Sunday Funnies 2011.03.13

We leave today for Spring Break at an undisclosed location in the tropics. Blogging may be light for the next few days. In the meantime, here's something to sustain you.

Spring break—that’s when kids work on their tans and teachers work on their sanity.

Spring break—that’s when kids go wild someplace other than school.

Spring break—that’s when students take time off from football games, basketball games, dances, parties, and hanging out in bars, and go to the beach to relax.

Spring break—that’s when the nation's college kids demonstrate to the world how much they've learned.

Speaking of Spring Break, it would be irresponsible of me to run off and have a good time while this nation's higher education system is in the midst of an epic budget struggle. Hence the following.

 

Speaking of budgets, a couple of years ago when obama was struggling with what to do about failing banks, GM, and Chrysler, he went for a walk on the beach during Spring Break. When he spotted the women below, the thought flashed through his mind: "Too big to fail."

Enjoy your Spring Break. If you don't get one, rest assured that I'll be doing my best to have a good enough time for both of us.

This Is Getting Ridiculous

Good thing there's no international or domestic crises, or even pressing matters, to occupy the president's time.

For the second week in a row, the most powerful man in the world stepped away from the White House to hit the golf course.

Even as his administration and the U.S. military help Japan recover from a devastating earthquake, and as the world worries about Fukushima's nuclear reactor, the president could not resist taking advantage of the 48-degree weather in the Washington, D.C., area.

Couple the earthquake with ongoing turmoil in the Mideast, civic unrest and widespread death threats in the U.S. midwest, lack of a national budget, spiraling deficit spending, skyrocketing gas prices ... well, you get the idea.

And what does our purported leader do?

Go golfing.

When the going gets tough, the tough ... go golfing?

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2011.03.11

Spring Break is here!!! Need I say more?

Quit Yer Bitchin'

I am so tired of the continual whining and bitching by the public sector unions in Wisconsin and elsewhere. What do they have to complain about?

In addition to wages and benefits in excess of the private sector (here, here, and here), public sector unions impose irrational and counterproductive policies that are focused on protecting themselves at the expense of the taxpaying public they supposedly exist to serve.

Private sector businesses face constant pressures of competition to innovate and improve their goods and services, lest they lose business to their competitors.  Government agencies, by contrast, are typically monopolies protected by law, and thus are not subject to such competitive incentives and pressures.  (There is a reason for all those jokes and complaints about the efficiency of post office and DMV workers.) (source)

Want some examples?

The case of Milwaukee teacher Megan Sampson is a classic example. Less than a week after the Wisconsin Council of English Teachers named Sampson its “Outstanding First Year Teacher,” she lost her job. The cause? Sampson got the pink slip because she lacked seniority.

The school’s collective bargaining agreement left no choice. Decisions had to be based on seniority rather than merit.

Sampson’s case was made worse because the teachers’ union refused to accept a lower-cost health care plan. Sampson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Given the opportunity, of course I would switch to a different plan to save my job, or the jobs of 10 other teachers.”

On the other end of the spectrum is a Cedarburg, Wis., teacher who was fired for viewing pornography — only to be reinstated by an arbitrator, a result of collective bargaining. In this case, it took a costly, taxpayer-funded legal battle that went all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court before the teacher was finally terminated.

Unions have also displayed a territorial bent that borders on absurdity. A Wausau, Wis., public employee union stopped an 86-year-old resident from being a volunteer crossing guard. WAOW-TV reported that union representatives didn’t want the man volunteering because it weakened their case to hire a unionized worker instead.

In another case, a Racine, Wis., public employee filed a grievance because inmates were cutting the grass free of charge. The union worker claimed it was the “right” for government workers to cut the grass, according to the Racine Journal Times.

The salaries and benefits of public workers have soared to levels unthinkable in the private sector because government negotiators bargain with taxpayer money, not their own. It’s happening at the Green Bay School District, which secured an agreement that allows a teacher to retire and receive a full year’s salary for only 30 days of work, according to WLUK-TV.

