Gasoline - A Forgotten Scapegoat

So I paid $2.70 a gallon for gas the other day. Whatever, right? Nobody cares about the price of gas these days at that level anyway.

But that wasn't the case for $2.70 gasoline 4.5 years ago when it first hit that threshold.

No, in the summer of 2005 people were going ape$hit over such an exorbitant price. One couldn't go anywhere, read any *news* paper, or watch the local news on color television without hearing the deafening outcry.

Why's that? Well, because gas had just shot up a whole dollar per gallon from 2004.



As you can see from the chart, gas was roughly only $1.61 a gallon six years ago. So even though we've seen $4.00 costs briefly, and even though the complaining has simmered down, the jump to $2.70 today still represents an hefty inflation of 67%.

But there is somewhat of a moralizing economic lesson in this.

Financial pain heals quickly. Those same people who thought the world was going to end with $2.70 gasoline are all of a sudden resigned to the new reality. They've adapted, perhaps changed driving habits or cars, and moved on.

This is precisely my counterargument against those, particularly politicians but also against the plutogogues like Steve Forbes and Goldman Sachs, who think that if housing prices (or Treasury prices) fall significantly, that the world as we know it will come to an end.

They need to just rip the band-aid off and quit their blubbering!

Alright, here's a nice little blast from my Marginalizing past...

Back in 2005, Steve Forbes not only said this:

There is no U.S.-wide housing bubble like the bubble that occurred in high tech in the late 1990s.

Oops!

But he also delivered this ridiculous assertion:

The real bubble is one that has, so far, gone unexamined: the price of oil. There is absolutely no fundamental reason for petroleum to be hovering around $70 a barrel.

Note oil is still $74 a barrel today.

For that one, see - What Real Estate Bubble?.

Wanted: A Few Lab Rats

In the interests of my never-ending research, I am testing out *Google Forms*.

Click here and send me some feedback on this silly little survey I just made up. Thanks.

A Cheesy Valentine's Day Post

Ever the romantic, last night, at the bar, upon demand from a random, I couldn't remember the name of my first wife and I's wedding song.

Here's what we danced to back in September of 2003 (don't ask me the precise date - I think it was a Saturday!):



As most of you discerning non-Morons are aware, I perpetually *rip* most things to shreds. I use terms like *worst*, *terrible*, *stinks*, more often than most people use the word *the*. And I definitely don't spare myself in this regard. When I err or botch, I'm usually the first and loudest critic.

Having said all that, I still think that my wife and I chose a spectacular wedding song. The words are poignant; it was timely for our relationship; and *All My Life* obviously was a little different. Again, y'all that are paying attention must realize that we march to our own beat here in the C-Nut family - literally, from the get-go!

However, one criticism that can, and has been leveled at our song choice was that it might have been a little too *non-white*. But you have to understand, my wife is 100% Sicilian!

How many standard, country club, *steak, fish, or chicken* weddings, where they dance to *At Last*, do y'all want to go to anyway?

I think I've been to 30 weddings in my life. And yet I can only remember 3 of the wedding songs: *At Last*, *From This Moment*, and I think my sister did a U2 song (*Beautiful Day*?).

On another note, I can remember almost EVERY SINGLE best man speech.

Why's that? Well, because MOST of them were *terrible* or *stunk*. And two in particular that I have witnessed might be the *worst* ever delivered at such an occasion!

The Death Seat

I must say, it's been quite the educational experience driving my wife's new (2006?) Chevy Tahoe.

Not only are there *airbags*, they can be de-activated.

So how funny is it when say your GutterBuddy or one of your inlaws slides into the passenger seat....you look them in the eye....and make the deliberate act of turning the passenger airbag off!!??

You could even pull this stunt on your contemporary spouse - say to punctuate your feelings during an in-car altercation.

Whether or not anyone else laughs is quite beside the point. I find it HYSTERICAL.

No More Tears

Michelle Malkin writes:

Sufficient time has passed since John Murtha’s death to reckon with his true record. No tears for the wreckage, poison, and damage to the public trust he left behind.

Whoa!!! Those are some harsh, unsympathetic words! To spit on a man's grave...

Hold up there a minute.

Isn't this the same Michelle Malkin who lectured everyone not to cheer the windfall of Ted Kennedy's cancer diagnosis?

Recall what she sanctimoniously said, about 1.5 years ago:

Put aside your political differences and join me in keeping Sen. Ted Kennedy and his family in your prayers as they grapple with the news of his malignant brain tumor diagnosis.

So, has she seen the error of her ways? Has she coarsened over time?

Or does she just hold John Murtha in, well, a much, much lower regard?

I read her post (first link), and not being too acquainted with Murtha, I have to say, he sounded like a complete scumbag.

But still, he couldn't have been worse than Kennedy!

See - Holier Than Thou - Marginalizing Extreme Moderates - for Michelle's spotty schadenfreude record.

