Friday, January 30, 2009

Shirtsleeves Messiah...

We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK... That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.” -Barry O.
It looks like by "We", he actually meant "You little people".

At least when Jimmy Carter was telling us to tighten our collective belt, he had the common courtesy to put on a sweater and turn down his own thermostat.

I'll bet you that old house is expensive to heat, too. Of course, since you're paying for it with other people's money, who cares how much it costs, right?

18 comments:

  1. F*ck other countries. This is America.

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  2. *crosses arms and stares at the f*cking 52s*

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  3. Yep. I've argued this point to other Connecticut residents. I'd like to see the thermostat set-points in government buildings, because I talk to the HVAC subcontractors, and it appears that there's a good deal of hypocrisy coming from the "carbon footprint" crowd in the public sector.

    Me? I now have a modern furnace that is more efficient because it waits longer to come on, and runs hotter when it does. So my house is typically 62-64 degrees.

    I withhold further comments due to the potential occurrence of objectionable language.

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  4. Expensive to heat - does it even have argon-gas double glazing? To demonstrate their (imaginary) serious and real commitment to Greenstyle Life they should festoon the roof with a bunch of goddam solar-water-heater collectors and electro-photocells, pipe the gutters to recover rain water in smelly barrels, dig up the lawn and plant an organic garden - and drive a Persidential Priapus.

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  5. Oh.

    I do think a minor adjustment in lifestyle is needed, for those Americans who have been living above their means, and financing the difference by borrowing heavily. Household debt in USA is over 100% of the (artificially inflated) GDP.

    It's pretty hard to run up 12 trillion dollar debt. (12 x 10^12 $)

    http://bp3.blogger.com/_odwu_bJENb8/SFLW_U3KzzI/AAAAAAAAAyg/abgjMw-ISuQ/s1600-h/Household+debt.jpg

    The ratio of household debt to GDP is at least 10 times compared to where I live(near CZ-UB).

    No one can expect others to continue lending them money, especially, if a) the interest rates are so low, and b) inflation makes lending money a loser's game ..

    Frankly, I'm surprised he even said that. I hope he knows what he's doing. Being the target of a wrath of tens of millions of people forced to re-adjust their standards of living isn't exactly what politcritters crave.

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  6. Article also says he's supped on Kobe Beef to celebrate his mono-partisan House victory.

    Honestly I could care less about that, But I am curious.

    Tam, o' Expert of 1911s and Moo-Cow

    Have you ever had Kobe, and is it worth it?

    WV: SOCOM (cool!)

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  7. He has the moral right to say that because he went out of his way to save money on his coronation.

    Yes, indeedy.

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  8. ...and drive a Persidential Priapus.

    That's Prius...

    Priapus is a little, uh... different...

    Unless of course you did that on purpose.

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  9. Beard--

    If I may take the liberty of responding, I had Kobe beef in a restaurant in Sasebo Japan...I had a better steak recently from Kroger's...Black Angus, grilled medium rare...yum...

    Methinks boasting about having Kobe beef is an elitist thing...of the "me better than you" variety...

    But then, it could have just been the Japanese cook didn't understand grilling...from the people who invented one of the most popular charcoal grills; yeah, right.

    Old Squid

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  10. "Do as I say, not as I do."

    Is anyone honestly surprised by this?

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  11. Linoge - not me.

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  12. Y.T.: You are right ... we can't expect others to keep loaning us money.

    We need a far right government to start a department of foreign revenue ... and make them "loan" us more money.

    "Nice city you got there ... it'd be a shame if a nuke went off over it ..."

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  13. Of course I did it on purpose. ;-)

    Kobe beef isn't what it used to be, now it comes from USA and from Australia - I had it once back in '65 in Japan and it was absolutely mouth melting divine succulence - the tender breast of Cherubs filleted on a flaming grill.
    I had some American "Kobe" about a year ago and it might as well have been Safeway-Select.
    I suppose now instead of drinking Sapporo beer and Sake it's Budweiser and Gallo, and instead of massages they get a vibrating fence-post from Sharper-Image.

    Sorry kids, like old S&W checkering and Colt's fantastic flame blue finish, maybe it aint' coming back.

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  14. If my 110 year old box has been a bear to heat, even with stuffing blown into the walls and rafters, I wonder how rough that badly uninsulated 200 year old one must be.

    Probably can catch a draft off of the spinner on the gas meter, and use the electric meter's disk as a deli slicer in the summer with the a/c. What the heck, it's Tam's money, not Luce Veritas', so who cares?

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  15. I saw where a guy commented the other day that there's plenty of money in the Stimulus for insulating old houses, the White House was done in 1800, Truman lived in Blair House last time the building was renovated, so all we need to do is evict the royal family until the contractors are done, and let the Puerto Rican separatists know the address.

    I thought that was a little strong.

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  16. kbarrett:

    "Nice city you got there ... it'd be a shame if a nuke went off over it ..."

    There's an interesting essay over here you might find fits right in with your plan.

    There's even a really cool T-shirt to go with it.

    BoxStockRacer

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  17. [quote]
    We need a far right government to start a department of foreign revenue ... and make them "loan" us more money.
    [/quote]

    A pessimists's prediction is, that it'll all go on for some time. Then there'll be very high inflation, and after two years of that the US would be without any real debt at all.

    The Chinese, Japanese, and all the assorted suckers who loaned you money would be mightily irked. Perhaps they'll then try re-possessing remote parts of the USA.. such as Alaska, or Hawaii.
    Quite possible that US naval power won't be so pre-eminent then, as the Chinese both have plenty of good engineers, and keep stealing technologies left and right..

    [quote]
    There's an interesting essay over here you might find fits right in with your plan.
    [/quote]
    Unrealistic. ICBMs can't even attain geostationary orbit. USA'd have to actually manfacture hundreds of big solid fueled rockets to do so.

    That would drive the price of nitrocelluose right through the roof. Ammo would be expensive, gun nuts would storm Washington D.C. and it'd all be over :)

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