It would appear that the Qaddafi era in Libya is drawing to a close, not done but ending. It will probably close messily, but with that guy out if not dead. The immediate challenges are to keep the necessary infrastructures functioning, electricity, garbage collection - the stuff that keeps the place from being unlivable. There may be no real political structure within Libya but there is a structure that supports the day to day life support system. It will be a challenge.
The piece that has pundits and pols disturbed is the political outcome. There doesn't seem to have ever been any sort of political system in Libya, political in the sense of opposing points of view being somehow accommodated. There certainly has been a system of cronyism, propaganda, repression, and militarism but nothing properly called politics. This lack of traditions or actual systems has folks in an uproar.
You would think to hear them that they are regarding a pack of monkeys or something as informed as that. Despite all the propaganda and the rest, Libyans seem to have been able to figure out that not only was something wrong but that there is something to replace that wrongness. It is repeatedly pointed out that Libya is tribal and regional, as though that means that none of those folks have had to get along with each other and competing ideas and agendas. That is flatly ridiculous. What they do not have is the experience of an established political system.
I'm not so sure that is an actual drawback. They do not have the experience of a history of, say English Common Law to fall back on but they do have an idea of fairness violated. Putting together a system doesn't mean you have to a previous system you've lived under to use as an example. What you need to do it successfully is to understand that your point of view isn't the only one to be considered. (Maybe our government could learn that) It is also necessary to understand that not everything is open to consideration. Another Qaddafi is not open to consideration, for one example. Government has to be able to change, it has to be able to meet new conditions with new answers. It also has to leave all its inhabitants feeling as though they have a stake in its continuation. (another consideration for our own) It is not all that difficult to keep a privileged few from taking over the place with the examples of others to look at (ahem).
I think it will be much more difficult for a place like Egypt to overcome the faux political system than it is for Libyans to create one. There certainly are those who have a lot to lose without Qaddafi to keep them on top and they certainly won't like it. The absence of a faux system to keep them protected could easily turn into an advantage - or a bloodbath - or both.
I'm not silly enough to predict any outcomes in Libya but I would like to stand up to the doomsayers. I'd also like to stand up for people, actual people as opposed to the elite who seem to think they're destined to run any damned place that exists. I've found that people in general seem to be able to figure things out when they're not stultified by generational bullshit.
NO - this is not a foray back into goddam politics.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Oh No, I've Had A Relapse Into Politics
Damn blast it, I've had a slip and paid attention to politics. I could feel it coming, shoot, saw it well before the collision. In point of actual fact, I picked up the remote and pushed the button that brings up the channel menu and chose ... holy cow ... Rachael Maddow. Sure, I think she's a sweetie, but it wasn't for her personality - it was the damn politics that I went for. My blasted drug sucked me back in and what did I get for my trouble? Things like the FAA shut down.
Should I really re-think my decision to get the hell out of that addiction on the basis of politics that shut down an agency like the FAA and cost $200M/wk put 70,000 people out of work and involves things like ... for pete's sakes ... going through the skies at hundreds of miles an hour in a metal tube and putting it on the ground at 3 or more times the speed limit in any state?
The hell with that noise; and it is noise - there is no crisis of any magnitude beyond the GOPers desire to break unions.
Oh hell, there is other stuff on the show that is about as stupid but if I think about it too much there'll be no going back so the menu got pointed at the Sirius Network's BB King's Bluesville and clicked. Jimmy Burns is now bopping my night and making way more sense singing about a "train" he'd like to "ride." Euphemistic sex beats political jabber and I'm back on the road to recovery. (for now)
Should I really re-think my decision to get the hell out of that addiction on the basis of politics that shut down an agency like the FAA and cost $200M/wk put 70,000 people out of work and involves things like ... for pete's sakes ... going through the skies at hundreds of miles an hour in a metal tube and putting it on the ground at 3 or more times the speed limit in any state?
The hell with that noise; and it is noise - there is no crisis of any magnitude beyond the GOPers desire to break unions.
Oh hell, there is other stuff on the show that is about as stupid but if I think about it too much there'll be no going back so the menu got pointed at the Sirius Network's BB King's Bluesville and clicked. Jimmy Burns is now bopping my night and making way more sense singing about a "train" he'd like to "ride." Euphemistic sex beats political jabber and I'm back on the road to recovery. (for now)
Blue Collar Prejudice
* Posted previously and I thought maybe it needed saying again...
I bet you're thinking, 'What???' Let's take a look at this like it might actually exist.
Name a television entertainment program with a blue collar male that is something other than a dolt, an "Archie Bunker." Or try to find one where such a character isn't based around sloth and irresponsibility. I can think of 2 programs, "Made In America" and "Dirty Jobs" both of which are "reality TV." Regarding sloth and irresponsibility, productivity has increased virtually every year for 20 years. Workers today are getting more done in a work day than in the "good ole days."
Here's some reality to go with TV mindlessness, over a 20yr period most blue collar job wages have remained static or declined. Yes, working harder and better and making less. In that same period corporate profits have increased over 700%. Working for the same employer for an extended period is increasingly unlikely. Blue collar jobs are relentlessly dangerous and harmful to health, lower income health problems are frequently blamed on poor lifestyle choices, the reality is that the nature of the work is frequently the base problem.
A large percentage of skilled blue collar workers require a 2 income household to keep a family of 4 above the poverty line. This is not about extra income to buy expensive toys, this is about reliably keeping a roof, food, and transportation and these people are one health problem from disaster, if they have health insurance (unlikely) they face deductibles nearing 1/2 year wages which is very nearly pointless to have.
