Help! I’m trapped in long, obligatory read!
So, anyone reading any good books lately?
Me, I’m reading “The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989,” by Nicholas Cull. That is not, by the way, a recommendation. It’s for research, and it’s dry.
Informative, valuable, but dry.
And long.
So anybody reading anything a little more fun, or provocative?
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103 comments Add your comment
I Report/ You Whine
April 1st, 2009
6:17 pm
Mark Levin, Liberty & Tyranny
You should, uh, try it.
I Report/ You Whine
April 1st, 2009
6:20 pm
A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media by Bernard Goldberg is another excellent read.
Paul
April 1st, 2009
6:28 pm
Currently? A bio of Julius Caesar, a book by the guy who was the ground commander for US and Brit special op guys in Afghanistan at the time of Tora Bora, and the second in the Twilight series.
Covers fun and provocative.
Mrs. Godzilla
April 1st, 2009
6:35 pm
I’m ashamed to say I’m not reading anything important. I’m on a murder mystery kick. Re-reading all the Rex Stout I can still find.
I’m crazy about Archie Goodwin.
Joe Matarotz
April 1st, 2009
6:37 pm
The Two Ocean War – Samuel Eliot Morrison
Paul
April 1st, 2009
6:43 pm
Mrs. Godzilla
IMHO, when it comes to reading, recreation, imagination and just plain fun are quite important!
I Report/ You Whine
April 1st, 2009
6:43 pm
KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents reject a Bruno Klinton offer of “honorable reconciliation,” a top spokesman said on Wednesday, calling it a “lunatic idea” and saying the only way to end the war was to withdraw foreign troops.
Hahahaha, you don’t know the half of it, Taliban dude, oh the stories I could tell.
@@
April 1st, 2009
6:44 pm
George Friedman’s “The Next 100 Years” A FORECAST for the 21st CENTURY. To quote:
“Conventional analysis suffers from a profound failure of imagination. It imagines passing clouds to be permanent and is blind to powerful, long-term shifts taking place in full view of the world.”
One point he makes is that reasonable people are incapable of anticipating the future. The old New Left slogan “Be practical, Demand the Impossible” needs to be changed: “Be Practical, Expect the Impossible.”
Substantial geopolitics.
Obambi's TelePrompter
April 1st, 2009
6:45 pm
Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America by Ann Coulter.
She’s hot!
Paul
April 1st, 2009
6:48 pm
@@
Ever read any of the vitriol heaped upon Samuel Huntington when he first published Clash of Civilizations? Seems it was unfashionable in some circles to say anything derogatory about some groups.
Twenty years later when it was republished some of his imaginings of the impossible looked quite prescient.
Kamchak
April 1st, 2009
7:10 pm
“Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.” vol.1 by Richard Bandler and John Grinder
“Us an Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind” by David Berreby
“The Plantation Cookbook” The Junior League of New Orleans
RW-(the original)
April 1st, 2009
7:12 pm
I’m reading Programming a Wordpress Blog by The Refresh Gremlins
Although if you want a truly hysterical read try to find The Bogey Man by George Plimpton
GOP is gone
April 1st, 2009
7:12 pm
Wally Lamb, The Hour I first Believed. Good fiction, as he always writes
GOP is gone
April 1st, 2009
7:13 pm
Moosewood low fat cookbook, great veggie cookbook
The Corporal
April 1st, 2009
7:29 pm
Currently Reading:
“If Not Now When” by Col. Jack Jacobs (Medal of Honor – Vietnam) …. excellent biograph, informative, very humorous and ties in mistakes in Vietnam to current events ………
“Dreams of My Father” By Barack Obama …. we are all products of our environment/upbringing …. this explains a lot.
@@
April 1st, 2009
7:35 pm
Paul:
You’ve mentioned Clash of Civilizations several times but I’ve never read it. Did a google just now and Yes…..it would appear that Mr. Huntington was held to account for his views on diversity.
So who came first — Salman Rushdie or Samuel Huntington? I just read that the muslim extremists are a big fan of Huntington’s book. Foretelling the prophecy.
Back to Stratfor. They’ve set aside an individual article for each country attending the G20 and summed up what they may be wanting and why. They’re delaying their first quarter forecast until after.
I’ve been waiting for anything Turkish…..my most recent fascination. This just in from an open access piece:
The Americans do not just disagree with the Europeans on economics — in spite of Europe’s enthusiasm for U.S. President Barack Obama, the EU members at the summit made clear their unwillingness to make any meaningful contributions to the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan beyond a few aid packages. With the Western coalition in Afghanistan looking more and more like a one-man show, the Americans are branching out of their post-World War II system of alliance in search of new strategic partners. The United States has found one such partner in Turkey, where Obama will be wrapping up his visit on April 6-7. This will demonstrate to allies and adversaries alike that Washington embraces a greater Turkish role in global affairs that stretch from the Islamic World to the Russian periphery.
