Highlights of this day in history: Hermann Göring poisons himself the night before his execution; Mata Hari is executed by firing squad; Leonid Brezhnev replaces Nikita Khrushchev as Communist Party Chief; I Love Lucy premieres on CBS.
Other notable October 15th events include:
1764 – Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.
1888 – The "From Hell" letter sent by Jack the Ripper is received by the investigators.
1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
1938 – The District of Columbia formally adopts a design for its flag.
1939 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.
1966 – Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
2005 – Iraqi constitution ratification vote.
1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the stewerdesses looked like. ;)
/is it too early for a boob thread?
P2
ReplyDeleteWhat a question! It's never too early or too late for a boob thread!
Thanks for the confirmation Top. :)
ReplyDeleteGot home from a long day of driving kids all over the place to find the gas was turned off. The problem, it seems, is that our spam filter was picking up the electronic bills, and they had stopped sending a paper bill. When she tried to pay the bill, they wouldn't tell her what the reconnection fee was. They said "you can't pay if you don't know what the amount is." She said "tell me the amount." The gal responded by saying "I can't tell you the amount."
ReplyDeleteWTF?
I called. The gal says to me that the only way my wife could see the account is if we went to their office and showed them a valid marriage license. That, to pay a bill?
Punchline: the earliest they say they can reconnect (despite the fact that this was a billing error on their end to begin with) is next Thursday.
I think we need a new gas company.
Oh, is 3 wood still around? Read some discussion about the up coming Christmas shopping season. Apparently a lot of retailers have minimal stock, a lot of manufacturers have slowed production, and shipping is way down as well. Expect a slow season this year for doing your shopping.
ReplyDeleteLucius, call your state's public service commission and complain. That sounds WAY wrong!
ReplyDeleteI will definately call the PSC when I get a copy of the bill.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I think we're going to just go ahead and change providers and tell these bozos to pound sand.
Deficit Dilemma: How to Dig Out?
ReplyDeleteFor the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the final deficit tally will be about $1.4 trillion. Measured against the size of the economy, that's 9.9% of gross domestic product, bigger than any year since 1945. As a share of GDP, tax and other revenues are lower (15%) and spending higher (25%) than anytime in the past 50 years.
President Obama says this isn't his fault. Of the $9 trillion in deficits projected over the next decade, the White House blames $5 trillion on the past -- the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Medicare prescription-drug bill that a Republican Congress passed and George W. Bush signed without any visible means of support.
The White House pins the other $4 trillion on the consequences of the recession and financial crisis. That assumes that everything labeled stimulus is, in fact, stimulus, but grant that for a moment. The real problem isn't how we got here, it's where we are: Another day older, and deeper in debt.
The U.S. has confronted big deficits before. "Numbers like this will eventually prompt corrective measures, just as a stark but less worrisome budget outlook did in 1990," Goldman Sachs economists assured clients last week.
This time will be tougher.
We are starting from a much deeper hole. When the economy began climbing out of the deep recession of the early 1980s, federal debt -- the sum of every annual budget deficit -- amounted to less than 30% of the nation's GDP, the value of all the goods and services produced in a year. At the beginning of the 1990s, it was less than 40%. Today, it exceeds 50% of GDP and is rising toward 80%, perhaps 100% of GDP over the next 10 years. Even at today's low interest rates, the federal government spent about $195 billion on interest in fiscal 2009, more than 10 times the entire NASA budget. A rising debt-to-GDP ratio means interest takes an ever-greater slice of the budget, much of that going to the foreigners.
/we're in deep trouble and Washington needs to be forced to put down the shovels
Now this is interesting -- Muslim team banned after refusing to play gay team
ReplyDeleteHomophobia vs. Islamophobia.
Let the seething begin!
I saw that Obama will "do anything" to create jobs.
ReplyDeleteHow about cutting taxes and rein in the regulatory bullshit that prevents people from starting businesses and hiring people, dipshit?
