the bedside table

a confederacy of dunces

i have an affliction - i must finish any book i start.  this affliction gave me great pains for the first 50 - 75 pages of this book.  i did not like any of the characters, was not engaged in the plot, and foresaw a slow creep towards either a library due date or page 338.  fortunately, as i plodded along, something in the book drew me in.

this book was suggested to me, multiple times, by a pal of mine.  it has many accolades from those who matter, all prominently displayed on its jacket.  the book is a comedy, which is one reason i think it did not work well for me.  my comedic tastes do not translate well to the written page.  other highly recommended comedy books have met with indifference from me.  there is only one book that has caused me to actually laugh and one other that i genuinely find mildly amusing.  if you enjoy literary comedy, go read this book!  

the situations are genuinely funny - to someone with an actual sense of humor - and the book has a definite charm and appeal.  i'm sure most of you are more sophisticated than i, so i can easily recommend the book to all y'all.  if you find yourself struggling to make it through, keep going.  the climax is worth the time and effort to get there (as they usually are).  [you didn't expect me to be able to resist doing a climax link AND a climax joke, did you?  i'm sure you're glad i chose the lesser of two evils.]

An Auto(matic) Response

So many responses to the question I put forth... where should I begin? I guess I shall go through them one by one

Mark said,

In a capitalist society when you put out a good product that sells you are entitled to all the profits. However when your management is so greedy and has it's head in the sand regarding future trends, ie-the price of oil. You deserve shit.

Your point is well taken, and you should keep in mind that the rulers of GM have been from the finance department and not from the engineering department as of the last 40 years. This point should be taken by every business that ultimately is dependent upon innovation... never allow your finance people have more influence than your engineers if you rely upon engineering for your product line.

As for Claire, I am going to paraphrase you in my response. Not only will the public be demoralized if we allow the auto industry to go under, they will be put out of work. And this cannot bode well for any one else in the U.S. if a full 10% of its population is out of work. And I do agree with putting conditions on any assistance, such as: fuel efficiency that stated, and not frivolously suing California over laws that would have made the auto industry competitive today. As for the electric idea, there was the EV-1 that the GM rulers torpedoed because of its cost. Talk about a stupid decision based upon short term thinking. And currently there are plans for the VOLT. Though this is a little too late for the current problems. And lets not forget about the Chrysler Idea of electricity in all vehicles.

And, yes claire, we should all be with-in walking distance of our daily needs. Including work.

As for Timmeh, and his capitalistic approach, does he not see that the system of capitol that is in place is broken? And to allow these companies to fail might further make the whole market system fail beyond a point of recovery. Despite the fact that these financial guys at the head of these companies cannot see daylight because their heads are so far up their asses, does not mean a full 10% of the American population should be put in jeopardy of loosing their jobs. The market is not so free after all. read your Marx. I have, and am feeling like this was completely predictable. And what conditions do you suggest timmeh?

As for -McG-, I cannot argue with the stupidity of taking your most expensive machine to go beg for money. This is yet another reason why the current leaders of these companies should be put to the wayside. Bad decision upon bad decision. I do think that the workers will give up any "extras" they might have gotten over the year for the continuation of the company because they realize that anything they might have gained will be on the chopping block if the company goes under. Unlike the insanely huge bonuses the board got for causing this debacle, they will not return years past money for poor results recognized today. F**king bourgeoisie bastards!

And that last comment leads me right into Jungle Jim. Your brilliance is not surprising Jim. It is the ignorance, or lack of willingness to state an obvious possibility that is surprising from the some of the others. The talk of "free markets" and of "conditions", or "restrictions" only begs the question about social control of the companies. There was a chance of this through government partial ownership, but that has been put to the pasteur by the Southern Republican elite who believe only in keeping the workers wages low and the worker subjugated. Now the ball is in the Bush administrations court, and we have already seen how they have f**ked up everything they have touched... talk about the antithesis of the Midas touch. I fear for a viable American economy in the next 5 years if the auto industry decision is left up to the Bushites.

And as for the last one, yes, I am a bizarre and interesting man. That is why you still talk to me. And the same goes for the rest of you.

I feel that america cannot necessarily afford the loss of this industry. Though. I do feel that if this industry should fall do to the coincidental incompetence of its own leaders and those in the government, this could bode well for future industry, With all of those out of work factories made for car making, what start-up electric car company would not want to take a hold of all of those already outfitted placements? The American auto industries failure after one hundred years of dominance could in fact be the fertilizer for another time of dominance by America in an industry that is integral for all business and industry throughout the world

the bedside table

alpha dogs

i first heard about this book on the daily show.  i must have been drinking, tho, because i am positive it was a female author i saw interviewed.  

do you know all the love and joy that karl rove brought to our political process?  well this book is about that.  it follows the sawyer miller group from its founding to demise.  they worked on multiple political campaigns here and abroad.  they pioneered crazy schemes like focus groups, polling to direct campaigns, and microtargeting.  practices that are common place today.  and they were able to export these practices to fledgling democracies in latin america and asia.  they even won corazon aquino an election.

sounds like a great story?  well parts of it are.  the author is not detailed enough about what they sawyer miller group actually did.  there are interesting recaps of foreign elections, there are allusions to knock down, drag out campaign infighting.  but the book does not go beyond that.  none of the american elections get covered.  (yes, i know that it is about exporting american style politics around the world, but throw me a freaking bone.)  and the author has an annoying habit of referring to the stars of the book as "alpha dogs".  sure, the metaphor is apt, but it gets annoying after the tenth or so time the author ends an anecdote with some variation on, "that's what alpha dogs do."

that being said, it is an engaging story for a politically interested guy like myself.  the windows into the inner workings of a campaign are enlightening.  it took my local library quite some time to get this book.  i think that i would have enjoyed it a lot more had i read it before november 4, 2008.

An Anniversary

Today is important to me. It will forever sit in my memory, not as the day America was forced into WWII, but as the day I went into the hospital for Type 1 diabetes. It was 1981, which means I have been injecting insulin for 27 years now.
When I was that age, I took two types of insulin, now I take three. When I was first diagnosed, the insulin ran $4 a bottle. Now, two of the bottles are $45 each, and the new kind (that requires a prescription, despite the fact that it much safer) costs almost $100 per bottle.
As you read this, keep in mind that I am one of the few Americans who has paid out of pocket for these meds his whole life. I suppose it is the principle of the idea that why should insured people be able to pay dramatically less ($5-$10 per bottle of all three types) than uninsured people. Because of this, I have always chosen to pay out of pocket for the meds that others in the country would have to do the same for, despite the fact that I have had insurance that would pay for it.
For this I say shame on America.