I was trying to find some fitting music on YouTube for this post, but all I could come up was this cacophony!

Oops....found another candidate - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam - All Cried Out!!

Boston Pagans And Their Silly Rituals

Boston *sports* pagans just celebrated an annual holiday.

Yeah, these heathens actually go watch the spring training equipment trucks get loaded up for the trip to Florida!





Events like these ought to be solid launch points for missionary work, one would think.

More From The Bizarro World Of Dog People

I have to reproduce this article in its entirety here, because, well, read it and you'll see:

MANCHESTER – Adam Lamotte, a Manchester man who turned himself in to police yesterday for shooting his dog, says he "made a terrible mistake" when he decided to euthanize the animal himself instead of taking him to a vet.

Lamotte, 39, is charged with one felony count of animal cruelty, which carries a possible sentence of 3 1/2 to seven years in prison, according to Auburn police. Lamotte's 5-year-old pit bull, Buster, was found Thursday afternoon, tied to a tree and dying from gunshot wounds in a wooded area off the Route 28 bypass in Auburn.

Lamotte was released on $5,000 personal recognizance bail. An arraignment is scheduled in Candia District Court on April 7.

Lamotte, who works in maintenance, yesterday said the tan and white dog he'd raised from a pup was "the greatest dog in the world."

Buster always slept in bed with Lamotte and his wife. "He had to be covered up and everything or he'd whine," he said. "He was a big baby."

But about a year ago, Buster started going after family members when they started to leave the house. "He would basically attack us, try to grab our ankles or our hands or whatever," he said. "We had to lock him in a room if we knew somebody was leaving."

About a month ago, Buster bit Lamotte's wrist, sending him to the emergency room for stitches. He brought the dog to a vet, who diagnosed the animal with separation anxiety, and put him on the anti-anxiety medication Clomicalm.

A few nights ago, Lamotte said, Buster went after Lamotte's 17-year-old son, tearing his pant leg off. Lamotte said he worried what would happen if the dog went after his 10-year-old daughter. "I couldn't take that chance."

He decided to put Buster down himself. The 78-pound dog was afraid of veterinarians, Lamotte said. "And, I don't know, in my warped thinking, I thought I was doing the right thing."

"It sounds absurd but somehow it was better, me doing it."

Around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Lamotte said, he took Buster to the trails on Manchester Water Works property, a favorite spot for the two of them, and let him run for a while off-leash.

Then he called the dog to him and shot him in the head with a handgun. But Buster didn't die. "He didn't make a sound. He just looked at me," he said. "It was terrible."

He fired the gun two more times but isn't sure whether he hit the dog. "I've never shot anything in my life."

Then, he said, "I just panicked."

"I didn't know what to do. I tied him to a tree and left."

Lamotte said he believed Buster was dying when he left him.

Early yesterday morning, Lamotte went to a drugstore for coffee and the newspaper and saw his dead dog's photo on the front page of The New Hampshire Union Leader. And he learned that the dog had lived through the night, tied to the tree, and had to be put down by the Auburn animal control officer.

"That was horrible. I can't even describe it," he said.

Lamotte called Auburn police and turned himself in.

He also had to face telling his wife what he'd done; he had told the family he had taken Buster to a vet to be euthanized. He still hasn't told his three kids the truth.

Lamotte called what he did "the biggest regret of my life."

"I should have went to the vet and just had him euthanized," he said.

"I wasn't trying to be cruel to my dog. I know that doesn't make any sense, but it's true. I wasn't trying to leave him tied to a tree all night. That wasn't what I set out to do."

"He's my dog. And we loved him."

It's just got to be a three-way toss-up as to this story's most INSANE element:

1) The fact that a guy could face time for euthanizing a demonstrably vicious and dangerous beast.

2) That, had he NOT put it down, he could well have been facing prison the next time it bit someone.

3) Or is this guy himself, the laughing stock of the story? He slept with the dog, loved it, got mauled by it, couldn't kill it with a gun, AND is palpably guilt-ridden over the whole ordeal!!!

Much thanks to Kfell for this cornucopia of laughs.

As always, click here for my master link of deranged dog people.

BYO-Hot Sauce

So I'm at that highflying Chipotle Mexican Grill the other day...

I order my usual, a steak burrito, and the girl behind the counter gravely warns me that *it's our spiciest meat*.

I was slightly taken aback by the disclaimer but joked:

CaptiousNut - That's why I want it!

But do y'all know why they ask? It's because of those darned 'old coot' New Englanders; those old farts don't like anything beyond *meat and potatoes*.

A perfect example would be my grandparents. They would eat bland-a$$ slop like meat and potatoes and pot roast seemingly every other night. Furthermore, they thought even basics like *spaghetti sauce* were TOO SPICY. My beloved MIL falls into this *tasteless* category as well.

