Smoke And Mirrors

I've been noticing lately that the officiating in the NFL has been something less than stellar.  This isn't a terribly new thing.  The players get bigger and faster, and the game speeds up, and it can take a while for the Stripes to catch up - pretty simple formula.  What really bugs me tho' is that I don't see any of the blown calls on any of the highlite shows, and I never hear any of the commentators talking about it either.  It starts to look a lot like a media blackout.

I'm not saying the games are rigged, but I will say that in the absence of scrutiny, the potential for dastardly behavior will flourish in sports, business, government, religion, whatever.

Connecting those dots with any of these other dots may a bit of a stretch, but it feels like there's a real corollary at work here.

(hat tip = HuffPo)

Chickens Come Home To Roost

Gee - it's just like 1970 again.  The cops are not your friends...

(hat tip = The Agonist)

From care2 make a difference:

Sometime between the time he was arrested on March 27, 2009 around 2:00 p.m., and March 31 at 1:23 p.m. when he was pronounced dead, Christie had been sprayed with ten blasts of pepper spray, also known as OC (Oleo-resin Capsicum), which is a derivative of cayenne pepper.

  ...and the world is a ghetto.

Today's Slogan

Corporations are made of people, but that doesn't mean corporations are people.

Romney Is As Romney Does

via Wonkette:



We've been told for a very long time that 'creative destruction is the natural order of things'; that if we go against the forces of the Free Market we'll only get bad results from our good intentions.

(I realize giving Romney et al the benefit of the doubt here is a huge strain on credulity, but I need to bypass the demonization for a moment.  Besides, I imagine it'll be a good long time before we see a shortage of opportunities to call him names.)

Anyway - the intent was not to stiff these guys and put them out of work.  The intent was to make the company more efficient - more competitive in a global market, to help it evolve, and thus at least to survive long enough to hire these guys back; or to thrive in a way that pumps enough dollars into the local economy so other companies could hire them.  That's how it's supposed to work.  That was the intent.

But I can't look at what actually happened to the people who made up that company and then make any credible claim that 'capitalism didn't fail those people, they failed capitalism'.

So if our intentions were good, and we got bad results anyway, then we have to examine our Methods and Practices to find better ways of doing things.

Today's Pix

Is This Heaven? No, It's Iowa

Santorum lost by 9 votes - here's how it happened (via Crooks and Liars).

Both Sides

Seems to me:

Dems tend to use polls to figure out what We The People are thinking, and where we might wanna go if somebody actually stood up and decided to lead us somewhere.  Maybe that's partly why the Repubs hate calling them democrat-ic.  Anyway, Repubs seem to use their polling to help them decide how to attack public opinion in order to change it enough to suit their agenda.

However slight you believe them to be, there are differences.

d r i f t g l a s s has a good look at it from a wider perspective (quoting a piece from truthout.com):

But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP.

Yo, Repubs

(ed note: This was hangin' in the Drafts File.  Not much new here, but it's generally a good idea to recap once in a while)

  

It's gotten so bad for you guys that the Repub candidates who might actually have a chance to beat Obama aren't going to bother running any real campaign in states like Iowa and South Carolina.  Why?  Because your party's "leaders" have allowed the loons to grab control.  

There's a pretty severe purity test at work here.  If you look at what it takes to get "the base" to vote for somebody in sufficient numbers to win the nomination, you might notice the list of issues requiring absolute fealty is getting pretty long - gays, God, guns, abortion, taxes, immigration, plus one or two others.  The point being that when you insist on strict adherence to this widening list of issues, the effect is that you're not just narrowing the field of candidates who could reasonably cleave to that platform, but you're severely narrowing the number of voters who're willing to go along with it, because what it really shows us is a party that seems bent on controlling way too much of our lives.

You're supposed to be the party of personal responsibility, and small government, and "just leave me the fuck alone".  But when you tell 5% of the population they're not allowed to marry someone they love, you're not holding to your own philosophy.  

When you say you can't vote for somebody who isn't in your chapter of God's Fan Club, then you're ignoring the part of the US Constitution that outlaws tests of religion for elected or appointed office (Article VI).

When you control the Alabama (eg) Legislature and pass a stupid Immigration Law which leads to the arrest of a Mercedes-Benz Production Manager on a visit to the plant in Tuscaloosa, you don't get to piss and moan about how government regulations are hurting business.

Wanna talk abortion?  Here it is:  You outlaw abortion, and you'll be requiring an expansion of government power that'll make Nicky Ceauşescu look like Calvin Coolidge.

The saving grace is that your rapid acceleration toward the logical extreme is causing the GOP to run in tighter and tighter circles, which will eventually make it disappear up its own asshole - which should let the rest of us get back to makin' shit work again.

Today's Music

Actually, not today's music at all.  It's just a great tune, and it was Billboard's #1 on this date in 1969.

