Vegas Construction Site Claims 6th “Victim”

The MGM’s City Center, is about a mile and a half from my house.

The sixth on-site death occurred Saturday, and the unions are going on strike. Check out the spin from the local CBS affiliate:

Since construction on CityCenter began, six men have died. The latest, 39-year-old Dustin Tarter, a crane worker, was killed Saturday. He is the latest victim who perished on the grounds.

“He is the latest VICTIM.”

Victim? I have sympathy for Dustin Tarters family, but if he was a victim, he was a victim of the unions.

I know a little something about this stuff, because I was in construction, and I worked on a lot of the hotels here in Vegas, and I can tell you this: When you build something of this magnitude (the City Center is HUGE) people are going to die. I don’t care how many safety regulations are in place.

This thing is a gargantuan undertaking. It dwarfs the Bellagio on it’s left, and the Monte Carlo on it’s right.

Let me tell you something else about construction in this town. A 5000 room hotel that in any other city would take 5 years to build, goes from groundbreaking to opening in under 2 here. The problem isn’t safety regulations, it’s working the limited amount of skilled union workers literally to death.

Here would be the usual scenario: Our foreman would come to us at about 2:30 in the afternoon, (we usually got off at 3:00) and inform us that starting today, we’re all working 7 day 12 hour shifts, usually for at least six months, until the hotel is open, so call your wives, and if you don’t like it, leave the job site right now and don’t come back. This is how Union Shops typically treat their Oh-So-Precious workers, and when people start to get hurt, it must be a “safety” problem.

All the OSHA regulations in the world mean exactly dick when you’re on your 180th consecutive twelve hour day, and begin seeing double, talking in gibberish, and praying for death, just so you don’t have to drag your ass out of bed again.

Many guys, (I was never one of them) turn to Meth, just to get through another grueling day, which usually ends badly. If they’re unfortunate enough to have a small accident, they get drug tested, and they’re gone, which means all the other over worked guys have to pick up their slack, and you can begin to see why people start dying on big construction sites.

OSHA then comes in and imposes ridiculous fucking baby rules, that do nothing but slow down the entire process, creating more bullshit for every exhausted guy to deal with, and taking away precious time from an already behind job, that WILL BE completed by the projected opening date NO MATTER WHAT.

The only people to blame here are the greedy fucking asshole unions, who take your money while they work you into an early grave, all while pretending to be on your side, and blaming “Safety Issues” for their slave like working “ethics.”

That’s why I’m no longer in construction, but sadly enough, many of the incredibly skilled union workers are brainwashed into loyalty to these dirtbag motherfuckers that only care about collecting dues from them as they get injured or killed, or lose their families from drug use fueled by being overworked.

A Line In The Sand

A couple quick thoughts about McCain, and the line that’s beginning to get drawn in the sand between conservative bloggers. There seems to be three camps forming on this. In no particular order they are:

1) Luke-Warm McCain supporters.

2) Those Who Will Sit This One Out. (that would be me)

3) Luke-Warm McCain supporters who are pissed off at Those Who Will Sit This One Out.

I guess we could have an addendum of Hard-Core McCain supporters, but there’s only one that I know of.

I have no problem with the first two, but the third group is starting to piss me off. The general attitude seems to be becoming very angry and accusatory to Those Who Will Sit This One Out. As if choosing not to vote for McCain is in effect a vote for Obama, and somehow Those Who Will Sit This One Out will be responsible for making him President.

Sorry group three, but you’re wrong. It’s not my fault the Republicans seem to have some kind of death wish for their own party. Not voting is still a choice, maybe not the choice you like, but I certainly have the right to make that choice, and who the fuck are you to tell me it’s going to be ALL MY FAULT if a full blown communist becomes the next President of the United States?

If I have a choice between eating a steaming pile of dung, a steaming pile of dung with maggots, or not eating, I think I’ll choose not eating thank you very much, but that’s just me.

If you want to vote for McCain, or campaign for him, go for it, I honestly don’t care, but don’t get all haughty about me or anyone else not voting for him. If you want to be pissed off, direct your anger where it belongs, with the Republican Party that put up such a dismal candidate in an election year that was a gimme for them.

