Adventures In Travel: Part Deux

Here’s what I’ve learned today, just now: Oriental people are early birds. Like this very Anglo-Saxon gal, these people are way too early for their flights because they aren’t going to be left behind. No siree. The rapture folks ain’t got nothin’ on these always prepared Buddhists. They are ready. Like now. They are also hogging every single outlet in the Tom Bradley International Terminal. I’m wigging out. I need power, baby, and no aggressive Chinaman is going to put me off. Oh, hell no. You have your Sun Tzu? I raise you a General Patton, sucka.

I’m juicing up for the long flight. One outlet is mine. All mine, precious. An upside of Continental Airlines being run by a bunch of apathetic boobs is that we got upgraded today, plane-wise. We are now on the Airbus A-380. Yes, it’s a plane made by the French and that worries me. Italians are troublesome, too. (Whew, I’m being all kinds of politically incorrect tonight. Let’s just go for another continent and say right here, right now that Robert Mugabe is a despicable human being and the rest of Africa needs to stop covering for leaders who work over their own people.) The upside of this glorious plane is that 1) it’s quiet and 2) it’s quiet. Oh, and I hear the seats are wide–a benefit for wide-assed corn-fed Americans. (I’m on my way to a politically incorrect ringer.)

Anyway, today was a good day. Gorgeous, if brisk, and the kids got to see the Pacific, a lack of experience that has excessively bothered them for some time. I don’t get why. One theory: they know too much. The downside of home schooling is that they now know world geography and feel deprived because they haven’t been to say, Singapore. They figure everyone goes to Singapore (the oil industry means that lots of kids have lived lots of places) or Europe or Russia or the UAE. It’s a different, more connected world, that’s for sure.

Google Earth freaked us out today. My daughter was fooling with my iPhone, found the street we were on, looked at street view and hello, there’s a car. There’s a couple layers of scary. She knows how to use the technology, no problem. And Google knows how to find us, no problem.

Anyway, in 17 hours or so, I should be in another hemisphere, on another continent. I’ve decided to not disparage the Australians because they seem like really nice people and plus, I’m going to be there for a couple weeks and I want to make it back home alive. Because you know what? Now that Kevin (I’m sorry) Rudd is in charge, Australia isn’t as America friendly and I might be dropped in the “outback” to be eaten by “dingos”. That is just scary.

Oh! And this is the strangeness of the universe. We met a guy suffering our same plight. He was Australian, didn’t know the area and frankly looked a wee bit terrified of finding his way in LA. So, I suggested he come with us even though, at 1 a.m. we didn’t know where we were going. He came along. We ended up at the Hilton which gave us nice hotel at a very good price and very late check out. Today, we saw him on the streets of Santa Monica. He’ll probably be next to us on the plane. This is where people’s beliefs about coincidence and fiat come into play. I tend to start thinking there is something I should pay attention to when I trip over the same person or idea multiple times. Others would say that I give chance too much credit.

More adventures coming forth with.

P.S. Is this travel blogging boring you? Rush Limbaugh’s readers always give him crud when he talks about football, but I’m like, get a life, football is fine. And so, today, I haven’t blogged about the UAW Bailout or Ann Romney’s breast cancer or Sarah Palin for Senate or Democratic corruption or Congress’ pay raise (even though they suck and are the reason the economy is imploding) or Princess Caroline (wow, even Kos is talking about her lack of voting, snort). I haven’t talked about any of that stuff because well, I’m sick of politicians and politics. By this time last year, I was so fed up that I “quit” for two whole weeks. And then, like a big sucker, I came back during the most hideous election year ever. I didn’t think it could get worse and then, it did.

I want to go on the record here about something important. Yes, it’s Friday night and no one’s reading this anyway, but I’m saying it:

I’m glad John McCain lost.

