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2006 Archives
August 14, 2006:
Overreaction:
We have developed a paranoid hyper-reactive culture in America.
The most recent example happened at Mott Community College in
Flint, Michigan. Some lab cleanup person spilled a small amount
of hydrochloric acid on a lab floor. This is a moderately dangerous
acid which is used in industry for various purposes. In this
case, the stuff could have been cleaned up and flushed with fresh
water to neutralize it. The acid is, after all, found in diluted
form in the human stomach. Instead of cleaning it up, this fool
called it a "spill" and called in the authorities.
What happened after that was predictable. There were fire
departments overrunning the school building. The building in
question was blocked off with yellow tape. Students were shut
out. There were fools running all around the place in those silly
white Mechelen Man suits and, of course, the media was out in
full force. You would have thought they had discovered a nuke
in a students locker for Gord's sake. And the dance of idiots
continues.
Rice:
She was on the Stephanopolous show again about Iraq and the Israel
debacle. I think Mrs. Gaffer is right. George likes to have her
on because she is so illogical and reveals the stupidity of the
Bush administration so well. As always, she never gave a direct
answer to any of the questions George put to her, but she babbled
on and on and on. Having Rice is better than having Rumsfeld,
because Rumsfeld is a smooth talker, skilled in being evasive
without appearing so. He is not near as easy to pin down. Rice
pins herself down. She is like a butterfly who shows up with
her own green felt and pins. She thinks she is skilled, but her
babbling is almost incoherent. Sigh!
Granholm of Michigan:
Now that it's election time, she is pushing for stiffer penalties
against drive-by shootings. Sure, that's a deterrent and good
even if for the wrong reasons. We would be better served, however,
if she would begin to look to the root causes of our problems.
As a scientist I believe everything has a cause. These crimes
have a cause. They are committed by ignorant young people. They
are ignorant for several reasons, including lazy stupid parents.
Another big reason is the ineptness of our educational system
in providing meaningful educational opportunities.
What these punks need more than anything else is positive
role models in their local community. What they get instead is
an inept local government and school board both of which are
top heavy with bureaucrats and fools. They get brain-dead policies
like zero tolerance and school buildings that are falling apart
even as more vice-principals are hired. The kids don't care because
the system does not care. Even a very committed teacher cannot
be effective in this kind of environment. So, the kids don't
go to school. Instead, they create competing mobs and go into
the streets. A gun makes all kids equally tall. Might makes right.
They learned that from George Bush.
Another Airline, Another Strike:
That sounds like it could be the first line of a pop song. Now
it's Northwest doing it. In Flint, Michigan that may mean no
flights to Chicago. So what? I have made this point before. I
can travel in my car from my home near Flint to Chicago in less
time than it would take to fly and I would not have to rent a
car when I got there. The flying time is only a few minutes,
but the inspection lines and delays at both ends make it a no
win situation. Not only can I get there faster, but it ends up
being less expensive if my wife goes along. We figure, even with
gas at $3.00 a gallon we could do it with less than $100.00 worth
of gasoline.
BP:
They shut down the Prudhoe Bay pipeline from Alaska. The pipe,
they say, needs maintenance. Huh? Turns out they have not checked
it in several years. They were sliding by on the cheap. So, guess
who get's screwed? Did I say five buck a gallon gas? It may come
even sooner than I thought. BP is being investigated by our government
and that is good. However, I think the government which ignored
the problem should also be investigated.
Bagdad Again:
In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary our government
is still pretending there is no civil war there. Again, they
are putting our kids right in the middle of it. These soldiers,
who have already served too long in that hellhole are being told
they cannot come home yet, even though they were promised they
could. Instead, they must go into the Bagdad shooting gallery
for four more months and act as targets for the madmen Muslims.
If they must go, I think Bush and Rumsfeld should be compelled
to go with them dressed as ordinary soldiers. It would be too
dangerous to give these two guys guns, but we can arm them with
ballpoint pens. Maybe they can veto the Muslims to death. It's
too bad, but Cheney cant go. He must stay here to make sure Haliburton
get's a lions share of the war profit.
Lieberman Lost the Primary:
He will run as an independent. He will lose. It's a shame, but
this Iraq thing has polarized everything. A total ass can run
as a single issue candidate against the Iraq debacle and win.
He need not have an Iraq policy, just a stand against the war.
The rabble won't know the difference. They will put him in power.
And the dance of idiots continues!
The Brits:
It seems they have spoiled a terrorist plot. There apparently
were a bunch of British born Pakistanis who were planning to
assemble bombs aboard several aircraft and blow them up in flight.
Oh yeah? How? It's good the Brits caught them, but these guys
sound pretty much uncoordinated to me. What would the other passengers
and flight attendants be doing while these guys were assembling
bombs?
The Same Ballot:
One interesting thing we notice time and again is how bureaucrats
defeat themselves. In Mid Michigan two ballot proposals went
down to defeat because of bureaucratic ineptness. One was a combined
proposal that called for a police staffing millage renewal along
with a huge increase for more cops. The renewal most likely would
have passed if it had been a separate proposal. They did the
same thing with a library millage renewal plus an increase, combining
them into a single proposal. Again, the renewal probably would
have passed. Double duh?
Another Puzzle:
Who were B. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann? What did they
do?
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2006 Archives
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