9000 isn't that small a town.

A town that size has got stoplights and everything! I'm pretty sure my hometown included pets and visiting relatives to hit 1000 during the 1990 census...

The U.S. Census Bureau will let anyone download their datasets. There is some cool stuff here. Did you know they keep track of the population of every city and town?

I did a little crunching in Excel. 16385 of 19494, or 84.0%, of the areas they track had less than 9000 residents in 2007 (in Wisconsin, 504 of 592, or 85.1%).

Granted, the population totals break down 26554516 to 161695447 (the 300M figure must include a lot of fudge factors for underreporting illegal aliens and others who don't fill out their form...), or 16.4% of the population lives in towns under 9000. But a whole lot of city folk came from somewhere small, or their parents did, and they're not all self-loathing hipsters ashamed of their backgrounds...

I can't believe no one on O's staff knows these things, and/or cares enough to tell him to shut up about the small towns already (yeah...now it's personal).

Insert squealy noises here

I've been trying for a couple of hours to write a post about John McCain picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, but I'm having trouble remaining coherent. How freaking cool is this?!?! Never expected I'd be excited about voting this November.

Her whole biography/family--I want to BE her. They're all adorable. But more importantly: anti-pork, anti-corruption,
sound ideas on energy, has actual executive experience (more than Obama and Biden put together), has actual life experience outside politics (more than Obama and Biden put together)...

I might even buy a T-shirt, although I don't know where I could wear it around Milwaukee without getting things thrown at me.

(People are already being assholes about her decision not to abort baby Trig. Don't do it in my hearing; my inner Erzulie Dantor has been working some overtime lately.)

(And, superficially...a conservative woman second in line for POTUS should the unthinkable happen? Nancy Pelosi, eat your black little heart out. *grin grin grin*)

UPDATE: Mark Steyn: Whenever Senator Obama attempts anything non-political (such as bowling), he comes over like a visiting dignitary to a foreign country getting shanghaied into some impenetrable local folk ritual. Sarah Palin isn't just on the right side of the issues intellectually. She won't need the usual stage-managed "hunting" trip to reassure gun owners: she's lived the Second Amendment all her life. Woo-hoo!

Programming notes

Blogging will be light over the next week or so. The guy I've kind of been seeing (as much as you can see someone who lives 1003 miles away) is flying in tomorrow, to see if I can have another human being in my apartment for a week and not kill them. The previous record is five days...

We'll be driving to LaCrosse to babysit my niece and nephew while their parents attend a wedding, then driving back for Monday's Mets-Brewers game (he's a Mets fan, that will be interesting). I think we have tickets to four baseball games--Mets series and Corey Hart Day--and we're going to try to squeeze in "Les Paul's House of Sound" at some point around all the football and McCain's and Palin's speeches. Plus, I gotta press buttons during the days. I'm exhausted just thinking about it all.

Hope everyone has a great week--I'm looking forward to Wisconsin blogger dispatches from St. Paul!

I can't make this up...

The shoes of Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (L) and his vice presidential running mate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin are shown as they stand at a campaign event in Dayton, Ohio August 29, 2008. (John Gress/Reuters)

I can't tell if this is parody or satire or if Reuters really thinks shoes are important.

Hope! Change! Yes We Can!

ISU's off to a much better start than last year. Especially the special teams--5 INTs, four in the first half. School record on the 202 return yards.

To quote radio guy John Walters (I still miss Pete Taylor), "it's nice to be on this side of a blowout for a change."

I hate the 21st century

Jay Nordlinger, whose writing I quite enjoy, relates a bit from the Newark Star-Ledger:

Maysoon Abdelhady says she is the perfect Democratic National Convention delegate.

“I was recruited because I’m a woman. I’m a Palestinian. I’m a Muslim. I’m disabled and, because I’m 30 and still not married, people think I’m gay.

Gah!! That is my second-biggest pet peeve with society today. A generation ago, "I'm old and never married" was immediately understood as merely a consequence of being funny-looking, personality-deficient, and/or stupidly wasting your marriageable years pursuing various interests instead of pursuing a husband (in my case, all three, heh). Now, if you're funny-looking, grumpy, and wasted your youth, you MUST be a LESBIAN, better some sort of feminist separatist. I respect anyone who acheives that life if they wanted it, but I'm sick to death of being assumed to be one of them.

