Archive for February 10th, 2010
Question: What do you think February 11th will bring?
Tomorrow is the day when Iran has promised, through BOTH Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah (Commander in Chief of their military), to deliver a spectular punch to the West.
What do you think that could be…and do you think nothing at all will happen, and that Mossad or MI-5 will have taken whatever was to happen out, before Iran can “punch” anyone?
For the last twenty years, the only thing that’s let us sleep soundly at night was knowing Mossad was always out there, somewhere, doing SOMETHING every day to keep Israel safe. By extension, this benefits the United States, since we believe Mossad’s the only thing that’s kept Iran from going nuclear before now.
But, we worry what Iran could consider a “spectacular punch” at the West.
The only thing we can think of is that they’re going to test a nuke. That would be spectacular — in a horrifying, world will never be the same again, monstrous way.
What do you think will happen tomorrow?
Anything?
Or will Iran’s talk be proven to be all talk again (with Mossad perhaps stopping them before they could do whatever they wanted to do)?
Great Merciful Zeus: Eve Ensler and Joy Behar prove how truly arrogant and ignorant the Left is
You have to read this over at Ace of Spades: apparently, on The View, washed-up “comedienne” Joy Behar and arrogant loon Eve Ensler have claimed earthquakes and tsunamis are caused by Anthropogenic Global Warming…and they attack Sarah Palin for not believing this is true.
Do they still teach science in public schools?
What do climate and weather (which are caused by the sun, not anything humans do) have to do with EARTHQUAKES?
Behar and Ensler believe the Haiti earthquake was caused by AGW.
As noted in the piece at Ace, this is akin to believing in magic.
“Earth Mother angry. You polluted! Earth Mother make big shakums and kill peoples. We scared! Time panic now.”
In primitive cultures, like, apparently, that fostered at The View, whenever angry gods or spirits caused earthquakes to punish humans for various slights, ritualistic sacrifices were in order.
Can we nominate Behar and Ensler to go first?
It’s 2010, so that “must be virgins” stipulation shouldn’t apply. Though, considerin it IS Behar and Ensler we’re talking about, and considering what joys both are to deal with, who knows, maybe they still are virgins after all.
Even more than an especially fun night at Sidetracks, watching The View, on rare occasions we’re forced to, truly makes us thrilled to be gay.
Ritz-Carlton Las Vegas Closing: White House directly responsible
About ten years ago, one of us here worked for Ritz-Carlton, in the Sales Department. During his tenure there, four Ritz-Carltons were unceremoniously deflagged one morning, over a dispute with the owner, a wealthy Middle Eastern man who refused to keep the hotels updated and repaired to Ritz specifications.
What you might not know is that very few hotels are owned by the company you think owns the building. When you stay at a Ritz-Carlton, you are really sleeping in a building owned by Forest City Enterprises (like in Cleveland) or Dubai Property Management Group, or something to that effect. Ritz-Carlton, part of Marriott, is a hotel management firm…but not a property owner. Marriott is not a major holder of real estate. No hotel company is. They just provide the logo, train and manage the staff, run the business, and turn part of the profits over to the owner of the building. In essence, hotel companies are renters, and you sublet rooms from them every night you stay in a Ritz.
It was an earth-shaking day when FOUR Ritz-Carltons were deflagged one morning: New York, Houston, Vail (or Aspen), and another one, somewhere we don’t remember. In that instance, back in 1996 or so, Ritz-Carlton severed its contractual relationship with those properties because the owner had refused to do basic upkeep and maintenance, and the company did not feel those hotels were representative of the brand standard anymore. So, guests went to sleep in a Ritz and woke up in a no-name hotel, with no staff on duty to take care of them (as employees didn’t show up for shifts once the company pulled out, in a complete surprise to everyone, so people did not think they were going to get paid).
It was a living nightmare. People in other Ritzes across the world cried, because they not only felt bad for the people in the affected hotels, but they also were terrified of the thought of that ever happening to them.
We tell you this story to emphasize the point that Ritz-Carltons don’t just fold up like a Howard Johnson’s somewhere. When a Ritz is built, it is built to endure. No expenses are spared at these properties in construction. Ritz contracts with owners are severely LONG TERM. If a city is lucky enough to land a Ritz, it’s because years of studies and negotiations have proved that hotel will be a money maker, for both the company and the owner.
The four Ritzes that closed in 1996 were shuttered not because they lost money — they were closed because the company didn’t want its brand diluted with substandard accomodations in poorly-maintained buildings.
To our knowledge, to Ritz-Carlton has ever closed for financial reasons.
One of us worked for the company while the Vegas resort was being built — it was the CROWN JEWEL of Ritz’s marketing push for years…an absolute palace of a hotel, built on a lake, meant to resemble the famous bridges of Florence with all the shops and residences suspended over the water. Actual marble from Italy, and Italian artists, were imported to create one of the most opulent and astonishing hotels we have ever seen.
