Why Donald why? Bad Donald!

 

by Craig Willms

President Trump is 80 years old. At 80 years old can one be petulant? We usually pair that word with the word child; a petulant child. I want to be a supporter of the President because he opposes the socialists and the woke as much as I do. He does things that are designed to thwart the hard-core leftists, and because of that it's good for the country. You know what isn't good for the country? Trump's petulant mouth. He says stupid shit.

Even as millions of us think the same thing we know innately and wisely not to say every single thing that crosses our minds. Nothing good will come of it. Why doesn't President Trump know this? 

So, he gets in a tussle, rhetorically and substantively, with Mark Carney of Canada and the next thing he does is formally rename Lake Ontario to Lake America??? WTF. Why Donald why? It's just stupid. Even if it is some kind of psyop play it's stupid.

Mr. Trump, please think before you speak. Be just a little bit diplomatic. It's hard to defend a man who runs his mouth like a child. You can hit back at your detractors with some wit, some measured discipline. Anything but your impudence - all the time. 

Mr. Trump, please shut up...

 

by Craig Willms

There he goes again. Mr. Trump cannot seem to detect where his personal thoughts end and his presidential thoughts (should) begin. In the aftermath of the devastating murder of Rob Reiner and his wife at the hand of his own son, Mr. Trump opened his big mouth - again. 

There's a time and place for everything. In the event someone you personally dislike dies, it's not the time to air your personal grievances. Trump got on social media and pretended offer his condolences and then as he always does, made it about himself. He complained that Reiner, one of his biggest critics in Hollywood, had a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. It was not untrue, but it was not the time to say it. What a jerk thing to do.

Many of us were shocked (well, not really) when Democrats and their uber-left brethren literally cheered when Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I'll even venture a guess that Rob Reiner was privately sympathetic - since Charlie was a Trump supporter. If he was, he held his tongue. Trump should have done the same. 

I was a fan of a lot of Rob Reiner's work, particularly his movies This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. I was not a fan of his politics. So what, no one cares what I think about Rob Reiner's politics.

Godspeed Mr. and Mrs. Reiner, it's another sad day for the country, for the world.

Beyond 1984, Alexia is everywhere

 Beyond 1984, Alexa is everywhere

by Craig Willms

My daughter once bought us an Amazon Dot as a present. I went so far as to set it up but have never actually used it. 

I'm sure Alexa is a nice gal, but that's not enough for me to allow her to listen to everything that is said inside my house. When you set up one of these Amazon devices there is an explicit acknowledgement that you are allowing something to listen in on your household awaiting a trigger word. When my wife and I talked about it neither of us were comfortable with this arrangement, and the Dot device found its way to the dead technology drawer. With that we thought we had dealt with the issue of Big Brother monitoring us.  

Last week I found it discarded in the drawer. It made me consider something that happened to me recently. Sometime in the past I had said we should get a birdbath to go with our bird feeding station. Once again, my thoughtful daughter must have heard me and on my birthday gave me a beautiful birdbath. Obviously, the word birdbath was spoken in the house several times that day. The very next day as I checked headlines and such on my personal computer, I was treated to ads for birdbaths...

I thought, wow that was random, what are the odds that I would be presented with ads for birdbaths out of the blue like that. I mean really, a birdbath ad is pretty random. Well, OK, the moment passed, and I went on with my life.

Shortly thereafter I was watching a CBS Sunday Morning program with my wife, and they did a bit on the Doobie Brothers 50 years in the rock and roll business. Being a huge DB fan, I watched with rapt attention. Michael McDonald was featured, and I told my wife I had lost all interest in the Doobie Brothers after Michael McDonald joined them. Essentially, they stopped sounding like the Doobie Brothers to me. Nothing against Michael McDonald, but it would be like Barry Manilow joining the Beach Boys. 

The next day I was again back on the computer and opened up YouTube. There I was treated to several videos featuring Michael McDonald. I was gob smacked. I had never typed in a browser or a phone anything about the Doobie Brothers or Michael McDonald that would have aided the YouTube algorithm to recommend Michael McDonald videos.

We all know that our online digital footprints cross all boundaries, regardless of which device we have used. I considered that maybe Comcast, the cable TV provider was selling data and noted we had watched the CBS Sunday Morning program. That's still a far stretch since the videos I was offered were specific to Michael McDonald, not the Doobie Brothers. I thought what the hell, how did "Big Brother" know this information about the birdbath and Michael McDonald which had only mentioned verbally inside my house?

My wheels spinning, I considered the one common denominator to both incidents was my living room. In the living room is a new smart TV. Now, to be sure, I had not set-up the smart TV in any way, we were still using Comcast cable and none of the TVs built-in features. However, I did connect the smart TV to the home wi-fi. I had never gone through the set-up menu and given approval for any on the TV's features including the built-in microphone. Yet, in both of these weird cases the TV is the only thing that could have been listening. Our iPhones have a feature that shows a yellow dot whenever the mic is on, and that is only on when using certain apps. So, I ruled out the iPhones. Additionally, I know my daughter did not buy the birdbath online. She works at a garden store as a part-time gig.

