A True Story

Posted on September 20, 2012 by RL CRABB

This entry was posted in Culture, History, Politics. Bookmark the permalink.

23 Responses to A True Story

  1. Ryan Mount says:
    September 20, 2012 at 6:48 am

    I particularly like “Keep Tahoe Blue” bumper stickers on the back of grimy cars. The irony is delicious. What does irony taste like? I suppose it tastes like the oil drippings and exhaust from a car.

    Reply
  2. Ben Emery says:
    September 20, 2012 at 7:01 am

    The whole Tibet issue is tragic. The fact our government and society will look the other way because our transnational corporations have found employers/ Ayn Rand paradise in the powerless oppressed Chinese worker. I boycotted products made in China for dozen years or so until it became virtually impossible since our entire retail economy is based on Chinese made goods. There are many reasons I do not like large transnational corporations but the fact the they prop up a human right despotic government in China at the same time market liberty and freedom in America makes me sick.

    Reply
    • Greg Goodknight says:
      September 20, 2012 at 12:17 pm

      ” our transnational corporations have found employers/ Ayn Rand paradise in the powerless oppressed Chinese worker”

      Ben, this is one of your most bizarre claims, ever. The so-called People’s Republic of China remains the closest thing to an Objectivist’s Hell as exists on this Earth. Socialists Gone Wild! Rand’s family (the Rosenbaums) was impoverished when Lenin’s Bolsheviks confiscated the pharmacy her father had built. She was a teenager when that happened but managed to escape communism by moving to the US at the age of 21.

      I’ve never understood the fascination some have with her and her books, but she was the antithesis of the petite slander Ben issued here.

      Reply
      • Ben Emery says:
        September 20, 2012 at 2:19 pm

        Greg,
        I have read Rand and know her story well. It is how we perceive Rand’s philosophy. I see it as selfish, oppressive, and destructive. I know how she sold the philosophy and many actually believe her words but I look in between the lines to shape my perception of what objectivism really promotes.

        A powerless work force are considered objects to be used up and tossed out when they are no longer productive because they become takers. Rand’s philosophy applies to a small few and screws the rest. Those who claim liberty and freedom are the biggest proponents of transnational corporations (makers) throwing American workers under the bus and moving them to China where there are no worker rights and regulations for work conditions. Much like Paul Ryan wants to save Medicare by destroying it. Ayn Rand would have opposed such legislation late in her life since she was using the program heavily when her health started to fail. Paul R and those who support him see it as a good plan and a vast majority of Americans are horrified by it.

        Reply
  3. George Boardman says:
    September 20, 2012 at 7:34 am

    I recently saw the following bumper sticker on a beat-up old pickup in Reno:

    “Welcome to Nevada County…Go On Vacation, Leave On Probation.”

    Do you know where it comes from?

    Reply
    • rl crabb says:
      September 20, 2012 at 7:59 am

      George – I don’t know who made the stickers, but they were popular in the late ’80’s, early 90’s when the GVPD was on a rampage against drunk driving at local bars and restaurants.

      Reply
  4. Tom Betterman says:
    September 20, 2012 at 7:42 am

    Learned last night that charbroiling one burger is the equivalent of driving an 18 wheeler 134 miles, in terms of pollution. I knew we had exceeded the planet’s carrying capacity.

    China has rammed most unusal semi high speed rail all the way to Tibet:

    “The trains are specially built for high elevation environment. The diesel locomotives were built by GE in Pennsylvania, and the passenger carriages are Chinese-made 25T carriages: on train T27/T28, between Beijing West and Lhasa, Bombardier Sifang Transportation (BSP) made carriages on the Golmud-Lhasa section in deep green/yellow or deep red/yellow. Signs in the carriages are in Tibetan, Simplified Chinese and English. The operational speed is 120 km/h (75 mph), 100 km/h (62 mph) over sections laid on permafrost.
    Lhasa railway station

    The railway from Golmud to Lhasa was completed on 12 October 2005. It opened to regular trial service on 1 July 2006.[5]