I think it was you and I that said Obama was gonna run up against a stone wall on Afghanistan. Looks like he did.
Whad’ya think…..will there be EU membership for Turkey?
mike
April 1st, 2009
7:38 pm
I’ll actually reading “What God Hath Wrought”, a history of America between 1815 and 1848. It is also informative but very dry. I can’t wait to capture the knowledge, finish the book, and move on to something less boring.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 1st, 2009
7:55 pm
Just finished up the last Edward Eager book, 7 Day Magic. I started reading Old Yeller. Tough sell for the kid. Think we’ll stick this one out, though.
Oh, and for me, I’ve been re-reading Spoon River Anthology in fits and starts.
Last nonfiction was a bio of Olmstead, A Clearing in the Distance, highly recommended.
jt
April 1st, 2009
8:00 pm
@@-I just finished “The Next Hundred Years”.
It made me feel alittle better about our country’s situation.
I don’t feel as if the auther takes into account the possibilty of high tech/cheap/portable weapons. we should be so luckey if his predictions come true.
RB from Gwinnett
April 1st, 2009
8:04 pm
I’m reading “Season of Life” by Jeffrey Marx. It’s about the kind o man roles we provide for our children and emphasizes getting away from the sexual conquest and great athlete models we set for young men to emulate that evenually leads them to friendless failed marriages. As a coach and father, I hope I can make a difference in the lives of some.
ConservativeAnchor
April 1st, 2009
8:06 pm
Liberty and Tyranny, Mark Levin
[Libs too many big words for you.]
The Spendid Exchange, William J. Bernstien
[Libs the concept of economics and trade is too complicated for you.]
Both books are not good for Libs. Stick for Dr. Seuss and Pogo comic books. And, the Double Bubble comic wrapper.
RW-(the original)
April 1st, 2009
8:10 pm
Why do people read a book from start to finish before reading another? If you organize them in your mind the same way you would a set of television programs you can enjoy several books at once.
@@
April 1st, 2009
8:15 pm
jt:
I haven’t found time to get too far into the book. This is the time of year that my job demands more in the off-hours than on.
Friedman eludes to high-tech weaponry early in the book. Don’t know about the cheap part. Smaller wars but less deadly. That leads me to believe that high-tech weaponry would be in play. Won’t know until I find time to get past the early chapters.
Hillbilly Deluxe
April 1st, 2009
8:19 pm
Recently I finished a book called Lonestar: A History of Texas and the Texans by T. R. Fehrenbach. It’s a fascinating book that deals with the history of Texas from before the Spanish up into the 1960’s. It’s over 700 pages and not a light read but not tedious either. I learned loads about Texas but there is alot of U.S. history in there too. I’d recommend it to any history buff.
I Report/ You Whine
April 1st, 2009
8:26 pm
Here’s something all you dimwit liberals should read more of, Rush Limbaugh-
As for racism, this is a constant, average, everyday charge the left makes against conservatives trying to fulfill the stereotype that we’re racists, sexists, bigots, and homophobes. But the truth about that is you can tell your class this: I look at the majority of the black population in this country and I cry, ’cause I see that they have been conditioned to believe that the Democrat Party and large government programs are going to raise them from the life of bondage they believe that they’re in.
And after 50 years of voting Democrat, after 50 years of complaining about the circumstances they’re in, after receiving all these benefits the Democrats have passed out (AFDC) they’re still complaining. Their lives have been stolen from them. The federal government has become the father; the father has become absent. Single mothers are raising kids in neighborhoods and schools that you would not send yours to. The Democrat Party refuses to close them, and insists that those people still go to those schools while still voting Democrat. I think it’s a shame. I think the federal government and the Democrat Party has destroyed the black family. I love Americans. I love human beings! I want the best for them. I want what’s happened to me to be experienced by every damn person out there, and the people standing in the way are my enemy — and that would have to be liberals in the Democrat Party.
jt
April 1st, 2009
8:27 pm
@@-what I mean is that he never mentions cheap/hightech/portable weapons in the hands of INDIVIDUALS. other than that, his predictions are plausible.
America RULES, and will continue to do so for the next 100years.
@@
April 1st, 2009
8:27 pm
RW:
Why do people read a book from start to finish before reading another?
Because that’s the way I yike it.
Does your wife know how strongly you feel about juggling more than one book at a time?
