Nancy Pelosi's Jobs Plan: Shut Down Non-Union Plants in Right to Work States (Except for GE's)

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi has weighed this week in on the ongoing dispute between Boeing and the National Labor Relations Board, stating that the aircraft manufacturer's South Carolina facility should shut down if it can't unionize [video at link- NANESB!].

Interestingly, Pelosi's comments come more than two years after workers at the Charleston, SC plant voted overwhelmingly to decertifty their union.

In a move that seemingly went under the radar back in May, General Electric [NYSE: GE] announced that they were constructing a new 500,000 square foot facility to build locomotives in right-to-work Fort Worth, TX- shifting production from closed-shop Erie, PA with no apparent objection from either Congresswoman Pelosi or the NLRB.

Other venues under consideration included Lynn, MA and Mexico. With rival Caterpillar's [NYSE: CAT] subsidiary Progress Rail opening up a new facility in Indiana, GE and Local 201 of the International Union of Electrical Workers were unable to come to any sort of agreement regarding wages.

While GE's Railway unit CEO Lorenzo Simonelli disclosed that a Mexican site had been under consideration by GE they ultimately chose the Ft. Worth site for largely political reasons.

The Fort Worth choice saves Immelt from the potential embarrassment of having the facility go south of the border while he serves as chairman of President Barack Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

The Obama Administration had previously lavished Immelt's General Electric with millions in stimulus money and 'green energy' grants while the conglomerate continued to outsource jobs overseas. Prior to January of this year, GE was also the parent company of NBC/Universal entertainment, whose networks frequently act as the Obama Administration (or Obama campaign's) unofficial mouthpiece. Earlier this year, Comcast [NASDAQ: CMCSA] gained a majority control of the NBC networks.

Since the May announcement about the Texas locomotive facility, General Electric has announced they are breaking ground on two more projects in right-to-work states.

Last month, the conglomerate announced that they will be building a $95 million 236,000 square foot facility that will make components for mining equipment- also in Ft Worth, TX.

Meanwhile, in Auburn, AL, GE is breaking ground on a new jet engine component factory this month. Like the two facilities in Fort Worth, the NLRB apparently sees no problem with Immelt's GE setting up shop in right-to-work states as they've remained conspicuously silent on the matter.

[Hat tip: Director Blue, Lonely Conservative, Eat it or Wear It]

The Blogosphere is All A-Twitter With the News.

Start spreading the news- now you can follow me on Twitter as I bitch, snark and somehow remain even LESS productive than usual! Simply look for the Twitter handle Fenway_Nation and watch the irreverent 140 character or less goodness flow like water over Niagara Falls.

Actually- can I let you in on a little secret? I've actually been on Twitter for a few months now- since at least when Osama Bin Laden was alive and watching porn in his Pakistani compound and Fukushima-Daiichi was a nondescript, fully functional nuclear power plant in northern Japan. In fact, there's a little sidebar that contains my 10 most recent messages on Twitter off to the left- that's been there for awhile as well.

"So why bother following you?" you may be asking. Fair question; even if you don't like what I'm saying, Twitter requires that I keep it pretty short and sweet. But probably the most compelling argument is so that you can follow the same people that are following me or that I'm following. There's alot of good ones- many of them part of my blogroll or online communities like Correspondence Committee or Table 9.


This also is a very flimsy pretext to toss out some more eye candy in the form of yet another vintage Gil Elvgren piece. This one is from 1955 and is called Well Built (not to be confused with a later piece titled A Well Bult R-R-R-R-Roof) and features what could very well be the forebears to the Twitter logo.

Since many of Elvgren's pieces also served as templates for advertisements, the companies name, logo and phone number would often be displayed where you see the blueprints draped across the sawhorse.

Borderline Psychosis Update- Gunmen Dump 35 Bodies on Expressway in Rush Hour; Female Ex-Cop & Zeta Leader Arrested; Border Patrol Finds Arms Cache

VERACRUZ: In a gruesome and brazen display of force, masked gunmen in the Veracruz suburb of Boca De Rio dumped 35 corpses by the side of a busy highway in the middle of rush hour this week.

Veracruz state Attorney General Reynaldo Escobar Perez said the bodies were left piled in two trucks and on the ground at an underpass near the city's biggest shopping mall and its statue of the Voladores de Papantla — ritual dancers from Veracruz state.

Motorists caught in the horrifying scene Tuesday afternoon posted warnings on Twitter that masked gunmen in military uniforms were blocking Manuel Avila Camacho Boulevard and pointing their guns at civilians.

"They don't seem to be soldiers or police," one tweet read. Another said, "Don't go through that area, there is danger."

Escobar said police were reviewing surveillance video recorded in the area.

Local media said that 12 of the victims were women and that some of the dead men had been among prisoners who escaped from three Veracruz prisons on Monday, but Escobar said he couldn't confirm that.

At least 32 inmates got away from the three Veracruz prisons. Police recaptured 14 of them.

The bodies were dumped less than a mile away from where Meixo's top prosecutors were scheduled to meet on Wednesday. A banner left behind at the scene claimed that the dead bodies were the handywork of 'The New Generation', a Jalisco-based gang reportedly allied with Sinaloa Cartel head Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

The Gulf cartel had control of smuggling and distribution in and around the port of Veracruz until 2010, when they were usurped by their former enforcers- Los Zetas. At least a dozen of the corpses have been identified as having a criminal background, reportedly working with the Zetas.



NUEVO LEON: Mexican Marines arrested a female underboss for the Zetas in the northern part of the state last week.

Mireya Moreno Carreon is the first woman linked to the Zetas leadership who has been arrested by authorities, the secretariat said.