There. I said it. And I voted for him, by the way. The next four years are going to stink in ways only B.O. can stink and and it’s a relief that it’s him and not McCain. It is bad being worked over by your opponent. I’ve been on a losing team before and it’s no fun. But there is nothing worse than being on the winning team only to have the “star” not live up to one shred of his potential. What is worse, is to find out that the star of your team is throwing the game because he’s in on some gambling scheme. I’m not saying that John McCain would be a cheater. I’m just saying he would completely disrespect his voters every, single day of our existence. The Left would hate him, but that wouldn’t stop McCain from trying to curry their favor. It would be a tortured experience.

Watching the Left endure their version of voter colic has been nothing if not entertaining. Seeing Obama stumble through a press conference and chastise his sycophants makes me giggle. Reading the far left’s bloggers try to explain their savior’s betrayals makes me all warm inside. Oh, I feel their pain. I know what it’s like to actually believe something and to be rolled by the guy you voted for. It’s not fun. I’d rather it be them than me.

We’re all going to suffer the next four years. It’s going to be awful. It would be awful with McCain. It would be awful with anyone. The environment is just bad right now. Way back, I wondered what kind of lunatic would want to be president during such a difficult time. Well, we’ve got one, Barack Obama. May the force be with him. In the mean time, it’s been a lot more fun than I expected…..so far.

Posted in America, Political Animals | 2 Comments »

Airline Service: This Time It’s Continental

Airline service is a non-sequitor. I sit here listening to my daughter sing in the shower, in the Hilton LAX where I’ve been residing since 1:30 a.m. I should be nearly to Sydney, Australia by now. But no.

Airplane travel sucks. As if you don’t know this. Continental, the current baddie, is usually better than this. Although, I’ve battled a bad attitude ever since they started charged $15 a bag. That was for high gas prices and extra weight. Yeah, gas prices have dropped. No, the fees didn’t go away. But still, at least they would give you a drink and throw you some pretzels. On U.S. Air recently, they wanted to charge me $2 for a cup of water–not even a bottle of water. I opted for dehydration.

Yesterday though, was irritating. We had a 7 p.m. flight to LA. At 11:45 p.m. California time, we were to board a plane to Sydney. Three hours should be plenty of time to layover, right? Um, no. When I boarded the plane to CA, after waiting with no sold information for 2 1/2 hours in Houston, I told the main Stewardess, “It’s going to be close, can you call Qantas and tell them?” I could tell by her reaction that she didn’t care. And she didn’t. When we ran to the Qantas counter at 11:45 p.m., the flight to Sydney was delayed, but they had closed up shop. There was no getting through. It was also the first they’d heard of our late flight.

We were at the airport until 1 a.m. sorting out luggage. The line for Continental was at least 250 people deep. The misery index high. Three planes had missed connections by less than 10 minutes. How is it economical for the airlines to fly half-full? I’d really like to know how that’s a good business model.

Continental failed at communication, empathy, efficiency and humanity. They knew we’d miss our connections and didn’t inform us so we could plan ahead. They made it seem like we still could get where we needed to go, so we tried to find a solution when they knew there was none, but it deflected immediate pressure. They alternately told us that the problem was one of the engines and the weather. So, we weren’t sure if we should be worried about the plane’s safety.

Here’s how bad the service was on the plane: Another Continental pilot was connecting to a flight he was going to be captaining to Hong Kong. His new plane was 2 minutes from lift-off. (Of course it couldn’t go anywhere without him.) The stewardess didn’t arrange for him to get off the plane first. The workers on the plane were absolutely rude to him and the rest of the frantic passengers. They didn’t care.

You know it’s bad when the flight crew disrespects one of its own. What is wrong with these people? The pilot said, “I don’t know how much longer I can work for this company.”

And I don’t know how long these lame ass companies can stay in business. A year from now, they’ll be barking about wanting another bailout and wondering why no one flies. And if all goes the way it usually does, they’ll be bailed out by the very tax payers they defecate on every day.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News

Posted in America | 5 Comments »

The Sky Isn’t Falling Quite Yet

So I put up a link that makes it seem like the United States is bankrupt–like bankrupt now. Turns out that the data The DC Examiner reported on is manipulated and essentially crap:

The United States of America is bankrupt. Don’t believe it? Consider this: Federal obligations now exceed the collective net worth of all Americans, according to the New York-based Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Washington politicians and bureaucrats have essentially mortgaged everything We the People own so they can keep spending our tax dollars like there’s no tomorrow.