As the Prince and I am almost done eating our lunch, a couple of nonagenarians seat themselves at the adjacent table. Not two minutes later, the 'old bag' was fetching the manager because the 'old coot' found his burrito *too spicy* for consumption. THAT is why they have to warn everyone! The manager even said they let people *sample* the meats - just so they don't have to go through this 50 times a day with the fossils.

Why would this issue rile me up?

Well, because we don't have any good ethnic restaurants up here in Boston PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THESE WEAK-STOMACHED dinosaurs. The few Thai and Indian restaurants in these parts are dwarfed by the sheer number of *American* or *pub fare* eateries. Burgers, fries, potato skins,...and even worse, these places ALL carry antiquated inedibles like chicken pot pie and beef stew, that's it. No one even really needs a menu! I don't know why they just don't put Ensure directly on the menu!

I don't blame the restaurants, they have to cater to the market - and that's what the out-eating, moneyed market is here, 'old coots' and 'old bags'.

Expedited Justice

Ouch! That's pretty tough to watch more than once - for me anyway.

Speaking of face-plants...

Last night Mrs. C-Nut over-ate, over-danced, over-sung (karaoke), and was most definitely OVER-SERVED.

Understand that the real reason people drive *under the influence* is that NO ONE WANTS TO BE SOBER and amidst a bunch of drunks.

And that essentially described my plight yesterday - I only drank a handful of those masculine beers so that someone could drive past the ever-present cops on our suburban roads.

But my drunk-as-a-skunk first wife begged me to hit another watering-hole on the way home. At 12:30am, having been out for almost 5 hours, I had no interest in another stop - especially with this sloppy broad. But she was begging me in such a manner that I had to gauge what would be worse - skipping the bar and dealing with her belligerent whining? - or going there and dealing with her prolonged inebriation?

Against my better judgment we stopped. After she inhaled two more Kettle and tonics we left with a flair.

As Mrs. C-Nut stepped from the parking lot onto the street, she did a slow-motion face-plant. She left her arms akimbo - not even attempting to break her fall. Though only a foot away, I didn't so much as flinch. Never interfere with *justice*, right?

So there she was, facedown on the pavement, arms dangling, and her hindquarters sticking so far up in the air I thought I was watching a yoga video. I had never seen such a sight - and probably neither did the open-mouthed cop that was driving by. But his shock may have been provoked by my indifference more than her spill. I didn't ask her how she was or even help her get up. It was a long night, I can be one cold bastard, AND Valentines Day wasn't until tomorrow! She looked like a freakin' seal or something - completely balanced on her face.

So we get home and in the light I could see that her nose was banged up good.

The rather large cut in her nose seemed almost surreal. I mean, the specific part of the bridge of her nose that was scratched was GEOMETRICALLY INACCESSIBLE to the pavement - or so I thought.

She spent the next hour hanging over the toilet, although to no avail. God apparently wanted to punish her all night.

And this morning, we discovered that her nose was not only scratched, but immensely swollen.

One Resilient Bear!

Yoda And Boba Fett

Poster-child Moron Alan Greenspan and poster-child crook Hank Paulson were recently on Meet the Press:

MR. GREGORY: We're back and joined now by Henry Paulson, the former Treasury secretary, and Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Welcome, both of you, back to MEET THE PRESS.

Dr. Greenspan, here was the headline in The New York Times yesterday after that Friday jobs report, and it was this: "Jobless rate falls to 9.7 percent, giving hope that the worst is over." Does this jobs report signal a turnaround?

MR. ALAN GREENSPAN: It doesn't signal a turnaround, but what it does say is that the turnaround which has already occurred is moving but not in any aggressive manner.

MR. GREGORY: And Secretary Paulson, if you look at the jobs loss since the recession began, 8.4 million jobs over that time horizon, the question is, what's going to cause a turnaround? When do you see this, this jobless rate actually stay in the single digits?

MR. HENRY PAULSON: Well, the economy is clearly recovering,...

MR. PAULSON: But it always does come. And it will come. We have stable financial markets and a recovering economy. It's going to take some time, though.

MR. GREGORY: When is the recession over then?

MR. GREENSPAN: The recession is over. It bottomed back in the middle of last year...

MR. PAULSON: Well, what I, what, what I say is this. The--I take a real comfort in the fact that the programs that were put in place to stabilize the economy were continued and much of, of what has been done has been a continuation or a logical extension of those programs. I believe the, the financial markets are stable. I believe the programs have worked. They prevented the collapse of a--the financial markets, prevented a real catastrophe. I think we could have had 25 percent unemployment if, if, if, if the system had collapsed. And I believe that we're going to see that every penny that's been put in the banks is going to come back with interest. So I think the money's coming back. So--and that was what I was, what was talking about on election eve, because both presidential candidates had supported the TARP legislation, and I think that was critical. If they hadn't, we would have been defenseless.