Meanwhile, in the city of Madison, Wis., a host of bus drivers and correctional officers are earning more than $100,000 per year. In fact, the single highest-paid employee in Madison was a bus driver who earned $159,258 in 2009, reported the Wisconsin State Journal.

$160 K, plus a Cadillac package of benefits, to drive a friggin' bus?!?! Are you kidding?!?!

Couple that with a sense of entitlement and a thuggish attitude that threatens violence against anyone who dares to question them, and it leads one to wonder why on earth these selfish sluggards and goons are tolerated. Fire 'em all and open the jobs up to true competition.

With a reported unemployment rate around 9%, there should be no shortage of qualified applicants willing to do an honest days work for an honest days pay.

Unlike the current public sector parasites...

Thumb-Twiddling Supreme

Anarchy in Wisconsin.

Civil war in Libya.

Skyrocketing gas and food prices.

And what is barack hussein obama, holder of what used to be the most powerful office in the world, doing about any of these issues?

Hosting a basketball-watching party.

Sigh...

Karma

Dear Icebergs,

Sorry to hear about that global warming thing. Karma's a bitch.

Sincerely,

Titanic

(I saw this somewhere on the internet, but I'll be damned if I can remember where. My apologies to whoever I lifted it from.)

Enough Already

The last couple of weeks have filled my cup to overflowing. No mas, por favor.

It started, like so many other tales of woe in my life, with a decision by my wife and kids. They wanted to go scuba diving during Spring Break. The only problem is that none of us are certified divers (my wife was one once upon a time, but that was three decades and two kids ago). So the past two weekends have been spent in classrooms and water. We finished the certification course last Sunday, and are leaving next Saturday.

Of course, the regular weekend workloads were put aside, so we're trying to get out from under that this week.

This is also the week before Spring Break. The kids are busy with projects and tests. I've got my own mid-terms to deal with, along with a heap of administrative nonsense that's been continuously put off until it can't be put off any more. In addition, the dean was hospitalized last Friday, and remains there to date, leaving a gaggle of department chairs, assistant deans, and other administrator wanna-bes arguing and issuing contradictory directives.

To top things off, both my wife and my 16-year old son were involved in auto accidents this week. No one was seriously hurt, thank God, although my wife did get a small cut over one eye that bled all over the car's interior and required several stitches. She was rear-ended by a 21-year old (no jokes, please, I've heard them all at this point) who was driving a brand new Corvette that still had the dealer tags on. The poor guy has to explain to all his friends that his new 'Vette is in the shop because he hit a soccer mom in a minivan. Not a very exciting story.

(As an aside, my wife has been receiving treatment for a shoulder problem. The treatment involves Arrosti therapy, which includes deep tissue massage that is not only quite painful, but results in widespread bruising. Her upper arm is a lovely tapestry of blues, greens, and yellows of various shades. Combine this with her black eye and stitches from the accident, and I get a large number of very dirty looks when we go out together.)

My son hit a deer as he was driving home last night. Not much of a contest - his '96 Crown Vic versus a scrawny hill country deer - but the critter did manage to break a headlight and parking light.

So we have two vehicles in the shop at the same time, leaving me to serve as full-time chauffeur. This will last until Sat. when we leave for our dive trip. By the time we return the two vehicles should be repaired and ready to go (knock on wood).

Oh yeah, I've had to schedule a hand-holding trip at the end of this month to help a good friend deal with some lingering grief over the sudden and unexpected loss of her fiance. I don't mind helping her out, but it's added another layer of activity and complication on a month that already has more than its share.

Of course, things could be worse. I could one of the public sector union members in Wisconsin who just got served their just desserts.

The Wisconsin Senate voted Wednesday night to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, approving an explosive proposal that had rocked the state and unions nationwide after Republicans discovered a way to bypass the chamber's missing Democrats.

