Doug Mataconis tells the tale clearly.
The One, The Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, decided to stage a campaign event/PassThisBill shtick in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the bridge that carries I-75 over the Ohio River in the background. He addresses his friendly crowd of union types, declaring that the bridge needs repair, and calls upon Boehner and McConnell to PassThisBill!! so it can be repaired.
There's a problem--the bridge doesn't need repair, and an additional bridge to handle the unanticipated growth in traffic is already in the normal pipeline. Even if Congress does PassThisBill (they won't), it won't change a thing about the bridge in Cincy.
There is, however, a bridge in Louisville spanning the Ohio to New Albany Indiana, that is closed, because it needs repairs. It carries I-64 traffic, which connects to St. Louis and points west--pretty crucial item, with the national UPS hub located in Louisville.
Neither Obama or his staff can get their facts straight. He's down to pure BS now.
Hell, they can't even read a ******!!!!!????!!!! map!
November 2012 cannot come soon enough. OS begins to doubt if Himself will even be on the ballot.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Harvard Business Review Survey: Only 31% Of Execs In The US And Europe Plan New Hires Next Year
Hope 'n Change, ya'll, Hope 'n Change...
To get a better glimpse into where these decision makers stand at this perilous moment in history, we launched the Harvard Business Review Economic Survey earlier this month and contacted 1389 executives — the majority director level and above — from the U.S., UK/Europe, and Asia. We focused on three areas of questioning: Their confidence in the global economy this year and in the next decade, whether or not they were confident their companies would hit their revenue targets this year and next, and whether they anticipated increasing their hiring in the next fiscal year.
The news — particularly around hiring — is not good: Only 31% of respondents in the US and UK/Europe said they planned to increase their hiring efforts next fiscal year. The news out of Asia was slightly better, with 41% planning to increase hiring. This general trepidation most likely can be explained by respondents' fears of an impending second global economic recession: 70% believe another global economic recession is either somewhat or very likely in the coming months. Also telling is the respondents' estimates of their own companies' performance, with only mixed confidence in their near-term organizational performance.
It's not just folks like OS on small-town main street that says we're headed in the wrong direction at about 100 mph. The GreatAndGood at places like NBC, NYT, CNN, and the White House call us ig'nrant rednecks when we suggest things aren't going well and a change is needed. What names to they plan to call these 1389 respondents?
Actually, they won't call them any names at all. They'll simply ignore the fact that the survey was taken or published, even by HBR.
That'll make everything ok. No worries. Just keep on watching 'Dancing With The Stars'...we've got this all under control.
To get a better glimpse into where these decision makers stand at this perilous moment in history, we launched the Harvard Business Review Economic Survey earlier this month and contacted 1389 executives — the majority director level and above — from the U.S., UK/Europe, and Asia. We focused on three areas of questioning: Their confidence in the global economy this year and in the next decade, whether or not they were confident their companies would hit their revenue targets this year and next, and whether they anticipated increasing their hiring in the next fiscal year.
The news — particularly around hiring — is not good: Only 31% of respondents in the US and UK/Europe said they planned to increase their hiring efforts next fiscal year. The news out of Asia was slightly better, with 41% planning to increase hiring. This general trepidation most likely can be explained by respondents' fears of an impending second global economic recession: 70% believe another global economic recession is either somewhat or very likely in the coming months. Also telling is the respondents' estimates of their own companies' performance, with only mixed confidence in their near-term organizational performance.
It's not just folks like OS on small-town main street that says we're headed in the wrong direction at about 100 mph. The GreatAndGood at places like NBC, NYT, CNN, and the White House call us ig'nrant rednecks when we suggest things aren't going well and a change is needed. What names to they plan to call these 1389 respondents?
Actually, they won't call them any names at all. They'll simply ignore the fact that the survey was taken or published, even by HBR.
