Showing posts with label performance art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label performance art. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
James B. Stewart, of the New York Times, is confused
James B. Stewart, a writer for the New York Holy Times who is often fairly sensible, is confused. I don't ordinarily read the NYT, since I prefer to read Obama's press releases without editorial reworking, spell-checks, and other modifications, but I saw this article in Starbucks and it jumped out at me.
Here's how it begins....
Let's disregard the unfortunate likelihood that this is all Performance Art, and that all of the useless and/or redundant Federal employees will be retroactively paid for their inconvenience. Let's pretend that the Republicans are serious, and that they really will shut down the government, and default on some of the USA's bills.
I know it's a stretch, but let's pretend that there are some adults in those rooms.
We are broke. The Federal debt per taxpayer is about to hit $150,000.00. (It's $50K per citizen, if that tells you anything about the maker vs taker problem.)
The debt is increasing by 1.75 billion per day. As long as the Republicans and Democrats can keep borrowing, some foolish countries and businesses will keep lending. (In reality, we're buying a lot of our own debt at the Fed, just to keep the bubble going for a few years longer.) And the Fed is printing an extra 85 billion a month. When the inflation hits, it's gonna be ugly, ugly, ugly.
Mississippi novelist William Faulkner once put an ad in the Oxford Eagle newspaper stating that he would no longer be responsible for his wife's spending and debts.
I wish I could do the same, and put an ad in the New York Holy Times for the benefit of James B. Stewart, explaining that I no longer wish to be held accountable for Washington's debts. Let me pull out what I've paid into Social Security, without interest, and I'll be happy.
Please, please, please.... Do not give my government any money. They are not me. They are not you. Government is not "society". We will not fail if they do.
Please, do not voluntarily give them any money.
Here's how it begins....
The Republican Party has long claimed to be the champion of business, large and small, and an advocate for fiscal responsibility. Yet now Republicans in Congress have precipitated a shutdown of the federal government and are threatening to let the nation default on its once Triple-A-rated debt.
How could this be?
Let's disregard the unfortunate likelihood that this is all Performance Art, and that all of the useless and/or redundant Federal employees will be retroactively paid for their inconvenience. Let's pretend that the Republicans are serious, and that they really will shut down the government, and default on some of the USA's bills.
I know it's a stretch, but let's pretend that there are some adults in those rooms.
We are broke. The Federal debt per taxpayer is about to hit $150,000.00. (It's $50K per citizen, if that tells you anything about the maker vs taker problem.)
The debt is increasing by 1.75 billion per day. As long as the Republicans and Democrats can keep borrowing, some foolish countries and businesses will keep lending. (In reality, we're buying a lot of our own debt at the Fed, just to keep the bubble going for a few years longer.) And the Fed is printing an extra 85 billion a month. When the inflation hits, it's gonna be ugly, ugly, ugly.
Mississippi novelist William Faulkner once put an ad in the Oxford Eagle newspaper stating that he would no longer be responsible for his wife's spending and debts.
I wish I could do the same, and put an ad in the New York Holy Times for the benefit of James B. Stewart, explaining that I no longer wish to be held accountable for Washington's debts. Let me pull out what I've paid into Social Security, without interest, and I'll be happy.
Please, please, please.... Do not give my government any money. They are not me. They are not you. Government is not "society". We will not fail if they do.
Please, do not voluntarily give them any money.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Washington D.C. Performance Art
I first saw some Performance Art during a high school trip to Quebec. We were going through a mega-shopping mall, and some seriously thin women and men, 7 or 8 of them, came marching down the middle of the mall. They were wearing incredibly tight black leather outfits, with a few red bows and ribbons stuck in unlikely places.
They were carrying two black poles, each one about 6 feet long.
They looked morbidly grim and serious. This woulda been about 1978, long before all the "Undertakers Of The Art World" started wearing black, while regretting that they couldn't find a darker color. We were just a gaggle of rednecks from Mississippi, and had never imagined art like this, much less seen it on display.
I asked a bystander something along the lines of "What the hell?" She didn't speak much English, but explained that these were artists, and that they were protesting against the British/Canadian government.
The "artists" grimly pivoted against the flow of traffic in the mall, lowered their poles, and required the shoppers to step or hop over them. The Canucks took it with good humor and hopped away. Eventually traffic backed up, and the artists in black raised their poles so that everyone could walk beneath them.
They occasionally lowered the poles to just a few inches over everyone's heads, lifting them quickly when a take-no-prisoners shopper approached who was in no mood for art. Or protests. Or whatever the hell this was.
After that they did some impressive stuff on the up and down escalators, leading me to believe that they'd done some practicing in the mall after hours. They went eventually went away as silently as they appeared, leaving a mall full of shoppers mildly perplexed for about 45 seconds. My French wasn't that good, but the general impression was...."what did that have to do with anything?"
Here's a cool pic of a performance artist covering a nekkid girl with liver and chocolate syrup. It doesn't mean anything.
My second exposure to Performance Art was in college. Some hippie chick did an interpretive dance while her boyfriend made a lot of noise with reel-to-reel loops, unlikely percussion instruments, and another guy sometimes shaved a gong with an electric razor. No idea what that was about, but it was an interesting distraction.
Here's Wikipedia's definition of Performance Art: A performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or via media; the performer can be present or absent. It can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body, or presence in a medium, and a relationship between performer and audience. Performance art can happen anywhere, in any venue or setting and for any length of time. The actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work.
Here's a better definition, one that I can take full credit for: Weird bullshit that serves as a distraction for the gullible members in the audience. The con artist/creator gains credibility when viewers actually wonder what the hell it means.
They were carrying two black poles, each one about 6 feet long.
They looked morbidly grim and serious. This woulda been about 1978, long before all the "Undertakers Of The Art World" started wearing black, while regretting that they couldn't find a darker color. We were just a gaggle of rednecks from Mississippi, and had never imagined art like this, much less seen it on display.
I asked a bystander something along the lines of "What the hell?" She didn't speak much English, but explained that these were artists, and that they were protesting against the British/Canadian government.
The "artists" grimly pivoted against the flow of traffic in the mall, lowered their poles, and required the shoppers to step or hop over them. The Canucks took it with good humor and hopped away. Eventually traffic backed up, and the artists in black raised their poles so that everyone could walk beneath them.
They occasionally lowered the poles to just a few inches over everyone's heads, lifting them quickly when a take-no-prisoners shopper approached who was in no mood for art. Or protests. Or whatever the hell this was.
After that they did some impressive stuff on the up and down escalators, leading me to believe that they'd done some practicing in the mall after hours. They went eventually went away as silently as they appeared, leaving a mall full of shoppers mildly perplexed for about 45 seconds. My French wasn't that good, but the general impression was...."what did that have to do with anything?"
Here's a cool pic of a performance artist covering a nekkid girl with liver and chocolate syrup. It doesn't mean anything.
My second exposure to Performance Art was in college. Some hippie chick did an interpretive dance while her boyfriend made a lot of noise with reel-to-reel loops, unlikely percussion instruments, and another guy sometimes shaved a gong with an electric razor. No idea what that was about, but it was an interesting distraction.
Here's Wikipedia's definition of Performance Art: A performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or via media; the performer can be present or absent. It can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body, or presence in a medium, and a relationship between performer and audience. Performance art can happen anywhere, in any venue or setting and for any length of time. The actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work.
Here's a better definition, one that I can take full credit for: Weird bullshit that serves as a distraction for the gullible members in the audience. The con artist/creator gains credibility when viewers actually wonder what the hell it means.
Here's a piece showing a guy kinda crucified on a Volkswagen. Probably supposed to make you think about the evils of Capitalism, but it's not about that. It's about being cool and pretending to be deep, meaningful and significant.
