Monday, August 29, 2011

So the VMA's were last night . . .

Yeah, I know . . . I thought MTV didn't show music videos anymore. So how are they having a show to give awards to artist's videos? Shouldn't it be the YouTube Music Awards or something? 'Cause the only place you see music videos is on YouTube or the artist's own websites these days.


I mean, what's the point? Just to kiss Britney's ass again? She's actually the poster child for what's wrong in music these days -- can't sing, can't dance anymore, is such a disaster in her personal life that she has to have a legal guardian at age 28! I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of her holding an award. What was it for? Best video of a out-of-shape lip-syncer sitting in a chair waving her arms around while idiot fans plunk down hundreds of dollars to cheer at her pathetic performance?


Come to think of it, she probably should get an award for having the most gullible fans in music.


But seriously, I think the lead singer for Maroon 5, since they weren't nominated for anything, tweeted a virtual middle finger to MTV over the awards. His point was well taken, MTV is a joke. It's a reality TV network now, so why bother with the charade of giving out music video awards?


*sigh*


Maybe this is why they have the awards show, so manufactured celebrities like Kim Kardashian (who spends oh so much time complaining about the media fixation on her butt, yet always backs her way down the red carpet . . . for no apparent reason) can show up and be photographed:


kim kardashian booty vmas


Sunday, August 28, 2011

Rule 5 Sunday -- right to the fargin edge

jessica mitchell playboy


This week's Rule 5 posting is a selection of Playboy ladies almost giving away the farm, so to speak.


Playboy, as a men's magazine, is in a tough position. Since guys pay for each issue, the publishers feel obligated to give them their money's worth. Which means no wasting time with hinting or teasing imagery, they're going full monty right from the get go.


Problem is, it is usually sexier for a woman to suggest with her look, which is the great dilemma ladies face with their wardrobe -- how tight, how low cut, how short, etc. Of course, as guys, it's a win-win for us, but I do sympathize with the gal's struggles.


That said, what follows is the results of my pouring over thousands of Playboy images to find pictures that are sexy and racy without just slapping you in the face with nudity. It's a lot of heavy lifting, but for the two or three of you that come by regularly . . . it is the least I could do.


*click on the thumbnail for full-sized image*


chantel rae playboysusie owens playboybethanie badertscher playboy

marketa janska playboylyndsey ledbetter playboyjessica workman playboy

tiffany toth playboyrebecca lynn playboynancy patton playboy




Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Late night hotness . . .

'Cause she used to be hot . . . right?


mena suvari

I haven't been calling him "flip-flop" for nothing

I was calling Mitt Romney "flip-flop" back during the '07 Republican primary season when I was a blogger for Mike Huckabee. And it was for good reason -- Mitt's changed his position, or in the political lingo "modified," on pretty much every conservative platform issue from abortion to second amendment rights.


Now comes this doozy:


Back in June of this year, Mitt defiantly claimed “I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that.” Adding “It’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors.” Members of his campaign doubled down on those statements saying that Mitt would not back off that position.


Now with Rick Perry in the ascendancy, oh, how things have changed. Or, since we're speaking of 'ole flip-flop here, they've actually stayed the same.


Mittens got dressed down by Senator James Inhofe of Oaklahoma for his p.c. position on anthropogenic global warming. Presidential candidate Romney responded in his typical fashion at a town hall meeting in Lebanon, N.H.:


“Do I think the world’s getting hotter? Yeah, I don’t know that but I think that it is . . . I don’t know if it’s mostly caused by humans.”


Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he's changed positions here. And this is an example of blatant political cover, much like how Mitt is now couching his promotion of RomneyCare as a 10th amendment thing, hoping to hitch a ride on the current cause de jour amongst conservatives and libertarians.


This is why I'm perplexed by Mitt's coveted position among pundits and commentators on the right. I think I'd rather have a cowboy like Perry running than someone whose position is going to change with every poll or gust of political wind.


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

If this doesn't break your heart . . .

. . . then you don't have one:




Petty Officer Jon T. Tumilson was one of the Navy SEALs that was killed on Aug 6 by a rpg fired at his helicopter. Tumilson was laid to rest Friday in Rockford, Iowa. The service was attended by an estimated 1500 mourners, including Tumilson's dog, Hawkeye.


In what is one of the most heartbreaking images I've seen in a long time, Hawkeye lays at the foot of his master's casket for the entirety of the funeral service.


