Toyota, bailout

Toyota's CEO has finally made his statement as predicted. His name is Toyoda (duh). Maybe the goverment of Buttwipistan should give the company a bailout? - Too big to fail as a carrier of car bombs? yada yada yada.

ballet, swan lake, child trafficing, Ms America

A little off the subject of the news but this video is worth posting - I imagine it is going viral. Takes a while to load - go get a cup of tea and let it load all the way. ENJOY!

http://www.sonnyradio.com/swanlake_0001.swf

News is about the same today. Politicos nattering about nothin'. Well meaning baptist folks getting busted in Haiti - taking kids, etc. Trafficing in children is really against the law in almost anywhere. Guess a Taliban leader got nailed in Pakistan. Stay tuned for lots of reprisals. Life goes on. Seems that the U.S. is selling guns and copters to Taiwan. Red China is pissed and in a snit. Ms Virginia (am I being politically correct?) got crowned Miss America.

Toyota

Toyota is really putting on the full press ad campaign. (As expected). I think that it is a wonderful way to get attention. Remember the old adage no press is bad, it's all good. As an analogy, think of the movie stars, sports stars, etc. that have had their mug shots released after being arrested. Did that hurt their careers not likely. They "did the right thing, yada yada yada. I'm just waiting for the president of the company to come out with his fireside chat 30 second sound bite.

State of the Union, Obama, Hillary

Rah Rah, yeah team, we'll get 'em next season, yada yada yada. If you haven't already guessed - that was about the sum of Obama's State of the Union address. I think it will be mitigated by his statement a few days ago that he would rather be a one-term President (not really out of context). The Republican Senators looked really grumpy as they stoically sat, frowned and otherwise looked uncomfortable as everyone else (with the exception of the Supreme Court) gave numerous stand-up ovations. Kinda like the Oscars . . . Have to admit, the guy is a good talker. Never once did he mention Hillary's efforts in her first 200k miles of travelling diplomacy. Has she been set aside as a political burden - for one term according to her. I am sure that the media pundits will have a field day analysing the speech. I have to think of it only as a pep talk: chided the opposition party, threw a zinger at the Supreme Court Justices, and called for new programs for the benefit of main street - not wall street and the big banks. Justice Ginzburg sat with her head down - wonder if she was asleep? Anyway, we'll see what happens over the next year. Jobs, economy, and war wind-downs have set the stage. Obama is still blaming the prior administration. He now has the need to take real charge, change the stuff that really needs changing, accept the stuff that he can't change (politics?), and know the difference between the two.

ipad, extinction

Uncovered news items that I did not mention in my last blog effort. Yes I know that there are those who are bent on claiming the 6th planetary extinction is just around the corner. However, it seems we can watch it on the news with our new ($499.00) iPad which has been described as something to get all touchy feely about.

Obama, Haiti, Toyota, Ankle Fusion

My commentary today is threefold, First Obama: has he given up on his wide spread shotgun approach and is now deciding to concentrate on one thing at a time - jobs? Hope so. He has spun his wheels so far and needs to settle down to something he can work on and prove that he is a focused leader. Haiti is winding down as a front page item. Seems that plenty of stuff is getting there. But, the food and water is not getting distributed to all the people. Heard one woman complain that only the young strong men are getting the food, etc. as they bully themselves in the lines. Lotsabucks have been channeled to the relief effort. Hopefully it will do something to raise the standard of living in that country - not just line the coffers of the government and crooked big business interests. Toyota is really in deep do-do. All the recalls, etc. However, th cut back of sales on some models may be a boon for Toyota. The company can reduce the production lines, pay less wages, use less materials and ultimately save a bunch of bucks in advertising. The supposed tragedy may actually make money for the company. I love it.

On a personal note, the podiatrist folks want to fuse my ankle - 8 to 12 weeks off my feet. If anyone has had this done let me know the pros and cons.

Bin laden

This guy can hide, stay in the news and rile up the world. Maybe we should change his name to Lex Luther Laden. Then we can let Superman deal with him. The above natuarally segues to: how the hell can the most highly sophisticated, equipped, electronically enabled and trained Army in the world get its nose bloodied in Afganistan, Iraq, Somalia, (dare I say Viet Nam?)and other fun places in the world? The Russians should have taught us something about Afganistan - like get the hell out of there 'cause you can't win. I'd bet that the Jedi Knights would have an issue with Osama. Looks like we are tallying up the dead in Haiti to 150,000 - getting to the 200,000. What a loss of humanity. I have to agree the key to the Bin Laden mess is Pakistan.

campaign funds

I have grabbed onto this campaign fund issue - like a bulldog with an attitude. Looking at the decision and the history of campaigning, it seems that the supreme court has opened the doors for any company IN THE WORLD to contribute to any individual's election. That means (in the most paranoid way) that Al Queda or drug cartels or shoddy backroom off-shore drug manufacturers could select, promote and finance a candidate that would vote to soften issues that would further their aims. Do you want this to happen? Hopefully the Supreme Court will review and redebate this issue.