That'll make everything ok. No worries. Just keep on watching 'Dancing With The Stars'...we've got this all under control.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Language, Image, Film Technique, Message, And OS's Sense Of Disquiet: The New Rick Perry Ad
Here's the new ad:
It's really quite something, not the least for the amount of money and time necessarily burned to create it. This isn't Darryl-Bob living in his momma's basement with all his worldly goods tied up in his Mac gear. It takes a real studio that can edit and flow together all those images (from all those sources) and sounds (from all those sources), including a clever piece of scoring. It takes a real film-maker to put this together. There aren't that many good ones out there (lotsa wannabees, to be sure), and they don't come cheap. It takes a good deal of expensive time to create this, a lot of thought and planning. Video runs at 30 frames per-second, and can be edited within frames. Not one half-frame of this piece was not thought through carefully, and this probably is the twentieth rendition of the piece--the one released to the public.
It's obvious the famous LBJ campaign ad that so effectively hung the prospect of nuclear war around the neck of Goldwater was studied closely.
This piece intended to scare the living daylights out of the viewer, and OS must say, it does the job--in the second half, where the 'reveal' of Rick Perry as the solution to our national ills takes place. The words he speaks are lifted almost verbatim from Reagan; if you must crib from someone, the Gipper is a good place to visit. He speaks in a Texas accent, in a voice just a few tones deeper (bass-baritone vs. tenor) than George W. Bush, that same direct style and blunt use of short phrases of English. (That was chilling by itself, as we found out in early 2005 that Dubyah didn't really believe in most of what he was saying in 2004. It was really a downhill journey from there.)
In short, the whole thing is what we who work with copyrights call a 'derivative work', like Alan Sherman's comic lyrical treatments of classical tunes, or Wierd Al Yankovic's send-ups of pop tunes. It is work that draws its life by its references to other, earlier, creations. Nothing inherently immoral about it, happens all the time, but there is the moral hazard implicit that both creator and listener forget to remember the sources, and then we're off to the races in a fog of uncertainty. There are people of my generation who hear the famous 'Dance of the Hours' (by Ponchielli) and begin singing 'Hello, Muddah/ Hello, Fadduh/ Here I am in Camp Granada...', thinking Alan Sherman wrote the entire piece.
So, OS is left with the question after the ad: Is Rick Perry as incapable of original thought as the present occupant of the White House? Does he operate in images or language as he goes about his daily rounds? Can he clearly articulate in PlainEnglish what he thinks, and intends, and communicate that?
Or are we supposed to embrace Governor Perry as a Messianic hero coming to ride to our rescue?
Just like so many embraced the present occupant of the White House...remember 2008, anyone?
We need grownups who can do math, manage people, mentally operate and communicate in PlainEnglish, not images and emotion. Someone who can make rational decisions, and stand up to a world replete with mass murderers in charge of nations.
That's why this video scares the bejeezuz out of OS, and why Herman Cain continues to hold OS's interest.
It's really quite something, not the least for the amount of money and time necessarily burned to create it. This isn't Darryl-Bob living in his momma's basement with all his worldly goods tied up in his Mac gear. It takes a real studio that can edit and flow together all those images (from all those sources) and sounds (from all those sources), including a clever piece of scoring. It takes a real film-maker to put this together. There aren't that many good ones out there (lotsa wannabees, to be sure), and they don't come cheap. It takes a good deal of expensive time to create this, a lot of thought and planning. Video runs at 30 frames per-second, and can be edited within frames. Not one half-frame of this piece was not thought through carefully, and this probably is the twentieth rendition of the piece--the one released to the public.
It's obvious the famous LBJ campaign ad that so effectively hung the prospect of nuclear war around the neck of Goldwater was studied closely.
This piece intended to scare the living daylights out of the viewer, and OS must say, it does the job--in the second half, where the 'reveal' of Rick Perry as the solution to our national ills takes place. The words he speaks are lifted almost verbatim from Reagan; if you must crib from someone, the Gipper is a good place to visit. He speaks in a Texas accent, in a voice just a few tones deeper (bass-baritone vs. tenor) than George W. Bush, that same direct style and blunt use of short phrases of English. (That was chilling by itself, as we found out in early 2005 that Dubyah didn't really believe in most of what he was saying in 2004. It was really a downhill journey from there.)
