Roosh Five

Look for me here...

2008-09-02T11:58:00.004-05:00

"That's all I have to say about that."

2008-07-14T05:50:00.003-05:00

Recently, I attended a talk given by one of the legends of my company's leadership team. Soon to retire, he gave us his reflections on thirty two years of honorable service to our company, our clients, and in no small part to our industry.

The last of a handful of meaningful observational bullet points was "Don't Worry-be Happy," and he quoted a well-known excerpt from the lesser-known piece below, which I found and wanted to share; you'll find it below.

His talk was particularly timely for me as I have been reviewing and assessing my goals of late, counting my blessings and taking stock of where I spend my time, which is increasingly at a premium as for example Number One is now a teenager and his sisters aren't far behind.

A rough sketch of my "Vertical Alignment" can be found in the subtitle to my Blog. Save God, it's all there, and pretty much in order.

...but something has to go. And for some time now, I've had a pretty good idea what.

Blogging is a lot more time consuming than it looks. And ask any blogger who is committed to regular writing, it is also quite addicting. As much as I have enjoyed the creative process, the comments and debate, I have a finite amount of time and focus and I have decided to allocate both elsewhere for the foreseeable future.

I will pop up here and there as a contributor or commenter on my favorite blogs and some day I hope to attempt a couple other forms of creative writing on my life list. Maybe even a more focussed blog some day.

I want to especially thank Smithers and Aaron for inspiring me to start my own blog and also recognize the many bloggers, listed below and to the right, who are elevating the media form as legitimate journalism; a source of news, entertainment, perspective and unfiltered opinion.

Blogging and eBay are to date, the best examples of how the internet has removed almost all friction from commerce and the flow of information. Blogs are the modern day pamphlets, not unlike the ones Benjamin Franklin distributed under his various noms de plum in the formative years of our nation.

I feel like the lead character in my favorite film, Forest Gump: for three years he runs coast to coast several times and then out of nowhere, decides to go home. My problem is like his. I can't tinker with anything. I'm either all in or all out. It's also probably why I can't watch the Vikings since 1998 any more.

After a year and a half, almost a thousand posts, 18,000 visitors (most of which looking for pictures of the tooth fairy), and $3.23 in Adsense revenue it's time for something different.

Thank you for challenging my beliefs and opening my mind with your comments and feedback.

Thank you for reading my blog.

***UPDATE***

THE STATION

By Robert J. Hastings

TUCKED AWAY in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves on a long journey that spans an entire continent. We're traveling by train and, from the windows, we drink in the passing scenes of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at crossings, of cattle grazing in distant pastures, of smoke pouring from power plants, of row upon row upon row of cotton and corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of city skylines and village halls.

But uppermost in our conscious minds is our final destination--for at a certain hour and on a given day, our train will finally pull into the Station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands playing. And once that day comes, so many wonderful dreams will come true. So restlessly, we pace the aisles and count the miles, peering ahead, waiting, waiting, waiting for the Station.

"Yes, when we reach the Station, that will be it!" we promise ourselves. "When we're eighteen. . . Win that promotion. . . Put the last kid through college. . . Buy that 450SL Mercedes-Benz. . . Have a nest egg for retirement!"

From that day on we will all live happily ever after.

Sooner or later, however, we must realize there is no Station in this life, no one earthly place to arrive at once and for all. The journey is the joy. The Station is an illusion--it constantly out distances us. Yesterday's a memory, tomorrow's a dream. Yesterday belongs to a history, tomorrow belongs to God. Yesterday's a fading sunset, tomorrow's a faint sunrise. Only today is there light enough to love and live.

So, gently close the door on yesterday and throw the key away. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad, but rather regret over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today.

"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, swim more rivers, climb more mountains, kiss more babies, count more stars. Laugh more and cry less. Go barefoot oftener. Eat more ice cream. Ride more merry-go-rounds. Watch more sunsets. Life must be lived as we go along. The Station will come soon enough.

Definitely, Maybe

2008-07-13T16:00:00.000-05:00

...for sure.

Despite a preponderance of B and C-List actors (Ryan Reynolds, Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher, and Rachel Weisz), Definitely, Maybe was surprisingly good. In fact, this could be a break for Reynolds who I had previously never seen in a leading role.

It is the story of a soon-to-be divorced father, telling the story of how he met his daughter's mother. The twist is that he decides to throw in a couple past romances, changing the names and details as he sees fit, to see if his precocious daughter played convincingly by Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), can figure out (along with the viewer) who her mother is, how they met, and ostensibly who he will ultimately end up with after the divorce.

Mrs. Roosh was thrown off track but I knew from almost the beginning who "Mom" was and with whom he ends up with, but I was pleasantly surprised by the story and it's execution.

A rewarding date night flick.

State of the Race

2008-07-13T06:15:00.000-05:00

Slate

Media Bias Uncovered

2008-07-13T05:20:00.000-05:00

Take a look at the picture featured along with the Strib's Ventura is saving any news for TV

So, does the Strib endorse Jesse openly too?

In the meantime, here are some of the more recent photos of our former Governor from which, one must wonder, why weren't any of these selected as a representative photo?

And the media turns to look the other way

2008-07-12T10:12:00.002-05:00

Pick a Color, Any Color

2008-07-12T05:57:00.000-05:00

Very cool. Click on a color or three and Multicolr Search Lab pores over three million interesting Flickr pics and sorts them by the color(s) you select.

HT Number One

2009 Acura TL In the Open

2008-07-11T08:09:00.001-05:00

Autoblog

Wind Specialist: Licensed in all Fifty Seven States

2008-07-11T05:06:00.001-05:00

Anyone else catch the irony of a air-movement specialist working on an Obama campaign peice?

Will Obama Inherit Two Three Wars?

2008-07-10T05:55:00.001-05:00

One has to wonder, given recent history, what Iran's President Ahmadinejad is thinking. Why openly threaten Israel? Why goad the US in doing so? Does he think that we are spent on Iraq? Does he expect a potential Obama presidency to be that impotent?

Meanwhile, plans to attack Iran may already be in place and the potential of an Obama presidency may be fastracking Israel's execution, inexorably drawing the US into another conflict. Which begs the question, if polls show Obama's chances of gaining the White House increasingly likely, will Israel expedite their plans? Will an Obama administration be ready to inherit two wars?

Will Israel Strike Iran

In a recent piece for the Washington Post, Israeli commentator Yossi Melman writes: “No decision to attack Iran has been made in Israel” and it is “a matter of at least one year” before any decision will be made.

Melman’s words seem enough to convince the editorial staffs of publications like the Post and the Nation. But sources inside the U.S. intelligence and Defense communities are telling us, there is an increasing “probability” that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) will soon strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

One intelligence community source tells us, “The campaign will last more than a few days, perhaps up to a week or more.” And it looks as if the operational green-light will be given at some point within the next few months before any window of opportunity closes that would prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon

We know Ahmadinejad frequently threatens to "wipe Israel off the map,"

“The Israelis know that politically they have to do it this year, because they and we don’t know who is going to be the U.S. president next year. They also know this thing has to be done as a regime change. If they want this to be successful -- and they do -- they can’t just go in and only take out the nuke sites.”

The stakes for Israel go beyond any operational success or failure; for as IAF Col. Ziv Levy told Bob Simon in a 60 Minutes interview earlier this year, Israel cannot lose: “The first war we lose, Israel will cease to exist.”

HT Chris F

Oh No Bama!

2008-07-09T13:55:00.001-05:00

HT KAR

Its about time...

2008-07-09T06:41:00.000-05:00

John McCain is stepping up to the plate - I think this is an effective message. What do you think?

HT Althouse

Fool Me Once

2008-07-08T13:23:00.000-05:00

HT N.A.W.

Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul

2008-07-08T06:03:00.002-05:00

Wild at Heart is easily read and well-written and "invites men to recover their masculine heart".

"What is a Christian man? Without listening to what is being said, look at what you find there. Most Christian men are...bored."

Men were meant to be men, men that seek adventure, victory, risk, and beauty; that is how God designed us.

"Let people feel the weight of who you are...and let them deal with it"

"The problem with men, we are told, is that they don't know how to keep their promises, be spiritual leaders, talk to their wives, or raise their children. But if they try really hard, they can reach to lofty summit of becoming...a nice guy. That's what we hold up as models of Christian maturity: Really Nice Guys."

"(Author John) Eldridge believes this dedication to niceness is the reason there are so many tired and lonely women, so many fatherless children, and so few men around.

As C.S. Lewis said, 'We castrate the gelding and bid him be fruitful.'"

A favorite quote from the book:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Future Weenie Car

2008-07-07T06:35:00.000-05:00

The 2010 Toyota Prius, while still looking like a weenie car, looks to be improved somewhat for 2010, in this rendering from Car and Driver.

Are you watching this?

2008-07-06T14:49:00.003-05:00

Federer v Nadal

Best Tennis Ever

Longest Wimbledon Final Match Ever

Chrysler Miniman to have Blindspot Monitoring System

2008-07-06T06:31:00.001-05:00

First of all: zzz

Thankfully for Chrysler Clown & Frumpy Miniman owners, this new system does not have the ability (the blindspot system actually uses radar) the range or resolution to actually see behind the vehicle where one would otherwise observe neighbors and friends pointing and laughing.

"Hey look at the dork in the ugly Miniman!"

Just when Miniman sales have mercifully started to decline, Chrysler decides to hasten the process with the squarest (I am speaking socially and spatially) Miniman ever.

Autoblog

The Politics of Change My Mind

2008-07-05T06:24:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama is no different than any other stereotypical politician, he just wants the less informed to think so.

The "Flip Flop" accusations are already in play on the part of the McCain campaign. True as that charge may be, I wonder if it has lost it's imputation.

One thing is for sure, Obama will do or say anything to get into office, a trait that McCain, thus far has not exhibited.

A Man of Seasonal Principles

You'll notice Barack Obama is now wearing a flag pin. Again. During the primary campaign, he refused to, explaining that he'd worn one after Sept. 11 but then stopped because it "became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism." So why is he back to sporting pseudo-patriotism on his chest? Need you ask? The primaries are over. While seducing the hard-core MoveOn Democrats that delivered him the caucuses -- hence, the Democratic nomination -- Obama not only disdained the pin. He disparaged it. Now that he's running in a general election against John McCain, and in dire need of the gun-and-God-clinging working-class votes he could not win against Hillary Clinton, the pin is back. His country 'tis of thee.

In last week's column, I thought I had thoroughly chronicled Obama's brazen reversals of position and abandonment of principles -- on public financing of campaigns, on NAFTA, on telecom immunity for post-Sept. 11 wiretaps, on unconditional talks with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- as he moved to the center for the general election campaign. I misjudged him.

He was just getting started.

Two weeks ago, I predicted that by Election Day Obama will have erased all meaningful differences with McCain on withdrawal from Iraq. I underestimated Obama's cynicism. He will make the move much sooner. He will use his upcoming Iraq trip to finally acknowledge the remarkable improvements on the ground and to formally abandon his primary season commitment to a fixed 16-month timetable for removal of all combat troops.

