Friday, November 30, 2007
Bryan's blog stinks
I am tired of mocking people who don't blog enough (you can't do it a couple of times a month, even?), so my new threat is to remove them from my list of links. See the poll on the right.
Big day for celebrity birthdays
I could show you pictures of Elisha Cuthbert (happy 25th) or Kaley Cuoco (happy 22nd), but instead you get best 80th birthday wishes to BENSON (Robert Guillaume). Keep on kicking, man:
Gauntlet is thrown! Plus, more on Huckabee
Lauren wants to know what I'd like to see done on illiegal immigration. That will take a while (I'll make it my manifesto on the issue), so I'll try to have something up this weekend for any interested parties. I'll throw a little something about legal immigration in, too.
Meanwhile, Numbers USA came out yesterday hammering Mike Huckabee for his stance on the issue, calling his record as governor of Arkansas "an absolute disaster" (I agree). If you are too lazy to read the article, just know that he's basically got the same stance as the President, meaning he's pro-amnesty.
With that and his history of supporting big spending, he really would be another version of our current president, except he'd be a pansy on foreign policy (while I consider the president's work on that issue his strongest). That's why he's the guy I support the least out of the big five, and I am really hoping he won't get the nomination. I don't think he will, thankfully.
Meanwhile, Numbers USA came out yesterday hammering Mike Huckabee for his stance on the issue, calling his record as governor of Arkansas "an absolute disaster" (I agree). If you are too lazy to read the article, just know that he's basically got the same stance as the President, meaning he's pro-amnesty.
With that and his history of supporting big spending, he really would be another version of our current president, except he'd be a pansy on foreign policy (while I consider the president's work on that issue his strongest). That's why he's the guy I support the least out of the big five, and I am really hoping he won't get the nomination. I don't think he will, thankfully.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
John McCain: Still crappy on illegal immigration
Not a surprise, but out of the 5 main contenders for the Republican nomination, only Fred Thompson has any clue of what people want (though Romney isn't horrible). Here's an article about John McCain answering a question about it, and it shows that he still just doesn't get it regardless of what he says.
If McCain, Rudy, or Huckabee gets the nomination, I will be depressed because a chance at having a good candidate on the issue will be blown.
UPDATE: In immigration news, a report came out today that says:
But one statistic that seems to me should have garnered more attention is that among Mexican immigrant households — by far the largest immigrant group — half are on welfare. This isn't because they're plotting to rip us off, but because they're 19th century workers in a 21st century economy, and simply don't have the tools to support themselves. The result is government-subsidized immigration, with taxpayers footing the bill for all this "cheap" labor.
Ugh. Even the economic arguments for illegal immigration don't work any more.
If McCain, Rudy, or Huckabee gets the nomination, I will be depressed because a chance at having a good candidate on the issue will be blown.
UPDATE: In immigration news, a report came out today that says:
But one statistic that seems to me should have garnered more attention is that among Mexican immigrant households — by far the largest immigrant group — half are on welfare. This isn't because they're plotting to rip us off, but because they're 19th century workers in a 21st century economy, and simply don't have the tools to support themselves. The result is government-subsidized immigration, with taxpayers footing the bill for all this "cheap" labor.
Ugh. Even the economic arguments for illegal immigration don't work any more.
From Cracked: The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses
I don't want to post too much stuff from Cracked.com because it's so funny that things would get ridiculous around here. This was just too good to ignore, though. Check out a sample:
Liverpool - Champions League Update
Liverpool pounded FC Porto yesterday 4-1 in UEFA Champions League play. After starting pool play horribly, they needed a lot to go right with two games left for them to advance to the knockout (tournament stage) round of 16.
Well, step two of that happened, as group last-place team Besiktas beat Marseille also yesterday. The standings look like like so (Group A):
Marseille 8 points
FC Porto 7 points
Liverpool 7 points
Besiktas 6 points
The points system works like this: a win is worth 3 and a tie is worth 1.
The final games in pool play pit Liverpool at Marseille and Besiktas at FC Porto on Tuesday, December 11. The odd thing is that every team can still advance. For Liverpool, Marseille, and FC Porto, if they win they are in (Marseille can also get in if they tie, and I don't know how various tiebreakers will work so this is simplistic). Besiktas needs to win and they need the other game to end in a tie. The way this pool has worked out, I wouldn't count against anything happening.