(Just after I graduated from college, I worked with a blind, albino, Jewish lesbian from Boston. About as far-left as Obama, but friendly, and I'm sure wherever she is tonight she's pleased. But on the DNC's "identity/victim" scorecard, she'd get trumped by even the able-bodied male Palestinians. It's disgusting, truly.)

COEXIST!

Another charming tale of CELEBRATE DIVERSITY! for my friends who still believe it's morally superior to accept and validate any non-Western culture that practices gross violations of basic human rights than to say, "You know, that's not right." I don't know how you live with yourselves.

But I'm kind of amused that multiculturalists can proclaim the beauty and strength and legitimacy of--and necessity of surrendering to--religions that condemn diversity to death.

I wonder when Mark Steyn comes off hiatus.

Aaaargh.

The Indianapolis Colts likely will be without Jeff Saturday for at least the first six weeks of the season, and longer if the Pro Bowl center decides to have surgery to repair ligament damage to his right knee, his agent said today.

This worries me more than Peyton's knee.

Kindergarten meets Free Mumia

Cuts to the newspaper industry seem to be affecting AP headline writers.

UI president announces harassment campaign

With the problems they've had lately, they should probably consider an anti-harassment campaign.

"we are launching a campaign to promote inclusion, social justice and human civility across our campus"

Kindergarten meets Free Mumia. I think this is where an engineering degree was a good thing; I missed all that feel-good we're-all-special there-is-no-truth there-is-no-wrong-(except-Western-civilization) stuff.

This stands out:

"Please do all you can to help us maintain and build the most respectful campus imaginable."

Good luck with that...start by teaching kids not to spit on visitors when you host the NIT. *mutter*

I was going to ask the U of I Republicans how much respect they expect to get on campus under the new policies, but they seem to have disbanded after the caucus.

I'm going to regret asking this.

K-Lo at NRO:

The first thing I saw when I approached the Pepsi Center tonight: two girls energetically passing out condoms by the giant Trojan display within the perimeter.

Who are they expecting the attendees to be doing the horizontal mambo with? Delegates and candidates mixing it up? Delegates and candidates away from home patronizing the local working girls? I've always assumed married couples who need such things are capable of making their own arrangements, but I guess I wouldn't know...

Maybe they're for the reporters and anarchists.

Bah!

The Brewers have finally passed whatever threshhold was necessary for someone to pay the licensing fee to MLB to print Brewers fabric for the "home sewer." But only the ag-history-referencing, completely unintuitive wheat logo. Cubs fans have three different styles of polyester fleece to choose from.

And MLB still won't license cotton fabric.

Picked a good night to turn in early

without turning on the TV. Pelosi, Jack$on, Carter...

Nothing says "party of the working class" like luxury fabrics, bespoke dresses, and brooches. But I'll be the first to congratulate Mrs. Obama if she can inspire young women to cover their hips and bellies when they leave the house.

The riots that Zombie got caught up in don't seem to have been deemed "news" by the MSM. Unsurprised. Excellent reporting from Zombie, as usual; dispatches linked at the top of LGF.

Damn shame their dads never signed up them up for Little League when they were children, isn't it?

Heh.

I think that second one could use a little more "plotting my death."

1929 Duesenberg J. Phaeton

Last year, I hit the Milwaukee Masterpiece show on Club Day, and it was fun, but muscle cars aren't as interesting to me as older luxury models. So this year I went on Sunday for the Concours d'Elegance, and it was incredible. I took 329 pictures, and I was able to match up all but a dozen with the make and year when I got home. Unfortunately, I ran out of camera battery before I saw the 1950 Indy 500 pace car...

The best of the pictures are on Flickr. I still don't know a lot about cars (although today I learned quite a bit about what the Duesenbergs did in Des Moines, Newton, and Waterloo before they moved to Indy), but that's not a requirement for enjoying the design and beautiful restorations. Or for talking to the old guys who were taking as many pictures as I was. "Look at that, isn't that beautiful?" "Is that the original paint color?"

And if I didn't already have a nom de blog, I'd start calling myself "Duesenberg J. Phaeton."