Blue collar workers face increasing employment competition with illegal hires. This competition takes two forms, one is direct hiring competition and the other is wage depression. This competition is largely ignored in any debate regarding illegal workers. The divorce between blue collar workers and their fellow citizens is increasingly evident. Debates arise concerning product pricing at market and the legality of the employees producing the product, statements are made to the effect that produce prices would skyrocket if legal hiring were in place, which ignores the fundamental fact that labor is one of the smallest portions of a product's price at market and that the associated costs of illegal employment far exceed the savings of illegal hiring. The educated "progressive" elements commiserate with the plight of illegal aliens and ignore the steady depredation on legal blue collar families. Apparently the ignorant buffoons of TV land are unworthy of concern.
No doubt voting patterns have influenced this trend. There is an apparent disregard of their own economic interest by blue collar voters as they have trended Republican. While this conflict in interest is obvious, many of its roots are not. There has been no evident economic policy benefiting blue collar over the last 20 years and that period is not all Republican. It is not difficult to see blue collar workers regarding their economic best interests as a hopeless case and voting some other interest that feels close to home. When a person has very little, perceived assaults on the few things they do hold are taken very seriously. One of the side effects of the gun control debate was to tell the blue collar worker that he is too ignorant and too irresponsible and too criminally inclined to own a firearm. His "betters" disapproved of the gun owning lifestyle. Accurate? Possibly not, politically potent? You bet.
These people trade their time and their bodies for income, they work long hard hours and get little for it. Little pay, little respect. Many jobs that 30 years ago were held in high esteem are now little regarded. It is not as though the work has changed, it is the point of view that has changed. Maybe it's time to give it a re-think. Maybe it's time to look around and see the things produced with the hands and backs of your fellows and give some regard to their value, all those paper assets and banknotes are derived from those things.
I bet you're thinking, 'What???' Let's take a look at this like it might actually exist.
Name a television entertainment program with a blue collar male that is something other than a dolt, an "Archie Bunker." Or try to find one where such a character isn't based around sloth and irresponsibility. I can think of 2 programs, "Made In America" and "Dirty Jobs" both of which are "reality TV." Regarding sloth and irresponsibility, productivity has increased virtually every year for 20 years. Workers today are getting more done in a work day than in the "good ole days."
Here's some reality to go with TV mindlessness, over a 20yr period most blue collar job wages have remained static or declined. Yes, working harder and better and making less. In that same period corporate profits have increased over 700%. Working for the same employer for an extended period is increasingly unlikely. Blue collar jobs are relentlessly dangerous and harmful to health, lower income health problems are frequently blamed on poor lifestyle choices, the reality is that the nature of the work is frequently the base problem.
A large percentage of skilled blue collar workers require a 2 income household to keep a family of 4 above the poverty line. This is not about extra income to buy expensive toys, this is about reliably keeping a roof, food, and transportation and these people are one health problem from disaster, if they have health insurance (unlikely) they face deductibles nearing 1/2 year wages which is very nearly pointless to have.
Blue collar workers face increasing employment competition with illegal hires. This competition takes two forms, one is direct hiring competition and the other is wage depression. This competition is largely ignored in any debate regarding illegal workers. The divorce between blue collar workers and their fellow citizens is increasingly evident. Debates arise concerning product pricing at market and the legality of the employees producing the product, statements are made to the effect that produce prices would skyrocket if legal hiring were in place, which ignores the fundamental fact that labor is one of the smallest portions of a product's price at market and that the associated costs of illegal employment far exceed the savings of illegal hiring. The educated "progressive" elements commiserate with the plight of illegal aliens and ignore the steady depredation on legal blue collar families. Apparently the ignorant buffoons of TV land are unworthy of concern.
No doubt voting patterns have influenced this trend. There is an apparent disregard of their own economic interest by blue collar voters as they have trended Republican. While this conflict in interest is obvious, many of its roots are not. There has been no evident economic policy benefiting blue collar over the last 20 years and that period is not all Republican. It is not difficult to see blue collar workers regarding their economic best interests as a hopeless case and voting some other interest that feels close to home. When a person has very little, perceived assaults on the few things they do hold are taken very seriously. One of the side effects of the gun control debate was to tell the blue collar worker that he is too ignorant and too irresponsible and too criminally inclined to own a firearm. His "betters" disapproved of the gun owning lifestyle. Accurate? Possibly not, politically potent? You bet.
These people trade their time and their bodies for income, they work long hard hours and get little for it. Little pay, little respect. Many jobs that 30 years ago were held in high esteem are now little regarded. It is not as though the work has changed, it is the point of view that has changed. Maybe it's time to give it a re-think. Maybe it's time to look around and see the things produced with the hands and backs of your fellows and give some regard to their value, all those paper assets and banknotes are derived from those things.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Sometimes You Out Grow A Thing, Like A Bike
I previously mentioned my friend Phillip and his 650 one lunger. What I didn't mention was that he just got his motorcycle endorsement late last summer and it is the bike he learned to ride on - sort of. Phillip started riding with me in late spring and there was a lot he needed to learn and in the process of nearly 3,000 miles up to now he did. He also found that the bike wasn't designed for hundreds of miles at highway speeds and that he'd gotten all he could from it.
Soooo... we took a ride over to High Desert Harley Davidson in Meridian, ID - the folks who've taken care of my bike. This is Phillip's 2011 Wide Glide, 96 inch six speed in Burnt Sienna and Black.
***click to enlarge
Our bikes make a pretty colorful piece of scenery. Better yet, it does everything Phillip needs in a bike, it is stable and powerful - also loud and beautiful.
I've always considered the Dyna frame one of the nicest rides Harley makes and the Super Glide family one of the best deals. The Wide Glide with the rake on the forks looks like it should be going a million miles an hour sitting still. Phillip is a pretty understated kind of a guy, but this thing is breaking that mold. He uses Phillip in place of his Chinese name and he was born and raised in Hong Kong and owns, big surprise, a Chinese restaurant and lounge. He is a friend and has turned into a great riding partner ... and he now has an extremely cool motorcycle.
Soooo... we took a ride over to High Desert Harley Davidson in Meridian, ID - the folks who've taken care of my bike. This is Phillip's 2011 Wide Glide, 96 inch six speed in Burnt Sienna and Black.
