The Happy Carpenter

New list: Reading Now...

I added a new list to this site today, "Reading Now..." Look for it at the lower left.
Very cool how typepad does it -- I just go to the Amazon page for the book, copy its ID # from the address bar and paste it in, and presto a picture of the book pops up. Clicking on the pic will take you directly to the Amazon page to buy it, read more about it, reviews, etc.
Slick.

The best part is, The Happy Wife and I are reading it aloud to each other. We haven't done that in 8 years -- not since Rochelle was born. It is very, very nice to do that. I highly recommend it.

The book is good, too. Very interesting background information about some old Christian and Pagan history.

I gots to do it

Tell me you didn't laugh out loud when you read this site.

The Minimum Wage, or Why I Scored So High on the Kucinich/Sharpton Scale

I just figured it out. A few posts ago (see ) I took a poll to see where I stood in terms of % agreement with the candidates. And while my 100% agreement with the President was a little funny, my 38% agreement with Al Sharpton was shocking. Yes, Al Sharpton is by far the wittiest and verbally deft of the group, but still. Where did my parents go wrong?
The minimum wage, that's where.
I just remembered there was a question on that poll if I favored increasing the minimum wage. Hell YES I do. I think the Republicans should get right out in front on this populist issue and raise it up to at least $12/hour, maybe $16 if they can keep a straight face. Then like a rocket ship to the moon – BANG zzzzzoooOOOMMM! – unemployment among the lower classes, a sure and certain Democrat constituency, will go up. A lot. And so what? It’s not like there’s any other way to get the point across that a minimum wage hurts the employment prospects of everyone near the margin of employability. And it’s not like they’re on our side.
In case you’re not a business owner or manager, it works like this:
You own a landscaping and small earthwork company. And just for grins, let’s say you can’t find any illegal aliens in your town. I dunno, maybe you live in Nebraska. So you just landed some good contracts but don’t have enough men to do all the grading or planting that’s required. You need more people. Or do you? Your local CAT dealer is having a zero percent interest sale on new CAT skid steer loaders (what most folks call a “bobcat”) with zero down and 36 months to pay, and it costs $24,000. So let’s see, that’s $24,000 divided by 36 months divided by 173 working hours per month, that’s … Holy Cow! That’s only $3.85 per hour. Now, you’re not stupid. You know that no machine can be kept at productive use 100% of the time. It will need fuel, and oil, and filters, and hydraulic fluid, and repairs and tires and so on. But on the other hand, it doesn’t need workman’s comp insurance, it doesn’t bitch and moan, it won’t sue you for wrongful termination, won’t disappear on the first day of elk season (does Nebraska have elk? Dammifino.)
On the other hand, you might like giving a job to some dumb high school kid. Maybe he’ll turn out OK, maybe he’ll be fun to work with, maybe he’ll wash the truck. And if the minimum wage is about where it is now, $5.15, then the calculation of employer-or-machine is a close one. But for every nickel the minimum wage is raised, the balance of the decision goes more and more to the machine.
And in case you didn't know it, sales of these little skidsteers have been going through the roof for years.
Now I know accountants will look at this differently, and who knows or cares how an economist would look at it. But here’s how I look at it.
Why should Republicans continue to take heat from stupid kids, laborers and minorities when, by opposing increases to the minimum wage, those same Republicans are looking out for the best interests of those same Democrat-voting ignoramuses. I say “screw ‘em.” If they can’t understand the argument, then they might just understand being unemployed. Then we’ll sit back and let the Democrats take the heat for lowering the minimum wage, or better yet, eliminating it altogether and letting the Invisible Hand of Liberty do its thing.
Hell, let’s make it $20/hour!
And this is also the official version of every Democrat candidate -- hence my agreement with Sharpton. From JohnKerry.com's Working for African Americans:

Raise the Minimum Wage: Nearly one in six minimum wage workers are African American – or 1.7 million workers. Because inflation has been eating away at the minimum wage, its value is the lowest it has been since 1989. John Kerry helped lead the fight to pass the last minimum wage increase in 1997 and is a strong supporter of legislation to increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation to keep working families from falling farther behind.

Let's be Lucy instead of Charlie Brown for a change.
Hello to all you visitors from DisectingTheLeft. Good on ya', mates, and welcome. Feel free to jump right in to the comment section.

