Dublin Saab

Cars, politics, sports and what not from my view. (Closed Sundays and Holidays)

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Kilts, Phones and Cops, oh my!

Off Helen and I went on Sunday to the Highland Festival and Games in Alma meeshagn. AAA had it at a 5 hour drive but we got up there in a mere 4.5 including a stop for breakfast. The object of the trip was to hunt down Great Scot in the vendors area and order my kilt for the wedding. Having arrived and paid $12 each for admittance we hurried past the bleachers (the map says “Football Stadium” but I’ve seen high school fields that dwarf it) and at the end of the midway we find the Great Scot tent.

The quality of the display, the girth of the lady working the booth and her unkempt shabby dress could not have been more repulsive for Helen than a naked street urchin, oozing puss from multiple open sore while singing a Britney Spears song badly off-tune. We had driven 300 miles to reach Great Scot and suddenly were back at the drawing board.

We then went through all others and settled on The British Store. They had a nice display, quality goods, a professional demeanor and a large array of Scottish goods for sale. I do not know why they are called The British Store, but regardless they have a chunk of our money and will be furnishing me with me kilt.

While in Alma, taking a moment to watch the Kaber Toss, at which I realize Scotland’s contribution to the world of sport is Golf and throwing heavy things, I suddenly remember I had not made final arrangements for a meeting of friends that night at the St. James. Within minutes of pulling my cell phone from my pocket I had things in order, even though I was in a field 300 miles from home. That got me thinking that the cell phone isn’t all bad. I constantly hear it being derided for how it encroaches in on our lives making then ever more fast paced and complicated. True, but at the same time they afford us an ability to slack off on logistics that those of an earlier age could never entertain. I dare say even the Count of Monte Cristo could not, 300 miles from Paris, contact multiple invitees for a gathering to be planed that evening.

So it was with receipt in hand and plans laid we headed back to Columbus. It was while heading east on I-96 that things became interesting. I was putting along at 80mph in the slow lane when I noticed a new Ford F250 roaring up behind me. Instead of slowing he simply crossed into the fast lane to pass. The problem was that the lane was fully occupied by a line of cars passing a semi further up and he was pulling a trailer. I see three cars dive into the median to avoid the collision. I am now forced to choose if he can got all the way into the passing land before he reaches the back of the Mini. Mini vs. F250 pulling trailer? I dive to the right crossing the rumble strips. He then dives to the right to take advantage of my weakness. This pushes me partly off the burm.

It is at this moment that Helen awakes, to find me driving her car off the road at 80mph. The mad driver rushes past. I get back onto the road and watch him push more cars out of the way as he reached the bottle necking semi. Helen said, “Oh my God.” While I went back to the trusty cell phone.

“911, what is your emergency?”. I give all the details I can to the operator. She asks if I got the license but within seconds of getting past the semi the mad driver was disappearing. I informed the operator that based upon my speed, “which isn’t exactly slow” he had to be pushing 100. She gets some info from me and thanks me for the call, I return the thank you and go back to driving.

23 miles later I come around a bend to find the mad driver detained by a fleet of meeshigans finest. I can see that the driver is out of the car and looking at the combination of his wild gestures and the defensive posture of the encircling officers that the offending driver is doing a good job of explaining why he should in fact be arrested.

A few toots of the horn and a shout for joy as I move on past and for the rest of the trip I annoy Helen by threatening those guilty of any slight road misstep with jail time.

BOTD: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Not to be thought as un-American as I drink through a long list of imported beers, today’s BOTD comes to us from Chico CA. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is the number one product of the Sierra Nevada Brewing company, known as a “micro-brewery” in the American lexicon of beerese. For those of you observant may be able to note that the pint glass in the picture has the same logo and the bottle. For those of you deductive you may have an inkling of how this review will pan out.