***click to enlarge
Our bikes make a pretty colorful piece of scenery. Better yet, it does everything Phillip needs in a bike, it is stable and powerful - also loud and beautiful.
I've always considered the Dyna frame one of the nicest rides Harley makes and the Super Glide family one of the best deals. The Wide Glide with the rake on the forks looks like it should be going a million miles an hour sitting still. Phillip is a pretty understated kind of a guy, but this thing is breaking that mold. He uses Phillip in place of his Chinese name and he was born and raised in Hong Kong and owns, big surprise, a Chinese restaurant and lounge. He is a friend and has turned into a great riding partner ... and he now has an extremely cool motorcycle.
A Dinner Run, A Long One
My friend Phillip and his wife Gina, myself and my wife Scottie took a little ride for dinner. This involved OR7 to the Dooley Mt Hwy OR245 to US26 east to Ontario, OR and Mackey's Irish Pub and great food. Dooley Mt Hwy has a huge number of curves and this shot is on one of them and the blue grey bike is Phillip's 650 Suzuki Savage one lunger. It sure isn't much of bike but it is something to learn on, which he's done. Yes, my Harley is that much bigger.
***click pic for full size
From Ontario we took OR201 to Weiser to I-84W to Cement Plant Rd (old US 30) into Baker City. This shot is one I've tried to get for years, sunset over the Elkhorn Mts above Baker City. Really, click it to enlarge.
Oh yeah, 218 miles round trip.
***click pic for full size
From Ontario we took OR201 to Weiser to I-84W to Cement Plant Rd (old US 30) into Baker City. This shot is one I've tried to get for years, sunset over the Elkhorn Mts above Baker City. Really, click it to enlarge.
Oh yeah, 218 miles round trip.
One Of My Favorite Short Rides
Union Oregon is north of Baker City and it is the mid-point of one of my favorite shorter rides. Just outside Baker City north is OR203 known as Medical Springs Hwy. This picture is taken on the plains outside Baker City.
***click pic for full size
This picture is shot north east into the Wallowa Mountains and was taken in early July. At Union you will find Poppa's Steakhouse and Saloon and on Thursday night you can get smoked prime rib and Friday smoked ribs and the smoking is in-house and beyond excellent. The route is OR203 to Union from Union south on OR237 to North Powder and US30 back to Baker City. It is a round trip of 85 miles with a really swell meal in Union. The roads are excellent and the traffic light to non-existent.
***click pic for full size
This picture is shot north east into the Wallowa Mountains and was taken in early July. At Union you will find Poppa's Steakhouse and Saloon and on Thursday night you can get smoked prime rib and Friday smoked ribs and the smoking is in-house and beyond excellent. The route is OR203 to Union from Union south on OR237 to North Powder and US30 back to Baker City. It is a round trip of 85 miles with a really swell meal in Union. The roads are excellent and the traffic light to non-existent.
Monday, August 01, 2011
Now That I Know What It Means To Be A Democrat
As I stated previously I was quite willing to hold fire about bills regarding debt ceiling bills, I have done so. I now know what it is that defines Democrats at the national level with control of the Senate and the Presidency. Knowing that, I'll say what it is, it is the slower path to GOPer wingnuttery. It is a matter of getting to today's version of TeaParty stupidity and plutocratic agenda in a decade rather than a couple years.
I'll be blunt - I'll not be a party to such horseshit, I'll let those who love excuses and cowardice take the reins, or load, or act as though they give a good goddam. I simply cannot continue to divide my thinking between what works and is right and what isn't "as bad as." You like "not as bad as" you can help yourself to as much as you please.
I've had a (D) behind my name since 1971 and I was of that persuasion from time of Kennedy and Nixon, well previous to being able to register anything. I've watched what happened to the "Democratic Brand" for all those decades and I've done what I could to affect the direction of drift - including being willing to try for the US House so things could be said. I'm stubborn about such things and I've been stubborn for a damn long time in the face of all evidence.
The so-called middle has won the day, it has made itself clear that GOPerism is the way. I'll let that go if not actively help it happen. By rights I ought to be a part of advancing the GOPer way and get done so people can see what it means. But what I can't do is be an active part to harming my fellow citizens so I'll just let it go. I don't know if I'll even bother to vote, that's well up in the air, but I do know that if the public wants what the GOPers offer, they ought to have it and get to live with it. That certainly means that I'll have to struggle a lot harder to support the Plutocrats in the manner they desire and have a lot less left for me and mine. What I can do is join the great unwashed ignorant masses in not giving a damn and ignore and be unaffected by the scoffing middle-way Democrats in their self-satisfied "not as bad as" theme.
This blog thing has become immaterial and irrelevant. Maybe I'll post pictures or
stuff but look elsewhere for politics because I simply can no longer stand to give a damn. My affiliation with the Democratic Party is at an end, I probably won't even bother to change the registration seeing it as further exercise in pointlessness.
I'd like to thank the political readers I've had, take care and do whatever seems right to you.
Good night and good-bye.
I'll be blunt - I'll not be a party to such horseshit, I'll let those who love excuses and cowardice take the reins, or load, or act as though they give a good goddam. I simply cannot continue to divide my thinking between what works and is right and what isn't "as bad as." You like "not as bad as" you can help yourself to as much as you please.
I've had a (D) behind my name since 1971 and I was of that persuasion from time of Kennedy and Nixon, well previous to being able to register anything. I've watched what happened to the "Democratic Brand" for all those decades and I've done what I could to affect the direction of drift - including being willing to try for the US House so things could be said. I'm stubborn about such things and I've been stubborn for a damn long time in the face of all evidence.
