Indeed it Does Suck to be First.

"Being the first sucks...I'd rather not be the first but someone has to be first, or among the first. I think I'm experienced and very well qualified to deal with anything that might show up because I've broken barriers at lots of other places and I always win people over with who I am and what I can do."

Those are the words of Amanda Simpson, the trans-gendered woman appointed by President Obama to be the senior technical adviser for the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security. Simpson started he job today. She has 30 plus years of experience in this field, so obviously she's qualified for it, but there are some snags in this historic day.

"'Simpson's nomination was forwarded through to President Obama by a gay activist group, making it appear that this appointment of a male-to-female 'transgender' activist to a high level Commerce Department position to be payback to his far-left base for their political support,' a spokeswoman for Focus on the Family said in statement."

'"Is there going to be a transgender quota now in the Obama administration?" asked Peter LaBarbera, president of the anti-gay group American for Truth. "How far does this politics of gay and transgender activism go? Clearly this is an administration that is pandering to the gay lobby.'"

Those are from the Huffington Post which has a great article up about the hate coming from the usual suspects. (Links removed from AfT portion to deny them hits)

I just find this uproar from the religious right particularly hilarious, considering their love for Ann Coulter...

It's Not Her Fault, But She Should Quit.

"D.C. wannabe Martha Stewart"

Seriously, that's what one the village idiots thinks Desiree Rogers should do.

"Although it has emerged that a State Department protocol error is to blame for the presence of a third uninvited guest, both Rogers and Sullivan should step down."

Rogers's job is that of Social Secretary for the White House, the person in charge of the guest lists for White House events. Apparently the guest list wasn't up to snuff for the villagers, and now their sending their party planner to attack.

"White House social secretary Desirée Rogers came under fire after the Salahi scandal erupted. From the start, Rogers was an unlikely choice for social secretary. She was not of Washington, considered by many too high-powered for the job and more interested in being a public figure (and thus upstaging the first lady) than in doing the gritty, behind-the-scenes work inherent in that position. That Rogers stayed and that the White House refuses to allow her to testify before Congress reflected badly on the president."

Quinn seems to think that Rogers is the reason the gate-crashers got in, that it was her fault they got past security were able to get in. Apparently Rogers personally should have been checking every single person there to make sure they were on the list...the list given to the Secret Service, whose job it is to check the lists and make sure that people who aren't supposed to be there aren't. As one of the many tourists to go to the White House, and being a member of the media who covered Senators Obama and Biden, I can attest to the strict nature of the Secret Service and their love of lists.

In a sense, the party planner should be fired for someone else's mistake. Since Quinn likes to offer advice on throwing parties, here's some from someone who has and does throw dinner parties, you don't fire the caterer because the flowers didn't arrive on time.

Then, as if Quinn's desperate grab at straws wasn't delusional enough, she then offers this gem:

"Emanuel, the most political animal in this town,..."

Really? Rahm Emanuel is the most political animal in this town? I can think of a few more...Cheney, Frum, Rove...just to name a few.

What's a Radical Pacifist?

I'd like someone to explain this concept to me.

Wait, someone did.

"Those who argue that we should not used enhanced techniques even on the KSM’s of the world are effectively arguing from a position of radical pacifism. They are opposed to coercion no matter what the cost in innocent lives."

To make this argument Thiessen asserts that waterboarding has worked. There is no evidence that it does.

"Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient to obtain information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows they are also frequently neither useful or necessary. Certainly, extreme physical action can make someone "talk;" however, what the individual says may be of questionable value."

Who makes that remark? Some radical pacifist? Nope. David Petraeus

In the aforementioned document there is no proof that waterboarding works, which falls under torture and "extreme physical action." For someone who loves him some Republicanism, Thiessen certainly doesn't listen to one of his heroes, John McCain who on many different occasions talked about how he would would give false information simply to make the pain stop, to give them something, anything. If we truly believe we are in a "war" in the conventional idea on Terrorism, then why do we think that those we capture will tell the truth when we force water down their throats and noses? If we view those captured as enemy warriors, then they must have had some form of training against coerced interrogations, just as our soldiers.

Brit Hume Can Suck It.

Today on Fox News Sunday, washed-up torture apologist Republican Talking Points Dissemination Leader Brit Hume offered some advice to the beleaguered Tiger Woods.

