made by the Union are tough a pay cut is never an event to be joyed over, but are pay freezes worse than 100% pay cuts? Yeah, if I was a floor worker at Mercury Marine I'ld be looking, fortunately, there is an employer not too far away looking for extra help in similar manufacturing endeavors.

Every Time for a Beer and a Beer for Every Time

2009-09-08T14:13:00.002-05:00

Time for a blog on beer.

One thing that drives me absolutely nuts is people who dis American beer especially what one can refer to as American standard lagers (ASL) light or otherwise. They will trot the old joke about making love on a canoe or point to obscure micro brews or imports. It all gets rather tedious hearing yet another white person go on about MilCoorWeiser. Especially silly are Canadians or Aussies engaging in the same act, as their big beers are pretty darned close to ALS.

The ALS especially the light ones can be viewed as short beers. A show on the History Channel noted that the short beer (maybe an ale as opposed to a lager beer, IIRC, lagers were not developed until the 19th Century) was the staple beer of Europe in the times when water was practically poisonous due to unsanitary public health and hygiene practices (i.e. before people learned about microbes and their role in diseases and that removing such microbes from water rendered it okay to drink) and this means it was drank all day long.

Now, when you are outside and working in the middle of a summer day when the temperature is 87&#deg; F what do you want when the work is over? A heavy bodied highly alcoholic beer? That is not what I crave, I want a light bodied beer low in alcohol.

I am not saying there is anything from the heavy bodied beer, it is just the time and place for that is different. For example, after a day of skiing nothing satisfies as much as a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Another summer favorite is the heffe-weizen class of beers.

Funny Thing Happened On the Way to YouTube

2009-09-06T14:54:00.004-05:00

Doofus says he doesn't allow video-taping his Town Hall meetings because they may end up on YouTube: I'm sure the guys that beat Rodney King had the same policy.

Another Dumb Commercial

2009-09-06T14:44:00.002-05:00

Is being put out by Saturn. You know the one, where Jim Smith is on TV telling us how he is sick of the pundits telling us how American car companies can not build cars Americans want to buy. He has it wrong, of course, it would not do to relate what the pundits really are saying — and that is the government will not be able to build cars Americans want to buy and the restrictions & regulations they try to promulgate will cause them to build cars we don't want to buy.

Clearly President Brk wants us to not drive at all, but if we must (we must, we must) then he wants us in pint sized shoeboxes — and those cars Jim Smith — Americans will not buy no matter who makes them.

Yeah yeah, I've seen a car around that makes a shoebox look like a Suburban, but it will not be a viable model or lineup.

Van Gone

2009-09-06T11:27:00.002-05:00

Van Jones is gone from the Whitehouse.

This is good news. Part of what I like about this is good ole partisan payback, but Van Jones is a kook who does not belong there.

The way this process was handled by all involved it seems most people around President Brk believe he should be there and are perfectly comfortable with his views regarding 9/11 and race. This kinda reminds of John Edwards and his KKK bloggers (yeah your heard me right, remember anti-Catholicism is one of the hallmarks of the KKK). John & his organization even when presented with some of their virulent and repeated slurs against Catholics continued to defend them. One could not help but believe John was sympathetic to those views.

President Brk is to cagey to express such views in the open, but by picking a person like Van Jones to hold a czar level posting and then stand by him, makes beleive he is very sympathetic to them.

Opposing Obama-Care

2009-09-05T21:56:00.002-05:00

I am seeing a lot of Republican angst against the opposition to Obama Care.

One refrain I often hear is the Republicans do not have an alternative to present. Paul Ryan has one, but how much you want to bet that Nancy Pelosi is going to let him present that bill? Come on, know a bit how the game works (and yes we hear these same whines vs. the Dems when they were out of power in the House) and it is when you are in power you use it for all you are worth, as well all know, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

So, what are the Republicans to do? It would be silly to attempt to pursue their own agenda at the moment, because the leadership in the Congress & the Whitehouse will not allow it. The Republicans have one objective and that is to stop the Dems from getting everything they want and to not cooperate (as much as possible) in passing damaging legislation. The Democrats can pass whatever they want, let them own their bills, let them take credit for the misery their bills bring.

When I'm driving from time to time I find the car going in a bad direction. Young drivers tend to overreact and put themselves into another bad position (or flip their car). The first goal of getting out of your predicament is to stop your current situation from getting worse, once that is done, then correct direction.

Republicans must first stop the Democrats and then can work on getting their wheels out of the ditch.

President Brk's Speech to the Crumb Crunchers

2009-09-05T21:18:00.002-05:00

Is causing a bit of a stir, and I don't think it is mainly the speech in and of itself it was that first "lesson plan" about writing an essay to pledge what one can do for President Brk.

Now, the President is a person that people naturally look up to — especially children. After all, when little children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, will often answer the president of the USA. Of course, we as adults realize the job is not all its cracked up to be or more likely we are not cracked up to be the president. So, as long as President Brk keeps his comments to: study hard, don't drop out,... we are all fine.

If he strays into policy matters and tells the crumb crunchers to pester their parents to support socialized pez candy distribution then the situation changes. I've seen it pointed out past presidents have done that, asked school children to support their programs. As the old saying goes it wasn't right then and it isn't now.

However, and this may seem like I'm hedging here, it is a healthy thing for a liberal (used in its traditional sense) society to to reject such injections of presidential sway into the classroom.

In addition, I like the notion of some parents are going to keep their children home that day. Take your children somewhere where they can learn or go over their upcoming lesson materials or do something with them they will remember. I remember one fall day out of school walking through creek bottoms jump shooting ducks with Dad, Grandpa, and my Uncle Rich -- a memory I'll treasure till I die, the lessons in school that day would be nothing but an indistinguishable blur.

The Wisconsin Anti-OWI Adverts

2009-09-03T20:45:00.002-05:00

Are good. Those national adverts showing the car door opening and beer or booze flowing out of the car are stupid and dumb.

However, the ad.s trying to put the viewer in the place of a guy about to be arrested for OWI and being processed are powerful. I'ld be interesting to know of any results follow up studies they may perform to gauge the campaign's effectiveness.

Mercury Marine Voting Again

2009-09-03T20:11:00.002-05:00

The IAMAW Local #1947 union is voting for a third time, wow, I guess you really do get three strikes.

However, an interesting report arises from the Wisconsin Radio Network:

Rodriguez [one of the organizers of the re-vote effort] says there’s a lot of politicking going on at Machinists Lodge 1947 in Fond du Lac, where the voting is taking place on the contract. He says it’s hard to believe that people are telling workers to vote no again, after all of the work that went into calling a third ballot.

Source: Wisconsin Radio Network —
Pressure on for Mercury Marine workers This is why unions stink. This union has been given plenty of opportunity to accept the contract including a re-vote and yet another do-over on the vote. Now, they have the third re-vote and the Union is still trying to muscle workers into rejecting the contract.

Let us pray this vote is affirmative and then the workers vote again on IAMAW decertification.

Those Stupid Mac Commercials

2009-08-31T22:48:00.002-05:00

I think they can be cute and funny, but in the end they are misleading. You see, they are trying to equate the operating system with the hardware and that is not the case. While, to the best of my knowledge, there is only one operating system available for the Mac (what Mac says) there are multiple operating systems one can use to run their PC class machine.

Not all of those systems come from Redmond Washington either.

The Kennedy Memorial Bill

2009-08-31T20:19:00.002-05:00

If the Democrats want to name that health care monstrosity bill after Teddy Kennedy, I say let them and so what? It is fitting and I do not think it over the top. However, it will do nothing to change the tenor of the debate or roll the bill's opponents.

August 2009

2009-08-31T16:54:00.002-05:00

Was chilly, so chilly in fact, I am seeing a lot of google hits that this August (it is still August here) set a lot of records for chill.

Our neighbors report their raspberry bushes have lots of berries but they are small and and behind schedule. My brother was up north this morning and left for home early, he reports seeing frost and around here, Weather Underground reports a low of 41.8 &#deg; F — 14 &#deg; F below average!

More details on this to follow as I get them.

Mercury Marine It is Over

2009-08-31T16:08:00.002-05:00

The Mercury Marine move is now pretty much a done deal.