Moreno Carreon managed drug sales in San Nicolas de Los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area.

She apparently took over from Raul Garcia Rodriguez, who was arrested by marines last month in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon, the secretariat said.

Moreno Carreon was arrested in the Colonia Santa Fe Oriente section of San Nicolas de Los Garza, thanks to "intense intelligence and urban operations work," the Navy Secretariat said.

The suspected drug trafficker was armed with a revolver and driving a stolen vehicle at the time of her arrest, the secretariat said.

Carreon- aka La Flaca- was a former policewoman in Monterrey until 2010 when she was dismissed by supervisors for a "lack of confidence. Reportedly she was wounded by flying glass in a 2009 shootout between police and extortionists that left a kindergarten class pinned down in the crossfire.

TAMAULIPAS: The bodies of a man and a woman left dangling from an overpass in the border city of Nuevo Laredo last week included handmade signs explicitly threatening bloggers and internet.

Not only have social networking and microblogging sites like Twitter demonstrated themselves to be quicker than local media in most cases, but organized crime has succeeded in intimidating local media into silence throughout much of Mexico. Odds are that Twitter users knew about the 35 bodies being dumped on the expressway outside of Veracruz before the local authorities did, as many witnesses were using smartphones to warn motorists of the gruesome spectacle.

"This is going to happen to all the internet busybodies, Listen up, I'm on to you" one placard read. It was signed with a 'Z', presumably for Los Zetas. Two of the blogs mentioned in the threats- Frontera Al Rojo Vivo and El Blog Del Narco [caution, the latter isn't the least bit squeamish about posting graphic crime scene photos- NANESB!] have shown no signs of letting up. The two victims found in Nuevo Laredo have yet to be identified

TEXAS: US Border Patrol agents discovered an abandoned black bag containing six automatic rifles, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher and three packages of whats believed to be C4 explosive along the Rio Grande outside of Fronton, TX last week.

Agents found the weapons on Tuesday in a black bag along a quiet stretch of the Rio Grande near Fronton, a small community about 210 miles south of San Antonio. No arrests have been made.

The weapons are similar to those reported used in the borderland drug wars and smuggled south from the U.S. into Mexico, and were found in an area of the river that is easily crossed and close to a Mexican cartel battleground.

But authorities stopped short of making any direct link between the guns and the drug cartels, saying only that they signaled a threat to public safety in both Texas and Mexico.

"These deadly weapons could have had a devastating impact on communities on both sides of the border and to our agents and other law enforcement officers," Rosendo Hinojosa, head of Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector, said in a statement.

Officials theorized that the guns were waiting to be smuggled across the border into Mexico, but said that was just speculation.

The discovery took place about 10 miles south of Falcon Lake and on the other side of the border where Los Zetas and the Gulf cartel are locked in a bitter struggle over lucrative smuggling routes.

WASHINGTON DC: In a series of secretly recorded audio tapes dating back to March 2011, an ATF field agent disclosed to an Arizona gun dealer the existence of a 3rd weapon recovered from the December 2010 shootout between the Border Patrol and armed smugglers north of Nogales, AZ that killed Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

Court records have previously only mentioned two weapons: Romanian WASR "AK-47 type" rifles. Both were allegedly sold to suspects who were under ATF's watch as part of Fast and Furious.

Also, a ballistics report turned over to Congressional investigators only mentions the two WASR rifles. The ballistics report says it's inconclusive as to whether either of the WASR rifles fired the bullet that killed Terry.

The third weapon was reportedly an SKS purchsed from a Texas gun shop.

The recordings were obtained by CBS news as well as copies being turned over to the Office of Inspector General and Congressional investigators.

In other Fast & Furious news, before stepping down this month, US Attorney Dennis Burke had opposed the Terry family's motion to qualify as crime victims in the eyes of the court.

[Hat Tip Support Your Local Gunfighter; Friends of Ours; Pat Dollard]

Avast! Today Be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It also be me day off, so contact with other people be pretty minimal (Arr!).

The 'poster girl' for this year's talk like a pirate day is actually from artist Earl Moran. This 1956 work is appropriately enough titled Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum. Moran, like Normal Rockwell, Fredrick Remington and Gil Elvgren, Earl Moran signed a contract with St. Paul MN-based advertising firm Brown & Bigelow in the 1930s and was featured in a 1940 Life magazine article entitles 'Speaking of Pictures'.

As famous an artist as Moran was, one of his models was even more renown. In 1946, Moran was approached by an aspiring star and divorcee named Norma Jean Dougherty (nee Mortenson), who in a few short years would go on to be known as Marylin Monroe.


Monroe would later credit Moran's artwork with enhancing her appearence, as she thought her legs looked too skinny in real life.

But where was I? Oh yeah...back to the Piracy. It isn't neccecarily a good era in which to be a pirate right now- the Pittsburgh Pirates just came off a humiliating 15-1 loss to the LA Dodgers the other night, fading fast after a scorching hot start earlier this season. The East Carolina Pirates of Conference USA are off to an 0-2 start on the NCAA Football season, losing 17-10 to Virginia Tech last weekend.

And let's not even start on the Somali pirates, either.



Of course, with that in mind, some pirates have managed to land on their feet.

Obama Administration Launches 'ATTACK WATCH' Website

Internet responds with howls of laughter.

Apparently the Obama Administration's latest tactic for their 2012 re-election bid involves pre-empting any opponents bid to portray him as amateurish, petty and thin skinned by....well, acting amateurish, petty and thin skinned.

The latest such example this week is the launch of a website paid for by Obama for America called Attack Watch.

