The recent incident involving a US embassy automobile that was attacked on a Mexican road possibly by members of the Mexican government's own law enforcement community, is a sad chapter in the decline of American prestige around the world.
Upon closer inspection of the scene photo, it turns out that the SUV is a Toyota. This may explain the brazen attack. How can the US expect anyone to respect its global power and prestige when its most important agency and cabinet department has so given up on America that they parade around their presence in a product made in a foreign country by a foreign company.. It's akin to showing the flag, but of another country (the rising sun in this case). Why don't they drive a product designed and manufactured in the United States since before Japan was even able to produce an automobile. I bet the mexicans would never have had the nerve to shoot at a Cadillac.
Driving on the highways of America, I feel like a foreigner in my own country. For every american car that passes me or that I pass, there are six to ten foreign cars. If individual americans don't see enough value in american made cars, at least our government should.
It's time we showed our own flag.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
IS IT ANY WONDER....
I just read an interesting article about vacations and leisure time here and in other countries. Click to read article.
The most interesting thing I found was the attitude of the French as opposed to that of the Japanese when it came to taking vacation. The French took all the vacation time given them ( I'm surprised they didn't take more) whereas the Japanese took less than half of their allotted vacation time.
The days' business news are filled with dire reports of many European nations living well beyond their means and consequently in economic trouble. They refuse any attempt at real austerity and wonder why they don't have jobs for their people. I don't wonder at it at all. I couldn't help laughing when I read:
The most interesting thing I found was the attitude of the French as opposed to that of the Japanese when it came to taking vacation. The French took all the vacation time given them ( I'm surprised they didn't take more) whereas the Japanese took less than half of their allotted vacation time.
The days' business news are filled with dire reports of many European nations living well beyond their means and consequently in economic trouble. They refuse any attempt at real austerity and wonder why they don't have jobs for their people. I don't wonder at it at all. I couldn't help laughing when I read:
Laziness has reached a new standard."In June the European Court of Justice ruled that workers in the 27 nations of the European Union who get sick on vacation are entitled to take another vacation."
Monday, August 6, 2012
Walmart, Store of the Masses
As many of you who know me already know, Walmart is one of my favorite places to be. In fact, I very often go just to get my fix from the place. I have always given examples of all the different things you can buy there, but yesterday I actually saw it in practice. I was on line behind a gentleman who was purchasing 20 tins of cat food, aluminum foil, .22 caliber bullets, and a bottle of bleach. Having struck up a conversation with him , I don't believe he was hunting cats, and luring them in with tasty cat morsels.
Just an every day run to the store that has everything you could want or need.
Just an every day run to the store that has everything you could want or need.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
More on Mayor Moron
Much as I hate to admit it, Mayor Moron, as Dr. G. likes to call him, has hit it just right this time. I refer to his campaign, ever since the Aurora, Colorado movie massacre, to get our politicians to at least acknowledge the need for something to be done about these mass shootings.
On the one side, we have the NRA and their fellow travelers who are opposed to any restrictions whatsoever on any type of firearm. On the diametrically opposite side, we have the gun control freaks who would disarm everyone, including the army and police on the basis that arms sales are immoral.
Certainly there is room between these two entrenched positions for some debate, compromise and more reasonable positions on this important issue.
Clearly, in a free society, there exists the need for the public to protect themselves against those with inimical intentions towards them as well as for society to protect itself from a government bent on imposing dictatorship on its people. We can't let the government have all the guns. But it should be obvious to anyone with even half a brain in his head that an ordinary private citizen bent on minding his own business has no need for an assault weapon. He may have need of a few long guns for hunting, or a handgun for property and personal protection. Certainly no private citizen needs to amass an arsenal of guns and ammunition, which we find time and again to be the state of those who subsequently perpetrate the massacres of which we have become all too familiar.
It is not unreasonable to require some regulation of firearms, such as restrictions on the types available to the public and a restriction as to the total number of firearms that any individual can own. We regulate drugs, which harms the owner more than anyone else so why not firearms whose main victims are other than their owners.
Unlike his usual dictatorial methods, Mayor Moron is not trying to push an unpopular regulation through the city council. He is demanding, through his powers of persuasion, his access to media attention, and spending of his political capital, that those people currently engaged in taking positions on political issues take a position on this one. The amazing thing is that no one is listening. In fact, Bloomberg has been criticized for harping on this subject. I heard one comment to the effect that, every time we get one of these mass shootings people call for gun control. Implying, I suppose, that the whole issue will blow over and there is no point in talking about it.
It's been a few weeks since the shooting and already it seems to have blown by us. There is new news, and the media can't milk this story much longer. But the damage is done. The mourners have buried their dead, some survivors will emerge from the incident a shadow of their former selves; unable to walk or use both hands or think clearly, and others, while not physically maimed carry about in their brains and psyches, long term wounds and scars.
There is an incredible, dogged, lack of reason among proponents of unlimited and unrestricted gun use in the United States. Their arguments border on the ludicrous, but they are winning. Just witness the repeal of Virginia's one-gun-per-month law and similar repeals in other states that once did have these laws on the books.
Mayor Moron, I salute you. I only hope you won't give up on your latest campaign.
On the one side, we have the NRA and their fellow travelers who are opposed to any restrictions whatsoever on any type of firearm. On the diametrically opposite side, we have the gun control freaks who would disarm everyone, including the army and police on the basis that arms sales are immoral.
Certainly there is room between these two entrenched positions for some debate, compromise and more reasonable positions on this important issue.
Clearly, in a free society, there exists the need for the public to protect themselves against those with inimical intentions towards them as well as for society to protect itself from a government bent on imposing dictatorship on its people. We can't let the government have all the guns. But it should be obvious to anyone with even half a brain in his head that an ordinary private citizen bent on minding his own business has no need for an assault weapon. He may have need of a few long guns for hunting, or a handgun for property and personal protection. Certainly no private citizen needs to amass an arsenal of guns and ammunition, which we find time and again to be the state of those who subsequently perpetrate the massacres of which we have become all too familiar.
It is not unreasonable to require some regulation of firearms, such as restrictions on the types available to the public and a restriction as to the total number of firearms that any individual can own. We regulate drugs, which harms the owner more than anyone else so why not firearms whose main victims are other than their owners.
Unlike his usual dictatorial methods, Mayor Moron is not trying to push an unpopular regulation through the city council. He is demanding, through his powers of persuasion, his access to media attention, and spending of his political capital, that those people currently engaged in taking positions on political issues take a position on this one. The amazing thing is that no one is listening. In fact, Bloomberg has been criticized for harping on this subject. I heard one comment to the effect that, every time we get one of these mass shootings people call for gun control. Implying, I suppose, that the whole issue will blow over and there is no point in talking about it.
It's been a few weeks since the shooting and already it seems to have blown by us. There is new news, and the media can't milk this story much longer. But the damage is done. The mourners have buried their dead, some survivors will emerge from the incident a shadow of their former selves; unable to walk or use both hands or think clearly, and others, while not physically maimed carry about in their brains and psyches, long term wounds and scars.
There is an incredible, dogged, lack of reason among proponents of unlimited and unrestricted gun use in the United States. Their arguments border on the ludicrous, but they are winning. Just witness the repeal of Virginia's one-gun-per-month law and similar repeals in other states that once did have these laws on the books.
Mayor Moron, I salute you. I only hope you won't give up on your latest campaign.
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