While this very well may end up being true, I can't imagine Obama's minions being pleased. Will this hurt Obama? Does this shift reflect his true feelings or in a twisted way his desire to actually be honest...to not write checks he won't be able to cash if elected President?

As Obama assiduously obliterates all differences with McCain on national security and social issues, he remains rightly confident that Bush fatigue, the lousy economy and his own charisma -- he is easily the most dazzling political personality since John Kennedy -- will carry him to the White House.

Sidebar: I read this to mean McCain needs Pawlenty, and fast.

Of course, once he gets there he will have to figure out what he really believes. The conventional liberal/populist stuff he campaigned on during the primaries? Or the reversals he is so artfully offering up now?

I have no idea. Do you? Does he?

HT Chris F

A Brilliant Display of Counter Terrorism

2008-07-04T12:30:00.000-05:00

From my friend Chris F.:

"In a brilliant display of counter terrorism, Columbia counter terrorism officers infiltrated FARC and have freed the Columbian hostages making them (pro Obama people, btw) look like fools. Ronald Reagan gets elected, Iranian hostages are freed. John McCain shows up in Bogota this week, and the FARC show their true colors and hand over the hostages. Columbian President Santos is an unabashed McCain fan. Obama dissed this guy with his anti free trade talk along with the Pelosicrats. Read this and ask yourself who you want the next president to be as far as a freer and more secure western hemisphere is concerned"

Betancourt, U.S. contractors rescued from FARC

U2 - City Of Blinding Lights

2008-07-04T06:54:00.000-05:00

Starbucks: Venti to Grande

2008-07-03T12:46:00.002-05:00

Slate

State of The Race

2008-07-03T06:07:00.001-05:00

Give me an "ology"...any "ology" will do.

2008-07-02T05:16:00.007-05:00

Yesterday morning I heard a desperate plea from a scientifically- challenged bird dude (Ornithologist, I presume) who was conveying the plight of our soon to be extinct little tuxedo-wearing friends to the far North and South. The cause? Of course, as usual, the always within reach catch-all: Man-Made Global Warming/Cooling/Change.

Bird dude: The earth is cooling now. We might be killing the penguin but not by warming the planet. It's probably those plastic six-pack deals we always see pictures of around some bird's neck. I guess any "ology" will do these days. Ornithology qualifies one for Climatology.

Penguin population decline sets off alarm bells

Scientists led by Dee Boersma, a UW biology professor and penguin expert has found that, while climate change is an important factor in the decline in numbers of penguin species, loss of habitat through coastal development, pollution and depletion of fisheries are also reasons for the dramatic fall.

That's right! Just throw "climate change" in their for good measure. Hysteria is a requisite ingredient of any "news" story of late.

A reader of the WSJ writes:

"I think the global-warming delusion is definitely to be considered in any attempt at epistemology. If this kind of mass delusion can happen, it suggests that a lot of other things we think we know may be confused as well."

-- Eric Baum, responding to "Global Warming as Mass Neurosis."

Hey! Another "ology". For you etymologists, epistemology, otherwise known as the theory of knowledge...

"is a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. The term was introduced into English by the Scottish philosopher James Frederick Ferrier (1808-1864).

Much of the debate in this field has focused on analyzing the nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth, belief, and justification."

It would appear that the word epistimology can be smartly introduced into any discussion of Man-Made Global Warming/Cooling/Change.

"Truth, belief and justification."

Reverse those three words and you have the chronology (another great "ology") of the MMGW movement.

Excerpts from the article, Global Warming as Mass Neurosis

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the mass hysteria phenomenon known as global warming. Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it's time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in.

What, discredited? Thousands of scientists insist otherwise, none more noisily than NASA's Jim Hansen, who first banged the gong with his June 23, 1988, congressional testimony (delivered with all the modesty of "99% confidence").

But mother nature has opinions of her own. NASA now begrudgingly confirms that the hottest year on record in the continental 48 was not 1998, as previously believed, but 1934, and that six of the 10 hottest years since 1880 antedate 1954. Data from 3,000 scientific robots in the world's oceans show there has been slight cooling in the past five years, never mind that "80% to 90% of global warming involves heating up ocean waters," according to a report by NPR's Richard Harris.

The Arctic ice cap may be thinning, but the extent of Antarctic sea ice has been expanding for years.

If even slight global cooling remains evidence of global warming, what isn't evidence of global warming? What we have here is a nonfalsifiable hypothesis, logically indistinguishable from claims for the existence of God. This doesn't mean God doesn't exist, or that global warming isn't happening. It does mean it isn't science.

Boston: Revere Beach

2008-07-01T17:52:00.000-05:00

Boston: Harvard University

2008-07-01T12:47:00.000-05:00

Boston: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2008-06-30T20:42:00.003-05:00

Boston: Cheers

2008-06-29T19:19:00.001-05:00

...they didn't know our name. We asked.

Boston: The Freedom Trail

2008-06-29T15:14:00.003-05:00

State of the Race

2008-06-29T05:39:00.000-05:00

Slate

A Quick Survey of the Boston Area

2008-06-28T18:51:00.004-05:00

Number One Earns His Wings

2008-06-28T08:05:00.001-05:00

Number One Earns His Wings, originally uploaded by jroosh.

The Bucket List

2008-06-28T07:21:00.001-05:00

The Bucket List, not unlike Wild Hogs, is not a complicated movie with multiple subplots, high suspense or significant character development. Hogs, the story of four mid lifers having a last hurrah before going over the hill had huge comedic potential but failed to capitalize first because it wasn't funny and second because it didn't balance the slapstick with a little drama to round out the plot.

The Bucket List made me think of Hogs because it also has great plot potential and it also tells the story of a couple men dealing with a reality of life - death. Produced by Rob Reiner, the film never makes you "laugh until you cry" (which is on The List by the way) but it draws you in, is filled with amazing scenery, and ends before you want it to. Hogs was embarrassingly bad. Bucket is a solid movie.

...and it's almost a message film...it makes you want to make your "Bucket List" now.

Morgan Freeman is as good as ever but Jack Nicholson earns his keep as his true acting prowess is exhibited in his monologue near the end of the movie. I will see this one again.

Cheers!

2008-06-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

Number One Age 6 1/2

Number One becomes a teenager on Monday. He and I on our way to Boston to celebrate.

Stay tuned for pics.

We will be visiting...

MIT

Harvard University
The Freedom Trail
The USS Constitution
Boston Science Museum
Cheers
Quincy Market
Harvard Square

Head Automatica - Brooklyn is Burning

2008-06-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

Five American Cars that Don't Suck

2008-06-27T05:49:00.001-05:00

Car and Driver lists the The Best Reasons to Buy American.

...and I'm sure you are dying to know what I think.

2008 Chevrolet Malibu

I must admit while this car is probably not a fit for me, the design is a breakthrough especially for a Chevy. It is a particularly rich-looking car for the money.

2008 Cadillac CTS

This one's a no-brainer. Cadillac has finally got it's (stuff) together and save putting extra chrome and wood on a Suburban and calling it an Escalade and charging another thirty grand, Cadillac is producing some fine automobiles and the CTS may be the best Cadillac ever.

2009 Ford Flex

I'm not buying this and I'm not buying this as a breakthrough car. It's a square minivan - or a larger Scion (Toyota) xB. You all know what I think of minivans - and I really don't think they need to be reinvented. Chrysler already makes a square minivan. No thanks.

2008 Chevrolet Corvette

Corvettes, at least the last couple of series, have offered some of the best horsepower per dollar ratios in the automotive world and GM has been smart to let Chevrolet keep the faith. Corvettes are fast enough to blow the doors of most anything else save the ultra-exotics and are now comfortable and durable enough to be a daily driver - although maybe not in Minnesota.

2009 Dodge Challenger

While the Challenger is cute, and certainly true to the design of the original, putting a big V8 in front driving the rear wheels of a large coupe isn't exactly ground-breaking. Most of these cars, and there probably won't be a lot of them on the road, will be the V6 variants anyway. Plus - it's been done already. It's called the Ford Mustang.

Madonna Endorses John McCain

2008-06-26T20:23:00.003-05:00

Okay maybe not so much. Cute nonetheless.

HT Althouse

Basic Market Forces Confound and Confuse The Distinguished Senator from Illinois

2008-06-26T06:15:00.003-05:00

Senator Obama is exhibiting ignorance at a pace that is faster than I can type.

From the NY Times:

Senator Barack Obama took a poke at his Republican opponent on Tuesday, saying that for Senator John McCain to talk of a "psychological benefit" from expanded offshore drilling is to define that policy as a gimmick.

Mr. Obama was responding to remarks that Mr. McCain made on Monday in Fresno, Calif., when he observed that even though the nation might take years to benefit from offshore drilling, "exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial.

Mr. Obama seized on those comments while speaking at a town hall-style meeting here.

" 'Psychological impact'?" Mr. Obama said. "In case you're wondering, that's Washington-speak for 'It polls well.' "

The Wall Street Journal responds:

Ignorance We Can Believe In

The "psychological impact" to which McCain refers is quite simple: The expectation of greater oil supplies in the future would make it more attractive to sell oil now, when supplies are restricted and prices are high, thereby bringing prices down in the short term.

Is Obama really too ignorant to grasp this, or does he just think voters are?

Methinks both.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Senator Barack Obama! The man that wants to lead our nation; restore our economy!

Why is the price of Oil so high? Speculation? Not so much. Weak dollar? Getting warmer. Supply and demand? Warmer Still. The anticipation of static supply and high demand? Bingo!

Economics 101, Obammy.

Obama Proposes the Use of Force In Detroit; McCain Favors Diplomacy

2008-06-25T06:18:00.002-05:00

Obama criticizes McCain's $300m battery prize

As expected, presidential hopeful John McCain outlined a plan yesterday which would offer a $300 million cash prize to the first company able to build a better automotive battery. The proposal is part of an effort to reduce the nation's petroleum usage, in this case, by furthering the development of electric cars. In what would must be the least shocking news of the day, McCain's rival for the White House, Barack Obama, isn't in favor of the Arizona Senator's plan, calling it a "gimmick" and suggesting that his plan to force automakers into a 50 mile per gallon fleet average by 2027 would be more effective.

Obama, you are an idiot. I have regressed to name calling because only an idiot would use the word "force" in America. You will be to the economy as the Iceberg was to the Titanic.

If people want 50 MPG cars, they will buy them and the automakers will rise to the occasion. That's how capitalism works. That's how America works.

If gas prices stay high, which most believe is likely, automakers will soon be fighting over the bragging rights for the highest MPG car in America. The Horsepower war will give way to Thrift.

True to form, Obama, as the typical liberal politician (Change? None.) can't come up with his own idea, so all he can do is criticize the Republican's idea. Wow. What a breakthrough. You would have been better off just keeping your mouth shut until some staffer, smarter than you, came up with "your" own plan.

