The huge Obama rally in Oregon. You have to live out here to understand the extreme leftism alive in that state, particularly in Eugene and Portland. Extreme. Castro and Chavez could sell out the biggest arena in the state. My question regarding the huge crowd has to do with the age of the attendees. College Age, not so good. A big mix, great.

If you ain't seen Hitler singing "Movin' On Up," the Jeffersons theme song, then gather round all you Third Reich groupies and dig it......



There are other Hitler dubs that just ain't funny....
Taken Down, Hitler has a copyright. Go to here as I believe they may be actual creators.....

You Can't Teach a Dead Dog New Tricks

EXACTLY what is wrong with the Republican Party. Hits the nail squarely on the head: a brain dead leadership with no ideas at all.....My take: you can't teach a dead dog new tricks.

For all you sensitive types, this Power Point exhibition of the "100 Best Military Photographs" (Conflict Resolution Photos) will really affect you. Takes about ten minutes for the thing to play through but it's really good and it will affect you too...... Maybe too much......

Left out a trailer that the audience really liked, actually the only trailer the audience liked: Hancock....starring Will Smith. Great premise and the audience was laughing. Will be a monster hit.

More Lies and other lies

Government Inflation Bulletin: Benign, everything is OK. Food and energy are separate. These government bureaucrats will continue to lie to us til they are fired. The two most important things to all of us are: food and energy. But don't count that in the index. Jesus, nobody in Washington gives a fat fuck about anything other than their own turf......

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Inflation pressures eased a bit in April despite the biggest jump in food prices in 18 years. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent last month, compared to a 0.3 percent rise in March.

The lower inflation reflected a flat reading for energy, which helped offset a 0.9 percent jump in food costs as prices climbed for many basic items, from bread and milk to coffee and fresh fruits.The unchanged reading for energy reflected a big 4.8 percent jump in natural gas prices, offset by a 2 percent decline(?) in gasoline costs.

These fucking people should be taken out and shot.

Oxymoron of the day: Republican Leadership

Republicans lose a 100% GOP seat in Mississippi and the headline reads that the defeat is a "wakeup call for the party." Wake up call? You cannot wake somebody out of a vegetative state. These guys sold every one of us down the river for "entitlements," bigger budget deficits, bigger government, and outright corruption. The only thing we can do is get rid of all of them and start over, and there is no time like the present. It's the leadership, stupid. Why are they still there? Because the party is completely disconnected from it's so called leadership, a leadership elected by.....the leadership. Hey leadership! Fuck you.......

Late Add: the comments over at Ace's place tell the tale. We are all totally fed up with the Republicans. They are liars......

This is the exact way I feel about McCain. He is what he is, whatever that is. Look, he went through unimaginable torture and came out the other side. Nothing will ever scare him again. He will do whatever it is he wants to do because he has no fear of consequences, personal or political. He already knows what hell is like.

He's probably a centimeter better than Obama. Maybe.

Striped Icebergs off Antarctic

Striped icebergs confirmed as real by Snopes. Taken off of a research ship in Antarctic by Norwegian sailor Oyvind Tangen. Click on each to blow up. Details are here....

I have several comments regarding this post on Public Education wherein I sort of laughed at the problems the rich were having getting accepted to local public schools. The gist of the counter arguments are well taken. Summing them up:

We don't apologize for working our butts off to become successful and while at it, very well off. Whenever I see remarks about the "working man" I scoff because my (our) husband works harder and longer than any miner, factory worker, or college professor and he deserves any and all compensation he can get.

And we pay a ton of property taxes, more than enough to educate six kids and in some cases twenty or thirty. These taxes are supposed to go to education, but they do not. Instead they go for minority group pseudo education, low achiever education, and inflated public school teacher salaries. Yes, I own a (one to two million dollar) home or condo and I pay roughly (between sixty and two hundred thousand dollars) per year in property taxes plus special assessments, I'm also taxed extra for water and so on so that the "poor" can enjoy free services on my dime.

I pay the taxes for education and now I'm denied access to that education. You're dam right I'm going to do what I can to get what I pay for.

New York tax rate on homes is $65 per thousand dollar valuation which means that if you have a $1million home you will pay sixty five thousand dollars plus whatever special assessments are levied. The tax puts home ownership out of the reach of most people.

Obama to Nationalize Business?

I spent Mother's Day with parts of my totally communist family who were mourning the death of fucking Hillary and shaking in their shoes about the prospect of Obama actually being president. Not all my family members are commies but those of us not on the Left side of the divide sat and smiled. All the former Hillary supporters know every negative about Obama, where to look up the gory details, and everybody he knew. I know these people are not "hard left" and are basically middle class with more money than most of it, but they represent a strong demographic in this country and Obama ain't going to crack it. All own stock of some kind and the thing they actually fear most is his declared hatred of capitalism, his determination to tax the successful, and his association with Black Criminals in Chicago (something I knew nothing about).

