Ace of Spades HQ

November 23, 2010

A wonderful, reusable metaphor for the current Administration [Fritzworth]
— Open Blogger

From Gerard Van der Leun at American Digest comes this painful, yet fascinating reminder of what happened in ~~Seattle~~ Portland two years ago when the roads became coated with snow and ice:

Watching it, I kept thinking of the Obama Administration's handling of just about every major issue over the past few years. What are your nominees?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 08:16 AM | Comments (144)
Post contains 73 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I think Leon Lett fucking around with the football in the snow against the Dolphins is a great metaphor as well.

Posted by: logprof at November 23, 2010 08:18 AM (CE2wR)

2 Slow motion wreck, all according to the obama plan.

Posted by: Guy Fawkes at November 23, 2010 08:20 AM (JcRgg)

3 Marx Madness

Posted by: ingenus at November 23, 2010 08:20 AM (+sBB4)

4 Leon Lett Obama

Posted by: logprof at November 23, 2010 08:22 AM (CE2wR)

I nominate the 3 letter word: J-O-B-S. Other mentions might include: olympics bid, trade agreement with Korea, health care, beer summit, going after the chamber of commerce, TARP.....nevermind....it goes on and on and on

Posted by: dagny at November 23, 2010 08:22 AM (2GOHX)

6 Watch any given video on YouTube of a kid skateboarding down a railing, losing his balance, and smashing his nads. Stupid kid = Obama. Skateboard = Obama's policy. Nads = American people.

Posted by: joncelli© at November 23, 2010 08:22 AM (RD7QR)

7 I was gonna vote for #3 but then I saw the sock.

Posted by: dogfish at November 23, 2010 08:22 AM (Ncv/n)

8 so.......they saw what happened to the ones before them and they thought the could drive better........idiots

Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 23, 2010 08:23 AM (Cm66w)

9 Just more evidence of global warming, my friends.

Posted by: Al Gore at November 23, 2010 08:23 AM (2YgNG)

10 It was a Seattle TV station, but it was a hill in Portland. Conditions today in Portland aren't quite that bad, but I'm sure you could do a good icy skid down that hill...

Posted by: Grug, Moby Of Doom at November 23, 2010 08:23 AM (Hu/Da)

11 7 I was gonna vote for #3 but then I saw the sock.

Posted by: dogfish at November 23, 2010 12:22 PM (Ncv/n)

--Hs that sock been up to no good?

Posted by: logprof at November 23, 2010 08:24 AM (CE2wR)

12 ...oh, and I'm sure every person involved in a collision on the film was a liberal Democrat, given where it was filmed...

Posted by: Grug, Moby Of Doom at November 23, 2010 08:25 AM (Hu/Da)

13 The Nobel Prize. For Peace. And Economics.

Posted by: Guy Fawkes at November 23, 2010 08:26 AM (JcRgg)

Yep, a Kenyan from Hawaii might recognize a Slurpee when he sees it, but when it comes to actually driving in one, he would not be your first choice.

If only we could find someone with SnowMachine_TM experience...

_{(as Huck & Mitt scamper for their Skidoo photo ops)}

Posted by: comatus at November 23, 2010 08:27 AM (hrwMe)

15 Okay, I drive in snow and ice all the time in a normal car. HOW THE FLYING EFF DOES THAT HAPPEN?!! do none of these cars have brakes? or drivers? I can't figure this out. it's mesmerizing. used to live in Manayunk - hilly, cobblestoned, AND OFTEN SNOWS AND WE HAD ICE STORMS!!! good times, good times. NEVER SAW ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN THE YUNK! jeebus!

Posted by: BlackOrchid at November 23, 2010 08:27 AM (SB0V2)

16 The thing I remember best about the Jimmy Cracker administration is that everything, absolutely everything, was falling apart. President Shit Midas is the same way. This dust up at the TSA is indicative. It shares at least four characteristics with nearly every other Obama policy. 1) It reeks of contempt for the average American. 2) It is just plain stupid in the sense that it is accomplishing exactly the opposite of what was intended; i.e., security has suffered because of the anger directed at TSA employees, the government has once again shown their incompetence and corruption, the administration is even less respected than before. 3) There's plenty of good corrupt money for Obama's buddies. 4) Common sense is nowhere in evidence. (I read a good quote by Thomas Sowell to the effect that the reason the left eschews common sense is that it is so common. They are elites so they couldn't possibly be associated with anything as common as common sense.)

Posted by: WalrusRex at November 23, 2010 08:28 AM (xxgag)

The System Works!

Posted by: Big Sis- Seattle edition at November 23, 2010 08:28 AM (6xikG)

18 It was a Seattle TV station, but it was a hill in Portland.

Conditions today in Portland aren't quite that bad, but I'm sure you could do a good icy skid down that hill...

Posted by: Grug, Moby Of Doom at November 23, 2010 12:23 PM (Hu/Da)

Yep - it was much worse here, last night, than that.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:28 AM (YX6i/)

19 Does Portland have a "sand only" policy too? You know what you get with sand on ice? Gritty ice or slick sand?

Posted by: dagny at November 23, 2010 08:29 AM (2GOHX)

20 Okay, I drive in snow and ice all the time in a normal car. HOW THE FLYING EFF DOES THAT HAPPEN?!!

do none of these cars have brakes? or drivers?