Over at Boots and Sabers I got into a discussion and over there one of the commentators took the position we were witnessing standard negotiating Mercury makes a crazy proposal, Union rejects, Mercury makes a more reasonable offer, and so on and so forth. I warned this was a serious situation and to believe otherwise is nothing but whistling.

Anyway the offer Mercury had on the table was valid through the end of last Saturday and the Union finally stopped dragging its feet and commenced a revote late Saturday but there was little notice provided and the Union asked Mercury to allow voting on Sunday, to which, Mercury answered no and they would not honor any votes cast on Sunday.

So, now the contract stands as is until 2012. By 2012 I would guess most of the manufacturing employees will be let go and moved out of the area or have found a new job. I am skeptical most of the manufacturing employees will be offered the chance to move.

In the meantime, there are roughly 1,100 or so jobs on the line. The corporate jobs are now up for discussion. The price of keeping those jobs rose as why would/should Mercury keep those jobs here and maintain those jobs away from their manufacturing center?

Bottom line is the corporate jobs are moving too, the only difference is most of those people will be offered the choice of relocating to Stillwater.

Mercury Marine Revoting?

2009-08-29T18:31:00.002-05:00

There is a petition drive going on among IAM local 1947 members to force a revote on the contract proposal. According to sources I have on Twitter they petition has around 300 of 440 needed to force the revote. I would really like to see the count of the first vote, this is no longer sounding like a "wide margin". I don't believe the union leadership on this one.

However, my recollection is Mercury management said their offer was open until today. Maybe MM is leaving it on the table?

Mercury Marine I Do Not Think So!

2009-08-29T15:09:00.002-05:00

Searching "the boards" I found a posting from Mercury Marine, they are looking for an HR/Oracle analyst.

Wow, that must be getting a lot of response, with the future of Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac being very much up in the air. IMO, they wasted some bucks on putting that position up and should wait until they decide if all of Mercury is to Move or just the manufacturing operations.

Busting up Some Stuff!

2009-08-26T21:30:00.003-05:00

Today, I finished busting up some stuff with my six pound maul. Yeah, it is a splitting maul with a fiberglass handle. I got a hold of about 30' feet of maple tree ranging from 14" to 10" in diameter. I bucked the 4' and 8' sections into 16" pieces.

I like splitting wood. We are always told to be careful, gentle not too hard, softly, etc and so on. With wood splitting the intention is to use brutal force to break — to crack things into pieces.

Not too long ago I split some softwood — white birch. It is quite amazing how one notices all sorts of differences between wood species. The smells are distinctly different depending upon species. Maple is a very sweet smell, oak has an earthy almost nutty smell to it, and birch has its own smell too but I've not worked with enough of that to describe it.

Of the woods I've split oak is the easiest to split but then again, the majority of oak I've cracked it was fairly well seasoned already. The maple is all pretty green and on a number of the rounds I had to hit four-five times until the rounder finally split.

The birch was interesting. Birch as most of you may know is a soft wood that doesn't mean it was easy to split, in fact in some ways it was a challenge. The birch I had was fairly moist and the rounders would just swallow up the bit of my maul and eat it up. Once I hit it enough it would split but the bark of the birch is strong, I would have to take a whack on that to tear that apart and then the bark would peel right off. The birch rounds were very soft on the outside they seem to rot from the outside in — no wonder why birch bark can be put to use as a canoe skin it is waterproof, strong, and light. One may think birch is a bad firewood and I intend to use it to get my fires going, no I will not be throwing birch into my fireplace all night, but once it goes then the harder woods (oak, ash, maple, etc), however the birch is seasoning rapidly.

I take a special joy in cracking wood. There is little subtlety to it, sure one eyes up a piece like a diamond cutter eyes up a diamond to find an inviting split but no matter the goal is always to hit the piece with a lot of brute force. It is a thrill to see and hear the piece explode into two piece and blast away from the axe as it comes down, especially when the rounder is stubborn.

I saw someone else's writing on splitting firewood and their summary of splitting wood was — exercise with a point. Working my axe I use my arms, legs, and my abdominals. I feel little of my back getting into the act which is good, I can tolerate (even crave for) the feeling of fatigued arms, legs, and abs (the next day) I don't like the back feeling fatigued. Twice warmed they say!

Mercury Marine The Contract

2009-08-24T10:56:00.003-05:00

One thing that is serving as a source of friction in discussing the Mercury Marine situation is in understanding what Mercury proposed and what they did not.

I have seen a number of misunderstandings of this contract and in fact I had a key misunderstanding up until the day of the vote.

The one that had me blinkered was the notion that Mercury Marine (MM) was offering a three year stay in Fond du Lac (FDL) guarantee. One needs to recall, the driving force behind this is MM's desire to consolidate facilities.

Currently, MM has a facility in Stillwater OK producing their IO engines (Their MerCruiser line) and the headquarters, their parts and accessories central warehouse, and their medium to large outboard engine manufacturing in Fond du Lac.

When I was under the notion that the guarantee was only for three years I also forgot the party about consolidation. This had me thinking MM was setting the union up to be a patsy in this. However, if the union approved the contract the carrot was to bring the MerCruiser line to FDL. How much sense does it make to move a plant from Stillwater to FDL and then say "Now, that we are all settled here in FDL, we will move to XYZ". It does not. So, this guarantee was much more solid and substantial than I had thought and others continue to think.

There are a number of people claiming the contract contained a huge pay cut. Partly true. New hires and those returning from layoff were going to get hit with the pay cut, which amounted to something like 65-70% of the current average wage. There are some people characterizing the pay cut as being company wide, it is not.

There are other items in the contract too regarding medical insurance and the retirement plan. MM wanted the employees to pay for more of their insurance and to transition away from a pension style retirement plan to a 401K style plan.

Mercury Marine Union, Management, and State

2009-08-23T21:19:00.002-05:00

In the discussions I see going on in the WI blogosphere mostly at Boots and Sabers there seems to be two villains. If you are coming from the left management is the villain and if you are coming from the right typically the union is at fault.

I see little discussion about the State of Wisconsin's role and by the state of Wisconsin I mean our government. I think it is this government that is most at fault. First, Jim Doyle made no obvious effort to try to broker a more favorable deal. Then our legislature seems hell bent on attacking, harassing, and punishing businesses.

Now, in good times a business can shrug off a demanding union, an apathetic governor, and a punishing legislature. In bad times, businesses need some slack. Now, perhaps not all of the previously needed factors need to loosen up, but right now we have a perfect storm here in Wisconsin and Mercury Marine is choosing to sail out of that perfect storm.

Mercury Marine - A Full House Beats A Pair

2009-08-23T14:19:00.002-05:00

The Journal Sentinel publishes the following:

Posted: Aug. 23, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Fond du Lac — Officials at Mercury Marine, in reaction to a union vote overwhelmingly rejecting a contract proposal, announced Sunday that the company will consolidate much of its Fond du Lac manufacturing operations with its existing operations in Stillwater, Okla.

The full consolidation is expected to take between 24 and 36 months, the company said. After the consolidation, the company said, there will be "from zero to 200" manufacturing jobs left at the Fond du Lac plant.

The consolidation is expected to begin later this year.

Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — Bulletin: Mercury Marine says it'll move jobs south (Rick Barrett)

Mercury Marine IAM Local Shoots Down Contract

2009-08-23T12:38:00.003-05:00

WTAQ tweets that the Mercury Marine union voted by a wide margin to disapprove the contract offered by the company. MM management made it clear the consequence of such action would be to consolidate MM in Stillwater OK.

My understanding I was working on before was that a three stay in FDL guarantee was given to the Union and that told me MM was not planning on staying regardless of the results. However, I had forgotten part of the carrot was moving MerCruiser up to FDL, that is, the guarantee was genuine, which for a while I thought was not.

However, the Union rejected the contract and now it is up to Mercury to follow through on its threat to move their operations to Stillwater. I suspect they will.

My understanding of the new contract was that it froze pay at current levels, asked employees to take on a bigger share of insurance costs, and started to move from a pension plan to a 401K style plan. A lot of companies are taking pay cuts — not just pay freezes. As for the last two items those are standard ways of doing things now-a-days. So, union guy, loses his job, non-union guy loses his job, and FDL residents who are not employed or otherwise affected by MM get the shaft.

