The Shape of Things to Come, if Obama Is Elected

Mon   30 Jun 2008   11:09 by Kevin McGehee 78° and partly cloudy in Coweta County, GA 2 comments [Get Offa My Lawn!] [Here's Your Sign]

Back in the ‘70s, when “Doonesbury” was still occasionally funny, Garry Trudeau had fun with Jimmy Carter by imagining him with a Cabinet-level “Secretary of Symbolism.“ In keeping with the notion that Barack Obama would be a second Carter term… Unity, N.H., is not just small, it’s small and out-of-the-way. The town has no major roads, just winding country ones. It has a single school, the elementary school, no large retail center and no parking. It is an hour and a half from the nearest sizeable airport, and hotels for traveling press are nowhere to be found. Who in the world would hold a political rally for several thousand people here? Barack Obama would. Unity might be one of the worst towns in America in which to hold a major political rally, but symbolically it was ideal for the Obama campaign. Where better to have Hillary Clinton join Obama on stage in a display of party loyalty, showing her supporters that there are no hard feelings for her loss to Obama and urging them to work hard to make him President, than in a town named Unity, where in the New Hampshire primary in January the vote for Obama and Clinton was evenly split—107 apiece? For the attendees, the choice of location would be a nightmare. For the Obama campaign, a campaign based entirely on symbolism, it was perfect. » Used in Unity If America is going to elect its first black president, don’t you think he should be good for something besides symbolism? How is he not making a token of himself here?

Not Necessarily Not the News

Sat   21 Jun 2008   15:49 by Kevin McGehee 0 comments [Here's Your Sign] [Nature]

Matt Drudge, here’s your sign. Drudge has deemed it headline-worthy to point out that Phoenix could see a high temperature of more than 115°F. Granted, such temps are undoubtedly more common in Tucson or Yuma, but Phoenix isn’t exactly in Arizona’s snow-belt. Hell, I may have seen a temperature of more than 115° in Sacramento while I was growing up. Probably not an official temperature, mind you, but that was before they started putting official weather stations on hot blacktop or next to heat-spewing air-conditioner units.

...apropos of nothing
Sun   15 Jun 2008   10:55 by Kevin McGehee 0 comments [Asides] [Here's Your Sign]	In 1976, the American people invited Jimmy Carter to become president and mind the public’s business. He wasn’t very good at it, so in 1980 the American people invited him to go home and mind his own damn business. He’s not very good at that either.

Cruise Control Means Not Hitting Your Target

Sat   14 Jun 2008   11:58 by Kevin McGehee 4 comments [Here's Your Sign]

...however much he may deserve it. The recent cross-country drive was my first real long-distance opportunity to enjoy the use of cruise control. I already knew it wasn’t helpful on congested highways, which means just about any paved surface within 200 miles of here, but on the relatively uncongested rural interstates of the western U.S. I rather quickly developed one simple technique that enabled me to avoid most possible negative interactions with other drivers: I settled on keeping the cruise set to one or two MPH above the posted limit. Generally speaking, unless there’s a crackdown ordered from on-high most troopers won’t bother someone who’s within a few ticks of what the signs say, as long as they’re driving safely otherwise. Since my top priority was to minimize maneuvers, I needed a setting that would enable me to pass the excruciatingly law-abiding, who tend to bunch up in packs—while also allowing the more daring to glide smoothly on by whenever they overtook me. The 67- or 72-mph bracket is very little occupied and was almost perfect for me. It left only three categories of drivers for me to be concerned about: The occasional driver just like me who had sought and found the same in-between “sweet spot,“ and who thus threatened to bunch up with me if I didn’t manage to shake him loose and put more distance between us. The seemingly increasingly rare long-haul driver who either doesn’t have, or prefers not to use, cruise control—and who is too inattentive to maintain consistent, predictable driving behavior. These tended to exhibit wide variations of speed, requiring me first to pass them, then to let them pass, and quite often to find some way to shake them loose and get away from them. On more than one occasion I had to do this repeatedly to the same driver, using different tactics until one finally worked. In Kentucky I even had to exit the highway and take a lunch break to get rid of one especially egregious idiot. Slightly-faster, cruise-using drivers who hadn’t learned good passing etiquette. The number of offenses in this category could merit a post of its own, but the worst is committed by those who crawl past the vehicle on their right, especially when several other cars are lined out behind them, also wanting to pass. Next worst is, after crawling past the slower vehicle, FAILING TO GET BACK OVER TO THE RIGHT. I avoided cruising in the left lane. When passing another vehicle that was moving at a speed too close to my cruise setting, I used my gas pedal to speed up at least a little even when there was no one else on the road. I always made sure I left plenty of space between me and the other vehicle before I moved back over, and I gently eased up afterward to let the cruise re-engage. And then I kept an eye on the vehicle I’d just passed to make sure the space between us was getting wider rather than narrower. In Kentucky (what is it about Kentucky?) I watched a guy (not the one mentioned above) in a pickup actually run another car off the road after he discovered that tailgating me wasn’t going to make me go any faster than the cars ahead of me were going. The car he tangled with was able to avoid leaving the paved shoulder and recovered almost immediately—but I was sure the guy in the pickup was going to end up killing somebody eventually. If he did, I wasn’t around for it. He somehow managed to get through the congestion and disappear into the distance. At the freeway accident scene we passed in Nashville I looked for his truck but didn’t see it. Since moving here and dealing with Atlanta-area freeways I’ve watched my opinion of big-rig drivers go from generally positive to generally negative, but the overwhelming majority of those encountered on this trip were no trouble at all. We did see a trucker defy the requirement to exit the highway for a brake inspection on I-24 before descending the steep grade at Monteagle, Tennessee, but that was the worst of it. I think if the freeways around here are just too congested for my nerves, they’re probably affecting the pros too.

