Land of Oz

Nothing New

I was just reading a July 1949 issue of Popular Mechanics - which is fascinating reading (really) by the way - and found an article about a new vehicle. It was a "Plymouth Combination Station Wagon and Utility Vehicle" or otherwise described as "sporty looking utility vehicle." It was called the Suburban - gee, wonder where Chevy came up with the name?

The "slick five-passenger family car" came with "all metal construction", "18-inch wheels (optional) for greater clearance in backwoods driving" and "the same 97-horsepower engine featured in the deluxe line"

November Sucks

First Bush wins and now you'll be buying Craftsman ratchets in Kmart. Before you know it, they'll be bitching about showing a bareback in a locker room on TV.

oh..

P.S. The thing I hate most about Kmart? The recorded message that says, "Phones are in the aisles for your convenience." If they were trying to do something for my convenience, they'd have some staff in those aisles.

2fers: Good hand tools - not so good power tools and Not much good to say at all

Sears is gone...

You really have to love the idea of bankruptcy. When someone (usually a rich someone) decides they don't want to pay off the people who they owe money to, or have too many employees, or too many pensions, they decide to just fuck all, and declare bankruptcy. I really don't get it. How can that possibly be right - or at least ethical. (I know - who cares about business ethics in the 21 century, but still...). What if everyone did that? Can you imagine? Hey Ralph, you know that $100 you lent me last month - screw it, I'm bankrupt. Hey Dr. Smith - you know the $500 in dental work you did on me last week - screw it, I'm bankrupt.

Kmart lost $3.2 billion in its fiscal 2003, but reported its fourth consecutive profitable quarter yesterday. Sears reported a 2003 profit of $3.4 billion, but a loss of $867 million for the first nine months of this year.

The above is from the Washington Post. How on earth can someone go bankrupt, lose $3.2 billion dollars, and then still buy one of the largest merchandisers around? For that matter how can someone make $3.4 billion one year and in the next 9 months manage to lose $867 million?

And people are applauding both of these companies - I hate it. I read this morning that our country just approved another $800 billion (yes, that's a 'b', not 'm') in deficit. We're going to cut taxes, prosecute a couple more wars, and increase spending all at the same time. What the hell were you 52 million voters thinking??? Give a thought to ten years from now. Pensions will be gone - the companies that promise them will all be bankrupt. Social Security will be privatized - BTW, did you put your stock in Kmart before or after they went bankrupt? The government won't be able to bail you out, since it will be so far in the hole, the treasury won't even remember what green ink was. One good point is that since your medical care is going in the shitter, there won't be as many people around to suffer. (Did you get your flu shot this year??)

2fers: kmart and US Government Supplied Grade A Bankruptcy Forms sigh...

Borders

Sigh... It looks like Canada is starting to take lessons from the USA. I'm hoping this weekend's trip was an aberration - perhaps the poor guy just got on the wrong side of the bed. However, I wonder if it's not a little payback getting underway.

I visited Canada, via Sarnia and the Blue Water Bridge, this weekend. The Canadian border guard was pretty short and snippy this time. Usually, the Canadians are really nice. They ask the usual sort of question and all, but in the past it's always been done with a smile and the attitude that they really would like to see you enjoy their country.

This time it was gruff and short and to the point. All kinds of questions about seeing judges and getting fingerprints, and why are you coming here and stuff. Oh, by the way, did I mention that the Blue Water crossing is where the US is starting their fingerprinting of Canadian visitors. You don't suppose that has anything to do with it do you? Can't say I blame them much. We are getting to be a bunch of assholes to the rest of world these days.

I've also read about the higher than normal rate of US citizens visiting the Canadian immigration site. By the way, my score is 67 right now.

2fers: Do you have what Canada wants? and Want a job - eh?

Bang

Guns seem to be one those things that you're either for or against - rabidly. Similar to abortions, gays and lite beer. I have to admit that I see no problem with gun ownership. It's the gun owners that have problems. We've all heard the argument that guns don't kill people, people do; or that if you want a gun why do you need a 30 round holding semi-automatic rifle?

While I think the guns are just an object argument has been run into the ground, I would like to expand a little on the why do you need a... argument. First, I or you, don't need a fully automatic belt-fed .50 caliber machine gun. However, I see no reason for not having one. Look at vehicles. Why does anyone need a 500 hp, four wheel drive 3 ton pickup or for that matter a 240 mph Ferrari? For that matter, why do you need a Dove chocolate ice cream bar instead of a Tastee Freeze or a filet mignon instead of a Big Mac? Needs and wants are two different things.