What was that about weak and watery?Posted by Hello

This pale ale announces the power of its hops within seconds of the opening of the bottle. It has a very floral nose, to be expected with the use of whole hops and not ground down flakes. The taste is hops from start to finish, with a upper medium bitterness. There is a complete absence of any malt. It’s a clean taste and in all should be considered the arch-type for American pales.

Brewery: Sierra Nevada
Year: 1981
Origin: America (Chico, California)
Style: American Pale Ale
Content: 5.6%
Rating: Superb
Recommendation: For lovers of the hop flower this should be considered ol’reliable.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

BOTD: Tilburg's Dutch Brown Ale

This is one of… No. Scratch that. This is the most disturbing beer I have ever run across. For starters it’s Dutch, which most likely means skunk, but it is a brown bottle. Second it’s a brown ale, not my favorite. Third, the picture on the bottle is of a blue bird man sitting on a throne, wearing a giant kettle on his bird head, while shoving a naked man half way down his beaky bird mouth and all the while smaller black birds are issuing forth from the naked, half eaten man’s ass. WTF?

It's a detail from the Garden of Earthly Delights. Freak.Posted by Hello

The beer pours foamy. The nose from it is rich in malt – it is a brown ale – but carries with it a hint of spice. That is however as far as the spice goes but the good news is a complete lack of skunk. There is a little tartness on the initial taste but from there on you are drinking a thickly malted ale. The lesson for me is that I’ll like a brown ale when birds fly out of my ass.

Brewery: Bavaria
Year: 1719
Origin: Holland
Style: Brown Ale
Content: Unknown, but not weak
Rating: Midling
Recommendation: For all fans of malt it’s worth a taste.

Musings

Today I helped my friend, whom I work for, with hosting the “Extreme Tour”, which was held at a suburban Columbus stake park. I was there at 9am to start the setup and had everything ready to roll when the skate team showed to do a competition with the local kids. At 1pm the bands (five) arrived and begin setting up their gear. The first band began performing at 2:10. At 2:20 people started to show up for the bands. At 2:30 the heavens let loose. Show over.

The tour has a pastoral theme to it and most are very open at their faith. One person, who I had been answering questions – as best I could – on Catholic theology said, “I know God has a reason for everything that happens, but I don’t know why he would want to rain out our show.” To which I gave an agreeing shrug. Only I don’t.

First I was struck by the amazing self-centered arrogance it takes to think that a larger thunder cell that poured on more than 500,000 people as it moved east across northern Franklin county was solely for stopping are show. The other 499,800 people where just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right.

But I was still bothered by his comment. Then it came to me. Free Will. His statement, as innocent as it was certainly meant, was in fact a denial of free will. How so is that we humans have domain over the weather. Our influence at this time may not be that great, but we have changed weather patterns. We can seed clouds, pollutants, emissions, great urban areas that act as heat sink. We have micro and macro influences. The good or bad of this influence is completely moot with regards to my point.

Which is, since we have influence on the weather, for the rain to have hit us as part of Gods plan then Gods plan includes the manipulation of men so that our actions cause, through the butterfly effect, the rain to be in Gahanna at 2:30pm, May 28th, 2005, and if God is doing that then there is no free will.

If there is no free will then we are no more responsible for our actions than those of a gear in some machine. A gear that bears no accountability on the smooth working or failing of the machine that it neither designed or maintains. And to be honest, I don’t like the idea of a world without free will, for that is a world lacking both sin and virture.

Ingrates

The Professor (Victor Davis Hanson) weighs in on those who profit from the West while smearing it at the same time:

Roy doesn’t quite get that the reason that the UK recognizes an Indian novelist like her, writing halfway across the globe — and that she is able to jet over to the United States for lucrative speaking engagements, and that her books are mass-produced and hawked aggressively over global Internet book marts — is precisely the system that this child of capitalism so vehemently detests.


In the end I have to say that VDH has encapsulated my view of these elites. I don’t get disappointed, I don’t get angry, I just roll my eyes and wait for them to leave.

