Gilly's World- The Spray Paint Blog

My Letter to my Rep.

2008-10-04T14:07:00.002+02:00

The following is the letter I wrote to the House Rep. from my district:

I am writing to you today as I am sure many of your constituents from the Granite State already have. As a proud native of New Hampshire, and as an American citizen, recent actions in Washington have concerned me and many others to write to our Representatives. Earlier this week, I was proud to view your “No” vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which was defeated in the House. However, as pleased as I was to see you, my State Representative, vote against the amendment placed before the House, I tempered my enthusiasm knowing that another amendment would be placed forth by the Senate by the end of this week. This past Wednesday, my caution was rewarded by the passage of the HR1424EAS by the Senate.

I ask, as your constituent, that you continue the principled stand you demonstrated earlier this week and vote against this amendment when placed before the House today.

I oppose this measure for 2 different, yet equally important reasons.

Firstly, I oppose this measure because of the pure cynicism and disregard for the intelligence of the American people. The usage of this bill to further government spending and the redesign energy policy displays a confounding lack of seriousness by the Senate as to the magnitude of the situation we face today in the global financial sector

The inability of the Senate to put forth a provision which deals solely and directly with the issue at hand demonstrate an indefensible lack of political courage by people voted to represent the will of the people.

Secondly, I oppose this measure because of the economic reality that is facing this nation. The amendment upon which you will vote has been debated on both sides, with each side adamant that they are correct in their assumptions. I, however, do not believe that structuring an initial $700 Billion package will either help continue the continuation of the American economic engine, or be of overall benefit to the American tax payer.

The troubles facing the American economy come from two separate yet intrinsically linked concept of modern finance. Bank used their fractional reserve abilities to leverage deposits into credit. Credit, and perceived credit worthiness were utilized to forecast future economic beliefs that have shown to be untrue. With defaulting mortgages and loans, the basis of capital needed to maintain asset ratios faltered and some banks have found that they have been able to maintain liquidity standards set for them.

Investment banks also used leverage in their dealings. However, the blame for this should not be looked at as a reason for more regulation. Regulations for the Investment banking industry are clear as to the amount of leverage a company can take on to continue with their business. However, as it has been seen, many firms chose to go beyond this (at a rate up to 3 times the SEC mandates) when dealing with derivatives and especially credit derivatives. The onus was upon Mr. Cox and the SEC to do their jobs and their inability to perform their responsibilities has lead us to this point.

Quite simply, we are here today not because of a lack of regulation, but because of leverage within the industries above for mentioned. For the United States economy to reach equilibrium, this leverage must be unwound. By passing this amendment, the Congress will hinder that key factor and prolong this current situation. By artificially maintaining high leveraged prices with in the Housing and Credit Markets, the United States will not be able to reach that equilibrium for a much longer and much more painful period of time.

While political expedience often trumps long term benefit for the American people, I hope that you continue to demonstrate the necessary courage in your vote. Increasing the debt will only put even more pressure on the dollar, increase inflation, and dramatically affect the buying power of many low income Americans. And yet, this proposed amendment does not follow any branch of historical economic theory that would demonstrate that it will work and help the American economy or its taxpayer base.

There are very few votes before the members of Congress which so dramatically affect the lives of the American people. It is often less than once in a decade that a piece of legislation is put before our representatives that has such far reaching effects. I believe that this is one of them.

I ask that you take into consideration not only my views, but those of other constituents from New Hampshire who don’t believe that this is in the benefit of either New Hampshire, or of the United States of America.

Dow down 6%

2008-09-29T22:06:00.002+02:00

Good.

Today's news that the federal bailout package didn't pass the House is good for America.

Let's hope they don't fuck it up by passing it.

This whole mess isn't about regulation. It's about people doing their fucking jobs. The problems that we have today are not something that needs more government involvement. And while the pundits, politicians, and poseurs well...pose, let's look at some of the things that Supersized this shit sandwich.

1) Fannie and Freddie strayed from their core purpose and got into some stupid shit because they thought they were smarter than everyone else.

This was a whole lot of *wink* wink* "we're backed by the US Government so while we can't say that your investments with us are 100% safe" and they strayed from their purpose of providing loans to people who otherwise couldn't get them into a roulette wheel of mortgage backed investment vehicles.

2) Wall Street. You guys are the financial wizards who are able to create shit out of thin air and hide it away on books in the Cayman Islands in things called Special Purpose Vehicles that have no value because nobody will look at those books and you don't put them on your balance sheets. Fantastic, so you are trading shit with no metric based value and patting each other on the ass when it goes well, and then start crying when things go south.

3) The SEC. Acording to the SEC regs, the Wall Street Alchohlics could only leverage about 12-1 (which when you think about it, is insane in itself. They could have $1,000 and then place bets of over $12,000), but over the span of this whole debacle, were leveraging up to 40-1. You want to place a heap load of blame on this whole thing? Look at Cox at the SEC for not doing their jobs. This is why we don't need more regulation, but people doing their god damned cushy jobs. Had the SEC done what they were supposed to do, the damage now would have been much less sevear and we wouldn't have had the bank failures and brokerage house failures we do now. I pine for the days of trarring and feathering. Pine.

4) The Ratings agencies. You guys suck too. How can AAA securities go from the holiest of holies to the tangible value of my AAA Road Assistance card in 2 years...oh, sorry, I forgot, you get PAID to make ratings of securites. It's like being a restraunt critic who is paid my the restraunt. Douches.

5) Joe Six-Pack McMansion. Yes, you have the house of your dreams. For now. What?! Home values only go up? And this is why you got to live in a house that costs more than you will ever make in your lifetime. The only way that that liars loan you got whould have been any better would have been for the mortgage broker to have given you some oral while you were at the office. And if you think that something is too good to be true, but do it anyway, then you should have Idiot tatooed on your forheard. But don't dispair. There are a lot of other like you. You can start your own Facebook club. And when you claim Idiot as an illness, you'll be able to get disabilty checks mailed to you at your McMansion.

6) Congress...if I have to count in how many ways you suck, I would need to invent a new number system. The Youtube is being passed around so you probably have already seen it. Seriously...can anyone name me the last thing that congress had done that has really benefitted the American people? Like, ever? Ever, ever? Getting Congress involved in anything is about as smart as letting your parents make decisions on what kind of sex life you will have with your girlfriend.

So, why do I think this drop in the Dow is good? Because things need to reach an equilibrium and the only way to do that is to let the markets drop to the point where we can rebuild. And all this bailout does is keep prices artificially high and prolongs that shit taste in our mouths. We could be past all of this in a year or two, or we can go all Japanese style and need a 10 year recovery.

And for you Wall Street bitches...don't cry for me Argentina. You were perfectly happy when Goldy was paying out over $20 billion in bonuses a couple of years ago. Passing this bailout is only going to give the crying Alcoholics another bottle of whisky....until they start crying again.

Full Disclosure: I have a minimal part of my portfolio in US securities and 80% of my money is in European currencies. I am not currently trading and I will make no trades in the next 90 days.

Yesterday's National Press Club Meeting Revisited

2008-09-11T11:51:00.003+02:00

In the last post, I vented about Bob Barr. If you didn't read it, I didn't mince words and I wasn't very nice. In this post, I will illuminate why I was in support of the press conference, and why it frustrated me.

The thing that makes me cringe about the Ron Paul campaign is that I agree with his platform and his position on the issues. I just hate the way the campaign was run. I have been an observer of political campaigns about as far back as the last 1980's.

While I have run the gamut of political ideology in my time, from Republican, to liberal, to neo-con, to Libertarian, I have always felt that my vote doesn't matter because the people we elect will just continue to do what they want (and what they do is nearly to a point bad). But more than anything, what I enjoy about politics is watching the whole process. I enjoy parsing press releases and political speech. I enjoy looking not for what they say, but what they didn't say. I look at political gaffes not with glee, but with a critical nature that asks "ok, well how could they have done/said that better?"

And because I have always felt that our elected officials never really represent my values, I have always has this disconnect with politics that lends it self to a more Macro viewpoint on how campaings are run.

So, when I watched Ron Paul make his run, I would look at his campaing and cringe when I saw how poorly they were trailoring the message. Now, don't get me wrong, I think Ron Paul did an incredible job in spotlighting issues that would have never gotten national attention without him. But at the core of it, the longer a candidate is in the spotlight, the more his message can be discussed in the town sqare of politics. And this is why, in my Macro view, I thought the tailoring of the message was not done as well as it could have been. Once the MSM decided Ron Paul was simply a reflection of Nazi Sympathizers/Truthers/Wackos and the fringe, he and his ideas were dismissed as "Krazy Uncle Ron". And his platform, which in an intelectually honest debate is hard to discredit, was lots to the American public.

Now, back to the topic at hand.

What was imporant about yesterday was that it was yet another instance of not tailoring the message for maximum impact. While you can dissagree with the platforms of any of the 4 people meeting yesterday, there are 3 important things that were stressed, yet not well reported.

1) The 4 candidates from the 3rd parties agreed on the principles of 4 specific policy topics:

Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.

Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.

The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.

The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial intereststaxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.

Regardless of their own political affiliations and interests, the 4 candidates were able to agree to the principles of these 4 ideas. That in itself is an amazing feat. As I said above, I think these points can be debated in an intellectually honest way, and are hard to discredit as they reach out to the core of the American beleif system.

2) The two major parties are now nearly identical in their platforms and actions. One thing that was stressed yesterday was that the two parties offer two slightly different versions of the same thing. Baldwin talked about "there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two, and with today's inflation, it's more like a nickle".

3) The debate system is rigged against a 3rd party nomination getting any coverage. In order to be eligible for Federal Matching Funds, you need only 5% of the polled support. But, in order to get into the national debate, you need 15%. We are told this is to keep the 200 people who run for President every 4 years from making a national debate untennable. But the reality is that year in and year out, you rarely have more than 5 or 6 people that poll above 5% at this stage of the elecction. The 15% is B.S. and it's because the Commision on National Debates is run buy the 2 party system with support from corporate sponsors. I say that if you can be eligible for Federal Matching Funds, you should be able to participate in the debates.

The 4 candidates we able to agree on these 3 ideas. The one person who bagged out at the last second was Bob Barr. Which as you can tell from my last post, pissed me off all to Hell.

The missing link from yesterday was that it wasn't anything more than an agreement to support 3rd party candidates. Again, from a Macro perspective, this was a mistake. You have a message, but not a vehicle to drive it. What should have happened is for all 4 candidates to get together, look at what he most viable ticket would be, and to rally support to that ticket to try and get the 15% needed to get the message to the National Debates. 5 different parties divided doesn't do anything to advance the cause. 1 united ticket can.

And that to me is the most frustrating thing. If you want to change the system, you have to understand the system, and then work the system. And that, with yesterday's press conference, was not done.

Bob Barr is a Narcicistic Political Coward

2008-09-10T22:08:00.004+02:00

Yes, I am calling you out Bob. And your campaign manager too.
Let me make one thing perfectly clear: You are a nobody candidate that almost nobody has
either heard of, that even fewer people now like.

For those who are confused as to what I am talking about let me give you a little historical reference:

Ron Paul was a candidate for President under the Republican party this last year. Through grass roots efforts and small donations, he was able to get over $34 million in donations from people across the United States. After several primaries, and no victories, Ron Paul decided to drop out of the race to focus on his re-election to the US House from his home state in Texas.

Bob Barr, is the Libertarian Party Presidential candidate. A former Republican from Georgia, he is now a Libertarian.

So, why am I pissed?

Through discussions with other candidates from 3rd parties, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney, Chuck Baldwin, and Ralph Nader held a joint press confrence today at the National Press Club, to discuss supporting the idea of 3rd candidate parties. From what Ralph Nader was told, and the rest of the group understood, Bob Barr, who was supposed to be at the event, was going to join them in spreading the message of 3rd party candidacy to the American public. The idea is that given their current policy stances, the American public agrees with them as a majority and that we need to change our thinking of the two party system. All four of the candidates from their respective parties got up and spoke and answered questions from the press.

Only, Bob Barr never showed.

Could have been a flight delay. Could have been a family emergency. Nobody knew.
But now we know.

Read it, I’ll wait.

Thank you for rejoining me.

Bob Barr. You are a narcissitic and short sighted bastard. Only in your head would you delude yourself to think that the freedom movement and the renewed interest in the Constitution had anything at all to do with you. We went to a convention and sat through many round of voting for you to only to barely be thought of as a viable candidate for the Libertarian Party.
But that is it. You’re barely thought of for only that reason.

The reason why you are where you are today is because of Ron Paul and the movement he inspired. Need any proof? Check out the donations he has brought from Americans interested in his message compared with yours. People will remember this. You and Mike Ferguson should remember what you did today, and look back upon the choices you have made in your past.

Your problem is simple. You looked for the message to carry you somewhere. But you don’t represent the message.

Being in the minority these days the people who support the Consitution, and the ideas of freedom, have become a small but tightly knit and very motivated group. Consider yourself expelled.

In the end, had you handled it like a man and even recognized today the contributions the other 4 candidates had made in letting you be where you are today, even with not joining them, I could have understood. But not the way it was handled. And not with the vitrol that was let loose by Mr. Ferguson.

You can put Lipstick on a Pig

2008-09-10T20:07:00.003+02:00

Ok, so, everyone in the Universe has been talking about this, so I am going to make a couple of things clear....

Obama may have no sense of humor, and can't speak when he doesn't have a script. But he DID NOT call Sarah Palin a pig in lipstick.

Please, if you have to regal me with how horrible you thought it was that he called her a pig, then please, stick your god damn hand in a toaster and put the slider to the "down" position, wait five minutes, and then I will start to listen to you.

Because really, if these are the types of rhetorical things that I have to listen to, then sticking your hand in a toaster will start to give you just a slight, slight, idiea of how much I hate politics in America today.

On the bright side, for your hand, I will let you have the option of butter, margarine, jelly, or Palera All Fruit...because, you know, I'm Pro-Choice like that. FREEDOM BABY!!!

Image from these guys.

My Thought on the McCain Speech

2008-09-05T20:04:00.003+02:00

"Meh, the book was so much better..."

When I got up this morning, I was interested in how J. McCain's speech went over. The first link I got to was a transcript of the speech. So I sat down and read it. And I thought it was pretty good. I read the humor of it, and caught the barbs. I thought it was pretty to the point and hit some of the right notes. The headlines didn't seem to think it was so great, but I didn't really think of it much.

A couple of hours later, a friend sent me an IM asking me about what I thought of the speech. He said McCain was good, so I went out and streamed the video and set out 45 minutes of my day.

I was not impressed. Now, I know. J. McCain's is not the natural orator of a Reagan, Clinton, Obama, or Palin. But for about 30 mintues, it was hard for me to watch it. I would cringe when McCain smiled because it looked so fake. The cheers from the audience stepped on his lines. And he would repeate the ends of sentences twice like Jimmy Two Times from GoodFellas.