Supreme Court, Tiger, sex addiction

The supreme court ruling on campaign funds seems to rock my boat. I am reminded of some futuristic SiFi movies where corportations control everything - become the government, and only a priviledged few reap the rewards. We may be on the verge of having big business (the folks with the bucks) actually control elections in this country. It is very uncommon for the loser of any election to have expended more money than the winner. (Ross Perot being a notable exception). If Corporations are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money for a candidate, they have a real good chance of winning the seat and controlling the subsequent votes of the individual elected to office. Polliticians are influenced daily by the lobbying of corporate interests. Now it is the citizen voter's turn to be influenced by the money about to be spent on flashy and misleading ads. America - don't you love it? In other news Tiger Woods is going to a sex addict clininc. Gee, I guess sex is now compartmentalized in the amount that is medically approved. Sounds like a religious thing - only in missionary position and to make children. Hmmm. Haiti is falling off the front page. Text messaging is new donation darling. Look for more - probably in the form of texts to your phone asking for donations. Potential scam issues here. The health care bill is now on 'hold', folks who need medical care will not get it (or get some band-aid care at local emergency rooms) I wonder if the death panel crap was really about not providing medical care to those who cannot afford insurance. Think about it . . .

Obama's first year

Well, its been one year since Obama took office. I eagerly await the pundits' scorecards on how he's doing. Seems he had a dream about health care, renewed prosperity, Gitmo's dismantling, downsizing Iraq and collecting the money lent to companies 'to big to fail'. How'd he do in his first year? My thoughts are: as well as can be expected. There is no new job growth, except in the government sector. Unemployment still is around 10%. Health care is stuck in the Senate with too many compromises to make it effective. (Death panel crap, abortion rights, and pork additives seem to be more important than health care for everyone.) Foreclosures are still on the rise - I wonder where the money went to redo mortgages? Iraq is still a killing field and we are still there because of the oil . . . Afganistan is an unwinnable piece of ground growing poppies for heroin and idealistic killers of innocent people. Guantanimo is still operating. Seems the people released back to Yemen, etc. are getting their AK-47's loaded and are happy to kill again. Obama did get the peace prize and in his acceptance speech, promised that the U.S. would adhere to the Geneva convention Rules. In other words we still will get places like Egypt to do the waterboarding . . .

Somali pirates

Ya gotta love this - Two rival Somali pirate gangs in a shootout about who's gonna get the ransom money from a taken tanker called the guardian warships to help them out - like I said, you gotta love it.

MLK, Haiti

Haiti is still on top of the news. Remember to donate through your phone TEXT Haiti at 90999 for an easy ten buck donation. On the other side of the coin, looks like some looters are getting shot in Port Au Prince. U.S. and UN sending more troops to bring order to the chaos. Aid still slow getting there because of the airport issues - one runway no real infrastructure, etc, etc, etc. Now on a better note. We have a holiday to remember Martin Luther King. It is amazing how the great peace preachers get themselves assasinated in order to be heard by all. Damn shame. When I was a kid, I read the biography of Ghandi. Wow. (I also read On the Road, the Fountainhead and Peyton Place). Talk about an impressionable mind period . . . Anyway, I digress. Now we have an articulate President whose legacy was formed by MLK and probably Malcom X and many others. Makes for a great resume for a world leader, in my opinion. One a final note, it is a pity that we as a world always have to resort to violence to further our civilization. Rodney King was right -"Why can't we all get along?"

Haiti and corruption

I'm still stuck on Haiti. Guess they are saying over 70,000 dead and more to come as the rubble is removed from over some bodies and disease sets in. Lot of chatter about rebuilding the country and making it better. Here we have a real dilemma. Th country is not even marginally law-abiding. The corruption is so wide-spread that it probably would take another quake of higher magnitude . . . I know, I know, I shouldn't go there.

Haiti, Devil

Seems that the Aid agencies are squabbling over their 'turf' rather than cooperating. And, the greatest news so far defers to Pat Robertson for declaring that the Haitians made a deal with the devil (no kidding) and were punished by the 7.0 earthquake. Now we know . . .

