Cranky Greg had the pleasure of visiting Hanford, California on Saturday. He was startled to see the banner proclaiming the World Breastfeeding Week starts on August 1, 2008! How exciting!
Did you know that Breastfeeding is the Gift of Love that Lasts a Lifetime?
Cranky Greg certainly hopes that taxpayers didn't pay for this silliness. But we probably did.
The airlines, which are losing money fast, and laying off people fast, blame their woes on rising fuel prices.
Cranky Greg guesses that crappy customer service, rude employees, dirty airplanes, and watching old ladies and the wheelchair-bound being damn near strip-searched before getting on airplanes has nothing to do with the airlines' woes.
Oh yeah, and charging for checking bags, reneging on frequent-flier contracts, being stuck in planes on the tarmac for hours, charging extra for changing flights....oh, hell, Cranky Greg could go on and on....
Cranky Greg thinks that Pres. George W. Bush is busy appeasing Iran. And so are the Europeans. At least the Old Europeans.
Cranky Greg's not the only one who thinks that Bush is appeasing Iran, once a member of the Axis of Evil. So does Michael Rubin. Here's the money quote:
While European diplomats hope regime pragmatists might reinject responsibility in the Iranian debate, Ms. Rice's State Department has bolstered Ahmadinejad and his fellow travelers. As Ahmadinejad begins his re-election campaign, he can say he has successfully brought Washington to its knees through blunt defiance, murder of U.S. troops in Iraq, and Holocaust denial. Should he win re-election in 2009, he will have Mr. Bush's whiplash diplomacy to thank for his greatest -- and, given the state of his economy, perhaps only -- victory.
Michael Barone describes Sen. Obama's historical ignorance.
Pretty shocking if you ask Cranky Greg, but not if you ask White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.
According to this story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mama's Pizza is back in Fort Worth!
Mama's Pizza is the best pizza on Earth. It's better than pizza from New York, and Cranky Greg should know because is a pizza expert. Cranky is the world's foremost pizza expert, as a matter of fact.
Anyway, Mama's Pizza used to have a restaurant on Rosedale in Fort Worth across from Texas Wesleyan University. They then had various locations in Fort Worth including Camp Bowie, Berry Street and one near UT-Arlington on Cooper in Arlington and one on Green Oaks in Sourth Arlington. Anyway, they all started shutting down and the son of the original owner, Chris Farkas, died a few years ago.
One of the things Cranky Greg misses about Texas is Mama's Pizza. The next time Cranky visits Texas, you'll know where to find him!
This is why everyone hates the records companies, or CD companies, or DVD companies or MP3 companies, or whatever they are now.
Tim Lincecum is the most exciting player in baseball that Cranky Greg's seen in a long time. Of course, he does play for the San Francisco Giants, and so he doesn't have a lot of competition in SF.
Cranky Greg loves watching this guy pitch.
Tim looks like he's 12 years old, until he uncorks a 98 mph fastball.
Cranky Greg wishes to apologize for his earlier comments about the Military Brass guys who wanted fancy "comfort capsules" on their aircraft.
Apparently, Cranky Greg misunderstood everything. According to this story, the wall-to-wall carpeting the hotshot Military Brass wanted was from Home Depot, not Ethan Allen.
What the hell was Cranky Greg thinking? He apologizes to the Military Brass. As long as it's all Home Depot, then all's cool with Cranky Greg.
This article in the Washington Post really made Cranky Greg a little cranky this morning.
Instead of worrying about killing terrorists, it seems that the Military Brass want some "comfort capsules" to be installed in their airplanes so they can fly in comfort.
First of all, no one flies in comfort these days.
Second, we have soldiers dying in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Military Brass should be thinking about the soldiers first!!
Every soldier better have every thing he needs to fight the war - armor, ammunition, water....whatever is needed before some fancy-pants Military Brass spoiled brat gets a damn "comfort capsule."
How about some "comfort capsules" for Army Cpl. Jonathan Ayers or Army Cpl. Matthew Phillips? Oh, they were killed in Afghanistan this week fighting for freedom and for their bosses to try to get fancy "comfort capsules" so they can travel in comfort. The only "comfort capsules" that the dead fallen heroes and their colleagues will get are coffins.