It’s my duty as an American to voice my displeasure with a political party that does not represent my views, and “holding my nose” as I pull the lever for a guy that in no way represents my views, or in my opinion, the views of the Republican Party in general, does nothing to voice my displeasure. Not voting for McCain is my only outlet to voice my opinion to a party that that won’t hear anything else.

I won’t chastise you for doing what you feel you must, and I expect the same in return.

Rant over, I feel better don’t you?

Movie Reviews

In between UFC, drinking and BBQ’s this weekend, I watched a few movies, and damn, was I disappointed. I realized why I almost never rent movies anymore, because they all suck. Have movies always been this bad? And yes, they’re old, and I’m really glad I didn’t see them in a theater.

First up: Cloverfield

It’s all been said about this film, but I would add, that a ptoentially really awesome concept was totally blown. I hate to see such a cool idea turn into something so utterly pointless. Big monster wrecks New York, they nuke it, the end. Does anybody have any imagination anymore? It literally was Godzilla shot with a video camera. Obviously, this entire film was made around a concept for a kick ass trailer.

Well, they succeeded, it was a kick ass trailer.

Speaking of lack of imagination, I had high hopes for:

National Treasure 2: Book of National Treasure One

Fuck, can these guys even try? Another gigantic underground cavern with oil trenches just waiting 200 years for Nic Cage to touch his torch to and light the place up revealing an amazing lost city of gold? A precarious balancing act on another rickety old thing above another super deep hole? Why even go to the expense of re-filming it?

I just don’t get how with a movie this big, that cost as much as this cost, that they couldn’t get a kick ass script. Couldn’t they throw around enough money to get an amazing writer? When they spent 90 billion dollars to start production of this thing, didn’t anyone say, “Ummm……isn’t this a weak version of the same movie with the oil trenches and over the top treasure, but way less believable and corny?” Anyone?

What are they gonna do for National Treasure 3, find Atlantis in the basement of the Washington Monument? They pretty much can’t make one now that wouldn’t be ridiculously asinine. Ruined what could have been a really cool franchise by waaaay over doing it. Once again, Hollywood totally misreads the public. The cool thing about the first National Treasure, was all the clues, not the big stunts, or action sequences.

Finally, Alien Vs Predator-Requiem

Somebody should be killed for making this. The first one was marginally entertaining, but this was an abortion. Again, I just don’t know how something this horrible gets made. There’s nobody to root for in this movie. How does a script this bad get filmed? With good effects and everything? No story, no hero, they kill fucking babies in this nightmare for Gods sake. It was beyond offensive, and I’m pissed that I somehow contributed to it’s existence.

Ok, so if you haven’t seen these, ummm…SPOILER ALERT!! THEY SUCK!!!

Hard To Find Good Help These Days

I totally understand how this could happen:

The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India.

“We’re having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs,” AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company’s headquarters is located.

These are customer service jobs, so I’m guessing a college degree is not one of the “skills” AT&T is requiring. I’m thinking that by “skills” what they really mean, is people that can actually show up to work, dress themselves, and not speak like a member of K-Feds posse.

Good luck. I ran a business for the last three years, a retail business, and I must have had at least a hundred people come in and ask for a job. Guess how many I would have even considered hiring? Maybe three. Maybe. Granted, it wasn’t a high paying job, but the lack of even the most basic form of self-respect, or even a hint of giving the slightest fuck about their appearance while asking for a job, was appalling.

Almost all of the “applicants” came in with a baseball hat cocked to one side, or giant pants dragging on the floor, or totally sleeved with tattoos, or just generally thuggish, or dirty, and the usual banter was “Ya’ll hirin?”

I wish I were exaggerating.

Another example of our declining level of basic “giving a crap” skills.

The other day, I was at the DMV. Everybody has to go to the DMV, so I figure it’s a pretty good cross-section, or micro-cosm of America, and I was struck by what a slovenly bunch we seem to have become. Most everybody there looked as if they’d just rolled out of bed, and just threw on whatever would save them the most number of steps to get to. I’m not the snappiest dresser in the world, but I do make a little effort when I leave the house, to not look like I’m gonna shank you, or cough up a nice case of hepatitis C. The place was crawling with messy hair, tattoos, (mostly on women!) thugs, (white and black, no racism here) and even a couple Gothy/Punk disasters. Trust me, no one is being held back by “the man” on expressing themselves aesthetically.

