Michael Pellegrini's Blog and Rants and Stuff

Corporate Welfare? No Way! Wall Steet Bailout Wrong!

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:50:22 -0800

I would like to protest the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry. What Secretary Paulson is asking for is a blank check – no controls, no real plan no nothing. And that, coming from the Bush administration is laughable. Perhaps they can contract out the reconstruction of our financial industry to Halliburton? And if you’re willing to buy that, I have a nice bridge you may be interested in… The single over-riding reason the country’s economy is where it’s at right now is because of the Bush administration, and the feeding frenzy they’ve allowed to exist for the last eight years. Capitalism in its finest hour. Bush’s whole economic plan for the last eight years has been recycled Ronald Reagan era trickle-down economics coupled with lax regulations and no meaningful oversight. So what happened? What happened is they’ve raped the economy, they’ve raped the American taxpayers, they’ve raped Iraq and Afghanistan, and basically, they’ve raped the whole world. Greed run rampant, without controls; without reason or care.

Happy Late Labor Day to us all!

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:28:33 -0800

In a day and age when organized labor seems largely irrelevant to many, this is an appropriate time to stop and reflect on the gains made by unions in the past 100 years. Although no one seems to remember now, some of the most basic protections we presently enjoy – like Social Security and Unemployment Insurance – came to workers courtesy of the push from organized labor. This package also includes the 40-hour workweek, the minimum wage, overtime, the child labor laws and much more, including some very basic things like the right to join a union and the right to strike. Most of this was enacted as parts of President Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation. But none of these rights and protections were just handed to the workers, even if they were part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. People died to obtain these protections. The years leading up to the New Deal – particularly the 20’s and 30’s – were a bloody, bitter time for workers. Strikes – where people died for their union beliefs – were commonplace. Back in those days, the typical scenario was that the workers would go on strike or get locked out, and then the employers would hire scabs, and detectives (like the Pinkerton’s or the notorious Baldwin-Felts Agencies) to “protect” the scabs. Then the war was on. The strikers were most often cast as “Commies” or communist-dominated in propaganda put out by the employers – the “Red Menace” was a very common theme. The Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations usually backed the employers. Often, local citizen groups, augmented (or supplanted) by the hired detectives and backed by the local governments formed “posses” and took on the strikers in open warfare – all in the name of “civic virtue” (cleaning out the Red’s). Occasionally the National Guard even got into the act.

Good examples of this sort of open labor warfare include The Ludlow Massacre (1914), The Battle of Matewan (part of the West Virginia Coal Wars - 1920), the Battle of Blair Mountain (1921), The Herrin Massacre (1922), The Columbine Mine Massacre (1927), The Auto-Lite Strike of 1934, The Minneapolis Teamsters Strike (1934) and the 1934 West Coat Maritime Strike (which evolved into the West Coast General Strike of 1934). Hundreds and hundreds of workers died in those years, fighting for even the most basic of protections.

Time Magazine 2009 Person of the Year - George W. Bush

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:15:37 -0800

We’re lucky to have secured a pre-release excerpt from the new Time Magazine issue to set to be on newsstands the week of August 16, 2009 – Time’s Person of the Year edition.

2009 Person of the Year

Selecting the Person of The Year is always a tough call, but given the recent political developments in the United States and the world generally, this year was somewhat easier and we were unanimous in picking George W, Bush as our 2009 Person of the Year. It’s easily demonstratable that George W, Bush has made life much safer for God fearing Christians the world over, and on that basis alone, our choice for Person of the Year was easy. In the turmoil following the terrorist bombing of the 2008 Democratic National Convention – which precipitated the loss of all the top Democratic Party leadership including nominee Senator Barack Obama – George W. Bush boldly took charge, suspending the presidential elections, declaring martial law. By immediately rounding up all the godless heathen terrorists – Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, homosexuals, anarchists, liberals and the like – the United States is now finally enjoying the peace and safety we deserve.

