Friday, March 31, 2006

French Economics Class

Note: I was going to post a pic of the fwench flag in distess mode, but a white flag looks the same right-side-up or up-side-down.

I have been watching the fwench riots over the new employment law proposed for new entries into the job market. I am completely asstounded that the attendees of the pre-emminant universities in fwance, do not have the slightest clue how the job markets work.
Jeanne Tonnabel, 20, student

Under this law, the young will become a disposable commodity. Employers will take people on, train them quickly, keep them for a while and then chuck them out to hire replacements.

This law legitimises the exploitation of people.

I don't think I have ever heard of this practice by business. It usually takes about two years to train an employee in all the facets of a new job. Once you have invested that amount in time and money in a person to teach them to handle a job, you don't just chuck them. However, if after two years the employee cannot perform the job, or shows no interest in doing the job, you chuck them and get someone who will perform.

Emilie Lagand, 20, student

I am against a law that allows bosses to do whatever they want with us. It makes me laugh when the government says it will create jobs - what it will create is more insecurity.

It makes things worse for young people.

OMG, a boss being able to decide how to run a company? How can this be a good thing. Since when did letting the inmates run the asylum become a business model?

It will create more insecurity? I hope so. If you cannot learn to do the job you are hired for, you need to find what you are able to do and move on. Just because you have a university degree in a field does not necessarily mean you are cut out to handle the work in the real world. The way they hand out grades today, just for trying, won't cut it in the work place. You are there to make money for the company and this seems to be the part they aren't teaching. Where do they think the company gets the money to pay them?

"It makes things worse for the young people." Tough shit. If you like having 20% unemployment, stay the course, but if you do, realize that things can actually get worse than they are now. Without allowing a company the ability to "test drive" a new hire, they will just stick with the old dependable clunker that has gotten them around so far. No need to go out on a limb and invest in the shiny new model that maybe isn't everything it promised in the advertising pamphlet.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Now, What Was I Going To Say?


I have calmed down since yesterday, but I am actually madder at this whole situation than I was. The more I read and see, the more I just want to start sweeps of the neighborhoods and load these people up and ship 'em back to there home country.

They show no respect for this country and no respect for the education that they are receiving here. I could rant on for pages on this, but I think I will just link to some sites that cover what I would be saying.

This hits on El Presidente Vincente Fox's total disdain for anything we do to try to stem the flow accross our southern border.
Vicente Fox Needs a Lesson in Civility from Human events Online

Using some revisionist history (maybe they did learn something in our schools) the groups sponsoring the marches (riots) have decided that the gringos have to leave their land. What about the Indians that the Mexicans killed and displaced to take this land.
Marchers say gringos, not illegals, have to go from WorldNetDaily

From Joseph Farah at WorldNetDaily
Notice how these people are not asking for a favor, they are demanding their "right" to stay in a country they violated with their first act.

I was the only white employee at a company for 30 years. All the guys that I worked with were Mexican and came here legally, and I had a hard time understanding why they were always so pissed off at the illegals that we'd see while working out in the oil field. They would tell me about a brother or cousin that was all cleared to come here, had a job lined up, only to be told the job went to some illegal that (of course) would work for less.

I went through the previous two amnesty programs that were suppose to take care of the problem. All they did was make it worse. They now know if they can get in the country and lay low for 5 to 10 years, there'll be another amnesty, so why wait and try to do it the correct way.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

I Am Just Too Spitting Mad

I was going to expound on the riots in France (socialist idiots) and/or the Immigration Bill (sellout of our sovereignty), but I'm still to steamed about them to write.

I did find an article by Sig94 with a comparison of crimes between Australia and the U.S. since the Aussie's passed gun restrictions.

Fun With Numbers: Part I Anti-Gun BS Alert

After all this time: More remains discovered near WTC site, From CNN.com

Ok one thing on illegal immigration from the Emperor: A Brilliant Proposal To Deal With Car Theft.

UPDATE: Sig94 has added Fun with Numbers Part II, covering the way the Brits skew their numbers for violent crimes.

Monday, March 27, 2006

It's Party Time

I saw an ad tonight for what has got to be the worst product ever offered by cable On-Demand. For the meager sum of $6.95 per month you can have On Demand Karaoke.

Now why anyone would be willing to pay 84 bucks a year for this service is beyond me, and if any of my neighbors subscribe to this, I pray they are waaayy beyond my (and my dogs) range of hearing.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Immigration


If you think that this picture is out of the ordinary for the rally, you would be mistaken. This is a pretty good example what flowed by my workplace today. There were some American flags, but not nearly as many as foreign flags.

