More Old Stuff

Sun   13 May 2007   16:32 by Kevin McGehee 84° and partly cloudy in Coweta County, GA 0 comments [Asides]

I decided to post some more of the content I found on that old CD—this time pieces from a newsletter I used to publish, 1993-98. The pieces I selected for inclusion are a somewhat laundered survey of the type of stuff I wrote for the newsletter. The first post introduces the newsletter and why I started it, and the last one explains why I was bringing it to a close after just five years. The criteria for inclusion were pretty much arbitrary, but if I pretended to have a basis for selection, it would go something like this: ...I wrote it—it wasn’t (to the best of my knowledge) a guest article, ...there was actually something said that was relevant at the time it was originally written, and ...the ideas expressed, if any, weren’t so radical that I’d rather just pretend I never wrote such garbage. That said, I still think some of it was pretty good, and stands up halfway decently today.

From the Vaults
Sat   12 May 2007   22:09 by Kevin McGehee 66° and light rain in Coweta County, GA 0 comments [Asides]	Scrabbling through the contents of a CD I made six years ago, archiving computer files accumulated over the previous seven years or so, I happened upon these pieces that I’d sent around via email in June and July of 1998. I think you’ll see why the series didn’t last very long.

It’s Spring
Fri   11 May 2007   22:26 by Kevin McGehee 72° and thunder in Coweta County, GA 0 comments [Coweta County] [Nature]	The grumblestorms have sprouted—the local radar picture looks like a bubbling cauldron. Rumble, rumble, flash and grumble. Breezes blow and raindrops tumble.

Sounds Like a ‘Win-Win’ to Me

Fri   11 May 2007   11:19 by Kevin McGehee 78° and fair in Coweta County, GA 0 comments [Get Offa My Lawn!]

In last year’s election campaign, I was leaning toward sympathy for Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)—and I suppose I still am. But this news suggests that one major qualm I might have had about him stepping aside, may no longer be in effect. Sacramento radio host Tom Sullivan said Thursday that he would “seriously consider” running for Rep. John Doolittle’s House seat if the beleaguered Roseville Republican were to resign or not run for re-election because of the ongoing federal investigation into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. “I’ve had a lot of calls,“ Sullivan said in an interview. “I don’t know what to do. I will seriously consider it.“ Sullivan considered running in 2004 for the 3rd Congressional District seat after Doug Ose announced his retirement, but decided not to. That seat was won by Dan Lungren, California’s former attorney general. But at the time, many insiders thought Sullivan could have won the Republican primary had he entered the race. Doolittle repeated Thursday that he has no intention of resigning the House seat he has held since 1991, but contrary to earlier statements hedged about running for a 10th term next year. » Bee:  KFBK host eyes Doolittle seat Tom Sullivan is a very infrequent stand-in for Rush Limbaugh, but he’s the one I like best. He’s had (IIRC) his own show on KFBK since before I left Sacramento 13 years ago, and while other leading conservatives seem to have softened on economic and fiscal matters since the Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, my impression of Sullivan is that he has not. If he runs for Congress I hope he wins, and if he wins I hope the House GOP finds him a slot where he can do the most good. I could imagine Tom Sullivan turning out to be what Newt Gingrich could have been, had he not become seduced by all the media attention.

That’s Not a Weapon, It’s a Condiment
Thu   10 May 2007   14:02 by Kevin McGehee 84° and sunny in Coweta County, GA 2 comments [Humor?] [Alaska]	By email from Chris: » Read more "That’s Not a Weapon, It’s a Condiment"

There Is No ‘Plan B’

Thu   10 May 2007   13:07 by Kevin McGehee 82° and sunny in Coweta County, GA 0 comments [Alaska]

As the scandals swirl in Alaska, Republicans might want to think of a plan B in case Ted Stevens has to go. » Instapundit Never happen. Ted Stevens is the Bipartisan Patron Demi-God of All Alaskans, worshipped by Republicans and Democrats alike up there precisely because of his skill at diverting mass quantities of pork. I forget where I said it before—must not have been here, ‘cause I couldn’t find it via an archive search—but I’m convinced that Stevens will still be getting elected to the U.S. Senate 40 years after he’s dead. The only way he leaves the Senate before that, is if he determines he must sacrifice himself to cleanse his people of their sins (not his).

