Headline today:
UN Says Sri Lankan Death Toll Too High [Note: Headline has since changed.]
Apparently the UN has an acceptable number of civilian deaths in a safety zone?
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
My Baby
After 8 months, my city-wide composting recommendation has finally moved from subcommittee to executive committee. If the response from the subcommittee is any indication, I think it will be readily accepted by the full committee, followed by implementation of full policy.
It may be boring for most, but it's awesome to me. Here's the fruit that 8-months, and reams of research will produce:
WMR Rec WM-11 Final
It may be boring for most, but it's awesome to me. Here's the fruit that 8-months, and reams of research will produce:
WMR Rec WM-11 Final
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
*sigh*
I get exaggerating to make a story better. I do it, my friends do it, my coworkers do it...safe to say probably every does it. And I get people who embellish statistics to support their cause in an impromptu, oral argument. However, show a little respect and at least embellish within the realm of plausibility. And if you really have no idea what you are talking about whatsoever, don't talk. One more thing--if your statistics can be so easily checked as to open the daily newspaper--any daily newspaper--and see what you are saying is bullshit, then please choose another tactic.
Quotes from my boss today:
"My husband's title one school [i.e. very poor] has just atrocious drug use. Fourth graders shoot up heroin daily!"
My problems with this. One, I think if there was a school in an affluent city with 4th graders shooting up heroin daily, there would probably be at least a news report. Two, if this is true, and the teachers all know it, why isn't it being reported? Three, the freshman in this office is believing this. And four, current street price of heroin is just under $90 a gram. What 4th grader from a title one school, in piss-poor neighborhood, can afford heroin daily? Jesus, if you know nothing about drugs, don't say anything! And if you are going to make something up, at least use something plausible, like methamphetamine or crack cocaine. Really, does anyone use heroin anymore? I thought that shit died out with Kurt Cobain.
"There are knifings there daily! Daily!"
I'll suspend my disbelief that many elementary school children shiv each other daily for now. Let's look at the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual police and hospital reports for knifings, shall we?
Interesting...no reports from this or any other elementary school. There was one report from one high school in the past year. So either she's saying that all these knifings go unreported by the teachers (including her husband), or she's making this up. Again, the office workers seem to eat it up. I really hate this last part. I could deal with the...exaggerations...by simply ignoring her. But by her painting this picture that doesn't exist, and having younger students believe her, she is planting the seeds of fear of a general populace. There is already a problem with students here refusing to see any part of Charleston besides downtown Charleston and the beach. Our office is the office that's supposed to be tearing down those barriers, yet she's unintentionally building them among the very workers who are supposed to be above that.
"I grew up in a tiny town."
She lived in the suburbs of New York. Her dad worked in the city. She recently stated her parents were selling their old house for a million+ [although with her, this could be complete bullshit.] Her neighbors were Whoopi Gullberg, Kevin Bacon, and Jane Curtain. I hate people who try to build a false past to suit their needs. She only mentions her rural past if she's either talking about how she had to work hard to get ahead, explaining why she lacks a knowledge in a subject ("I never knew how to do this when I was growing up! I had to figure it out on my own! You don't learn much like this growing up in a small town!"), or to build a false sense of experience.
My entire county had a population less than 10,000, the closest actual city was 70 miles away, with only rural highways connecting us. Even the closest large town was 30 miles away. And yet I've never used that background to explain away a deficiency of mine. In fact, I don't consider it a deficiency, but a benefit to my upbringing. At the very least it allows me to differentiate myself from most people in this country. Growing up in a truly small town (and one of the poorest counties in the state) never inhibited my intellectual or personal growth. Of course I had parents that read to me, encouraged education, supported me, and I'm not trying to discount that. All I'm saying is that all things being equal (her parents also supported her), using your geographic past to dismiss shortcomings is cheap, especially with that past is a false one.
Quotes from my boss today:
"My husband's title one school [i.e. very poor] has just atrocious drug use. Fourth graders shoot up heroin daily!"