From Boxer blasts migrant proposal: sbsun.com
Boxer said a jobs program needs to be created for illegal immigrants that would help them receive proper documentation.

Here we go, another program paid for by the taxpayer to reward law breakers. When are the elites like Sen. Boxer going to understand that the people are fed up with paying for subsidies for illegals. Hospitals closing, states going backrupt all so they can get the latino vote.

From The Washington Post
Calif. City to Enforce Immigration Law
COSTA MESA, Calif. -- A new city policy that would give police the authority to enforce federal immigration law is hurting local businesses even though it has yet to be implemented, merchants say.

G-d forbid that someone should enforce the law. The businesses that are complaining about losing customers? They deal with the illegals that do not speak English, so they buy exclusively from these stores that cater to the unintegrated.

From CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Some never adopt English as second language
Nearly everything the 44-year-old janitor needs can be had in her mother tongue. She shops in Spanish, files police reports, talks to nurses and teachers and voice-mail systems. For 17 years, Alvarado has lived in a Spanish-speaking world, first in Los Angeles and now in Concord's Monument Corridor.

17 years and can't speak English.
About 10 percent of the households in the Bay Area are considered "linguistically isolated" with no adults speaking English proficiently.

Dozens of businesses up and down Monument Boulevard cater to Spanish speaking customers. Spanish is heard on every corner. Alvarado says she can get everything she needs without having to speak English.

"The world is changing for them and it's hard for them to accept those changes," said Yee [Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco-ed.], who is also a psychologist.
"I understand how these individuals feel. The reality, however, is that is America - America was made of immigrants who came with all different languages and customs and cultures."

And, in the past, learned to communicate.

If the U.S. continuse to cater to the law breakers, the citiaens are going to lose respect for the law. Things are just to tight, we cannot afford to pay for everyone to come here and live the good life if that person is not equipped to move up the ladder of success offered because they are unable to communicate with the people they work with.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has her as always excellent coverage of this. Please scroll down to the quotes from past presidents on immigration.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

The Prez Speaks

I was off work today and was able to watch the President's speach and Q&A today in West Virginia. The tone of his speach was something I hadn't heard from him in quite a while. It dovetailed off his exchange with Helen Thomas yesterday and made his rating, in my eyes, go up a couple of points.

I'm still not completely behind him on all issues, but at least he's out and explaining what and why he has made the moves he has. I have always been behind going to Afganistan and Iraq, though not to thrilled wiht how it was being handled. The difference now is he is saying we made mistakes and this is how we have changed policy to adapt. That is what I and the rest of the country needed to hear from him.

I must point out that the favorite part of the Q&A session was when the wife of the military media soldier said her husband had multiple DVD's of the goood things that were happening in Iraq and why weren't the MSM showing this side of being there? The standing ovation said it all. People are aware that we are doing more than just running around shooting at terrorists, and why doesn't that ever get on TV?

I hope the major media outlets take note of that responce and gets off their butts and make an effort to at tleast appear to present a balanced presentation.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Student Riots Over Jobs

With excerpts from"French police subdue riots over jobs law
by
ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press

With youth unemployment at 24% nationwide and 50% for "impoverished youth" (wonder who that could be), fwench students are rioting in the streets about a new bill that would make it easier to fire someone during the first two years of employment. In fwance that isn't a lot of time on the job with a 35 hour maximum work week, 5 weeks vacation and 12 holidays, damn, they get more days off than my kid in high school, and I wonder when he has time to learn anything being he always seems to be off.

In an apparent effort to set fire to a police van serving as a blockade, protesters instead torched the entrance of a nearby Gap store, apparently by accident, engulfing the small porch in flames.

Appearantly, they're going to need the job security if they are so inept that they set a store on fire instead of a van.
Companies are often reluctant to add employees because it is hard to let them go if business conditions worsen.

Obviously they do not teach economics in college there. A business that is doing good now may want to expand to increase production, if it doesn't work out you would want to lay off people. In fwance you can't, once you hire someone they are your's for life. The answer, don't hire anyone and don't take a chance on growing your business.
Critics say the contract abolishes labor protections crucial to the social fabric.

The socialist fabric is more like it. Employment for life regardless of whether you can do the job or not.
"Aren't we the future of France?" asked Aurelie Silan, a 20-year-old student who joined a river of protesters in Paris.

If you are Aurelie, the country might as well just turn out the lights now and save the electric bill.

If someone is not capable of stying interested in their job and trying hard to make money for the company for two years, what kind of employee are they going to be in 5, 10, 15 years? Remember, if you hire them, you cannot fire them. You pay their salary for life.

