More-on-Meg?

Kind of a slow day here, so I started wondering, why would the 126th richest American who’s worth is reputed to be in the area of 1.2 Billion Dollars spend about 130 million of those hardly earned dollars to get elected to a job that only pays only a little bit over $200,000 in U.S. dollars a year?

This calculates out that she would have to hold this job for about 650 years just to break even, which is somewhat longer than even John McCain has been alive.

However, this bought elected office has term limits that offer (at the outside) 8 years of possible employment, unless your name is Gray Davis, in which case, not so much. So in re-calculating it, she’s paying at least $16,250,000.00 for each of those years she’s in office. Maybe more if the electorate pulls their collective heads out of their collective asses and removes her from her money losing (for us) scheme.

O.K., so the answer is not too difficult to track down, she owns major holdings in many mega-corporations that stand to rake in mega-billions (that’s with a “B”) if someone at the top of the heap makes some decisions that favor them.

How much did the old fart bid on eBay for an “air kiss”?

Two basic sayings, “Do the math” and “Follow the money”, will usually give you the right answer. And in Meg’s case, you’re sure to find that it’s the “right” answer, in fact I’d go so far as to call it the “Far Right” answer…..

Toyota Was Not The First…….

…. Car manufacturer in the auto industry to have an alleged  run-away car problem.

Do you remember the Yugo?

It had a similar problem, but this issue was seldom spoken about for a few good reasons…..

1. How many of these hardtop lawnmowers did they eventually sell, a few dozen? This was one of the only cars ever made that could make a Soviet made Lada seem like an executive’s car.

2. If one of these did manage to “run away”, it’s likely that no one noticed because they were rarely able to find a speed limit they could break.

3. Even if they could eventually hit 75 MPH (and that’s only likely to happen driving downhill with a strong tail wind), after about 1/2 mile at that speed the engine would melt.

4. Speed rated? Zero to Sixty in one afternoon (on a good day).

Le Limo, barely able to get off the trailer…

Now, answers for these most often asked questions….

1. What’s with all of those little lines in the back window?

Answer: They help keep your hands warm when you have to push start the car in the winter.

2. What was the model called that crossed the river Styx?

Answer: “Yugo to hell”.

And….

3. Did they have a sales pitch that almost worked?

Answer: From Mr. Buckeroo Banzai; “Wherever you are, there Yugo!”

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and/ or quotes above (including those of my own) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as everyone knows, success usually has a million parents and failure is an orphan.

Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below, I don’t get to choose them and even more sadly, I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..  

P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….

FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.  

Microsoft Gives Aid To The Terrorists?

In a column in the New York Times today, technology guru David Pogue has a well written (as usual) article about a new free “feature” that’s included in Windows for a P.C. and for Mac computers that’s called “Live Sync”, and describes the simple set up and operation process that will allow users to keep their different computers in sync over the internet, or at least as far as everything that they have in a common folder that shows up on the desktop of either of the pair (or more!) of computers set up to work together.

Yes, it’s a great way to share your porn and dirty jokes.

But, there is a dark side.

Some truly bad news for us (and you can also read that as “U.S.”) is that if Abdulah in Alberta wants to keep Mohammed in Mosul up to date with his plans or send text messages back and forth, they don’t have to send those easy to intercept e-mails, or post on a public website.

Maybe I’m wrong about how easy this would be for the bad guys to pick up on it and use it, and I hope I am, but what do you think?

If any key words here trigger an alarm at Darpa,

maybe it’s time to scramble the jets, guys.

My prediction? Microsoft will quietly kill this “feature”.

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and / or quotes above (including those of my own) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as we’ve found, success will have a million parents and failure will be an orphan.
Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below this advisory, I don’t get to choose them and even more sadly, I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..
P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….
FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.

Solve for X, X=Government Funding

What’s the big deal about raising money for the government to be able to have the funds to be able to operate in these difficult times?

Government Funding Made Easy……

All that’s needed is for someone to deputize me to issue parking tickets for any cars that are parked in handicapped only parking spots and shouldn’t be. For motivation, merely give me 25% of the returns from those tickets I write. No one else seems to be doing it for the government, and how many times have you seen a cop give a ticket to car parked in such a zone lately?

There are those that will say being stupid is a handicap, which of course can be disproved by merely pointing to the George W. Bush presidency. Or, maybe that’s not such a good choice for an example. When my mother told me as a child that anyone can grow up to be president, I’m sure she wasn’t thinking of someone of George’s caliber (small bore), but he got in, stole us blind, and got  away with the funds he will receive as kick backs from his butt buddies and the corporations for which they stand.

I see so many cars that are parked in those spots every day, the ones that have the little blue plastic card with the wheelie guy, usually one that was hung quickly on the rear view mirror as the car was still rolling to a stop into that dedicated spot, and that’s just moments before some obese clown jumps out and runs into to the 7-11 to buy a pack of cigarettes or a carton of beer.

So clever, these bozos.

The way it works is that from time to time they give their elder parent a ride so they can get the old fart’s doctor to give them a letter for the DMV to get the pass or even a special plate, and then they use it as their own get out of jail free pass.

Or, in variation two, they simply pay off a doctor (things are tough all over) to write up their paperwork. In real life, their main handicap consists of a few gray hairs and an extra 30 to 50 pounds hanging over the belt buckle.

So if we can make the fine amount to a not so unusually high $400.00 for a first offense, that would make a nice start.

And on a good day I write 75 tickets (if you don’t believe that number, hide and watch me) a day, …..well, you do the math, and after each 5 day week with 10 hours a day, I’ll be on a plane Friday night and spending my weekends in Kauai.

Aloha, live long and perspire indeed……

Update!!!

A few hours after I wrote the above material, there was a story in the Los Angeles Times about a plan that Barack Obama has for fighting fraud in Medicare and Medicaid by hiring private auditors, a.k.a.  “bounty hunters” armed with computer programs to scan billing data for patterns of bogus claims, and they would get a part of any funds they recover for the government. Well, I could save even more because all that I need is a direct phone link to the L.A.P.D. to put the “boot” on cars for me, a sure way to get the weasels to cough up the cash!

Yeah, “Bounty Hunter”, I could live with that……

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and / or quotes above (including those of my own) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as we’ve found, success will have a million parents and failure will be an orphan.
Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below this advisory, I don’t get to choose them and even more sadly, I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..
P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….
FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.