Public spending to "create jobs"

I've always known that any type of government work is necessarily inefficient, since the government has no reason to be efficient due to lacking the profit motive. It's not like the DMV or the post office is going to go out of business, since raising taxes to pay for its inefficiency is always an option. That's mostly what forms my small-government political beliefs.

Extrapolating this to public works programs, as was done during the Great Depression as part of FDR's New Deal, would lead to massively wasteful spending. Amity Shlaes has an excellent column today describing what actually happened then. She knows of what she speaks, as she wrote a whole book about it. Here's an excerpt of the column:

One of the saddest accounts of the public-works job culture I came across involved a model government farm in Casa Grande, Ariz. The men were poor--close to "Grapes of Wrath" poor--but sophisticated. They knew that the government wanted them to share jobs. But they saw that the only way for the farm to get profits was to increase output and to stop milking by hand. Five dairy crew men approached the manager to propose purchasing milking machines to increase output. They even documented their plea with a shorthand memo:

"Milking machine would save two men's labor at five dollars per day . . . Beginning in September would save three men's wages or $7.50 on account of new heifers coming in."

The men were willing to strike if they didn't get the machines, though they feared they might lose their precious places on the farm if they did strike. Their fears proved justified. "You're fired," the workers later recalled the manager replying when he saw their careful plan. The government man was horrified at the idea of killing the jobs he was supposed to create. "You're jeopardizing a loan of the U.S. government, and it's my job to protect that loan. You're through, everyone of you, get out."

It's like paying people to move a bunch of dirt, using hand tools, from one spot to another, and then back again. Yes, it "creates jobs", but it's horribly wasteful. All the money spent on it was sucked from the productive in the form of taxes (money that could have been used on real business investment), and yet it was thrown away on paying people for doing something useless.

Bowl preview from FO

It uses drive data for its analysis, and it's probably a good way to find some nice wagering opportunites.

Where are the reverends when there is ACTUAL racial cleansing of blacks?

Once again, if you don't know, you haven't followed their history. Hispanic gangs targeting blacks in LA? Why, if they can't rail against whitey they are nowhere to be found.

A hidden story in this, of course, is our open borders policy where these gang members pour into our country with impunity.

RIAA: Illegal to copy your own CD's onto your PC

I really don't think it's going to hold up:

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

...

But lawyers for consumers point to a series of court rulings over the last few decades that found no violation of copyright law in the use of VCRs and other devices to time-shift TV programs; that is, to make personal copies for the purpose of making portable a legally obtained recording.

Thoughts on the top 8 presidential candidates

My previous post on immigration got me thinking about what I think about the candidates overall. Here are some thoughts, from least desirable to most.

Not surprisingly, Democrats lead the list for me. I've generally refrained from commenting on that race, since it's not my party and they can nominate whoever they like. I'll try to not be relentlessly negative about any of them (but it's pretty hard!).

Hillary Clinton
An argument was being made a few months ago in conservative circles that Hillary would be the most preferable Democrat to be president. The reasoning was that she was such a tough, pragmatic SOB (if that can be used to describe a woman), that she'd at least not be a naive Jimmy Carter-type. That's true, but I just can't stand her. She's overly ambitious, calculating, corrupt, and dishonest, and I don't want to see her rewarded with the presidency. Plus, four more years of Bill back in the White House? The thought is nauseating. I'd crawl over broken glass to vote against her (unless it's against McCain, as I write below).

John Edwards
It's tough between him and Obama, but Edwards is so patently phony that no one really knows what he stands for. It's breathtaking that Mitt Romney gets pounded for this but Edwards doesn't. When he was in the Senate he was a left-leaning southern Democrat, meaning he was only mildly ideological and had a moderate streak. Now he's got that silly act of Two Americas and such. What a load; consider that with obesity being the big nutritional issue among poor people, how does anyone believe his stories about kids going to bed hungry? He's also ridiculously hypocritical in his personal life. One positive is his mildly attractive daughter.

Barack Obama
The tallest midget. He's your standard big-city liberal on everything, but at least he's honest about it. The danger is in his horribly naive foreign policy views. If you liked what Jimmy Carter was doing with the Soviets and Iran, you'll love this guy. For me it comes down to him being a good, honest, non-hypocritical guy, and since the views of these three are so similar, that's enough for me.

John McCain
He's got some strengths (spending, defense, social stuff), but he's spent his entire career kicking his party in the teeth for approval from the New York Times and others in the media. That just cannot be rewarded with that party's nomination. Plus, immigration's my #1 issue and he's a total failure there. He would cause tremendous damage to the Republican Party brand. I'd rather stay home than ever cast a ballot for him. Republican strategist Patrick Ruffini has more on his history.

Mike Huckabee
On immigration, it's a mystery on what he'd do. He's pretty awful on everything else. His record as governor on spending and taxes is abysmal. He's a big nanny-stater who wants a national indoor smoking ban. Whether or not you like cigarette smoke, is it the federal government's business to regulate it? The only reason I have him above McCain is immigration, but his instincts on the role of government are like those of a standard Democrat. His foreign policy views are only surpassed on the Carter scale by Obama. He'd also damage the party, but he fact that I'd prefer him to McCain shows just how much I dislike McCain.

Rudy Giuliani
He's crappy on immigration, but he'd kick a lot of ass all over terrorists and the states that support them. If you think Bush is a warmonger, he's like Ghandi compared to Rudy. Yeah, he's crappy on social issues, but I don't care much about those. He promises to appoint originalist judges anyway, which is by far the most important thing that can be done in that area. His instincts are for smaller government, too, so he'd be good enough there for me.

Mitt Romney
I actually think he'd be a very good president, but I worry about his electability. I'm also not sure about his conservative bona fides, but since he's Mormon I assume that he moved to the left to win in Massachusetts and that he's mainly conservative. He's succeeded in everything he's done, and his temperament and management style is excellent from everything I've read. I'm somewhat unsure how he would approach problems given his business background; would he come from a conservative, small-government point of view, or would he try to tackle the issue in a non-ideological way? I prefer the first way, so that makes me somewhat wary.