[This is the fourth Sunday in a row I have gotten sunburned (despite sunblock and funny hat) out enjoying Milwaukee. I hate summer.]

Nothing says "change"

Like picking a running mate who's been in Washington longer than you've been a legal adult. *snicker*

This is the funniest thing I've seen all day, found in a comment at Ace:


And read Iowahawk:

"Unfortunately this election comes down to winning the hearts and minds of whitebread, middlebrow, middle-class, middle-Americans," says Frank."This effort shows that Obama troops are willing to reach out and condescend to them, one-on-one, no matter how pathetic and stupid they are."

Heh.

Don't blame me, blame PunditKitchen. I've noticed very little of their stuff is funny lately...

Looks like I'm going to miss the global O-gasm

I'm sure by daybreak there will be a hundred thousand mashups of the chanting on YouTube.

Ames, Ia. – Coach Gene Chizik announced today that Austen Arnaud will be Iowa State’s starting quarterback when the Cyclones open the season Thursday against South Dakota State.

I was going to pre-emptively denounce myself as a racist until I looked up Arnaud's profile. He's a sophomore, with more successful leadership under his pads than the Obamarama...

Completed five-of-seven passes for 130 yards in win over Kansas State

Sweet.

Semi-related, for the low price of $248, ISU will send me a DVD each Tuesday with the game video, the radio broadcast, and "the weekly Gene Chizik Show." I'm satisfied catching the games on Sirius--but I can see this being a really cool service for rabid ISU fans deployed overseas...hrm...

Unrelated, everytime the TV guy says "Brian Brohm" I hear "Ryan Braun." Football, that's gonna help his intercostal strain.

Music for pressing the same button over and over and over and over for *12* hours two day in a row

I could have married my cousin or had four kids by five guys by the time I was 23, but no...I went to engineering school. Stupid!!!

On with the music:

Metallica - Hero of the Day

Excellent song. Incredibly stupid video.



Weezer - Beverly Hills

You can make a lot of money playing just three chords.



A Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song

No video here, just the music. Beautiful New Wave song.



Political blogging suspended temporarily, until I stop wanting to slit my wrists just so I never have to see a computer screen ever again. Although I'm definitely tuning into Hillary's big speech next Tuesday with a bucket of chicken wings and a six-pack of Spotted Cow. *grin* Muahahahahahaha.

Heh. Heh heh.

Nelson Muntz, call your office.

What could be worse than Wal-Mart?

I thought "progressives" loved recycling. *snicker* It's for Teh Planet, people! Everyone needs to suffer to save Teh Planet, whether you like it or not, and you think you deserve an exemption because you hate WalMart?

Gutfield: "People who hate Walmart really hate the success that's eluded themselves." I'm guessing that's also a reason to hate a recycling facility that turns a profit instead of sucking up tax dollars.

On second thought, it's less funny than it is disgusting.

(I've had an apartment across the street from WalMart in two different Iowa college towns; the traffic wasn't half as bad as when I lived behind the upscale Fashion Mall. Dear God.)

Bah!

The Des Moines Roosevelt graduate [Lolo Jones] clipped the top of the second-to-last hurdle with her lead foot and dropped from first to seventh today in a stunning Olympic women’s 100-meter hurdle final at National Stadium.

Unrelated:
Iowa Chops at Milwaukee Admirals
December 30, 2008 - 06:00 PM

Yes. Iowa Chops. Love at first squeal.

Random observation

Why are all the people on the "No Condom, No Way" ads on the Milwaukee County buses so unattractive?

Oh, yeah.

According the Des Moines Shawn Johnson, Barack Obama never made it to the Iowa State Fair, becoming the first non-incumbant presidential candidate to skip out since WWII. So, he thinks he's too good to be seen with the bitter masses admiring Freight Train? (I've never believed the "secret Muslim" stuff, but if being that close to male animal commanding high stud fees makes him nervous I would have accepted a photo op near the butter cow, especially since he was immortalized O in butter himself.)

So yeah, despite playing the "single mother" card ad nauseum, he's an elitist. And apparently he's already forgotten that the Iowa Caucus was where the rest of the world realized Hillary Clinton wasn't guaranteed the nomination--thanks for voting for me, now go away and don't bother me with your silly little traditions, you worms.

