Monday, May 25, 2009

Ways to Annoy a Flight Attendant

Here are my favorites:

2. Shove your bag into the first bin you see and then walk to your seat in the back of the plane

4. Drag on an oversize bag that's too heavy for you to lift by yourself

Check out the rest.

Valley of the Dinosaurs

Here's another Saturday morning show we used to watch:



I love the voice-over.

Land of the Lost



So, what if special effects weren't so great back in the 70's? No matter, I watched this every Saturday morning.

Will Ferrell is in the remake and Kathy Coleman has a cameo.

The Sci-Fi Channel is playing some old eppys today.

Friday, May 8, 2009

"Little Professor", R.I.P.

Red Sox great Dom DiMaggio died earlier today.


Concerning Dom and his brother Joe, the similarities ended off the baseball field. Dom was a happily married family man without the many eccentricities that plagued his older brother. Dom was also a 7 time All Star that many feel was the superior DiMaggio defender. I still believe that if Dom wasn't forced to play in his brother's shadow, he would be in the Hall of Fame. Yes, he was that good.

The David Halberstam book, "The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship" chronicles the friendship between Dom, Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky during their playing days and into retirement. It culminates in a last road trip to see Ted in his failing health.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Are The Celtics Done?

Charles Barkley thinks that the Celtics are done.

Of course, Barkley predicted a Lakers win in last year's final.

Three reasons why the Lakers will beat the Celtics:
• No. 1: Kobe Bryant.
• No. 2: Phil Jackson.
• No. 3: A superior bench.


We know what happened with that series. The Lakers were outplayed, outhustled and outclassed in every facet of the game.

I had no illusions about them returning to the finals, but I do think that they will get by Orlando.

Jack Kemp, R.I.P.

A post about a great man.

Rest in peace Jack Kemp.

D-Day In California?

More bad news from the Golden State.

If, since 1990, state spending increases had been held to the inflation rate plus population growth, the state would have a $15 billion surplus instead of a $42 billion budget deficit, which is larger than the budgets of all but 10 states. Since 1990, the number of state employees has increased by more than a third. In Schwarzenegger's less than six years as governor, per capita government spending, adjusted for inflation, has increased nearly 20 percent.

Liberal orthodoxy has made the state dependent on a volatile source of revenue — high income tax rates on the wealthy. In 2006, the top 1 percent of earners paid 48 percent of the income taxes. California's income and sales taxes are among the nation's highest, its business conditions among the worst. Unemployment, the nation's fourth highest, is 11.2 percent.

Required by law to balance the budget, the Legislature has "solved" the problem by, among other things, increasing the income, sales, gas and vehicle taxes.

Again, with California, as with other welfare states, it is the public sector strangling the private sector. California teachers are paid well above the national average and retire with lucrative pensions and benefits. And, like New York State, the public sector in California gets larger all while population is shrinking.

Imagine this, you own an operation where business is down, sales are off and profit margins are non-existent. Your solution might be to cut costs or shrink the payroll, but you certainly wouldn't be hiring more people or spending more money. Don't tell this to the asshat triumvirate in New York or California's legislative leaders. Their reaction to the situation is to return to the beleaguered taxpayers with their hands out.

Term limits, please?

Bombshell

Bombshell is on TCM this morning. It is one of Jean Harlow's best roles and thought to be based on Clara Bow's life.

What it really does is give us a glimpse at one of the great talents in film who died well before her time. The film has great dialogue and acting. Franchot Tone, Una Merkel, Louise Beavers, C. Aubrey Smith, Frank Morgan and Lee Tracy have supporting roles. No matter, it is really Harlow's film.

It's not on DVD yet. Why the delay?

The Filipino National Hero?

Manny Pacquiao made short work of Ricky Hatton last night in Las Vegas, knocking him out with a left cross. I thought Hatton would last longer, but Pacquiao is unstoppable now. There was no letdown after the beating he gave Oscar De La Hoya. Even when fighting in a weight class above, it seems that Pacquiao has no competition. When will we see Floyd Mayweather Jr. get his ass knocked around by Pac-Man?

Pacquiao has an interesting back story, namely, his youth as a Filipino street urchin.

Here's a few links:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxingandmma/4940399/Manny-Pacquiao-became-street-urchin-after-his-father-ate-his-dog.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxingandmma/5243745/Boxer-Manny-Pacquiao-looks-beyond-the-ring-to-politics-after-Ricky-Hatton-fight.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/king-of-the-ring-but-is-manny-ready-for-the-low-blows-of-politics/2009/05/01/1240982406808.html

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Backtracking Again, Mr. President?

The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.

Hold on, wait a minute. Wasn't this one of Barack Obama's criticisms against the Bush Administration? We also saw the President reverting to Bush's oft-criticized Iraq timetable.