In the mean time, all major automakers have suspended or reduced production of full-sized SUV's and at the same time are scrambling to offer hybrids, diesels and otherwise more fuel efficient cars.

Toyota can't make enough Hybrids to keep up. Even lowly used Chevy Aveo's, a joke of a car, but also a high-MPG car, have gone up in price and are now hard to find.

Who forced all that?

Obama, you are a liberal hack that knows nothing of our economy or how it works, especially how it works for the people that you supposedly count among your constituents.

While McCain's idea may be a hokey, at least he knows that the best way to get what you want isn't to force it. It is to incent it. His idea will create momentum and innovation while yours will create division, layoffs and legislative gridlock.

The Case for Government Healthcare

2008-06-24T06:16:00.000-05:00

...is getting weaker and weaker.

Thousands of hospitals, nursing homes and other Medicare providers owe the federal government more than $2 billion in payroll and other taxes.

In some cases, they used the money to buy luxury cars and million-dollar homes.

So to recap, a seperate agency of the federal government is required to inform us that Medicare isn't managing it's accounts payable.

Fast forward to the "Progressive" future where this same level of ~~corruption~~ incompetence is enlisted to manage a national healthcare system.

A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined 436,000 Medicare providers who received government payments in 2006. It found that more than 27,000, or about 6 percent, owed taxes.

Nearly half of those taxes -- $896 million -- was money withheld from employees' paychecks for Social Security and Medicare programs. Instead of paying those taxes to the government, the owners of hospitals and nursing homes diverted the money into personal accounts, the GAO said."Medicare is a health care program that is designed to serve our nation's seniors, yet this investigation reveals that at all levels -- from hospitals to nursing homes to doctors -- some health care providers are subverting the tax system to line their pockets," said Sen. Norm Coleman R-Minn.,

(Norm!)

Medicare providers keeping billions of taxes for themselves

related posts:

Universal Healthcare: A Bad Idea Whose Time has Come

180 Degrees on Universal Healthcare

Give us your tired, your poor, your can't find a doctor because your healthcare system is falling apart...

The Syndicate

Ugh at First Sight

2008-06-23T05:16:00.000-05:00

...and then it sort of grows on you. The wierd, overstyled headlights are different for the sake of being different but not enough to spoil what is otherwise a fresh and powerful design.

2009 Nissan Maxima

Still displacing 3.5-liters, the engine is now rated at 290 horsepower and 261 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower is up 35 over the last model, while torque increases 9 lb-ft. Even with the boost in power, Nissan is claiming fuel economy of 19 mpg in the city. On the highway, the new sedan is rated at 26 mpg (1 mpg better than before).

Autoblog

The End of the World As We Know It

2008-06-22T05:34:00.000-05:00

Listen up. This guys got a trophy too, just like Algore. The Nobel Prize for economics.

I've been posting about how raising taxes simply to spend the revenue will negatively impact all of us directly or indirectly but here's a guy a lot smarter than me, certainly a lot smarter than any Democrat politician (regarding the economy at least) who says Obama's pledge to turn back the Bush tax cuts will have a much greater impact than anyone realizes.

Democratic nominee Barack Obama regularly professes disdain for the Bush tax cuts, suggesting that those growth-spurring measures may be scrapped. "If that happens," Mr. Mundell predicts, "the U.S. will go into a big recession, a nosedive."

"This would be devastating to the world economy, to the United States, and it would be, I think, political suicide" in a general election.

"the most important thing that could be done with respect to tax rates now is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Eliminating that uncertainty would be more important than pushing for a further cut – in the income tax rates, anyway."

Robert Mundell An Economist Who Matters

Our Education System is Underfunded

2008-06-21T06:45:00.000-05:00

That's what your teacher's union, the largest lobby in the state of Minnesota, keeps feeding us.

You don't need to question the way they conduct the education of your children...they know what they are doing...don't need parental/taxpayer input - just shut up and give them more money.

...and it will never be enough.

I agree that teachers are underpaid, but we keep increasing funding to education, fully half the state's budget, and teachers make about the same they have always made.

The union doesn't want to pay teachers more money. They just want more teachers. Why? To gain more revenue and political power via membership - er - I mean to decrease class sizes.

But the myth of small classes mean better students has been busted.

...and the results? Teachers aren't doing a bad job. They are doing the same job as they have always done in Minnesota...but with a lot more of our money.

And then you read this:

Amazing Teacher Facts

This month 3,700 recent college grads will begin Teach for America's five-week boot camp, before heading off for two-year stints at the nation's worst public schools. These young men and women were chosen from almost 25,000 applicants, hailing from our most selective colleges. Eleven per cent of Yale's senior class, 9% of Harvard's and 10% of Georgetown's applied for a job whose salary ranges from $25,000 (in rural South Dakota) to $44,000 (in New York City).

It seems that Teach for America offers smart young people something even better than money – the chance to avoid the vast education bureaucracy. Participants need only pass academic muster and attend the summer training before entering a classroom. If they took the traditional route into teaching, they would have to endure years of "education" courses to be certified.

"On average, high school students taught by TFA corps members performed significantly better on state-required end-of-course exams, especially in math and science, than peers taught by far more experienced instructors. The TFA teachers' effect on student achievement in core classroom subjects was nearly three times the effect of teachers with three or more years of experience."

But what of tenure? What of "certification" by the Union?

What allows this "experiment" to succeed while our current system fails to deliver improvement commensurate with ever-increasing levels of funding?

I will tell you. One system has a real system of accountability. The other, does not. Guess which is which.

"We have always been a data-driven organization," says spokesman Amy Rabinowitz. "We have a selection model we've refined over the years." The organization figures out which teachers have been most successful in improving student performance and then seeks applicants with similar qualities. "It's mostly a record of high academic achievement and leadership in extracurricular activities."

Sounds like the way the private sector hires. Don't tell the teachers unions.

Coldplay - Violet Hill on Jimmy Kimmel Live

2008-06-20T12:21:00.000-05:00

Drill Drill Drill

2008-06-20T11:38:00.000-05:00

That's what Bill Richardson says is President Bushs' answer to our energy crisis.

"You know this president, all he wants to do is drill, drill, drill. There is very little on conservation, on fuel efficiency for vehicles. Just last week the Congress failed to pass a solar tax credit — give more incentives to renewable energy, solar and wind. A one track mind — drill drill drill — that's not going to work," Richardson said.

(As if he has a better solution than bitch, bitch, bitch.)

True to form, Democrats are against anything a Republican comes up with, an alternative or their own solutions notwithstanding.

Honda's Hydrogen Car the FCX Clarity will, according to Honda, come online in about ten years.

Hybrids are everywhere.

Commercial airliners are flying slow to save fuel.

Americans are driving 4.5 Billion less miles per month

But in the mean time, we still need reasonably priced oil. Everyone in America depends on it in some way, shape or form.

So Governor Richardson, guess what:

62% Agree with McCain on Need for Offshore Drilling

Got the short end again, huh Bill?

Obama has said a lot of stupid things...

2008-06-20T05:42:00.000-05:00

...but I must say this may be the stupiderest in a while:

Obama says bin Laden must not be a martyr

"Osama bin Laden and his top leadership — the people who murdered 3,000 Americans — have a safe-haven in northwest Pakistan, where they operate with such freedom of action that they can still put out hate-filled audiotapes to the outside world," Obama said. "That's the result of the Bush-McCain approach to the war on terrorism."

Obama must know (unless he is really really ignorant) that the capture of Osama Bin Laden would be a winning political lottery ticket of such magnitude for anyone associated with the Bush administration. He must know that if he could be found, if he could be captured or killed, he would have been by now. He must know the enormous pressure that is undoubtedly being applied to the intelligence community by the Bush Administration.

There is no doubt whatsoever that substantial and wide-reaching efforts beyond our knowledge (for good reason) have been going on behind the scenes in the interest of capturing and/or killing Osama Bin Laden since Sept 12th 2001 - if for no other reason than for the very fact that producing Bin Laden would create a huge political windfall for the Bush Administration, and maybe even the Republican party.

Obama's comments reflect his lack of knowledge and experience at the executive level of government and a shocking lack of understanding of the political realities of the war on terrorism. Furthermore, his hyphenation of the the Bush-McCain approach is a pathetic and transparent shot at McCain.

Graphic HT politicalpartypoop.com

Al's My Best Buddy!

2008-06-19T20:30:00.003-05:00

Sharpton himself, his business entities and his nonprofit civil-advocacy group owe millions in back taxes, documents show.

Subpoena Blitz Puts Heat on Al

Sounds like Al Sharpton and Al Franken have the same CPA.

Obama will protect us!

2008-06-19T13:12:00.000-05:00

As soon as the next terrorist attack kills Americans, he will be the first to make sure they get their day in court!

Just one thing. I am pretty sure that the American people are hoping our government prevents the next attack, just as President Bush has done for the last seven years.

Back to the Future

The New York Times reports that an adviser to John McCain accused Barack Obama of having a "Sept. 10 mindset." Obama responded by . . . exhibiting a Sept. 10 mindset:

Debate erupts over fighting terrorism

The latest battle began when McCain's advisers held a conference call to attack Obama for comments he made in an interview with ABC News in which he said that he believed that "we can track terrorists, we can crack down on threats against the United States, but we can do so within the constraints of our Constitution," and noted that the United States was able to arrest, try and jail the culprits in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

"And, you know, let's take the example of Guantanamo," Obama said in the interview. "What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks - for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center - we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial."

The McCain campaign said Obama wants to go back to treating terrorism as nothing more than a criminal matter, called him naive, and argued that the World Trade Center case is an example of how insufficient that was.

"Once again, we have seen that Sen. Obama is a perfect manifestation of a Sept. 10 mindset," Scheunemann said on the call.

The Obama antiterror strategy is to wait until terrorists kill American civilians, then arrest them and put them on trial. Of course, when we tried that in the 1990s, the eventual result was another attack on the World Trade Center. This one was far more successful, destroying the complex and multiplying the death toll nearly 500-fold.

Oh, and the men who carried out the attack were never arrested and put on trial, because it was a suicide attack. Another failure of the Bush administration!

Obama will protect us. If by "us" you mean suspected terrorists.

Wake up Mom!

2008-06-19T13:01:00.003-05:00

Boy steals mom's minivan (video)

What the heck could you be doing so as to not notice your 9 year old taking his little sister for a joy ride in the minivan?

Cut to the chase: kids survive. Minivan? Not so much.

Earth has cooled for almost ten straight years. So, I ask Al Gore, where’s the global warming?

2008-06-19T05:46:00.000-05:00

This is the best and most comprehensive summary of the farce that is the Man-Made Global Warming/Change/Cooling Movement I have read in some time.

It is from a Meteorologist in San Diego.

You may want to give credit where credit is due to Al Gore and his global warming campaign the next time you fill your car with gasoline, because there is a direct connection between Global Warming and four dollar a gallon gas.

