I originally intended for there to be a blogging hiatus lasting through final exams so I could be prepared. This is a notice that the hiatus will extend through the holiday season.
I’m looking to return around the week of January 5th.
These people voted in favor of extending $700 billion to bail out the banking industry, which doesn’t actually make anything. But when the time comes to help one of the last industries in the country that actually makes something with roughly just 1/47 of that total, they vote against it in their drive to eliminate the UAW, and in the process, turn a recession into a depression by dramatically increasing the unemployed.
Here they are.
Bob Bennett, R-UT
Richard Burr, R-NC
Saxby Chambliss, R-GA
Tom Coburn, R-OK
Norm Coleman, R-MN
Bob Corker, R-TN
John Ensign, R-NV
Chuck Grassley, R-IA
Judd Gregg, R-NH
Orrin Hatch, R-UT
Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX
Johnny Isakson, R-GA
John Kyl, R-AZ
Mel Martinez, R-FL
John McCain, R-AZ
Mitch McConnell, R-KY
Lisa Murkowski, R-AK
John Thune, R-SD
Max Baucus (D-MT) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) also turned their back on American labor, but they’re not pictured.
We’ve been hearing so much about how labor costs are the reasons that the American car companies are in trouble, and that they should be brought in line with that of foreign manufacturers. So when Republicans get the chance to mandate the wages (so much for the free market..), you’d think they’d jump at the chance, right?
Well, not so much.
The automakers would [] have been required to cut wages and benefits to match the average hourly wage and benefits of Nissan, Toyota and Honda employees based in the United States, and the companies would have to impose equivalent work rules.
It was over this proposal that the talks ultimately deadlocked with Republicans demanding that the automakers meet that goal by a certain date in 2009 and Democrats and the union urging that the deadline wait until 2011 when the U.A.W. contract expires.
Got that? That had their chance, and they reneged. Labor costs is just a facade. They want to just plain kill off the union. End of story.
Absolutely hilarious.
The most popular Republican we tested is Condi Rice, whose fav/unfav 47%-18%. But among Republicans only, the most popular is Palin — with a whopping 73%-13% rating. But Palin’s overall score is a net negative, 35%-45%, which means she fares poorly among Democrats and independents.
Dear Republicans: PLEASE, PLEASE nominate her in 2012!!
By now everybody’s heard about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s arrest and indictment, so I’ll spare the news story.
But that leaves me thinking, what is wrong with the people of Illinois that they can’t choose an honest chief executive? Four of their last five have been indicted for criminal conduct, and the one that wasn’t was head of a firm that served as the legal defense for one of the other four.
Chicago machine references aside, Illinois politics appear to be in a state that could rival Louisiana, Ohio and Alaska for the title of “Most Corrupt.”
Evidently this is becoming quite the viral email.
After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.
“Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work—including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule—our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking.”
Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated “The US only had two major victories— Japan and Germany . The computer models, unlike humans, aren’t influenced by head-to-head contests—they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event.”
German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said “Yes, we lost to the US ; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks.” Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn ‘style points’ to enhance Germany ’s rankings. Hitler protested “Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces.”
The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented ” France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2.”
Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.
Very funny, and sadly true for the most part, but I’m wondering how Germany defeated Sweden when Sweden was neutral.
It looks like there’ll be a number of undefeated and one-loss teams to choose from for the BCS title game.
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Texas
- Florida
- USC
- Utah
- Texas Tech
- Penn State
- Boise State
- Ball State
Now, take out Utah, Boise State and Ball State, who didn’t actually play anybody. Then look at the remaining teams and compare them to who they lost to.
- Alabama (#4 Florida)
- Oklahoma (#4 Texas)
- Texas (#5 Texas Tech)
- Florida (unranked Ole Miss)
- USC (unranked Oregon State)
- Texas Tech (#5 Oklahoma)
- Penn State (unranked Iowa)
Now, take out the teams who lost to unranked teams. This leaves Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. By virtue of quality wins, this puts Alabama and Oklahoma in the title game. Yes, Florida won their conference by actually beating Alabama, but Florida’s loss was much worse than Alabama’s.
With this method, the actual title game should be Alabama vs. Oklahoma. I don’t really think it’ll happen, as the BCS system puts way too much emphasis on when you lose as opposed to if you lose or who you lose to. But if the system was just, this would likely be the scenario.
Evidently Bill Ayers published an Op-Ed in the New York Times today defending himself from the wacky distortions of the crazed right-wing.
Nobody cared about Ayers as an issue during the primary. They didn’t care during the general, and they still don’t care now. End of story.
As far as Gov. Sarah Palin is concerned, TrooperGate is behind her and she won’t provide a transcript of testimony she gave in an investigation into whether she violated ethics laws in firing her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan.
Palin has maintained she did nothing wrong and that Monegan was dismissed for reasons unrelated to her concerns about her ex-brother-in-law, Trooper Michael Wooten. She had called Wooten a “trooper time-bomb” and complained to Monegan in an e-mail that Wooten had tasered his stepson, drank in his patrol car, and shot a moose without a permit and yet was still on the street.
Who would’ve guessed that the person whose only accomplishment is being less corrupt than the average Alaska Republican would renege on her promise to be transparent and honest with the people?
If all your stocks are in this one company, you’re probably asking “what recession?”
Both funny and depressing.