(ISH)
jt
April 1st, 2009
8:28 pm
Also Chuck Norris has a new good cookbook out.
jon
April 1st, 2009
8:31 pm
QE II won’t be reading much now that she has an Ipod.
When I heard that the new President of Government Motors had given the Queen an Ipod, I thought it had to have been an April Fool’s joke, but apparently it’s true.
And who said he wouldn’t embarrass the US in front of the whole world.
RW-(the original)
April 1st, 2009
8:34 pm
@@,
I think as long as my juggling stays with books and TV shows I’ll be OK with the lovely bride, but you raise a good point.
(IWH)
jt
April 1st, 2009
8:35 pm
HillBilly-for some real Texas History, read “Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy.
Jay- when your stuck in some obligatory dry but interesting reading, supliment it with some Tim Dorsey. I’m not a big pulp fiction reader but that dude is hilarious.
RW-(the original)
April 1st, 2009
8:37 pm
jon,
At least it’s a step up from a sack of unplayable DVDs and a couple of plastic airplanes he gave Gordon Brown and his kids. Obama has a nasty habit of getting tired of any job almost the second he gets it, so maybe he’s angling to replace Drew Carey on TPIR.
Midori
April 1st, 2009
8:54 pm
GO BIG ED!!!
It was just announced that Ed Schultz will be the newest addition to the MSNBC News family
Corporal
April 1st, 2009
8:58 pm
RW(the original):
I usually read three or four at once …. and they are almost always very different ….. like different foods on the same plate …..
)
Corporal
April 1st, 2009
9:00 pm
To Dave R: (from a previous thread)
This is not my idea. Someone else came up with it ……….
“That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
Some guy named Jefferson. Not sure what that was all about. Maybe you could email him.
P.S.
Keep in mind that at least half (if not the majority) supported the “Crown” at that time ! Oh, those rabble-rousers
SuperDave
April 1st, 2009
9:02 pm
I’m just finishing “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedaman. It’s been out for a while but still relevant. Good for anyone in business.
Also recently read “The Dark Side” by Jane Mayer. I would recommend this one for the dear Corporal if he hasn’t already read it. Deals with Bush administration, torture, extraordinary rendition, all that. Well researched and yeah it’s got a liberal bias but you conservatives can draw your own conclusions as usual.
Also “Outliers” by Malcomb Gladwell is fascinating. Libs and Repubs would enjoy it.
IRYW 8:26
“dimwit liberals”
Such hate and venom. Was that really necessary?
New book out by Rush Limbaugh, “Better Living Through Pharmacology”
Taxpayer
April 1st, 2009
9:05 pm
Well, Jay, I just don’t know about those long obligatory reads of dry material when there are so many examples of short just-for-kicks reads, with accompanying video, of rather humorous material such as this.
I Report/ You Whine
April 1st, 2009
9:07 pm
It was also the first time GM has confirmed that it intended to move ahead with production of variants of the Volt, a battery-powered car that will carry a small, 1.4-liter engine as a generator designed to kick in after 40 miles. (64 km)
The Volt, which is scheduled to go into production in late 2010, remains one of the most closely watched upcoming GM vehicles and has been central to the automaker’s attempt to reinvent itself in the eyes of consumers.
Believe me, dullard liberals, there ain’t enough bozos in the world stunted enough to buy a 1.4 liter engine.
It’s not gonna happen.
I was honestly just scheming a 2009 Escalade with a 6.2 Vortec V8 simply because I know what it will be worth when all there is left are 1.4 liter pinkomobiles.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I’m on top of it.
Midori
April 1st, 2009
9:08 pm
Super Dave,
that. is. all. he. has.
I mean, really — think about it.
Does one really have a point if one can’t express it without silly, unnecessary and childish name calling?
that’s all he’s about. that is exactly all he has. Pitiful, isn’t it?
and yet he feels as if someone should actually listen to and respect him.
I feel sorry for him.
jt
April 1st, 2009
9:08 pm
Corporal- President Obama is the most powerful man in the world.
I think that you have a man crush on him. If he came to your house and ORDERED you to give up your guns, you would. and you would like it.
you don’t like the way he makes you feel, do you?
Everything will be alright.
rcs
April 1st, 2009
9:11 pm
Reading water garden magazines and designing a koi pond for the back yard.
Bud Wiser
April 1st, 2009
9:19 pm
Compiling my own cookbook.
Bud Wiser
April 1st, 2009
9:23 pm
LONG BEACH, Calif. — A charter boat deckhand trying to make a group of California schoolchildren laugh has choked to death on a bait fish he put in his mouth.
This will not be there.
Davo
April 1st, 2009
9:24 pm
You cited that book about a month ago in one of your more original blogs. Jeez Bookman…hurry up before the library wants its book back.
