Today's PFU

It's Called Engineering

All Syria All The Time

I'm not gonna say none of this crap about Syria matters - it does.  But when I look at what passes for debate in congress and all over TV and Radio and Newspapers and the Blogosphere, I'll say none of that matters any more than pissin' in your wetsuit.

Nothing anybody says has anything to do with what's really going on because Obama's not gonna tell us everything he knows - or thinks he knows.

Kerry got himself all worked up - to the point where the expression on his face almost changed (I know, right?).  Anyway, the guy's runnin' around all crazy, yelling stating calmly in his best clear-but-stern-Brahmin-esque voice, "I'm not Colin Powell; I am not Colin Powell, dammit".

Meanwhile, Huckleberry Closet-Case and his best old buddy Grampy McDumfuck wanna make sure everybody knows they're on top of things, and that no matter what happens, America is still large and in charge; and 1986 is gonna be a great year for us - amiright!?!!  USA! USA! USA!

I'd call this a circus inside a circle jerk wrapped in a cluster fuck, but that'd be an insult to all 3.

So here's the deal - this is my considered opinion and what I think I should get paid top dollar for suggesting the Prez should do:

Everybody knows 2 basic things.  One is that Assad's gotta go. The other one is that Assad knows he either "wins" this thing or he dies.  Winning is pretty unlikely no matter what happens, but he can't win even in the short-term if he doesn't have big powerful friends - which he thinks he has in China and Russia.

So here's the play:  Obama has to figure out how to get Putin to dispose of Assad.  And actually, he has to get Putin to believe that by taking Assad out, Russia makes strategic gains in the middle east.  That's what Vlad wants after all.  So Putin jacks Assad, and the ensuing mess is Putin's problem.  But Putin knows all that, so...

...long story short - that's the setup, and here's the sting:  We knock off Assad and make sure Putin's fingerprints are all over the caper - a bit of Polonium-210 residue oughta do it.

Better yet - we get Bejing to do it, and they make sure Putin gets the blame.

Or maybe we could get the Israelis to get the Ugandans to get the North Koreans to get the Chinese to get the Russians...

Where's Curtis Lemay when you really need him?

C'Mon Man

It seems there are people looking to the elections here in Virginia as some kind of bellwether.  Our 4-year election cycle (for Gov, LGov & AG) runs in off-years.  So as the midterm campaigns start to heat up for next year, the prognosticators and the bookies and the junkies are trying to get a read on what's to come.

(Ed Note:  They're doing the same in New Jersey, but nobody here in God's Country really cares what a buncha Yankees are foolin' with up north)

We have the usual Big-Government Moralistas on the Repub side (Ken Cuccinelli, EW Jackson, and Mark Obenshain), running against some Neo-Liberal Clintonians put up by the Dems (Terry McAuliffe, Ralph Northam, and Mark Herring).

Today's OP-Ed piece in RTD by local guru Ken Shapiro laments the possibility of a Democratic sweep, saying Cuccinelli and Jackson are poison, and only Obenshain stands a chance; and then gives us this little gem:

Among the questions: Obenshain’s election-year legislation — now law — making it harder for Virginians to vote and easier to keep secret that they carry a concealed gun. Obenshain also is harangued for a 2009 measure — later withdrawn — that would have required women report miscarriages to authorities within 24 hours.

Obenshain has made his bones in the last several years by pushing a very regressive agenda, and indulging in the kind of uber-pandering to the basest of "the base" that makes most of us more than a little nauseous, and he's the GOP's best chance to forestall this impending disaster?

BTW - if we drive some of the wackier wackos out of electoral politics, and we manage to put a bit more democracy back into the democratic process, and we make it a little easier for actual flesh-and-blood people to live a little freer - please tell me again how that qualifies as some kinda disaster(?)

BTW also too - Mark Obenshain is another political legacy puke.  See Dick Obenshain at Wikipedia

Today's PFU

Mother's Little Helper(s)

James Lee Stanley (on the right) and John Batdorf.




And a short bit from Bryant Gumbel on drug use in USAmerica:

Gumbel Commentary: America's Drug Problem

We're 5% of the world's population, but we consume 80% of the world's pain meds (including 99% of the world's Vicodin).

Ritalin = 4 million kids (mostly)

Anti-Depressants = 22 million women

Sleeping pills = 30 million adults

Statins (to lower cholesterol) = 32 million of any age or gender

We spent over $325,800,000,000 on prescription drugs last year - that's close to $1000 for every American.