The foundation’s grim calculations are based on Sept. 30 consolidated federal statements, which showed that Americans’ total household net worth, diminished by falling stock prices and home equity, is $56.5 trillion. But rising costs for unfunded social programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security increased to $56.4 trillion – and that was before the more recent stock market crash, $700 billion bank bailout, and monster federal deficits chalked up in October and November.

“Given more recent developments, it’s clear that America now owes more than its citizens are worth,” said Foundation president David M. Walker, the former Comptroller-General of the United States who has been trying to warn Americans of the coming financial tsunami for years, to no avail. So, after Uncle Sam bails out bankers, Wall Street gamblers, carmakers and over-their-head homeowners, who’ll bail out Uncle Sam?

Chas Martin explains:

They palmed a card, actually two cards: the first one is they’re using household net worth … but that leaves out corporate net worth, so they’re ignoring, eg, Exxon. The second is that they’re comparing future obligations to pay with current assets, so it’s like saying you’re “bankrupt” because the total of your expected future living expenses exceeds your net worth.

I wrote about the same comparison in PJM early in the year — can’t link it usefully, PJM has hosed something — making the correct comparison of total US assets per person versus total US obligations per person, and it was about $300K assets vs $160K obligations, or over the whole population, about $90 trillion versus $48 trillion. Most of that wealth is real stuff — land, houses, factories, etc — and hasn’t gone away in the last year.

You know, things are bad enough right now. Much of the economic stall these days is because companies are just sitting and holding. That is, they aren’t taking risks to grow, expand and innovate because they don’t want their cash tied up if the whole shebang is going to implode. Well, it starts to become a self fulfilling prophecy.

There is no question that people have lived beyond their means and some have gone so far that they can’t get it back. It is going to take some time to correct this cultural problem. People are going to have to cut back and pay off debt.

There is no question that the banking industry and the people on Wall Street played with funny money and in some cases outright defrauded people. It is important to remember that stocks and funds are only as good as the businesses they back and the people who are in those businesses. The pressure to perform and profit at all costs creates an environment ripe for fraud.

Even with these problems, it does not help the economy or the American psyche to find problems where there aren’t any. This behavior causes more problems and its irresponsible.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News

Posted in America, Corrupted Culture, Show Me The Money | 1 Comment »

Yes, America Is O-V-E-R Unions

When they helped the poor, abused, underpaid, overworked masses, unions made sense. Child laborers, sweat shops, and indentured servitude was just plain wrong.

We are soooo far from those days it’s not even funny.

Mexico, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, all have to worry about worker exploitation. Other countries like Zimbabwe should just make it a priority to not kill people.

In America, we have problems but bad work conditions and maltreatment are not some of them. The Economist says:

The waning popularity of unions is not just a recent phenomena. The UAW unsuccessfully attempted to unionise my fellow students and me when I was in graduate school. They launched an impressive lobbying effort, playing on the left-wing tendencies of the students in the humanities and social sciences (not the economists of course, they didn’t even bother with us). At the time I figured things must be pretty bad for autoworkers if the UAW had to turn to graduate students for union dues.

But it’s not just the UAW that has fallen out of favour. Teachers unions are a popular target, too. They’re held responsible for perpetuating failure in public school systems by opposing accountability standards and performance pay. When New York City transit workers went on strike even the most left-leaning, upper-west-side-dwelling New Yorker wanted Roger Toussaint’s head. Now if the actors strike (just when we need entertainment the most for pete’s sake), I don’t anticipate them getting much sympathy either.

Unions remain too powerful in America to disappear anytime soon. But I wonder if this recession will have the opposite effect of the Depression, and may make unions less relevant.

