Am I the only one who gets it?
Communism never dies. Communism is a cancer. A cancer sleeping. Awaiting the moment to devour our freedom. To devour democracy.
This has been a test of the Ushanka.us public service system....
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sleeping Dogs Eventually Wake Up
Found an old clip from Kids in the Hall. Great stuff!
This has been a test of the Ushanka.us public service system....
This has been a test of the Ushanka.us public service system....
Friday, March 12, 2010
Big Fur Hat
Our hat is currently the prize at iOwnTheWorld's current caption contest. Be sure to click over and enter your caption!
Our thanks to the entire team there for partnering in this historic venture.
A quick look through Ushanka.us will show us to be their #1 Fan. Incredible artwork - incredible creativity - an incredible match for our sexy hat!
UPDATE Saturday 7am: 490 comments in less than 24 hours! The Big Fur Hat himself comments:
We are too!
UPDATE Sunday 9:20pm:745 comments so far. UncleAl:
Way ahead of you, UncleAl. Keep an eye out for our next Commie Obama Cuss Jar contest!
UPDATE Monday 5pm:The winner has been announced:
ScratchNSniff: Husseinfeld – It’s the presidency about nothing. Starring B. Obama, J. Biden, M. Obama and a whole cast of losers.
Classic.
We'll wait for that in DVD, assuming DVD players are still allowed in our glorious future.
Probably the best blog contest, evvvaaarrr. Thanks IOTW - it was an honor.
Should we offer a hat to DailyKos for a similar contest? Maybe for the best excuse why Obama is failing so bad. Some ideas to 'prime the pump', so to speak:
It's Bush's Fault.
Or, It's Bush and Cheney's Fault.
Or, It's the fault of those weak-knee'd Democrat members of Congress.
Or...
UPDATE 3.21:
Scratch and Sniff sent us a hat picture!
Our thanks to the entire team there for partnering in this historic venture.
A quick look through Ushanka.us will show us to be their #1 Fan. Incredible artwork - incredible creativity - an incredible match for our sexy hat!
UPDATE Saturday 7am: 490 comments in less than 24 hours! The Big Fur Hat himself comments:
The chances of winning this hat are about the same as Powerball right now…
But, it is a hilarious thread. I’m extremely impressed.
But, it is a hilarious thread. I’m extremely impressed.
We are too!
UPDATE Sunday 9:20pm:745 comments so far. UncleAl:
This contest has been memorably engaging and entertaining. Something like this periodically would be wonderful, but it may not be easy coming up with ideas, judges, and prizes this good.
I know – we could have a contest contest! (-:
I know – we could have a contest contest! (-:
Way ahead of you, UncleAl. Keep an eye out for our next Commie Obama Cuss Jar contest!
UPDATE Monday 5pm:The winner has been announced:
ScratchNSniff: Husseinfeld – It’s the presidency about nothing. Starring B. Obama, J. Biden, M. Obama and a whole cast of losers.
Classic.
We'll wait for that in DVD, assuming DVD players are still allowed in our glorious future.
Probably the best blog contest, evvvaaarrr. Thanks IOTW - it was an honor.
Should we offer a hat to DailyKos for a similar contest? Maybe for the best excuse why Obama is failing so bad. Some ideas to 'prime the pump', so to speak:
It's Bush's Fault.
Or, It's Bush and Cheney's Fault.
Or, It's the fault of those weak-knee'd Democrat members of Congress.
Or...
UPDATE 3.21:
Scratch and Sniff sent us a hat picture!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Amazon Shruggs
Incorrectly - on page B4.
Amazon.com Inc. pulled the plug on its marketing affiliates in Colorado after the state enacted a law that imposes new sales-tax regulations on online retailers.
Read the book, and buried news stories like this will jump out at you. Don't read the book, and you get to act surprised.
An enthusiastic Ushanka Tip to Amazon!
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Sunday Afternoon Cigar
We burned our fingers on another Rocky Patel Sun Grown this afternoon as the mercury exceeded 55 degrees for the first time in ages here in Ohio.
We are reading In The First Circle
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Fiction, he writes from Stalin's perspective about the burdens on inheriting one's predecessor's problems (P. 103-4).
Sound familiar?
We are reading In The First Circle
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Fiction, he writes from Stalin's perspective about the burdens on inheriting one's predecessor's problems (P. 103-4). Lenin in his irresponsible way had muddled matters, recklessly littering the place with promises, which had since become a crippling burden to his successor, to Stalin. "Any cook must be able to administer the state," but how had Lenin pictured this in concrete terms? Did he mean that the cook, instead of cooking on Fridays, would take her seat on the oblast executive committee? A cook was a cook; her job was to prepare dinner. Governing people was a rare skill, a task that could be entrusted only to special cadres, cadres specially selected, trained, and tempered, highly disciplined. Management of the cadres themselves must rest in a single pair of hands, the practiced hands of the Leader.
Sound familiar?
Friday, March 05, 2010
Textbook Economics & Credibility
Two items in the news today: one about someone with no standards, and one with just a little bit more...
First, NY Times editorial from Paul Krugman: Senator Bunning's Universe. We won't quote from it, but rather quote, in full, James Taranto's retort in his Best of the Web column:
You'd think a smart guy like Krugman would expect someone to find this and thus add a bit of nuance to his column. (Just like you'd expect someone with character and integrity to not even consider doing something like this).