What an amazing fraud; what a scam.

Through all history, Earth has shifted between two basic climate regimes: ice ages and what paleoclimatologists call “Interglacial periods”.

Earth has cooled for almost ten straight years. So, I ask Al Gore, where’s the global warming?

Read the entire piece here: Global Warming and the Price of a Gallon of Gas

HT John H

Feed Me America! Feed Me!

2008-06-18T12:35:00.004-05:00

Al Gore, Hypocrite!

Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month

“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”

Gore saw his personal wealth increase by an estimated $100 million thanks largely to speaking fees and investments related to global warming hysteria.

As a financial advisor, I can only guess what the regulators would have in store for me if I went around promoting an investment all the while owning it first myself. It's called Front Running. In my business it's illegal. In Politics it is not, but its just as unethical.

Al Gore does it and he's a national hero with an ill-gotten Pew Litter on his mantle.

Democrats need to stop Clowning Around

2008-06-18T07:13:00.000-05:00

Many Republicans and Democrats are resigned to the fact the the Democratic challenger to Norm Coleman is Al Frankenfreak. As it stands right now, Norm Colman could disclose that he is a descendant of Adolf Hitler and still beat Frankfurter. It turns out Al may face a challenge of his own: his candidacy may be in jeopardy.

Not the Al Franken Decade

There's still a chance that comedian and author Al Franken could face 11th-hour opposition in the Sept. 9th Democratic Senate primary in Minnesota. Mike Ciresi, a prominent trial lawyer who dropped out of the Democratic race earlier this year, is keeping his options open in case more negative stories surface about Mr. Franken.

It's true that Mr. Franken won the endorsement of the state's Democratic Party and held a victory rally attended by other prominent Democrats. Yet dark clouds are forming. Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum of St. Paul refused to attend the rally, saying she will not endorse Mr. Franken's candidacy because of comments he made as a comedian making light of rape and demeaning women. One infamous article Mr. Franken wrote for Playboy included graphic descriptions of sex with robots. Ms. McCollum and other Democrats are now quietly questioning whether their celebrity candidate can beat GOP incumbent Norm Coleman in the fall.

Mr. Franken is also burdened by the news that he recently had to pay $70,000 in back taxes and penalties in 17 states where he had made appearances but not filed the proper paperwork to pay taxes.

"Democrats in Minnesota are just pulling their hair out,'' says Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota.

National Democrats claim not to be worried. Senator Chuck Schumer, head of the Democratic Senate campaign committee, tells reporters the party's game plan is simple: "You look at all the things Al Franken said as a comedian... and then you say simply that Norm Coleman supports the war and supports President Bush 90-plus percent of the time. Franken wins by ten points."

It's thinking like that that will ensure Norm Coleman will easily win his bid to continue to represent Minnesota in the Senate. The Democrats have worn that one thin. Talking about what you are against, with no new ideas of your own, long the Democratic strategy, has worn thin. Besides, right now it's the economy, stupid!

Some of Mr. Coleman's positions may indeed be unpopular in Minnesota, but more and more Democrats are coming to the conclusion that running a clown against him isn't the smartest political move.

We'll see about that. We've had some pretty embarrassing clown candidates around here in the last twenty years.

Not Love at First Sight...Definitely Infatuation

2008-06-17T17:10:00.002-05:00

2009 Acura TL Revealed

Car and Driver

"Change" ...to Suit The Moment

2008-06-17T06:01:00.000-05:00

Barack is all about "Change". Change as in like a Chameleon. He has made all sorts of changes in his entourage and in his monologue to suit whatever he thinks will sell at the moment. Sound familiar? Sound like a Change? I didn't think so.

Take for example the car he drives...er drove.

Fueling Debate: What Drives McCain and Obama’s Campaigns

Politicians have public and private personas. As they rise in the world, their private spheres tend to shrink. For some, even the choice of car becomes a political calculation.

Senator Barack Obama from Illinois made his politically correct purchase last summer, shortly after being outed for contradictions between his public exhortations and his private behavior. At a speech in May 2007 before the captains of industry at the Detroit Economic Club, Obama scolded: “While foreign competitors were investing in more fuel-efficient technology…American automakers were spending their time investing in bigger, faster cars.…The auto industry is on a path that is unacceptable and unsustainable.”

It would entertainers and politicians ringing the environmental bell are almost surely never practicing what they preach, Barack, true to form (Change? Yah, right.) is no exception.

Soon after that, the press revealed that Obama was driving one of the “bigger, faster cars,” a 340-hp Chrysler 300C. The Chrysler soon disappeared from Obama’s driveway, to be replaced by “the candidates’ choice,” a Ford Escape hybrid.

...which probably does just that...sit in his driveway...all day every day.

McCain is an Enviroweenie as well. What does he drive?

Like Obama’s vehicle a year ago, Arizona senator John McCain’s car is at odds with his policies. However, his 255-hp, 3.6-liter 2006 Cadillac CTS would probably go over better with his Republican political base than would an Escape hybrid.

Personally, I don't really think the average citizen cares what a politician drives, fully realizing that they live a rarefied lifestyle. I don't begrudge Obama's choice in personal vehicles. What is of concern are the machinations he effects to cover his tracks...and it begs the question, what else is he sweeping under the rug that we don't know about?

Give Me Voodoo

2008-06-16T08:39:00.006-05:00

Democrats (and liberal Republicans) seem to know nothing of what fiscal policies not only benefit the country as a whole, but even what benefits their liberal constituents the most.

Obama's tax-hike strategy isn't a good idea, never has been and never will be. Obama is a financial imbecile, like most Democrats...so easy to "invest" (spend) other people's money.

Half of taxpayers pay all individual taxes

Nearly all the individual income taxes paid in 2005 came from just half the nation's taxpayers, the Department of the Treasury said in a report released late last month.

Guess which half? The half that Obama wants to burden even further.

In 2005, the latest year for which data were available, taxpayers in the top 5% of income paid nearly 60% of all individual income taxes but reported about 36% of income.

Who is responsible for this?

President Bush's tax cuts "shifted a larger share of individual income taxes paid to higher-income taxpayers," the report said.

In 2008, with nearly all the tax relief provisions fully in effect, the projected tax share for taxpayers in the bottom 50% of the income range will fall to 3.1%, from 3.4%, while the tax share for top 1% will rise to 39.1%, from 38.4%, the report said.

So the next time you hear Obama driveling on about repealing the Bush tax cuts, remember, he may not be hurting you, but he will probably be hurting your employer or your best customers.

But then again, fiscal policy making has become less and less about what is best for our nation on a macro level and more and more about control, entitlements for political gain, and ultimately a socialist state.

Meanwhile, the data shows that small government and a reduced tax burden is best for all.

New Evidence on Government and Growth

In the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan embraced the ideas of a small group of economists dubbed "supply-siders." They argued that lower taxes and slimmer government would stimulate growth, enterprise, harder work and higher levels of saving and investment. These views were widely ridiculed at the time, dismissed as "voodoo economics."

Reagan did succeed in lowering some taxes. But a Democrat-controlled Congress weakened their impact by raising government spending sharply, resulting in large budget deficits.

A quarter of a century later, many more countries have cut taxes and reined in heavy-handed government intervention. How far have they gone down this path, and with what success?

The conclusion? Countries that have curbed their spending and at the same time cut taxes at the top have increased investment growth, economic growth, increased exports (probably due in part to a stronger national currency - sound familiar?) and their GDP's.

Faster economic growth in the first group also generated a more rapid increase in government revenue, despite (or rather, because of, supply-siders suggest) lower overall tax burdens.

Now, that doesn't sound like Voodoo to me.

Slimmer-government countries also delivered more rapid social progress in some areas. They have, on average, higher annual employment growth rates (1.7% compared to 0.9% from 1995-2005). Their youth unemployment rates have been lower for both males and females since 2000. The discretionary income of households rose faster in the first group.

The early supply-siders were right. My findings firmly reject the widely held view that lower taxes inevitably result in cuts in public services, slower growth and widening income inequalities. Today's policy makers should take note of how tax cuts and the pruning of inefficient government programs can stimulate sluggish economies.

Which is to say Obama is right. We need change. Exactly the opposite of nearly every fiscal policy he has proposed.

Roadtrip: Taylors Falls

2008-06-16T06:41:00.000-05:00

Taken with a Canon Powershot S5 IS

Future Fathers Day

2008-06-15T05:49:00.002-05:00

I am currently reading Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul and copied a relevant passage for Father's Day:

The deepest search in life, it seemed to me, the thing that in one way or another was central to all living was man's search to find a father, not merely the father of his flesh, not merely the lost father of his youth, but the image of a strength and wisdom external to his need and superior to his hunger, to which the belief and power of his own life could be united.

Father's day is, of course, about Fathers; but it is also about sons. Our sons are the future fathers, and I think one of the best things a father can do for his son is to show and teach him to be a great father.

The Tragedy of America's Disappearing Fathers

As we celebrate Father's Day tomorrow, we should reflect upon a sad fact: It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster-care homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them.

The stories are like letters to unknown dads – some filled with imaginary scenes about what it might be like to have a dad who comes home and puts his arm around you or plays with you.

The extent of the problem is clear. The nation's out-of-wedlock birth rate is 38%. Among white children, 28% are now born to a single mother; among Hispanic children it is 50% and reaches a chilling, disorienting peak of 71% for black children. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly a quarter of America's white children (22%) do not have any male in their homes; nearly a third (31%) of Hispanic children and over half of black children (56%) are fatherless.

This represents a dramatic shift in American life. In the early 1960s, only 2.3% of white children and 24% of black children were born to a single mom. Having a dad, in short, is now a privilege, a ticket to middle-class status on par with getting into a good college.

"I didn't know it at the time," says Mr. Myers of his stepfather, "but just having him around meant I was picking up his discipline, his pride, his work ethic. . ." He adds: "Until I heard it from my son I never understood it."

Choose Wisely

2008-06-14T05:35:00.000-05:00

Slate

Shiny Toy Guns - Rainy Monday

2008-06-13T04:01:00.000-05:00

The Company He Keeps

2008-06-12T05:41:00.001-05:00

"Change? Sorry. All I have is Hundreds."

Obama has a serious problem. For what would appear to be his entire adult life, he has surrounded himself with advisors and confidants who are either hateful towards America despite having drunk from the fountain of prosperity, or to put it bluntly, are corrupt. Somehow he thinks the American people will consider him to be the exception among his posse. The baby in the bath water.

It would appear Obama is talking out of both sides of his mouth. What a shocker. He lambastes those that, at least according to Obama, caused the current mortgage crisis, and at the same time brings them to his inner circle.

Barack Obama may have come up with a creative way to solve the housing recession: Let everyone buy property at a discount the way he did from Tony Rezko, and give everyone in America a discount mortgage the way Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide did for Fannie Mae's Jim Johnson. Team Obama's real estate and mortgage transactions are certainly a change from business as usual. They suggest old-fashioned back-scratching below even current Beltway standards.