Local Controversy

Years ago, a guy named Paul Reisler put together a little residency program (Kid Pan Alley)  where he recruits local music talent, then chooses a public elementary school for a week of song-writing sessions with the kids.  The classes write and perform the tunes at school, and a CD is issued as a means to raise a few bucks for the PTA.  As the program gathers enough tunes, Reisler et al will then produce a CD featuring professionals (eg: Terri Allard, Sissy Spacek, The Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Jesse Winchester, etc).

My kids have been thru this, and all seemed well and good until recently, when the 3rd graders at Woodbrook Elementary School here in Charlottesville came up with a song with references to greed and Occupy and 99%ers.  And of course, the wingnuts freaked out.

(hat tip = Wonkette)

Local News Video

The knee-jerkers' big question generally centers around whether or not 'the libruls' would still support the results if the songs were about Tea Party stuff or religion, etc.  Well, guess what - a quick scan of the Kid Pan Alley website reveals lots of tunes about the things that make these Little-Brains cream their jeans.

Once in a while, I'd like to look into one of these "outrages" and find even the barest thread of truth in what these boneheads are screamin' about.  Hell, I'd settle for anything that doesn't simply reinforce my own pre-conceptions about 'em.

(this is not the song in question - just a sample posted on YouTube)


I'm gonna clean my room before my mom tells me to
I'm gonna set the table at a quarter to two
I'm gonna feed the dog, take out the trash
I'm gonna do everything I'm asked

Yes, yes, yes, thats what I'm gonna do
Yes, yes, yes, thats what I'm gonna do

I've done all the dishes and made the beds
Vacuumed the floor, made sure the pets were fed
How come every time I do what I'm asked
Seems like Mom gives me another task

I'm gonna clean my room before my mom tells me to
I'm gonna set the table at a quarter to two
I'm gonna feed the dog, take out the trash
I'm gonna do everything Im asked

Yes, yes, yes, thats what I'm gonna do
Yes, yes, yes, thats what I'm gonna do

I've already taken out the fish and fed the trash
Ate my homework, did my dinner and kissed my bath
There's an infinite number of things to do
Like counting the stars in the sky -- I'll never get through

I'm gonna clean my room before my mom tells me to
I'm gonna set the table at a quarter to two
I'm gonna feed the dog, take out the trash
I'm gonna do everything I'm asked

Yes, yes, yes, thats what I'm gonna do
Yes, yes, yes, thats what I'm gonna do
Yes, yes, yes, thats what I'm gonna do

Tools Explained

(hat tip = Doug Z)


DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light . Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, 'Oh shit'

SKIL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads (also good for creating blood-blisters).

BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. ie: It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used subsequent to pliers to finish rounding off bolt heads.  Also, if nothing else is available, they can be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.

TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wooden projectiles for testing wall integrity. 


HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to ream out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws while butchering your palms.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive parts in reasonable proximity to whatever you're trying to hit.

UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and simultaneously slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on unseen objects such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing through work clothes, but only while being worn (or when enclosed in packaging, as stated above).

SON-OF-A-BITCH TOOL: (A personal favorite)  When working unassisted in a tight place or awkward position, this is the tool you grab and then throw across the garage while yelling 'Son of a BITCH!' at the top of your lungs.  It is then automatically converted, becoming the next tool you need.

Settle In

Get the popcorn ready and sit yer butt down - this is gonna take a while.

Chris Hedges on C-SPAN

At the heart of any protest (at least here in the US) is the simple desire to get this country to live up to its own ideals.

My Kinda Republican

It's certainly a rarity in politics now, and maybe it always was a rare thing, but once in a while somebody steps up and shows us a little something about honor and leadership and soul.

Via Wikipedia, the story of Fred Tuttle:

In 1998 Tuttle was persuaded to run in the Republican US Senate primary. His opponent was Jack McMullen, a multi-millionaire who had lived in Massachusetts for most of his life. McMullen faced opposition from some Vermont Republicans who felt that he was a carpetbagger who apparently moved to Vermont for the sole purpose of establishing residency for a Senate run. The Vermont primary structure allows Democrats and Independents to vote in the Republican primary, and many people foresaw the possibility that Tuttle would beat McMullen by drawing votes across party lines. In addition, some may have hoped that a Tuttle campaign would help to publicize the film Man with a Plan.

Fuck John Galt - Where is Fred Tuttle?

Scorecard

Mother Jones has lots of pretty pictures of the ugly truth.

Here's one of my faves.  5000 Americans were asked about Wealth Distribution.

And - surprise, surprise - there's a fairly simple reason your Congress Critter hangs out in the hot tub with Mr Monopoly, but sends you form letters.

Here We Go Again

Happy New Year.

Now get yer butts back to work - we got shit to do.