Sid in the City

2011-09-30T19:59:00.001-07:00

Sid in the City

The Social Security 'Trust' Fund

2011-07-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

What happened to trusting a Trust Fund?

Government budgets used to be in millions, then billions, and now trillions.
The national debt too went from millions to billions to trillions.
Social Security, we were told, kept pace with the escalation,
as more and more workers paid into it.
The fund grew from millions to billions to trillions.
$2.6 trillion, to be exact.

There have been rumors in the past few years that the fund would
run out of money. Not today, not tomorrow, but maybe in 20 years or so.
The reason? Baby Boomers. Too many were retiring.
Too many expecting to withdraw money from the fund they'd paid into.

So what to do?
Make them work longer?
Start killing them off?
As it turns out, neither option would make any difference.
Why? Because the money isn't really there...
It's just gone, stolen.
Is that too harsh a word?
How about borrowed?
The whole $2.6 trillion has been used by various
government agencies to fund, or bail out, other projects.

For those of you pointing at Obama, shouting "Off with his head!",
you might consider this. The looting has been going on for decades.
Republican administrations, and Democratic ones too,
have all been complicit in carving up that pie.

Trust Funds, supposedly, are untouchable.
The very word 'trust' is defined like this in the dictionary:

1. reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc.,
of a person or thing; confidence.
2. confident expectation of something; hope.
3. confidence in the certainty of future payment for property
or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.

Is there anyone out there who still believes
you can trust 'any' politician?
Anyone?
Anyone at all?

News Link - Where did the money go?

Pakistan

2011-06-19T04:22:00.000-07:00

Who's your buddy... who's your pal...

It took a long time to find Osama Bin Laden,
far too long most would say.
It does complicate things though,
when the guy you're looking for,
is being helped out by one of your 'allies'.

Pakistan, the world now knows, was harboring Bin Laden.
That's a fact, despite on going denials.
These are our buddies, these are our pals,
in the so-called War on Terror.

That's why we spend billions to keep their
country propped up. Basically a bribe to
keep them on 'our' side.

We cut the aid off when they began to play with
nukes, as shown in the chart below, but then we
opened the cash vault again right after 9/11,
and just recently tripled the amount we send.

The payoff for billions upon billions sent their way?
Not only did they hide Bin Laden for years,
they actually arrested the few Pakistanis
who helped us find him.

Local informants who worked with the CIA
in pinpointing Bin Laden's safe house,
have been rounded up, one by one,
in the past few weeks, and are being
held in Pakistani jails.

Call us naive, or ignorant of foreign affairs,
but maybe some of that money
could be used here at home.

News Link - Pakistan jails Bin Laden informants

Weiner's weiner

2011-06-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

WeinerGate has Weiner taking 'The Cure'

News Link - Weiner Opts For treatment

The Rapture

2011-05-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

The End Is Here!

Oops... we woke up this morning...
Did you?

News Link - The Rapture Is Coming

Bin Laden's Porn Stash

2011-05-14T04:13:00.000-07:00

A few holes in the image of the Holy Man

Ok, so very few in the west considered
Bin Laden to be, uhm... 'holy',
but to believers of Jihad, the goal is
to kill Infidels, so in their eyes he qualified.

Now, we're not students of the Koran,
but we're kind of thinking that porn
isn't specifically prescribed as a
path to eternal life in heaven.

And three wives, in the compound?
That wasn't enough?
Seems the Prophet was just a
plain old Perv...

News Link - Hideout held extensive porn collection

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T03:03:00.000-07:00

To all you Mothers out there...

Bin Laden Bites The Dust

2011-05-02T03:49:00.000-07:00

No thanks to our 'pals' in Pakistan

SETI Goes Silent

2011-04-30T04:09:00.000-07:00

Slow economy hits outer space

The universe, it's been said, holds billions of galaxies.
Each of those galaxies holds billions of stars.
An unknown number of planets orbit all those stars out there,
but it's assumed there are billions of those.

That translates to billions upon billions upon billions
of opportunities to find life on another world somewhere,
but only when the economy here on earth is in good shape,
and that's not the case these days.

For the first time since it's inception, SETI,
[Search For Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence]
is shutting down those huge impressive radio dishes
that it calls the Alien Telescope Array.

Space telescopes, like the Hubble, have now discovered
more planets than scientists can keep up with,
but because the University of California at Berkley,
which runs the array, has been hit by state budget cuts,
no one will be listening for other-world signals anymore.