How many times we've see the amazing bond between an animal and it's owner. We've all got anecdotes about dogs or cats that sense our most subtle feelings or exhibit a genuine sense of loss when we're gone.


It's that reach beyond flesh and bone, beyond simple organic existence that gives me belief in the divine.


My sincerest sympathies to the family of Petty Officer Tumilson for their loss and thank you Jon, for your service to your country and fellow SEALs.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Rule 5 Sunday -- Drew Barrymore



This week's Rule 5 submission is Drew Barrymore.


As someone who's been in the industry practically since she was born, it seems like Drew's been around forever. I think her first film appearance was in E.T., but I have never seen that movie and refuse to watch it, so my first rememberence of her is in Firestarter.


Born into the legendary Barrymore acting family, she's certainly had her share of ups and downs. I remember reading that she was an alcoholic before she was even a teenager and I think did a stint in rehab at an age when most kids were in high school.


But she's rebounded well, continuing her acting career and creating her own production company that's been pretty successful with animated stuff, popular things like Charlie's Angels and cult classics like Donny Darko.


I cringe at her taste in men -- the Mac Guy?! But all in all, I applaud her fearless career choices and the fact she doesn't spend all her time walking back every mis-step.


So enjoy this selection of Drew's lisp-y goodness. Some nsfw in there so be careful :-)


*click on the thumbnail for full-sized images*








Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.


Saturday, August 20, 2011

Movie review -- 2:13



I caught this movie on pay-per-view the other day. I see it was made in 2009 and as a rule I don't pay for flicks that are over a year old, but I don't recall the listing on cable saying '09. But what actually hooked me was the trailer, which was pretty good.


It stars Mark Thompson as a police profiler who has been out on medical leave and returns to the job to be thrown immediately on a serial killer case. Thompson is also the writer, which is usually a red flag for me because it means the movie is probably a vanity project for someone who doesn't deserve a vanity project.


It is telling that even though I only saw the movie last week, I cannot remember a single character's name. And I'm not going to waste my time Imdb'ing the movie to find out.


Anyway, the reason Thompson's character is out on medical has to do with an on the job situation that left a co-worker in danger. His struggles with that have him undergoing a psyche-eval with noted head shrinker Kevin Pollack. Their interactions are fairly amusing -- witty banter, that makes me wonder if Thompson is a comic for his day job.


Thompson isn't actually a bad actor, he pushes what range he has, and is fairly handsome in a scruff-tastic kind of way. His affect with cigarette smoking makes me wonder if he actually smokes. But whatever.


The movie moves along fairly well, though it doesn't make you cling to your seat. A lot of boilerplate dialogue and some of the police/crime scene stuff that rankles me on a regular basis: why is the detective using a disposable Kodak box camera to take pictures at the scene? Why does the detective have to tell the techy to take samples of this or that? Why does the detective have to tell the tech to "clean up" an image on a monitor?


Just one time, I want to see the tech answer, "No, I can't clean it up! Don't you think I would have if I could! Dumbass!!"


There's lots of flashbacks from Thompson's character's childhood and the killer's, interwoven to make it difficult to tell whose you're watching. Pollack's shrink works hard to break through Thompson's cop's wall to find out what happened that caused his suspension and is still giving him problems. A far-fetched hypnosis technique is used that plays a part in the film's resolution. It is one of the two only ludicrous reaches in the movie.


The other being the killer himself. There's a shocking incongruity with the killer and Thompson's cop, that pretty much ruined it for me. Along with a bittersweet touch to an improbable ending that I'm not sure was necessary, but I'm sure that writer Thompson felt it was good for actor Thompson's character. Me the viewer, ehh, not so much.


And for the record, there is a reason for the movie's title and it is explained in the conclusion. I get the feeling that Thompson got to the end of his script and thought, "Oh sh*t, how do I close this thing out?!" It just has a forced feel to me.


There's a lot of recognizable faces in the flick besides Pollack. Jere Burns, Dwight Yoakum, and Teri Polo. Also the guy who plays the police chief, I don't know his name, but he's done a ton of stuff. Like I said, not going to Imdb this, so . . .


All in all, it's not a bad movie, I wouldn't recommend paying extra for it. I'm sure it will be on regular cable channels soon. It won't make my list of default movie choices, but I won't turn it off if there's nothing else on.


And just to make this more palatable, here's some pics from Teri Polo's Playboy shoot 6 years ago. Sanitized for your protection, of course:


Friday, August 19, 2011

Day of Rage . . . what could go wrong?