Could it be that the TV is listening and recording everything said for data mining purposes? Since all our devices on the wi-fi hide behind a single IP address dedicated to our (Internet) cable modem it is entirely possible that the next day our address triggered the ad bots at Google (YouTube) and elsewhere to target me. If so, this is atrocious. Big Brother is watching, Alexa is everywhere.

Maybe it stops at ads and videos, maybe it doesn't. I know for certain that this intrusion crosses all kinds of boundaries. I have been at work on company equipment using the Internet behind highly protected systems and my experience still includes ads and subjects that I explored at home or on my phone. At the risk of sounding like an angry progressive something needs to be done about this invasion of our privacy. This really is outrageous. 

To be honest I cannot definitively say my 'smart' TV is listening to my conversations. It may be the iPad, which is almost always in the living room. If I didn't formally agree to let it, I believe it would be illegal. Nevertheless, considering that my daughter does use Alexa at her home is it such a stretch that Amazon knows she's my daughter and knows when my birthday is and has ads ready to spring on me the day after my birthday in the event I didn't get a birdbath? This would be easy for even the average IQ AI bot. I have heard that the machines sitting behind Alexa and Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta (Facebook) and so on, know more about us than we know about ourselves. They have access to billions of transactions and the analytical data behind them. They have knowledge our personal proclivities (that we freely give them). They can compare enough examples of people just like us to easily predict what we will do, especially our buying decisions. I think we would be completely astonished by what big tech knows about us. Face it, we are the fish in their barrel. 

We have most likely agreed to this in the fine print when we sign-up for these free services. Yet there is something creepy about this and it's unclear what the law says about this serious invasion of privacy. What can we do about it? Can we really get completely off the grid and avoid this? Probably, but it would be very, very difficult. Alexa is everywhere, her Big Brother is too.

Addendum:

As of this writing I need to covey that this sort of thing keeps happening, and it can be no coincidence. My TV or the iPad is listening and feeds the Internet bots and algorithms the things I say (this is where you ask, is this the beginning of his a slow, long decent into madness?). Then the very next day I see the results in my YouTube feed/recommendations etc etc. This example is just too coincidental to ignore... We were watching a show about renaissance art and at one point they showed some unfinished sculptures, and I said out loud "those must be Michaelangelo's unfinished sculptures". Lo and behold when I opened YouTube the next day, I was treated to several videos about Michaelangelo's unfinished sculptures. It is impossible that YouTube's algorithm just randomly fed me those suggestions. I've never seen a single video on Michaelangelo, let alone his unfinished sculptures. This is ridiculous, this is the world we live in. We are being spied on.

There ought to be a law! Oh, wait there is...

These things are just so outrageous that if it doesn't make you mad then you are either dead or numb. [ or see the post immediately preceding this one ]

Fake Drivers Licenses and Welfare Benefits
We learn that getting MN drivers license is all that's needed to open up the vast resources of our welfare state (Minnesota). If one is good then 10 is even better, right? How could it not occur to the issuers of both DL licenses and welfare benefits that people would use fraudulent methods to obtain both. Worse, how could they not have set up investigative and law enforcement provisions?


We are to believe the Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services IS seriously concerned about people trying to defraud the system. Four years ago the MN DVS received a federal grant to use facial recognition software to electronically compare the facial features in photos from driver's licenses and state IDs.

This effort, 11 million photos in the vehicle services database, had the software finding nearly 1.3 million matches. These photos then had to be looked at one by one by human eyes. Many were dismissed with reasonable explanations - newly married, name changes, harmless pranks, twins etc...

What was left were about 23,000 records that have a good chance of being fraud. That's 23,705 cases of possible fraud to be exact.

As of now, about 10,000 of these driver's licenses have been canceled. However, not much else has been done. We learn that not a single name has been given yet to the Department of Human Services to check for welfare or food stamp fraud, and no names have been given or the Secretary of State to check against the voter rolls. And criminal prosecution? None.

All told 5,500 cases have been referred to an agency who can take any action necessary. But the state won't say which law enforcement agency. With 23,000 potential fraudulent IDs, shouldn't we know who's job it is to hold people accountable? Shouldn't someone know?

The problem of using fraudulent means to obtain "free" or "subsidized" benefits is rampant. 

It turns out that an administrative assistant in the Secretary of State's Office has been accused of using an alternate identity to receive more than $18,000 in low-income housing help from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. This person has spent seven years working in Minnesota government, though none of her alleged crimes involve her post directly. (As far as we know)

Yet, when it comes to state-issued identity cards -- real or fake -- the Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is already smack-dab in the middle of the controversy as an outspoken opponent of the voter ID referendum on the ballot in November, which would require voters to have a valid state ID.

I just bet that this person voted for Mr. Ritchie in the last election since she didn't even need to present her fake ID.

The irony of the indictment was not lost on Minnesota Majority, the group campaigning for the amendment. Ritchie, however, is out of state and has been unavailable for comment. Don't hold your breath on this one.

Social Security sets new record
The number of workers taking federal disability insurance payments hit yet another record in July, increasing to 8,753,935 during the month from the previous record of 8,733,461 set in June, according to newly released data from the Social Security Administration. The 8,753,935 workers who took federal disability insurance payments in July exceeded the population of 39 of the 50 states. Only 11 states—California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina and New Jersey— have more population. In other words if all these recipients lived in one state it would be the 12th largest state in the union. 