I know we'll see all sorts of letters and whining about the greed of corporations — fact is though — clear warnings were given and the union chose to ignore them. I will not shed a single itty-bitty tear for IAM and its members.

BTW, here is the WTAQ report.

54

2009-08-22T21:02:00.003-05:00

In my family this week a marriage of 54 years came to an end. RIP Aunt Colleen. Uncle Bill did okay today considering his sweetie is gone.

Death Don't Have No Mercy

Death don't have no mercy in this land
Death don't have no mercy in this land
He'll come to your house and he won't stay long
You'll look in the bed and somebody will be gone
Death don't have no mercy in this land

Well Death will go in any family in this land
Well Death will go in every family in this land
Well he'll come to your house and he won't stay long
Well you'll look in the bed and one of your family will be gone
Death will go in any family in this land

Well he never takes a vacation in this land
Well old Death never takes a vacation in this land
Well he'll come to your house and he won't stay long
Well you'll look in the bed and your mother will be gone
Death never takes a vacation in this land

Talk
Great God
Yeah

Well he'll leave you standin' and cryin' in this land
Well Death will leave you standin' and cryin' in this land
Well he'll come to your house and he won't stay long
You'll look in the bed and somebody will be gone
Death will leave you standin' and cryin' in this land

Old Death always in a hurry in this land
Old Death always in a hurry in this land
Well he'll come to your house and he won't stay long
You'll look in the bed and your mother will be gone
Death always in a hurry in this land

Well he won't give you time to get ready in this land
Well he won't give you time to get ready in this land
Well he'll come to your house and he won't stay long
Well you'll look in the bed and somebody will be gone
Death won't give you time to get ready in this land

Make your last talk
Talk to me Death
Talk to me

Listen to the Thunder Shout IAM

2009-08-22T20:51:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow the rank and file from Fond du Lac's (FDL) local of the International Association Machinists (IAM) votes on the contract offered by Mercury Marine. The leadership is putting it to the rank and file without comment which means they think the contract stinks.

I fear the union is going to play into Brunswick Corporation's hand here.

You may be surprised to know the play I see developing, which I will outline after the vote.

Update I
I will have to adjust my thinking on this as Mercury is talking about consolidating their manufacturing. That is, a MOVE will happen and if they make the effort to move MerCruiser up to FDL, will they then immediately turn around and move the whole shebang?

The Snitch Website/E-Mail

2009-08-19T10:19:00.004-05:00

A lot of my Facebookies and conservatives in general are getting or are concerned over the "flag@whitehouse.gov" "snitch" e-mail address. I don't much care for the idea either, but I am no more afraid of it than I am of the things that would get the lefties all fearful under W. There are a number of reasons for this.

First is that e-mail is free form. How do I know where the e-mailer has named names? How do I know if the name is a friendly person or an unfriendly? Where is the rumor? How do I distinguish between a rumor and other narrative? How about dealing with misspellings and typos?

And as far as holding IPs that too, in general, is difficult. If the e-mail is sent via webmail service such as Yahoo or Hotmail? Sure, the IP of the originator is ultimately obtainable, but it is not easy to get unless those services include the originating IP in the header which is something I am unaware of, can someone clarify this?.

Another problem is dealing with the large volume of e-mail coming in in. A sizable amount of which includes the standard spam e.g. pitches for viogro, notices about winning the Tanzanian internet lottery, requests to help move millions of ill gotten dollars out of Togo, pitches for vicdoin, and those intentionally flooding the e-mail address (e.g. self-reporters). One can code up programs to eliminate a large number of spam notes but not all. I am sure at least one or two people set up spambots specifically to hit that e-mail.

In fact, I find it incredible an administration legend for its online talent did something so stupid (not factoring the constitutional/legal ramifications here). The Whitehouse website probably gets more visits in a minute than all of my sites combined in a year. Still, I learned a long time ago to never expose an e-mail address on a website and techniques to hide those e-mail addresses (while still using them) from spambots. In addition, every form you put up had better have a CAPTCHA challenge on it, otherwise spambots will get at you too.

The only sorta nefarious possibility is that an e-mail list is being driven from e-mail addresses obtained via the flag e-mail. E-mail addresses are easy to glean from an e-mail (in the headers, the subject, or the body) and those e-mail addresses could be harvested and used to populate an e-mail listing. Which some reporting indicates may be going on.

As far as using the identities of those submitted for nefarious purposes (e.g. IRS audits or other governmental harassment) I am extremely skeptical, of course, I expect to hear people report such activity after the next tax season is over. It will be hard to prove such a correlation either way without access to data that would be extremely hard to get.

Just because you get audited and are on the "snitch list" does not mean there is a connection, maybe you really did file a dodgy tax return and the "snitch list" is public information your tax/financial records are not.

Dr. George W. Bush

2009-08-11T20:02:00.003-05:00

If you are not a regular reader or visitor to Blogger Beer you should know I supported President Bush, not universally, not all the time but on the whole I was behind him.

Now, one piece of lead the left tried to hang on him was he was an incompetent dummy. I dispute that notion and will observe the irony in that an "incompetent dummy" beat the Democrats twice and managed to guide the GOP to six years of holding the congress under his lead. The pendulum has swung the other way.

Now, question for those of you who support the notion of socialized health care or a major takeover by the federal government. Would you want the likes of George W. Bush running your health care system? Or even more delicious would be Sarah Palin in charge of your health care. Obama is not going to be president forever, you know sooner (I hope) or later he will return to that fancy cordoned off block in Chicago. Then what?

The Online Reputation

2009-08-08T11:27:00.003-05:00

One of the ideas Wretchard at the Belmont Club hits on a regular basis is that of one's online reputation. Not just individuals, but organizations. I am watching a lesson in managing one's online reputation unfold.

To sum up, a friend of mine spoke out against the health care plan at a town hall meeting. In the process of being interviewed for a potential appearance on the Neil Cavuto show a local television story was filming that interview. My friend was asked if she was a Republican or otherwise put up to her appearance, she answered both negatively. The TRUTH is she cut her ties to the local and state party well over one year ago however, the local television station found some websites she had not updated in a while. Those sites said she was a member of the GOP and active in her congressman's opponent's campaign they ran with the story and did a hit piece on her. My friend is in the middle of her 15 minutes.

On one of these sites I have an account too, and for quite some time I had let the account flounder -- going without update. I have been on top of it for sometime now, keeping it somewhat current but prior this that site also contained information about myself that was not accurate or at least not flattering (it was a disparaging comment about my former position).

Occasionally I google myself to see what is out there about myself. I am also going to start thinking about other such accounts I have that I do not actively use and drop them. If you are not using an online service that provides a public window into your life -- actively maintain it or shut it down!

Oceans of Corn

2009-08-07T20:36:00.004-05:00

I just read an interesting movie review in National Review. One of the garden variety leftist movies coming out in the last ten years or so are those attacking the US food industry. As the author of the review says:

It was with this attitude that I went to an afternoon showing of Food Inc. I was fully prepared to hate it, expecting another lecture from the food police, another horror story about fast food.

Source: Eating is no Fun Anymore (The new documentary Food Inc. gets it just about right.) — Julie Gunlock for National Review

However, Ms. Gunlock thought the movie to contain a good kernel of truth. The movie's thesis is subsidies given to corn production create an amount of corn in excess of our nation's ability to use it and so therefore, corn is a product in search of a use. Much of that excess corn is used to make high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) that according to research cited by Ms. Gunlock is thought to play a significant role in some of our nations chronic health problems. Another factor tilting in favor of corn is tariffs on cane and beet sugar which according to Ms. Gunlock do not carry the same health risks as HFCS.

Now we get the part disappointing to Ms. Gunlock — solutions. The solutions presented amounted to the typical lefty bullet points. Buy organic, increased food safety regulations (yeah let's help out ADM some more here), buy local, buy farmers markets, etc. Strangely enough, no mention of eliminating or curtailing corn subsidies.