Attack Watch,a website started by President Obama's campaign organization, was intended to be a repository for supporters to report "attacks" on Obama's record and get the facts. But its rollout has been met with scathing mockery by conservatives, who call it a second-rate version of previous Big Brother sites created by Team Obama

Conservative critic Mark Steyn, a native of the U.K., then cheered that he was the only foreigner with a designation on AttackWatch.com.

Both were met with comment after comment from readers offering the type of "attacks" they were going to report to the Obama re-election site. The #attackwatch Twitter page was immediately spammed with tweet after tweet heavy on sarcasm regarding the president's stimulus and jobs creation plans.

"hey #AttackWatch I heard the only good 'Cash For Clunkers' did was get all the obama stickers off the roads, thank you," tweeted @speedyjerry.

"Hey #attackwatch, I saw 6 ATM's in an alley, killing a Job. It looked like a hate crime!" wrote @thorninaz.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Katie Hogan told the Washington Post that 100,000 people had signed up for the site in the first 24 hours.

"This site is a tool providing our supporters with the facts they need to fight back against lies and distortions about the president's record," she told the newspaper.

But syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin said this site, the fourth one launched in three years attempting to respond to political attacks, has backfired on the Obama team.

"What this is really about is some sort of campaign against their opponents, and it's not working anymore," she said.

"Back in 2008, the Obama campaign had claimed this mantle as the tech savvy geniuses, and what's happened is that conservatives on Twitter and on YouTube and all the social networks have been able to strike back, and humor is always the best revenge," she said.

In an opinion article published in the International Business Times, Nadine DeNinno argues the site is pointless, saying it is counterproductive and has become a laughingstock.

"The website has become simply an instrument used by opponents to rail the president by conservatives, using it as their personal punching bag," she wrote. "The people who monitor the site will be quite busy, as Attack Watch only warrants more attacking."

She also wondered how many jobs the site created, "or how long it took to conceive, in which case jobs could have been created instead?" She then quoted @BradThor who tweeted, "If only the #Obama administration could create an atmosphere where jobs materialized as quickly as #attackwatch jokes!"

This video began circulating on conservative blogs within a day of Attack Watch's rollout.



OK- I'll go ahead and ask- what was the Obama 2012 brain trust thinking when they came up with this? "Hey, I know! Let's create a webpage encouraging citizens to inform on one another. And let's use colors and an austere layout evocative of a totalitarian regime!" I'm wondering in what parallel universe might this even be in the same area code as a good idea.

I did go ahead and check it out for myself- truth be told, the parody video wasn't that far off. There's a subcategory called Gun Control Gossip in which Attack Watch claims former UN Ambassador John Bolton and others are spreading false rumors that President Obama will sign on to a UN Small Arms treaty that could lead to firearms confiscation here in America [frankly, I think this particular rumor is at least as old as the internet and given new credence when a politician from a city priding itself on strict-but-ineffective gun control regulations is in the White House- NANESB!].

Interestingly, there's no mention of his executive order requiring sales of multiple long guns in US states bordering Mexico be reported to the ATF. The order comes after revalations in the media and sworn testimony before the House Oversight committee that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ordered field agents to allow guns to 'walk' into Mexico from the USA and beyond the jurisdiction of US federal agents.

Also, while on the topic of gun control, I noticed that Attack Watch hedged his support of gun owner's rights with the following requisite boilerplate:

President Obama believes in common sense gun control laws compatible with Second Amendment rights.

or

Public figures have made outlandish claims that President Obama is planning to use a United Nations treaty to take away legal firearms from gun owners in the US.

Notice the rather odd qualifier of 'legal firearms'. During the Clinton years, entire categories of firearms with certain design features were declared illegal with the stroke of a pen thanks to President Clinton's executive order. It's a little like the rationale behind the felon-infested Mayors Against Illegal Guns- give it a benign sounding name, but continue to implement laws and regulations incrementally on the local level that make owning just about any kind of firearm legaly untenable and nearly impossible, and pretty much all guns are illegal by default [see Chicago or Washington D.C for an example of this kind of logic in action and its overall effectiveness in preventing crime- NANESB!]

To go with the Attack Watch website is the official Attack Watch twitter account, which has been noticably quiet since the avalanche of ridicule began cascading down on late Tuesday afternoon. I must confess that I'm a little late to this particular party, but that hasn't stopped me from having fun with it.

Pakistani Actress Veena Malik Unscathed After Car Wreck

Those of you who had Veena Malik/May 2011 in the dead pool, you're out of luck.

Veena Malik- the outspoken Lollywood actress who delivered an epic verbal beatdown of an Islamic cleric on a Pakistani talk show- was involved in a car accident on the M2 expressway between Lahore and Islamabad last month. There were conflicting reports out of Pakistan that claimed the Muslima spitfire was hospitalized at an undisclosed location with shoulder and arm injuries and accounts from India that the actress and passengers in her car were unhurt despite the vehicle being totalled.

Ultimately Ms. Malik linked to the Times of India write-up on her homepage, which I'm assuming is an endorsement of their version of events.

Pakistani media reported that Veena Malik was injured in an accident while she was on her way to Lahore from Islamabad and she is recovering well. Reacting to the report, the actress cleared the speculations by saying that those are not true and she is fine.

"I didn't even get a single scratch. It was a miracle. If you see the car I was travelling in, you'd think everyone in it had perished. The vehicle is completely mangled. But I escaped totally unhurt, and so did the people who were with me. I think there's a guardian angel who is watching over me.", the Times of India quoted the actress as saying.