Friday, May 27, 2005

BOTD: Kinsale Lager

Oh to the luck o the Irish and lucky they be that they get to ship Kinsale Irish Ale to the US o A. This beer is, according to the Kinsale Brewery website is a lager, which in a way came as news to me – and that was after I drank it.

Do you see a beer? I don't.Posted by Hello

There is no nose. The fore taste is sort of there and the finish has a slight hint of sweet malt. All in all there’s not much. Honestly in my memories I’d have to go back to a Milwaukee’s Best Light to think of a beer with as little flavor and character as the Kinsale. It doesn’t taste bad, it would have to have taste first.

Brewery: Kinsale
Year: 2001
Origin: Ireland
Style: Lager
Content: unknown
Rating: pointless
Recommendation: I see no reason to buy such a weak beer.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

BOTD: Tuborg Premium Lager

For today’s tasty adult beverage we have a cold Tuborg Premium Lager. Ice cold, and trust me, there’s a reason. First this Danish beer seems to have the same problem with skunking that the Dutch lagers have. We are all happy to blame it on the age of the beer and remove any guilt from the hands of the brewer but my god do Dutch lagers skunk fast, and this Dane seems to have gone off the same.
Less than refreshingPosted by Hello

Tuborg at least does the more famous Heineken one better by putting a little hint of brown in their glass but it doesn’t help much as Tuborg’s shelf life is probably greater than its half life – and beer is pretty god dammed atomically stable. So that first think you notice is the skunked nose this beer sadly offers up to the drinker. That warning is then followed up by an equally skunked fore and after taste. With good old beers you can still tell it’s trying, I don’t get that sensation from the Tuborg Premium Lager. Oh, and for consistency’s sake they have made their website just as distasteful as their brew.

Brewery: Tuborg (Carlsburg)
Year: 1893
Origin: Denmark
Style: Lager
Content: unknown
Rating: low
Recommendation: Even though it can be had cheap it best to avoid unless you are in the mood for an overly stale beer.

UPDATE: I am an idiot. This is a Danish beer and not Dutch. The posting has been altered to reflect this.

SOCAS's, why can't I hear you?

First Newsweek misreports an “alleged” incident involving a Quran and the porcelain god, which is then used to fame the flames of hate throughout the Muslim world. Then the Pentagon decides to hold Newsweek over the coals for the incident they have created with their questionable “adversarial” journalism. In response the left leaning journalistic community has spent days turning over every single rock searching for any evidence anywhere of any Koran abuse by the government.

That is the background which leads us to this story reported in the AP; Inquiry Finds Some Quran 'Mishandling'

With this in mind I would like to ask where all the Seperation-of-Church-and-Stater’s are? Where are the voices of those concerned about the impending theocracy? When will those claiming not to be anti-Christian has they try to get “In God we trust” taken off the penny, but merely worried about the government supporting any religion come forward to defend our government on this one?

Seriously folks, the government isn’t supposed to do anything to offer support to any religion… right? If so then what the hell is the big deal if some government employee ruins some book, that was purchased by the government and therefore is government property, even if the book in question is full of what some people consider magical words straight form the mouth of some deity?

You guys worry on being forced to be Christian, have you seen the rules regarding how the goalers at Gitmo can have contact with a friggin Quran? They have to wear gloves just to be allowed to touch the bag the Quran is kept in because they are dirty infidels. WTF!? Just listen to the language being used by both the press and the government about this issue.
The other two cases in which the allegation was not substantiated involved interrogators who either touched or "stood over" a Quran during an interrogation, Hood said. In one case not deemed to be mishandling, an interrogator placed two Qurans on a television. In the other case, which Hood did not describe fully, a Quran was not touched and Hood said the interrogator's unspecified "action" was accidental.

This is abuse that needs the full resources of our MainStreamMedia brought to bear? No. For one thing if it had been the bibles of Christian Fundamentalists I doubt the media would have given a hoot and the other is that pesky separation thing.