If you've paid attention to the news for the last month, you've been exposed to some Washington D.C. Performance Art about the "Fiscal Cliff". John Boehner and The Teleprompter Jesus have tied themselves to a ticking time bomb. If they don't come to an agreement about taxes and spending, the entire universe will blow up. Or something.
It doesn't matter. It's Kabuki Theatre. Performance Art. It's fun to watch them put on their black leather outfits, dance, and recite reverse Led Zepellin lyrics in front of a Solyndra Stockholders Powerpoint presentations, but it's meaningless. A fun distraction. They're doing what you've elected them to do.
Here's why this is all nothing but sound and fury and electric razors on gongs. This is from a recent Wall Street Journal essay by two Clinton administration economists. I hope you'll go here and read the whole thing. They lament that Uncle Sam doesn't have to keep books the way that a private business is required to. Uncle Sam doesn't have to show future liabilities.
All discussion of our 17 trillion dollar debt is based on rosier-than-likely scenarios. Because within my lifetime, the U.S. government is going to have to come up with 86 trillion dollars to cover the IOU's our elected "artists" have spread across the nation and the world. Here are the money quotes from the article:
When the accrued expenses of the government's entitlement programs are counted, it becomes clear that to collect enough tax revenue just to avoid going deeper into debt would require over $8 trillion in tax collections annually. That is the total of the average annual accrued liabilities of just the two largest entitlement programs, plus the annual cash deficit.In other words, they can tax the rich, the middle-class, the poor, Lockheed, General Dynamics, Wal-Mart, your Mama, Starbucks, and every other person, business and entity for 100% of their taxable income, and it won't even come close to closing the gap.
Nothing like that $8 trillion amount is available for the IRS to target. According to the most recent tax data, all individuals filing tax returns in America and earning more than $66,193 per year have a total adjusted gross income of $5.1 trillion. In 2006, when corporate taxable income peaked before the recession, all corporations in the U.S. had total income for tax purposes of $1.6 trillion. That comes to $6.7 trillion available to tax from these individuals and corporations under existing tax laws.
In short, if the government confiscated the entire adjusted gross income of these American taxpayers, plus all of the corporate taxable income in the year before the recession, it wouldn't be nearly enough to fund the over $8 trillion per year in the growth of U.S. liabilities. Some public officials and pundits claim we can dig our way out through tax increases on upper-income earners, or even all taxpayers. In reality, that would amount to bailing out the Pacific Ocean with a teaspoon.
So when you turn on your TV and see Nancy Pelosi wearing a corset made of sardine bones, holding a velvet whip in one hand and reading the works of John Maynard Keynes from a pink iPhone held in the other, it's just Performance Art. There are no true spending cuts on the table, just reductions in future increases.
When some Republican hack goes on Fox News via a video montage of his baby pictures, the Pakistan war dead, and a collage of tax rate charts, all to justify his violation of the Grover Norquist pledge, it's just Performance Art. It doesn't matter.
Eat, drink, and be merry. And do it in black leather. Or put on a Yoko Ono CD and dip your head in blue wax. Whatever you think will make an appropriate statement.
We are all so very, very screwed.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Operation Fast And Furious
I can't believe I haven't written anything on "Operation Fast And Furious" yet.
There's been too much insane competition for subject matter. That's my only excuse.
Here's the story as I understand it.....
The Obama administration wanted to prove that American guns were going across our border with Mexico. They wanted to show that it was guns, rather than our insane Prohibition laws, that were causing the violence along the border.
As usual, the crowdsourced explanation from Wikipedia is the best one:
Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, is in a little trouble because of this mess, but not at the level you would expect. The White House is circling the wagons, and is putting on the Full-Nixon.
Let me repeat what happened here....
There are two explanations for the violence in Mexico - 1) American Prohibition Laws, or 2) American Guns Crossing The Border.
In an effort to sway public opinion, the ATF purchased a bunch of guns and knowingly sold them to the reps of Mexican Drug Lords.
In an effort to sway public opinion, the ATF purchased a bunch of guns and knowingly sold them to the reps of Mexican Drug Lords.
In an effort to sway public opinion, the ATF purchased a bunch of guns and knowingly sold them to the reps of Mexican Drug Lords.
I know that a lot of people love Barack Obama, and he's thrown a lot of taxpayer money to his supporters (more than any other president) and he makes good speeches that make Statists nod along with a warm damp glow of contentment. There's a competing school of thought that claims he's the dumbest human to ever step foot in the Oval Office, much less work there.
Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper on the anguish of the Zapata family. They're not letting Holder or Obama off the hook, no matter who was programming The Teleprompter during the operation:
The solution to this mess? Stop voting for Fascists.
I don't speak for every Libertarian running for office in 2012, but I don't think we'll ever, ever, ever purchase guns, sell them to the reps of Mexican Drug Lords, WATCH as they cross the border, and then lose track of them.
We will never, ever do that.
Hell, the slowest students in a Special Ed class would never, ever do that.
Pics came from here and here.
There's been too much insane competition for subject matter. That's my only excuse.
Here's the story as I understand it.....
The Obama administration wanted to prove that American guns were going across our border with Mexico. They wanted to show that it was guns, rather than our insane Prohibition laws, that were causing the violence along the border.
As usual, the crowdsourced explanation from Wikipedia is the best one:
The ATF gunwalking scandal came to national attention in the United States in 2011 after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ran a series of “gunwalking” sting operations between 2006 and 2011. This was done under the umbrella of Project Gunrunner, a project intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico by interdicting straw purchasers and gun traffickers within the U.S. “Gunwalking” or “letting guns walk” was a tactic whereby the ATF knowingly allowed thousands of guns to be bought by suspected arms traffickers ("gunrunners") working through straw purchasers on behalf of Mexican drug cartels.
The stated goal of allowing these purchases was to continue to track the firearms as they were transferred to higher−level traffickers and key figures in Mexican cartels, in theory leading to their arrests and the dismantling of the cartels. The tactic was questioned during the operations by a number of people, including ATF field agents and cooperating licensed gun dealers. Operation Fast and Furious, by far the largest "gunwalking" probe, led to the sale of over 2,000 firearms, of which fewer than 700 were recovered as of October 20, 2011 (2011 -10-20). A number of straw purchasers have been arrested and indicted; however, as of October 2011, none of the targeted high−level cartel figures have been arrested.
Firearms "walked" by the ATF have been found at violent crime scenes on both sides of the US−Mexico border, and have been found at the crime scenes involving deaths of many Mexicans and at least one US federal agent, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The “gunwalking” operations became public in the aftermath of Agent Terry's murder. As a result, dissident ATF agents came forward to Congress. As investigations have continued, the operations have become increasingly controversial in both countries, and diplomatic relations have been damaged as a result.These weapons have been found at more than 170 crime scenes in Mexico. Another of our Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Jaime Zapata was murdered with one of the guns. Eric Holder has been trotted in front of Congress to lie about what emails he did and didn't receive about the operation.
Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, is in a little trouble because of this mess, but not at the level you would expect. The White House is circling the wagons, and is putting on the Full-Nixon.
Let me repeat what happened here....
There are two explanations for the violence in Mexico - 1) American Prohibition Laws, or 2) American Guns Crossing The Border.
In an effort to sway public opinion, the ATF purchased a bunch of guns and knowingly sold them to the reps of Mexican Drug Lords.
In an effort to sway public opinion, the ATF purchased a bunch of guns and knowingly sold them to the reps of Mexican Drug Lords.
In an effort to sway public opinion, the ATF purchased a bunch of guns and knowingly sold them to the reps of Mexican Drug Lords.
I know that a lot of people love Barack Obama, and he's thrown a lot of taxpayer money to his supporters (more than any other president) and he makes good speeches that make Statists nod along with a warm damp glow of contentment. There's a competing school of thought that claims he's the dumbest human to ever step foot in the Oval Office, much less work there.
Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper on the anguish of the Zapata family. They're not letting Holder or Obama off the hook, no matter who was programming The Teleprompter during the operation:
The solution to this mess? Stop voting for Fascists.
I don't speak for every Libertarian running for office in 2012, but I don't think we'll ever, ever, ever purchase guns, sell them to the reps of Mexican Drug Lords, WATCH as they cross the border, and then lose track of them.
We will never, ever do that.
Hell, the slowest students in a Special Ed class would never, ever do that.
Pics came from here and here.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
He is a human. He was born on this planet. No defects were noted.
I was hoping for something that would answer the really big questions.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Barack Obama's Environmentally Correct Easter Egg Hunt
(CNSNews.com) – The White House announced Monday that this year’s Easter Egg Roll will be “more environmentally friendly,” with eggs made ofwood certified by an environmental activist organization and packaging that will “minimize waste and environmental impact.”
Can someone please, please, please explain to me, using little bitty words that I can understand, why it is that eggs made of trees are "greener" than the eggs that are squeezed out of chickens?
The press release issued by the White House states that the eggs will be produced in the United States from hardwood “certified” by the Forest Stewardship Council, a non-profit organization with a presence in 50 countries and a mission “to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.”
Can someone please, please, please explain to me, using little bitty words that I can understand, why is it that involving globe-trotting bureaucrats and regulators (with a presence in 50 countries) makes something "greener"?
The “greener” packaging for the eggs – available in purple, pink, green and yellow – is made from paperboard certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The paperboard “uses no wood fibers from controversial sources” and the printed carton the egg comes in can be recycled. The packaging is also decorated with vegetable oil-based inks and water-based coatings.
If there's anything our President should guard against, its wood fibers from controversial sources.
Think of the energy and resources wasted on this exercise in political correctness. Manufacturing wooden eggs, Separating the controversial wood fiber from the more bland varieties. Coming up with an ink made from vegetables. Good God in heaven, the mind recoils.
(Water-based coatings are a good thing, IMAO. Fewer VOC's released into the atmosphere. That part is semi-legit, but still nothing to brag about.)
Can someone please, please, please explain to me, using little bitty words that I can understand, why it is that eggs made of trees are "greener" than the eggs that are squeezed out of chickens?
The press release issued by the White House states that the eggs will be produced in the United States from hardwood “certified” by the Forest Stewardship Council, a non-profit organization with a presence in 50 countries and a mission “to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.”
Can someone please, please, please explain to me, using little bitty words that I can understand, why is it that involving globe-trotting bureaucrats and regulators (with a presence in 50 countries) makes something "greener"?
The “greener” packaging for the eggs – available in purple, pink, green and yellow – is made from paperboard certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The paperboard “uses no wood fibers from controversial sources” and the printed carton the egg comes in can be recycled. The packaging is also decorated with vegetable oil-based inks and water-based coatings.
If there's anything our President should guard against, its wood fibers from controversial sources.
Think of the energy and resources wasted on this exercise in political correctness. Manufacturing wooden eggs, Separating the controversial wood fiber from the more bland varieties. Coming up with an ink made from vegetables. Good God in heaven, the mind recoils.
(Water-based coatings are a good thing, IMAO. Fewer VOC's released into the atmosphere. That part is semi-legit, but still nothing to brag about.)
Steven Seagal and Sheriff Joe Arapaio use tanks to invade neighborhood in pursuit of a possible cockfighting operation
Have you noticed an uptick in the number of SWAT teams being sent in to search homes for marijuana? Officers in anti-riot regalia going in for no-knock drug raids in the homes of people smoking funny cigarettes?
Well, Arizona has taken it to the next level.
PHOENIX -- Sheriff Joe Arpaio rolled out the tanks to take down a man suspected of cockfighting.
West Valley residents in the neighborhood are crying foul after armored vehicles, including a tank, rolled into their neighborhood to make the bust.
Neighbor Debra Ross was so worried she called 911 and went outside where a nearby home had its windows blown out, was crawling with dozens of SWAT members in full gear, armored vehicles and a bomb robot.
“When the tank came in and pushed the wall over and you see what's in there, and all it is, is a bunch of chickens,” Ross said.
In a massive show of force on Monday, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant and arrested the homeowner, Jesus Llovera, on charges of suspected cockfighting.
Llovera was alone in the house at the time of the arrest, and he was unarmed.
“I think taxpayers should be shocked,” said Robert Campus, Llovera’s attorney. Campus said he believes the operation costs tens of thousands of dollars.
Deputies had no probable cause to believe Llovera was armed or dangerous, according to Campus.
Ok, up until this point, the story has been interesting but typical Uncle Sam Overkill. Now it gets weird.
Campus said he believes the entire scene was basically a stage, to help actor Steven Seagal’s TV show, “Lawman.”
Seagal was riding in the tank.
The Sheriff’s Department has entered into a contract with Seagal and part of that contract gives Seagal carte blanche to go along with the sheriff as he arrests people.
Thousands of dollars in damages were made to the property and 115 birds were euthanized on the spot.
Llovera was convicted of a misdemeanor last year of attending a cockfight and has no history of owning weapons.
Yet the sheriff’s office said they had reasons to believe Llovera might be armed.
“We're going to err on the side of caution. We're going to make sure that we have the appropriate amount of force in case we do run into anything like that,” said Sgt. Jesse Spurgin.
Well, hell, that would do it.
Why we are tolerating this without taking to the streets is one of life's great mysteries.
Well, Arizona has taken it to the next level.
PHOENIX -- Sheriff Joe Arpaio rolled out the tanks to take down a man suspected of cockfighting.
West Valley residents in the neighborhood are crying foul after armored vehicles, including a tank, rolled into their neighborhood to make the bust.
Neighbor Debra Ross was so worried she called 911 and went outside where a nearby home had its windows blown out, was crawling with dozens of SWAT members in full gear, armored vehicles and a bomb robot.
“When the tank came in and pushed the wall over and you see what's in there, and all it is, is a bunch of chickens,” Ross said.
In a massive show of force on Monday, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant and arrested the homeowner, Jesus Llovera, on charges of suspected cockfighting.
Llovera was alone in the house at the time of the arrest, and he was unarmed.
“I think taxpayers should be shocked,” said Robert Campus, Llovera’s attorney. Campus said he believes the operation costs tens of thousands of dollars.
Deputies had no probable cause to believe Llovera was armed or dangerous, according to Campus.
Ok, up until this point, the story has been interesting but typical Uncle Sam Overkill. Now it gets weird.
Campus said he believes the entire scene was basically a stage, to help actor Steven Seagal’s TV show, “Lawman.”
Seagal was riding in the tank.
The Sheriff’s Department has entered into a contract with Seagal and part of that contract gives Seagal carte blanche to go along with the sheriff as he arrests people.
Thousands of dollars in damages were made to the property and 115 birds were euthanized on the spot.
Llovera was convicted of a misdemeanor last year of attending a cockfight and has no history of owning weapons.
Yet the sheriff’s office said they had reasons to believe Llovera might be armed.
“We're going to err on the side of caution. We're going to make sure that we have the appropriate amount of force in case we do run into anything like that,” said Sgt. Jesse Spurgin.
Well, hell, that would do it.
Why we are tolerating this without taking to the streets is one of life's great mysteries.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A brief rant about CSA 2010. Or 2011.
One of my drivers came to me a few days ago and asked to be considered for a warehouse or desk job. When I asked him why, he said "I'm tired of government son of a bitches telling me how much damn money I can make." (Somewhat edited to delete 90% of the profanity.)
Here's what is at stake. The Department of Transportation is rolling out a new program called CSA 2010. It claims to be a safety program with a system that tracks each driver's and each company's safety record. Every driver and every company gets a score based on roadside inspections, accidents, driver fitness, and lots and lots of paperwork.
The purpose of the program? To create jobs for goverment parasites.