But that last 15 minutes....it was deep, it was personal, and it was powerful. As I watched it, I was moved. I knew the story from the transcript, but hearing it in his own words was emotional.

Still, I don't think he will be elected on his oratory performance anyway. I mean, how crazy would we have to be to vote for someone who can read a speech well....?

Two Last thoughts on the Palin Speech.

2008-09-04T17:30:00.003+02:00

1) If you are going to use a metaphor, please use it correctly. Palin didn't "knock it out of the park". That's a one time event. If she had one line to read and did it flawlessly, then she would have knocked it out of the park.

Sarah Palin was a one-woman Home Run Derby.

2) Interesting response from the PUMAs...check out the live blog from last night and keep scrolling through the comments....interesting.

The Palin VP Speech

2008-09-04T12:03:00.004+02:00

This wasn't red meat thrown to the crowd. It was a damned BBQ of the Obama/Biden ticket.

Video

Hold Your Horses there, Northern Exposure

2008-09-03T19:46:00.003+02:00

Fricken Awesome (would you expect any less in a video about Palin, who, as we all know, is made of awesome?)

Fun Fact of the Day

2008-09-01T22:01:00.004+02:00

I got bored this afternoon, so I did a little research. The Tax code of the United States is actually part of the much much bigger Code of Federal Regulations. And when I say big, you have no fricken idea…

So, I did the number crunching because you would have never thought of wasting that much of your day:

Section 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations (that deals with the tax code):

Number of Books (yes, it’s in books): 20
Number of Pages (you may want to sit down): 14,796
Weight (want to lose weight, go hiking with it): Approx 34 pounds.

Now the number of pages and weight will vary slightly depending on which published variation you get. And with the weight, I went easy on you and did it in the paper back.

And just for comparison sake, the King James Bible clocks in at around 1,300 pages and 3lbs. depending on who publishes it.

And here is the point:

The Bible takes 1,300 pages to show you how to live your life to be a good servant of God.

The tax code takes almost 15,000 pages to tell you how to be a “good taxpayer”.

Remember folks, these are your tax dollars at work...if only you knew where in the tax code to find it....

And this is only one part of the Federal Regulations your congressmen have blessed you with...

It’s Palinmania!

2008-08-29T19:29:00.000+02:00

In case you have been hiding in a cave with OBL, you have heard that Sarah Palin was named the VP pick for the McCain ticket. What do I think?
Palin is 10lbs of AWESOME in a 5lb bag.

I spent the morning watching the news reports and also watching the Intrade site (called a prediction market) and it was pretty amazing to watch.
Romney was up. Then Pawlenty was up. Then Romney was back up. Then Palin started killing it. As the news reports came out, you could see it in the Intrade table and people were going crazy making bets on who the next VP will be.

I like Palin. She’s someone I have known about for some time. And when Barak decided not to take Hillary as his VP (which would have ruined McCain’s chances), I saw Palin as the ideal choice for him to take some middle ground female voters that were disenfranchised with The One.
Funny thing is this: I can already see the Democratic supporters sharpening their knives. I have already been seeing their line of attack, and people on the Right are also practicing their shields.

Things such as:

Left: She doesn’t have any experience. She was the mayor of a town and then she was governor for less than 1 term in a small (population wise) state.
Right: She has more executive experience than any of the 3 people in this race. You say she has no experience? Neither does Obama. Your ticket should be heavy on the TOP with experience.

Fun Huh!?

Here’s one that I came up with:
Left: She is one heartbeat away from being the next President. Do we really want her running the country?
Right: Biden is one heartbeat away from being the next President. He’s run for the office twice and the American public has already shown they don’t want him running the country.

Man, this is going to a kick ass two months.

Press Release from the Obama Campaign

2008-08-23T19:50:00.001+02:00

Press Release from the Obama Campaign (A Savior, Ltd. Company)
Saturday, August, 23 2008
Re: Vice Presidential Nominee

My Fellow Citizens of the World. I would like to take this opportunity, through the Medias of Earth to discuss something weighing heavily on my heart. As you may have heard, Media reports have surfaced stating that Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware has been selected to by the Democratic Vice-Presidential Nominee. Nothing could be further from the truth. Joseph Biden has stated in the past that does not want the job. Therefore, it would be incongruous for him to be selected as my running mate.

What you are seeing is another Republican trick. A transparent attempt at the politics of fear that I have sought to Change in Washington. We will see other such trick through this election from the Republicans. Tricks that will play to your innermost fears of an Obama/Biden Whitehouse. But don’t be fooled by them! We can only defeat these Washington insiders by changing the old guard! And one way you can be part of that change is to donate, nay, do your duty as a patriotic American, to our cause. We are strong, we are now! Your spare change (neatly bundled into socks worth up to $2,000) can be the catalyst for REAL CHANGE in Washington!

My campaign never intended to announce my running mate via Txt message. That is the type of Swift Boating rhetoric that is the essence of the Republican Party. So, if you are angered, as I am, to have received a Txt message at 3 in the morning, then you know for whom you should vote in November.

Thank You, and God Bless America.

P.S. To the Sigma Chi Fraternity at the University of Virginia, please stop replying to that Txt message requesting pizza. Really, we know it was 3 a.m. and all, but seriously, it stopped being funny after, like, the 20th time.

So, who's winning this thing?

2008-08-23T13:03:00.005+02:00

Interesting Article on Yahoo Sports about the Olympic Medal count. The article talks about how there is a divergence in how different countries count “success” in the Olympics. Is it the number of Golf medals won? Or Is it total medals?

The article goes in a different direction from there, but what I want to look at it the concept of “Olympic Success”. It seems that the rest of the world values Gold above all. And perhaps it is just Americans who look at the total medal count. And is it because we are looking for a way to claim “victory” by any means?

Since the boycott of 1980, the US has dominated the Gold medal count. And it looks that this year, that dominance is over. China, with 48 Golds thus far, seems ready to claim the title of Olympic Champions. The US, with 103 total medals thus far, would rank 2nd with 31 Golds.

So, this is what I have been asking…how do you determine which country has done the best?

Is 1 Gold more valuable than 2 Silver medals? Is it a bigger success than 3 Bronze?
As an example, let’s take a look at two countries. Now, between today and the end of the Games, things may change. But let’s look at one case that jumped out at me.
Panama has won exactly 1 medal thus far. It was the Gold in the Men’s Long Jump. On the Beijing 2008 web site, this places them in 50th place overall.

Armenia has won 6 bronze medals. According to Beijing 2008, this places them at 74th. If we look at the American view point, we would say that Armenia has had a more successful Olympics. They have not dominate a single event, but they have been competitive enough across enough disciplines to medal in multiple events. But if we look at it from the viewpoint of the International Media (based upon how they are displaying the rankings, we can see that Panama has been more successful than Armenia.

Cuba has won 19 medals with 2 of them being Gold. Yet, they rank 2 spots behind the 5 total medals of Ethiopia because Ethiopia has 3 golds.

This just doesn’t jive with me. You would have a hard time convincing me thata country which wins just 1 Gold medal has been more successful than another country which may have one 12 Silver medals and 10 bronze medals. This isn’t an actual case, it’s just an example.

It has been discussed that instead of just relying on the number of Gold medals, or total medals, we could use a system where we assign point values to the medals. 3 points for Gold, 2 for Silver, and 1 for Bronze. And I like this idea. It puts emphasis on both quality and quantity.

So, let’s look at the standings if we were to to this:

China would be #1 with 205 points. The USA would be 2nd with 201. The rest of the rankings would remain the same as the American system until we got to 10th place and Ukraine…In the American system, Cuba would come next because they have 19 medals. In my system, the next country would be the Netherlands because after Ukraine’s 39 points, the Dutch team has the next highest total at 35.

And in the 1st example I gave you…Panama would have 3 points and Armenia 6.

It’s just a thought…

Update:

Just for fun I crunched the numbers, and this is how Michael Phelps did during these Olympics:

"International Ranking" = 9th, just ahead of Italy and Holland, and nearly every other nation on earth.

"America Ranking = Tie for 23rd with Romania, Kenya, Norway and Turkey

"My Ranking by points" = 17th place, which is ahead of Brazil

American Ingenuity at its Finest!

2008-08-18T21:13:00.000+02:00

'Porn inspector' wants freebies

And nobody noticed?

2008-08-18T21:10:00.001+02:00

Hong Kong - A "lonely and disturbed" Hong Kong man had to call police to try and free him after his penis got stuck in a park bench he had apparently tried to have sex with, reports said.

Making something stupid sound even dumber.

2008-08-12T18:21:00.002+02:00

There is an interesting article over at Pajamas Media about Bob Barr. If you are like the 299 million American who have not heard about him, read the article. Yeah, he's running for President. For the Libertarian Party.

There wasn't much about the article that was new to me, but as is my wont, I continued down and into the comments section where I read things that again, were not new to me.

The basic debate in the comments basically revolved around this idea: A vote for Barr is a vote for Obama. Now, anyone who has paid any attention to elections history will hearken back to the days 1992 when Ross Perot (that magnificent pie-chart toting bastard) is believed to have tipped the election in favor of Clinton over Bush.

Now here is the thing that annoys the crap out of me...we have become so fatalistic about our political system that we actually engage in this type of lazy thinking. It the endemic nature of our two party system that we actually believe in the concept that we only ever have an option between the lesser of two evils.

And this is why it pissed me of:

1)The guy who gets the nomination isn't the guy that the supporters of his party want. If it was, then there would be no primaries. And in primaries that run all the way to the final day, you generally have one candidate getting slightly more delegates than the other candidates. Think about that for a second. The guy (or girl...Jesus you guys are annoying in your gender equity linguistics) who is nominated only got just over half of his party's supporters. Think about that for a second. No really, stop reading this and go back and think about it.. ½ of a party's supporters were fully confident in nominee. And with the voting populace split into two parties, you do the math and it means that really, only 25% of the population has any faith in your candidate.

So we take two guys, each of them each only having 25% full support from the voting populace, and then put them out there to the world saying “This is the best we can come up with.” It's F'n crap and we should be ashamed.

2)If you look at the mechanics of the Constitution, our government can function just as well with 3 parties as it can with two. There isn't anything in there that delineates that we must have 2 Craptacular groups of people to screw our lives up. The only benefit I see in a 2 party system is that it will often keep Congress from doing anything (which is a good thing).

3)We have so little respect for the privilege of voting, that we have lost sight that it is our most powerful tool. Your vote is what makes this whole thing work. It represents what you believe. And the second you engage in the thinking that you should vote for someone you don't believe in, just to keep someone you believe in even less out of the White House, then you have sold yourself out as a person.

Vote for who you believe in. Be able to look yourself in the mirror.

A vote for Barr isn't a vote for Obama. It's a vote for Barr. And yes, it is that simple.

Weekends are for people with watches

2008-08-12T15:53:00.001+02:00

As Jeff over at Protein Wisdom would tell you:

What you should have learned is that an author’s chosen language can provide clues to intent, but that it can also distract from intent, if people give undo weight to the wrong bits of language, or if the author is lying.

Much in the same way, as humans tend to find ritualism and accepted societal norms in the cultures that they are part of, a human's actions can be viewed such that they can provide intent as to the motivations of the action. And, as noted above, giving undo weight to an incorrect context can distract from the intent of the action.

Case in point. Drinking beer at noon on a Saturday can be considered socially acceptable. Given that it is accepted that people work Monday through Friday, the idea that the weekend is a time to relax in ones' given way is not considered out of the norm.

However, drinking beer at noon on a Tuesday would be considered outside of the societal norm, and by that measure, be frowned upon by people within the given society. The problem in which is not the drinking part, but the undo weight placed upon the timing of the action.

However, if we look at the rational of the action, the fact that our person in question works from Wednesday to Sunday, and thus has Monday and Tuesday off, we could be excused to find acceptance in this behavior. The intent is just relaxing within the time frame dictated by personal circumstance.

Or not.

I don't care, as I am halfway through a 12 pack and could care less that my neighbors have never studied Criticism and Linguistic Theory...the proletariat bastards..

My take on that place I had never heard of before...

2008-08-11T22:40:00.004+02:00

So, let me get this straight...on the night of the opening ceremonies, Russia takes a slow stroll across the border and defends South Ossetia...

I know what they are thinking:

1) South Ossetia has been a largely self governing (and ineffectual) government for about 12 years now.
2) Its population is largely Pro-Soviet
3) That pipeline that is bypassing Soviet territory isn't putting rubles into Russia coffers.
4) The world will shrug and do nothing because the only nation willing to stand up to Russia is tied down in other countries.
5) Said country is war wary and tired of seeing its soldiers dying in foreign lands.
6) It holds most of Europe by the balls because it provides it with much of its energy.

On the surface, I won't quibble with points 1 and 2. Had Russian troops just gone into South Osettia and held the territory, I think that we would have seen negotiations and some type of resolution to the entire thing.

And I don't want to jump the gun using anything provided by the New York Times. But if this has any truth to it, then my thinking will change. And this is what I will think:

There are only 3 outcomes to this:

1) We admit Georgia into NATO and then invoke article V. Thus putting Russia on watch against the combined military of NATO. But I don't think this will happen. There has already been some hesitancy from our NATO allies against bringing Georgia into the fold. And those hesitant bastards have no desire themselves to want any responsibility for having to remain true to their word.

2) We don't admit Georgia to NATO, and we steam a couple of battle groups to the Black Sea, and put the Russians on notice. We basically tell them that it ain't over until the babushka sings and put them to the test. We also run a couple of flight groups into Turkey (which has much to lose if the Russians take the pipeline away) and wait for Russia's response.

3) We do nothing.

If you can't understand the ramifications of #3, please Google “Soviet Satellite States.”

The way things are going, if the Soviets don't back down. I see Bush going route #2. Because really, the consequences of not doing so, with 5 months left in office, do nothing for his legacy. I would see us parking a couple of Virginia class subs behind every Russian ballistic missile boat, and at the first sign of Russia bowing up to us, putting them on the bottom of the ocean. A couple of air sorties and a couple of Russian plains down later, a quick call would be made to “encourage” the Russians back to the border.

In all realism, this is the first real militaristic test we have seen between the former Cold War opponents.

Someone will blink.

My Fellow Americans: Don't be so arrogant, your Congressman sucks too!

2008-07-31T11:51:00.002+02:00

Yes. I am talking to you. And to myself. With the release of the latest Gallup Poll from this July, it seems that American's have an approval rating for Congress of just...wait for it...14%. Yes, you did read that correctly 14%. So, pay attention when I tell you this: Your Congressman, the one that you vote for...is part of that 86% that everybody thinks sucks.