    A Passenger Health Registration Card is required to take the train between Golmud and Lhasa. The card can be obtained when purchasing the ticket. Passengers must read the health notice for high-elevation travel and sign the agreement on the card to take the train. On 28 August 2006 a 75-year-old Hong Kong man was reported to be the first passenger to die on the train, after he had suffered heart problems in Lhasa but insisted on travelling to Xining. [6]

    At the beginning, only three trains ran: Beijing–Lhasa (every day), Chengdu/Chongqing–Lhasa (every other day), Lanzhou/Xining–Lhasa. Shanghai/Guangzhou–Lhasa service were added in October 2006. In July 2010 the Shanghai–Lhasa service became daily, and a daily service between Xining and Lhasa was added, but the service then suspended for the winter low season.
    Oxygen and medical supply

    From October 2006 five pairs of passenger trains run between Golmud and Lhasa, and one more pair between Xining and Golmud. The line has a capacity of eight pairs of passenger trains, and the carriages are specially built and have an oxygen supply for each passenger. Every passenger train has a doctor.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinghai%E2%80%93Tibet_Railway

    Reply
  5. Michael Anderson says:
    September 20, 2012 at 7:59 am

    Q: What did the Dalai Lama say to the hot dog vendor?
    A: Make me one with everything.

    The hot dog vendor said “that will be $2.50” and the Dalai Lama handed him a five.
    And waited.
    The Dalia Lama said “Hey where’s my change?”
    The hot dog vendor said “change must come from within”

    The Dalai Lama admitted this was true, and ate his hot dog, but it gave him bad breath and bothered his sore tooth. The Dalai Lama then walked to the dentist to get a filling. Although old and frail, he walked often, and he walked barefoot, as evidenced by the thickness of the soles of his feet. It is for this reason he is known as the “super-calloused fragile mystic exhibiting halitosis.”

    The dentist inspected the Dalai Lama’s tooth, and said he could fill the cavity right then. When he offered to use Novacaine, the Dalai Lama declined, saying he wanted to “transcend dental medication.”

    Attrib.: fabulous Internets

    Reply
  6. George Boardman says:
    September 20, 2012 at 8:24 am

    Back to the point of the cartoon:

    If 25 years in Silicon Valley taught me anything, it’s that nothing gets between a mogul and a profit.

    Reply
  7. Steve Frisch says:
    September 20, 2012 at 8:41 am

    Having personally experienced both the curdled Yak’s milk and the high speed train out of Beijing (on my secret Agenda 21 trip to China) I can say unequivocally that I would take the train any day.

    Reply
  8. Ben Emery says:
    September 20, 2012 at 9:59 am

    RL,
    Just for the record, I got the joke. I have heard many stories about butter tea along with other cuisine and how they are an acquired taste.

    My brother lives in a country where they eat beetles and crickets like we eat potato chips.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/meomoc/7076604863/

    Reply
    • Tony Waters says:
      September 20, 2012 at 11:23 am

      Crickets and grasshoppers taste great fried! So do scorpions. Kind of like bacon bits without all the preservatives!

      Reply
      • Greg Goodknight says:
        September 20, 2012 at 12:24 pm

        The little dried crabs I was served in an out of the way “country-style BBQ” in Tokyo were popped into the mouth whole, like a big bug, the legs poking the sides of your mouth while you start muching them.

        Tasted to me like fried port rinds. Pretty good. Just one of the gross out foods our hosts, some engineers from Bandai Toy Company, thought to order. The baby crabs were great, but it was all I could do to keep the Uni down. Sea urchin eggs taste like road kill that had been aging for a few midsummer days.

        Reply
      • Ben Emery says:
        September 20, 2012 at 1:07 pm

        I didn’t try the insects but almost everything else in my previous visit in Cambodia. I was planning on going again this November and we were going to spend almost 2 weeks in the way back rural country to visit some very isolated temples.

        Hopefully I will be there for the Water Festival at that shifting of the tides. http://www.squidoo.com/water-festival-cambodia

        Insects will probably be on the menu. Got Bugs?

        Reply
  9. Greg Goodknight says:
    September 20, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    another try

    now?

    Reply
  10. George Rebane says:
    September 21, 2012 at 3:02 pm

    “These people need our help!” I wonder what means we will have left to help them (if we really mean it).

    Reply

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