Keep in mind this 8+ million is not the retirees receiving justly deserved benefits. It's just hard to imagine that there isn't a huge percentage of these people that are frauds. There is an entire legal industry set up to help people - deserving or not - get "their" Social Security Disability benefits. Everyone, I'm sure, believes in helping those truly disabled, but fraud is just rampant at all levels of this culture.

Food Stamps for Mexico!
Now we learn the Mexican government has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps. This has been going on since 2004, signed into existence during the Bush II era, that being said spending on food stamps has doubled since 2008, it is reasonable to suspect that the Obama administration has ramped up whatever partnership may have preexisted it.

What it is in short: the USDA sees to it that the Mexican Embassy and Mexican consulates in America provide USDA nutrition assistance program information to Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals working in America and migrant communities in America. The information is specifically focused on eligibility criteria and access.

There are rules for who is eligible, but it's safe to assume the standards are enforced with the enthusiasm the Obama administration shows toward other illegal alien activities on this side of the border. States are supposed to verify this so-called eligibility but verification standards vary widely. Applicants need only attest that they are citizens of the United States, and the state must accept that attestation as conclusive.

So, it's not bad enough that billions of dollars are obtained by fraudulent means by people from all walks of life and apparently from all countries, the government is soliciting for even more. We as a society, a culture have our hand out to help the less fortunate and all the while there are those who take our largess with one hand while the other is in our wallet taking even more.

All this fraud damn near gives corporate welfare a good name!


CW

Media Bias:They can't help themselves

Media bias is a tired, old story. It's only news when it's about Fox News. How dare they have a conservative bent, I know, right, it's unconscionable. They are kind to Mitt Romney, how crazy is that? Let's put aside Fox News for a moment and try to be honest about the rest of the regular mainstream media. It's pretty clear they have so much at stake with President Obama that they can't even see how unbelievably biased every ounce of their reporting is. Remember, I asked you to be honest.

Every single economic report good or bad is wrapped in the cocoon of Obama's re-election chances. These reports are conveyed without any regard to the real stake holders - the unemployed and those actually hurt by these horrendous economic circumstances. But those people are mere statistics, unimportant really, all that really matters is how it will affect the polls. To a certain extent that is what is "news" since we all know that the economy stinks and that millions are out of work and millions more have given up even trying to find a job.

I guess it really got to me listening to NPR the other day when the March employment numbers came out. By every measure is was a terrible report. After seeing 200,000+ jobs created in Jan. and Feb. the experts had been expecting something similar or even better for March. When the numbers came in at 120,000, or half what was expected, the news that the (official) unemployment rate was reduced to 8.2% from 8.3% fell flat. The truth that a million plus people were removed from the labor force was the reason the overall rate went down. On top of that the day before the number of new unemployment claims climbed 6,000 to 380,000. In addition several major employers announced future layoffs and store closings. There was no good news all week.

NPR had adequately reported all these key points and statistics citing the expected new jobs and comparing it to the actual number, even reporting the bittersweet news of the why the unemployment number "inched" down to 8.2%. For a moment I thought 'jeez even NPR is sobered by this bad news'. Alas, I spoke too soon. In her very next breath the reporter said despite the "upbeat" economic news the President told an audience at - blah blah blah - that there was "still a long way to go, we can't stop now"...

What aspect of March's job picture was UPBEAT??? She was not going to lead into a story about Obama without painting a positive picture. It was truly unbelievable. I turned the radio back to some nauseating right-wing rant. At least there I found honesty.




CW

(disclaimer:  yes, I occasionally listen to NPR. Yes, occasionally they present informative content. What I really appreciate is not being assaulted by commercials every five minutes - seriously must commercial radio assault my senses and my intelligence with endless terribly produced commercials?)

Pretzel Logic, Pelosi Logic

I heard Speaker Pelosi on Public Radio the other day and was so bewildered by her logic that I just had to share.

Start with the fact that the tax cuts being discussed are already in place and that the discussion is all about extending them as is, no one is actually getting their taxes cut by one red cent. In other words if they do get extended our paychecks will look no different tomorrow than they do today. OK.

So Pelosi says if the tax cut for "the rich" is extended it will add seven-hundred-and-eighty-billion-dollars to the deficit.

The commentator deftly points out that if the tax cut for the middle class is extended it would remove 4 trillion dollars from the Federal revenue stream over the same period of time.

Nancy says: but there's a difference, that money would be spent, turned back into the economy and create jobs.

Commentator: Ok, but wouldn't the 780 billion be turned back into the economy as well, and create jobs?

Nancy: Well, as we can see by the state of the economy today and how the record surpluses became record deficits during the previous eight years that it hasn't worked.

I feel like I just listened to a Yogi Berra skit. So which part of it hasn't worked Nancy? Is it the 780 billion or the 4 trillion? It's not as if the middle class will suddenly have an additional 4 trillion to spend, they will have exactly what they have today and what they have today has produced no real economic growth and 9.6% unemployment.