My problems with this. One, I think if there was a school in an affluent city with 4th graders shooting up heroin daily, there would probably be at least a news report. Two, if this is true, and the teachers all know it, why isn't it being reported? Three, the freshman in this office is believing this. And four, current street price of heroin is just under $90 a gram. What 4th grader from a title one school, in piss-poor neighborhood, can afford heroin daily? Jesus, if you know nothing about drugs, don't say anything! And if you are going to make something up, at least use something plausible, like methamphetamine or crack cocaine. Really, does anyone use heroin anymore? I thought that shit died out with Kurt Cobain.
"There are knifings there daily! Daily!"
I'll suspend my disbelief that many elementary school children shiv each other daily for now. Let's look at the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual police and hospital reports for knifings, shall we?
Interesting...no reports from this or any other elementary school. There was one report from one high school in the past year. So either she's saying that all these knifings go unreported by the teachers (including her husband), or she's making this up. Again, the office workers seem to eat it up. I really hate this last part. I could deal with the...exaggerations...by simply ignoring her. But by her painting this picture that doesn't exist, and having younger students believe her, she is planting the seeds of fear of a general populace. There is already a problem with students here refusing to see any part of Charleston besides downtown Charleston and the beach. Our office is the office that's supposed to be tearing down those barriers, yet she's unintentionally building them among the very workers who are supposed to be above that.
"I grew up in a tiny town."
She lived in the suburbs of New York. Her dad worked in the city. She recently stated her parents were selling their old house for a million+ [although with her, this could be complete bullshit.] Her neighbors were Whoopi Gullberg, Kevin Bacon, and Jane Curtain. I hate people who try to build a false past to suit their needs. She only mentions her rural past if she's either talking about how she had to work hard to get ahead, explaining why she lacks a knowledge in a subject ("I never knew how to do this when I was growing up! I had to figure it out on my own! You don't learn much like this growing up in a small town!"), or to build a false sense of experience.
My entire county had a population less than 10,000, the closest actual city was 70 miles away, with only rural highways connecting us. Even the closest large town was 30 miles away. And yet I've never used that background to explain away a deficiency of mine. In fact, I don't consider it a deficiency, but a benefit to my upbringing. At the very least it allows me to differentiate myself from most people in this country. Growing up in a truly small town (and one of the poorest counties in the state) never inhibited my intellectual or personal growth. Of course I had parents that read to me, encouraged education, supported me, and I'm not trying to discount that. All I'm saying is that all things being equal (her parents also supported her), using your geographic past to dismiss shortcomings is cheap, especially with that past is a false one.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Stimulating the Economy. Cajun Style.
Due to some major errors by the accounting department--such as paying people who don't exist large salaries out of my office's budget--my office has suddenly receive $12,000. Well not received...because that would imply we didn't have it to begin with. We...reclaimed $12,000. Here's the catch though. After an entire year of cutting costs like crazy, we now have less than 2 months to spend said $12,000 or--get this--our budget will be cut next year because we obviously don't need the money.
So we are stocking up on office supplies for the next 10 years. And by office supplies, I don't just mean paper and highlighters. I've ordered 3 laptops, a digital projector and screen, a scanner, and am looking for couches, conference tables, and a slew of other furniture.
That brings me up to $7,000. What to do with the next $5,000?
Today I proposed we buy:
-Office snuggies, embroidered with our logo.
-Shamwows for gift baskets to potential donors.
-Any amount of the following: OxiClean, Kaboom, Mighty Putty, the Awesome Auger, the Samurai Shark sharpener, Orange Glo, pedeggs, mighty mend-it, bedazzler, CLR, and Jupiter Jacks.
She rejected my proposal.
So we are stocking up on office supplies for the next 10 years. And by office supplies, I don't just mean paper and highlighters. I've ordered 3 laptops, a digital projector and screen, a scanner, and am looking for couches, conference tables, and a slew of other furniture.
That brings me up to $7,000. What to do with the next $5,000?