I can't figure this out. it's mesmerizing.

used to live in Manayunk - hilly, cobblestoned, AND OFTEN SNOWS AND WE HAD ICE STORMS!!! good times, good times. NEVER SAW ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN THE YUNK!

jeebus!

Elite driving schools.

Posted by: WalrusRex at November 23, 2010 08:29 AM (xxgag)

21 Ya know, the more I think about it, the more I'm convincing myself this whole gate rape scam is just a big CYA operation. I figure that the money invested in what turned out to be a worthless piece of screening equipment was so large, no one had the guts to pull the plug and go back to square one. So instead, we got the grab and grope.

If I remember the timeline, the machines were first being sold to the Bush admin, before the underoos bomber. Lobbying increased under the Obama admin to get widespread installation of the machines. Then the underwear bomber, and then the rectum bomber (in Saudi Arabia somewhere). Now since then, some brainiac at TSA figures out that these new wiz-bang machines would not detect the explosive used by the underwear guy, nor would detect an object shoved up someone's ass. So as any good large bureaucracy would do, they came up with a totally half-assed scheme that does nothing but saves them from the embarrassment of having to admit fault in the first place.

[/tinfoil hat]

Posted by: CUS at November 23, 2010 08:29 AM (wOGfT)

22 That hardly ever happens here. Still, it's all good entertainment.

Posted by: marc in calgary at November 23, 2010 08:30 AM (twux5)

Posted by: BlackOrchid at November 23, 2010 12:27 PM (SB0V2)

It happens when you get a coating of what we call black ice in the south. You can't stand up on it, much less drive on it. Brakes are useless. Steering is moot. You are at the mercy of Newtonoian physics.

Posted by: maddogg at November 23, 2010 08:31 AM (OlN4e)

24 I still want them to put in sealed booths that just ignite any explosives on your body. Boom. Takes care of the whole problem.

Posted by: dagny at November 23, 2010 08:31 AM (2GOHX)

25
That guy getting his dick stuck in a pipe.

By the way, I've caught more hobos using that method of trapping than I can even count.

Chain a section of pipe to a dumpster in an alley and put a 1/2 bottle of Valu-Rite and a stack of porn mags next to it. 30 minutes later you got a hobo with his dick stuck in a pipe chained to a dumpster. Easy peasy.

Posted by: Dang at November 23, 2010 08:31 AM (TXKVh)

26 Watching that gave me the same feeling I have watching the Obama administration trying to govern, and that is to scream "FOR THE LOVE OF G*D JUST STOP!!!" Don't do ANYTHING! Just go on vacations and play golf for the next two years PLEASE!!!

Posted by: Nighthawk at November 23, 2010 08:31 AM (02uN6)

27 I'm seriously wondering if monkeys were driving those cars. no, monkeys couldn't have reached the gas pedals, which for some reason THESE IDIOTS WOULD NOT STOP PUMPING

Posted by: BlackOrchid at November 23, 2010 08:32 AM (SB0V2)

on drudge

tsa agent is a rapist?

http://tinyurl.com/337e6fj

Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 23, 2010 08:32 AM (Cm66w)

^{Yep - it was much worse here, last night, than that.}

There's a few Cafe's in Freemont where you could have watched this scene over and over, then.

Posted by: garrett at November 23, 2010 08:32 AM (6xikG)

30 <i>-Hs that sock been up to no good?</i>

Naw, I'm just funnin' the spelling. I've earned the right since I often get stung by the spelling bee.

Posted by: dogfish at November 23, 2010 08:32 AM (Ncv/n)

31 23 - We have PLENTY of black ice here. Oh come on! I heard people giving those cars GAS!!!

Posted by: BlackOrchid at November 23, 2010 08:32 AM (SB0V2)

32 Seattle drivers are insanely terrible when it comes to driving in snow and ice. These are the same people who are very vocal about how intelligent and enlightened their city is, but can't manage their cars at all if it's cold.

We got hit with a snow storm yesterday and all the highways are covered in ice again today. Why? No salt. And, BTW, Old-hippies-who-run-Seattle, sand does NOTHING. It's useless! That's why people are getting trapped, hurt, and killed on your roads right now. Again.

Posted by: robviously at November 23, 2010 08:32 AM (6rLSO)

Cool post Fritz.

Maybe GEICO can come out with Obama collision insurance. I suppose though it would be hard to underwrite the risk of a socialist.

Posted by: Journolist at November 23, 2010 08:33 AM (O/NP5)

tsa agent is a rapist?

I am sure it wasn't rape-rape!

Posted by: Whoopeee! at November 23, 2010 08:33 AM (6xikG)

35 ...and apparently the html tag bug too.

Posted by: dogfish at November 23, 2010 08:33 AM (Ncv/n)

36 Yeah. We get black ice too. Not only is it impossible to drive on in any vehicle or even walk on, it breaks branches off trees and destroys power lines. It's exactly like being on a skating rink on a hill. Sand won't do anything. The only way to combat it is to pretreat the roads with chems.

Posted by: dagny at November 23, 2010 08:33 AM (2GOHX)

26 nighthawk

this administration is famous for feeling like they have to do something!

Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 23, 2010 08:34 AM (Cm66w)

38 Okay, I drive in snow and ice all the time in a normal car. HOW THE FLYING EFF DOES THAT HAPPEN?!! That hill is a lot steeper than it looks on the film. Also, that's not snow - it's black ice. If the city had any sense (liberal Democrats again), they would have simply blocked off the street - it was truly undrivable under those conditions.

Posted by: Grug, Moby Of Doom at November 23, 2010 08:34 AM (Hu/Da)

OT from Fox TV - Barry administration has decided on stern action...

nothing.

Posted by: Hussein the Plumber at November 23, 2010 08:34 AM (r1h5M)

40 Looks like every first snow in the Detroit area. Evidently anything learned about driving in the snow and ice the previous winter gets flushed down the Memory Hole.

OTOH, I once was in Louisville when they had about a half-inch of snow in Feb and it looked pretty much like that. Louisville has plenty of hilly streets, and the drivers just couldn't figure out how to handle hill + slick. Pretty funny since I didn't have to be out in it.

Posted by: jorgxmckie at November 23, 2010 08:34 AM (290l2)

41 Okay, I drive in snow and ice all the time in a normal car. HOW THE FLYING EFF DOES THAT HAPPEN?!!

IIRC, whatever liberal city that was decided the salt on ice ends up in the harbor killing fish. So they decided to not salt the streets that winter. Hilarity followed.

Posted by: CUS at November 23, 2010 08:34 AM (wOGfT)

42 tsa agent is a rapist? I am sure it wasn't rape-rape! Posted by: Whoopeee! at November 23, 2010 12:33 PM (6xikG) Another case of "gate rape".

Posted by: Nighthawk at November 23, 2010 08:34 AM (02uN6)

43 Seattle drivers are insanely terrible when it comes to driving in snow and ice....

Posted by: robviously at November 23, 2010 12:32 PM (6rLSO)

That's because most of them are from..... yeah, I know, it's an old meme... California!

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:35 AM (YX6i/)

44 Quantitative Easing

Posted by: ingenus evil twin at November 23, 2010 08:35 AM (+sBB4)

What pisses me off is that the financial crisis is artificial! I mean it came about because of stupid rules. What makes it worse is we've got an administration diametrically opposed to development and growth. We are a tremendously wealthy nation. But the left has done everything it can to undermine and destroy our argiculture, and our industry and is crippling us. Look at California. Banned irrigation:destroyed their agriculture. Banned offshore drilling: drove fuel prices up. Banned building new power plants: drove up the cost of energy. Welcomed illegals:drove up the costs of education and medicine. And that's just one resource rich state.

Posted by: Iblis at November 23, 2010 08:35 AM (9221z)

46 Chemicals are your friends (especially when sliding down a road sideways).

Posted by: dagny at November 23, 2010 08:36 AM (2GOHX)

47 "black ice"

Racist!

Posted by: ingenus at November 23, 2010 08:36 AM (+sBB4)

48 "Bush Lied. People Died."

Mark Shields insists he never heard any Democrat say that Bush lied about WMD in order to get the US into war.

/Big Journalism

That blowhard who talks because he loves the sound of his own voice insists that he not only didn't say it himself, but that he never heard it said by any Democrat. It had to be the Republicans saying it. If not, then no one said it.

Posted by: maverick muse at November 23, 2010 08:36 AM (H+LJc)

49 We got hit with a snow storm yesterday and all the highways are covered in ice again today. Why? No salt. LOL. The last snow disaster Seattle had, they explained that they didn't use salt because it would pollute Puget Sound with salt (aka The Pacific Ocean).

Posted by: Grug, Moby Of Doom at November 23, 2010 08:37 AM (Hu/Da)

^{We get black ice too. Not only is it impossible to drive on in any vehicle or even walk on, it breaks branches off trees and destroys power lines. It's exactly like being on a skating rink on a hill. Sand won't do anything. The only way to combat it is to pretreat the roads with chems.}

Studded tires. Work fine, chief.

Black Ice, Blue Ice, it just don't matter.

Posted by: garrett in Montana at November 23, 2010 08:37 AM (6xikG)

51 Walrusrex - word dude, that was perfect.

Posted by: Journolist at November 23, 2010 08:38 AM (O/NP5)

52 I remember that now - Seattle - no salt, no brining at all! But again, in Roxboro and Manayunk (part of Philly) we often got nothing at all during winter. No plowing either. Tight, narrow MUCH HILLIER streets. The Manayunk Wall? But of course if you were parked there and a really bad storm hit, you would leave it there for a while. I think it was last year someone tried to move their car off Lyceum, drunk, and the girlfriend ran over the guy who was pushing? That's about as dumb as we tend to get - and there was a lot of alcohol involved. Probably the people don't have good tires either? That's all I can imagine. Regardless, I've never seen such awful driving. I still say a few of those cars had like three monkeys in 'em.

Posted by: BlackOrchid at November 23, 2010 08:38 AM (SB0V2)

There's a few Cafe's in Freemont where you could have watched this scene over and over, then.

