Government-run health care decisions

When Reagan told us Government was the problem not the solution he was dead on. This is the Democrat Health Care plan under consideration. I wish this was a joke.
source

So far, this proposal is expected to cost you, the taxpayer, over $1,000,000,000. When did a Government program ever come in on-budget?

This is what happens when you let the Government run your life. This must be stopped.

Why it is good to be me volume 37

It started to rain a while ago. Just as I realize it is really starting to rain hard, I remember today is Wednesday. Wednesday is trash day and I did not put out the cans last night. Now I am wet.

sigh.

All about nothing

We had a healthy supper last night. I made a salad and grilled up chicken to put on top. I even used a low fat raspberry vinaigrette for the dressing. Later the wife and I both were hungry. I know, there is no use eating a light dinner if you are going to snack later. Tough Tetons as the French might say. I rolled out some pie dough (from scratch) and covered it heavily in sugar and cinnamon. I cut it into squares with a pizza cutter and then put it into the oven. The crust was light and flaky, the sugar slightly caramelized and the house smelled wonderful. It is good to be me.

I took the car to WalMart to get an oil change yesterday. They were pretty backed up so I had ample time to walk around. For kicks I stood on some scales in the bed and bath department. I nearly cried. I have lost over fifty pounds. I guess I will have to change the name of this piece o'crap to Not Quite as Fat in Indiana!

One thing is for sure, baking up a batch of pie dough at 11:30 pm is not the way to keep off those pounds.

I watched the All-Star game...sort of...last night. I turned it off when the Pres was on. I thought for a moment Joe Buck was going to kiss Obama's ass right there on the screen. I could not bear to see that, so I switched channels. Later, I switched back and forth between the game and Chopped -- one of the best shows on the Food Network. It was way cool to see Stan The Man Musial trotted rolled out before the game. I thought he was dead!

I am glad Obama is restoring our reputation around the world

Has any President ever been treated this way? The Obama garners no respect around the world. In the Ruskies defense, I would act that way as well. I am a petty individual and really despise anyone with freedom destroying policies, but that is just me.

h/t C&S
also found at Johnny Ps

Edit: I guess The Obama should be getting used to it by now:



Maybe world leaders will not shake a Democrat's hand -- they know the Dems screw up everything they touch. Maybe they believe all Democrat presidents are in the mold of Clinton -- No one knew where his hands had been. Perhaps The Obama has been spied leaving the executive lavatory without washing? Could it be the snubbers are afraid some rat bastard commie will rub off on them?

How not to service your customers.

Severe weather rolled through the area Saturday afternoon and evening. Nothing major -- high winds and lots of rain. I am not completely sure how bad it got, we were not at home. Anyway, the cable and Internet were out. I called Comcast and they confirmed there were general outages in my area. These things happen. They asked if I wanted to be called when the service was restored. I told them yes.

An hour or so later I noticed the modem flashing and checked the TV and sure enough all was working in TV land. The wife and boy each jumped on the Internet and I settled in to watch...something. I really cannot recall. I thought no more of it.

Sunday morning dawned and I was up early. I watched a couple of old movies and ignored the Internet and this blog, and your blog completely. Around 10 o'clock, the phone rang. It was Comcast calling to tell me the cable was now fixed. It took them 14 hours to call me. I don't really care that it took so long, but that is a classic definition of shitty customer service.

I did manage to watch 18 innings of baseball yesterday.

Cubs win.

F-ing Cubs.

Good Morning

Igor is the man.

click here

Weekend Funny

The first testicular guard (cup) was used in baseball in 1874 and the first batting helmet was used in 1934.

It took 60 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.

Friday Covers

Here is an interesting cover -- Led Zep doing the Buffalo Sprinfield classic hippy tune For What it's Worth. Listen to the whole thing there are two very differnt takes. One is pretty close to a straight cover, the other is pure Zep.

I will gladly take suggestions for next week's Friday Cover, which will be a regular feature until it isn't.

It Friiiidaaaaay

Happy Friday to you. I need to mow the yard this afternoon before it rains. They are predicting a washout all weekend.

I have been unusually productive this morning. Emails and such have flowed from my fingertips like water over the rocks at Niagara. I marked up changes to a contract, did a little forecasting, called a few customers and started a new feature on the old blog.