MR. GREGORY: Dr. Greenspan, one more question about jobs. So you think that unemployment rate goes up again before it comes down?

MR. GREENSPAN: I'm not sure.

MR. GREENSPAN: And that's [hiring Census workers!] going to have some positive effect. But it's very difficult to make the case that unemployment is coming down anytime soon.

MR. GREGORY: Secretary Paulson, what happens if housing prices go down again when you've already got this kind of precarious situation?

MR. PAULSON: It clearly wouldn't be good. I'm not predicting that. But what I, I, I think this issue is, is a, a critically important one because it's very difficult for governments to design a program that is going to be effective and going to be fair to taxpayers, a program to keep people in their homes if they don't want to stay in their homes. And so a, a big part of what we focused on was bringing the private sector together to keep those into their homes that could afford to stay in the homes and wanted to stay there. Now, when you look at the crisis, I think part of the reason that so many experts and so many people didn't foresee housing as being the cause--and, and, and count me among those--was that if you look at our country since World War II, residential housing prices have generally gone up.

MR. GREENSPAN: Well, I am very much concerned if home prices decline from here. I don't think they're going to. In other words, they seem to be bottoming out.

MR. GREGORY: In our remaining moment here, Secretary Paulson, I have to ask you about financial regulation, about bonuses on Wall Street. Do you see real changes happening on Wall Street? Are you frustrated by the level of bonuses we're seeing?

MR. PAULSON: Well, you, you ask two questions, and so firstly, there's no doubt that, that compensation on Wall Street, I think, is out of whack and has been out of whack for some time. And I understand why the American people are unhappy because, you know, in our system we, we expect those that take risk to, to, to, to really bear their own losses. But I would like to see that, that frustration, that anger channeled toward regulatory reform. And I just think that's very, very critical. And to me, one thing that is absolutely essential is that we, we, we get strong resolution authority so that, in the future, any type of financial institution, when it faces failure, that, that, that it is liquidated and liquidated in a way in which the taxpayer is not going to have to come up in again and prop up or bail out a financial institution.

Hah!

There you have it. Both clowns assert the (mere) *recession* is over!

Though Greenspan is a little more explicit. "The recession is over IF the stock market and housing don't fall." Gee, thanks, Yoda.

And Hank admits he didn't see the housing bubble - the Treasury Secretary did not see the LARGEST financial bubble in world history as it blew up in his face. So consider that track record alongside his current *recession is over* proclamation.

More erroneous forecasts from these buffoons:

MR. PAULSON: Well, I'm going to go with the Indiana and Peyton Manning.

MR. GREGORY: OK.

MR. GREENSPAN: It's very difficult to go against Peyton Manning.

MR. GREGORY: My view as well. We'll make that the last word. Thank you both very much.

*The Indiana*???

More On Goldman's IndyMac Thievery

First, see - Goldman Jerks - Still Stealing Hand over Fist.

As I promised, that post/video got everyone's blood boiling.

But then Big Government came out and said it was *blatantly false*.

Calculated Risk agrees with the politicians.

But ZeroHedge does not.

Read them both, particularly the comments on ZeroHedge, and decide for yourselves.

My bias is to always look askance upon the self-serving BS emanating from Big Government - and upon those simpletons who parrot it.

Useless Professionals

In the course of my *eviction chronicles*, recall I had an informal meeting with a local attorney.

See - Lawyer Says.

As he left my house, I asked he what he was going to charge me for the consult, "nothing" was his twice-iterated response.

I didn't hire him because, well, there was nothing going on. It wasn't until a few days later that I was served with a summons for an eviction proceeding. When that happened, I emailed him a question about dodging the server; he advised me not to do so and asked me to scan and forward a copy of the summons to him; but that was it. He never responded and why would he....I hadn't hired him. I figured he was just a local guy, being nice, so that when I did have a need I would use him (or refer him) - much in the manner of salesman types.

In fact, I didn't even know whether or not I was obligated to have a lawyer at my eviction hearing. I planned on doing the defense myself - printing out dead rat pictures and showboating my kids in tattered clothing.

Recall as my court date was approaching, I unleashed my leverage on the dingbat landlord....and he folded like a house of cards. He dismissed the case early this week. See - Eviction Chronicles - Chapter 1 Finale.

But late last night I got this email from that same attorney, again a guy who I met with only briefly some 3 weeks ago:

C-Nut. Due to an emergency I must travel to New York City at 6am tomorrow. Please ask the court to continue the case to 2-18-10 or 2-25-10 or 3-4-10 or 3-11-10.

Print this email and bring it with you.

Say what?

For some reason he had it in his head that he was going to represent me in court the next day, the 11th as per the summons.

Now I'm scratching my head.

When exactly did he think I hired him???

Furthermore, if I did hire him, then why the [bleep] did he not so much as even email me for the the past 3 weeks to discuss my professional *defense*?

