It is easier to exclude harmful passions
than to rule them,
and to deny them admittance t
han to control them
after they have been admitted.
Seneca
Pizza Slices and Michael "Big Apple Nanny" Bloomberg
I can't count how many pizza slices I've eaten at work as an IT professional on the few occasions employers pick up the check--mostly on things like working on computer maintenance outside regular work hours (usually there's a limited window to get the tasks done; people going out to eat puts that window at risk). Everybody likes pizza; I've also worked with so many Indians (Asian, not Native American) that a typical order will include at least one meatless pie.
I remember one of the pettiest pizza incidents occurred on a Silicon Valley gig back in 1999 (I was commuting from Chicago, replacing the DBA whom had resigned, while they attempted to recruit a full-time replacement). The Japanese company subsidiary had a company meeting across the lunch hour to discuss with employees the latest results, current initiatives, etc. and probably ordered a couple dozen or more pizzas. As a lowly contractor, I was not invited, of course. After the meeting, my IT manager client mentioned that there was plenty of pizza left, and I should go down to the cafeteria and help myself. I was initially reluctant to do so, but my boss insisted. When I went down there, this Filipina accounting manager spotted me and physically blocked my access to the pizza boxes, saying that pizza was for employees only. (I had replaced one of her best friends in the company, whom had resigned when he didn't get promoted into the then vacant IT manager's job.) This was stupid, of course, because I was expensing lunches, and the company had already spent money on the pizzas; what she did embarrassed my boss.
I went through my low-carb phase in 2003-2004, losing something like 90 pounds. Shortly thereafter I was working at a local NASA base as a subcontractor DBA; we typically scheduled a weekly Thursday after-hours maintenance window, e.g., implementing the latest operating system and database software patches. The prime contractor sytem admin supervisor would order pizza, a high-carb food (the crust); she talked about ordering us salads instead, but to be honest as a road warrior over the years, I was used to dinners as late as midnight or even later.
Even politics gets into pizza issues; remember the 2011 pizza summit between Trump and Sarah Palin, where they were eating pizza with a knife and fork? Of course Joe Six-Pack doesn't eat pizza, the ultimate finger food, with utensils!
Apparently Michael Bloomberg's sugary drink restriction policy was not appreciated by the local pizzeria owner whom decided to implement a pepperoni pizza quota, for His Honor's own good, of course:
Bloomberg was having an informal working lunch [on May 2] with city comptroller John Liu at the time and was enraged by the embarrassing prohibition. The owners of Collegno's Pizzeria say they refused to serve him more than one piece to protest Bloomberg's proposed soda ban, which would limit the portions of soda sold in the city.The term-limited billionaire politician, of course, could probably buy out the pizzeria with the spare change in his pocket. And there are hundreds of pizzerias willing to sell him a whole pepperoni pizza. But kudos to the owner whom had the courage to turn the tables on Your Nanny.
A final note: I do understand Bloomberg's preference for pepperoni pizza, an outstanding choice if you're not on a diet. I love just about any topping, the works, so long as there is a tomato base. However, I dislike pineapple and few other toppings I don't care for--including chicken, which I first tasted in Brazil. My favorite Lean Cuisine variety is Marguerita, although the crust has too many carbs.
Line of the Day
From Bill Bonner:
Suicide prevention – as near as we could make out – is barely a footnote in the federal budget: only about $56 million per year. This despite the fact that the risk to the typical reader posed by himself is about 1,000 times greater than the risk from "terrorists."...[This] is the shocking and amazing thing. Despite Homeland Security, drones, Facebook, rap, neo-cons, Barack Obama, tort lawyers, the IRS, Lindsay Lohan, Paul Krugman and Thomas L. Friedman – most Americans still have a will to live.Careful! They'll put you in a straitjacket, lock you in a padded cell and pipe in Barry Obama speeches 24 hours a day.... And your meals will be approved by Chief Nutrition Officer Michelle Obama...
Former Gov. Sanford Defeats Colbert's Sister for SC Special Election: Thumbs UP!