So it looks like a bunch of uninformed idiots are planning to set up a tent city in the middle of Wall Street on Sept 17 as a protest against capitalism.


The thing is being organized by former members of SEIU and a few nuts from ACORN (pun intended). It's a pity these assholes didn't put this much effort into their school work or maybe they'd have some idea how things get done in this country. Where do they think the money comes from to start up the businesses that build their houses? Or their cars? Or creates the clothing they are wearing or the food they eat?


Do these fools think people just happen to save up a quarter of a million dollars to start up a business? How long would it take you to save up that kind of money? Can any of these assclowns just go into a car dealership and plunk down the cash to buy a car? Even a used one? Where do they think financing comes from?


How stupid can you be?!


And I'm loving the imagery on the placard. Yeah, that doesn't smack of Communism at all. All the red, and the hammer and sickle, and the gold stars . . . yeah nothing Communist there at all.


And the exquisite stupidity of calling their protest a Day of Rage. Now I'm sure no one's gonna take that wrong! None of those socialist peace mongers that beat down black conservatives and trashed the National Mall at Jon Stewart's faux-rally. Yeah, there's never any evidence of SEIU thugs beating conservatives or pushing reporters around. No, calling it a "Day of Rage" won't incite any of these brain dead lemmings to be in an antagonistic frame of mind.


But me and my fellow fiscal conservatives who meet and rally peacefully and don't defile the areas where we assemble -- according to the President and his chief of Homeland Security, we are the terrorists! The President says that members of Congress who have tried to stave off our financial armageddon want the country to fail! The Vice-President refers to us as terrorists!


But when these idiots descend on Wall Street in a month and it devolves into anarchy, as it surely will, the mainstream media and the socialist Democrats, including the President, will end up excusing their behaviour and find a way to blame it on fiscal conservatives.


Real terrorism will get a pass, but pride in your country and hope for it's future will get you a scarlet letter T from this administration and it's water carriers in the media.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

The circular firing squad blazes away

Well, Rick Perry's been in the race what, a week now? And I don't think I've come across one conservative political blog that isn't savaging every aspect of this guy. The Gardasil thing is an example of his nanny-state leanings, or his crony capitalism, or inflated sense of self importance, blah, blah, blah.

He's too direct and confrontational, he's not a man-scaped metrosexual, he's this, he's that.


Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann is a diva, or she's unqualified or gaffe prone or House members don't get into the White House, or her husband is a closetted homosexual hypocrite, etc.


And down the line they go. Every single candidate is destroyed by innuendo, suspicion -- Dan Riehl is suggesting Perry is planting questioners in his audience to tee things up for him (without a shred of evidence, btw), and the ever popular lefty tactic of assuming what a candidate is thinking or means to say without having any facts to back them up.


Annointed front runner Mitt Romney is gently locked away in a velvet vault, protected from every legitimate question about his horrible record. Any who presume to question his lofty status as standard bearer for the conservative cause is bludgeoned with the "Romney's the front runner" stick until they slink away duly cowed.


Michelle Malkin solemnly intones that we're thoroughly vetting our candidate for this election. No honey, you're destroying the field, chasing away good people who not only would be able to win this election, but would be good leaders for this country. In their zeal to promote a picture perfect, blemish free candidate to be the nominee, these self appointed guardians of conservatism have forgotten the cautionary tale of Scott Brown.


Supported by the Tea Party, Republican Brown won Ted Kennedy's old seat in the Senate. The shock and awe set in when conservatives found they had put into office a shrieking liberal who just happened to have an R for his party affiliation. Kind of like Bloomberg in New York, he's no conservative, he just needed a party to run under. Same with Brown.


And now all these conservative geniuses who are protecting Mitt "I couldn't beat John McCain or Mike Huckabee in the primaries" Romney, are looking right past his abysmal record as a conservative while they destroy every other candidate running because they're not "ideal conservatives." RomneyCare is hemmoraging billions in Massachusetts, he's flip-flopped on every single conservative issue, he's a devout AGW enthusiast, and on and on. But don't you dare question his record dammit, he's the front runner!


Sadly, when this self immolation is done, the only two candidates left standing on the right will be Mittens and crazy Ron Paul. And all these self-righteous bloggers and political pundits that did the Democrat's bidding by destroying legitimate candidates will post "told ya so" epitaths after Obama wins re-election, and sit pining for their dream candidate to ride over the hill on his/her gleaming white stallion. While the country spins into a financial abyss.