Fred Thompson
Anybody who reads this blog knows I like Fred. The first thing he thinks when he comes across a problem is, "Should the federal government be doing this?" That seals it for me.

Others:

Joe Biden and Chris Dodd - Wouldn't be bad (compared to the other Democrats), since they are at least serious on big issues.

Other Democrats - Pretty bad

Duncan Hunter - Great

Ron Paul - Mild thumbs down. On domestic issues, he gives me wet dreams. On foreign policy, he's worse than everybody except Dennis Kucinich.

In review, fully 40% of the big Republican contenders are really bad. Please, Iowa and New Hampshire, do we have to wait until South Carolina to fix things?

Final grade on immigration before the voting starts

Just in case anyone cares as much about the issue as I do, here are my thoughts on the presidential candidates of both parties on illegal immigration. Numbers USA has done the same thing, and here are their rankings.

All of the Democrats - Unacceptable
No matter what they say now, they are for the pre-summer of 2007 status quo, which is open borders (and, if something must "be done", amnesty). Don't be fooled by their rhetoric, which is pretty weak anyway. At least Obama is honest when he says in debates that he wants amnesty and open borders (which is different than what's on his website, and thus I don't believe his website), and that's consistent with his votes for amnesty since he's been in the Senate.

I will give some credit to John Edwards, though, in that he can plausibly make the case for cracking down on illegals. His whole schtick is about helping blue-collar workers (rather than just the panoply of left-wing issues), so I believe he would perform some level of border tightening based on the economic issue of illegals dragging down wages.

I should be more fair to Chris Dodd, who isn't awful. He was still an amnesty supporter, though, so take that for what it's worth. (He has no section on his website for illegal immigration.)

The Republicans are much tougher to decipher, but I'll try my best. I've been following these guys very closely over the past year, and they each deserve their own comment.

Duncan Hunter - Gold Standard
He's the best, but he has no chance of winning. His congressional district is in San Diego, and he was instrumental in building the fence there that dramatically cut down on border crossings (the video is excellent). He's got the record and the ideas (on everything, actually), so it's unfortunate he won't win. He'd be a great president, or failing that, Vice President or Defense Secretary.

Ron Paul - Gold Standard
He's definitely got some bad ideas (mostly on foreign policy), but he is as close to Hunter on this issue as anyone. He even wants to end birthright citizenship, so this issue is something I agree with him 100%.

Fred Thompson - Very Good
He doesn't have the track record on this issue, but at least he doesn't have much of an open borders record. He was for a mild amnesty back in the 1990's, but in fairness to him, the massive influx of illegals since then has certainly changed things. Thus, he deserves a pass for that. Plus, his consistent record and philosophy of small government and American strength matches very nicely with his current views. Out of the top five contenders, he's the best, as his detailed plan shows.

Mike Huckabee - Incomplete (probably Bad)
It's not easy to write that Huckabee is bad on this issue, as he's come up with a plan that's arguably tougher than Thompson's. The problem is that it's totally at odds with his record as governor of Arkansas and with his religious faith (which is something that he uses as a central theme in his campaign, so I am going to use it against him here). I just don't believe him on anything he says, so despite his wonderful plan, I don't like him on this issue.

Mitt Romney - Decent
He's been all over the place on this issue in his career, and he's a bit of a late convert. However, I get the feeling that Romney's going to stick by what he promises during this campaign. That's not much, I know, but he's OK and he wouldn't be a disaster on immigration. His plan is pretty solid.

Rudy Giuliani - Bad
Basically, until his presidential run he was for open borders. His current plan is to seal the borders and ensure that foreigners have secure ID cards or something. Noticeably missing is any mention of what to do about current illegals (meaning, he wants to do nothing about them or give them amnesty). Out of anybody else, I would consider this unacceptable. However, Rudy is, if nothing else, a serious man, so I presume that he would do his damndest to ensure that his plan is implemented. It's no doubt better than what we've got now, so that saves him from a worse grade.

John McCain - Unacceptable
Not hard to figure out. He's been for open borders his entire career in the Senate, and he was instrumental in the amnesty abomination this past summer. Yes, this is how that bill came about:

Working behind closed doors for months, a handful of Democrat and Republican staffers, along with a few senators and principals from the Administration, have been drafting a “comprehensive immigration reform package.” Until Saturday morning, May 19, 2007, the legislation was unavailable to any other senators or staff, let alone the media, policy analysts, or the general public. This legislation would be the most significant reform of immigration policy in 40 years, affecting not only our national security and homeland defense but the fiscal, economic, and social future of the United States for several generations. A document marked “DRAFT – FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY,” is being relied upon by senators and staff as the final language to be debated beginning on Monday, May 21, with the expectation of a vote on final passage -- without congressional hearings, committee mark-up, fiscal analysis, expert testimony, or public comment -- before the Memorial Day recess. This is not a good way to deliberate over such an important piece of legislation and tosses aside years of the U.S. Senate tradition as being the most deliberative body in the world.

McCain knew the only way to get it passed was to write it in secret with a few other senators and then try to ram it through the Senate for passage. Let's not forget this wonderful bit of statesmanship on his part, too:

During a meeting Thursday on immigration legislation, McCain and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) got into a shouting match when Cornyn started voicing concerns about the number of judicial appeals that illegal immigrants could receive, according to multiple sources -- both Democrats and Republicans -- who heard firsthand accounts of the exchange from lawmakers who were in the room.

At a bipartisan gathering in an ornate meeting room just off the Senate floor, McCain complained that Cornyn was raising petty objections to a compromise plan being worked out between Senate Republicans and Democrats and the White House. He used a curse word associated with chickens and accused Cornyn of raising the issue just to torpedo a deal.

Things got really heated when Cornyn accused McCain of being too busy campaigning for president to take part in the negotiations, which have gone on for months behind closed doors. "Wait a second here," Cornyn said to McCain. "I've been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You're out of line."

McCain, a former Navy pilot, then used language more accustomed to sailors (not to mention the current vice president, who made news a few years back after a verbal encounter with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont).

"[Expletive] you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room," shouted McCain at Cornyn. McCain helped craft a bill in 2006 that passed the Senate but couldn't be compromised with a House bill that was much tougher on illegal immigrants.