Let's hope that the Military Brass will stop this silliness and get on with the War Against Radical Islam. And let's hope that their crazy planning for their "comfort capsules" didn't result in deficient military planning that resulted in the death of any of our soldiers.
The stakes can't be any higher for Israel. Iran is working on making a nuclear weapon, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to destroy Israel.
Many choose not to believe Ahmadinejad's threats, just as many ignored Hitler's threats.
But this is a moment of truth for Israel - the only real democracy in the Middle East is being threatened with total destruction. Israel cannot let that happen without a fight, as no nation would accede to its total destruction without a fight.
So Cranky Greg hopes that the United States or Israel or both will turn to military intervention in order to disrupt Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
In today's New York Times, Benny Morris paints a pretty scary picture of the choices Israel has in this most important time. He says that Israel will "almost surely attack Iran's nuclear sites in the next four to seven months..." Morris says that if the attacks are not successful at delaying or ending Iran's quest for nuclear weapons, that the Middle East will be involved in a nuclear war.
We know that Ahmadinejad wants to destroy Israel. He also said that he is willing to suffer destruction in Iran in order to destroy Israel. He would be willing to allow the destruction of Iran if it also meant the destruction of Israel.
He's like a homicide car-bomber. He's certainly no Nikita Khruschev!
This is a new nuclear game. In the past, MAD - Mutual Assured Destruction - worked because neither the leaders of the Soviet Union or the United States wanted to die in order to destroy their enemy. Here, MAD won't work because radical Islamic terrorists and those that support radical Islamic terrorists want to die for their cause. They want to get to be martyrs and get to heaven ASAP to be with all those virgins!
So Cranky Greg pretty much agrees with Morris' analysis. This is no kid's game we're playing. This is serious stuff. If the West continues to ignore the threat and engage in silly negotiations with Tehran which will merely result in Iran buying time to further develop its weapons of Israeli destruction, we face the specter of nuclear war after Iran deploys its nukes on Israel and Israel responds with everything it has.
Destroying Iran's nuclear capability must be the number one priority in Washington and Tel Aviv.
Morris wrote previously that This Holocaust Will be Different. He's right about that.
Cranky Greg's rant about mandatory arbitration and Christine Varney's lame attempt to sell consumers some oceanfront property in Arizona has generated lots and lots of e-mails.
So now, Cranky Greg's almost famous. Consumerist, one Cranky Greg's favorite blogs, linked to the rant!!
The last time Cranky Greg was almost famous is when Instapundit linked to Cranky Greg.
Judging from the number of e-mails Cranky Greg received today, everyone has already heard the good news: Susan Denise Atkins, murderer and Charles Manson disciple, has been denied an early release from prison because she has cancer and only one leg.
Now all we need to do is to wait for her to die a miserable death.
This is Susan Atkins during happier times: during her trial for murder with her co-defendants, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel. Susan is the bald one on the right.
She and her co-conspirators in murder shaved their heads to show the world that they were one with Charles Manson.
But now Susan claims she's found Jesus. Cranky Greg doesn't buy it, but her devotion to Jesus won't help her on Earth. She better hope it helps her in a few weeks when she gets to meet her maker, and maybe also Sharon Tate and Sharon's unborn child.
Susan Atkins is a disgusting human being. May she rot in Hell.
Susan Denise Atkins, aka Sadie Mae Glutz, is asking for a "compassionate release" from prison because she has brain cancer and will die.
Most people, Cranky Greg included, oppose the Manson follower's request, because she was convicted in the Sharon Tate murder and the Gary Hinman murder.
After the pregnant Sharon Tate was stabbed to death, Susan Atkins tasted Sharon's blood, then used Sharon's blood to write"Pig" on the Tate residence front door.
Now that she is gravely ill, she wants to die outside of prison. Cranky Greg opposes this and believes Atkins should die in prison.
According to Atkins' prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, Cranky Greg is a "robot" and/or "extremely callous" because Cranky believes Atkins should remain in prison.
