The top news stories of the day. Don’t know what to think? Let the Coots help.
According to USA Today, these are the top stories for Sunday November 6, 2010, Yeah, We never read most of them either but, for what it’s worth, here’s the Coot’s perspective on those stories.
Looking Ahead: The Weekend and Monday.
President Obama in India while the Presidential Oil Spill Commission opens two days of hearing.
If you have read almost anything on this blog you will have noticed that we have some pretty strong opinions. Bob just joined us recently because his opinions fit right in with Ralph and I. Today, we are going to take flight in a new direction. Podcasting. There is a very special announcement in this podcast….you have been warned.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:50 — 5.3MB) | Embed
My wife has come home with an interesting problem lately. If you didn’t know, and frankly from this website, why would you, she is a Nurse in the ER of one of the big hospitals here in Utah. The other day, her supervisor pulled her aside and told her that some of the “techs” were complaining that she was too hard on them and too demanding.
Now in this situation, a tech is someone who assists the nurses and doctors. The majority are going to nursing school or just working a second job. They get to do the mundane tasks and things that need to be done to *keyword alert* ASSIST the nurses in the nurses job. Some of these punks think that they deserve the same respect as the nurses, just because they are going to school to become nurses. I say Bah! They are subordinates until they pass the NCLEX!
Now, my wife is not a supervisor. She has no aspirations to be such. However, she knows her job and will utilize all of the resources need to do things at her job, like save lives, or diagnose STD’s. Some of those resources are the techs. Please note here that the JOB of a tech is to assist the nurses.
So, here is my wife being too demanding to people who are supposed to be helping her. She said if they are on the internet and just sitting around talking why shouldn’t she use them? I would have to agree. I wouldn’t even pander the petty-anny requests to say “please” and “would you mind” for most things. You see, I have a background in management and supervising. I have been trained to have people do their jobs.
I also have a father who was convinced that he was still in the military and, as such, required the no questions asked jump up and do what you are asked right now mentality. I still have that to a point, especially in the workplace when it comes to people doing their jobs. So, I ask you fair readers of the Coots, what would you do, or how would you advise my wife to react?
Yesterday voters sent a message to Washington: “Change course, or the price will be worse next time.”
Sure, the slaughter could have been worse…indeed many wished it had been…but the reality is the change was historic. I’ll cover the post-mortem over at JuicyMaters.com later today, but here and now I’d like to make one point:
It’s time to cut California loose and let the self-destruction be theirs to deal with.
Californians, with skyrocketing unemployment, home foreclosure rates far above the national average, and a border war with Mexico being sabotaged by sanctuary city after sanctuary city, had a choice. They could continue with the single most partisan senator in congress, Barbara Boxer, a woman who is more concerned with being called “senator” instead of “M’am”, a woman who considers feeding at the government trough high cuisine, a woman who has never had to make a payroll or create a job, or…
They could choose Carly Fiorina, a proven CEO of a major tech company, who actually created jobs (despite lies told by the Boxer campaign) and who understands living within a budget and not spending money you don’t have.
They could choose “Governor Moonbeam”, a governor from the history books whose failed policies in the past were a large part of the start of the state’s present woes, a classic tax and spend big government liberal, or…
Alistair was the spokesman for the BBC Masterpiece Theater Productions on PBS for twenty years until the 90′s. He was the epitome of British erudition for middle brow Americans in the 70′s and 80′s where he would introduce each episode of those classy TV shows. I never knew that he was also a credible reporter and an American by choice but he represented British class for me growing up. Apparently he was a pessimist as well. Despite his pessimism, he lived to the ripe old age of 96, fathered Janis Joplin’s manager and confidant and lived in a rent-controlled New York apartment until his death. He didn’t die until 2004 well after his predicted end of the world. There is no record that he revised his drop dead date.
It is fashionable to be pessimistic. It is also hip and cool to be pessimistic. It is also safe to be pessimistic because nobody ever demands that you pay the price when those predictions are wrong. Look at Malthus and Paul Ehrlich who were sure that over population would destroy the plant momentarily. We are in far greater risk from under population than over population these days and the economic damage of low fertility is apparent in Japan and Europe. China is overpopulated with horny young men because of their one child birth control program but the regime still thrives. Pessimism may be costly but no one ever seems to pay the price for it.
It’s the same story with the doom and gloom about the health of our poor planet. I can’t get excited about the idea that anything done by man will have much of an impact on the earth’s health. Every dramatic change in the past has been caused by some cataclysm much more significant than anything man can do. The earth may end as we know it at any moment but if it does, it won’t be because of anything I did or didn’t do. Nevertheless we glorify anybody who suggests that the earth is going to hell in a hand basket and beat ourselves up about plastic grocery bags.
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