yay for unions!

Been hearing about the stuff in Wisconsin with unions. Their buddy representatives running away and hiding so they don't have to vote on sensitive issues affecting them. That's great government.

Then I heard this video on the evil Glenn Beck's show. Glenn is such a liar, and this kid has clearly been well educated in college and molded correctly. I mean come on, listen to what each person is saying and you'll come to that conclusion.


i don't know where to begin talking about what a joke this guy is. i feel sad that he's forced to live under such a terrible regime like the Noodle company. Whiny, entitled, clueless- scary how common that is now.

Here's an article from today's paper. On a day when the island is nailed with a big storm and a bunch of people are without power, the electrical company union workers go through with their strike and leave them hanging. On the radio they talked about what bad PR this is for the unions, but that really doesn't matter in a state so completely brainwashed into voting democrat. Elections show about 70- 80% the vote is democrat and democrat politicians here are voted in over and over from the time they're around 20 until they're 100.

The whole idea that the company or government you work for is the enemy and trying to destroy you so you need a union to protect you is very odd and unhealthy to me. Just a strange way to start a career or job. Why don't they just work elsewhere? But all businesses are evil! How sad, paranoid and cynical.

My own experience? I went to the capital a year or so ago to listen to arguments for and against the rail here. The American Institute of Architects Honolulu opposed what was being discussed and had a panel there to present their case. I thought it'd be interesting as I had learned about rail and community development etc in school and also had opinions. There were many people there with signs opposing and many people for what was being presented. (not whether the rail should exist or not, but what type of rail construction basically).

The unions were there in full force to oppose the AIA's position and suggestions. They had been given signs and had been told what to say. They were full of rage and couldn't be talked to. They had a chance to ask questions of the architects and planners research and presentation but wouldn't listen to their answers. It was as if they all had ear plugs. They had been so fully brainwashed that they couldn't see any other point of view.

They complained about a rail design requiring more out of state union labor and specialized labor: the AIA recommendations would use more local and less specialized labor, but the unions didn't care.

They complained about the rail being delayed and work for them being delayed: the AIA plan would allow for a quicker start time for the project. but the unions didn't care.

They complained about the need to get it finished sooner to alleviate traffic congestion quicker:
the AIA plan would finish the rail much sooner. but the unions didn't care.

They complained about the overall cost of the rail being more: the AIA plan would bring down the cost by millions. but the unions didn't care.

They didn't care about anything that was presented that day. The unions had been told: "Go to the capital and protest the AIA panel. Anyone who opposes the Mayor's current rail design and plan is the enemy. Don't listen to anyone that disagrees."
And they knew the Mayor is democrat and the Governor (the one who thought it was important enough to hold this at the capital and invited the absent Mayor) was a republican. They left angrier than ever because this alternate plan threatened the one the Mayor and their union bosses had agreed on, when if they had come with an open mind they could have learned something.

It was interesting to see everything in action. Some union people even went to class warfare and said that the President of the AIA Honolulu doesn't understand anything because he's basically 'a rich haole from the rich Kahala area' and they are poor 'working people' from the other side of the island.

Us against them. 'Working' people vs 'wealthy' people (who apparently don't work?). So unhealthy and vital for unions to succeed. Sad and strange.

To sum up, maybe some unions are good, I don't know. Many are out of control and full of corrupt bosses and brainwashed followers. When I see our President and the state of Hawaii is in bed with them it is frustrating.

presidential update

heard this today and thought it was sweet.

'if you drive a car, i'll tax main street... if you try to sit, i will tax your seat. if you get too cold, i will tax the heat. if you take a walk, i will tax your feet." so great.

remember how no one making less than $250,000 a year wouldn't have an increase of taxes? right.

really, can you believe anything that comes out of his mouth?

he was right though, it isn't politics as usual. It's far, far worse.

Let's make a list of current events:

1- oil spill. day 80 something now. how's that going? forget cleaning up, let's bash oil companies, stop drilling altogether and put more people out of work (and lie about recommendations regarding a moratorium). Push cap and trade and environmental responsibility (while the environment there is being completely ruined). bravo. never let a crisis go to waste.

2- new black panther voter intimidation. After they were found guilty, the DOJ drops the case against them. Look it up on youtube, it's right there and it's crazy. But there is a new policy: no case where white people are victims and black people are the ones committing the crime against them will be taken seriously.
- remember the 'beer summit' after Obama said the white policeman acted stupidly when in the same sentence he acknowledged not having the facts. hooray for a post racial America, united under the Chosen One.

3- Immigration and Arizona. The vast majority of humans understand a border is necessary and without that border being secure it is pointless. Obama would rather get votes from clueless and far, far left people and ignore the American people and go ahead and sue Arizona. Sue it for a basically harmless law that mimics the federal law. Imagine being stopped by a cop for doing something wrong (like speeding or shooting someone) and he asks for your license! WOW, that IS like Nazi Germany. Give me a break and cry me a river people. When asked about whether law suits would be considered against sanctuary cities that openly defy immigration law, they couldn't answer. One more double standard in my book of evidence. And chalk up another one on the 'Obama on opposite side of America' board.
Perhaps they should drop the lawsuit and get to work on fixing the problem.