Just outside the DMV, they were registering voters, and there was a dude sitting there, “working” and, well, I took a picture:

It’s kinda hard to tell from a cell phone pic, (click it) but this dude was dressed in giant shorts and t-shirt, shaved head with a tattoo on his neck, sitting there with his feet up on the registration desk, smoking a cigarette. I don’t really know the deal on the people that put him there, or if he gets paid or what, but FUCK DUDE, can you EVEN TRY to not look like a lazy piece of shit while you’re registering voters?

Maybe I’m a judgemental asshole, but as I was sitting there looking at this messy horde of sloppy-ass, not giving a shit, hot mess of humanity, I seriously thought to myself “If we ever get into a real war again, or have any kind of an actual crises in this country, we’re fucked.”

I hope I’m wrong.

Fun With The DMV!

About 6 years ago, I purchased a Ford F-350 diesel truck, because at the time, I did slab marble and granite for a living. If you don’t know, slab marble and granite installation is stuff like, granite kitchen countertops, marble bathroom vanities, and commercial stuff like walls in fancy lobbys, registration desks, just about anything that can have big pieces of stone on them. I needed a really heavy duty truck to carry this stuff to job sites, because obviously, it’s incredibly heavy. A half-ton pickup just can’t handle the load.

Two years after I bought the truck, I quit construction because, frankly, I was getting too old to carry around 300 lb pieces of rock everyday, and too old to take shit from younger foremen who didn’t know fuck- all about my trade. This is all superfluous information, but hey, it gives you a little insight into what a bmac is.

I was especially happy about the purchase, because 6 years ago, diesel gas was about 20-50 cents less a gallon than regular, and no smog check was needed to register the truck, because you can’t measure smog emissions without a catalytic converter, which does not exist on a diesel engine.

My euphoria at bypassing the system was short-lived however, as diesel trucks became all the rage here in Vegas, and this did not go unnoticed by the DMV, who immediately made smog checks mandatory on these vehicles that cannot possibly be smog checked. Not only can they not be smog checked, they can’t send the results of the non-smog check to the DMV. Know what that means? I can’t pay my registration online, because they don’t have the non-results of my non-smog check, that I paid $50 for.

This happens every year, this being the FOURTH YEAR that they haven’t bothered to figure out how to handle imaginary smog checks on vehicles that CANNOT POSSIBLY BE smog checked.

Which means I again have to go to the fucking DMV, and stand in line for at least an hour, to give the state money for finding an unnecessary way to fuck me out of $50 bucks.

Oh, let me tell you about the first year they did this. I went to get the imaginary smog check at a place that claimed they did imaginary smog checks. The idiot at the place spent about 15 minutes looking under the hood in vain for the catalytic converter, then failed me because he’s a fucking retard, and sent the fail right to the DMV, which meant I couldn’t go find another retard who understood this is all a fucking scam.

I then had to go to the DMV, where another retard had to TAKE A FUCKING PICTURE of the little sticker under my hood that says “This engine has no catalytic converter” to prove I technically didn’t fail the imaginary smog check, then I got to stand in line AGAIN, with the retards poloroid of the underside of my hood. This entire process took almost a full day.

Every fucking year with this shit.

Oh, and diesel gas is now 60 cents MORE a gallon than regular.

Anybody wanna buy a truck?

Bono Will Save Africa With Giant Sunglasses

I hate to just always bitch on this blog, but hey, isn’t that what blogging’s all about when you get right down to it? Nobody really wants to hear bitching in person, not even me, because….it’s depressing. But on a blog, bitching can be viewed as creative criticism. Yeah, creative criticism, I like that. I am a creative critic.