We're sure this will bother some folks down here on earth,
but it might be a different story... elsewhere...

News Link - SETI silences telescope array

Spring Fling

2011-04-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

Camel told "No more frat parties for you"

That was basically the result of a frat party called
Spring Fling at the University of Pennsylvania.

The students thought it would be a kick to have
a camel hanging out in the middle of all the beer kegs,
so they went and rented one.
And everything was cool.

Cool, that is, until some university employees noticed
that female party goers were posing with the camel, and
actually smiling while photographs were being taken.

The posing wasn't lascivious, by any means, the pictures
fell more into the garden variety "Hi Mom" category.

Perhaps the impression was that this kind of human/animal
display was too undignified for an institution such as Penn.
Whatever the reason, complaints were filed, forthwith.

The owner of the camel also owns a petting zoo,
and the camel wasn't the only animal rented for the party.
Yet for some reason, it was the camel that sparked the indignation,
so Kahn [the camel's name] and his furry friends
won't be coming back next year.

Seems you'll have to go elsewhere now
[like a petting zoo for example]
to find this kind of debauchery going on.
That is, if you're into that kind of thing.

Not that there's anything wrong with it,
we're just sayin'...

News Link - Camel banned from party going

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

Time honored traditions...

We hope you enjoy your day
in the true spirit of the season.

Mission to Mars

2011-01-29T05:31:00.000-08:00

One way tickets only, please...

No matter how many times it's been portrayed,
from Buck Rogers to Star Trek, in this day
and age, a round trip flight to Mars
is just plain impractical.

The technology may advance, in 20 years or so,
to get us to the Red Planet. Getting back,
however, seems to be the sticking point,
both in terms of time and available materials.

There's no place among the rocks and craters
to stop and fill 'er up, and carrying enough fuel
to get back home just doesn't seem quite feasible,
so a few scientists have come up with what they
consider a logical solution. Make the trip one way.

Nuts, right? Who would buy into that?
Well apparently there are some people who would.
When the idea was published in the Journal of Cosmology,
emails started coming in, 500 of them to date,
from folks who like the prospect of going, and staying.

These weren't just loonies walking the streets
carrying signs that The End Is Near.
There were soldiers, students, nurses, and other
professionals volunteering to set up a colony.

The study for the mission is outlined in a book
put together by 70 scientific minds.
Their consensus seems to be it's going to happen
sooner or later, why not just do it now?

So if you're feeling the need to just get away,
all you have to do is click Send in your email program.
Be sure to put your own name on the dotted line though,
they'll probably be checking for ID.

News Link - One Way Mission to Mars

50 Best Racks In Sports

2011-01-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

Best in Sports - Round 2

Knew it was coming, right?

A little while back, a website called
The Bleacher Report, ran an article on
the 50 Best Butts In Sports,
which we commented on at the time.

Now comes the sequel,
the 50 Best Racks In Sports,
which again doesn't have a whole
lot to do with sports.

Racks, in sports, would be ski racks,
billiard racks, maybe even gun racks.
Just how did boobs get to be
called racks in the first place?

Right, you don't care, you really don't care.
We knew that.

News Link - 50 Best Racks In Sports

Child abuse? So what?

2010-12-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

Pope says pedophiles are normal.

How's that for a Christmas message?
All you kiddies be good,
go to church with mom and dad,
and don't worry about the perv that groped you,
it's just normal.

In his Christmas Address to the faithful in Rome,
Pope Benedict proclaimed that pedophilia hadn't
been considered an absolute evil for some time,
and child porn was now seen as normal by society.

Are you kidding?
What an absolutely idiotic thing to say.

Church officials in the past blamed the liberalism
of the 60's for the onslaught of scandal within their ranks.
Now Benedict argues that at some point in the 70's
"pedophilia was theorised as something fully in
conformity with man and even with children".

So first it was the hippies that put children in harm's way,
then the glare of disco balls in the 70's made it epidemic.

Gimme an I, gimme a D, gimme an I O T !

Never mind... just give me a break...

News Link - Words from the PediPope

Westboro Baptist Church

2010-12-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

Idiot Protest Fizzles In The Rain

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church,
from an inkspot of a town in Kansas,
have made it their mission from 'God'
to travel the country and protest at funerals.

Initially it was gay funerals, because they don't like that.
Then they started showing up at military funerals,
ostensibly because of 'Don't ask, Don't tell', but
somewhere along the way the signs shifted from anti-gay,
inferring that all of our dead soldiers were going to Hell.