Corporal
April 1st, 2009
9:30 pm
jt:
I don’t think we have dialogued before but let me just explain this:
1) If still in my prior career I would have given my life for him if necessary.
2) That said, I am an American citizen and I have a right to express that I believe his policies are bad for this country.
3) If you want to have a continuing dialogue with me you must engage in reasoned debate and leave off the “goofball” stuff or you go on my “ignore” list. Your choice.
Thanks for your “input”.
Dusty
April 1st, 2009
9:44 pm
Well, you duds, read poetry! I am currently rereading poetry I love and TRYING to memorize certain portions.
William Blake for instance: Tyger tyger burning bright, In the forest of the night, what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry……
Or Sidney Lanier’s Marshes of Glynn (where I spent many summers nearby): As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod, Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God;I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies, In the freedom that fills all the space ‘twixt the marsh and the skies….
Soon I will reread The Brothers Karamajov by Dostoevsky. I plan to attend an evening class that will “investigate” all the greatness of this novel. I think I missed something the first time.
Did you see “David Copperfield” on Masterpiece Theater last night? Great version of that one. I love old literature. Writers worth reading..
BIG NEWS: At.General Eric Holder has just thrown out the case of Sen. Stevens of Alaska. Seems the trial was full of falacies, broken legal requiremnts and numerous mistakes. Holder was appalled. The report on Lehrer News Hour suggested that there would be no retrial. How ’bout that!!
Jay
April 1st, 2009
10:09 pm
No Davo, the dry reading of a month ago was “The Conservation of Enemies,” on a related topic.
Brad Steel
April 1st, 2009
10:11 pm
“Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises” by Charles P. Kindleberger, Robert Aliber, and Robert Solow
The self-acclaimed, self-titled “conservatives” are reading their own propaganda, drivel and crap.
When will Bush start pushing his success story? I am looking forward to his ghost written pamphlet on his successes.
getalife
April 1st, 2009
10:12 pm
Car and Driver:
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/92422
Lighten up cons.
Geez.
Brad Steel
April 1st, 2009
10:23 pm
“Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises” by Charles P. Kindleberger, Robert Aliber, and Robert Solow
“When You Are Engulfed In Flames” David Sedaris
RW-(the original)
April 1st, 2009
10:25 pm
getalife,
That Car and Driver hoax sounds like it was hysterical. Too bad they pulled it.
I bet in today’s hypersensitive environment War of the Worlds would have been pulled.
NOMAD
April 1st, 2009
10:26 pm
Jay –
I am currently reading “American Lion – Andrew Jackson in the White House” by Jon Meacham. I do enjoy reading about our past presidents. I finished “Theodore Rex” by Edmund Morris late last year. Have you ready either of these?
NOMAD
NOMAD
April 1st, 2009
10:26 pm
Sorry that should have said ‘read’ any of these. I need sleep.
NOMAD
Taxpayer
April 1st, 2009
10:37 pm
Of course, there are the stories that just don’t seem to attract much mainstream media coverage. I wonder why. Do you know, Jay.
But the word never crossed the conceptual chasm between the “mainstream” media and the “alternative.” Despite a federal class action lawsuit filed by 2400 Pennsylvania families claiming damages from the accident, despite at least $15 million quietly paid to parents of birth-defected children, despite three decades of official admissions that nobody knows how much radiation escaped from TMI, where it went or who it affected, not a mention of the fact that people might have been killed there made its way into a corporate report.
RW-(the original)
April 1st, 2009
11:11 pm
Nice touch Barry! Just in case the Queen gets tired of viewing her visit or listening to a few special tunes it was thoughtful of you to place your own speeches on it.
God help us
Greg Mendel
April 1st, 2009
11:25 pm
The perfect — very entertaining and frightening complement — is “Legacy of Ashes” by Tim Weiner. Otherwise, I’ve just reread “Guns of August” (Fantastic!”) and am reading “The Real Odessa” and waiting for “America’s Defense Meltdown.” I highly recommend “Deer Hunting with Jesus,” a book that takes both liberals and Republicans to task.
Corporal
April 1st, 2009
11:49 pm
Greg Mendel:
I see you said, “liberals and Republicans” ….
I hope that was intentional because in most cases they have become one and the same … that’s why I am just a “conservative”.
Dale Gribble's GOP
April 2nd, 2009
12:11 am
“Caught In The Current.” I just love that Marv guy.