After the bill failed, his front-running presidential campaign went belly-up, and he is only now beginning to come out it. He currently only wants to strengthen the border, which makes his "plan" the weakest official plan out of any of the big candidates in either party (even Hillary lies to make her plan look decent). Note how it is full of non-sequitors such as improving the economy and strengthening alliances with Latin American countries. I guess McCain gets some credit for not lying to us, though according to this link he's doing it just on this weak promise to tighten the border (the picture makes me throw up in my mouth). He'd be a total disaster as president in this area. If he gets the nomination, I'd rather stay home than let him destroy the Republican party as president.

How do the Iowa caucuses work?

I had some idea, but I didn't know that each party does it differently. Here's an interesting video from Carl Cameron on Fox News Channel describing how the process works. It's about 7 minutes long.

Here's more from John Fund, who provides some analysis.

Guitar Hero 2 and 3

Here's Scott Keith's comparison of the two, since it seems to be all the rage nowadays.

I found out yesterday that no version of GH has ever been released on XBox Classic, so I won't be buying it. Oh well.

TV saves lives

Just think, if this kid had some of those psycho parents who don't have a TV, he'd be dead:

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) - An 11-year-old boy said a TV show about surviving an avalanche helped him when he was buried by one at a ski resort.

"Create air pockets," Max Zilvitis told himself, recalling a show on the Discovery Channel.

My Big Redneck Wedding

I'm probably behind the curve on this one, but something tells me a certain displaced Hoosier would really enjoy this show (and maybe reminder her a bit of home).

That's courtesy of the Sports Guy.

My plan on illegal immigration

There's not really much of a need for me to get into a big post about what I would do about illegal immigration when I would just be borrowing heavily from the work done before me by people much smarter than I am. Here's Mark Krikorian's (he's with the Center for Immigration Studies). Here's an excerpt:

2. No Hobson's choice. Comprehensive enforcement is a tactic; a candidate also needs to articulate a strategy for success. This entails rejecting the false choice between mass roundups and amnesty. Since everyone agrees that mass roundups like the ill-named Operation Wetback of the 1950s aren't going to occur, the anti-enforcement camp says that amnesty, and an unending stream of "temporary" workers, is the only alternative.

But a third way, and the only workable approach, is to use consistent, across-the-board enforcement as part of a strategy of attrition, causing fewer illegals to come and more of those already here to leave, so that the total illegal population declines from year to year, instead of continually rising. This is the same approach that worked so well with welfare reform, where the GOP rejected the Democratic vision of ever-growing welfare rolls, but didn't just throw all the recipients out on the street. A long-term, strictly enforced policy can stem the tide of immigration without resorting to mass roundups and without throwing in the towel with mass amnesty.

I recommend reading the whole link if you have the interest in it.

I'd also go a step further than what's described in Kirikorian's plan; I'd end birthright citizenship. Here's the 14th Amendment:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The key phrase is "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof". It's not quite clear, but many people (including me) think this means that automatic citizenship given to the children born here of illegals can be changed just with an act of Congress, rather than a constitutional amendment. Others disagree. Here is an article from Free Republic describing this debate.

The reason to end birthright citizenship is that once one family member becomes a US citizen, our current laws favor "chain migration". If you don't know what that means, don't feel bad; it's the dirty little secret of our immigration policy: when one person becomes a citizenship, the rest of his family is first in line to come here legally. That means one US citizen can bring his nuclear family from Mexico, and then his cousins can even start to come. So yes, old people who don't work get to come here and leech off our welfare state (legally!), while high-skilled workers have to wait in line behind them. Yep, it's quite a gyp.

Anyway, ending birthright citizenship would be a huge step in slowing down chain migration, to say nothing of taking away the incentive for people to pour across the border and plop out their kids. That way we would also end the ridiculous spectacle of a convicted felon claiming sanctuary in a church because she had an anchor baby.

Kane's endorsement

...for president.

The Mexican government is hypocritical

There is a Reuters story from this weekend about how Arizona's new law cracking down on illegal immigration is causing many people to move back to Mexico. This is a welcome news, and it shows that the open-borders proponent's rhetorical straw-man of "we can't round up 12 million illegals" is silly, since we restrictionists have been saying that vigorous enforcement of our laws will cause most of them to self-deport.

Anyway, what I find most interesting in this story is this little nugget:

Mexican consular sources in Phoenix say they are seeing a spike in the number of immigrants applying for Mexican citizenship for their U.S.-born children, which will allow them to enroll in schools in Mexico.

If this is true, then to be enrolled in a Mexican public school one must be a Mexican citizen. Here in the US, meanwhile, we allow (or more accurately, the federal government forces states to accept) illegals to be in school. On top of it, the Mexican government routinely berates us any time we don't allow completely open borders to thie citizens. (I can't find any examples of this right now, but believe me when I write that it happens with amazing regularity.)

So it appears Mexico is tough on illegals (from poorer Central American countries, for those who can't imagine why anyone would want to be there) while they simultaneously want us to allow as many of their citizens as possible to leech off of our government programs.

Next Poll!

OK, I need help from readers. I want to do a poll to determine the greatest rap (I refuse to say hip-hop) album ever. Here are five I can think of now:

Ice Cube - Death Certificate
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The 36 Chambers
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell
Geto Boys (self titled, and my personal favorite, and the greatest album shot ever):

On a personal note, this album also came with the cover being a fold-out poster. Awesome. Also, Gangster of Love had a James Taylor sample that was later changed. My CD has the original, while my brother's doesn't. I rule, and I also vote this the best album ever.

Despite that,I will throw it open to the people. Please post in the comments section any others until January 3 and I will consider posting them in the poll.

Thug Life

OK, Thug Life is one of the greatest rap albums ever. There, I said it. Try to disagree, you cretins!

First Sunday

So there is a movie coming out in January called First Sunday. It stars Ice Cube, the insanely hilarious and criminally underrated Tracy Morgan, and the somewhat overrated Katt Williams.