The shortened work week was originally set up to enable companies to hire a few more people to fill those extra five hours each week from the other employees, but it didn't work that way. Instead everyone just worked less time.

fwance is coming to a crossroad on this, with unemployment so high they are not going to be able to pay the retirement benefits promised. They were counting on being able to tap into the Euopean Union to stave it off longer, but it looks like the EU is not going to be what fwance intended it to be.

Understanding Each Other

Someone brought in a Time Magazine to work and I was looking for something to peruse while stuck on the other side of the yard watching a tank drain.

There was an article "10 Questions for Karen Hughes", she is the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, and one Q&A got stuck in my head.

From Time, February 20, 2006

Q:Any surprises during your Middle Eastern listening tour last year?

A: When I was in Saudi Arabia, women there kept saying, "You media said this, your media sad that," and I finally realized they were talking about an Oprah Winfrey show about domestic violence in Saudi Arabia. Because they don't understand the independence of our media, they thought I put Oprah up to that.


If they cannot grasp the simple idea of the freedoms of this country and how the media works within it, it is no wonder we aren't getting anywhere with understanding each other. That they would think that Oprah was a mouthpiece for the government really makes me wonder what the hell they are being told about this country and what could they think. G-d help us if they’ve seen Jerry Springer or Cops.

I can believe that they could think our media is controlled, or at least influenced, by our government because, I assume, they know that theirs is. But that would lead to the question of why would they believe anything that comes out of either side? Perhaps that is the problem, they know their government lies to them and just assume that ours lies also. The only difference seems to be is as American’s get feed up with their news sources, they find or create new ones. The rest of the world just gets mad at America.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Katrina Gun Confiscation and Other Things

Still being on shaky ground from covering a sick workers shift for the last two days, I will just point you to some other good stories and blogs for now.

On the gun confiscation following Hurricane Katrina, the official denial and now admittance of wrong, I give you the article from U.S. Newswire and then Kim du Toit's excellent (as always) take on the situation.

Over at Vince Aut Moirre, a new Muslim blogger, Muslihoon, has joined the other writers their to give his take on On the West's superiority (with questions for relativists).

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Working Double Shift

I am dead tired today. It's my Monday and my relief called in sick. I've be at work since 5AM (it's 7 PM now)with 2 hours to go. So just things I ran across/

From CNSNews.com on the Takeover of the White House that had been scheduled for today. Turns out the organizers are to busy fighting each other to pull off their coup.

That is all.

Oh, I did see a cool police chase that went right by work today. Must have been 20 to 30 cop cars after a SUV.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Brucia's Killer Sentenced to Death for 11-Year-Old's Murder

I just happened to be on the phone with my Dad while the judge was reading the sentence. My Dad said the judge had been reading his sentence for over an hour. this really made me nervous, usually when it takes this long to explain something, it more often than not isn't good news. The sentence was death.

Did we high five or go whoo-who? No. We just went thank you that this animal will have to pay the ultimate price for what he did. He tortured and killed an eleven year old child.

From FOXNews.com
During a hearing last month, Smith tearfully apologized for his crimes, telling the judge that he took large amounts of heroin and cocaine in an attempt to kill himself on the day he abducted Brucia in 2004.


Well, you didn't take enough to spare us the resposibility of having to do this for you. Your instincts were right, you no longer are fit to live in this society.

Smith said he did not remember much about that day and asked the judge to spare him for the sake of his family.


This statement make me wonder, do you not remember what happened that day because you were blitzed before the crime, or you realized what pond scum you are and then took the drugs to wipe out that image of yourself? And spare him for the sake of his family? What, do you think your family will want to visit you to discuss your imput on their science fair project? Your wife is going to wait for you? I would think your family would be the first to want you blotted out so they never have to think that they were related to you. Every time you appeal to stay your sentence, your family will be spotlighted by the media to find out if they want their Husband/Dad dead. How would you feel if you had to say "Yes, my father was an evil person who did a dispicable thing and should be dead"?

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

I Hit 100

A milestone in my blogging history has been reached this very night. I crossed over 100 visitors. Of course by going to the Site Meter page, I find that 80% of the hits are people just cruising through Blogger hitting the "next blog" button with a view time here of 0 seconds. But I don't care, I'm going to celebrate and set my next goal. I aim to get to 132 by no later than the end of May.

When Do I Sleep?


