POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Happy New Year’s from POWIP

Thanks to Donald Douglas for including us on his links list.

I hate doing that, because I'm always sure, and always right about it, that I'm going to leave people off the list who deserve to be there. So, I'm just going to say thanks to all the people who've commented or read or linked here in 2010.

I'd also once again like to thank all the wonderful people who've posted here. I don't compliment you often enough, but each and every post, including the ones that I've disagreed with--or maybe especially those--has been worthwhile.

If you're not staying home this evening, be safe on the roads. Wherever you are, have fun.

Son Brendan is off cavorting with his home-town buddies. Mairead is spending the night at a friend's, then jetting off with them to Montana to ski. Aidan takes his meds and goes to bed early. So, this evening it will be just the Monster Woman and I, and the cats.

I'm sorry that I haven't been more entertaining over the holidays, but to tell you the truth, it cheers me up that the other contributors here have been pretty scarce, because it's presumptive evidence that they have lives and that they've got their priorities in order.

I remember that even as recently as 10 years ago, I might still have had an interest in all the year-in-review stuff. I don't anymore, but that doesn't mean I begrudge your interest. I just don't know how to answer it.

Wherever you are, and whatever your aspirations for the upcoming year, I hope you are sensible of your blessings. May the New Year bring you joy, and love, and healing (should you need it), and whatever you view as prosperity.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Rahm’s Tenant Speaks Out

Via Tom Bennett, an email from Rob Halpin, the guy who's been renting Rahm's house, first published at Chicago's The May Report:

Thanks for your support. I am Rahm's tenant. You can check my interview yesterday on the WGN Radio web site or the Tribune web site. The fact that he converted his house to an investment property, and, therefore, was not a resident, would even be a question mark in the eyes of the courts is unbelievable. Illinois has a reputation that is less then stellar, to say the least. The Illinois Supreme Court has a simple job to perform. Let's see if it tries to restore character to a state that has lost all of its credibility around the country. If he was the resident, then I am a trespasser.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Curmudgeon. Dudgeon. Bludgeon.

John Lennon's flaccid, hung-over paean to inanity is back in the news:

Taio Cruz, an up-and-coming British singer, will ring in 2011 by singing John Lennon's "Imagine" live for the first time ever in the Times Square celebration tonight. The performance is being promoted heavily, and Mr. Cruz has promised he will not jazz up "such a classic song" because it is beloved by so many.

Which raises a perplexing question: Why has "Imagine" achieved the status of a secular hymn? Most Americans prefer their classics to be uplifting, but the theme of "Imagine" is sad and depressing, starting with the very first verse:

"Imagine there's no heaven

"It's easy if you try

"No hell below us

"Above us only sky

"Imagine all the people

"Living for today."

Atheists have embraced the song as their own, a popular topic on their blogs. In fact, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the most prominent American atheist organization, waged a national billboard campaign in 2009 featuring the Lennon-inspired words "Imagine No Religion" on a stained-glass window.

But 92 percent of Americans believe in God, according to a recent Gallup poll, and "Imagine" seems to resonate with many of them as well. Otherwise it wouldn't be featured on ABC's Dick Clark special on New Year's Eve. And Rolling Stone wouldn't have named it the third-greatest song of all time, outranking all 23 Beatles songs on the list of 500.

Putting aside all the well-hashed "Imagine there's no hippies/libruls/whatever" rejoinders, what are we to make of this, apart from more evidence that The Rolling Stone should have died before it got old?

While snow-bound Mayor cum nanny Michael Bloomberg colludes with badly disguised Islamists to place a "civic center" partly paid for with reconstruction funds near Ground Zero--Islamists who have the temerity to name their project for Cordoba--we're supposed not to understand the symbolic valence of this musical celebration of secularism? A half year after an Islamist tried to wreak carnage on Times Square, almost making good his escape to Dubai?

Bite me.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Whipped Cream (Dating Game Theme)

Bachelor number two, what does the Constitution mean to you?

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Today is Kill Truck’s birthday?

Why wasn't I told? Who's responsible for this oversight?

I'm looking for the ass I should kick!

Karl Bade's fave 2010 pop songs.

But I have better news . . . better news I tell you! . . . that you will only know if you keep tuning in to POWIP.

Assault with a diddly weapon?

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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New York’s Snowmageddon a Union Blackmail Opportunity, and We’re Number One!

Why should we do our jobs, when we're not given what we want?

The snow-removal snitches said they were told to keep their plows off most streets and to wait for orders before attacking the accumulating piles of snow.