In her native Pakistan, the crash had fuelled speculation whether it was merely a hit and run traffic accident or unsuccessful attempt on the actress' life [on a side note, have you seen IRT: Deadliest Roads? The random car careening out of control and crashing into her before speeding off hypothesis isn't as far fetched as you might think in that part of the world]. If that were the case, one would have to wonder why the assailants didn't bother using firearms, explosives or grenades like any radical islamist worth their salt. I mean....c'mon! It's not like there's a shortage of any of those things in Pakistan.

The Actress who had previously appeared in India on the Bigg Boss reality show and as a cricket presenter during the 2011 Cricket World Cup is set to make her Bollywood feature film debut, with filming to start shortly.

Weinerpalooza Update- Embattled Congressman Steps Down: Whiny Progressives, Late Night Talk Show Joke Writers Hardest Hit

In what could only be described as the most bizarre press conference since the June 7th presser, New York Democrat congressman Anthony Wiener announced his resignation amid jeers and taunts of "Goodbye, Pervert!".

The announcement comes after mounting pressure from Democrats over the weekend and more embarrassing pictures of the Congressman surfaced.

Exotic Dancer, Porn Star Ginger Lee and Congressional Facebook Friend Ginger Lee

Heading into the weekend, Congressman Weiner's office said that the representative would 'seek treatment' while taking a leave of absence [didn't know that being an insufferable douchebag was a treatable condition- NANESB!] but hinted that he was going to stay and fight to keep his job- even if he wound up stripped of his committee assignments by other Congressional Dems.

It was also revealed that one of Rep. Wiener's Facebook Friends- porn starlet Ginger Lee- that the Congressman asked her to lie and attempted to coach her on questions she'd likely face from the media.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I should feel about this. I think alot of people (myself included) knew Congressman Weiner was a vindictive, loathsome, petty, loudmouth little douchewaffle who was not above using his office to go after those he didn't like long before pictures of him feeling himself up in the Congressional gym or in drag began circulating online. While I am glad to see him go, I feel that it's never too late for those in the MSM (who coddled and encouraged Weiner in his most petulant moments) to rehabilitate his image or give him the opportunity to land on his feet like Elliot Spitzer.

And whether he stayed or went, the sad fact is that the media and Democrats are able to successfully deflect attention from other, far more serious issues before them with the Weiner sideshow- issues that clearly show a failure of leadership on a number of levels. You don't think the Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms knowingly allowing weapons to fall into the hands of Mexican cartels is a bigger story than a New York Congresscritter sticking his iPhone down his trousers and hitting 'SEND'?

But the reactions of his supporters (who at first insisted the charges against the Congressman were fabricated) has been something to behold.

Plus there is also tremendous benefit in having him around as the face of the Democrats heading into the 2012 elections. Think about it- you wouldn't want this guy anywhere near your 17 year old daughter or niece, but somehow he can be trusted to vote on legislation that could very well affect many aspects of our day to day lives?

I would say 'Good Riddance, Weiner'. However, the progressives- particularly in the media- seem to have this ingrained tendency to reward such conduct. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Weiner lands on his feet at some point in the not too distant future with his own show on MSNBC or Al Gore's Current network.

As the World Weiner Turns Roasts; A Weiner Bun in the Oven? Delaware Police Interview Underage Girl in Contact w/Congressman

Well, it's been quite the week for New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, the Democrat representing the 9th Congressional district that includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

After his bizarre press conference in which he was upstaged by conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart before confessing to sending sexually explicit texts and pictures to followers on social networking sites on Monday, it was learned that his wife of 10 months, Huma Abedin, is pregnant [she was also noticeably absent from the press conference as well- NANESB!].

There have been bipartisan calls for the disgraced Queens congressman to step down, and news of Huma's pregnancy would give the shrill congressman the opportunity to resign and honestly (for a change) cite family concerns, but Weiner had indicated he intends to ride this scandal out.

Also during Monday's press conference was a reporter asking whether or not Weiner was in communication with any underage girls. Instead of a categorical denial, Weiner curiously gave an answer along the lines of 'Not to the best of my knowledge'. Among the known recipients of Weiner's 'sexts' [including some reportedly unsolicited images] include porn starlet Ginger Lee, a 26 year old single mother in Texas, 21- year old Seattle college student Genette Nicole Cordova and 40 year old Las Vegas blackjack dealer Lisa Weiss.

Now, a review of some of Weiner's communications that were made public (along with some of his followers) seems to indicate that he was in contact with underage girls via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and possible talking dirty to them as well.

At first glance, this has all the makings of some ribald and salacious tabloid gossip, but it's apparently being taken seriously by police in New Castle, DE where two officers from the New Castle County police department appeared at the home of a 17 year old High School Junior to interview her regarding direct online communications she had with Rep. Weiner.

Sources close the student said the girl followed Weiner on Twitter after seeing him speak during a school trip to Washington on April 1. Weiner, after signing on to follow the girl's Twitter feed, direct-messaged the girl on April 13, the sources said, though it is not clear what other communication the two may have had between or after those dates.

A Fox News reporter was at the girl's home when police arrived. The girls name hasn't been released yet due to her being a minor.

[Hat tip- Ace of Spades; Patterico's Pontifications]

Marilyn Monroe Trivia Answer

Thanks to those of you who participated in the quiz- a number of you guessed Marilyn Monroe first appeared in the December 1953 edition of Playboy, which technically would've been correct.

However, Hugh Hefner had his doubts about the magazine catching on and left the first-ever issue undated. He only started dating them in January 1954, when it was becoming clear that there was demand for his publication after the first issue sold out in a few short weeks.

So those of you who guessed 'None of the above' would be correct.

