THE STATE FAIR

We went to the State Fair and one of the first exhibits we stopped at was the breeding bulls. We went up to the first pen and there was a sign attached that said, "THIS BULL MATED 50 TIMES LAST YEAR"

My wife playfully nudged me in the ribs, smiled and said, "He mated 50 times last year."



We walked to the second pen which had a sign attached that said, "THIS BULL MATED 150 TIMES LAST YEAR"

My wife gave me a healthy jab and said, "WOW! That's more than TWICE A WEEK ! ! ! . . . . You could learn a lot from him!"



We walked to the third pen and it had a sign attached that said, in capital letters, "THIS BULL MATED 365 TIMES LAST YEAR"

My wife was so excited that her elbow nearly broke my ribs, and she said, "That's ONCE A DAY ! ! ! You could REALLY learn something from this one."



I looked at her and said, "Go over and ask him if it was with the same old cow every time."

My condition has been upgraded from critical to stable, and I should eventually make a full recovery.

China Challenges United States for Aerospace Leadership

Cross-posted from American Power.

*****

I mentioned earlier some of my quibbles with Professor Joseph Nye on the likelihood of continued American preponderance. Actually, my quibbles are even smaller than quibbles, if quibbles can be quantified. Mostly, our massive fiscal deficits are upsetting, and I'm hoping to have something to say on "American Profligacy and American Power," by Roger Altman and Richard Haass. But I have to admit I was caught off guard by this report at LAT, "China to Unveil Its Own Large Jetliner":

China is aiming to reshape the global aviation industry with a home-grown jetliner, a direct challenge to the supremacy of Boeing and Airbus, the world's only manufacturers of large commercial aircraft.

The communist government has staked billions of dollars and national pride on the effort. What may surprise some Americans worried about slipping U.S. competitiveness is that some well-known U.S. companies are aiding China in its quest.

That partnership will be on display next week at an air show in southern China with the unveiling of a full-scale mockup of the C919. Slated for production by 2016, the 156-seat, single-aisle passenger plane would have its fuselage emblazoned with Comac, short for the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China. But inside, the most crucial systems would bear the trademarks of some of the biggest names in Western aviation.

Honeywell International Inc. will supply power units, on-board computing systems, wheels and brakes; Rockwell Collins Inc. will handle navigation systems; GE Aviation is building the avionics; Eaton Corp. is involved with fuel and hydraulics; and Parker Aerospace of Irvine is responsible for flight controls. Powering the aircraft will be two fuel-efficient engines built by CFM International, a company co-owned by GE and French conglomerate Safran.

Global supply chains are common in the aviation industry: Chicago-based Boeing and Europe's Airbus rely on parts makers and assembly operations around the world. But China isn't content just to buy sophisticated gear for the C919; the government has required foreign suppliers to set up joint ventures with Chinese companies.

That has put U.S. and European suppliers in a tough spot: Be willing to hand over advanced technology to Chinese firms that could one day be rivals or miss out on what's likely to be the biggest aviation bonanza of the next half a century. Honeywell alone has snagged contracts worth more than $11 billion for the project.

"You're faced with either being part of it or not," said Billy Lay, a Dubai-based partner at PRTM, an international consulting firm with expertise in aerospace. "I don't know what the alternatives are."

Actually, we've dealt with such scenarios before, when Americans were concerned with growing Japanese industrial competitiveness in the late-1980s (see, "Beyond Mutual Recrimination: Building a Solid U.S.-Japan Relationship in the. 1990s," and "Do Relative Gains Matter? America's Response to Japanese Industrial Policy"). Back then, the U.S. response was to place export controls on sensitive industrial sectors, especially in aerospace. I can't imagine in just twenty years that kind of realpolitik in economic policy (neo-mercantilism) has been completely repudiated at the top levels of strategic planning. Perhaps Japan was more brazenly competitive, or China's more stealthy now. Either way, concerns for relative gains contributed to restrictions on sensitive technologies, and limits on private sector exports and cooperation in strategic technologies.

Maybe we're complacent. But we're still on top, at least for now. See, "Asia and Europe Giving U.S. Science a Run for the Money":

The United States still leads the world with its scientific clout, armed with highly respected universities and a big war chest of funding, but Europe and Asia are catching up, according to a Thomson Reuters report released on Friday.

The U.S. emphasis on biological and medical sciences leaves the fields of physical sciences and engineering open to the competition, the report finds.

"The United States is no longer the Colossus of Science, dominating the research landscape in its production of scientific papers, that it was 30 years ago," the report reads.

"It now shares this realm, on an increasingly equal basis, with the EU27 (the 27 European Union members) and Asia-Pacific," adds the report, available at http://researchanalytics.thomsonreuters.com/grr/.