The so-called middle has won the day, it has made itself clear that GOPerism is the way. I'll let that go if not actively help it happen. By rights I ought to be a part of advancing the GOPer way and get done so people can see what it means. But what I can't do is be an active part to harming my fellow citizens so I'll just let it go. I don't know if I'll even bother to vote, that's well up in the air, but I do know that if the public wants what the GOPers offer, they ought to have it and get to live with it. That certainly means that I'll have to struggle a lot harder to support the Plutocrats in the manner they desire and have a lot less left for me and mine. What I can do is join the great unwashed ignorant masses in not giving a damn and ignore and be unaffected by the scoffing middle-way Democrats in their self-satisfied "not as bad as" theme.
This blog thing has become immaterial and irrelevant. Maybe I'll post pictures or
stuff but look elsewhere for politics because I simply can no longer stand to give a damn. My affiliation with the Democratic Party is at an end, I probably won't even bother to change the registration seeing it as further exercise in pointlessness.
I'd like to thank the political readers I've had, take care and do whatever seems right to you.
Good night and good-bye.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Outcomes Matter
I know there are actually a pretty fair number of "progressive" US Senators and a good percentage of House Democrats are as well. This, of course, depends heavily on what progressive means (or hell - Democratic). I'll get along with some generic generally understood "progressive" rather than a named Caucus, still a doubtful exercise, but one has to start somewhere. Anyhow, I'll just postulate that there is a pretty large percentage of national Democratic legislators who could be called progressive. Now that's thrashed out...
You might think that would have some meaning. You'd be FOS if you did. Take a look at legislation passed. What the Democrats managed to do was to pass a previous decade or two GOP legislation. Now, the Democrats only control the Senate and the Presidency. The President manages to advocate for the stuff of one or two decades previous GOPerism. Sure, I have the luck to live in Oregon and having 4 of 5 House members as Democrats and passably progressive to go along with Sens Wyden and Merkley and all that means is ... well, what we've gotten.
It is easy enough to see that President Obama is far less harmful to Democratic ideas than any of the GOPers and I suppose that can be presented as a reason to vote for him. There is a problem with that, the Democrats tried that in 2010 and to a significant extent it didn't work (a whole bunch of Bluedogs found out). The President I worked for and voted for in the Primaries and General has turned out to be the best of the bunch and about what I expected (a bit more of what I expected, maybe). When you toss the reality of LIEberman, Bauchus, and Nelson you get something that you have to try pretty hard to call Democratic. It comes down to the most important people in the room are hardly recognizable as Democrats and you get what we've gotten.
You might think that would have some meaning. You'd be FOS if you did. Take a look at legislation passed. What the Democrats managed to do was to pass a previous decade or two GOP legislation. Now, the Democrats only control the Senate and the Presidency. The President manages to advocate for the stuff of one or two decades previous GOPerism. Sure, I have the luck to live in Oregon and having 4 of 5 House members as Democrats and passably progressive to go along with Sens Wyden and Merkley and all that means is ... well, what we've gotten.
It is easy enough to see that President Obama is far less harmful to Democratic ideas than any of the GOPers and I suppose that can be presented as a reason to vote for him. There is a problem with that, the Democrats tried that in 2010 and to a significant extent it didn't work (a whole bunch of Bluedogs found out). The President I worked for and voted for in the Primaries and General has turned out to be the best of the bunch and about what I expected (a bit more of what I expected, maybe). When you toss the reality of LIEberman, Bauchus, and Nelson you get something that you have to try pretty hard to call Democratic. It comes down to the most important people in the room are hardly recognizable as Democrats and you get what we've gotten.
Monday, July 25, 2011
The President and Speaker Spoke
And what did we get? The President almost kicked the GOP in the teeth all the while proposing GOP policy. The Speaker managed to start out with lies and then a major FU. It seems that the GOPer policy of holding the economy hostage will either succeed or kill the economy. Somehow we're supposed to believe that something Democratic will be included in this while the President takes the GOP approach called the Reid plan with no revenues.
Maybe you can start to understand that we're not talking about pissing off the Left, we're talking about doing the GOP dirty work and calling it compromise. It is not compromise to do what the other side wants, period. This was a speech by a Democratic President? This is a proposal by a Democratic Senate Majority Leader? I won't call compromise a dirty word, but I'd call this a dirty deal by cowards.
Where the hell does that leave most people who'd call themselves Democrats? (I don't mean my lefty friends) As this plays out I am assessing my affiliation. I don't like what I'm watching.
Maybe you can start to understand that we're not talking about pissing off the Left, we're talking about doing the GOP dirty work and calling it compromise. It is not compromise to do what the other side wants, period. This was a speech by a Democratic President? This is a proposal by a Democratic Senate Majority Leader? I won't call compromise a dirty word, but I'd call this a dirty deal by cowards.
Where the hell does that leave most people who'd call themselves Democrats? (I don't mean my lefty friends) As this plays out I am assessing my affiliation. I don't like what I'm watching.
Wanna Make Any Bets?
So after all the bullshit around the debt ceiling ends, what will that look like? I have no faith that anything that looks remotely Democratic will be the outcome. If that is how it goes, who gets blamed?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Bachmann And Migranes
The Daily Caller (no link, ever) published a bit of a hit piece on Rep Michelle Bachmann's migranes. Of course this went all over the internet. It seems she controls this debilitation with medication, as do many others. If you're new and drawn in by the 'google' let me assure you that I think Bachmann is a clown with an attitude - no I don't like her.
The "Caller" is a GOPer organ so one has to wonder to whose benefit this story was designed for. I don't think those enthralled by Bachmann's craziness would be much put off by such a story, but considering the publisher and their agenda it is obvious that it is supposed to work to some one's benefit. It is pretty safe to doubt that Mittens is their guy, and Pawlenty is a bit too soft for them. I'd guess this is an opening salvo for the TexAss godliness governor Perry. There is no way Perry and Bachmann can share the same oxygen in a GOP Primary - they simply split that god-botherer vote and marginalize each other.