I do not believe the biggest obstacle to people eating better is the cost so much as time and convenience. A good ham sandwich with fresh tomato, lettuce, onion, and the like is going to be less expensive or competitive with McDonald's fare. The problem is that ham sandwich takes a bit of time and effort to make. When I am traveling, running around trying to get my Christmas shopping done or have a huge list of chores to do it is all too easy to stop into McDonalds and be in and out quickly. This applies for a lot of people and their home meals too, when shopping I see a lot of people loading up with instant dinners of one sort or another — all of which are highly processed foods containing lots of additives we normally would not put into our foods. Again, pop it into the microwave and ten minutes later everyone has their food. Again, I don't swear these off totally and we stock up on those items for surprise guests or times when we are too busy (or just not inspired).

In any event, the movie's suggestions are self-defeating. A family they claim can not afford good food so they eat cheap fast food. So the producers believe that telling that family to buy organic foods is going to change their gastronomic behavior? Their call for increased food regulation will only work to make it harder to get into food production further consolidating the positions of corporagri giants. Also, I live in Northeast Wisconsin, buying local produce is not an option for half the year or more. The solution is to attack the subsidies and while they are often pictured as preserving "The American Gothic" family truth is a lot of those subsidy dollars go to the corporagris and other wealthy "gentlemen farmers". We see corn subsidies becoming more enrooted with the push for corn derived ethanol again in detriment to better solutions.

You don't have to buy organic produce the regular produce will do just fine.

On Organizing

2009-08-06T23:37:00.004-05:00

It is an old saw by now - a community organizer has no position to whine when others organize.

However, one thing neither side can claim purity when trying to claim their supporters spontaneously organize. THIS is not to say such movements are illegitimate quite the contrary.

If I were to come to you and propose we support legilation proposing to provide Iron Maidens for Tots, would you go the Town Hall to support it? If I spent, 50 million bucks do you think I could get people to descend upon their legislators to demand passage? Or do you suppose it would be easier to organize an opposition?

Now with respect to the health care debate. Yes, there is organized opposition to the bill, just as there is organized support. I do not take the fact that supporters or opponents are organized to mean they are stooges of the organizers -- they are people working together to support their cause.

Now, opponents of health care reform are being dismissed as Republicans, paid insurance stooges, or plain old astro-turfers. Does it matter? It seems proponents are Democrats, unionists, or plain old astro-turfers.

I join groups on a voluntary basis groups that support MY point of view, and lets face it, none of those groups pay me to join. I receive communications from those groups and it is up to me to act on or ignore their requests. I suspect most people on both sides of this debate act in a similar fashion.

I suspect the proponents of the health care wrecking legislation (and you can report me to Linda Douglass for that impertinence) are fewer and less enthusiastic than the opponents. I suspect that proponents have been trying to turn out support but have not been as successful as opponents. I have seen a number of calls being put out by the unions and we'll see what happens, but from what I have heard the unions are already out for this one.

Obama's use of the euphemism "community organizer" was very clever, what is the plain language for community organizer? Politician.

Report This Blog

2009-08-04T20:24:00.003-05:00

Immediately to the Whitehouse. I oppose the government's take over of the health care industry and know it will lead to a complete takeover.

One of the many things I am waiting for is to join a group of people in supporting the military's health claim system, I hope something else comes in, but that one will do. One of the things the recruiter I am working with told us in early June after the contracts were to be awarded is the government makes the rules. The government finally got around to awarding the contracts a couple of weeks later.

Now, President Obama is saying now (in the past he has been very clear about his desire for the Federal Govt to take over healthcare) is that the Federal Government would be but one choice among private companies. However, the problem is then the umpire is playing. The person responsible for calling balls and strikes is also at the plate batting. Needless to say, all pitches would be balls.

That said, the Whitehouse is pushing back against the swell in opposition to its desire to gobble up a major portion of our national economy. They charge the crowds as being "astroturf" as being organized by the insurance companies and other major opponents of this initiative. Yeah, so what? President Obama is fond of calling himself a "community organizer" or at least that is how his background is euphemistically described. The point of politics is to organize those who side with you to act as one. You know the old saying E pluribus unum out of many, one — united we stand divided we fall.

Congressman Kagen was in for an earful yesterday and today from opponents of the plan. Good, let him hear more of that and make sure the follow up when he votes per Mistress Nancy's instructions is him returning to his practice, which I hope will still be safely private.

The Crivitz Flag Fracas

2009-07-14T20:39:00.002-05:00

Apparently, there is a little squabble going on in Crivitz WI. Apparently, a man is starting up a restaurant and can not get a liquor license. As is noted in the comments of the story new restaurants can use the extra boost a liquor license gives. I myself will often avoid restaurants that do not serve adult beverages, especially, at dinner time.

Anyway restaurant owner in protest starts to fly his US flag upside down. Well, this action has drawn the ire of his neighbors and from reports have taken some drastic steps to get the flag right side up again.

Now, I consider it bad form to fly the US flag upside down unless one is in dire danger and not being able to obtain a liquor license does not in my book count as dire danger (and this goes for the leftist loons who would do the same during their protests). I agree with the owner that he should get that license.

Still, what is the controversy about dude's flag? Why should neighbors skulk into his yard to try to right it? Leave him alone or help him get that license.

WI 8 Congressional GOP Candidates

2009-07-09T22:12:00.003-05:00

So far the GOP has three declared candidates. Reid Ribble a private businessman, Marc Savard, and Andy Williams (no website known at this time).

I have not yet made up my mind whom I am going to support. Looking over Reid's & Marc's site there is not enough information, but on the whole I like what I see at Marc's site, Marc's notes on the issues are straight up conservative (though I would argue that deporting all illegal aliens is not reasonable securing the border is reasonable). Reid does not put up his view of the issues but I am sure sooner or later we'll hear those.

In any event even if our candidate eventually prevails and goes to DC he will need a lot of other like minded individuals to help craft & pass the legislation.

On Appealing to Authority

2009-07-06T10:49:00.002-05:00

Appeal to authority is a means of debate where the opinion or findings of an expert are used to support a position. There are good ways to appeal to authority and bad ways, too many people often resort to bad ways.

One common theme of bad appeal to authority is done with the use of a compendium of quotes such as Bartleby.com and a quote from some famous person is found and then trotted out as if that proves the proposition being debated.

What is interesting is such appeals are usually from one of a few people. Gandhi, Einstein, Jefferson, King, and Franklin. The problem with such appeals is they often address issues outside of the area of expertise of the person being quoted, or, there is some fact of the famous person's life that contradicts the quote and the way it is being used.

For example let us use the imaginary expert on snail parasites by the name of Samuel Fogel. You are tasked with a research paper on the snail parasites of Lake Victoria and in the paper you state:

According to Dr. Samuel Fogel's research, one should not swim in Lake Victoria due to the presence of the snail fluke XYZ. Research and medical observations in the Lake Victoria indicate the fluke will infect humans hosts causing....

Such appeal to authority is in now way abusive.

However try this:

Dr. Samuel Fogel (who was awarded a very prestigious award last year) is on record saying that the policies of not requiring us to wear red hats on Tuesdays are harming our nation's ability to develop its IT industry.

Remember, Dr. Fogel is an expert on snail parasites not national industrial development. Now, my example is silly but the point is Dr. Fogel's opinion on this matter is no more or less credible than any other schmoe on the street. This is not to say Dr. Fogel doesn't have the right to express his opinion this is warning not to automatically grant credence to that opinion.

Fourth of July Thoughts

2009-07-04T10:01:00.006-05:00

First, Happy Fourth of July to all!

Lance Burri at TrogloPundits notes some pomposity (and I join in). While it is important to understand the underpinnings of our liberty here is what one of those at the founding of our nation had to say about the Fourth of July:

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

Source: Assorted Quotes and Notes in Honor of Our Nation’s Independence Day

Then Jonah Goldberg notes this pomposity:
Joe Ellis states:

Why, then, did July 4 become the preferred date for our annual celebration? Well, although nothing momentous occurred on that day, it was the day when the American public first learned about the Declaration. Copies began to appear in newspapers and go up on tavern walls, although in fact it took several weeks for the news to reach all precincts up and down the coast. The deeper truth is that the declaring of American independence was a drawn-out process without a clear-cut crescendo moment. July 4 was an arbitrary choice, but the new nation needed a birthday, and it made as much historical sense as several other alternatives.