All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker's "budget-repair bill" - a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.

The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday separated from the legislation the proposal to curtail union rights, which spends no money, and a special committee of lawmakers from both the Senate and Assembly approved the bill a short time later.

The unexpected yet surprisingly simple procedural move ended a stalemate that had threatened to drag on indefinitely. Until Wednesday's stunning vote, it appeared the standoff would persist until Democrats returned to Madison from their self-imposed exile.

All of a sudden I feel a lot better...

FID 2011.03.09

Like the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Via BMEWS, we have a sobering and troubling article that cautions the West about assuming that the recent turmoil in Arab countries - Tunisia, Bahrain, and Egypt, among others - means that the mythical 'Arab in the street' yearns for freedom from the shackles of Islamic fundamentalism.

The phrase ‘Arab Spring’ is being touted as if we were witnessing an unambiguous leap forward for ordinary Arabs: history marching towards democracy and pluralism.

No one wishes to contemplate, let alone prepare for, the alternative — that this might end in the restoration of authoritarian rule or, worse, the triumph of a radical Islam.
...

It is a great mistake to assume democracy is an enemy of Islamism. When the gift of democracy is unwrapped in the Arab world, Islamists frequently spring out of the box.

The jihadis may be despised by most Muslims, but often in Arab countries, only about 20 to 40 per cent of the population vote. It is by no means impossible for the Islamists to secure a majority from the minority because their supporters are the most fanatical.

Whatever the theory of democratisation in the Arab world, the history is clear: where democracy, however tentatively, has already been introduced, it is the Islamists who have come to power.

Democracy came to Morocco, and now the fundamentalist Party for Justice and Development (PJD) increases its number of seats at each election: it is only a matter of time before the party forms a majority in parliament.

Democracy came to Gaza, and the Islamist group Hamas took power. In Bahrain, following democratic reforms a decade ago, there is now a fundamentalist Sunni block dominating the elected chamber — despite the fact that the country’s population is 70 per cent Shia.

Ditto Yemen. Even in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood was officially outlawed, the group won a quarter of the parliamentary seats up for grabs six years ago.

But the Islamists seldom want to take control of the government machine; they have little interest in setting tax or energy policy. The influence they seek is cultural totalitarianism.

Not just in the Arab world, but everywhere. They have absolutely no concept of "live and let live."

What they need is a government sufficiently biddable to allow them to impose their cultural tyranny — and to succeed, they don’t need majority support. All the Islamists require is to be louder, more forceful and better organised than their opponents.

It would be foolish to argue that Arabs are somehow incapable of stable democratic government. There is, indeed, a chance that they are setting out on a turbulent path to a brighter future, free from repressive dogma.

We can only hope...

Through The Looking Glass

This time it was the intruder who called 911.

A man who broke into a house in Portland, Oregon, called police -- afraid the homeowner may have a gun.

Didn't he think of that possibility before he broke into the house? 

The suspect, Timothy James Chapek, was in the bathroom taking a shower when the homeowner returned to the house Monday night, Portland police said in a statement.

I admire his passion for cleanliness, but I do think he might have satisfied it a more socially acceptable way.

Accompanied by two German shepherds, the homeowner asked Chapek what he was doing in the house.

"DUDE! WTF ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!?!"

"ARF ARF ARF! GRRRR..."

Chapek locked himself in the bathroom and made an emergency call, police said. He said he had broken into the house, the owner had come home, and that he was concerned the owner might have a gun.

I would love to see a video of the 911 dispatcher receiving that call.

The homeowner also called the police to report that he had found a man in the house.

Police ... took Chapek, 24, into custody "without incident," they said. He was booked for criminal trespass.

They did not say if the homeowner did in fact have a gun.

What a bizarre story. I'd love to know what was going through the intruder's mind when he decided to break into someone's house and take a shower.

Probably drugs...

Top ten ways to tell if you might be a member of a public-sector union

10.) You take a week off to protest in Wisconsin and your office runs better.

