Sunday, November 04, 2012

The hurricane aftermath in NYC

Headline after headline after headline after headline speaks about the horrific conditions in NYC following Hurricane Sandy. Residents of the city are crying for help from the Obama administration and seem shocked that more help isn't forthcoming

But why should The One respond?

NYC, and all of the Northeast are what's called a captive constituency. They will vote for Obama on Tuesday no matter what. So why should he bust his hump saving their sorry asses when he has more important things to do?

Like win Ohio.

This is the problem a State finds itself in when the people of that State show slavish loyalty to one political party. There's no reason for that party to rush to the rescue of that population; no reason to expend political capital on them when they're already won over to the party. We see this whenever California gets into a jam too. The party the majority re-elects without fail will mouth comforting words, but do nothing. They don't have to. They will get re-elected no matter what. And so it is with New York City and the rest of the Northeast. They will vote for Obama on Tuesday, even if they are starving as they vote.

And Obama knows this.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

I can't believe I did that...

I can't believe I did that...

I actually donated money to Mitt Romney's campaign last night. If told me a year ago that I'd be doing that, I'd have told you to put down the meth pipe. But lately, the guy had been saying things that only a conservative would; like acknowledging the existence of the 10th Amendment. Or refusing to take the "reasonable gun control" bait that Candy Crowley was trolling the other night.

If only he'd been talking like this a year ago.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

More MSM lies

From the same organization that installed detonators on pick-up trucks to make their "crash test" work the way they needed it to comes this: MSNBC Caught Doctoring Clip From Romney/Ryan Rally . MoreShitNBC doctored the audio on their own footage to make it look like the crowd at a Romney/Ryan rally were supporting Ryan over Romney...

I'm not what you'd call a Romney supporter. He was my last choice in the primaries. But this crap makes me want to go out and donate to the guy.

I just got push polled

I just got a call from a pollster trying to push me toward supporting Brad Sherman in the Berman/Sherman Celebrity Death Match. I had to suppress my laughter as Sherman was described as a "fiscal conservative" at one point. Most of the questions were of the form: "Do you like Sherman more now that you know that he interfered in the free market on this issue?"

I really don't think that they wanted my answers.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

An update on the solar power saga

We're still going 'round and 'round with the yutzs at the solar power company. I've been trying for months to pay them what they're owed.

This started with the lazy, idiot salesman who didn't want to redo the paperwork from a lease to a sale. Instead, he lied and claimed that this was just how the company liked to do things. At the time it seemed silly, but "whatever" we'd thought.

Next up were the dishonest weasels at the lease servicing company. They, of course, don't want to talk to us about buying the system. How would they make a dime off of that? I get that. But instead of telling us to contact the actual vendor, they pretended to be the vendor and claimed that they never do sales; just leases. But a quick check of the (real) vendor's site shows that they do, indeed, sell their systems.

So now, about once a week, I write or call the vendor trying to get them to straighten this out. Only one person has responded, after sufficient nagging on my part. She tried to get someone to contact us, but they're ignoring her just like they ignore me.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Fun with residential solar power

We just installed solar panels at the sprawling Redcloak family compound. This is something we would never have done without the stupidly generous subsidy that LADWP provides for this not-ready-for-prime-time technology. But, we saw this as a rare opportunity to get back some small portion of the moolah they've extracted from us over the years.

The company we dealt with, who shall remain nameless, but their name rhymes with sunflower, sold us on the project with the quality of their cells. While they're idiots, and their contractor is an asshat, the cells they make are beautiful. But, had we known what sort of semi-trained chimps would be sent to install the system, we would have walked away.

First off, it took 6 months from start to finish. This ain't rocket science! And, the city of L.A. does most of the work for you. Next, the chimps installed their gear in a spot where the building and safety inspector was bound to reject it. The job foreman even warned them that it was a bad location. That added 2 weeks as they tried to con me into additional, and unnecessary, work to relocate an air conditioning compressor. And by additional, I mean they wanted more money from me. The asshat contractor insisted that the inspector was fine with where he placed his gear, but that the A/C would have to move to get it away from the main electrical panel. Numbnuts finally caved when I spoke to the inspector myself and uncovered the lie. It then took the foreman (the one competent person in their entire operation!) intervening with the inspector to get the installation approved.

So now it's up and running. And last night, at about 10, my wife looks out the window and sees something funny in the yard. There are 2 signs out there. At first, I thought they were illegally placed campaign signs. It turns out that they were advertising signs placed by the idiot contractor! You'll be happy to know that I recycled them. I'm waiting for the call from them asking what happened to their signs. I'd love the opportunity to inform them that I wouldn't recommend them to someone I didn't like; let alone one of my neighbors.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Burritobortion

Actually, I thought that Sarah Silverman's abortion tweet was pretty funny; though I'm laughing at a joke she probably didn't intend to make.

What makes the joke funny is the fact that there probably are liberal women out there who would get pregnant just to have an abortion for political reasons. That kind of crazy is really there on the left.

Monday, April 09, 2012

Well that's disturbing

I just checked the spam box on a fairly new Gmail account. There're more messages in the spam box than the inbox!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Beer on tap

Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy having beer on tap?


Monday, March 26, 2012

The perfect storm of audacity and ignorance

Couldn't he at least have brains enough to remember that he's wearing a mic?



The exchange from Jake Tapper at ABC:

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile
defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me
space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.







Friday, March 16, 2012

Spell check is not your friend



I guess you have to leave Tim behind with a shotgun when you're not adequately prepared for a disaster.

Friday, March 09, 2012

Ladyface IPA

I have a long commute, but it takes me past the Ladyface Ale Companie in Agoura Hills. Last night I had some time, so I stopped and had a pint of their signature IPA. This is a very tasty brew; big hop flavor and aroma in addition to the bitterness you expect of an American IPA.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Liberal calculus

On the way into work this morning, I heard that Jerry Brown, in addition to wanting to raise taxes, is still insisting on spending $100,000,000 on his high speed train boondoggle. Now that train may be fine and dandy for someone commuting to Corcoran, it doesn't do anyone else a bit of good. (I suppose that I should say "anyone who isn't latched onto the public teat".)

Just for giggles, I looked into what it would take to use the existing train to go to work. Only $170 per week would do it, provided that my boss doesn't mind me getting in at 10am. Of course, if Jerry Brown gets his way, I won't have that $170 to spend on train fare. It would go toward building a bullet train to Corcoran instead.

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Beer on tap

I tapped that keg of "Pooh's Blustery Ale" last night. I had just spent the last day and a half on a plumbing project and needed a drink. But, in addition to having beer on tap, we now have a new hot and cold filtered water dispenser and a new kitchen faucet with a big gooseneck.

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Dogs and beer

Did I mention that the new dog is a bit of technophobe? And apparently, a5 gallon carboy is a piece of high technology and thus something to bark at.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Beer posts

Ok.... I just looked at the list of posts... The last three were about beer.

Back to beer!

Ok... So I really didn't drift away from writing about beer.

I finally got around to kegging a beer from November. Either I'm really patient or really lazy. Either way, that beer really cleared out.

I'm writing this at the bar at Ladyface. I'm drinking a wine barrel aged ale. It's a sour that's really tasty.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Drinking in the Big Easy

I'm in New Orleans for a trade show. This is the kind of town where you'd have to work it to have a bad meal. And from what I've had from Abita Brewing, you'd have to work at having a bad beer. These folks brew some tasty beers.