http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73 recent pleonast.com entries by user muzikman73 en-us http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=601942 Today's Focus: Who Killed Detroit? Friday, November 21, 2008 By Patrick J. Buchanan Who killed the U.S. auto industry? To hear the media tell it, arrogant corporate chiefs failed to foresee the demand for small, fuel-efficient cars and made gas-guzzling road-hog SUVs no one wanted, while the clever, far-sighted Japanese, Germans and Koreans prepared and built for the future. I dissent. What killed Detroit was Washington, the government of the United States, politicians, journalists and muckrakers who have long harbored a deep animus against the manufacturing class that ran the smokestack industries that won World War II. As far back as the 1950s, an intellectual elite that produces mostly methane had its knives out for the auto industry of which Ike’s treasury secretary, ex-GM chief Charles Wilson, had boasted, “What’s good for America is good for General Motors, and vice versa.” “Engine Charlie” was relentlessly mocked, even in Al Capp’s L’il Abner cart... 2008-11-21 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=600549 Today's Focus: Why Computers Sometimes Crash--According to Dr. Seuss If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort, and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to report. If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash! If the label on the cable on the table at your house, says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall...... And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss, so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse; then you may as well reboot and handle failure with a bang, 'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the old sucker's gonna hang. When the copy on ... 2008-11-18 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=599016 Today's Focus: Hmmmmmm..... Recently, there was a great deal of discussion about Exxon's third quarter profits. It was (again) the largest quarterly profit by an American company in history. Much to-do was made about the $14.83 billion that Exxon made in profit, when part of that time saw the highest gas prices ever throughout much of the country. "Oh, those terrible oil companies!" "Those guys are making a killing while its killing me to fill up my Suburban!" The government needs to do something about this! IT'S NOT FAIR!" The oil companies, especially Irving-based Exxon/Mobil, were thoroughly trashed in the media and online. Today, I noticed an article about Walmart. Walmart posted a third quarter profit of $3.14 billion, an increase of around 10 percent. Sales at Walmarts around the country were up 7.4%. But unlike the Exxon profit number, there was no hand-wringing from the "drive-by" media. There was no call for Congressional hearings or for in... 2008-11-13 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=597867 Today's Focus: THE FOUNDATION "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country." --George Washington USMC 233rd ANNIVERSARY On 10 November 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to create two battalions of Continental Marines for the War of Independence from Britain. In 1798, President John Adams signed the Act establishing the United States Marine Corps. It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus [or community] organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag. -- Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC Semper Fi! (In honor of our fellow Marines today, and in advance of honoring Veterans fr... 2008-11-10 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=596890 Today's Focus: Friday Funny (we ALL need it!) 1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent. 2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything." 3. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted. 4. A dyslexic man walked into a bra. 5. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm, and says: "A beer please, and one for the road." 6. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?" 7. "Doc, I can't stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home." "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" "Well, It's Not Unusual." 8. Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," says Dolly. "It's true; no bull!" excla... 2008-11-07 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=595940 Today's Focus: The day after election day quote "Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." —James Madison, Federalist No. 10 TGBTG, Troy 2008-11-05 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=594026 Today's Focus: SELFISHNESS?!?!? Obama's New Attack on Those Who Don't Want Higher Taxes: ‘Selfishness’ October 31, 2008 On the stump this week, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has pushed back against Sen. John McCain's description of his tax policies. "The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not because I have anything against the rich," Obama said in Sarasota, Fla., yesterday. "I love rich people! I want all of you to be rich. Go for it. That’s the American dream, that’s the American way, that’s terrific. "The point is, though, that -- and it’s not just charity, it’s not just that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying to get in the middle class -- it’s that when we actually make sure that everybody’s got a shot – when young people can all go to college, when everybody’s got decent health care, when everybody’s got a little more money at the end of the month – then guess what? Everybody star... 2008-11-01 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=592913 Today's Focus: It's Gettin' Close Well, it's starting to get a bit more real. This morning, they put the plastic tote in my office that all of my desk contents go into for the move on Saturday. There are little post-it-note type labels on lots of things around the store, so that the moving company knows where things go in the new facility. Fortunately, our IT department will move our computers and set up our phone system (whew!). On Friday night, our Service Department will close at 5:00 p.m. and will begin packing up their tools and a LOT of equipment. The moving company will physically move the tool boxes and heavy equipment. The hydraulic lifts and much of the fixtures will not be going to the new location, since they are moving into the service and parts facility recently vacated by our Rolls-Royce/Bentley/Mazerati folks. They also have drive loaner cars to the new facility and have some vehicles towed that can't be driven. The service department and parts department will spend... 2008-10-29 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=591153 Today's Focus: Catching Wild Pigs A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government. In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punchline. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fenc... 2008-10-24 http://www.pleonast.com/user/muzikman73?l=5&entryID=589644 Today's Focus: New Store I went down to our new store today to see the progress they've made. WOW! When I was there a week or week and a half ago, there was no glass or grid system for the glass on the front of the store, no landscaping, no parking lot light poles, and probably a lot more! When I went there today, the glass was all installed, 95% of the landscaping is done, and there are light poles installed! They were also installing the round pipe barriers so that gates can be installed at the entrances. There is a lot of finish work to do on the inside, but it is really shaping up nicely. The showroom is 90% tiled and most of the carpet is down on both levels. There are cabinets and shelves installed in the breakroom and the conference room. The client waiting area is coming together, as are the offices and the sales office. I took about 20 pictures of the outside and inside. There was a lot of cardboard taped to the floor overt he carpet, to make sure that it doesn't get ruined... 2008-10-20