Oh, don't be so conceited. You're probably thinking “Well, my Congressman can't possibly be part of that 86%. It's the other peoples' representatives that are doing such a bad job”. And YOU.ARE.WRONG.

Year after year, we keep voting in the same people. And year after year, we get the same craptacular results. So, year after year we keep voting in the same people. Do you see the pattern yet? I tell you what, if you don't believe me, put your hand on the table, hit it with a hammer as hard as you can, and then put your hand on the table again. Sure, you might have some broken bones and some bleeding. But I am willing to bet that at least 14% of your hand is still ok. So, are you going to hit it with a hammer again?

Only in the Me-Centric world that is today's America could we ever delude ourselves to believe that we have voted to represent us, a group of people who constantly do so little good for our country, and not take any personal responsibility for it. This shifting of blame to someone else is even more mind boggling if we blame the “other guys' Congressman” instead of our own. And quite frankly, I am sick of it.

I say, replace the whole damn group. Every one of them. We're already changing Presidents, so let's get in with a clean slate. I will be voting out any incumbent that I can this fall. And any of them that aren't up this election cycle will be gone the next.

Right now you are planning your rebuttal. You're rubbing your hands together between mouse clicks and ready to pounce on my every point like a well trained Japanese Robotic Personal Friend. And now you're saying “But we can't do that! These people are experienced! We need them!” To which I will respond, “Ok, I understand. Put your hand back on the table. Here's a hammer...”

This “experience” you are talking about has given us what? 30 years of no real energy policy. A budget deficit that is approaching, oh let's see, somewhere north of 9 TRILLION DOLLARS, pork barrel spending, corruption, and more fun.

They work about 110 days a year, and make $165,000 a year for it. Oh, and after 5 years, we're stuck with the tab for lifetime pension and benefits.

But hey, don't worry about it. It's not your Congressman that sucks, is it?

Welcome back, Mr. Kotter

2008-07-30T12:34:00.000+02:00

I'm back.

And you don't even remember me.

My name is Gilly, the previous proprietor of "Gilly's World". GW was a blog of mine back in my hey day somewhere in 2003-2005, where I posted nonsensical rantings on many a random topic including work, politics, money and my lack thereof, and just about anything else I was so inclined to type for you people.

After a hiatus of many moons, I have found myself bored and decided to get back in the game.

So, what does this mean for you? Nothing really. Unless you come here and visit.

What you'll get are random thought, some humor, and my general outlook on life.

To give you a taste of the awesomness that was me back then, I'll archive some of my old work so feel free to click at your leisure.

Requested Change of Name

2006-06-04T03:21:00.000+02:00

When Jean Claude Van Dam's "Kickboxer" qualifies as an "American Movie Classic", it's time to start prepping the stables for the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Scenes From Burlington, VT #302

2005-08-08T08:29:00.000+02:00

So I come home from work with my sixer of beer and I am ready to just relax. My roommate is watching some TV in her room and I have just sat down with my beer, when I realize that I have to go to the bathroom.

So I do what I have to do and open up the bathroom door and look to the right towards the open door of my room. The first thing I see is my roommate's cat, which I am not a big fan of. The cat's in my room, which I am even less a fan of. So I am about to lay down some justice on Herr Kitty, when I look up and there is a fricken bat flying around my room.

A quick note on bats: I know that they are one of God's creatures. And they serve their purpose in eating bugs and stuff. But that doesn't mean that I have to like them. One bite from one of those bastards is enough to traumatize me for the rest of my evening.

So, as I was saying, I am now in the doorway of my bathroom with the bat flying around in circles and the cat trying to catch it. Our cat is mental and just about the only exercise it gets is from chasing bugs(a rather large bug in this case).

So I yell across the hall to my roommate:

"Get out of bed and close your door."

To which she responds

"Why?!"

So I say again in a calm voice:

"Get out of bed and close your door."

Again she responds with:

"Why??"

A third time I say:

"GET OFF OF THE BED AND CLOSE YOUR DOOR."

And her response is:

"why??"

"There is a bat in my room."

And she shrieks (yes, it was a girly shriek) and slams her door shut.

So I am in the bathroom trying to figure out how the bat came in. My initial reaction is that the bat came through a gap in my screen. I have old windows and the screen that I have for the window doesn't even come close to being the right size. So that was a decent guess.

Now my mind switches to solution mode. I figure that if I can close my door, I can contain the bat and maybe it will fly out the window again. But what can I close the door with? Luckily I remember that I have a coat hanger under the sink to unclog my drains, so I break it out and like McGuyver, I start just bending it so that I can stop an impending nuclear reaction.

So, coat hanger in tow, I step out to pull the door close, when the bat comes flying out of hell and right at me. And like a little girl, I shriek and jump back in the bathroom. So now the bat is flying around the living room in circles and the cat is trying to catch it. I try to time the path of the bat so that I can leave the bathroom and get back to my room. No such luck. I make a move for the love pad and it comes right for me...back in the bathroom again.

So, like a hard night out drinking, I am figuring on spending the whole night next to a toilet. The bat at this point is flying back and forth from my bedroom and the living room. So I look around and then I realize something horrible. My beer is still in my bedroom. FUCK! This calls for desperate measures.

So I have my roommate call out neighbor friend and have him come over and open up the door to our unit and then the front door. I am yelling direction to my roommate through a cracked bathroom door to my roommate who is trying to relay direction to our neighbor.

So then our plan springs into action. I hear the neighbor open up the door to our unit. And then there is silence. He ties the door open. Then I hear soft steps up the flight of stairs to our apartment and see the door open through the crack of the bathroom door and then I hear footsteps beating ass down the stairs and out the door. About 30 seconds later, the bat flies out the door.

I wait a second unill it come back it? It's a risk, but I have to get the apartment door closed. I make a break for it and get out door closed in the nick of time to see the bat veering away from the closing portal. As I check the rest of the apartment, I see our back screen door wide open. Thus answers the question as to how the bat got in there. Turns out my roommate's friend left it open for most of the day.

Lesson #1: My roommate's friend and I are going to have a little talk on barn doors.

Lesson#2: Yeah, you definitely don't want me fighting the War on Terrorism

The post in which I mourn for 2 seconds...

2005-07-25T19:28:00.000+02:00

BODY:
Russia's Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment

By the time you have finished reading this, I will have already come to closure on the issue and have started moving on with my life.

Thanks a Bunch

2005-07-20T19:14:00.000+02:00

I'd just like to thank all of my fellow bloggers who post things like "The Coolest thing of the day!" on their blogs.

Of course, these all link to a video clip that I am not really able to watch over my 28.8 dialup. So I shall continue to sit here and not see anything cool on the internet until you all start to be considerate of all of us unfortunate cave dwellers.

Roberts Nominated to the Supreme Court

2005-07-20T08:28:00.000+02:00

While Fox News spent most of the day fawning over Edith Clement, President Bush tonight announced his nomination for Supreme Court Justice in James Roberts. Shocking? Not really. If you read COAPJ like I do.

I am pretty sure that Roberts will pass his nomination and make it to the bench. What I am curious to know, is that if Roberts gets voted in, and if Rehnquist retires, will Bush have to nominate a centrist female judge to replace O'Conner? I think the Dems will eventually pass the conservative Roberts, but they may just filibuster another conservative.

Happy 4th Everyone

2005-07-04T18:35:00.000+02:00

Just wanted to peek my head in and wish a Happy 4th of July to everyone (even the French). This is my absolute favorite holiday of the year, so I hope ya'll have a safe and enjoyable one.

I want to move to Norway...

2005-06-14T18:57:00.000+02:00

Seriously, I am thinking of emigrating to Norway, just for the free ski lessons...

"Needy immigrants settling in Baerum, just west of Oslo, can get a full range of services aimed at helping them adjust to life in Norway. Slalom skiing courses, dance and trips to mountain cabins are among the things on offer."

Comparing Constitutions

2005-05-30T19:42:00.000+02:00

Here is a completely irrelevant comparison between the US Constituition and the EU Constitution:

First 175 Words of the US Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article. I.
Section 1.
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section. 2.
Clause 1: The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

Clause 2: No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

First 171 words of the EU Constitution:

HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF DENMARK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF SPAIN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, THE PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA, HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE GRAND DUKE OF LUXEMBOURG, THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY, THE PRESIDENT OF MALTA, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS, THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND, THE PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND, THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF SWEDEN, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND,

Number of words in the US Constitution: 4,600

Number of words in the EU Constitution: over 60,000 (when traslated to English).

Number of pages to the US Constition: 21

Number of pages to the EU Constiution: 328

A Tip for International Travel

2005-05-19T21:08:00.000+02:00

When traveling internationally, I find that following the simple plan to be most effective:

1) If flying to Europe from the States, you will most likely leave in the evening and arrive in the morning. As soon as the plane takes off, start drinking....heavily. After about 4 or five whiskeys, combined with the altitude and the meal, you should feel nappy time sneaking upon you quickly. Give into the dark side and go to sleep. When you wake up, you will be in Europe with nothing but a slight hangover and a bit of dry spittle on your chin. At this point, treat it like another other Tuesday and start drinking coffee and proceed throughout your day. That night, booze it up again, and when you wake up, you should be all set on local time.

2) If flying to South America, you will probably have a day flight and will arrive some time in the evening. As soon as you land and drop your bags off at wherever you are staying, go out drinking...heavily. You will most likely be tired from your flight, so have a couple of drinks and force yourself to stay up until your normal bed time back in the states, only do it to the local time. When you wake up, you will have a small hangover, and possibly a Bolivian prostitute in your bed. Pay her, send her on her way, and the start your day like you do every other day, lots of coffee.

So there you go! Everything you ever need to fight jet lag.

*This has been a public service announcement from the proprietors of Gilly's World.*

Learning the lesson the hard way

2005-05-15T20:16:00.000+02:00

Much has been made of the entire Isikoff Newsweek story. If you happen to have been living an austere Ossama Bin Laden cave dwelling with no high speed Internet access lifestyle for the last week you can catch up here and here.

About 9 months ago, I wrote a post on the blogosphere as it relates to credibility and sourcing. The analogy and point I made is this:

In the Tour De France (and other professional cycling events) there is something akin to Roving Justice. If someone makes a failed breakout move from the peloton (the pack where everyone else is), and they are caught by the field, they are basically moved to the back of the pack. Other cyclists won't let the rider get back into place and the cyclist will be pushed to the rear. The unspoken rule is not to mess with the group if you aren't good enough to pull it off.

But the blogosphere can be vicious when it comes to those who try to play fast and loose with the truth. Fact checking and sourcing is mandatory to survive in blog punditry. With so many blogs out there looking to make a name for themselves, unsourced stories are pounced upon and those found lacking are as well pushed to the back?

Blogging is truly revolutionary as a media concept these days in the simple fact that it regulates itself with ruthless efficiency.

Many of the consumers of these blogs are also competitors, which is something we don't see with mainstream media. Add into the mix the fact that there is no subscription fees to read blogs, brand loyalty can only be maintained by providing a superior (and accurate) product.

While the MSM has continued to mock bloggers as pajama wearing hacks with no editorial control, we have seen what can happen to MSM when it succumbs to the lack of editorial control that it claims moral authority over.

In reading the various posts in the blogosphere, I have seen a variety of reactions. Some people have thought of a Newsweek book burning exercise. Others are saying that the blood of those killed is on their hands. Never to be outdone, the Kos Kids are siding with the extremists and think that the Newsweek admittance is just a conservative witch hunt against the truth.

What do I think should happen? Nothing. Nothing will bring the dead people back. And nothing less than a front page cover story of a retraction and than explanation as to why the Editorial Board failed so miserably in their jobs to confirm this story will do anything to help Newsweek's credibility. But as I said in my analogy above, those who play fast and loose with the rules will be pounced upon viciously. A once somewhat respected periodical will be reduced to nothing more than a Supermarket tabloid.

In the days before blogs, there was no need for MSM to check itself. And there was even less reason for the competitors in the industry to try to and sniff out false stories. After all if they were all trying to discredit each other, it would lead to what would more or less be a price war where nobody wins. But blogs have changed that. There is now that independent (and widely read) observer to what MSM is and has been doing.

At some point, parts of the MSM will start to really understand blogs and the power that is the Internet (with much thanks to Google). And until they really catch on, I think we will see more of these self-important journalists pushed to the back of the peloton.

(Kos Link via LGF)

The Good News You Missed

2005-05-14T20:23:00.000+02:00

Arthur Chrenkoff brings his weekly Good News From Iraq segment to a whole new level with
href="http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/05/12/opinion/20050513_opchart.html">this.

H/T: Instapundit

After College, I Swore No More Tests

2005-05-13T20:09:00.000+02:00

Untill I came across this one on Orge's site. Take if for yourself to see where it says you belong....

My Result said that I was an Enterpriser who believes in free markets, am aggressive on foreign policy and security, and am very little support for government help to the poor with a strong belief that individuals are responsible for their own well being.

So, it makes me sound like a cold hearted jerk...yep, that sounds about right.

My Suggestion for Conclave

2005-04-20T19:17:00.000+02:00

If the various restraining orders that the Vatican has filed on me are any indication, the Catholic Church really isn't interested in any of my kick ass ideas.

This week we saw the election of Pope Benedict XVI, so I would like to extend my congratulations to the Holy See for his landslide victory (Hell, I don't even think that Bush carried Texas with more than 2/3 the vote).

But in thinking about the entire process, something really bothered me...

You see, the Pope is about as close to God as you can get in human form for the Catholic faith. I'm not saying the Pope is God. But you have to imagine that when the Pope dies, he pretty much goes to the "10 Sins or Less" line at the Pearly Gates.

But with conclave, you have fallible humans electing someone to this lofty and prestigious position. Church law is fallible because it is written by man, and the process is fallible because it is conducted by men (sorry ladies).

And since the whole basis of Christian faith is based on the tenant of Free Will, you have to think that maybe these folks get it wrong every once in a while.

So I have a solution:

Instead of having the Cardinals elect the Pope, we should draw it out of a hat.
All of the Cardinals eligible to be Pope would put their names in the Papal Hat, and someone would shake it up, and then a name would be drawn.

Now, before you condemn me to Hell, I have a reason behind this. If you believe in God, wouldn't you want God to have a hand in all of this? I mean, leaving the leader of your faith in the hands of a bunch of fallible humans is a huge ass risk. So I think we'd all feel a little more comfortable if the "Hand of God" had a little more to do with the entire process.

We'll look back on those days fondly.

2005-04-17T05:30:00.000+02:00

Cheap Oil. I remember those days. From cheap oil we got cheap gas. Well, cheap in comparison to now. I remember being in the South in the late 90'S and being able to pay less than 90 cents per gallon in South Carolina. In Vermont, these days, it costs me about $2.17 a gallon. The price of a barrel of oil has been bouncing around the $50 mark for several months now, and there is no indication that it will fall any time soon in fact, most experts are looking for the price of oil to increase consistently from this point out.