Posted by: garrett at November 23, 2010 12:32 PM (6xikG)

Fremont... there's nothing "Free" about that bastion of commie fehgs. And I suppose coming off the Phinney Ridge right down into Fremont would have been something similar. Many narrow, steep roads, as well as Fremont Ave. coming into the neighborhood

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:38 AM (YX6i/)

54 26 nighthawk this administration is famous for feeling like they have to do something! Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 23, 2010 12:34 PM (Cm66w) OT from Fox TV - Barry administration has decided on stern action... nothing. Posted by: Hussein the Plumber at November 23, 2010 12:34 PM (r1h5M) Yeah- until something actually needs to be done. Then they're MIA.

Posted by: Nighthawk at November 23, 2010 08:39 AM (02uN6)

55 50 It happens about once every 6 years. '93, '99 and expecting some this year. It doesn't happen often enough and you don't have enough warning for studded tires. Just stay off of it until they treat the roads.

Posted by: dagny at November 23, 2010 08:40 AM (2GOHX)

56 You don't drive in black ice. Black ice drive you.

Posted by: Czar at November 23, 2010 08:41 AM (+sBB4)

Why wouldn't it surprise me if Michele O came out with no MSG road salt.

Posted by: Journolist at November 23, 2010 08:41 AM (O/NP5)

58 12 ...oh, and I'm sure every person involved in a collision on the film was a liberal Democrat, given where it was filmed...

Well, that answers my initial question, upon viewing this video, of, "Why the hell don't they just STOP??"

Posted by: Laura Castellano at November 23, 2010 08:42 AM (fuw6p)

Studded tires. Work fine, chief.

Black Ice, Blue Ice, it just don't matter.

Posted by: garrett in Montana at November 23, 2010 12:37 PM (6xikG)

Studded tires ain't legal everywhere.

Posted by: maddogg at November 23, 2010 08:42 AM (OlN4e)

60 you know with this ball checking at the gates.....i wonder if scrotum man flies.....

Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 23, 2010 08:42 AM (Cm66w)

61 Garrett,

Our snow is a lot different than the snow in Montana. Unless you've experienced it in a vehicle, you just don't understand. It's nasty.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:43 AM (YX6i/)

62 Snow's rare here, but ice storms are frequent late winter, especially February. As if traffic weren't bad enough 15 years ago, with all the Californians driving in the Texas Hill Country now, ice storms bring domino auto wrecks all over town.

Posted by: maverick muse at November 23, 2010 08:43 AM (H+LJc)

How about tire siping, that helps some.

Posted by: Journolist at November 23, 2010 08:43 AM (O/NP5)

64 Yeah- until something actually needs to be done. Then they're MIA.

Just like Lt. Dike.

Posted by: CUS at November 23, 2010 08:43 AM (wOGfT)

^{It doesn't happen often enough and you don't have enough warning for studded tires. Just stay off of it until they treat the roads.}

If you only need to use them once a year, they are still worth it.

Get a cheap set of Steel Wheels, and they go on and off in minutes.

Posted by: garrett at November 23, 2010 08:45 AM (6xikG)

Studded tires ain't legal everywhere.

Posted by: maddogg at November 23, 2010 12:42 PM (OlN4e)

Yeah, that part, too. I think they're only legal here starting Nov. 15??? I'm too lazy to look it up.

Can't imagine what the Les Schwab shops looked like about 2:30, yesterday. The horror.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:45 AM (YX6i/)

67 Isn't there a youtube video of a turtle with a Marx beard humping a shoe? I might have been imagining the beard, but I'll nominate it anyway.

Posted by: Joanie (Oven Gloves) at November 23, 2010 08:45 AM (HaYO4)

68 I'm a metaphor too.

Posted by: Taliban "Negotiator" at November 23, 2010 08:45 AM (JcRgg)

69 I remember my parents having chains? Those went out with all season radials?

Posted by: dagny at November 23, 2010 08:46 AM (2GOHX)

70 Gotta go with an oldie from the opening credits for ABC's Wide Wide World of Sports (most of you can supply the narration)

Posted by: ya2daup at November 23, 2010 08:46 AM (0AClR)

71 Editor, what is the WX like their today?

Posted by: Journolist at November 23, 2010 08:46 AM (O/NP5)

72 There is one recapper who adds ground glass and walnut shells to the treads of his retreads if requested, and I have read it is effective. His quality is excellent too.

Posted by: maddogg at November 23, 2010 08:46 AM (OlN4e)

73 43 Seattle drivers are insanely terrible when it comes to driving in snow and ice....

Posted by: robviously at November 23, 2010 12:32 PM (6rLSO)

That's because most of them are from..... yeah, I know, it's an old meme... California!

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 12:35 PM (YX6i/)

The only competent people I've met since I moved up here for work are from somewhere else. The native Seattlites I've met are a bunch of cold, unimaginative dullards. I'm not shocked that they can't adapt to weather that they aren't used to.

Posted by: robviously at November 23, 2010 08:46 AM (6rLSO)

74 Studded tires ain't legal everywhere.

I remember as a youth pulling the studs from a pair of tires after we moved to a different state. My father (rightfully so) was not going to throw out a perfectly good pair of tires. That and he was already feeding me so no extra cost for him.