Safeco Insurance Sucks

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:32:53 -0800

What’s the difference between a bookie and an insurance company? The bookie won’t welsh on paying if you try to collect. We just got done with a long, troubling fight with Safeco Insurance. Early last April, my oldest kid’s car – a 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo – was sitting in front of his house one night at 2 AM. A drunk lady leaving a nearby bar plowed into it and split without stopping. Luckily, my son heard tires squealing and ran outside in time to get her license number as she sped off. He gave the information to the police, who told him they thought it was likely a college student going home from a bar just down the street. When the lady hit, the main point of contact was her car's right front wheel - it hit on my son's left rear wheel, smashing his car about a foot into the curb, and then forcing it maybe another foot forward along the curb. Damaged in the crash were his two passenger side wheels, plus the wheel that took the initial impact, as well as some minor body damage at the point of impact. The crash also stripped the splines on his steering shaft and bent his left rear control arm. The next day, my son went driving with a friend around the nearby university and in short order, he found the car. We turned that information over to the cops.

Bush and McCain Cell Phone Conversation Revealed

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:39:33 -0800

Jim McDermott Does It Again

Seattle (AP) – Riding the success of his revelations of a cell phone conversation featuring former Speaker of The House, Newt Gingrich, Congressman Jim McDermott (D – Seattle) today made public the transcript of a new cell phone conversation – this one between President George W. Bush and presumed Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain (R – Arizona). Mr. John W. Dean, a ham radio operator in the Washington DC area, recorded the conversation on June 4th by accident. After sitting on the tape for several weeks, debating what to do, Mr. Dean finally decided to approach Mr. McDermott with the tape on July 12th. In a press conference today, Congressman McDermott stated, “After conferring with my attorney and my friends and my family, I’ve decided to come forward and make a transcript of the call between Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain available to the public.” Mr. McDermott continued, “Privacy concerns aside, I think it’s important that government be as transparent as possible and the public has a right and a duty to know the full story about its leaders.” According to Mr. McDermott, independent experts have verified the authenticity of the tape. Initial reaction from the Whitehouse was to deny the existence of the tape, then later, characterizing it as a bad practical joke. But yet later this afternoon, when confronted with certain facts guaranteeing the tape’s authenticity, Whitehouse Spokesperson Dana Perino issued a curt, “No comment,” then moments later stated Mr. Bush would have a formal reply about the tape later tonight. Despite repeated attempts to contact the McCain campaign, Presidential candidate McCain’s spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi For Governator of Washington

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:17:59 -0800

Spokane (AP) - At a press conference today, perennial candidate for Washington state Governor, Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi (pictured at right with his head up his ass, as usual), unveiled his new campaign poster for the 2008 race. The theme of the campaign is that nasty Seattlites stole the last election, by demanding ballot recounts. The actual text of the new sign, is, “Dino Rossi for Governor - Don’t let Seattle Steal This Election.” Billboards featuring the ads have popped up all over the state – except around the Seattle area, of couse. When asked about the negative connotations of the new billboards, Rossi said, “I’m just tellin’ it like it is. That bitch stole the last race. I shoulda been Gov, not her." When asked to amplify what he meant, Rossi continued, "It’s all them Seattle assholes that got her elected and that’s really fucking unfair to the farmers and the good righteous conservatives that make up this great right-wing, Christian state." He went on to add, "All those gay, Seattle assholes oughta move to Commie-fornia or something and leave us God-fearing Christians alone. I’m gonna smoke that bitch’s ass. Fuck me blue!” In a prepared statement, Governor Gregoire responded suggesting the public might better be better served by a candidate that didn't have his head up his ass. She asked that this coming election should focus on today's important issues like the home mortgage crisis and the price of gas, and that the lame rhetoric from the last campaign be buried and forgotten - which is where it belongs. In a late breaking development at press time, it's reported that a large group of several thousand people gathered tonight at Seattle Center and burned a likeness of Dino Rossi in effigy. Reportedly, vendors there were also doing a lansdlide business selling Dino "Italian Stallion" Rossi voodoo dolls as well. Said Rossi about the voodoo dolls, "Well fuck me blue!"

