Stupid Is As Stupid Does

I watched coverage of the protest against health care reform in DC yesterday, and was struck by two things:

1) I was impressed that a reported 10,000 people felt strongly enough to travel long distances to express their views as citizens on such an important topic. That is truly democracy at its best.

2) But, I was deeply saddened to see how uneducated so many of the protesters were on the subject when interviewed. One women in particular, when asked why she had travelled from Texas to be there, responded (not a direct quote but close):

"I'm 67 and my husband is 66. We want reform but we don't think the government should be involved with health care."

She's almost certainly on Medicare, government run since 1965.

Cheers

Wake UP!!

My sister, who drums in two Scottish bands, sent me this. This is the #1 drum band in the world.

Fast forward to about 5 1/2 minutes if you want to see truly amazing drumming:

And here they are at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Check out what happens at about 6 minutes in.

Cheers

The GOP And Their Women

A pattern developing?

First, it was Sarah Palin. Saving us from the Russians, able to shoot and gut a moose etc. etc. She's governor of a state with less people than a few boroughs in NYC, with an economy supported almost entirely by oil. But it's a tough job and she quits halfway through, then proceeds to write her autobiography -- in less than 3 months. It might be shorter than the previously shortest book ever written -- Great Italian War Heroes.

Now, Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, has announced she will run for a US Senate seat currently held by Barbara Boxer. According to her bio, she started law school but quit after a semester to get her MBA. After a successful career at AT&T, she joins HP, and in just 5 years under her leadership, sheds over 10,000 jobs and causes the stock price to drop by half. The board fires her and she walks away with a $20 million severance package. In 2008, she becomes one of John McCain's top economic advisors until she was fired from that job as well after stating that Sarah wasn't qualified to run a corporation. She too has written a book titled "Tough Choices" which describes her views on things like what constitutes a leader. One business publication named her "One of the 20 worst American CEO's of all time". So she has that going for her.

Do you have to be really bad at your career to be a GOP candidate for national office? Are all the smart, qualified women too busy?

Cheers

Election Reflection

First up -- I didn't vote so a big loser is what I am.

But, the two states that held closely watched governor's races yesterday were places I once lived so I am somewhat qualified to comment.

Lets start with New Jersey. There used to be signs greeting you as you entered that read something like "Welcome to New Jersey -- We Love Safe Drivers". And the response from drivers from Pennsylvania used to be -- "cause they don't have any of their own". The Garden State has always been the ugly stepchild of both New York and Pennsylvania and generally doesn't give a rats ass. They do what they want to do and while they have the same problems most other states do, to call this a referendum on national politics is pretty much bullshit.

Now, onto Virginia. Virginia is a southern state and as such, it's Democrats are, well, not exactly liberal. The Democratic Party in the south created the Ku Klux Klan and were vehemently opposed to integration and the civil rights movement. There is far more difference between the personalities of individual candidates than the party platforms. The state is really two states -- Northern Virginia including the suburbs of Washington, DC and the rest of the state. I've lived and worked in both, and they are as different as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Many of the independents who supported Obama last year stayed home. This election is about local issues -- the economy, crime, jobs. As much as the Republicans want to make this a national referendum on all things bad with Obama, I think they're just whistling Dixie.

What they should be worried about is their loss in the 23rd Congressional district in NY. Here we had a moderate Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava who, because of her mainstream views, was denigrated by her own party as being too liberal. So, in come the GOP's right wing knee breakers like Palin, Armey and Limbaugh who throw their support behind a more conservative Republican candidate. Scozzafava quits the race last week, throws her support to the Democratic candidate who ultimately wins -- in a district with a long Republican history. Could it be that the far right hate mongers in the GOP really don't have the clout they think they do? Is this the real take away from this election?

Don't get me wrong. I'm disappointed with the lack of progress this administration and Congress has made to date. They inherited a mess for sure. But we still don't have universal healthcare with a strong public option, and we may be adding our name to a long list of countries that have gotten their asses handed to them in Afghanistan.

