Team Levi

Well, here it goes. I was wrong. The Palins are not helping the Johnstons. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. We have a real barn burner going here. Sarah Vs. Levi. That's whats hot in the streets right now. Levi got himself all churched up and is hitting the circuit. Bringing the fucking pain. He will be throwing some heat towards the Palins and eliminating her chance of running for president. I am surprised there have not been any publicized death threats coming from her legion of slack jawed, as swipe followers.

All kidding aside, this dude is what that shit heel clan fears most. He is the light of day peeping under their rock. He has inside information. Furthermore, he is too dumb to be afraid. He posed nude for Playgirl magazine. His wiener will be public domain. Doubtful he will inspire as much perverted fantasies as a shirtless Taylor Lautner, but he might pick up a stalker or two. (From middle aged gay rodeo enthusiasts as much as teenage girls breaking into their mom's secret porn caches.)

Anyhow, this cat is Sarah's worst nightmare. The camera loves him, most people know he is dumb, but he does not say enough to totally confirm it (short answers would have saved Sarah a lot of grief) so he gets a pass on a lot, plus his intentions are all noble, according to the mainstream media. He just wants to see his kid.

One thing that concerns me is the fact that we have not heard anything of real note from Todd Palin. I mean, this kid knocked up the guy's daughter and gave his wife the media equivalent of a Cleveland Steamer. A real Alaska Man would go into his bedroom closet, get his AR-15 and baseball bat, or maybe his slug gun, drink a pint of Wild Turkey, and go kill the offender. This lack of significant response is kind of suspect, and it leads me to believe that Levi might die in a "Hunting Accident" or be crippled "Snowboarding".

I am sounding the trumpet. For everyone who has a real stake in this, take up the cause! Michael Moore, lend Levi your house guard. Barbara Streisand, get on the phone with the Mossad. Oprah, get your force field machine out of your Favorite Things hangar. Protect Levi.

Washington State: Government Inaction

Here we go again. Another Washington institution shipped out to a flyover state. Boeing was more than happy to send its second production line for the 787 Dreamliner to South Carolina rather than Everett, Washington, which has a long history of building planes. Allegedly, Sen. Patty Murray (D) tried to keep the line in Washington, but her bid was largely ignored. The State of South Carolina put together an attractive incentive package, which included bonds for construction as well as 3rd World style labor pools.

On one hand, I believe that Boeing had its heart set on saying goodbye to the Union Machinists, but I find it hard to believe that the government of Washington tried to hard to keep that plant in the Evergreen State. After the half-assedness of the Save Our Sonics effort, I do think that state and local politicians punted the hell out of this one.

The people who would argue that the savings get passed down to the consumer are completely full of shit. I challenge someone to find airline ticket savings as a result of Boeing's new commitment to Scab Labor. So, it really boils down to corporate greed and a pliable workforce. I have a feeling that the fine people of South Carolina will be so happy to have jobs that the thought of a Machinist Strike will never enter their brains.

The state of South Carolina is also in for a rude surprise. Boeing will use them for all they are worth, and when the labor pool organizes or demands better pay and benefits, Boeing will pack up and ship the plant somewhere else, and South Carolina will be like a trophy wife on the shit end of a pre-nup.

In summary, I think South Carolina made the right moves for South Carolina, bringing in some jobs for their people, and a lot of the country is just thankful that the plant is not in China. For now.

Remember everyone, real jets are made in Washington.

Big Sack of Awesome.

This guy did something awful in a former life. Then he totally redeemed himself, but the gods dicked up the paperwork a little bit. Not enough to fuck him, but enough to give him the short end of the stick in the looking normal department.

Now, I have a pretty strong hypothesis about this cat. From the looks of inspecting his work and seeing his website, he is fairly computer literate. Second; I think he also has a fair amount of disposable income (owning multiple utilikilts is not cheap!). Finally, I get the impression that he came to party. Every photo he is in looks like he is having an awesome time.

The summary of all of this, is that he is the Ayatollah of Nerds. He goes to every convention, role-playing, star wars, comic book, or S&M. (We all know nerds have totally pwned the bondage scene.) He takes pictures of nude and scantily clad women for a living. I am fairly convinced that if you needed to borrow a cup of awesome you could swing by his house. He probably has a 50lb. sack in his pantry. I get the impression that his phone probably has faster internet than 91.8% of the households in America. He just seems dialed in to all of the fun. I imagine that if you went out to dinner with him, he would take you to some hole in the wall that no one knows about, and it turns out to be the best sushi restaurant in the city. He would also act like it was no big deal that you just ate the best unagi hand roll ever made.