Was I supposed to pay a lawyer who did ZERO work on my case beforehand?

Heck, by law I had to formally respond to the court and to my landlord's attorney 3 days before the hearing, on the 8th. This part of the procedure he was surely aware of. And yet, obviously, he didn't offer to assist in that. Instead I get this last-minute email from him the night before.

It would have only been fair for him to show up in court, without a client, for a case that was dismissed, because he hadn't any professionalism at all.

I gave him a curt email response:

Case was dismissed.

An hour later, after probably much head-scratching of his own, he responded:

Good job.

No $hit butthead. I'd say thanks for nothing, but his initial consult did give me two more bits of leverage against the scumbag landlord - 1) the $4,000 cost of physical eviction and 2) the water bill. (And those potential bombs remain unfired, in my arsenal for another battle.)

I've long known that I have to do everything myself. I can't stand PAYING reputed professionals: accountants, lawyers, doctors, financial advisers, educators, et al. for a negative ROI.

The Mumps Quackccine

Here's the article.

And here's the jaw-dropper:

Lakewood, New Jersey, Rabbi Yehunda Pirutinsky was surprised when his 14-year-old son was diagnosed with mumps a week ago. Lakewood is in Ocean County.

"He was completely vaccinated," Pirutinsky said. "So it was a surprise to us he came down with mumps."

Anyone fully vaccinated from mumps receives two doses of the vaccine, according to the CDC. Of the New Jersey cases, 77 percent were vaccinated, Terjesen said.

Bam!!!

There you have it, a whopping *77%* of the infected were vaccinated - or so they thought.

Y'all run out there and get your pig flu shots now. I hear they're on sale!

See also - The Bizarro World Of Pig Flu Hysterics.

Armor Chinks

I'm not the most Captious person on Earth for nothing...

After reading anyone a bit, I can spot their weakness fairly easily.

Since John Stossel went live and I've been following him closely, I'm pretty sure I've discovered one particular area where I disagree with him.

He's TOO OPTIMISTIC!

Look at these charts he posted last week on his blog and on his "Everything is Getting Better" show:




But John,....what about inflation???

The first chart uses the ridiculously low measure propagated by Big Government currency debasers. In other words, the chart would be much flatter if deflated by an accurately priced basket of goods and services.

And the second one doesn't even account for said inflation! So what if your income is up a few percent when food, energy, housing, taxes, education, and medical costs are exploding, no? BTW, inflation of those sorts really only affects the *poorest*.

He also, in that show, put forth arguments that our *culture* is not worsening mostly with short-term charts on teen pregnancy, teen violence, and the like.

Now I fully understand that *adults* in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s most certainly also decried what they perceived as a *cultural descent*, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been a straight roll downhill. Yeah, girls are getting pregnant a bit less, but that doesn't mean they aren't dressing more like tramps, *servicing* guys in the 7th grade now, brawling more than ever, etc. (Men have always been dogs!)

It just looked like a pretty flimsy argument Stossel put forth.

Stossel also suggested that we, as a nation, were getting *healthier* just because life expectancy was rising. But, if I can ask the obvious question, what about *quality of life*? I don't know that artificially sustaining 'old coots', for an extra decade, by modern drugs, in an asylum ought to be counted positively in this regard.

Then he did a follow-up blog post which he titled - Everything Getting Better...Except Gov't Spending

In that he linked to a WSJ piece and highlighted this unsurprising chart:



Here's the problem with this line of reasoning:

Stossel just put up a bunch of upward sloping charts, and upward sloping arguments that *proved* our nation was getting safer, healthier, cleaner, more moral, and wealthier.

Okay.

Except that a statist can turn around and say that the last chart he touted, the one highlighting steady growth in national debt and Washington, proves that the benefits of Big Government!!!

And that's precisely the type of slapping retort he'd deserve for wielding such weak arguments of his own.

Putting this one show aside, I'm loving his weekly program.

See also:

More Stossel!

Stossel - Highly Recommended!

The Exiled John Stossel

A Skinny Bull Market

I'm not watching the market too closely at all - seeing how my shorts have been pared and transformed into *out month* put positions...

So seeing that the averages jumped this afternoon, I had to assume that my nearly *100% short* portfolio took a hit.

But my brokerage account is only showing a loss of $86.98 today....So the banks and the REITs mustn't have participated much in the rally I guess. (Or, my option marks were unrealistically favorable.)

Something must have gone up today, at least some Dow components. But I just don't follow the details anymore.

On another note, all I had to do was *think* about shorting restaurants as I did two days ago. See - Short Restaurants?...

And look at Buffalo Wild Wings, one of the nose-bleeders I profiled...

It's trading down 13% after the close after reporting earnings!

Harder Than You Think

Recall that as an exercise of self-restraint, I vowed to give up pizza for 2010. I almost made it all the way through January but failed.