Americans who took at least one prescription medication last month = 150 million

Americans who took 3 or more prescription medications last month = 67 million

Americans who took 5 or more prescription medications last month = 31 million 

Ain't Nobody But Me

Let me tell you a story that'll make a change,
Let me tell you when I'm way out of range;
It's about a man who's crueler than me,
So promise not to cause a scene,
Heaven help the one's you love,
There's no big need for stars above

Well, you can run, you know he'll find you,
It don't matter now, just look behind you,
You had your warn, and you knew the score,
You got it wrong, and that means war;
So, why'd you have to treat me rough,
Your explanation's not enough.

Ain't nobody but me,
Gonna lie for you, gonna die for you;
Ain't no fish in the sea,
Gonna sigh for you, gonna try for you,
Gonna lie for you, gonna die for you,
Wooh-

You see, I got a mental disposition,
Sometimes, I'm mean, sometimes I'm vicious;
I'm Dr. Jekyll, I'm Mr. Hyde,
So if you wanna stay alive,
Just give me all you've got to give,
And, then perhaps I'll let you live.

Ain't nobody but me,
Gonna lie for you, gonna die for you,
Ain't no fish in the sea,
Gonna sigh for you, gonna try for you,
Gonna lie for you, gonna die for you;
Gonna sigh for you, gonna try for you,
Gonna lie for you, gonna die for you.-

(HUSH) Now baby, stop your crying,
(OH YES) I know that I've been lying,
(HUSH) Now baby, stop your crying
(OH YES) I know that I've been lying
(HUSH) Now baby, stop your crying
(OH YES) I know that I've been lying
(HUSH) Now baby, stop your crying
(OH YES) I know that I've been lying
AAAaaa

Man Eater

She'll only come out at night
The lean and hungry type
Nothing is new, I've seen her here before
Watching and waiting
She's sitting with you but her eyes are on the door

So many have paid to see
What you think you're getting for free
The woman is wild, a she-cat tamed by the purr of a Jaguar
Money's the matter
If you're in it for love you ain't gonna get too far

Oh here she comes
Watch out boy she'll chew you up
Oh here she comes
She's a maneater
Oh here she comes
Watch out boy she'll chew you up
Oh here she comes
She's a maneater

I wouldn't if I were you
I know what she can do
She's deadly man, and she could really rip your world apart
Mind over matter
The beauty is there but a beast is in the heart

Oh here she comes
Watch out boy she'll chew you up
Oh here she comes
She's a maneater

I Brake For Art

Zooming around the intertubes, screeching to a dead stop at this:

Miles Morgan

hat tip = Democratic Underground

Hucksters And Pimps

Hucksters come in many guises.  Some are wearing diapers and onesies, and they're just trying to hustle you for one more cookie before bedtime.  Or they have a ring on their left hand, and they swear eternal love while plotting to throw you over.  But those aren't all that bad really.  Shit happens and ya deal.

The worst of the worst are dressed in the vestments of the clergy, or they have lapel pins in the shape of the American flag, or they're wearing Business Casual.  And all of 'em pimp the baloney of collapse and disaster and the end of the world as we know it; and "ONLY my special brand of salvation can help you, so give me lots of the money that I just told you is worthless so I can save you from the horrors I am constantly inventing in order to keep you fearful and therefore dependent on my guidance" blah blah blah.



The best part for me was when he finally launched into his pitch for Galt's Gulch.  Fucking classic.

Today's PFU

PFU, as in thats' Pretty Fucked Up right there.

Hipster Urban Yuppie Types.

I'm a Boomer, and a good number of subsets of not-so-pleasant people (with some not-so-great fetishes and/or agendas and/or hangups) have sprouted from The Baby Boom Generation over the years - shit, we invented Yuppies; along with "quality time", and the 8-dollar cup of coffee that takes 10 minutes to make just right for ya.  So I think I can safely say I really never thought a group would come along that everybody could hate on more than The Boomers, but there it is - Hipster Urban Yuppie Types.

And so now what - are gonna see some kinda new trend that's all about Rescue Chickens?  Can't wait for that Facebook page.

Well Now, Ain't That Interesting?

The independent political polling company NSON Opinion Strategy recently published the results of a case study in which 250,000 randomly selected American voters were asked a series of questions.

The details of how and where the study was conducted have yet to be released but the results are clear: 87% of Americans consider the word “Republican” to be synonymous with greed, racism, and violence.

