Monday Minutes

1. Interesting how the President chose to be elsewhere as so many Americans turned up on his door step to protest his plans (or lack there of) for health care reform. Attempts to sabotage and minimize the tea party protest seem to have fallen flat.
   
   Cool time lapse of aerial photos.
   
   This quote from the first article suggests that somebody is a) not doing their job or b) lying through their teeth, "The White House on Friday claimed it was unaware of the planned rally. 'I don't know who the group is,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters with a shrug."


2. ACORN has been caught, on tape, not once, not twice, but THRICE, trying to help people posing as a prostitute and her pimp set up a brothel (for underage girls no less) and evade the law. How many tapes have they got and when is ACORN going to be raided by the feds?


3. This headline gets it a little bit wrong (from my perspective anyway), China: U.S. tire tariff sends "wrong signal" to world. Forget the world, it sends the wrong signal to Americans. My first thoughts upon hearing this were, is this what our President was up to while we were busy with somber remembrances? The decision was made in the evening on 9/11/09. My seconds thoughts were, any American who needs to buy tires just got jacked. My third thoughts were, any American businesses that have ties to tire manufacturing in China just got jacked. My fourth thoughts were, I hope it was worth it to the unions who supported this move that takes more money out of the pockets of Americans. My fifth thoughts, how does this help people who have lost their jobs?
   

   According to a Los Angeles Times report Saturday, within 15 days, the U.S. would add a duty of 35 percent in the first year, 30 percent in the second and 25 percent in the third on passenger vehicle and light-truck tires from China.
   
   Four U.S. companies have businesses in tire production in China and they account for two thirds of exports to the U.S., and the tariffs will have a direct impact on these companies, the MOC said.
   
   The increased tariffs would also raise tire prices for U.S. consumers, which would further weaken the government efforts to revitalize the auto industry. Some consumers may even consider postponing replacing old tires, creating concern for safety, according to the MOC.



4. Dude this is not how you want to get your 15 minutes of fame. Viacom is rather draconian in their pursuit of copyright infringement so who knows how long that will be good for. If you don't know by now West interrupted Taylor Swift before she could give her acceptance speech to declare that Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. Just crass.
   
   Kanye "Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" West needs to take a seat at the back of the class and write 100 times, "I will not open my big mouth and subject people to my self centered foolishness." Beyonce's classy response of foregoing an acceptance speech so Taylor could complete hers has earned her quite a bit of respect everywhere.


5. I sure wish the Pres would stop giving press conferences and speeches (he's on television as I type) and, you know, maybe write some legislation or nominate some people to fill the vacant positions in his administration or something.