See - Breaking My Vows.

I gave it a go again this month....but only made it until the 9th before I consumed a bit of pizza. It was 6pm, I had the kids out with their friends, the other parents only ordered pizza and horrible french fries, yada, yada, yada....I broke my vow again.

In terms of eating out, especially casually, I'm finding that it's pretty darn hard to abstain from pizza pies. I'm going to try yet again as it shouldn't be hard to improve upon a mere 9-day abstinence.

Malpracticing Green Parents

Toyota, the world's top automaker, ran into a *public relations nightmare* a couple of weeks ago with its so-called hybrid car:

And the stock dipped ↑ a bit.

Hah! The way I see it...widespread Prius brake failures might result in a, how should I say it?, they may have an *evolutionary benefit*!

The whiny Jeff Jarvis writes:

Including my parents, we own four Toyotas in my family; over time, we’ve probably owned eight or 10. Will we ever buy another? Depends. Depends on whether we can trust the company given its performance lately.

There’s a reason we bought our Toyotas. They are incredibly reliable. I abuse mine, skipping service calls. But — knock wood — I’ve not had any major problems. So even though I don’t much like Toyota design and — as a professor, can no longer afford to pay for that styling with the Lexus brand — I thought I was pretty much stuck buying them forever. Why fix what’s not broken, eh?

But now we find out our Toyotas are broken. We find out that Toyota has known this for too long and done nothing. We call our dealer and get stonewalled about the problem with brakes in the Prius our son drives.

I don't care....anyone who buys their teenage child a Prius is an UNMITIGATED A-HOLE!!!

I remember seeing teenagers in Newton and Brookline, Massachusetts driving around in Prius's that obviously their parents bought for them. All I could think was, 'Man, I really have to get out of this area!'

Sure, beleaguered *taxi-driving* parents should be permitted to buy their teenage children vehicles. But they should be clunkers (read: *cheap*) and safe - like the ginormous Buick my parents procured for my senior year of high school. It only got 9 miles per gallon!



My parents were quite sure that in the event of the inevitable teenage *accident*, that I'd be safer than I would be in a veritable, golf cart - such as today's collapsible Prius. The fact that its brakes may be faulty is almost beside the point.

Desperation - Now Hiring

I did briefly see this ad during the Super Bowl on Sunday.

And I thought to myself, "CareerBuilder is still in business?"

Maybe 9 years ago I might have put my resume on that site when I moved from Philly to NYC, but don't think I've even heard its name mentioned since then.

I guess I figured that everything went to Craigslist and LinkedIn (and maybe Monster.com). So is there even a market for CareerBuilder??? Especially these days when NO ONE is hiring!

A quick google on this subject revealed that Monster just bought HotJobs from Yahoo for $225 million.

Apparently, Yahoo had first bought it for $432 million some 8 years ago. Ouch!

Perhaps it's just me that thinks CareerBuilder obscure...

But I just don't think companies with scant name recognition after a decade in business, in an imploding industry, ought to be spending $3 million on Super Bowl ads.

Here we are....link:

CareerBuilder released its North American revenue numbers today, which show that while it has been hurt by the recession, it’s still ahead of its closest competitor.

For the fourth quarter, CareerBuilder reported $131 million in revenue, a 30.5 percent decline from the last quarter of 2008. For the whole year, CareerBuilder’s North American revenue was $542 million, down 26.7 percent from the year before.

As a privately held company, CareerBuilder isn’t required to report any of its financials.

Revenue down 26.7% from 2008....that's to be expected.

But a gross total of $542 million in revenue?

Color me shocked, and ignorant, that the top line could possibly be that high!

Again, business is vanishing; they spent all that money producing and running a Super Bowl ad; and I'll bet the marketing team and management is thinking they knocked the cover off the ball with their commercial.

Big freakin' deal.

Goldman Jerks - Still Stealing Hand Over Fist

Click here and watch the video. Your mind will be blown, your jaw dropped, and your blood boiled over.

Social Networking Competition

Today my Gmail-checking was interrupted by a prompt to check out *Google Buzz*.

I have to assume that it's a foray into *social networking* - that it's an assault on HeadBook or whatever that thing is called.

I remember when Gmail started. They tried to manufacture an aura about it in the sense that one had to be *invited* to get an account. I think their gimmick was to no avail in the early going, but here we are some years later and everyone is using Google's email service. Alright, except maybe for the 'old coots' and 'old bags' are who are still on Aol and Compuserve.

I may not avail myself to the services of *Google Buzz* - and why would I? I have a blog! - but I do hope that it takes a bite out of Headbook. I've always considered it to be blogging for simpletons; it was for the masses what cavity-backed clubs were to golf hackers!

Pagans Blowing It...