Today I proposed we buy:
-Office snuggies, embroidered with our logo.
-Shamwows for gift baskets to potential donors.
-Any amount of the following: OxiClean, Kaboom, Mighty Putty, the Awesome Auger, the Samurai Shark sharpener, Orange Glo, pedeggs, mighty mend-it, bedazzler, CLR, and Jupiter Jacks.
She rejected my proposal.
Great Minds think alike
If one were to ask me "Neil, name the parameters to make the perfect comedy." I would naturally reply "Take the director of old school, an alum or two from the daily show or the office, Las Vegas, and comedian Zack Galifinakis. Shake well."
If you were then to press me for some details of the movie to make it absolutely perfect, I would probably say "You need livestock, a baby getting whacked in the head by a police car, and Mike Tyson dancing to a Phil Collins tune."
It's like somebody read my soul:
If you were then to press me for some details of the movie to make it absolutely perfect, I would probably say "You need livestock, a baby getting whacked in the head by a police car, and Mike Tyson dancing to a Phil Collins tune."
It's like somebody read my soul:
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Fascinating
I've never really followed Maine's state politics closely. Surprised, right? Yeah, for some reason some state that's not an economic, cultural, military, or political powerhouse has escaped my attention. However, as a state that is probably next in line to try to legalize gay marriage, it has become rather interesting as of late.
Most current news...Maine's Governor, who has up until recently been opposed to the legalization of gay marriage (I think), is reviewing every email, letter, and phone call sent to his office about gay marriage. Furthermore, he is contacting random opposition voices.
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/10699/an-unexpected-conversation-with-the-governor
If this is true...wow. While I know this process would be infeasible as an everyday policy apparatus, kudos to Baldacci for taking the time to understand his fellow citizen's ideas on the subject, and not just his own. It's easy to talk to someone who agrees with you on the subject. It takes guts to call up random dissenters and chew the fat on a rather touchy subject.
Most current news...Maine's Governor, who has up until recently been opposed to the legalization of gay marriage (I think), is reviewing every email, letter, and phone call sent to his office about gay marriage. Furthermore, he is contacting random opposition voices.
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/10699/an-unexpected-conversation-with-the-governor
If this is true...wow. While I know this process would be infeasible as an everyday policy apparatus, kudos to Baldacci for taking the time to understand his fellow citizen's ideas on the subject, and not just his own. It's easy to talk to someone who agrees with you on the subject. It takes guts to call up random dissenters and chew the fat on a rather touchy subject.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Things I Hate.
1. The word 'basically.' You can use it one of two ways:
The first means you believe the person(s) you are addressing is such an idiot that the knowledge you are about to share is much too complicated for his or her infinitesimal brain and therefore you are watering it down to a level suitable to your ape-like intellect:
'Basically, you mentally deficient chipmunk, Citizen Kane is about a newspaper man and his sled.' No, its simultaneously a tribute and criticism to the life of William Randolph Hearst; and it's a testimony to the way money and power can slowly degrade a man's soul, until that person would be unrecognizable to the young child he once was. See? That wasn't that hard. And not one use of the word 'basically.'
The second way, is it's used in the vastly more irritating manner of saying "basically" and then detailing everything you needed to say anyway. 'Basically, a wormhole is as a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that is fundamentally a 'shortcut' through space and time, which can be viewed as a 2D surface that, when 'folded' over..." [editor's note: That's from wikipedia. Like I know what the fuck a wormhole is, other than that cool open-y thing on Deep Space Nine.] That's not a basic description, is it?
2. The word 'pickle.' Try to say it without sounding like a pedophile.
3.Gary Busey. Nick Nolte.
4. Celebrity filled tribute concerts. Instead of using a small city's worth of electricity in your concert meant to 'save the rainforest,' whatevertf that means, how 'bout you go out and plant a tree? Or use the MILLIONS of dollars it took to put on that concert, and buy a tract of rainforest that you can actually protect. You're raising awareness? Raise this [editor's note: I just grabbed my crotch.]
