Friday Night Music

... with Tom Waits from Nighthawks At The Diner - Sausage and Eggs

I just took a chef's job. Whaddya want?



"My veal cutlet was so tough it got up, walked across the table and beat the shit out of my cuppa coffee."
"Coffee wasn't strong enough to defend itself."

The 50 Foot Woman Stands Tall

What fitting irony that on National Womens' Day Daryl Hannah releases a bombshell of a movie/documentary.

From their Blog:  This very American film, “Greedy Lying Bastards”, documents the power of big U.S. energy giants fighting global warming theorists through a heavily funded web of AstroTurf grass root “community organizations” such as Citizens United, Heartland America and Americans for Prosperity. They are AstroTurf because there is no real grass involved and are heavily funded by the energy giant Koch brothers and Exxon Corporation. The strategy of big energy is global warming denial through hired guns without much scientific backing. Interesting, if not compelling, analogies are made to the denialists and big tobacco who denied for years that cigarettes were harmful to health. In retrospect and with the scientific evidence available at the time of big tobacco’s denials big tobacco looks very much like greedy lying bastards. This film attempts to put big energy on the same level as big tobacco both of which deny irrefutable truths.

Couldn't have said it better myself. 

Check out the trailer here: 





This looks to be very well done ala Michael Moore. Only she's taller.

Movie listings and theaters are on the website - Greedy Lying Bastards

That they are.

How About A Little Nation-Building Right Here?

U.S. Wasted Billions Rebuilding Iraq

From Think Progress: 

As the 10th anniversary of President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq approaches, the body charged with overseeing Iraq’s reconstruction has issued its final report, capping a tale of spending far too much money for very little results.

Appointed in Oct. 2004, over a year into War in Iraq, the Special Inspector-General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) was charged with being a watchdog over the use of funds provided for rebuilding the Iraqi state after the downfall of Saddam Hussein. Those reconstruction and stabilization efforts wound up costing nearly $60 billion — or about $15 million per day — with up to $10 billion of that amount wasted, according to SIGIR Stuart Bowen.

snip...

Geeze, I know a good country where all that money should go. 

More: 

...Bowen gives seven ways to better perform rebuilding operations in the future:

1. Create an integrated civilian-military office to plan, execute, and be accountable for contingency rebuilding activities during stabilization and reconstruction operations.

2. Begin rebuilding only after establishing sufficient security, and focus first on small programs and projects.

3. Ensure full host-country engagement in program and project selection, securing commitments to share costs (possibly through loans) and agreements to sustain completed projects after their transfer.

4. Establish uniform contracting, personnel, and information management systems that all SRO participants use.

5. Require robust oversight of SRO activities from the operation’s inception.

6. Preserve and refine programs developed in Iraq, like the Commander’s Emergency Response Program and the Provincial Reconstruction Team program, that produced successes when used judiciously.

7. Plan in advance, plan comprehensively and in an integrated fashion, and have backup plans ready to go.

Many of those suggestions belie the cavalier attitude struck by Republicans at the beginning of the war in 2003, despite a near complete lack of planning by the Bush administration to provide for rebuilding Iraq. “Each day it gets better,” then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in May 2003 of the reconstruction efforts. Rumsfeld also insisted that “the bulk of the funds for Iraq’s reconstruction will come from Iraqis” in October of that year. $60 billion later, Iraq has proved to be nowhere near the “cakewalk” predicted by George W. Bush adviser Kenneth Adelman predicted in 2002.

More republican lies to bilk the American people and concentrate wealth to those wonderful "job creators". How about taking that money and creating a few jobs over here building schools and infrastructure, huh? Oh I forgot... that would be SOCIALISM. 

What about Cheney's company, Halliburton - major no-bid contractor in Iraq, whose stocks have risen over 3000% from 2003 to 2012 from which Cheney still received "deferred" compensation while funneling billions of taxpayer dollars to his old company. Conflict of interest much? 

From: Project Censored - Media Democracy in Action

An analysis released by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) reveals that as Halliburton’s fortunes rise, so do the Vice President’s. Halliburton has already taken more than $10 billion from the Bush-Cheney administration for work in Iraq.  Get the details here

And as usual I won't be happy until I see them all do the Perp Walk - Thanks Jim Hinde.

That's Enough of That

Hello Friends,  I finally got off my ass (Suck it Boener) and am back in mid-season form.

There are many important issues to be addressed like the "Sequester". Wha? They canceled Sea Quest? Heard that this morning on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. But seriously - the sequester is bad news.