When Windmills Don’t Spin, People Expect Some Answers

Turbines, more than 100 feet tall, were installed last year in 11 Minnesota cities to provide power, and also to serve as educational symbols in a state that has mandated that a quarter of its electricity come from renewable resources by 2025.

One problem, though: The windmills, supposed to go online this winter, mostly just sat still, people in cities like North St. Paul and Chaska said, rarely if ever budging. Residents took note. Schoolchildren asked questions. Complaints accumulated.

Hah!

Well, the first thing I'd do if my windmill stopped spinning....is to check and make sure it was plugged in properly!

Hey, as least this article had to stones (or oversight!) to call them what they were *symbols* - even if the modifier ought to be changed from educational to *pagan*.

And I must say, I was surprised to see this article in the NYT. In the *old days*, they'd never slip up like this!

See also - Green Infighting And More On Bird-Blenders

Big Science Is Racist!

Consider this headline:



Combined with:



If A correlates with B...

And B correlates with C...

THEN these scientists collectively asserted that minorities have lower intelligence!

I'm against all these ridiculous studies. Next they will correlate poverty with *low personal assets* or something.

And this isn't science at all. It's merely propaganda for self-perpetuating bureacracies and race-baiting politicians.

Did y'all know that we have a federal *office of minority health*? And that it's funded to the tune of $50 million every year?

Here's a funny straight from its website:

MONDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- The health-care portion of President Barack Obama's 2011 budget proposal includes $1.4 billion to overhaul the nation's food-safety program, $1.6 billion to expand child-care programs, and $1.7 billion to fight waste, fraud and abuse, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, said Monday.

Y'all catch that?

They are going to SPEND $1.7 billion to fight *waste, fraud, and abuse*!!!

Medical Monopolists

I had no idea that hospitals, i.e. Big Medicine, had codified into law their monopoly position.

Read John Stossel on the ridiculous CON law.

Wall Street may indeed be full of scumbag crooks, BUT, there are at least plenty of fringe voices there calling out for more competition, more transparency, and less plunder.

However, the next time I hear a doctor say *healthcare needs more competition*, well....that'll be the first!

Partisanship Incarnate

Check out Don Luskin today; he slaps his nemesis Paul Krugman but good!

On a related, but side-note...

It's to Mike Shedlock's everlasting shame that he has some back-scratching *I'll send you readers, if you send me readers* arrangement with Calculated Risk .

Why? Well, because the Calculated Risk dude is a knucklehead - a guy who frequently plants wet smooches on Krugman's hiney.

Shame on Mish for lending credence to dissembling dimwits, just so his site can get more hits.

Short Restaurants?

Check out these recent levitations:









I had never heard of that last one - BJ's Restaurants - an up-and-comer out west.

Sure, the mom-and-pop cafes, diners, and restaurants have been dropping like flies, and sending their residual customers to the likes of better capitalized institutions like Panera and Chipotle...

But I submit that the if there was any genuine economic wind at the backs of these high-flyers (beyond the Fed printing dollars round the clock), that it was falling commodity prices in 2009 - including the dip in oil/gasoline.

I've had it in my mind to short eateries within this Greater Depression - because once commodity prices start rising again, they'll be absolutely dead.

Apparently, I'm not the only one waxing bearish....

Short interests today (as a percentage of float):

PNRA - 13.10%

BWLD - 25.60%

CMG - 19.00%

BJRI - 30.7%

And I found another - PF Chang's - which has 35.40% of its float shorted at the moment.



With short interest so high, I'm sure the puts ain't cheap. Still, I'm going to take a hard look at them.

Barely A Parody!

Oops. I missed this great SuperBowl commercial on Sunday:



This $hit is no joke. I see the local green cops around my neighborhood all the time now.



Why exactly do they carry guns???

Animal Attraction

From Reuters:

Rather than spending Valentine's Day with their partner, one-fifth of adults would prefer to be with their pet...

"Likely defying stereotype, the desire to spurn a partner for a pet is not rooted in gender but rather age and even there it seems the older you are, the least likely it is you'd choose pet over partner," said Wright.

"While there are country differences, it's more of a personal choice made by younger and less affluent individuals."

On a country-by-country basis, residents of Turkey were the most likely, at 49 percent, to choose their pet over their spouse or partner.

So people really romance their animals in Turkey, eh?

That *study* reminds me of that Hungarian classmate of mine at UPenn...

My roommate and I got him to admit that his *first love* was a sheep!

Roommates - It was a 'cultural thing', right?

AnimalLover - YEAH. YEAH. Everyone does it!

Shocker!!! ↑

The Lunch Lady, Ever Unpopular!

The tony suburb of Newton, Massachusetts, like 99.9% of the rest of municipalities nationwide, is having some fiscal trouble.

Newton's School Cafeteria Workers Fight For Their Jobs

As Newton Public Schools looks to privatize cafeteria services, the union representing the schools' 65 cafeteria workers is reaching out to Newton parents for support in the fight to keep the workers' jobs.