Back After Some Technical Difficulties That I Had No Part in Either Creating (or Solving)

Seems as though there was some sort of technical problems with Blogger the other day where one could view the pages on any given blogger or blogspot page, but visitors could not post comments and blogmasters couldn't log in to update, edit or add new posts. After some independent tinkering, I think I managed to isolate the source of the recent problems with Blogger, as shown here:
Still, reliable sources who also maintained their blogs on blogger were telling me that posts were disappearing and they had been unable to log in since yesterday afternoon.

But what better way to offset my cluelessness than to throw down some vintage eye candy featuring a girl who looks like she knows what she's doing.

This one comes from the late George Petty and was part of the Ridge tool company's (aka Rigid) 1956 calendar. According to the Pin Up Files, one critic opined 'When you touch the wrist of a Petty girl, you almost expect to feel a pulse'.

Wrenches and lugnits are one thing, but imagine being the artist comissioned to draw up similar ads for software or IT services.

Yeah....tough sell.

Mentally Marginal Michigan Manatee Meloncholy Most Media Marks Mass Murderer Bin Laden 'Muslim', Minus 'Multimillionaire'

It was bound to happen sooner or later- with Bin Laden apparently dead and the featured dish in some sort of fish buffet, there were bound to be more than a few buzzkills among the foreign press, international left or radical Islamist axis.

One stop over at the rightsphere indicated that didn't take long for one particularly brilliant master of unintentional self-parody to chime in, apparently expecting followers to believe that the wealthy are responsible for acts of mass murder.

Hmm....interesting. Weren't we being told in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 that the 'root cause' of terrorism was poverty? A particularly visionary corpulent mass of alleged humanity has chimed in on the matter.

Wow. The more bloated faux-populist multimillionaire Michael Moore opens his jowly pie-hole, the more I'm starting to think he's this brilliant performance artist portraying some sort of staggeringly obvious and self-contradictory hypocrite who never ever breaks character under any circumstances. Now that's dedication to one's craft.

To be honest, I'm trying to figure out what the point of his outbursts (both in person and via the internet) are. If he's trying to get a rise out of everybody to the right of Daniel Ortega, I suppose it's working to an extent- but at the expense of going on the record saying some incredibly stupid shit that would contradict or discredit himself in the process. Another option is that he's actually serious and a true-believer who somehow forgot that he is a millionaire who eschews union labor whenever possible.

I'm beginning to lean towards the 'performance artist' theory myself.

UPDATE 5/5: Holy shit, this bearded goiter is still yammering away.

[Hat tip- Tim Blair; Sea of Syrah; the Rightsphere; Big Hollywood]

Civil War Quiz Now Closed

Thanks to those who participated.

Although Williamsport, PA sounds like the most logical answer (45% of you guessed that), the real answer is St. Albans, VT.

Staying in a local hotel and checking in two or three at a time in the days leading up to what's known as the St. Albans Raid, Confederate Lt Bennett H. Young and 20 Confederate Cavalrymen (identifying themselves as sportsmen from Canada), the men struck on the afternoon of October 19, 1864. While eight or nine Confederate soldiers rounded up the townspeople and held them at gunpoint in the town common, Young and his men proceeded to rob the town's three banks before stealing horses from the townspeople and fleeing back across the Canadian border with his men and with more than $200,000. They intended to torch the village as well, but the incendiary devices that Young's men failed to go off properly, and only a woodshed was burnt down that day.

Young- a former Union POW- had managed to escape to neutral Canada and suggested the raid as a means of sowing panic and diverting resources among the Union, linking up with other Confederate escapees to carry out the raid. Most of the men were arrested in Montreal shortly after the raid, but at the time the Canadian courts decided the men were belligerents in a war they were officially neutral in and would not be extradited to the Union- although some $80,000 found on the men at the time of their arrest was ordered returned to St Albans.

Some 36% of you correctly guessed St Albans, so assuming you didn't look it up on Google or Wikipedia, congratulations! You really know your Civil War (and New England) history!

Dark Knight Kids in The Hall?

Ever get that feeling of deja-vu? Of course, in this epoch of sequels, remakes and movies based on TV series, that's not so unusual.

However, when I saw the opening bank robbery scene in Christopher Nolan's 2008 The Dark Night, I had a feeling that I had seen this somewhere before.

Not only that, but I could've sworn that it somehow involved bank robbers shooting their cohorts during the robbery to demonstrate their seriousness (or cunning) was being played for laughs.


Then it hit me- this skit from the 1993 season of Kids in the Hall.


The crux of the skit seemed to be the man with the list (Kevin McDonald) and his cluelessness about the dire situation he suddenly found himself in as much as the robber's (David Foley) ability to casually gun down his acomplices mid-crime to demonstrate a fairly unimportant point.

I'm not saying Nolan actually plaigerized the Canadian comedy troupe's skit line by line. Rather it almost seems like somebody challenged Nolan to incorporate a scene with a similar premise for Dark Knight, only to play it straight (and embellish it by having it be a mob bank complete with mafioso on the premesis).

Granted i'm nowhere near as well versed in matters of pop culture as some of the visitors to this blog, but what do you think? Am I imagining things?