Source: The Daily Beast (Joseph Ellis) — Why the Fourth Is a Fraud Even by Joe's admission July 4 is "...the day when the American public first leaned about the Declaration." and do not forget, the British Colonialists too. In addition looking at the document, we see: (Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776).

If the founders wrote and signed the document on June 28 or whenever and never released the document it would not have been monumental. If Joe is arguing that we should all take holiday from June 28 through July 21 then I guess I am okay, but if we did just that, then Joe would argue the Declaration is not worth celebrating.

Joe, you are overthinking it and while you may impress others most people will never ever hear of you. They'll be around their grills with their family and friends, taking in parades, watching fireworks, having cold ones. Relax & chill would you?

Cap & Tax

2009-06-26T17:50:00.002-05:00

One thought just hit me. I am hearing reports of studies that conclude this cap & trade bill currently being debated on in the House of Representatives will drive energy prices anywhere from 50%-88% over their natural levels.

Now, I hope those numbers will discourage the passage of this bill right now.

What do you think when that comes to pass the government will be blamed for the price increases? Does government taxation & regulation ever take the blame for increases in price?

The HWY 23 Job Loss Corridor - Stillwater & Fond du Lac

2009-06-26T15:22:00.002-05:00

Just some background information on Mercury Marine.

Mercury Marine's Stillwater plant is responsible for production of its IO engines (Mercruiser) and the Fond du Lac plant is geared towards outboard engines and its parts and accessories business.

In addition, Mercury Marine is a division on the Brunswick Corporation headquartered in Lake Forest IL. Here is the Wiki entry on Mercury Marine.

Two interesting stories. The founder (Carl Kiekhaefer) of Mercury Marine is legend in his drive and his work ethic (or worhaholism if you will) it is reported he fired engineers unwilling to entertain discussions at odd hours (e.g. in the middle of the night) and a story where a guy was sitting around a loading dock doing nothing. The founder stormed up to him and asked his salary and the founder pulled out a wad of bills and gave the loafer two weeks of salary and told him to get off the premises. Turns out the loafer was a delivery guy from a vendor waiting around for his delivery to be offloaded.

One story that is very interesting is how Mercury Marine engines came to be black. They used to be green and the larger engines were a straight six design and the story notes the large size of the engine gave rise to many nicknames a favorable one being "tower of power". One engineer was talking to his mother about the problem and their need to downsize the engines without a sacrifice in performance. The engineer's mother then noted when a woman wants to appear smaller she wears black. The engineer took this thought back to the shop and they performed experiments that showed the perceived size of the engine was about 20% less in black than green.

The HWY 23 Job Loss Corridor - Responding to Dad29

2009-06-26T11:44:00.003-05:00

Dad29 says:

But distribution counts. Wisconsin is located in a part of the country which is very cold in the winter; people do not use powerboats on frozen lakes. The South doesn't have that problem, AND the South actually has lakes. A lot of them. And fishermen, too. (We could also postulate that "taxing the rich", a Wisconsin "solution" has an effect on boat-and-motor purchasing.)

Source: Dad29 — Merc Outta Here? I don't know if Dad29 is being serious with this point, perhaps some sarcasm I am missing?

If Mercury Marine engines were only sold and distributed to local dealers — meaning WI, IL, MI, and perhaps MN then I would agree. However, Mercury Marine engines are sold worldwide meaning the winter season is going to affect Mercury Marine sales regardless of their actual location. A major portion of Mercury Marine's market is frozen every year and a move to Oklahoma will not change that.

The only consideration Mercury Marine must give to being located in the Frozen North is their ability to test their products during the winter and their test location is located in Florida not in Oklahoma.

Update:
At his blog Dad29 reiterates the word distribution. He says that he is talking about the cost to ship parts and accessories, which he believes (with good reason) down south still sell during the winter. While he does have a point I don't believe (no solid figures to back me up on this point, just a gut instinct) that to be a large or even a mid-sized factor. We are seeing WI not only strike out at luring new job centers to WI but are losing ones already here, this is not the first time.

The HWY 23 Job Loss Corridor - Reactions

2009-06-26T10:46:00.007-05:00

Not what one would think.

Owen at Boots and Sabers thinks:...Governor Doyle will dispatch an intern from Commerce to explain the benefits of a regional cap and tax system to them.

The Liberty Tree Lantern views this as yet another reason why Wisconsin Can't Wait for the election to get rid of Governor Doyle.

The Mayor's Page notes the story and sets off a comment discussion on the impact of Fond du Lac losing 1,900 some jobs.

Dad29 weighs in: mulling over other factors that may be in play.

Northshore Exponent pretty much says Doylediddit

Now, surprisingly enough that is about the sum total of the blog reaction to the MJS story and radio reports on the possibility of Mercury Marine consolidating in Oklahoma.

The Appleton Post Crescent presents a few notable facts. First, everyone in a position to know anything is not disclosing information, a lot of the standard comments saying things like "I have no comment on anything that may or may not be discussed", which essentially says (especially in light of the rumors) yeah we are talking about it.

Unlike the Thomas Products Case the state of unionization at both plants is being reported. The Post Crescent in the above story reports the Stillwater plant is not unionized and I know for a fact that there is a union at the Fond du Lac location and that union is the International Association of Machinists. In the Thomas Products case I had to talk to a friend involved with negotiations to save the jobs to find out there was unionization on both ends of the transfer (making the union factor equal in both locations).

I really fear for those jobs and if you think the job loss stops at 1,900 direct Mercury Marine employees you are mistaken.

I will be following this case closely.

Record Sales

2009-06-25T19:09:00.002-05:00

I remember back in the mid 90s after Jerry Garcia died, I went to a local music store and could not find a Grateful Dead record in the shop. I bet the same thing is going on with Michael Jackson records around the world.

I was never a big fan of his but this is sad, if for no other reason, an icon from my younger days is gone. RIP Michael Jackson.

The HWY 23 Job Loss Corridor - Mercury Marine

2009-06-25T09:00:00.002-05:00

Somewhat fresh off of the Thomas Products announcement in Sheboygan we are now starting to hear that Mercury Marine based in Fond du Lac may consolidate operations in Stillwater Oklahoma. That my friends, is one huge loss of jobs for Fond du Lac. I am guessing a number of people will transfer down but many will not and instead look for a new gig in Fond du Lac or the area.

A source I have reports they are uncertain if this will affect all of Mercury Marine but he notes the Oklahoma people believe this to be the case.

So, Wisconsin is once again bidding to save jobs this is starting to be a regular occurrence. Geeze, wonder why that could be?

The Onion once ran an article talking about how a vast tract of land was discovered between the East & West coasts of America. In the article they noted the places have names that seem to mean "summer vacation places", is that what Wisconsin is to become? Seems so.

Misrepresentation No Matter How You Say It

2009-06-24T09:48:00.002-05:00

The other day I reported on Whallah abusing one of my posts. I referred to it as being taken out of context. Capper responds (in the comments) by saying it is paraphrasing but claiming being taken out of context is better for the martyr card. Whatever, because no matter if it was being paraphrased incorrectly or taken out of context (that is what I claim it is) Whallah misrepresents my post.

The gist of what Whallah was saying was that I was blaming the WI left for the outing of the relationship. I did no such thing. If they want to accuse me of blaming them for driving Jessica from the WI blogosphere I'll gladly accept that blame as it was the point.

Going Green Iran and The Future

2009-06-23T15:48:00.002-05:00

One of the talking point a lot of people are using to dismiss the events in Iran is that Mousavi is not all that different from Ahmednijihad, a view I hold at least in general. The implication being it is not worth supporting the Iranian Greens because the new boss will be the same as the old boss.

The position being contested is one that works within a framework of the mullahs who are the real power in Iran, they hold a veto over what the president does. I think it fair to move from that point to believing that Mousavi was a 100% approved candidate that his views on most affairs were not significantly different from the other candidates, Ahmednijihad included. However, it is quite obvious there is some terrible difference that at least the likes of Ayatollah Khameni can not tolerate.

Now, what would be my guess of Iran's future if the Green movement succeeds? I don't expect a full fledged Jeffersonian liberal democracy or republic to emerge. I expect a nation more liberal than its current self but it will be a very very long time before trendy cafes in Isfahan will be hosting showings of Eve Ensler's famous work. I suspect too, a nation more willing to give up some of its nasty habits (e.g. assasinations, supporting the likes of Hezbolalalah and Hamas) and perhaps a nation we would be okay with exploring nuclear energy. Remember, it isn't the weapon, but the finger on the trigger.