Also on this day:
ReplyDelete* 1783, the Montgolfier brothers Hot air balloon: first human ascent by
Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier, (tethered balloon)
* 1815, Napoleon I of France begins his exile on Saint Helena in the
Atlantic Ocean
* 1860, 11-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to
presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his
appearance by letting his whiskers grow
* 1863 during the American Civil War: The CSS H. L. Hunley, the first
submarine to sink a ship, sinks during a test, killing its inventor,
Horace L. Hunley
* 1894, the Dreyfus affair: Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying
Morning all. As to the retail market this year. I can speak of it in general as I work for a fairly large retailer. We have cut down on stock for the holidays hoping to cut costs, and the consequences will be shown the day after Christmas when the customers find out we have no half price merchandise. (Hopefully). So far, our sales are starting to show signs of growth, but then by now it should.
ReplyDeleteIt's always the WSJ that seems to be a voice of reason, eh?
ReplyDeleteGood morning, folks...
ReplyDeleteWe rent storage and our usual retail Christmas business is down. We even hired a salesperson to head to the mall and try to get their business... if there is any. Our largest retail account is Victoria's Secret and, so far, I don't think even VS needs additional space this year. Today is pretty much their cut-off date, so we shall see what commences.
ReplyDeleteGood morning CtP! Long time!
ReplyDeleteBeach Lover,
ReplyDeleteNot the first time I heard that.
After Christmas sales and January sales were a peach for the consumer last year. I suspect that orders for Christmas merchandise may be cut back and consumers won't get the same kind of deals they got in the past.
Or in other words, expect fights in Walmart for that super hot toy.
Beach
ReplyDeleteYes it has! How have you been?
"Or in other words, expect fights in Walmart for that super hot toy."
ReplyDeleteThank heaven those days are over for me!
Hey Chris.
ReplyDeleteBending young minds to your iron will?
You'll appreciate this -- yesterday I show up for class only to find out the University rented out the building where my class was to a film crew from Fox; they're supposed to be filming some TV show in there for a couple of days.
Did the folks who scheduled this bother to let anyone know? Of course not!
J.D., for me as well.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, it was a fun time, 'specially on Christmas morning. sigh.
U.S. troop funds diverted to pet projects
ReplyDeleteSenators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.
Among the 778 such projects, known as earmarks, packed into the bill: $25 million for a new World War II museum at the University of New Orleans and $20 million to launch an educational institute named after the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts.
/jackals
JD. I can imagine. We are noticing some shortages on stock, and vendors are working overtime to get us the merchandise. We'll see how the buyers did soon enough. But, one thing is for sure, if it wasnt for weddings, we would be in a lot of trouble as they keep us going through the summer. Im in charge of hiring for the holidays, and you can imagine the applications I have to choose from. Not going to be easy this year. But, at least we will have some jobs to give, even if temporary.
ReplyDeleteLucius
ReplyDeleteHa! Universities sure do screw up an awful lot for places supposedly full of brains...
VioletTiger
ReplyDeleteAmazing how fast Christmas morning is over, isn't it? It was always a relief when Santa "delivered". LOL
BeachLover
I hope it's all better, in the end, than it looks going in to the Christmas shopping season. Not holding my breath. Good luck to you.
Violet Tiger....were you part of the cabbage patch doll days?! That was something else!! I remember getting a call at 9PM saying to come to the BACK entrance of the Toy R Us and get my doll I had been on the list forever for....and to NOT go into the store. It was unreal....of course, I ran right over and got it. My mom was living in FL at the time and I told her to get one thinking it would be easier for her. She said, "Do you know what its like trying to fight with all these grandmothers down here?!" LOL
ReplyDeleteChris,,,been well. Getting busy with work, but cut back on hours. At least for now. Hows the pooch?
Well, just filed my complaint with the Public Service Commission.
ReplyDeleteBeach Lover,
ReplyDeleteI was post cabbage patch (those things were ugly imo), but I was smack in the Power Ranger thing. Hunted for those things for my daughter and my nephew, before there was an ebay. I actually put a few away, new in package, against the day when they are worth a mint. hahahahaha
speaking of work...must run. good to see y'all! hope to be back tomorrow and that I can stay longer.
ReplyDeleteHave a good one!