Whatever. Bugliosi does make some good points, but Atkins should never be let out. If her crimes do not justify life in prison, nothing does.
One of Cranky Greg's favorite reads is the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. But today, Cranky Greg damn near fell out his chair laughing at the bullshit that was written by an attorney, Christine Varney, a partner at Hogan and Hartson LLP. (Hogan and Hartson is a big-ass law firm that represents Big Business.)
Ms. Varney wrote a piece entitled: Arbitration Works Better Than Lawsuits.
In her article, Ms. Varney complains about The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007, which is currently being studied by Congress. According to the Congressional Research Service, the proposed law does the following:
Declares that no predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of: (1) an employment, consumer, or franchise dispute, or (2) a dispute arising under any statute intended to protect civil rights or to regulate contracts or transactions between parties of unequal bargaining power.
Declares, further, that the validity or enforceability of an agreement to arbitrate shall be determined by a court, under federal law, rather than an arbitrator, irrespective of whether the party resisting arbitration challenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunction with other terms of the contract containing such agreement.
Ms Varney makes many ridiculous claims in her attack on this bill, which is merely designed to forbid most mandatory arbitration "agreements" and give consumers access to the courts.
The first thing she does is invoke the progeny of Satan himself: Plaintiffs' Lawyers! Horrors!
She says that access to the courts is "a bad deal for consumers." She says that the bill is based on the wrong assumption that litigation benefits consumers while arbitration does not. She argues that arbitration is long-established, successful method for resolving disputes without having to go to court. She says it can help consumers resolve disputes with Big Business without the high costs and legal fees of a full-blown lawsuit.
That is simply ridiculous. First of all, arbitration may be a long-established method of resolving cases, but so are courts. Most cases filed in court do not go to trial. Most are settled at mediation or are dismissed. Furthermore, courts have been around a lot longer than arbitration procedures. Concerning the delay and expense of fighting Big Business, that is usually the fault of Big Business itself! Most of them stonewall discovery, file motions after motions after motions, and employ other delaying tactics designed to wear-out the plaintiff, both emotionally and financially. The guy who gets screwed by the credit card company is not the one creating all the expense and delays in court.
Ms. Varney then makes the preposterous claim that arbitration actually helps level the playing field between consumers and big businesses!! Why does Big Business support arbitration, if it levels the playing field between it and consumers? Because Big Business knows arbitration takes the fact-finding out of the purview of citizens and places it into the hands of arbitrators bought and paid for by Big Business. It is just silly to think that Big Business wants to level the playing field for the consumer. If that's the case, why all the fine print in all of the ridiculously long agreements with credit cards, cell phones and damn near everything else? That language is not there to protect you, Mr. and Ms. Consumer! Big Business doesn't pay its attorneys to help the consumer. Trust old Cranky Greg on that one!
Ms. Varney says that without arbitration, consumers will have no redress because lawyers won't take their cases because there is not enough money. Then why does Ms. Varney make such a production at the start of her article about those mean old plaintiffs' attorneys who don't like mandatory arbitration because it keeps their "big dollar disputes" out of the courtroom?
She then goes on to say that arbitration is good for consumers, and she admits that Big Business often pays for all of the costs associated with arbitration. Duh! Of course they do! They pay for the arbitrators! What are the arbitrators going to do? Rule in favor of consumers?
Don't be naive. Most arbitrators are bought and paid for by Big Business. Don't kid yourself.
Ms. Varney then cites studies that she says prove that consumers are the winners with mandatory arbitration. The first study she cites is from....guess who?.....The American Arbitration Association!!!
Cranky Greg is not kidding! She actually refers to that "study" conducted by an association that depends on mandatory arbitration for its very own survival!!!
Does anyone really think the alleged "study" is accurate? And impartial?
She then refers to another study by the National Workrights Instutute which, she says, showed that consumers prevailed in 63% of cases brought in arbitration, as opposed to only 43% of cases filed in court. Cranky Greg looked to see if this is accurate, and found that the National Workrights Institute says arbitration agreements should be OPTIONAL and not mandatory. Varney argues for mandatory arbitration. Ms. Varney, obviously, doesn't let the facts get in the way of her analysis.
