No more Twinkies: Labor union destroys Hostess

I hope the idiots in the photo on the right are happy.  Those are some of the members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union who went on strike against their employer: Hostess Brands, Inc.

The union has about 5,000 people working at Hostess. As of this morning, their months-long strike has put themselves and thirteen thousand others out of work.

The big news at the time of this writing is Hostess going out of business and liquidating its assets. The company could no longer afford to be in business as a result of the strike. More than 18,500 people are now unemployed.

What a colossal committing of ass-hattery.

But hey, at least the employees responsible can rely on the union bosses to back them up. Not to mention getting government unemployment checks. All out of spite for a measly 2% decrease in pension that Hostess put on the bargaining table. Yeah, win the fight for a tiny amount of pension but put nearly 20,000 people out of work and destroy a favorite snack food for everyone.

Like they say on the basketball court: "Smooth move Ex-lax!"

Labor unions are worse than useless. If this doesn't demonstrate that, I don't know what possibly could.

Better stock up on your favorite Hostess-brand goodies, folks...

 

...'cuz they're about to be gone. Forever.

(I can't imagine any other company right now wanting to buy out Hostess and putting their goodies back into production: it'd cost too much to relocate factories to right-to-work states, and would anyone in their right mind in this economic environment want to go through the hassle anyway?)

It is the end of an era, my friends. A darn shame too, seeing as how Hostess snacks helped to end the reign of terror of so many supervillains back in the day.

Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho-Hos, Fruit Pies, Wonder Bread: get 'em now, friends and neighbors. Their value will be greater than gold as barter items on the underground market when the sh-t hits the fan. Probably sooner than later.

But if I were the CEO of Hostess, I wouldn't have put out a press release or called a news conference about what has been done to his company.

This is how I would have delivered the message...

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Burglar caught after logging into Facebook at victim's house

No wonder it's often called "Crackbook": some folks are addicted to it! Consider one Jonathan G. Parker, age 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pennsylvania. Police in the town responded to a call from a home on August 28th in which the resident reported a breaking and entering, and the theft of two diamond rings valued at more than $3,500.

The cops didn't have far to look for a suspect, however: Parker used the victim's computer to log into his Facebook account and forgot to log out.

Jonathan Parker was arrested, and is currently in jail on $10,000 bond. He's facing one to ten years in the slammer if convicted.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. But also very funny :-)

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The Constitutional Calamity of Cash for Clunkers

It's awfully hard to disagree with the observation of car salesman Rob Bojaryn: "If they can't administer a program like this, I'd be a little concerned about my health insurance."

President Obama's "Cash for Clunkers" program has proven to be a disaster after just six days. Under the program a person can trade in an older/less fuel-efficient vehicle for as much as $4,500 credit toward a newer car. The money allocated for this thing has already been burned up and now Congress is allocating an addition $2 BILLION for it.

I have a question:

Where in the Constitution of the United States is there found authorization for the federal government to be in the used car business?

And then, why is our tax money being used to help someone else buy a new car? I've bought cars before, and I've never approached the government for any financial assistance toward some new wheels. Can't see how it should be any different for anyone else.

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The dumbest thing Obama has done as President thus far...

...and Obama is doing plenty of dumb things since taking office just six months ago.

I'm talking about how President Obama brought up the arrest of his friend and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. during his press conference last night, denouncing the police involved in the matter as acting "stupidly".

Here's what was wrong with that: in doing so, Obama has now compromised his moral authority as President of the United States... and particularly when it is seen that he did so on behalf of his own personal and private interests. Obama has also - and in a more egregious fashion than any President in perhaps living memory - used his public office to level an accusation beyond the scope afforded him by the Constitution. And in doing that, Obama has now involved the Presidency in what should have remained a matter for the local community.

(Incidentally, Bill Cosby has now weighed in and said Obama's remarks last night "shocked" him: "If I'm the president of the United States, I don't care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I'm keeping my mouth shut.")

I have thought for some time that Obama has been neither wise or inspiring. His comments last night only solidify that sentiment in my mind...

...but then, it's been twenty years or so since we did have a President that was wise and inspiring, so why should I be expecting any different?

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Oh crap: Socialized medicine coming to U.S.?!?

Years ago when I was a Cub Scout, there was a cartoon in Boys Life showing a kid, obviously over-zealous with carpentry tools, telling his dog that he was there to give him a new doghouse. It was a parable about working with plans (which the lad decided for whatever reason that he didn't need). In the first panel after the kid announces his intentions, the dog thinks "Oh no, spare me this!"

That was the first thing that popped into mind this morning when I read that President Obama might push through a vote on national "health care reform", that it's going to cost at least $1.5 TRILLION and to fund it Congress is looking at a 5.4 percent additional tax on the richest Americans.

Much like the dog in that cartoon: "Dear God, PLEASE spare us this!"

Lemme tell you what is going to happen if Obama and his allies have their way with their medical machinations: the quality of health care in America will plummet, a lot of the economy (that we can't afford to lose) that isn't related to health care will simply relocate rather than pay higher taxes, and the United States will lose its driving motivation toward cutting-edge medical and pharmaceutical research that the rest of the world benefits immensely from.