I Report/ You Whine
April 2nd, 2009
5:42 am
Check this one out, everybody-
Bullet tests fail to solve Blackwater case in Iraq
Washington —- FBI scientists were unable to match bullets from a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting to guns carried by Blackwater Worldwide security guards, according to laboratory reports that leave open the possibility that insurgents also fired in the crowded intersection.-Urinal/Jihad
“Solve,” eh? It’s like the old murder mystery, cornering the villain with the evidence at the end. Well, guess who’s the villain in this Urinal “mystery?” Blackwater.
And apparently, the good guys are the terrorists.
ew
I Report/ You Whine
April 2nd, 2009
5:44 am
Most workers will start seeing about a $10 bump in their weekly paychecks this week, thanks to a new federal tax credit.Urinal/ TeamOneTerm
Roll out the barrel, the barrel, the barrel roll out!
99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall.
ew
Ben
April 2nd, 2009
6:39 am
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. All about our food system, and largely a denunciation of government involvement in private creating unintended consequences, like the domination of corn in our diets leading to the obesity epidemic as well as type II diabetes and lots of environmental problems. And Obama wants to start manipulating it even more. Soon enough we will all be forced to eat only processed foods, because truly natural products won’t meet FDA guidelines which are set up to protect the existing big players in agribusiness.
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
6:49 am
Ben,
Buy a farm.
Ray
April 2nd, 2009
7:03 am
David McCullough’s book “Truman”. Offers insight into a great American. Sure wish he was still here.
Jen
April 2nd, 2009
7:18 am
I am reading Hold Tight by Harlan Coben. I’ve got Nothing to Lose by Lee Child waiting when that’s done.
Curious Observer
April 2nd, 2009
7:24 am
I’ve been re-reading Robert Leckie’s Delivered from Evil, in my opinion the finest, most comprehensive book about combat in World War II. Its scope is breath-taking, ranging from Stalingrad to Iwo Jima, and yet it is filled with little personal touches that make the people discussed truly human.
Bud Wiser
April 2nd, 2009
7:34 am
Good Morning, Everyone!
Just in case you missed it, I thought I’d let you see some of your tax dollars at work.
AUSTIN, Texas — Just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others, according to a report. The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, said the report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients…
The average emergency room visit costs $1,000. Hospitals and taxpayers paid the bill through government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, Kitchen said.
Eight of the nine patients have drug abuse problems, seven were diagnosed with mental health issues and three were homeless. Five are women whose average age is 40, and four are men whose average age is 50, the report said, the Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday.
You might also consider this a preview of what BO’s Universal Health Care will do to waiting rooms all across America. Imagine this picture…..you are in a waiting line, something similar to an American Idol wannabe tryout, holding your Child with a broken arm, while 10,00 illegals, and a host of welfare queens with kids with a runny nose in front of you, all of you holding a number from a pull-tab dispenser. Since you went to public school in Georgia, you don’t know what the number is because there are so many digits, but you have a hunch that you’re going to be there a while.
Andy the welcher
April 2nd, 2009
8:00 am
Interesting analogy there Bud. You do realize that that those 2700 visits came under W’s watch right? Therefore, by your reasoning, it’s W’s fault, as are all the illegals…
I love conservative “logic”
ew
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
8:04 am
Is this one a “I was never for it but I wanted to score some political points with it as long as I did not get called out on it” Republican tactic:
…Republicans such as Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) took to the floor to decry the fact that the stimulus allowed the bonus payments to be made. They excoriated Democrats for not reading the full stimulus bill but said they objected to the bill on the floor that would fix the loophole that had been in the stimulus.
“This is really extraordinary,” Frank said. “What you have just heard is a denunciation of something the Congress did a few weeks ago AND a refusal to undo it. I’ve never seen people, Mr. Chairman, so attached to something they hate. This is presumably a psychological disorder which I am not equipped to diagnose. The objection of the gentleman from Texas was that when the recovery bill was passed, it was passed too quickly [and it] included a provision that shouldn’t have been in there. This bill takes it out.”
Of course, we all know that it never was about capping executive compensation. It was just another attempt by Republicans to moan about being in the minority party and to use anything that appears to be a popular issue to try and make folks think that they really care about them. Are you Republicans calling your politicians and telling them to vote for this bill or not.
SC Birdflyte
April 2nd, 2009
8:05 am
Two pessimistic appraisals of our economic situation: “Mr. Market Miscalculates” by James Grant; “Game Over: How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy” by Stephen Leeb.
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
8:09 am
It only makes sense that a party currently being wagged by fringe crazy people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Michele Bachmann would release its alternative budget on April Fools’ Day.