First, there is no question that the hard left capitalist haters support Obama in his quest and that there is the usual "destroy capitalism" swarm that has massed around him seeking influence in the new administration. Nobody seems to think Congress is involved in legislation. Congress is composed of a lot of stock holder reps, business interests, and actual economists that will never allow this to happen. This is not Europe where "just compensation" is considered one of those horrible American Ideas. Nor are we like England (with no Constitution) where the incoming Prime Minister can do anything he wants, including the overnight imposition of Socialized Medicine. Here, nationalizing just one oil company would cost in the hundred billion dollar class but the peripheral damages to other business make this strategy nearly impossible.

But.....the nationalization possibilities conversation will continue til Obama himself convinces us that he has no such intention.

What many fail to notice is that nationalization can take forms other than government seizure of corporations, and it is these paths we must consider. Over taxing would squeeze the profits and literally destroy retirement plans but would temporarily satisfy the blood lust of the Left; "Rules" would have the same impact--Anwar, off shore drilling, shale drilling-- just to name a few. Environmental rules that would stifle any business expansion, the so-called sin taxes (new sins would be invented daily), and imposing taxes on all kinds of things that now "escape" taxation--internet purchases, patents, intellectual property, utilization of computer programs, etc., etc,--- would just be starters. And make no mistake, national health care that includes every disease under the sun (nympholepsy, pedophilia, cancer of the whatever) with NO disease uncovered will act to bankrupt us until lawyers are kept out.

The possibility is real to this "liberal class" and look for the demographics down the road. BTW the Republicans there all felt that McCain is not quite as bad, which says a bundle.

I suppose this dates me, but tonight I watched one of the best TV Shows ever produced, Frank Sinatra, a Man and his Music Part II, it was just a TV show from 1966 but what a show. There is a book out there called Why Sinatra Matters that is supposed to be some kind of definitive work, but really folks, his singing is what mattered. Part III will be on TCM next Sunday on TCM. Catch it if you can. He did not define an era, he was an era...... No, he was the era.

NBA PLAYOFFS

I'm watching them. Why? I've always been bored to death with the NBA: send a big man down the lane, POST HIM up and when double teamed he passes the ball back to an open man. Not any more. I was talking with a bunch of my buds yesterday late as we were watching the ENTIRE Lakers-Jazz game and all of us admitted we were actually watching the playoffs and the games were good, the playing spectacular at times, and the scores mostly topped the 100 point level. So what is going on? Why is NBA basketball suddenly good? One answer is that there are a lot of dam good and exciting players--many from a lot of foreign countries--- making the strategy of over guarding just a single superstar futile--unless you mention LaBron James and the otherwise untalented Cleveland team---(proven false on Sunday) all of which means that two or three players end up scoring twenty or more points in a game. Then there is the fouling strategy invented by Pat Reilly that simply went "foul on every possession" thus rendering the opposing offense one of free throws and sending the game into a boring foul shooting contest. This strategy has now been thwarted by the "deliberate foul" rule that awards two shots plus the ball to the fouled team. But the big reason by far is the implementation of the three foot circle under the baskets, a rule that prevents a defensive player from just standing under the basket for the sole purpose of drawing a charging foul...a rule which makes 300 pound statues like Shaq useless on defense. Today if somebody is dumb enough to camp out under the basket a driving shooter can just run him over without the risk of incurring a foul. But the shooter will also get free throws because the "camper" is charged with blocking, a call that means that the driving shooter will be awarded a foul shot separate from the "layup" too. This has resulted in spectacular drives to the basket by superlative athletes who have now come to the fore as point guards on many teams. Many have pointed out that "way back when" spectacular point guards were the norm and not the exception.

Anyway, if you ain't watching the playoffs you are missing the best display of pure athleticism on the planet. Really entertaining.

Iron Man---simply put, Hollywood has at long last made the kind of movie that made Hollywood Hollywood. There is something always wrong with a movie, a novel, or a play but this is one movie that you go to for entertainment. Entertainment. And don't be shocked, the villain is not America, the FBI, the CIA or any other U.S. agency, the heavy is Islam Terrorism and they are really bastards. And that raving anti-American moron, Gwenyth Paltrow, is hot; Jeff Bridges as the heavy is too good to be true, and Robert Downey Jr. is perfect.