Have some freaking perspective Union bosses and workers. When the average worker makes more per hour than an accountant or nurse or teacher, people feel a wee less sympathetic. When union benefits rob companies of maneuverability and productivity, the small businesses that support the big giants get frustrated. There are new products and innovations out there and the Unions strangle the life out of them because of their rules and regulations. When small business people pay huge taxes and expect to work until they’re 65 because 1) they love their work and 2) they have to, it rings hollow to hear some young 50 year old guy bitching because he might lose his pension benefits. Um, hello? Get a freaking job!

Anyway, union sympathy has come and gone. It will be a huge mistake if the Screen Actors Guild decides to strike, but I kinda hope they do. Hollywood sucks on a good day. There is no better time than now to break a union.

Cross-posted at RightWingNews

Posted in America, Show Me The Money | 8 Comments »

Sexually Ambiguous Ground Acquisition Sports

Agent Bedhead notes something about football, that I’ve always felt about any sport where men wear a unitard (wrestling, cycling, and now, even swimming):

Football is a sport for men only, preferably of the muscle-bound variety, who wear tight spandex pants and play with an awkwardly-shaped ball. The object of the game is to score, whatever the hell that means, and one of best ways to score is by making passes. With positions called tight end and wide receiver; and team names such as Packers, Rams, Giants, Cowboys, Raiders, and Oilers, we simply cannot continue to overlook the gayness of this beloved American sport.

Oh, and one cannot possibly forget the almighty Saints, a moniker whose concept didn’t succeed at keeping the gays out of Catholicism either. The ruse is most definitely over, boys.

She has pictures that provide more than ample proof, because pictures don’t lie. Just ask the Reuters stringers from Lebanon and Iraq. It’s the truth, man.

Enjoy your games, guys!

Posted in America, Entertain Me | 1 Comment »

Is The Sky Really Falling?

When you’re a doctor, you see lots of patients. You also talk to other doctors who see lots of patients. And a very interesting thing is happening among both sets of people that I thought I’d share with you. I’m curious about your opinion. Many people are setting aside six months cash, on hand, out of the bank and also buying gold coins (marked and unmarked) and guns (registered and unregistered–remember New Orleans?). I had a friend tell me that her boyfriend who is a banker was thinking of pulling his cash out of the bank. A spokesman on Fox News said that a bomb shelter would be a good idea.

For quite some time, the press said the economic sky was falling and yet just a gander around indicated that the sky most definitely was NOT falling. People were eating out, shopping, driving new cars, etc. Around the time of the election and banking crisis, the numbers of home defaults rising, business seemed to be slowing, the market was up and down like a roller coaster and gas prices were sky high. People were feeling the squeeze. Still, the economy goes up and down, banks are insured, most people are doing the right thing. Talk of a next Great Depression sounded irresponsible.

Are we headed for a New Great Depression?

There comes a point where the absurd becomes absolutely rational, but no one wants to believe the evidence because the implications are so horrifying. It’s called denial. Denial can be as destructive as generalized anxiety and conspiracy theorizing. One extreme pretends that threats that do exist, don’t. The other extreme sees threats where there are none.

Have we reached an economic point where it is rational and sensible to have cash in a box, under the bed? Have we reached the place where some gold on hand would be helpful should everything tank? What do you think?

Cross-posted at RightWingNews

Posted in America, Show Me The Money | 25 Comments »

New York Times Is A Sign Of The Old Timers: User-Driven News Is The Future

So the New York Times needs to borrow against collateral to survive. I’m not surprised. This Sunday, I looked at the big lump of a paper put at my hotel room’s door and sighed. Why bother? I scrolled through my feed links, saw the articles that interested me, read them and moved along.

And really, when you think about it, what IS the news? I didn’t hear about the Bombay attack via the news and the most up-to-date news came via Twitter. The networks were okay for sensational pictures. But really, I was so totally NOT interested in hearing Deepack Chopra’s opining on Larry King or Christiane Amanpour’s two cents, either.