Posted by: Buzzsaw at November 23, 2010 08:46 AM (tf9Ne)

75 STOP ACCELERATING! STOP ACCELERATING! STOP ACCELERATING!

Posted by: Rick Santelli at November 23, 2010 08:47 AM (wtSLL)

76 You know what the worst part about being stuck in, today? Having time for a day thread. I do not want to make the top 10 list.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:47 AM (YX6i/)

77 Posted by: robviously at November 23, 2010 12:46 PM (6rLSO)

Yeah? Well fuck you.

I'm born and raised. Wasn't always like this.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:48 AM (YX6i/)

^{Our snow is a lot different than the snow in Montana. Unless you've experienced it in a vehicle, you just don't understand. It's nasty.}I have. I fish over there a lot in the Winter.

I used to drive Audi's from a Dealer in NY/NJ to a dealer in Freemont when I was in College and afterwards.

In the winter, I would make the trip 3-4 times a year. Pay was awesome, but driving in and around western Washington was the worst part of the trip. Bunch of retards up there.

Blizzaks worked well there.

Posted by: garrett at November 23, 2010 08:49 AM (6xikG)

79 Perfectly clear... cold as Fairbanks!!! (actually, it's warmer in effing Barrow, today).

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:50 AM (YX6i/)

80 I'm glad I live in a place where the entire city grinds to a halt if we have 1/4" of snow or ice. Or if they even think we might have some.

Posted by: Laura Castellano at November 23, 2010 08:51 AM (fuw6p)

81 Editor, at least you ain't in International Falls. A sultry 12 there now.

Posted by: Journolist at November 23, 2010 08:53 AM (O/NP5)

82 And good gawd, robviously, we still have the country's 2 largest effing exporters, so, you know the natives actually are imaginative.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:54 AM (YX6i/)

83 Was that Editor on the way in to work on that video? I knew he should've stayed home!

Posted by: CDR M at November 23, 2010 08:54 AM (BuYeH)

84 It's 12 or 13 in Bellingham, right now. We're at 23... the weather retards just decided that nothing's melting until Thanksgiving afternoon.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 08:55 AM (YX6i/)

85 An icy road in a tunnel is always good, too. I love the moron almost instantly looking for a way around the debris @ 1:05.

Posted by: ya2daup at November 23, 2010 08:55 AM (0AClR)

Weird that studded tires are prohibited in Wisc and Minn

http://tinyurl.com/23k84n7

Posted by: dagny at November 23, 2010 08:56 AM (2GOHX)

87 freaking 54 degrees here...but we can still all drive

Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 23, 2010 08:56 AM (Cm66w)

88 Oh, that's sick! If you hit a slick patch, don't get out and look at the damage. Because someone else will it the same patch, and run you over.

Posted by: Moi at November 23, 2010 08:58 AM (Ez4Ql)

89 O/T:

Ted Koppel: Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news

Can someone give this shark-jumped idiot a good fisking? I just don't have the time. But he needs it; deep, wide, and continuous.

Posted by: K~Bob at November 23, 2010 08:58 AM (30bWm)

kbob

that's what the airport is for.......

Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 23, 2010 08:59 AM (Cm66w)

91 Mark Shields can't say anything until he first takes the Democrat Dick out of his mouth.

Posted by: SurferDoc at November 23, 2010 09:00 AM (RKpGM)

92 An icy road in a tunnel is always good, too. I love the moron almost instantly looking for a way around the debris @ 1:05.

That articulated bus was a hoot!

Posted by: WalrusRex at November 23, 2010 09:00 AM (xxgag)

93 My first day at Boeing in Nov. 1996, we got 3-feet of snow in 8-hours. I was the only one who showed up in my shop and at the end of the day couldn't find my car in the parking lot.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 09:00 AM (YX6i/)

It's 5.2 here with a windchill of -10.7.

I have about an acre of driveway under 14-20" of snow...fucking wind drifts!

Today should be fun. Chiro office should be packed tomorrow.

Posted by: garrett at November 23, 2010 09:00 AM (6xikG)

95 The snow & ice covered road is Socialism.

The cars are every country that has tried Socialism.

The drivers are the politicians who think, 'yea, the last guy crashed, but this time, you've got me'

Posted by: negentropy at November 23, 2010 09:01 AM (27KAF)

96 79 Perfectly clear... cold as Fairbanks!!! (actually, it's warmer in effing Barrow, today).

This is the clearest proof yet that the Earth is warming. Climate disruption is imminent.

Posted by: Al Gore, Chakra Man and Scientist Extraordinaire at November 23, 2010 09:02 AM (9hSKh)

97
Mark Shields insists he never heard any Democrat say that Bush lied about WMD in order to get the US into war.

Nah, nah, nah, nah. I can't hear you!

Posted by: Mark Shields at November 23, 2010 09:03 AM (xxgag)

98 "Are my methods unsound?"

"I see no methods at all, sir."

Posted by: forest at November 23, 2010 09:03 AM (sHmvf)

99 Clearly, the South Koreans acted stupid-leh.

After some hoops, I think we need another lite beer summit.

Posted by: Commander In Cheef at November 23, 2010 09:03 AM (30bWm)

100 A wonderful, reusable metaphor
Reference Dennis Miller's HBO Special:

Pelosi Galore!

