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June 20, 2005:
Roads in Michigan:
It's orange barrel season in Michigan. The construction barrels
are out all over the place. It is necessary because our roads
have decayed to third-world conditions. There are folks who want
to lay the blame for this on our governor's doorstep. Much as
I dislike that woman I cannot support that. Frankly speaking,
it ain't her fault! Michigan has had many years of good times
and surplus taxes when the roads could have been put into and
kept in top shape. Instead, We have pretty much ignored the roads
while the surpluses were squandered. Now, when we can least afford
to fix them, our roads are in desperate shape. If you want to
fix blame, start with Engler and go back several administrations.
You will find many culpable people, but Granholm is not among
them. She inherited the problem.
I suspect this road problem has also manifested in many other
states. In fact, it is not just a problem of roads, our entire
infrastructure is in disgraceful shape for a modern nation. The
finger of blame for this points backward in time through many
administrations. I assure you, it is not party specific. It is
blustering buffoon specific. The political hacks left and right
have diverted tax monies from public works to pork for generations.
Chronic Pain:
There is no good way to measure the effect, but I believe chronic
pain is the most debilitating force in our culture. A person
who is dealing with that is using way too much of his energy
just to hold it off. That makes him less effective in everything
else he does. The cost to industry is most likely in the billions
each year. I would like to see some research group look into
this problem and try to find effective methods for managing pain.
Of course, if someone did that, our government would try to throw
them in the slammer for abuse of drugs.
Europe:
Petty, petty, petty. I thought they would do it. After centuries
of squabbling and stupid wars, I thought they might finally create
a federal entity, an effective federation of states. It is not
to be. The European constitution is being voted down by small
minded petty little pumpkin farmers and protectionist neanderthals
everywhere on the continent. What a waste! Petty, petty, petty!
Reminds one of the states rights fools of early America. Unless
a strong man takes them all over, they will be a bunch of petty
squabbling poop-heads until the end of time.
The Army:
They are sill having recruiting problems. They are way behind
in their quotas. It seems nobody wants to go out and kill arabs
for George or Christ.
About Jurors:
Recently the Michael Jackson case was resolved in his favor.
The prosecution did not make its case. That's fine. I agree.
The problem is, now a bunch of jurors on that case are getting
ready to capitalize on their involvement. I think it is time
for a new federal law. Jurors should not be allowed to talk or
write about a case at any time, before, during, or after the
trial. The penalty should be contempt of court with a hefty fine
and or a prison sentence. Media people who approach jurors should
be fined and barred if they persist.
Lynching:
The Senate is refusing to pass an act of apology for the lynching
that took place in America years ago. Someone has called for
a role-call vote and that is being blocked also. I have addressed
this may times. There is no way one of those slippery scum-bags
should be able to vote without being identified. All votes should
be role-call votes.
Software Hucksters:
On June 14, 2005 at 4:50 PM, our electrical power went off again.
This is a common problem with Detroit Edison. It happens about
20 times a year, sometimes more. Yes! I have documented it. Interestingly
enough, there was a legitimate reason this time. We had a storm
with horizontal shear winds. We usually wait about half an hour
before calling the power company. There is no sense in sitting
there listing to a busy signal. I said we, but it is my wife
who calls, she of infinite patience.
This time, when she called she encountered a new problem.
Some software hucksters have sold Edison a program that pretends
it can understand English. It was painful to watch Mrs. Gaffer
deal with that new insanity, but she did, very patiently. After
a while, this software written by idiots, turned Mrs. Gaffer
over to a real person. Mr's Gaffer, as she usually does, had
a nice chat with the gentleman and got our problem explained
easily.
The gentleman gave her that standard Edison lie, which she
expected. She thanked him very much and hung up. The standard
lie is, "We estimate that the problem will be repaired in
five hours." For some reason, the idiot managers at Edison
think they must give a time estimate even when they have no field
data to go on. They think that will placate the customer victim.
Actually it does quite the opposite when it fails to come true,
as it always does. This time our power was restored in 11 and
1/2 hours. Thank Minerva we have a backup generator.
About this new breed of software being written by, sold by,
and bought by idiots. This is the second time we have encountered
it. I suspect it will become the norm in a short time. That kind
of insanity tends to catch hold and take off like wildfire. The
first time I encountered it, I worked out a way to deal with
it. The goal is to bypass it and get to a real person in a minimum
time. The method is quite simple. For every question it asks,
give a completely unrelated answer. For example, to the question,
"What is your address?" answer, "Green fish fly
upside down." I have found this method gets me to a real
person on the third iteration.
Fruits:
The fruits of the world and their allies, the gullible liberals,
are beginning to get dangerous. Now they want to call books by
and about fruits children's books and put them in schools and
libraries. It seems they want to promote living out an emotional
pathology as being a reasonable life style. What next? How about
a book promoting suicide by alcoholism as a viable life style
options. After all, drunks have rights, don't they?
Pentagon:
The buzzards, senior Pentagon officials, are expressing concern
that the mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo may be illegal.
They are worried about being held accountable. May I suggest
that concern is irrelevant. The point is, the activities at Guantanamo
are evil and unethical. Of course, Rummy claims the brutality
there has produced useful information, so, it is alright. My
Gord! What have we come to? Do you suppose, if we tortured children,
we could get useful information about their parents? What a way
to get drug pushers. Put the muscle on their kids. By extension,
wouldn't that be alright?-
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