How Dumb Can A Machine Be?

This morning I went to my local Krogers (a supermarket chain) to buy the Sunday paper. It was the only purchase I was making so I availed myself of the self service checkout. I hit the touchscreen to start my purchase, and then "swiped" my Krogers card to make sure they would know I was spending a whole dollar and fifty cents.

Per direction (from the machine) I scanned my item and placed it in the bag. With no other items to purchase I then pressed the "button" to "proceed to checkout". The machine then asked me the question "Do you have any coupons?"

I roared with laughter thinking to myself.........

"Why yes I do, I have a whole damn paper full of them."

I know the machine was only doing as it was told, and the question was really if I had a coupon to scan, but for a brief second I thought.......

"How dumb can a machine be?"

Question The Candidates - Made In The USA ?

In the presidential campaign you hear every candidate speak about American workers, American jobs going overseas, and U.S. trade policies.

So my first question is "who to believe"? I think a good place to start is find out what the candidates sell for gear. Most (but not all) candidate's websites have an online store to buy "goodies".

I checked 15 online candidates stores on December 14, 2007 and here are the results:

Good Guys:
Fred Thompson - all products made in the USA
Mitt Romney - all products proudly made in USA
Rudy Giuliani - all products made in USA
Barack Obama - All of our products are union and USA made and produced. (have uswa logo)

Questionable:
John Edwards - some products are union made union printed, some are union made in USA
Dennis Kucinich - Union made and Union printed in the USA. Union Made In The U.S.A. Union Made
Bill Richardson - Your one stop shopping center for quality Union Made and Union Printed


Bad Guys (and girl):
Hillary Clinton
Ron Paul
Tom Tancredo
Mike Huckabee
These four candidates have nothing to indicate made in USA or union made!

Five candidates have no store on their website - Joe Biden, John McCain, Chris Dodd, and Duncan Hunter

Now my second question is to Hillary, Ron, Tom, and Mike WHAT GIVES! It appears you talk a good game but do not put your money where your mouth is.

Muses note: This blog entry was proudly made in the USA.

Mitch and Harry - The Nothing Twins

The Senate is back from their Thanksgiving break, and has picked up right where they left off, doing NOTHING.
Mitch blames Harry and the democrats.
Harry blames Mitch and the republicans.
I blame them both. They both lie, spin, and tell half-truths. What we (Harry, Mitch, and me) all agree on is NOTHING IS GETTING DONE.
My solution, a civilian surge. Contact your representatives in Washington, and make these "leaders" understand that we deserve and demand better from OUR elected officials. Their childish bickering will no longer do.

Why Won't Romney Lie To A Terrorist?

This comment was posted in Jonathan Martin's blog Spin Away @ Politico.com (about the Republican YouTube debate) - "McCain took Romney to task on the torture question (a reference to waterboarding), and while Mitt had a good point that you don't put everything on the table (no president has before, McCain wants to be the first) but he wasn't forceful enough on the issue, didn't cite good examples and let him take it." posted by : bigmo November 28, 2007 at 11:52 PM

What is up with this flat out dodging of a simple yes / no question by answering "don't put everything on the table". This is straight out of the Hillary playbook in the chapter "How to not answer a question".

The theory is, if I understand it correctly, we don't want to say "we will not waterboard" because it would tip-off the terrorists and influence their training.

This defies all logic!

Scenario 1) Romney gets elected president. At this point the terrorists open their laptops and google everything Romney. They see he is uncommitted on the waterboarding issue so they train for this possibility. We capture a terrorist and decide to waterboard him. He is trained. He is prepared. We get nothing.

Scenario 2) McCain gets elected president. At this point the terrorists open their laptops and google everything McCain. They see he says "no waterboarding" so they don't train to be waterboarded. We capture a terrorist and decide to waterboard him. What does the terrorist do? Say "Hey, your president said he is against waterboarding!!!" To which the interrogator replies "sorry he changed his mind". The terrorist is not prepared, not trained, and we get vital information.

Romney, like Hillary, will say or do anything to get elected. Some call it hedging. Some call it waffling. Some call it flip / flopping. Some call it "I changed my mind". Some might even call it lying. It truly amazes me they do not hesitate to hedge, waffle, flip / flop, change their mind, and even lie to us, their fellow Americans, in order to get elected.

But heaven forbid they get caught lying to a terrorist.

Originally Posted @ Politico.com November 28, 2007

Chi Chi Chi Chia and Christmas

The Christmas season is now here. When I was a young lad, back in the early 60's, the Christmas season didn't start until after thanksgiving. This seemed to be the norm for most families at that time and was certainly the case in our family. (although looking at the Sears Christmas Catalog prior to thanksgiving was allowed)

Retail businesses keep moving the holiday season earlier and earlier, first to Halloween, then to Columbus Day, and now fast approaching Labor day. Cities and towns can be seen stringing holiday lights and decorations in September. Over time our family as gotten smaller and more fragmented (by geographical distance), so the large gathering of family on thanksgiving day is no longer the "event" it once was.

So when to reasonably begin the holiday season? Thanksgiving no longer is the "cornerstone" it once was, businesses are making the season longer, and the sighting of Christmas displays in cities and towns is getting earlier.

My solution - CHIA PETS

CHIA PETS? - Perfect! Somewhere around thanksgiving, not too early in the season, and guaranteed to show up every holiday season.

Last night, for the first time this year, I saw an advertisement for Chia Pets. So for me (by my watch) the holiday season is now here. So to you all I say Happy Holidays, and leave you singing my new favorite chistmas jingle...............

CHI CHI CHI CHIA....CHI CHI CHI CHIA....