And the second news event from today - From the Washington Post, The Fix:
Pics are from the linked sources above.
First, NY Times editorial from Paul Krugman: Senator Bunning's Universe. We won't quote from it, but rather quote, in full, James Taranto's retort in his Best of the Web column:
Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman takes note in his New York Times column of what the calls "the incredible gap that has opened up between the parties":
Today, Democrats and Republicans live in different universes, both intellectually and morally.
"What Democrats believe," he says "is what textbook economics says":
But that's not how Republicans see it. Here's what Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, had to say when defending Mr. Bunning's position (although not joining his blockade): unemployment relief "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work."
Krugman scoffs: "To me, that's a bizarre point of view--but then, I don't live in Mr. Kyl's universe."
What does textbook economics have to say about this question? Here is a passage from a textbook called "Macroeconomics":
Public policy designed to help workers who lose their jobs can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect. . . . In other countries, particularly in Europe, benefits are more generous and last longer. The drawback to this generosity is that it reduces a worker's incentive to quickly find a new job. Generous unemployment benefits in some European countries are widely believed to be one of the main causes of "Eurosclerosis," the persistent high unemployment that affects a number of European countries.
So it turns out that what Krugman calls Sen. Kyl's "bizarre point of view" is, in fact, textbook economics. The authors of that textbook are Paul Krugman and Robin Wells. Miss Wells is also known as Mrs. Paul Krugman.
It seems Krugman himself lives in two different universes--the universe of the academic economist and the universe of the bitter partisan columnist. Or maybe this is like that episode of "Star Trek" in which crewmen from the Enterprise switched places with their counterparts from a universe in which everyone was the same, only evil.
Like Spock, the evil Krugman is the one with the beard.
Today, Democrats and Republicans live in different universes, both intellectually and morally.
"What Democrats believe," he says "is what textbook economics says":
But that's not how Republicans see it. Here's what Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, had to say when defending Mr. Bunning's position (although not joining his blockade): unemployment relief "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work."
Krugman scoffs: "To me, that's a bizarre point of view--but then, I don't live in Mr. Kyl's universe."
What does textbook economics have to say about this question? Here is a passage from a textbook called "Macroeconomics":
Public policy designed to help workers who lose their jobs can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect. . . . In other countries, particularly in Europe, benefits are more generous and last longer. The drawback to this generosity is that it reduces a worker's incentive to quickly find a new job. Generous unemployment benefits in some European countries are widely believed to be one of the main causes of "Eurosclerosis," the persistent high unemployment that affects a number of European countries.
So it turns out that what Krugman calls Sen. Kyl's "bizarre point of view" is, in fact, textbook economics. The authors of that textbook are Paul Krugman and Robin Wells. Miss Wells is also known as Mrs. Paul Krugman.
It seems Krugman himself lives in two different universes--the universe of the academic economist and the universe of the bitter partisan columnist. Or maybe this is like that episode of "Star Trek" in which crewmen from the Enterprise switched places with their counterparts from a universe in which everyone was the same, only evil.
Like Spock, the evil Krugman is the one with the beard.
You'd think a smart guy like Krugman would expect someone to find this and thus add a bit of nuance to his column. (Just like you'd expect someone with character and integrity to not even consider doing something like this).
And the second news event from today - From the Washington Post, The Fix:
New York Rep. Eric Massa [D-NY] will resign his House seat on Monday at 5 pm, he said in a statement Friday, a move that comes just days after he announced his plans to retire at the end of the year.
"A member of my staff believed I had made statements that made him feel 'uncomfortable," Massa said in the statement, posted on his House web site. He added, "There is no doubt in my mind I did use language ... that ... might make a Chief Petty Officer feel uncomfortable."
"It's not that I can fight or beat these allegations, I'm guilty." Massa said in a separate statement, to to his Washington and campaign staff, which was reported by his hometown newspaper, the Corning (N.Y.) Leader.
"A member of my staff believed I had made statements that made him feel 'uncomfortable," Massa said in the statement, posted on his House web site. He added, "There is no doubt in my mind I did use language ... that ... might make a Chief Petty Officer feel uncomfortable."
"It's not that I can fight or beat these allegations, I'm guilty." Massa said in a separate statement, to to his Washington and campaign staff, which was reported by his hometown newspaper, the Corning (N.Y.) Leader.
Pics are from the linked sources above.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Name Calling, Part 8,483
Stop calling Obama a Communist!
We posted an earlier version of Victoria playing her song, but it has since been removed. Here is the latest version, found at both iOwnTheWorld and NewZeal:
We posted an earlier version of Victoria playing her song, but it has since been removed. Here is the latest version, found at both iOwnTheWorld and NewZeal:
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
The Hat in Sports and Rock n Roll
Found at EnglishRussia - a great site for pics from Russia on all topics.
Maybe Russia's Olympic athletes should have worn Ushankas, hmm? They may have brought home more gold.
Luckily, they are now being sent to Kolyma where they will have a 2nd chance at bringing home the gold:
U/T: Video found at AskYakutia.
Maybe Russia's Olympic athletes should have worn Ushankas, hmm? They may have brought home more gold.
Luckily, they are now being sent to Kolyma where they will have a 2nd chance at bringing home the gold:
U/T: Video found at AskYakutia.