In short, the whole thing is what we who work with copyrights call a 'derivative work', like Alan Sherman's comic lyrical treatments of classical tunes, or Wierd Al Yankovic's send-ups of pop tunes. It is work that draws its life by its references to other, earlier, creations. Nothing inherently immoral about it, happens all the time, but there is the moral hazard implicit that both creator and listener forget to remember the sources, and then we're off to the races in a fog of uncertainty. There are people of my generation who hear the famous 'Dance of the Hours' (by Ponchielli) and begin singing 'Hello, Muddah/ Hello, Fadduh/ Here I am in Camp Granada...', thinking Alan Sherman wrote the entire piece.
So, OS is left with the question after the ad: Is Rick Perry as incapable of original thought as the present occupant of the White House? Does he operate in images or language as he goes about his daily rounds? Can he clearly articulate in PlainEnglish what he thinks, and intends, and communicate that?
Or are we supposed to embrace Governor Perry as a Messianic hero coming to ride to our rescue?
Just like so many embraced the present occupant of the White House...remember 2008, anyone?
We need grownups who can do math, manage people, mentally operate and communicate in PlainEnglish, not images and emotion. Someone who can make rational decisions, and stand up to a world replete with mass murderers in charge of nations.
That's why this video scares the bejeezuz out of OS, and why Herman Cain continues to hold OS's interest.
Monday, September 19, 2011
A Drunken Sailor Protests His Shoddy Treatment
HT Doug Ross:
A brief letter to the editor in Wyoming earlier this year:
I object and take exception to everybody saying that Obama and Congress are spending money like a drunken sailor. As a former drunken sailor, I quit when I ran out of money.
Bruce L Hargraves,
USN Retired
A brief letter to the editor in Wyoming earlier this year:
I object and take exception to everybody saying that Obama and Congress are spending money like a drunken sailor. As a former drunken sailor, I quit when I ran out of money.
Bruce L Hargraves,
USN Retired
Friday, September 16, 2011
Number 438 (Daniel Hannan) Gives Voice To What The EU Refuses To Hear--'You're About To Find Out'
Need to create a football cheer here, ya'll:
Gimme a big 4! FOOOUR!
Gimme a big 3! THREEEEE!
Gimme a big 8! EEEEIIIIIGGGHHHHT!
Wha'duz'THAT spell?
TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH!
Go, Dan! Go, Dan! Go, Dan!
Gimme a big 4! FOOOUR!
Gimme a big 3! THREEEEE!
Gimme a big 8! EEEEIIIIIGGGHHHHT!
Wha'duz'THAT spell?
TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH!
Go, Dan! Go, Dan! Go, Dan!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Remembering The Brave Boys Of 15 September, 1940, Who Saved Western Civilization
OS posted a full essay a year ago in honor of the day, and he's gratified to see it still attracting a steady stream of readers.
We need people of that mettle and spirit now, because the danger is at least as great. In 1940, Hitler's bombers could be spotted, attacked, downed, and chased away.
Those who seek to destroy the culture now sit in our seats of power.
Heaven aid and protect us all, on both sides of the pond.
We need people of that mettle and spirit now, because the danger is at least as great. In 1940, Hitler's bombers could be spotted, attacked, downed, and chased away.
Those who seek to destroy the culture now sit in our seats of power.
Heaven aid and protect us all, on both sides of the pond.
Daniel Hannan: The EU As Homer Simpson
If we could just amend the Constitution to allow us to lease DanHan for eight years...
His analogy of Homer to the GreatAndGood of Europe is priceless. It applies to the GreatAndGood on this side of the pond as well.
Enjoy--only about a minute long.
His analogy of Homer to the GreatAndGood of Europe is priceless. It applies to the GreatAndGood on this side of the pond as well.
Enjoy--only about a minute long.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tin Cup McAvoy As Mythic Figure And Object Lesson
OS saw another re-run of Tin Cup last night. The movie holds up under repeated viewings, because it is so well-written, and is such a true parable about life itself.
It made OS review his post from Spring of 2010, discussing the misadventures of Roy McAvoy, who demands a 3-wood for an obvious 7-iron shot, and the chaos that follows. Funny, painful, painful, funny. The stuff that causes sleepless nights, and nightmares even when sleep descends.