Today - Again

35 years ago, I was pretty anti-union.  I tho't they'd had their day; they'd been useful and good once upon a time, but they'd become too big and too powerful (therefore corrupt), and so they needed to be reined in.  I don't think I was wrong as far as that particular tho't was concerned at that particular time.  What makes it all wrong now is that unions have been beat back and beat down for so long, that we're seeing all of the bad shit happen that the unions warned us would happen if we abandoned the unions altogether, rather than just getting things back into balance.

So, basically, what's happening is that the American labor force is being reduced to the standards of the rest of the world, when what we used to hold out as a primary goal was the raising of labor standards in those other countries to be more in line with our own.

What I'm having the most trouble understanding is why we think downward pressure on wages and prices is a good thing when we're supposed to be the level-headed-clear-eyed capitalists who understand that exactly the opposite is what makes the whole thing actually work.

From Bill Moyers:

Today, a single parent earning minimum wage takes home $15,080 a year. That’s $3,400 below the federal poverty line for a family of three. President Obama noted the statistic in his State of the Union Address — “That’s wrong,” he said, calling for an increase in the minimum wage to $9 an hour because “in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.”

A "small" example of the relationships between Unions, Wages and Outcomes by way of Addicting Info:

In the current anti-union climate in the U.S., there may not be any group of unions that has been singled out for more criticism than teachers’ unions. Unions such as the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have been blamed by politicians, think tanks, and the public for everything from low student achievement to blocking proposed education reforms.

However, despite claims from some quarters that unions are a large part of the problem with American public education, there is ample evidence that teachers’ unions are a vital piece of the education puzzle, and that students benefit from their existence.

If I pay the worker in Laos a whopping 3 bucks a day to make toasters, then I can sell a toaster to you for 10 or 12 bucks (instead of 30 or 40), which means I can pay you less for whatever you do (like teaching?), which means I can keep more for myself.

Like I said above, oddly enough it works (and works better for more people) when we do it the other way around, but apparently that's just too complicated for the geniuses being churned out by American MBA mills.  They aren't learning Fair Practice or Business Ethics or Mutual Advantage or anything else that doesn't fit in with the Imperial Predator Model of commerce in the 21st century - which (also oddly enough) fits perfectly with what we know about how things were done 65 years ago, and 100 years ago, and 150 years ago, and 250 years ago; as far back as you care to look.

Anyway, we said we were gonna be different.  So let's be different.

Today

While we're busy celebrating this Fall - yelling about everything from, "Remember 9/11" and "Support The Troops" to "Yay Football", maybe we could take a small moment and remember the sacrifice of some people who are now pretty much demonized and belittled; people who wanted little more than for this country to live up to its promises.

Per Wikipedia:

The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914.
In 1914, when workers at Colorado mine went on strike, company guards fired machine guns and killed several men. More battling followed, during which 2 women and 11 children were killed and John D. Rockefeller Jr., the chief mine owner, was pilloried for what had happened.
The massacre resulted in the violent deaths of between 19 and 25 people; sources vary but include two women and eleven children, asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent. The deaths occurred after a daylong fight between militia and camp guards against striking workers. Ludlow was the deadliest single incident in the southern Colorado Coal Strike, lasting from September 1913 through December 1914. The strike was organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) against coal mining companies in Colorado. The three largest companies involved were the Rockefeller family-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company (CF&I), the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company(RMF), and the Victor-American Fuel Company (VAF).
In retaliation for Ludlow, the miners armed themselves and attacked dozens of mines over the next ten days, destroying property and engaging in several skirmishes with the Colorado National Guard along a 40-mile front from Trinidad to Walsenburg.^[1] The entire strike would cost between 69 and 199 lives. Thomas G. Andrews described it as the "deadliest strike in the history of the United States".^[2]The Ludlow Massacre was a watershed moment in American labor relations. Historian Howard Zinn described the Ludlow Massacre as "the culminating act of perhaps the most violent struggle between corporate power and laboring men in American history".^[3] Congress responded to public outcry by directing the House Committee on Mines and Mining to investigate the incident.^[4] Its report, published in 1915, was influential in promoting child labor laws and an eight-hour work day.
The Ludlow site, 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Trinidad, Colorado, is now a ghost town. The massacre site is owned by the UMWA, which erected a granite monument in memory of the miners and their families who died that day.^[5] The Ludlow Tent Colony Site was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 16, 2009, and dedicated on June 28, 2009.^[5] Modern archeological investigation largely supports the strikers' reports of the event.^[6]

Today's Pix