Bye Bye Sonics – Good Riddance!

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:45:42 -0800

So the Seattle Supersonics are off to Oklahoma – what a deal. As far as I’m concerned, it’s for the best.

Maybe we can get them to take the Mariners and the Seahawks off our hands as well. Pro sports teams are just not a big turn on for me. The way I see it, they’re a bunch of whiny millionaires feeding at the public trough. In the case of the Sonics, we went through all the whining and the threats of leaving only a little over ten years ago. It went on incessantly for months. All the, Nobody loves us! Refurbish our home or we’re taking our team and leaving! Wah! Nobody loves us! The whining paid off. At that time, Key Arena was fully renovated at a cost to the public of over $74 million. The NBA execs hailed Key Area as one of the great basketball venues in the country. Now 10 years later, it’s all of a sudden too old, too small and just plain unfit for an NBA franchise. Yeah, right. Well fuck them. Let them go – they can become the Oklahoma Okies or whatever. Bunch of losers, anyway. The way it stands right now, Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen have their budgets stretched to the max. Every month, they wonder if they’re going to be able to make that new, higher mortgage payment. They can just barely afford gas for their cars and to put food on their table, much less buy expensive tickets to a pro basketball game.

Metered Bandwidth Will Kill Movie Downloads and Stifle Other New Technology

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:51:14 -0800

I was looking at file sizes of Blu-Ray movies today. The average size of 320 current titles was 27 GB – for just the movie alone. You add in all the extras and what not that usually come with a DVD (deleted scenes, extra content, etc) and the size jumps up to an average of 35 GB per movie. Looking at Comcast’s proposed threshold of 250 GB before they bill you extra, that translates into viewing just nine Blu-Ray movies before you hit your limit – not to say any other internet activities. Just watch nine movies and you’ve blown your cap for the month. Present Day Right now, people might watch 2-3 movies a week – mostly rented and viewed on a TV, not a computer – along with maybe some HD sports and other HD content as well (concerts, news, TV shows or whatever). You can stream video content to your PC (from Amazon or iTunes for example) but it’s all small format and not portable to your HDTV. I don’t know about you, but I hate watching movies on my computer – I have a small 42” HDTV and a good 7.1 surround system. If I want to watch a movie, that’s what I use. Screw the PC. Other current uses of bandwidth might also include streaming a few hours of music, or buying some songs at iTunes or Amazon.

Bend Over America…

Thu, 29 May 2008 18:03:05 -0800

We’ve all heard the excuses on TV. Oil company executives sitting in front of congress, answering questions about why gas prices are so high, and explaining away their record profits.

“Well we’re really only making pennies on the dollar. The profits aren’t really that high.” “We don’t have any control over gasoline prices. The prices are all set by market forces” “We need more refining capacity and we need to drill in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.”

I find it totally amazing that anyone at all would believe the current gasoline prices are not 100% wholly contrived by the oil companies. The facts are that 2006 and 2007 were the very best years ever for Exxon Mobile: in 2007, Exxon surpassed the 2006 windfall of $39.5 Billion with a record smashing profit of $40.6 Billion. The number two US oil company, Chevron’s 2007 earnings were up 9% over 2006, with record profits of $18.7 Billion. Put that in with similar profits from Shell and ConocoPhillips, and you have over $100 Billion in profits from the oil industry in the United States in just one year. Click here for the news story from US News and World Reports. Of course, that $100 Billion in profits really isn’t such a big deal – pennies on the dollar. What a load of tripe! These guys must use the same accountants as the movie studios – like where you can have a blockbuster movie that does $100 million in the first weekend, but by creative bookkeeping, it doesn’t show a profit. Complete and utter bullshit. Nope. What we really have here is a Texas oilman for president, and he’s simply paying his buddies back. The oil companies are jacking up the prices, deliberately, simply because they can – and no one can do a god damned thing about it. They’ve got protection.