The purpose of the program? To make it easier for top-heavy union employers to compete against lean and mean upstart companies.
The purpose of the program? Safety.
Despite being named CSA 2010, the program hasn't been implemented yet. I think they've pushed it back twice. The government keeps having computer issues and nobody's score is accurate. The trucking industry has been fairly patient with these delays, and I wonder if our Lords and Masters in the Department of Transportation will be as patient with companies that take as long to comply?
Anyway, you can go here to read about the program.
If that picture reminds you of the scary old Hillarycare flowchart, well, it should. They both sprang forth from the same mindset. My email system is plagued by entrepreneurial ex-DOT employees who have started companies and programs designed to help get me into compliance with this mess. (For the low, low price of $999.00 !!!!)
Now you would think that an organization that couldn't roll out something named "2010" until late "2011" would be modest about rolling out additional regulatory crap.
Well, you're wrong. Here's what else they're cooking up. Imagine the paperwork, the mind-numbing regulations, documents, time stamps and civil service leeches necessary to guarantee compliance with this next set of hoops to jump through. There are going to be extensive roadside Talmudic discussions between truckers and highway patrolmen that last for days:
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today issued a regulatory proposal that would revise hours-of-service (HOS) requirements for commercial truck drivers.
This new HOS (hours of service) proposal would retain the "34-hour restart" provision allowing drivers to restart the clock on their weekly 60 or 70 hours by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty. However, the restart period would have to include two consecutive off-duty periods from midnight to 6:00 a.m. Drivers would be allowed to use this restart only once during a seven-day period.
Additionally the proposal would require commercial truck drivers to complete all driving within a 14-hour workday, and to complete all on-duty work-related activities within 13 hours to allow for at least a one hour break. It also leaves open for comment whether drivers should be limited to 10 or 11 hours of daily driving time, although FMCSA currently favors a 10-hour limit.
Other key provisions include the option of extending a driver's daily shift to 16 hours twice a week to accommodate for issues such as loading and unloading at terminals or ports, and allowing drivers to count some time spent parked in their trucks toward off-duty hours.
God help us all.
People don't understand what this kind of uncertainty does to a business. Freight companies build their terminals a certain number of hours apart, based on the government regulations in place at the time. They set up local driver routes to comply with Hours Of Service regulations.
And then it all changes. Because of.....???? Have the number of accidents been increasing? An increased percentage of fatatlities? Has there been a public outcry for more paperwork? Nope.
Your employees (the government ones) just need something to do.
Be sure to check out the chart shown here. Big Oil, of course, gets some exemptions. Not because they're safer, or different, or better. They just get them.
Here's what is at stake. The Department of Transportation is rolling out a new program called CSA 2010. It claims to be a safety program with a system that tracks each driver's and each company's safety record. Every driver and every company gets a score based on roadside inspections, accidents, driver fitness, and lots and lots of paperwork.
The purpose of the program? Safety.
Despite being named CSA 2010, the program hasn't been implemented yet. I think they've pushed it back twice. The government keeps having computer issues and nobody's score is accurate. The trucking industry has been fairly patient with these delays, and I wonder if our Lords and Masters in the Department of Transportation will be as patient with companies that take as long to comply?
Anyway, you can go here to read about the program.
If that picture reminds you of the scary old Hillarycare flowchart, well, it should. They both sprang forth from the same mindset. My email system is plagued by entrepreneurial ex-DOT employees who have started companies and programs designed to help get me into compliance with this mess. (For the low, low price of $999.00 !!!!)
Now you would think that an organization that couldn't roll out something named "2010" until late "2011" would be modest about rolling out additional regulatory crap.
Well, you're wrong. Here's what else they're cooking up. Imagine the paperwork, the mind-numbing regulations, documents, time stamps and civil service leeches necessary to guarantee compliance with this next set of hoops to jump through. There are going to be extensive roadside Talmudic discussions between truckers and highway patrolmen that last for days:
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today issued a regulatory proposal that would revise hours-of-service (HOS) requirements for commercial truck drivers.
This new HOS (hours of service) proposal would retain the "34-hour restart" provision allowing drivers to restart the clock on their weekly 60 or 70 hours by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty. However, the restart period would have to include two consecutive off-duty periods from midnight to 6:00 a.m. Drivers would be allowed to use this restart only once during a seven-day period.
Additionally the proposal would require commercial truck drivers to complete all driving within a 14-hour workday, and to complete all on-duty work-related activities within 13 hours to allow for at least a one hour break. It also leaves open for comment whether drivers should be limited to 10 or 11 hours of daily driving time, although FMCSA currently favors a 10-hour limit.
Other key provisions include the option of extending a driver's daily shift to 16 hours twice a week to accommodate for issues such as loading and unloading at terminals or ports, and allowing drivers to count some time spent parked in their trucks toward off-duty hours.
God help us all.
People don't understand what this kind of uncertainty does to a business. Freight companies build their terminals a certain number of hours apart, based on the government regulations in place at the time. They set up local driver routes to comply with Hours Of Service regulations.
And then it all changes. Because of.....???? Have the number of accidents been increasing? An increased percentage of fatatlities? Has there been a public outcry for more paperwork? Nope.
Your employees (the government ones) just need something to do.
Be sure to check out the chart shown here. Big Oil, of course, gets some exemptions. Not because they're safer, or different, or better. They just get them.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
TSA statistics for new security procedures
Sent to me by so many readers (the first being The Whited Mama) that I've gotta post it.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
"Fixed fortifications are a monument to man's stupidity" - General George S. Patton
Here's a video of two girls climbing the four million dollar per mile U.S./Mexico border fence.
The important thing about this massive piece of pork?
1) The contractors who lobbied for it got paid.
2) Politicians came up with a piece of Performance Art to show that they were doing something.
3) The fence looks impressive without actually stopping the flow of illegals, who help fuel our economy, and drugs, which help fuel the prison/counselor/police lobby.
If seen in the context described above, this monument is more beautiful than Mount Rushmore.
Hit the "tortilla curtain" label below to read an old post about how much this thing costs per foot.
The important thing about this massive piece of pork?
1) The contractors who lobbied for it got paid.
2) Politicians came up with a piece of Performance Art to show that they were doing something.
3) The fence looks impressive without actually stopping the flow of illegals, who help fuel our economy, and drugs, which help fuel the prison/counselor/police lobby.
If seen in the context described above, this monument is more beautiful than Mount Rushmore.
Hit the "tortilla curtain" label below to read an old post about how much this thing costs per foot.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Big Sister is watching you, and wants you to watch everyone else
I like Wal-Mart.
No, I love Wal-Mart.
My employer, Jukt Micronics, is a Wal-Mart vendor, but that's not why I like the company.
Wal-Mart has done more to reduce inflation than any other organization in the United States.
They've done more to improve living standards all over the world than most people will ever know.
Sam Walton deserves a posthumous Nobel.
But if I EVER have to wait in a Wal-Mart checkout line and listen to this malignant Big Brotherism.....
....I'm going to abandon my cart full of pork rinds, Chinese denim, and Taiwanese electronics, and start reporting people to the manager. This is nothing but performance art designed to show that Janet And Company are keeping us safe.
Good God Almighty, is this what we've come to?
Here's Infowars:
Here's a good rant on some suspicious behavior that should immediately be reported to the Wal-Mart store manager:
Seriously, if you're a Wal-Mart fan, can you imagine buying some T-shirts beneath the hideous, all-seeing visage of Janet "The System Worked" Napolitano ?
Let's hope that Wal-Mart (and everyone else) drops this program. We don't need to become a nation of spies.
No, I love Wal-Mart.
My employer, Jukt Micronics, is a Wal-Mart vendor, but that's not why I like the company.
Wal-Mart has done more to reduce inflation than any other organization in the United States.
They've done more to improve living standards all over the world than most people will ever know.
Sam Walton deserves a posthumous Nobel.