Change Ahead for Another Sacramento Icon

Thu   10 May 2007   10:10 by Kevin McGehee 73° and partly cloudy in Coweta County, GA 2 comments [Our Times]

They finally got Tower squared away, and now Crystal—Sacramento’s most popular dairy business—has been sold to a Massachusetts-based outfit I’ve never heard of. One of Sacramento’s signature home-grown businesses, the 106-year-old Crystal Cream & Butter Co., has sold itself to one of the nation’s biggest dairy products companies. The deal with HP Hood LLC of Chelsea, Mass., closed Tuesday for an undisclosed sum. Crystal employees, who now work for Hood, were told about the merger Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Crystal executives declined to comment on the sale. But Mary-Courtney Hansen Whamond, whose grandfather Carl Vernon Hansen was Crystal’s president from 1957 to 1972, called the sale “the end of a legacy.“ » Bee:   Crystal clear: Merger ends a capital era One of my favorite memories from childhood was a school field trip to Crystal’s downtown creamery—recently replaced by a larger facility in the boonies—for a tour topped off with free small dishes of Crystal ice cream. The article makes note of something I’d observed on one of our last visits to Sacramento: Keeping with those independent roots, Crystal was known to reach out to small grocers like Food King in Sacramento. The three-store chain’s relationship with Crystal goes back 37 years, said Valen Lee, son of the company’s owner. At the time Crystal helped launch grocery stores like his father’s with low-cost loans in exchange for selling Crystal products. “They probably assisted every grocery that has had any length of history in this community,“ Lee said. “I think most of us had a great deal of loyalty in respect to the girl who brought you to the dance.“ Lee’s refrigerated shelves at his Sutterville Road and Franklin Avenue store brim with Crystal milk, orange juice, cottage cheese, butter, sour cream, yogurt, whipping cream and buttermilk. By contrast, Crystal’s products at Safeway’s midtown store at R and 19th streets are nearly invisible amid major displays of other brands. In fact, I remember being unable to find Crystal products at the Safeway stores we visited. I was looking for some Tin Roof Sundae, a flavor I’d grown to love in the last few years I lived there. From the article, it appears HP Hood isn’t talking yet about plans for the brand. I hope they’ll continue the focus on serving local independent stores. Update: Some more info about HP Hood. Sounds encouraging.

He’s No Longer a Shill for Shell

Thu   10 May 2007   9:46 by Kevin McGehee 71° and partly cloudy in Coweta County, GA 3 comments [Our Times]