9.) On a snow day when they say “non-essential” people should stay home you know who they mean.

8.) You get paid twice as much as a private sector person doing the same job but make up the difference by doing half as much work.

7.) It takes longer to fire you than the average killer spends on death row.

6.) The worse you do your job, the more your boss avoids you.

5.) You think the French are working themselves to death.

4.) You know by having a copy of the Holy Koran on your desk your job is 100% safe.

3.) You spend more time at protest marches than at church.

2.) You have a Democratic congressman’s lips permanently attached to your butt.

1.) You pay more in union dues than you do for your healthcare insurance.

(from here) 

FOD II 2011.03.07

 The skunk has replaced the Eagle as the new symbol for the President.

It is half black, half white, and everything it does stinks.

FOD 03.07.2011

I'm tired, so I'm going to piggyback off BMEWS, who posted a link to the following.

(No commentary - I told you I'm tired.)

10 Things You Need to Know About High Gas Prices and Obama’s Oil Policy

December 2010 saw the highest gas prices for the month of December in our nation’s history. This month, we’re setting similar records with the national average of $3.14/gallon–fifty cents higher than it was a year ago. If this trend continues, the summer of 2011 will hit consumers much harder than in the summer of 2008 when prices soared above $4/gallon.

But if you only read, hear or see this week’s news reports, you would think that oil and gas prices were doing just fine until the historic events in Egypt, Libya and across the Middle East unfolded this past month and caused spikes in the futures market. Unfortunately, that is not the case. President Obama has been unilaterally taking steps to increase the cost of gasoline for two years. Here are ten things you need to know about gas prices that you may not hear reported elsewhere:

   1. Gas Prices Are Skyrocketing Under President Obama: At the end of President George W. Bush’s two terms in office, prices were 9% lower than when he took office (adjusted for inflation). The day before President Obama was inaugurated; the average price of a gallon of gas was $1.83. Today, that average is $3.14.

   2. President Obama Has Crippled Domestic Oil Exploration: Putting aside calls from some who want to increase domestic exploration to areas in Alaska and elsewhere, President Obama has completely shut down the existing oil drilling infrastructure in the U.S. At least 103 permits are awaiting review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The federal government has not approved a single new exploratory drilling plan in the Gulf of Mexico since Obama “lifted” his deepwater drilling moratorium in October 2010. Obama also reversed an earlier decision by his administration to open access to coastal waters for exploration, instead placing a seven-year ban on drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts and Eastern Gulf of Mexico as part of the government’s 2012-2017 Outer Continental Shelf Program.

   3. The Obama Permitorium is Costing the Government Much-Needed Revenue: With production in the Gulf expected to drop in 2011 by 220,000 barrels per day, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates the U.S. will suffer $3.7 million in lost revenue per day as a result of lost royalties. If that holds, the federal government would lose more than $1.35 billion from royalty payments, just this year.

   4. The Obama Administration Has Been Held in Contempt of Court: Federal District Court Judge Martin Feldman held the Obama Interior Department in contempt of court on February 2, 2011, for dismissively ignoring his ruling to cease the drilling moratorium which the judge had previously struck down as “arbitrary and capricious.”

   5. Jobs Are Being Killed by Obama’s Oil Policies: As a direct result of Obama’s oil policies, companies that help supply our domestic energy needs are going out of business.

   6. And More Jobs Are Being Killed: Vendors, suppliers, even restaurants and retailers are losing ground or going out of business as a result of the economically crippling policies Obama has unilaterally imposed. According to Reuters, many of the thirty-plus deepwater rigs in the Gulf have moved to other markets. Each rig directly employs approximately 200 people, but that doesn’t even count the ripple effect across the nation. One industry official told CNBC that the industry was on “life support.” But President Obama is spending billions to finance offshore jobs…in Brazil. The Obama Administration committed at least $2 billion in 2009 towards Petrobras, one of the largest offshore oil drilling companies in the world.