In case anyone wonders why it seems that I can post to blogs at all hours of the day and when the hell do I sleep, I'’ll give you my work schedule. I work what is called a line shift. Somewhere, someone came up with what is supposed to be the fairest and easiest to adapt to schedule to cover a 24 hour site with 4 operators. It goes like this:

Afternoons: 1PM to 9PM X 7 days Tuesday to Monday
Off X2 days
Days: 5AM to –1PM X 6 days Thursday to Tuesday
Off: X1.75 days
Graveyard: 9PM to 5AM X 7 days Wednesday-Thursday
Off: X5.25days

Now, I have been doing this for over two years now, one would think you would adjust to it. No, you don'’t. My brain and my body are constantly at war, one wants sleep and the other wants to go do something. This frequently results in inertia. I'’m physically ready to tackle a project, but my mind is wandering, or, I'’ve got this great idea to get this done and my body just goes "“it ain'’t gonna happen."

The other fun thing about living like this is try to figure out what you're available for in a month or two on weekends. In order to do this I have to have my handy-dandy schedule (Pictured above).

Easy, no? At some point, at some time, I'’m going to post somewhere, something that anyone who reads it is going to go "“What the Hell??". That is when the accumulation of this rotation has caught up and lapped me. I will probably disappear for a short time to hibernate and resynch my internal clocks.

Imagine

While I was in the shower, the radio which my wife had set to an Oldies station, played John Lennon's "Imagine". I've always liked the song, the idea that we all could get along is a nice ideal to strive for.

It got me to thinking, with all of the groups around to promote understanding of a particular cause (CAIR, GLAAD, JDL ect.), why does it seem we haven't made any progress? The conclusion I came to was that these groups are not promoting an understanding, they are only pushing that those disinclined to their position accept it, no if, ands or buts. They do not care about your opinion at all. No compromise, no agreement to disagree. It's full acceptance or nothing.

Truthfully though, it doesn't matter whether you arrive at an understanding, they say fine, now we want this. No matter how much you allow them, they move the end zone and start crying about how intolerant you are.

What about understanding my side of the issue. That never seems to happen. If your religion says that you should kill me, a good way of getting me to try to understand the rest of your faith would be to definitively state that this is not your goal, or that is going to be what I'm going to be concerned about. The rest is unimportant if you are going to do me in because I won't join you.

I don't hate gays. I don't care if you're gay. I just don't want it in my face. Two guys walking down the street holding hands doesn't make me freak out, it just isn't my thing. But two guys tongue wrestling in public is as offensive as a guy and girl doing it in public. If you insist that I accept a person walking down the street wearing leather chaps and a jock strap with a harness vest on...it ain't gonna happen.

You may say thay I am intolerant or unwilling to understand, actually all I want is for my beliefs to be respected too.

Lennon's song was based on the idea that all things are equal, no judgement of anything, no Heaven, no Hell, no good, no evil. It not realistic, there is right and wrong, your opinion and my opinion of what falls where. Wishing it away doesn't change reality.

Some Good Reads

"We can do better" by David Limbaugh updates us on the Dem's agenda for the 2006 elections.

For some good news, this is a good article on the state of how the average person's life by Jim Ruiz - The trouble with ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and that crowd

Monday, March 13, 2006

Goodbye Jerome "Chef" McElroy


Isaac Hayes has left South Park. He will no longer be providing the voice of Chef. The reason, he feels the show does not show respect to religion. If you have every watched South Park you might be surprised that after all this time he had now decided that the show is disrepectful of different religions. Every week they pick on Kyle for being a Jew not to mention the Jesus v Santa Claus show. They have let the muslims have it in a few episodes. They figure there is something to skewer about any subject. However it seems that they stepped over the line, as far as Hayes is concerned by attacking Scientology. He never comes out and says that is the specific reason, but after 9 years, he finally realizes that they make fun of religion. This revelation came to him after they did a spoof on Scientology. I probably should memtion that Isaac is a Scientologist. Guess it isn't so funny when it's your ox being gored.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Teacher's Union Upset Again

The Teacher's Union in Chicago is upset. The district is going to post the number of sick days a teacher takes on the internet and on student report cards.

The average number of days missed is 12. The district considers 18 days a teaching month (4 weeks x 5 days = 18? new math), so teachers miss 1 month out of the 9.5 they are suppose to be on the job. I know they are trapped in a room with disease ridden children, but give me a break. I have worked for the last 30+ years outdoors in all kinds of weather and I have taken 8 sick days, and a couple of those were half days where I went home after trying. I went in, told them I didn't feel well and was willing to work until they could do without me. I went home slept llike the dead, and made it to work the next day.