5. The phrase "Apples to Oranges," meaning 'incomparable." Since when has the english language become so confined that you can't compare apples to oranges?
Apples are a red, green, or yellow fruit with a thin, crisp skin, and an inside, or 'meat,' that is sweet, slightly grainy, and dry in comparison to oranges. Also they can be made into pies. Oranges, my friends, are an orange [or reddish yellow, if you are going to make an argument against tautology] colored citrus fruit with a very thick skin and a meat that is watery, cellular, and a bit tart. If you try to make these into pies, you'll get a disgusting slop. However if you squeeze a peeled orange over a bottle, you get a delicious juice. Squeeze an apple over said bottle, you get strained fingers.
Apples and Oranges = Compared.
6. People who defend Michael Bay with "he knows how to shoot an action scene." Yeah? So do these guys:
7. Michael Bay. God help me if you get your grubby little mitts on a Thundercats or Zelda script. You stay the fuck away from Link, do you hear me??
8. People who are famous for no discernable reason. No I'm not talking about the Paris Hiltons of the world. She has a reason--she's a trampy ho bag at whose grotesqueness we can stare for hours. Man that was a poorly constructed sentence. Anyway, no I'm talking about people whose names I don't even recognize until they are hosting SNL, or in the news for some stupid comment they made that has made everyone's panties bunch up. I'm talking to you, Perez Hilton and Zac Efron.
9. People who casually use the phrase "honestly" or "to be honest with you." You either are implying you are normally a pathological liar, e.g. this guy:
Or you sound like a salesman.
"Usually I'm a sack of shit, Neil, but today I wanted to give you a really special deal. The Firestone Tires credit card will save you $50 on this purchase, and--now remember most things that come out of my mouth are libelous filth, but not today--it's really about your financial security."
10. Improper use of quotation marks. At a store I once worked at, there was a sign that said:
"Fresh" Limes.
The first means you believe the person(s) you are addressing is such an idiot that the knowledge you are about to share is much too complicated for his or her infinitesimal brain and therefore you are watering it down to a level suitable to your ape-like intellect:
'Basically, you mentally deficient chipmunk, Citizen Kane is about a newspaper man and his sled.' No, its simultaneously a tribute and criticism to the life of William Randolph Hearst; and it's a testimony to the way money and power can slowly degrade a man's soul, until that person would be unrecognizable to the young child he once was. See? That wasn't that hard. And not one use of the word 'basically.'
The second way, is it's used in the vastly more irritating manner of saying "basically" and then detailing everything you needed to say anyway. 'Basically, a wormhole is as a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that is fundamentally a 'shortcut' through space and time, which can be viewed as a 2D surface that, when 'folded' over..." [editor's note: That's from wikipedia. Like I know what the fuck a wormhole is, other than that cool open-y thing on Deep Space Nine.] That's not a basic description, is it?
2. The word 'pickle.' Try to say it without sounding like a pedophile.
3.
4. Celebrity filled tribute concerts. Instead of using a small city's worth of electricity in your concert meant to 'save the rainforest,' whatevertf that means, how 'bout you go out and plant a tree? Or use the MILLIONS of dollars it took to put on that concert, and buy a tract of rainforest that you can actually protect. You're raising awareness? Raise this [editor's note: I just grabbed my crotch.]
5. The phrase "Apples to Oranges," meaning 'incomparable." Since when has the english language become so confined that you can't compare apples to oranges?
Apples are a red, green, or yellow fruit with a thin, crisp skin, and an inside, or 'meat,' that is sweet, slightly grainy, and dry in comparison to oranges. Also they can be made into pies. Oranges, my friends, are an orange [or reddish yellow, if you are going to make an argument against tautology] colored citrus fruit with a very thick skin and a meat that is watery, cellular, and a bit tart. If you try to make these into pies, you'll get a disgusting slop. However if you squeeze a peeled orange over a bottle, you get a delicious juice. Squeeze an apple over said bottle, you get strained fingers.