Tracy Morgan's work in 30 Rock shows me that he's been waiting too long for a big movie role, and he alone may bring me to the theater. This noteworthy for a few reasons. First, I HATE going to see movies. I'd rather eat a bowl of broken glass. Second, it will be full of black people yelling at the movie screen, at least if what black stand-up comedians have told me is true (again, I wouldn't know because I don't go to movies). Despite all that, I still would consider seeing this in the theater.

Fred! post of the day

There was an article the other day in Politico hammering Fred Thompson for an appearance in Iowa. I almost posted it, just to show that I am more balanced than my left-of-center readers may think. Then I just got lazy. Or maybe drunk.

Anyway, there are lots of doubts about that story. Glenn Reynolds (one of the most respected bloggers out there, and the proprietor of Instapundit) has a post regarding his skepticism about it. Here's the telling exchange, and it shows exactly why I love Fred and want him to be the next president. I think anyone who doesn't like pandering in politics can appreciate this:

AKD: What will you do for the farmers of Bremer County?

FT: (laughs)

AKD: You knew this was coming, right?

FT: I would continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’ve been looking all over Iowa for a bad steak and I can’t find it. Been trying my best. It’s not a matter of what I would do for the farmers. Farmers are not looking for a president to hand them something. Farmers want fair treatment and a chance to prosper in a free economy and that’s what I would help ensure. There’s a lot of programs we’ve got out there, some of which are good programs, some of which are not. And I think that we need to work our way through that and make sure we’re doing what’s good for the country, not just the farmers, not just the people of Iowa, not just the people of Tennessee. But good for the country. A sound policy that makes sense. I think there’s a lot more that we could do for the working farmer in terms of ecological programs and environmental programs - land conservation, soil conservation - that would be fair and it would be beneficial to the nation and to Iowa and to our country. We’re going to have to phase out the corporate welfare system we’ve got, however. There are extremely rich people living in skyscrapers in Manhattan that are receiving subsidy payments. I think that’s wrong. I’d put a stop to that if it was within my power. That still continues in this latest Farm Bill and it’s not right. There ought to be a cutoff at some level and it’s not right ot have millionaires receiving farm subsidies.

You have no idea how long I've been waiting for a serious presidential candidate to say something like this.

Plans for the night

Now, we all know Festivus is about family. Airing of grievances and feats of strength and whatnot. Anyway, I am spending the night alone (surprise). But, I am doing three things: drinking beer, watching college hoops, and listening to music.

Anyway, as Motley Crue tells me now, it's the same old situation.

By the way, I just watched a great game between Stanford and the General's Texas Tech Red Raiders, won by Stanford. College hoops is so much better than lame-ass college football that I don't even know how anyone can argue any differently.

Top Story of Festivus

When deputies knocked on the door, the man suddenly appeared at the door, naked, holding a double-bitted ax. The man began to come outside, but then went back inside the house and swung the ax. The ax went through the door, but did not hit any deputies.

A special operations team attempted to negotiate with the man for about three hours. Then, the naked man ran screaming out of his home about 7:20 p.m. and charged law enforcement officers. Authorities say the man was shot with a taser and rubber bullets. The man was not injured, nor were any law enforcement personnel.

My Festivus Eve

So since everyone is out of town and I STILL don't have any money or cards after losing my wallet last week, I have spent my night doing the following:

- Taking the Blue Line to Western and walking to the Tap Room for a few $2 pints

- Coming home and watching Hannibal Rising (review forthcoming) while continuing to drink beer

- Blogging my arse off

- Now, after Reuter fixed my VCR last weekend, I am watching my tape of Die Hard 2: Die Harder to see Fred Thompson at his acting peak (and I am still drinking beer)

Sure, it's the worst of the four Die Hard movies, but that's like being the ugliest Victoria's Secret model: it still is awesome compared to most other movies (or women, respectively). Plus, one of the bad guys is the dude who played Swede Risberg in Eight Men Out:

Now comes the half-drunk live-blogging:

Let's not forget Chicago's own Dennis Franz in the movie as the hard-ass DC cop. The most amazing thing is that when he filmed this movie, he was closer to my current age than my dad's, while he right now OLDER than my dad (who was born in 1946). Cripes, I'm getting old.

How about another note: faxes are considered high-tech in this movie. Wow. Break out the Apple II's!

Oh crap, the first Fred! sighting! Awesome. Hail to the chief. Very underrated Christmas movie, I say.

Oh my goodness...John McClane and the next president in the same control tower. I almost had a heart attack, though it could have been the lack of exercise. AWESOME. Yes, I'm a nerd for both Die Hard movies and Fred! Also, the Budweisers are flowing pretty quickly.

This is no newsflash, but the biggest problem with this movie is that it's the ultimate in late 1980's-early 1990's sequels. By that I mean that there are a bunch of snarky and half-clever references to the first movie. This was amazingly rectified in the incredibly awesome third movie only 5 years later; it was basically a turning point for Hollywood to dump the lame sequel model for the MUCH more successful model they've had since then for any good ones. The best example is probably Spiderman 2, which standing alone was an Oscar-worthy movie (says I), let alone for those that saw the first one (which is, of course, everyone).

Sweet. I can't believe after watching Con Air so often I finally see the guy who was Vince Larkin's nemesis. You know, the guy with the really fast car that Larkin steals to get to the abondoned Air Force base. Anyway, I've got a great eye for those links between my favorite movies I have on tape. I'm most amazed that Con Air came out in 1997, which is after I graduated school. I would have guessed it was earlier. Anyway, I've always loved it while Tony has HATED it.

How about one of the all-time best bad guys in movie history in William Atherton, who plays the smarmy TV reporter? He was also in the same role in Ghostbusters, Real Genius, and the first Die Hard.

Holy balls, John Amos! Dynomite!

It's really been a long time since I've watched a movie on tape. With good reason,I guess, since the quality is garbage.

OK, now the bad guys get away from the church on snowmobiles. DC never gets very much snow. How could they ever plan such an escape? They aren't the best meterologists in the area, I'm sure. Paint me skeptical.

Before John Amos' character turns on McClane, he's one of the best in the movie. He pretty much makes the movie since the rest of it is so ridiculous. John Amos rules!

Now Lorenzo is with McClane. About F'n time. Kick some butt, dudes.

