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Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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Birthday boy

by Sherri B.       Monday, July 7, 2008         PERMANENT LINK  

Anybody notice that not one newspaper made a fuss over Georgie boy's birthday yesterday? Had it been Reagan it would have been front page news. Heck, even Clinton got front page birthday news.

Sherri B.
      unknownnews@inbox.com



The only plausible solution

by Herb Ruhs, MD       Monday, July 7, 2008         PERMANENT LINK  

I am fond of our species and would like it to survive and see a better, sustainable future. I welcome any proposed solution, but as I think deeply about the issue and study the relevant scientific issues, the only plausible solution I have been able to imagine is the setting off of a few nuclear weapons in near space.  ... Click for more ... 

Herb Ruhs, MD
      unknownnews@inbox.com



Limbaugh & O'Reilly

by JR Mooneyham       Monday, July 7, 2008         PERMANENT LINK  

I'd love for Bill O'Reilly to get angry over this:

Late period Limbaugh
 
Excerpt: At dinner the night before, Bill O'Reilly's name came up, and Limbaugh expressed his opinion of the Fox cable king. He hadn't been sure at the time that he wanted it on the record. But on second thought, "somebody's got to say it," he told me. "The man is Ted Baxter."

If you don't know who Ted Baxter is, he was the ignorant clown on the ancient Mary Tyler Moore TV show. He was a news anchor who knew absolutely nothing.

JR Mooneyham  (www.jrmooneyham.com/)
Sounds accurate. I've never had the impression O'Reilly knows much of anything beyond his staff briefings, which are probably very brief indeed. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is no fool. He's a pure propagandist who knows exactly what he's doing as he works to destroy America for everyone but the wealthy.
Helen & Harry
      unknownnews@inbox.com



On the brink of yet another war

by Theo Lipschitz       Monday, July 7, 2008         PERMANENT LINK  

We've been here before — all last year, in fact — but who can bet against the stupidity and mindlessness of George W. Bush. Check out this excerpt: "According to Israel’s media, President Bush even told Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he could not trust America’s intelligence community and preferred to rely on Israeli intelligence."  ... Click for more ... 

Theo Lipschitz
      unknownnews@inbox.com



Los Angeles should not exist

by Siskiyousis       Monday, July 7, 2008         PERMANENT LINK  

Re This quasi-socialistic communo-fasci-moron system

I know they are the currently vivid exceptions and I don't fault them for their innovative ways of building. I do really like rammed earth and hay bale houses and their ilk.

BUT, Los Angeles should not even exist, especially in its current state. The whole edge of the continent from Santa Barbara to San Diego is waiting for a tsunami, don't forget the Big One (and it might even be a tsunami).

North of there are even worse if not as densely planted, examples of structures hanging from the slopes of 70 degree slopes, in landslip country, and they keep rebuilding there. Or those right at the edges of cliffs, ready to jump to the beaches below, and they cannot help but know what is inevitable.

I am not even going to comment on the Right Coast and the Gulf Coast.

Darwinism at work...

Siskiyousis
      unknownnews@inbox.com



Almost treasonous

by Mr. Chuckles       Monday, July 7, 2008         PERMANENT LINK  

Re Market analysis

Hello. There is an element of truth in what you say. Twenty years ago Honda manufactured Civics which got 50 MPG and over time the fuel efficiency dropped to 33-something.

But... Honda has a long history of engineering small, efficient, popular cars while GM/Ford have a history of doing the opposite — and doing most of their "engineering" in court and by buying politicians.

Let's consider more fully how self-defeating the short-term thinking of U.S. automakers has been. In June Ford sales dropped 28% and GM sales dropped 18%. Chrysler was down 36%. Honda sales rose 1% in June and rose 16% in the previous month — in spite of the ongoing credit crisis.

General Motors holds off Toyota as June sales fall

Honda wasn't mentioned in most sales reports until recently because they are so small. Toyota's competition against GM made the news but not the tiny Honda. Well, Honda has a market capitalization of 6,568,686,000,000 yen — which is somewhere around $65 billion US dollars...because they have principles.