Setanta does not yet know what games they will be showing on that day, but it may be worthwhile to return frequently and check.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Big Four in the EPL wil advance, also, as Man U, Arsenal, and Chelsea all have enough points to have locked up their spots.
Well, step two of that happened, as group last-place team Besiktas beat Marseille also yesterday. The standings look like like so (Group A):
Marseille 8 points
FC Porto 7 points
Liverpool 7 points
Besiktas 6 points
The points system works like this: a win is worth 3 and a tie is worth 1.
The final games in pool play pit Liverpool at Marseille and Besiktas at FC Porto on Tuesday, December 11. The odd thing is that every team can still advance. For Liverpool, Marseille, and FC Porto, if they win they are in (Marseille can also get in if they tie, and I don't know how various tiebreakers will work so this is simplistic). Besiktas needs to win and they need the other game to end in a tie. The way this pool has worked out, I wouldn't count against anything happening.
Setanta does not yet know what games they will be showing on that day, but it may be worthwhile to return frequently and check.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Big Four in the EPL wil advance, also, as Man U, Arsenal, and Chelsea all have enough points to have locked up their spots.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Glass ceiling?
There is an article in the Sun-Times about how:
Women continue to bang their heads against barriers, despite making limited gains in advancing to the top leadership positions at the Chicago area's 50 biggest companies, according to a report.
The report goes on to mention that there's not even close to 50% of directors being women.
I don't understand how anyone can be surprised by this. First, women are much more likely than men to either abandon or put on hold their careers for the sake of raising their children. Moving up into the top ranks of a company takes a huge commitment of time an energy, and the maternal instinct gets in the way for a huge number of women.
In addition, men are more aggressive and driven to succeed in their careers, overall. This comes down to basic biology. (Now, I don't really give a rip about professional advancement, but like I say this is a generalization of the overall population.)
Another lesser factor is the choice of careers between the sexes. Many more women go into careers as nurses, secretaries, teachers, and whatnot. Of course, the converse of that is that men tend to disproportionately enter blue collar manual- and skilled-labor careers, which will also limit their chance of advancement. Like I wrote, this is a small factor, but I imagine it exists.
These factors are so overwhelmingly obvious to me that drivel like this seems like nonsense:
"I don't think there's any nefarious plot going on here," she said. "I think it's that when we tend to pick people with whom we're going to serve, we tend to pick those people that we're most comfortable with, and those people we're most comfortable with most of the time look just like us. So unless there's a pointed effort to change, change does not happen."
That's crap. If it were true, there would be almost no women in high positions. As it is, the numbers are much higher than that:
The percent of women directors increased to 14.3 from 13.8 last year, the report found. But that followed a drop last year. The past decade, the number of women directors rose to 76 from 61, or an average of 1.5 women a year. Women make up 14.3 percent of all directors, up from 10.1 percent.
Any time I hear about how women or minorities are underrepresented in any area due to a glass ceiling, the way to counteract that is obvious: start a firm of all women executives (or engineers, or whatever), pay them less than market rates (since there are fewer of them), and then rake in the money. The fact that this reaction to the problem using simple market forces isn't occurring is the best evidence that there is no real problem of discrimination except in the minds of grievance-mongers.
UPDATE: These five people have it wrong. Annette Burtin sounds like someone who doesn't work hard enough to succeed and then complains later about those mean boys, while Gerene Hayes is a SECRETARY. You have reached your professional pinnacle, lady, so what would you know? Jessica Simon is a 23-year-old (read: naive) teacher who also won't ever advance beyond, well, teacher, so does she have any idea what the professional world is like? The answer is no. The first guy didn't answer the question and the second made a dumb joke.
Women continue to bang their heads against barriers, despite making limited gains in advancing to the top leadership positions at the Chicago area's 50 biggest companies, according to a report.
The report goes on to mention that there's not even close to 50% of directors being women.
I don't understand how anyone can be surprised by this. First, women are much more likely than men to either abandon or put on hold their careers for the sake of raising their children. Moving up into the top ranks of a company takes a huge commitment of time an energy, and the maternal instinct gets in the way for a huge number of women.