It has become almost a regular stop for San Francisco tourists. Once they’ve seen the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid, they can drive down Harrison Street to see the most amazing sight of all. Regular gas for $4 a gallon. Actually, it is higher than that. At Bob Oyster’s Shell station at Sixth and Harrison, regular is $4.33 a gallon, plus is $4.43, and “V-Power’‘ is $4.53. Motorists can be seen rolling their eyes as they drive by. Just another example of a greedy station owner, sticking his customers for all they are worth? Not really. » C.W. Nevius:   Dealer prices gas over $4 in protest In my observation, Shell stations have almost a tradition of prices far higher than other nearby stations. For the last couple of years that’s seemed to no longer be the case, at least around here—but lately it’s happening again, and from the looks of things not just in Georgia. And I could be misremembering, but that station in Atlanta that was selling gas for nearly $5 a gallon immediately after Katrina struck—was that a Shell station? The one in Newnan at the Wal-Mart corner seems to have been closed down and reopened three or four times in the last seven years or so. The last time, we were hoping Wal-Mart would take it over and open one of its Murphy stations there instead. No such luck. Anyway—getting back to Bob Oyster’s grievance against Shell: Putting the price way up over $4 a gallon isn’t about making a profit. It’s about making a statement to a multinational corporation. After Shell forced him to pay higher prices for gas in San Francisco and jacked up his rent, Oyster says, he decided to fight back. “I got fed up,‘’ Oyster admits. “It makes a statement, and I guess when people see that price they also see the Shell sign right next to it.‘’ In fact, far from making a huge profit, Oyster is going out of business. He has operated the Shell station at Sixth and Harrison for 22 years, but he’s walking away from it at the end of the month, handing over the keys to Shell officials and expecting them to shut it down. “I’m getting nothing for the station,‘’ he says. “I just give them the keys and walk away. They told me they were probably just going to fence it and bulldoze it anyway.‘’ For franchise dealers like Oyster, it is the ultimate irony. At a time when the oil companies are posting record profits, the little guys are struggling to stay in business. And many, like Oyster, are giving up the fight. Meanwhile, Texaco—a brand not seen in this area in a number of years (if ever) is about to open a station in Coweta County. While the price per gallon gets all the attention, Oyster says the little secret of independent dealers is that, like movie theater operators, they make their profit on the extras—snacks, drinks and other items. But with the automated pumps and a small lot, he’s limited to three gas pumps and a tiny cashier kiosk. “All I’ve got is gas and cigarettes,‘’ he says. “And you can’t sell that many cigarettes.‘’ So Oyster took matters to their logical conclusion. If it took $4 gas to get people’s attention, he’d give them $4 gas. “I’m going out with a bang,‘’ says Oyster. “And I don’t care if I don’t pump a gallon on the last day.‘’ I’ve pointed this out before. If you like a station’s low gas prices, it behooves you to do business inside the store to help make the place more profitable. The more profit they can make on the extras, the better they can afford to keep the margin razor-thin on the gasoline. It also behooves you to do businesses with independent stations that aren’t contractually obligated to use a single corporate supplier. Especially, it seems, if the single corporate supplier is Shell. Making a habit of rewarding low pump prices will make a hell of a lot more difference than participating in some stupid one-day “gas-out.“

They’re Not Acting Like They Expect One of Their Own to Be President Anytime Soon

Wed   9 May 2007   7:48 by Kevin McGehee in Coweta County, GA 0 comments [War] [Get Offa My Lawn!] [Here's Your Sign]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is threatening to take President Bush to court if he issues a signing statement as a way of sidestepping a carefully crafted compromise Iraq war spending bill. Pelosi recently told a group of liberal bloggers, “We can take the president to court” if he issues a signing statement, according to Kid Oakland, a blogger who covered Pelosi’s remarks for the liberal website dailykos.com. “The president has made excessive use of signing statements and Congress is considering ways to respond to this executive-branch overreaching,“ a spokesman for Pelosi, Nadeam Elshami, said. “Whether through the oversight or appropriations process or by enacting new legislation, the Democratic Congress will challenge the president’s non-enforcement of the laws.“ » The Hill:   Pelosi threat to sue Bush over Iraq bill There are, of course, ways Congress can respond to the use of signing statements. For example, they could write legislation such that it is not open to interpretation. If they’re going to use grandiose, sweeping language—and leave it to bureaucrats and judges to figure out what they mean—they don’t really have much room to complain when the guy at the top of the bureaucratic food chain (i.e., the President of the United States) chimes in with his own interpretation.

Obama Is Toast, 3

Wed   9 May 2007   7:39 by Kevin McGehee 55° and sunny in Coweta County, GA 1 comment [Get Offa My Lawn!]

Just the other day Chris and I were talking about Barack Obama, and how I thought his support was “skin-deep.“ I was talking about his youth and his being a new face, but there’s some of that other aspect of it too, and Chris wanted to know what made me think the people who support him now wouldn’t support him, say, a year from now. I replied, “He has to talk.“ Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had died. The death toll was 12. “In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died—an entire town destroyed,“ the Democratic presidential candidate said in a speech to 500 people packed into a sweltering Richmond art studio for a fundraiser. » AP:   Obama Overstates Kansas Tornado Deaths Those Democrats who don’t want Hillary Mrs. Bill Clinton to be their party’s nominee, had better start looking at someone who’s got a little experience under his belt.

Page 78 of 791 pages « First  <  76 77 78 79 80 >  Last »