Now, as I said above, I agree Mousavi is probably not very dissimilar from Ahmednijihad, so why do I still support the Iranian Green movement? Because it weakens the mullah's grip on power on Iran, even if this movement fails it has both weakened the mullahs and unmasked them for what they are. If it succeeds it is hard to say what will happen to Mousavi if he will continue to ride the wave he is on or if other forces will displace him.

I do not fear Iran lurching in a less liberal direction on account of the Mullahs, but I do fear Iran lurching leftwards one site I was reading talked about the Marxists organizing labor strikes and they could very well be riding that wave at the end of the storm.

Is Blogger Beer Breaking Out?

2009-06-23T15:37:00.002-05:00

I see I have been taken out of context by one of the bigger WI Lefty blogs Whallah: Blogger Beer alternates between it's just people being human and it's all the lefties' fault. Does this mean I am finally coming of age in the Wisconsin blogosphere?

Here is what I said. My comments put into proper context state it is the fault of the lefties that Jessica quit blogging. Nowhere do I assign partisan blame to anyone over the affair, that blame lay solely with the participants in the affair. I also note the left is most likely full of mirth & glee something commonly referred to as schadenfreude — an all too human (and regrettable) trait.

Infidelity In the News

2009-06-19T11:09:00.002-05:00

Two prominent people in Wisconsin have been outed as having affairs with each other.

One was a conservative blogger and she has been the subject of commentary here at Blogger Beer. In addition, I have commented on marital infidelity too. I'll not name names, I am sure a quick google can turn that information up for you here, I am not writing to expose them anymore than what has been done already.

I have tenuous contacts with the woman in this case and in the past she used to blog but stopped doing so due to the misogynistic venom the lefty Cheddarshpere spewed at her. I am sure, those same lefties are full of glee and mirth today to see this happen.

In my previous comments on the marital infidelity of Eliot Spitzer I noted it we should not be cynical or harsh on Eliot's wife because marriage is as much about forgiveness and assisting our spouse as it is about being faithful.

One should never be gleeful in the downfall of another, as downfall is an all too common occurrence for humans. I offer prayers of support and encouragement to both parties in this case that they may find healing and forgiveness.

It is not about hypocrisy or any other such thing (finding hypocrisy is as easy as finding speeders at a NASCAR race) it is just a reminder we are all fallen and morally crippled.

Twittercus - The Signal to Noise Ratio

2009-06-17T00:12:00.002-05:00

Is very very low. I suppose that is sorta the intent is to pump out a lot of noise so as to make it hard for Iranian thugs to discern who is an Iranian they can go after and who is out of bounds.

I am seeing a number of messages that are verbatim 100x over. I would encourage new recruits to the Twittercus army to lurk and read for a bit, this will help you learn the reliable sources and the messages that do not need incessant repetition.

Twittercus - GUIDELINES ON TWITTERING FOR IRAN

2009-06-17T00:08:00.001-05:00

The purpose of this guide is to help you participate constructively in the Iranian election protests through Twitter.

1. Do NOT publicise proxy IP's over twitter, and especially not using the #iranelection hashtag. Security forces are monitoring this hashtag, and the moment they identify a proxy IP they will block it in Iran. If you are creating new proxies for the Iranian bloggers, DM them to @stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they will distributed them discretely to bloggers in Iran.

2. Hashtags, the only two legitimate hashtags being used by bloggers in Iran are #iranelection and #gr88, other hashtag ideas run the risk of diluting the conversation.

3. Keep you bull$hit filter up! Security forces are now setting up twitter accounts to spread disinformation by posing as Iranian protesters. Please don't retweet impetuosly, try to confirm information with reliable sources before retweeting. The legitimate sources are not hard to find and follow.

4. Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become 'Iranians' it becomes much harder to find them.

5. Don't blow their cover! If you discover a genuine source, please don't publicise their name or location on a website. These bloggers are in REAL danger. Spread the word discretely through your own networks but don't signpost them to the security forces. People are dying there, for real, please keep that in mind...

I Am Twittercus! NO! I'M TWITTERCUS

2009-06-16T22:08:00.002-05:00

The events in Iran are testing the usefulness of the Internet application Twitter. The opposition in Iran is using Twitter to communicate with the world.

What is happening is those around the world in supporting the Iranian opposition are changing their settings so their location & timezone appear to be that of Tehran Iran. What this means is Iranian security agents have a whole lot of noise they need to filter in finding legitimate Iranians posting events to Twitter.

Boing-Boing publishes a set of guidelines for those of us hoping to support the Iranian opposition using Twitter. Common sense stuff, but it all needs mentioning.

Now how about the wisdom of shouting "I AM TWITTERCUS?".

Word of the events from Iran needs to get out, to show the nature of the regime in Iran. However, the opposition candidate Mousavi is part and parcel of the current Iranian regime. His victory over or loss to Ahmednuttyjihad is not significant. However, in the chaos the current Iranian regime could come crashing down. Robert Fisk is on the streets of Tehran and opines this unrest is not at all aimed at the revolution or Islamic rule and my notion that Mousavi is no reformer plays into Fisk's notion.

Wretchard at the Belmont Club made the following point:

I hate to interpolate my own experiences into current events because the parallels are inexact, but back in 1986, when Marcos’ Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile rebelled against the dictator, a million people rushed out to build a human wall around a man who only weeks before, was their arch-enemy. That was the EDSA Revolution. In the strange calculus of conflict, the enemy of the enemy is my friend. Yet the fundamentals remain. Enrile was no democrat and he was soon marginalized because most people understood that opportunism, not principle, led him to turn away from his dark master. He was forgiven his trespasses, but never trusted.

Source: The Belmont Club — Follow The Money That is, even though Mousavi is a player of significance in the drama we are watching he does not have control over hte situation.

In the end, the Islamic Revolution in Iran may not be entirely repudiated but I have a hard time it is going to survive in its current form.

Getting Around Proxy Servers

2009-06-16T19:33:00.002-05:00

I have discussed this before, but with the events going on in Iran I will open this discussion again.

One frequent tactic totalitarian states use to restrict access to certain websites is to make everyone access the web via proxy server. Those proxy servers can then be used to restrict and monitor web traffic.

Here is a tactic I used to get around proxy servers. It has its limitations, but it should work and provide inconspicuous access to websites.

Here are the conditions that need to be in place for this to work:'

You have access to an internet account elsewhere in the world that does not have proxied web access.

You can access that account through either telnet or secure shell, remote desktop, or similar.

The account has all the standard Unix/Linux programs utilities.

Now what you need to do next is to get online and then connect to your foreign account. Once you have done that, you should be able to surf freely. Usually you will be using a low bandwidth access method such as telnet or SSH so you will have to use a text browser and that is lynx. You will not be able to see images but you should be able to submit forms & download images and files.

Using a client & protocol such as secure shell provides even more security as the traffic is encrypted with telnet data is not encrypted meaning Iranian thugs can read your traffic (though it will not appear like web traffic), I am guessing remote desktop will be mixed secure & insecure (plus remote desktop will not be lite in terms of bandwidth needs).

Air Force One is Here!

2009-06-11T11:23:00.003-05:00

Let it be known I am no fan of President Barak Obama or his policies. I considered joining the protests being organized by Todd LoHenry and Jerry Bader. That said and out of the way.

This is a very cool event. In fact, my brother just called to tell me Air Force one just flew over his house.

I had a close encounter with Air Force One back in spring of 2004 when I drove in the motorcade that conducted President Bush, staff, and guests from ATW to downtown Appleton and back. It was a thrilling experience. On the way I saw supporters and opponents lining the roads. Some opponents expressed respectful disagreement some did not. I am hoping today's protesters keep their disagreement respectful.

One thing though. I am going to hear complaints from people about being inconvenienced from the visit, we are going to hear people P&M about the expense to the local and national taxpayer. I have no sympathy for those arguments and in any event they tend to come from anti-President partisans trying to score cheap political points (especially the part about expenditure of taxes). This is a visit from OUR President no matter how you feel about his positions on matters it is a sign of respect from him to the many people of this nation for him to visit.