In the eyes of our government the Quran should have no more significance than the April 1987 issue of Car & Driver, for once they show preferential treatment to the scared book for group A, then they have opened the door to showing special treatment for all "holy" books.

We have a secular government and the response to those “outraged” over the alleged book flushing should have never been to apologize with a vow to get to the bottom of this, but rather it should have been clearly explained to them what a secular government is that it’s none of their damn business what the US government does with US owned books and US owned toilets. In fact those who claim to be the defenders of Church/State seperation should be demending it.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

BOTD: Augustiner Edelstoff

Brewed in München (Munich) in the heart of Baveria this beer is true to all that one should expect from those who obey the Reinheitsgebot. The Edelstoff is not a beer that can easily be classified in modern US beer categories, which makes sense considering the brewery has been around since 1328, the late friggin middle ages. They must be doing something right.

Germans got one thing right.Posted by Hello

The beer is a bit of a cross between a Pils and a Weis. As you can see in the picture the beer has a certain cloudiness one would associate with a Weisbier, however there is a level of crispness you don’t. The nose is floral with strong hints of citrus. As you first take a drink it comes in kicking with a citrus tartness that finishes into a crisp pop leaving little aftertaste. Which as things are is sad as the taste you have in the middle is worth keeping around. A lighter yet full bodied beer style that is hard to come by in the US.

Brewery: Augustiner
Year: 1328
Origin: Germany (Baveria)
Style: Münchner Bier (part weis, part pils)
Content: n/a
Rating: Superb
Recommendation: Worth getting your hands on some. Excellent with spicy foods or on a hot day.

Critical Thinking = Agreeing with me

I would like to commend film maker Evan Coyne Maloney for making the film Brainwashing 101. A documentary on the leftist bias and witch hunting of conservatives on our nations so called “diverse” universities.

The full length film is still in the works but there is a shorter 46 minute version available at the site linked to above. In the short version Maloney visists his alma mater Bucknell, also Caltech Poly and the University of Tennessee to expose three examples of the bias.

At Bucknell the situation is one of a more generic leftists lean. Econ major talking about how the only time capitalism gets mentioned is to denigrate it and how the reading list is made up entirely of leftists. Also he interviews an Econ professor who explains that the top economic thinking of today comes from “feminists who have worked to refine Marx’s ideas”.

At Caltech Poly there is the story of a student all most ruined and expelled for nothing more than posting a flyer announcing a talk being given by a conservative author. A student called the police to report the flyer, which had on it only the name of the author, the name of his book and the time/place of the talk, was harassment. The school then spent years and a considerable amount of tax dollars to punish the conservative student.

UT however take the cake. After shutting down an entire fraternity for racial insensetivity because 5 white students (all who were from Jackson, TN) dressed up as the Jackson5 at an off campus Halloween party the school later takes no action against a student who sent out an email suggesting that “the f*cking ragheads should be shot in the face”. Of course the student who sent the email wasn’t some redneck, bible thumping, trigger happy hick but rather a well ensconced leftist conformist while the “rag head” in question wasn’t a Muslim, instead he is a Shik who just so happens to be a vocal pro-American and conservative. Talk about your double standards.

All in all it’s to the point with little commentary by the film maker and if you think colleges are a bastion of open mindedness you are in for a trip. I do recommend taking an hour to watch the film.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

BOTD: Jenlain Farmhouse Ale

Today’s beer is Jenlain French Farmhouse Ale, which is what it is bottled as in the US but is properly labeled as Jenlain Ambrée. This is one time even I, as fond as I am of ribbing all things Frankish have to stand back and say well done.

It came from where?Posted by Hello

My expectations of this ale where low due not only to it’s country of origin but also the extreme age of the bottle in front of me. However, I would have been satisfied had the bottle been labeled Rouge. It is an excellent brew. Strong, rich, with a dash of citrus to hide the malts and just a hint of spice. This is a serious ale. It’s more an after dinner drink than a typical ale would be, and at 7.5% it’s easy to understand why. It’s full bodied complexities are a rare find in any bear and leans near towards the barley wine category in taste. Merveilleux!