Apples and Oranges = Compared.
6. People who defend Michael Bay with "he knows how to shoot an action scene." Yeah? So do these guys:
7. Michael Bay. God help me if you get your grubby little mitts on a Thundercats or Zelda script. You stay the fuck away from Link, do you hear me??
8. People who are famous for no discernable reason. No I'm not talking about the Paris Hiltons of the world. She has a reason--she's a trampy ho bag at whose grotesqueness we can stare for hours. Man that was a poorly constructed sentence. Anyway, no I'm talking about people whose names I don't even recognize until they are hosting SNL, or in the news for some stupid comment they made that has made everyone's panties bunch up. I'm talking to you, Perez Hilton and Zac Efron.
9. People who casually use the phrase "honestly" or "to be honest with you." You either are implying you are normally a pathological liar, e.g. this guy:
Or you sound like a salesman.
"Usually I'm a sack of shit, Neil, but today I wanted to give you a really special deal. The Firestone Tires credit card will save you $50 on this purchase, and--now remember most things that come out of my mouth are libelous filth, but not today--it's really about your financial security."
10. Improper use of quotation marks. At a store I once worked at, there was a sign that said:
"Fresh" Limes.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Stories Stories Stories!
Oh man it's been an exciting week!
Ok, so there's been a big problem with my roommate--cock nuggets--turning on the AC no matter what temperature it was outside. So if it's 55 degrees, he still turns on the AC at 65. This alone is ridiculous, but think about how freaking cold 65 degrees is! Also, keep in mind he hasn't paid electricity in 2 months, so he doesn't give a shit about how much that temperature is going to cost in bills.
So yeah, its been me against him, mano e mano. He turns on the AC at night, I wait 3 minutes and turn it off. He turns it down, I turn it back up. You get the idea. I come home last night, and there is a sign posted above the thermostat. It was written by my other roommate, cookie tits. The note:
"WHOEVER TURNED ON THE HEAT IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER [editor's note: yes summer starts in May here] TO 82 DEGREES, DO IT AGAIN AND YOU NO LONGER CAN STAY HERE! ONLY NEIL IS ALLOWED TO TOUCH THE THERMOSTAT FROM NOW ON! IF YOU PAID ELECTRICITY, PERHAPS YOU COULD TOUCH IT. BUT SINCE YOU DON'T, GO TO HELL."
An hour later, there is a new note from cock nuggets:
"Maybe if it wasn't 90 degrees in my room I would pay rent and bills!"
Well...that's not logical. Of course I had to chime in.
"Wait...that's an option? If we aren't comfortable we don't have to pay? By that logic shouldn't you have paid as soon as you turned it down to 65 degrees? What about in February and March when you were comfortable? Why didn't you pay then? Is there anything else we can do to make you more comfortable, besides the free rent, free bills, and the food you steal?"
Cookie tits came home and of course saw what cock nuggets had wrote and, long story short, he was gone when I came home today.
But the story doesn't end there.
Sine it's hard to move everything you have in a few hours, Cookie Tits agreed that Cock Nuggets could keep his big stuff here until a truck could come to grab it. Well, wouldn't you know it a truck pulls up just a few minutes ago. However cock nuggets wasn't in it. Instead a guy comes to the door and says that cock nuggets owes him a lot of money and...while this may be weird...could I grab some of his stuff as repayment?
Well this was exactly how Michael has been (unknowingly) paying me back for the food of mine he steals. So who was I to stop this, I assume, upstanding gentlemen from taking his just payments? Why, I'll even help him look for the valuable stuff?
Turns out he keeps his stash of pot under his mattress. Who knew? Also who knew that his entire stash would be more than enough as a repayment for the money he owed to this guy?
I feel I made the world a better place today.
