Brutally Honest

From the ridiculous...

... to the not so sublime, a politically wild deck of playing cards for the politically obsessed. 

Not only are the decks adorned with the faces of recognizable politicians but they sit atop the bodies of a variety of animals, all to make you wonder exactly what the makers of politically wild cards are trying to tell you.

But that's not the half of it.  Politically Wild Cards also has a blog and that blog is soliciting your help in captioning the cards appropriately:

This is your chance to get involved in a unique deck of "interactive" playing cards that have a little fun with all of the WILD! stuff that goes on during each election cycle.  The deck is "interactive" because the comments in each limited edition come from YOU…the general public!

With the 2008 Election fast approaching, an ongoing war in Iraq, illegal immigration and many other issues are on the minds of Americans.  What lies in their hearts?  Americans are ready for their voice to be heard and what better way for them to express these ideas than through fun deck of playing cards.  Odds are the politicians still won’t listen, but we can at least feel like we made an effort.  The BEST way to make your voice heard is to GET OUT AND VOTE every November!

Some of the images consists of politicians and "political celebrities" with their face on the body of an animal while the court cards deal with specific issues which are hot political topics right now.  There is a deck specifically for the Democrats and another one for the Republicans. So come on America, this is your chance to be heard. Who knows, your comments may be used in the next edition.

A sampling of the playing cards follows... enjoy!:

Ranking of vehicle dependability

A Brutally Honest change of pace.

This I found interesting and is, I believe, an indication that American made cars have come a long way:

Lexus once again stands alone atop a closely watched ranking of vehicle dependability after Buick slipped from the No. 1 spot it shared with the Japanese luxury brand last year, J.D. Power and Associates says.

It's the 14th straight year Toyota Motor Corp.'s high-end brand has held the top position in the annual study, which measures problems experienced by the original owners of vehicles after three years. Lexus had 120 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 145 last year.

"That's a pretty good track record," said Dave Sargent, J.D. Power's vice president of automotive research. "They benefited to some degree ... where a couple of their very important models in their second year on the market — the ES and the RX, which together account for over two-thirds of lexus sales — both improved significantly."

Ford Motor Co.'s Mercury brand ranked second, followed by General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac. Toyota was fourth, and Honda Motor Co.'s Acura luxury brand was fifth. Land Rover, which Ford sold this year to India's Tata Motors Ltd., was the worst-performing brand, with 344 problems.

Fascinating... and I had thought that Land Rover was a Toyota made vehicle.

The article closes thusly:

Broken out by segment, Lexus took top honors in six categories for its IS 300, ES 300 and LS 300 sedans, the SC 430 coupe, and the GX 470 and LX 470 utility vehicles. Toyota led four categories and tied Honda for a fifth. Toyota's Prius hybrid was the top-ranked vehicle in the compact car segment.

Besides the Buick Century, one other GM vehicle was ranked the best in its segment: The Chevrolet Monte Carlo took the honor amid midsize sporty cars. Ford led three categories with the Crown Victoria large car, the Ford Ranger midsize pickup and the Mercury Monterey minivan.

Chrysler LLC was the only Detroit automaker with no brands ranked better than the industry average.

That' too bad about Chrysler, I think they make some fantastic looking vehicles.

Jim Inhofe's message to Harry Reid

Posted by guest blogger Mommynator.

I received this email today from Rep. Jim Inhofe:

Dear Friend,

I don't need to tell you that gas prices are high, but there is someone I do need to tell...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

...and I need your help to do it.

Please mail me your gas receipts and a short note about what your family has had to sacrifice because of out-of-control prices at the pump. I'll bundle together all the receipts and stories I receive and send them to Senator Reid. Together, we will send a message to Washington and show Harry Reid that high gas prices are hurting Oklahomans.

Please mail your gas receipts by August 21 to:

Jim Inhofe
PO Box 13300
Oklahoma City, OK 73113

Harry Reid won't even allow debate on a single solution I've proposed with my colleagues. And now Congress is on a five week recess! I don't think he understands just how serious this is, but together we can show him.

In recent weeks, I have worked with other Congressional Republicans to bring down gas prices by expanding exploration of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), opening ANWR, developing America's oil shales, and expanding refining capacity.

Last month, I introduced the American Affordable Fuels Act of 2008 that includes these measures as well as the Drive America on Natural Gas Act, which would promote the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vehicles.

And just last week, I teamed up with Representative Dan Boren to introduce the Marginal Well Production Preservation and Enhancement Act, which ensures the nation's policies recognize and reflect the economic importance of marginal well production.

But none of these ideas are even being considered because the Democrat Senate leadership is standing in the way. Let's send them a message by sending in our gas receipts.

So, please, mail your gas receipts by August 21 to me at:

Jim Inhofe
PO Box 13300
Oklahoma City, OK 73113

Thank you,

Jim Inhofe

Maybe we should think of doing this.

Looking for money?

377 million hits at Google would suggest that many people are and for a variety of reasons.

The legitimate lookers are hunting for an angel investor or angel investors to help fund a business startup.  Wikipedia defines them as follows:

An angel investor or angel (known as a business angel or informal investor in Europe), is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. A small but increasing number of angel investors organize themselves into angel groups or angel networks to share research and pool their investment capital.

...

Angels typically invest their own funds, unlike venture capitalists, who manage the pooled money of others in a professionally-managed fund. Although typically reflecting the investment judgment of an individual, the actual entity that provides the funding may be a trust, business, limited liability company, investment fund, etc.