This weekend they protested the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards,
who was married to Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

Her crime?

She had adopted a 'Live and let live' attitude toward gay
marriage, and the Westboro Wankers had decided,
without question, that she and her children
should burn in fire forever.

While the protesters, all five of them, three adults
and two children, who were brought along by their parents,
formed their picket line, 1200 normal folks formed a
barrier line, to keep the signs away from the service.

The Westboro believers bounce all over the place
[they're planning a protest here in Philly on December 20]
with no regard for the sentiment of the berieved,
because it's their God given right to do so.

The First Amendment also protects that right.
We call it Free Speech.
That concept was designed to go both ways though,
and we'd like to see a bit more of what is shown below.

News Link - Protest Fizzles

The exclusive 'Face' of Facebook

2010-12-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

Facebook allowed to trademark the word 'Face'

This is where things go a bit too far, we think,
when an entity grows to a point that it gets
too big for it's britches.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted
Facebook the right to apply for a patent
on the word 'Face', and this is after the
burgeoning social network tried to gobble
up the rights to the word 'Book'.

Facebook has already sued an outfit called Teachbook,
and forced a travel site called Placebook
to change its name to TripTrace.
A site called Lamebook, which parodies some
of the comments posted on Facebook,
has also come under the gun,
as well as another site called Faceporn.

Ok, we can see them not wanting to be associated
with porn, but where does one draw the line?
Are we all now to search for a suitable
replacement for the word Face?

Maybe something like Countenance would work...

News Link - Facebook wants to own 'Face'

Run for the border... any border

2010-11-21T05:22:00.000-08:00

Philly says "Never mind" to 19,400 fugitives

Not 19 bad guys, or 1900,
but 19,400
have been given a pass by the Philadelphia courts.

With a staggering backlog of 47,000 fugitive warrants
on the books, the city decided that the best way
to lighten the load, was to write nearly half of them off.

The message apparently is
"Your crime wasn't that bad",
so go have a good life.
And you victims out there, all 19,000 of you,
just deal with it, ok?

News Link - 19,400 Fugitive Warrants Cleared

Need Some Cash?

2010-11-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

Work for McDonald's... in Brazil

Here's the story...

A guy spends 12 years as a manager
at his local Mickey D's franchise.
As a manager, he is responsible for quality control,
and feels obligated to sample the days fare.
[key word here being 'sample']

In his 12 years there the guy gains 65 pounds,
and sues McDonald's, because it's their fault.
In addition to his 'sampling' duties,
the guy is also offered free meals.
The court finds this as another count against his employer,
and awards him $17,500 for pain and suffering.

You can sample a burger without eating the whole thing.
You can taste a french fry and know if the batch is good.
And if the sampling is so filling,
do you have to eat the free meals?

We're thinking maybe the guy just likes to eat,
but the judge didn't see it that way.

Cha ching...

News Link - They Made Me Eat Too Much

50 Best Butts In Sports

2010-11-12T05:34:00.000-08:00

Who gets these jobs?

While browsing through a site called The Bleacher Report,
I came across this article - The 50 Best Butts In Sports.

Now babes in bikinis don't have much to do with sports.
We all know it's a marketing tool.
If you want to blame someone, look to Sports Illustrated,
who started this trend with their Swimsuit Issue.

When browsing a sports rag, you expect to see things like
who crunched the quarterback on third and goal,
who hit a 400 ft homer,
or who sinks those 3 pointers time after time.

The big question in my mind, regarding the bikini shots,
is who is it that makes up these lists,
and how do you get on the crew for the photo shoot?

News Link - 50 Best Butts In Sports

To Boldly Go...

2010-11-06T06:33:00.000-07:00

Science Fiction to Science Fact

Ever notice that if you wait long enough,
things you once saw in old sci-fi flicks
are suddenly all around us?

Large flat panel screens on the
bridge of the Starship Enterprise
have become HD TV's.

Small voice communicators
that were activated with a tap
are now that Bluetooth thing in your ear.

The latest is the tractor beam.
How cool was that?
A beam of light that could latch onto
a solid object, and pull it in or drag it along.

Researchers in Australia have actually built
such a contraption, though obviously on a much
smaller scale. Still, the thing works, it's
an actual tractor beam that moves solid particles
through the air with just a beam of light.

Beam me up Scotty...
Warp speed ahead...
Engage.