It is a VERY big deal that the Ritz-Carlton, Las Vegas is closing.
The White House is very much to blame for this, with the current president’s repeated, highly stupid remarks about business people not being allowed to go on junkets to Vegas anymore. What this president lacks the experience and wisdom to understand is that words have meaning and consequences. By attacking Vegas, he empowered bean counters across corporate America to raise Hell about any Vegas trips on expense accounts…and particularly any charges with a Ritz-Carlton associated with trips.
Do you realize that Ritz-Carltons are non-union hotels that pay WAY MORE than union properties do?
The reason Ritzes don’t unionize is because their lowest wages, in most places, are about $4-5 dollars higher than any competitors. They select the best of the best for their staff, and pay them very well. Housekeepers, who’d have to work two jobs at other hotels, can work one at a Ritz, get health insurance, and qualify for all sorts of bonuses, rewards, and special incentives.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is a fabulous employer. It is an honor to work for them.
Well, thank Hopey-Change Dr. Utopia for costing hundreds of people their jobs in Vegas, now that the Ritz there has been forced to close. It’s a 350 room property, so it easily employs about 400 people. Since it was a top-paying employer, that’s 400 people who are not only out of work, but are shucked into a labor market that’s already highly competitive…and where they will not be able to find similar jobs for the same pay.
We’re sure this is happening across the country, in all manner of industries, under Dr. Utopia, but we had this personal connection to the Ritz, so we needed to share with you just what a loss this hotel closing is.
And it is DIRECTLY related to dangerous, irresponsible, amateurish remarks the current president makes, veering off-TelePrompTer, with absolutely no regard whatsoever for the impact this has on working Americans struggling to get by.
Threat Level Oprah: First Lady declares obesity a danger to National Security
Truly, this woman is ridiculous.
We know people who have calculated their Body Mass Indexes (BMIs) and were reduced to tears, because according to the computer, they’re obese. In fact, these people look just fine, fit into clothes with a 30 waist, and are more than attractive. But, the computer says they are obese, so it’s now time for suicide.
In Boystown, this is serious business, folks. We have no idea what it’s like for women or straight men, but in the LGBTQ community, an extra five pounds is the difference between warm smiles and welcomes and doors closed in your face. And NOT just in the bar scene. JOBS come down to how young you still look, how buff you are, how much of a tummy you’re sporting. Just try to get a job bartending or waitering, for instance, without working side gigs for Elite Models on the weekends.
So, obesity may, in cases like Boystown, be a threat to ECONOMIC security, but NATIONAL security?
Once again, we have a real problem with the current First Lady hectoring anyone on being obese. Physician, heal thyself, and your best chit-chat buddy, Oprah, first. THEN you can lecture the rest of us schmoes. When Barbara Bush crusaded for Family Literacy, the woman could, herself, read. Ditto for Laura Bush, and her literacy campaign for children: not only could Laura read, and Laura’s children both read, but Laura read often to children. Rosalyn Carter advocated understanding for mental illness, and that certainly started at home, considerig who she was married to. Lady Bird Johnson didn’t just beautify the highways across the nation, she started with the White House.
So, it’s absurd the current First Lady doesn’t embark on her anti-obesity, national security campaign, by unpacking the junk in her own trunk. And Oprah’s too.
If the Charybdis of Lake Michigan can be trotted out in Copenhagen by this White House to push a failed Olympics bid, and was dog-and-ponied up during the 2008 campaign with great fanfare, then it’s fair game to drag her into this obesity business now.
And a First Lady who continues to shout from the mountains what a fashion icon she is, appearing on magazine after magazine to talk about her clothes and her looks, needs to take a good, long, hard look in the mirror — perhaps seeing herself for the first time.
All of this talk about obesity is dangerous, we think. Yes – Americans need to eat better. But, they also need to feel better about themselves and their bodies. Trust us, people, those models in magazines DO NOT look like that in real life. That’s another perk of living in Boystown: actors, models, dancers, you name it, everyone you lust after in magazines…they’ve got some extra poundage too. What they also have, that you don’t, are great air-brushers and PR. Absolutely no one looks as good as his press kit and portfolio when he’s at your place, in natural light, seen up close and more personal than we’ll share here.
If you go to your doctor and your cholesterol is good…if you can walk up stairs without huffing and puffing and blowing anyone’s house down…if you can rock a great-looking pair of jeans and wear a cool tee on a hot day and get a look or two in your direction…chill out about your BMI.
And don’t listen to someone who doesn’t take her own advice, and can’t manage to get her chit-chat buddies to take it either, when she tells you that your fat ass is a weapon of mass destruction, or threat to the fabric of the nation.
There are plenty of the latter in this administration…and none of them are related to BMI, we assure you.