Is it possible that Obama, like Jimmy Carter before him, is just too dam smart a President for the country today? Do the American people really want smart, effective leaders or are we going to continue to settle for mediocrity? Hedley was, at least, honest about what he was looking for.

Cheers

They've thought of everything.

A Full On Spa Treatment

I had a massage once and it was quite enjoyable. But I hate spending money on that kind of stuff so I'm always looking for a deal. And today, I got the full treatment -- mud facial, dermabrasion, salt scrub and cold immersion therapy -- all entirely free, courtesy of Mother Nature.

Here in the Northland, we've just come out of a wet, cold and disgusting October, and the past few days have been sunny and warm. Given HC is closed Monday's, I jumped on the Pugsley and headed out to spend a few hours riding the many trails to be found in the Minnesota River Valley.

It was a beautiful day to be out. I happily rolled along and stopped to talk with a local who reported seeing a pack of 3 wolves the week before. He seemed like an intelligent, coherent kind of guy, and when he said one stopped on the trail less than 50 feet in front of him, I took him at his word.

The trail passes under a number of bridges, including the one for I - 494, the southern loop of the Twin Cities beltway. I wonder how many of the thousands of commuters who cross it everyday, realize they are missing this:

I apparently never got the memo but I'll be back.

Now, the first of my spa treatments begin. I'm rolling along enjoying the view when my 3.75" front tire drops into a rather large mud hole. This hole was cleverly hidden by leaves and as I went through it, my right foot, being at the bottom of the pedal stroke, became immersed in black goo. The water went over my boot and soaked my right foot. Not to be outdone, the hole is long enough to soak my left foot as well. And after I emerge, the front tire, not wanting to carry said goo any further, completes the front half of my mud pack, covering me from head to waist.

I'm still smiling so I keep riding for awhile, just enjoying the glorious weather.

Did I mention that we have had a lot of wind lately? This tree was down across the trail and you can see where a few riders, more skillful than I, have ridden over the obstacle. Had I had a marker, I would have taken the opportunity to leave HC's phone number since we are probably the closest shop to the trail. Those marks are chain ring teeth meeting wood.

As I head home westbound across the Mendota Bridge, I move to the next phase of spa treatments. The wind, according to the weather geeks, is blowing a steady 20+ mph with gusts to 43. My feet, still awash in water and goo, start to freeze almost instantly. Not quite cement galoshes, but close.

And, my face, now exposed to the full force of the wind, is scoured clean by sand, grit and last year's road salt, leaving my complexion dewy and supple -- almost beef jerky like.

Some more waterproof boots is probably in order. But it was a great ride and I received hundreds of dollars worth of body treatments -- for absolutely nothing!

Now, I wonder if I can ride thru that hole backwards.

Cheers

Pugsley Adventures

I didn't venture far but had a thoroughly enjoyable ride in the woods. If the jet noise wasn't present, you'd never imagine that, less than 100 yards from where this was shot, is a major airport.

Cheers

Marketing -- Now I Get It; And More

Makes sense.

Hard to argue with this!

All shamelessly copied from here.

Cheers

Priorities, Folks

It's all over the news this morning that changes to health care reform bills will now cost $1 trillion dollars over the next decade. Not surprisingly, Republicans are expressing outrage over the cost increase.

Based on this site, we will have spent in excess of $2 trillion dollars over 9 years for these wars -- a daily cost of close to $6.7 billion dollars. The human cost is estimated to be almost 100,000 dead, and hundred's of thousands wounded. And, of course, this cost will only escalate if more troops are sent to Afghanistan. Where's the outrage over this?

If health care reform does indeed cost $1 trillion over 10 years, so what? That comes to an estimated daily cost of $274 million dollars, and is an investment in us -- in our health -- in our prosperity. I know having healthy citizens isn't as sexy as kicking ass in the name of freedom, but our priorities are pretty f*#@&ed up at this point.

Cheers