Tucker Carlson's vanity publication going after Bachmann says something about the state of the bunch running as of now and how the GOP feels about it. The shapeshifter Mitt doesn't do much for the GOPers other than to assure the monied interests that somebody will look out for them with some modicum of sanity. Pawlenty has proved he couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag and the rest are just jokes. This means Bachmann, in the absence of someone else, starts to look like a credible player in the Primaries. Barring a serious mishap for Obama, Michelle looks so poor against him as to cost the GOP not only in a General Election in 2012 but in future elections and that might be the why of "migraines."
If the idea of this is to benefit Perry, you really have to feel pretty amused by what passes for the GOP in today's world. Oh hell, you have to be amused by them or be horrified - anyhow.
The "Caller" is a GOPer organ so one has to wonder to whose benefit this story was designed for. I don't think those enthralled by Bachmann's craziness would be much put off by such a story, but considering the publisher and their agenda it is obvious that it is supposed to work to some one's benefit. It is pretty safe to doubt that Mittens is their guy, and Pawlenty is a bit too soft for them. I'd guess this is an opening salvo for the TexAss godliness governor Perry. There is no way Perry and Bachmann can share the same oxygen in a GOP Primary - they simply split that god-botherer vote and marginalize each other.
Tucker Carlson's vanity publication going after Bachmann says something about the state of the bunch running as of now and how the GOP feels about it. The shapeshifter Mitt doesn't do much for the GOPers other than to assure the monied interests that somebody will look out for them with some modicum of sanity. Pawlenty has proved he couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag and the rest are just jokes. This means Bachmann, in the absence of someone else, starts to look like a credible player in the Primaries. Barring a serious mishap for Obama, Michelle looks so poor against him as to cost the GOP not only in a General Election in 2012 but in future elections and that might be the why of "migraines."
If the idea of this is to benefit Perry, you really have to feel pretty amused by what passes for the GOP in today's world. Oh hell, you have to be amused by them or be horrified - anyhow.
Debt Ceiling Resolution?
Since I've managed to carp pretty strongly about this "budget" resolution to the debt ceiling I'll go ahead and step up with my predictions of how it actually goes from horrid to just bad and unlikely.
Horrid is the one where House GOPers manage to put us into defualt. I'm sure the plutocrats don't want that, but how much leverage they have with the lunatics is open to question.
The next one in the steps up from lunacy is where Democrats let all the pain fall onto those who can't take much more resulting in nothing in results to deficit - essentially a cave to House GOPer near loons.
The least likely outcome is a ceiling increase without strings, or one that makes it appear that the President is responsible (McConnell). The only way this happens is if the plutocrats make it clear to the loons that they'll crush them flat for not letting it happen - and making them believe it. It might be best for the nation of all alternatives, even if it is correct.
Oh hell, I'll be more clear. If it would be good for the nation as a whole it has no chance and if it is good for corporatism and plutocracy it is likely. Without a major shock to the electoral system that is the course set for us. Since Congress and the President have managed to kick the can of the BushCo tax cuts down the road this day has been coming - quicker and quicker - and at some near point reaching this kind of debacle for the simple reason that the US was spending way too much without revenue.
Look, between wars, corporate swilling, and waste the tax revenues have been way short for quite awhile and this recession pushed the whole show over the brink. I have never been and am not much in the line of a deficit hawk but everyone saw this coming and it can't go on and ... we'll continue to pour money into Middle Eastern Wars as though nothing else matters. Even raising taxes won't do the job any more so stuff has to be cut. The question is whose ox gets gored in the cut regime. The answer, my guess is, whoever can't afford lobbiests and doesn't vote regularly. There ya go, we're really screwed and the recourse seems to be handing the tiller over to the lunatics or more of the same GOP policy dressed up as Democratic policy.
Horrid is the one where House GOPers manage to put us into defualt. I'm sure the plutocrats don't want that, but how much leverage they have with the lunatics is open to question.
The next one in the steps up from lunacy is where Democrats let all the pain fall onto those who can't take much more resulting in nothing in results to deficit - essentially a cave to House GOPer near loons.
The least likely outcome is a ceiling increase without strings, or one that makes it appear that the President is responsible (McConnell). The only way this happens is if the plutocrats make it clear to the loons that they'll crush them flat for not letting it happen - and making them believe it. It might be best for the nation of all alternatives, even if it is correct.
Oh hell, I'll be more clear. If it would be good for the nation as a whole it has no chance and if it is good for corporatism and plutocracy it is likely. Without a major shock to the electoral system that is the course set for us. Since Congress and the President have managed to kick the can of the BushCo tax cuts down the road this day has been coming - quicker and quicker - and at some near point reaching this kind of debacle for the simple reason that the US was spending way too much without revenue.
Look, between wars, corporate swilling, and waste the tax revenues have been way short for quite awhile and this recession pushed the whole show over the brink. I have never been and am not much in the line of a deficit hawk but everyone saw this coming and it can't go on and ... we'll continue to pour money into Middle Eastern Wars as though nothing else matters. Even raising taxes won't do the job any more so stuff has to be cut. The question is whose ox gets gored in the cut regime. The answer, my guess is, whoever can't afford lobbiests and doesn't vote regularly. There ya go, we're really screwed and the recourse seems to be handing the tiller over to the lunatics or more of the same GOP policy dressed up as Democratic policy.
Chambliss And Nelson ???
So John King of CNN has Chambliss and Nelson on as champions of the "Gang of Six" plan? That is just wonderful, Right and Righter as champs. Maybe you can figure out why legislation today winds up to the right of '70s GOPers. You got a health care reform plan right out of the GOP opposition to Hillary Care that is now Obama sCare and banking reform that is that in name. Go down the damn list and tell me why I should listen to a single thing Nelson has to say as a Democrat.
Democrats will define themselves for pretty much a generation with what they do. Wanna make any bets?
If you think the plutocrats will be in the least inconvenienced by anything Chambliss and Nelson won't oppose or that the poor and working class won't get the knife in the process you are an optimist of real proportions.