Presidential visits are not cheap. The expenditures for this trip began way before it was announced as I am sure his organization started planning this a long time ago and this means the Secret Service had to spring into action a long time ago as well.

So take the visit as a good and grand thing, because no matter who the President it, it is a scene to behold!

Tiered Healthcare

2009-06-11T10:48:00.002-05:00

The debate in Green Bay is about publicly run health care.

I lived in a nation for six years that had a public health care system. Fortunately, they also had a private clinics and hospitals and did not bother if someone purchased insurance policies for overseas treatment.

One thing we were told in our introduction to the UAE course was — you get one visit to Hospital X don't waste it. Hospital X was a general hospital restricted to locals and those with good wasta. Otherwise ex-patriates were restricted to Hospital Y. Hospital Y's reputation was not great.

The point being, a dual track medical care system resulted. Does anyone think a publicly run health care system in this nation will result in anything different? All one has to do is to look at our public education system. There is no doubt a dual track system there. I fully expect the hospitals and treatment centers in Hollywood will be a lot better than those in let us say South Central Los Angeles.

Many note, one of the drivers of health care is indirect costs — that is, costs associated but not directly dealing with the delivery and provision of health care. Again, look at public education as an example of what will happen.

In any event, the old idea of comparing the costs of lasik & cosmetic surgery to that of other health care. The government and insurance companies do not pay out for lasik & cosmetic surgery — the costs are born directly by the consumer and look what is happening to those costs!

Service vs. Self Enrichment

2009-06-10T20:27:00.002-05:00

I have come to be very sick of the phrase "false dichotomy" as it is being used and abused by the current administration. However, in this case that is a very concise description of a topic that has been publicly discussed by President Barak, Michelle Obama, and and and Rush Limbaugh.

The President and The First Lady have repeated (especially the First Lady) almost incessantly that we need to lead lives of service. However, they use service euphemistically.

Rush Limbaugh rightly criticizes the First Lady and the President for their attacks on profit, but he does not see the euphemism.

People do not profit unless they provide service. Service does not necessarily mean abasing one's self and joining Mother Teresa's Convent. That is what Michelle and the President are trying to tell us to do, not provide service to others but to join a vocation (vocations are not necessarily religious) and forswear material comfort. Ask the Franciscan Priests & Nuns how lives of prayer, service, and poverty does for them.

Service in terms of creating objects of value, be those objects food, art, computer programs, mowed lawns, etc is what people give money for. Without that service rendered one does not become wealthy.

To the President and the First Lady -- there is nothing wrong with getting rich, nothing wrong with striving to become a corporate attorney. It does not become you to suggest otherwise.

To Rush -- see their euphemism, service to our friends and neighbors is vital without providing service to others one is a lazy sluggard.

WWF Advert on Polar Bears

2009-06-10T19:57:00.002-05:00

Two words:

FEAR MONGERING

.

When I lived in the UAE I saw a commercial talking about how the extinction of some tiger would happen in ten years. This was after the Internet came to the UAE so I got the website and visited and left a note. I complimented them on the use of that old and sure play — to claim a disastrous event is going to happen between five and ten years from now. Soon enough to lend urgency but distant enough people will forget to check on the accuracy of the predictions. I got a testy note back claiming X tigers were being killed/year and the population of tigers was 10X, I quite distinctly recall the "zinger" "You do the math".

One thing people learn if they keep with math & science long enough is that discovery lays in exploring assumptions. I did not take my correspondent's word on both tiger mortality & population. Not saying tiger populations are booming, but they are not extinct. Seems to me I have not heard of any tiger species going extinct lately and I have been away from the UAE for nearly 11 years now.

This polar bear ad the WWF put out is making the same play (the language is even more slimey than normal — most could be gone within our children's lifetimes). Now, it seems to me most reports on polar bear numbers is they are on the uptick: the Skeptics Society passes on a report that polar bear populations are 5x what they were in 1970 and the thought that warmer weather will most likely promote seal population growth. When your food availability increases your chance of survival increases.

Now, skimming this document, I see a lot of argument that the warming of the earth and disappearance of Arctic Ice will negatively affect the polar bears what I don't see is actual numbers (here is that advert again).

I keep coming back to this point: at what time in the past is the climate in its pristine state? It seems to me the answer to that question would probably be in the mid 1960s.

Jack Voight

2009-06-09T18:54:00.003-05:00

Former state treasurer Jack Voight announced he is running for Outagamie County Executive. I am glad for it too, however, current County Executive Toby Palzer is not running for another terms so I will not see him go down in defeat.

So far only Jack Voight and Charlie Kramer have announced bids for the position.

I know and trust Jack so I am going to support Jack!

Really, I Did Not Think Adam Was That Obvious About "It"

2009-06-09T10:26:00.002-05:00

Adam Lambert confesses he is gay. Really? I never would have known! Yes, that is sarcasm you detect. Makes him all the more perfect to replace Farooq as the head man for Queen.

You know, there is talk among Adam supporters that the Christians ganged up and voted against Adam. No, I don't buy that for a second, I think it was young women who voted for Chris, and yes I think the sexuality part had something to do with it. However, it was more subconscious than conscious — that is the young girls voted for the more virile guy.

Adam is a fantastic singer and performer, no doubt about that, but in the format American Idol is in, cuteness plays a role too and Adam is not a cute guy.

Political End Times

2009-06-03T15:56:00.002-05:00

Remember from 2000 to 2008 how we constantly heard how President Bush and his administration would gin up an emergency and call off the elections and assume dictatorial powers? Sure, I recall hearing it all the time, in addition, I constantly was reading from those "in the know" how the administration was about to instigate a war with Iran?

Sure, I read about it all the time too. Those with sense realized what the talk was and that is paranoid lunacy — the cry of the "barking moonbat".

Well, I am seeing the same thing here on the right. Usually it comes in the form of election rigging via ACORN and similar. Of course, such talk does not account for dealing with the presidential term limit (where is the term limit for members of congress) but I am sure quite a few people will be able to come up with something, after all, many are not giving up on the notion that President Barak is not a citizen of the US.

When Obama Took Office

2009-06-03T15:41:00.001-05:00

Gas was about $1.95/gallon, at least that was the average in Wisconsin on the day Obama took office. Now, we are looking $2.70/gallon and in the last few weeks the prices has been on the rise about a dime to two dimes per week.

Why, bring this up? Due to a bumper sticker I saw stating: When Bush took office gas was $1.48. I wonder if dude is going to replace that sticker with a similar one with Obama. At least President Bush advocated realist policies promoting energy independence whereas the current President is pursuing the energy fairy. In fact, it seems many of President Obama's supporters are hoping and pining for the days of hyper-expensive gasoline.

The Burning Sun - The Shooting of Dr. Tiller & the Army Recruiter

2009-06-01T19:52:00.004-05:00

What ground there was for this distinguished consideration
shall duly appear in the natural course of this lecture. I wish however to say just here that there was no foundation whatever for the charge that I in any wise urged or instigated John Brown to his dangerous work. I rejoice that it is my good fortune to have seen, not only the end of slavery, but to see the day when the whole truth can be told about this matter without prejudice to either the living or the dead. I shall however allow myself little prominence in these disclosures. Your interests, like mine, are in the all-commanding figure of the story, and to him I con-secrate the hour. His zeal in the cause of my race was far
greater than mine — it was as the burning sun to my taper light — mine was bounded by time, his stretched away to the boundless shores of eternity. I could live for the slave, but he could die
for him. The crown of martyrdom is high, far beyond the reach of ordinary mortals, and yet happily no special greatness or superior moral excellence is necessary to discern and in some measure appreciate a truly great soul. Cold, calculating and unspiritual as most of us are, we are not wholly insensible to real greatness; and when we are brought in contact with a man of commanding mold, towering high and alone above the millions, free from all conventional fetters, true to his own moral convictions, a " law unto himself," ready to suffer misconstriuction [sic], ignoring torture and death for what he believes to be right, we are compelled to do him homage.

Source: Full text of "John Brown. An address by Frederick Douglass, at the fourteenth anniversary of Storer College, Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, May 30, 1881" via the Internet Archive So spoke Frederick Douglass on the Fourteenth Anniversary of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry Virginia. Recall John Brown was tried, convicted, and hung for treason.