In a letter to several Parent Teacher Organizations, Tim Curry, president of the Newton Public School Custodians Association, the union which represent cafeteria and custodial workers, advocates against the outsourcing, saying it will lead to poor service. He said the 65 workers rely heavily on their salaries to support their families.

"These workers, almost exclusively female, have dedicated many years of service to the system and, are among the lowest paid workers in the system," Curry writes. "Your children deserve to have someone handling their food who has a strong connection to the community and is concerned about the quality of food services for those children. The employees who live in this community and whose children also have attended Newton Schools will provide that service; contracted employees with no connection to Newton will not."

Blah, blah, blah. Wa, wa, wa. Cry me a river!

On Sunday, Mayor Setti Warren announced an estimated $6 million gap in the school budget for Newton.

I know the answer(s), but I have to scream out loud, "How the [bleep] does a town of 83,000 people develop a $6 million ANNUAL school budget deficit?!"

In an interview, Curry said it is not fair to blame money loss [sic] on the workers. Many of the cafeteria workers are older women, and many live in Newton, he said.

Not their fault?

Except:

Last May, the Newton School Committee voted to explore the option of privatization of the cafeteria services after a subcommittee found that the school district expects to lose$905,000 on food services last year, compared with $416,000 in 2006. Part of the deficit, the subcommittee reported, stems from low participation in the school lunch program, ranging from 25 percent at the city's high schools to 60 percent at Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School.

Well perhaps if they cooked something the kids liked...!!!

For those of you unaware, Newton, where I happened to live before discovering Boston's South Shore, is one freakin' wealthy town. All they have to do is make everyone brownbag their lunch and it'll single-handedly erase probably $1 million out of the $6 million deficit.

It almost goes without saying, that every single aspect of government schools - no matter the high-priced town - is a profound joke.

They can't manage milk and cookies, yet people are content to let them manage the minds of their precious children.

(BTW, Newton is the worst place I've ever lived - in terms of intolerable Morons and assorted mind deviants. I'd rather live in ultra-loony Cambridge, MA!)

The Bizarro World Of Pig Flu Hysterics

Hah! Obviously, like all Big Government programs, the pig flu hit women, children, and minorities the hardest!

I enjoyed a big laugh at a sign I saw in front of Walgreen's Pharmacy this morning. It was advertising that they had *H1N1 flu shots available*. And the prominent ad couldn't help but convey the suggestion/admission of a *end of the season* sale/discount.

Going forward, it will be difficult for future generations to appreciate just how ridiculous the contrived *swine flu pandemic* was; how flat-out crazy the Morons amongst us went over a disease that has proven more innocuous than 4th grade cooties.

But still, the Big Government *experts* and Big Government apologists, aka socialists, yammer on, even if now in more muted tones:

Most Americans Think Swine Flu Pandemic Is Over, a Harvard Poll Finds

Most Americans do not intend to get the swine flu vaccine, assume the pandemic is over and think the flu threat was overblown, according to a poll released Friday by the Harvard School of Public Health.

As of the end of January, only about a fifth of all Americans had had swine flu shots, according to that poll and data released separately by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And, even though this flu hit children and teenagers the hardest, only about 40 percent of them have had the shots. That figure could improve because 13 percent of adults surveyed by Harvard told pollsters that they still intended to get their children vaccinated. If they do so, slightly more than half of all the country’s children will have been vaccinated, though many young ones who should have had two shots got only one.

Most parents who did not get shots said they felt the threat had passed. The second-most-common reason was fear of the vaccine, even though monitoring of the first 60 million doses showed no unusual rate of side effects.

"A steady core of adults" has resisted all warnings and appeals from public health officials, said Robert J. Blendon, director of opinion research at Harvard’s School of Public Health, which has done several polls with C.D.C. financing since the outbreak began.

Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said he “was not surprised” by how few got shots.

"But that could all change overnight if we get a third wave in late February — and we still could," he added. "That would make this half-time data, not end-of-the-game data."

Dr. Anne Schuchat, the C.D.C.’s director of immunization and respiratory disease, who in early January urged all Americans to get shots because they had finally become plentiful, put a brave face on the low figures, saying she was “encouraged” because more children got shots than ever previously got regular flu shots and because many got them at school for the first time. If that became routine, it could lead to much wider flu protection because schoolchildren often are the vectors that infect their families.

You know, YOU JUST KNOW, that all these alarmist CDC type are sitting around HOPING for a February resurgence in the innocuous *pandemic*!

And how about that revelatory last line?

According to Big Government - Schoolchildren are *vectors* of disease?

Well, they definitely don't come home and infect their families with erudition, manners, and maturity!



See also:

More Pig/Bird Flu Fraud

More Pig Flu Nonsense

Swine Flu Cooties

Pig Flu Quack-ccine

Nonstop Alarmism