4- Economy. Get ready for the double dip is what i'm hearing more and more. My hours at work just got cut. Obama continues to give speeches about how awful the country would be if they hadn't run up the debt and wasted money on stimuli. Oh, and don't forget how messed up everything was from EVIL BUSH. That's not getting old at all. Like his 'created or saved' garbage that can't be measured, we are just supposed to take his word for it that he's all knowing and taking great care of us. I prefer to look at reality. He has no clue what he's doing. He and all his socialist textbook reading academic friends are still going for the big government take over with redistribution of wealth and trickle up economics to fix the country. The rest of us have history and reality to look at and understand they're only making things worse.

5- NASA- isn't involved in space anymore, but Islamic relations. Making them feel good about contributions they made to science and math hundreds of years ago... google it. it's happening.

I'm getting tired and don't want to waste more time on this.
The point is Obama is exactly what I thought. That is why i didn't vote for him. Let's hope he doesn't fundamentally change anything beyond repair and will kindly disappear when his lone term is finished. Maybe go get a massage with his buddy Al Gore. Then, hopefully the country will be woken up enough and have their eyes open next time and will elect an actual leader to be president.

a nice entry

from a house in an old issue of dwell. http://www.dwell.com/articles/opdahl-remastered.html

bathroom sign

in a house = awesome?

coexist bumper sticker

Driving with Shandra yesterday I noticed on a car one of the most annoying bumper stickers. It's one that I've seen occasionally, as we live in a place that appeals to hippie types and has several colleges/ a university nearby. But this one struck me as particularly annoying:



The Obama logo had been slipped in there...
but I guess it only makes sense- Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Obama.

I wanted to roll down my window and ask the guy driving that car what planet he's from, and also that he should go back...before I punch his face. How can human beings be expected to 'coexist' with people like that?

Obama hasn't transformed the world into the garden of Eden like he promised and his followers voted with hopeful tears in their eyes for.

- He's not 'open and transparent' at all
- He's not bipartisan at all
- He has a clear dislike for capitalism and other basic principles that make this country what it is.
- He hasn't made the country less hated or more safe by being 'like-able' or incessantly apologizing
- The country is even more racial than before
- Unemployment is still high- he continues to blame Bush- and wants to make every new job be a government one.
- He ignores things that need help and focuses on his predetermined agenda items like health care and global warming. He then ignores data (or the fact that data may be fake) and the American public that disagrees with his own views and proceeds.
- To sum up, I don't understand what people are still in love with him about.

Here in Hawaii I see lots of people wearing clothes by local companies with Obama's face or name on it because he's 'local'. Some of it is pretty sweet. Good designs- because 'cool' artists like Obama. Cool people wear Obama. "Malama Obama" or "Obama Ohana" etc. What are all the props for? Nothing that I can tell. He just exists, and thus is deserving? He truly is an American Idol President, and like most trends and celebrities I think he's annoying. Can't wait till he's out of style. Until then I just wish people would look at the man and what he's doing and talk and think about him accordingly. He's not a God or Religion(not for normal humans, at least). He has done nothing to prove otherwise. Please be realistic. Don't tell me to 'Coexist' Obama style.

I heard this quote a while ago, it's Obama describing himself from one (of two) books he wrote about himself.
"I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views..."

Obama the blank screen. Doesn't that sound like a great philosopher or prophet? Someone that stands for ideals and truths and is a shining example for others? Someone willing to take persecution for his beliefs? Don't think so. Sounds like the guy I saw running for president. A guy who stands for nothing (that he'll be open and honest about) but speaks well of vague and positive things that make you feel good. A guy that instead let's others believe what they wish about him and make him into whatever they want him to be- which he'll then use to gain favor and get ahead. It's not rocket science. but then I may be wrong, I didn't go to Punahou and Harvard.

all that from a bumper sticker?

kitchen cabinetry

I saw this kitchen renovation on AT and liked what i saw. If plywood is involved, more than likely I'll be on board. I'm not afraid to say I like materials many people cringe at or think sound cheap: concrete, concrete block, plywood, corrugated metal, it's all very good. I like this kitchen's clean lines, colors (or lack of) and simplicity. I'll file this under my nice interiors section.

political (again?) observations: blasphemy in the temple

"Hey, hundreds of thousands of people- Go home. You're wrong."

It's not that I love politics and I don't spend much of my leisure time at all talking to people about it. But when something seems strange, annoying or frustrating and is always in the news or being talked about on the radio, then I sometimes feel the need to chime in and state what I agree or disagree with.
I've written before on the blog and others in comments about politicians being out of touch with reality or the common people they're supposed to represent. Written also a lot about Obama's campaign of feel good ambiguity, subsequent deification and worship and the whole elitism thing.
I haven't written here lately about the whole health care thing, czars being exposed and thrown under the bus, push for propaganda by artists, etc and etc. Sometimes the material seems like too much, it's too overwhelming. But for now I thought I'd write a quick note on the overall situation.