Folks, this is logic running this country. God help us all.



CW

Conspiratorial Nonsense???

In the popular media a "birther" is a nickname for the people who question Barack Obama's claim to have been born in Hawaii Aug. 9th 1961. Since he has never offered a birth certificate that would have simply shut these people up the speculation of a conspiracy continues. Even if he wasn't really born where he says, he was supposedly born to an American woman and a Kenyan father - is he not an American then? Of course, we don't really know anything to be sure since President Obama will not cough up a real birth certificate.

So what if he wasn't born in Hawaii? He was elected by the people and he is the President, we just have to deal with it. I would agree completely if it ended there. It doesn't...

On top of the birth certificate flap there is curiosity after curiosity regarding the origins of our 44th President. For example Barack Obama's Social Security number was drawn from the Connecticut pool of numbers. The Social Security Administration issues numbers for each person from a pool of numbers based on a state code. In Minnesota SS numbers begin with 47 Connecticut has a different set as does Hawaii. Why wasn't Obama's SS number drawn out of the Hawaii pool? The SS Administration says these things can happen based on the movement of the parents and so forth, but there is no evidence any of Obama's family had any ties to Connecticut. Remember by 1961 Hawaii was officially a state, so that can't be the explanation. The SS Administration says mistakes happen but are rare. OK maybe it was a mistake.

President Obama has never released transcripts from his days at Columbia University despite repeated requests by media outlets. Interviews of people who would have been students at Columbia during the years Obama was said to have been enrolled claim to have no recollection of him at all. That is just odd. All by itself you could say so what, but when these sort of things begin to pile up one has to wonder.

Now we learn that of all the people the State Department can't find any passport records for (realizing they have passport records for everyone going back to 1925) it just happens to be Stanley Ann Dunham - Barack Obama's mother. The specific period her passport records are missing is of course the 1950's-60's.

Is this all conspiratorial nonsense? Coincidences? Perhaps, but I don't like coincidences.



CW

Earth to Paul McCartney: "You're a Buffoon!"

In a classless act Sir Paul McCartney lased out at President Bush saying “After the last eight years, it’s great to have a president who knows what a library is.”

Gee Paul that was a pithy line. Did you come up with that one all by yourself? You're either a sick puppy or you're a buffoon. It is fairly well known that President Bush was a voracious reader and especially fond of the writings of Winston Churchill. We know you and all your buddies depised Bush for taking out Saddam Hussein, Saddam was such a nice guy, for the Christ's sake, but you could've at least used a line that 1.) made sense 2.) had a basis in fact.

After all his lovely wife, Laura, was librarian - I'm fairly certain she told George what a library was.


CW

Random Thoughts

Just some random thoughts on issues great and small...

1.) Did you hear the Bob Griese (football legend) ooops when he made a racially insensitive remark about NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya?

They were discussing a promo graphic listing the top five drivers in the Chase for the Cup race, when broadcast partner Chris Spielman asked, "Where's Montoya?" to which Griese responded, "Out eating a taco."

OMG what a horrible, terrible, racist, God-awful, earth-shattering thing to say. OK, so he wasn't too bright to say that in this day of hyper-sensitivity, but for Heaven's sake it was a minor fopaugh. Ask yourself this: If someone had asked "where's Tony Stewart?" and Griese had said, "out eating a cheeseburger" would anyone have to apologise? The answer is no.

Move on, nothing to see here.

2.) It seems to me that the average (uninformed) person regards the "fight" against climate change with the same passion they give to recycling. No one, not even those evil American flag waving conservatives, want waste and pollution to choke the planet. So most people casually go along with this hoax of "fighting climate change" because they want to feel good about themselves the way they do every week when they put the recycling on the curb. So far they have paid nothing but the cost of an overpriced hybrid in the driveway.

The problem is the purveyors of this hoax are using the good will and noble intentions of the hybrid driving recyclers to advance an agenda they know will do nothing to stop climate change - because it a preposterous goal on the face of it. Their real goal is to redistribute the wealth of the hardworking and productive to the backward and corrupt as if somehow the hardworking and productive are cheating the poor out of their share of the wealth. If people really understood what the "climate" pimps (including and especially President Obama) are doing I doubt they would go along with it.

3.) The health care issues in this country are real, no question about it. Too many people have no access to health care coverage. So, when the "government is the only answer" crowd toss up one lie after another to demonize their opponents it becomes harder and harder to weed out the good ideas from the bad. The biggest whopper of all is the constant lie about obscene profits for the health care insurance industry. It's just plain not true...

The truth is that the healthcare insurance industry's profits are small fraction of that of other industries. For example, Network Equipment manufacturers reap 20.4% profits, Railroads 12.6%, Crude Oil extraction 11.5%, Securities 10.7 %, Household & personal products 8.7%. Where does the health care insurance industry fall? A whopping 2.2%. Why that's obscene!

4.) The White House vs Fox News is either a brilliant strategy by one or both parties or a disaster for the seemingly thinned skinned Obama administration. One school of thought is that the White House having no illusions of turning Fox News around is firing a warning shot at the other networks. This one is a little weak. The other theory I heard that the more Fox is attacked the more shrill and over the top it will become making the already near-parody news/opinion operation even more goofy. This one is plausible. The most likely scenario is the one that seems most obvious. This White House feels entitled to complete and utter adoration and Fox News just isn't playing along. The hissy fit angle seems about right to me.