Instead of trying to hold the object responsible, how about holding the person responsible? If someone eats 45 Dove ice cream bars a week, they shouldn't sue Dove because they become fat. And there are already laws on the book against using guns for criminal intent. How about toughening the existing ones instead of making new ones. Don't make illegal to own a weapon, but make it a life sentence to use one in a crime. If you go out drunk some night and fire a few rounds into the sky for 4th of July, you need to do some serious prison time. There are no extenuating circumstances. You threaten some one with a gun, even in passing - you're going to jail. If you've got a felony conviction, and you touch a weapon, you're back in the slammer again.

That's just like the three strike law in California (which I don't know if it has been overturned or not). If you haven't learned after two arrests, it's pretty obvious you're not going to change. I don't care if you do steal just a slice of pizza - you stole something after having been twice through the justice system that punished you for stealing!! Which part of your guilty, your guilty didn't you understand?

Leaves the guns and Big Macs and Godiva chocolate manufacturers and their products alone. But bust those who misuse them big time.

2fers: Charles Daly 1911 and Ruger Mark II, Mk 6

Clear Majority??

Bush (R) 58,978,616 51%
Kerry (D) 55,384,497 48%

Well, technically 51% is a larger majority than 48%. But where is the clear mandate here? I heard Bush "got a lot of capital from this election" and plans on spending it. It'd be nice if he really looked around. 51% to 48% isn't a great win; it's just squeaking by. We, as a country, are going farther in debt, the deficit being higher than it has for a long time, and he's going to cut taxes. Osama's still running around, remember when he was #1 bad guy, wanted dead or alive? Saddam is dumped in a cell someplace and Iraq is no nearer being a peaceful place than it was two years ago. Iran and North Korea are still rattling nuclear sabers and they don't seem to be on anybody's radar.

We've got ever bigger SUVs coming along, have you seen the converted semi-truck pickup, and we're soon to be wiping out the Alaska wildlife preserve for a few months of oil. And we've got another four years of this coming along...

Sigh...

Rats! It looks like everything I voted for - lost. What a bummer. I guess that proves something, but I don't know what. As I write this, the vultures, er lawyers are starting to circle the state of Ohio, but it looks like a lost cause. (What state is tall in the middle and round at both ends?)

The gay marriage thing got hammered all across the states. I guess there's no surprise there. I'm really beginning to worry about a theocracy cropping up. You might be surprised at how it sneaks in here and there. For example, even though I'm a 22 year veteran of the military, served in Saudi Arabia, and was around during the end of the Vietnam war, I'm not eligible to join the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), because I won't sign a statement saying I believe in God. Even though I spent 22 years fighting to protect a document that states, freedom from religion, I can't join an organization that supposedly honors those who fight in foreign wars because they want to enforce a religious belief.

There's a bill currently rattling around the house and senate that would keep the Supreme Court from reviewing any laws that someone makes based on their religious belief. I hate to lend support to all the doomsday enthusiasts out there, but is this the beginning of some new Crusades? The white cowboy hat wearing theocrat versus the white turban wearing theocrats? Ever higher deficits to pay for this? Crappier health care and more power to businesses? Oil soaked wetlands and clear cut forests? Scary crap coming this way.

2fers Theocracy Watch and Not only me, and not just now!

Bomb

I regularly check out the news at the "BEEB," or BBC news. I usually look over the world headlines and then double-check Asia-Pacific and the Middle East almost everyday. I usually, but not always, also check out the other regions. Science/Nature and Technology are two other places I usually stop at.

I can't help but wonder how many times the Middle East overview has not contained the word bomb in it's headline stories? It's either a car bomb, or suicide bomb, or some country (usually ours or Israel) is dropping a bomb on some other country. On the rare occasion, someone finds a bomb instead of actually setting it off.

What is it about that part of the country? Why is everyone trying to blow up everyone else? Is it the heat that pisses people off? Or maybe it's the miles and miles of sand. Yes, I know the Middle East isn't all sand and dessert and bombs, but you'd be hard to tell that from the news.

Would it kill you guy to take a day off and not bomb someone? - Huh, would it?

P.S. Democrats vote today and Republicans vote tomorrow!