Here is how it will affect regulars folks. From Think Progress:

The 32 Dumbest And Most Devastating Sequester Cuts

Health care

$20 million cut from the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Programs
$10 million cut from the World Trade Center Health Program Fund
$168 million cut from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
$75 million cut from the Aging and Disability Services Programs

Housing

$199 million cut from public housing
$96 million cut from Homeless Assistance Grants
$17 million cut from Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS
$19 million cut from Housing for the Elderly
$175 million cut from Low Income Home Energy Assistance

Disaster and Emergency

$928 million cut from FEMA’s disaster relief money
$6 million cut from Emergency Food and Shelter
$70 million cut from the Agricultural Disaster Relief Fund at USDA
$61 million cut from the Hazardous Substance Superfund at EPA
$125 million cut from the Wildland Fire Management
$53 million cut from Salaries and Expenses at the Food Safety and Inspection Service

Etcetera Etcetera ad nauseum. This is only the first three. Notice that none of the politicians who voted for this crap will lose a cent in pay while thousands of Federal workers face unpaid furloughs and the cuts wound the least among us the most. See the rest here: 32 Dumb and Devastating Cuts
_________________________________________________________________________________

Merry Merry!

I AM SANTA CLAUS.

Escape from the Soul-Sucking Cubicle of Death

I did it. It's my own fault. Went back to the corporate world under pressure of financial needs and my peers who have been advocating me to apply for and accept this job for years, a lay-up due to my skill set but with risks.

 I lasted 6 weeks. Great job, great company, above average pay, good benefit package - or as good as it gets these days, good co-workers, friends I've known for years.

I couldn't wear one of these every day. I couldn't get up at 5:30 AM mon-fri, my meds don't even kick in until about 10:00. I clean up pretty well and do corporate like the best of them but at my station in life right now, this is not right for me or as they would say - "this is not a good fit for me right now". They were happy with my work, I was good little do-bee with a resume a mile long with certifications up the wazoo. Knew my shit unlike 90% of the workforce in the office.

I woke up with a gorilla sitting on my chest one morning that just would not get off. Thought I was having a heart attack... nope, just anxiety. Did you know a panic attic resembles a heart attack? I couldn't move. I knew it was over.

I'll fire up my little independent business fixing PCs and small networks. It'll be OK. I am taking the week to heal. But will be back on Monday.

Anyone got a PC on the fritz? I know you do because everyone has one and they're all broken or just been fixed. I am a MCSE and all kindsa other alphabet soup with (holy shit) almost 25 years in this business.

Is this really the future of the now?

Arm Everyone!

 What the heck, arm the teachers, arm the kids - those husky 12 year olds can handle any attacker as long as they are sufficiently armed.

Arm the Poor! They are one of the most persecuted populations in this country. Defense for all! Can't say that they may not turn those guns on the people who stole their pensions, retirement, houses, and eventually eat the rich. Heaven knows that there needs to be equilibrium. It is a LAW of physics denied by the majority of Christians and Republicans. The parties of  "Most people are less than", and then have jump through the financial needle to be acceptable. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." We'll meet them in hell or where ever the sinful go.... probably to New Jersey.

ALL people are acceptable. Some need a little help. Give them guns. Send them into the pharmacy and see what happens when the prescription for life saving drugs is denied by some insurance company. According to Wayne LaPierre all citizens have a right to own a gun and defend their lives. The Medical Industrial Complex will lose some of those battles....  <BANG> ok, give me my cancer drugs fucker or I'll blow the other kneecap off.

Shoot 'em out at Rite Aid.

This is a ridiculous argument. The proliferation of guns are a cancer on our society. They kill a lot of people without reason. Money and political influence seems to be the driving force, not what is good for the country and it's people.

The fact that this kid could kill 27 people is just not right.

Will the Real Mitt Romney Please Stand up?

Next:

Hmmmmmm.... just thiniking sideways on a Friday night..

A Win at What Cost?

Thank the FSM that sanity prevailed Tuesday and PBO was re-elected as were many progressive candidates. Now - we can push for an agenda that favors the middle class and not just the privileged and the rich job destroyers that ship jobs overseas for profit without conscience. Capitalism without conscience is Fascism in sheep's clothing.

Now, what is it going to cost us? That is the question...

Here we go again... a doofus who no-one thought would win against an intellectual superior who actually knows how to run our country. Don't forget to vote. Remember what happened last time. I had a discussion with a romney supporter and they are intractable. We need to vote. Dont' let another Florida or right wing supreme court give our country away to the oligarchs.