So what's going on here? Well, the unfortunate answer is that the market is doing exactly what it is supposed to do: finding the equilibrium price. With the growth of the global economy (especially in Asia) the demand on petroleum has gone up with the amount being produced staying steady. And when demand outstrips supply, prices go up. There are three basic geographical components to this:

Asia:

Unless you think the growth of the Indian and Chinese economies are just fads? This is a trend that will be maintained without any signal of reversing itself. As China moves itself from an agrarian economy into an industrialized one, it will continue to consume more petroleum in order to run its infrastructure. Indian growth has to a larger extent been a technological one (whereas the Chinese growth has more largely come from manufacturing), but the result has been the same: an increase in consumption of energy.

Europe:

A strong component to the new European Union has been the dispersal of developmental funds. Where Western Europe has a new playground for cheap labor in the Eastern part of Europe, any move to the East to produce goods and services will increase energy consumption in that part of the world. Are you willing to bet that as Europe strives toward being a global economic power bloc that it will do so only in an energy conservative manner? Neither am I.

Another aspect of this is that Europeans are used to paying prices that Americans would balk at. $6 for a gallon of gas? They're used to it, we're not. Then again, Europeans have altered much of their societal habits when it comes to transportation so that the amount of gas that they typically consume on an average basis is lower than their American counterpart.

The United States:

We love energy! And we use a lot of it too! The US uses more energy than any other nation on Earth (we also drive more of the global economy than anyone else too, but that is another topic for another day). From the late 60's and early 70's you saw a demographic change in terms of how and where middle class American started moving. Suburban sprawl became a thing of the present as more and more Americans sought out the American dream by moving to the Burbs. Of course, they still had to get to work. So we started driving further and further to get to work and spent more and more time in cars. As our ability to produce more petroleum hasn't increased much in the last few decades, we have continued to use more and more oil (part of this is natural as our population has increased and another part is simply our choice to drive less efficient cars).

There has been a recent turn in the automotive industry to produce more efficient cars. Not surprisingly, it has been foreign automakers that have beaten the Big Three automakers to that punch. Honda has several different models that follow the hybrid model

and are able to get over 40 mpg. This last year, Ford introduced the Escape Hybrid, which uses hybrid technology and is also able to be driven in what they call All Wheel Drive? But the problem for the United States is that while these new model vehicles are a start in reducing oil consumption, the percentage that these models are to the market is so small that they have made no discernible change to the amount of oil consumed on a daily basis.

As the global economy continues to grow, the demand for energy will continue to grow as well. And as demand grows, so will the price for fuels.

I don't see there being any dramatic change in the consumption habits in Asia, Europe or the United States. The only thing that would drive such a change would be an energy crisis on the scale of what we saw in the early 70's. The problem with that is that to correct such a crisis, there would have to be rapidly enacted reforms and self imposed behavioral modifications that I don't think that either the American people or the American people are able to handle. Continued strains on production abroad will force both consumers and businesses to pay more for what is considered a necessity.

The irony is that if tomorrow gas dropped to $1.00 a gallon, consumption would only grow at an even faster rate than it is now. Non-renewable energy is funny that way.

White House Fun

2005-04-11T21:15:00.000+02:00

Well, being Easter and all, the White House is having its annual Easter Egg Hunt on the White House Lawn. It's a tradition going back decades.

Rumor has it that this year's winner will be sent to Iraq to hunt for WMDs.

Subscribe the NYT or NUCLEAR WAR!!!

2005-04-11T06:19:00.000+02:00

It's Saturday so of course North Korea is threatening the US with nuclear war. God, Kim Jong-Il is such a drama queen. Not a week goes by that he doesn't threaten someone with a nuclear weapon that he may or may not have. If it wasn't for the fact that I still have 6 years and 60,000 miles left on my Hyundai warranty, I'd say we get the hell out of S. Korea and let them deal with the wacko.

I swear, the guy threatens war over the stupidest little things. Like last week. I got a call from Kim Jong-Il and it went something like this:

KJI: He'woh. Is this Gilly?
Me: Yes
KjI: Your kitty had defiled its litter box! You will..
Me: What?
KJI: I said your kitty has defi...
Me: I heard you the first time, but how did...
KJI: You will....
Me: how did you know?
KJI: we just know! you will empty this box of death or we will declare NUCLEAR WAR!!!!
Me: nuclear war?
KJI: Yes
Me: on my kitty?
KJI: Yes, No!!! On you.
Me: On me and my cat?
KJI: No!!!! On America
Me: Um, ok, I'll get right on that...
KJI: And your cat food....not good for kitty's coat. You will switch to MaoMix or you will have NUCLEAR WAR!!!!
ME: Mao Mix?
KJI: Yes. It's very good. I use it on my cats and the are as happy as those cats on the television commercials I don't allow my people to watch...very happy.
Me: Ok, Kim, I trust you.
KJI: Very happy...
Me: Um, ok, yeah, happy. I got to go and fix that 'litter box of death" so I've got to let you go...
KJI: Change it or you will have NUC...
Me: Yeah, Yeah, I got you the first time, nuclear war....bye. click

Won't this day ever be over?

2005-04-02T07:26:00.000+02:00

God, I hate April Fools Day. Another day for lame people to try and pull even lamer pranks...

Like participating in an Easter Egg Hunt, or going Trick or Treating, this day should not be celebrated by anyone over the age of 7.

Please spare me lame pranks and fake news. Here's one for ya':

"I've got diarrhea, and I'm wearing your underwear...April Fools!"

No thanks...keep the shorts anyways, and thanks for playing.

Scenes from Burlington, VT #238

2005-03-31T03:29:00.000+02:00

I have a neighbor in my apartment complex who is about 9 years old. And every day I see him hanging out with whom I can only assume are his two friends, his dog and a snow shovel.

Now, it might seem mean to consider his dog one of his only friends, but I have to believe that the dog isn't even really on his side, and is kind of forced to hang out with the kid. The snow shovel is the thing that kind of throws me though. Over the last week or so, we have had incredibly warm weather (if by incredibly warm, you mean 45 degrees). Thusly, most of the snow has melted away, so there really isn't anything to shovel. And in my infinite kindness, I have given the shovel the name "Scrapey".

At first I thought the kid was trying to use the shovel to clean up after the dog, but after seeing the dog do it's business on the lawn, and then watching him, the kid and Scrapey walk away, I concluded that the shovel meant a hell of a lot more to the kid than cleaning up after the pooch.

So the kid, the dog and Scrapey are out playing today and I am watching this unfold from my back deck. The kid starts scooping the water on the ground and I thought "Hmm...maybe he is trying to get the water to go into the sewer. No such luck, he was shoveling the water uphill, so that it would come right back down to him and reform the same puddle. That seemed a lot more of a self occupational activity than an actual chore.

And the thing about me saying that the dog wasn't much on the kids side? The dog lays down in the puddle...

Yeah, this place rocks the house....

The Post in Which I solve all of Gemany's Problems*

2005-03-27T03:28:00.000+02:00

* Well, the problem they are having today.

Nearly a quarter of western Germans and 12 percent of easterners want the Berlin Wall back.

Those wacky Germans! I think the last time we let them have an opinion, it led to the Second World War. All seriousness aside, I think I see their point:

The Berlin Wall was breached on Nov. 9, 1989, paving the way for the unification of Communist East Germany with the West on Oct. 3, 1990. But billions of euros (dollars) spent rebuilding the east have failed to prop up the depressed region, which is plagued by high unemployment and a shrinking population.

But I have a solution! I think they should build another wall! Only this time make it about 3 ft high. And it should have those little gates that allow wheel chairs to pass thought (we have to be considerate of the handi-capable).

This would certainly put a lot of people back to work. And by only making it 3 ft tall, you could still have conversations with people on the other side.

"Hey, Hans! How's the weather over on your side?"

"Not bad, Helmut. You should be expecting a little rain later today."

Brilliant Idea, you say!

"But Gilly, since we already know you're the smartest person in Vermont, how would you pay for this wall?"

Easy. They would be able to sell advertisements along the wall, just like they do for the outfield fences at Little League baseball parks.

"This part of the Wall is brought to you by 'Zimmerman Urinals: Wouldn't using a Zimmerman Urinal be more comfortable than this wall?"

Plus they could use it as a tourist draw:

"Visit Beautiful Deutchland. 1000 years of history...and the world's longest billboard!"

Man, do I rule.

Could you narrow that down a couple of hundred million?

2005-03-13T04:27:00.000+01:00

From the Bitch Girls:

Hunter Mark Smith welcomes wild birds on to his property, but if he sees a cat, he thinks the "invasive" animal should be considered fair game.
The 48-year-old firefighter from La Crosse has proposed that hunters in Wisconsin make free-roaming domestic cats an "unprotected species" that could be shot at will by anyone with a small-game license.

His proposal will be placed before hunters on April 11 at the Wisconsin Conservation Congress spring hearings in each of the state's 72 counties.
...
Smith's proposal has horrified cat lovers, but is seen by others as a way to stop cats from killing wild birds.

University of Wisconsin-Madison wildlife ecology professor Stanley Temple, who trapped more than 100 cats and analyzed their stomach contents during a four-year study, has estimated that between 7.8 million and 219 million birds are killed by rural cats in Wisconsin each year.

Between 7.8 million and 219 million? I mean, if it were 219 million, I might move to Wisconsin just for the sport of it. But 7.9 million? Doesn't really motivate me to make the drive...

Energy Undependence (the next Bushism?)

2005-03-11T05:53:00.000+01:00

In the summer of 2003, after the start of the Iraq War, I became very interested in alternative energy. Being a news and politics junkie, I had given much reflection to the causes and effects of the foreign policy issues facing America and the string of events

that had led us to this point in our history. I began a self taught crash course in the basics of fuel cell technology, and even pondered going back to school to get degrees in electrochemical engineering so that I could pursue a career in developing hydrogen fuel cell propulsion.

My thought at the time was that because of dependence on foreign sources of energy, the US was not self sufficient enough to be able to sidestep fluctuations in energy indexing due to external political events. I scoured my basement and the neighborhood and

scrounged up enough parts to build myself a rudimentary wind powered electrical generator. It worked, somewhat. Living in Illinois, I had more than my fair share of wind, and I was able to move some electrical current with my little (and I do mean little) device.

The entire exercise was more or less to prove a point that it would be possible to make enough electricity to attain hydrolysis, and therefore be able to separate the hydrogen from oxygen in water and get hydrogen fuel. I am sure that most of us remember this experiment in high school chemistry class.

As time passed, so did my desire to endure another 5-7 years in a University. But my desire to see the US more energy independent has never waned.

Last week, I found an article by Fareed Zakaria claiming a bold idea,driving a car that could get 500 miles per gallon of gasoline. On the surface, you'd think it was either science fiction or something out of the Sierra Club. But as I read further, and did some of my own research, I began to slowly warm to the idea that this could be a possibility?

The premise behind the 500 miles per gallon of gasoline idea rests in a couple of different components mixed together. The first is the hybrid car technology. This technology is currently available and has been gaining speed over the last few years. Essentially, your car uses both electricity and gas to move you down the road. At slower speeds, your car would use an electrical battery to move the car. When you needed a boost of speed or get to a higher speed, say on the highway, your car would switch from battery to gas seamlessly. By mixing the two technologies, your car would use less gas overall. Imagine all the time you spend in stop and go traffic. The propulsion responsibilities would be solely run on the electric battery, and not gas. There are other things that make this happen, like regenerative breaking, but I'll let you read about them here.

The second premise is an unsourced statistic that says that most people only drive 20 miles a day. Now, I probably drive a little

less than that during the week to and from work. For this type of driving, it was proposed that you plug your car into the electrical outlet in your garage and during your commute, you would only use a charged battery. Now this idea came around during the
late 90's and failed for a couple of reasons. First of all, people thought that all it would do would be to run up your home electrical bill. Secondly, it just didn't seem like you could get all that far on a battery. And the third point was that it didn't seem logical that you could get the power and performance out of a battery driven automobile. And I will concede those points.

The third part of the puzzle was what is called E85 and Flexible Fuel
Vehicles. Flexible fuel vehicles are those which can not only burn gasoline, but also Ethanol based fuels. It costs about another $100 to make your car capable of using Ethanol.

Ethanol is an alcohol that is derived from starches, mostly corn. Currently, there is an Ethanol fuel that is available in the Midwest (they had to do something with all that corn) that is 85% Ethanol and 15% gasoline. The name? E85 (they not only grow corn in the Midwest, but they are clever with their naming conventions too). Cars that have the Flexible Fuel tank and lines can use both

regular gasoline, as well as E85. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to the car. In fact, E85 burns cleaner than gasoline because is has a higher oxygen component.

Now, the 500 miles per gallon of gasoline figure comes from the idea that if you use hybrid technology (which gets you a higher mpg because part of your distance uses battery), plus the plug in feature, plus using E85 (which only uses 15% of the gasoline that gas does), you will get this amazing distance out of a gallon of gas.

The biggest problem with this concept is that you are not getting 500 miles per gallon of fuel. So people shouldn't expect to put $2.00 of E85 into their tank every other week and expect to be fine. It just won抰 happen. But what would happen is that you would be using less petroleum based fuels (you know, like oil, which is located in a pretty crappy part of the world).

So I had to ask myself, how much would a gallon of E85 cost in comparison to regular 87?? Well, I did the research so you don't have to.

I called a couple of service stations that carry E85 and asked them the prices for a gallon of each:

FairFax Mobil Mart
Fairfax, MN
E85: $1.79
R87: $1.90

Phillips 66
Rockford, IL
E85- $2.01
R87- $2.09

Speedway
Hillard, OH
E85- $2.15
R87- $2.15

In each of these stations, the price of E85 either matched or beat the price of Regular 87 Octane. Not too shabby. And before you start complaining that I am cooking the books, feel free to look up any of those stations if you wish.

Now, I don't have much faith in Americans plugging in their cars at night. But I do have faith in both hybrid technology and E85. If there was a major push by not only the Administration, but that American consumer as well, we could slowly start to diminish the amount of petroleum needed to be imported on a daily basis to get us where we need to be (which for me is either work, the beach or the bar).

500 miles per gallon of gas? I don't see it as a commonplace thing. I think that with current hybrid technology, you could only push it to about 100 miles per gallon of gas. But if it were to only cost me $100 to have the option on my new car, I would consider it.

For more information on the project to make this reality, visit the obviously biased link here (pdf).

Quote of the Week

2005-03-07T19:00:00.000+01:00

From Arthur Chrenkoff-

It might help that, as I wrote yesterday, George W. is built from a different stuff than his father. Bush Sr. might not have finished the job even if the rest of the world was with him; Bush Jr. might finish the job even if the rest of the world is against him.