Stay tuned.

In other news:

The Government finally admits that Democrat policies caused the current economic recession.

read this

primary source

I bet this is going to get a lot of coverage on the evening news.

The legacy of Michael Jackson

My last post enticed me to take an honest look at the Michael Jackson legacy. According to the Billboard charts* Jackson clearly cannot be labeled as the greatest entertainer of all time.

For instance Jackson does not make the top five in the following categories:

Most Top Ten Albums
Most Number One Albums (not even in top 10)
Most Weeks on the Charts (not even in top 10)

Here are some of Jackson's better rankings:

Most cumulative weeks at number one (tied for fourth)
Most weeks at number one (album) (second)
Most weeks in top ten (album) (tied for fifth)

* source

If we look at raw sales as opposed to the charts we find the following:
According to RIAA certifications**:

The top selling artists:
BEATLES, THE
BROOKS, GARTH
PRESLEY, ELVIS
LED ZEPPELIN
EAGLES
JOEL, BILLY
PINK FLOYD
STREISAND, BARBRA
AC/DC
JOHN, ELTON
(Jackson is 17th)

**source

Further, if we look at the number of Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum records, Jackson does not even make the top 60! Consider Elvis had a staggering 151 recordings reach these pincles of success (a recording is only counted once -- it does not get counted as both gold and platinum)***.

*** source

The bottom line is his Thriller album was a monster hit (second best selling record of all time). Based on that criteria, The Eagles are the Greatest entertainers ever. A great deal of Jackson's fame came from the weirdness and bizarre behavior that surrounded his life. In fairness, I am not sure he even deserves the moniker King of Pop.

Thoisday

Good morning bloggedy world. I woke up around 5:00 am this morning. I put up a valiant effort but I could not get back to sleep. I am now in what you might describe as a bad mood. I have coffee dripping, maybe that will help. It is payday. Too bad the check is already spent. I bet you have months like that -- too many days, too little check.

Did I mention I am getting a new boss? He is supposed to start next week. He has already left me a voice mail. He wants me to call him to discuss several things. He sounds like a real go-getter. I do not need that right now. I have dealt with the micromanagers in the past and I have neither the desire nor patience to go through that again. I really hope we are not going down that road. I have to say I am somewhat uneasy about a guy who wants reports and such a week before he officially joins the payroll.

I am hungry this morning. That is because I ate something shortly before I went to bed. It always works that way with me. I had a bowl of snap crackle and pop around 10:00. Now my belly growls for more food. I usually skip breakfast, but I may have to have some toast or something later. It all started when I when down to the hotel breakfast bar yesterday morning. They had biscuits and gravy and I could not resist. Now my eating cycle is all messed up.

I am not sure if you have seen it on the news, but Michael Jackson has died. I cannot believe it is not getting more coverage. Last night at supper the wife, boy and I got into a discussion. The wife claimed that Jackson was the greatest entertainer ever, hands down. I said hold on, you have to put Elvis and Sinatra into that discussion. Since she loathes Sinatra, and does not think much of Elvis, she poo-pooed that in her dismissive fashion. I pointed out that if we are talking entertainment, that Sinatra dominated every medium -- stage, TV, film. He won an Oscar fer cripes sake. Elvis made what -- 50 movies? Several did very well at the box office. I did have to reluctantly admit that Elvis just played Elvis in most movies. The King's comeback special remains one of the highest rated TV specials of all time. Jackson sold a lot of records and took the art of the video to new levels, but success in movies and TV eluded him. That is unless you take into the account the ratings for his child molestation trials.

I tried to point out that each was the dominant performer of their era, and the styles are different, but she was having none of it. I guess since Sinatra did not dance, and Elvis was not a child performer, that was the end of the discussion. Just between you and I, we know who was the greatest entertainer in modern times, don't we?

edit. I think Nathan may be right. I am not even sure if Jackson was the dominant performer of his era -- the MTV/music video era. One could argue that Madonna and Mariah Carey have had a longer and more productive careers. Somehow in the media frenzy we have forgotten Jackson last had a hit ...when?

living with me part two

The wife was wondering why it is taking so long to get Michael Jackson into the ground. I told her that with all that plastic in his body they were waiting to get the hazardous materials burial permits...