Angel capital fills the gap in start-up financing between "friends and family" (sometimes humorously called "friends, family, and fools") who provide seed fundung, and venture capital. Although it is usually difficult to raise more than a few hundred thousand dollars from friends and family, most traditional venture capital funds are usually not able to consider investments under US$1–2 million. Thus, angel investment is a common second round of financing for high-growth start-ups, and accounts in total for almost as much money invested annually as all venture capital funds combined, but into more than ten times as many companies (US$25.6 billion vs. $26.1 billion in the US in 2006, into 51,000 companies vs. 3,522 companies).

Wikipedia goes on to cite the growing number of angel investors and networks:

According to the Center for Venture Research, there were 234,000 active angel investors in the U.S. in 2006. Beginning in the late 1980s, angels started to coalesce into informal groups with the goal of sharing deal flow and due diligence work, and pooling their funds to make larger investments. Angel groups are generally local organizations made up of 10 to 150 accredited investors interested in early-stage investing. In 1996 there were about 10 angel groups in the U.S.; as of 2008 there are over 300, with a roughly equal number in all other countries combined; these groups accounted for approximately 10,000 individual angel investors in 2008. The more advanced of these groups have full time, professional staffs; associated investment funds; sophisticated web-based platforms for processing funding applications; and annual operating budgets of well over US$250,000. A recent development, particularly in North America, has been the emergence of networks of angel groups, through which companies that apply for funding to one group are then brought before other groups to raise additional capital.

One of those networks I've been recently turned onto can be found here and might be worthy of some perusing, especially if you're one hoping to find an angel or angels who might just set the course toward cutting our dependence on Arab oil.

That'd be some change I'm hoping for.

The greening of the automotive industry

With gas approaching $5 a gallon, a barrel of oil at $140, and OPEC seeing it rise to $170 by summer's end, can there be any surprise that hybrid vehicles are becoming all the rage, especially from our most caring and completely green Hollywood heroes and heroines.

Yet, as I look deeper, I'm finding that hybrid cars come now in all sizes, shapes and horsepower production:

I've been test-driving cars for about 10 years now, including my share of hybrids: the infamous Toyota Prius; some of the first Ford Escapes; Honda Civics, Accords, and Fits. With hybrids, there have always been excuses to make and myths to bust in response to queries from curious drivers of traditional gas-guzzlers. And so I've compiled what I call the Hybrid Handbook to counter people who think that a) hybrids get 135 miles per gallon (they don't); b) hybrids need to be plugged in at night (they don't); or c) hybrids go only 35 miles per hour (they don't). Still, I confess, I've always believed that d) hybrids come only in small, boring, not-designed-for-hair-raising packages.

As did I frankly but lo and behold, the article goes on to describe a hybrid car that seems to defy the stereotype:

In a world where gas is being treated like dry land in Waterworld, the Lexus 450h is an island of its own. For $55,800—$2,780 more than the GS460—you will get a car that's just as quick as the 460, with more equipment, greater fuel savings, and, seriously, more fun than the regular Lexus.* And it does get 20 percent better fuel economy than the GS460 (22 mpg city/25 mpg highway in the hybrid versus 17 mpg city/24 mpg highway in the nonhybrid).

Savings aside, the fun quotient was the biggest X factor for me. My previous experience with gas pedals and hybrids was a lesson in disconnection. Step on the gas, and they don't go. They hesitate, whirl up like a hand-held electric mixer, then sort of go. This was the superfast, deluxe KitchenAid mixer of cars. Step hard with your right foot, and the kilowatt needle (a cool white display that shows the maximum output of electric power) jumps to life, the rear wheels spin, and you are up to speed faster than you can say, "Thank God for Thomas Edison's parents getting together."(Or about 5.55 seconds to 60 mph.)

Stop at a light, and the whole system does its hybrid trick and shuts down. Restart, and you awaken a re-engineered version of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive—the system that made the Prius into the poster child for the green movement and turned every Hollywood actor into an expert on cars. How does it work? The system teams up with three main parts: one electric motor/generator that powers the rear wheels, a second electric motor/generator that acts as a primary generator and starter and controls engine speed, and a direct-injection, 292-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6. At low speeds, the first electric motor moves the car. A battery pack recharges itself with energy recovered from braking. When all systems move as one, it is the equivalent of 340 horsepower. It is all mated to a gearless, continuously variable transmission. Get stuck in four-lane bumper-to-bumper traffic and you are suddenly driving, in terms of your carbon footprint, an ultraluxurious golf cart.

I've gagged quite frankly at those Toyota Priuses I drive by on the highway, usually driven by either balding but pony-tailed pale looking guys or older overweight women with lipstick on their teeth, either one looking down their noses at me as I rumble by them on the road on my carbon spewing Harley.

Though there's no way I'd trade my Harley for one, I think it'd be pretty neat to slip behind the wheel of a hybrid Lexus 450h if only to leave a haughty Prius owner high and dry at a red light while matching his or her carbon footprint.

Lifelock.Com: An answer for the next time?

A few months ago, my oldest son began receiving mailings from credit card companies, each one seeking additional information to accompany a previously submitted application for credit.  The problem?  He hadn't applied for any of them. 

For the next several weeks, he spent countless hours on the phone with the credit card companies, with department store credit bureaus, with authorities and online as he attempted to straighten things out.  It was a nightmare and he continues even now to try to undo the damage.

So when I received an e-mail promoting the services of Lifelock.com, I was intrigued.  You may have seen the TV commercial with the CEO of the company blurting out his Social Security Number.  It does tend to grab you. 

LifeLock has their own blog, a promotional discount code for first time enrollers, and this page explains the value of the service being offered.

Given the crap that the oldest has had to go through, LifeLock seems to be an answer to the question of what one might attempt to do to fight the ID thieves that are lurking.