The Teacher's Union is saying this is "UNFAIR" to let the public know how many days a teacher weren't at their job. The teacher's employer is THE PUBLIC. We pay you to teach our kids, you are a public servant. Get that into your head. We always hear how you went into teaching because you care about the children. Well, provide an example by showing up to work and teach them that sometimes sticking to something even when you don't quit feel like it is the way life goes. or is it I don't feel like doing this today so "Mental Health Day", screw my employer?

Oh. I almost forgot the most often missed day was Friday.

Respect or Fear

The University of Saskatchewan publication The Sheaf refuses to publish the "controversial" mohammed cartoons "out of respect for the islamic religion", has published one of the most vile anti-Christian cartoons I have run across. I am not going to post it here, but if you want to see it you can go to Lost Budgie Blog. I am by no means a prude or a devote Christian, but the complete lack of any respect towards the Christian faith is appalling.

The total hypocrisy of the stance of this newspaper is galling. They obviously do not fear militant Christians rising up and burning their office or threatening the staff with beheading. Although they are comfortable with equating the Christians with the muslims. If they fear reprisal by the muslims, just say it, don't hid behind a false claim of respect. I honestly believe the publishers of this cartoon have no respect for anybody or anything. They do fear the muslims.

UPDATE: Dubai Port Deal Sunk


Back on March 10th I did a post Dubai Port Deal Sunk. In it I expressed my concerns about after all the hue and cry that nothing was changing as far as actual port security, I came across an article today that is written by a man who is much smarter than I (Mheh) who covers this exact problem in detail. Want to scare yourself go read this article, then write your congresscritter to do something that will really do something about the ports that will make a difference.

The day a nuke hit our port by Robert Pfriender.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

This and That

Tom Fox was found dead in Iraq. Shot in the head. This man wasn't on a side, all he wanted to do was to help the people of Iraq, so the Swords of Righteousness Brigade kidnapped him, tortured him, killed him and threw him in a garbage dump.

I don't necessarily agree with his position on the was, but neither do I wish him ill for trying to see that medicine got to clinics and provided a link between jailed Iraqis and their families.

Religion of Peace--my ass.
-------------------------------

This ones should disturb everyone. Google, the most used search engine for the internet has started censoring their search results here in the United States. If you run a search on The Peoples Cube, a satirical website that pokes fun at the left, it has disappeared. This happening here should strike fear into everyone who uses the net to find information. Google has now set themselves up as the arbiter of what is worthy of being read, rather than letting the internet users themselves decide by how often a site is searched.
-------------------------------

Enough for today, work was busy and even though there were a lot of things that irked me I have just run out of gas.

Friday, March 10, 2006

You Won't Believe Your Eyes

This is some of the most amazing artwork I have ever seen. That it is done on sidewalks just makes it all the more so. Go have a look and scroll slowly stopping to look at each one and see if you can figure out how he achieved the effect.

Amazing 3D Artwork

Alabama Church Fires

It seems that the series of arsons that occurred around Alabama have been solved. Three college age guys (adults) did it as a joke. A joke? I don't get it.

I might understand one idiot thinking it would be amusing to burn down a church, but to convince two others of how funny it would be to destroy property really makes me wonder what in the hell is going on. This reminds me of the rash of destruction a few years ago where kids were going into new housing developments and rampaging, breaking fixtures and putting holes in walls. Just for fun. At least in the house rampages the kids knew no one was inside and going to get hurt.

At the churches, how did these asshats know there was nobody inside? Someone could have been staying overnight for any number of reasons, sanctuary from an abusive spouse, caretaker, any number of reasons. They were just lucky.

What is going to happen to these ADULTS? One of them, through his lawyer, has stated he realizes he has screwed up and has put his future in jeopardy. Yeah, he has. When any of these guys are released from prison (if they do any time at all) they should be forced to pay restitution for rebuilding every one of the churches, the FULL amount.

Dubai Port Deal Sunk

It started as a rumble, grew to a roar and went out with a whimper. And after all of this...nothings really changed. The ports are still as susceptible to exploitation as before. The problem of inspection was never addressed in this whole brouhaha.

Now I am not particularly upset that DPW was forced to back out of the U.S. part of the acquisition, far from it. They may be our ally now, but they were not in the past, and we can't be absolutely sure about the future. Add onto that the fact that Dubai has the policy of boycotting any Israeli imports, wether enforced or not. Of course it isn't enforced because Israel is the only productive country in the area. DPW even contracts with Zim, an Israeli shipping company.