I think the Daily Kos is onto us!

2005-03-05T19:12:00.000+01:00

Chimp attack doesn't suprise experts.

She Probably Just Wanted Control of the Remote

2005-02-15T03:46:00.001+01:00

A Serbian woman has been jailed for 18 months for marrying a dead man.

Turns out that she just wanted his money. But I think my headline was funnier.

You can't make this stuff up...

2005-02-15T03:46:00.000+01:00

A

Jordanian man divorced his wife after discovering that she was also his virtual girlfriend.

Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

Funny, I didn't see this on MapQuest

2005-02-15T03:28:00.000+01:00

'Highway of Love' Sex Motels Very Discreet

And Yet He Still Trails Deperate Housewives

2005-02-09T02:51:00.000+01:00

Bush shows highest ratings in a year

State of the Union Speech

2005-02-03T07:31:00.000+01:00

A-

It was much better than the speech he gave last year.

He had a lower number of points that he covered, which allowed him to go further in depth on each of them. Last years call for a ban on steroids in pro sports was just lame when you are still in the middle of a war.

He looked confident when he entered the chamber and started with a great reference to Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Ukraine. There was more speech and less applause than last year's, which I actually enjoyed.

He still pronounced it "nucular". But, what are you going to do?

At one point I think he was singing the "Social Security Boos". Buy his argument was a decent place for him to start selling his plan.

The call for more DNA evidence and better trained defense lawyers brought everyone back into the fold.

Was it me, or was he calling for a velvet revolution in Iran?

Obviously, the most powerful parts related to Safia Taleb al-Suhail. Bobby Jindal was there, purple

finger in the air. The hug that she and Byron Norwood's mother shared nearly brought me to tears.

I thought his ending was excellent. IT was powerful, direct, and inspiring.

Random thought of the day

2005-01-31T20:18:00.000+01:00

When you're 8 years old, one of the worst things that can happen to you is to get cooties from a girl.

By the time your 80, you're probably pretty happy to get cooties for someone. At least it would mean

that you're still getting some.*

* By some I mean sex.

Global Warming My Ass

2005-01-21T20:19:00.000+01:00

It's -11 in Burlington, VT today.

Any colder, and Al Gore would be holding a press conference berating the President on not signing the Kyoto Treaty.

Then again, I am suprised we haven't heard John Kerry demand that Bush "get tough" with Canada for sending us their cold air.

I invite any Global Warming activist to come up here and get me some Dunkin Donuts coffee in their underware. It's easy to be a hippy when you are warm and in your house.

Why Apple is good for America

2005-01-17T18:34:00.000+01:00

I'll be upfront. I don't own a MAC. Used them before, sure. But I don't own one and I don't plan to in the next 5 years (or how ever long before my Dell decided to die). I have never used an Ipod. Seen it. Heard lots about it. Even seen the commercials. But I've never used and Ipod.

But I think Apple is great for America, and here is why.

It's about capitalism, free markets, and competition.

If there has been one thing Apple has done poorly with over the last 20 years, it has been its ability to market itself to the population as a whole. The Mac OS is stable, easy to use, and visually attractive.

So attractive that Microsoft decided to rip much of it off and sell as its own invention.

Mac users are a strange, cult like bunch. Many tell me that they will never go back to the digital slavery that Bill Gates commands.

So, why would I ever switch from a PC to a Mac? That is the question that I ask. And I have found no answer. What is worse is that in all my years of television commercial watching, Apple has never given me an answer either.

The vast majority of Americans over the age of 30 first got to know computers from their work place.

Those of us under 30 may remember using the Apple IIE in the classroom. But wholesale everyday use of the desktop computer was mostly a business affair because of the prohibitive costs involved. It took about 10 years for that transition from work related PC use to home use take become a necessity. The evolution of the Internet to bring mindboggling amounts of pornography to your home computer had much to do with that. And in that time, a large portion of America became entrenched in MS product usage. There was no need for PC users to buy a home computer than wasn't compatible with what they were using at work and there was even less a desire to learn how to use a new operating system. Especially one whose major selling point was better visual graphics/visual editing.

And outside of the Mac OS, Apple had never been able to bring in newer technology/products that would give anyone the need to take more interest in the company's technological advances.

Until the IPod.

When marketing a product to a potential client base, the most important thing is to show the customer why they need to have your merchandise. The goal is to establish a beachhead in the customers' minds as the importance of your product to their everyday lives. And just as having 10 years of PC work related experience gave home users a reason to buy a PC for their home, by Apple making the IPod a personally important product to have, they will give people a reason to look at their Mac OS as a viable home computer option.

The introduction of the MiniMac is another step forward for Apple in breaching the wall Microsoft has built for itself around the consumers?buying habits. By making a computer that already fits all of the peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse) that the consumer already has, it makes it easier for people to just try the Mac platform. And being just $499, it is priced at such a point that some people will buy it just to give it a chance.

All of this goes back to one of the main pillars of capitalism and open markets: competition.

Competition leads to innovation. But when the MS platform is run on over 75% of all of the computers in the world, there isn't much need to make better and more stable products. By combining humans' love for music (IPod) with a viable and competitively priced product for home/work usage (Mac), Apple is finally looking to give people a viable alternative to Microsoft based products. If Apple can continue to incorporate their products with open standards technology (tech that is OS platform neutral) it should be able to continue its slow erosion of the MS Empire on our daily lives. And in the end, if that happens, MS will be forced to make better and more stable products. Everyone wins.

Who knows, maybe someday I'll own a Mac. But until that happens, I will continue to root for the underdog. It can only make the PC better, and that is great for America.

Update: I was just rereading the MiniMac page. I want one. Bad. IPod too. Accepting

donations...

Gotta Do Something to keep warm

2004-12-24T02:51:00.000+01:00

Nordic media battle heats up

I Still Love You Mr. K.

2004-12-24T02:41:00.000+01:00

Do you know which letter of the alphabet is the bastard step child of them all?

The Letter K.

Do you love America? How about when you spell it AmeriKa?

How about Korn for dinner?

How about OutKast?

For some reason, taking a perfectly good word and spelling it with a k instead of a c makes you seem like some counter culture hipster.

I think it all started with those dumb bastards in the Klu Klux Klan. Hey, dipshits, the first step in gaining a popular following is the ability to spell. Dan Quayle learned that the hard way...

So, be brave Little Letter K. I still love you.

My Predictions for the Next 4 Years

2004-11-04T09:09:00.000+01:00

There is but one way to describe my election predictions...."fake but accurate".

I got the end result correct. But NH and Hawaii didn't pan out. But I did get Ohio right (I am so smart, I am so smart! Smrt. I mean, Smart...)

So, now I have some predictions for the next 4 years:

1) Somebody we don't like dies. May be Arafat. May be Artistide. May be Yanni. Who knows? But when they kick off...2 point bump in the polls for Chimpler.

2) Iran....muahahahaa. Sorry kids. We got a bottle of whiskey and the car keys for the next 4 years. I see the future. You may be part of it, but it will most likely involve working the counter at an Adult Movie store.

3) France. Hahahaha....I said France. Hehe.

4) Russia...listen, boobulah. We like you now. Don't mess this up. Get to gittin. Crap-Weasles=Bad. Uncle Sam= Good. The first country to figure this out was the UK, and look how well that's worked out for them...they've even taken on English as their first language.

5) I think Germans will stop emphasizing their role in the world as a dimplomatic nation and get back to what they are good at...Oktoberfest and wacky porn.

6) Guam. Think about what you've contributed to the world in the last 50 years...now add 4 years. Yep, that's about it.

7) Gay Marrige. We'll still be talking about both 4 years from now.

8) 11,680. The number of Martinis that Ted Kennedy will drink before he becomes relevant again.

9) Social Security. Old people will still be getting it in 2005.

10) The deficit. Like the Grand Canyon and Rosie O' Donnell, it will continue to grow in size and gravitational force.

11) Baseball. The new Washington DC team will be overun by special interest groups and will include such fan appreciation days as: "The 3rd Called Strike in the 2nd Inning was George Bush's Fault" Night and the "Why Fly Balls Shouldn't Be Caught Because It is too 'Unilateral' Double Header Days". Rumor has it that George Soros will pay up to and over $65 million to ensure that 527 groups try to target the Philidelphia Fanatic and produce video evidence of what the MSM will only refer to as "A Cocaine Habit of Supernatural Proportions".

12) Hollywood celebraties who move out of the US will come back when they realize that citizens in no other country in the world are willing to pay $8 to watch them.

13) Jim Treacher will find ways to offend people in other languages just to magnify the effect.

14) Seeing the effect that Blogs had on the '04 Election, Osama Bin Laden will give up plotting Jihad on America to start his own site "OsamaBinBloggin.net" Three days later, he will declare Jihad again...on comment spam.

Gilly's World Declares Victory

2004-11-03T17:03:00.000+01:00

I think I am the big winner here. The guy that I was rootin for wins (it's over, get used to it). My Red Sox won the World Series. Auburn is still undefeated.
Tom Daschle lost. And I managed to out drink Susan Estrich last night (and trust me, that was no small feat).

So now that the world is back on it's normal orbit, John Kerry can go back to missing Senate meetings. And I hear that John Edwards is on his way to Ohio....probably to sell hair care products door to door.

Note to the world: We've been watching you for the last few years. And we've made a list. Now that we have 4 more years of Bush and he doesn't have to worry about Reelection, well.....you know the rest.

The Election

2004-11-03T09:25:00.000+01:00

12:20 If it ain't over yet, I'll heckle it in the morning...

12:05 Ron Silver has lost his mind. "You can be a certain ethnicity...and tell people you voted for somebody else."

12:03 Oregon goes to a Democrat. Shocker.

11:51 Specter fights back and wins his seat. No comment.

11:43 Susan Estrich is not only drunk, but she is drunk bloviating. I mean, that doesn't mean that she is wrong. But even a tanked-off-her-ass clock is right twice a day.

11:40 Susan Estrich is back on tv. I think she is somewhere between drunk to hangover stage, but I am not sure. If she burps up tommato juice, then I think we'll have the entire thing figured out.

11:31 Ron Silver: Looking for his career in the bushes.

11:20 Arizona goes to Bush. About Fricken Time...Seriously, you guys are breaking my balls here. Arizona goes to Bush? What? Do you want a fricken medal?

11:17 This race is killing me. Someone please call something. I don't care what it is. Hell, call Bill Frist a tranny. I don't care.

11:06 Washinton State goes for Kerry. Did you know that there is an area called Walla Walla? There is. And they sell Watermellons.

10:59 Everyone is too damn chicken to call anything. Brawk. Bruck. Bruck. Brawk!

10:52 With the exception of Brian Williams being Crap-tacular, MSNBC has been the best in the election coverage so far.

10:38 As of 10:38, Thune is leading Daschel in SD

10:25 Drudge Calls Utah for Bush....197.

10:21 Benson (R-NH) makes a comeback in his Governer's Race.

10:17 Christ, Barak Obama's wife just introduced him as "my baby's daddy".

10:14 Missouri goes to Bush. Bush is at 193.

10:12 Still no suprises...though the thought of Arlen Spector getting waxed would be nice if not for the fact that a Democrat was taking the seat.

9:59 Hey New Hampshire...snap out of it and make up your mind already!

9:48 Tradesports.com has Kerry surging 11 points today. Take it as you will, but, like the youth vote, I gotta throw the BullShit flag.

9:45 Talking about bloggers and the youth vote. Let me tell you what...there hasn't been a state where the youth vote has tilited the vote away from who was supposed to win.

9:39 Mathews jokes that Republicans being Red States wasn't taken from the Soviets during the Cold War....I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he's just been up too many hours.

9:26 Louisiana and Mississippi to Bush. Bush 171. Kerry 112.

9:19 Mort Kondrakie tried to diss the blogosphere and looks like a dork...updates at 11. And I was lame enough to use the term "diss".

9:00 Bush gets Texas and Kansas. Kerry gets New York. The sun will rise tomorrow and Russian people like vodka. Wake me when there is a shocker.

8:51 Susan Estrich is on Fox News and looks very drunk. If she is topless by 10 pm, then I predict a Kerry Victory.

8:45 Bush is over 100. Just over 1/3 of the way to the 299 that I predicted.

8:42 Bush wins Virginia...that one was big. If Kerry takes Virginia, Bush would need to change his shorts.

8:20 NC to Bush. Bout Damn Time. Bush-81. Kerry-77.

8:15 SC to Bush. Jesus, they made us sweat for that one.

8:08 All of the top blogs down. Yet my blog is coming up fine. Shows you where stand on the food chain.

8:03 I need NH to go for Bush if I am going to win the Fantasy Election League. Come on baby, do it for Daddy.

8:02 No big suprises yet. Yet.

8:00 Illinois, Mass, Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, and Jersey to Kerry with 0 votes counted. Rednecks and the Soooners carry Bush. I think they are just flipping coins at this point.

7:52 Craig Benson(R) is getting his ass handed to him in his NH Governors Race to the Democrat.

7:36 Bush will win W. Virginia. 0 votes counted with 0% precincts reporting so far. But MSNBC has never been wrong...

7:30 Bush over 1,000,000 popular votes so far...must be nice to be so loved.

This Election Cycle

2004-11-02T07:45:00.000+01:00

These are the things we have learned over this last election year.

In this election we have seen Swifties, Bloggers, Haliburton and Rather. We have learned the terms moonbat, MemoGate, what the hell a Wonkette is and why she almost always has something to do with anal sex.

We have seen a group called MoveOn refuse to move on. George Soros has become both a villain and a rock star, which is not bad considering he is both Hungarian and in International Finance. And America has made 527 the second most well know tax code deliniation since the 1040.

Bloggers have speculated, pontificated, and regurgitated just about every kind of information that you can think of. A Generation of Americans have now come to grasp how the hell the Electoral College works. And many are even debating its merits.

We've seen that Bush still doesn't know how to talk. And we've learned that Kerry looks like a dork when he tries to play any sport other than hockey. And we've all learned that Big Daddy Edwards doesn't go on stage on unless his hair is Demo-fabulous.

We've learned that some people have lost their fucking minds, fucking minds, fucking minds, and fucking minds. We've seen the 24 hour news cycle kill and then overkill stories. And we have seen an entire candidacy die with but a single scream.

Hell, somehow Jim Treacher even made it onto the Wall Street Journal.

And in the end, we have seen almost $3.9 Billion dollars spent for people to get out their message. We've been pundits and we've watched and read the pundits. We've watched the debates, we've debated the debates and in the end?

Nobody has any idea how the fuck this thing is going to turn out.

But it's been fun.

My Childhood Beckons

2004-10-27T05:23:00.000+02:00

Which do you think I should watch?

30 Minutes of Fox's Pre-Game Production Bonanza, or 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'?

If you don't say "Good Grief", you're dead to me.

