A MarketPlace of Ideas

Rudy Guiliani received a phone call from his wife mid speech last week.  He protested it was not a scripted event. Sure and if your aunt had nuts, she’d be your Uncle.

Guiliani was surely trying to use this flimsy charade in an effort to lesson the effect of his having had a divorce or 2 on the more socially conservative voters.  It was a bone headed manuever on its on but what he did next was a political death sentence: He claimed it was unscripted.

This is the kind of insult to my intelligence that I expect only out of Democrats.  They pander to the weak of mind and will. That is standard operating procedure for a democrat.  Guiliani would do well to remember that Republicans are not the moral / mental invalids that believe in something as sappy as Man Made Global Warming.  Democrats are !  

Thus instead of pulling rank beginner moves like this he needs to try something else.  Of course he can try anything he wants.  However he’s a New York Republican which means he’s equivalent to a Midwestern democrat more or less. ( not the Kucinich lunatic version ….. the John Glenn version )  I was skeptical because of this before but now?  Forgeta-bout-it.

How about a conservative ready to veto any and every new spending effort that is put forth?  We don’t need any new programs.  We can take care of ourselves.

Sirius Satellite and XM need to merge in order to survive.  There are alot of media outlets these days. Old fashioned radio, the internet are providing choices as never before.  All the while XM and Sirius are losing money.  Simple fact is there will be no satellite radio if they both go out of business.  Both are loosing significant amounts of money on a per share basis.  Thus it makes absolutely no sense for the FCC to block a merger between the two.  Yet the FCC makes noises about how a merger would not serve the consumer.

Let’s get real here.  It may be just as likely that the FCC and cronies in old radio would just as soon see these guys go out of business. You should hear Barry Young of KFYI here in Phoenix on the subject. Barry is usually pretty right wing …..even dare I say Libertarian when it comes to business.  However when he gets on this topic he is strangely vehement that the XM / Sirius deal should be blocked.  He just can not separate the fact that this may affect his meal ticket from the reality that TRUE competition should exist in the media.  He smells blood and obviously thinks XM and Sirius will go out of business if they are prevented from merging. Of course his language is couched in talk of it being anti competitive etc.  However the least competitive business is the one that has died.  I think its pretty obvious he would not be upset if XM and / or Sirius died.   I think KFYI is dying not because of satellite but because of too many commercials. 

It appears old media and the FCC are on the same page.

Its hard for me to see why XM and Sirius should be prevented from merging.  Its not gasoline or food.  Most other things I can live without.  I have not even ever considered getting satellite radio.  There is too much crap on the airwaves and getting another data hose with more crap spewing forth does not make sense.

What is the FCC concerned about?  Maintaining the old guards monopoly on distribution of thought and the power / money that comes with that.

The web has changed over to version 2.0.  The distributed mind is taking control.  We need to do the same with government.   

I just received an email from a trading partner. He happens to be an over the road trucker.  Here is his first hand account of the Canadian oil sand boom:

I’m at a fuel depot here in northern Mnanitoba, Canada!  My loads got changed around and I landed up going to FortMcmurray, AB with a hotshot to the oilsands.  Then turned around with a piece of equipment to a place called Thompson.  But during the trip I was able to stop at a bank that was open and I got you your money order sent on its way to you.  I did that yesterday so they said they would look after everything and mail it to you.  Should have gone out last night or today.  But its on its way to you!  They told me it should be there in about a week or so.  I hope to be home this weekend but there’s lots of work hauling up here so I might stay a bit longer to make a few extra bucks.  Huge money going up to those oilsands!  That’s were theres big dollars being spent making oil.  So expect your money sometimes next week or so.  Deposit it and it should clear within a week or so.  Ship me the 12 converters when you’re satisfied you got your money.  Just send me a tracking nubmer and who you shipped with.  I wrote my address on a piece of paper in the envelope where to ship the stuff to.  Got to go and get a bite to eat and start driving again.  Let me know when you get it.

Interesting stuff.  Sounds like there are huge capital flows moving in on this project !

Potential under the radar nuclear proliferators need to be put on notice.  Proliferate to rogue nations and you’re body is likely to wash up on shore bloated and stinking.

AQ Khan the father of the Pakistani nuclear program set up a for profit black market network to sell technologies to various bad actors including Libya and most likely Iran and Syria. I’m normally in favor of completely free trade and not interferring in the business of other peoples.  However in this case its clear the world simply can not afford another AQ Khan. 

The only way to put the breaks on the creation of functional clones of this guy is to insure he receives 3 caps to the head.  Thus AQ Khan is added to the Hit Parade category.

The best and earliest proof I had of evolution being true comes from standing in front of the mirror with my sister contorting our faces as best we could to make ourselves look like monkeys. I could flare my nostrils and pout my lips just right and always crack her up with the look of me morphing into a chimpanzee.  I even made myself laugh.  It must have been good.  When the comedian cracks up its good.

Want a banana?

I did alot of mountain biking in South Mountain park for a while.  These are photos from that era. 

This is the trailhead at the end of the Jeep trail and the beginning of the National Trail / Mormon Loop.

Me on the trail. 

 You can watch the movie here: mountain-bike-hairpin-uphill.mov

 I had to try again.  There was a time when I was accomplished enough to make the turn and hop up the rocks every try. 

This trail at the junction of the Mormon loop and National trail heads off to the Buena Vista parking lot and a long downhill ride winding down the hill on pavement to Central avenue in Phoenix.  The screen capture on the right shows the plateau and basin you can do the 45mph+ coast down into.

Once up on the plateau you can look back over to the north east and see Phoenix

There is a cave up in the Mormon loop basin that you can get out of the sun and play rock lizard on.

Mark’s final resting place in the cave.  I brought sardines and crackers along in case he wasn’t really dead.