But if I EVER have to wait in a Wal-Mart checkout line and listen to this malignant Big Brotherism.....
....I'm going to abandon my cart full of pork rinds, Chinese denim, and Taiwanese electronics, and start reporting people to the manager. This is nothing but performance art designed to show that Janet And Company are keeping us safe.
Good God Almighty, is this what we've come to?
Here's Infowars:
WASHINGTON — Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the expansion of the Department’s national “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign to hundreds of Walmart stores across the country—launching a new partnership between DHS and Walmart to help the American public play an active role in ensuring the safety and security of our nation.I hate to see Wal-Mart playing along with this. But they've had to fight tariffs, unions, city councils, and a host of other government roadblocks for decades. Do you think there might be cut some slack in exchange for allowing this Barackaganda into their shoppers' heads? Who knows.
....The “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign—originally implemented by New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and funded, in part, by $13 million from DHS’ Transit Security Grant Program—is a simple and effective program to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities.
Here's a good rant on some suspicious behavior that should immediately be reported to the Wal-Mart store manager:
Seriously, if you're a Wal-Mart fan, can you imagine buying some T-shirts beneath the hideous, all-seeing visage of Janet "The System Worked" Napolitano ?
Let's hope that Wal-Mart (and everyone else) drops this program. We don't need to become a nation of spies.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
FBI continues to keep us safe by encouraging people to kill us
The FBI has once again attempted to keep America safe by setting up another terrorist plot. So that they can disrupt it. This is from The Washington Post:
IRVINE, CALIF. - Before the sun rose, the informant donned a white Islamic robe. A tiny camera was sewn into a button, and a microphone was buried in a device attached to his keys.
"This is Farouk al-Aziz, code name Oracle," he said into the keys as he sat in his parked car in this quiet community south of Los Angeles. "It's November 13th, 4:30 a.m. And we're hot."
The undercover FBI informant - a convicted forger named Craig Monteilh - then drove off for 5 a.m. prayers at the Islamic Center of Irvine, where he says he spied on dozens of worshipers in a quest for potential terrorists.
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the FBI has used informants successfully as one of many tactics to prevent another strike in the United States. Agency officials say they are careful not to violate civil liberties and do not target Muslims.
But the FBI's approach has come under fire from some Muslims, criticism that surfaced again late last month after agents arrested an Oregon man they said tried to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. FBI technicians had supplied the device.
In the Irvine case, Monteilh's mission as an informant backfired. Muslims were so alarmed by his talk of violent jihad that they obtained a restraining order against him.
He had helped build a terrorism-related case against a mosque member, but that also collapsed. The Justice Department recently took the extraordinary step of dropping charges against the worshiper, who Monteilh had caught on tape agreeing to blow up buildings, law enforcement officials said. Prosecutors had portrayed the man as a dire threat.
Compounding the damage, Monteilh has gone public, revealing secret FBI methods and charging that his "handlers" trained him to entrap Muslims as he infiltrated their mosques, homes and businesses. He is now suing the FBI.
Officials declined to comment on specific details of Monteilh's tale but confirm that he was a paid FBI informant. Court records and interviews corroborate not only that Monteilh worked for the FBI - he says he made $177,000, tax-free, in 15 months - but that he provided vital information on a number of cases.
Hit the link at the top to read the whole thing. The entrapment cartoon came from here.
IRVINE, CALIF. - Before the sun rose, the informant donned a white Islamic robe. A tiny camera was sewn into a button, and a microphone was buried in a device attached to his keys.
"This is Farouk al-Aziz, code name Oracle," he said into the keys as he sat in his parked car in this quiet community south of Los Angeles. "It's November 13th, 4:30 a.m. And we're hot."
The undercover FBI informant - a convicted forger named Craig Monteilh - then drove off for 5 a.m. prayers at the Islamic Center of Irvine, where he says he spied on dozens of worshipers in a quest for potential terrorists.
But the FBI's approach has come under fire from some Muslims, criticism that surfaced again late last month after agents arrested an Oregon man they said tried to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. FBI technicians had supplied the device.
In the Irvine case, Monteilh's mission as an informant backfired. Muslims were so alarmed by his talk of violent jihad that they obtained a restraining order against him.
He had helped build a terrorism-related case against a mosque member, but that also collapsed. The Justice Department recently took the extraordinary step of dropping charges against the worshiper, who Monteilh had caught on tape agreeing to blow up buildings, law enforcement officials said. Prosecutors had portrayed the man as a dire threat.
Compounding the damage, Monteilh has gone public, revealing secret FBI methods and charging that his "handlers" trained him to entrap Muslims as he infiltrated their mosques, homes and businesses. He is now suing the FBI.
Officials declined to comment on specific details of Monteilh's tale but confirm that he was a paid FBI informant. Court records and interviews corroborate not only that Monteilh worked for the FBI - he says he made $177,000, tax-free, in 15 months - but that he provided vital information on a number of cases.
Hit the link at the top to read the whole thing. The entrapment cartoon came from here.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Government employees forbidden to visit the Wikileaks site without proper security clearance
From The New York Holy Times:
WASHINGTON — In a classic case of shutting the barn door after the horse has left, the Obama administration and the Department of Defense have ordered the hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors not to view the secret cables and other classified documents published by Wikileaks and news organizations around the world unless the workers have the required security clearance or authorization.
“Classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites or disclosed to the media, remains classified, and must be treated as such by federal employees and contractors, until it is declassified by an appropriate U.S. Government authority,” said the notice sent on Friday afternoon by the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of the White House, to agency and department heads, urging them to distribute it to their staff.
I guess if they want to know what's in the Wikileaks cables, they'll have to get a neighbor or any literate 8th grader to tell them.....
The directive applies to both government computers and private devices that employees or contractors might have, as long as they are accessing the documents on nonclassified government networks. It does not advise agencies to block WikiLeaks or other websites on government computer systems, a White House official said Saturday. And it does not prohibit federal employees from reading news stories about the topic. But if they have “accidentially” already downloaded any of these documents, they are being told to notify their “information security offices.”
And on a slightly unrelated but equally ridiculous topic, Wikileaks is slowly starting to reveal documents about the Climate Scam:
Go here for details.
This is amazing. Truly amazing.
It's kinda like the TSA body scans, or any other illegal government search and seizure, but reversed.
Come on, Uncle Sam !!! You shouldn't worry about breaches of privacy if you have nothing to hide !!!
The pic of the horse that got through the barn door came from here. This lady makes some great pics, BTW. The picture of Uncle Sam having his privacy violated came from Daily Kos.
WASHINGTON — In a classic case of shutting the barn door after the horse has left, the Obama administration and the Department of Defense have ordered the hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors not to view the secret cables and other classified documents published by Wikileaks and news organizations around the world unless the workers have the required security clearance or authorization.
“Classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites or disclosed to the media, remains classified, and must be treated as such by federal employees and contractors, until it is declassified by an appropriate U.S. Government authority,” said the notice sent on Friday afternoon by the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of the White House, to agency and department heads, urging them to distribute it to their staff.
I guess if they want to know what's in the Wikileaks cables, they'll have to get a neighbor or any literate 8th grader to tell them.....
The directive applies to both government computers and private devices that employees or contractors might have, as long as they are accessing the documents on nonclassified government networks. It does not advise agencies to block WikiLeaks or other websites on government computer systems, a White House official said Saturday. And it does not prohibit federal employees from reading news stories about the topic. But if they have “accidentially” already downloaded any of these documents, they are being told to notify their “information security offices.”
And on a slightly unrelated but equally ridiculous topic, Wikileaks is slowly starting to reveal documents about the Climate Scam:
Go here for details.
This is amazing. Truly amazing.
Come on, Uncle Sam !!! You shouldn't worry about breaches of privacy if you have nothing to hide !!!