..."The second clause, about the abolition of standing armies, succumbs to one of the chronic failings of peacenik philosophies: In the name of morality, it is morally blind, making no distinctions among the aims of the world's many and various armies. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, in the best piece he's written in years, suggested Oct. 10 that Obama in his Nobel acceptance speech pay tribute to the world's most important force for keeping peace: the U.S. military. This is no contradiction in terms. It a reflection of realities that Alfred Nobel did not foresee, and which his heirs appear not to understand, even as they luxuriate in the pleasures of more than 60 years of Western European peace--won, and long patrolled and protected, by American military might.
ReplyDeleteFinally, there is Nobel's third clause, arguably the most pedantically absurd of the lot: The prize is to go to those most accomplished in "the promotion of peace congresses." Thus did the Nobel go to former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, as founder of the League of Nations--which then collapsed in the process of its failure to prevent World War II. The project was resurrected in 1945 as the United Nations (with more Nobels slathered on over the years), with the difference that the U.N. was structured to survive almost any amount of internal rot...
...There are countries which fraternally report for duty at almost every major U.N. conference. Cuba is a prime example. Iran, these days, is another. If these regimes are working for peace, then what kind of peace is it? The tranquility of a smothered press? The murderously enforced calm of repressed populations? The serene ideal of bargains struck among political systems that would rather jail and murder their critics than tolerate dissent?
Peace, at least in its desirable incarnation, is a function of freedom in a framework of decent and functional law. Those who lead the way in pursuing and defending it are too often rewarded at the time not with prizes, but with censorship, prison, exile, epithets, "peace" protests and hurled shoes.
There was no peace on D-Day at Normandy. But the Allied troops who assailed the French coast did more for peace than anything that happened in the conferences of Versailles and the League of Nations, the parleys of Neville Chamberlain, or, for that matter, the endless Middle East "peace process" conferences of modern times, including in Oslo.
The most brilliant picks of the Nobel Committee have involved winners who, en route to the desired ideal of peace and brotherhood, have fought the battles that really matter--against tyranny and the debasement of individual human dignity...
...The worst failures, most obscure awardees and weirdest recent winners have been those who won it for starry-eyed deals, multilateral ventures, peace conferences and such novel projects as presuming peace will be promoted by waging collective war on the weather. Thus, for instance, have these peace prizes been collected by Kofi Annan (head of U.N. peacekeeping during the Rwandan genocide), Jimmy Carter (during whose presidency the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and Iran suffered its Islamic revolution) and Al Gore (for weather).
The Norwegian Nobel Committee gave Obama his peace prize for multilateral diplomacy and nuclear disarmament. Obama himself described his freshly minted Nobel as an award not for deeds done, but as a "call to action." In charting that action, Obama has--as modern diplomats like to say--a choice.
He can line up with the Nobel Committee's long list of pacifist, multilateralist loser laureates. Or he can stand with the Nobel's much shorter list of true winners, whose distinction has not been the achievement of a flimsy "peace" at all costs, but unrelenting battle for what happen to be also America's core principles: individual human dignity and freedom."
Claudia Rossett in Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/14/alfred-nobel-peace-prize-obama-opinions-columnists-claudia-rosett.html
Bye beach lover. See you tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteCtP -- we've had no shortage of idiocy lately, mainly on account of a few roque administrators.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I sort of ended up volunteering to be one of three faculty reps to negotiate salary and benefits. One of my colleagues said that he supported me because I wouldn't be afraid to say what's what.
Imagine! L'il ol' Lucius speaking "truth to power."
Lucius,
ReplyDeleteThat's fu#$%'d up! Tell you what, if this is natural gas all they do to shut it off is put in a cap at the union to the supply side of the meter just downstream of the shutoff. If I were you I would get out a pipe wrench and take that sucker out and use their gas until next Thursday. Oh, moring all. What are we talking about? dang I always miss fruitcup. Morning {LOL}
Lucius
ReplyDeleteYou da man!
Just clicked on Beach Lovers avatar, ha it's a close up of her dawg's nose. Be back in a few ....
ReplyDeleteLove the fact that there is a Dem-only closed door meeting going on right now in Harry Reid's office to 'craft' the Socialized medicine legislation...
ReplyDeleteRepresentative democracy my tookus...