Brewery: Brasserie Duyck
Year: 1922
Origin: France
Style: Ale/Barley Wine
Content: 7.5%
Rating: Superb
Recommendation: If you are really into Ales don’t pass this one up.

Mugabe Economic Pointer #439

80% unemployment, 25% of the population moved away and an agricultural sector gone from exporting to starvation all in a few short years. Man, that Mugabe sure knows how to run a country.

During the election campaign, the government had scoffed at critics who said the economy was on the verge of collapse. But since winning, it has taken drastic action, last week announcing a 45 percent devaluation of the Zimbabwean currency against the U.S. dollar, a ban on luxury imports and heavy subsidies for agriculture and exporters.

Oh, do not fear dear reader, I assure you that luxury tax applies to Mugabe and all his cronies. Joking aside I was wondering why the sudden move against the underground economy. It’s existence is a result of his own policies. Attacking it is to only attack the symptom while leaving the cancer to fester, though upon further reflection I have to admit the possibility that this could be the cause, because aside from being a dictatorial thug Mugabe is also a retard. The murderous villain couldn’t make smart decision even if he wanted to.

However the article sheds a little light.

Tsvangirai accused Mugabe of ordering the crackdown in response to pressure from newly arrived Chinese businessmen to stop secondhand dealers undercutting their cheap imports.

"The country has been mortgaged to the Chinese," Tsvangirai said in a statement. "How can we violently remove Zimbabweans from our flea markets to make way for the Chinese? The majority of Zimbabweans depend on informal trade to feed, clothe and educate their families."

First WalMart and now Zimbabwe, next the entire world. I can actually imagine some ancient old red Chinese shadow leader, twisted and shrunken with age, laughing maniacally as new markets open up to cheap Chinese crap, as it’s all part of his plan to take over the world.

Monday, May 23, 2005

BOTD: Oranjeboom Lager

Beer of the Day.

Today, for the first BOTD, I sampled Oranjeboom Premium Lager, which is brewed in Holland. How do I know it’s from Holland? It’s printed on the can in about 6 different locations, and they told me jingoism was an “American” thing. The can also claims that Oranjeboom has been around since 1671.

Sunshine, a porch and a beer.Posted by Hello

Well it’s a bit hard to gauge this beer as it may have dated to around the time the brewery was founded. It was the shunkiest beer I have ever tasted from a can. It has hints of a full bodied lager, which therefore means when fresh it might bea bit too rich for a lager. Even with it’s advanced age it wanted to be a likable beer.

Quick Stats:
Brewery/Date: Brouwerji de Oranjeboom / 1671
Style: Lager
Content: n/a
Rating: Would try a second time, if they still made this, which it seems they don't.
Recommendation: If you find some and your pallet isn’t refined enough to hunt through a skunked beer you might want to stay away.

Vindication

What’s this? NCAA is unable to substantiate Clarett’s accusations? Color me not surprised. So now that leaves OSU Football with only the Troy Smith-$500-from-a-booster issue left for the NCAA to make a ruling, but considering that the NCAA has already reinstated him to the program, after giving $500 to a charity as restitution of course, I don’t expect them to bring down the thunder.

So much to ESPN’s speculations that the Buckeye’s might get the “death penalty” for the multitudes violations they just had to be guilty of. Oh and I wonder what the chances are ESPN will run an hour long show about how they were wrong to beleive the lying liar. Better chance to not buy a lotto ticket and still win I'd imagine.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Broken Calculator

Thanks to a link from The Auto Prophet I came across the web site 40mpg.org A great example of the disingenuousness of those a little to far on the green side of things. A look at the site though doesn’t show this right away. The site, at first, seems reasonable enough. After all there’s nothing wrong with trying to convert from the soap box that is the internet.