"The extent to which he can recover seems to me depends on his faith," Hume said. "He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgivness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger would, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

I'm not kidding. Does he understand anything about religion? And why isn't this kind of baseless, bigoted stuff called out by the media? If the situation were reversed and Hume was essentially calling Christianity wrong, there would be a huge firestorm with calls for his removal and for an apology.

It's with this statement that Hume shows his intellectual shallowness. There is no forgiveness in Buddhism. Buddhism in it's simplest understanding is pure Newtonian, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In Buddhism you don't go to a heaven or hell, you are reborn continually until you reach the ultimate peace in mind, nirvana. Your actions while alive dictate how you are reborn. If you behave kindly, do good deeds, treat people with respect and try to live in harmony with everyone and everything, you are reborn as a "higher being," you can be reborn as another human, over and over again until you reach nirvana, or you can continually go backwards, eventually into being an insect if you don't learn your lessons.

There is no father figure, no greater, all powerful creator, no need to constantly feel like you're being watched over. It's a very mature focused way of living, it's based on the rewards idea, the better you are, the better you are rewarded. It calls on YOU to control yourself, and it puts YOUR destiny in YOUR hands. There's none of this last minute repentance stuff, where even if you're a murdering rapist you can get into heaven by truly believing in Christ and by doing so have your deeds wiped clean.

With Hume's words, I'm willing to bet he thinks that Muslims and Jews pray to a different God than Christians.

To simply say, just change who you are and what you believe in to get back into the good graces of society is appalling. People are mad at Tiger Woods for his infidelity, not his religion. His vows might have been phony, but don't think his religion is.

Go, Go, Go, Go!!!!!!

Exploding Underpants

I'm grateful that nothing transpired from the thwarted attack on Christmas day, but let's get real about somethings. 1. Profiling people won't work...there is no profile of a terrorist, get over this sick want. 2. If a Democrat held up the TSA nominee and the same thing happened during the Bush Administration, he would have been run out of the senate while TV screens would have been filled with chyrons like "Why do Democrats Want America to be Attacked?" It's complete and utter bullshit that DeMint is holding up the TSA appointment because the nominee might let baggage handlers unionize. Also, how the hell could Napolitano have stopped this guy from getting on a plane in Amsterdam, so all this crap about getting her fired is again B.S.

Plus, why does Rove go on TV and say, oh, it took Obama 72 hours to say anything, it took Bush 6 days to say anything about the shoe-bomber. Why does this tool still command respect? Oh, by the way, Mr. Marriage and Values just got a divorce...again, he's a fucking hypocrite tool.

The Tyree Road to Recovery.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about deficit hawks, they make me foam in the mouth like a deranged, rabid raccoon. If these people are so concerned about the deficit, then stop spending money in 2 needless wars, hiring private contractors, and giving money to private companies to make our weapons, technology, and transportation needs.

Also, if they are so worried about how much money the government spends in debt, then stop making damn spending bills and then complain about them.

Alas, I am rambling again. The ultimate solution to "balancing" the budget is to raise taxes. Sorry, but it has to be done. Here's a hands on way of learning how the government works. Take a Styrofoam cup, poke a hole in it with a pencil, then pour some water from a bottle. The cup is the government, the hole acts like it's spending and the water is our tax dollars. Right now we have many pencil sized holes, but because of the current tax rate there's very little water coming in, so it goes through very easily and fast. Now if we plug up a couple of the holes, but not change the amount of water coming in, it still drains out very fast, before any can be stored up before the holes.

Cutting spending is only half the battle. It's not going to be easy to figure out what expenditures and programs to cut, but it must be done.

Now, if we increase the flow of water there will be a greater amount collecting before going through the holes, even if we didn't plug up any. But the more we plug up with this increased flow the longer the reserve lasts.

But since touching income taxes is considered touching the third rail in D.C. there are other ways to increase government income.

1. Turn all federal highways into toll roads. The highway isn't a necessity but a nicety, a luxury. Why not make some money back from the tax dollars spent on making them?