And it could have been avoided with a little something I like to call teamwork.

Underworld: Awakening movie trailer

Here's the first trailer for next year's re-boot/continuation of the Kate Beckinsale in tight leather francise:








Selene's been in stasis for 12 years and wakes to find the world has changed -- humans are now hunting vampires and werewolves. Lot's of cool stunts, Kate looks hot, there's a new director for this go around, so it's kind of a new take on things, hence the re-boot comment.


Of course, it'll be in 3-D, 'cause what isn't anymore? So expect lots of gimmicky stuff flying at you. But I'm hoping for another cool chapter in this series. I wasn't as disappointed as some purists with the first sequel. And my only real complaint with the pre-quel was that they didn't put the smokin' Rhona Mitra into some outfits that were a little sexier.


So we'll see.


Update:

By the way, here's a pic of Kate in costume on set of the movie. In recent interviews she was stressing about pouring herself back into the leather and corset thingy figuring five years removed from the character might have padded her figure a bit. Yeah, no worries there:


kate beckinsale hotness

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Late night hotness . . .

Yeah, I hate it when my jeans do that too . . .


ella

Here's what to do with Jared Cano

This is a picture of Jared Cano sobbing like a b*tch at his arraignment today in Federal Court here in Tampa:




In case you haven't heard of this case, little Jared here got expelled from a Tampa high school and decided to get even. He planned to blow up the school and kill a bunch of his fellow students to sate his righteous indignation.


According to local law enforcement, a manifesto (yeah, everybody's got one now) posted online states that he was specifically targetting two teachers and hoped to rack up more casualties than the Columbine massacre.


Little sack of sh*t wanted to kill dozens of children because he got expelled, and he's crying like a baby because he got caught and is going to jail?!


Swinging off the end of some 400lb hairy killer's penis in the Federal Penitentiary for the next twenty years isn't enough punishment for this little douchebag! I say ship the little f*cker off to Iraq, give him a pair of heavy shoes, and make him run in front of convoys to check for IED's!


Worst part of all this is that some bleeding heart liberal is going to blame everyone else except this little psycho for what he was planning to do and he'll end up living off our taxes in a rest home stacking blocks and coloring pictures until some idiot psychiatrist decides to rubber stamp his return to society.


I hope someone's waiting for him when he gets out.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Taylor Swift channels Marilyn Monroe . . . again?

So at the Teen Choice Awards just recently, ridiculously innocent Taylor Swift did the classic Seven Year Itch pose on the red carpet:




And everyone's going on about how cute and adorable and so on. 'Cause it's Taylor Swift for pete's sake. Then the other night she's in concert, and:




Uh huh. Twice now? I'll admit I don't follow country music much nor would I recognize a song by Taylor on the radio if I heard it. So maybe this is a prop for a song or something? I mean, the exquisite fortune of wearing flesh colored granny panties and then having your skirt blow up and act all nonchalant about it? I'm guessing deliberate here.


So is virginal cutie Taylor trying to catch up to "the other Taylor"? 'Cause she's gonna have to up her game substantially for that. Although, Taylor Momsen showed up at Lolapalooza and performed practically in a suit and tie compared to her usual outfits:




Frankly, I've got no idea what's going on in the world. I know I pounded a bottle of Absinthe last night for my birthday, so maybe I'm still hallucinating, or I woke up in BizarroWorld or something. Things just seem so topsy-turvy now.


I've got a headache . . .

Do you know who's in charge of OPEC?

Right now it is Rostam Ghasemi, who is the head of Iran's petroleum and energy departments.


As you're probably aware, the price of crude oil is one factor, a pretty big one, in the price we pay at the pump. And though the Saudis are generally friendly to us, obviously, the Iranians are not. And with support of Venezuala on the OPEC board, I would expect Ghasemi to do everything in his power to push the price of crude oil higher.


Currently crude is trading around $86 per barrel. The Saudis prefer crude to trade in the $90 - $100 range. But Iran needs crude to go for around $150 per barrel to begin to profit from their sales through the cartel.


If you're paying $4 per gallon now, a 67% increase in the price of crude would jump your gas to almost $7 per gallon. Remember how it was when gas hit $6 per gallon a while back? And don't for a minute think that is not exactly the type of calamity Iran and Venezuala want again in this country.