Hey, if people can vote for him based on his skin color, his swim trunks, his "soft eyes", his love of arugula, or George Clooney's man-crush, I can not vote for him because he's a jerk who despises most of the country.

Meanwhile, while I was enjoying 36 hours with my computer off, I came across this quote from Michelle Obama in a Limbaugh Letter:

Somehow I've been caricatured as this emasculating wife. Barack and I laugh about that. It's just sort of, like, do you think anyone could emasculate Barack Obama? Really now.

Rush follows it with a Jesse Jackson joke, but I didn't see it until after I stopped laughing. Something we can agree on--you can't emasculate O. It's impossible to emasculate someone who was never a man to begin with. Which is probably not what she meant. Then again, caricatures exaggerate the truth, so who knows what she has in a jar in the fridge?

Don't ever let anyone tell you schools don't have enough money

They have more than enough money, they just choose to waste it.

(Why does an elementary school gymnasium need a rock-climbing wall?)

WTF??

Also, some letters to legitimate Milwaukee central city addresses are coming back undeliverable, possibly because letter carriers fear those neighborhoods, said Nat Robinson, chief of the board’s Elections Division.

What?

I know that awhile back home delivery was stopped in some neighborhoods because of crime (why is this considered the fault of the USPS, not the fault of the people comitting the crimes against carriers??), but residents could still pick up their mail at the local post office. That's not the same as "undeliverable." The route carriers know the names and addresses of their neighborhood. "Undeliverable" indicates the person the letter is addressed to does not reside at that legitimate address. And I'm sure your letter carrier appreciates your smear, Mr. Robinson...

The excuses for registration fraud keep getting dumber and dumber.

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Speaking of reading blogs too much, MoveOn.org is having an Obama art contest, so quilt blogs are off my list for the next few weeks. I just want to look at color and fabric and threads; if I want to read ill-informed socialist screeds with my breakfast I'll go to the actual MoveOn website, thank you.

I like the way this artist thinks O is the antithesis of "narcissism...power-hungry, deluded, frankly incompetent." What? The rest of her work is very good, maybe you do have to be insane to make art.

(I'm only halfway there, heh.)

In this house, we obey the laws of Thermodynamics!*

I don't know who "Reader Brian Anderson" is, but he's my kind of people.

Have you noticed that the people shouting loudest to make developing oil fields impossible, to tax gasoline to astronomical levels, and to have government subsidized "Manhattan Projects" to create the breakthroughs in solar, wind, waves, bio-mass, etc., are the same people who did not take the math, science and engineering courses in college? Despite their profound ignorance in these subjects, they are sure that creating enough pain will cause those of us who did grind away in these fields for all these years to suddenly have that amazing insight which will let us repeal the third law of thermodynamics. Their core belief is that genius comes forth when misery is piled sufficiently high.

*

Give me a break

I'm less...bemused by "Marie Claire magazine dubs Milwaukee its ‘sexiest city’" than I am disgusted that anyone takes garbage from "women's interest periodicals" of the sex-and-fashion variety seriously enough to publish it in the newspaper.

Especially when there's serious issues afoot.

Just in case you're not getting enough green and gold already

18 to 88, a Colts blog I read, is promising a weekly feature on Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy.

This may be a sign I should stop reading so many blogs and read some books or something.

Heh.

It's lucrative to be a Hawkeye.

Forbes has released a "Best and Worst College Football Coaches for the Buck" list. No surprises here:

The most overpaid coach is Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, who made $3.4 million last year despite lackluster results on the field, for a score of 71. Just how lopsided is Ferentz’s deal? During the last three years he’s pocketed $10 million, including a record $4.7 million in 2006, but has led the Hawkeyes to just a 19-18 record.

Hey, when his players rape fellow students, he helps 'em cover it up. You can't put a price on that kind of selfless devotion to a team.

You know why I like WI? I can wear my "BEAT IOWA" shirt three times as often. :P

Everyone in Paris is on vacation

Including the pharmacies.

Huh.

I can't read God's mind

But He doesn't strike me someone who would be amused by the irony of babies being left to die in closets in a place called "Christ Hospital."

