Dropping dead from too much work happens so often in Japan that it has a name, karoshi.

While the article notes that those forced to work insane amounts of overtime often aren’t paid in Japan, the same thing happens in the US too, so let;s lots get smug about it. Salaried employees usually get no extra pay for overtime. But at least they aren’t dropping dead from overwork. Or maybe some are, who knows. Someone drives off the road and hit a phone pole because they fell asleep driving.

I’ve heard there is also a phrase for Japanese salarymen who get off work and slam down so many drinks so fast that they puke in the subway. (They also have a phrase, “doing a Bush”, in honor of GW the First barfing on the Japanese premier during a state dinner, but that’s another story.)

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This ABC “News” article on McKinney is an attack op-ed pretending to be news. Much of the rest of MSM isn’t much better. Paint McKinney as a loon, insult and marginalize her. What are they so afraid of? That she might get a few hundred thousand votes?

Sadly, the progressive Left managed to fracture yet again so rather than have one candidate, there are two, McKinney and Nader. Since Nader is running as an independent, he has no guaranteed ballot status and the Green Party is broke and inept, so McKinney will have to raise all her money by herself.

A revolutionary Marxist party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, are also running presidential candidates and have gained ballot status in three states with more coming. This after just a few months of organizing. One could arguably make the case that PSL is doing a better job of organizing and campaigning that either the Green Party or Nader. Their ticket is Gloria La Riva for president and Eugene Puryear for vice president and could turn out to be a real sleeper, sneaking up in the polls while no one is paying much attention. They recently ran two candidates in the Los Angeles County supervisors race who got a whopping 18-20% of the vote. Clearly, they are quite effective and are getting results.

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John McCain is telling us that he is learning about the internets. He watches Drudge. So, my parents are the same age as McCain, but they didn’t seem to have the same steep learning curve when it came getting online. This guy wants to run America and he’s stumped by his computer.

In the mid-90’s my father, who was then 75, bought his first PC, sat down, figured out how it works. He was older than McCain when he did so. That McCain seems baffled by going online shows how doddering and out of touch he is.

Hey John, asks your grandkids what to do, chances are they’ve been online since they could tie their shoes. And might actually have a clue. Because you sure don’t.

Pathetic.

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Dealbreaker on the supposed $15 billion bailout of Fannie and Freddie

It probably goes without saying that you should exercise extreme skepticism about this, especially after Friday’s triple head fake. You remember that, right? First we heard that the government was going to takeover the pair and wipe out shareholders. Then Bernanke was opening the discount window to both. And then he wasn’t. It’s all been very suspicious, very third-world and banana republic, very unfree market. Watching all this is like engaging in Kremlinology.

Then again, never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. Maybe the Fed has no freaking idea what to do, and no one is in control. Which is probably more unsettling than thinking we are being controlled by devious puppetmasters.

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