Posted by: BarryO Bomber, Winged-Warrior-in-Chief at November 23, 2010 09:04 AM (Lz//J)

101 Maybe I'm stoopid; but how the hell did all that ice get into a tunnel?

Posted by: maddogg at November 23, 2010 09:05 AM (OlN4e)

102 After some hoops, I think we need another lite beer summit.

Me need 'nother basketball, round-eye capitalist pigs!

Send over that woman with all the pins. She give me lots of presents before...

Posted by: Kim Jong Ill at November 23, 2010 09:05 AM (9hSKh)

103 77 Posted by: robviously at November 23, 2010 12:46 PM (6rLSO)

Yeah? Well fuck you. I'm born and raised. Wasn't always like this.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 12:48 PM (YX6i/)

Ha. Stay safe. People are doing some weird shit out there again today.

Posted by: robviously at November 23, 2010 09:08 AM (6rLSO)

104 90

kbob

that's what the airport is for.......

Posted by: phoenixgirl at November 23, 2010 12:59 PM (Cm66w)

Heh.

Silver lining department: After Thanksgiving feast, anyone feeling constipated will have that, uhh, rectified by the TSA.

Posted by: K~Bob at November 23, 2010 09:08 AM (30bWm)

105 I think the angle of the camera made the driving seem even worse than it was. It's impossible to tell the grade the vehicles are on by simply looking. You have to watch how the cars slide. The other thing is that these cars were on about the worst possible surface. There's nothing you can do once you find yourself on a hill of ice.

As someone who spent most of his life in the Northeast, I'm always amazed by how poorly Portlanders (many of whom are probably from California) drive. However, I remember when this storm hit Portland and just how bad the conditions were. I didn't run into any trouble personally, but neither did I find myself on a hill that looked like snow but drove like ice.

Posted by: William Wallace at November 23, 2010 09:08 AM (9IttK)

106 Multicultural lesson of the day. An Australian friend of mine tells me that "norks" is
Australian slang for boobs, tits, fun bags, etc.

Posted by: WalrusRex at November 23, 2010 09:08 AM (xxgag)

107

NW Portland is Mecca for the Obama retards. You can say with statistical certainty that almost all, if not all, of those people were fuzzyheaded libs.

Portland even allows chains and cables, so it's not like you even need to buy studded tires (unless you're up at the mountain a lot). We get snow in town once every 3 years or so, and an inch shiuts down the City for 2 days. 3 inches, and it's like 4-5 days before anything happens.

But no salt + inexperience with snow + lack of practical thought processes = FAIL

Kinda like "poor theories + no business experience + lack of practical thought processes = OBAMA"

Posted by: s'moron at November 23, 2010 09:08 AM (UaxA0)

108

Maybe I'm stoopid; but how the hell did all that ice get into a tunnel?

I can't get over how well some of those cars brakes worked on the 'ice'?

Posted by: garrett at November 23, 2010 09:08 AM (6xikG)

109 93 My first day at Boeing in Nov. 1996, we got 3-feet of snow in 8-hours. I was the only one who showed up in my shop and at the end of the day couldn't find my car in the parking lot.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 01:00 PM (YX6i/)

Everett?

Posted by: robviously at November 23, 2010 09:08 AM (6rLSO)

110 92 An icy road in a tunnel is always good, too. I love the moron almost instantly looking for a way around the debris @ 1:05.

That articulated bus was a hoot!

In Soviet Russia, tunnel crashes you!

Posted by: That one dude at November 23, 2010 09:09 AM (9hSKh)

111

I met Mark Shields in L.A. several years back on a weekday, that is at a weekday mass at St. Paul's Church on the west side.

He's a conflicted liberal.

Posted by: Journolist at November 23, 2010 09:09 AM (O/NP5)

112 when we get black ice or snow in Atlanta both of our highway trucks spread chemicals and sand.

Posted by: Racefan at November 23, 2010 09:09 AM (tYntB)

113
Ted Koppel: Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news

Can someone give this shark-jumped idiot a good fisking? I just don't have the time. But he needs it; deep, wide, and continuous.

Posted by: K~Bob

Wasn't he the dickhead that recited the names of Iraqi war dead, but refused to do the same for those killed in Afghanistan?

Wasn't he the dickhead who got his own show that milked the Iranian hostage crisis?

Posted by: Blue Hen at November 23, 2010 09:10 AM (1O93r)

114 Yeah, Everett. Was a young 20-year-old.

Posted by: Editor at November 23, 2010 09:11 AM (YX6i/)

115
What sums up this administration is the photograph of Obama struggling to get his umbrella through a gate.

He could have turned the umbrella sideways. He might have folded it briefly, passed it through through, then unfolded it again. He might have handed it to Michelle on the other side of the gate. But no. He had to do it his way, since he is a world-class super-genius, and so wound up looking like a four-star doofus.

The risible combination of stubbornness, arrogance, and stupidity shown in the umbrella incident is the hallmark of the Obama Administration.

Posted by: Brown Line at November 23, 2010 09:13 AM (VrNoa)

116

Oh, and PS, 4 chains on a 4WD goes ANYWHERE.

Posted by: s'moron at November 23, 2010 09:14 AM (UaxA0)

117 4
Leon Lett Obama
Posted by: logprof at November 23, 2010 12:22 PM (CE2wR)

At least that blunder didn't prevent Jimmy Johnson form getting the Extenze gig.