Where's the outrage from all of Obama's supporters? I guess when Mr. Hope and Change is implementing George Bush's policies, we all need to shut up and keep nodding our heads up and down because he knows what's best.

"I don't kiss people I don't know"

More people should take this sort of advice from Joan Collins.

Lily Allen swallowed a large dose of humble pie when Joan Collins refused to kiss her.

The Dynasty legend rejected the singer's friendly advances when she greeted her with a peck on the cheek.

Joan Collins has always been hysterically and brutally honest. How refreshing...

Remember her commentary about the self-destruction of England a few years ago?

A particular incident demonstrated the lack of respect and manners that is but a small example of the horrible, encroaching decay of the country that I love dearly.

My husband Percy and I were at a ball at the Grosvenor House Hotel -- a black-tie event attended by the socalled 'elite' of the city.

As Percy held the door open to let me through, a 6ft tall, middle-aged, horse-faced male pushed past me, trod on the hem of my dress and rushed outside to climb into the taxi that the doorman had waiting for us.

This was a person who should, or at least looked like he should, have known better. The cause of his behaviour? The awful pervasive disregard that we have for civility today.

Bump accidentally into someone in the street these days and you are soundly cursed. Look at a poor derelict collapsed in a doorway for more than a second and they'll spit at you. Surely everyone has experienced the barely suppressed rage lurking behind the faces of a vast number of car drivers.

We've become the 'Whatcha lookin' at?' culture. Why do young people consider it cool to be arrogant, swaggering and rude? Why do so many people in England seem so cynical and self-centred?

I witnessed young, drunken yobs roaming the streets kicking cars, screaming insults, pushing people and even pushchairs out of their way, attacking each other viciously and then turning on the police when they tried to maintain order.

THE WHOLE scene evoked the image of hordes of inebriated Vikings sacking devastated towns. Even during the day, feral mobs roamed the cities with absolute disregard for anyone else's property or well-being. Traditional virtues of male chivalry and female propriety were very far from view.

After all, a lack of manners and politeness in a society can only be a reflection of what the society thinks of itself.

Are You On Deval Patrick's Gravy Train Yet?

Is there anyone else left among Deval Patrick's family and friends who has not received a plum state job? Patrick campaigned on a platform touting lower taxes, including property tax relief, reform and transparency. So far the whole lower property tax idea has been scrapped, he is talking about raising the gas tax to among the highest in the nation and implementing a whole battery of fee increases.

And, of course, there's this:

Gov. Deval Patrick, pushing new taxes and preaching reform - continues to practice old-style patronage politics, handing his campaign manager’s sister a plum six-figure gig and hiring her close pal to an $83,000-a-year post.

Patrick, whose job approval rating has plummeted in the wake of a string of hiring controversies, gave his former campaign manager - and current state Democratic Party chairman - John Walsh’s sister Patty Vantine a $105,000-a-year position at the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Vantine, a former bean counter for the state Democratic Party, had been making $85,000 working in the human resources division.

The Herald also has learned that Patrick hired Martina Jackson, a longtime campaign supporter and member of the Democratic State Committee, as the $65,000-a-year communications director for the Department of Elder Affairs.

...The governor has come under fire for hiring a Milton neighbor to a $120,000 state job, four administration officials to six-figure posts at quasi-public agencies, and two staffers to high-paying jobs at the cash-strapped Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
Patrick also took a major political hit after tapping Sen. Marian Walsh for a $175,000 quasi-public-agency gig, which she later rejected.


The governor suffered yet another blow when it was revealed that the sister of his transportation czar, Jim Aloisi, had a $60,000-a-year do-nothing State House post.

Jim Aloisi, of course, was involved in the whole Big Dig fiasco and actually one of the corruptocrats singled out by a former state inspector for covering up over 1 billion dollars in overruns. He later worked as an outside council involved with the bonding of the project, amassing 3 million dollars in fees. Aloisi was eventually fired by the Turnpike Board for over billing $800,000 in fees. (Thanks to Blue Mass Group for the information- www.bluemassgroup.com)

Excellent, Deval, definitely keep this guy on the state gravy train.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Prince Charles Pissing Around Again

Check out this excellent post on Planet Gore.

Goofy, worthless Prince Charles wants to lecture all of us peasants about the dangers of global warming all whilst cruising around the world in a private jet equipped with a master suite and private bathroom. The jet apparently will emit 53 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. How can anyone take this fool seriously?

The thought of being lectured about living more meekly by a taxpayer-subsidized prince who has never done a proper day’s work in his life — and who is currently flying around Europe on a private jet with a master suite and plush bathroom that will spew a whopping 53 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere over the course of his five-day, $116,000 charter — is of course eye-swivellingly irritating. But this is something we’re getting used to in Britain — because here, environmentalism looks very much like the Revenge of the Aristocrats. The British green lobby is stuffed with the sons and daughters of privilege, for whom environmentalism provides a perfect, scientifically tinged gloss for expressing in a new way their old foul prejudices against mass, modern society.