   7. Decreasing Our Domestic Supply Increases Foreign Dependence: Even Energy Secretary Steven Chu admits that “any disruption in the Middle East means a partial disruption in the oil we import. It’s a world market and [a disruption] could actually have real harm of the price.” If this is the case, then cutting our domestic supply hardly seems like an appropriate response. Rather than face this reality, Secretary Chu ridiculously called for an increase in renewable energy investments, which is a complete non-sequitur.

   8. Renewable Energy Is Not the Answer to Mideast Turmoil: According to the EIA, petroleum accounts for less than one percent of electricity production. So wind and solar, which do not produce transportation fuel even if Obama’s $40,000 Chevy Volt quadruples production, can only replace coal and natural gas, of which America has an abundant supply. As for biomass, over 40 percent of domestic corn consumption goes to ethanol, which provides less than 10 percent of our transportation fuel and causes food prices to increase. Three large production platforms in the Gulf could provide an amount equivalent to all of the biofuels produced in the U.S.

   9. Regulations and Delays: The Obama EPA has added costly new regulations to refineries in the name of global warming, while the Obama Interior Department issues new rules that make it much harder to develop natural resources on government land. The EPA is also denying approval of the Keystone pipeline which would increase the amount of oil the U.S. receives from our friendly neighbor Canada by over a million barrels per day.

  10. The Middle East Is Not the Sole Cause of Rising Oil Prices: Global oil prices have been rising steadily for months based on variety of factors including those listed above and as the world economy pulls out of a recession. In fact, Egypt is not a major producer of petroleum, and only 2-3 percent of the world’s supply moves through the Suez Canal.

This week, Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman told Bloomberg Television: “We’re hoping capacity will be brought to bear so it will continue to support our economic recovery.” Mr. Poneman needs to head down his hallway to meet with his boss Secretary Chu and explain how energy prices affect an economic recovery. Because it was Chu who, in the name of environmental radicalism, stated in 2008: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” It would seem President Obama and Secretary Chu are getting their wish and you are paying for it every day.

Remember The Alamo

175 years ago today.

Think about it. 185 defenders holding off an army of 5000 for 12 days. Can you imagine what it must have been like inside those walls? What they must have been thinking?

God bless every man and woman who stand between their loved home and the war's desolation (if this sounds familiar, it's because I adapted it from the 4th verse of The Star Spangled Banner).



A great song by a great entertainer, in honor of great men...

Sunday Funnies 2011.03.06

Unions have been in the news a lot lately. I'm working on a project with a colleague at the University of Wisconsin who honestly can't understand why so many people are upset with unions. Hopefully the following will help open his eyes.

 Did you know that the pyramids were built by union labor?

The original design was a cube, but each shift did a little less till the last one said "throw a rock on top and lets go home".

 * * * * * * * * * *

Two managers and a union worker were fishing on a lake one day, when Jesus walked across the water and joined them in the boat.

When the three astonished men had settled down enough to speak, the first guy asked humbly, "Jesus, I've suffered from back pain ever since I took shrapnel in the Vietnam war...could you help me?"

"Of course, my son", Jesus said, and when he touched the man's back, he felt relief for the first time in years.

The second man, who wore very thick glasses and had a hard time reading and driving, asked if Jesus could do anything about his eyesight.

Jesus smiled, removed the man's glasses and tossed them in the lake. When they hit the water, the man's eyes cleared and he could see everything distinctly.

When Jesus turned to heal the union worker, the guy put his hands up and cried defensively, "Don't touch me! I'm on long term disability."

 * * * * * * * * * *

A dedicated union worker was attending a convention in Las Vegas and, as you would expect, decided to check out the local brothels. When he got to the first one, he asked the Madame, "Is this a union house?"

"No," she replied, "I'm sorry it isn't."

"Well, if I pay you $100, what cut do the girls get?"