I'll be back to this topic soon. President Obama was just in the news last week with the statement that America's best days were behind us: "Obama Acknowledges Decline of U.S. Dominance." The president is post-American anyway, but the matter's worth paying attention to. As noted, I'm mostly with Joseph Nye above. But extreme levels of deficit and debt, and now with new signs of threatening international economic competition, look to be putting tremendous pressure on the continuation of American world leadership.

More later ...

Bedtime Totty..........

Video: Ray Wylie Hubbard on Redneck Mother

H/T Bob C

Cartoon Round Up....

Video: Bill Cosby, Understanding Southern with Marcia Brody

This is funny.








H/T Shelly

Video: Prager University: The Middle East Problem

H/T Amnon

Found at Yankee Phil

Goodbye Old Girl. You will be missed..............

HMS Ark Royal Set on its Last Voyage before Decommissioning

U.S. Navy Petty Officer Adam Pond, left, assists Petty Officer Norberto Riegodedios, right, during the recovery of an AH-1W Cobra helicopter aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS Denver in the South China Sea, Nov. 9, 2010. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Bryan Blair


H/T Marc

Don't think so.........

H/T Rodney

Top Oxymorons............

45. Act naturally
44. Found missing
43. Resident alien
42. Advanced BASIC
41. Genuine imitation
40. Airline Food
39. Good grief
38. Same difference
37. Almost exactly
36. Government organization
35. Sanitary landfill
34. Alone together
33. Legally drunk
32. Silent scream
31. Living dead
30. Small crowd
29. Business ethics
28. Soft rock
27. Butt Head
26. Military Intelligence
25. Software documentation
24. New classic
23. Sweet sorrow
22. Childproof
21. “Now, then …”
20. Synthetic natural gas
19. Passive aggression
18. Taped live
17. Clearly misunderstood
16. Peace force
15. Extinct Life
14. Temporary tax increase
13. Computer jock
12. Plastic glasses
11. Terribly pleased
10. Computer security
9. Political science
8. Tight slacks
7. Definite maybe
6. Pretty ugly
5. Twelve-ounce pound cake
4. Diet ice cream
3. Working vacation
2. Exact estimate
1. Microsoft Works

H/T Shelly

USMC Quote of the Day............from Rico

I will always love our Marines.

I will never forget the lesson to ALWAYS listen to the Gunny.
- You cannot always do what he advises, but you can be certain tht an inordinate amount of blood will be shed when you do not.

A 'shout-out' to der Teufel Hunden (the Devil Dogs).....Oooooooo-RAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

"When I joined the military it was illegal to be homosexual, then it became optional. I'm getting out before Obama makes it mandatory." -GySgt Harry Berres, USMC

Video: UK public sector is crippling UK economy

H/T DML

Bonus Babe..........

Video: Gladys Ingle of the 13 BLACK CATS changes planes in mid-air ro replace a lost wheel

H/T Canis 61

Video: Black Devil - Moscow Ride on R1

H/T Canis 61

Pic Dump............

Video: Bullet Proof Glass Saves Soldier.....

Caution Language

Video: Frisky Dolphin

EMBED-Frisky Dolphin Finds A Friend - Watch more free videos

The Sunday Best........

Your Tax Dollars At Prayer: The "Oldest Hate" in one of Canada's oldest Mosques

More Election Shenanigans

Taxpayer Dollars Fund Luxury Detention Centers for Illegal Immigrants

CAIR tells Muslims how to limit TSA inspection

Obama's Gifts to the GOP

China: 64.5-million Homes Register No Electricity Use?

EU demands new tax raid against Britain

Alternate Explanation for Google's Veterans Day Logo

Britain's top soldier says al-Qaeda cannot be beaten


The climate change scare is dying, but do our MPs notice?

How the Tea Party is brewing up trouble for the world’s currencies

Sacrifices past and present


Prince William: I am humbled by respect for Armed Forces

Dutch soldiers accused of blowing up their own vehicle

The Decider returns to haunt Mr Nuance as George W. Bush eclipses Barack Obama

Gaza aide ship captain "went mental"

Circumcision Ban May End Up on S.F. Ballot

Rethinking Palestinian Aid


and finally...........

Remembrance Day: Where they fell

Video: Ark Hotel Construction time lapse building 15 storeys in 2 days

H/T DML

Sunday Totty..........