OK, I'll hold fire ... for awhile. I know DC gives a damn if I just up and quit.
BTW - "Gang" is probably charitable as an appellation.
Democrats will define themselves for pretty much a generation with what they do. Wanna make any bets?
If you think the plutocrats will be in the least inconvenienced by anything Chambliss and Nelson won't oppose or that the poor and working class won't get the knife in the process you are an optimist of real proportions.
OK, I'll hold fire ... for awhile. I know DC gives a damn if I just up and quit.
BTW - "Gang" is probably charitable as an appellation.
GOPers And Debt
The GOPers seem to be in hostage taking mode or in the position of dead hostages don't matter. Either position works for opposing Democrats. Now it does seem as though almost all economists are scared spitless of default and yet a good sized piece of the GOPers are stating publicly that it just doesn't matter. Another piece simply don't seem to be able to follow the numbers from the BushCo tax cuts sufficiently to have reason get into play.
The dead hostage bunch likes to make the case that the President has the ability to decide who gets paid, which is true. The problem is that a ten percent whack to the GDP will result in a serious crash no matter who gets paid what. They will tell their ignorant true believers that the crash happened because the President made the wrong (ie socialist) choices. They win with their nut-base no matter what when the crash comes.
The hostage takers are betting that the President and Democrats will blink (or more correctly swerve in the game of chicken). What they ignore at their peril is that Democrats would be committing electoral suicide to swerve. Not just some, but almost all of them, and the polls are real clear. They also manage to ignore that doing anything about the deficit without taking back some of the gifts to the plutocrats is impossible. Electorally the consequences to them depend on whether they can continue to successfully play their "job killing tax increases" mythology to their base and some "middle" voters in the face of what history says since BushCo did it.
It is my guess that the President and a bunch of Democratic legislators believe some sort of reason will seap into the ranks of the GOP. I see a complete lack of evidence of such a thing. Most of us have zero ability to do anything to prepare for the consequences of a failure of that optimism. It seems the results will be either a car crash involving a tree or a long fall off a cliff depending on default or cave in and the same 27%ers* will be cheering - despite what happens to them.
*Those who'd be crushed by drastic cuts will also continue to not vote - either from GOP disenfranchisement or apathy. The GOP** knows it and counts on it.
**So do the "Ben Nelsons" of the Democratic world.
The dead hostage bunch likes to make the case that the President has the ability to decide who gets paid, which is true. The problem is that a ten percent whack to the GDP will result in a serious crash no matter who gets paid what. They will tell their ignorant true believers that the crash happened because the President made the wrong (ie socialist) choices. They win with their nut-base no matter what when the crash comes.
The hostage takers are betting that the President and Democrats will blink (or more correctly swerve in the game of chicken). What they ignore at their peril is that Democrats would be committing electoral suicide to swerve. Not just some, but almost all of them, and the polls are real clear. They also manage to ignore that doing anything about the deficit without taking back some of the gifts to the plutocrats is impossible. Electorally the consequences to them depend on whether they can continue to successfully play their "job killing tax increases" mythology to their base and some "middle" voters in the face of what history says since BushCo did it.
It is my guess that the President and a bunch of Democratic legislators believe some sort of reason will seap into the ranks of the GOP. I see a complete lack of evidence of such a thing. Most of us have zero ability to do anything to prepare for the consequences of a failure of that optimism. It seems the results will be either a car crash involving a tree or a long fall off a cliff depending on default or cave in and the same 27%ers* will be cheering - despite what happens to them.
*Those who'd be crushed by drastic cuts will also continue to not vote - either from GOP disenfranchisement or apathy. The GOP** knows it and counts on it.
**So do the "Ben Nelsons" of the Democratic world.
'Faux' :News Corp And Murdoch In Trouble?
You'd get the feeling from watching the news lately that 'News' Corp might be in a bit of difficulty over the junk they got up to at News Of The World over in England. It certainly has stirred up the Brits to find out just exactly how corrupt the relationship between their government and Murdoch's Empire has been. Now, it certainly is a valid question to ask just how it is that it has taken this long. Consider that they have published headlines claiming credit for the election of a party?
The Brits and their political parties have pretty much just plain ignored real obvious evidence that something has been broken for some time. Once you face up to that, you find that what broke things loose was a specific piece of wrong doing - not the fact that the system was flat out corrupt. It just isn't a problem that Rupert Murdoch runs their political system, it is about a dead girl and hacking.
According to Murdoch, himself, the problem was with 1% of his empire. He's shut that down and shifted the business to one of his other papers at the cost of 200 some jobs. Pretty much meaningless in terms of business. The BSkyB purchase may be off the table for now; and that is now. At this moment politicians are running away from their buddy Rupert, but neither he nor his empire have gone away, the back door to 10 Downing or whatever will still be open once the furor dies down. Keep in mind that everyone is looking right now and that won't last.
The horrifying consolidation of media in the US continues, essentially unopposed by anyone with actual power. Only the most blindly stupid don't consider NewsCorp a defacto GOP enterprise - or possibly the GOP a defacto NewsCorp enterprise. GOPers and FauxNews fans still consider the NYT and WaPo and ABC, CBS, and NBC to be liberal news propaganda - despite their corporatist fluffing exercises and stenography as balance.
Short of some memo from Rupert approving bribes and hacking the "I had no idea" crap will carry the day. Too many politicians in this and other countries owe NewsCorp big time and the public doesn't want truth or fact based analysis since that might challenge their ideological mythologies. The masters of the universe know that control of information is the trump card in dominance and the public flatly doesn't give a damn as long as they're not challenged or crushed in one fell blow.
Rupert and NewsCorp will be just fine and will continue to win the GOPer hearts and the rest of the media will continue to be useless to informing the public because those who care about it have power and money and those who'd oppose it have squat. Maybe if everything just completely crashes...
Not even then, bet ya.