"The house gets $80, and the girls get $20." Mightily offended at such unfair dealings, the man stomped off in search of a more equitable, hopefully unionized shop.

His search continued until finally he reached a brothel where the Madame responded, "Why yes sir, this is a union house."

The man asked, "And if I pay you $100, what cut do the girls get?"

The Madame replied' " the girls get $80, and the house gets $20."

"That's more like it!" the union man said. He looked around the room and pointed to a stunning attractive blond. "I'd like her for the night."

"I'm sure you would sir," said the Madame, then, gesturing to an obese seventy-five year old woman in the corner, "but Ethel here has seniority."

Blood On Their Hands

Peter over at Bayou Renaissance Man has been on a bit of a justified rant concerning what can at best be described as dereliction of duty by higher-ups in the ATF and Justice Department concerning gun trafficking from the U.S. into Mexico. Now at least one member of the mainstream media has for once done their watchdog duty.

From CBS News: (full text and video available at the link below)

Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, (Federal agent John ) Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.

Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.

ATF named the case "Fast and Furious."

Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles.

So it turns out ATF not only allowed it - they videotaped it.

Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets... the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.

Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over.

Their answer, according to Dodson, was, "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs."

There was so much opposition to the gun walking, that an ATF supervisor issued an e-mail noting a "schism" among the agents. "Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case...we are doing what they envisioned.... If you don't think this is fun you're in the wrong line of work... Maybe the Maricopa County jail is hiring detention officers and you can get $30,000 ... to serve lunch to inmates..."

"We just knew it wasn't going to end well. There's just no way it could," Dodson said.

On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down. Dodson got the bad news from a colleague.

According to Dodson, "They said, 'Did you hear about the border patrol agent?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And they said 'Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns.' There's not really much you can say after that."

Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly a year before were found at Terry's murder.

So a law enforcement agency of the federal government stood back and let criminals smuggle weapons into Mexico that not only contributed to the growing violence down there, but led directly to the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

I'm afraid that at this point I've just about run out of outrage at all the crap this administration has pulled, from refusing to investigate racially-based intimidation of voters during the 2008 presidential election, to refusing to enforce laws it doesn't like, to refusing to obey court rulings it disagrees with, to now concocting some harebrained scheme to ... what ... build a case that argues for the continued existence and support of the ATF by willfully allowing a crisis situation to worsen so it can claim the ATF is needed to solve a problem that it in fact helped create!?!

Heads should role - but, sadly, won't...

Mind Your Own Business

Friction evident as Mexican president visits US

The human and financial costs of Mexico's drug war, diplomatic cable leaks, the influx of U.S. arms and a wave of anti-immigration initiatives in the United States are all taking a toll on Mexico-U.S. relations...

As President Felipe Calderon prepares for an official visit to Washington on Thursday to meet with President Barack Obama, frustrations have come out into the open and the rhetoric in some ways has regressed to the 1980s, when the two governments routinely traded barbs about drugs, money laundering, trade and investment issues.

The visit comes a little more than two weeks after the killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata...

The killing brought back U.S. doubts about Mexico's ability to control violence, at the same time Mexico is beginning to chafe under what it sees as a lack of U.S. willingness to reduce its demand for drugs or stem the flow south of guns that fuel a conflict that has cost more than 34,600 lives here since Calderon took office in 2006.

Hold it right there por un momento, señor.

I'll grant that the U.S. drug policy is screwed up and out of touch with reality. But blaming the U.S. demand for Mexico's inability to control violence, corruption, and class inequities is not justified. Mexico has always been a country where the haves and the have-nots have been at war. That has contributed to the ongoing cycle of violence, corruption, and oppression that has been endemic throughout Mexican history - long before any U.S. demand for drugs.

"As far as reducing the demand for drugs, they haven't done so. ... As far as reducing the flow of arms, they haven't, it has increased," Calderon said in unusually harsh comments the week before the visit...