Good morning Jack, might you be known as some other nic on some other blogs?
ReplyDeleteMorning, all. J.D., you just let me know if you need help moving those Victoria's Secret models around town, OK? That is what you meant, right?
ReplyDelete/
Morning tfc, haven't hit Drudge yet this morning, They don't call him dirty harry reid for nothing!
ReplyDeleteBill Hemmer on FNC was poking fun at this by saying 'look at the excitement of this meeting... Closed doors and nothing more...'
ReplyDeleteOk somebody please explain something to turn. If government can't afford to increas social security next year how the hell can it afford to cut every senior a $250 check this year. I know, it's obamalgebra
ReplyDeleteGood morning folks.
ReplyDeleteJ.D.,
Thanks for posting that op-ed by Claudia Rosett. That was the best piece I have read on the Nobel debacle.
Turn, good question. No answer. Also, if they know about $550B in Medicaid/ Medicare waste and fraud right now... Why not fix it?! You don't need a total restructuring to repair or prosecute things you say you've already identified, dumbasses!
ReplyDeleteturn said...
ReplyDeleteOk somebody please explain something to turn. If government can't afford to increas social security next year how the hell can it afford to cut every senior a $250 check this year. I know, it's obamalgebra
It's like a bonus versus a raise.
If I give you a raise, I owe you at least that much next year ... a bonus can be adjusted or not paid every year. "Hey' it's an extra."
Same for SS. That measly COLA percentage goes on the books until you die or the benefit gets reduced (political suicide right now). But if Uncle Sugar hands out a "stimulus" (bonus), he can still buy votes for THIS year and not incur all the future debt.
Finally broke my writers block. I have a new post up finally. :p
ReplyDeleteThe $250 for seniors is essentially a bribe to coddle them while he strips away Medicare Advantage to pay for socialized medicine.
ReplyDeleteDingy Harry and gang have a plan to slide back in the worst parts of the various bills. However 'bad' we think it is going to be, it will be worse. I hope people are still paying attention.
ReplyDelete85,000 Iraqis killed in almost 5 years of war
ReplyDeleteNot 1 million.
And, as if it matters to the Bush haters, the vast majority of those Iraqi civilian deaths were not caused by US military action. They were the victims of terrorists and sectarian death squads, the very killers the US forces have been fighting against. In other words, the US military helped to keep the numbers down by killing the killers.
link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091014/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq
ReplyDeleteI hope people are paying attention too... I have a bad feeling that people have stopped paying attention...
ReplyDeleteWill the committees even post the bill online? Will they hide it from the American people? Will the usual suspects vote in favor of it?
Why does our government seem to ignore the will of the people?
I was in college when CPKs came out ... my brother had a friend at Best Products (catalog showroom place, defunct around here). He called my brother as a joke and said come get one, there's a riot about to break out. We went for fun. We gave the doll to my Dad as a birthday gift - inside joke.
ReplyDeleteOLT, When has there ever been a temporary government entitlement? This is friggin bribery for obamacare, plain and simple.
ReplyDeletetfc3rid said...
ReplyDeleteThe $250 for seniors is essentially a bribe to coddle them while he strips away Medicare Advantage to pay for MORE socialized medicine.
/slight mod
All these gubmint programs supported by tax dollars are socialized medicine, socialized retirement, etc.
My SS benefit statement (how much I've paid, what I'll be eligible for in 20+ years) came with a LOT of verbiage on how there may not be enough money.
Well, no shit. All Ponzi schemes eventually run out of money. But this one, the biggest and finest ever, extracts money from me at virtual gunpoint.
tfc3rid,
ReplyDeleteBecause the liberal elite think they know what is best for us. And by keeping us dependent, they keep themselves in power.
turn said...
ReplyDeleteOLT, When has there ever been a temporary government entitlement? This is friggin bribery for obamacare, plain and simple.
It's an entitlement without raising the yearly payout indefinitely.
It's a political move, agreed.
But it is also a "modern business method" to "control labor costs".
The $250 for seniors is essentially a bribe to coddle them while he strips away Medicare Advantage to pay for socialized medicine.