Civic Duty Rocks!

2004-10-19T23:42:00.000+02:00

Because I am not going to be in my home state on Nov 2nd, I went down to my town hall and got myself an Absentee Ballot. And then I voted!

Voting Rocks. Of course, they won't open my ballot until Super Tuesday. But I still felt pretty good.

My best friend has always said that if you don't vote for anyone, you have no right to bitch about whoever is in office. So I guess you could say that I have just gotten my 4 year extension on smartassing the American Political system.

Be sure to make sure you are registered to vote. I think this year, Americans might just break our own record on voter turnout.

My New British Speaking Pen Pal

2004-10-19T11:33:00.000+02:00

BODY:
Since the Guardian sees it fit to compell its readers to Adopt-An-Ohioan, I thought I would write back to England in a letter.

Dear British Speaking Pen Pal-

Thank you so much for taking the time to type me out a letter. Yay! This will be so much fun! Now I have a pen pal in another country. Your envelope says that you are from England. Wow! Are you guys named after New England? I love the Patriots!
I looked on a map and saw that England is an island. That must be great! My neighbor went on vacation to the islands? She loved it. It must be so great to live on a warm sunny island. Do you go to the beach every day? That's what she did. I bet it's great living so close to the warm beach like you do. She told me that people drink Coronas with limes. Do you like to drink Corona too? I bet you do! My dad calls you a bunch of Limeys. I bet that must be where the label comes from. How cool is that? You guys must have come up with putting limes in your beer!

Thank you for taking such an interest in our Election. You used some pretty big words in your letter that I couldn't understand. There is somebody at the University in Columbus that speaks British, so the next time I have to take the hogs to market, I抣l have him translate more of it.

Sincerely,
Your Ohioan Pen Pal Gilly

P.S. I was going to send you some limes as a gift. But then I thought, thats silly, Limes must come from England. That would be a silly gift. My dad told me that you like cricket. So included in the box is about 100 crickets that I caught in my back yard. I hope you like them!

I Want My Money Back

2004-06-05T10:02:00.000+02:00

So I was watching the news today and the Japanese parliament had a rumble. This is like the 4th one in the last year. Is anyone else as unimpressed as I am?

Man, when you think of Asians fighting, you think of Kung Fu and Jackie Chan and shit. All you get from these parliament fights is a bunch of shoving (though seeing someone break out a shoe to hit the opposition is pretty fun to watch). I see Taiwan politicians wanting to knuckle down and I am thinking:

The only thing that would make this cooler is a six pack and a side of ribs. But instead of Monday Night Football, all I am getting 9 on 9 flag football from the Bayside Retirement Community.

I want to see hand to hand fights like you see in the Matrix. Like a PM jumps off of his lectern and does a 360 spin kick to the Minority Party leader. It'd be kick ass if he was able to rip the heart out of somebody's chest and show it to him as it stops pumping like in Indian Jones. Now that is what I call filibustering.

South East Asia better step up to the plate and deliver us some action, or America will stop paying attention to that part of the world for good.

Career Change

2004-06-04T23:28:00.000+02:00

I have decided upon the perfect job for me:

Transplant Organ Courrier

Think about it. Your job is to fly from place to place with organs in a little red bag. Run through airports. Rack up frequent flier miles. Think about it. You could do that for 2 years and write one wierd ass book.

How does one qualify for a job such as that? And what does their resume look like?

A Real Man's Toothpaste

2004-06-03T01:06:00.000+02:00

I got thise new toothpaste called Aquafresh Extreme Clean and I was reading the back and this is what it says:

Keep out of reach of children 6 and under: If you accidentally swallow more that used for brushing, get medical help or contact Poison Control right away.

Sweet! This toothpaste kicks so much ass that it's dangerous to children. Now that is a real man's toothpaste!

Kittens: Hitler's Secret Weapon Against America

2004-06-01T21:53:00.000+02:00

It is a little known anecdote in the annals of history that Adolf Hitler has devious plans for America.

While the history of WWII has be written to addendum about the struggle of the Allies against the Axis powers, there are smaller stories that seem to not get much light of day. This is one of them.

After having invaded Poland, Adlof Hitler and his military advisors turned west. And after spending a nice spring weekend conquering Paris, the Nazi regieme had solidified much of Western Europe. Seeing the ease of taking both Poland and France, Germany looked at a move on the UK with further aspirations of conquering America.

Hitler knew the importance of the Greenland, Iceland, UK (known as the GIUK Gap) territories would be vitally important to his advance on America. However, he also knew that if he made such a move, America might feel threatened and officially enter the war. He had to develop a devious plan to subvert the American population and weaken them before the day he would conquer the United States. When asked by his
top advisors how he would do this, Hitler answered but with a single word: kittens.

The idea was to get the American public used to a prissy prim Dona personality. But the indoctrination process had to start earlier than Adolf wanted. His scientists determined that if the plan was to work, Americans must get used to cats at an early age. If preoccupied by furry cuteness, America may just miss all of the Nazi atrocities being committed across Europe and Africa. But how to get the ball rolling?

Though his Foreign Service offices, Hitler contacted Nazi sympathizers in America and ordered them to start a subversive campaign through media and the press. It was subtle, and not until after the War was over can we even see the brilliantly unnoticeable plan.

Remember this poster? Of course you do. It hung in every class room in America for years. Do you honestly believe that this is supposed to be an inspirational mantra to be instilled in our children? Of course not. This poster was put into every class room in America, a gift "from a kindly anonomous benefactor". Teachers were told that it would be helpful to children and give them hope that America will
make it through the war.

But in reality, it was all Nazi propaganda. Here is the original poster developed by Adolf himself:

One of his advisors though it wasn't such a good idea to include the "Meine sklaven"(my slaves) in the poster. That advisor was promptly shot. A second advisor also tried to say that adding the phrase "my slaves" wasn't such a good idea. He was also shot. After not being able to find anymore shotgun shells, Hitler finally acquiesced and dropped the last part.

Kitten calendar sales increased 40% in the years 1940-1945. And American families, missing brothers, sons, and fathers, filled the void by adopting kittens. The Nazi regieme tried to capitalize on this by breeding kittens by the thousands, but Hitler's scientists could never figure how to make white cats with blue eyes. Sadly, batches of kittens were lost in the attempt.

Do you still think this is far fetched? Remember folks, this came from the same man who thought it would be a great idea to attack Russia in the winter time.

In the end, the Allies were victorious. Hitler's vicious plans to soften America with kittens didn't come to fruition. In his bunker, the Allies found war plans, ammunition, rations, a couple of balls of yarn, and a still Classified folder only labeled "Operation: Wiskas."

From what we are told, the CIA discovered the extent to which the Nazi regieme had tried to subvert America. The United States, still flush from the victory in WWII, could not handle to betrayal of knowing their pets were actually part of what was called the "Hitler Youth Pets". To counter this, the Department of Defense produced two popular television shows promoting dogs in the hope that in the future, American fascination with kittens would only be a footnote in history.

Movie Review of the Day

2004-05-28T21:51:00.000+02:00

Maddox writes the best movie review in the history of the universe and gives his pick for the film that will sweep the Oscars for 2005.

Warning: Not for the children.

Hat Tip: Dean

Where Do I Send My Resume?

2004-05-27T11:47:00.000+02:00

Dane considers porn fringe benefit

An IT company in Nordjylland, Denmark has introduced a novel program to keep employees satisfied. After examining well-known trends in Internet and business traffic, LL Media decided it would be sensible and appreciated to offer all of its employees free subscriptions to Internet pornography.

The company's director, Levi Nielsen, believes that access to porn is a natural fringe benefit, like a free phone or a company car.

"We know that 80 percent of all hits on the Internet are on porn sites. And we can see that people also surf porn pages during work," Nielsen told Danish Broadcasting's DR Nordjylland.

In return for this service the company blocks all access to porn pages during office hours.

Nielsen hopes that the expense of about DKK 30 (USD 5) per head per week will make his staff more relaxed and more efficient on the job.

Of Empire And Iraw

2004-05-25T21:44:00.000+02:00

In this month's Atlantic Online, there is an interview with writer Niall Ferguson, the author of 'Colossus'. In this piece he opines on the problems in Iraq, 9/11 and the American problem with nation building. What I find interesting in this article is that he is a self described Americophile. He wants Iraq to succeed. Yet, thought his research, he shows how this endeavor, like many undertaken in America's past, may fail precisely because our own inherent cultural differences.

One excellent points that he makes is:

"One of the problems Americans have is this desire to be loved. Legitimacy isn't necessarily based on affection. It's based on credibility. And I think what we're seeing in Iraq is just the latest in a series of tests of American resolve and credibility."

Answer Me This

2004-05-24T09:42:00.000+02:00

There has always been something that had bothered me about Star Wars: Episode II.

If Anakin Skywalker was supposed to bring "balance to the force" and the Sith were on the run to the point where people didn't even know if they existed, wouldn't it have occured to these brainiacs that Anakin was there to balance out all the "good" force in the Galaxy?

I mean why didn't they just cap his ass gansta' style with a phaser gun when they had the chance. Rat-a-tat-tat 'You know I never hesitate to put a Jedi on his back'

What else did these people think when the prophesy said "bring balance to the force" when they were all in thier little happy-land "everyone is a beautiful snowflake" Empire?

Solving Abu Ghraib

2004-05-23T21:38:00.000+02:00

Do you want to know how to stop the constant repetition of the images of Abu Ghraib?

Just tell the world that the images and video contain secret messages that Jesus Christ is the Savior.

The liberal media would instantly stop showing any of the images.

Except for Fox News, who would make up a new prime time segment, showing only Abu Ghraib videos.

The Arab Street would riot and denounce all of the photos as Jewish Propaganda.

The Jews would be like, "Crazy Assed Gentiles."

The French would embrace the videos just to antagonize the Jews.

And the New York Times would do everything in its power to discredit the photos.

Either That Or Old Age

2004-05-19T21:35:00.000+02:00

Disaster may have killed ancients

UNSCAM

2004-05-18T21:31:00.000+02:00

I do have some liberal friends. Actually, the better way to describe them is as drinking buddies. We just try and stay away from politics all together. And here is one reason why:

So, after many rounds at the bar, we got onto the topic of the Oil For Food Scandal (UNSCAM). And my friend said to me "I don't know why you're making such a big deal about it, it was only like what, $10 Billion?"

At this point I just dropped the conversation by getting another beer and not going back to the conversation.

$10 billion is kind of a big deal to poor people. But you know what annoyed me even more? When the International community got together and was able to raise $33 Billion. $20Billion of that was from America.

So 73 nations got together and 72 of them were only able to donate about $10Billion to helping a democracy in the Middle East.

Yeah, $10Billion, it's a big deal.

Let's hope Iraqis have a long memory when it comes to the bill for this little endevour.

Environment Check

2004-05-18T21:25:00.000+02:00

I was reading the "letters to the editor" section of my paper today, and I realized something.

About half of all Americans are idiots. And at first I thought "Hey, you shouldn't say that about your countrymen!"

And then I realized that these people are pretty much all democrats (though we do have some right wing idiots too).

One person wrote in and said, "The Bush Administration is systematically destroying the environment? And then I looked out my window. Yep, the environment is still there.

Even if you live in New York City, the environment is still there. It just comes in three flavors: Central Park, concrete, and asphalt.

And I just looked out my window again卍ang environment is still there.

With 3 candidates as different as they are, if the environment is the issue that decides who you vote for, then you probably aren抰 going to vote for Bush anyways.

36(C) Reasons why America Kicks Ass

2004-05-13T09:53:00.000+02:00

Anderson joins Uncle Sam

Film and TV star Pamela Anderson, a native of Canada who broke into show business as a spokeswoman for Labatt beer, became an American citizen today during a brief ceremony in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

"I felt it was important to become a US citizen in order to vote in the United States," Anderson said in a written statement.

Suck on that Canuckistan!

In all seriousness...hell, I am sorry, nothing serious about this. Hooters!

Now if only we could do that here..

2004-05-12T21:45:00.000+02:00

Somehow they got the Norwegian press to go on strike. I don't know they did it, but it's true.

Now if only we could figure out a way to do that here in the States. Then maybe we could go back to winning the war on terrorism.

And I don't mean a total hiatus. Just a week or so.

A Reminder the Apocalypse is nigh

2004-05-10T17:29:00.000+02:00

I just turned on the t.v. to see Sylvester Stallone singing Country songs in Rhinestone.

You Don't Say!

2004-05-08T08:52:00.000+02:00

Researchers predict a warm summer

Last summer was nice in Norway, and this summer will likely be warm and sunny as well. That's the consensus of international meteorologists, and Oslo may be in store for its warmest summer since 1960.

That wacky stock market (and why jobs growth is bad)

2004-05-08T06:31:00.000+02:00

The best back to back jobs data since 2000 and the market takes a dive. What gives?! Well, you would think that with more and more people going back to work that the stock market would rally. But this rally is somewhat counterintuitive. With stronger and stronger jobs numbers, the specter of higher interest rates is looking more and more likely. The exact same thing happened last month when there was very strong jobs growth.

The Fed rate is not going to stay at 1% forever. And while some people had thought that Greenspan was going to raise rates in August, if we get another great jobs number next month, we might see a raise in rates in June.

The market is a funny thing. Ben Stine calls it "a place to buy future earnings". I like to think of it as a speculation on how people will react to news. Because about half the time, the market does the opposite of what you would think it should. Great jobs growth and an improving economy and the market goes down. Who would have thunk it?

My problem with Internet dating.

2004-05-06T18:08:00.000+02:00

There was a blog on Salon that talked about Internet dating portals for Conservatives. And I thought "hey, it would be cool to meet a chick who wasn't a damned hippy and liked to shoot things with guns!"

But my problem is that while I am conservative, I am not a social conservative. I am more a libertarian on social issues. I like to go out and party, I like the Man Show, and I am not part of the Religious Right. I am what some people call a South Park Republican? What I am, though, is a fiscal conservative.

And then I thought, yeah, they should have an internet dating site for people like me who are only fiscally conservative? And then I thought, how many chicks are going to search a site that features fiscal conservatives?? Probably none that I would want to meet. What would one of their profiles read like?

In my spare time I enjoy reading books at Barnes & Noble, saving money by walking everywhere and reading day old newspapers. Oh, and clipping coupons makes me soo hot!?

So I don't think I will be seeing www.fiscallyconservativesingles.com any time soon.

I Love You to Death

2004-05-04T20:54:00.000+02:00

Well at least men now have an excuse as to not be so romantic.

Honest honey, I'd rub your feet, but I wouldn't want you to think I was trying to kill you.

Boy Gets Response to Message in Bottle

2004-05-03T07:54:00.000+02:00

Hey, it happens.