The irony here is that Mr. Obama has denounced Mr. Mozilo as part of his populist case against corporate excess, calling Mr. Mozilo and a colleague in March "the folks who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis." Obama campaign manager David Plouffe also said in March that "If we're really going to crack down on the practices that caused the credit and housing crises, we're going to need a leader who doesn't owe these industries any favors." But now this protector of the working class has entrusted his first big task as Presidential nominee to the very man who received "favors" in return for enriching Mr. Mozilo.

Yesterday, ABC News asked Mr. Obama whether he should have more carefully vetted Mr. Johnson and Eric Holder, who is working with Mr. Johnson on veep vetting. Correspondent Sunlen Miller noted Mr. Johnson's loans from Countrywide and Mr. Holder's involvement as Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration in the pardon of fugitive Marc Rich. Said Mr. Obama: "Everybody, you know, who is tangentially related to our campaign, I think, is going to have a whole host of relationships – I would have to hire the vetter to vet the vetters."

More excuses. It's not too much to ask of the potential leader of the free world is it?

Vetting Mr. Johnson's finances would have been time well spent, judging by a May 2006 report from Fannie Mae's regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (Ofheo). Even if Mr. Obama considers the advisers helping him select a running mate "tangentially related" to his campaign, he might have thought twice about any relationship with Mr. Johnson.

To this list we would add one more, directed at Mr. Obama: Is this what you mean by bringing change to Washington?

Friends of Barack

Reality: 1 Enviroweenies: 0

2008-06-11T05:39:00.001-05:00

True to form, congressmen and women decry the fable that is Global Warming, hold vigils and rallies, and slap bumper stickers on their cars but when it comes right down to it they can't get it done. Leave it to the liberal media to spin this into a great loss for the environment.

In Congress, gas prices trump global warming

Note the language (emphasis mine):

Congress retreated Friday from the world's biggest environmental concern - global warming - in a fresh demonstration of what happens when nature and business collide, especially in an election year.

I am certain there are bigger environmental concerns than Global Warming, especially in light of the UN's (and others') proclamation that the earth in now cooling. Oops. Your pants are down and your bias is showing.

Furthermore, nature and business didn't collide here. If you haven't noticed, the "Green" movement isn't just a cottage industry anymore, it is big, and presumably profitable business.

What collided here was the liberal power grab that is the Global Warming/Cooling movement and economic realty.

Don't get me wrong, I care about the environment and I don't want to leave the planet worse than we found it for our grandchildren. On the other hand, gas prices are very high right now and while for us it's just a nuisance, for many it is a financial burden that can't be borne indefinitely by a significant segment of our nation.

And guess what...them's voters!

"At the beginning of the summer driving season (you) offer a bill that would send gas prices up another 53 cents a gallon for goodness sake," Republican leader Mitch McConnell needled the Democratic majority.

"This is a massive tax increase on the American people," proclaimed Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who is among Congress' dwindling skeptics when it comes to global warming, having once called it all a hoax.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., one of three chief sponsors of the bill, disputed both assertions, saying the bill would provide tens of billions of dollars a year in tax breaks for people facing high energy costs and for other measures to ease the transition from oil, coal and other fossil fuels, which are the cause of impending changing climate.

She argued that people actually may end up paying less to fuel their cars because a price on carbon emissions would accelerate the push for more fuel efficient vehicles and alternative fuels.

Sure Barb, but I don't think they can wait that long. I face high energy costs! Does that mean I'd get a tax break? No? Why not? Oh, because I don't vote for fiscal liberals. Gotcha.

Imminent Global Cooling Crisis

2008-06-10T05:35:00.000-05:00

The potential cooling of global warming

The 2008 winter was the coldest in 40 years — for the upper Midwest, the Plains States and most of Canada. Minnesota newspapers report that this year's opening of the locks to Mississippi barge traffic, delayed three weeks, was the latest since the modern waterway opened in 1940. Eau Claire, where 'old-fashioned winters' have been a thing of the past, recorded 43 days of below-zero temperatures.

From January 2007 through the end of January 2008, the average global temperature fell by nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit, based on data obtained by the MET Office in the United Kingdom and other international temperature monitoring networks.

What do we make of this? A recent climate conference in New York City, sponsored by the Heartland Institute, provides some answers. Several hundred climatologists in attendance dispelled any notion that the global warming debate is over. Most attendees, who readily acknowledge the existence of post-Little Ice Age warming, believe man-made emissions are unlikely to cause major climate change and signed a declaration to that effect.

During periods of weak solar activity — as at present — cosmic rays (high-energy protons from interstellar space) penetrate through the troposphere and ionize oxygen and nitrogen molecules. The ions are nucleating sites for water vapor that condenses into clouds. When sunspots are at a minimum, more clouds form and, correspondingly, more sunlight is reflected back into space. The enhanced reflectance (albedo) cools the Earth. We all have experienced how quickly the temperature drops when the sun ducks behind a puffy white cloud on a warm, dry afternoon.

Past cool periods are closely correlated with low sunspot numbers (astronomers have kept close tabs on sunspots since Galileo's time). Some solar-physicists are now saying if the current cycle doesn't begin to produce spots soon, we can expect a cool-down like the 19th-century one known as the "Dalton minimum" — or worse. Decades-long cooling in the past brought crop failures to Europe from repeated summer frosts and restricted growing seasons.

With grain shortages already staring us in the face, we'd be advised to begin thinking about a global cool-down instead of a warming that may or may not continue.

In all fairness, the Heartland Institute is no more an objective organization than the UN is but more and more information is coming out in support of an actual cooling trend - but don't expect the Star Tribune or other liberal rags to offer it up any time soon.

In the mean time, riddle me this: If the Global Cooling Crisis gains as much momentum as the Global Warming Crisis did, will Al Gore and Rock-Star Enthusiasts who still think our burning of fossil fuels raises global temperatures be encouraged to drive more miles in their larger cars and use their private jets more? Will they dump their ugly Priuses for Ferraris again? Will the proposed carbon markets be reversed? Will Al Gore shut his pie hole or at least agree to debate the issue?

HT Chris F

Is This the Best You Can Do?

2008-06-09T05:40:00.001-05:00

Are you kidding me?

Certainly the Democrat endorsement this weekend of Al Franken comes as no surprise but in retrospect, now that it is in place, one must wonder, even - especially - as a Democrat - is this the best you can do?

A vulgar, loud-mouthed, tax-evading, embezzling, former comedian and pornographer?

In Minnesota?!

He says he wants to focus on the issues? ...but how can anyone take him seriously regarding the issues? He can't manage his own issues!

...he is the issue!

I guess Jesse wasn't such a fluke after all?

...and to potentially send to Washington a more embarrassing, disrespected and ineffective Senator than Paul Wellstone? ...or Mark Dayton?

I can't imagine Norm Coleman's crew worrying too much about having to move out his office in DC next year. But I've been very wrong before.

Some of my closest friends are far more liberal than I, and I respect their positions and opinions and value their perspective. Having said that, if you are a Franken supporter, can you express your support for Franken without comparing him to anyone else? (i.e. he's more/less blank and blank than Coleman, etc.). Can you express his unique virtues or qualifications for office? ...specifically?

311 - Amber (Live)

2008-06-08T09:23:00.001-05:00

Global Warming? Solve the real issues first.

2008-06-07T08:25:00.008-05:00

Scarcity is a core economic concept, though politicians and even many economists prefer to ignore it. There isn't an unlimited amount of money to be spent on every problem, so choices have to be made.

...unless you are a liberal, then you just keep sacking those that take risks, create wealth and jobs (they call them The Rich) by raising taxes and spending more.

The question addressed by the Copenhagen Consensus Center is what investments would do the most good for the most people. The center's blue-ribbon panel of economists, including five Nobel laureates, weighed more than 40 proposals to improve the world by spending a total of $75 billion over the next four years.

What would do the most good most economically? Supplements of vitamin A and zinc for malnourished children.

Number two? A successful outcome to the Doha Round of global free-trade talks. (Someone please tell Barack Obama.)

Wha..wha..what about the crisis, the urgent crisis, the Nobel prize-winning crisis that is Man-Made Global Warming/Cooling?!!!!

30th on the list.

As Mr. Lomborg recently explained, the costs of mitigating climate change would be enormous for what are highly speculative benefits. He prefers research on new technologies, rather than a global cap-and-trade regime that would raise energy prices and thus reduce overall economic growth. Meanwhile, societies that are wealthier due to free trade will be better able to cope with the consequences of warming, if it occurs.

A Different Consensus

Seattle

2008-06-06T12:09:00.007-05:00

Greenery I Can Live With

2008-06-06T05:26:00.001-05:00

Imagine, if you will, a compact rear-wheel-drive hatchback that runs from 0-62mph in a very respectable 6.9 seconds.

Now imagine that this same car could average 45 mpg...

Autoblog

They Have No Shame

2008-06-05T05:34:00.002-05:00

...for their inability to stop spending money we don't have. For destroying any chance of financial security for our country, or stability for our dollar.

Earmarks After Dark

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats rode to the majority in 2006 in part on their pledge to reform runaway earmarking.

Remember those Congressional pledges of earmark reform?

Democrats are hoping you don't, as they try to pull a fast one and evade President Bush's pledge to block these special-interest spending projects slipped into legislation without scrutiny.

They've since backtracked, instituting weak rules on transparency, and refusing a challenge to join Republicans in a one-year earmark moratorium.

If Members think their projects are defensible, then put them into actual legislation and vote on them. But because this can be politically embarrassing – think "bridge to nowhere" – Members prefer to slip their pork into the conference reports that offer instructions on implementation. These reports are written by staff members, aren't debated or voted on by Members, and aren't signed by the President.

You Don't Know Me, But Soon You Will.

2008-06-04T08:38:00.005-05:00

Of the two DNC candidates for President, neither of which can possibly be the best foot forward, even for the DNC, Obama is actually the least likely to bring "change" if elected President.

He will more likely he will bring rancor and stagnation. He's no bi-partisan.

The Obama We Don't Know

Yet govern how and to what end? This is the Obama Americans don't know. For all of his inspiring rhetoric about bipartisanship, his voting record is among the most partisan in the Senate. His policy agenda is conventionally liberal across the board – more so than Hillary Clinton's, and more so than that of any Democratic nominee since 1968.

We can't find a single issue on which Mr. Obama has broken with his party's left-wing interest groups. Early on he gave a bow to merit pay for teachers, but that quickly sank beneath the waves of new money he wants to spend on the same broken public schools. He takes the Teamsters line against free trade, to the point of unilaterally rewriting Nafta. He wants to raise taxes even above the levels of the Clinton era, including a huge increase in the payroll tax. Perhaps now Mr. Obama will tack to the center, but somehow he will have to explain why the "change" he's proposing isn't merely more of the same, circa 1965.

