Last Call!

Could this be a final farewell to GWB from the TV?

Tonight’s midnight (almost) movie is Dr. Strangelove.

Dey got de plane out of de water.

Um, okay?

Carolyn Thompson, a leadership expert. Really?
Is it self described? I’d bet it is.

Here is my “serious” view on leadership.
To me Leadership is based on five six major components (but not entirely) and they are:
1) Technical as in related to what you are leading Competency
2) Moral Courage
3) Empathy
4) Integrity
5) Vision
6) Decisive

1) Technical Competency, seriously? Man let two oil companies fall to ruin. Never managed anything well. Never showed he can take on things by himself.
2) Moral Courage? Not physical courage (note: he already failed that test.) If you count showing up daddy as moral courage, then yes, he has it…
3) Empathy? Are you shitting me?!?
4) Integrity? See 3)
5) Vision? Can’t argue with his vision, but it’s pointless considering he didn’t have 1) or 3) so he can not gauge reality. Also snorting all those lines of coke can fuck up the judgment circuits in the brain.
6) Decisive? Sure. But without 1) 3) 4) it’s kind of useless.

@ManchuCandidate: Empathy?

In the week before [Karla Faye Tucker’s] execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. “Did you meet with any of them?” I ask.

“Please,” Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, “don’t kill me.”

And empathy is a stupid choice anyway – since when has Bush or any leader “vicariously experienc[ed] the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another”? Asshole’s been shielded from anything unpleasant all his miserable life.

…he’s so widely underestimated misunderestimated ..

Fixed!

@Benedick: Pipes fixed?

@blogenfreude:
True.

But it is still required. Direct interpresonal empathy isn’t possible, but “group” empathy such as making sure that those under him are reasonably cared for and have the tools required to get the job done.

Patton, the RW uber definition of a “leader” (BTW, note to David Zucker producer of Amerikan’t Carol- Kelsey Grammar as Patton? Really???? WTF?) visited field hospitals whenever he could (of course leading to the infamous slapping incidents) and inspected kitchens to ensure that his men always got good food. Hell, he even cried with them. Patton was just a tad eccentric.

Contrast with Mr “My appointees won’t up armor Humvees because it makes them look bad or buy crap ass body armor from donors or let Walter Reed become a shit hole or cause the VA to rot within or ban photos of the coffins” W.

@ManchuCandidate: Most of the so-called leaders I’ve worked for never had a care in the world and surely didn’t give a shit about my world. That’s what gets to me. And Bush – 2 prestigious degrees (which he was simply given, no doubt), Skull and Bones – imagine the good he could have done. Instead he became a sociopath and a war criminal. And he’ll never pay for that.

@blogenfreude:
I agree. Virtually everyone I’ve worked for has been lacking in empathy, but for me it is a requirement.

When I “ran”* a manufacturing team of 25 folks (mostly women) for two years, I ran it based on those six factors in mind. I’m pretty proud of what we did and the things we accomplished all things considered. Most telling sign for me, I was the only engineer who never had any unreasonable delays on the manufacturing line with his special projects.

* “ran” as in I had day to day supervision over these folks, but no hiring and firing power as they reported in to someone else–yes, fucked up I know.

My cat Lili was watching The Dog Whisperer, but now that the subject is global warming she went back to sleep.

She is a strange little animal. I just thought you all should know.

@blogenfreude: My little critter is asking about the difference between an accelerometer and a particle accelerator. Mythbusters.

He’s a strange little boy. I just thought you all should know.

@WonkRefugee: Interesting. I could have answered half the question but needed Wikipedia for the rest:

An accelerometer is a device for measuring acceleration and gravity induced reaction forces. Single- and multi-axis models are available to detect magnitude and direction of the acceleration as a vector quantity,[1] and can be used to sense orientation, vibration and shocks. Accelerometers are present in numerous portable electronic devices and video game controllers, including the iPhone[2], the ipod nano 4G and Nintendo’s Wii Remote.[3]

@blogenfreude: Thank you for sharing.

As it happens, through an act of divine intervention, the hot water is back. Don’t ask me how. I spent the day yesterday with a hair dryer and various space heaters blowing hot air in nooks and crannies to no result. Last night (this isn’t too much detail is it?) I left the faucets running at a trickle so the cold water wouldn’t seize up. I also opened one of the hot faucets and lo and behold! at 6 when I got up, we had hot and cold and an invasion of ants. I have no idea why.

But I’m more convinced than ever that should we have a complete meltdown of social order I have no interest in sticking around. Not without hot water on demand.

@Benedick: Funny you should mention that – sitting here watching Six Degrees Could Change the World on NatGeo, and they’re talking about exactly that – a social meltdown. My gloomy prediction? The Chinese and Indians want cars, refrigerators, and flat screens. We’re WATF.

@blogenfreude: “The Chinese and Indians want cars, refrigerators, and flat screens.” And they won’t be manufactured here. If we’re lucky, we’ll be exporting raw materials to those societies. Wasn’t that the economic relationship between the US Colonies and England?