ReplyDeleteeggsactly ....
The Progressive elite really believe that their duty is to 'help'...
ReplyDeleteProblem is, we have folks in government right now who see that their buts are on the line next year and they don't care... They want to implement their utopian Fantasyland... Once it's in, you'll never stop it...
OLT, read Mark Levine's Liberty and Tryanny. Interesting bit on SS and the new deal. Not what you learned in history class. It is not money 'put in trust for you', rather it is used up as fast as it comes in, for whatever. It's just another liberal lie.
ReplyDeleteVioletTiger said...
ReplyDeletetfc3rid,
Because the liberal elite think they know what is best for us. And by keeping us dependent, they keep themselves in power.
Which is where conservatives could make a comeback, by proposing assistance (in whatever form) to create self-sufficiency to replace handouts that have created multi-generation welfare "families".
I'm against many social programs. But there are examples of job training programs and even community organizing that result in improved lives and less Fed/State money spent. In particular, I was impressed by a housing project that actually required residents to attend training programs, and had the able-bodied but unskilled doing the yard work, maintenance, and daycare for the community as part of their "rent".
Hey, Grandpa, here's $250....
ReplyDeleteOk, Obamacare has passed?
Alright Grandpa, sorry you don't get that medical coverage now...you already got your $250....time to go home and save us all a bunch of money and just die already, ok?
VioletTiger, I know I will never see a dime of that tax, and since I used the words "Ponzi scheme" you probably have an idea of my opinion.
ReplyDelete;)
The progressive elite think it is their privilege to rule.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, they assume that their rule will help.
One must be careful, though, not to confuse what to them is a necessary result from the essential goal; namely, power.
Self sufficiency is the key... We always tlak about that we need less dependence on foreign oil... Well, a lot of Americans need less dependence on the Federal Government...
ReplyDeleteNow, now, if you want Grandpa to die you're a Republican.
ReplyDelete/
Lucius, every dictator considers himself beneficent, true?
ReplyDeleteAs maligned as many of his policies, i at least give George W. Bush credit for attempting a reform of social security...
ReplyDeleteAnyone recall how outraged the left was and all the scare mongering? I don't seem to recall the right saying that those against it were terrorists...
tfc3rid said...
ReplyDeleteI don't seem to recall the right saying that those against it were terrorists...
Call Rick "Dirty" Sanchez. He'll whip up some fake quotes.
OldLineTexan said...
ReplyDeleteNow, now, if you want Grandpa to die you're a Republican.
/
Hello, I am from the goverment, and I am here to help you:
New Senior Care
Sanchez is too busy trying to hide his hit and run invovlement...
ReplyDeleteMy folks actually have Medicare Advantage offered through UnitedHealthcare and it has been very good to them thus far. I know that it is being paid 100% at the government's dime and I don't love that but it's not a terrible system.
ReplyDeleteEvery dictator views himself as entitled. Benefits will necessarily follow from his rule, because only he is morally legitimate.
ReplyDeleteWhere is fluffy bunny?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thelocal.se/22610/20091012/
tfc3rid said...
ReplyDeleteSanchez is too busy trying to hide his hit and run invovlement...
It's hard to live in a glass house like that, but I am sure he could lie pretty quickly on that topic as well as anything else.
tfc3rid said...
ReplyDeleteMy folks actually have Medicare Advantage offered through UnitedHealthcare and it has been very good to them thus far. I know that it is being paid 100% at the government's dime and I don't love that but it's not a terrible system.
They won't be liking it in a few years, I bet.
My parents are both in their late 70's and in poor health. That is the group that will be denied coverages they are currently offered now. There is no way around the way the Dems intend to pay for all of this "reform". Instead of trying to lift up the "uninsured", they are pulling everyone down to be equal to that level...typical leftist mentality.
OLT said; "Lucius, every dictator considers himself beneficent, true?"
ReplyDeleteYep.
-"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C. S. Lewis
English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)
Desert Dog, that is the liberal way. They always think the any good thing, be it wealth or health, is a zero sum game. I have to get less for you to get more, etc. It is the philosophy of losers, but unfortunately for us the One Won.