Not only does the Republican plan freeze discretionary spending for five years in the midst of a recession which, by most accounts and proved by history, will countermand any sort of economic recovery, but it also cuts taxes by 10 percent for the same Wall Street executives whose actions largely got us into this economic mess in the first place. In other words: Congratulations, Republicans, you just released a budget that rewards wealthy corporate executives while blocking any attempt to dig us out of the economic catastrophe they created.
Wow. These Republicans really have something going here. Keep up the good work.
PinkoNeoConLibertarian
April 2nd, 2009
8:10 am
Re-reading Dante’s Divine Comedy. I’m hoping one of these days I’ll discover what’s so funny.
CwnBt
April 2nd, 2009
8:13 am
GM was destined to fail. Geithner should have let it fail without injecting our money.
–The report on General Motors released by the White House says the company’s restructuring plan will not lead to a stronger company, in part because the beleaguered auto giant’s proposal to rely more heavily on advanced, fuel-efficient cars is not commercially viable.–
–“In the end, GM’s plan is based on a number of assumptions that will be very challenging to meet,” the report finds, adding “after substantial effort and review, the President’s Designee has concluded that the GM plan, in its current form, is not viable and will need to be restructured substantially.”–
–Among the assumptions the report finds unrealistic is GM’s plan to place greater emphasis on advanced, ultra-fuel efficient vehicles such as its upcoming Chevrolet Volt, the all-electric car that the report found will not be commercially viable.–
–“While the Chevy Volt holds promise, it will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful,” the report said.–
DB, Gwinnettian
April 2nd, 2009
8:13 am
A the W @ 8.00, boy, that’s something I hadn’t even bothered to consider about Bud’s bit of self-destruction. Kinda hard to when
1) he’s focusing on the least efficient method of healthcare delivery–an ER visit–which conservatives themselves insist to this day is available for free to anyone who wishes it
2) he can’t resist a Boortzian hard-right shot at the ~90% of Americans who either are or have been educated in the US public schools, and
3) “Welfare queens”? Jeez, why not toss in some sheet-whitening tips while you’re at it?
DB, Gwinnettian
April 2nd, 2009
8:16 am
there ain’t enough bozos in the world stunted enough to buy a 1.4 liter engine.
another book I neglected to mention and recommend: Mine’s Bigger! How Penis Envy Manifests Itself Among America’s Right, and Why Always it’s Funny by Hugh G. Rection.
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
8:22 am
Wow. To think that Republican congresspersons, several from right here in Georgia, kneel before this person.
Wow. Whatever bet L.A. Times columnist Andrew Klavan thought he was making by daring people to listen to Rush Limbaugh and find one instance of the talk radio host saying a “single racist, hateful or stupid word” was lost today in dramatic fashion.
Limbaugh went waaaaaay over the top in insulting Gordon Brown with a mental image that one must work at to un-think about, warning that if the British Prime Minister keeps “slobbering” over President Barack Obama, he’ll “come down with anal poisoning and may die from it.”
Naturally, how Limbaugh gained such innovative insight into the epidemiological vectors of saliva-borne ass toxins remains an open question.
Then again, it’s best not to think about the things that Limbaugh thinks about. Ewwwww.
WhoCares
April 2nd, 2009
8:24 am
If you want some entertaining reading ( laugh out loud on an airplane kind of stuff ) try ‘A walk in the woods’ by Bill Bryson. It’s been out for a while.
Night Train
April 2nd, 2009
8:29 am
Spending to get out of debt, that sounds like a real solid plan the libs have here.
How many people, living in the real world, have had success with this type plan? Yep, that’s what I thought, not a single one.
Here’s a simple plan that I heard about (I did not devise this plan) that makes a lot more sense than the current solution being dumped on the American people.
Patriotic retirement:
There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force – Pay them $1 million apiece, tax free, severance with the following stipulations:
1) They leave their jobs and stay out of the work force for at least 2 years. Forty million job openings – Unemployment fixed.
2) They buy a NEW American car (from one of the big 3). Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.
3) They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing / Mortgage Crisis fixed.
It can’t get any easier than that! It’s also less expensive than the current plan.
PS. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress pay their taxes…
jon
April 2nd, 2009
8:31 am
The Volt or whatever car the new President of Government Motors (POGM) decides they will produce will be commercially viable because POGM will don his other hat as POTUS and use the power of the Federal Government to make it viable, with incentives and tax breaks. Ford Motor Company (or even the Asian automakers) will have no chance against such competition and you WILL drive the car that POGM/POTUS wants you to drive. AND YOU WILL LIKE IT!!
DB, Gwinnettian
April 2nd, 2009
8:33 am
Taxpayer, the actual LA Times column itself (containing the “limbaugh challenge) is funny enough; linkee be here.