The Brits and their political parties have pretty much just plain ignored real obvious evidence that something has been broken for some time. Once you face up to that, you find that what broke things loose was a specific piece of wrong doing - not the fact that the system was flat out corrupt. It just isn't a problem that Rupert Murdoch runs their political system, it is about a dead girl and hacking.
According to Murdoch, himself, the problem was with 1% of his empire. He's shut that down and shifted the business to one of his other papers at the cost of 200 some jobs. Pretty much meaningless in terms of business. The BSkyB purchase may be off the table for now; and that is now. At this moment politicians are running away from their buddy Rupert, but neither he nor his empire have gone away, the back door to 10 Downing or whatever will still be open once the furor dies down. Keep in mind that everyone is looking right now and that won't last.
The horrifying consolidation of media in the US continues, essentially unopposed by anyone with actual power. Only the most blindly stupid don't consider NewsCorp a defacto GOP enterprise - or possibly the GOP a defacto NewsCorp enterprise. GOPers and FauxNews fans still consider the NYT and WaPo and ABC, CBS, and NBC to be liberal news propaganda - despite their corporatist fluffing exercises and stenography as balance.
Short of some memo from Rupert approving bribes and hacking the "I had no idea" crap will carry the day. Too many politicians in this and other countries owe NewsCorp big time and the public doesn't want truth or fact based analysis since that might challenge their ideological mythologies. The masters of the universe know that control of information is the trump card in dominance and the public flatly doesn't give a damn as long as they're not challenged or crushed in one fell blow.
Rupert and NewsCorp will be just fine and will continue to win the GOPer hearts and the rest of the media will continue to be useless to informing the public because those who care about it have power and money and those who'd oppose it have squat. Maybe if everything just completely crashes...
Not even then, bet ya.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Motorcycle Service Fun (Sarcasm)
Some of you know that I own an FXSTSSE3 and that I ride - a lot. (in English that's a 2009 Custom Vehicle Operations Screaming Eagle Springer Soft-tail) Riding a lot means that Harley-Davidson's 2 year unlimited milage warrantee expired this mid-May and the bike just rolled over 40K miles. That expiration means that I feel free to do my own maintainance. I know a company can't make you use their service centers to honor warrantees, but I also know that this is an expensive bike that gets way more miles than Harley anticipated and conversations that start and end with "your people are the only ones who ever touched it" cut a lot of wiggles out. Yes, I own the actual Harley service manual for that motorcycle.
So, back to my tale. I am mechanically adept, I am damned good with tools and with reading, understanding, and following instructions. I cannot do anything with the computerized bits but that is outside the perview of service. Some of the service is complex, partly because the bike has a springer front end but it isn't beyond me or anyone competent. The last service was done while I was on the road back from FL and it seems that somebody managed to not understand torque specifications. To change the oil in the primary case you pull the drain plug in the bottom and then remove the primary cover to replace the oil. The drain plug was no problem, the #27 torx head screws in the primary cover were an issue, well ... two of them were. The specification are 84-108 inch pounds which isn't a lot. The top two screws refused to move with a hardened tool steel socket and 1/4 inch rachet. The torx grooves on the top one simply started going away, even with tapping with a light brass hammer and that is what it took for the next one left to it. The top one took being driven loose with a chisel, a bad thing, but I did get the cover off and the oil replaced. I will have to replace those once I can get to a dealer. I was not happy.
The next problem point was the oil filter, no filter wrench I could put on it would budge the damned thing. Not the light rubber strap wrench which should easily have removed it, and not even the Harley wrench borrowed from a local motorcycle shop. This filter is to be torqued 1/2 to 3/4 turn from gasket contact by specs. That is a bit more than you could manage with your bare hand, but it isn't a heck of a lot. I wound up driving a screw driver into the filter and cranking on it - not once, but three times for a total of 3/4 turn and then the Harley wrench barely got it off. At that point the gasket was squealing as it turned. I don't know how much beyond gasket contact that thing was turned but it was a lot and with holes through the side of the filter a lot of oil ran out on the engine.
The engine and tranny in these bikes go through a very wide temperature range, they get darned hot and they are subject to vibrations and that is a consideration whenever messing with one. But way tighter is not way better. This is what Harley publishes torque specifications for, that difficult environment. By the time I was done with these problems I was pretty unhappy - swear words were involved.
The oil all looked good which in nice and having nice fresh oil in the bike is very good - and better yet, I won't have this mess again.
So, back to my tale. I am mechanically adept, I am damned good with tools and with reading, understanding, and following instructions. I cannot do anything with the computerized bits but that is outside the perview of service. Some of the service is complex, partly because the bike has a springer front end but it isn't beyond me or anyone competent. The last service was done while I was on the road back from FL and it seems that somebody managed to not understand torque specifications. To change the oil in the primary case you pull the drain plug in the bottom and then remove the primary cover to replace the oil. The drain plug was no problem, the #27 torx head screws in the primary cover were an issue, well ... two of them were. The specification are 84-108 inch pounds which isn't a lot. The top two screws refused to move with a hardened tool steel socket and 1/4 inch rachet. The torx grooves on the top one simply started going away, even with tapping with a light brass hammer and that is what it took for the next one left to it. The top one took being driven loose with a chisel, a bad thing, but I did get the cover off and the oil replaced. I will have to replace those once I can get to a dealer. I was not happy.
The next problem point was the oil filter, no filter wrench I could put on it would budge the damned thing. Not the light rubber strap wrench which should easily have removed it, and not even the Harley wrench borrowed from a local motorcycle shop. This filter is to be torqued 1/2 to 3/4 turn from gasket contact by specs. That is a bit more than you could manage with your bare hand, but it isn't a heck of a lot. I wound up driving a screw driver into the filter and cranking on it - not once, but three times for a total of 3/4 turn and then the Harley wrench barely got it off. At that point the gasket was squealing as it turned. I don't know how much beyond gasket contact that thing was turned but it was a lot and with holes through the side of the filter a lot of oil ran out on the engine.