The part where their colors show is their much ballyhooed 40mpg Calculator. This is a nice little web app that tells you how much money you’d save, how much less CO2 you’d emit and how many fewer gallons of Middle Eastern gas you’d burn if you started driving a 40mpg car. Fair enough you say? It would be except for one glaring error. Every single gallon of gas you don’t burn just so happens to be from the Middle East. I wonder how their calculator knows that would be the case?

In 2003 the US produced an average of 5,737,000 barrels of crude each day. We also imported an average of 9,665,000 barrels each day. That makes a total daily use of 15,402,000 barrels a day. However, only 2,425,000 of those barrels was from the Middle East. That’s only 15.7%, yet the calculator somehow is able to figure that any gallon not used is 100% Middle Eastern in origin. That’s one nifty calculator.

There are only two possible causes for this error. Either it is that they are a bunch of ninnies who think all oil comes from the Middle East or they are lying to use terrorism as a cudgel to cower us into living as they want us to. Looking at the overall high quality and thoroughness of their website I do not, for a second, think they are ninnies.

Now what’s that you say? I’m being too harsh? I should take it easy because any gallon saved is still 15.7% Middle Eastern? Not a chance. That they have made the origin of the oil a full 1/3rd of their platform means I can’t – won’t – ignore it but more importantly the Fungibility of oil makes even your 15.7% compromise a lie.

S. Fred Singer explained it well with:
We can think of the oil market, in an oversimplified way, as a giant bathtub into which oil pours from many sources, where it sells at single world price, and from which users purchase oil without regard for its origin.

Now that you have that know this, it’s not just that the Middle East has the most oil it’s that they have, by far, the most accessible oil in the world. So if you started to roll back oil consumption tomorrow you would actually increase the overall percentage of oil coming from the Middle East. That is because other producers would have to cut back due to the falling price of oil while the Mullahs and Sheiks can keep on pumping.
In this chart from the USGS you can see the easily accessed oil reserves in the brightly colored foreground with the "recoverable" reserves in the pale background. Posted by Hello

The only way to cut back on oil from the Middle East would be either a federal law or for everyone to drive a Hummer so the demand forces prices up, allowing more costly methods of production to come online thereby diluting the overall percentage of Middle Eastern oil. But neither of those ideas is very good.

So dear 40mpg.org, feel free to keep on preaching the virtues of higher mileage cars but please drop the crap about where the oil comes from.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Oh so that's how it happen?

Without speculating on their motives I find the 50 second “history” spot on Nickelodeon insinuating that Santa Anna attacked the Alamo to end slavery in Texas insulting and concerning. The insult I can get over, after all advertisers do it all the time but my concern remains. That concern is for what other mindless and inaccurate drivel are they feeding to the 8 to 16 year olds watching their shows. It’s not as if they are getting a well grounded education on history in the schools (which is another topic altogether) that can counter balance such junk. If Santa Anna was out to free the slaves then I wonder what they’ll do for an encore. Perhaps Pol Pot was really just getting all the educated Cambodians together to do top notch R&D but then a covert CIA team snuck in and murdered them all before the research labs could be built, no doubt at the behest of the Republican governor of California, one Ronald Reagan!

Getting the easy ones

Rich Lowery has some common sense to offer on the War on Drugs
Marijuana is not harmless, and its use should be discouraged, but in the same way, say, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day should be discouraged. The criminal-justice system should stay out of it. Twelve states have decriminalized marijuana to varying degrees, fining instead of arresting people for possessing small amounts. They recognize that — as the authors of a new study for the conservative American Enterprise Institute argue — "the case for imposing criminal sanctions for possession of small amounts of marijuana is weak."

The WoD is an abject failure but I don’t see it ever coming to an end as too many make too much money off that particular teat to let it dry up. We should have a sound and reasoned drug policy and stop throwing good money after bad with zero results.