5.) The Stock Market Rally that's been ongoing since March is perplexing on the face of it. Really though it's not that surprising. Companies will enjoy increased profits and increased dividends when they have slashed their payrolls to the bone and reduced their inventories to one deep. Lead times for manufactured goods are going way up because the reduced work force. Eventually this will backfire. Without (employed) consumers driving demand across all non military sectors eventually profits and dividends will fall. Unless employers see the need to start calling people back to work a double dip recession (or worse) is a distinct possibility. There are a few proven forecasters predicting the "or worse" part.

I'm jumping down from the watchtower now... I've got work to do.



CW

Racist Baby Buggy Bumpers

So the people who are influenced by Fox News (or Faux News if you prefer) are ignorant rubes being brainwashed, but those who are influenced by Newsweek or other left leaning propaganda sources are truly enlightened. Isn't that right?

The very week that charges of racism are flying around the media and blogosphere that those who oppose the Obama prescription for health care reform are indeed racists, does anyone else find it as obvious as I do what Newsweek is trying to do with this cover story?

Essentially they are saying, listen rubes it's not your fault if you can't see the sheer brilliance of Obama's plan because you were born a racist. You can't help it...

I don't really care that this may have been a perfectly legitimate study and scientifically valid, verifiable and testable (though I doubt it is) the point is the timing and the placement on the cover of a (once) respected news magazine. Who are they trying to kid?

Are we to assume that the dialogue Newsweek wishes to engage is a simple verification of white guilt organic style?

In the article, the authors say that black parents teaching ethnic pride is very good for a child's self-confidence. They then assert that the thought of white children having some kind of ethnic pride is "horrifying to imagine" and "abhorrent".

Why is it that white scholars and liberal activists ignore a most significant racial tenet offered by anyone of any color? Martin Luther King Jr. was crystal clear when he advised us all that a man should not be judged by the color of his skin, but rather by the content of his character.

Honestly, what more needs to be said? Just this: shame on you Newsweek.



CW

Aldi - Huh? I don't get it

Recently a new store opened up in my area. It was called Aldi. I had never heard of it and didn't have any idea what it was (didn't care either). Someone at work said "Oh, yeah, Aldi. It's a supermarket chain - out of Germany, I think..."

I let it slip my mind thinking nothing of it and went about shopping at my usual grocery store chain. During the course of life you'll find you need to "pop" into the grocery store and get something you need for dinner tonight. Well, going to one of the big mega grocery stores can be a huge hassle if you just need one little thing, you know what I mean.

So, as it happened I was driving right passed Aldi and needed a head of lettuce for making tacos. Let's see what this Aldi is all about. Pulled in and parked easily enough right close to the front door. Check one for Aldi so far. My next thought was 'what the #$%&'.

I don't get it. For one they didn't even have the damn lettuce. Two they didn't even have grocery store shelves and for three they didn't have any brands I recognized whatsoever. Based on the number of shoppers in the place they must be doing good business - clearly someone gets it. Is it the prices? I have no idea - never actually bought anything.

I tried again under the same sort of circumstances and again they didn't have the item I needed. I doubt I will ever walk through their doors again - I wish them well, I guess.

CW

Greedy Pigs, All of Them

Bruce Bialosky asks "Where Will They Stop?" in his column today. He's referring to state governments confiscating unused gift card value as their own. By what right does the government have taking the unused value of gift cards from the issuer and even the receiver of the gift? These greedy pigs will stop at nothing, what's next my unused savings in my savings account at the bank?

Honestly, when the government starts to act like that you have to believe that we are not in the land of free anymore. Nearly $6.8 billion in gift cards per year go unused. I am as guilty as the next guy... Often they go into my wallet and never see the light of day - even though I have subsequently visited the retailer multiple times. I'm an idiot. But does that mean the government gets the largess of my idiocy? Why not the retailer or the issuer?

There are those who will scold us for complaining until we're all blue in the face, but if we keep electing the same greedy pigs time after time we ought to shut up and take it. I reject this assertion. I do not cast my vote to re-elect these thieves - and besides is anyone truly informed about this type of legislation before it's too late. You know these cowards slip this stuff in to larger bills in the middle of the night when our attention is focused on American Idol and Britney Spears. Where is the media? Right, oh right, American Idol and Britney Spears.

As of today it seems I am safe here in the land of 10,000 lakes, my state government has yet to pull this one out of there bag of tricks. Shhhh! Don't give them any ideas!



CW

Health Care Debate: Boiling My Blood

With every tidbit that comes out about the government's attempt to revamp our health care system the more my blood boils.

Currently those who have employer sponsored health insurance are not taxed on this benefit. This is how it should be - oh, but not for long.

Obama himself ran ads during the campaign chastising McCain for even putting this on the table. Now he is open to it. But wait, not for his union buddies, no, no, no. We learn today from Bloomberg News - that

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chief congressional advocate of taxing some employer-provided benefits to help pay for an overhaul of the U.S. health system, says any change should exempt perks secured in existing collective- bargaining agreements, which can be in place for as long as five years.