Comcast Metered Billing Plan:

Tue, 20 May 2008 08:39:32 -0800

A Sneaky Assault on the Future of the Internet

Comcast recently announced it was considering extra charges for users who consume more than 250 GB of bandwidth per month. After 250 GB, users could purchase additional bandwidth in 10 GB amounts for $15 each. On its face, this plan sounds very reasonable. I’ve monitored my bandwidth usage before, and I’m what many would consider a fairly heavy user. In a good month, I generally wouldn’t exceed 30 GB of bandwidth. That’s a little peer to peer file sharing, a lot of music streaming, occasional software downloads. Maybe a Linux image here and there. But if you look closer, this is nothing more than an insidious attempt to hijack the future of the internet. Jim Lynch over at ExtremeTech called it:

“I suspect that Comcast is making a preemptive attack to hurt Apple and other downloadable content companies. In effect, Comcast is trying to kill the downloadable content market in its infancy. It sees the future and in that future Comcast may be nothing more than the owner of some dumb pipes that carry everybody else's valuable content.”

ExtremeTech Story

Downloadable movies and other similar sorts of content delivery systems are just right over the horizon. The only thing that’s holding off deployment of downloadable movies is bandwidth.

The War In Iraq Must End Now

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:47:10 -0800

A Puppet Government In Iraq Equals Disaster for the US

"The will of the people... is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waring, 1801. ME 10:236

After five years of trying to impose an artificial democracy onto the people of Iraq, it’s clear the experiment is failing. Bush’s surge is winding down, and without the American “cops” on every corner, violence is again returning to the streets in Iraq. Why? Because Nouri al-Maliki’s government is not popularly supported by the Iraqi people. It’s a puppet government set up and maintained by the United States. And puppet governments just don’t work. They didn’t work, for example, in Vietnam, and they won’t work in Iraq. Why not? Let’s look at some facts: In Iraq, Shi’a Muslims comprise over 65% of the population; Sunni Muslims about 37%. Christians constitute a much smaller minority. Through the Ba’ath Party, Sunni Muslims have ruthlessly controlled Iraq, subjugating the Shi’a as well as all the other religious minorities since 1963. Much of that time, the Ba’ath Party worked hand in hand with the CIA, including during most of Saddam’s reign – Saddam really didn’t fall from grace with the CIA or the US generally, until after he invaded Kuwait in 1990. That, of course, precipitated the First Gulf War. Then came the current war.

Manke Clean Burn Wood Pellets = Shorter Pellet Stove Firepot Life

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:21:08 -0800

I just replaced the firepot on my pellet stove last week. $300. I’ve heated my home with wood pellets for the last five years. I have a Quadrafire Santa Fe stove. In a typical year, we’ll use about two tons of pellets in the heating season. When I got the stove, that’d cost about $300, which is a helluva good deal. Last year, I spent just over $500 – which is still really inexpensive compared to any other form of heat. For most of that five-year period, I’ve used Manke Clean Burn Pellets, which are produced here locally in Tacoma. They burn really hot, and produce almost no ash. The ash from two tons easily fit into the ash drawer on my stove. I was cleaning the stove one morning last week and punched a hole in the side of the firepot – it had rusted through in the area by where the starter element was welded on to the pot (area circled in red on photo). Also, I noted the white deposits on the air holes (arrows). I wet the tip of my finger and touched the white area, then tasted it – it tastes salty. When I went to the dealer to get the new firepot, I described the damage to the parts guy – who used to work as a repairman. He asked how old the firepot was – I told him four years (it was replaced under warranty when the stove was one year old). Then the guy asked, “You use Clean Burn, huh?”

More Musings - The Hillary vs. Barack War & Movie Downloads Coming Soon?