I also have another hypothesis. He was not born this awesome. The simple fact is, he has probably been short and portly since he was around 11 years old. He probably got hassled a fair amount, but one day vowed to be so rad that porn stars and Lemmy Kilmister wanted to be his friend on Facebook. Anyhow, check out his blog, you will be impressed by his body of work.

http://photognome.livejournal.com/

Usually I do not do this...

Usually, I do not do this, but I want to give a big shout-out to the Thorp Mall, in Thorp, Washington. Right off of Interstate 90, before you get back into the Cascades to wander back into Pugetropolis, is the scenic town of Thorp. If you are not paying attention, you will miss it, and it will be your loss. The large, barn-like structure houses a fruit stand on HGH. They have seasonal fruit and vegetables from local growers, as well as a selection of wines from local vineyards. I was thoroughly impressed. If you are driving over the mountains, do yourself a favor and stop there.

I think this is also a good indicator of the way Eastern Washington is going. They are getting their shit together. The viticulture is flourishing, and that brings a lot of folks in to experience what the place has to offer. What gives it another star is the wine country is located in a very productive agricultural area. This gives the place access to the freshest meat and produce, thereby producing truly awesome local pairings. Enjoy!

No shit Sweden.

Wow. I just turned over a leaf and saw the nexus. Although I am usually a big proponent of many things Scandinavian, I recently discovered thelocal.se . This particular rag is Sweden's online English newspaper. Talk about some really, really hard hitting journalism. When I perused it, I was whacked in the head by the obvious bat. What bothers me is not stupid "journalism" , but the fact that it came from Sweden. I am just disappointed. I expected better from Sweden. Usually they are serious and progressive, world leaders in human rights and responsible industry, but this newspaper had the the great story of "Popular kids become healthier adults". Really Sweden? Are you fucking kidding me? No shit. I think if we all connected the dots, we would come to that conclusion. Generally popularity does not involve sickliness, and kids who get shit on generally have a hard time with life, which leads to some issues.

Another Pulitzer candidate is "Young men at greater risk for alcohol dependence". Wow. Thanks. I could not figure that shit out. Goddamn, if you are in a culture where swilling beer is as cool as it is everywhere but goddamn Utah, of course that is going to happen. Dudes practice that. If this is coming as a surprise to you, you ought to crawl out from under your rock and let the light of day shine into your sad little world.

I just don't know. I thought the US had the franchise on silly, obvious shit, but I was wrong.

Sweden, straighten your shit up.

fessin' up.

I admit it. I confess. I think I am starting to find a pigeonhole. At one point, I thought I was special. I thought I was unique. Now I realize I am dead wrong. I play board games. I have a twitter account. I drink craft beer in 22 oz. bottles and scorn those who drink regular, cheap, lagers and pilsners. I am part of the Northwest Counter Culture Trash. I own multiple guns, but I voted for Obama. I work on my own vehicles because it is cool. I have a subscription to Wired magazine although I am not terribly on the ball when it comes to computers. I am in my own little world, surrounded by people who think and act very similarly to me. None of us will set foot in a Wal Mart, but we have no problem playing on a Wii built by 12 year old Chinese kids. We bitch about all the hormones in beef, but we eat sushi loaded with mercury. We like little projects and hacks for iPods. None of us will drink Folger's Coffee. I dunno, it is cultural elitism at its worst. We like to judge how other people raise their kids, but we do not have kids of our own. We are the young, angry, liberal douchebags who will inherit the country, and inflict our will on the McCain voters. We are Barack Obama's base. The kinda haves and the wish they hads.

Fuck it. Now that is off my chest, I am going to drink another craft beer and check out best of Craigslist.

you got to be fucking kidding me.

I like how the right uses the British house of commons as an excuse for poor behavior. Yelling at the president of the United States, on the floor of the house is a punishable offense. If these low lifers wanted to emulate the house of commons, how about passing a viable health care bill and ensuring the general welfare of the populace? How about public service as opposed to representing the most whacked out portions of the constituency?

Now, the Right Honorable Member of Congress Wilson's excuse was that his outburst was spontaneous. That is absolute bullshit. The audience received copies of the speech prior to the actual speech. He had a chance to go through and pick a point to disrupt the president of the United States. If a democrat had done that during Bush's regime, he would have swung from the gallows tree. Now, the networks allow it to distract from the entire debate and cheapen the whole argument. Regardless of what side you are on, you deserve a fair crack at the actual information. You deserve an honest helping of what is actually taking place, rather than a goddamn sideshow from a clown like the Right Honourable Representative from South Carolina; Joe Wilson.