Now let me cover the previews of coming attractions. I always gauge what is going to happen in the movie biz by audience reaction to the trailers. I remember a long time ago the audiences rolling in the aisles over Home Alone, a movie that had zero buzz that made hundreds of millions. Previews were for Sandler, Myers, and some other comedy; Other than at the tail end of the Sandler trailer, not so much as a chuckle in a half full house. My personal opinion is that Indiana Whatever and the rest of the non-comedy lineup is weak.

New U.S. Emblem

The federal government today announced that it is changing its
emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed!

Boo Hoo for the Super Rich

When the Very Rich decide to feed at the public trough and are denied, a stink will permeate the elite media. Like now. Our creme de la creme is being creamed and nothing is as bitter as soured creme. What we are talking about is the "elite" public schools in wealthy districts in NYC being so full that the darlings of hedge fund managers, stock manipulators, and Nobel winners are put on waiting lists. "What do you mean, waiting list? Don't you know who I am?" But what they don't know is that other members of the elite club have taken all the spaces and would sue if tossed out. So what's going on? Why are our prized citizenry barred entrance? Why aren't there enough "right" Public Schools?

It's a sagging saga of the roaring boring story of public education. Teachers Unions in NYC are among the most overpaid of all "public servants." The Mayor capitulated to union demands a few years ago and jacked up teacher salaries to 80K per, a figure that attracted every available teacher, and that included entire faculties from the successful Catholic Schools and expensive private ones. Cutting to the chase: the government partnered with the unions and destroyed the private school system in New York City, the very vehicle that the current gang of rich guys would choose as a "learning environment" (when you're really really rich it's never "schools") for their darlings.

But there is more at work here than is contained in the NY Times article. Back when the public schools were really really good here in LA almost everyone sent their kids to them. The reasons included superior chemistry labs not affordable in private schools, superior physical education (sports teams), advanced classes in things like math (calculus, physics, computer science), and English (Shakespeare, a subject now branded as sexist by the feminazi Left), and even history. More to the point was the fact that an upwardly striving white middle class, a group that shared the same values, values that included good educations and good grades, controlled the school system. This meant things like dances, Senior Ditch Day, Sadie Hawkins Dances, the horrible and decadent Christmas, the Evil Easter, and even Thanksgiving were an integral part of the public school life.

The private schools had discipline, the three "Rs," and religion.

Enter the Teachers Union with their Left Wing Agenda. Once the teacher's unions took hold racial balance became the main goal of the public schools and the superiority of public schools evaporated. Kids that were basically uneducatable, had criminal parents, or were themselves hostile to learning of any kind replaced the mostly white high achieving students. Private schools took up the slack, raised tuition costs by a factor of at least three so things like chemistry labs could be built, the crime of discipline was a part of their curriculum, and parents had at least some say in what was taught. (No longer really true)

But our elites are nothing if not sneaky; even many of them find it difficult to come up with 20K plus per semester per kid in a private school so they found a way for the less well off to pay for their kids education in a "superior learning environment." Through agitation in all the right media a thing called "Magnet Schools" were invented so the truly smart---rich kids are always truly smart---could attend "learning centers" thus saving their parents money by having everyone else pay for the more expensive education their little babies would get in the Magnet School learning centers. This device stripped every school in the district of all high achieving students and highly competent teachers who flocked to the "superior learning environments."

Which means?

The remaining Public Schools are filled with gangsters, drug addicts, dealers, and the stupid---labeled "challenged." Nobody gets kicked out, all must learn equally, yada yada yada so reading, math, and writing skills are barely taught. Test scores drop off the charts as drop out rates soar. Kids and their idiot parents have used Civil Rights to disrupt classes, terrorize playgrounds, and behave in any reprehensible manner they choose at the moment. In other words public schools, once the incubator for great minds in almost every field, have become the garbage dumps of our culture.

Except for the proud, the wealthy, and those connected enough for the Magnet Schools. The rest rot in environments that make learning impossible. But when the rich are barred from superior free educations, you can bet that a flatulence worthy of a slaughterhouse in the Chicago stockyards would foul the air.

Tough shit, richies. This is how the other 99% have to live.

Sensitivity Training for Dummies

A man was sitting on a blanket at the beach. He had no arms and no legs.

Three women were walking past and felt sorry for the poor man. The
first woman said 'Have you ever had a hug?' The man said 'No,' so she gave
him a hug and walked on.

The second woman said, 'Have you ever had a kiss?' The man said, 'No,' so she gave him a kiss and walked on.

The third woman came up to him and said, 'Have you ever been fucked?' The fellow said, 'No.' She said, 'You will be when the tide comes in.'

Congress Near to Solving Housing Crises

Congress is meeting today and getting ready to pass legislation to solve the foreclosure problem. This breakthrough idea hatched by a joint committee of both Dems and Repubs is this:

Burn down every house in foreclosure and let the insurance companies pick up the mortgage payments; AND have them pay for the building of new houses. The genius here is that not only are mortgage holders bailed out but the dormant construction business will snap back to life. Great for illegals, crooked lenders, and land speculators. Nobody gets hurt and everybody gets well.