I just can’t help myself, so many things just seem so stupid to me. Where a normal person views an event with relative “meh,” I view the same event as an assault on my intelligence, and I’m not even close to what I would consider intelligent. I do feel I have an abundance of common sense however, which is very different from intelligence. Anybody who reads this blog has to be able to sense that I don’t have a college education, not that I’m ashamed of that, but I’m sure it comes through, especially to some of the very smart people I know that read this blog. Just the way I put together sentences is probably an affront to anyone who had an English class in college, but what the hell, I’m just putting my twisted view of the world out there, and I hope I make some observations you may not have, albeit in a pretty sarcastic tone.

Speaking of which: Frigging Bono. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick to death of Bono, and his quest to fix Africa. He just visited the Pentagon to discuss Africa, and if your gonna talk to someone about Africa at the Pentagon, who better than the lead singer of a rock band.

You know, because as a billionaire world famous celebrity, he’s got the story of what’s really going on. Nobody could ever possibly mislead the mighty friggen Bono about poverty in Africa, because he’s probably got people for that. People who vet all the information given to the mega famous, super wealthy, giant sunglass wearing singer. He just has to be the absolute best possible authority on the subject of poverty in Africa, because you know, he goes there a lot. And he was in Live Aid. And most of all, he cares. He really, really cares.

Let’s not talk about the fact that Live Aid may have taken more lives than it saved,as ruthless dictators used much of the food to feed their militias. That’s not important. What’s important is that Bono and Bob Geldof shed tears, for Africa, and damn it, they did something. They found time in their busy schedules to help people. Might have been the wrong people, but let’s not nitpick. Caring is what matters, and people like Bono and Geldof care more than you.

 

Bono, or Geddy Lee?

We should acknowledge that caring by having Bono be the keynote speaker at every important facility or event, regarding the subject of Africa, because nobody remembers who Bob Geldof is, and let’s face it, he’s probably broke these days, and washed up pop stars opinions are not as informed as someone who’s last album went quadruple platinum, and to my knowledge, Geldof doesn’t own a even single pair of giant sunglasses.

Has Bono helped people? I’m sure he has, and that’s a good thing, but for a mega pop star to be the “go to” guy on the subject of an entire continent, is just stupid, in my humble opinion. Not to mention the fact that many responsible African leaders have called for a stop to some of this global welfare, so that Africans can begin to take a more active role in their own survival.

See? Creative criticism. Not bitching.

Mandatory Cell Phones For College Students/Cell Phone Rant

 Constant GPS tracking of your kids. I read this wrong the first time, as if they were just gonna make every kid carry a cell phone, but they have to carry the schools cell phone.

My rant still stands though.

God I hate cell phones. I am so sick of listening to every jackoffs personal conversation at the bank, the grocery store, and the worst of all, at my business. I own a retail business, and every day, almost every customer of mine, gets a call in the middle of our transaction, and I have to stand there with my thumb up my ass until they finish bullshitting. It’s never a business call, or anything important, just the usual “Hey….Nothin’….. what are you doin?” For about five minutes, then finally, “Hey, let me call you back.” Gee thanks for ending your bullshit call after only wasting five minutes of my time.

People are generally rude enough as it is, but cell phones have added a whole new level of obnoxiousness to everyday life. Especially Bluetooths. Fricken Bluetooths. Nothing like getting the finger in your face, as you mistakenly think some jackass might actually be talking to you, instead of yapping about nothing into his ear-piece.

I was talking to another business owner, he owns a small fast food franchise, about 4 stores, and he won’t answer any calls from his managers, because instead of figuring anything out on their own, they’ll just call him 50 times a day, cause they can. For the most part, cell phones are a hindrance to business, not a help. Just ten years ago, the world actually functioned, the sun actually rose, things actually happened, without cell phones.

Don’t even get me started on texting.

Natalie Holloway And Elizabeth Smart

Natalie Holloway’s mother is dating Jon Benet’s father. 

A match made in hell.

I don’t think anybody cares about the Natalie Holloway thing anymore, and they shouldn’t. It was rammed down our throats enough. It’s pretty obvious the Aruba authorities are basically the “Fun Police” and will probably never be able to successfully prosecute an actual murder if it wasn’t captured on video by the “Girls Gone Wild” crew.

I blame the parents of Natalie Holloway. WTF are you doing sending a cute high school girl to another country to party? When I was in high school, the senior trip was to Disneyland. When did this sending high school kids out of the country to drink and screw become  OK?

