April, 2009 archive
Gun Nuttery 1
Out of ammo:
The scene at Gun City is playing out across the U.S. as record gun sales deplete stocks from ammunition makers Alliant Techsystems Inc. and Olin Corp. Demand for firearms is being driven in part by concern that U.S. President Barack Obama may impose new controls, said Matt Rice, a spokesman for Springfield, Massachusetts-based Smith & Wesson Holding Corp.
Where these folks got the notion that their precious warm guns are in danger is beyond the rational.
Mad Hattering 2
This sounds like a hoot. I think I might grab my camera and my Obama pin and go.
“If You Haven’t Done Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing To Worry about” 0
What Brendan said.
Oh, yeah, watch the Glenn Beck clip at the end.
Now, I think the persons are who all gaga over this jump too soon.
I believe that the Obama administration is still trying to sort out the cow patty they inherited from a whole administration of morans–morans who will never see Spain. Nevertheless, I disagree with the administration’s actions and wish they would just come clean on behalf of the people of the United States of America.
On the Media considers the issue:
Follow this link to visit the website and read the transcript.
Addendum:
Andrew Sullivan has a thought.
Right-Wing Terrorism 0
“The DHS under President Bush was apparently more reluctant to make such assessments about the right. According to CQ, a 2005 report outlining terrorist threats ‘does not mention anti-government groups, white supremacists and other radical right-wing movements,'” noted Think Progress. “Bush’s report did, however, list the threat of left-wing groups such as the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. And a 2001 report from the Energy Department examined “Left-Wing Extremism: The Current Threat.”
Oh, gee.
Funny, I don’t see any lefties calling for violent overthrow of the state.
The wingnuts speak the language of violence, then get outraged when they get called on it.
They don’t have enough courage to stand behind their own mouths.
Pah!
My Brother Was Right 0
It really is easy to drill out a brass file cabinet lock.
Aside: Out of filial affection, I left out the “It’s about time.”
Black and White and Read All Over 0
Print journalism can pack a large amount of information into a small amount of time and space. Persons can read much more information in five minutes than can be narrated in five minutes. That’s why half an hour with a good newspaper or news magazine gives us a much greater return on investment and much more depth of information than half a day of news broadcasts.
But the economics of print journalism are failing. Reportage, printing, and delivery cost lots of money–money that these days goes to Craig’s List and, God help me, E! Online.
No solutions here. Wish I had ’em, but I don’t.
Clay Shirky in the Guardian (emphasis added):
(snip)
Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism. For a century, the imperatives to strengthen journalism and to strengthen newspapers have been so tightly wound as to be indistinguishable. That’s been a fine accident to have, but when that accident stops, as it is stopping before our eyes, we’re going to need lots of other ways to strengthen journalism instead.
Gee. Ya Think? 0
Can I get a job writing financial news? I too have a flair for the obvious:
Economists, apparently, do not. From the same story:
Retail sales were projected to rise 0.3 percent in March after an originally reported 0.1 percent decline the prior month, according to the median estimate of 73 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Forecasts ranged from a decline of 0.2 percent to a gain of 1.2 percent.
No Account 0
They are all victims. They had nothing to do with it. It happened when they were in the Hamptons.
After all, who could have predicted . . . .
John Baldoni of HarvardBusinessReview dot org via Bloomberg News:
Contrast Quick’s behavior with that of so many of our senior banking and financial executives who moaned and groaned about not receiving bonuses when their companies had lost billions. Very few offered to resign and some are still in positions of authority, just as many other senior executives in other sectors are, even after their companies have also lost so many billions of investor revenue.
Accountability is fundamental to leadership. As much as every senior leaders knows this, and even preaches it to analysts, too often corporate leaders act as if consequences do not matter to them. They are exempt from accountability. Better to let the underlings fall than the top guy. After all, the CEO is special. . . .
“Ki“ 0
I was actually discussing the sociological constant, Ki, with a friend last night.
It refers to the Idiocy Constant in human nature. Baldly stated, if you drag enough persons randomly selected into a room, a certain percentage of them will be idiots.
It’s just a fact of human nature.
Mr. Willis’s site has been having some database issues this morning. If it doesn’t load, be patient and try again later.
Stay@Home 0
DuPont’s 75 senior leaders have agreed to take three weeks off without pay, said Anthony Farina, company spokesman. Other salaried employees are being asked to take the equivalent of two weeks off without pay.
If there is a bright side, it is that DuPont is starting at the top, with the persons who are paid the most, rather than with the persons who are paid the least.
