Read this article about a new Russia-Nigerian gas company named (I kid you not!) Nigaz.

Other marketing blunders (I’m sure there are several others):

• Nova (a Chevy) means “does not go” in Spanish
• Vista (Microsoft) means “frumpy woman” in the country of Latvia
• Irish Mist (alcoholic drink), Mist Stick (curling iron from Clairol), and Silver Mist (Rolls Royce)—Mist means dung/manure in German
• Zyklon Sneakers (Umbro)—Zyklon was name of gas used by Nazi regime to murder Jews in concentration camps
• • Honda Fitta (car)—Fitta is an old, vulgar word for women’s genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish

And the snickers and laughter heard round the world.

Find out how your representatives voted here (you shall know their names) and here is what they voted for (HR2454). 

For: 219
Democrat: 211
Republican:  8

Against: 212
Democrat:  44
Republican:  168

Which Republicans sold you out:
Reichert-Washington
Bono-California
Castle-Delaware
Kirk-Illinois
Lance-New Jersey
LoBiondo-New Jersey
McHugh-New York
Smith-New Jersey

And let’s not forget the sane Democrats who voted against the bill:
Altmire-Pennsylvania
Arcuri-New York
Barrow-Georgia
Berry-Arkansas
Boren-Oklahoma
Bright-Alabama
Carney-Pennsylvania
Childers-Mississippi
Costa-California
Costello-Illinois
Dahlkemper-Pennsylvania
Davis-Alabama
Davis-Tennessee
DeFazio-Oregon
Donnelly-Indiana
Edwards-Texas
Ellsworth-Indiana
Foster-Illinois
Griffith-Alabama
Herseth Sandlin-South Dakota
Holden-Pennsylvania
Kirkpatrick-Arizona
Kissell-North Carolina
Kucinich-Ohio
Marshall-Georgia
Massa-New York
Matheson-Utah
McIntyre-North Carolina
Melancon-Louisiana
Minnick-Idaho (I da ho, you da ho…sorry, couldn’t help myself)
Mitchell-Arizona
Mollohan-West Virginia
Ortiz-Texas
Pomeroy-North Dakota
Rahall-West Virginia
Rodriguez-Texas
Ross-Arkansas
Salazar-Colorado
Stark-California
Tanner-Tennessee
Taylor-Mississippi
Visclosky-Indiana
Wilson-Ohio

Now that it goes to the Senate, if you haven’t already contact them, get to it.

New York Times reports on a Veteran Affiars hospital that had over 79% error rate for one type of prostate cancer treatment.  That is, the hospiatl botched the treatment 92 in 116 tries.  In addition to the botched treatments…

“The team continued implants for a year even though the equipment that measured whether patients received the proper radiation dose was broken. The radiation safety committee at the Veterans Affairs hospital knew of this problem but took no action, records show.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (who I understand is THE authority for radiation treatment) was one agency who was supposed to oversee the radiation treatments.  Maybe the government can set up a new agency to protect us from itself.

Obama gave a speech today touting a “new beginning” (I don’t even want to know what that means) to the Muslim World.  It was, as usual, a great speech.  Understanding.  Mutual respect.  Freedom of religion.  Women’s rights.  Good stuff.  I was fine until this part: “Summit on Entrepreneurship.”  That’s where my eyeballs started to bleed. I began to wonder why Obama is such a fan of Entrepreneurship in the Muslim world.  Maybe he believes it’s a uniquely Muslim phenomenon.

Make no mistake.  The Government has staged a hostile takeover of three major facets of our nation’s economy:

First, our financial sector is already firmly in Government’s hands.

Second, our manufacturing and energy sector is on its way.  How?  Let me connect the dots:

• Government Bails out GM and Chrysler.–CHECK
• Government asks GM CEO (employee of GM for 30 years) to step down.–CHECK
• Government converts its GM and Chrysler assets into Preferred Stock (which means it has voting rights…it didn’t have to do that, it could have just issued bonds)–CHECK
• Government owns over half the voting rights of GM and Chrysler–CHECK
• THEN the Government send them into Bankruptcy (couldn’t have done that BEFORE owning them, that would be CRAZY).
• Government creates a brand new division of GM to build little munchkin cars that noone (currently) wants to buy.–CHECK
• Government Motors then decides to spin off Hummer, the most gas-guzzling of the gas guzzling cars to another company–in China–for a profit–CHECK.
• Government then begins pushing HARD an “energy” plan which would (by Obama’s own admission) drive gas prices WAY up–COMING SOON
• The people of the United States like good citizens are then encouraged even more (through EXTRA tax incentives on top of the ones that are already in place) to buy the little piece of junk munchkin cars–call it “The People’s Car”–because they can’t afford a gallon of fricking gasoline–GOD HELP US ALL.

Result? Federal Government has taken over the energy industry and a huge chunk of the manufacturing sector–which narrows down further the ability for anyone to compete with the Government, therefore ENTREPRENEURSHIP in the energy and manufacturing sector goes away.  Noone can find a decent job that doesn’t involve dealing with the Federal Government.  And guess what…at the Government’s OWN admission, carbon emissions planet-wide doesn’t go down ONE BIT for decades…DECADES.