Fred's been gone for the past hour and more. But now he's back! Cut some taxes and deport some illegals, Fred!

Kick ass. I just heard this:

[McClane is showing his nervousness while riding in a helicopter]
Chopper Pilot: What's the matter, cowboy? Ride too rough?
John McClane: I don't like to fly.
Samantha Coleman: Then what are you doing here?
John McClane: I don't like to lose either.

Yeah!

The Bulls really stink

Listen, I am aware that the Celtics are good this year, but this is pathetic. Many analysts picked the Bulls to win the East, and while that may have been a bit too ambitious, 9-15 is NOT what anyone expected.

Pretty much the only bright spot so far this year has been Aaron Gray, the big rookie center in the mold of a bigger, more talented me (when I was young, at least). He has a wonderful low-post game for a second-round pick.

Huckabee on illegal immigration

I've been pretty hard on Mike Huckabee on illegal immigration (with good reason!), but the plan that he came out with a few weeks ago is actually really strong. I'll be working on my big immigration post this weekend and expound on it more then, but for now here is John Hawkins' take after speaking with Charmaine Yoest, who works for the Huckabee campaign.

Yoest has a lot of street cred in the conservative movement, so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on this issue. There are still lots of other reasons to dislike Huckabee from a conservative perspective, and he has a terrible record on illegal immigration, but his plan rivals Fred's. For that he deserves credit.

An excellent Fred! endorsement

Here's another one (and this one is serious). I pretty much agree with all of it, so I can spare you my magnum opus on Fred! by referring you to this.

The only thing I'd disagree with is that I think Rudy is more conservative in his core than Beldar gived him credit for. However, that's only a minor quibble.

Movie Review - Apocalypto

So I watched Apocalypto last night. It's Mel Gibson's first movie after The Passion of the Christ. I liked The Passion, but if you didn't you will likely still like Apocalypto, as I thought it was excellent.

It had a great story and very good action. It's about the Mayans taking over villages and what they did with the captives, except here one of them escapes. A great manhunt ensues, and it becomes about vengeance and rescue.

Anyway, here is my favorite part of the movie BY FAR. It's a spooky little girl the Mayans find as they are transporting their captives to the Mayan city:

Oracle Girl: [the Prophecy] You fear me? So you should. All you who are vile. Would you like to know how you will die? The sacred time is near. Beware the blackness of day. Beware the man who brings the jaguar. Behold him reborn from mud and earth. For the one he takes you to will cancel the sky, and scratch out the earth. Scratch you out. And end your world. He's with us now. Day will be like night. And the man jaguar will lead you to your end.

You have to see the movie to get the context, but it was a freakin' awesome scene and it ends up being amazing prescient. Don't worry, I haven't given anything away. The whole movie gets two big thumbs up from me.

Sanctioned teachers database

Fubar isn't listed. Maybe he just hasn't gotten caught.

How many 5-year-olds could I take in a fight?

Apparently, 18.

Hardest Guitar Hero Song Ever

...was apparently done in a Best Buy by some kid. I've never heard of the song "Through the Fire and the Flames" by DragonForce, but the link has another link to the music video. It's quite a show by the guitarist.

Another Fred! endorsement

Here is Frank J. at IAMO (I think he's a funny guy):

With a Fred Thompson presidency, I expect terrorists to become extinct within a year. Many bros will be tased, and hippies will be driven underground where they will eventually evolve into hideous creatures like the Morlocks (but not as hard working). America's economy will sky rocket all at the expense of foreign countries who will become so poor they'll all compete on who can grow us green onions the cheapest. Though Fred Thompson will not improve America's image abroad, other countries will suck so much in comparison to us that we'll care even less about their opinions.

Be sure to check out his illustration of what people should do.

Personal Crap List

The new area to the left at the top of the page is my Crap List. I'll be periodically adding to it things that crank me off.

For purposes of balance, I've also added a list of things that make me happy.

Biggest Loser finale

It's safe to say that the first two chicks in the finale look awesome (Isabeau was so huge to begin with that she's still done very well; her chubby-chaser boyfriend is probably about to dump her, though). I'd like to say that I DID call Hollie as the best-looking, and she nailed it. Good golly.

Check that time...

4:20

Bryan gets a reprieve

I was going to eliminate his blog from my links, but he has stepped up the posting slightly recently. Since he also won the poll (though I suspect some ballot-box-stuffing), I will respect the will of the people.

Overstock.com sucks

A few weeks ago I ordered a DVD for my bro for Christmas, and after checking prices at the Big Three (Amazon, Buy, and Overstock) I went for the cheapest at Overstock. Of course, I forgot about the thing that always makes me regret buying from them...

The item was shipped 12/6 using something called UPS Mail Innovations. It's described like this:

UPS Mail Innovations (UPS MI) has been a National Account of the United States Postal Service (USPS) business partner segment since 1997. Through this work-share partnership, we provide global mail services.

The program works like this:UPS MI picks up the mail, processes (sorts) and transports your mail to the USPS.

Then:The USPS accepts your mail piece and makes the final delivery to your mailing address.

Here is the picture:



Here is the description of the steps on the UPS website, which we all know does an excellent job of tracking packages:

Date
Description
Location
Dec 6 2007
Mail Retrieved From Shipper

Dec 6 2007
Received at UPS Mail Innovations Origin RPF
Carol Stream, IL
Dec 6 2007
Processed at UPS Mail Innovations Origin RPF
Carol Stream, IL
Dec 7 2007
Manifested (Postage Paid)

Dec 7 2007
Entered USPS Facility - SCF
CHICAGO, IL
Your mail piece has been transferred from UPS Mail Innovations to the United States Postal Service.

Why am I showing you this? I have not yet received this package. UPS documents every step along the way for us to see, and we see that on 12/7 the package was transferred to the Postal Service. At this point, I can only guess that it's being used to prop up a short table leg in someone's office, as it hasn't moved. That's despite it going to the downtown facility and the delivery going to the Loop, where I work. I could spend an afternoon laying on the ground and steamrolling myself there, picking it up, and steamrolling back. Instead, it sits. In the graphic above the third step may as well be a bottomless pit.