Question: Do you think it's possible to force Rahm Emanuel's resignation before the end of summer?
We’re positive that Rahm Emanuel will be toast after the catastrophic losses Democrats will suffer in November of this year. Tim Kaine will also most likely be removed as DNC Chair. Large Democrat donors will demand heads on silver platters: all that money they forked over in 2010, essentially pissed right into a drain by Kaine and the White House.
But, our question today is, do you think Emanuel will be forced to resign as White House Chief of Staff BEFORE the summer’s over?
We’ve seen more sniping than usual at Emanuel from House and Senate Democrats, who are getting increasingly worried about the blood bath that’s headed their way at the ballot box. All of them have their hair teased and powdered, with delicate little song birds caged in their expertly set curls…60 belles of Versailles waltzing their last dances to the flickering light of millions of torches in the distance, getting ever closer. Democrats hear the guillotines being sharpened. They know what’s coming. Whether they admit this publicly or not, they know 2010 is going to make 1994 look like a picnic in the Tuileries.
The most obvious scapegoat for all of this is Emanuel.
If he wasn’t in deep trouble, there’s no way he would have apologized to Sarah Palin for his vulgar and inappropriate use of the word “retarded” in expletive-laden sessions with Congressional Democrats, in which he ranted and raved and proved how insane and unbalanced he is. The Rahm Emanuel of 2009 would have never apologized. The Rahm Emanuel of 2010 was forced to.
What else will he be forced to do before the summer’s up?
What will he be forced to do after the party sustains heavy losses in November?
When do you think his shriveled, foul-mouthed, head will roll?
Photoshop Challenge: Cass Sunstein edition
We want to organize an effort to remove Cass Sunstein from any possible consideration for the SCOTUS, should two vacancies come up, as expected, with the retirements of Justices Ginsburg and Stevens.
We want to get people’s attention drawn to Sunstein, so we need some photoshops of his face, merged with Mamma Cass Eliott.
Sunstein is most famous for believing dogs and cats should have lawyers, and for being a longtime radical in Chicago’s Hyde Park enclave.
Below are some favorite photos of Mamma Cass, which we’d like Sunstein’s head shopped onto.
Any ideas on how to visualize Sunstein’s radical beliefs…that can be added to the photos too, so people would know just what they’d get with Sunstein on the Court.
Wednesday Open Thread: February 10th, 2010
What’s on your minds this Wednesday?
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Robby’s sister, Ann-Louise, has been fascinated by Dubai for at least the last 10 years, always threatening to move there, since she believes, with her blonde hair, she’ll at last “be a star” over in the United Arab Emirates. ”Star” must mean something else in Arabic, because what she’d end up being would be a prisoner, just like all the men from India, Pakistan, and Asian countries who were used as slave labor to build the Burj Kalifa (originally called the Burj Dubai), and all the other half-finished, poorly planned, shoddily constructed “dream projects” Dubai has been boasting about.
Reports are in that the Burj Kalifa is already falling apart: several people were trapped in an elevator hundreds of feet in the air as the cables started to snap.
We believe, like the Tower of Babel, the Burj Kalifa, currently the tallest building in the world, is going to collapse upon itself in the next 10 years. Maybe a lot sooner.
Why?
Because of the slave labor used to build it. The men working on that project were beaten, kept in shipping crates in the hot desert by day, freezing by night, and not paid for years while working on the building. Dubai took their passports from them, and in some cases held their children hostage so that the men would keep working. Islam, after all, is the religion of peace, and perpetually to be admired, according to American Liberals.
According to Ann-Louise, Dubai is a dream world.
But, we’ve dealt with laborers before on construction projects we’ve managed. Even well-paid, union, pampered workers hold grudges over SOMETHING, and find a way to make sure cement cracks or bolts go missing here and there.
Just imagine what unskilled, abused, desperate, hopeless, slave labor would do to a building like the Burj Kalifa. Who could watch all these guys 24/7 to make sure they welded every rivet properly? Who could make sure they attached all the elevator cables securely? Who could prevent the building from falling down upon itself, if the workers used to build it hated the project, weren’t paid for their work, and were not allowed to go back home until it was finished?
We’ve worked in enough restaurants to tell you that you NEVER want to eat anything that comes to your table after you’ve been cross with your waiter. Trust us. Mistreat him or her, and take a very large gastronomic risk.
We can only imagine the things the abused foreign nationals did to the construction projects in Dubai. ESPECIALLY since Dubai ran out of money during construction on many of these, and it seems in keeping with Dubai’s character to start cutting costs drastically, but cutting corners on safety and other precautions. They probably kept all the expensive imported marble, but downgraded the quality of all the behind the scenes materials.
It’s like a 1970s “Towering Inferno” movie just waiting to happen.
We hope we are wrong on this one…but all the clues are there for a big disaster on the horizon for the Burj.
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