So, here we are, in the Fall of 2011. No one pulled his 7-iron out of the bag, and chaos looms. OS gets the feeling that TheGreatAndGood are simultaneously working to keep a cheerful public face going, while paddling madly to both keep things from coming unwound and searching for ways to ensure the taxpayers of the world bear the costs of the debacle. It's getting tougher to do with each passing week. If the public listens to them at all, they assume the GreatAndGood are lying.
Because they are.
Think 7-iron, ya'll. 'Cuz the GreatAndGood are incapable of that behavior.
It made OS review his post from Spring of 2010, discussing the misadventures of Roy McAvoy, who demands a 3-wood for an obvious 7-iron shot, and the chaos that follows. Funny, painful, painful, funny. The stuff that causes sleepless nights, and nightmares even when sleep descends.
So, here we are, in the Fall of 2011. No one pulled his 7-iron out of the bag, and chaos looms. OS gets the feeling that TheGreatAndGood are simultaneously working to keep a cheerful public face going, while paddling madly to both keep things from coming unwound and searching for ways to ensure the taxpayers of the world bear the costs of the debacle. It's getting tougher to do with each passing week. If the public listens to them at all, they assume the GreatAndGood are lying.
Because they are.
Think 7-iron, ya'll. 'Cuz the GreatAndGood are incapable of that behavior.
You Know You're In Deep Trouble When....(Results of NY 09 By-Election)
when...the New York City district that gave us Geraldine Ferraro and Anthony TheWeiner votes 54-46 to elect a moderately conservative GOP candidate.
The district, artfully gerrymandered for perpetual Democrat control, includes portions of both Brooklyn and Queens. In Brooklyn , it wasn't even close, 67/33, although there were many fewer votes at stake there. In Queens, Bob Turner lost by 51/48, (1472 vote margin as of this morning), but to even come that close on what has been a Democrat planation since 1923 was historic. All those Queens voters helped put him over the top. They gotta be passing the antacids around the morning staff meetings in the White House, and in MizNancy and MissahHarry's offices over on Capitol Hill. That's a lot of New York votes gone in 2012, and the GOP and Conservative Parties of New York now smell blood in the water. Who knows, maybe they retire a bunch of the machine Democrats all at once next year.
Turner is a native of the district, has lived there his entire life, a successful businessman, who has created significant wealth and a lot of jobs in his years. Just the kind of guy Obama and company love to hate. He's no Tea Party person, no wild-eyed guy wearing a George Washington costume at a rally. He's a sober adult, unlike the previous occupant of that district's seat.
Congrats to Mr. Turner, and to the folks in NY 09. As OS repeats, we need sober grownups who can do math and speak plain English in the years ahead. It's not going to be easy, even with the grownups in charge.
A view from Tim Stanley, across the pond. You know you're deep in ka-ka when a normally small event like this pops up on the world's radar.
The district, artfully gerrymandered for perpetual Democrat control, includes portions of both Brooklyn and Queens. In Brooklyn , it wasn't even close, 67/33, although there were many fewer votes at stake there. In Queens, Bob Turner lost by 51/48, (1472 vote margin as of this morning), but to even come that close on what has been a Democrat planation since 1923 was historic. All those Queens voters helped put him over the top. They gotta be passing the antacids around the morning staff meetings in the White House, and in MizNancy and MissahHarry's offices over on Capitol Hill. That's a lot of New York votes gone in 2012, and the GOP and Conservative Parties of New York now smell blood in the water. Who knows, maybe they retire a bunch of the machine Democrats all at once next year.
Turner is a native of the district, has lived there his entire life, a successful businessman, who has created significant wealth and a lot of jobs in his years. Just the kind of guy Obama and company love to hate. He's no Tea Party person, no wild-eyed guy wearing a George Washington costume at a rally. He's a sober adult, unlike the previous occupant of that district's seat.
Congrats to Mr. Turner, and to the folks in NY 09. As OS repeats, we need sober grownups who can do math and speak plain English in the years ahead. It's not going to be easy, even with the grownups in charge.
A view from Tim Stanley, across the pond. You know you're deep in ka-ka when a normally small event like this pops up on the world's radar.
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