There is no telling what his outspoken and undeniably hateful spouse, as first lady, would bring to the White House. She may actually be the best thing that ever happened to Bill Clinton as her antics are sure to overshadow the shame Bill Clinton brought to the darker corners of the White House.

While John McCain, not unlike Obama of late, has shown some restraint in the personal attacks department, there is no doubt the GOP, once they actually resign themselves to the fact that McCain is in fact their candidate, are going to have a field day with Obama's voting record, personal life, radical religious affiliations, gaffes and outright lies told on the campaign trail.

There is also the matter of judgment, and the roots of his political character. We were among those inclined at first to downplay his association with the Trinity United Church. But Mr. Obama's handling of the episode has raised doubts about his candor and convictions. He has by stages moved from denying that his 20-year attendance was an issue at all; to denying he'd heard Rev. Jeremiah Wright's incendiary remarks; to criticizing certain of those remarks while praising Rev. Wright himself; to repudiating the words and the reverend; and finally this weekend to leaving the church.

Most disingenuously, he said on Saturday that the entire issue caught him by surprise. Yet he was aware enough of the political risk that he kept Rev. Wright off the stage during his announcement speech more than a year ago.

The point is not that Mr. Obama now shares the radical views of these men. The concern is that by the Senator's own admission they have been major moral influences, and their views are starkly at odds with the candidate's vision as a transracial peacemaker. Their patronage was also useful as Mr. Obama was making his way in Chicago politics. But only now, in the glare of a national campaign, is he distancing himself from them. The question is what in fact Mr. Obama does believe.

And what will the DNC have on McCain to counter?

"He's old."

"He's Bush-like."

The former has already been disarmed. The latter may be a challenge.

Fact is, you may not like McCain's politics, but he has lived a pretty clean, patriotic and honest life. He will be difficult to assail, especially for Obama who is not given to specifics as we all well know by now.

...and they will talk about the war, but that won't have the traction it would have had even just a few months ago. We all want out of the war, the differences between us mostly relate to time frames. Truth is, the war has fallen out of the public consciousness as "Things are Going Relatively Well" doesn't sell papers and ratings these days, especially for a predominantly liberal media.

I think it will come down to the economy and even the most ardent liberal must know that the GOP (save GWB) are the ones you want in office if its the economy you want to fix.

In the end, I think Obama will obviously snarf up the far left; McCain the far right and significantly more of the center than Obama will get. McCain will get enough of Hillary's people to push him over the top. How that will translate into electoral votes, I can't say.

In any case, as hard as it is to believe after the last couple Presidential elections, this will prove to be a very interesting few months for those who love to follow politics.

It's Not Over Until the Fat Laddy Sings

2008-06-04T06:22:00.002-05:00

Believe it or not, An Inconvenient Truth is in the process of being adapted for Opera. No word on whether the Extra-Large and In-Charge Al Gore will, uh "sing" in the last act.

I guess this is yet another cashing-in on the Global Warming -er Cooling -er Warming movement? Or is it just art? Or is it just a high unemployment level among opera producers and performers? You be the judge.

Italian composer sees music in Al Gore's film

"Opera makes you reflect," (composer Giorgio Battistelli ) said in a phone interview Friday. He is working on an opera based on Gore's book and film about climate change.

If as in "reflect", Battistelli means to "rest quietly while one's eyes remain closed and one's body assumes a hybrid horizontal-vertical position and one's mind attains a state of partial consciousness", then yes, Opera makes you "reflect".

Artists in general "make you see things differently, make you see things in a new light. When we see a painting by Francis Bacon or a film of Sydney Pollack, we get a very precise idea of the problems of our century," Battistelli said.

Oh, right! Art, as in film, gives us a very precise idea of the problems of our century! Battistelli has obviously drunk the Koolaid.

Take for example Independence Day where we gain a keen insight to the mindset and tactics of the hostile aliens plotting to exterminate the human race.

Or True Lies where we learn how a middle-aged man can fly a Harrier Jet up the side of a skyscraper to save his teen aged daughter by asking her to "hop on".

Or Ferris Bueller's Day Off where young people gain insight in how to commandeer a parade float, get one's name painted on the side of a water tower, catch a pop foul, tour the Sears Tower and hack into the school's computer system to change your attendance record in the confines of one spring day.

Or An Inconvenient Truth where we witness a former almost-President with no retained remorse, bitterness or further political aspirations and a reputation for truthfulness (this is sarcasm remember) present a case for a global crisis with data that aren't at all flawed, misinterpreted or simply made up (ditto), while he meanwhile lives in a mansion that is to the average American home as his waistline is to Woody Allen's and criss-crosses the planet in his private jet.

"It will be about the tragedy of our present situation," Battistelli said. "It is a great challenge, of course, to write an opera on such an unusual subject. It is certainly not the story of Romeo and Juliet."

And certainly no more a factual documentary than An Inconvenient Truth.

HT (Graphic) Intertard

State of The Race

2008-06-03T18:12:00.001-05:00

Slate

Metro Transit Suffers a Backfire

2008-06-03T08:10:00.005-05:00

I was listening to WCCO this morning, they were interviewing Metro Transit spokesperson Bob Gibbons, who was aglow with reports of higher ridership of late, attributed to higher gas prices.

Only not everything is coming up roses at MTC. They have a budget shortfall despite buses and trains (apparently) being loaded to the gills. Light rail ridership is at levels anticipated to occur in 2020 according to Mr. Gibbons.

So why the shortfall?

Car sales are down.

Say again?

Right. Car sales are down.

Did you know every time you buy a car in Minnesota you are participating in yet another liberal wealth-transfer scheme? Probably unknowingly?

Part of the package of fees and taxes ramrodded into every automotive purchase is directed to our loss-leading mass transit system, like so many earmarks are lobbed into our legislative process.

Theoretically, if more and more people dump their cars and hop on the bus, our mass transit system will lose more and more money. Higher ridership isn't built into the plan.

Didn't they think of this ahead of time? No. Why not? Because government doesn't think like a business does. There is no financial accountability; no regard for living within one's means; just an agenda that is to be force-fed to us to fulfill some one's vision of the mother-state running our happy little homogenized lives.

According to Mr. Gibbons two thirds of all transit riders also own cars. Which is to say they can afford to pay a fare that is commensurate with the service they are provided - versus one that is obviously reflective of enormous subsidy, much of which apparently (and ironically) comes from the sale of motor vehicles.

So who's at the wheel over there?

The Blues Brothers

2008-06-03T07:19:00.000-05:00

One of my all-time favorite movies contains one of the best and most artfully choreographed car chases in motion picture history - at the time the most expensive ever. The cast from starring roles to bit parts includes:

Frank Oz - Prison Officer (Behind window), Cab Calloway - Curtis, James Brown - Reverend Cleophis, Irene Cara (Chaka Khan) - Church soloist, John Landis - Cop in the first over-turned cop car, John Candy - Mr Mercer (parole officer), Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) - Wine Waiter, John Lee Hooker - Musician on Maxwell St., Aretha Franklin - Matt 'Guitar Murphy's wife, (the three backing singers are her sisters), Ray Charles - Owner of 'Ray's Music Exchange', Twiggy - Blonde in sports car, Steven Spielberg - Cook County Assessor, Joe Walsh (from the Eagles) - First prisoner to jump on table.

And don't forget...Carrie Fisher!

I am pretty sure this movie introduced cheap black sunglasses...

"It's 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it."

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the movie, many of which can be used strategically in every day life.

"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now!"

"We're on a mission from God"

"Give us a bottle of your finest champagne, five shrimp cocktails and some bread for my brother."

"What kind of music do you usually have here? Oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western."

"We're getting the band back together!"

Golden-Tongued Blunderkind

2008-06-03T05:53:00.002-05:00

The Obama Gaffe Machine

For months, Barack Obama has had the image of an incandescent, golden-tongued Wundercandidate. That image may be fraying now.

As smart and credentialed as he is, Sen. Obama is often an indifferent speaker without a teleprompter. He has large gaps in his knowledge base, and is just as likely to dig in and embrace a policy misstatement as abandon it. ABC reporter Jake Tapper calls him "a one-man gaffe machine."

Mr. Obama, a former editor of the Harvard Law Review, has largely been given a pass for his gaffes. Many are trivial, such as his suggestion this month that America has 57 states, and his bizarre statement in a Memorial Day speech in New Mexico that America's "fallen heroes" were present and listening to him in the audience.

Reporters may now give Mr. Obama's many gaffes more notice. But don't count on them correcting an implicit bias in writing about such faux pas.

$10,976,000.00

2008-06-02T22:34:00.003-05:00

During my workout tonight I was watching one of my favorite movies which features one of the most famous cars in film history (according to me), so I decided to Google it. Up came:

World's Most Expensive Car

Anyone care to guess what movie this car (in another color) appeared in?

Take a guess before you follow the links.

Like I Said...It's About Revenue...not the Environment

2008-06-02T21:34:00.002-05:00

Like I said here...

As the Senate opens debate on its mammoth carbon regulation program this week, the phrase of the hour is "cap and trade." This sounds innocuous enough. But anyone who looks at the legislative details will quickly see that a better description is cap and spend. This is easily the largest income redistribution scheme since the income tax.

Cap and Spend

Home Safe Home

2008-06-02T06:25:00.001-05:00

The President Has Kept Us Safe

With President Bush-bashing still a national pastime, it's notable how much international terrorism has been forgotten, and how little credit the president has received for keeping Americans safe.

I am not a huge Bush fan myself due mainly to his fiscal liberalism and his lack of communication regarding Iraq, before and during the war.

Living in the Midwest, we feel relatively secure as it relates to the threat of terrorism on our soil but it would appear fellow citizens living in high-value targets for terrorists are also feeling pretty secure these days. Why is that? Who can we thank?

(after 9/11) We all waited for terrorism's second shoe to drop, and, seven years later . . . nothing has happened.

Other cities around the world became targets: Madrid, Glasgow, London and Bali; the entire nation of Denmark; and, of course, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Here in America, however, the focus moved from concerns over counterterrorism measures and the abuse of presidential authority to the war in Iraq, the subprime mortgage crisis, the failing economy, the public meltdown of Britney Spears, and now, the presidential elections.

All this time Americans have been safe from suicide bombers, biological warfare and collapsing skyscrapers, while the rest of the world has been on red alert. And yet President Bush is regarded as the worst president in American history? Sorry, I must be missing something here.

...when a professed enemy succeeds as wildly as al Qaeda did on 9/11, and seven years pass without an incident, there are two reasonable conclusions: Either, despite all the trash-talking videos, they have been taking a long, leisurely breather; or, something serious has been done to thwart and disable their operations. Whatever combination of psychology and insanity motivates a terrorist to blow himself up is not within my range of experience, but I'm betting the aggressive measures the president took, and the unequivocal message he sent, might have had something to do with it.

But in gearing up to elect a new president, we are left to wonder how, in spite of numerous failed policies and poor judgement, President Bush's greatest achievement was denied to him by people who ungratefully availed themselves of the protection that his administration provided.