One again, alto. If Mexico can't control it's border well enough to slow down or halt the alleged flow of arms, that's on them, not on us. The last time I looked, automatic weapons and things like RPGs, which the cartels seem to have plenty of, are illegal in the U.S. If the cartels are getting a supply of those types of weapons, it's not from north of the border.

Calderon "has not gotten a response beyond rhetoric on the gun issue ... and I think he is bothered by the prospect that special-interest groups in the United States have more influence than Mexico's entire leadership," said Raymundo Riva Palacio, a veteran columnist and political observer in Mexico City.

Damn straight. American special interest groups should have more influence than Mexico's leadership. This is, after all, America - not Mexico. Get your house in order and then maybe someone over here will pay attention to you.

According to Mexican officials, the Calderon-Obama meeting was planned before the Zapata killing, and will focus on economic issues, anti-crime cooperation, and conditions for the estimated 12 million Mexican migrants living in the United States.

But Calderon's most important meeting may be with the new U.S. House Speaker, Republican John Boehner, according to Pamela Starr, professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California. It may be Mexico's best opportunity to defend the next phase of the $1.4 billion U.S. Merida Initiative anti-drug aid plan.

Oh yes - it always comes back to money. But Calderon's approach is somewhat unusual, to say the least. If he's going to come over here hat in hand, seeking his $1.4B handout, he shouldn't be complaining about U.S. internal politics and policies. Beggars can't be choosers.

Contributing to the friction was the release of leaked cables written by U.S. Embassy personnel depicting Mexico's armed forces and police agencies as inefficient, corrupt, riven by infighting and "reliant on the United States for leads and operations."

The truth hurts, doesn' it.

In truth, I do have a lot of empathy for Calderon. He's in a tough situation, much of which he inherited. And I can understand his frustration in trying to clean up in a few short years a mess that's been several generations in the making. But the way to succeed is not by insulting the closet foreign ally he has.

But while the United States wonders if Mexico can control violence and bring criminals to justice, Mexico has just been left wondering whether that opening is reciprocal.

Mexico continues to wait for the opening of U.S. highways to Mexican trucks, something it is entitled to under NAFTA. The U.S. Congress has simply blocked that program under pressure from industry groups with arguments about highway safety.

From a legal/theoretical perspective, Mexico may have a good point here. There's not much doubt that the U.S. has been dragging its feet in complying with the trucking provisions of NAFTA. But I would argue that the highway safety argument is valid. I drive back and forth between the border and Central Texas on a weekly basis. One of the things that stands out is that semis with U.S. plates are lined up nice and polite in the right hand lane, adhering very closely to the speed limit. The reason for this is that most of the trucking companies have GPS transponders installed on their trucks. Among the data that is collected and transmitted is their speed. If they exceed the limit their insurance rates go up, and the driver is punished. This is great news for those of us who drive passenger vehicles. On the other hand, the vast majority of trucks I've seen speeding and driving recklessly have Mexican plates. (Mexican trucks can freely operate within a 25-mile zone inside the border. I feel much safer when I reach mile marker 26.)

And Mexicans have been angered at tough measures to crack down on illegal immigration in several U.S. states. They are especially alarmed about proposals that aim to deny citizenship to children of undocumented migrants born in the United States.

Boo-hoo. Tough fucking shit. What part of "illegal immigration" do they think exempts them from punishment? And why in God's name do they think their kids are entitled to U.S. citizenship just because the mother committed a criminal act by sneaking in to this country right before popping the kid out?

Bottom line - get your own house in order first. Even then, there are aspects of U.S. internal politics that are none of your business. So keep your nose where it belongs - south of the border, down Mexico way...

Wut, Trauer, & Warum

I'm not going to go into much detail on this. As Harper pointed out, there is a marked lack of national interest, sorrow, and fury. I doubt if recent updates (below) will change that, unfortunately.