I was just on a live chat where the Overstock guy told me it's still in transit. He also told me that the USPS system it's in is called media mail or something, and the delivery time is 2 to 15 days. Let that sink in. How is it possible to come up with a range like that? He also told me I'll get it by December 24 (while I won't be in my office after 12/21, so that's not helpful).

Listen, we all know the USPS it terrible. My point here is not rant against them (that deserves its own rant). No, the object of my scorn is Overstock.

Like I wrote, WE ALL KNOW the USPS stinks. Overstock has to also know. Yet they continue to use it because, I guess, they offered the O a big price break compared to FedEx and UPS.

Luckily for me, I was offered a customer survey to fill in after using the live chat. While I thought the live chat feature was great, I used the "additional comments" section to rip them a new a-hole for this delivery process and their continued patronage of the USPS.

If you are going to use Overstock, beware of this. I will not use them again until they change their delivery practices.

Punch the hippies

New video for (definitely not by!) Fred Thompson's presidential campaign.

Lost wallets...

...broken dreams.

In the hubbub Saturday night I lost my wallet. I didn't have much in there except my whole life. Anyway, I've done my part in rebuilding it by ordering new cards, getting a new driver's license, and loading up on cash at the bank.

Why does anyone care? Because it allows me to tell a story and write the only post ever on this blog that's like one of Mrs. Reuter's...

At the Secretary of State's office (why don't they just call it the DMV like every other state?) who was in front me by no more than 2 people? Why, none other than Mrs. and Mr. Knowles. Apparently April had the misfortune of her 401(k) being frozen due to her driver's license not matching her address (or something like that). The Knowles made a lunch date of getting new licenses and hitting up the food court at the Thompson Center. After getting numbers we chatted about the various issues of the day in the holding cell (excuse me, waiting area). Then in line at the cashier we did some more, and finally again at the photo area. At that point I had to walk to CTA headquarters for a new Chicago Card Plus, so I declined their tempting offer of joining them for lunch.

After getting cash I stuffed my face with McDonald's, all the while wondering if buying gorceries in the Soviet Union was a similar experience to navigating the beaurocracy of the DMV. I decided the answer was "Yes".

Coop has finally given up

Marissa (Mischa Barton) is on the cover of the latest issue of Maxim that appeared my mailbox yesterday. She apparently is starting to give up on being a big actress and is now just cashing in on her looks. Ha! You shoulda neva left The O.C.!

Go, Fred, go!

So I've made clear my preference for Fred Thompson as my number 1 guy in the presidential race. I'm half drunk this morning, and I started thinking about how National Review endorsed Mitt Romney. That really made me think again about the whole race because I really respect the NR crew, but I still like Fred the best. Here's what they said about Fred:

Fred Thompson is as conservative as Romney, and has distinguished himself with serious proposals on Social Security, immigration, and defense. But Thompson has never run any large enterprise — and he has not run his campaign well, either. Conservatives were excited this spring to hear that he might enter the race, but have been disappointed by the reality. He has been fading in crucial early states. He has not yet passed the threshold test of establishing for voters that he truly wants to be president.

However, there were a bunch of articles about how Fred was the best in the debate the other day, and how he may be hitting his stride right now. That, of course, makes me almost blow a load. Here's my list of favorites now:

Fred


Mitt


Everybody else in the Republican race

My point is that Mitt would satisfy me, but Fred gives me a man-crush. He's a small government guy first and foremost, which is my thing (as anyone who reads this blog regularly knows).

Why am I writing this now? I got up half-drunk this morning wanting to watch Die Hard 2 just to see Fred Thompson kicking ass. Since I only have it on tape, I of course can't figure out my VCR since I use about once every 3 years. Damn! ESPN News will have to suffice.

Who else blogs about politics when they are drunk? Oh yeah, Mike Huckabee is still the worst one in the Republican field; I'd even prefer Ron Paul.

Formula One driver takes over a cab to the airport

The title sums it up. It's a pretty funny story. I love that he knew how to take a minivan through curves so fast:

But when one cabbie in southern Germany apparently wasn't driving fast enough, his customer, former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, took the wheel himself.

"It was sheer lunacy," cabbie Tuncer Yilmaz told the Muenchener Abendzeitung newspaper. "He took the curves with full speed, but you couldn't even notice it. He just knows how to do it."

...

So on the way back to the airport Schumacher, the most successful driver in Formula One history, asked Yilmaz to slide over so he could drive.

County sales tax increase is dead

Thanks, Cook County Board President Stroger, for showing everyone what you were really about (don't worry, though; the monolithic black vote will keep you in office because you are "one of them"). I give a hearty thank you to the rest of the Board for having to common sense to kill what would have been a crippling tax increase. Here's the whole (short) article:

The Cook County Board of Commissioners shot down a series of small tax increases Wednesday.

Along the way, board President Todd Stroger's plan to hike the sales tax by 2 percentage points died an unofficial death.

Still left unresolved is how to fill a $238 million hole in a budget that must be passed by Feb. 28 -- or risk a shutdown of county government.

Next week, elected officials will be asked to show how they will cut 10 percent from their budgets to make ends meet.

That reduction comes on the heels of 17 percent budget cuts last year.

So there were 17 percent cuts last year, and the county didn't collapse into a hell like in Mad Max. Why not try cutting 10 percent again? Maybe they could stop giving away prescriptions at county hospitals, or they could try eliminating wasteful and unnecessary departments (as I've detailed previously).

What has the American Left become?

Why, they can't handle people who get an apartment paid for by the government working 20 hours a week.

Here's the proposal. Note that the board member who is proposing this lives in public housing herself:

Adult public housing residents would eventually be required to work at least 20 hours a week or face eviction, under an unprecedented sweeping policy the Chicago Housing Authority is poised to approve.

"I feel all these things are in place for the betterment of the residents," said Mary Wiggins, a member of the CHA board and its Tenant Services Committee.

Wiggins, also a public housing resident, continued: "If there's no good reason for them [residents] not to work, they shouldn't be there."