More here:

First: the etch-a-sketch candidate

Next: The Stench

Then: 27 Myths in 38 Minutes

When Manufacturing Died in New England

I remember it well. In the mid-nineties I was teaching computer skills at a mid-sized training center with three schools and a strong alliance with the Vocational Rehabilitation bureau. At one school I had 30 seats mostly filled with Voc Rehab clients whose jobs had been off shored, most of them laid off from the local shoe factory where they had made upwards of $15 to $20 an hour doing piecework with a minimal base wage. Most of these folks had worked in the mill all their lives - like their parents before them, made a decent living wage and lived the middle class life promised by the American Dream. Then came NAFTA and Ross Perot's giant sucking sound of medium skill, high paying manufacturing jobs being off shored en-mass by people like Fucking Mitt Romney. After my class they would be competing for minimum wage, entry level jobs with some paying a little more for those lucky enough to have some technical skills. Broke My Heart.

Plants like this one in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts that employed thousands of workers and support staff are now empty.

 

 Plants like this one in Hongqingting Shoe Factory, Wenzhou China are now packed and very busy.

What happened here? The Oligarchs made a decision that the middle class was not as important as accumulating more wealth than they or their heirs would ever be able to spend. So they spent millions of dollars lobbying for NAFTA and the ability of owners to establish factories overseas for a fraction of the cost, none of the environmental penalties, tax breaks, and near-slave wages. Once that had been achieved and they had exponentially increased their revenue, power became the cocaine of choice for the ultra-rich and the accumulation of power to buy the American political process was the next "I have more than you" cocktail party line and to prove it they bought the American political process, lobbied to pass even more destructive legislation (for the middle class) and moved all manufacturing jobs overseas that they possibly could. The least money paid and the most profit earned became the bragging rights of the ultras. The American people were turned into chattel - expendable like just another piece of machinery, thrown into the wall of financial fire like Pickett's Charge without consciousness or morality. Only money and power are important to the Oligarchs. Even the known fascist Henry Ford wanted his employees to make enough money to be able to buy the products they made. No More.They no longer care about the American worker. They have moved their sights to overseas, expanding markets whose workers take raw materials usually exported from "developed" countries like the U.S. then they actually "build things" that add value then sell them back to people who have the money to buy their products - i.e. the local people who are making money working in manufacturing or the rich Oligarchs in the US. American buying power has stagnated since the 70's, the ordinary American no longer has a chance to earn a living wage without a college degree, (and even that is no guarantee) and our economy shows no signs of recovering. We no longer have the economic muscle to exert any power over foreign markets and curtail currency manipulation so the emerging markets are having their way with us. But you already know all this.

For the one millionth time - we need to make things here at home with our own raw materials, add value, pay workers, tariff the shit out of anything imported and bring back manufacturing so the many, many people in this country without a college degree can make a living wage.

OK Doc - I'm done... BP still within acceptable range.

Atlanta - September 11th, 2001

That's where I was when the shit hit the fan. Thousands of miles from home, working a booth at a trade show. I was with a customer demonstrating how my software would help him manage his network when a couple of the folks who were working the booth with me starting gasping and staring at their computer screens. That's how it started. As the events of the day progressed, the convention center was shut down around 2:00 and we were told to go back to the hotel to await further instructions. My fellow engineer, Rich, and I had had no lunch and were ready to find something to eat. As we left the hotel the first thing we noticed was that the city looked like a ghost town, no cars, no people and most of the stores and restaurants closed down. We finally found a mid-sized pizza house that was still open and were seated in a booth. It was about half full of patrons. Our waiter, visibly shaken and high on something more than booze and weed, came to the table to take our order. The busboy brought some water and we waited patiently for our lunch, understanding that this was a difficult time for everyone and top level service was not expected. About 45 minutes later, we had still not seen our lunches and I snagged the waiter as he floated by. I asked him how much longer it would be before our lunch would be ready. He paused for a minute, checked his backlog of orders and apologetically told us he had forgotten to place our order. Without malice, I stood and asked him where his order entry station was and had him walk me to it. Then I had him show me how to put our orders into the system. After that I had him walk me to the kitchen where I checked with the chef to make sure our order had arrived. It had. Ten minutes later, the owner of the restaurant came to our table with our pizzas, (delicious brick oven) and beverages. He apologized profusely and told us it was on the house. We told him that we understood that this was a difficult time for everybody but he would have none of it and we ate for free that day.

After lunch, as we exited the restaurant which was located on Peach Street - the main street in Atlanta - I was struck by the surrealistic silence in what should have been a noisy, busy city. Still no cars and few pedestrians. We walked back to our hotel without speaking, each lost in our own thoughts about what had just happened in New York and speculating on what was going to happen next.