You Know What?
Sat   14 Jun 2008   11:23 by Kevin McGehee 8 comments [Get Offa My Lawn!] [SARAH!] [Here's Your Sign]	For a more accurate characterization of my views on Sarah Palin, start here. » Read more "You Know What?"

The Short Bus

Thu   8 May 2008   13:48 by Kevin McGehee 0 comments [Coweta County] [Here's Your Sign]

So I’m driving along on a state highway here in Coweta County—one on which the posted limit is 55—and I come up on a parade. About a half a dozen vehicles are stuck plodding along at 35 behind a short bus with the logo of a day-care chain that we have in the area. Apparently this has been going on for a while because eventually the two vehicles immediately behind the bus pull out and pass on a double-yellow. The bus driver is riding his brakes and acts like he’s lost, or on something. A third vehicle—a pickup with a trailer—tries to follow the other two that escaped, but oncoming traffic robs him of his opportunity. One location of this day-care chain is not very far from my home; I start to worry that if I don’t get out of this parade I’ll be behind this short-bus driver for most of the afternoon. There’s a traffic light coming up, and I consider my options: I could make a left at the light and end up taking a long way home, the only advantage being that I don’t have to look at the bus’ slow-moving backside anymore. I could stay put and hope the short bus isn’t going my way. Or, I could duck down a short detour to the right, come back around to the light from a different direction and hope that between being able to go faster and the timing of that light I’m able to get there before the bus has gotten through the intersection. I take Plan C. It works. It shouldn’t have worked; there were too many variables against it. I should have ended up taking that other, longer way home. But the bus was waiting at the light as I got there, and the intersection was clear so I could make a right turn and wind up ahead of the parade. For all I know that bus is still leading those other drivers, only just now getting to the next major intersection on that stretch of highway. I think that day-care chain needs to hire people whose short-bus experience is driving, not riding. Afterthought: Maybe the driver thought he was a portable school zone…

How Did He Ever Get Elected to ANYTHING!?