Not too tough, huh, since these people apparently don't even have to work right now to live basically for free? If you think so, you haven't been following politics very closely over the past, say, 40 YEARS:

Housing advocates have described the eviction threat as "draconian"

"There is a real specter of homelessness," said Bill Wilen, director of housing litigation for the Chicago-based Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. "Traditional public housing is thought of as the housing of last resort for people who can't make it in mixed housing. . .There needs to be housing for families that can't live elsewhere."

This Wilen fella is off his rocker, basically. If someone would rather be homeless than work 20 hours per week (that's less than 3 days!), then that's fine with me. Some of these people have been leeching off of the productive taxpayers for years.

Also, if people can't live anywhere but the projects, what does that say about them? Don't they have any personal responsibility? They aren't children, but the left (and to a lesser extent liberals and the Democratic party) seem to think they practically are.

Wiggins lives in the projects, and she sees first-hand how destructive the free ride is on people's spirit. Do you think Wilen knows anything about that? I'm going to guess that he lives in a very fancy neighborhood that isn't anywhere close to a housing project. Maybe he should talk to my sister, who lived near one for a few years. Her condo garage was constantly being broken into and things were being stolen and vandalized by these a-holes. But hey, the status quo is just fine, right?

Movie Review - The Hitcher

Just finished watching this. It's a remake of some old movie (i.e., a movie that came out when I was in sixth grade) that I've never seen. Thus, I have nothing to compare it to. I should look into it, though, since it starred C. Thomas Howell (a.k.a., star of that documentary Soul Man), Jennifer Jason Leigh, and, best of all, RUTGER HAUER. By the way, poking through Howell's resume leads to something called The Outsiders. The movie looks lame, but the cast has enough big names to make my head explode. Trust me, click on that link. One thing I'd like to note is that it's the acting debut of Michelle Meyrink, who is best known for her role as Gilbert Lowell's girlfriend in Revenge of the Nerds (she also played a pedophile who looked like a lesbian in Real Genius). She only appeared in ten roles in her career, but two of them are in classic 1980's movies.

Anyway, the reviews of the 2007 version were pretty brutal, and there are certainly no future stars in this version. However, it does have a couple of people who have made appearances in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia with small roles. First, there is Lil Kev, best known as the "retarded" rapper in "Sweet Dee's Dating a Retarded Person". (His character in this movie isn't too bright, either.) I somehow missed him in "The Gang Gets Invincible". Also, there is the girl Dennis hits on at the lupus fundraiser in "Dennis and Dee Get a New Dad".

To get to the point, I liked this movie. The action was pretty intense. Plus, it starred the lovely and talented Sophia Bush, shown here in the film's penultimate scene:



Did you know she was the 2000 Tournament of Roses Parade Queen? Me neither, but she is definitely pretty enough. She's not just Hollywood attractive, she's beauty queen attractive.

Yes, this post took me 30 minutes to write, what with all the links and such.

Ripoff alert - Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Apparently this movie is actually a musical. The trailers are trying to trick people.

If you want to see a musical, go for it. Otherwise, you will get screwed.

In the meantime...

...Middlesbrough, who is facing relegation, just went up 2-0 on EPL leader Arsenal in the 73rd minute. That takes some of the sting out of Liverpool's loss yesterday.

This isn't one of those usual games between two teams on the opposite ends of the standings. Middlesbrough has outplayed Arsenal the whole game, with 11 shots (4 on goal) versus Arsenal's 4 shots (0 on goal).

EPL on Sunday December 16

Next Sunday will be quite the EPL doubleheader, as the big four teams play each other. At 7:30 AM is Liverpool vs. Manchester United on Setanta. Then at 10 AM is Chelsea vs. Arsenal on FSC. It's safe to say this will probably be the best week of the year in the league.

Booze on The Man's dime

Today is my company Christmas (ahem, "Holiday", but we all know it's not for Hannakah of Kwanzaa) party. It should be a good time. While many will be bowling, I plan on planting myself at the bar. I even have a beer list printed off to try different things. As a result, I'll be out of commission this afternoon. Expect no more blogging until tomorrow.

To get warmed up I am just finishing disc 1 of Styx: Gold (their greatest hits double-CD compilation). I feel like I could run through a wall. Styx rawks!

Up next is Ice-T's O.G. Original Gangster.

Best prank ever

I'm watching my drinks this Christmas season. I can't watch it here at work, but the title alone rules.

UPDATE: God Bless the London tabloids. They give us headlines like this.

This is very funny

Maybe the best Onion headline ever.

Target shoppers suck

Though in fairness, this could apply to just about any place:

Because the front door - a double-wide automatic-opening front door - was blocked by a young couple together achieving a triumphant 700 pounds and their three crackhead children, who had stopped en masse to discuss who was going to which area of the store first. Mom wanted to hit the clothes section, you see, but would she be able to find Taylor later in the toy section if Dad was over in the auto section with Ashley and Mikey? There were literally 10 people who had approached the door and would have liked very fucking much to enter, but these clowns apparently exist in one of the alternate universes where actual human beings are invisible.

Most of us stood gaping at the sheer audacity of the asshole family, and sort of wedging past them, but finally a young guy came charging through saying “What’s the holdup, people? Let’s MOVE!” It was kind of hot, to be honest with you.

Iowa's pink visitor's locker room

Apparently the most unfunny people in the country (radical feminists, naturally) have filed a lawsuit to get Kinnick Stadium's visitor's locker room color changed from pink to anything-but-pink. I have no love for Iowa, but I really hate feminists like this who see everything as a life-or-death struggle against the phallic oppression from the patriarchy.

No housing bailout, please!

Argh. Hillary and the President both want bailouts for bad sub-prime mortgages. These two columns do a great job of explaining why it's a bad idea (and I agree 100% with both of them).

It's really an issue of fairness for me. I didn't buy more house than I could afford by getting a goofy teaser-rate mortgage. I got a 30-year fixed and try to live within my means. I feel absolutely no pity for anyone who didn't do the same. It's the only way you could afford a house (buy getting one of these silly mortgages)? TS, you should have continued to rent. You wanted buy a fancy house or condo in a super neighborhood and could only do so with a silly mortgage? TS again, you should have gotten a smaller house or moved to a crappier neighborhood.