The news should be fact, period. This is what we know. Leave wild speculation to the Twitterverse. Leave the commentary to the experts–people who know their topic cold.

And, my co-blogger John Hawkins wonders why local newspapers are necessary, either. Considering that many papers are just pulling feeds from AP, Reuters, etc. and the local news is “bought’, and by that I mean heavily influenced by advertising dollars, what’s the point?

I foresee a time when individuals will post a news item like on eBay and people will lend credibility to the news story by rating it for: accuracy, readability, timeliness, relevance and trustworthiness or something. The contributor would get a rating. Boom! There you go. User-driven news source that’s more accurate than what we get now. Oh, and the story can get tagged so people can search and find it based on community, topic, etc.

Thoughts?

Cross-posted at RightWingNews. Follow me at Twitter!

Posted in America, Entertain Me | 4 Comments »

Conservative-Libertarian Treatise

What should we stand for? Here’s what I think we should stand for:

Life: Protecting life, preserving life, defending life, encouraging life and fostering ways to make life more abundant.

Liberty: There is a sense that there are too many laws, constricting too many lives, for too many idiosyncratic reasons. People need to be free from too many regulations and nit-picky rules. It has gotten to the point where nearly no person or profession can comply with the law. That’s a problem. Freedom equals economic determination. A person who keeps his money, keeps his choices.

Justice: Laws should be applied fairly and make sense. There shouldn’t be different standards for people of different races, genders, ages, etc. The punishments should be fair and equitable.

Limited Government: This is choosing the individual over the collective. The fundamental belief is people know how best to live their lives. The government is a harsh task-master. People should have their own money, not be taxed to death.

Strong Defense: Defend the borders. Win wars. Make the efforts swift and complete and as humane as possible. End war as quickly as possible. Terrorism is with us to stay. The government’s foremost job is defend the country. The intelligence and military serve as the country’s immune system. It must be strong.

Strong Infrastructure: Too much government money goes for stupid projects. Meanwhile, the country crumbles. It IS the government’s job to make sure people can travel and that includes on the information superhighway. Good roads, bridges, tunnels, communication, energy are a foundation for commerce, and heaven forbid, for defense.

Individual Rights: You’d think that the Bill of Rights would be enough, but no. Look at what happened with the Kelo decision. The Supreme Court made it simple for the government to take property away from the individual. This is wrong. Period. Individuals should be able to speak, congregate, keep their property, have as many guns as they want, etc. This shouldn’t even be a discussion, but some do-gooder is convinced that Americans can’t handle their rights and the solution is to take them away. The flip side of individual rights is individual responsibility. That is self-reliance naturally grows out of individualism. As families have broken down, government reliance has become the new way.

Conservation verses environmentalism. Environmental theories come and go, but a few principles remain: Clean air and water, pure food, and conserving of the species is a no-brainer. The top of the species is man. It is man’s responsibility to care for what he controls. Back to that individual thing.

I know this isn’t complete, by any means, but I’m trying to keep it simple. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. If the Republicans are going to win back American leadership, they need to be guided by core principles. Retaining power for its own sake is not a principle, it’s been the problem.

Posted in America | 21 Comments »

What Would Happen If A Mumbai Attack Happened Here?

Watching the spectacular horror continuing in Mumbai, my thoughts turn to American cities. Could this happen here and what elements would have to be in place for it to happen?

1. Terrorists like drama and dense populations. So, that would favor a city. Some cities are more suitable–Chicago, DC and New York come to mind. Los Angeles and Houston are spread out. So is Miami. Tight quarters are target rich.

2. So let’s a assume a city. Terrorists like unarmed inhabitants. Well, criminals everywhere are armed, of course. But New York, DC and Chicago all have unfriendly gun laws. Perfect! I was thinking about this sort of thing happening in Houston. It wouldn’t last long. I don’t know the number of people with CHLs (concealed carry handgun licenses), but the number is high. That tends to make the populace less willing to comply.