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
8:35 am
Towns said the committee will also examine the AIG collapse to determine what legislation might be needed to make another occurrence less likely. Greenberg stepped down in 2005.
“The committees have not talked to Mr. Greenberg. They’ve only talked to Liddy” — AIG’s current head Edward Liddy — “and Liddy has basically said, ‘It was Greenberg’s problem,’” Towns said.
“You can’t have an investigation just moving forward. You have to look back as well. And that’s what we’re doing,” said Towns.
The Bush administration’s preferred way of dealing with corporate scandal was to defer prosecution. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Bush prosecutors made 103 deferred and nonprosecution agreements with U.S. companies between 2002 and 2009. While Clinton was president, meanwhile, only 11 such pacts were entered into.
Well, no more deferring. It’s time to face the music.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 2nd, 2009
8:36 am
Spending to get out of debt
The spending is not intended to “get out of debt.” The spending is intended to get a horribly crippled economy moving again. I saw recent polling that shows around two-thirds of Americans are saying that they are cutting back on their spending–quite understandably–and without some incentive to spend, there is no way that businesses are going to get back on their feet again any time soon.
This isn’t a terribly difficult macroeconomic concept to grasp, is it?
BDAtlanta
April 2nd, 2009
8:37 am
just finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
just starting Silver Swan by Black
The Wao book is quite funny
BDAtlanta
April 2nd, 2009
8:40 am
But let’s not get too chummy, this isn’t Facebook. This is WAR!
BDAtlanta
April 2nd, 2009
8:43 am
“The average emergency room visit costs $1,000″
Bud, this is a bit suspect, isn’t it?
Be careful what you read and take for truth. Just because someone pays a person to write for a newspaper doesn’t mean they actually do any research or chaperone themselves enough to NOT curb facts to make the story more enjoyable.
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
8:48 am
DB,
I accepted the Limbaugh challenge and now I’m trying to figure out how to purge it. Pathetic. And, this is the sort of creature that Republican politicians bow down to and/or kneel before. Ewwww. The thought is repulsive. No more Limbaugh, ever.
Paul
April 2nd, 2009
8:48 am
Taxpayer 8:04
Two separate issues. The objection was funding AIG bonuses with taxpayer funds. Rep Frank responded by referencing a bill that would regulate pay for many companies, even those not covered by the bailout.
I know that contradicts “we all know that it never was about capping executive compensation.” I guess the NY Times doesn’t get it:
” One proposal could impose greater requirements on company boards to tie executive compensation more closely to corporate performance and to take other steps to ensure that compensation was aligned with the financial interest of the company.
The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission.”
Your 8:09
So you oppose freezing discretionary spending? Even though some discretionary programs could increase if there were other programs cut (one of Pres Obama’s goals)?
8:22
[[Whatever bet L.A. Times columnist Andrew Klavan thought he was making by daring people to listen to Rush Limbaugh and find one instance of the talk radio host saying a “single racist, hateful or stupid word”]]
I know the guy’s a columnist with a point of view, but you have to wonder if that’s one reason the LA Times is going down the tubes.
Report/Whine
Europeans have plenty of vehicles with 1.4 liter engines with great torque, acceleration times and gas mileage.
Bud Wiser 7:34
[[You might also consider this a preview of what BO’s Universal Health Care will do to waiting rooms all across America.]]
A preview? This is the current reality. If your point is it will get worse under an alternate system – how? The same population with no or inadequate insurance already exists and avails itself of emergency room care every day. A reformed system may funnel them to other treatments that would address the mental health and addictions that now send them to emergency rooms.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 2nd, 2009
8:49 am
I realize I’m not the only person who sussed this, but for the record, Night Train’s “simple plan” @ 8.29 would cost 40 trillion dollars.
Which is about three times the total GDP of the USA.
See, that’s why we can’t just give a whole bunch of people a million dollars. Well, we could, but there’s this thing called “hyperinflation”, see, and it’s really, really bad.
Paul
April 2nd, 2009
8:53 am
Taxpayer 8:35
[[Well, no more deferring. It’s time to face the music.]]
So, any idea why the Obama Administration opposes other G20 nations’ calls to regulate the financial system, including manipulative hedge funds? Seems like Pres Obama’s just following Pres Bush’s lead -
D.A.
April 2nd, 2009
8:59 am
DB,
What is racist about the phrase “wellfare queen”?
As far as I can tell it is a term to describe mom’s wo try to live a celebrity type lifestyle, basically trying to be a diva on the taxpayers dime.
But that is just what I thought, and I usually don’t equate everything to race. So for my education could you please explain to me why your first thought upon hearing welfare queen you immediatly assume it is a comment about a particular race?