The man who shot and killed two American troops in Germany Wednesday was a recently radicalized Muslim whose aim was to kill American troops

Is anyone really surprised? Is this even considered news anymore?

U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters Wednesday he was "saddened and outraged" by the attack. "We will spare no effort in learning how this outrageous attack took place," he said.

"Saddened" because it interrupted his Motown party. "Outraged" because he will be expected to show some fortitude and leadership, two qualities he totally lacks.

Also note that he promises to "spare no effort in learning how this outrageous attack took place" but makes no mention of punishing the guilty or preventing future attacks. The guy can't even say the right thing, much less do it.

What an absolute and total loser.

 

Flowers and a sign reading "anger, grief, why" are put down at the site where two U.S. airmen have been killed in front of the Frankfurt, Germany, airport, Thursday, March 3, 2011. German federal prosecutors said Wednesday's attack on a busload of U.S. airmen that killed two and wounded two others at Frankfurt airport appears to have been motivated by Islamic extremism.  

At least the German people show some sorrow and outrage. Danke schön.

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

Back when I was in the corporate world, I once had a boss who insisted that there were no problems or obstacles, just "opportunities for improvement" and "challenges." Well, as we all know, there are plenty of "opportunities for improvement" in the public school system. Despite such a target-rich environment, I'll restrict myself to one that caught my eye today.

The wrong people are in charge of the class rooms.

Teacher rattles table in class, student calls 911

ATHERTON, Calif. – A California school teacher was placed on paid administrative leave after he rattled a table to get the attention of his math students, startling an eighth-grade girl who used her cell phone to call police.

Rattled a table. Didn't pound on it, didn't yell, didn't throw things, didn't slap or hit anyone. Just rattled a friggin' table to get the attention of a room full of 8th-graders.

Have you ever tried to get the attention of a bunch of teenagers? Sometimes even an airhorn or steamwhistle doesn't work, much less rattling a friggin' table.

Atherton police Sgt. Tim Lynch tells the Palo Alto Daily News that officers went to Selby Lane School Tuesday afternoon because of reports a teacher was causing a disturbance.

Officers found a calm teacher with class in session.

Read that last sentence again "Officers found a calm teacher with class in session." Keep that in mind.

The sergeant says the teacher's table-rattling startled a student and she used her cell phone to call 911. He says other students in the class weren't bothered by the teacher's actions.

Redwood City School District deputy superintendent John Baker says the teacher was placed on leave because there was a police response.

Let me guess. The Redwood City School District has a bunch of zero-tolerance policies. Forget common sense, forget judgment or context or any other reasonable, mature evaluation process. Let's just make up a bunch of black and white rules. That way no one in the administration will ever have to make a decision. 

So now we have a teacher suspended - with pay, no less - and with a permanent record in his file that the police were called in response to his classroom behavior. We also have a school full of teenagers who now know that if they have an issue with a particular teacher all they need to do is call 911 and that teacher gets suspended, no matter what.

"Officers found a calm teacher with class in session."

Yep, that definitely sounds like grounds for suspending the teacher.

And we wonder why our public schools are in trouble...

FID 2011.03.02

My daughter just walked into the living room and said, "Daddy, cancel my allowance, rent my room out, throw all my clothes out of the window, take my TV, stereo, iPhone and jewelry to the charity shop. Sell my car, take my front door key and throw me out of the house".

Well, she didn't actually put it like that. Her exact words were "This is my new boyfriend, Mohammed."

Muslim dating...

Happy Birthday, Texas

Today is the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence.The Republic of Texas existed as an independent sovereign country, a distinction no other U.S. state can claim, from 2 March 1836 until Texas annexed the rest of the United States in 1845.

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.

The above is the opening phrase of the Declaration. It's as relevant today as it was in 1836.

The full version can be found here. Or you can go here for an interactive site related to Texas Independence.

(Trivia: a 175th anniversary is known as, among other terms, a Dodransbicentennial or a Septaquintaquinquecentennial.)