Month: October 2008

Firehand Has a Question

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Firehand Has a Question

Why do so many damn near crawl before politicians?

Excerpt:

From what I’ve read, it really started in the 1930’s, the habit of deference to our employees. I mean the politicians, of course. The ‘Most Exclusive Club’ members of the Senate, and the Representatives in the House. Have you ever listened to the way these clowns address each other? “The Honorable Gentleman/Gentlewoman from”, “My Esteemed Colleague” and so on. Which, if that garbage stayed in the chambers, I wouldn’t mind so much; if you want to vocally kiss the ass of people who despise you, in some cases hate and want to destroy you, go ahead. It’s the ass-kissing they get in public that ticks me off.

That’s how it starts. It only gets better from there. Go read.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

If journalism still existed, I’d still be doing it in television, likely. – AM 790 KNST morning show host Jim Parisi via email

I emailed Jim Parisi this morning with a link to Orson Scott Card’s angry rant at journalists because he had interviewed Card once before, and one of the topics Jim discusses on the show fairly regularly is media bias. He has had a long career in journalism as a reporter and a news director in television and radio, so he’s seen it. He ended up doing the morning news here in Tucson because his wife is a native Tucsonan, but Jim is originally from New Hampshire and has directly covered the New Hampshire primaries on more than one occasion. He spent some extended time in Bill and Hillary’s presence when they were campaigning there. I can’t find it now, but he did a scathing monologue one day on how he personally liked Bill, but found Hillary to be loathsome, and how that discovery finally turned him away from being a Democrat.

A couple of years ago the morning show guy quit (or was fired) and he was put in the morning show seat with basically no warning – newsman to talk-show host in ten seconds flat.

His show is now #1 in the Arbitron ratings for AM stations here in Tucson. Jim is, if you say nothing else about him, fair – giving each side a voice, and smacking them down when they deserve it. He’s also got a twisted sense of humor, and that helps.

I’ve quoted Jim before here.

Coincidence? I Think NOT!

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Today Joe Biden once again made headline news by opening his mouth:

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions.

“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate,” Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. “And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

As Spock would say, “Fascinating.”

Now, what other news was released today that has mostly flown under the American news media’s radar?

MoD releases UFO sighting files

Details of UFO sightings around the UK, including a number in Northern Ireland, have been released by the Ministry of Defence.

A total of 19 files covering sightings between 1986 and 1992 have been made available online.

Iran with nuclear weapons? Oh, please. Russia invading another ex-sattelite? Whoopde-do! Al Qaeda pulling off another major strike in the U.S? Yeah, like that’s going to happen.

No, it’s all blindingly apparent to me now.

This election is a test. If we puny, warlike humans can overcome our bigotry and elect Obama our President, then the Space Aliens will know that we’re civilized enough to reveal themselves to us! Yes, Obama isn’t a “lightworker,” he’s one of THEM sent here to TEST US!

Hey, it makes as much sense as anything that comes out of Biden’s mouth.

Well, it Qualifies as “Sports” I Guess. . .

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Well, it Qualifies as “Sports” I Guess. . .

Instapundit points to Amazon’s 50% off sale on “sports and outdoor equipment” today. Lots of running shoes, flashlights, binoculars, etc.

However on page 32, Item 765 seems. . . out of place, somehow.


(Click for item page.)
Seems a bit chilly for “outdoor apparel.”

Glenn emails:

I always thought of that as an outdoor sport . . . .

Now I know more about Glenn & Helen than perhaps I wanted to . . . . 😉

Could Somebody Please Explain to Me. . .

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Could Somebody Please Explain to Me. . .

In honor of the collapsing economy, I went out last night and bought a new big-screen TV. Well, to be more accurate, I placed an order for one on-line and then went to the local store and picked up my order. Because I bought it on-line, the vendor offered – “free” – a portable DVD player; just put it in the electronic “shopping cart” and it’s added to the total order at no charge. OK, I’m never one to turn down an offer like that.

The little DVD player is this one, a Phillips 8.5″ LCD that has an iPod dock. (I guess this means that the iPod is officially the de-facto standard for portable personal entertainment.) OK, so it’s very cool. The entire unit is a bit smaller than a spiral-bound standard 8.5×11″ notebook, it comes with a plug-in charger, a cigarette-lighter (excuse me, power point) 12V charger, and an A/V cable that will let you plug the display into anything with RCA audio/video jacks.

What I don’t understand is why does this thing have a remote control?

YOU HAVE TO HOLD IT IN YOUR FREAKING HANDS TO USE IT.

Of course, the remote has a lot more buttons on it that the base unit. It would have been too difficult, I suppose, to put all those controls on the base unit instead of on the remote control that will get lost about a week after you take the thing out of the box.

I’m waiting for a wristwatch with a remote control, so you can set the time and date on your Timex without actually having to touch the thing that’s secured to your WRIST.