Tough campaigns in South Carolina politics are a given. Remember, McCain's 2000 Presidential bid was undone in the socially conservative Southern state allegedly by a spurious rumor that McCain's young adopted daughter from overseas was his love child from a black mistress. Sex scandals are nothing new in America; recall that reformer Grover Cleveland was attacked by the GOP in the 1884 campaign: "Ma, Ma, Where's my Pa?" (A journalist recently made waves by suggesting the bachelor Cleveland date-raped a woman whom later became pregnant; the other side of the story that the woman had been intimate with other men whom were married; the Maury Povich show did not exist then. Cleveland decided to step forward and accept financial responsibility, even if he had sincere doubts about paternity. As one favorable reviewer notes: "The timeline of Maria Alperins accusations actually favors Grover Cleveland and rings more like "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" than any sort of credible accusation of rape." Of course, there were no DNA tests then; but Cleveland was so scrupulously principled and honest in his official dealings, the baby was not named after Cleveland but another male companion and keep in mind he told others simply to tell the truth and did not deny taking responsibility for an illegitimate child, that I am skeptical of a more sensational interpretation of what happened, which seems to reflect a presentist bias of the politically motivated allegations.)
It's hard to remember but Sanford term-limited himself after winning 3 elections for the same first district. He was considered a rising star in the GOP: "While in Congress, Sanford was recognized as its most fiscally conservative member by the Cato Institute. He was also recognized by Citizens Against Government Waste, as well as the National Tax Payers Union, for his efforts to rein in government spending and reduce the national deficit. He garnered a lifetime rating of 92 from the American Conservative Union, opposing abortion for example."
He then won 2 terms as governor, also winning chair of the RGA, a typical launching platform for Presidential contenders like Romney. Then came the spectacular collapse of his political career over seeing his then Argentinian mistress, Maria Belen Chapur (Sanford's wife divorced him shortly thereafter, and Sanford and Chapur were engaged last year).
Now I believe in personal redemption, and when Tim Scott resigned the first Congressional District seat to assume Jim DeMint's former Senate seat, I was favorably disposed towards Sanford's attempt to resurrect his Congressional career based on his fiscally conservative record. The wild card was how willing were the voters to allow the Chapur scandal to trump the most qualified, experienced candidate in the race. The GOP had held the seat since Reagan's first Presidential election. I don't know Colbert-Busch's policies, but I'm confident they were to the left of the First District. The initial polls didn't look good for Sanford, and then the last thing he needed surfaced: Sanford's ex-wife made a claim that he made an unauthorized visit to her home, which he claimed was an attempt to watch football with their son. This was the last thing he needed, and people started writing yet another political obituary.
Personally, I think that Sanford made bad mistakes, particularly in his private life. But I'm more worried about electing good principled fiscal hawks to office. Congratulations, Congressman-elect Sanford: the people of the First District have given you the proverbial second chance; vindicate their trust in you.
A UKIP European Parliament Member Delivers a Rant Against Central Bankers, Money Printing and Fractional Reserve Banking
I hope that I am not oversimplifying here but the UK Labor Party is similar to the Democratic Party, Conservative to the GOP, and the UKIP more like Libertarians/Tea Party. The UKIP made inroads at the expense of the Conservatives in recent elections. Below Godfrey Bloom rips into central banking and fractional reserve banking; critiques of fractional reserve banking often stem from the Austrian School, and Ron Paul has mad similar criticisms. I love the predictable exchange below where the smug European points out that the euro has been more stable than the pound--as if Bloom was proposing the Bank of England as a role model alternative to the ECB! Bloom is clear here that he despises all central bank currency manipulators, but clearly doesn't like the Cyprus deposit haircut, which goes beyond theft by inflation, where depositors bear the costs for bad banking. (The ECB has recently matched England's 0.5% rate) (HT libertyblitzkrieg).
Government Intelligence: They'll Be Watching You by Drones and Cameras, Reading Your Emails and Chats, Recording Your Phone Calls...
I guarantee there's nothing interesting about my emails, phone calls, etc. I don't even have a current girlfriend to spice things up (no, my idea of a good time doesn't include reading from my dissertation). I am not a conspiracy theorist or paranoid. But there is something wrong about a government that tries to monitor everything you do or say as if every resident is considered to be guilty by default. This makes a mockery of the concept of privacy, the Fourth Amendment and SCOTUS, which seems to give the State unlimited access except for some narrowly interpreted exceptions in the Bill of Rights. The clip below seems to suggest that national intelligence may have access to phone conversations between deceased Boston Marathon terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his wife/widow. (I do realize that Tsarnaev was questioned in the past after a Russian intelligence tip). How many married people want their personal phone calls being tracked by the government? (HT libertyblitzkrieg)
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Robert Airail and Townhall |
Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band, "Prove It All Night"