ReplyDeleteOh of course... I told them that most likely they will be SOL if this passes... Even if it doesn't, the Dems are going to shred anything and everything and anyone who went after them on this and hurt them...
ReplyDeleteIt's vindictive but typical of Leftist Progresives.
Babbazee has a terrific post up on the fascist English Defence League
ReplyDeletehttp://babbazeesbrain.blogspot.com/2009/10/ballad-of-caucasian-rage-boy.html
From the Wishful Thinking and Alternate Universe Files, I bring you:
ReplyDeleteThe Obama 10,000
He’s on his way to an historic health-care win. The stimulus was huge. The market’s back. Liberals should stop complaining the president hasn’t accomplished anything.
Yes, Mr. President is on a roll..., to quote a one hit wonder: "his future's so bright, he has to wear shades"
He's doing great, the rest of the country is screwed however.
Kenneth, I thought we loved and respected them?
ReplyDeletelots of /////
500K more new folks applying for unemployment this week... Sounds like recvoery is sailing right along...
ReplyDeletetfc3rid, your folks (like mine) probably worked and paid in for a long time, and they deserve something.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the something has to be split up amongst them and a lot of others who did not (or could not) contribute.
You and I and everyone here are paying for it for now, but I'm not getting any younger and I'm a rarity in my community with five kids ... the pool of current workers is shrinking and even that is at the mercy of the economy.
Something has to be done, or there will be nothing for anyone.
However, the plans proposed are all about giving away more to those who never contributed and taking more from those who did. It didn't work then or now, and it's not going to work in the future.
I believe in ramping down current entitlements (that includes MINE, btw), instituting 401(k)-like untaxed medical self-insurance accounts, and providing a minimal Fed "safety net".
Of course, I am also a believer in reducing our current "uninsured" pool by removing the enticements for being or employing an illegal alien.
This puts me at odds with the morally superior and self-righteous.
Off to the rat race....see you all later. The rats have been winning lately, but I have a good feeling today I will get the cheese first this time.
ReplyDeletetfc3rid, I know the weak dollar helps the stock market right now, but I can't see how "jobless recoveries" can last. Bankruptcies and defaults will rise, retailing can't be sustained, etc.. I know we're living and spending a lot differently than we did a couple of years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the Republicans taking on healthcare reform is that once one even attempts to get into the details, the MEGO effect begins. It's easier to simply say things like 'Insurance Companies are Mean' which doesn't help one whit.
ReplyDeletePeople understand the concept of hand-outs -- it doesn't take any thought to figure that out. And one can always convince oneself that if there is paying to do that someone else can do it.
Democrats have long excelled at coming up with all sorts of sneaky ways to tax the poor - lotteries, sin taxes, legalized gambling, excise taxes of all shapes and sizes. Expect more of these hidden, regressive taxes.
As for the "evil rich," the genuinely wealthy won't be touched -- they pay for these people to get elected, and the pols will never kill the geese that lay the golden (campaign fund) eggs. Look at the top 1% of income earners -- they overwhelmingly support Democrats because they know they'll never have to pay for the alphabet soup of programs.
Viewed in world-historical terms, I genuinely believe what we're seeing is a kind of reactionary politics, conducted under the false flag of progressivism. On the one side are the aristorats -- that tiny proprtion of the population who on account of the accidents of birth have great riches at their disposal. They allow, on occasion, a select few to enter the golden circle of the nobility (Nicky Hilton's marriage to Elizabeth Taylor being a classic example), but by and large, their goal is to shut out the rising middle class.
We have come off of a period in American History, from the 1950s through the Reagan era and extending at least through Clinton's first term, where the middle class rose in wealth, power, and access. The elites were threatened by this, and have now enlisted the aid of the state and the poor to crush the middle class. The goal is to ensure a stable, rigid social order where everyone knows and keeps to his place.
There will, of course, be outlets -- can't let discontent and class envy fester too much -- but those who are allowed to move up will be chosen for political reasons, not on account of talent. In fact, the genuinely talented will be kept in bondage.
What we are seeing, in other words, is an attempt to restore a kind of feudalism where there are two classes: serfs -- propertiless, powerless, who don't even own their own bodies; and nobles, who control everything. The state will merely be the mechanism of the latter to control the former.