The group of snotty Brits and other aristocrats include people with names that you'd expect from the privileged class. Lord Porritt, the 11th Governor General of New Zealand, Sir Crispin Tickell, Lady Kulukundis, Fourth Baron Melchett and David de Rothschild are among the elite who would want us to live like primates in order to save the planet. Hey, someone has to counter balance all their private jet travel.

The whole posting is a must read, but here's another excerpt:

British aristocrats’ historic disdain for teeming cities — with their distasteful record of providing upward mobility to the lower orders — can now be respectably recast as a desire to protect the green countryside from polluting urban life. Their long-standing suspicion of working-class communities, who apparently have too many children and are too obsessed with material things, is rehabilitated in the language of “population reduction” to protect “Gaia.” And their preference for the quiet local life, as lived in well-off villages where they are lord of the manor, is given a new lease on life in the discussion of the dangers of “cheap tourism” and of flying foreign food — planted and grown by Africans: yuck! — into the UK.

Empty-Headed Dave Strikes Again

More dysfunction from empty-headed Dave. Back in 2003, the then Senator Paterson fired his white photographer to hire a black photographer.

The state has secretly settled an embarrassing federal racial-discrimination lawsuit, The Post has learned. The suit accused Paterson, back when he was Senate minority leader in 2003, of firing a white Senate photographer in order to replace him with an African-American.

Reportedly, it wouldn't have looked good for our half-wit Governor if the case went to trial. The Senate was represented by the Attorney General and in this instance, normally out spoken Andrew Cuomo had no comment.

Just more of the same from our very own Dysfunctional Dave.

In the lawsuit, Maioriello [the photog] claimed he was told by John McPadden, then Paterson's chief of staff, that he was being fired because a number of minority senators wanted to replace him with "a minority photographer, a black photographer."

He said he was also told, "You got to remember who Sen. Paterson is. Sen. Paterson is black."

Governor Paterson later claimed in a deposition that, "he didn't see well enough to have fired Maioriello because of his race."

Ha Ha Dave, you're funny, a regular Henny Youngman.

UPDATE: Apparently Dysfunction Dave has been caught in a lie. Andrew Cuomo never told him to settle, and idiot Malcolm Smith is backing him up. That's 1.5 brain cells vs. .5 brain cell. Dave's on the losing side again.

The Food Police Strike Again

Why are we all punished because others don't know the meaning of the word moderation?

Bakers in Albany County have started their cry against the trans fat ban, which will take effect in just two months.

They fear their desserts and baked goods will lose favor, consistency and attractiveness without the use of shortening that contain artificial ingredient that has been linked to cardiovascular disease.

The baking industry is not anxious to join restaurants and other Albany County food service establishments which, under the county regulation, converted Jan. 1 to cooking only in oils free of trans fat.

The resolution [Christine] Benedict [Republican minority leader of the County Legislature] is co-sponsoring with Republicans Lee Carman of Guilderland and Patty Lockart of Colonie states: "It is not the government's role to micromanage the lives of people by controlling types of ingredients in their cupcakes."

Rachel Cocca Dott, who is in her second year of operating Coccadotts Cake Shop on Central Avenue in Colonie, sought Benedict's help.

"I'm known for my butter cream," Dott said. Trans-fat free shortening is more difficult to come by and more expensive, she said. By experimenting with the new product, she found that her butter cream frosting on cakes and cupcakes was "breaking down" and getting "watery."

I love butter cream. Why would I buy baked goods in Albany County with inferior ingredients, when I can buy superior products in neighboring counties or supermarkets not policed by the food Nazis?

Being overweight and having high cholesterol are causes of cardiovascular disease. Excess trans fat can exacerbate both conditions. That's the connection. So, those of us who enjoy butter cream occasionally whilst successfully managing our food intake can look forward to more of these food banning policies. Again, the government is the nanny state, taking care of us from cradle to grave. No thanks...

Of course, this goes without saying that every bakery affected by this nonsense will suffer financially.

I wish people like Majority Leader Frank Commisso would mind their own business and stay out of people's lives and food choices. It is increasingly apparent why the average folks continue to be disgusted with government.

Solidly behind the ban was Majority Leader Frank Commisso, who has been in the food business most of his life, and five years ago went on a health kick, dropping 90 pounds, from 253 to 160, all by sticking to a healthy diet.

I'm happy you're not fat anymore Legislator Commisso, but for the rest of us who practice moderation when we eat and, consequently, have never put ourselves in a position to need to "drop 90 pounds", leave our food choices alone.