@blogenfreude: Probably. I just hope (there’s that word again) things hold together long enough for me to check out in peace. Not pieces.

I’m interested that no one in government seems to have read Chaos by James Gliek. I liked it a lot and was particularly struck by the idea that disintegration is not gradual. There comes a point when a gradual decline falls into turbulence. At which point nothing can be done but to try to ride it out.

But hey, at least the fags won’t be marrying and shit.

@Dodgerblue: England needed to expand the market for crumpet.

@blogenfreude: And I was just reading last night that the ice age was a mere five degrees cooler.

And so here we are, twenty years into the first public announcement of global warming, and the general public still doesn’t know shit. Nobody will act until there’s a palpable crisis, and by then the effects will be irreversible.

@Dodgerblue: The only reason China is floating us is that their middle class hasn’t caught up to their manufacturing capacity. Check back in about fifteen years and see how much our T-bills are worth.

@nojo: Wasn’t it the Pentagon’s long-range planning dept. thingy that declared global warming to be the most serious danger facing the US? That predicted food wars? Water wars? Millions displaced storming the US and Canada? The gulf stream failing and the UK experiencing a Siberian climate?Didn’t all this happen about 5 years ago? And then wasn’t it suppressed?

And now could someone explain Inhofe to me? And how he could ever get elected?

@nojo: From where I sit, we’re already seeing the effects of climate change. Just look at the new, stronger storms (more heat == more energy == stronger storms), or the polar ice conditions, etc.

Of course, that doesn’t mean anyone else is paying attention to it. It’s not a crisis yet (although it should be for anyone who can extrapolate thoughts).

@Benedick: Glad you’ve hot water on demand again — I’ve had good luck in the past with leaving a drip of hot and cold water going. I’m with you on the meltdown. This little princess doesn’t do survivalist. I’ve informed Mr Cyn that should it come to total societal collapse, I maintain enough of a drug stockpile that I can put the kitties and myself painlessly out of our misery before we starve or are killed for food. If he wants to put his order in, he should let me know now. If not, he has my permission to eat me (*insert adolescent snickering here*).
And thank you for the “misunderestimated” correction. I think moron used it again in his final press conference. He actually thinks it’s a word.

@Mistress Cynica: Shrub used “misunderestimated” as a joke at the press conference. All the other humor was unintentional.

Just walked up to Circuit City – 10% off surge protecto I bought – also 20% off DVDs and 30%, I believe, off the big stuff. Store was actually less crowded than on a regular Sunday. Sign o’ the times, I guess.

@Benedick: Ah yes, Inhofe. Half of the most embarrassing Senate delegation ever. Short explanation: He gets big bucks from oil and gas producers to spout his anti-climate change bullshit; he panders shamelessly to the ignorant, redneck, “god-guns-n-gays” crowd that makes up the majority of Oklahoma voters, and he managed to keep the three large military bases in Oklahoma from being closed. So he has the cynical rich, the true believers, and the military in his pocket, which is enough to keep him in office basically forever. Also, he’s meaner than a snake and his negative campaigning in ruthless.
Fun fact: He may not have had any gheyz in the family, but he has Jewish grandchildren. His son married a Jewish woman, and she and their kids attend temple with my godson and his mother. Said daughter-in-law is a democrat.

@Mistress Cynica: My theory is that whosit has actually got that it’s wrong and was using it ‘ironically’ to demonstrate his contempt for all us elites who do words and shit. The OH disagrees but I thought it was planned.

On another topic: has he gone yet? Will we ever have to see his smirking, school-yard bully’s face again?

As for checking out: I have the Hemlock society’s guide to self-slaughter – as Hamlet puts it. I keep it handy at all times.

Then, in however many millions of years it takes, they can be excavating DC and the usual suspects will be declaring that God put the remains there to test their faith. Perhaps it’ll go; Miocene, Pliocene, Moran.

@Benedick: He’s gone, sort of — Thursday night’s “speech” was his last official public appearance, and most of the White House staff turned in their keys Friday night.

Which makes this as close as we come to an interregnum.

@nojo: Yep. They are just parking their money in T-bills now. When they figure out how to invest it locally, we’ll need to start printing money like Zimbabwe or Weimar Germany.

@blogenfreude: The cops in Santa Monica banned parking on the side of the street opposite our CC so that traffic could crawl through.

@Dodgerblue: Is yours crowded? I was really surprised that there were so few people there. On the other hand, they might be waiting for further markdowns. On the other other hand, maybe nobody has much money.

@blogenfreude: I rode by on my bike but didn’t go in. I was under a lot of spousal pressure not to “browse” the sale, so I figured that in this case, discretion was the better part of valor etc.

@Dodgerblue: So if you came home with that Sony 70″ XBR, she’d notice? Dang.

@blogenfreude: Yeah. Same for new guitars and amps.

@Dodgerblue: You need a bigger garage or a mini-storage. Buddy of mine has a Healey that his wife still doesn’t know about. On the other hand, a TV in storage isn’t exactly watchable.