What the??? How can this be justified?

In their never ending zeal to stick it to the rich, Democrats over looked the fact that many times union negotiated health plans are some of the most generous out there. Many of these plans would fall into the criteria they've established for "rich" people and these benefits would be taxed. Max Baucus will change that.

While it is understandable that the unions "believe" they should be exempt because collective bargaining concessions they've made in order to keep their benefits make any new tax unfair. But what makes them special? How is fair that I will be taxed just because I am not a union member? And I'm not rich!!!

I dislike Washington more and more each day...



CW

Disrespectable

My respect for President Obama could fill a thimble, needless to say I don't think very highly of the guy. Have you ever played monopoly? Of course you have. Ahh now you see where this is going... After this week my respect for PO might fill the little Monopoly game piece that looks like a thimble.

While all politicians are pathological liars, it's in the job description, PO is a disingenuous liar. In front an audience in a foreign country he continues to denigrate our country. Why does he feel it necessary to continue to slam President Bush with the perpetuation of a lie. When speaking of Abu Ghraib he tried to make the point that the abuse of prisoners as a strategy was counter productive. Well, it was never the "strategy" of the Bush Administration or the generals on the ground in Iraq. It was a crime. A crime that saw people arrested and put in jail. It was, however, the strategy of the New York Times and the Democrats to hang George Bush with it. It worked.

What ever happened to the tradition of Presidents not denigrating their predecessors? Reagan didn't continue to trash Carter just as Bill Clinton didn't slam George H. W. Bush once he had defeated him. George W. Bush went out of his way, as he always did, to avoid bad mouthing his predecessor as well as his successor, claiming recently that "President Obama deserves my silence". What in the hell is wrong with PO? Simple, he's a narcissist who needs to degrade others to make himself look better. You can claim he is just trying to differentiate himself from the HORROR that was George Bush - but does he need to use lies? In a word, yes, because for all intents and purposes he is basically keeping George Bush's actual foreign policies.

There is also the question of PO's understanding of Presidential protocol. Either he's a complete idiot or his State Dept. is incompetent. When the head of America's closest ally, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, pays his first visit to the Obama White House bearing meaningul and appropriate gifts, PO sends a staffer down to the local Blockbuster and then the White House gift shop. He sends PM Brown home with a stack of DVD's that were incompatible with British DVD players and a couple of models of Marine One helicopters. To add insult to injury he packed up and returned a gift that Great Britain gave the White House years ago. Instead of just moving the bust of Winston Churchill that President Bush proudly displayed right in the Oval Office Obama sent it down the street to the British embassy, thanks but no thanks... They were aghast - it was a complete slap in the face.

Accepted protocol for Presidents when meeting the head of a foreign state is to treat each other as equals. One does not bow to or kiss the wring of a peer - it shows weakness and submission. So what does PO do when he meets the Saudi leader. See for yourself...




What a maroon.





CW

UPDATE - Do As I Say: Tax Cheats

UPDATE: I was wrong. The major media, God Bless their pointy little heads, did raise enough stink about Tom Daschle's tax problem that he pulled out one day after getting a ringing endorsement from the President. With egg on his face Obama admitted his mistake.

CW


How many black eyes can the Obama Administration take in the first 100 days? None if your counting on the major media to drum up any outrage. First there's the Blagojevich fiasco that somehow Obama ducked under, then Bill Richardson bows out as commerce secretary because of an FBI investigation into the sale of bonds in New Mexico. Shortly thereafter Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the former Federal Reserve chief of the New York branch, was revealed to have owed 10's of thousands in taxes for which he blamed a software error... Yeah, sure. Now Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority leader and now Health secretary nominee, owes over $100,000 in taxes.

All these men still have the support and admiration of the new President and therefore the media too. None will be treated to endless speculation and over-the-top indignation like that which faced Sarah Palin when the RNC spent $100,000 on her wardrobe and travel expenses. That was high fashion this is just boring old tax cheating. The double standard between the darling left and the morally corrupt right in the eyes of the major media is truly sickening.

Am I being too harsh? After all these guys said they were sorry.

I suppose now Charley Rangel (D-NY) will be getting a call from the President. He certainly has his tax cheat credentials in order. This sleeze ball is the man in charge of our country's tax code. Will he face the music? Will he be forced to step down from such and important post? Will he be dragged through the mud for weeks on end until he is forced to resign? Should I even be asking such ridiculous questions? We should go easy on the man... For God's sake he had the balls to blame it on his wife - won't he face enough punishment when he gets home.

Just remember these are the very same people who accused President Bush for 8 straight years of pushing tax cuts for the RICH. All of these men are quite wealthy and seemed to have enacted there own tax cuts - friggin hypocrits!








CW

Obama's Civilian National Security Force

In several of his speeches, including his prime time infomercial last night, Barack Obama has mentioned his "civilian national security force" idea. What is it? What is it supposed to do? He said "we can't just rely on the military for our national security, we need a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as well funded."


What?