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:44:34 -0800

Democratic Party Commits Suicide

I thought it was bad a few weeks ago, but lately the contest between Clinton and Obama has sunk to new depths. They continue to battle, back and forth, doing serious damage to each other. All while McCain and the republicans sit happily on the sidelines, biding their time. It seemed clear – at least until a few weeks ago – that Obama was the best nominee, the one who had the best chance of winning the general election. Now, that appears in doubt, with McCain gaining in the polls. All due to Clinton’s machinations and smears. This whole thing is just flat wrong. Politics is a team sport, such as it is. And politicians are supposed to be team players. But what it looks like right now, is that Hillary Clinton figures that if she can’t be the democratic nominee, then nobody will. Talk about bad attitudes. I mean I always thought Hillary was okay. I liked her politics as well or perhaps even better than her husband’s. But what we’ve got here is that she’s essentially throwing the election to the republicans because she can’t be the nominee. She’s engineering a republican win. Handing the election to McCain. The arrogance of it all! I suppose some of the blame should properly be passed to the undeclared super delegates, as well. No one has stepped in to break the fight up. And they could have ended it easily by declaring – and didn’t. All this collective stupidity just knocks me out. The demo’s ship is sinking, going down fast, but they’re all still running around fighting about who the captain is gonna be! Insane. I really wanted to see a democratic victory in 2008. After all this, I’m wondering if I really even want to be identified with a bunch of retards like these people. Maybe I’ll vote for Nader? Hmmm…. Now there’s a thought!

Movie Downloads Are the Killer App for the Internet

There was a good discussion over on AV Science Forums a few days ago on whether downloads would ever replace Blu-Ray discs. All the Blu-Ray people were talking as if BR was the be-all end-all format. “We’ll never ever need anything else!” Right.

Sunday Musings

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:22:14 -0800

Hillary vs. Barack The past few weeks, it’s really been getting to me how much the different candidates – from the same party – beat each other up. I have to admit that when the republicans do it, I tend to think it’s cute. Gee, let’s watch the stupid conservatives self-destruct… It’s a great spectator sport. I think any democrat (like me) feels that way. But by the same token, when your own (democratic) candidates are doing it, it takes on a slightly different light. My point is that the past few weeks, the fights between Clinton and Obama have been getting kinda out of control and you have to wonder if they’re going to quit before one does irreparable damage to the other. I really want to see the demos win this coming election. But my nightmare scenario: Clinton and Obama both sling so much mud at each other in their desperate bids to become the president that they are both successfully excluded from the race. Talk about big burning bummers.

Ralph Nader, GO HOME!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:23:51 -0800

An open letter to Ralph (Spolier) Nader: Still my beating heart! It can't be so! OMG! I was just swept away with emotion when I that heard you - Ralph Nader - were going to step into the 2008 presidential race. We are so damned lucky! Just what we need, another spoiler in the race. You were absolutely instrumental in getting George Bush elected in the 2000 election! Great job! Without you, Gore would have certainly won. Now, I suppose this announcement means you've decided to throw your weight behind McCain or whoever the republicans put up? Great. Thanks entirely to you, Ralph, and your 2000 presidential bid, George Bush has:

gotten us hopelessly involved in a war in Iraq
gotten us hopelessly involved in a war in Afghanistan
alienated many of our former allies
taken away many of our civil liberties in the name of national security
run-up an historic national debt to finance the wars
completely screwed-up the economy of our country

And you Ralph, are personally responsible for:

The deaths of nearly 4,000 US servicemen in Iraq
The wounding of over 29,000 US servicemen in Iraq
The deaths of as many as 89,000 Iraqi civilians from the war
The deaths of 479 US soldiers in Afghanistan
The wounding of almost 1,900 soldiers in Afghanistan

Ralph Nader: You're a disaster for this nation. You've disgraced yourself and your country. You're directly responsible for the deaths and injury of thousands of innocent people. If you had any class at all, you'd commit Seppuku right now! But you don't have any class, do you? It'd be hard to out-do the devastation that George Bush has wrought on this nation. But if you do run this time, I'm wondering what new and wonderful things we have to look forward to now? Famine? Floods? Nuclear war? Pestilence? I can't wait... Ralph Nader: You wouldn't even have my vote for dog-catcher! Sincerely, Michael Pellegrini