The engine and tranny in these bikes go through a very wide temperature range, they get darned hot and they are subject to vibrations and that is a consideration whenever messing with one. But way tighter is not way better. This is what Harley publishes torque specifications for, that difficult environment. By the time I was done with these problems I was pretty unhappy - swear words were involved.
The oil all looked good which in nice and having nice fresh oil in the bike is very good - and better yet, I won't have this mess again.
What Did Anybody Think Would Happen?
The jobless numbers went up last month because the jobs added simply were well short of population growth. The stark part was the break out between public and private sectors. The private sector added 60K jobs and the public sector shed 40K getting a net of plus 20K.
Low tax rates on the rich have not resulted in jobs, not since GWB got them, vast profits for favored industries have not produced jobs, in point of fact the housing bubble was the job driver for GWB while everything else went to hell. Why people can't manage to see that the GOP policies have not produced spit is beyond me.
The actual numbers exist that demostrate that the GOPer policies are bad for the economy and bad for the general citizenry and yet... well, we're talking about the damned debt ceiling and crashing the economic clown* car.
*if you don't think this economy deserves that level of derision ... well ...
Low tax rates on the rich have not resulted in jobs, not since GWB got them, vast profits for favored industries have not produced jobs, in point of fact the housing bubble was the job driver for GWB while everything else went to hell. Why people can't manage to see that the GOP policies have not produced spit is beyond me.
The actual numbers exist that demostrate that the GOPer policies are bad for the economy and bad for the general citizenry and yet... well, we're talking about the damned debt ceiling and crashing the economic clown* car.
*if you don't think this economy deserves that level of derision ... well ...
GOPers And Their Pledges
Michelle Bachmann got herself into some hot water with her signature on the Family Something Pledge thanks to its reference to black children being more likely to be raised by two parent families under slavery than under Obama. It is a part and parcel with the GOPer Grover Norquist stupidity in relation to taxes. To be sure there is a lot of other noxious stuff in the pledge she signed, just as there is in the Norquist idiotology.
What they seem to see is the hanging plum of getting a segment of voters on board without seeing the actual meaning of the stupidity they're signing onto. To be sure, a Christian Taliban may not seem like a problem to a Bachmann just as subsidies for targeted favorite companies aren't a problem for some. There are consequence, though.
I don't think potential Bachmann voters are much bothered by the slavery thing or the rest of it and I don't think potential Paul Ryan voters are much bothered by hedgefund managers paying less tax percentage than actually poor people. The problem for the GOPers is that these folks get to be their public face to a public that might pay attention.
What they seem to see is the hanging plum of getting a segment of voters on board without seeing the actual meaning of the stupidity they're signing onto. To be sure, a Christian Taliban may not seem like a problem to a Bachmann just as subsidies for targeted favorite companies aren't a problem for some. There are consequence, though.
I don't think potential Bachmann voters are much bothered by the slavery thing or the rest of it and I don't think potential Paul Ryan voters are much bothered by hedgefund managers paying less tax percentage than actually poor people. The problem for the GOPers is that these folks get to be their public face to a public that might pay attention.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Democrats Will Define Themselves
Thanks to the bullpucky argument about the debt ceiling (this is debt not new expenditures) the deficit hawks and others in the GOP will force Democrats to define themselves. I'd say it is the case that Democrats don't want to define themselves as shown by their behavior over the past couple years (or hell - decades). I don't suppose there's much debate that the GOPers have defined themselves as the Party of Theocracy and Plutocracy with their voters opting for one or the other of those defining features.
While the Democrats have shown little inclination (through results) to do something other than coddle the Plutocrats, there has been a continuing mythology that it is the party of the ordinary citizen. What the GOPers have managed with the debt ceiling nonsense* is to force, through the application of a gun to the head approach, the Democrats to actually take some kind of public stand. It seems the GOPers are unwilling to let them weasel out of the defining business.
What I have decided to do is to let this month's nonsense play itself out and see just how the Democrats do define themselves. Since they've already caved to the idea that the existing debt/debt ceiling is the budget I don't have a lot of optimism for what that definition is going to be.**
*you can certainly include WI, OH, FL, & ETC
**certain definitions could make me willing to join the the ranks of "as if it matters"
Don't expect much in the line of posts... Heh - you already don't.
While the Democrats have shown little inclination (through results) to do something other than coddle the Plutocrats, there has been a continuing mythology that it is the party of the ordinary citizen. What the GOPers have managed with the debt ceiling nonsense* is to force, through the application of a gun to the head approach, the Democrats to actually take some kind of public stand. It seems the GOPers are unwilling to let them weasel out of the defining business.
What I have decided to do is to let this month's nonsense play itself out and see just how the Democrats do define themselves. Since they've already caved to the idea that the existing debt/debt ceiling is the budget I don't have a lot of optimism for what that definition is going to be.**
*you can certainly include WI, OH, FL, & ETC
**certain definitions could make me willing to join the the ranks of "as if it matters"
Don't expect much in the line of posts... Heh - you already don't.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
GOP Economic Sabotage
It appears that some in some form of national Democratic leadership have brought themselves to the point of stating that the GOP is engaging in economic sabotage. Now, it has been my position since St Ronnie that economic sabotage was being conducted on the American public. That public hasn't been willing to engage in that discussion - not as long as it was the poor, working poor, and blue collar who were getting their throats cut - it seems enough of that public is willing since those reluctant Democrats are speaking up.
You bet, I'm just being mean and expecting waaaaayyyy too much - well other than this - have you heard any of this up until now? It isn't like this is something real new or that the Democrats haven't gone along with much of it all the way up to now. Will it stop here? Hah...
You bet, I'm just being mean and expecting waaaaayyyy too much - well other than this - have you heard any of this up until now? It isn't like this is something real new or that the Democrats haven't gone along with much of it all the way up to now. Will it stop here? Hah...
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