Self-Servy Jersey

I will never be a big fan of Jon Corzine - he's a typical Democrat - but this is increasing his stock with me by a couple points.

The populace of this state is incredibly stupid for not realizing just how expensively stupid it was to be forced into full service. I remember my abortive attempt at getting something done by emailing my state legislator - I'd like to think that my little tirade helped push this idea into the governor's office just a little bit.

Update: Wussy! Fun side story: I actually met the Guv last Saturday during the Shadfest in Lambertville. I noticed his security detail first, and told Wifedido to take a picture of me with the Guv. I shook his hand and told him of my support of the plan, and he told me that actually it was 2 to 1 against so far with all the people he'd talked to. I guess that's why he caved...oh well, what else would you expect? Anyway, I'll post the picture later.

Imagine if Oil Was As Expensive as Watching a Movie

I don't know about y'all, but my patience is running thin with all the "exhorbitant price" rhetoric going on. Why can't people accept that our lifestyle isn't free (or even inherently cheap) and that oil companies should be able to charge whatever they want as long as we'll pay!

Sowell calls out the "bipartisan demagoguery."

Sock Puppets

Scandal at the LA Times. Summary here.

Reagan Reincarnated?

..Or is Pelosi pulling a Hillary? Cuz this sure isn't Nancy's real thoughts on the matter...

A shining example

of why some people should just keep their mouths shut.

Zach Randolph and Darius Miles said Tuesday what many fans and teammates already had surmised: The two highly paid players no longer know if they want to be part of the Trail Blazers

The gist of Miles' and Randolph's complaints are twofold: They don't like playing on what has turned out to be the NBA's worst team; and they don't care for the discipline meted out by first-year coach Nate McMillan.

Oh, ok, so they're tired of losing, which is partly to blame on themselves and they don't care for discipline. Really? And some wonder why there is no sympathy for millionaire athletes.

A follow-up of sorts

In line with my thoughts on why Grey's Anatomy exists on Sunday, why is Phantom of the Opera one of the first HD-DVD's?

Off With His Head!

A WSJ Op-Ed on Rummy's critics is dead-on, in my humble civilian opinion...

Update: In similar fashion, what would the 6/thousands of generals do? Some think Rummy leaving would bring a meltdown in Iraq. I tentatively agree.

Back when men were Men.

There existed a little company named Turbonique. Courtesy of Jalopnik.

Loss of Liberty in NJ

Yep, the nanny state is going to take a "Great Leap Forward" in a day when the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants goes into effect here - and it even bans smoking outside (within 25 ft.). Funny thing is - they won't ban it in the casinos of Atlantic City. I guess they really need those tax revenues, whereas they could give a rat's a** about the small business owners.

I fear that one of the icons of Jersey, the crappy diner, is on its way out.

The more you know...

So this morning I'm driving into work and as I turn into the parking lot of my building I notice the license plate in front of me is from Washington D.C., of particular interest was the motto. You know like "land of enchantment" here in New Mexico. I had thought that the motto was "celebrate & discover" (actually I didn't know that but I read it somewhere as I was writing this) but on that plate read "taxation without representation", presumptively to note the district's lack of congressional representation.

At first I thought it was fake. It had to be. Everyone in D.C., exspecially in D.C. must know why that is and what the District of Columbia is, right? Well, I was wrong. The voters there actually approved this motto. I will now light myself on fire. Maybe tea party on the mall (national monument mall that is) is next?

Lions and Tigers and Global Warming, OH MY!

Albuquerque joins the GW bandwagon. Don't expect balanced coverage, though...

Hey, Wait!

Aren't republicans supposed to be the only party in the culture of corruption? Katie or Meredith, please help me out with this!

Another Iraq Highlight

Y'all know I like to link Iraq's rather unreported news, so here's another piece from the venerable Strategy Page...

Update: And another from AIM.

Not to Upstage Ms. Couric's Irrelevance, But,...

some scientist thinks Jesus walked on ice.

Hey, it was a slow news day...

...And the Country Yawns

Katie Couric is going to CBS. Maybe she will lower the average age of the CBS Evening News' audience to the low 50s. Me, I'm still going to get my news from the internet.

Oh, and this isn't related, but it's still a little bit cool.

The south

So this week I'm visiting Huntsville (apparently pronounced hnnnnntsvuuuulllll), Alabama for work. Every time I visit somewhere I think of it as a residence in that when I'm there I think of what it would be like to live there. Last year I visited Corvallis, Oregon and the Oregon coast. I thoroughly enjoyed it, I would like living anywhere in Oregon. Too many hippies for my tastes but enough bike trails to hide from them all. Well I wrote that to lead to this, I will never, ever, ever live in Alabama. How can I include all of Alabama. Well, I learned that Huntsville is considered the "sophisticated" part of Alabama. Whoa. Not that it's all bad or anything but it's just more different than I expected. Before coming I joked around that no one would know what I was (ethnically speaking) but I never believed that would be true. But here I am and everyone acts as though it's the first time that anyone's ever seen my last name. You should have seen the puzzled look on the cop looking at my driver's license after stopping me as I was walking into a convenience store, he asked if I had any warrants out and what I was doing before frisking me and pulling out my wallet. True story, Kim was on the phone with me at the time and heard the whole thing, she was all ready to call the ACLU (of all things for me). Just kind of a strange place. Anyway, some random observations on my trip so far...

Whitesburg, AL. Quite fitting...

You know you're having a bad day when the traffic is to long at the ATM machine so you skip, being late to the airport, then the ATM at the airport is out of order as you're about to fly to a state without the bank you use. Seriously, no Wells Fargo.

What's this weird wetness? No rain but in the afternoon it feels as though there's a drop of rain hitting my forehead every once in a while.

There are a lot of poor speakers out there, this is supposed to be a modeling and simulation conference yet often I'm embarrassed by how people are supposed to be professionals present themselves.

Most popular restaurant types in Huntsville, pizza followed by taco places. Weird, there's even a place called "The Latino Quarter", stopped by and everything was three pesos (ba da dum!). Not brave enough to try tacos at a place called Humpfries's though.

No bus routes in the city apparently, only downtown. I walked about two miles to a grocery store to grab some things and get some cash.

Next time, get a rental car. My company only allows one for the trip and the older co-worker I'm with got it first and you know about the hell involved in adding a second driver.

New rule should be separate rental cars if the two people are 20 years apart.

When visiting a city without your home bank, remember to take more than fourteen dollars.

Well, back home Friday.