That family had wanted a baby, but when they learned that theirs would be born with Down syndrome, they wanted an abortion. For that, they went to Christ Hospital in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

Bizarre.

Even NARAL's stance is that if the abortionist screws up, a living baby is a person to be cared for until their short life ends, so I can't figure out who Obama is pandering to. Hospital admins who don't want to get stuck with the bill?

"We've picked up a weirdo... "

My roommate is obsessed with licking plastic bags. Ziploc bags, stiff shopping bags, the plastic bags that hold shredded cheese...

Don't ask him about it.

Lo-lo-lo Lolo

Des Moines Register profile of Lolo Jones, representing the U.S. in the 100 meter hurdles.

I don't know if NBC or anyone else is giving her any airtime, but it's an excellent story. Liberals will no doubt bemoan the tragic lack of government assistance that allowed her mother to bounce from job to job instead of settling comfortably into a project somewhere. The rest of us should be awed and inspired by Lolo and all the churches, organizations, and individuals who have helped her out along her way.

Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee

Went for a long walk around the east side this afternoon. Perhaps too long; we're still six weeks from the equinox (mid-August and it's not 95 degrees!!! I love it!!!) and SPF 75 was not enough.

So, for two years now, everytime I've driven down 145 toward Water Street, I've thought, "You know, that pedestrian bridge must be the best view of the skyline." Today on my way home I finally detoured over there.

Marginally disappointing, although I got some interesting artsy-fartsy shots of the broken windows at the Pabst brewery. And now, everytime I drive down there, I can think "You know, that pedestrian bridge would be a great view of the skyline if it wasn't for the stupid road signs."

And GABE KAPLER. Yum.

Anyone have $150M I can borrow?

Why should David Geffen have all the Pollocks?

CEDAR FALLS - The Iowa Board of Regents has agreed to study a possible sale of a famous Jackson Pollock painting at the University of Iowa to help pay for flood recovery on campus....

June's record flooding swamped 20 buildings and caused an estimated $232 million in damage. The university's Museum of Art was among the flooded buildings. Most of the collection was removed without damage, including Pollack's 8-by-20-foot ''Mural.''

What? Saving taxpayers $100M or so? In the Socialist Republic of Iowa City? As I type, students are organizing against it...

Well, he's got balls.

I know he still believes in "global warming", but this I like*...

DES MOINES - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain stopped by the Iowa State Fair on Friday, repeating his opposition to ethanol subsidies and vowing to open markets around the world to Midwest commodities.

Excellent.

He said expanding exports could expand profits for farmers in the nation's top hog-producing state.

Of the $150 in profit from each hog produced, $30 comes from exports, McCain said.

''If we approve a free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea, that will be 10 more dollars,'' McCain said. ''Agriculture products here in the state of Iowa can feed the world and we're not afraid to compete with anybody.''

Ha. Iowa Dems are totally afraid of free markets. Reaction was predictable:

''He voted against ethanol subsidies, he's opposed to the farm bill,'' said Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Scott Brennan. ''What it proves is he doesn't care about what's important to Iowa.''

Translation: "McCain wants to take away the free gubbament money from the rich guys who vote for me! Waaah!"

There's a zip-code search at www.ewg.org where you can look up exactly who is getting federal money. The guys I went to high school with are doing quite well for themselves before they sell a single bushel (these are the families who "couldn't" pay my dad and collected free lunch while driving brand-new Camaros registered as "farm vehicles" to school). *gah* Also interesting--you can sign up husbands, wives, and the family collective as three different subsidy-collecting entities for the same farm. How 'bout that. I have no idea how my grandparents and uncles didn't figure out how to work the system so there would still be a family farm on which I could grow hops.

Maybe someone else can explain the people collecting farm subsidies in downtown Milwaukee (some of them seem to be estates, trusts, and investment groups, but not all) and how the benefits of granting a $6 subsidy to a farm outweigh the cost of processing and approving the application. I'm just not smart enough to figure that last one out.

P.S. I want to see Barry O in that hog pavilion, scratching the ears of Freight Train, the biggest boar EVAH, depending on how you spell it. PLEASE, Obamamessiah, grant my wish.