And as it turns out, the message was spam: 'Would you like to have a longer thicker penis?' To which the boy threw in another bottle.

Best (worst) Summer Job Ever?

2004-05-03T07:52:00.000+02:00

Those crazy Germans. When they aren't invading France, or taking field trips, they are trying to lead the world in mind numbing stupidity. The German solution to unemployment? Brothels MUST have apprentices in order avoid financial penalties.

May I Suggest Some X-Lax

2004-05-02T10:56:00.000+02:00

Oslo increasingly 'constipated'

BMW Drivers Have More Sex

2004-05-02T08:41:00.000+02:00

BMW drivers have more sex than owners of any other cars and are much more active than Porsche drivers, a new German car magazine has found.

Too bad for me, the Slavic export Yugo ranked lowest on sex appeal. To which I can testify, is quite accurate.

You Have to Give Kids Limits

2004-05-02T08:19:00.000+02:00

Watered-Down Beer Quota Allows 4 Kegs Each

The keg crackdown for the annual Mifflin Street block party near the University of Wisconsin still gives each apartment between 700 and 800 beers.

It's good to know that you can give kids limits.

Day of the Dead?

2004-05-01T09:01:00.000+02:00

I have finally figured out why John Kerry walks and talks like the walking dead. It's because he really is!

"He fought and died for his country.*"

*Democratic Stategist on Republicans questioning John Kerry's patriotism. A la an interview on Your world with Neil Cavuto (4/30).

I'm just here to help.

2004-04-30T17:04:00.000+02:00

I have this pity factor in me that makes me want to help John Kerry. So today I will help J.F. Kerry with that ever elusive demographic: the apathetic youth vote. I was watching MTV this morning because I woke up with a hangover (and nothing cures a hangover like vomiting after watching the crap on MTV). And then it hit me: John Kerry needs a hip and with it rap song to really speak to the kids of today. So, here it is:
-----

I'm John Kerry (al la the music of Slim Shad?)

[chorus]:
Yes, I'm John Kerry!
No, I'm not John Kerry!
That other John Kerry
was just being nuanced.
So won't the real John Kerry
please stand up, please stand up,
please stand up.

Yo! I served in Nam!
Did I mention that?
I'll say it again,
cause I can.
Got six more months of this
shit, how long with this take?
Right wing media
don't cut me a break.

I'm John Kerry!
You don't like that?
Well then I'm not.
And then I am!
See the difference?
I served in Nam!

[Chorus]

Ed Gillespie is a bitch!
Trying to switch
the topic of discussion
to something other
than my service in Vietnam.
Sorry Ed,
you thought the topic was dead?
Not till I said,
it was over! So F-you.
Yeah, I swear! I'm the common man?
Half billion dollars, schooled in Switzerland,
Just like you, or not, hey I was in Nam!

[Chorus]

Europe don't like us,
I can fix that,
cause I'm a Democrat.
Askin?Tuh-rez-ah
Where my allowance at?!?
Speakin?4 languages
None of them truth?
Don't have an SUV,
well, yes, I do.
Didn't fund the troops.
But I am,
the guy who served in Vietnam!

[chorus and end]

How Kerry can win in Nov.

2004-04-29T05:11:00.000+02:00

The Kerry camp is in trouble. It's in the polls. He is starting to crack under pressure. His Mathews interview didn't cement his image with the swing voters. He is appearing to not have a set of core values. Instead, he is being shown to be a political opportunist who has only a cursory acquaintance with the truth. And this head to head competition is only about 10 weeks old. This isn't good for Kerry and Co. Here, I will tell you how he can win.

His 3 biggest negatives:

He says dumb things. I voted for it before I didn't vote for it. I have an SUV and then I don't have one, it's my family's. I threw medals and ribbons but I still have my medals. He is spending more time playing defense than he is playing offense. It is never healthy for a campaign when you have to waste valuable airtime explaining away things instead of using it to get your message across.

He has both sides of several issues. He has to stand for something, we just don抰 know what that is. If you come across a topic that is a politically hot potato, you should not be nuanced, you should be vague, What is the difference? Being vague means you leave out specifics. Being nuanced is when you give specifics and then have to backtrack later to explain them. To be honest, Kerry is not very good with this because he is so self absorbed that he thinks he can get away with it. Hey John, it might have worked in AAA ball, but it won't work in Prime Time.

He's boring. Sorry to say it so plainly, but he is boring. His voice is monotone. He has one facial expression. He looks like it takes effort for him to smile. In the end, he doesn't come across in the media as a likable guy. And that is part of being the President like it or not. You have to inspire confidence in the people of America. You have to make them believe that you will be the one to make their lives better. You give them hope. Believe it or not, Bush is better at doing that then Kerry is right now.

He has positives, but I will explain them further down. Now what I want to do is to show J.F. Kerry how he can still pull out a win in Nov. [Ed. Note: I support Bush and I hope he beats Kerry in Nov. This is simply an effort in critical thinking and political analysis.]

Things he needs to stress more:

Accomplishments as a Middlesex prosecutor. He needs to let people know that he was tough on bad people. He needs to let people know that he stood up to bad people and put them away. He hasn't mentioned this once on all the shows that he does or in the interviews. He needs to make this relevant and show that he will be bad on evil terrorists who want to hurt innocent Americans.

He doesn't really want to bring up that he was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. The governor at the time was Mike Dukakis who failed in ?8 against Bush the elder and had the horrific idea for weekend furloughs of convicted felons (think Willie Horton). If brought up, he can decline to his job as DA prosecutor.

His record on the environment. He needs to show why he is better for the environment than Bush is. This isn't because he is going to win any swing voters or that this is even an important issue with the average American voter. But he does need to shore up the Green vote which is shifting to Nader. Plus, it never hurts to tell soccer-moms that you will make little Billy's air cleaner or little Suzy's water better to drink. But he needs to shore up the Greenies who are rabid activists and who WILL vote come Nov (they just aren't sure for who).
An additional part of this is the idea that we must cut our foreign dependence on oil to strengthen National Security. But Kerry must (and I repeat it) MUST not say dumb things like Bush and his oil buddies? People are already tired of that line and ever time you use it, you sound like a bitter Al Gore. Instead, leave out the oil companies and try to instill some hope that with American ingenuity we can decrease our dependence on foreign fuels. "We can help clean up the environment. And with American innovation, there is no reason we shouldn't be leading the world with new technology and creating new jobs". Something along those lines.

Explain how he is going to help people get health care. People are worried about this topic because many jobs today don't have health insurance and the ones that do are costing people more and more each month. He has to come up with something that will not be considered Big Government giveaways? And the best way to do this is to always give people a tax-credit? If you have to directly tax other people to give away health care to people, it's welfare? If you have to tax people to increase govt. revenues because some people aren't paying as much because of health care tax credits, it's not welfare (funny, but for the majority of Americans, it's how it's viewed).
The cost of health care is skyrocketing. Kerry has to address this with a clear plan that won't cost too much. Bush had one package, Kerry needs to top it and explain it in clear terms.

Tuition rates are rising. Kerry can complain as much as he wants about No Child Left Behind, but most people like the idea. So he needs a new educational issue. And what better than tuition tax-credits. It plays out the same in middle America as the health issue does. And if America is going to compete in the 21st century we need to have as many well educated people in the workforce as possible. Education is the gift we give our children to ensure our future? Yeah, I like the sound of that. It's hard to vote against something that will let people afford a college education.

Kerry needs to set a clear foreign policy. Not just on Iraq, but on how America will lead in the 21st century and beyond. Americans will not accept being subservient to the UN. So he should tailor his message to how he will help lead the US and the nations of the World to make the world a safer place for all? He needs to explain how he could have gotten more nations to contribute to Iraq, but he has to do it without saying that the UN is THE solution. The UNSCAM (oil for food) scandal will shut down any chance for him to say the UN is the answer. Instead, he must focus on his experience as part of the Foreign Relations Committee. But stay away from saying anything about foreign leaders endorsements. Instead say things like 揑 have for almost 2 decades worked with representatives of other nations on items such as peace and security?blah blah blah? But he needs to say exactly where we are headed and not be general about it. Bush did this to near perfection in 2000 and he won because of it (even if he made a 180 on foreign policy after 9-11).

He needs to explain that he isn't that much different from Bush (but in good ways). This is where he will try to get the swing voters. For example in Iraq he has mostly the same plan (stay the course, democracy is good, yadda yadda). His poll numbers went up when he admitted that he would stay the course and not punk out. He needs to explain how he will stay the course EVEN IF his plans to "internationalize" Iraq do not work. The majority of Americans understand how important Iraq now is to our national security and he needs to let them know he won抰 just run at the first rough patch that we come across.
Where he and Bush agree he needs to let people know that. He just has to let them know how he will do it better.

Style and Substance

Everything is perception. Bad substance can be covered up with great style. So he needs to improve how people perceive him as a person (which is pretty negative). Straight up? He needs to smile a lot more. He is morose and angry in almost every interview you see him in. He is angry at every stump speech he gives. Like I said above, people want a character who will give them hope for a better tomorrow. John Edwards ran a great campaign on that idea, and for someone with only 2 years political experience, he did incredibly well. A positive campaign also did wonders for a guy from Arkansas who sat in the White House for 8 years.

You can't simply win an election by only explaining why your opponent's strategy is wrong. You win it by explaining why your strategy is right. In every single interview and clip you see Kerry in, he says the same thing: "The Bush policies are wrong for America". Yeah, John we hear you, why not trying to tell us why you are so right? He would do a lot better if he never mentioned the Bush administration. Just take it out of some (not all) of the speeches. And instead he should tailor his speeches to use that time more effectively into articulating his vision for tomorrow.

Kerry needs to come to grips with who is he. Right now he is the "Anybody" for the
"Anybody But Bush" crowd of the Democratic party. He needs to spend more time as John Kerry the next President of the United States? If he doesn't start looking more Presidential, he will end up just being the junior Senator from Massachusetts.

One More for the Road

2004-04-27T10:10:00.000+02:00

*This piece is not for sensitive eyes*

One more thing before I head to bed. I love the Democratic Underground. They have some of the nicest and most eloquent people. And they supply with me with almost as much material as a John Kerry interview.

In a fresh post to the DU, mopaul (who is a rather prolific typer) has the following thoughts about something that will never happen anytime soon (i.e. the draft):

i've raised 3 fine children into adulthood, the youngest is 20, and you ain't gonna get him bush! i don't know exactly what i'll do, but believe me, when you start drafting our children to turn into killing monsters you'll have me, mo paul, to deal with! you won't get away with it. you want to play war president? grab a fucking rifle cowardly asshole! where were YOU in viet nam you crackhead?
the day the draft is launched, soon after your planned coup de tat election theft #2, your ass if finished! we will take to the streets to protect our sons and daughters from your draft plans. and if your own two daughters are not immediately drafted, we will kick your ass! if my fine son wants to go fight for you, he will, and i won't stop him. but if you FORCE him to go, you will see an uprising and a civil unrest like you never dreamed of sissyboy! fuck you and your draft plans asshole, it won't work. we won't allow it! we will see the white house BURNT DOWN before we let you and your insane war profiteers offer up our children to your god of war and profit! you lied to us all about iraq, and 9-11 and every other fucking thing and now you're lying about the draft. you send army recruiters right to my front door with little white envelopes and i REFUSE TO ANSWER! fuck your army recruiters! you want a fucking war? do it yourself fuckhead! leave my son OUT OF IT!

Now, I didn't edit any of that. That is all (mo) paul. And while I would never get between a dog and his bone, I do have a couple of thoughts (of course):

1) Chances of the Draft Resolution ever passing unless we got into a fight with say...China, are slim to none. The Draft bill that is in the House is HR 163 and it hasn't been touched in over a year. The Senate version (S.89) couldn't even get one co-sposor. Like I said, if we get into WWIII with another large nation (or bloc), we might have to bring back the draft. But we would probably do that anyway (unless of course we resorted to nukes, then all bets are off). Is our military streched thin? Absolutly. Are there still bad people who need killin'? Absolutly. But until the Sec. Def. says that we need a draft, I am not going to waste digital bits typing about it (any more than I have wasted here).

2) The US military is meeting nearly all of their recruiting and retention goals. There isn't the massive flood of military people leaving after their service is up. Could it be that maybe the soldiers on the ground there know a little more about what is happening than either you or I?

Our military has been a volunteer service for almost 3 decades and it is the best in the world. And just about everyone in Washington on both sides of the aisle aim to keep it that way. So take it easy there big guy. If we ever have to go back to a draft, then you will have plenty to be angry about. But it won't be Iraq that does it.

Hat Tip: Dizzy Girl

Damn You Discovery Channel

2004-04-27T07:26:00.000+02:00

You know what I hate? Crappy Reality TV shows on good networks. The Discovery Channel is great and has some of the best programming out there. And there have been some nights that it has bailed me out with some fricken awesome shows. However, they also have some really crappy shows on. One of them is called "Double Agents". At first I thought it was going to be a really cool spy show. As it turns out, it's just a family buying a house and two real estate agents show them homes. At the end, the family picks one. Wow. What drama.

Right now I am watching a show about building the "Ultimate Tree House". The problem is that the show has no likable characters and they focus almost no time on the actual design of the house. It's all "and in our next segment, tempers flare! Will they finish in time?....". Another show I can't stand is "Rally Round the House". And it's not because I am sick of all the interior design shows (which I am), but it is because everyone of the cast members are happy all the damn time. You just know that when they are off camera, they are chain smoking and drinking scotch out of a boot flask.

Discovery Channel has some awesome shows, but I think they just make all these reality shows as just filler so there isn't dead air (kind of like what ABC does with it's entire Tuesday night lineup).

Italy, please don't blink

2004-04-27T06:25:00.000+02:00

So the militant Islamic group Green Brigade has 3 Italian hostages and are threatening to execute them unless Italians take to the street to protest their government's involvement in the coalition. The death of another hostage, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, galvanized the Italian people behind their President (albeit for a short time).

I am curious to know whether the far left activist groups will try and have a rally this weekend in Milan or Rome. What would Berlusconi do? Refuse to let them protest? His own political support isn't all that strong as it is. But I think in the end, the people of Italy would react very negatively to a large and organized protest. They would view it as a capitulation to the terrorist's demands. And if any significant number of people in the protest we foreign nationals, I think that many in Italy would believe that these activists are just using this incident to push their own agendas instead of doing it for the presumed safety of the hostages.

I doubt that Berlusconi will blink on this one. If the 3 hostages are killed, there will be a temporary show of support for the government, and then anger that Italy is in Iraq at all. But the demand of the Green Brigade shows that these people are becoming more and more politically savvy as time goes on.

MedalGate

2004-04-26T23:35:00.000+02:00

"I threw those medals before I didn't throw them."

This is why I love watching politics. Or in this case it is the politics of self destruction.