Marx and his socialist colleagues in the nineteenth century worshipped the Middle Ages, albeit for all the wrong reasons. And their goal has been to return us to their image of the Middle Ages. Why? Stability, order, obedience.
Majority of Nobel jury 'objected to Obama prize'
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gOy7GLcrP7iQja3yU5Zu4BHMqFdw
I think the 401(K) and even ability to pay into a Roth 401(K) do away with the need for social security... As long as people work for organizations where they are putting into a retirement program, why pay even more on top of that for SSI, when we are all well aware that that money is likely going for governemnt programs instead of what it is supposed to be going into...
ReplyDeleteGo exploit your few worker harshly, DD! Godspeed in your noble task.
ReplyDeleteHello all.
ReplyDeleteMay I vent?
I hate the EPA. My car is due for the emissions test (before Jan 1). My check engine light came on and the repair will cost just shy of $500. The mechanic says the repair can wait for over a year, but unless I get it repaired, my car will automatically fail the test.
I called the EPA and asked if there was some sort of relief for financial hardship (i.e.unemployment). There is only one option. If I cannot afford to have the repair done prior to Jan 1, I can contact the governor and request a letter that will allow me to drive my car with expired plates to the emission test location. Some option.
Kenneth...
ReplyDeleteInteresting... I guess the Nobel Committee is like the electoral college then?
Damn, Lucius. I'm going back to bed. ;)
ReplyDelete{Gak} Yes, you may vent here. I'm really pleased that somehow, we have been able to hold off on emissions testing here in MI. There are millions, including me, who couldn't afford it and they need to get to their (mostly P/T) work. It's a dangerous cycle and a Poor Tax.
ReplyDeleteNo, the committee of 5 was pushed into awarding Obama by the 2 members of the Norwegian Labour Party who blocked consideration of anybody else. Two unelected leftist political party hacks from an insignificant northern European country got to make a decision on behalf of the world. Think about it if anybody ever tell you this award is important. American Idol contestants are subjected to more thorough scrutiny and impartial consideration than the Nobel Peace prize recipient.
ReplyDeleteObama, if he had any sense or true humility would have declined the embarrassingly worthless prize immediately.
Spencer -- don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the perspective history gives is unsettling. Dumb ideas don't go away; they just get dumber and more vicious.
Lucius,
ReplyDeleteWell said.
There is a big difference between wealth and income. The truly wealthy will not be burned. The people with good incomes, will be hit hard.
The poor won't do very well either, but they won't be able to figure out all the ways they have been screwed.
OK, I've had enough coffee. Time to go award a Nobel Peace Prize.
ReplyDeleteLucius, that is a very keen incite, the medievalism of socialism.
ReplyDeleteVT -- I've done some research on the evolution of the concept of "the poor." The upshot is, that it has always implied "the dependant classes." Poverty is not the lack of wealth; poverty is a condition of being made to sacrifice rights and income in favor of "protection."
ReplyDeleteGood morning gal. Not to be negative here but I'm not buying your mechanic's diagnosis. Intake manifolds don't wear out, they need to be cleaned on occasion to reduce emmisions but they don't need to be replaced. The check engine light would not come on because of the intake manifold, maybe a sensor on the manifold but not the manifold itself.
ReplyDeleteturn -- agreed -- the only time I've seen a manifold need to be replaced was because it was filled with water, froze, and cracked during a particularly cold winter when the engine wasn't being run for long periods of time.
ReplyDeleteThanks {Spenser}. Illinois is bleeding us. 10% sales tax. License plates are going up an additional $100 as is the driver's license renewal fee from $10 to $30. Parking fees in Chicago are outrageous. And the city has a budget deficit of $9B.
ReplyDeleteRe-elect Mayor Daley.//////
Midwest, I hear the same thing from my in-laws in Aurora. It's like there's a governors bet as to who can screw their state up the fastest.
ReplyDelete{turn} Here's the diagnosis:
ReplyDeleteIntake manifold gasket & insulator bolts $66.50.