* Everytime he says something that makes me feel a little bit better about having to vote for him, the next day he says something that could have come straight out of the mouth of Dick Durbin or Charlie Rangel. Sigh.

Someone is just ASKING to be bitten.

Cats tortured to raised money to help cats.

"New Jersey pet fashion company Meow Wear." *fear*

Bizarre...

Got this at Instapundit...no surprises here.

Gender-predicting browser history algorithm.

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 29%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 71%

Interesting that nationalreview.com is rated very male at 1.74, more than nfl.com at 1.5. Netflix skews female at 0.79, which seems weird. Don't men watch movies?

God bless Tim Blair

Tim Blair watches the Olympics Opening Ceremonies so I don't have to. (“Leni Riefenstahl, call your office!”)

Commenters note there is no interpretive dance about the Tiananmen Square massacre, but there is a castrated Muslim.

I have no further comment.

Other than to point out that she's not Constitutionally eligible until 2016.

(Gary Varvel)

And now, some serious stuff

Kathy Shaidle reports on Chinese human rights violations, none of which apparently rise to the level of shame and outrage as giving terrorists shrinkwrapped Korans and halal chicken:

Were journalists allowed to report the truth, their stories would put a heavy damper on international enthusiasm for the Games. China’s persecution of Tibet’s people is well known, thanks to the Dalai Lama and efforts of Western activists. Less familiar – perhaps because they are too gruesome to be believed – are reports that tens of thousands of Chinese prisoners, along with Falun Gong practitioners, have been murdered and their organs harvested for the lucrative international “transplant tourism” market.

Edward McMillan-Scott, a British Member of the European Parliament, says the organs of Falun Gong prisoners “sell at a premium as practitioners neither drink nor smoke.” He adds:

“Although there are millions of [Falun Gong] they do not have a cuddly, statesmanlike figure such as the Dalai Lama and, because they will not openly demonstrate like the Tibetans and their supporters, they perish and go to their deaths silently.”

McMillan-Scott describes China as a “terror state” and recently submitted a dossier to the United Nations about torture and religious freedom. He claims the Communist Chinese government has recently adopted lethal injection as the preferred method of capital punishment. (There are 70 crimes deemed capital offenses in China). Why? Because, says McMillan-Scott, a bullet through the head caused too much organ damage. “In one province alone,” says McMillan-Scott, “16 buses have been specially adapted to perform on-the-spot eviscerations.”

I joke occasionally in meatspace about "getting a Falun Gong kidney" but I always have to explain the reference. The average American really has no idea about China.

Sports bar bleg

So, now that the local CBS affiliate has announced they will only be showing lousy AFC games opposite the lousy NFC games on FOX, I need to find somewhere not a 45-minute drive from the northeast side of MKE with the Sunday Ticket--AND a willingness to show non NFC North games--where I won't be the only patron over the age of 25 and which serves non-macro beer. I'm fairly certain this sort of establishment does not exist, because I've spent two years looking for it.

Sigh.

"FAVRE JOINING UP WITH GANG GREEN"

Our long national nightmare is finally over, and Jeff Garcia can rest easy.

The Jets didn't even speak to Favre until Tuesday and Tannenbaum even conceded his "gut" feeling was that the deal would never "come to fruition."

"I never thought it was alive," Tannenbaum said. "We had a cursory monitoring situation going on for a number of days. We put an oar in the water and things heated up really quickly."

That is the dumbest mixed metaphor I have seen in quite some time.

Interestingly, Tannenbaum said the Jets are taking things with the wishy-washy Favre "one year at a time," indicating that the team has not gotten any commitment from Favre beyond 2008.

I have no comment.

My big fear at this point is that the local CBS affiliate (heh, I don't watch TV enough to even know the call letters) is going to show the Jets every Sunday. The past two years I got used to watching that geographically proximate AFC team that doesn't suck every other weekend or so.

UPDATE: I hope he rots in the end zone with Jimmy Hoffa.

Football...politics...football...politics...

Michael O'Shea at American Thinker with the metaphors to end all metaphors:

Sort of like electing Barack Obama and hoping he doesn't turn out to be a Ryan Leif. Or Tim Couch. Or David Carr.

