Random thought...

Ok, if we are paying attention to the election coverage, we have noticed the progression of the Obamessiah from Lefty Liberal to Cool Centrist over the last few weeks. I think it stands out that he's shifted so much on his attitude toward private gun ownership, from the standard National Democrat position of "only the police and military should have guns" to a moderate "private gun ownership is fine, the Supreme Court says so." As we've seen in elections past, when the Democrat candidate takes a shift of positions like this, as the election nears, the candidate usually picks up a shotgun, dons a camo jacket, and trots across a field with news crews in tow, to show how rugged and macho his is, how he supports the sportsmen, and how he's "not going to take away your duck-hunting rifles." (Actually uttered by Bubba Clinton!) What I'm wondering is, when the Obamessiah drifts that far and wants to "get outdoors," should Dick Cheney send him an invite?

Aren't the BoyScouts (TM) supposed to be proud of America?

Then why are so many of their pocketknives made in CHINA?!?!? I'm looking thru their online catalogue at the pocketknives, lots of good memories there, my first pocketknife was the BSA Deluxe model, made by Ulster in the USA. (I originally said Utica of New York, but that's where Kabar knives are made; altho they did make some Boy Scout knives, they didn't make mine!) I spy the current Deluxe, a little different than mine, the Phillips screwdriver is in a different place, so I look at the close-up pic... IT'S MADE IN M-F-ING CHINA!?!?! I start peering over their other knives, the Utility is made by Imperial in the USA... the Eagle Pen Knife-- crapola, it's from China too... the old-fashioned Boy Scout Knife with brown handles, made by Camillus in USA-- umm, Camillus closed a couple of years ago (gee, they're listed as out-of-stock, too, duh). So... how old are these pictures? When were the latest batch done? Do they need to take new ones to reflect the current stock and where it's made?

At least with the Swiss Army Knives sporting the Boy Scout logo, we still know they're made in Switzerland... altho, the Classic (little thing, got a pen blade, nailfile, scissors, toothpick and tweezers, red handles) normally runs about $10 (any more than that and you're getting ripped off!). The BSA logo'd Classic is $24... so, the Boy Scout logo adds $14 to the value?!? I don't think so, Tim! Especially considering that the Chinese-made Eagle Scout pen knife, which is a copy of the Swiss Army Classic, costs $13, so they're losing a dollar there!

Now, granted, I've heard that the quality of Chinese-made knives is improving, depending on the factory and the company's quality control that the Chinese are making them for, but, still, it's the principle of the thing! Shouldn't the Boy Scouts' knives be made by quality companies, preferably in the US? (The Swiss Army Knives are quality products, the Swiss make so many of them, that's how the prices are still affordable, even tho by comparison the Chinese stuff is a much cheaper price... ask yourself if it's still a value once that Chinese-made knife breaks; at least the Swiss Army knives have a warrantee for repair or replacement.)

Whoever is in charge of the Boy Scouts' equipment procurement needs a little electro-shock thereapy to encourage them to re-evaluate their ways, or as I tend to shout at the TV... TAZE 'EM!!!

Weekend thoughts

I'm wandering around the Net, and I'm shocked to find that Tony Snow died yesterday. He was only 53 years old, and he finally lost that battle with cancer. I liked him as a radio show host on Fox News Radio (and when he sat in for Rush), before he took that job as White House Press Secretary. (I thought he would have been better if they'd allowed him to speak his mind at some of the inane questions, especially from Helen Thomas.)

One of the commentators from LoneStarTimes.com, good ol' Squawkbox has his own blog, at Squawkboxnoise.com. He's still insightful, thoughtful, and of a biting wit, and not too shabby with the graphics program, either.

While the skeletons in Obamessiah's closet may not stretch that far back, I wouldn't be surprised if the skeletons in the skeleton's closets did! If anybody with a lick of common sense actually listened to what he says, then only hard core socialists would want to elect him, and even then they'd be saying, "Man, he's way too radical for us, for wanting to do some of that as soon as he gets into office! He'll completely bankrupt the country, leaving nothing to work with for the second year!" Lately he's been pandering to the center, to win votes there, which only pisses off his main leftist supporters and the right is gonna remain suspicious of him, no matter what. (Let's not forget, any criticism of the Obamessiah and his policies is automatically racist!)

But it was just there!

A quick post, to let my fellow SETexians know, the Krystal Burger in Beaumont closed this Monday, and KOLE 1340/1380 AM is no longer on the air either.

The Krystal Burger closing is a bit of a surprise, apparently even to the employees, they showed up Monday and were told to go back home. The Enterprise says it was lack of advertising.

KOLE being off the air I guess is an eventuality, given that they changed owners and started messing with the format some.They used to have a morning call-in show, then Laura Ingraham and Bill O'reilly, a local afternoon call-in show, some evening syndicated shows, a Saturday morning call-in. The new owners got rid of all the local hosts and programs, going with all satellite-feed syndicated shows, mostly from the Fox News Radio lineup. Then a couple of weeks ago they pulled everything and had a repeating 30-second message broadcast saying they were moving their studios and would return to the air soon. That went on for a couple of days, then that stopped, and now I've noticed their website is gone too. This wouldn't be so bad, except the two shows I really liked, Glenn Beck and Texas Overnight with Charlie Jones, have to be hunted down on other stations (in other towns, in this case, Dallas), and with Glenn, at a different time slot than I'm used to (even tho he does have a TV show). Still, it's like when your favorite TV show gets moved around by the network, and you keep missing it because you're used to the old time slot. I'd try badgering KLVI to add them to their schedules, but that would mean getting rid of their best sellers, like Rush and Coast to Coast AM, for those times, and I'm pretty sure that ain't happening.