The history of GM and Ford is a long story of almost treasonous pursuit of short term profit oriented thinking and social engineering. What I am saying is not new news! To provide just one link:

Conspiracy of polluters
 
Excerpt: In the late 1940s, General Motors and a number of oil, chemical, and tire companies were convicted for going around to the major cities and replacing clean, efficient inner-city electric trolley systems with polluting diesel buses.

This was among the most egregious corporate crimes in history. More egregious was the penalty: General Motors and the other convicted companies were fined $5,000. The executives were fined $1 each. ...

In the late 1960s, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles opened a grand jury investigation into the automobile industry for conspiring to defeat clean automobile technology.

Rising out of the smog capital of the world, Justice Department attorneys wanted to indict the auto companies and their executives, for conspiring to ensure that the internal combustion engine would reign supreme over cleaner technology.

That is the tip of the iceberg... but enough for today.

Mr. Chuckles
      unknownnews@inbox.com



Fuel economy concerns

by ZaaK433       Monday, July 7, 2008         PERMANENT LINK  

Re Market analysis

You sell one large SUV and you make the profit of ten small fuel efficient cars. Maybe a dab of hyperbole there but not much. The market has recently changed from nobody being overly concerned about fuel economy except snobbish Prius drivers to everyone being very concerned about fuel economy and willing to make real sacrifices for it. Those sacrifices are going to be smaller cars. The flip side is there will be quite a bit more money flowing into the small car market so they will stop being econoboxes and become something more, like they have in Europe. Like the 40 MPG Fiesta Ford is going to introduce from its oversea offerings.

ZaaK433
      unknownnews@inbox.com



Minor point about the "about" page

by Paul J.       Monday, July 7, 2008         PERMANENT LINK  

Hi, just found your site via Digg and I know I will be a regular visitor.

I guess I might be around a lot after I read the whole 'About' section and realized at the end that a large portion of the inspired rhetoric was spoiled by the fact that the footnote to that section invites the reader to participate "IF YOU GENERALLY AGREE"? Perhaps loftier heights could be reached if many points of view participate in elevating the conversation?

Thanks, just a general skeptic,

Paul J.
Evergreen Park, IL (which needs more of this being a "Village of Churches")

PS: The city of Blue Island, IL has designated and enforced parking restrictions in front of churches for "Pastor Parking Only" so a slogan can be worse if it is internalized I guess.

It's been years since we wrote the 'about' page, and glancing at it just now I spotted a few things I disagree with myself. Anyone can loiter in our on-line living room and chat about whatever boils his or her noodle, within reason, and our standards for "generally agree" are pretty loose and flexible. But there are some things I'm just too weary and impatient to even pretend to discuss. Among the more obvious examples, we're not going to chat cordially about whether one race is superior to another, or whether it's the Bilderbergers or Rosicricians who control the world, and so on.

Also and alas, when we started the website I would often state my then-belief that Democrats and Republicans were as different as heads and tails on the same coin. And I still have little patience for Democrats' deceptions, but my patience for Republican claptrap has utterly evaporated during the all-lie Bush administration. I won't bother coding and publishing incoming arguments based on Republican falsehoods — justifications for attacking non-hostile nations, suspending civil liberties under the guise of national security, complaints about the "liberal media", etc. Feel free to disagree on any of the minor points, but we're not working our buns off on the website to provide a polite hearing to the ideas we abhor. "Generally agreed" just means, don't be stupid, and don't spread horse manure.
Helen & Harry
Paul J. replies       unknownnews@inbox.com



   

Dialogue  for
Monday, July 7, 2008 

Birthday boy by Sherri B.
The only plausible solution by Herb Ruhs, MD
Limbaugh & O'Reilly by JR Mooneyham
On the brink of yet another war
by Theo Lipschitz
Los Angeles should not exist by Siskiyousis
Almost treasonous by Mr. Chuckles
Fuel economy concerns by ZaaK433
Minor point about the "about" page by Paul J.

The dialogue page is our "letters to the editor" section. To participate, email your comments to newsuneed at yahoo.com.


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