Overlooking that it was actually Ryan LEAF who was the dud at the Chargers, and that David Carr's main problem was being surrounded by terrible players--wait, that makes the metaphor better, doesn't it?--it's an interesting comparison. Unfair to Russell, perhaps; he had some actual acheivements at LSU.

Interesting, anyway, and includes this excellent quote from General Honoré:

What does a coach do when his team is losing 25-0 after the first quarter? Does he call the quarterback over and tell him how stupid he is because he didn't play right, or does he get out the white board and start making adjustments?

This is not the change you're looking for

Jedi mind trick...earlier today I was reminded of this despair.com image (ironically, it was hanging in my cubicle in West Des Moines the day half the engineers got laid off):

Why on Earth people clamor for unknown change--any change, even a bad change!--instead of positive changes, I just don't understand.

Sign me up...

Peter Kirsanow at NRO was highly funny today, channeling Jeff Foxworthy in a list that should be copy-pasted and e-mailed to everyone even vaguely aware there's an election this year (which would be most people--emphasis on "vaguely aware").

1.If you think Obama's the most liberal member of the senate you...may be a racist.

2.If you object to Obama raising your payroll, capital gains and estate taxes you...may be a racist.

3.If you'd prefer a president have at least some foreign policy experience you...may be a racist.

4. If you're in favor of drilling for oil and building nuclear power plants you...may be a racist.

5. If you think "Vero Possemus" is Latin for "Massive Ego" you... may be a racist.

6. If you wonder why Obama was hanging around William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn you...may be a racist.

7. If your pastor is nothing like Rev. Wright or Father Pfleger you... may be a racist.

8.If you don't want the majority of justices on the Supreme Court to be like Stephen Breyer you...may be a racist.

9. If you're not impressed with Obama's 100% NARAL rating you...may be a racist.

10. If you're not sure whether Obama opposed or supported FISA reauthorization you...may be a racist.

11. If you don't think America is a "downright mean" country you...may be a racist.

12. If you think Obama should've visited wounded troops at Ramstein and Landstuhl you...may be a racist.

13. If you think the surge is working and that's a good thing you...may be a racist.

14. If you oppose racial preferences in employment, school admissions and contracting you...may be a racist.

15. If you think "we are the change we've been waiting for" is a line from a Monty Python skit you...may be a racist.

16. If you prefer that a president have a smidgen of executive experience you...may be a racist.

17. If you're appalled that Obama voted against treating infants born after an abortion attempt the same medically as other infants born alive you...may be a racist.

18. If you were proud of your country even before Obama's candidacy you...may be a racist.

20. If you don't think American troops are just "air raiding villages" you...may be a racist.

21. If your grandmother isn't a "typical white person" you...may be a racist.

22. If you don't think rural, working class people are bitter and "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" you...may be a racist.

23. If you're not sure invading Pakistan is a particularly good idea—what with their nuclear weapons and all— you...may be a racist.

24. If you don't want the president to meet without precondition with the leaders of state sponsors of terror you...may be a racist.

25. If you don't care how Hollywood or the European elite think you should vote you...may be a racist.

I've got that mid-80s Dr. Pepper commercial stuck in my head--wouldn't you like to be a racist, too?

Are the people who seriously believe "not voting for Obama is racist" unfamiliar with the concept of "hanged for a sheep as a lamb"? If I'm going to be condemned as a racist for this one non-racist action, what societal forces stop me from actual racist thought/actions (my own decency is a good deterrent, but you can't count on everyone having one...)? Is this REALLY the path they want to take society down??

I just still can't figure out how "observing people's words and actions instead of their skin" became the *wrong* behavior.

Also I'm cranky because my State Fair sunburn still itches.

Music for pressing the same button over and over and over and over for eight hours

Johnny Cash - "Folsom Prison Blues"


Dire Straits - "Walk of Life"


Ozzy Osbourne - "See You on the Other Side"

Huh?

Some people have said Obama has a "thin résumé." But "thin" is another word for "skinny," which is a slur for "black." Or so it is according to Slate's Timothy Noah, who has found invidious racism in the pages of the venerable Wall Street Journal.

Timothy Noah needs to spend an afternoon sipping his latte at Mayfair Mall...or even spend some time in a room full of white women on diets.