News Link - Working Tractor Beam

One Way - always

2010-10-15T04:28:00.000-07:00

Political Correctness Disrupts The View

Bill O'Reilly's comments are not always sugar coated,
and some take offense to that.
Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, in particular.

A recent conversation on the TV talk show, The View,
centered around the location of a mosque proposed to
be built near Ground Zero in New York, where the
twin towers of The World Trade Center once stood.

In some quarters, the location is considered a slap
in the face to survivors of those who died there
in the September 11 attacks, and understandably so.
To underscore this point, O'Reilly stated that
"Muslims killed us on 9/11".

Tactful, no. Accurate, yes.
He later amended his statement to "Muslim fanatics",
but not before Whoopi and Behar stormed off the stage amid
a flurry of obscenities uttered by the dainty Ms Goldberg,
and Political Correctness ruled the day once again.

Proponents of the mospue in question, declare it's not an
affront, but meant to be a center of cultural understanding,
but in this cultural divide, the rules only go one way.

To understand America, you have to live in America,
and experience daily life over time.
To understand the Muslim world, the same holds true,
but that's difficult to do, you may be surprised to find out,
because westerners cannot even visit the center of Islam,
let alone live there.

Mecca, the birthplace of Mohammed,
is off limits to those not of the Muslim faith.
The highway into the city actually contains a
bypass to usher non-believers around the holy place.
You can't even drive through to take a peek.

How's that for promoting understanding and good will?

News Link - The View
Related Links - Mecca - Travel Guide

The Emergency Bra

2010-10-10T05:37:00.000-07:00

Two Gas Masks For The Price Of One

Unsnap, separate cups, inhale...

That's what the promo says for
the newly available Emergency Bra.

Filters are built into the bra cups, and the claim is
that they can protect from just about anything that
could be inhaled, even radiation particles as strong
as those released at Chernobyl back in 1986.

And since a standard bra has two cups,
this one is designed to separate
in the middle, so it can be shared.

Sheer genius...

News Link - Emergency Bra

More riots - Guess where...

2010-09-12T04:07:00.000-07:00

The National Pastime

Baseball, hot dogs, mom's apple pie...
That's not what we're talking about.
Pick virtually any country in the Middle East,
and holding a riot seems to be the National Pastime.

American flags are burning again, this time in Afghanistan,
because of some idiot preacher in Florida who decided
he had been instructed by God to burn copies of the Koran.

Do those in the Middle East see the guy is an idiot?
Do they consider that his flock, a total of 30 like-minded
dim wits, don't constitute common behavior here in the States?

Any excuse, really, seems to set these fanatics off,
and the logic that they're the minority is growing old.
One dope, in Florida, makes a ridiculous statement,
and thousands, in dozens of countries, take to the streets.

It's not politically correct, but one can't deny the facts.
We're not like them, they're not like us,
and the Stone Age isn't quite over yet.

News Link - Afghans continue protests

You don't have to look crazy to be crazy

2010-09-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

Model tries to exit plane in flight

That's the report coming from a flight that was headed to JFK airport.

A former Playboy Playmate was pulled away from the emergency exit
after having what she described as a panic attack.

Although she later denied she was actually trying to get out,
the young woman did admit she's had these episodes before.

Oh yeh, and she was off her meds...

News Link - Woman tries to exit early

The trick is, remembering to take it

2010-09-09T16:32:00.000-07:00

Vitamin B cures memory ills

That's what new research is saying,
Vitamin B can slow or even halt
the memory thief of Alzheimer's Disease.

News Link - Vitamin B is new weapon against memory loss

The Church vs The Strippers

2010-09-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

Who is picketing who here?

Warsaw, Ohio.
Population 900.
Traffic lights, 1.
Churches, 4.

This bucolic little setting is the scene of a
series of protests that have been going on for years.
Seems the pastor of the New Beginnings church doesn't
like the idea of a tiny little bar called The Fox Hole
hiring strippers to entertain its customers.

For four years now, the pastor has urged his flock
to picket outside the bar's parking lot,
and take photographs of the customers going in,
as well as their cars and license plates.

While the effects have been slow in coming,
there apparently has been an effect.
Patrons are fewer, tips are down, and
the girls who grace the stage say enough is enough.

Have they stopped stripping? No.
Been reborn? Not exactly.
What they've done is set up a picket line of their own,
and on any given Sunday, as the faithful approach the church,
they are greeted by bikini clad dancers waving protest signs.

Guess fair is fair, and all that good stuff...

News Link - Strippers Protest