The Ball Is in The Trucker's Court

I have said before that I am neither pro nor anti union. If joining a labor organization resulted in substantially raising my income, well then, sign me up. If not, I'm don't intend to have union dues deducted for nothing. That would be stupid. On the flip side, if I were a business owner/manager and there was a rabble rouser stirring the union pot then they would be out the door. No one is immune from making a job related mistake and at first opportunity the union "organizer" type would be pounding the pavement for other employment.

Does the trucking business need to be organized? A case can certainly be made for some. At this time there is way more freight than there are truckers to haul it. In the chemical trucking industry (which I am most familiar with), it has come to the point where the operations department of major chemical carriers can pick and chose their liquid freight. What a switch from a few short years back. The ball is in the trucking company's court, which is to say that it is in the trucker's court. Most truckers however will sit back and do nothing but bitch when their employer raises the rates on the freight hauled without passing along a pay increase to the guys doing the actual work. They (the company) plays the shell game and tries to keep the rate increase a secret (the word always gets out) and the truckers all get hot under the collar and raise hell, usually to no avail.

I certainly have a few suggestions that I don't have time for right now (perhaps this weekend) for the average trucker (company hand and "lease" operator) to get a bigger slice of the pie.

Stay tuned.

The Bartender Cabbie Immigration Reform Plan - The Time Is Now

The Boston Bombers are now out of business. It ended about as expected although it is somewhat surprising (and beneficial) perhaps that one is still "clinging to life." Possibly some things can be learned from him before his execution. One has to wonder what the nation has learned from yet another act of Mohammedan terror on our soil. Probably nothing. The powers that be in government, "education," and what passes for the media these days, are likely still afraid to call a spade a spade. Hard to fathom.

I have spoken at length on the sure fire way to end (or at least greatly reduce) the problem of illegal "immigration," rampant cross border drug smuggling, and perhaps even religious/political terrorist groups making their way into the United States proper. Namely that would be to close the southern border to all but legitimate business and tourist traffic. Seems like good commons sense and not, as the fruitloops among us say, racist. Or perhaps it is a bit racist and insensitive. Does that really matter?

We should also take a good hard look at some of those here on student visas. Would it make sense to send those that are here from unfriendly regions of the world packing? Probably so. Sales of air freshener may drop on college campuses but that that is a price we will just have to find someway to pay.

Is it "racist" and "intolerant" to point out the obvious? I'm sure of it. Just ask any punk ass liberal arts type college "professor."

Down To Two

The NCAA Basketball tournament is now down to two teams. Louisville will have to play a better game than they did last night to gain the crown and I think they will. It has been a fun and interesting basketball post season.

Incidentally, Louisville has the most successful sports program around of late. The "major" sporting teams are quality programs. The men will play for all the marbles, the women are in the final four, and who can forget the beat down that the Cardinals put on the Gators in the Sugar Bowl.
I predicted the outcome of that one. After watching Florida numerous times during the season I came to the conclusion early on that it was them and not the Cardinals who did not belong in the Sugar.

How Hard Would It Be to Screw Lil Kim?

There is a lot in the news lately concerning the rogue state of North Korea and the obviously psychotic personage that is supposedly leading that sad land. The heated rhetoric that has of late been forthcoming out of Pyongyang is, in all likelihood, more of the same that we have heard for years. Probably nothing to get all excited about. Or is it?

The United States is taking the rhetoric at least somewhat seriously. Guided missile destroyers have deployed (and are deploying) to the waters of the region. Anti missile batteries have reported to have been deployed forward to Guam and there are reports of the same manned and on duty on the Hawaiian Islands and parts of Alaska. Could it be that our "intelligence community" really has very little idea of the real capabilities of North Korean rocket forces? That would not be surprising.

Discounting the unlikely missile launch against the United States or her possessions, what would a modern conventional war on the Korean peninsula look like? Number one, North Korea has a massive amount of artillery and would fairly quickly be able to make Seoul look so much like Stalingrad. We probably would not be able to stop the destruction without the timely use of certain weaponry. There would be a massive human wave offensive southward, which would most likely bog down rather soon as modern arms made short work of the North's command and control structure. Still the North will make progress and the war would have the potential to be very bloody.

In short, the North's meager naval forces would be swept from the seas within hours as with her air assets.  Her ground offensive would be stalled and fall apart within days with hostilities ceasing within a couple of weeks. In the meantime there would be many thousands of people killed and it would be a conflict quite different from the conventional battles with the Iraqi army. The North Korean soldier may (or may not) be inclined to fight to the death in contrast to most (but not all) Iraqi conventional troops who were satisfied with token resistance and surrender. Of course the conflict could drag on for a very long time. It is possible that Red China may even be dragged into the fracas. There are no guarantees in war. A dangerous situation.....

How could the U.S. end the war decisively and quickly with as few friendly casualties as possible? The easy answer would be tactical nuclear weapons to halt the North's offensive in its' tracks. Then selected targets in the North could be degraded in the same fashion with the same weaponry. The political dangers to such action may be too great for the Obama administration to risk however. With a potential enemy just to the north of North Korea and our Japanese allies nearby, (not to mention the whole of South Korea), it might not make political sense to resort to very limited nuclear war on the peninsula. It is a double edged sword and a conundrum and likely one that Lil' Kim is quite aware of.

How easy would it be to limit casualties, end the war quickly, and at the same time screw Lil' Kim? Due to the aforementioned geo political considerations it might not be as easy as one may think. Oh. You were thinking of another Lil' Kim perhaps? I'm pretty sure screwing that one would be rather easy. There may be a line or waiting list of some sort. Personally I can't see why that would be the case..........I guess some people have a strong stomach.