In addition, men are more aggressive and driven to succeed in their careers, overall. This comes down to basic biology. (Now, I don't really give a rip about professional advancement, but like I say this is a generalization of the overall population.)
Another lesser factor is the choice of careers between the sexes. Many more women go into careers as nurses, secretaries, teachers, and whatnot. Of course, the converse of that is that men tend to disproportionately enter blue collar manual- and skilled-labor careers, which will also limit their chance of advancement. Like I wrote, this is a small factor, but I imagine it exists.
These factors are so overwhelmingly obvious to me that drivel like this seems like nonsense:
"I don't think there's any nefarious plot going on here," she said. "I think it's that when we tend to pick people with whom we're going to serve, we tend to pick those people that we're most comfortable with, and those people we're most comfortable with most of the time look just like us. So unless there's a pointed effort to change, change does not happen."
That's crap. If it were true, there would be almost no women in high positions. As it is, the numbers are much higher than that:
The percent of women directors increased to 14.3 from 13.8 last year, the report found. But that followed a drop last year. The past decade, the number of women directors rose to 76 from 61, or an average of 1.5 women a year. Women make up 14.3 percent of all directors, up from 10.1 percent.
Any time I hear about how women or minorities are underrepresented in any area due to a glass ceiling, the way to counteract that is obvious: start a firm of all women executives (or engineers, or whatever), pay them less than market rates (since there are fewer of them), and then rake in the money. The fact that this reaction to the problem using simple market forces isn't occurring is the best evidence that there is no real problem of discrimination except in the minds of grievance-mongers.
UPDATE: These five people have it wrong. Annette Burtin sounds like someone who doesn't work hard enough to succeed and then complains later about those mean boys, while Gerene Hayes is a SECRETARY. You have reached your professional pinnacle, lady, so what would you know? Jessica Simon is a 23-year-old (read: naive) teacher who also won't ever advance beyond, well, teacher, so does she have any idea what the professional world is like? The answer is no. The first guy didn't answer the question and the second made a dumb joke.
County Budget News
Holy smokes, things got interesting yesterday at the County Board meeting. Commissioner William Beavers said that, well, here are some of the key quotes:
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger can't get his budget passed "because he's black," his floor leader angrily charged Tuesday.
Commissioner William Beavers said "if Todd was a white man, he wouldn't have half these problems," further alleging "this is a remake of the Harold Washington days" at City Hall, where racially fueled votes often ended in 29-21 decisions.
"Who's gonna control the county -- white or black -- that's all this is," he said.
Beavers railed on that one of Stroger's top critics, Commissioner Tony Peraica, "hates everybody who's black ... all black elected officials," going on to say Peraica used to beat up black people growing up in the Bridgeport neighborhood.
This is the last desperate act of black liberals when they don't get what they want and white people are involved. They are used to pulling the race card to make conservatives cower, but it has become completely ridiculous and no longer has an effect on them. The saddest thing is that when they throw around accusations like this (when it's obvious race isn't a factor, ideology is), it makes it less and less likely that any white person is going to take a charge of actual racism seriously. That's something black liberals can blame on themselves.
Is Peraica against everything that the black commissioners propose? Likely he is, and I'm glad. It's not his fault the black commissioners (like Beavers and Stroger) are big tax-and-spenders, while Peraica is trying to stop them from continuing their rampage of fiscal irresponsibility. This makes the simple-minded (or extremely cynical and desperate, or maybe even paranoid and insane) Beavers think Peraica hates black people.
One last quote from Beavers (excuse the poor grammar):
Yet, prompted by a reporter's question, Beavers yelled not to forget that he's "the hog with the big nuts and I'm gonna tell you what it is."
Sure you are, William.
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger can't get his budget passed "because he's black," his floor leader angrily charged Tuesday.
Commissioner William Beavers said "if Todd was a white man, he wouldn't have half these problems," further alleging "this is a remake of the Harold Washington days" at City Hall, where racially fueled votes often ended in 29-21 decisions.
"Who's gonna control the county -- white or black -- that's all this is," he said.
Beavers railed on that one of Stroger's top critics, Commissioner Tony Peraica, "hates everybody who's black ... all black elected officials," going on to say Peraica used to beat up black people growing up in the Bridgeport neighborhood.
This is the last desperate act of black liberals when they don't get what they want and white people are involved. They are used to pulling the race card to make conservatives cower, but it has become completely ridiculous and no longer has an effect on them. The saddest thing is that when they throw around accusations like this (when it's obvious race isn't a factor, ideology is), it makes it less and less likely that any white person is going to take a charge of actual racism seriously. That's something black liberals can blame on themselves.
Is Peraica against everything that the black commissioners propose? Likely he is, and I'm glad. It's not his fault the black commissioners (like Beavers and Stroger) are big tax-and-spenders, while Peraica is trying to stop them from continuing their rampage of fiscal irresponsibility. This makes the simple-minded (or extremely cynical and desperate, or maybe even paranoid and insane) Beavers think Peraica hates black people.
One last quote from Beavers (excuse the poor grammar):
Yet, prompted by a reporter's question, Beavers yelled not to forget that he's "the hog with the big nuts and I'm gonna tell you what it is."
Sure you are, William.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Funny t-shirt site
So I stumbled upon this here Phat Rags website. They have lots of funny shirts. I also like the "Love/Hate Mail" section.
Biggest Loser thread for this week
OK, I think I can safely say that Hollie is starting to look pretty cute. I especially like her in the glasses when she is talking to the doctors.
A-How AWOL
Ask, and ye shall receive.
A-How has been hella-lame, hitting the one-month mark for blog inactivity. Last we heard, Weeds was on deck. A counter will be going up if I don't see something soon.
Bryan's on deck. In other Bryan-related news, WhereIPeed.com still has nothing. Thus, I won't even link to it.
A-How has been hella-lame, hitting the one-month mark for blog inactivity. Last we heard, Weeds was on deck. A counter will be going up if I don't see something soon.
Bryan's on deck. In other Bryan-related news, WhereIPeed.com still has nothing. Thus, I won't even link to it.
Bars to avoid
Here is a Center Stage article about bars that allow dogs. I consider it my duty to inform you hard-core drinkers out there of the list.
To anyone who actually brings a dog to bar, I am here to tell you what everyone thinks of it: we hate you. Dogs are annoying. They walk around, getting in people's way. They sniff people and slobber on them. If I wanted that, I would own a dog. There's a reason I can spend my whole night in a bar without going home, and it's because I don't own a dog and don't have to go home to ensure he doesn't urinate all over my kitchen. Yes, some lame people think it's fun to pet a dog when you bring your animal to the bar, but those people are morons who don't hang out in bars on a regular basis. A bar is a place to get away from things and relax, and anything that prevents me from doing so (like annoying music or your dog) drives me from that place. My message, in case it's not clear, is this: stop thinking it's cool, because it's not. It makes you a condescening jerk, because everyone who hates the dog looks like an a-hole for saying something about it just because you are too pompous to care about other people.
To anyone who actually brings a dog to bar, I am here to tell you what everyone thinks of it: we hate you. Dogs are annoying. They walk around, getting in people's way. They sniff people and slobber on them. If I wanted that, I would own a dog. There's a reason I can spend my whole night in a bar without going home, and it's because I don't own a dog and don't have to go home to ensure he doesn't urinate all over my kitchen. Yes, some lame people think it's fun to pet a dog when you bring your animal to the bar, but those people are morons who don't hang out in bars on a regular basis. A bar is a place to get away from things and relax, and anything that prevents me from doing so (like annoying music or your dog) drives me from that place. My message, in case it's not clear, is this: stop thinking it's cool, because it's not. It makes you a condescening jerk, because everyone who hates the dog looks like an a-hole for saying something about it just because you are too pompous to care about other people.
Our friends the Saudis
I don't know if everyone has kept up with the news about this (I don't really care too much because nothing is going to come out of it, but that's a rant for another day), but apparently there is an upcoming summit in Annapolis for a bunch of Middle East countries, including Israel.
So, can we count on our friends the Saudis to behave like adults? If you ansered yes, you don't follow Middle Eastern politics closely enough:
Saudi Arabia's participation in the U.S.-sponsored talks on Middle East peace was seen as a diplomatic coup for the Bush administration but the kingdom has made clear there will be no handshakes with Israeli officials.
Let's not forget that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
Here are some additional thoughts on the conference from a guy who is much smarter than I am.
So, can we count on our friends the Saudis to behave like adults? If you ansered yes, you don't follow Middle Eastern politics closely enough:
Saudi Arabia's participation in the U.S.-sponsored talks on Middle East peace was seen as a diplomatic coup for the Bush administration but the kingdom has made clear there will be no handshakes with Israeli officials.
Let's not forget that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
Here are some additional thoughts on the conference from a guy who is much smarter than I am.
Sean Taylor died
This is some huge news, in my opinion.
Which brings me to ESPN News. I was watching this morning, and throughout their half-hour show, the only part the anchor mentioned was the old news from last night that he was getting better. Can they not jump in with a new edited clip giving us the updated news?
Evern worse was that on the scrolling news at the bottom of the screen, it said the same thing! OK, even if they can't put together a video package because all anchors are at home sleeping, can't they even have some intern change that?
The only place it was on the screen was in the lower right-hand corner under "Breaking News". Fine, but this seems like a big enough story that it deserved a little more. Here you have a 24-year-old Pro Bowl safety who died (murdered, more accurately), and they can't even update the scrolling news?
Which brings me to ESPN News. I was watching this morning, and throughout their half-hour show, the only part the anchor mentioned was the old news from last night that he was getting better. Can they not jump in with a new edited clip giving us the updated news?
Evern worse was that on the scrolling news at the bottom of the screen, it said the same thing! OK, even if they can't put together a video package because all anchors are at home sleeping, can't they even have some intern change that?
The only place it was on the screen was in the lower right-hand corner under "Breaking News". Fine, but this seems like a big enough story that it deserved a little more. Here you have a 24-year-old Pro Bowl safety who died (murdered, more accurately), and they can't even update the scrolling news?
People are stupid and afraid
You may think the title of this post is referring to some large societal issue. Well, it's not.
I was on a late, crowded Blue Line train today, and when we got to Clark and Lake (in other words, the first big stop where 1/3 of the train gets off) some joker says, in complete earnest, "Getting off."
My first reaction to such idiocy is usually to reply, "We all are." That's only when I am near them, however, and in this case my back was turned so I couldn't see who it was. Well, gee, Einstein, is this your first time on the train? The whole freaking train gets off! You won't have any problems doing so. That's the STUPID.
As for the afraid, it's mind-melding what a bunch of pansies everyone has become. After I heard that moron say he needed to get off, I joking said to everyone around me, "Yeah, aren't we all?" Some guy next to me looked like I just challenged a suicide bomber to blow up his vest on the train. There is a certain amount of stupidity that I just can't let pass (such as in instances like this), but everyone else was probably going to clear out to let this goof get off first because they are afraid of everything. Can't we all laugh at this dolt rather than condescendingly pretend he's normal? Maybe it will shame him into pulling his head out of his ass and noticing things around him. That's the AFRAID.
I was on a late, crowded Blue Line train today, and when we got to Clark and Lake (in other words, the first big stop where 1/3 of the train gets off) some joker says, in complete earnest, "Getting off."
My first reaction to such idiocy is usually to reply, "We all are." That's only when I am near them, however, and in this case my back was turned so I couldn't see who it was. Well, gee, Einstein, is this your first time on the train? The whole freaking train gets off! You won't have any problems doing so. That's the STUPID.
As for the afraid, it's mind-melding what a bunch of pansies everyone has become. After I heard that moron say he needed to get off, I joking said to everyone around me, "Yeah, aren't we all?" Some guy next to me looked like I just challenged a suicide bomber to blow up his vest on the train. There is a certain amount of stupidity that I just can't let pass (such as in instances like this), but everyone else was probably going to clear out to let this goof get off first because they are afraid of everything. Can't we all laugh at this dolt rather than condescendingly pretend he's normal? Maybe it will shame him into pulling his head out of his ass and noticing things around him. That's the AFRAID.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Summary of the Republican presidential field
Erick over at Red State has a summary of his opinions of the top five Republicans in the presidential race. I agree with pretty much all of it (though I'm a little bit more negative about Huckabee than he is), especially his conclusion. It's a good primer for anyone who wants to catch up with the race.
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