UPDATE: Thanks to Pi Guy for showing me a (literally) side-by-side comparison of the two:

YouTube Doubler

Today's Train of Thought- Tilting at Texas-Sized Windmills, April 11, 2011

Today's train of thought (featuring renewable energy, no less) comes to us from West Texas courtesy of eclectic blogger Whiskey, Texas and highlights a rather unusual source of traffic for the often-overlooked Texas Pacifico

The railroad- owned by Mexican copper mining corporation Grupo Mexico [BMV: GMEXICOB] runs some 375 miles from an interchange with the Ft. Worth and Western and BNSF in San Angelo Jct, TX past an interchange with the Union Pacific at Alpine, TX and on through to the Mexican border at Presidio, TX. Texas Pacifico is supposed to interchange with the privatized Mexican carrier (and parent company) FerroMex at the Presidio/Ojinga broder crossing, but the bridge across the Rio Grande was heavily damaged by fire on the Texas side in 2008.

The line originally started out as the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient and work on the line between Wichita, KS and Alpine, TX got underway in 1900. After multiple bankruptcies, the KCM&O was acquired by the Santa Fe in 1928, who in turn completed the line between Alpine and Presidio a few years later. On the Mexican side, difficult terrain and nationalization saw to it that the line from the Mexican border town of Ojinga on through Chihuahua and the port of Los Mochis wasn't completed until 1961.

On the American side, Santa Fe sold the line to a group of Dallas-based investors and the Texas Department of Transportation in 1992, leading to the creation of the South Orient Railroad. In 2005, TXDOT reached a lease and operating agreement with Grupo Mexico and Texas Pacifico to operate the line. So even though the Texas Pacifico is operated by Mexican concerns, it remains cut off from Mexico itself for the time being.
Instead, Texas Pacifico has been pivotal in delivering tower assemblies for a windmill farm outside of Ft. Stockton, TX that opened up in late 2008. Here, Whiskey caught one such high and wide move making its way west from San Angelo Jct in December 2007 with former UP/Chicago & Northwestern (now CIT Financial) GP38-2 #403 in charge of the 5 unit 7,000 foot train. The train is seen above crossing the Concho River trestle in San Angelo, TX, moving at a maximum of 10 MPH according to Whiskey. Here, the unit train is seen leaning into a curve near Harriett, TX that same day. The train would tie down outside of Barnhart for the night. The locomotives are GP38-2s loaned from either CIT Financial or FerroMex- with all the CIT ones still sporting Chicago & Northwestern's yellow with green trim paint scheme.

Iron Horse Roundup For March 2011- China's High Speed Graft Problem; BNSF Crew Killed in Shuttle Wreck; Southern Consolidated Returns to Steam

Railpictures.net photo- Yu Ming

CHINA: A series of internal government audits have found that China's much-vaunted high speed rail projects have been plagued by corruption, embezzlement, misappropriations and cost overruns, China's National Audit Office announced on Wednesday.

China’s state audit office said on Wednesday it had identified numerous cases of embezzlement and other irregularities from just a three-month period of construction on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line last year and has passed the cases on to judicial authorities for formal investigation.

China’s railway minister and the rail ministry’s deputy chief engineer were both removed from their positions last month for “severe disciplinary violations” — an allegation that usually results in criminal charges for corruption.

The former minister, Liu Zhijun, is the most senior government official to be implicated in corruption in the past five years and his downfall has raised doubts about the future of the hugely ambitious high-speed rail expansion plans he championed. Neither Mr Liu nor Zhang Shuguang, the former deputy chief engineer at the rail ministry, have been named in connection with the state auditor’s investigation into the 1,318km, $33 billion Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail project, which is scheduled to open to the public next year.

The line is the longest and most expensive high-speed rail project in the country but it has been dogged by scandals and controversies and singled out in previous state audits for financial “irregularities”. In its latest report the auditor also cited numerous cases of flawed procurement procedures, overcharging, unexplained costs and fake receipts related to the project.

An intense safety review of all projects is under way because of fears that corruption and the speed with which the network has been built will result in poor quality tracks that are meant to carry trains travelling at up to 380 km/h

Chinese High Speed Rail Attendants- Xinhua Photo

According to the state-run Xinhua News Agency, auditors say that embezzlers made off with the equivalent of $28.5 million for just the Beijing-Shanghai high speed rail project.

As a matter of personal opinion, I think this stands out as a cautionary tale over pinning any sort of long term economic recovery on numerous massive public works projects that would make the Big Dig look well run and fiscally responsible in comparison. It doesn't help that some of the politicians who are the most enthusiastic backers of high-speed rail here in the USA also backed things like TARP, the Stimulus or various government bailouts and have demonstrated zero appreciation for the massive costs involved in building and maintaining a dedicated high speed line.

Photo- Bill Wagner/Longview Daily News

WASHINGTON: Two BNSF Employees and a shuttle driver were killed while a fourth BNSF worker was in critical condition after a BNSF grain train collided with the shuttle van carrying them on March 24th in Longview, WA.

58 year old engineer Tom Kenny, 28 year old conductor trainee Christopher Loehr- both based out of Seattle- and 52 year old Dwight Hauk of Auburn, WA were being picked up by 60 year old shuttle driver Steven Sebastian and take to Vancouver, WA after their shifts when they were struck by the train.

The crossing is a remote, private crossing with no lights or arms that lower and raise on a train's approach. Instead, the crossing features a warning signs on top of a stop sign.

Railpictures.net- John Higginson

TENNESSEE: For the first time in 21 years, Southern Railway 2-8-0 consolidated #630 is under steam. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum spent the better part of a decade restoring the 1904-built ALCo to working order, with break-in runs taking place over the last weekend of March 2011.

Almost as noteworthy as the fact that the 2-8-0 is up and running once again is the fact that news of #630's revival was announced on Norfolk Southern's official Twitter page and a short video of the #630 being fired up on the company's official YouTube account. Norfolk Southern had announced last year that it would begin a partial revival of its steam program, using historic equipment form the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.