Posted by: ya2daup at November 23, 2010 09:16 AM (0AClR)

118 BlackOrchid:

The key thing to note is that Seattle/Portland are fundamentally unprepared for snow. There is a minuscule number of plows and sanders. There is no salt - that's bad for the fish. So a snowfall that everyone in the snow-experiencing world sees as minute (an inch or two) turns straight into ice. And the temperatures tend to hover just below freezing - so any melted snow just reforms as smoother ice.

I've live for more than a decade in Troy, NY - where we had four inches of snow on October fourth, and snow in May. With a whole lot in between. Drifts higher than my car, etc. It wasn't Buffalo, but it was ick.

But the actual road conditions in Seattle (and Portland) end up worse - fast.

We've had damn near the same thing here in Seattle just last night. The roads were just a half-inch of smooth ice with another half-inch of completely loose snow. On some streets, there's no ice underneath and people think, "Oh, I can handle this." Then they turn the corner and the omnipresent hills bring gravity in to play.

Our mayor is a "Bicycles for everyone!" transportation expert, and the current "emergency snow" plan is "Everyone ride the bus!"

So the drivers are idiots, yes. But it is the cities unwilling to recognize that this area has had more snow 2000-2010 than 1800-2000 and thus perhaps plows might be in order that's the truly insane part.

Posted by: Al at November 23, 2010 09:16 AM (MzQOZ)

119 117

Oh, and PS, 4 chains on a 4WD goes ANYWHERE.

Posted by: s'moron at November 23, 2010 01:14 PM (UaxA0)

After wearing out a winch cable winching my jeep j-10 out of sand dunes in Western Kansas and 300 yards of East Texas swamp, I found that they can't actually go anywhere. My new philosophy: Use 4WD to get OUT of trouble rather than INTO trouble and your life will require much less wallowing through mud and shit with a shovel and a winch cable. The million mounds of fire ants between me and the road during my epoch 300 yard winching out of the slough was an added bonus.

Posted by: maddogg at November 23, 2010 09:21 AM (OlN4e)

120 I had no idea people in Portland were so stupid. You'd think if they saw other people crashing into cars because of the ice they'd have the intelligence not to get into a car. Perfect metaphor for this administration.

Posted by: mueller at November 23, 2010 09:24 AM (QO+2f)

121 I think this is a future scene from The Walking Dead. Maybe the zombies are driving.

Posted by: ingenus at November 23, 2010 09:27 AM (+sBB4)

122 You can see by this video that Republicans are drinking Slurpees and laughing while I drive the car out of the ditch

Posted by: King Barry I at November 23, 2010 09:28 AM (vdfwz)

123 See our next series, Ice Road Truckers face dangerous Volvo and Prius obstacle courses in Portland

Posted by: The Ice Road Truckers at November 23, 2010 09:31 AM (vdfwz)

124 We've got plenty of drivers in the Seattle area with no snow or ice experience, true. But the geography doesn't help either. Most of our road design is to maximize quick water drainage, and we've got LOTS of hills, frequently the kind made by glaciers. When you have any reduction in traction, things get bad fast. Plus, the tendency is to have a hilly road end with a stoplight/stopsign where it intersects a busy road. Hilarity does not ensue.

(While shoveling my sidewalk some ditz rode by on a mountain bike. On a packed snow surface. I should just make him a reservation at the funeral home now.)

Posted by: bad cat robot at November 23, 2010 09:31 AM (vV8Fq)

125 IRT: Obama edition

Posted by: ingenus at November 23, 2010 09:32 AM (+sBB4)

126 Only with the French, you threaten to nuke someone else, and they surrender.

Posted by: Paladin at November 23, 2010 09:33 AM (ycm4Q)

127 Let me be clear, I have not personally had to drive on black ice down a hill in Portland.

Posted by: President Barack Obama at November 23, 2010 09:34 AM (mAm+G)

128 oh right, the winter of no salt to melt the ice because the libs value pretend ecoscience more than they value your life. Or the states that banned phosphor bearing dishwashing soaps... Just like they value diversity more than they value you, your safety, or American society. Just as they value terrorist (actually SWPL value status jockeying) rights more than a country's safety, privacy, or convenience.

Posted by: joeindc44 at November 23, 2010 09:35 AM (QxSug)

129 IRT: Affirmative Action

/ i keed, i keed

Posted by: ingenus at November 23, 2010 09:37 AM (+sBB4)

130 That kind of sums up my day on the net today

Posted by: lurker at November 23, 2010 09:39 AM (GOsSG)

131 They are using salt and salt/deicer now but there arent enough trucks/crews or plows, and what makes matters much worse here are the partial melts refreezes. I grew up in MT driving on ice and have driven in Korea, Iceland and Antarctica and Seattle is by far the worst place to try and drive after a snowstorm.

Posted by: chad at November 23, 2010 09:40 AM (WNcvq)

132 101
Maybe I'm stoopid; but how the hell did all that ice get into a tunnel?
Posted by: maddogg at November 23, 2010 01:05 PM (OlN4e)

When I've seen this presented at safety meetings at work, ice is cited as being the cause for the mayhem. However, since this shows crashes that occurred at a number of different times; ice may or may not have been a contributing factor. I'd put the vehicles' speed at the top of the list, in any case.