Ok, so there's been a big problem with my roommate--cock nuggets--turning on the AC no matter what temperature it was outside. So if it's 55 degrees, he still turns on the AC at 65. This alone is ridiculous, but think about how freaking cold 65 degrees is! Also, keep in mind he hasn't paid electricity in 2 months, so he doesn't give a shit about how much that temperature is going to cost in bills.
So yeah, its been me against him, mano e mano. He turns on the AC at night, I wait 3 minutes and turn it off. He turns it down, I turn it back up. You get the idea. I come home last night, and there is a sign posted above the thermostat. It was written by my other roommate, cookie tits. The note:
"WHOEVER TURNED ON THE HEAT IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER [editor's note: yes summer starts in May here] TO 82 DEGREES, DO IT AGAIN AND YOU NO LONGER CAN STAY HERE! ONLY NEIL IS ALLOWED TO TOUCH THE THERMOSTAT FROM NOW ON! IF YOU PAID ELECTRICITY, PERHAPS YOU COULD TOUCH IT. BUT SINCE YOU DON'T, GO TO HELL."
An hour later, there is a new note from cock nuggets:
"Maybe if it wasn't 90 degrees in my room I would pay rent and bills!"
Well...that's not logical. Of course I had to chime in.
"Wait...that's an option? If we aren't comfortable we don't have to pay? By that logic shouldn't you have paid as soon as you turned it down to 65 degrees? What about in February and March when you were comfortable? Why didn't you pay then? Is there anything else we can do to make you more comfortable, besides the free rent, free bills, and the food you steal?"
Cookie tits came home and of course saw what cock nuggets had wrote and, long story short, he was gone when I came home today.
But the story doesn't end there.
Sine it's hard to move everything you have in a few hours, Cookie Tits agreed that Cock Nuggets could keep his big stuff here until a truck could come to grab it. Well, wouldn't you know it a truck pulls up just a few minutes ago. However cock nuggets wasn't in it. Instead a guy comes to the door and says that cock nuggets owes him a lot of money and...while this may be weird...could I grab some of his stuff as repayment?
Well this was exactly how Michael has been (unknowingly) paying me back for the food of mine he steals. So who was I to stop this, I assume, upstanding gentlemen from taking his just payments? Why, I'll even help him look for the valuable stuff?
Turns out he keeps his stash of pot under his mattress. Who knew? Also who knew that his entire stash would be more than enough as a repayment for the money he owed to this guy?
I feel I made the world a better place today.
Michigan's woes.
A few years before America's entry into WWII, and in the midst of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt started ramping up war materials production in order to supply Britain, Australia, and others as outlined by the Lend-Lease Act. To do this, he essentially told the big automakers that they were going to make some damn planes, tanks, and bombs, and he didn't want to hear any of their guff. FDR was big on using both his literal and metaphorical backside of his hand on corporations.
Fast forward a few decades, and America sees themselves in the midst of what I'm going to term for now a Great Recession. And wouldn't you know it, our President is using his backhand on GM and Chrysler like they were a bunch of coke whores failing to give us a cut of their BJ money. Except Obama's being way more of a pansy, and simply firing a CEO here, and forcing dumbass deals with Italian automakers. (Seriously...the Italians are saving us? Fuck me...).
Then we have this whole Boil Our Oceans problem going on. (Don't you think that would get more attention than 'Global Warming' and 'Climate Change?') The biggest contributor to this problem is the production of energy through fossil fuels. Sure we have the Saudi Arabia of wind in the US. And sure, with offshore windfarms most coastal (including Great Lake) states could produce 100% - 200% of their energy by wind. But we have this problem. No one really has the ability to mass produce windmills on such a scale to really make this viable yet. Also no one has the money to create the production foundation necessary to make these windmills.
I mean, where are you going to find a huge pool of labor highly trained in steelworking, machine tooling, and advanced manufacturing technology needed to make windmills on a huge scale? Why, one would need a whole city trained to do that. And a city that doesn't have such competing interests that the labor pool would be bled towards other pursuits. And you would really hundreds of factories with assembly lines designed to be flexible enough to produce new designs on an almost constant basis. Where could someone possibly find that?