The one argument that, to me, was probably the lamest was "what if a nuclear bomb went off in a port?" If you think about this, it is utter BS. If a bomb is on a ship in the harbor and the Coast Guard is looking at it during a cargo inspection, if it goes off then, well we knew it was there, but to late. The port is gone. Security needs to start at the point the cargo is loaded onto the ship before it gets to the U.S. On that problem, Dubai was the first to allow U.S. Customs to set up shop in their country and inspect cargo leaving their ports for America.

Now that the deal with DPW is gone, we turn to the next question. Who is going to manage our ports? Port management is a field that American companies have abandoned. Who can they get to take on this task ? A large company with deep pockets is going to be needed to fulfill this huge undertaking. Who fits this criteria? Halliburton. The Donk's will go crazy if this is proposed. They and the Daily Kos crowd will be screaming the whole port deal was a setup from the start for Bush to give more money to his buddies.

The other choice is even scarier. The Government will take it over. Get ready for massive inflation. The cost of loading and unloading cargo will triple. We know how well government does when they decide to run something. Airport security, we're spending billions more and the lines keep getting longer and no one feels any safer. Or take Amtrak, the government took it over to protect the rail system and the taxpayer has to subsidize every ticket bought (around 40%) to get it to meet expenses.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Noah's Ark














From WorldNetDaily

Labeled the Ararat Annomaly and located on the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat, this digital picture has raised interest as to whether there could be proof of the story in Genesis. The measuments fit the 6:1 ratio described in the Bible.

The associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond, Porcher Taylor, is lobbying the intelligence community to release more detailed pictures of the site, being Turkey will not allow any scientific expeditions access to the site.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

A Taliban at Yale

Everyone knows (I hope) about the Taliban's former ambassador-at-large Rahmatullah Hashemi being admitted to Yale. How having a islamofacist as part of the student body is suppose to promote diversity is, perhaps, beyond my education, but a Yale grad and ASC interviewer also has questions.

Give Yale the Finger

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Hard Hats


(A silly rant)
I HATE HARD HATS!!!

Today was one of those days when we had outside contractors working on our site and I had to go into the cellar to do some work. This puts guys working above me with heavy wrenches and other implements of destruction . A dangerous situation to be sure, so I donned my hard hat so I would have a chance of coming out of the cellar alive if someone dropped something on my head while down there.

Now, hard hats have saved my life a couple of times. Once while removing the horse's head (on a beam pumping unit you civies call it the head of the grasshopper) the chain lifting it broke and that head came squarely down on my head. This hunk of steel weighs about 75 pounds and has edges to it. Without the hat it would have made a damn good dent, even with my thick skull. The other time a guy dropped a 24" pipe wrench on me from about 15 feet. So I am willing to admit the hats can come in handy.

One thing I hate about them is they never fit. Either to loose and they slip down over you eyes, or to tight and after about 30 minutes you have a headache.

The main thing I hate about them is when I walk into that piece of steel that is just above the brim of the hat (sneaky bugger). You don't see it coming and the hat has no real give, so the first indication that something's there is when your skull is jammed down between your shoulders. This is usually good for about 2 days of mostly looking straight ahead because it hurts to move your neck, not debilitating, just enough that you go "damn my necks sore".

My preferred headware, unless there's someone above me with heavy stuff that I figure they will drop on me, is a straw cowboy hat (see pic on profile). If your head is approaching something hard that you weren't aware of, the hat starts to crush. This acts as an antennae. You know something coming and have a chance to stop before it hits. Even if you do hit the steel, the hat cushions the blow.

Arriving Late for the Oscars

I did not watch the Oscars. My wife had it on in our room and my son watched it in the living room, so as I ambled about the house as I'm prone to do, I caught a bit here and there. I haven't sat down a watch the awards program for about 20 years. It just seems rather self center of the industry to vote which of it's own product is the "best". I had not seen any of the pictures nominated for an award, so who won didn't interest me in the least, even if I had cared about the subject matter of the films. The little I saw bored me and after a 3 to 4 minute dose I was driven back to the computer.

The reason I am writing on this subject at all is because of an article I ran across regarding the ceremonies. It covered what was not said during this gaudy night of self aggrandizement.

It was "Speech we'd like to hear from an Academy Award winner" by Dennis Prager from WorldNetDaily

Monday, March 06, 2006

Un-Documented Aliens

First off let's get our nomenclature straightened out. Un-documented = Illegal. As someone who was born and raised in Southern California I do have a very deep felt opinion on this.

Am I a racist? That is going to depend on the definition of that word you want to use. I am proud to be white. Yes. So what? I think that we've done some pretty good things, mistakes, yeah, but overall not bad. Do I hate people of "color"? No. Do I think being white makes me superior to others. No.