Yet another evil pot smoker in need of a manditory sentence.Posted by Hello

Not holding my breath.

Not sure what to make of this little story. I have to say the ideas are running rampant in my head from one comment from “someone” at Saab that spiritual successor to the C900 is coming. Who said it? What does that mean, exactly?

Ford remade the Mustang, can the same happen to the C900?Posted by Hello

What we know:
The current 9-2x is pretty much a Subaru WRX. Car and Driver stated in their review that it’s as close to badge engineering as you can get without doing it. The WRX is a good car and all who have tested the 9-2x have said it’s even better, but not much better. The fact is that 9-2x couldn’t be selling worse even if GM was trying. The questions the automotive media raised were, “are Subie buyers going to pay extra for the more refined 9-2x?” and “are Saab buyers going to buy Subie in Saab clothing?”. The answer to both those questions would appear to be no. The Saab engineers simply didn’t have enough time to make the already existing WRX platform Saablike enough to differentiate it from the original.
Very nice but just not selling.Posted by Hello

The next WRX/Saab platform, due in ’07-’08 was co-developed by the Subie and Saab guys from day one. The next gen. platform will introduce diesels to the Subie lineup. From that we can glean that the platform will be capable of taking an inline engine as opposed to the current one which is boxer only. If it can take an inline diesel then it can take an inline gas engine as well. Not to disparage the boxer engine but they shake like the devil and most Saab folks like their cylinders lined up like good little soldiers for Gustavus Adolphus and not lying down on the job.

Beyond that lies speculation. And hope.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Free Testaclese

Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues is not in my opinion a great work of art. It’s a crude, endorses the delinquency of minors, preaches of heaven of date rape and is chock full of sexist drivel. Of course since it’s all done by women the play has gained a prominence on college campuses as a virtuous must see work that it otherwise would never have achieved. The idea is that it’s performance is meant to empower women but what it says to me is that men are all awful worthless pigs and we women can be just as awful as them. But hey, it’s a free country so whatever.

Here is a tale of a group of people at Roger Williams Univeristy that don’t care for the obnoxious actions of the Vagina Monologues crowd and have taken to mocking them with The Penis Monologues. I’d say don’t get your panties in a bind but young college kids got to vent at the man (or woman in this case) so have your fun, after all turn about is fair play. Right? Well not at Roger Williams. There you get in deep trouble for challenging the accepted thought patterns. Interesting to think that the administrators of today who would in their college days riot, loot, storm and occupy buildings among other disruptive tactics all to challenge the system are now so quick to punish those who offer a much lower level of challenge to their own scared cows.

This is offensive enough to merit punishment while 40ft inflatable viginas are oki doki.Posted by Hello

Friday, May 06, 2005

Stay away from the quick sand

It’s like an empty crack house. There’s always someone willing to move in and start selling, but it’s never a good idea.

In an article written over at Slate comes speculation that an Iranian company is looking to buy the now defunct MG(hat tip:Centerleft) and get them rolling again. The article is for the most part crap. The writer goes off and has fun with the idea of an Iranian company saying a western company, with the idea of westerners buy an Iranian car, with the fact that the English don’t care where things are made and all just to make the joke “Axles of Evil”.

The article is as weak as the joke. For one it should have been condensed down to the setup, “Did you hear some Iranians are looking to buy the British car company MG?” followed by the punch line, “I guess they want to make Axles of Evil!” Instead the writer wanders around. Though what he’s doing I’m not at all sure. It’s not a total political piece but there are hints of it. Is it a long winded crack at the “Axis of Evil”? Perhaps, given Slate’s core readership, but the thing that really ruins this article for me is the writer’s astounding lack of knowledge of the automotive industry. It feels as if the idea of an Axis – Axles joke came up in an editorial meeting and they just assigned someone to it.