...
So instead of firing CEO's, forcing poorly formed mergers, and handing out millions and millions in funds to keep the auto industry alive, even when its clear right now that no one is really interested in purchasing cars, why don't we do this:
Make the cash to GM and Chrysler available not as a bailout but as an infrastructure loan. Tell them to get this loan they are going to have to be prepared to, at least temporarily, change their product. Then with allll that money we've set aside for green training, and towards creating wind markets, start change Detroit from the Gotham its become?
Yes, there is a somewhat limited market for windmills (although not THAT limited. These things have a finite life, and markets like China, Russia, Greenland, Canada, Brazil, etc, are RIPE for wind production.), but the change doesn't have to be permanent, and can be phased back towards car production as the market dictates. Plane, tank, and bomb production wasn't a permanent features after WWII (depending on your outlook of the Military-Industrial complex), and the transition for the car manufactures back to car production was a relatively painless one.
I know this isn't a novel idea, and Michigan's Governon Granholm (or whatever her name is. I'm too lazy for wikipedia), has supported it in numerous speeches. But I really only see words right now ('We should do this!') and no federal official--Michigan can't do this on their own--stepping up to the plate.
Or maybe I'm just ignorant on plans in place to do this. If not, how do we pressure the government to move towards this? Or is this just a shitty idea?
Fast forward a few decades, and America sees themselves in the midst of what I'm going to term for now a Great Recession. And wouldn't you know it, our President is using his backhand on GM and Chrysler like they were a bunch of coke whores failing to give us a cut of their BJ money. Except Obama's being way more of a pansy, and simply firing a CEO here, and forcing dumbass deals with Italian automakers. (Seriously...the Italians are saving us? Fuck me...).
Then we have this whole Boil Our Oceans problem going on. (Don't you think that would get more attention than 'Global Warming' and 'Climate Change?') The biggest contributor to this problem is the production of energy through fossil fuels. Sure we have the Saudi Arabia of wind in the US. And sure, with offshore windfarms most coastal (including Great Lake) states could produce 100% - 200% of their energy by wind. But we have this problem. No one really has the ability to mass produce windmills on such a scale to really make this viable yet. Also no one has the money to create the production foundation necessary to make these windmills.
I mean, where are you going to find a huge pool of labor highly trained in steelworking, machine tooling, and advanced manufacturing technology needed to make windmills on a huge scale? Why, one would need a whole city trained to do that. And a city that doesn't have such competing interests that the labor pool would be bled towards other pursuits. And you would really hundreds of factories with assembly lines designed to be flexible enough to produce new designs on an almost constant basis. Where could someone possibly find that?
...
So instead of firing CEO's, forcing poorly formed mergers, and handing out millions and millions in funds to keep the auto industry alive, even when its clear right now that no one is really interested in purchasing cars, why don't we do this:
Make the cash to GM and Chrysler available not as a bailout but as an infrastructure loan. Tell them to get this loan they are going to have to be prepared to, at least temporarily, change their product. Then with allll that money we've set aside for green training, and towards creating wind markets, start change Detroit from the Gotham its become?
Yes, there is a somewhat limited market for windmills (although not THAT limited. These things have a finite life, and markets like China, Russia, Greenland, Canada, Brazil, etc, are RIPE for wind production.), but the change doesn't have to be permanent, and can be phased back towards car production as the market dictates. Plane, tank, and bomb production wasn't a permanent features after WWII (depending on your outlook of the Military-Industrial complex), and the transition for the car manufactures back to car production was a relatively painless one.
I know this isn't a novel idea, and Michigan's Governon Granholm (or whatever her name is. I'm too lazy for wikipedia), has supported it in numerous speeches. But I really only see words right now ('We should do this!') and no federal official--Michigan can't do this on their own--stepping up to the plate.
Or maybe I'm just ignorant on plans in place to do this. If not, how do we pressure the government to move towards this? Or is this just a shitty idea?
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