Struggling with crushing debt and unemployment, then coupled with a huge spike in fuel prices, it could put this country in a tailspin of unimagined consequence. And do not forget, crude oil prices effect more than just gasoline. Petroleum products are in every aspect of our lives, from plastics to Preparation H -- it is the magic of the substance, the myriad of uses that haters often forget about in their preachy, faux ecological whinings.


We have oil reserves under the ocean all around this country, not to mention in remote areas of Alaska. We have oil shale and coal sands between us and Canada that when coal-to-liquid technology is applied, would supply us with synthetic crude in quantities that dwarf what Saudi Arabia has in extracted crude, and at a fraction of the price.


And we have an administration in this country, so feckless and intent on socialist re-imagining of our society, that they handcuff and demonize the very industries that could get us out of this very dangerous situation. And those industries provide jobs, thousands of tax-paying jobs.


Remember that as this election winds up.

Monday, August 15, 2011

So, it's my birthday . . .

. . . and not a lot going on.


The Red Sox lost last night as poor Wake is stuck on 199 wins. If ever anyone deserved 200 wins in baseball, it's Wakefield. Sooner or later the guys have to pull one out for him.


The Bucs won a meaningless pre-season game. Local sportwriters are already making their reservations for the Super Bowl. These dudes pick the funniest times to staple the rose colored glasses to their faces.


I see where a L.A. Times writer ranked baseball team city fans and Tampa/St. Pete came in last. heh Guy mentions how the team was giving away tickets during the World Series playoffs trying to fill the stands. He's right. Locals simply do not support this team. Btw, best fans -- Boston. double heh


California has a law waiting to be voted in that will make it illegal for hotels not to use fitted sheets on their beds. Yeah. Flat sheets will be illegal. Seriously. State's in a hole, financially, about as deep as the entire country, and this is what they're concerned about? No wonder they voted Governor Moonbeam back into office.


Rick Perry has already shown more political chops that the supposed front-runner Mitt "flip-flop" Romney, as Perry has skillfully fallen on his sword for legislation he tried to pass in Texas re the HPV innoculation. Perry wanted to make the vaccination manditory with an opt-out, but was smacked down by the legislature. He says now he should have made the program an opt-in, pointing out that he got too far in front of everyone on the subject of teen cancer. The few blemishes Perry has in eleven years as governor, if he handles his responses as deftly on the rest of them as he has here, he'll blow past Mittens in short order.





And since I know that no one wants to see a picture of me on my birthday, here's someone else who shares the day -- Natasha Henstridge:


Saturday, August 13, 2011

Rule 5 Sunday -- Leighton Meester



This Sunday's Rule 5 beauty is Leighton Meester.


Now I don't watch Gossip Girl, though with the likes of Leighton, Blake Lively, and until recently, Taylor Momsen, I'm sure it was a leggy eyeful of television programming.


I find Leighton cute and sexy in that girl-next-door kind of way, but as seen in these Esquire Magazine pics, she does a really good job of getting her smolder on.


Plus she's apparently pretty hardcore as I read recently that she's suing her own mother for taking the money Leighton was sending home to help with her disabled brother and blowing it on cosmetic surgery and other frivolous expenses.


Hot, sexy, kicks ass, looks after her little brother . . . what's not to like?


*click on the thumbnail for full-sized images*








Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.


With Rick Perry in . . .

. . . let me go on record now, saying I don't think Sarah Palin will get into the race.


It's my understanding that she likes and respects Perry and I think she'll campaign for him, as opposed to Michele Bachmann, only because Sarah is of the mind that governors make better presidents. Which I happen to agree with. As does history, for what that's worth.


Should Perry tab Bachmann as his running mate if he becomes the eventual nominee? There's a real deja vu aspect to a ticket like that, though Perry would be a much stronger candidate than McCain was. The relentless personal attacks on Bachmann have grown thin, and I don't think with the economy in the toilet, that voters are going to accept a nasty, personal attack campaign by the President when both Perry and Bachmann have pretty solid legislative credentials to throw back at detractors.


But leaks from the President's campaign staffers have confirmed what political pundits on both sides of the aisle have said -- that is exactly the type of campaign the Dems are planning to run. Bachmann is an easy target, but even groups like NOW are getting tired of the sexist stereotypes and bashing of women in politics. So to continue to go after her might be counterproductive.


