Reason number 3765 I don't watch broadcast television any more

John McCain will be on Meet The Press this Sunday.

DCr

SSDD

Why am I not surprised?

PTDB.

DCr

On telephones

This is floating around the innertubes...

I remember getting my first answering machine, back in the 1980s. I could call it, punch in a code, and retrieve messages. Cool. That was then.

Nowadays, I have three phone numbers with voicemail on them (soon to be only two). Checking voicemail is a pain, since I rarely use it and can't always find the number to call and the codes to use for gaining access. Then there's the fact each voicemail system I use has different menus, even though it's all run by Verizon. WTF is up with that?

Navigating all that takes time and brain cells, is frustrating, and is designed only to soak up your precious cell minutes. It's a rip-off.

Thanks to caller ID, I know who called. Most of the calls are "checking in" kinds of things, which people make when they're bored. I'm rarely bored.

If you want to reach out to me, email me. If it's time-sensitive, call, but don't be surprised if I don't answer, because I'm rarely near a phone or have my hands free enough to answer. If you really need to reach me, try again.

When I answer, correct protocol is to identify yourself and ask for me. I really loathe people who call and, without identifying themselves, ask with whom they're speaking. (You called my number, right? WTF else would answer?) Drives me crazy, which admittedly is a short trip. Then, you should ask if now's a good time to talk. Frequently, it isn't.

Remember: Answering the telephone, for me, is an imposition. It interrupts whatever I'm doing, it redirects my thought process and it soaks up my time, which is becoming all too-precious. My telephones don't exist for you to call me; they exist for me to call you.

DCr

Oh. My.

Sometimes, I think I'm in the wrong line of work.

DCr

(h/t DB1)

In case you were wondering...

...about the federal budget deficit's underlying causes, here's a handy graph from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The Center summarizes the graph thusly: "[T]he tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic downturn together explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years."

So if/when you come to me complaining about how Obama is bankrupting the U.S., take it somewhere else. I don't want to hear it.

DCr

On the personal airplane as a weapon

Yesterday's apparent deliberate attempt by a troubled, frustrated man to crash his personal airplane into an Austin, Tex., office building housing an IRS contingent is a tragedy. My sincerest condolences to anyone affected by it, including the man's family, those in the building at the time, their families and friends, first responders and bystanders.

A tragedy, but on a small scale, and one which would have been much worse if some tool other than a personal airplane had been employed.

Reading his apparent suicide note (link above) didn't create in me either pity or revulsion. Instead, I saw someone who believed himself a front-line solider in what many term an ongoing and escalating class war. Basically, he thought of himself as a hard-working, honest citizen trying to make a living and be successful in what he had been told was an environment encouraging such behavior. There's evidence he was a fervent anti-tax, anti-government crusader who managed to attract the IRS' attention for years.

His "manifesto" (my word) took on many American institutions, expressing what I view as belief in a rigged system, one designed to benefit the elites and suppress those not admitted to the club. He has/had a point.

Now, don't mistake that statement as agreement with either his conclusions or his chosen redress method. Do take it, however, as an understanding of the growing imbalance between those who think they are autonomous and those who actually are. From my perspective, there's a growing number of otherwise sane, productive people out there who see bank bailouts and car manufacturer bailouts and the like, and who are growing increasingly frustrated and angry as their own situations get more and more desperate daily. They blame the elites, and they're not wholly wrong.

In many ways, it's a wonder we haven't seen more episodes like this, not fewer. What portends for the future is anyone's guess.

One punchline is things are getting worse outside the DC Beltway where I used to live. Few inside the Beltway with the power or responsibility to do something about it either realize the challenge or have any intention of addressing it. Welcome to 2010.

Was this incident was an act of terrorism? The answer depends on whether you think it was politically motivated or had a different foundation. Law enforcement officials seem to downplay the idea, while the MSM is trying to hype it. But it seems no one is biting. That could change, since we're less than 24 hours past the incident as I type this.

Ultimately, my point is this guy had what he considered solid motivations for his acts. Looking around him at the tools he had available, he chose his personal airplane. He could have used an AK-47, a 12-gauge shotgun, a minivan, a Ryder truck filled with fertilizer and fuel oil or a claw hammer. He chose his airplane probably because it was the easiest and closest tool available.

As we've seen, however, the personal airplane is a lousy tool for something like this. And it's not the first time such proof has been offered, nor will it be the last. But any forthcoming attempts to restrict such tools will only result in others being used by other angry and frustrated citizens. And such restrictions will only increase their number.