But I don't think Kerry's problem is so much his casual acquaintance with the truth. It's that he isn't a likable guy. People are much more inclined to vote for a liar if he seems cool (think Clinton). All presidential candidates from the two major parties lie. It's how they got to be in that position to begin with.

Medalgate? It's not that big a deal in the entire scheme of the election. It isn't going to be the key thing that sinks his chance at being President. But it will show people that being nuanced isn't always a characteristic of intelligence.

"That depends on what your definition of 'throw' is."

He isn't helping himself.

Friday Conundrum

2004-04-23T19:31:00.000+02:00

PETA is against animal testing. What is their policy on pet food?

And you think our economy is bad...

2004-04-23T09:03:00.000+02:00

From Reuters:

Pair Auction Child on Internet for $1.18

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German woman and a male friend face prosecution for human trafficking after they put the woman's daughter up for auction on the Internet at a starting price of one euro ($1.18), authorities said on Wednesday.

A photograph of the 8-year-old child was posted by the man, from the Bavarian town of Traunstein, who later told police he had placed the offer to test the online auction system.

The senior state prosecutor investigating the case said both the man, 35, and mother, 41, faced charges of attempted child trafficking.

"Three people made offers for the child and the bidding price reached 25.50 euros before the item was removed after between three to four hours by the company's security," he said.

Like other countries in western Europe, Germany has seen a surge in human trafficking in recent years as well as a number of high-profile child pornography cases often connected with the Internet.

Baucus Ruckus

2004-04-23T08:42:00.000+02:00

Ok, so a Democratic Senator's wife gets into a brawl with another customer at a lawn 'n garden store and she gets charged with assault. Am I the only one cheering her on? No offense to Democrats, but when your wife is the only one willing to throw down and kick some ass, well, it kind of makes me think your entire party is a bunch of wussies.

Like Frat Boys Need Any More Excuses

2004-04-22T18:05:00.000+02:00

As it turns out, beer and wine may help prevent brest cancer. Great. I can see it now.

"Honest baby, drink it, it's good for your health."

"Really?"

"Yeah, baby. I read it on MSN. So drink this box of wine and I'll give you a free breast exam just to prove it to you."

Everyone Calm Down

2004-04-21T06:02:00.000+02:00

The market took a dive today on the assumption that interests rates will rise some time this year. While Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan did not say it directly, investors believe that the Fed will raise rates because of remarks Greenspan gave today on Capitol Hill.

The Dow was up 20 points before Greenspan's remarks and then dropped 40 points quickly after, ending the day down more than 120 by the market抯 close. Tomorrow will be even more telling for the markets when the Fed Chair will be before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. If he hints that interest rates will be raised this year, you may see another sell off in the markets as you will see profit taking and a consolidation of peoples' positions for a higher interest rate environment.

But before we decry higher interest rates and fear this will doom our growing economy, we must look at some important market factors. First of all is that we have had exceptionally low rates for an exceptionally long period of time. This is what helped fuel that massive increases in home ownership and home refinancing that we have seen in the last two years. It is also what has made home prices skyrocket and has made people jittery that we will see the housing bubble burst. A growing economy will still increase demand on housing, but at a slower rate than we have seen.

Secondly, with an increase in the prime rate, we will have finally gotten rid of the specter of deflation (a massive dive in prices卾ery bad stuff). Not that this has been on anyone抯 mind over the last few months, but it was a concern and we were able to avoid it. An increase in the prime rate will also have an impact of foreign investment that is currently sitting in foreign markets that have higher rates of return.

Thirdly, as the labor market increases there will be an increase of disposable income being put into the market from these new workers?paychecks. This increase of money tends to drive up the cost of goods (increased competition for goods raises the price of goods). An increase of the prime rate will make it more expensive for people to borrow money from the banks (higher interest rates on loans) and therefore helps to minimize the impact of inflation.

The Fed under Greenspan has a history of believing that inflation is the pariah of the economic universe. Greenspan believes that dealing with inflationary measures is one of the surest ways to keep an economy healthy. So if he believes that there is an inflationary pressure upward on the market, he will not hesitate to raise rates, even in an election year (which is why the Fed is largely separate from the politics of Washington).

Unlike the money makers on the Street and the economic pundits on tv, I take a different view. I can抰 wait for the interest rates to rise. Why? Because knowing Greenspan, he is only going to raise rates when he absolutely must. And that will mean that our labor market is such that there is going to be inflationary pressures. A quickly growing labor market means more people are going to work, paying taxes, and have money to spend. An increase in rates will push off the chance that the housing market will burst. And in increase in rates will make America a more attractive place to invest.

Not 5 years ago we had a prime rate of over 7% and today it is only 1%. This market and the American economy can handle a small increase this year. It will probably happen this summer. It gives Greenspan more jobs numbers to base internal inflationary pressure on the market unrelated to commodity prices outside of our control (oil and metals). The market will price in the increase in rates so while there may be a temporary sell off in the markets, it won抰 have all that much of an effect.

End of the year prediction? Dow 11,400.

Kerry Needs a nickle

2004-04-20T07:49:00.000+02:00

And could only hope for a dime...

The next 10 days will be very telling for the Kerry campaign. If the Democratic nominee can not steal up at least 5 points in the polls against Bush, then he is going to have a nearly impossible task of defeating Bush in November. This next week and a half will show whether or not the Kerry camp can put together a definitive set of policies that will give the American people a definitive and distinct choice in November. If he can not deliver this by May, he can look forward to returning to being the junior Senator from Massachusetts.

The next week or so will be telling. Things have not been going well for Bush. The situation in Iraq has deteriorated. And while it is not the quagmire?that Vietnam was, it is not the smiling people welcoming us as liberators?as Cheney and Rumsfeld were hoping for (and promised a tenative American public). This does not bode well for Bush. But what does Kerry say his plan would be? Internationalize? Bring in the U.N.? This is a weak micro-political answer to a complex macro-political question: How does a democratic Iraq benefit the national security of the US? Kerry is looking for the fastest way out that permits a mediocre result.

Another blow to the Bush Administration will be the new Woodward book. This book will bring light to some of the darker rumors heard around Washington and given Woodward's credibility, it will put the Bush re-election campaign into a position where it does not want to burn political capital and valuable free media time trying explain away things from a novel. But how will Kerry respond? He can't really attack Bush on parts of Woodward's book that are attributed to 搃nside sources? Democrats tried this on Robert Novak after the Plame kerfuffle, and it didn't have the desired effect.

A third factor has been the report that the Saudi government will try to increase production in order to lower the price of gas in time for the election. This would most certainly help the incumbent in an election year and would help alleviate the strain on the growing US economy and the American voter. But what is Kerry willing to do? Is he willing to ride a wave of anti-Saudi animosity found in many Americans? How would he reconcile that with having to deal with a Saudi royal house that would get booted out of control if there was ever a democratic election (in the place of far more extreme elements in control of the world's largest oil reserves)?

Kerry may get lucky to open up a five point lead on Bush at the end of the next 10 days, but he better hope for 10 points. His positions do not outline him as a clear alternative (even though the RNC claims it does, much to their own glee). It outlines him as an alternative on paper only. And when it comes down to it, voters will not change presidents when there is only a marginal difference between the candidates. In these times, voters are looking for stability (both economic and political).

Kerry thus far has not been able to describe to the American people how he would be different in such a way to warrant a massive swing in public opinion. If he can not demonstrate to the American public how can bring them both hope and security, and can stop the bloodshed in Iraq, he will find it hard to describe why a majority of Americans should vote for him. And he will only have himself to blame.

Death Toll Hits 700

2004-04-19T07:29:00.000+02:00

This is the April 6th Blog entry from Bill over at EjectEjectEject! that I though I would share. In the midst of the grim news coming out of Iraq, I found it to calm me. Enjoy.

These have been tough days for our countrymen in Iraq. They may yet get tougher. But it will do us all some good to take a deep breath, and look at what some of our ancestors had to face in similar dark moments.

The killings in Fallujah of four civilian aid workers, and the subsequent mutilation of their bodies by cheering thugs and bloody-handed children filled me with rage and an overwhelming desire to turn my back on these savages and leave them to their own murderous history. Many of those people deserve nothing better. And I am bitterly disappointed that, having failed to overthrow their own murdering tyrant, the wider population of Iraqis has failed to rise to the occasion when their freedom was paid for them with the blood of our own sons and daughters.

This, of course, is exactly, precisely the reaction those murdering bastards were counting on, and I mean to do what I can to see that they do not get rewarded for their actions. They had assumed that if enough Americans could be killed, we would turn tail and run. This is not an unreasonable strategy on their part; we have trained these monsters to believe this about us in Beirut and Somalia, and the price we paid for minimizing pain then is coming due now, and will continue to come due until we can install some new programming into the surviving savages that commit these crimes.

Failing to achieve this result with sheer numbers, they have decided to multiply our disgust with their primal bloodlust and celebratory orgies -- and as a knee-jerk reaction to this atrocity, I must say it does have a power all its own.

The Ba抋thists in Fallujah are counting on us to do one of two things: throw up our hands in disgust and walk away, in which case they win; or retaliate so brutally and indiscriminately that the general population of Iraqis tilts away from reform and back into the hands of their sadistic former masters ?in which case, they win again. This siding with their prior torturers, of course, is an emotional and childish response, but I do not yet behold vast oceans of clear, unemotional, rational thought among natives of the Middle East.

So now, we ?you and I -- will have to supply enough of that for both our countries.

Fallujah is a bunker; they have a bunker mentality, and like all last stands of doomed ideologies they intend to go out in a blaze of glory. Against these animals we have sent Marines armed with Frisbees for native children, and donated medical and firefighting gear to show friendship and good will to communities that commit these kinds of atrocities. That is an appropriate first gesture, and a reflection of the essential goodness and generosity of the American character.

(Note to The Left: When these things happen, Real Nazis shoot hostages. Thousands of them. Every time you use that word to describe this country you spit in the face of those terrified, untold millions who died in a ditch with hands bound behind their back.)

But let us remember the motto of the Marines is 搕here is no better friend and no worse enemy than the U.S. Marine Corps.?Having tried the better friend approach, many in Fallujah may now, through their own brutal and sadistic choice, experience the alternative. Perhaps they will chose differently the next time they face such an option. For many of those that committed this act, their opportunities to chose anything have ended, today. Bury them with Uday and Qusay.

We have seen Fallujah before: this dying gasp of the last holdouts of a sadistic regime, enemies to their own people, has played out in Berlin in recent memory and all throughout history.

Of far more consequence is the nation-wide revolt currently underway among Shiites loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. Al Sadr, we may remember, is widely credited with ordering the stabbing assassination of his fellow cleric at the door to Iraq抯 holiest site. His 揳rmy?is an army in the same way that the Crips were an 揳rmy?in Los Angeles. They are thugs. They now face a real army, and I predict it will not be at all to their liking.

But the fact remains that we have lost a lot of good men these past few days, and there is a natural inclination to see failure and hopelessness in this huge task we have set ourselves to.

So keep this in mind:

In late 1864, after horrendous casualties, the Union was bogged down in the trenches surrounding Richmond and had chased the western Rebels into the fastness of Atlanta ?and seemed not a day closer to victory than they had at Gettysburg, an unimaginably bloody year before.

Then, as now, the newspapers were ablaze with lurid headlines of the failure of the war, and then, as now, a Democrat was running on a peace now platform. He too was a former soldier who claimed to want to protect the troops by bringing them home from a fight they should never have been in in the first place.

Things looked so bleak for the Republican president that he had his entire cabinet sign the back of an unopened letter; he claimed that since he, Lincoln, seemed certain to lose the election in November he would have only until March to finish the war and needed the blind support of the men who surrounded him.

How bleak must that have been for the millions of Americans who had supported the war against slavery for three years of meat-grinder horror? How dark must their night have been, after all that blood and treasure, to think that the South would be able to walk away and gain through the Union ballot box what they had failed to win on so many blood-soaked fields? What kind of fear was that?

Or what about the home front in 1944? The invasion, though brutal on the beaches, had gone very well. The Americans, British and Canadians had broken through the hedgerows of Normandy, and Patton was covering almost a hundred miles a day as he thrust the dagger of his Third Army into the heart of the German western front. The war in Europe, surely, might be over in a few weeks.

What then of the shock and fear when news came of unlimited Panzer divisions pouring through the Ardennes? We lost more Americans in the Battle of the Bulge than at any other time in the European theater? How sat our parents and grandparents in December of 1944, huddled around the radio, listening to news of mass American surrenders and unstoppable Nazi spearheads? How did they persevere?

What we face, today, in Iraq is trivial compared to these moments, and I no longer believe that our American fathers and great-great-great grandfathers were made of better stuff than we are. They, too had their defeatists and appeasers and critics and naysayers; they too had to face the darkness of the unknown now, before history could light these moments as the darkness before the dawn of victory.

The indispensable Steven Den Beste today writes that these insurgents in action today across Iraq have made a monumental error; and I will not presume to repeat his argument because I could never improve upon it. But against these darkness-before-the-dawn moments of 1864 and 1944, we can behold a darker shadow; that of Tet, 1968. There, the North Vietnamese gambled on what turned into a massive battlefield defeat, a disaster of the first order. But we 杦e, ourselves ?decided to run from that fight. And now we may behold the consequences.

There were many people who, in good conscience, were against our presence in Vietnam. Many today feel the same about Iraq. But the fact remains for both groups: this argument is good and necessary before we go to war; once there, they enemies of America have one way and one way only to defeat this nation, and that is from within. They are counting on Janeane Garofolo and Kos and Michael Moore and Sarandon and Franken and Rather. The bodies on the Fallujah bridge are for them. And, sadly, it seems they know their audience.

But if our enemies can learn from Vietnam and Beirut and Mogadishu?so can we.

Chin up! These car-bombing cowards who hide behind women and children have made a monumental miscalculation. Believe it. Go read this and this.

Then be silent and introspective, for today our men and women are dying for the one idea worth dying for. And take from their sacrifice not defeat and sadness, but a solemn and sacred appreciation that three or four nations throughout an entire world that quivers in fear of these savages has the guts and the courage and the will to finish this job and bring freedom and security to a people that may not yet have earned it.

Remember: we fight this 12th century Death Cult in Iraq or we fight them in New York. We chose. We will soon enough see if the Iraqis have earned the freedom Americans are dying to protect tonight.

That is irrelevant. We fight for our freedom. We have earned it.

[Ed. Note: Posted with permission]

Bush needs British Accent

2004-04-16T20:16:00.000+02:00

People talk about how W. isn't all that articulate. That doesn't bother me. I just think he needs to get a British accent.

He and Blair say almost the exact same thing, but it always sounds better coming out of Blair's mouth.

Dripping with glazed irony

2004-04-16T18:16:00.000+02:00

Sometimes the jokes just sort of write themselves.