Aside: DuPont was once Delaware’s largest employer, not just the largest “industrial” employer. These days, the largest employers are zombie banks. The way the zombie banking industry is going, DuPont may some day again–oh, never mind.
Piracy on the High C-Notes 0
Read it all. From MarketWatch, relentless apologolist for the financial sector:
When lawless bankers captured the global economy, Geithner put the hostage-takers first. And the hostage-takers are stepping up their demands: Change the accounting rules, guarantee us against any losses from the toxic assets, and rig the stress test so we all come out smelling like roses.
Old-timers may remember with nostalgia the days when it was easy to tell the difference between a major financial institution and a criminal enterprise. Those days are long gone.
Consider, for instance, the indictment unveiled last week against a San Diego street gang on multiple counts of mortgage fraud. According to federal prosecutors, the gang arranged to buy 220 properties for more than $100 million from 2005 to 2008. They overpaid for the properties by taking out liar loans using phony appraisals. They then funneled a kickback to a company controlled by the defendants, the indictment says.
Liar loans? Phony appraisals? Kickbacks? That sounds pretty much like the business model for the mortgage brokerage industry in California during the bubble. Maybe the real complaint is that the mob was muscling in on their territory.
The End of a Generation 0
Baseball announcers who actually knew something about baseball.
Watching or listening to a Philies broadcast won’t be the same without Harry Kalas.
Adventures in Tech Support, Dell Dept. (Updated) 2
I just got off the phone with Dell Technical Support, with satisfactory results.
The times I call Tech Support are few, since I can almost always fix software problems and, with desktop computers not under warranty, hardware problems, but this was a netbook hardware problem.
I had already concluded that the AC adapter for the netbook had gone west (probably to Colorado, but that’s another story). I had metered it and it didn’t. Adapt, that is.
Hey, stuff breaks. That’s reality.
The Tech Support guy, of course, had to verify my diagnosis. He had me make sure that the computer was not in “airplane mode” and reboot. (What that had to do with AC power I don’t know, but Dell was paying for the phone call, and it did allow him to verify that the computer did, indeed, compute.)
He then had me plug in the adapter and check whether the power icon reported “AC power.” It didn’t.
Next, he had me shut down the box, remove the battery, and attempt to restart the box using the AC adapter. It did a convincing imitation of a paperweight.
The result: Dell well be sending me a new adapter. When I get it and test it, I’m to send the old adapter back to them at their expense. He also gave me a direct number to his department in case the new battery arrives damaged or not at all.
Conclusion: He did good. He did exactly what I would have done had I been wearing his headset.
By the way, he was in India. I thought he was from his accent, but the guy who runs Claymont Liquors a mile and a half up the road has a similar accent. So I asked.
[EDITORIAL MODE ON]
I am sick and tired of Americans criticizing techs simply because the techs speak with foreign accents. A good tech is a good tech is a good tech. It’s called “globalization” and it’s not a policy. It’s an irreversible force.
[EDITORIAL MODE OFF]
Addendum:
They sent it overnight express. It works.
Drinking Liberally 0
Triumph Brewing Company, 2nd and Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pa., Tuesday, 6 p. Plenty of public transportation and, for drivers, ample street parking on Front.
Find a chapter near you. The only membership requirement is to show up.
Decisiveness vs. Deciderism 0
The Booman on the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips from the Somali Pirates. Further editorializing is not required:
The Chutzpah 0
Yes, it is no doubt all the taxpayers’ fault that AIG ran itself into the ground and came begging for a bailout.
Yeah, blame the taxpayers. That’s the ticket. Yeah. Taxpayers.
Jesus Christ, the unmitigated gall of these folks is sick-making.
RepublifantasyLand 0
Dick Polman:
Their theme (quoting a number of Republican congressmen) is that Obama is working “to pull the rug out from under our armed services,” that he is seeking “drastic defense cuts that will weaken our national security,” that his “military budget cuts” suggest “a sense of naivete,” that “the one place he wants to cut spending is defense,” and that (in the words of Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe) “President Obama is disarming America. Never before has a president so ravaged the military at a time of war…he undercuts those he sends into harm’s way. It is not just unbelievable, it is unconscionable.”
One would never know, from those assertions, that Obama’s budget actually calls for a hike in military funds of $21 billion; that it includes billions in new money for veterans, particularly those suffering from mental health problems and brain injuries; that it adds $11 billion to expand the Army and Marines; and that, most importantly, it reflects a fundamental shift in war-fighting priorities long signaled by Pentagon chief Robert Gates – who started mapping his plans while working for President Bush.