2. Change the gas guzzler tax...any SUV and truck has it imposed along with any other vehicle that does not meet a combined 18 mpg. Make it progressive, such as the further away from 18 the greater the tax, and make it the same for SUV's and trucks, the lover the EPA rating the more the tax. Of course this means an official term for SUV, which doesn't exist, they're classified as light trucks.

3. Raise the federal tax on gas, if I remember right it's at 19 cents. Set it at 12.5% Right now at 2.599 for regular that would mean we'd be paying 32 cents per gallon, almost double, more revenue.

4. Legalize marijuana. I know this sounds so hippie like, but it makes sense. If it's legalized and regulated not only would you be able to tax it but be able control it as a product. Plus, if it's legalized, one way to help the economy would be to subsidize its farming, pay farmers to grow it, to get it to market faster, therefore collecting taxes faster and give farmers who need it money to continue farming, make a livable income, and even provide an opportunity for growth not only in marijuana, but perhaps more conventional crops with this increased revenue.

Before and "squares" complain, marijuana is safer than alcohol. It's impossible to overdose on it, and while you shouldn't drive while high, you also shouldn't drive while drinking, eating, texting, reading, writing, talking, having sex, taking medication or while tired.

6. Make it illegal to use offshore banking for companies. It's been estimated that the government has lost the chance to collect 7 trillion dollars in taxes in the last decade because of this. Every company has bank accounts in the caymans, make it illegal and force them to pay taxes.

While these ideas will probably never been enacted, or even taken seriously, it's a better plan than bitching about spending while doing nothing to fix the problems.

Too Graphic?

I read an article by Jamie Lee Curtis about the spread of graphic images, such as stonings, executions and car accidents. It was interesting because of the seeming love of violence in this country, as a member of the movie industry I would have though Curtis would know about this. Don't believe me, look at today's movies and games and tell me they aren't that violent. I saw an ad for a game rated "T for Teen" that shows a mercenary killing someone; yeah, that's OK for a teen to see. I don't want to sound too uptight, but come on! Look at movies as well, one of the biggest films of last year, and I admit a personal favorite, Iron Man, had scenes depicting him killing mass numbers of people, and yet it was rated as only PG-13. I'm not trying to make a point against violence, I just find it curious that a movie star is concerned about the real scenes of violence while not complaining about the fake ones her and others like her make tons of money from.

Been a While...Been Thinking, Too

So with school winding up because of the end of the semester, I am trying to find ways to relax and try to unwind for a couple of hours. One way I've been doing this is by watching BBC shows that don't air over here for some reason, one of them was Jeremy Clarkson's The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly special. Pretty much it's about 1 hour and 20 minutes of bashing American car companies. Although he does kind of go overboard some times, he does raise some valid points, especially about the quality of how U.S. cars of late has been. I've owned 2 American cars so far, and driven them both past 150,000 miles and/or 15 years of age, and I can tell you this, the quality sucked. The plastic on the dashes were thick and just cheap looking, warped with age and just never fit again and looked like crap, various bits and pieces would rattle and bag around and stupid little things would break and just make life horrendous. Case in point, the volume buttons on the Explorer. Instead of a knob there were buttons, which was stupid, there was no nice smooth volume change, it was either too loud or too soft, always. And when they broke it was constantly 20 dB over ear-bleeding. The Sunbird had pods that held the wiper controls on one side and the headlight controls on the other. They were designed so that you could use them without having to take your hands of the wheel, just flick them with your fingers. But because they were bolted in they would become loose over time and start to rattle around and sometimes the connections would act up, I remember driving over a railroad crossing and having the washer come on.

With the Explorer last winter, I took it thorough the car wash in the winter to get all the salt off of it, next thing I know, I go to open the back driver's side door and there's this loud metal pop...water somehow got in, froze and when I pulled up on the handle, everything inside broke.

Now during the time I owned these cars, I always heard car people talk about how American cars are horrible and how Japanese and European ones were the best. Japanese ones are so reliable and so well built that they remind me of appliances, always there, always working and always invisible. The only time they get noticed is when something is wrong.

So now that I own a German car, I understand why they are the best in the world. While my Audi was an expensive car back in 1998, $31,000, let's look at some features it has that the Buick we bought last year doesn't have, and the Buick was $40,000 when brand new.