The pic of the horse that got through the barn door came from here. This lady makes some great pics, BTW. The picture of Uncle Sam having his privacy violated came from Daily Kos.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
We stopped the baby from drinking the poison that we gave your baby. Give us more money, please.
Congratulations to the FBI, which has thwarted a bomb plot in Portland, Oregon.
Because of the FBI's efforts, Mohamed Osman Mohamud was prevented from igniting a bomb at a Christmas Tree-lighting celebration.
Mr. Mohamud, thinking he was going to ignite the bomb, drove to the corner of the square at Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue in downtown Portland and attempted to set off the explosives packed inside his van.
The public was never in danger, however, since the "bomb" had been provided to Mr. Mohamud by the FBI, and wouldn't have ignited in the middle of a forest fire.
We do not yet know if the FBI provided Mr. Mohamud with the van.
The FBI did help him test a similar bomb someplace out in the boondocks.
This is called entrapment.
In providing this doofus with a fake bomb, working with him on his plans to kill people, and essentially enabling and encouraging his criminal activities, the FBI has created and saved jobs for numerous FBI agents.
They have given the citizens of Portland Oregon some Performance Art that will encourage them to give away more and more of their rights, privacy, and property in the name of public safety.
In the words of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, "The system worked".
The "Idiot Bait" logo came from here.
Because of the FBI's efforts, Mohamed Osman Mohamud was prevented from igniting a bomb at a Christmas Tree-lighting celebration.
Mr. Mohamud, thinking he was going to ignite the bomb, drove to the corner of the square at Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue in downtown Portland and attempted to set off the explosives packed inside his van.
The public was never in danger, however, since the "bomb" had been provided to Mr. Mohamud by the FBI, and wouldn't have ignited in the middle of a forest fire.
We do not yet know if the FBI provided Mr. Mohamud with the van.
The FBI did help him test a similar bomb someplace out in the boondocks.
This is called entrapment.
They have given the citizens of Portland Oregon some Performance Art that will encourage them to give away more and more of their rights, privacy, and property in the name of public safety.
In the words of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, "The system worked".
The "Idiot Bait" logo came from here.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Obama Tax Hike Exemption Card
You can go here to get your Obama Tax Hike Exemption card.
How to use the card:
Step 1: Present the card to merchants, employers, and tax authorities.
Step 2: If challenged, pleasantly ask: “Are you calling President Obama a liar?”
Here's some background:
“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”
--Candidate Barack Obama, Sept. 12, 2008
“If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.”
--President Barack Obama, Feb. 24, 2009
“The statement didn’t come with caveats.”
--Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, April 15, 2009, when asked if the pledge applies to healthcare
And here's the reality. Hit the link above for even more:
First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief
In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These will all expire on January 1, 2011:
Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:
- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%
Higher taxes on marriage and family. The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income. The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child. The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level. The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.
The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax. For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million. A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.
Higher tax rates on savers and investors. The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.
How to use the card:
Step 1: Present the card to merchants, employers, and tax authorities.
Step 2: If challenged, pleasantly ask: “Are you calling President Obama a liar?”
Here's some background:
“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”
--Candidate Barack Obama, Sept. 12, 2008
“If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.”
--President Barack Obama, Feb. 24, 2009
“The statement didn’t come with caveats.”
--Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, April 15, 2009, when asked if the pledge applies to healthcare
And here's the reality. Hit the link above for even more:
First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief
In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These will all expire on January 1, 2011:
Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:
- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%
Higher taxes on marriage and family. The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income. The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child. The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level. The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.
The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax. For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million. A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.
Higher tax rates on savers and investors. The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
What to do with your new Tim Geithner currency:
As you probably know, the Secretary Of The Treasury gets to put his name on all the new currency.
As you probably know, the Secretary Of The Treasury went out of his way to avoid paying his taxes, despite his advocacy of lots and lots of new taxes.
Go here to order your Tim Geithner "Tax Cheat" stamp.
Yeah, it's supposed to be a crime to deface currency. It's also a crime to be a tax cheat.
Call it Civil Disobedience. A consciousness-raising event.
As you probably know, the Secretary Of The Treasury went out of his way to avoid paying his taxes, despite his advocacy of lots and lots of new taxes.
Go here to order your Tim Geithner "Tax Cheat" stamp.
Yeah, it's supposed to be a crime to deface currency. It's also a crime to be a tax cheat.
Call it Civil Disobedience. A consciousness-raising event.
And surprise, surprise, the guy who is selling the "Tax Cheat" stamps is now the victim of an audit from Geithner's Goon Squad. Go here to contribute to his defense fund.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
A few thoughts on today's Socialism Summit
A few thoughts on the upcoming Healthcare summit:
1) Things are expensive because they are scarce.
2) There is nothing in the proposals currently on the table to get more doctors pumped into the healthcare system. The AMA's deathgrip on the number of M.D.'s produced each year isn't going to be relaxed. Doctors will remain scarce, and therefore, expensive.
3) There is nothing in the proposals that would allow insurance companies to compete in states other than the ones where they currently have monopolies.
4) There is nothing in the current proposals that would allow consumers to opt for less coverage. Electric wheelchairs, hovercraft, and teleporters have been declared a mandatory part of insurance packages, thanks to lobbying efforts by the manufacturers of electric wheelchairs, hovercraft, and teleporters. Depending on your state, your insurance company now has to charge you enough to cover the possibility of an electric wheelchair, hovercraft, or teleporter in your future.
5) I've never met a nurse who didn't believe that she/he couldn't do 90% of what an M.D. does, at half the price.
6) Tort reform, and therefore, the expense of practicing defensive medicine, aren't on the table.
7) No one will allow me to purchase retroactive homeowner's insurance policy after my house has already burned down. If my uninsured home burned to the ground, no one in his right mind would take one insurance payment from me and then build me a new house. People with pre-existing conditions need help, but they don't need insurance. Insurance is intended to guard against the bad thing that has not yet happened.
8) Danny Williams, the Canadian premier who took a long, long look at his nation's socialized system and decided to come to the U.S. for his heart surgery? He's doing well.
9) It costs somewhere around a billion dollars to lawyer-proof a new medication. Big Pharma saves the lives of millions every year, but there's nothing in this vile healthcare package to protect them from Big John Edwards and his ilk. We need a lower cost option for "unregulated" medication and medical treatment. We have a former Marine medic at our workplace, and I see no reason at all why I shouldn't be able to go to him for stitches, broken bones, etc. After all, I belong to me. I guarantee you that given the choice, most of us would choose the unregulated option if it cost us as little as 20% less. I don't have that much faith in government regulators.
10) Speaking of John Edwards, no one has given us any genuine assurances that all copies of his sex tape have been destroyed. This issue should be treated as a greater threat to the nation than anthrax or the remaining vials of the polio virus.
11) Ever wonder why the insurance companies aren't fighting this thing very hard? Well, they're about to get 30 million new customers, and any new competitors will have to clear a huge regulatory burden before entering the market. They're doing everything but begging Obama not to throw them into that briar patch.
1) Things are expensive because they are scarce.
2) There is nothing in the proposals currently on the table to get more doctors pumped into the healthcare system. The AMA's deathgrip on the number of M.D.'s produced each year isn't going to be relaxed. Doctors will remain scarce, and therefore, expensive.
3) There is nothing in the proposals that would allow insurance companies to compete in states other than the ones where they currently have monopolies.
4) There is nothing in the current proposals that would allow consumers to opt for less coverage. Electric wheelchairs, hovercraft, and teleporters have been declared a mandatory part of insurance packages, thanks to lobbying efforts by the manufacturers of electric wheelchairs, hovercraft, and teleporters. Depending on your state, your insurance company now has to charge you enough to cover the possibility of an electric wheelchair, hovercraft, or teleporter in your future.
5) I've never met a nurse who didn't believe that she/he couldn't do 90% of what an M.D. does, at half the price.
