Friday Thoughts

Ok, I took a day off and this is really Saturday morning and not Friday, but I still read the newspapers on Thursday and Friday. So I do I have more news to write about? Not really, just some interesting stuff I read and heard.

First, McCain whining about Obama's trip in Europe, saying Obama is acting too presidential and he shouldn't have met with the European country leaders and make the speech in Berlin. If he did this, as he has already done, except the speech, and he didn't see it as acting too presidential, only his opponent in the campaign, where's the complaint? Maybe Obama made the speech and met with the leaders because they also wanted to hear and meet him?

Lighten up McCain it's politics and I for one am getting tired of your campaign rhetoric of soundbites. Do you really believe the bullshit coming out of your mouth? Or do you really know it's campaign rhetoric, but you still spout it because it buys votes?

Ok, tough on McCain. I like John McCain, or rather I did. I wanted him to get the nomination in 2000 over Bush. He was clearly the better Presidential candidate and would have been better President. And if it wasn't for Karl Rove, McCain would have been the Republican candidate, and history would have been different.

So, in the last 8 years McCain has grown sour and bitter, and now he's pandering to the conservative and religious right because they don't like him. So he has to adjust his political position and risk the moderates and center-right, which leaves them the idea to consider Obama because Obama is abandoning the far left to capture the votes of the moderates and center, left and right.

The're fighting for the middle but McCain moved right where Obama moved center. So now McCain has to criticize Obama to create pause of the center where they'll still see him as their candidate. McCain is following the path of the Bush campaign, using hate, fear and lies to win.

McCain is better than that, or he was then but now I'm not so sure.

The Sirius-XM merger. Gee, I guess the SEC has a different definition of monoply. The Justice Department used Microsoft as the minimum, worse is and equal or less isn't. But the SEC raised the bar that being the only company in the market with 100% of the customers isn't a monoply. So what is in their view?

What a government. Complete control of the market isn't a monoply now.

This one isn't far away from the issue either.

A woman who was in her car on the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis when it collapsed wanted to see the inspection records of the bridge to see if "her" government was doing its job. The Minnesota department in charge of bridge inspections refused citing security. And the Department of Homeland Security agreed, citing state decisions rule.

So, our government can be inept and secure that information from the public so terrorists won't get information which could be used to hurt Americans. Like the government agency aren't terrorists in the failure to protect American and in the case of the I-35 bridge, actually injury Americans without a bomb but just not doing their job?

It's only further proof our government considers all Americans terrorists and don't trust us with the truth?

Overreaching? Consider the government gave out the information in the inspections reports to the press when pressed for answers to the bridge's failure. And the team of expert investigating the failure had access to the record along with putting some of it in their reports. But the public can't read the inspection record?

The bridge isn't there anymore so why hide the record? Or are they really hiding their ineptness the news reported?

And there is more? Yup, one of our favorite, FEMA.

FEMA asked a federal judge to give FEMA immunity from lawsuits over the trailors discovered to have elevated level of fromaldehyde. The lawyers for the former residents injured from the chemicals in the trailors are preparing to sue FEMA, so FEMA is seeking immunity.

Did they know the trailors were contaminated? Likely, if you search their records, they knew, or some had the information and never reported it. Likely some knew the company providing them had questionable production methods leaving chemicals in the trailors. The company was simply unloading trailors they couldn't sell, except to the government for hurrican Katrina survivors.

That's our government, if they fail to protect Americans, hide the information and records, call it national security and get immunity from their own stupidity and failures.

So what does the government now do with all those trailors they can't sell except for basement prices someone will pawn off to unsuspecting buyers down the road. Buy high sell low, that's our government's philosophy, and let corporation profit with taxpayers money.

Remember our government runs on our money. And if they can't do that, they propose new rules.

The EPA is proposing to loosening the rules on to water down the regulation of hazardous chemical and substances and the Labor Department is proposing to loosening the employee safety and protection rules for industries and businesses. Gee, they've had 7 1/2 years to propose these rules, get full public and Congressional review, but no they're hussling to get them in place before they leave.

They say it's taken years to reseach, draft and review the new rules and the timing while looking suspicious isn't true.

Ding! Wrong. While the research and preparation of these rules does take years, they've had these rules for a long time, years, and they're only now proposing them to compact the time of the public review so they can't get them through. It's standard practice of departing Presidents and their administration, but this time they're the toxic elements not the public they see as their enemy.

If they really believed these rules were good for America, they could have easily proposed them years ago and they didn't.

Other news?

When Iran tried to buy parts for the F-16's, given to Iran when the Shah was in power, the US government quashed the deals on the international market citing new parts are no longer available, althought the vendor had them in their supply. Now the US governement is buying those very same parts and finding parts in their inventory to supply Pakistan who has also bought a lot of F-16's from the US.

The government is offering $300 Million in parts to Pakistan. Hmmm..., when the US Air Force no longer uses the F-16, except in Air National Guard units, makes it interesting those loyalties they're trying to buy, the ANG or Pakistan.

Ok, enough of the news. The weekend is here and there's too much to do, so have a good weekend and enjoy it, fall is now on the horizon.