So if not being ashamed of what I am makes me a racist, so be it. Now I could tell you that some of my best friends are of other races, which is true, but so what. I have never decided who I would trust to be a friend by skin color or nationality. I worked for a company for 30 years where I was the only white and never had any racial tension, because everyone worked hard to make money for the company and if we had differences of opinion, we recognized it as such, an opinion. Actually we were all fairly conservative so political differences were usually minor.

As I said earlier, I have lived my whole life in Los Angeles and have watched the city change over the last 50 years. A lot of it has been for the good. As a child, particularly where I lived, it was white. I still live in the town where I grew up and it's changed. I love all the ethnic restaurants, different music styles, and the people. In between moving out of my parents house and buying a house of my own back where I started, I have live in San Pedro, downtown L.A. (I could see City Hall from my front yard), and Burbank.

What does all this have to do with illegals? I can understand their wanting to come here for the opportunities available. The illegals that I have know have all been decent people, but that is beside the point. They broke into my country and are stealing. I have watched hospitals close their Emergency Rooms due to the constantly growing cases of unpaid treatment. I have seen 10 to 15 people living in a two bedroom apartment because their wages are so low and work so unsteady. Is this their fault? Yep. They moved here without having a job that would at least pay the costs of living in this country, and it is not my responcibility to make up the difference. If they would not offer themselves to work for non-living wages, the company would have to pay a living wage in order to stay in business. If that makes the thing I want to buy cost a buck or two more, then that's what it cost.

I watch as people come in and refuse to join with society, creating enclaves of foreign countries inside the cities. No need to learn to speak or write English, no reason to adopt or customs, it's just like where they came from. I have walked into many, many stores where NO ONE speaks any English. I don't go back. If they own a business and don't care enough to learn at least enough English to tell me how much something costs, they are not going to get my patronage.

What do I think should be done about this? Amnesty? No way, not now. I have gone through two amnesties, both were "going to be a one time offer just to get it under control". Now they want to do another one time deal. BS. I'm not saying deport them all now, but seal the borders now. Stop this migrating back and forth dead. I don't care if it takes the military, a big fence, even landmines. STOP IT NOW!! Once that is done, then let's take about amnesty. It's not fair to other immigrants waiting to legally come, but I do realize the nightmare of trying to deport a few million people. Once the amnesty is in place and if a person cannot prove they are here legally, you're out....and you will never get back. You're blackballed.

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Military Recruiters

From FoxNews

You would think being it is a Law School they should have figured this one out on there own, but noooo, it had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to explain the First Amendment to these bozos. In a UNANIMOUS (8-0) decision it was ruled that recruiters have the right to be on campus.

A person has a First Amendment right to protest the recruiters, but you cannot prohibit them from giving their side just because you do not like their position.

Judge Alito recused himself when it was before the 3ed Curcuit Court due to his association to the Law School and did not rule in this decision being the arguments were made before his appointment to the Court.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Escalation of Violence in Iraq

There are a couple of factors involved in the escalating attacks going on in Iraq over the last week or so.

  1. With the Iraqi army being deployed as the primary force, the terrorists are going to step up their assaults to test what kind of response they get from this basically unknown force. So far the army seems to up to the task being civil war has not broken out. However, I expect the attacks to continue and intensify as the splodeydopes realize the army just gets better as time goes along.
  2. The terrorists are just running out of time. Along with the Iraqi army getting better, the people themselves are starting to get pissed at the IEDs and mortars. The indiscriminate killing of civilians is eroding any sympathy to the "cause". These attacks are killing a whole lot of innocents and no U.S. military in most cases.
What happens over the next couple of months could be the real turning point. If the people stay focused on who is killing who and why, I think we will see a dramatic change in the mindset of the populace there with the people driving the terrorists out.

Double Standards?

With all the claims of persecution from the muzzies in Europe....and everywhere. What happens when they call for the massacre and beheading of anyone who does not agree with them. Well, it looks like nothing. Someone in Britain finally got feed up and produced a video calling on the government to address the situation.

***WARNING****Parts of this video are very graphic. If your are sqeemish at all DO NOT click the link below.

English Civil War by Mike Oxlong

Hat tip:maxxdog

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Saturday Nights Alright


Going out tonight with the wife and kid. Dinner then to the Alex Theater to see a remastered copy of Hitchcock's Notorious on the big screen. We've belonged to the Alex Film Society for a number of years and enjoy the oppotunity to see old films that we've seen hundreds of time on TV as they were meant to be seen--on the big screen.