But geographically, the combo makes sense -- Perry from the south and Bachmann from the north. That's basic politics 101. And a woman VP? It would be a good ground breaker and as opposed to Obama in the last presidential election, Bachmann actually has some legislative and executive experience. This time, voting to break a stereotype might not be a bad thing.


And if Palin throws her considerable political might behind them, you'll have a pretty potent force running for president: Perry's charismatic and a good campaigner and Bachmann won't have any problem in the traditional VP role -- that of attack dog. And again, unlike last election, the presidential candidate's staff won't be sabotaging the VP candidate or holding her back to dull her shine. That would make a huge difference in the campaign.


Or not. What do I know?


Well, for the record, I accurately predicted McCain's selection of Palin as his running mate long before any of the professional pundits. So I've got that going for me.


Which is nice :-)


Update:

For what it's worth, Michele Bachmann won the Iowa Straw Poll today. And in my humble opinion, it means nothing. The poll is a cutesy gimmick where candidates bus in supporters, stuff them full of free food and hope they'll vote for them. That's why nutcase Ron Paul always does well there, then flames out in the general voting -- he's got a fervent but tiny fan base. They stuff inconsequential ballot boxes, hack online polls and such, but when it's one person - one vote, they come up woefully short.

Kudos to Michele, but the race doesn't start until the votes count for real.


Update 2:

T-Paw dropped out Sunday morning. Personally, I think this is a bit too early to throw in the towel. As mentioned above, you have to discount Ron Paul's finish as an outlier, so realistically Pawlenty finished 2nd in the poll. But I suppose appearance is everything and folks are saying after working hard for a year to win the poll, to not win or garner more votes, would make it hard for him to continue fund raising. Pity, he's a nice guy, but let's face it -- nice guys rarely finish first. I can can testify to that first hand.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Incompetent postal management wants to administer my health care, what could go wrong?

Unless you've never turned on an evening news show, you probably know that the U.S. Postal Service is struggling with crushing losses. If you're a conservative, then what you probably don't know is that the P.O. is tasked with pre-funding its disability retirement pay 75 years into the future to the tune of $5.5 billion per year.


According to the Federal Government, the P.O. has lost $20 billion over the last four years and has needed federal assistance to make payroll and cover operating costs. But let me get math-y for a moment. Put that $5.5b back into our pockets each year for the last four years and suddenly we have a $2 billion profit.


oopsy


There go all those complaints from conservative bloggers about the inefficient Post Office down the drain. And had the P.O. been turning a profit, it would have put itself in a position to borrow money to cover additional streamlining efforts and equipment upgrades to make itself even more profitable.


But the Postmaster General is now suggesting that they move all employees and retirees out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan and administer one on their own, along with abrogating our contracts, and laying off 20% of the work-force. As few managers as possible, of course.


Anthony J. Vegliante, USPS chief human resources officer and executive vice president said recently "FEHB may exceed what the private sector does in certain areas . . . It may not meet what the private sector does in other areas. So cost may be above the private sector, while value may be below the private sector . . ." So in other words, Tony doesn't have any idea if this is the way to go, he just wants us to jump into it.


This is classic P.O. management, they operate on knee-jerk reactions to everything. Nothing is thoughtfully considered, they just jump from one ill-conceived plan to the next. If there's a plan at all. Usually it's see a problem ==> swing at a fix. Don't think about it, don't solicit opinions from knowledgable employees, just close your eyes and jump.


Of course there's a reason for this. There is not one single manager in the U.S. Postal Service that is in management because he/she was promoted from craft based on merit. Not one. Every single supervisor, postmaster, district manager, etc., is in management because he/she was unable or unwilling to do craft work. Let that sink in for a minute. Every one of our bosses simply filled out the form that said they wanted to be a boss, and became a boss. And they stay in management by being petty tyrants or relentless ass-kissers. So we're not getting our best and brightest matriculating to the top levels of management.


And these are the folks that want to administer my health care? This is only a bisquit better than ObamaCare. And it's a tiny bisquit.


These are the same incompetent clowns that threw away the parcel business because they couldn't see the profit in it and are now struggling to regain that income. These are the same clowns that watched the digital age come and folded their arms across their chests arrogantly and said no one could do without us. Now first class mail volume is down 20% and still dropping. They mouth business cliches about "thinking outside the box" in our work processes, but instead simply make the same box smaller and get a bigger hammer to pound workers into that box.