They said crews normally would have been more aggressive in combating a fierce, fast-moving blizzard like the one that barreled in on Sunday and blew out the next morning.

The workers said the work slowdown was the result of growing hostility between the mayor and the workers responsible for clearing the snow.

In the last two years, the agency's workforce has been slashed by 400 trash haulers and supervisors -- down from 6,300 -- because of the city's budget crisis. And, effective tomorrow, 100 department supervisors are to be demoted and their salaries slashed as an added cost-saving move.

To hell with ambulances, firetrucks and taxpayers. We know there's more money. There's always more money. And that money is ours.

I'm pretty sure heads are going to roll when Chris Christieclaus gets ho ho home. What will Bloomberg do?

Pretty sure he won't privatize the City's snow removal.

UPDATE: Cubachi's on the same page.

I wanna wake up (later) in a city that never pukes!
And grab a beer from the fridge!
Start up again!
Hair of the dog!
These sobertown blues are melting away!

Big Hollywoods list of best pop songs of the year, 25-11.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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My Choice For Ambassador To Venezuela

So, Hugo doesn't like Obama's choice for Ambassador to Venezuela?  I probably wouldn't like him either, but that's not the point.  Rather than expel their ambassador, I suggest we arrest him and revoke his immunity.

After that, we'll send our new ambassador to Venezuela.

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.

Do They Care?

I just saw a headline on foxnews.com that made me chuckle.  I'm not going to bother linking to the actual headline, as it doesn't really matter.

Expert: Airlines Don't Care About Us

The whole idea that business should care about "us" makes me laugh, but I get the complaint from many a liberal.  I'm sorry, but businesses shouldn't care about me.  I don't expect them to, because doing so would compromise their mission.  The corporate mission is not to provide a service, a job, or save the environment.  Sure, these are nice benefits of our capitalist system, and in reality are the very reason our system is better than any that has yet been tried.

No, Airlines don't care about us.  Neither do "restaurants" or "auto companies."  They care about providing a product or service people want to buy, but it's all for the end result of profit rather than service or altruism.  The beauty of our system is it forces the most greedy among us to come up with something the masses want at a price they are willing to pay in order to get rich.

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.

I Hate Determinists

What determinism means in practice is that one never has to make hard choices.

However, there is a major problem with the “emerging Democratic majority” thesis that Jay adresses only obliquely. Those propagating or buying this thesis rely heavily on demographics because they are at least somewhat predictable. Yet discussions of realignment frequently leave out the role of historical events.

Eff 'em, Bucky.

Inevitable moments in socialized health care:

It remains unclear if the man would have been able to keep his penis had the cancer been detected sooner.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Flocking Stupid Manatees Disregard Threat of Nuclear Power

Via CNS:

Manatees -- those giant aquatic mammals with the flat, paddle-shaped tails -- are swimming out of the chilly Gulf of Mexico waters and into warmer springs and power plant discharge canals. On Tuesday, more than 300 manatees floated in the outflow of Tampa Electric's Big Bend Power Station.

"It's like a warm bathtub for them," said Wendy Anastasiou, an environmental specialist at the power station's manatee viewing center. "They come in here and hang out and loll around."

LOLL.

Correction: Via Twitter, @wjwaldron informs me that it's a coal-fired plant. More fossil fuel plants for the manatees!

Yet another (presumably) Muslim murders woman for (allegedly) attacking him.

Authorities say a man already on probation has admitted killing a woman whose body was found in a suitcase on a New York City street. He claimed she attacked him first.

Hassan Malik was held without bail after his arraignment Tuesday on a murder charge.

Police say a passer-by found 28-year-old Betty Williams' body in a suitcase Wednesday in East Harlem.

A court complaint says Malik told police he returned to his apartment to find Williams dead. The papers say Malik said he choked Williams with an electric cord after she wound it around his neck and hit him with a frying pan.

Prosecutors say forensic evidence will contradict him.

Same thing that happened to that poor Bridges Network fellow in Buffalo.

Marty Peretz has friends who are Muslim and/or black, and some of them are smart.

Donald Douglas' gaster has been flabbered by the leftist cognitive dissonance regarding Julian Assange.

Every dog has its day, dawg.

Universal genius cum wrestler continues collection of meaningless certificates, scamming.

No Sheeples' Christmas hangover edition, and my antidote at Right Network.

Mordor and the Cathedral: Will the ACLU not rid us of these turbulent priests?

Chicago's political cosa nostra doesn't need any input from the likes of you, Clinton and Obama.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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