John Brown attempted to solicit aid from Frederick Douglass for the Harper's Ferry venture. Frederick Douglass attempted to dissuade John Brown from the venture.

In both cases, I am quite sure the assailants fancied themselves as God's tool to destroy wickedness or at least rebuke it. However, how are proper Christians supposed to view this? Thinking about this leads to all sorts of contradictions not only in the viewing of current day events but in historical as well.

John Brown is advised by Frederick Douglass not to launch his raid, not on account of the violence entailed, but because of the likelihood of the plan's failure & Brown's death or capture. In the end, Frederick Douglass comes to hail John Brown as a martyr to the abolition cause. An even more interesting irony is the man who prosecuted John Brown is on stage sitting behind Frederick Douglass when he gave the above speech. Does the fact that Frederick Douglass praised John Brown and also agitated for violent action (though a more subtle form of it) make him and the cause bad? I hardly think anyone today will dispute the justice of the cause for which Brown hung.

If Dr. Tiller's murderer is subject to the death penalty then I hope it is applied. The pro-life movement and its supporters need to remember the story of Icarus, get too close to the burning sun and your wings melt.

I Bet "They Were not that close".

2009-05-21T00:56:00.002-05:00

To carrying out an attack:

The four will appear in court on Thursday in White Plains, and face from 25 years to life imprisonment if found guilty.

They were named as James Cromitie (also known as Abdul Rahman), David Williams (aka Daoud and DL), Onta Williams (aka Hamza) and Laguerre Payen (aka Amin and Almondo). All were reportedly born in the United States.

Source: Arrests in New York 'attack plot' — BBC I wonder how long it is going to be before we hear the cliche refrain of the left that these guys were not all that close to executing their plot, that is, they are innocent.

No, these guys are no innocents theyir crimes are not shortchanging their customers on a pound of mutton.

Marcus Aurelius is on Facebook

2009-05-21T00:05:00.001-05:00

'Nuff said

WTF?

2009-05-12T17:30:00.003-05:00

Al Franken being put up as a principled finder of fact on The Corner! Jerry Taylor, holds up Al Franken's works on Rush Limbaugh as proof that Rush is on the whole bad for the conservative movement.

Regarding my claim that Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity often use “dodgy evidence“ to back their claims, I can only plead that on the rare occasions that I’ve listened, this is exactly what I have found. Sure, maybe I just happen to listen in when they go off the rails . . . but I doubt it. Regardless, if you want chapter and verse on that score, you can’t do better than Al Franken’s two books on this subject (Lying Liars and Rush Limbaugh). Now, I know that this will double my hate mail, but the fact is that Mr. Senator-Elect is often spot-on regarding the facts when he goes after these guys.

Source: The Corner — Jerry Taylor (Re: Conservative Talk Radio in the Dock) I am sure any left leaning readers will agree with this, but I find it breathtaking.

Rush, I find is not always right and sometimes he is unable to get to the bottom of a caller's confusion. I recall one caller who thought she was getting taxed on her stimulus payout. Rush did not understand what she was looking at but then again nothing much came of that call either.

Fortunately we have a quick follow up from Mark Steyn:

Simply in market terms, there are many takers for full-throated non-apologetic conservatism, and they don't hear that from Colin Powell, Meghan McCain, Lincoln Chafee, or other "reformers." Our pal John O’Sullivan suggests that anybody proposing to cut loose this or that faction ought first to demonstrate that doing so will attract an equal number of people plus one. It’s not clear to me, by that measure, what Jerry Taylor brings to the table.

The Corner — Mark Steyn (Re: Conservative Talk Radio in the Dock)

I listen to Rush on a frequent basis, unless there is some important sports thing going on (then I listen to Jim Rome) or a guest host (Mark Steyn excepted) is running the show I listen to Rush. I feel more energized and passionate about my politics and world after listening to Rush. I take that passion and I share it with those who may or may NOT listen to Rush.

Who the hell is Jerry Taylor?

Another Prophet of Disaster

2009-04-30T10:44:00.003-05:00

Ah, the news organizations are in a tizzy about the swine flu. They breathlessly report the latest rumors as fact and are bracing for Armageddon. This flu story is nothing big, sure it is important for our governments and the transnational organizations to keep their eyes on it, but the way the press is reporting this one would think it is time to lock ourselves in our basements.

In recent memory we had two panics over avian flu strains and the SARS panic. In one of the avian flu events I recall hearing stories about the strain's high rate of lethality, but also reported (though with less vigor) was how workers in Asian bird markets were found to have a high rate of being previously infected with the avian flu strain du jour. As is usually the case, only those at death's door were showing up at the hospitals and being entered into the rolls of the afflicted.

In fact the numbers as being reported are inflated (even as small as they are):

But Vivienne Allan, from WHO's patient safety program, said the body had confirmed that worldwide there had been just seven deaths - all in Mexico - and 79 confirmed cases of the disease.

"Unfortunately that (150-plus deaths) is incorrect information and it does happen, but that's not information that's come from the World Health Organisation," Ms Allan told ABC Radio on Wednesday morning.

"That figure is not a figure that's come from the World Health Organisation and, I repeat, the death toll is seven and they are all from Mexico."

Source: The Age — WHO says only seven confirmed swine flu deaths
Of course, I suspect the deaths due to this flu are higher than the 150 posted but those are deaths we will never be able to confirm.

The reporting on this is hysterical.

An ExSpectoration

2009-04-28T14:52:00.004-05:00

Arlen Spector is now a Democrat. Big whoop. The Democrats and their lackeys in the media are characterizing this as a moderate not feeling welcome in an extremist party, but if they were honest they would have to characterize JFK as a right-wing extremist, which they don't.

I find another series of events most enlightening when thinking of this. Remember, Sue Collins? She is one of two GOP senators from Maine. She voted for Obama's stimulus package and what credit does that earn her? None, in fact if you google "Sue Collins flu" you see a series of leftist blogs with identically named posts, what do they call that when they hallucinate right wing blogs doing the same? Oh-yeah echo chamber. That is to say, Sue Collins is called to task on a stupid and silly point that should equally apply to Charles Schumer but, since Sue is a Republican in good standing she gets hammered for it. Remember that Sue & Olympia, your Dem friendly votes do not get you any brownie points.

However, since Spector is now a Democrat he is being lauded as a moderate. While I don't get too worked up by such calculations, Spector is not a moderate (ironically he is farther right than Liebermann who is all but persona non-grata with the left because Lieberman is moderate on only one issue and supported McCain's presidency bid), Areln Spector is an opportunist. His sole motivation for bolting the GOP is the same as Michael Bloomberg's for bolting the Democrats — they would lose their nomination fight in the primary.

In any event Arlen Spector the hammer of Hill has his nomination in the bag, this will be a big test of the how long President Barak's coattails are.

Obama on His Bowling Skills

2009-03-20T15:02:00.002-05:00

Get him off of a teleprompter and he speaks with the same skill that W spoke with.

I don't think the idea that President Obama heavily relies on a telemprompter it s a bad idea. People lose money and lives based on what the President says and it had better be right. Still I think the notion he is eloquent is silly, he can deliver a good speech that is prepared for him and that he reads off the prompter, don't get me wrong, that is not the easiest thing to do either, but it is not a sign of general intelligence.

His off-prompter remark about his bowling skills is proof positive of that. Now, I don't get all indignant about that either. Let's face facts here, there is a special league for the "Special Olympians" for a reason. Yes, it was one of those remarks many of us would make around our drinking friends but not at work or in polite company.

However, what gets me is the reaction to it and I am not talking about the bloggers or outright partisans. I am talking about media reaction. How many think if President Bush made a similar comment there would not be all sorts of canned outrage being dumped on our laps by the mainstream media. We would hear from numerous offended parents of Special Olympians and I bet we would have some nice sound bites from the leaders of the Special Olympics.

As I have said a number of times before, I am quite used to it and treat it pretty much as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Still, it is galling.

I know I know, there are bigger stories out there, right? Uh, I don't buy that for a second. If W, had uttered it that story would be pretty high on the priority list.

The MSM is not a neutral observer & reporter — nor is there any requirement they be neutral.