"Reform" I could have done without..........from Rico

Does anyone 'remember' how, when "Health Care Reform" was rammed up.....er, down our throats, we were told this 'reform' would not increase, but rather decrease the costs of health care? Hahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaaa!! [I just LOVE the way these clowns say the opposite of what they mean, and of what is really going on! Think of Obama-Soetoro's "no tax increases if I am elected" April 15th next! ]

I'm one of the 'lucky' ones. I have health insurance. My 2011 premium is ONLY increasing by 20%. I can always HOPE they drop me so I can get some of this "free" stuff instead of having to pay for it.
- Bloody good thing we currently have no inflation to contend with, so we don't need more money to EAT or drive our cars/heat our homes. At least according to the 'offishul' government numbers, but I never seem to see any 'offishuls' when I am at the fuel pump or in line to pay for my groceries. Damned odd, that.

Oh, yay.
- Thanks for THIS reform you lying-thieving Democrat rat-bastids!!!!!! Whaever would we DO without them and Obama-Reid-Pelosi? I cannot wait to find out.

Video: Chris Ashton Brilliant Try - England v Australia

England 35 Australia 18: match report

Video: Angel - The Cleverlys

Saturday Night is Bath Night............

One and Done? WaPo Columnists Call for Obama to Step Aside

Cross-posted from American Power: "Obama 'Has Largely Lost the Consent of the Governed'."

*****

I don't take these calls all that seriously, mainly because I don't believe that Obama's a cut-and-run president, and while I disagree with him profoundly, that's a good quality to have. He just needs to find a new tack, perhaps become more humble, and more attuned to a centrist style that's genuinely appreciated by Republicans. I don't know if there's a way for that after two years of thinking you know what's best for the country and screw everyone else, but if Bill Clinton showed us anything in 1994 it's that you can be a colossal screw up and still be reelected to a second term. And folks shouldn't get me wrong --- I want Obama to fail, the way Rush Limbaugh wants Obama to fail. It's just that there's no office like the presidency, an institution that's an engine of history. Announcing he'd not seek reelection in 2012 would make him even weaker than is now. He'd be transformed into a lame duck immediately, instead of after 2013 or so, after he'd expended his capital from reelection to a second term. And for what? Lyndon Johnson got a shellacking in the 1968 Democratic primaries. He stepped aside to "devote full attention" to the war in Vietnam. The president who signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is rarely referred to as one of the nation's greatest presidents. Obama not only wants to be remembered as the first black president. He wants to be remembered as the black Lincoln. That's probably out of reach, but he won't even be the black Truman if he announces he won't seek a second term.

Read the rest at American Power: "Obama 'Has Largely Lost the Consent of the Governed'."

VIDEO: Myanmar Frees Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Originally posted at American Power: "Myanmar Frees Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi (VIDEO)."

*****

The main story's at LAT, "Myanmar Frees Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi." I'm just blown away by the brazen and bankrupt maneuvering of the military junta, which just held the most carefully scripted elections imaginable, the first elections in 20 years. The timing of Suu Kyi's release naturally followed the balloting, if it could be called that. To release her ahead of the vote may well have helped topple the regime in power. See WSJ from earlier this month, "Myanmar's Muted Election: Residents Debate Importance of Sunday Vote, First in 20 Years":

Myanmar, led by a secretive military junta regarded as one of the most oppressive in the world, is holding a closely watched—and controversial— election on Nov. 7. The government says the vote is part of a "road map to democracy" that will replace generals with civilian leaders and give the public more say in public affairs than at any time in decades.

But during a five-day visit to the country recently, across two of Myanmar's biggest cities, the only evidence this reporter saw of the election race was a small campaign poster for an obscure ethnic party hanging on a shopkeeper's wall in a muddy and trash-strewn Yangon outdoor market. Government television stations and newspapers featured some coverage, but it was heavily censored. It included a series of 15-minute segments in which party candidates sat at desks passively reading policy statements approved by government minders.

To the extent anyone discussed the election, it was mainly in the form of quiet whispers in tea houses or in private residences. Locals say there are small gatherings of candidates and voters. The exiled media have reported that campaign signs, mostly for the government-backed parties, appear here and there.

Some were impressed when the largest opposition party, the National Democratic Force, did take out a full-page advertisement in a private newspaper. The simple ad showed the party's logo, a bamboo hat and a giant black check mark. In small type, it reads: "The Hope for Democracy: NDF for the People."

Strict election rules make it tough to do more. Candidates are barred from chanting, marching, or saying anything at political events that could tarnish the state's image. To register to run, they have to pay $500, a huge sum for average Myanmar citizens. Those restrictions—and the government's detention of more than 2,000 critics in prison, according to human-rights groups—have left some candidates unable or reluctant to do more than quietly ask friends and allies for support.

There's also an interactive information feature at the link.

More great blogging throughout the day at American Power.

Cartoon Round Up....

1954 Oldsmobile F-88 Convertible Concept Car

In 1954 – the F-88 was a Motorama “Dream Car” and was one of only two – or an unconfirmed possible three ever created. The F-88 seen here is literally the only car left of its kind – and was sold to John and Maureen Hendricks at the prestigious Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona for an unbelievable $3,240,000. This acquisition made automotive history and is the “cornerstone” of the Gateway Colorado Automobile Museum in its own special room in a rotating display worthy of the F-88!