Antifreeze $20.00
Labor $392.00 (approx. 6 hours). That's about $65.00/hr. Pep Boys charges $99/hr. Carx charges $90/hr.
tax $8.22
The mechanic says the check engine light will not go off without the repair. What's a gak to do?
Good Morning C-squares from a former NFL fan. Between reinstating Vick & banning Rush, they've made it clear that they don't want my business.
ReplyDeleteUsually when that check engine light comes on there is an errant sensor... Happens often enough...
ReplyDeleteAs for Illinois and the raping of its people, it's flat out wrong... SAd...
The mechanic says the check engine light will not go off without the repair. What's a gak to do?
ReplyDeleteTake a one-inch strip of black electrical tape. Place it over the "check engine" light. Ta-da! No more "check engine" light!
Morning, Buzzsawmonkey. I finally figured out how to do C²
ReplyDeleteSpencer, I think you got the wrong Monkey! This one is drinking beer (it's 5 o'clock somewhere.....)
ReplyDeleteBeer Drinking Victory Monkey said...
ReplyDeleteThe mechanic says the check engine light will not go off without the repair. What's a gak to do?
Take a one-inch strip of black electrical tape. Place it over the "check engine" light. Ta-da! No more "check engine" light!
lol {BDVM}. Believe me, the thought crossed my mind.
gak, I'd also trust your local mechanic over the other places; at least I do at home.
ReplyDeletegak, oh that's a different story. Your intake manifold gaskets are shot, which happens with normal wear and tear. The engine is sucking air causing a lean burn which will cause the engine light to come on because the O2 sensor isn't sensing the proper combustion emmisions. No way around it, you need to get them replaced. What kind of car is it, six hours seems steep but for some cars the manifold is buried so deep it takes days to get to.
ReplyDeleteDuh, sorry BDVM! All these simians to keep track of on just one pot of coffee!
ReplyDeletesb5k - my mechanic is a reputable guy that I've been going to for over 20 years.
ReplyDelete{turn} It's a 2002 Mercury Sable. DOHC engine. And I'm slowly coming to accept that this repair must be done.
Hey guys. BDVM! I was hoping you would wind up somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say, I really like the idea of a daily post as it relates to "this day in history".
I think it gives great perspective, especially pertaining to the topics of discussion, as a contrast of why the minds here think like they do.
I'll check in later guys, have a good one.
gak - a Mercury; figures.
ReplyDeleteI just replaced a Honda Civic, 10 years old, 174000 miles, because it needed the dashboard taken apart. The engine was fine, so I actually got something for it in trade.
And our other car is a 1996 Toyota Tercel, 90,000 miles, still runs fine.
But repairing yours is cheaper than getting a new one, and a new intake manifold will go another 7 years.
{gal} it's a fair price, you are going to have to bite the bullet. You should see California's emmission standards, getting a car smogged here is a major friggin headache.
ReplyDeletemidwestgak
ReplyDeleteAs much as it hurts, that price doesn't sound out of line.
Six hours to replace a manifold gasket? Although given what I've encountered on my Mercury, I wouldn't be surprised if you have to pull the engine to do it.
ReplyDeleteIt's times like this I miss my Gremlin -- you could practically change the oil without even having to get under the car. All sorts or room under the hood.
sb5k - The Mercury has only 60,000 miles. Repairing it is cheaper than a buying a new one for sure. I've driven it for four years without any maintenance other than oil changes, so putting it into perspective helps.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it was a Gremlin, and, true to its name, you needed to work on it more often.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, engines have gotten more complicated and harder to work on. Fortunately, they are also more reliable.
gak - yes, it does sound worth fixing, and considering that is the only work in that time, you're paying around $100 maintenance per 10,000 miles - not so bad. It might come at a bad time, but overall, not a bad maintenance record.
ReplyDelete86 Ford Ranger 4 cylinder 2.3 liter - easiest car to work on made. I loved that truck, friggin dependable. However the engine was made by Mitibitchi which explains why it was so dependable. FORD = Found On Road Dead.
ReplyDeleteturn -
ReplyDeleteI also heard FORD = Fix Or Replace Daily
Another one is FIAT = Fix It Again, Tony