The Audi has heated lock cylinders for the front doors; pull on the handle, wait a bit and then turn the key, they heat up and melt any ice that could be in there. It also has heated windshield washer fluid, headlamp washers, heated seats that turn on with the car, an automatic temperature control with a fan that doesn't sound like a turbine and perhaps my favorite part...pneumatic power locks. Yes it's strange to hear a vacuum sound when you lock/unlock the doors, but think of the raw simplicity. It's a rubber tube that either pushes or pulls air to lock/unlock the doors. No complicated electronics, no bastardly complex pullies, washers, etc. If something happens, replace some rubber tubing, brilliant. There's tinting on the exterior mirrors that reduces glare from cars behind you at night, and there's even brilliancy in the sunroof, don't want it open all the way, just turn the dial and the glass opens accordingly. One cool part is the security system, it has motion sensors for each window, so if they break open, it goes off.

But most importantly is how the car drives. The Audi is simply brilliant. The 2.8, 30V V-6 revs smoothly all the way up to it's red line, the all wheel drive makes it fun in the corners, the ride is firm but not harsh, comfortable even with the sport package and there's only 1 word to describe the steering, telepathic. The interior is spectacular; there's real wood trim, the black and grey interior combination is sublime and everything has a genuinely fine feel. The plastic is grained to nearly perfectly mimic leather and even comes close to feeling like it. And the seats, oh the seats, they hug you like only your mother can.

Sure, there are some drawbacks, like it doesn't have keyless entry, there's no buzzer when you leave your lights on, there's no auto-dimming mirror, the leather is pretty slippery and it's expensive when something goes wrong. Oh and the sticky, sport tires make so much racket you have to turn the volume on the radio up, but you can never really overpower their thrum.

Now, the Buick on the other end, has some of those features that the Audi lacks, like keyless entry, auto-dimming mirror, etc. But the complete package is lacking. For a car that was worth 40,000 dollars brand new, it doesn't feel like it. The "wood" trim is cheap plastic, the dash plastic is rough and hard, the paint on the radio dials is fading in some spots, the heated seats have to be turned on each time you start the car, and there's no gradual change between settings, it's either too little, too much, and burn your ass, literally burn your ass...trust me. The leather feels like vinyl and looks like it, there's no grain to it.

But it's driving it that really shows how American it is. There's enough play in the wheel to look like an early, silent picture era, driving scene. There's no feeling from the wheels, it's hard to keep in the center of the road, it's ponderous, and with the throttle there's no real connection between how hard you press and what you get from the engine...either it's like driving Ms. Daisy or trying to set 1/4 mile records. When we first got it, it was fun to hear the V-8 rev and feel it push you back into the seat...but now the engine sounds coarse and grainy.

While it might sound absurd to compare a mid-size car to a luxury SUV, and it would be, what I'm trying to demonstrate is how far behind American cars tend to be. In 1998 Audi and VW started using 5v per cylinder with multiple cams. It's astonishing to me that a 2.8 v-6 makes 190 HP and over 210 lb-ft of torque. Where as the V-8 in the much newer, by 6 yrs, Buick is a single cam, internal, linked to a 3V, pushrod engine that dates back to the 1960's. The last great era of American cars.

Happy 4th of July

I guess it should be "Happy Independence Day," but whatever. Today I went to a laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Patriot at Fort Laurens. It really is an amazing place for an history buff. It was truly something to be celebrating our independence at a place where the war was fought.

After the ceremony I was driving through Zoar on my way home and just for some fun decided to stop at the Zoar Wetlands and Arboretum. I hiked there for about 2 miles, did my exercise for today. It felt great to be out in nature, hiking along the river and abandoned canal. I eventually worked my way over to a long since abandoned lock and aqueduct system from the old canal. It truly is amazing to look at them and know that those huge systems were built without any of today's technology. The rest of the photos are here.

When I arrived home I made lunch, sautéed broccoli and garlic with Parmesan cheese, and brushcetta. Mmmmm, mmmmm. And healthy. Last night while I couldn't sleep I got up and made the dough for some bread, and this morning before I left I stuck it in the oven, luckily dad got it out as I don't think the auto-turn off works. It's fantastic and so simple to make, can't believe I buy bread!

Anyhow, tonight I'm playing in the Dominic Greco Band concert at Tuscora, should be fun.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th, I mean, Independence Day!