But this, this is the stupidest thing I've read yet:

When white people are invited to think about Obama's physical appearance, the principal attribute they're likely to dwell on is his dark skin.

The first and last and most common thing I think about O's appearance is his stupid Dumbo ears. Man's head looks like the "before" section of Howdy Doody or Alfred P. Neuman's cosmetic surgeon's portfolio (please send me to a re-education camp with lots of snow). Mr. Noah, you're projecting your racism on the rest of us, and you need to stop.

And if O doesn't want us to think about his skin, why the bloody hell does he keep talking about it??

Ms. Mellon: Bart, what other paradoxes affect our lives?
Bart: Well... you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't.

(...when you say "look at McCain" the first thing I think of are his stupid grin and his stupid white tufts of Statler and Waldorf hair. If the AARP would like to denounce me, I'll be here all week.)

I stole this from Rachel Lucas.

This can't be good.

Whatever they're shootin' Fielder up with to counteract the soy estrogens, maybe they should cut back some.

*srednop*

UPDATE: Fielder apologizes.

Heh.

Did anyone else get a creepy OJ Simpson vibe from the live coverage of Favre's SUV driving through Green Bay, or is it just me?

Some friends from out of town stopped by this morning and physically dragged me out of my apartment to the WI State Fair, heedless of my deeply-held life-long conviction that a fair without a butter cow just isn't worth the price of free admission. No offense to those born and raised here, but how can you call yourselves "The Dairy State" when you don't even have a butter cow?!?! (This how you do it.)

The bison burger was tasty and the pig/goat/duck races were cute and hugely enjoyable (in the final race, "Rutter Busch" stopped and "sprung a leak" halfway through), but overall...I wasn't impressed. The textile arts were very badly displayed. The carnies were cleaner and better dressed than the crowds (so many pregnant teenagers wearing hot pants...I know they're back in style, but damn, girls!). The cream puff was enjoyable but not worth the effort of getting there. And they seem to have removed the 100-ft refrigerated cheese display I remember from the last time I was forced to attend...

I don't think the Rams made a lot of new fans today

I have loathed the St. Louis Rams for years (they took Marshall Faulk...). But this morning it wasn't too hot and I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd check out the purported "10:45 scrimmage" up in Mequon. I even double-checked the time on their website.

Ha. I got there at 10:15 (parking less than half full). The guys about to get cut and the second string were on the field without pads--and they were off the field by 10:45. Apparently they had started around 9. Only two guys stayed afterwards to talk to fans--Derek Stanley, who is from from WI and played at UW-Whitewater; and one guy not wearing a number who seemed to have family in the stands.

I'm not terribly cranky--I met my "get out of the house and do something I don't normally do" objective--but a lot of people, especially the ones who came in after me, were pissed. Especially the people who drove up from Missourah to see aforementioned scrimmage, and the people with children.

I feel smug about how awesome the Colts organization is as far as keeping fans informed and making sure they have a good experience, and Packers fans should feel smug, too.

(And now, to the couch, for some Brewers on FOX. I'm attempting to make a Radler out of Robinade and Sprecher's HefeWeiss. Is that a cry for help? *srednop*)

Why I'm voting Burge 2008

He has a much better tire-inflation plan than certain other candidates I'm tired of hearing people swoon over already.

A careful analysis of the statistics reveals significant national gas savings can be achieved through adjusting tire pressure on America's growing fleet of Toyota Priuses. And that's where this little baby comes in: the valve stem core remover.

The choice is obvious.

My limosine liberal sense was tingling...

When I read this bit about John Travolta flying his huge-ass private jet into Oshkosh and pimping the aviation industry.

I'll take off 0.5 hypocrisy points for promoting fuel-efficient planes at the EAA, but I still refuse to believe there's a crisis until the people telling me there's a crisis start acting like there's a crisis, instead of tooling around in a freaking 707 while demanding my freedom of movement be curtailed.

About that global warming...

This is why I moved to Milwaukee: August 1, still hasn't been 90 degrees. I love it.

Sucks to be a stockholder of WE Energy, since they're getting less of my money this summer, but if I can make it through the next three weeks I can put off fixing the A/C in my car for another 9-10 months (it died last August).

Women and minorities hardest hit, or something.