Not making a difference since 2006. Blog motto: Always be sincere whether you mean it or not.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Mr. Disingenuous

As mentioned before, Dan Kennedy's Medianation blog is not a bad source for Boston media news and some national stuff as well, Were it were a boat, You would notice a definite list to port. Fair enough, no one should have a problem with that.

When I saw the comment he left on the SaveWrko site, I almost fell off my chair,

Brian: I am not an Obama "supporter." If you guessed whom I plan to vote for, I'm sure you'd get it right. But that doesn't make me a supporter. I vote, but I support no one.

Posted by: Dan Kennedy at October 15, 2008 09:36 AM


The man might not endorse Obama on his blog, but he has dug up every bit of dirt he could find on McCain Palin and run with it as fast as he could.

To then claim he does not support the team is embarrassing and a bit shameful. He might excue it by saying gee, I wish someone else was the nominee but lesser of two evils. Still, you don't put out that much effort to blacken the other side and say I'm not a supporter.

After all, is there nothing he could report a little negative about Obama. Nah.

I don't really see how any thinking person can back either cargo cult, but Dan is a man of no balance and to me that equals support.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

From the voice of humility business and finance desk-This just in, Iceland purchased out of bankruptcy

The Republic of Zimbabwe has purchased the nation of Iceland out of bankruptcy. There were no other bidders.

When asked to comment, the Zimbabwean Finance Minister said there was a natural synergy. "We have much experience dealing with hyper inflation, getting banknotes printed quickly and all that. Our people know how to cope, a skill those Nordics are going to need. We know many rat recipes and how to make poisonous roots palatable. Trading on those skills, we could use Icelandic foods to vary our diets. Still, I don't know if I'm ready for pickled herring.

Friday, October 10, 2008

You Have to Fight for Your Right to be Apathetic

I have no grand philosophy of life. I wish I did, but at the end of the day, all I can deal with is simple concepts like "ownlife" as expressed by George Orwell,

In Principle a Party member had no spare time, and was never alone except in bed. It was assumed that when he was not working, eating, or sleeping he would be taking part in some kind of communal recreations; to do anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife, it was called, meaning individualism.

1984 page 82

Yeah, go ahead and hit me with concepts like how horrible atomistic life is. Sorry, kids. If you are thinking for yourself, then a certain amount of the atomistic life is inescapable. This does not mean I'm in some ashram by myself. I get on with people, not many. There is a family I'm happily part of. I have served my time in unpaid community work. Still, at the end of the day, it's all part of ownlife if I can choose or reject it.

Ah, but there are people out there who believe the idea of being a separate independent person is pernicious. John McCain wants you to participate in "a cause greater than yourself." Gee, nothing he has ever expounded has grabbed me as a cause greater than myself, humble and worthless wretch that I am.

Obama is worse. While McCain was once for a military draft, he is smart enough to realize that whatever chance he has to be El Jefe Maximo would be gone if he uttered such sentiments now. Obama would also never give voice to the idea that he wishes to compel people to serve. No, he is smart enough to put it in terms such that you lose if you don't submit.

Per J.D. Tuccille

In fact, Obama's national service plan is "voluntary" in a technical sense -- nobody will be arrested for declining to participate. But non-participants also won't be allowed to graduate from high school, and without those diplomas, life could get a bit rough.

Obama's national service plan (PDF) says:

Schools that require service as part of the educational experience create improved learning environments and serve as resources for their communities. The Obama-Biden plan sets a goal for all students to engage in service, with middle and high school students performing 50 hours of service each year, and college students performing 100 hours of service each year. Under this plan, students would graduate college with as many as 17 weeks of public service experience under their belts.

But schools set their own policies, don't they? Well ... sort of. You see, as the saying goes, "he who takes the king's coin becomes the king's man." And most public schools depend on federal dollars. As Obama elaborated in a speech last December, "At the middle and high school level, we'll make federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs, and give schools resources to offer new service opportunities."

I know that the word fascism is overused when accusing others of something you don't like. Heck, I do it (only in the right way, of course). Still, what else can one call the forced service of youth.

Let's use the words of Benito,

everything within the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.

We can quibble about whether the above quote is applicable, but a state that will reach down to compel its citizens to service comes close enough for government work.

Both candidates, as J.D. puts it,

seem to think that donating your time to a soup kitchen, a clinic or a church is less valuable than participation in a grand-scale scheme managed by the state.

We all know how it will work out. Brad and Brooke, just out of Amherst will get some chi chi gig that will resemble a policy internship and Tyrone and Crystal will be handed mops.

One of the reasons I homeschooled my kids was the clicque that ran our region were for mandatory service. There are not many ways to resist this, but you should if you can.

In the end, the lesson any kid should get out of this is might makes right. Being forced to do good is extortion.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin. Not Holy Mother State's.

Have a look at national service as it has been practiced elsewhere.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Why am I always so behind?

I just can't keep up, I just can't keep up. I feel less than because of it.

Here I thought Fair Market Value was what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller.

I wasn't paying attention. There is a new definition,

FMV is what a willing government department is willing to pay a willing well connected less than competently run financial institution.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

The Dems are giving the Republicans the election. Will they take it? Nah

I do not have a dog in this race. Still, just for fun, I'd like to see something interesting happen in this race. Most of the things that are happening have been done before. A national savior? Germany pioneered that in the Thirties. A war hero come to fight special interests, that also happened amongst the Deutchies in 1932.

It's gotta be something different. Not really different, that not going to happen. Even if it's a contrived diff, let's have it.

Therefore, a message to Sarah's handlers; let Sarah be Sarah. No, I mean really.

Here's the scenario,

The handlers say to La Sarah, "Mrs. Palin, what do you think about the bailout. Not as a candidate, but as the real human being you were a few weeks ago.

Her reply, "Scam"

"Okay, Sarah you can tell America that, if you can just bring yourself to say I love and respect John McCain, but."

Outside of Washington, no one thinks this not a scam. If the Republicans let her go off the reservation and the next day say something like the disagree but respect her independence and candor blah blah blah, it could work.

After all, one out of four actually appearing real could work.

This campaign season has been so ridiculous, I have not feared the Large Hadron Collider would cause a black hole. I was looking forward to it.

Something I don't get?

Up until the bailout vote, stocks were plunging.

The bailout looked sure to pass.

The bailout vote fails.

The next day stocks rise.

They are said (saw the headline on bloomberg.com)to be rising because there was hope the bailout plan that saw stocks tanking in anticipation of it passing would be resubmitted.

Now, the voice of humility claims no special knowledge and his life's financial success is reason enough for him to continue in the modesty he is so justly proud of. Still, something here does not seem to follow. We are grateful to anyone who can set us straight.

Also, Upon the demise of the proposed legislation, the Fed injected 600+ Billion to little comment in our free press, the tribunes of the people. What's up with that.

Actually, I've found someone to instruct me in the intricacies of current financial news. Darn the Brits. I don't think anyone in this country could have done this. Maybe Colbert, but I doubt it.


Hat tip to the Ambler.