Bluejay

2008-06-02T04:51:00.002-05:00

Taken with a Canon PowerShot S5 IS
Click on Pic to Enlarge

Roosh Five Visits G.O.D.

2008-06-01T15:12:00.004-05:00

Taken with a Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Click on Pics to Enlarge

Grand Old Day

Global Warming Bill Doomed

2008-06-01T06:12:00.003-05:00

Chances dim for climate-change legislation...and MMGW enthusiasts will decry "The bill was killed by carbon-burning profit-seekers"

But other members of the coalition known as U.S. Cap, most visibly Duke Energy (DUK, Fortune 500), a coal-burning utility, are strongly opposed. "It's going to translate into significant electricity price increases," says Jim Rogers, Duke's CEO.

Bear in mind, one of the reasons the bill had a chance in hell in the first place is corporate sponsorship on the other side of the "green movement" - companies that stand to gain from MMGWH (Man Made Global Warming Hysteria), dubious as their solutions may be.

Businesses supporting Lieberman-Warner stand to profit from clean-energy or energy-efficiency initiatives. GE, for instance, sells wind turbines, compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and energy-efficient locomotives and aircraft engines. Just this week, GE and the oil-field services firm Schlumberger announced plans to work together on clean-coal technology.

"In the long run, you want people who burn carbon to pay more," says John Rowe, the CEO of Exelon, the nation's biggest generator of nuclear power. (emphasis mine)

Utility companies Exelon, FPL Group, NRG Energy and PG&E Corp., which signed a letter supporting the bill, are developing nuclear energy, wind or solar power, or so-called clean-coal plants. They would gain as the costs of burning coal in conventional plans goes up. About 50% of electricity in the United States comes from burning coal.

Despite recent evidence of lower temperatures and predictions of same...

In fact, a key purpose of the bill is to put a price on the emissions of greenhouse gases, as a way to speed the transition to a clean-energy economy and slow down global warming. (emphasis mine)

A bill that will slow Global Warming, when in fact it is already reversing? Did the planet make a preemptive move in anticipation of this bill?

What could be the impetus of this bill then?

The Lieberman-Warner bill sets a cap on greenhouse gas emissions that would reduce them by 70% by 2050. Companies would need permits to emit pollutants that cause global warming. The government would allocate some permits to utilities and industrial companies, and auction others to generate revenues. The question of how to distribute permits and what to do with the money divides even supporters of greenhouse gas regulation. (emphasis mine)

Ah, yes. Permits. Are these permits free? No. They are yet another way of enlarging the federal government and raising revenue without raising taxes. How much of those revenues would find their way into the general fund? Want to take a guess?

It all serves as further evidence that the MMGW movement is not and never was an environmental movement. It has always been a political movement.

No Pun Intended

2008-05-31T06:24:00.001-05:00

Ford eyeing Mexico for Fiesta production

Maybe they should rename it the Ciesta.

...and now...the rest of the story.

V-eautiful.

2008-05-31T06:12:00.002-05:00

Before I was married, my primary means of transportation for nine months of the year was a 1983 Honda V-65 Magna. In 1983, at around 118 HP, the Magna was both the fastest production motorcycle available and the most deadly. I miss that bike still, and Honda doesn't make anything close to it today. It's chief competitor in my mind was the Yamaha V-Max, which is making a comeback in 2009 (Yamaha's been selling virtually the same model for close to twenty years, are skipping the 2008 model year and are upgrading the bike for 2009).

The V-Max doesn't have 118 HP though. It has 210. That's more horsepower than the first eight cars I've owned, and this thing probably weighs 700 lbs without a rider.

This bike will put a smile on your face and then wipe it clean off. Where's the waiting list?

Autoblog

Guess What I'm Watching

2008-05-30T20:26:00.001-05:00

Classic.

180 Degrees on Universal Healthcare

2008-05-30T06:22:00.000-05:00

Read how when government moves itself out of the way, good things happen. Open up the market, let consumers educate themselves, give them choices and uninsureds will go down with costs while options, coverage and service will improve. It's called capitalism and its still the best system...even for health care.

The Florida Revelation . . .

The Sunshine State has about 3.8 million people without insurance, or about 21% of the population, the fourth-highest rate in the country. The "Cover Florida" plan hopes to improve those numbers by offering access to more affordable policies. As even Barack Obama says, the main reason people are uninsured isn't because they don't want to be; it's because coverage is too expensive.

But the Florida reform, which both houses of the legislature approved unanimously, renounces Mr. Obama's favored remedy: It nudges the government out of the health-care marketplace. Insurance companies will be permitted to sell stripped-down, no-frills policies exempted from the more than 50 mandates that Florida otherwise imposes, including for acupuncture and chiropractics. The new plans will be designed to cost as little as $150 a month, or less.

Mr. Crist observed that state regulations increase the cost of health coverage, and thus rightly decided to do away with at least some of them. It's hard to believe, but this qualifies as a revelation in the policy world of health insurance. The new benefit packages will be introduced sometime next year and include minimum coverage for primary care and catastrophic expenses for major illness.

These government rules are imposed without regard for how much they will cost and who will bear the burden.

Governor Crist is to be credited for removing this artificial, regressive floor on plans. It's a simple matter of equity.

Mitt Romney should have taken this route in Massachusetts, but fell instead for the siren song of "universal coverage," even if provided by the government.

Some 13 states currently offer bare-bones policies on a full or trial-run basis. While not a cure-all, they're movement in the right direction – especially as the states can't do anything about the continuing tax bias for employer-provided health insurance. That kind of much-needed change can only come from Washington, as John McCain is proposing.

The Florida success also shows the political benefits when Republicans talk seriously about health care. Mr. Crist has made increasing consumer choice a signature issue. When Mr. McCain talked up his health-care reforms earlier this spring, he did so in Tampa. He chose the right state.

. . . And Escape From New Jersey

New Jersey is about the last place one might think to look for free-market policy reform. But this week Jay Webber, a Republican Assemblyman in Trenton, will introduce legislation to let Garden State residents buy low-cost health insurance from any registered policy in any of the 50 states.

Mr. Webber's proposal is a state version of Arizona Congressman John Shadegg's federal legislation to let individuals buy insurance across state lines, and John McCain has also endorsed the idea. But New Jersey would be a perfect test case, because its multiple mandates have made insurance too expensive for hundreds of thousands of families.

The average national cost for a family health plan is $5,799, according to America's Health Insurance Plans, but in New Jersey that same plan costs $10,398 on average. The state's politicians have driven up these costs by forcing insurers to provide gold-plated coverage – even for such voluntary medical services as in vitro fertilization. New Jersey also follows New York and Massachusetts – two other high-cost states – in requiring so-called "guaranteed issue." That allows New Jersey residents to avoid buying health insurance until they get sick, which means they can avoid paying premiums until they need someone to pick up the bill.

This one-policy-fits-all system tends to cause the young and healthy to drop insurance, which only raises the cost of insurance for the sick, which in turn makes coverage unaffordable for ever more families. It's no accident that about 1.2 million people – one of every eight residents – is uninsured in the state.

Under Mr. Webber's choice proposal, New Jersey residents could buy policies chartered in more enlightened states. For example, a healthy 25-year-old male could buy a basic health plan in Kentucky that now sells for $960 a year, about one-sixth of the $5,880 it would cost him in New Jersey. Residents of Pennsylvania pay health premiums that are one-half to one-third as high as do Garden State policy-holders. A new study by the National Center for Policy Analysis estimates that the availability of lower cost plans would reduce by 25% the number of uninsured.

M. Ward Chinese Translation

2008-05-30T05:54:00.000-05:00

Top 11 Revelations in Scott McClellan’s New Book

2008-05-29T11:53:00.002-05:00

11. Everyone in the Bush administration was evil and an idiot (except for Scott McClellan)

Teach Your Children Well

2008-05-29T10:13:00.004-05:00

...remember the Crosby Stills Nash & Young Song?

From the mouth of babes...

I remember the time that Kathryn, one of my daughter's little friends, told me that she wanted to be President one day.

Both of her parents are liberal Democrats and were standing there with us - and I asked Kathryn, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?'Kathryn replied, 'I would give houses to all the homeless people.''Wow, what a worthy goal you have there, Kathryn.' I told her, 'You don't have to wait until you are President to do that… you can come over to my house and clean up all the dog poop in the back yard and I will pay you $5.00.

Then we can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $5.00 to use for a new house.'

Kathryn, who was about 4, thought that over for a second while her mom looked at me, and then she replied, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and clean up the dog poop and you can pay him the $5.00?'

Bingo! Welcome to the Republican Party, Kathryn.

HT Dan V

I'm Reed Fish

2008-05-29T05:13:00.002-05:00

Browsing the "Instant Play" options for Romantic Comedies on Netflix, we came across this little-known film with mixed reviews and decided to give it a shot.

Not unlike The Rage in Placid Lake, I'm Reed Fish is a solid romantic comedy with an eclectic bundle of interesting characters and set in Anytown, USA. Any little town that is. Without giving too much away, the film is set within a film, which adds an interesting twist to the plot while also nicely leaving the outcome not as predictable as you might be lead to think. Plus, you get to find out what a "Zorse" is.

Reed Fish, at age 24 has inherited his little town's radio station and it's loyal following from his father, the town's legendary radio personality, who along with his mother died in a car accident, leaving Reed with an empty home and big shoes to fill.

He has everyone's ear every morning at 8 AM...or 8:03 or whenever he happens to show up for his popular show. He also has the heart of the town's sweetheart, daughter of the area's richest man, who he will soon marry.

Reed loses his grove however when an old flame returns home from college for the summer. Will Reed go through with his perfectly laid plans?

I recommend you check it out and find out.

You First

2008-05-28T05:54:00.002-05:00

Decades ago, the Japanese stormed our shores offering more for less. More quality, features, innovation and value. Now they dominate the automotive industry and Toyota is soon to be the world's largest automaker.

The transition was not instant however and for years Japanese product was considered cheap, unpatriotic or both. Once Honda, Nissan (then Datsun) and Toyota established beachheads here, consumers discovered that the Big Three weren't responding with adequate product.

The tipping point was reached and the Big Three were left scrambling.

Meanwhile, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda readied bold plans to move decidedly upmarket with their respective Lexus, Acura, Infiniti and Amati brands. Acura had a hit with the Legend, Lexus was close behind with the ES and LS while Infiniti almost completely failed with an ill-fated zen-influenced ad campaign and the wrong designs. Mazda's effort was stillborn leaving dealers miffed, but also leaving them with a pretty good car, the Millenia.

Now Hyundai, quietly working in the background has been making better and better cars and making claims along the lines of "7-Series space at a 3-series price" but failing to deliver the cachet to reach their own tipping point. Reviews are generally good but Hyundai's just aren't cool yet.