H/T Doverthere

It's twue, it's TWUE!!..............from Rico

Let's face it guys, we've ALL been there, done that, and have a drawer full of t-shirts.

Video: Canadian PM: I Will Defend Israel 'whatever the cost'

H/T Shelly

U.S. Indiana National Guard soldiers work together to smoothly execute a fire mission using an M777 Howitzer on Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in central Indiana, Nov. 4, 2010. The Indiana Guard is one of the first states to receive this piece of equipment. The soldiers are assigned to 2nd Battalion, 150th Field Artillery Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. John Crosby

H/T Marc

Bonus Babe...........

Humour..........

* President Obama was in India yesterday visiting our jobs. Tomorrow he goes to China to visit our money.

* Republicans were complaining about the cost of Obama's trip, and that he was staying at the Taj Mahal. It turns out he was actually staying at the Taj Mahal Express, by the airport.

* Obama says India is one of our most important trading partners. We give them our jobs and they give us . . . Wait, what do we get?

* The president's trip was cut short due to volcanic ash. That's the second time his plans have been disrupted by ash. The last time was when the Democrats went down in flames.

* President Obama went to India, South Korea, then Japan. He's going to keep traveling until he finds his birth certificate.

* Apple just launched its online store in China. Apple said this is an exciting opportunity to sell iPods to the kids who make them.

H/T Old Dude

H/T DML

Video: Opera Company of Philadelphia "Hallelujah!" Random Act of Culture

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers.



H/T Canis 61

News..........

I AM A JEW by Dan Sporn

Evil never goes away, it is never vanquished ... from "paradise lost," ... and, from the democratic national committee

Addressing our homegrown enemies

Chocolate: Worth its weight in gold?


Shining A Light On Shariah Creep

Bombs Away: Afghan Air War Peaks With 1,000 Strikes in October

Missile Explained!

In World War II, He Fought For Two Armies

Britain rejects pardon for executed soldier Breaker Morant

10 Oddest Brother And Sister Stories


15 Hilarious Newspaper Mistakes and Apology Notes

Star Rugby Player Quits Team After Sex With Dog

Seriously Big Blocks of Flats In China

Holiday Firm Pontin's Enters Administration

Jailed hate preacher Abu Hamza's home has a £40,000 makeover... paid by taxpayers

Afghanistan: Taliban attack Jalalabad air base

Yemen tribal leaders will not hand over al-Qaeda operatives

Prisoners to be given flat screen televisions to meet green targets

Yemen: the war on terror and a deadly game of cat and mouse

Man jailed for posting ex-girlfriend's naked photograph on Facebook.

PricewaterhouseCoopers staff rate female colleagues in 'viral' email


Radical Muslim cleric sentenced to life

Robert Mugabe's aides praise David Cameron and the Coalition


Jewish doctor refuses to operate on Nazi patient


and finally...........

'Disaster City': Rescue Workers Train in the Disneyland of Terror

Wild Turkeys and The National WTF

The 9 types of beers (and what they tell you about their drinkers)

Video: First person Extreme Sports

Saturday Totty............

November 3, 2010 8:00 A.M. The White House, Washington D.C.

H/T Shelly

Comedy: Homemade Implants - Frances Dilorinzo

H/T Shelly

Video: Ultimate Weapons- Mother of all Bombs

Marisa Miller Supports the Troops

At Weasel Zippers, "Victoria’s Secret Supermodel Steps Down to Focus on Projects Supporting the Troops…"

Previously: "Explosive Marisa Miller Rule 5 Roundup!"

BONUS: At Washington Rebel, "I am an AMERICAN."

Cross-posted from American Power.

White Woman's Racist Rant Allegedly Gets Black Postal Worker Fired

This is all over the place: "Viral Footage: Abusive White Woman Gets Black Postal Worker Fired."

More news and commentary throughout the weekend, at American Power.

Cats Lap With Just the Tip of the Tongue, Engineers Find

Some science blogging for a Friday night (and Saturday morning UK), and for cat lovers as well, "Biomechanics of Feline Water Uptake." And here's the cool video:

And previously at American Power:

* "Back to the Future with Jerry Brown at the Helm in California."

* "Tory Councillor Gareth Compton Suspended After 'Stoning' Tweet to Columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown."

* "Smokin' Hot Emma Watson at World Premiere of 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince'."

* "Karen Alloy Falls Back."

* "'Unstoppable' in Theaters Today."

Bedtime Totty............

NewsBusted 11/12/10

BFN: Remembering the fallen 11.11.10