Don't you just love democracy?

Great News

Cory Maye, a poor black guy who was mistakenly arrested and then sentenced to death has been granted.......

Hold your breath.....

.....A new sentencing hearing.

In case you don't know the gory details where a guy has been awarded the Death Penalty because he thought his home was being invaded, rushed to protect his baby, and then shot one of the cops breaking into his home, Reason has an OK review here. The video, like all these fucking internet vids, is boring as hell and takes forever to get to the a point. This "war on drugs" is too stupid to contemplate. Most people use because it's a cheap escape and then they get hooked. Crack cocaine is cheaper than a can of beer and crystal meth is cheaper than a coke. Both liberals and conservatives are pissed at this one but conservatives are placing themselves on an abstract philosophical opposition to gun control in what is obviously a miscarriage of justice case. Increasingly, it is the Conservatives who are the elites and liberals just anti-American pricks looking for reasons to tear down this country. Doesn't anyone care about reality any more?

This is a miscarriage of justice. Period.

I Could be Full of Crap. Again

Data and Incomplete Data:
I once played in a football game where we made just three first downs, gained something like 45 yards in total offense, completed three out of 18 passes, and gave up 300 yards in total offense. Looking at the data it is quite clear that we must have lost. But a look at the final piece of data, the actual final score, showed that we won, 21-7. So what was missed? We won by running back a fumble, a horrible punt, and an interception for touchdowns. An example of incomplete data misinforming us of the reality.

Positive GDP CAN mean recession before it happens. Positive stock markets can also mask serious economic situations. GDP leaves out plenty, as does employment and unemployment numbers. The real data so overwhelmingly proves that Recession can and often do begin with positive GDP, that everyone wonders where people are getting their numbers. It's tough to deny the numbers in the stock market, unemployment numbers, and the regurgitations of economic experts that prove we have no recession. But all the information telling us that things are OK ignore record foreclosures, an almost uniform cessation in homebuilding, and what looks to be ruinous inflation.

The data being missed and ignored might indicate a serious recession is virtually upon us. Of the 11 post WWII recessions, 4 started with positive GDP numbers and two were flat. A very long study is here, the results of which are all from public documents. The study shows us that it's simply insane to ignore the serious economic problems. We used to piss and moan when gasoline went to $1.49 a gallon; now it's $3.49; remember when milk cost a little more than eighty cents a quart? It's now nearly $2. Cereal costs have doubled, bread costs have gone up 50%, and public transportation costs have sky rocketed (it's been twenty years, but NYC Subways used to cost a quarter and now they are more than $2). Air travel may soon cease because of fuel costs. And the price of beer, a working class beverage our latte' sniffing seaweed hugging elites wouldn't touch, are soaring. Etc. etc. Wine prices remain stable, as do diamond necklaces, and cocaine, while only Starbucks Coffee has gone up for our precious upper classes.

Real home prices as quoted by all the usual suspects are leaving out foreclosures COMPLETELY. Read the links and lighten up on your stocks. And stop worrying. Congress is meeting to solve the mortgage crises.....right now they are discussing a plan to burn down every house in foreclosure and have the insurance companies pay the bills.

Gasoline and money. Mine: Without really trying I have cut back on my driving and believe it or not, my monthly fuel costs are actually down. Before this "crush" I was spending between $35 and $38 per fill; now it costs me nearly $50. BUT I used to fill up once a week and now I fill up once every ten days. What have I done? Well I don't go to the beach to work out, I don't go ten miles or more to go to the movies, and I rarely buy food more than twice per week or go to other stores til I actually need more than one thing. I assume lots of people are doing the same thing without trying. Some of you have to drive fifty or more miles to and from work and cannot do anything about costs associated with those trips, but you might save $10 per week by changing your shopping habits, something that puts absolutely no strain on your day to day routines.

Other things: instead of leaving home to buy your drugs, make your drug dealer deliver. Tell your hooker to use the fucking bus. Ask yourselves if you really need your wives. Buy triple portions at MacDonald's and freeze what you don't eat. I'm sure you can be creative......

Then there is this problem from the ever popular Recession Test. One of a ton of very funny observations, linked from Barry Ritholtz:

Days before the housing bubble bursts, you short the ABX subprime index and, when the ensuing mortgage crisis causes millions of families to lose their homes to foreclosure, you realize a $550 million profit.

Since, for you, this is the opposite of a problem, find the opposite of an answer.

Lots and lots of what may be called graveyard humor at the link.