People need to live with the consequences of their actions. In this case, a bailout not only puts that off (which is bad enough), but it continues to distort the housing market. If you want to buy a house but don't like the sky-high prices you now face, then you should not be a supporter of these plans.

UPDATE: More from Seth Jayson at The Motley Fool.

Wage disparity between whites and blacks

The Sun-Times has an article this morning regarding a report that came out talking about the anemic wage growth in Illinois over the past few years. I won't go into why this is occurring here (besides, it's dreadfully boring), but the last part of the article really shows how PC thinking and a lack of reasoning skills poison the national debate about race. Here's the money quote, set up by some statistics:

The report found education does not eliminate disparities between whites and minorities. Among whites with a college degree, 51.4 percent earn more than $100,000 per year, compared with 27.7 percent of blacks and 38.2 percent of Hispanics.

...

"The most disturbing trends you see are the continuing disparity between white and African-American wages, employment levels and the fact that those disparities continue on through all levels of education," said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. "I think it clearly indicates there's still discrimination."

This is completely laughable. Let me pose a question: who is going to earn a higher income, someone with a degree in social work or someone with a degree in electrical engineering? The answer is obvious, and that's what is at the heart of the so-called disparities.

I can't find supporting numbers after a brief Google search, but we all know (both anecdotally and from things we've read) that whites, compared to blacks, have disproportionately higher representation among those with college degrees in engineering and the hard sciences, which obviously are going to pay very well. Meanwhile, blacks are much more likely to get a degree is something that's basically easy and useless like education and social work. Those are the areas where there are huge differences; other majors in between those extremes have lesser, though identifiable, differences.

I am not saying blacks are inherently too stupid to major in higher-paying areas (it's mostly due to the terrible public education system that too many of them are trapped in up through grade 12). What I am saying is that anyone, regardless of race, who has a social work degree has virtually no chance to make as much money as someone with a degree in electrical engineering. That explains the disparity, not racism or discrimination. Since this study doesn't control for area of study and experience, the statistics cited above are useless.

Let me pose an additional thought experiment that I alluded to in a clumsy way in a previous post. Suppose there is still rampant discrimination, and all kinds of black engineers and lawyers and actuaries are being paid less money due to it. Wouldn't it make perfect sense for someone to start an engineering firm and hire only blacks? Just think: they could be paid much less and then the company would make craploads of money due to their low labor costs.

So why isn't this happening?

Hard-working illegals?

All I keep hearing from the open-borders crowd is how hard-working illegal immigrants are. If that's the case, why was my sidewalk just about the only one shoveled this morning on my path to the train?

(The answer is NOT that no illegals live in my neighborhood.)

Weekend laziness?

Some might say I was lazy this weekend for doing no studying nor writing about my would-be immigration plan. Those who were with me will know better, however.

Friday I hit up Durkin's for lots of boozing. I got the number of a gal who is 6'2". (Awesome.) The flaw is that now means I am talking to/dating 7 women right now. I am far too lazy for that kind of stuff, so starting this week I'm going to start lopping them off Biggest Loser-style.

Saturday I bummed around my place for a bit until I met Roy, Murphey, and the Neyer family at Brownstone for about 25 minutes (more on that in a bit). After having only been there that long, Brownstone is now on my crap list of bars. They were advertising a special of a $4 stadium cup of Bud Light. I was thinking it would be a huge cup o' beer, but it was only about 20 oz. OK, I thought to myself, I can roll with this. The cup was a plastic black model sporting a Texas Longhorn logo and the Brownstone logo on one side, while there was a collage of logos of the other bars owned by the same company on the other. I drop my $5 on the table and leave, and ask Neyer to bring the cup to me the next morning (more on that later, too). I find out later that day via text message that the bar then charged an EXTRA DOLLAR for the cup. It's not even very good! Fine, Brownstone, you want to play like that? You have made an enemy.

Next I was on my way downtown to meet a gal at a coffee shop. This wouldn't have been bad except that (1) the Red Line train I was on had tons of problems and was moving VERY SLOWLY and (2) we were meeting by the lake, where I was tromping through an ice storm with 30 mph winds. I spent so much effort trying to stay vertical and not fall that I didn't notice until I took my coat off at the coffee shop that my coat, gloves, and hair were covered in a thin sheet of ice. No joke. Anyway, it was a nice time and after talking for a few hours I took a cab home rather than subject myself to the elements again.

I was about to settle in to a DVD night like the dork I am, but not more than 15 minutes after getting home I get a call from Michelle inviting me to head over to eat chili and booze. I did so. That was a busy day.

Sunday morning, Liverpool played at 9 AM. I may be the only person in the city who subscribes to Setanta Sports at home, and I was set to stay home and watch the game except that Neyer had my cup from that crappy bar (I promised him that if he brought it the next morning I'd show up at Ginger's to watch the game). To think it was all because I didn't want to lug it to my date the prior day. Anyway, I weaseled my way to Ginger's. By the time the game was over at 11, Corey and Bryan also showed up, and we hoofed it to Finley Dunne's to watch football and drink some beer. That place is five times the bar that Brownstone is, by the way, mainly for not trying to bone their customers. We finally left at around 2:30, and I got the Sean Phelan special on my way home at TBH: a king pork burrito and an order of steak nachos.

Needless to say, I don't feel so hot today after this weekend.

This is a roundabout way of saying that for anyone who cares, my immigration post is going to have to wait until I have time to put it together. In addition, blogging is going to be light around here this week, as I am very busy with work, after-work activities (including the Wisconsin double header for LU), and studying for my FAP 1 exam next Wednesday. It's just a warning to not expect too much out of me until late next week.

The County government is really arrogant

But of course if you've kept up this blog, you know that.

It seems that on Friday there were some protesters at the County Board meeting hoping to stop budget cuts (and thus, increase taxes). How did they get to the Board meeting? Take a guess:

Cook County taxpayers paid Friday to shuttle in demonstrators to support a tax hike.

Just before a county budget hearing, a van from the county-owned Provident Hospital dropped off pickets set to rail against job cuts proposed by the County Board.

Reno 911: Miami

Hmmm. I've heard from some that this movie was horrible. Today, however, I read that Scott Keith thought it was very funny.

That is all.