Fri   2 May 2008   8:25 by Kevin McGehee 57° and partly cloudy in Coweta County, GA 0 comments [Here's Your Sign]

Bill Richardson is clearly suffering from Jimmy Carter disease. The New Mexico governor thought he could talk Chavez into pressuring Colombia’s FARC into releasing its hostages, including three U.S. contractors they’ve held since 2003. Given his catastrophic negotiations with the Taliban, however, you’d think he’d know better. The problem with this fracas in Caracas is that our allies in Colombia’s government are already negotiating for the release of the hostages, and didn’t really want Richardson involving Chavez in the process. But such concerns never deter the Armchair Diplomat brigade. These go-getters just know they’re better qualified than American diplomats—or Colombian diplomats—to negotiate with America’s adversaries. The question of negotiation is an interesting one. [Investor’s Business Daily] rightly wonders what Richardson laid on the table to enlist Chavez’s help: “Such disrespect for Colombia raises questions about the governor’s judgment and, worse still, what he might have offered Chavez and FARC in behalf of a future U.S. Administration.“ That future administration would be Barack Obama’s, of course. » Dunderhead Diplomat Gah. I have to believe that the more the American people learn about Barack Obama (and those he’d bring with him into office), the less likely they’ll be to elect him president against—yes, even John McCain. The Democrats appear poised once again to nominate, not a potential President of the United States, but November cannon fodder. Some things never change.

Kidz 2day!!!

Fri   25 Apr 2008   9:39 by Kevin McGehee 67° and sunny in Coweta County, GA 0 comments [Our Times] [Here's Your Sign]

The cell phone ad featuring the family with a daughter and a grandma who actually talk like text messages, may not seem so funny in a few more years. OMG! The shortcuts and symbols that teenagers use in electronic conversations are creeping into their schoolwork! That’s one of the conclusions of a study released Thursday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the National Commission on Writing, and it’s no surprise to Sacramento teens. “My drama teacher gets papers that use “b/c” for “because,“ said Katie Talbot, a senior at McClatchy High School in Sacramento. “Sometimes I get text messages and I have no idea what they mean. Why can’t people just use a few more letters and have it make sense? I think writing is very important. I guess my generation is just super-lazy.“ Talbot herself is anything but lazy. She texts and e-mails “pretty much all day,“ she said, but takes pains to use proper language. “I always use full, grammatically correct English,“ she said. » Teens’ texting symbols invade schoolwork As do I. Then again, when I send text messages I don’t try to cram a 400-word thesis into 136 characters (spaces included). If I exceed my character allotment, I edit for brevity and clarity, drawing on a wide-ranging vocabulary and a respect for my recipient and for the English language. Still, even if there were a practical reason for “txt-spk” in SMS text messages—which, given the lack of actual content, there isn’t—kids need to learn where it is and is not appropriate to use slang. I simply will not take anyone seriously who uses “txt-spk” unironically while typing on a full-size keyboard.

Here’s Something I Don’t Understand

Wed   9 Apr 2008   13:31 by Kevin McGehee 71° and sunny in Coweta County, GA 4 comments [Get Offa My Lawn!] [Here's Your Sign]

Having been on the internet for something close to 13 years now (if you count Compuserve, and not everyone does), I’ve encountered trolls of any type you can imagine. Obviously I don’t really understand why people troll—why do they go roaming on the internet looking for total strangers to try to piss off? But that’s an old question and I don’t really care enough to chase it in circles anymore; obviously some people are so devoid of substance that the only way they can pretend to have any control in life is by playing the online version of egging houses in neighborhoods where no one would recognize them even if they got caught. What I find truly amusing, though, is the way some of the trolls I’ve encountered have chosen to try to insult me. Like for example, calling me “ugly.“ Uh, hey: I’m 46 years old. If you get to be my age and still feel hurt when someone calls you “ugly,“ I pity you. Then there was last night’s attempted trollage on the previous post—blocked by my having enacted comment moderation against gibberish comment spammers—that sought to wound me by calling me “fat.“ If you’re looking to cause hurt feelings with ammo like that, you’re working the wrong end of the spectrum. You should be going after somebody more like this. Or, you know, grow up, get a life, yadda yadda yadda. Unless you actually like entertaining fat, ugly old farts like me.

Philadelphia Democrats (Secretly) for McCain

Mon   24 Mar 2008   7:34 by Kevin McGehee 30° and fair in Coweta County, GA 5 comments [Get Offa My Lawn!] [Here's Your Sign]

How else to explain this? Philadelphia’s Democratic leaders say they’ll press Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama to back stricter gun laws, despite the risk of angering voters throughout the rest of Pennsylvania and possibly damaging the party’s nominee in the general election. » Philadelphia wants candidates to give stance on gun laws It would be funny if the beneficiary of all this Democrat stupidity weren’t John McCain.

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