3. Terrorists like symbolism. The Twin Towers were symbolic of our economic and infrastructure strength. Like two ugly (to design gurus eyes) beacons, they represented towering power. The Taj, likewise, symbolizes wealth and the new India:

To have pictures of burning Taj Hotel broadcast around the world will have a deeper impact than even perhaps the terrorists intended, striking a blow against a symbol of Indian wealth and progress and sending shivers down the spine of some of the richest and most powerful people on the planet.

When I watch the police response in Mumbai, it’s wholly inadequate. This is not to cast aspersions. I remember being outraged at the impotence of the police during the Virginia Tech attack and in Columbine. In both cases, there were just one or two culprits, and by the Mumbai standards, they weren’t heavily armed, but the police were held at bay. Their rules of engagement would not allow them to burst in to rescue anyone–booby-traps and whatnot. But saving police officer’s lives superseded saving unarmed civilians and that seemed wrong to me. Watching the police surrounding a building while hearing people being executed: not acceptable.

The terrorist operations are more like guerrilla combat. High school kids weaned on video games and armed to the teeth might have a better chance against such a well-trained enemy. I mention this because American police forces simply aren’t prepared to deal with street warfare, unless there have been massive training exercises I’m not aware of. (A very good possibility, and I welcome any and all input, since I’m neither a soldier nor a law enforcement officer.) One thing that is heartening: Hopefully Iraq and Afghanistan vets are taking jobs within police forces. They’d have the sort of combat training needed.

And the thing is, with the element of surprise and the energy of fear, terrorists can do significant damage even if law enforcement is prompt and perfectly competent. The only chance people have is to be armed.

But who is armed? Even in Texas there are laws against bringing guns into hospitals. So hospitals make very soft targets. The security guards don’t exactly inspire confidence. I’ve spent plenty of time at hospitals, too much, and during my stay a woman was raped in the hallways. Not exactly a safe environment.

In Mumbai, people were attacked in a hospital, hotel, a synagogue, and by a marauding hi-jacked police van. How could this attack be stopped here? Armed individuals. That’s it. That’s all I can come up with. Anything less and intervention is too delayed, too impotent.

An armed populace trained to fight back would go a long way to increasing security. The old fashioned notion of militias sprang to my mind just now. Maybe that’s the answer: civilians who band together and train for these situations.

Thoughts?

P.S. The power of individuals defines this new age. Twitter has (unconfirmed) non-stop information streaming from Mumbai. Since the new organizations have been slow on the uptake and confusion has reigned, Google Maps, Flickr and Twitter have become the vehicles to carry data–including naming terror suspects. This is a new world. Law enforcement will need to adjust and use the cutting-edge technology to their advantage. Currently, they are asking for a stop to Tweets–a potential rumor, still unsubstantiated (depends on the news source you believe). Can they use them beneficially, instead?

Also, from Pajamas, Bridget Johnson explains the threat Pakistan poses to the world. She brings up an excellent point: Americans, Brits and Jews were specially sought out. That is Islamic terrorism and an act of war–not a criminal act. One of the commenters, CoolCzech over at Right Wing News said:

I wonder if the Daily Koz tells the Indians that this is “just the politics of fear,” and insist that no matter, the armed assault teams must be tried in civil court?

I wonder what their reaction will be if such teams come ashore in lower Manhattan one of these days??

More here on whodunnit.

Posted in America, We're All Gonna Die | 27 Comments »

While America Eats, Russia Knocks

From Fausta, here is what’s happening with our “good friend” Russia:

• Naval maneuvers in the Caribbean
  A potential Russo-Venezuelan OPEC-like agreement for natural gas
  Trade agreements throughout South America with Russia delivering food, medicine, and NUCLEAR material.

Russia does nothing accidentally. Their Georgian act of war was timed while the world was looking toward China. This action is pure, unadulterated aggression, albeit rather passive.

I wonder what is Barack Obama’s comprehensive Russian plan? Sure hope he has one. He’s being bullied already.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News and The Houston Chronicle

Posted in America, Not America | 1 Comment »