You'll Enjoy 'The Political Compass'

This site, The Political Compass, is the best I've found for defining where you stand on the polical spectrum. And as a bonus, once you're done with their provocative test, they show you where famous world leaders, past and present, are found. I, of course, am in the empty quadrant. Sigh.

Maybe he IS stupid...

If you don't understand why this is not only a bad idea, but also WRONG, then you are not a conservative, compassionate or otherwise. Thanks to Vodka Pundit:

President Bush will seek a big increase in the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest single source of support for the arts in the United States, administration officials said on Wednesday. The proposal is part of a turnaround for the agency, which was once fighting for its life, attacked by some Republicans as a threat to the nation's moral standards. Laura Bush plans to announce the request on Thursday, in remarks intended to show the administration's commitment to the arts, aides said. Administration officials, including White House budget experts, said that Mr. Bush would propose an increase of $15 million to $20 million for the coming fiscal year.

via the New York Times which still requires registration.

If you're reading The Da Vinci Code

the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, then you MUST read this.

What color shall the door to a rabbits foot factory be, and what direction shall it face?

There are times when it gets so silly, when they go so far, that I can only drop my jaw in wonder. Should I become a licensed Feng Shui master in California? It looks like the employment prospects of such superstitious nitwits are about to go up, if Leland Yee, the assistant speaker pro tem and San Francisco state representative has her way. Yee's measure, if passed, would "urge" rather than force the California Building Standards Commission "to adopt ... standards that promote feng shui principles."
I can just see the state exam for this new licensed profession. You walk into the examination room, expecting a crowd of desks all facing the proctor. But NO! The room is small, with but one chair and table. On the table is one sheet of paper. If you sit facing the right direction, you pass! How wonderful for our diversity and human enrichment. I feel a song coming on!

The world today seems absolutely crackers,
With nuclear bombs to blow us all sky high.
There's fools and idiots sitting on the trigger.
It's depressing and it's senseless, and that's why...
I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're always friendly, and they're ready to please.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
There's nine hundred million of them in the world today.
You'd better learn to like them; that's what I say.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They come from a long way overseas,
But they're cute and they're cuddly, and they're ready to please.

I like Chinese food.
The waiters never are rude.
Think of the many things they've done to impress.
There's Maoism, Taoism, I Ching, and Chess.

So I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
I like their tiny little trees,
Their Zen, their ping-pong, their yin, and yang-ese.

I like Chinese thought,
The wisdom that Confucious taught.
If Darwin is anything to shout about,
The Chinese will survive us all without any doubt.

So, I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're wise and they're witty, and they're ready to please.

All together.

[verse in Chinese]
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Ni hao ma; ni hao ma; ni hao ma; zaijien! (How are you; how are you; how are you; goodbye!)

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
Their food is guaranteed to please,
A fourteen, a seven, a nine, and lychees.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
I like their tiny little trees,
Their Zen, their ping-pong, their yin, and yang-ese.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees...

Thanks to The Gweilo Diaries, Recordnet.com, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Better Blogging II

Wretchard writes, in part:

The race to prevent rogue nations from acquiring WMDs has already been lost, and the race to keep them from falling into private hands is all but. The most horrifying thing about David Kay's report is his finding that Saddam's weapons were never under his control at all, but in the actual keeping of his minions, who misled him at every turn. The componentry may now be in Syria, where, if Iraq is any guide, they are under even looser custody. If the Saudis have made no secret of their desire to buy nuclear weapons, it is only because they know that these are for sale. It is safe to predict that the next mass attack on America will involve fission weapon of Pakistani design with a 40Kt yield, charged with uranium purified by Malaysian manufactured centrifuges from a design originally developed by Urenco in the Netherlands and probably paid for by Saudi Arabia. The World Bomb.

emphasis added. Need I say, "Read the whole thing."
And then ask yourself, "And then what?"
Will we never learn?

The President Asked for This

Thanks, Kryselda
Republican presidents should remember one thing: You can't outspend the Democrats. And even if you do, you won't get any credit for it. And don't trust the CIA.

Where's the Love?

A quick scan of my usual liberal sources shows no mention of Senator John Kerry, victor of New Hampshire. But everything (positive) I have found boils down to this: the Democrats think he can beat President Bush.
Guess what, Dems? If that's all he's got, it won't be enough.