Next is Health Care:

• Government spends $19 billion on creating a system where doctors (many who are entrepreneurs) are bribed into putting their patients’ medical information on a DHHS managed database.–CHECK
• Government creates a “Nationwide Exchange” where people can compare plans…all of which will be forced to accept pre-existing conditions without exclusions.
• The private plans on the “Exchange” become too expensive, because (as happened in NY and other states) guaranteed issue results in noone buying insurance until they desperately need it…for a “pre-existing” condition.
• Government steps in to fix this “crisis” by creating a “Public Option” where tax-subsidized plan options are made available to compete with private plans…Those who can’t afford it are given a “hardship exemption” so they get it for free. (OH, and by they way, now it’s against the law NOT to get ANY coverage)
• Doctors (small business owners) who have stopped accepting coverage from Medicare and Medicaid will now be forced by law to do so, along with accepting “Public Option” patients.
• Finally, it becomes against the law to pay cash for medical treatment, because the DHHS can’t control it, so for “safety reasons” all transactions will be made through Government insurance coverage or maybe one or two (”bailed out”) insurance companies who will provide benefits to a few Government-owned companies in the Financial, Manufacturing, or Energy/Utilities sectors.

The result? The Federal Government has destroyed any aspect of Entrepreneurship in the Health Care sector and instead has full operational and informational control over your health care through the handy dandy DHHS database.  So whether you’re covered by a DHHS “public option” or benefits through a company (which will likely be owned by the Federal Government), your health care will be finely controlled by Bureaucrats in the Department of Labor and the DHHS.

Why am I telling you all of this?  What can we do?  They ignored us on the Financial sector, they’ve been ignoring and are continuing to ignore us on Manufacturing and Energy.  They will ignore us on Health Care as well.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that the only option left is for 37 states to call for another Constitutional Convention to create an amendment to clarify the tenth one.

But if that seems to extreme, at least understand this.  If we don’t act locally, starting RIGHT NOW…

Next is housing and education.  Then it’s all over…

That is the premise of traffic cameras, right?  The Daily Advertiser reports new SafeLight at several Lafayette intersections.  The cameras basically “take photos of vehicles that appear to be speeding or running the red light.”

Ok…key word here is “appear”, effectively admitting to the fact that such photos are no proof at all.  The Lafayette Consolodated Government further states that the cameras attempt to take two pictures 1)when the light is red and the car is headed for intersection and 2) when the light is red and the car is in the intersection “and did not try to stop.” Pause for a moment.  So, running a red is not enough to prove guilt, otherwise only one photo is necessary.  Apparently, guilt occurs when running a red light without trying to stop?  So, the cameras can deduce the acceleration of cars?  Hmmm…interesting.  Don’t buy it, but then again…what choice is there?  Come on you cajuns, change the law.

On a similar note…hat tip to Political Gumbo who reports that Obama wants to further the premise so popular with the use of traffic cams:  guilty until proven innocent:

Obama also planned to ask Congress to crack down on tax havens and implement a major shift in the way courts view guilt. Under Obama’s proposal, Americans would have to prove they were not breaking U.S. tax laws by sending money to banks that don’t cooperate with tax officials. It essentially would reverse the long-held assumption of innocence in U.S. courts.

Too many things happening now which don’t seem to be real.  Let’s not become numb with disbelief and paralyzed by inaction.

While this doesn’t surprise me, here is an older story of Cuba burning books, periodicals and any other items that are contrary.  But hey, at least they have free health care.

I’m all for equal opportunity, but what is the price of equal outcome?  Freedom of choice?

Another useless headline from the Washington Post:

“Obama Promises US will Seek to Avoid Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan”

Really?  You mean the US doesn’t want to harm civilians?  Who wouldn’t believe this?  The headline should have been:

“Terrorists Man-made Disaster¹ Makers Continue Use of Human Shields”

1.  Please see item #34 of 100 mistakes in 100 days.

I think American Auto companies should latch on to this marketing campaign.

A good rundown can be found here.

Here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about folks from Texas…makes you fell kinda proud to live here!

If someone in a Lowe’s store offers you assistance and they don’t work there, you may live in Texas ;

If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas ;

If you’ve had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Texas ;

If “Vacation” means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas;

If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas;

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Texas ;

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Texas ;

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Texas ;

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph — you’re going 80 and everybody’s passing you, you may live in Texas ;

If you find 60 degrees “a little chilly,” you may live in Texas ;

If you actually understand these jokes, and share them with all your Texas friends, you definitely live in Texas .

Here are some little known, very interesting facts about Texas .

1. Beaumont to El Paso : 742 miles
2. Beaumont to Chicago : 770 miles
3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas
4. World’s first rodeo was in Pecos , July 4, 1883.
5. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water.
6. The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach at Rice University in Houston .
7. Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America .
8. Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America ’s only remaining flock of whooping cranes.
9. Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.
10. The worst natural disaster in U.S . history was in 1900, caused by a hurricane, in which over 8,000 lives were lost on Galveston Island .
11. The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was ” Houston .”
12. King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island .
13. Tropical Storm Claudette brought a U.S. rainfall record of 43″ in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July of 1979.
14. Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union ) instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the U.S. Flag, and may divide into 5 states.
15. A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.
16. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.
17. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period in Dr Pepper.
18. Texas has had six capital cities: Washington -on- the Brazos, Harrisburg , Galveston , Velasco, West Columbia and Austin .
19. The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S. which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington DC (by 7 feet).
20. The name ” Texas ” comes from the Hasini Indian word “tejas” meaning friends. Tejas is not Spanish for Texas .
21. The State Mascot is the Armadillo (an interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have four babies. They have one egg, which splits into four, and they either have four males or four females.).
22. The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston .

Cowboy’s Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie , Texas :

(1) Just one God.
(2) Honor yer Ma & Pa.
(3) No telling tales or gossipin’.
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
(5) Put nothin’ before God.
(6) No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal.
(7) No killin’.
(8) Watch yer mouth.
(9) Don’t take what ain’t yers.
(10) Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff