I'm sorry.....but this was a joke up a forum from yesterday, and I had to repeat the joke here:
A driver is stuck in a traffic jam going into downtown Chicago. Nothing Is moving north or south. Suddenly a man knocks on his window.
The driver rolls down his window and asks, 'What happened, what's the hold Up?'
'Terrorists have kidnapped Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Rosie O'Donnell, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They are asking for a $10 Million ransom. Otherwise, they are going to douse them with gasoline and set them on fire. We are going from car to car, taking up a collection.'
The driver asks, 'On average, how much is everyone giving?'
'About a gallon'
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Tour de Farce
Today is the 4th of July, and the Tour de Farce (Tour de France) starts up. Unlike the past couple of tours.....we have an old player coming back to the scene....Lance Armstrong.
For seven years in a row....Lance won the race. Various accusations came and went. The anti-doping crowd is "hot" over Lance. They cannot believe that he wins like this....without doping. So he is the number target of the testing crowd.
The guys who run Tour de France? Well....frankly, they never had a huge exposure in the US....until Lance came along. And the exposure throughout Europe in the six and seven years ago....was vastly stronger than anything in the 1990s. Crowds have grown and interest throughout the sports world is vastly different because of Lance.
Did Lance cheat? No. What Lance always did....was have a good team around him. He knew the fast pace guys would dissolve if you ran some more dynamic fast pace guys against them.....so Lance kinda rigged his team with guys who ran "hot" at the first couple of races...and made the fast guys waste energy and lose time as the days went by. As the mountains came up, this was Lance's passion and sprint point. He took advantage of the mountains and the team around him.
This entire race is about endurance....for days of endurance. A guy who burns himself out on the first five days.....will not finish in the top of the group at the end.
So I expect Lance to do the same thing again....stay back in the first couple of races....then come on strong in the mountain region.
The doping testers? They will be furious and try to test Lance every single day. Eventually, Lance is going to pull out his manly stuff in public and start filling the urine cup in front of the French cameras. Then the other racers will do the same thing. Eventually....all of the racers will offer up a cup of urine to the testers even when they weren't requested.
It may be Lance's last race, but I suspect it will be the best one to watch.
The Palin Plan?
So as of 26 July, Governor Palin is finished, and leaves office to the Lt Governor.
Shocking?
The likely plan? Senator Lisa Murkowski is supposed to be the winner of the November 2010 Senate run in Alaska. For those who haven't heard of Senator Lisa.....she's a Republican, who gives 1-star speeches, and her legend is based on being appointed in 2002 by her dad (the old senator who left the office and ran to become governor). Dad, for those who didn't grasp it....ran into issues and Governor Palin ended up replacing him (yeah, accusations of corruption were a factor).
My belief is that Palin wants a couple of months to develop a strategy and then run against Lisa Murkowski (starting in January). She doesn't want the governor's office detracting from this run.
Senator Lisa Murkowski will likely be beaten in the primary and without any major democratic player....Palin walks into the US senate in January 2011. Palin has barely a year to get the campaign into fourth gear. The primary is around August of next year.
So what happens in 2012? No, I don't predict Palin running for President. I think she has made up her mind to stick to senator until 2016, and then run for President. This five year period to remake her image as a senator....will likely make the presidential run in 2016 easier.
Adding to this, Lt Gov Sean Parnell (naturally, a Republican) moves up to Governor and runs in 2012 for governor again. When Senator Palin comes up in late 2015 to resign her senate position to make the full run for President....Parnell gets to "pick" the replacement....and I'm betting that some guy is sitting somewhere in Anchorage tonight, drinking heavily, and smiling because January 2016 is his magic moment to become a senator. This is a scripted episode.
The new Republican runner in 2012 for president? It just a bit difficult to forecast now.
Shocking?
The likely plan? Senator Lisa Murkowski is supposed to be the winner of the November 2010 Senate run in Alaska. For those who haven't heard of Senator Lisa.....she's a Republican, who gives 1-star speeches, and her legend is based on being appointed in 2002 by her dad (the old senator who left the office and ran to become governor). Dad, for those who didn't grasp it....ran into issues and Governor Palin ended up replacing him (yeah, accusations of corruption were a factor).
My belief is that Palin wants a couple of months to develop a strategy and then run against Lisa Murkowski (starting in January). She doesn't want the governor's office detracting from this run.
Senator Lisa Murkowski will likely be beaten in the primary and without any major democratic player....Palin walks into the US senate in January 2011. Palin has barely a year to get the campaign into fourth gear. The primary is around August of next year.
So what happens in 2012? No, I don't predict Palin running for President. I think she has made up her mind to stick to senator until 2016, and then run for President. This five year period to remake her image as a senator....will likely make the presidential run in 2016 easier.
Adding to this, Lt Gov Sean Parnell (naturally, a Republican) moves up to Governor and runs in 2012 for governor again. When Senator Palin comes up in late 2015 to resign her senate position to make the full run for President....Parnell gets to "pick" the replacement....and I'm betting that some guy is sitting somewhere in Anchorage tonight, drinking heavily, and smiling because January 2016 is his magic moment to become a senator. This is a scripted episode.
The new Republican runner in 2012 for president? It just a bit difficult to forecast now.
Another Ramstein Construction Project?
So an interesting story in Stars and Stripes this past week. The Landstuhl Medical Facility is pretty old and supposed to be replaced/upgraded. The boys went out and got $400 million to build this new mega center.....to start by fall of 2010. Half the buildings on Landstuhl.....would end up being torn down.
Somewhere along the way, the Ramstein medical staff....a much smaller group....went out and also acquired funding to build an entire new clinic (just forget that they’ve rehab’ed the old clinic three times in fourteen years....pouring in a million or two each time).
Someone in the medical chain of budget money figured this out and suddenly asked.....why couldn’t they just build one center....on Ramstein....a mega med center? Shocking....I realize.
There are huge implications here.
First, the only place on Ramstein that could handle massive construction like this....is the far side of the runway, which has at least a thousand acres of property.
Second, there is this issue of gate entry....which both gates on Ramstein are kinda max’ed right now. So there would have to be a waiver done to get a third major gate. The Germans have been hoping on a gate near the autobahn....so you could drive right off and enter easily. The site they keep mentioning is near Kindsbach.
Third, there is the base support structure. The AF really doesn’t like this type increased structure because they get stuck with engineering and support.
Fourth, there is the housing on Landstuhl currently....which won’t be replaced...and they’d have to keep it operational. The same is true with the Fischer House, and at least five or six support buildings. So a fair part of the Landstuhl hilltop would stay operational and require guard services.
Fifth, the traffic on Ramstein would drastically increase....which makes it questionable if they could absorb that problem or fix the issue.
Sixth? The plus of having the BX and the hotel right there....is a huge benefit for GI’s who fly in and need some comforts...which they don’t currently have at Landstuhl and the main hospital. A guy gets into an accident in Iraq....needs some minor surgery....gets to Landstuhl, and then discovers that it’s pretty boring sitting around hospital and the hill.
Who is for this and against it? I suspect that the local political figures are peppy about this idea of consolidating on Ramstein and a potential new gate off the autobahn that might come with the deal. The air force is likely negative....not wanting to support 2,500 more folks on the base and the cost of general support like security and engineering. The med group on the hill likely sees some negatives out of this because housing will stay on the hill for another decade or two. The med group on Ramstein is kicking itself because they will have to share the new facility built and it won’t be their design in the end.
My guess? It gets built on Ramstein eventually....but it won’t be done until 2016. Toss in a two-year delay because of construction corruption.
Somewhere along the way, the Ramstein medical staff....a much smaller group....went out and also acquired funding to build an entire new clinic (just forget that they’ve rehab’ed the old clinic three times in fourteen years....pouring in a million or two each time).
Someone in the medical chain of budget money figured this out and suddenly asked.....why couldn’t they just build one center....on Ramstein....a mega med center? Shocking....I realize.
There are huge implications here.
First, the only place on Ramstein that could handle massive construction like this....is the far side of the runway, which has at least a thousand acres of property.
Second, there is this issue of gate entry....which both gates on Ramstein are kinda max’ed right now. So there would have to be a waiver done to get a third major gate. The Germans have been hoping on a gate near the autobahn....so you could drive right off and enter easily. The site they keep mentioning is near Kindsbach.
Third, there is the base support structure. The AF really doesn’t like this type increased structure because they get stuck with engineering and support.
Fourth, there is the housing on Landstuhl currently....which won’t be replaced...and they’d have to keep it operational. The same is true with the Fischer House, and at least five or six support buildings. So a fair part of the Landstuhl hilltop would stay operational and require guard services.
Fifth, the traffic on Ramstein would drastically increase....which makes it questionable if they could absorb that problem or fix the issue.
Sixth? The plus of having the BX and the hotel right there....is a huge benefit for GI’s who fly in and need some comforts...which they don’t currently have at Landstuhl and the main hospital. A guy gets into an accident in Iraq....needs some minor surgery....gets to Landstuhl, and then discovers that it’s pretty boring sitting around hospital and the hill.
Who is for this and against it? I suspect that the local political figures are peppy about this idea of consolidating on Ramstein and a potential new gate off the autobahn that might come with the deal. The air force is likely negative....not wanting to support 2,500 more folks on the base and the cost of general support like security and engineering. The med group on the hill likely sees some negatives out of this because housing will stay on the hill for another decade or two. The med group on Ramstein is kicking itself because they will have to share the new facility built and it won’t be their design in the end.
My guess? It gets built on Ramstein eventually....but it won’t be done until 2016. Toss in a two-year delay because of construction corruption.
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