I thought "health care reform" sucked donkeys balls to no end when the Clintons tried to pull this one over on us fifteen years ago. It was a rotten plan then and as Obama and his crew are trying to do, it's even more rotten now.

And I hope and pray that there will be even more Americans opposing it this time around!

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1 in 4 Americans are texting while driving

According to a new poll, 1 in 4 Americans are apparently text messaging while driving.

I don't agree with laws prohibiting talking into a cellphone while driving, although I do believe that's something that individual drivers should make a determination about on their own. But texting is completely different. It demands an attention that talking doesn't require.

Plainly put folks: it should be just common sense not to text while operating a vehicle. It's already caused one trolley accident in Boston, and a school bus driver is now without a job after being photographed texting while driving with a full bus of kids.

So far as I'm concerned, trying to text while driving is just as rife with risk as is driving while intoxicated. If one has to text while out and about in a vehicle, there's always the side of the road or a parking lot somewhere.

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Hatred and stupidity are a terrible combination

The photo on the right was taken during a protest in New York City in late December 2008.

Not as unintentionally funny as Sesame Street's Bert colluding with Osama Bin Laden, but still a somewhat hilarious peek into a heart of darkness.

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"National car crushing" sought for inclusion in stimulus plan

You see, this is part of what's screwy with the United States right now. We've got too many politicians like Diane Feinstein and Henry Waxman, sitting on their publicly-funded derrieres all day and doing nothing but coming up with crap like this. As part of the "economic stimulus" now being debated, some in Congress are looking at it as an opportunity to completely gut the domestic industry manufacturing trucks and SUVs. Part of the scheme involves giving cash vouchers - out of the federal treasury - to people in order to help them buy "more fuel-efficient" vehicles.

So as if this country's economy wasn't in shambles enough, Feinstein and Waxman not only want to waste even more of our money, they want to destroy much of what little industrial infrastructure we have left to us.

It's almost enough to make one wonder if some elected officials are not actually the proverbial "Manchurian candidates", if ya know what I mean. They certainly seem hellbent enough on wrecking havoc to this country.

Thanks to John Seilback for the heads-up.

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NOT AGAIN! Scantily-clad girls bathe in KFC restaurant sink

What the hell is it with employees bathing in restaurant sinks lately? A few months ago it was "Mr. Unstable" who boneheadedly decided to post a video of himself cleansing in the sink at Burger King in Xenia, Ohio: a stunt that got not only himself but a bunch of others fired.

Now it's the KFC in Anderson, California, where three female employees also took a bath in the sink normally used to clean utensils.

Two of the girls have been fired, and the other has already left on her own. They took several photos of themselves wearing swimsuits while carousing in the steaming-hot water (click here for more 'cuz many of y'all will no doubt be interested anyway) and then posted them on Myspace in a gallery called "KFC Moments".

I don't know which is the more dumb: that they did this to begin with, or that they opted to publicize it.

Hey kids, listen: I've been known to do some outrageous stunts too (heck I still do, even). But don't do it if it could possibly lead to drastic consequences like losing your employment. If you wanna take some pics and stash them away for years later, when you're safe and you want to show off how much of an idiot you were back in the day, fine... but to show off how much of an idiot you are today is only asking for trouble.

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Burger King employee takes bath... in restaurant's sink!

Mr. Unstable's parents are no doubt proud of him...

The Burger King in Xenia, Ohio is minus a bunch of employees and one manager tonight because this guy decided to cleanse himself with a bubble bath in the restaurant's dish sink! The location's operators have thrown out all the utensils that came in contact with "Mr. Unstable", and have said that the sink has been sanitized twice. I've heard at least one person suggest that perhaps the entire Burger King be razed and burned and the ground sown with salt.

If you must (and you probably must) here's the complete video showing the now-unemployed Mr. Unstable taking his bath in the sink...

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Man threatened with arrest for wearing TRANSFORMERS t-shirt

Brad Jayokody, pictured below, was threatened by security personnel at London's Heathrow Airport because his t-shirt depicting Optimus Prime from the movie Transformers was considered offensive.

So much for "Freedom is the right of ALL sentient beings!" ...

Read the rest of the story here.

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Judge orders TorrentSpy to surrender its RAM (yes you read that right)

It is said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. If so, then this judge's comprehension of technology is downright lethal.

In federal court in Los Angeles last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian, who is presiding over a lawsuit filed by the Motion Picture Association of America against TorrentSpy, ruled that TorrentSpy must turn over to prosecutors the RAM in its server.

This is not a joke. The judge has declared that the information in the RAM is evidence and that it has to be handed over. She has told TorrentSpy to unplug the RAM and give it to the prosecution.

Will she subsequently charge TorrentSpy with destroying evidence when it's determined that there isn't any data on the chips?

That has got to be the dumbest ruling that I have ever seen a judge make, or one of the dumbest anyway.

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