Egalitarian America

From a story on auto salesmen we get a view of the state of American culture today.

I've heard so many stories from salespeople about potential customers they ignored because they were dressed extremely raggedy—and another salesperson eventually talked to the client and got the sale.

I know one salesman in Arizona who said he once saw a guy stroll into his store in shredded jean shorts and straggly hair and sunglasses, looking like a punk. My buddy ignored him. Well, it ended up that punk was rocker Alice Cooper and he bought six cars. These days, you can't tell who has money and who doesn't.

I think that is a good thing. Character content vs the cut of the jib.

H/T Instapundit

The Truth Is Radioactive

In my previous post Reversed Opinion I made the following point:

This is like an intel project. You have to try to get the correct information out of a mass of conflicting data.

I assume the data is being fudged. Or totally fabricated. Or "corrected" if the truth gets out by accident.

Well that was just my opinion. Now the New York Times chimes in with this report.

The document also suggests that fragments or particles of nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools above the reactors were blown “up to one mile from the units,” and that pieces of highly radioactive material fell between two units and had to be “bulldozed over,” presumably to protect workers at the site. The ejection of nuclear material, which may have occurred during one of the earlier hydrogen explosions, may indicate more extensive damage to the extremely radioactive pools than previously disclosed.

“I thought they were, not out of the woods, but at least at the edge of the woods,” said Mr. Lochbaum, who was not involved in preparing the document. “This paints a very different picture, and suggests that things are a lot worse. They could still have more damage in a big way if some of these things don’t work out for them.”

There is a lot more information at the Times report. Worth a read. In any case things are worse than previous reports suggest.

So where is the urgency? Perhaps some cultural sleuthing is in order. Japan is a consensus society (for the most part). When everyone (or nearly every one) is in agreement action is taken. It is a pretty good system for slow moving events. But when things are moving fast by the time consensus is reached events will have changed the situation such that the consensus is no longer applicable.

And what does American culture have to say about moving quickly?

I would rather have a good plan today than a perfect plan two weeks from now. - General George S. Patton

Under the current circumstance the American cultural bias is the better one. But you do not change thousands of years of culture in a day and a half. Or more to the point in this case - in ten minutes or less.

Traditional Values

I have a commenter at Classical Values who keeps pestering me about traditional values. Well I'm totally into American traditional values. Smaller government. Hack away at the barnacles, restrictions, encrustations, negative value activities, and other such flim flammery. And it gets no new powers until the serious hacking is not just underway but entrenched.

There is no Constitutional Amendment supporting national drug prohibition. Let us end it at least Federally. And if women want abortions well what are you going to do? Create another black market? But the government shouldn't be paying for it either. In fact the whole Health Care Law recently passed is a bridge too far. I don't want to see it fixed. I want it repealed. Then we need to look to partially (for now) privatizing social security. For starters.

So I'm all for traditional values. And the quintessential American value? Mind your own business. So you can see that I'm a traditional values American in the truest sense.

Blogging The New Ukraine

The Ukrainian Institute of New Virology blogs about world politics. Russian politics, American politics and Ukrainian politics. It is Not Entirely Safe For Work. But it is a good read. Here is their masthead:

Ukrainian Institute of New Virology (UIONV) is a newly founded institution. The Institute is engaged in the study of pathogenic viruses, struck in recent years Ukraine and the rest of the world, the development methods of prevention and treatment of diseases caused by respective viruses. The research based on a bold hypothesis proposed by Professor Kovbasyanya (on the left you see a photo of this brilliant scientist), who is the founder and scientific head of our Institute, that different viruses are seeing now are simply different modifications of the same virus. In essence, this means that, for example, such diseases as pig flu, Pedophilia, "Left Diplomas", etc. caused by the same virus that we have yet to be fully explored and identified. So far, according to our hypothesis, we know only one of its modifications - A (H1N1). Research is being conducted intensively and in the practical field, perhaps we will soon gather in the manufacture of vaccines, it will depend on the funding of our research.

I enjoyed my visit there (yeah that NESFW thing) and plan to visit more often. It would be hard to visit less often as I have only been there once. So far.

They Are Pushing The Wrong People

PJTV has a new Trifecta up that is very much worth a watch. About 9 minutes of excellent political entertainment.

Michael Moore Gets It

No seriously. He gets it.

But before everyone gets all smug and self-righteous about the Palin selection, remember where you live. You live in a nation of gun owners and hunters. You live in a country where one out of three girls get pregnant before they are 20. You live in a nation of C students. Knocking Bush for being a C student only endeared him to the nation of C students. Knock Palin for having kids, for having a kid who's having a baby, for anything that is part of her normalness -- a normalness that looks very familiar to so many millions of Americans -- well, you do this at your own peril. Assuming she's still on the ticket two weeks from now, she will be a much tougher opponent than anyone expects.

Now I have read the rest of the piece so you don't have to. And I really don't recommend it. It is his usual load of crap.

But in that one paragraph he shows that he at least knows the American scene. He may not like it. But he does know it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Homeless Encampment?

In my continual search for all things weird and wonderful about American culture I came across a bit about a woman doing a series of pole dances using highway signs as props.

When commuters spotted a woman in a belly dancing get-up getting her groove on with a road sign, they called 911. It's more than you might expect to see along the side of Interstate 880 in San Leandro on a Monday afternoon.

The first call described a woman belly dancing along the right side of the road at 3:07 p.m. A minute later, drivers reported that she was using a light pole as a dancing prop and then a highway sign for a pole dance.

Well that is interesting. Nothing unusual for Wackifornia. It is the next bit that really caught my attention. After the police were called and chased the woman she got away.

By the time officers arrived at the scene, the woman had ducked into the brush near a homeless encampment and run away, Johnson said.

Now what exactly is a homeless encampment? And why is California hosting them?

Maybe it has something to do with housing prices like this or like this.