This year I swear I'm going to the 9th Annual Three Stooges ™ Big Screen Event! November 29th. I've missed it the last few years due to work, but this year I work days, so even though I have to stay up waaay past my bedtime, I'm going. It will be the last time my son and I can go before he graduates High School and moves on.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Quote of the Day

By Puddle Pirate over at the Rott disussing the attempted abduction of one of the Danish cartoonists daughters by Islamic terrorists

"Somebody please tell me why we’re still wasting treasure and lives trying to civilize these fuckheads. It’s like trying to explain Mark Twain to a camel. "

MR. Carter-STFU

Hat tip to Lady Heather of Suburbia

EXpresident Cartuh, not happy with not being able to destroy the U.S. during his presidency, hasn't given up hope yet.

From The New York Sun
Mr. Carter said he made a personal promise to ambassadors from Egypt, Pakistan, and Cuba on the U.N. change issue that was undermined by America's ambassador, John Bolton. "My hope is that when the vote is taken," he told the Council on Foreign Relations, "the other members will outvote the United States."

Where the hell does this idiot get the idea that he has the power to promise anything to a foreign country about what the current government will do. He knows that the administration has had it with the widely discredited Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission and wants to replace it with a more accountable Human Rights Council.
Asked yesterday about his views on religion, Mr. Carter said, "The essence of my faith is one of peace." In a clear swipe at Mr. Bush's faith, and to a round of applause, he then added, "We worship the prince of peace, not of pre-emptive war." Mr. Carter then went on to attack American Christians who support Israel.

Mr. Peanut, of the 444 day Iranian embassy takeover, doesn't believe in pre-emptive war. That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone being he doesn't believe in emptive war either. That back handed swipe at Bush's faith really isn't very Christian is it? (Meeooww). Attacking Christians who support Israel, where is he coming up with this BS? Who am I suppose to back in the ME? An ally with a freely elected government, or some repressive group of 7th century regimes that want to destroy my country.
He also reiterated his known view that most of the problems in the Israeli-Arab front derive from Israel's settlement policies and its building of a defensive barrier in what he insisted on calling "Palestine."

Don't think about the rocket attacks and suicide bombers constantly going off in Israel in spite of the Palistinian "cease fire". Yeah, you cease and we fire.

My theory for Jimmie's going over the edge is that he (outside of being a closet communist) always dreamed of being Secretary-General of the Useless Nitwits and with Klintoon actively running for the postion, realizes he will never get the chance.

Student Indoctrination

Before I start I have to say I dislike posting without linking to the source of what I'm ranting about. However, for some odd reason when I've gone back to the link or tried other links this recording seems to be disappearing faster than I can type. So I can only hope that you've heard the tape or can track it down yourself.

Now, what I originally started to say:

I heard bits of the "Geography" teachers rant on how the U.S. and capitalism is responcible for all the evil in the world yesterday.

This morning I woke up about 3:30 AM (shifting off of graveyard schedule) and it's raining here, so I decided to listen to the recording. It's almost 22 minutes long. Now classes are about 50 minutes, subtract 5 minutes at the start for settling in and getting papers out etc. Then at the end, what 10 minutes to assign tomorrows work and pack up. That leaves about 35 minutes. So 35-22=13 minutes of what may have been actually covering geography. No wonder kids today can't even find Canada on a map.

If this was just this one class, I might have let it slide, but at the end of the tape, the teacher says that next they'll be covering how the world is getting smaller through globalization. Seems like he'll cover anything except the subject he's suppose to be teaching.

UPDATE: Just so you know I did get a download of the tape, so I do have proof of it's existance.

Plus the teacher was going to sue (using the ACLU) about a gag order which was removed and the suit dropped. Now we get to hear this moonbat explain himself.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Just Lots Of Linky Love

It's my Friday. Seven days of graveyard shift with the entire site shut down, I have just been a well paid securtity guard and was bored out of my mind.

So last night I got to surf all over and these are just some sites that caught my eye.

I lead off with a video of a debate Neocon Express: Stunning Interview: Arab-American, Dr. Wafa Sultan, At Great Personal Risk, Slams Islamic Radicalisim on Al Jazeera

Here's that apology the Muslim's have been requesting from the Danes for those cartoons.

A quick look at the Dem's plans for the upcoming elections courtesy of The Onion.

Bush's investigation into port security via IMAO (one of my favorite sites).

Ignorantselfisherterianism by Scott Adams at the Dilbert Blog.

That should keep you entertained and/or informed enough until I rest enough to enable my brain to string coherent thoughts together. Like that will ever happen.