First Drive: 2009 Hyundai Genesis sedan

Autoblog recently spent time in Korea driving pre-production versions of the new Hyundai Genesis. This is the car that, according to Hyundai, will usher in a new era of luxury. Them's big words, and we only got a limited amount of time to figure out how true -- or not -- they were. But the main thing you need to know about the Genesis is this: unless they pull a bait and switch on the price range they mentioned, the car will be worth every penny Hyundai charges.

The current Hyundai lineup offers nice-enough looking designs, especially at the top end with compelling offerings coming soon in the 300-plus HP Genesis sedan and coupe. Hyundai offers a ten-year, 100K power train warranty and a five-year, 60K vehicle warranty - both on par not with Honda and Toyota but rather with Acura and Lexus.

Hondas and Toyota's weren't cool at first either but their respective luxury brands gained traction immediately. What made the difference? Novelty? Did it have something to do with the mindset of baby boomers in the late 80's?

In any case, I am intrigued with Hyundai's efforts and yet have no desire to own one. They are all very nice looking cars - save the Hyundai nameplate. It's simple. They're not cool yet. Time will tell whether they can elbow their way into the marketplace. In the mean time...

...you first.

Splat! A Claymation

2008-05-27T06:14:00.000-05:00

The Roosh Three (Number One, Jujubee and JBird) were busy today producing another film...

Memorial Day Rounds

2008-05-26T18:26:00.008-05:00

The Five of us loaded up our bikes and made our usual Memorial Day rounds although this year instead of visiting Fort Snelling National Cemetery we substituted the I-35W Bridge site.

It is truly remarkable to see how much fabrication has taken place in such a short time. There were workers on site even today. I can tell you that seeing this structure in person confirms that this is a very different type of structure, both in design and scale, than the previous bridge.

On our last stop we toured the Minnehaha Falls area including a quick pass of Lock and Dam No. 1.

(Click on the pictures for larger versions)

I was trained by a family that taught me to love our country, not blame it.

2008-05-26T07:26:00.004-05:00

Protesting the Antiwar Protestors

Memorial Day isn't until Monday. But for Rich Davis, a 20-year veteran of the Navy, it seems to come every Saturday. That's when he pulls out a handmade sign and heads for a street corner near the Chester County Court House in this suburban Philadelphia community.

Mr. Davis, 54, is a pro-military protester who makes a public stand each week in support of the troops and their mission.

"We're not silent anymore," Mr. Davis told me. "We refuse to let antiwar protesters have the stage to themselves."

Not that he wants to stifle dissent. He just doesn't want to go unanswered the signs and protests that he believes encourage the enemy and demoralize U.S. troops. So, sign in hand in September, he walked to the corner praying he would have the strength to stand there, to be seen and heard.

"Every time we go out, I remind the guys that we represent more than ourselves," he told me. "The troops and their families look at us. So I hope we present ourselves with the same type of dignity, courage and honor that our own sons and daughters are showing in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Mr. Davis notes that he has been accused of being part of a vast right-wing conspiracy that trains and pays pro-troop advocates. Asked about that, he offers an answer that may inspire others to join his efforts.

"In a way they're right," he told me. "I was trained by a family that taught me to love our country, not blame it. And I am paid by troops and their families who say thanks for doing this, thanks for being here."

Who Cares What They Think

2008-05-26T06:30:00.001-05:00

Indiana Jones movie upsets communists

[crickets chirping]

Moscow Communist lawmaker Andrei Andreyev said Saturday "it is very disturbing if talented directors want to provoke a new Cold War."

While we're on the topic, I wonder if the Communists -er Socialists -er I mean Democrats here in Minnesota...

...have an opinion on the besmirching of their body politik

Rendition

2008-05-25T20:37:00.003-05:00

Rendition is the story of an Egyptian-born legal US resident, a chemical engineer with a nice home, two new cars in the garage, and a lovely wife (Reese Witherspoon, always a pleasure) who while travelling abroad receives a wrong number call from a known terrorist. This unlikely event coupled with his knowledge of explosives and his Egyptian heritage are enough to implicate him in a recent terrorist bombing. He is picked up by CIA operatives, detained and tortured.

One of the CIA team members, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, starts to realize that their subject really is innocent. But what can he do? He's the only one. Alan Arkin (who was awesome as the paranoid psychiatrist in one of my all-time favorites Grosse Pointe Blank) plays a Senator whose office is appealed upon to help, to no avail.

Rendition is a solid film for the first sixty minutes, then it loses momentum, dragging on for a full and unnecessary additional sixty-plus minutes.

Meryl Streep (sometimes a pleasure) is the head of the unit that oversees these covert tortures, authorized after 9/11. Her gravitas however, is wasted here.

I'd give it a C+: pass on it.

Jay Leno: Quality and Design are the Key to America's Automotive Survival

2008-05-25T06:06:00.002-05:00

Jay Leno, one of the worlds most notorious Motorheads, wrote a piece for MSNBC.com, and tells Detroit how to fix itself. I think Mr. Leno makes a couple really good points, a couple of which I have posted on.

That is to say, Americans want to buy American but they've been let down so many times by shortcuts in quality, design and engineering by the Big Three (in an effort to offset costs inflicted by the unions) that they have stopped coming back. Now, the next generation of car-buyers have no loyalty to the American auto maker whatsoever.

It ain’t that hard folks — make better cars

The type of vehicles America makes best are, unfortunately, not the type of vehicles that people really want anymore.

Where we seem to lose it is in the low-bucks econocar.

...the one thing we used to do better than anybody else was build cheap, extremely high-quality cars.

When you get into a high-priced, well-made American car today and the key is in the ignition, you hear a melodic bong, bong. But when you get in a cheap American car, like a rental, and the key is left in, it goes plink, plink, plink. It’s just horrible. Every time you use the turn signal, it’s like breaking a chicken leg.

In order to make the more expensive car more appealing, U.S. companies feel as though they have to dumb down the cheaper car.

I believe that, all things being equal, Americans will buy American. It just has to be as good as the competition; it doesn’t have to be better. The classic example is Harley-Davidson.

The automakers are starting to think like Harley and understand that when you get into an automobile, everything should be appealing to you. If you see stitching that’s out of line on the dashboard, you’re going to get madder and madder every time you see it. That’s one place where the American car companies dropped the ball.

Is it any wonder?

When was the last time you heard this said about an American Car?

Quality is Job One...Again

Do you think I'm Pretty?

Stop the Madness

I want to buy American

Pew Litter Winner

2008-05-24T06:51:00.000-05:00

Weezer - Pork and Beans

2008-05-24T06:35:00.001-05:00

Rugged Entrepreneurialism

2008-05-24T06:27:00.000-05:00

The entire world seems to be heading toward points of inflection. The developing world is embarking on the digital age. The developed world is entering the Internet era. And the United States, once again at the vanguard, is on the verge of becoming the world's first Entrepreneurial Nation.

Technology and the ever-present desire on the part of Americans to improve their standard of living will in my opinion generate a whole new generation of conservatives. Young Americans, having at their disposal an unprecedented level of tools and technology while at the same time wishing to circumvent corporate America will act on a dream/vision of a lifestyle where the boundaries between work and recreation will dissolve.

The concept of the rogue serial entrepreneur will give way to an entire generation of entrepreneurs.

A new wave of check-writing taxpayers will birth a new wave of fiscal conservatives.

What are check-writing taxpayers you ask? Well if you have to ask, you are probably a liberal.

A check-writing taxpayer is

Someone who actually pays taxes
Someone who actually has to write a check to the "US Treasury" or "Minnesota Revenue" (vs. having it withheld thus never really having even temporary control of those dollars)

That is to say, a self-employed individual. After writing a few five-figure checks to the above payees leads the payor to start wondering just exactly where that money (which theretofore was sitting happily in the business checking account) went.

I don't think there are very many check-writing liberals out there.

So this article...

The Next American Frontier

...has me hoping that a generation of entrepreneurs will breed a new wave of check-writing fiscal conservatives.

The most compelling statistic of all? Half of all new college graduates now believe that self-employment is more secure than a full-time job. Today, 80% of the colleges and universities in the U.S. now offer courses on entrepreneurship; 60% of Gen Y business owners consider themselves to be serial entrepreneurs, according to Inc. magazine. Tellingly, 18 to 24-year-olds are starting companies at a faster rate than 35 to 44-year-olds. And 70% of today's high schoolers intend to start their own companies, according to a Gallup poll.

An upcoming wave of new workers in our society will never work for an established company if they can help it. To them, having a traditional job is one of the biggest career failures they can imagine.

Much of childhood today is spent, not in organized sports or organizations, but in ad hoc teams playing online games such as Half Life, or competing in robotics tournaments, or in constructing and decorating MySpace pages. Without knowing it, we have been training a whole generation of young entrepreneurs.

And who is going to dissuade them? Mom, who is a self-employed consultant working out of the spare bedroom? Or Dad, who is at Starbuck's working on the spreadsheet of his new business plan?

Being good entrepreneurs, it's time to look ahead, develop a good plan, and then bet everything on ourselves.

In the past there have been trading states like Venice, commercial regions like the Hanseatic League, and even so-called nations of shopkeepers. But there has never been a nation in which the dominant paradigm is entrepreneurship. Not just self-employment or sole proprietorship, but serial company-building, entire careers built on perpetual change, independence and the endless pursuit of the next opportunity.

For all of our fears about privacy and security, for all the added pressures that will be created by heightened competition and clashing ambitions, America as an entrepreneurial nation will reward each of us with greater independence – and perhaps even greater happiness – than ever before. It waits out there for each of us. Being good entrepreneurs, it's time to look ahead, develop a good plan, and then bet everything on ourselves.

Michael Clayton

2008-05-23T06:18:00.001-05:00

Michael Clayton is the story of a seventeen-year utility player, a bagman, a clean up artist, a closer for a prestigious law firm in the verge of orchestrating a three billion dollar settlement between a agribusiness leviathan, their client, and plaintiffs who claimed their chemicals, leaching into groundwater, caused dire health issues.

When the firms lead attorney goes off his medication and strips naked in a video-taped deposition, Clayton, played by George Clooney is sent in to clean up the mess.

When he finds that his partner wasn't so crazy after all and had actually grown a conscience, Clayton is torn between his allegiance to the firm and his own sensibilities.

Michael Clayton is an engrossing murder/counter-intelligence legal thriller as well as an entertaining character study. Written by Tony Gilroy who is also responsible for The Bourne Identity trilogy, it is a little Changing Lanes, a little Jerry Maguire, The Rainmaker and A Civil Action.

Sydney Pollack is at home in his role as the patriarch of the firm, not unlike Changing Lanes where he essentially plays the very same character.

State of the Race

2008-05-23T04:56:00.000-05:00

Love at First Sight

2008-05-22T05:43:00.001-05:00

2009 Audi A4; coming this fall.

Five inches longer, two inches wider.

265 HP 3.2 Liter Direct-Injection V6 connected to all four wheels via a Six-Speed Tiptronic Transmission.

I'll take a white one please.