Seems to show way more about your racist perceptions and your own bigoted ways, no?
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
9:00 am
What was that Republican budget again. What was that. Cut taxes for the wealthy again and borrow another $300 billion from China to pay for it and just not talk about the fact that this so-called plan increases the deficit and debt and does nothing to deal with the recession. But, that’s just more of the same old failed Republican ‘plan’ that we have had since Reagan.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 2nd, 2009
9:03 am
What is racist about the phrase “wellfare queen”?
Why, where did I ever claim it was racist?
I just thought Bud might want to share his laundry tips with us, is all. Nothin’ racist about that, nassuh!
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
9:05 am
Well, Paul, I heard talk of regulating hedge funds. Then again, talk is cheap. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
9:07 am
Dang it, DB. I was looking forward to that million dollar man plan and now you have gone and spoiled it for me. I guess it’s back to lottery tickets.
Redneck Convert
April 2nd, 2009
9:07 am
Well, I don’t read much except for the covers of magazines I see in the grocery store line. But I keep up with what’s happening in the world by watching Fox News.
Anyhow, like Sister Dusty said some time back, if we get everybody covered by guvmint health care I’ll have to wait a long time in the waiting room, what with every piece of trash in line ahead of me. If my pile-on cyst is hurting I don’t want to have to wait two hours to see a Dr. to do something about it. I know we’re suppose to feel pity for everybody, but don’t do it when it wastes my time. Maybe we could set aside a few Drs. that would help the trash only and let the rest of us see the reglar Drs., sort of like we did when we set aside schools for Those People.
Have a good day everybody.
Paul
April 2nd, 2009
9:11 am
Taxpayer
The Obama Administration has opposes international financial oversight. What we’ll see happen is the Obama Administration continue in their efforts to block international cooperation in this regard.
In other words, it doesn’t matter what the rest of the world wants, the US knows what’s best and will seek to impose its will or frustrate the efforts of other nations. We’ll go it alone if we have to, maybe with one or two allies like Great Britain we can pick up along the way.
Just like the Bush Administration.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 2nd, 2009
9:13 am
Taxpayer, i know this thread’s dying, but when you wrote “I accepted the Limbaugh challenge ” I just wanted to add–
I found the whole “challenge” thing to be so laughable, personally, because I’m probably more familiar with Limbaugh from first hand experience than a lot of conservatives out there. I’d heard his first broadcasts from this “EiB flagship” back during the ‘88 presidential campaign; I’d heard his constant ragging on Mayor Dinkins (nothin’ racist about that, nassuh!); his grotesque “humor” concerning AIDS victims, and suchlike.
They guy was a pig then, he’s a pig now, and he can’t get from one minute to the next without either making something up or, at best, grotesquely distorting another’s position in such a way as to feed irrational fear and loathing.
And I still hear enough of his drivel out of a desire to know what the opposition is doing, over the air, that I hardly need Media Matters to distill it for me.
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
9:16 am
Paul,
Like I said, we’ll see. Your prediction may be right, may be wrong, etc. One thing you can count on is that the US is going to be forced to listen to others and figure out how to appease them more so than we have ever done in the past. We need them as much as they need us. I’ll reserve judgment regarding it being “just like the Bush Administration” however my assessment at this point in time is “No way”.
Paul
April 2nd, 2009
9:25 am
Taxpayer,
Okay, seriously now. I was just making a point I’ve made in the past – (and the object of the ‘just like the Bush Administration’ comment) is the business of nations is to pursue their national interests. If they can build alliances or gain cooperation – even temporary or grudging – fine. There were some hear who raised the red flag of a Pres Obama who would sacrifice America’s interests to some ‘international interest’ and would put ‘being nice and being liked’ above anything else.
Looks like it’s not happening. I may not agree with his position on this, but he is, at least, putting our interests (as he sees them) first.
Just like the Bush Administration.
(just had to say that)
Taxpayer
April 2nd, 2009
9:46 am
Paul,
I suppose I just never considered “putting this nation’s interests at the top of the stack” as belonging to Bush, or any party for that matter. Then again, I’m not a fan of Bush or the Republican party’s philosophies because they tend to put the interests of the greedy and power hungry ahead of the health, safety and welfare of we the people. Of course, that’s just my beliefs.
D.A.
April 2nd, 2009
9:59 am
So DB,
I love how you left minded liberal types will carelessly float out claims of racism but on a consisitant basis you show your own racist thoughts and tendancies.
A “welfare queen” could easily be about any group or about a single group. While your statement about sheets had only one conclusion, you see everything through the prospective of race and racism.
Thank you for clearly stating you are a bigot without having to actually say the words.