News

The Haitian thing is getting to the point where there is anarchy in the streets. Looting and other crap. U.S. is going to send 10,000 troops to aid the aid, supposedly. My spin is that since Clinton is the special envoy to this little nation, he asked for troops to be deployed to help quell the riots soon to break out. Only the strongest - those with guns and drug money will prevail if no troops have boots on the ground. Damn shame that the country is so lacking infrastructure, government, and increasingly very unsafe streets. We had the thrilla in manila now the sqeaker in massachusetts. Can it be that the Democrats may lose Ted Kennedy's seat in the senate? Wow. How about the Tylenol recall??? Who said that hacking is all bad - Moscow billboards hacked with a porn video. Stopped traffic. lasted 15 minutes. Naughty naughty. or, nice nice - your call....

haiti

Gee, what a surprise, looting is rampant in Haiti. More toi follow . .

haiti, google and today's news

The tragedy in Haiti seems to stem from very shoddy buildings. California had a 6.5 last week and very little to no damage. (Yes I know the scale is exponential). But, the point is that countries like Haiti and others should put some thought and money into improving their infrastructure, from building codes to disaster relief. Obama has pledged 100Mil ex Clinton is asking for donations by texting 90999. Google is maybe taking a stand against Chinese hacking emails, searches, and other services. The South China Post reported the issue fairly. The Hong Kong Standard was less than candid. Lets see, what else - people getting depressed about Pandora (AVATAR) being so perfect and unattainable. Hmmm. Serena is going for her 12th in Australia. Cabbie in NY returned $21,000 to a 72 year old Italian lady visiting and left her purse in the cab.

captains supplimental log for today

Haiti - ganga man. had one helluva earthquake. Some are saying a 7 on the shake rattle and roll scale. (Californians are shrugging their shoulders . . .) I am sorry that this happened. But, it will ease some of the pressure on Obama for the moment. The health care bill, terrorStans, deficit and more job losses. Guy does need a break and this Haitian thing will help divert attention of the news media.

news, palin

Gee - what a surprise that Sarah has opted to join Fox News. This may disenfranchise her bid for 2012, but will certainly put her in the spotlight of the voice of the conservative GOP. I think that she should have stayed in office in Alaska and petitioned congress for a great wall between her and the nasty Russian lands she can see from her house. Would sort of be like the Mexican fence with all the money thrown at it. I think that her influence for the 2012 elections may be minimal as she continues to be a cartoon.

today, news, freeze, terrorism

Seems the strawberries are getting ready to automatically become ready for ice cream with the cold weather messing with Florida. Not much news of note today - usual stuff about Gitmo - should we or shouldn't we get rid of it as the guys who have been released gravitate back to their terrorist orgs and start bombing. Hmmm sitting in a cell (bad) with good kosher food (yeah its Kosher, no kidding, no pig parts, etc.), or going back to get a bomb vest strapped on and bet on the virgins . . . That seems to be rather degrading to young ladies, but I digress. The Danish guy who drew the face of Muhammad turned 81, Elvis' 75th (on the 8th), and national undies on the the subway???, are the biggies of today. I'm still looking for my beshert, but that's another blog. California did get a little rock and roll at 6.5 on the mosh scale. Wonder if that is because Leno is being axed at 10 and will go to a half hour show (at $30 mil an year). Another insensitive remark about Obama seems he don' be talkin' black nuf. But, he will be remembered in his library as having something other than picture books on the shelves. You, know, like: Fun with Dick and Watergate; Ford stumbled here; Bill dropped his shorts - the sequel: and, W lost his place - sounding out the first word.

News terrorists

Seems that terrorists have blasted back in the headlines. AlQuaeda, taliban, misc crazies around the world are all testing to determine where John Q Public will become afraid. We have reacted with racial profiling, planning full body scanning (wonder if women will get a free mammogram?) and other security stuff. He'll, why not hire the folks at ElAl to handle the issue? They have extremely safe airlines. As for the bombers, they all seem to be small time idealists - crazy idealists. Like McVey, unibomber and Mrs Snow my 3rd grade teacher. When something happens the big BinLadens take the credit pontificate and wait in some Pakistani cave for the next event. Hmmm.

Today - not a day of infamy (sorry news junkies). Seems the top issue falls in the 'where is the kid?' Mom gave him away or caretakers with possibly phoney custody papers have him hidden, and what about the indignant dad? Sigh. Irani folks protesting get clobbered by riot cops. Biden's mom died. I worry about folks that overrate the news stories and personalize them as if they are actually involved somehow. Chaos theory says that everything (actions) are somehow interrelated. Is this the reason for the high interest. Do our brains actually make the coonection? Beats me.

I am looking forward to this year to be great. (Hpoe springs eternal???) heard that the VFOP (volunteers for oranges preservation) are knitting little booties to keep theIr Florida navels warm in the current cold snap - take that global warming! Anyway looks like one more surgery on my ankle and I can be a contestant in Dancing With The Stars! Trying to get a new approach to my blog for 2010. Something focused. 
 

new blog thoughts

I have been off line trying to think of a new direction for my blog. Any ideas?