Remember, all this bill is designed to do is to prohibit most mandatory arbitration clauses: it does not say that parties cannot agree on their own to submit their disputes to arbitration.
Cranky Greg actually likes arbitration, but detests mandatory arbitration. If arbitration is such a good deal for the consumer, then there needn't be any mandatory arbitration clauses since consumers would be flocking to arbitrate. But that is simply not the case.
Ms. Varney hopes to confuse the reader and to distract the reader from the real purpose of the bill - which is to prevent Big Business from locking consumers out of the courthouse and resolving their disputes in a system that is controlled by Big Business.
Ms. Varney should be ashamed of herself for presuming that her readers are stupid and for twisting the facts. That is despicable behavior from an attorney who should know better.
Brett "Huckleberry" Favre is still messing around with the Green Bay Packers. Huckleberry retired and now says he wants to play again. The Packers said 'NO!" and so did Aaron Rodgers, the Jesus-looking former Cal Bear QB poised to take over the Packers. So now Huckleberry wants a trade so he can scam another NFL team out of some money. It's time for Huckleberry to stay in Mississippi (it used to be so hard to spell it used to make Cranky cry. But now that Cranky's learned it - it's just like pumkin pie! M-I-S S-IS S-I-P-P-I) Huckleberry needs to call up Emmit Smith who refused to retire and looked ridiculous playing for the hapless Cardinals. Huckleberry needs to ring Joe Montana, the greatest QB of all time, and ask Smokin' Joe what it felt like to look stupid playing out his final days in KC. And he needs to buzz Troy Aikman and ask Troy what it felt like to look just gawd-awful his last two years in the NFL. And finally, Huck should call Barry Sanders and Jim Brown and ask them what it felt like to leave on top. But Huckleberry, being Huckleberry, won't do that. He's got that monumental ego to deal with. He doesn't care what he does to the Packers. Throwing interceptions to end games is not enough for Huck. He's pretty dumb. Heck, Huck can't even pronounce his own name correctly.
The new IPhone is out, and Cranky Greg is not one of the guys who waited in line in order to get ripped off by AT&T. The IPhone looks pretty cool, but the fact that it is tied to AT&T is anti-consumer, and is stupid. Cranky Greg is sold on his BlackBerry 8830, and will buy the BlackBerry Bold once it is released. With a BlackBerry, the user is not tied to a particular service.
It's amazing that the first IPhone was tied to an inferior network, and now the buzz is that it will be faster. The problem is, AT&T's fancy network is rather limited.
And that sucks if you live in Winnemucca.
Not everyone is a fan of Apple, but you can't please all the people all the time.
Perhaps the Neo FreeRunner is the answer?
The housing crisis escalates, and The New York Times, ever on the cutting edge of every news story, reports today that many mortgage lenders are not working very hard at restructuring mortgages for those who can't pay on their current mortgages. Well, imnagine that? Trying get a person to speak with at a big ass company like Countrywide! The problem with the housing crisis, in Cranky's humble opinion, is that it's going to get much worse before it gets any better. Housing prices in California are much higher than the incomes earned in California can support. A lot of people were addicted to the home equity ATM. Now it's catching up. And the part that makes Cranky Greg think it is going to get worse is that many couples purchased homes and fancy cars based on two salaries. Now that the economy is faltering, if one loses a job, then the family cannot afford the mortgage and the car payments based on only one salary. So imagine a couple that earns $180,000 combined. Very good income, but not if there are two huge car payments and a big mortgage. If one loses a job in this scenario, cars won't be paid off and then mortgages won't get paid off. So, Cranky Greg is a pessimist about the economy. Especially in California.
Former U.S. Sen. Jesse "Mr. Happy" Helms died, and Cranky Greg shed no tears for this racist bastard. Unfortunately, the slug was a Republican, which used to make Cranky Greg kinda queasy, back in the days when Cranky Greg was a Republican. Cranky used to wonder how a party led by Ronald Reagan could include such dour and petulent little racists like Jesse Helms.