I was a supervisor for six years in the manufacturing industry before coming to the Post Office. I would never arbitrarily dismiss the input of an experienced 30 year employee if it would save money and improve efficiency simply because it ran contrary to prevaling dogma. But at the P.O., that's s.o.p. We've got our little fiefdoms and entrenched misconceptions and antagonistic relationships, and no one in management is going to do anything to improve that.


And with the current fiscal crisis, management has leverage to do what they want. There's a House Resolution, H.R. 1351, that would allow the P.O. to use the massive overfunding of our pension funds to pre-fund this disability pension. It has the support of 181 bi-partisan members of the House. But the C.B.O. scores any change in the pre-funding of the disability pension as in increase in the deficit, even though technically no additional funds are being taken out of the system. So all the Postmaster General has to do is go "Look, this is going to add to the deficit if we don't do what I want." And everyone will boo and hiss and let him have his way. Even if its a load of b.s.


I'm sure this is going to end badly. I'm part of the fiscal conservative uprising that's screaming about trimming waste and fraud in government. And while this is an apples an oranges situation, I think I'm setting myself up to be colateral damage in the budget wars.


Man it sucks to have principles sometimes.

Kristen Stewart in W Magazine

One word -- WOW


kristen stewart retro look in w magazine


I'm a sucker for the retro style as a rule anyway, but this is a really good look for Kristen.


Plus she's not doing the emo-lip-biting thing, which is nice too. So it's all good.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

My thoughts on the Republican debate

Okay, first off . . . I'm an idiot because I forgot it was on tonight! duhrr


But beside that, I was actually most impressed with Rick Santorum. Don't really know much about the guy, but he came off well. I liked his positions on most things, though his zero sum approach on abortion troubles me. He had a fabulous sequence on the 10th amendment. I don't think he has a snowball's chance in hades of getting the nomination, but he made the most impression on me.


Ron Paul is still a major nut bag. I cannot fathom how this lunatic keeps getting elected out of Texas. I thought they were smarter out there. I know he's intelligent, I know he has a great command of constitutional knowledge and I like some of his positions vis a vis libertarianism. But his world view is severely cracked and he looks like he's a broken hip away from the nursing home.


Newt Gingrich is still the great seducer. He's intelligent, has a history teacher's knowledge of this country and its political workings, but everyone forgets his tenure as Speaker of the House. He's the definition of a Washington insider -- go along to get along. I don't care how much he is claiming to be all about getting away from business as usual, if he was President, he'd be just as poll driven and maleable as Bill Clinton was.


Michele Bachmann held her own amidst some heavy fire, showing she can take the heat. But she didn't move my needle any.


T-Paw seems like a nice guy, but I just don't get the presidential vibe from him.


Mitt is still Mitt. He says all the right things, he looks so darn presidential, but I don't trust him to still be saying the same things tomorrow. I liked that he explained his reasoning behind RomneyCare, but I still disagree with the program.


Herman Cain is a lot of fun, and I'm sure he's a good businessman, but President . . . nah, not happening. The press ate Sarah Palin up for supposedly being uninformed and Herman admitted he wasn't up to speed on a lot of things. That admission would bury him in a general election.


Huntsman didn't do a lot for me. I don't think he's the right guy for this time in history. The compassionate conservative thing isn't going to sell now.


As to the program itself -- Newt and the others grumbled about gotcha questions, but if they were using their heads, they would have realized the reason the questions were being asked is because the liberal media was going to be asking them of the eventual nominee. They were being given a chance to get out in front now with their answers. Pity no one was savvy enough to pick up on that.


Except me, of course. But I'm with it like that.


The after show, spin room thingy with Hannity wasn't bad. He gave the candidates that showed up a nice chance to talk. I'm totally unimpressed with Frank Luntz. His gimmicky dial focus groups has made him a big draw on FOX for their political shows, but I don't think he has any real insight into anything out of the obvious.


But he really needs to go on a diet, though. He was a stout guy when he broke in on television, but it looks like he's spending his days at an all you can eat buffet taking full advantage of his new found wealth. He's getting that bloated, pasty, jiggly fatness you see in the morbidly obese. Maybe it's a glandular thing, but either way I hope he gets a handle on this for his health's sake.


That should about cover it.


Let's see, did I forget anything? Oh yeah, Hilary Duff in a bikini:


hilary duff bikini hotness


sheesh


How could I forget something like that?


Update:

And enjoy that pic of Hilary btw, because news came out she's pregnant now, so it'll be a couple of years, if ever again, she's rockin' a bikini like that.

*sigh*