What is his intention with this civilian national security force? He said, "Loving your country shouldn't just mean watching fireworks on the 4th of July," in a speech in Colorado Springs, Colo. "Loving your country must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it."

Change it? What? It's not the country per se that needs changing, it's Washington DC. There is just something not right about all of this.


The real question today is why isn't the major media even talking about it? Do a Google search and see that none of the major newpapers or TV networks are writing articles about this. The only people commenting are conservative bloggers.


OK, it could be his attempt at a John Kennedy Peace Corps thing or Bushs' USA Freedom Corps and doesn't warrant serious attention? Neither Kennedy nor Bush had socialist/communist tendancies like Obama does. This is the kind of thing that reminds us of Hitler's youth corps... (There I got my first Hitler/Obama reference, gee I feel so much better).







CW

Bumper Stickers???

By this time in the election cycle four years ago I marveled at the bumper stickers I would see on my way into the office everyday. Some were really creative and others quite nasty. We have all seen the car like the one pictured here with stickers plastered all over it. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the slogans are decidedly left-wing loony type stuff. No real surprise since the whole left-wing agenda is nothing but slogans and bumper stickers (and they call these guys the nuanced crowd).

Over the ensuing four years all but a few Bush/Cheney stickers are gone, but we still see a fair share of Kerry/Edwards. We even see a lot of Wellstone stickers here in Minneapolis/St Paul, as if he is still running 6 years after his tragic death... These, I grant, are memorials for the true believers and we cut them plenty of slack. But, I am amazed at the dearth of political bumper stickers this time around.

Clearly the Obama stickers adorn more cars than McCain stickers, but there are mornings I drive in and see none. I find this amazing and odd. The same can be said for lawn signs too. The ratio is about the same, but there are so very few even in my liberal leaning inner city neighborhood.

Not that I mind all that much... It just seems odd, that's all.


CW

Properly Vetted, My A$$

This is truly the pot calling the kettle black. The mainstream media has pulled out all the stops, stooping to any level to get the "dirt" on Sarah Palin. After having had 20 months to properly vet Barack Obama and doing everything they can to ignore gaping credibility holes in this mans past.

For that matter they have also given McCain a free pass. McCain has skeletons in the closet - can anyone say Keating 5. Some say that the embarrassment of the Keating 5 experience transformed McCain into a corruption fighter. OK. But more likely he's learned to be discreet and fly below the radar.




But for goodness sake, Barack Obama has Tony Rezko and William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. One is a convicted criminal and the other two avowed domestic terrorists and haters of America. He can claim to be a casual acquaintance of Ayers, but it just doesn't add up when you learn it was Ayers who literally launched Obama into politics.

Obama was also at one time heavily associated with A.C.O.R.N. which is well known for its illegal voter turnout activities amongst other shady dealings. His childhood mentors were known communists. Saul Alinsky was a hero to this man! Obama's 20 year relationship with a Black Liberation Theology Church and its outspoken pastor only became a "media" story because said pastor was a bombastic ego-head who was eager to capitalize on Barack's new found fame. For Obama to claim he never heard such inflammatory "talk" when he was in the pews is really disingenuous yet the media didn't call him out on that aspect of the story. Be that as it may, his associations with terrorists and communists have gone severely under reported.

Bring on Sarah Palin. The media has crawled down into the mud to dig up ANYTHING that might remotely bring embarrassment on Gov. Palin. Now, granted, this is big time politics - it doesn't get much bigger - and Mrs. Palin cannot cry about the treatment she is receiving. I have not heard her being accused of crying foul - but the army of Democratic operatives (read: the media) flying to Alaska is truly unprecedented.

Funny thing, I have yet to hear anyone from her "small town" trash her. In fact, she seems by all accounts to be extremely popular back home and actually quite an effective leader as well.

From outrageous accusations that her son, Trig is actually her grandson to a front page Washington Post article that said she abused per diem spending as the governor, the daily barrage is unrelenting. So far none of it has amounted to anything. She is being accused of being a neglectful mother for daring to have a career and a family. No man running for high office has ever been subject to criticism for choosing a career over family. This is absolutely a double standard. She is accused of attending her church and then talking about God. Oh my, I mean, how could she?

Most of the stories that made it into the "responsible" media could have been checked out in minutes but weren't - or even if they were the original claim was thrown against the wall anyway. For instance Mrs. Palin did not support Patrick Buchanan in 2000, she supported Steve Forbes, a well known fiscal conservative. She was never a member of any separatist political party in Alaska - she has been a registered Republican since the 80's. She has not called for Creationism to be taught in schools in any official capacity, she merely said that debate is healthy and that a discussion about Creationism and Evolution is a good thing. Yet these points are being used to paint her as a right-wing extremist. And her worst sin of all - she has said hypothetically she would not support her own daughters decision to abort a baby even in the event rape or incest. But she did not make a move on Roe v Wade in Alaska despite her personal antipathy toward abortion.

Every similar attack on Obama from the FAR-RIGHT is met with derision from the media's punditry. Several best sellers (New York Times Bestsellers) critical of Barack Obama are not getting reviewed or the authors are not invited to be interviewed in the major media. But any book critical of Bush is reviewed and analyzed endlessly. Just wait for the first book on Palin - soon to be hot off the presses, I'm sure - and you won't be able to avoid the author.