The article makes the core assumption that the Iranians will move in and turn MG into a strong company selling cars around the world. Ha! I wonder if the writer even owns a car. So I am to understand that BMW looked at what MG had and decided it was beyond their power to rescue, then fire selling the thing but now after MG has finally died some group of Iranian investors are going to do what BMW couldn’t? No, they won’t, and that’s not a slam on Iranian business folk but just a reality of the situation that MG is beyond help.

GM bought the Korean car manufacturer Daewoo a few years back. They cherry picked the modern factories and left the bank holding the debt. They are now using it as a foot hold into Asian markets. It wasn’t a rescue. The problems at MG run much deeper than at Daewoo and unlike some of Daewoo’s plants the MG plant at Longbridge is about as modern as a Model-T. The players aren’t interested in MG, and there’s a damn good reason.

So someone, with visions of Alfred P. Sloan in their head, might come along and try their hand at car making. They will fail. MG has one plant that would best be used as a museum, no R&D capability, outdated engines, outdated platforms, ugly cars, massive debt and pretty much zero presence outside of the UK. But some fool may be parted from his money and it’s not just the Iranians at risk, Autocar UK is reporting a group of Americans interested in MG. Just let the poor lady lie.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Down on the Animal Farm

This is an interesting article on people more interested in climbing the hill than they care if it’s safe to climb. The line that grabs my attention is this:

Just in case, Greely said, the committee recommended closely monitoring the mice's behavior and immediately killing any that display human-like
behavior.

Okay. See guys, it things like this that are going to get us in real trouble when the super mice get out of control and revolt. How can we expect them to trust us when we are on record as having recommended their deaths before they where even made. The only thing I can think is that when the revolt comes we move the bio-engineers to the front of the line, which should make the lawyers happy.

And here’s another choice one:

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office finally denied their application this year,ruling that the proposed invention was too human: Constitutional prohibitions against slavery prevents the patenting of people.

Newman and Rifkin were delighted, since they never intended to create the creature and instead wanted to use their application to protest what they see as science and commerce turning people into commodities.

Right. Never really planed to make one, eh? Sure.

A Complete Travesty

Here’s a disgusting story for you to think about. After 5 months of pregnancy 18 year old Erica decided she didn’t want to carry the twins to term anymore. She had heard that one could miscarry if someone stood on their stomach. With that information he begged her 18 year old boyfriend Jerry to help her. After days of pleading Jerry gave in and with Erica lying on the bathroom floor walked across her stomach. Several days later Erica miscarried. Sounds awful but that’s not the disgusting part.

The disgusting part is that Jerry is in jail facing 2 counts of capitol murder while Erica is free and clear. Why? Because a woman has the right to terminate her pregnancy, so she can do anything she likes with no consequences. While for Jerry helping her do what is her right is off to jail for the rest of his life. WTF?

Either A) Jerry should be charged with murder. If so then Erica should be charged with conspiracy to commit and accessory to murder. No ifs, ands or buts about it. If I ask someone to commit murder and then aid them in the commission of the murder I am guilty. If I’m guilty and Jerry did commit murder then it’s ridiculous that Erica gets off the hook.

Or B) Erica has the right to terminate her pregnancy. If so than the worst that Jerry can get is performing an abortion without a license or something along those lines which I’m sure doesn’t carry quite the same punishment as double murder.

It would seem to me that two people freely involved in the same act are both guilty and the only question is if the act is a crime. As long as Roe v. Wade stands I don’t see how in the hell Jerry is guilty of murder. Laws that implicate him but set her free can’t at all jibe with the Constitution. I hope all the Pro-Choicers out there help get the kid a damn good lawyer.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

What's next?

Sadly the vote to amend the law created by Columbus City Council that outlawed all smoking, to allow it in bars has gone down to defeat. Strangely it lost worse then the vote to throw out the entire law back in November. I guess the old fogies that vote on “off” elections don’t like smoky bars. Of course I’m not at all aware of which bars it is that the AARP+ crowd is attending but that matters not now. Fascist bastards.