Not only was Mr. Happy a symbol of Jim Crow politics, he looks like he would be no fun to be with. Cranky's not too fond of Bill Clinton, but figures it would be fun to hang with Bill for a day and go out and have a beer with him. But can one even imagine having a beer with Mr. Happy? Even being in the room with him for more than a minute or two had to be a chore.
Juan Williams' thoughts on Mr. Happy are worth reading.
Cranky hopes that Mr. Happy and Strom Thurmond are suffering together as slaves for Rosa Parks.
Wolfgang's Vault is perhaps the best website, ever. Tons of old concerts online. Here's some Frampton.
Saw this on Dvorak.
More common sense from Fresno-area resident, Victor Davis Hanson:
Global whatever
Now we are lectured that climate change is threatening civilization and we must do this and that. Twenty years ago I remember it was the Aids epidemic that was just about to break out among the heterosexual population in the fashion it had devastated the San Francisco gay community. Thus we needed to quit envisioning the virus as largely specific to gays and IV-drug users, and instead mobilize to protect the entire population from a mass epidemic. A few voices in the wilderness who argued that the mechanisms of so-called normal heterosexual sex (while perhaps conducive in their unprotected modes to all sort of venereal diseases) were nevertheless often different from both the apparent frequency and nature of homosexual sex practices, and very different from the blood exchanges of shared-needles, were derided as either illiberal, homophobic, or unhinged.
The country seems to go through these ‘we are on the brink of extinction’ panics about every 20 years or so. We all remember the 1960s population bomb and how 3-billion-person India would be starved into oblivion by now, or Ronald Reagan’s desire for a nuclear winter (remember the made-for-TV movies about a Reagan-inspired nuclear holocaust), or again the take-over of Japan, Inc. as everything from Rockefellar Center to Pebble Beach was lost to the Yellow Peril. I remember my high-school science teacher lecturing about a global ice-age to come, and we humans going the way of the dinosaurs.
I don’t think our planet overheating in the near future is going to kill off billions, but I wonder whether the entire neglect of energy questions for last 20 years, especially the need to develop shale, tar sands, more clean coal, nuclear, and drilling oil to transition us to cleaner fuels, has nearly bankrupted American civilization. Our dependencies have siphoned off trillions from our productive economy in de facto cash grants to very unproductive exporters, who see as their birthright $140 a barrel oil that cost them $4-5 to pump—after someone else provided them the know-how and expertise to find, pump, and ship it.
We seem to panic about imaginary beasts, when real monsters quietly devour us.
This is an incredible photo. It's a photo of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with his hand on Susan Atkins' shoulder! (Susan's the happy one on Arnold's left.) OMG! And the sumbitch is smiling! Who the hell allowed this to happen? Even though Arnold was not Governor when this photo was taken, it's shocking to see a celebrity with his arms around a celebrity-slayer.
Oh well. Susan Atkins, unfortunately, is still alive. Her hearing for a compassionate release is scheduled for July 15.
Cranky Greg, who feels no mercy for people like Susan Atkins and Tex Watson and Charles Manson, hopes Susan dies in jail.
T. Boone Pickens says it's time to get off of foreign oil. Duh! Of course, Mr. Pickens has an agenda, Still, it's interesting. Remember, Boone Pickens and his friends were advocating an oil import tax in the 1980's when the oil prices were in the tank. That was a direct shot at consumers. Pickens makes lots of money and he can spend that money researching alternative fuels. Surely, Pickens wants some kind of government handout, just like other people of Big Business.
Cranky Greg's driving around Kauai in a rented Chevrolet Impala. It is a piece of crap and is typical of most American made cars. When GM declares BK soon, GM has only itself to blame American car makers should apologize to their sucker customers!!!!
Charles Manson follower, Susan Denise Atkins, is suffering from brain cancer and this is the official home of the Susan Denise Atkins Death Watch.
Unfortunately, Ms. Atkins is still alive and will have a hearing on her request for a "compassionate release" on July 15, 2008.
It's funny how the uncompassionate (is that a word?) seek compassion. Cranky Greg wants to see Susan Atkins die in prison.