6) Tort reform, and therefore, the expense of practicing defensive medicine, aren't on the table.
7) No one will allow me to purchase retroactive homeowner's insurance policy after my house has already burned down. If my uninsured home burned to the ground, no one in his right mind would take one insurance payment from me and then build me a new house. People with pre-existing conditions need help, but they don't need insurance. Insurance is intended to guard against the bad thing that has not yet happened.
8) Danny Williams, the Canadian premier who took a long, long look at his nation's socialized system and decided to come to the U.S. for his heart surgery? He's doing well.
9) It costs somewhere around a billion dollars to lawyer-proof a new medication. Big Pharma saves the lives of millions every year, but there's nothing in this vile healthcare package to protect them from Big John Edwards and his ilk. We need a lower cost option for "unregulated" medication and medical treatment. We have a former Marine medic at our workplace, and I see no reason at all why I shouldn't be able to go to him for stitches, broken bones, etc. After all, I belong to me. I guarantee you that given the choice, most of us would choose the unregulated option if it cost us as little as 20% less. I don't have that much faith in government regulators.
10) Speaking of John Edwards, no one has given us any genuine assurances that all copies of his sex tape have been destroyed. This issue should be treated as a greater threat to the nation than anthrax or the remaining vials of the polio virus.
11) Ever wonder why the insurance companies aren't fighting this thing very hard? Well, they're about to get 30 million new customers, and any new competitors will have to clear a huge regulatory burden before entering the market. They're doing everything but begging Obama not to throw them into that briar patch.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Danish Cartoons, Irish Blasphemy Laws, Christ In Urine, and Obama As A Lawn Jockey
Last Friday night, a 28-year old Somali man armed with a knife and an axe entered the home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Because of having drawn this particular cartoon....
.....and death threats against the artist, Westergaard's home was equipped with a safe room, or "panic room", for those who've seen the Jodie Foster movie.
Because of having drawn this particular cartoon....
.....and death threats against the artist, Westergaard's home was equipped with a safe room, or "panic room", for those who've seen the Jodie Foster movie.
From the D.C. Examiner: Westergaard was at home with his visiting 5-year-old granddaughter when he heard the suspect trying to break in. "I locked myself in our safe room and alerted the police.”
Unable to smash the front door with his ax, the suspect was shot once in the knee and once in the hand by police. The wounds are not life-threatening.
What's to be done about this situation, where Muslims those adhering to certain belief system want to destroy airliners, cartoonists, themselves, and others?
Ireland has responded by tightening up their Blasphemy laws. These regulations went into effect on January 1st. Here's The Guardian:
The new law, which was passed in July, means that blasphemy in Ireland is now a crime punishable with a fine of up to €25,000 (£22,000).
It defines blasphemy as "publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defences permitted".
The justice minister, Dermot Ahern, said that the law was necessary because while immigration had brought a growing diversity of religious faiths, the 1936 constitution extended the protection of belief only to Christians.
In other words, the current version of the Irish Blasphemy statues are no less silly, but a lot more fair. If you want to watch the virus spread, and if you have a strong stomach, you can go here for a USA Today editorial about the U.N. and the Obama Administration supporting an International Law Against Blasphemy.
A group of Irish Freethinkers instantly responded by posting a list of quotations from Jesus, Mark Twain, Tom Lehrer (hello Shuey !), Randy Newman, Salman Rushdie, George Carlin, Richard Dawkins, Pope Benedict, and a few Irish politicians. Any of these quotations would be fair game for anyone wanting to earn some money or notoriety through a blasphemy complaint. Organized sensitivity is becoming more and more profitable.
Speaking of Blasphemy, let's change gears and continents for a moment. This is Andres Serrano's masterpiece, "Piss Christ". It's a photograph of a crucifix submerged in Serrano's urine. It was a big deal back in the late 1980's. 
I can take it or leave it. If Andres Serrano wants photograph The Last Supper in purple pelican poop, it doesn't harm me in the least. It wouldn't harm you, either, unless you were forced to pay for it. (In the case of Piss Christ, you may have paid for it, but that's another story. Go here for more than you'll ever want to know about the incident.)
Speaking of Transgressive Art.... Here's a work that I might commission, if I ever get the proper Photoshop skills.
I want to do a multimedia installation showing Barack Obama dressed as a lawn jockey, parking cars at a Goldman Sachs Christmas party. It would be controversial, but it would illustrate the power relationship between Goldman Sachs and our government, and depict the level at which Obama truly is their little bitch.
I want to photograph a sterotypical Welfare Queen in her Cadillac, the stereotype so often derided during the Reagan era. I want to paste (juxtapose, in artspeak) the face of the Archer Daniels Midland CEO onto the body of the Welfare Queen, and call the piece "Welfare Brood Sow", and challenge preconceptions of government dependency.
The final work will be something called "U O Me", and I intend to hire a troupe of performance artists to infest the maternity ward of Arlington Memorial Hospital. The artists will give each infant a bill for $375,000.00, representing each child's share of the unfunded government liabilities voted into place by their grandparents. The artists will threaten to withold milk until all debts are paid.
If you're wanting to help fund any of these projects, don't bother. I'm going to apply for an NEA grant.
Let's review the topics covered so far:
1) Danish cartoons portraying Muhammed.
2) Quotes from Jesus, Twain, and Pope Benedict.
3) Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ".
4) Some proposed artwork of my own, designed to illustrate the corrupt nature of our government.
A few questions on each:
1) Have any of these caused you, or anyone else, physical harm?
2) Would you censor, or prosecute the producers of any of these forms of speech?
3) All of them, or just some of them? Why?
4) Do you think any of these are actually beneficial to society and represent a valid point of view?
5) And finally, do you think it's possible for a government to prohibit one category without endangering all the others?
Just wondering.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. (Especially if you're a god.)
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Passengers leave seats to thwart terrorists; Government reacts by keeping passengers in their seats
I am not making any of this up. I've double-checked all of it for accuracy as best I can.
Ever wonder how regulations are born? Ever wonder where all the red tape comes from? Have you ever wondered why it takes a day's worth of paperwork to ship a clock from overseas on Federal Express?
Here's Mark Steyn, on the recently thwarted terrorist attack on an airliner:
On September 11th 2001, the government's (1970s) security procedures all failed, and the only good news of the day came from self-reliant citizens (on Flight 93) using their own wits and a willingness to act.
On December 25th 2009, the government's (post-9/11) security procedures all failed, and the only good news came once again from alert individuals:
From an interview of one of the heroes, quoted by the New York Post:
"Suddenly, we hear a bang. It sounded like a firecracker went off," said Jasper Schuringa, a film director who was traveling to the US to visit friends.
"When [it] went off, everybody panicked ... Then someone screamed, ‘Fire! Fire!’"
Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. "I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn’t hesitate. I just jumped," he said.
Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab’s seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. "It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs."
"I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs."
The unassuming hero ripped the flaming, molten object — which resembled a small, white shampoo bottle — off Abdul Mutallab’s left leg, near his crotch. He said he put out the fire with his bare hands.
Schuringa yelled for water, and members of the flight crew soon appeared with fire extinguishers. Then, he said, he hauled the suspect out of the seat.
Ok, so some wide-awake passengers rose from their seats to prevent a disaster in a situation where the regulators failed.
How have the government regulators responded? Here's Joan Lowy, writing for the Associated Press:
Some airlines were telling passengers on Saturday that new government security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing.
....Flight attendants on some domestic flights are informing passengers of similar rules. Passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa Saturday morning were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn't have items in their laps, including laptops and pillows.
The TSA issued a security directive for U.S.-bound flights from overseas, according to a transportation security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.
Here's Rand Simberg, with Pajamas Media:
....as usual, the new measures, hastily put into place because something happened, will be measures that would likely have had no effect on what happened. But since they already had measures in place, and something happened anyway, they have to do something new to keep the curtains open in the theater.