My wife and I went to Cabo about 9 years ago, and all the bars were packed with 16-18 year old girls who were so drunk they were stumbling and falling all over the place, high school kids on their senior trip. No chaperons in sight. I have no doubt some rapes went down. How could they not? The bars were absolutely plowing these kids with booze. It was disturbing and shocking to me, that parents willingly sent their daughters into that environment, and at that time, I was a pretty liberal guy.

Same thing with the Elizabeth Smart case. The idiot father, with two young daughters, hires homeless guys to work on his house!  I don’t know Mr. Smarts politics, but I’d bet he votes Democrat. Only a liberal could be that stupid. (in case you don’t know, one of the homeless guys he hired kidnapped his daughter) Newsflash douchbag, most homeless people are criminals, drug addicts, clinically insane, or a combo of all three, and it’s not a great idea to invite them into your home, no matter how much you want to “Give back.” Your daughter paid the price of your good intentions you fucking tool.

As did Natalie Holloway. I have exactly zero sympathy for the parents of Natalie Holloway, zero, for knowingly sending her to a place notorious for underage drinking and general chaos for her senior trip, and out of the country no less. At least her mom got a hot new celebrity boyfriend out of the deal.

It’s Already Starting

I’m beginning to dread Christmas. Christmas is no longer a wonderful family holiday, a time to reflect on our blessings, the one time of year everyone is just a little nicer, regardless of your specific religion. 

No, Christmas has become a war. A yearly war, fought between liberals and traditional Americans. It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and the battle has begun.

Lowes Blasted For Selling “Family Trees” Instead Of “Christmas Trees.”

And they’re off!

Santas Warned “Ho Ho Ho” Offensive To Women

Ok, the Santa one is from Australia, but I have no doubt we’ll get something just as stupid.

What do we have to look forward to?

City and state buildings wringing their hands over whether or not to have a nativity display.

Retailers wringing their hands over whether or not to authorize their employees to utter the words “Merry Christmas.”

Schools wringing their hands over having anything in the classroom that may possibly be offensive to anyone other than Christians.

Lot’s of OUTRAGE over all the wringing of hands, countless articles and commentaries about “Secular America” vs “Traditional America,” etc. etc. etc.

About a thousand more stories like the two above. Put on your kevlar and helmets, it’s time to go to war!

Merry Christmas.

I Used To Like Robert Redford

God I’m sick of these fucking retard billionaire actors bitching. They don’t even understand what they’re bitching about. Here’s Robert Redford in an interview discussing his entry into the anti-war Oscar blitz.

“Our country has hit a point where we have lost so much,” he said. “We have lost lives, we’ve lost sacred freedoms, we’ve lost financial stability; we’ve lost our position of respect on the world stage.”

Exactly what sacred freedoms have we lost, you prick? I love when liberals try to say we’ve lost freedoms while pimping a movie that attacks the President, the military, and the country in general. Can you possibly be more of a fucking hypocrite you asshole?

Financial stability? Are you kidding me? How have you suffered financially there Mr. Sundance?

Respect on the world stage? Newsflash jackass, we haven’t been respected on the world stage since about 1945. Personally, I don’t give a fuck what some machiatto sipping, three hour lunch taking, Eurotrash idiot thinks about me or my country, while painting a pastel of their own demise.

I’m glad his piece of shit movie is gonna tank. Especially considering he had to pay Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, whose salaries are more than some whole countries GDP.

Speaking of Cruise, he’s walking on eggshells with this movie. Here’s what that brainiac had to say:

Cruise, kept largely above the political fray, merely expressing hope that the talky multi-strand pic in which he plays a power-hungry Republican senator “will challenge and engage an audience, so that they can come out and have dialogue.”

Ughh. “Challenge and engage.” Typical idiot safe words. I’m challenged and engaged by “The Lord Of The Rings,” not some third graders vision of global politics. And the best part “So they can come out and have dialogue.” Dialogue. I’m so sick of that word. I think Tom envisions groups of people meeting after the movie for coffee, and dialoguing. Yeah Tom, that’s gonna happen, you couch jumping monkey.

Here it is if you want to read it.