Sarah Palin so far has shown she is not a cry baby. I hope she just knocks the socks off them in all her upcoming interviews, speeches and debates.

I will wait patiently for all the hard journalism on Barack Obama... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.


CW

The Vista Experiment...

... is over.

When I got a new computer I decided since it is part of my job (at work and in my personal life) to support computer users I should stay on the "cutting edge". I had Windows Vista Ultimate installed on my new laptop.

After taking over a week just to get a few client software packages loaded - considering that the productivity suite came pre-installed - I dug in and started to get to know all that was Vista!

As happens with every new operating system older software can have trouble loading and working. The one thing that Vista had that I applauded was the ability to install and run software as if it was on the older operating system. This actually seemed to work well. But that's where it ended for me.

Let me sum up my opinion of Windows Vista: What a piece of crap.

I am not a Microsoft basher at all. Even though I work with both UNIX and Linux regularly I did not find need to elevate them above what is the defacto standard desktop operating system. Since Windows XP SP2 has been a very, very good system for years I had gotten past any knee jerk Microsoft bashing. Solaris, Mac and Linux have become darlings because their basic under lying structures are modular and can, in a sense, protect the core operating system from "locking up", but they are also less useful in many respects. Windows tries (and mostly succeeds) in being all things to all people. Until Vista...

With Vista I had serious stability issues whenever I used my laptop as a laptop. Locked in the docking station it seemed to work OK, but ladies and gentleman it is a laptop! Crashing aside what bothered most me was a sense of value. Vista had no apparent value over XP SP2, none. All the fancy look and feel only made the computer boot and run slower than it should have.

On top of that the venerable Microsoft Office Suite that came pre-installed was simply horrible. In many ways it was needlessly changed making it ultimately less usable. Edit Copy, Edit Paste, Edit Select All, Edit Delete - it used to be just that easy. Not any more. Attention: Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates this was NOT an improvement.

I don't want to go into all the reasons I have given up on Vista, I just want to get my work done. I want to stop playing around on Google searching for ways to put Vista back to the way Windows used to be. FYI Classic View is not the answer either, believe me. And I know I am not alone; computer maker Dell will once again offer Windows XP on new systems, responding to customer complaints. The decision reverses a Vista-only policy the PC seller has moved to since the release of Microsoft's latest OS. The web is full of disgruntled Vista users. Corporations are seriously considering Linux for the desktop for the first time because the end of the Windows XP life cycle means they have to do something and going with Vista isn't it.

Plain and simple my friends, Vista sucks!




CW

One Nation Under "O"

Yes He can...

...do anything he wants. Is symbology even a word? It should be. Something about the study of symbols and symbolism, right?

Never before in American presidential politics has pure symbolism been taken to such heights. Barack Obama has either officially or unofficially spawned a marketing campaign unseen in this land since the pet rock. Selling the Obama brand of style over substance is all the rage in the smart set.

Some of this stuff is not the work of Obama or his "team". Some is the work of over zealous supporters and some the inevitable work of his detractors. Some of it is a natural reaction as pretty, young Obamicans are literally fainting and collapsing at his feet, while the media darlings swoon all over him. The funny and goofy stuff is completely understandable. When the candidate takes himself so seriously that he is incapable of any self-deprecation at all - then nothing is sacred.

On the other hand when the candidate himself has all the American flag decals removed from his official campaign plane in favor of his own logo it makes you wonder about his priorities. Are the stars and stripes safe in Obamanation?









Nearly everyone was a little taken aback when he trotted out his pre-presidential seal. Biting comments in the main stream media forced the Obama people to quietly retire it - but not before it became a "symbol" of his pretentiousness.

The latest that has passed my radar is the "Obama Salute". Yes, George W. Bush had his - the 3 finger salute in the form of a "W". Presumably a spontaneous incarnation by the President himself. Kinda neat, really. Of course you can't mention Bush without also a mention of Hitler, now can you? Adolph had his own salute. Heil Hitler! Remember that? We all watched Hogan's Heroes... Anyone, anyone, Bueller? OK, it was the arm straight out a 30 degree angle, palm facing down. C'mon you gotta remember that!

Well, it has come to my attention that a marketing firm has come up with an Obama "salute" that they are hoping spreads like wildfire. It is a pair of hands with fingers interlaced depicting a new and intriguing symbol. It is an "O", a zero, zip, nada, nothing.

If you really think about it - two hands with fingers interlaced can perform no actions, can accomplish nothing, and can hold, manipulate, and release nothing. This meaningless gesture is a admission that together we can accomplish nothing. Simply put, we are too busy trying to impress ourselves.

Honestly, I doubt Obama is behind this thing, but it only goes to show you that the anointed one has attracted the goofiest among us.

It makes you wonder if the people who support Obama have an elevator that even reaches the top floor???

We can only hope that a President Obama, once sufficiently mugged by reality, can be the Super "O" we all have dreamed about. A man who can propel us beyond the petty and back stabbing world modern politicians have occupied for as long as our memory serves. Long Live Super "O"!