Yep. The new regulations will be pointless, but we must be given the impression that our government is doing something. The show must go on.
Ever wonder how regulations are born? Ever wonder where all the red tape comes from? Have you ever wondered why it takes a day's worth of paperwork to ship a clock from overseas on Federal Express?
Here's Mark Steyn, on the recently thwarted terrorist attack on an airliner:
On September 11th 2001, the government's (1970s) security procedures all failed, and the only good news of the day came from self-reliant citizens (on Flight 93) using their own wits and a willingness to act.
On December 25th 2009, the government's (post-9/11) security procedures all failed, and the only good news came once again from alert individuals:
From an interview of one of the heroes, quoted by the New York Post:
"Suddenly, we hear a bang. It sounded like a firecracker went off," said Jasper Schuringa, a film director who was traveling to the US to visit friends.
"When [it] went off, everybody panicked ... Then someone screamed, ‘Fire! Fire!’"
Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. "I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn’t hesitate. I just jumped," he said.
Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab’s seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. "It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs."
"I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs."
The unassuming hero ripped the flaming, molten object — which resembled a small, white shampoo bottle — off Abdul Mutallab’s left leg, near his crotch. He said he put out the fire with his bare hands.
Schuringa yelled for water, and members of the flight crew soon appeared with fire extinguishers. Then, he said, he hauled the suspect out of the seat.
Ok, so some wide-awake passengers rose from their seats to prevent a disaster in a situation where the regulators failed.
How have the government regulators responded? Here's Joan Lowy, writing for the Associated Press:
Some airlines were telling passengers on Saturday that new government security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing.
....Flight attendants on some domestic flights are informing passengers of similar rules. Passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa Saturday morning were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn't have items in their laps, including laptops and pillows.
The TSA issued a security directive for U.S.-bound flights from overseas, according to a transportation security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.
Here's Rand Simberg, with Pajamas Media:
....as usual, the new measures, hastily put into place because something happened, will be measures that would likely have had no effect on what happened. But since they already had measures in place, and something happened anyway, they have to do something new to keep the curtains open in the theater.
Yep. The new regulations will be pointless, but we must be given the impression that our government is doing something. The show must go on.
Pics came from here and here and here and here. (The last one in the series is the one you're looking for.)
Also, I'm particularly proud of the labels for this post. Almost all of them reward further reading.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
My work for the National Endowment For The Arts
As you may have heard, The National Endowment For The Arts has been playing footsie with The White House Office Of Public Engagement to get sculptors, composers, producers, taste-makers, fashion victims, composers, the black-wearing undertakers of the art world, and all-around trendoids to start producing art to promote the agenda of The Teleprompter Jesus. Some "60 Minutes" wannabe got the whole conference call on tape. Dang it.
This conference call violated numerous lobbying laws but it was for a good cause, which is supposed to make everything ok.
Those listening in on the notorious conference call were encouraged to promote the following Obama agenda items through their art: health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, and community renewal.
Here are some of my favorite examples of government encouraging artists to create for the greater good:
Unfortunately, the NEA's director of communications has now been publicly beheaded, his head paraded around the walls of Washington on a pike, and his other remains are now hanging in chains outside the city gates as a warning not to ever ever ever do anything like this again. Not when tape recorders are running, anyway.
What irks me is that my own art on these topics won't get the wide audience it deserves. Yes, I was contacted by the NEA to produce new Obamamedia. It's a shame to work and work and work on art, and then see the taxpayer funding disappear due to silly, outdated, separation of Me and Your Wallet laws.
This conference call violated numerous lobbying laws but it was for a good cause, which is supposed to make everything ok.
Those listening in on the notorious conference call were encouraged to promote the following Obama agenda items through their art: health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, and community renewal.
Here are some of my favorite examples of government encouraging artists to create for the greater good:
Unfortunately, the NEA's director of communications has now been publicly beheaded, his head paraded around the walls of Washington on a pike, and his other remains are now hanging in chains outside the city gates as a warning not to ever ever ever do anything like this again. Not when tape recorders are running, anyway.What irks me is that my own art on these topics won't get the wide audience it deserves. Yes, I was contacted by the NEA to produce new Obamamedia. It's a shame to work and work and work on art, and then see the taxpayer funding disappear due to silly, outdated, separation of Me and Your Wallet laws.
I worked long and hard to produce propaganda artwork based on all five of the agenda items the White House wanted. Instead of being displayed in galleries around the world, they'll have to be posted here.
This is the piece I've worked on the longest, and it's intended to promote the President's Education agenda. Remember the "Fun With Dick And Jane" readers you may have used in the first grade? To promote the decline of reading, and to encourage our public schools to produce even more unfortunate illiterate students for the "Victim" voting block, I painted a series of Dick And Jane books that didn't have any text, only pictures. The ability to read, of course, is an elitist notion, and should be discouraged by The State, since literacy leads to critical thinking.
Here's one of the best in the Dick and Jane series. I call it "Untitled". Easy to read, isn't it?
Ever since I got my first batch of Play-Do, I've been interested in sculpture. To help the President with his Community Renewal agenda, I constructed a miniature replica of the neighborhood where Obama once spent lots and lots of money and hired lots and lots of helpers while working as a Community Organizer. Like Washington D.C., like the Deep South prior to the 1970's, and like other regions where the Mommy Party had a lock on things for way too long, the place is a shithole. I had a hard time making it look horrible enough.
Therefore, I used non-traditional materials for this piece. The results are spectacular, but shouldn't be viewed on a warm day.
The Safety And Security piece was more challenging. It's an homage to Fredrik Reuterswärd's sculpture "The Knotted Gun". To celebrate our Victim Disarmament Laws, and to celebrate the reach of our Nanny State, I've reproduced "The Knotted Gun" in Jello.
The original statue is made of metal, and could fall over and possibly harm someone. Jello is much safer for The Children ® . Plus, the components are totally disassembled, with a permanent trigger lock. Look what similar policies have done for the crime rate in D.C. ! !
The most controversial work is my performance art piece that promotes Obama's Health Care agenda. Instead of a program, the theatre-goers are handed a bill for their percentage of the national debt. The curtain parts to reveal a contortionist who asks that everyone pass their bills to the wealthiest person in the room. This wealthy audience member, in every performance to date, quickly leaves in a huff - taking his business to either China or Mexico.
The contortionist (via a series of slides projected onto the back curtain) examines the solvency of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the track records of various government departments. A Clunker is brought onstage and destroyed. Kids from the Children's Theatre Program, dressed as soldiers, start a war with the theatre next door (this helps the economy and creates jobs). An assistant leads a large hog onstage, and assists the animal in raping The Statue Of Liberty while chanting "Something For Nothing, Something For Nothing".
To end the performance, the contortionists steps forward and says "But Obamacare will be different", and carries out this symbolic action:
The Energy And Environment piece was difficult, but might be the most popular. It illustrates the obscene subsidies you're paying to ethanol farmers. Think of it the next time you're paying at the pump and see the "Contains up to 10% ethanol" sign.
Yes, ethanol production harms the environment. It causes 3rd world food riots. But it's organic, wholesome, and allows the most wealthy Americans to get more of your money. Its use is required by law. This piece is simply called "Ethanol".
Other artists created works in praise of Our Dear Leader and his agenda. I don't know who came up with this one, but it was taught to and performed by some public school kids in New Jersey. I bet Kim Jong-il is envious.....
If you feel that my artwork would complement your lifestyle, I am available for private commissions. For other examples of my art, I encourage you to visit my design proposal for the still unfunded Department Of Culture.
Dick and Jane painting came from here. Pics of Mr. Obama's neighborhood came from here. Article worth reading, BTW. The pic of The Knotted Gun came from here. The head in the nether regions pic came from here. The ethanol crop circles came from here.
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