As for getting ice in the tunnel, ground fog might have condensed and frozen on the road surface - at least around the openings. A commenter in the YouTube thread volunteered this: The unmaintained tunnels in Russia lead to cracks in the walls. These cracks let in water. As this is Russia you don't expect ice in tunnels when driving through them -- this video is the result.
This all is speculation, of course.

Posted by: ya2daup at November 23, 2010 09:40 AM (0AClR)

133 (While shoveling my sidewalk some ditz rode by on a mountain bike. On a packed snow surface. I should just make him a reservation at the funeral home now.)

Last evening I watched a bicyclist on a non-mountain bike have a both-wheels-sliding wipeout stop just before an active intersection. So this moron gets up and walks around the area... then takes pictures of the ice before getting back on the bike and continuing. Bueller? Hello? WTF?

Posted by: Al at November 23, 2010 09:42 AM (MzQOZ)

134 112
when we get black ice or snow in Atlanta both of our highway trucks spread chemicals and sand.
Posted by: Racefan at November 23, 2010 01:09 PM (tYntB)

I see what you did there.

Posted by: ya2daup at November 23, 2010 09:43 AM (0AClR)

135

Yes, fatcatrobot, only Seattle has hills and snow and ice

You are correct sir

Thank you for that topographic tour through Fail Land

Posted by: OhioDude at November 23, 2010 09:44 AM (ojJB9)

136 This administration can be summed up in one word: Boob belts.

Posted by: Sheriff Joe at November 23, 2010 09:55 AM (GwPRU)

137 136, maybe it's time to switch to decaf? The only claim I'm making, and it is a small one that shouldn't anger you, is that our roads are not designed for snow and ice because we rarely get it. This also means that local drivers don't have much experience driving in snow and ice. It means we have *A* snowplow and the guy driving it also doesn't have much experience. I've wintered in Maine and in Wisconsin which gives me an advantage in driving and some data for comparison. Both areas are much flatter, and they plan for snow because it always happens. (Plus most of the idiots have already been killed off.)

To keep with the topic of the thread, I think we can all agree that experience is reeely important, no?

Posted by: bad cat robot at November 23, 2010 09:57 AM (vV8Fq)

138 Having grown up in Northern Michigan and subsequently lived on the East Coast for nearly thirty years, IMHO inclement winter weather poses these problems here:
(1) A substantial amount of winter precipitation is heavy, wet snow or ice. (2) The snow removal effort usually isn't started far enough in advance so that it stays ahead of the storm, in part because (3) there usually isn't nearly enough snow removal equipment. (4) What equipment there is, usually isn't substantial enough to deal with large quantities of snow or wet snow, in which case things get complicated because (5) if a hard freeze accompanies a fall of wet snow, what hasn't been moved out of the road usually becomes as hard as concrete and can no longer be moved. (6) Finally, neighborhoods usually hire out for snow plowing of their streets and these service providers are afflicted by the same problems listed above.

I try to get done what I need ahead of any storm, because I have no desire to try to compensate for the wide variety of skills -- usually low -- exhibited by other drivers under wintry conditions.

Posted by: ya2daup at November 23, 2010 10:07 AM (0AClR)

139

My new philosophy: Use 4WD to get OUT of trouble rather than INTO trouble and your life will require much less wallowing through mud and shit with a shovel and a winch cable.

LOfuckingL maddogg.

Words to live by.

I should have said "anywhere in the ice and snow"

Posted by: s'moron at November 23, 2010 10:11 AM (UaxA0)

140 I recall once when I lived in Saratoga Springs, NY driving into work one morning and getting to a big hill. There were many cars by the side of the road waiting for the salt truck to get there as the hill was covered with black ice.

I backed up as far as I could on the clear section of road and got a good running start. Made it 3/4 of the way up the hill before ran out of momentum.

Morale of the story? When you get black ice on the road you ain't going nowhere.

Posted by: Vic at November 23, 2010 10:16 AM (e4sSD)

141 I c Barry and pals got da car outta da ditch roflmao

Posted by: don abernathy at November 23, 2010 10:33 AM (J0JEf)

142

As someone who spent most of his life in the Northeast, I'm always amazed by how poorly Portlanders (many of whom are probably from California) drive.

But most people from California originally came from ...the Northeast. They just stopped off in California on their way to Portland.

So don't blame us (native Californians) for these retards inability to drive. The few (of us), the proud who actually are native would have an excuse; the rest, were retards wherever they came from, they were retards here, they are apparently still retards wherever they went from here.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at November 23, 2010 10:57 AM (pTZyY)

143 A wonderful, reusable metaphor for the current Administration

I'll say. Even after it becomes obvious that proceeding further would not be a wise course of action, they still go ahead anyway, and the result is still the same.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at November 23, 2010 11:13 AM (fxACH)

144 Jay Guevara,

I don't mean any aspersion to Californians but implying that, because they live further south, most of them have even less experience in snow than Oregonians. I except those that live in the mountains, but of course there are those in Oregon too.

Not that there isn't an abundance of native Californian retards.

Posted by: William Wallace at November 23, 2010 02:18 PM (9IttK)

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