Ermelo in happier, more derailment-free times- Eugene Armer photo

SOUTH AFRICA: A derailment on the Transnet line between Ermelo and Richards Bay in the northeastern corner of South Africa is expected to slow coal exports.

The accident, which occurred on Wednesday near Ermelo in South Africa's northeastern Mpumalanga province, is likely to add pressure on South African coal producers, already struggling to export all their coal due to bottlenecks on the rail lines.

Spokesman Sandile Simelane said one of the two lines would reopen on Friday but could not confirm when the other would reopen.

"We anticipate one of the lines to reopen tomorrow," he told Reuters, adding that an investigation into the cause of the derailment was ongoing.

He declined to comment on how much tonnage would be lost as a result of the derailment. Besides the immediate impact, it also means trains have to be rerouted, causing further disruption to the transport of coal.

South Africa is a major exporter of coal to power stations in Europe and Asia, but exporters have failed to ship all of their product because of bottlenecks on the lines approaching the huge Richards Bay Coal Terminal.

South Africa exported 63.43 million tonnes of coal last year, boosted by demand from China and India, but far below the terminal's expanded capacity of 91 million tonnes.

Industry representatives have said South Africa was unlikely to export 60 million tonnes this year due to frequent problems on the line.

Transnet is investing heavily in new and improved infrastructure, but it will take years before a substantial increase in transported tonnages is seen.

Belated First Look At the New Wonder Woman- sans Christina Hendricks

Well- for those of you dreaming that the voluptuous Christina Hendricks would be coming to the small screen in the upcoming Wonder Woman TV series, sad to say but the dream is over. Adrianne Palicki was announced as the titular (tee-hee) character last week and the revamped Wonder Woman costume was also revealed in a publicity photo released earlier this month. I'll let you compare and contrast if you're so inclined. As Jammie Wearing Fool had pointed out, the newer version of the Wonder Woman costume is supposedly controversial because it lacks the stars and stripes motif of the classic version- however, I wouldn't be surprised if that was some sort of contrived 'controversy' to try and gin up publicity for the TV Series. Here are some 'before' pictures of Ms Palicki to give you an idea of what she looked like before playing the Amazon brunette. Adrianne Palicki had previously appeared in the Friday Night Lights TV series and the 2010 film Legion. Palicki also logged some time as a voice actress on Adult Swim's Titan Maximum and Robot Chicken. While there's no Christina Hendricks, British actress and model Liz Hurley (who's well into her 40s and still looking good) is slated to appear as Wonder Woman's nemesis in the pilot episode. And without the role of Wonder Woman to fall back on, how exactly is Christina Hendricks getting by? Well, when she isn't drawing attention as 60's secretary Joan Halloway, Hendricks is now the face of Vivienne Westwood's collection of Palladium jewelry. No doubt the market price of Palladium shot up when word of that got out. [hat tip- Wyatt Earp; Jamie Wearing Fool]

10 Reasons Why I Parted Ways With Sanctimonious, Dishonest, Ponytailed Blogger

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of husky, pony-tailed blogger Charles Johnson making his contrived, self-serving ideological pivot official on his blog. On November 30, 2009 Charles Johnson officially 'broke' with the vast right wing conspiracy in a lengthy, petulant screed titled 'Why I parted ways with the right'. The thing is, when he had been earlier linking to conservative sites like Pajamas Media or Hot Air, he claimed that he never was a conservative or part of the right to begin with- which made his blatant attention whoring all the more disingenuous.

There's also the notion that Johnson bailed because he wanted to remain on the side of whoever was in charge. During LGF's heyday, that was the Bush Administration- and now, during it's precipitous, inevitable decline, Johnson and his hangers-on are making every effort to rally around the Obama Administration and portray the GOP as greedy, racist, clueless obstructionists (which also proves that Johnson's pretty bad at math too, since the GOP won't be able to 'obstruct' much of anything until January when 63 new members will be sworn in to the House of Representatives).

Speaking of, I wonder how it feels to so publicly and vocally attach yourself to the Democrats and progressives before their worst Congressional losses since the end of WWII. Also keep in mind Johnson was pretty much finished with the right when Chris Cristie, Robert McDonnell and Scott Brown won their respective elections in late 2009 early 2010.

Still, in the spirit of the 1-year mark, I thought I'd make my own list of why I broke with Johnson's blog

10) Moderate and popular New England Republicans like Scott Brown supposedly are the spearhead for some massive Tea Party/Ron Paul/John Birch Society/Big Oil/Gold Merchant/Climate Denier conspiracy according to speculation by Johnson.

9) Johsnon's supposedly well thought out and introspective reasons for parting with the right read like a half-assed laundry list of boilerplate talking points from Media Matters or Act Blue. Seriously, it might as well have been titled 'Me! Me! Me! It's all about me! Now praise me for how principled I am!'. This is conduct I'd expect from an attention starved 6-year old, not a middle aged man with a once-credible blog that had tens of thousands of hits a day.

8) Besides longtime conservative posters, the 'purges' from LGF in late 2009 included a large number of both Jewish and Military veteran posters. I'm convinced that was by design on his part.

7) Open hostility or antipathy towards religion- with two notable exceptions; Islam and the Church of Climate Change

6) Encouraging disdain and outright dismissal of any news story that ran on FOX News (even if the same story was running concurrently on other news outlets) while posting as gospel truth opinion pieces from blogs such as crooks and liars, media matters or the Huffington Post.

5) Encouraging disdain and outright dismissal of any news story and public or media figure that appeared on the FOX network UNTIL Johnson's appearance on Alan Colmes' radio show....which aired on FOX News/Talk radio.