The majority of American people don't want the health care plan Obama is pushing. He ignores that fact and makes another speech. The dems in congress say things like the Repubs are blocking it and want the status quo. That's two lies in the same sentence: They don't need the Repubs, they can run them over if they have all the Dems, and 2. Repubs don't necessarily want the status quo, I've heard lots of suggestions to fix the system everyone recognizes needs changes. They just don't want the plan that Obama and Pelosi want. It makes perfect sense to me, but this garbage is repeated by them daily. Obama says he's open to ideas and the door is open. McCain says the door has been shut on Repubs since April. I believe McCain, he has a history of working together with people, Obama does not.
But Obama gets to say whatever he wants and gives his speeches almost on a semi-daily basis. He just doesn't want to budge.

In his speech to congress he says things like 'We must stop with the scare tactics...if we do not pass (my) health care reform now, "our deficit will grow, more families will go bankrupt, more business will close, more Americans will loose their coverage when they are sick and need it the most, and more will die as a result." Wow, that's not a scare tactic, people will just be dying as a result. I'm sorry, what? Do as I say, not as I do! What about a shortage of doctors? -nope, that's a scare tactic, ignore it. It really is comical.

When the left protest, they are noble and 'grass roots' and should be listened to. But when people (who happen to be more conservative) all over the country protest government spending and taxing in huge numbers, they're called 'racist' and 'astroturf'. Today, Obama Senior adviser, David Axelrod, says that the thousands and thousands of protesters that came to Washington from all over the country on 9/12 'do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health care reform.'

"I don't think it's indicative of the nation's mood," Axelrod said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "You know, I don't think we ought to be distracted by that. My message to them is, they're wrong."

Talk about elitism on glaring display. What happened to championing free speech? Representing the country? Nope. If you're on the conservative side and have a difference of opinion and you choose to protest, you're wrong. That's all there is to it. End of discussion. You're mocked, ignored, called phony. That's something that I've seen more than once and I think is hilarious, hypocritical and sad.

When Obama is 'disrespected' or shouted at, then the people are 'racist', 'extreme', 'plants' and should be harshly dealt with. To disagree is hateful, shocking and disappointing. Did you see Nancy Pelosi's face when that congressman called Obama a liar during his big health care speech? It could melt your face off. It read: You have blasphemed in the temple of Obama! I know it was maybe wrong place, wrong time, but seriously, what's the big deal? Do you think Bush was never challenged, disrespected, called a liar? If you can say that with a straight face then you're brain dead, I'm sorry. But did you hear Bush complaining? Gasps of shock and disgust that someone disagrees? Calls for apology? NO WAY! Bush said over and over he knew he couldn't please everyone and that people have a right to opinion. He shrugged it off. Man, it makes me appreciate Bush more.

When that reporter in Iraq threw the shoe at Bush, the video was played over and over on the news. All over the radio. Sketches on SNL. It was hilarious and had to be shown to the world! The Iraqi was championed as a hero. The left embraced him as a symbol. Bush's response? 'That guy is entitled to his opinion.' and he laughed about it.

It's clear that Obama has unbelievably thin skin and the Pelosis of the world can't handle disagreement or 'disrespect' of any kind. It's a double standard made apparent over and over in many situations and is, again, hilarious, hypocritical and sad.

And why is dissension during Bush justified and reasonable, but under Obama extreme, hateful and unreasonable? I'm not understanding. I know Obama is relatively new, but at the same time he has done ALOT and I think there has been ample time to critique what he's got going on. When he says things like fundamental change I believe it's important for close and constant dissection, otherwise if we let him work it and question later, then we got a whole new system going on and it might not be pretty or easy to repair. Health care? I think the people know what he wants, it's been discussed, (albeit not always clearly-not the public's fault) for months now. The people have voiced their opposition. His response? 'You're all wrong'. wow.

I don't want to continue on with more stuff, but just wanted to get some thoughts out onto computer screen.
It's because of stuff like this that I continue to see the left as more extreme, hateful, intolerant and hypocritical than the right. It's as simple as that. And I totally agree with Courtney that labels are stupid and unproductive. When discussing things like politics right now i don't know any other way to distinguish the two sides than to use words like left, right, conservative, liberal, etc., And since our system only has two sides at the moment I have to look at it accordingly. When people step up to be bi-partisan I'll check them out. So far I haven't really seen that. Hopefully next election will allow us to bring in some new blood who aren't so divisive/ set in their party line ways. And I don't agree with Republicans 100% of the time, but time and again I have seen things happen like the above examples that make me think that Republicans/ Conservatives tend to be less ridiculous than non-conservatives. They tend to use reason and common sense over emotion and trends.


**breaking news**: As I was about to post this I see an article on Obama being on 60 minutes tonight, I suppose as part of his semi-daily health care speech schedule. He is going to say - "There are those in the Republican party who think the best thing to do is just to kill reform. That that will be good politics." He's still got the talking points going! Keep it up, It's really effective! Obama's door is open (as long as your ideas align identically with his!) He's missing just three words keeping that first line from being truthful: My Version Of.

"...kill my version of reform..." That would be openness and transparency.