The proper response isn't to restrict the tools. Instead, it should be to consider why this kind of anger and frustration grows. Then, perhaps, a solution might be devised. Such solution should not promote additional, similar acts but, instead, might concentrate on the underlying reasons for them.

Unfortunately, since that would require our elites to give up some of their current and ongoing acquisitions, I don't hold out much hope.

DCr

So long, asshole...

Rudy 9-11's right-hand man gets jail time. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

If there's a God, we won't have Rudy to kick around any more, either. But I dream...

DCr

(h/t Rising Hegemon)

"...numismatic home invasions..."

This is just a riot: A SC state rep. has introduced legislation to prevent South Carolinians from using U.S. currency.

Apparently, State Rep. Mike Pitts believes we should convert to a barter system, the better to prevent the federal government from spending at so high a rate it collapses the economy. As if a barter system would not, you know, be a collapse of the economy.

Why should anyone give the time of day to a) Rep. Mike Pitts or b) Rethuglicans when they seem to seriously advocate insanity like this? This is the kind of thinking that should earn one a long, quiet conversation in a rural setting with a mental health therapist.

And so it goes.

DCr

(h/t LGM)

So, I bought this motorcycle...

The first step is to admit you have a problem, right?

Well, I have this fetish for vintage Japanese motorcycles (VJMCs). Don't ask me how many I have; I don't know. Part of the answer depends on what your definition of "motorcycle" is: Is it a running, sorted, two-wheeled conveyance with an engine, or a collection of parts sitting in dusty bins, surrounded by dreams?

I have both.

I'll get around to posting pix and whatnot of what I have. One of these days. Meanwhile, I've sprinkled a few thumbnails into this post.

My latest acquisition is a 1973 Yamaha DT3. For those needing more info, this is a 360cc "Enduro," street-legal (at least when it left the factory) but capable on dirt. I have a couple of 250cc versions of this bike, but always wanted the larger version. Because.

I came across this example on Craig's List. Guy wanted decent money for it (Quick note: I have yet to see any VJMC advertised in Florida going for what I would consider reasonable money.) This one was close, I figured, if it was complete and running, or close to it. So I hitched up my trailer and drove up to check it out.

I should have turned around and driven home. The bike's in sad shape: rattle can paint (even on the front sprocket!), very rusty rims, split tire sidewalls, missing parts. But it purportedly had a recent top-end job done and the owner had the title. The seat was sound, the tank had been coated inside to prevent (further!) corrosion, and most of the big and hard-to-find parts were there.

The seller was an older gentleman, chronically ill with something. Weak. Nice enough guy, but he clearly needed the money. I told him the bike wasn't worth what he was asking and I was afraid I'd be insulting him with what I considered a fair offer. He didn't flinch, but suggested I make an offer anyway; that it wouldn't insult him. So I did, and he agreed.

After we loaded it up, I paid him and we did the paperwork, he showed me some old photos of his family with the bike. It apparently had been in his family for some time, and brought lots of enjoyment. It clearly reminded him of better times, when he was healthier, when his life was yet to live.

I've never been one to part out a bike, and this one won't be the first. Which is what I told him. I think he was happy to hear that. I'll get it running, and soon. Promise.

Thanks, sir for entrusting it to me.

DCr

What could go wrong?

Comes now the "Mt. Vernon Statement," a renewed commitment to something called "constitutional conservatism" and "a statement for the 21st century." No link; find it yourself, if you must.

I will, however, list those who have lent their names to this effort:

• Edwin Meese, former U.S. Attorney General under President Reagan
• Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America
• Edwin Feulner, Jr., president of the Heritage Foundation
• Lee Edwards, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation, was present at the Sharon Statement signing.
• Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council
• Becky Norton Dunlop, president of the Council for National Policy
• Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center
• Alfred Regnery, publisher of the American Spectator
• David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union
• David McIntosh, co-founder of the Federalist Society
• T. Kenneth Cribb, former domestic policy adviser to President Reagan
• Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform
• William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government
• Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness
• Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com
• Kenneth Blackwell, Coalition for a Conservative Majority
• Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring
• Kathryn J. Lopez, National Review

Quick question: Aren't these pretty much the same bunch of assholes who got us here in the first place?

DCr

Ack!

Yeah, I know; I haven't posted lately. About to fix that...

DCr