4) Flags.....Good Lord. For a man of Charles Johnson's supposed intellect, he sure gets worked up (and frequently tripped up) by easily researched matters such as flags. Seriously.

3) Contrived guilt-by-association from Johnson, but only directed at those on the right. Apparently the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Glen Beck and talk radio were responsible for the death of a Kentucky Census worker or the Texas man who flew an airplane into an IRS Field office. But as far as the Discovery Channel gunman or homicidal University of Alabama-Huntsville professor Amy Bishop and their political leanings are concerned, then the 'No true Scotsman' argument applies there.

2) The other remaining posters at LGF. Ever have to visit some particularly activist, obnoxious, strident and in your face relatives for the Holidays? They're on the opposite end of the political spectrum, but will take advantage of having a quasi captive audience to lecture and browbeat you, even though it will do little to change you mind? That's what the majority of the 'new' LGF posters were like, emboldened after the 2009 bloodletting.

1) The administrators or 'monitor lizards'. Just as bad as the posters, only they had the ability to make your posts disappear for high crimes like mentioning President Barack Hussein Obama's middle name. Attempting to debate them was even worse, since they'd simply deny, dodge and obfuscate- then after moving around the goal posts on their terms, claim they had prevailed. 'Monitor lizards' were also known to type out lengthy, vitriolic screeds hoping that global warming skeptics would be rounded up and put into prison camps, opponents of a civilian trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be deported to North Korea and members of the Tea Party would be publicly shot and killed...and I won't even start with the disturbing fixation regarding Sarah Palin some of them maintain. Keep in mind these are the sort of individuals Johnson not only wanted to keep around on his blog, but granted them admin status while others were banned for pointing out how much the blog had changed.

Happy Anniversary Correspondence Committee! Oh...and It's Election Day.

One of the C2 Admins getting all civic-minded.

Today marks the one year anniversary of one of my favorite places on the whole intrawebs, the Correspondence Committee. Like Not Another New England Sports Blog!, they got off to their start in September 2009 before moving to their new and improved digs on November 2nd.

The one year anniversary of C2 'graduating' to their current location falling on the same day as this year's pivotal midterm elections just happened to be a serendipitous coincidence.

[Video Courtesy Republican Governor's Association; Hat Tip Lonely Conservative]

For those of you who are registered to vote, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do just that today.....with one caveat. For those of you who think things are just fine the way they are right now, I prefer that you stay home. You did enough damage back in 2008.

But I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Littleoldlady, Paladin Phil and Erik the Red for extending the invite to me and Running Bare, Realwest, Design Czar JCM and all the others for doing a bang-up job of running the place. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next couple of years will bring.

And for those of you wondering, the civic-minded bombshell drawing bipartisan attention depicted above is from none other than the incomparable Gil Elvgren, a 1958 piece titled It's Up to You.

Holy Cow!!! 10,000 VIEWS!

My blog has officially recorded over 10,000 views. I am simply amazed at this because I wouldn't have never expected to see that many people reading my ol' boring site/blog. For those that do I say, "Thank You" and I encourage you to continue to fight the good fight and spread the word at just how bad PANINI really is this year. Would someone please donate some ideas for them. Perhaps if we posted a sign that said, "Listen to the collectors and they will come", they might actually see improvements........Yeah..........and I have 10,000 yen. Perhaps the man on the yen should use his stick on PANINI and teach them how to do cards "THE RIGHT WAY". However, on a serious side.....Thanks guys for the support!

Act of kindness by BEARDY

A while ago my children and I were sorting out our card collection and we found ourselves with too many cards. So my son asked if we could give some cards away to a few people on "daddy's blog" and I agreed that this would be a good way for them to show kindness and generosity towards other people (teaching moment) in the hobby. So we did up a few packages and sent some stuff out to random folks. We were not expecting anything in return and was surprised when we received notice from "Beardy" that something was being sent our way for the items we sent to him. Let us sally forth and behold the awesomeness that invaded our mail box!
Behold the first card in the deck! Jose Reyes Masterpieces numbered to 75!

SUCH SWEETNESS AND SO FILLING! That card bit masterpieces!

The next card my daughter pulled out was this one:

CARLOS BELTRAN: THE BALLS WILL FALL DOWN FROM THE SKY AND YOU SHALL FEEL MY AWESOMENESS!

The next card my son pulled was this lovely one of Mike Piazza:

Another gallery shot which is really cool. I did like these gallery cards.

The next one my daughter pulled was:

"Hey Dad, this one's really shiny. I can see all the colors like that rainbow in the sky". Cue Jimmy Hendrix!

The next one I pulled and it was another rainbow of:

Dan Murphy in the Coat of TOPPS CHROME TECHNICOLOR.

LOW AND BEHOLD AND FEAST YOUR EYES UPON THE AMAZEMENT OF THIS HOLY GRAIL FOR MY DAUGHTER'S PC COLLECTION:

My 8 yr old daughter has a thing for David Wright. I have no idea where it came from but once she saw him on the scoreboard at the Pirates game she just likes him. You mention his name around her and she just goes "aggghhhhhhh". She's got a crush on him......that's not right!

As for the final masterpiece in this package of goodness we find this beauty:

My first Mike Piazza jersey card that I have ever had. I was so excited to add that to our collection (sounding borg'ish a little: we will add you to our collective).

Greg, thank you so much for the cards you sent to us. The kids loved every minute of opening the package and was so surpised to see what they received. I thank you for that kindness Greg.

Folks remember to checkout Greg's blog and THE MOJO HAND at: http://mojobeardy.wordpress.com/